˘ ˇˆ˙˝ˇ˛˚ ˜˛ ˇ!...2 days ago · Kalinga Hospital traffic a big headache for the public and traffic police. To summarise: The change should neither be implement-ed to get

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Amid hue and cry over park-ing of the Puri Jagannath

Temple funds amounting to Rs545 crore in the crisis-hit YesBank, Finance MinisterNiranjan Pujari on Thursdaysought to clarify the reason forwhich the money was deposit-ed in the bank.

The funds were depositedin the Yes Bank as it offered thehighest rate of interest of 8.61per cent. The Shree JagannathTemple Administration (SJTA)

had invited quotationsfrom the scheduled com-mercial banks for deposit-ing the money to which 12banks responded. The YesBank offered the highestrate of interest for whichthe funds were parked in it,the Minister said in theState Assembly in his replyto an AdjournmentMotion on the issue movedby BJP members.

Pujari further informedthat he has written to UnionFinance Minister NirmalaSitharaman requesting her toissue necessary instruction tothe Reserve Bank of India(RBI) to allow release of thetemple’s deposits in the YesBank.

The SJTA has also writtento the RBI for transfer of themoney from the Yes Bank tothe UCO Bank, Main Branch,Puri.

On the other hand,Opposition Chief Whip (BJP)Mohan Majhi demanded that

the issue be brought under thepurview of the ongoing CBIprobe into the Yes Bank scam.

Majhi accused the ShreeJagannath Temple ManagingCommittee’s chartered accoun-tant Bijay Sahu and formerSJTA Chief AdministratorPradipta Mohapatra of availingforeign trips with the moneyreceived as commission fromthe bank.

Notably, the Yes Bank Ltdhas been placed under mora-torium by the RBI and certainrestrictions have been imposedby the RBI for withdrawal offunds from this bank.

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Minerals-rich Keonjhar dis-trict has the highest per

capita income in the State asper the estimates made whilekeeping the 2004-05 financialyear as the base year.

Planning and ConvergenceMinister Padmanabha Beherainformed this in the stateAssembly on Thursday.

He further said the percapita income in the State wasnot estimated in the 2011-12financial year. But as per anassessment made with the2004-05 fiscal as the base year,Keonjhar district has the high-est per capita income. The dis-trict has been performing wellin the agriculture, industry,services and other allied sec-tors. Keonjhar is followed bySundergarh and Angul, theMinister added.

Notably, Finance MinisterNiranjan Pujari in his Budgetspeech had said that the State’s2019-20 per capita income isestimated at Rs 1,16,614, whichis 7% higher than in the 2018-19 fiscal.

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After twenty years or so, ifyou suddenly want your

citizen to be law-binding thenit will end in political disaster.Imagine those venders whocome to Bhubaneswar by bicy-cles to sell vegetables grown intheir backyards or in their cul-tivation lands. They are farm-ers as per definition. Poor fel-lows are treated like criminals

by the authorities and drivenout from roadside where nocycles or bikes run. They areself-employed poor peopledoing no ham to any one;rather, they sell garden-freshvegetables at a reasonable price.

From Patia up to JayadevVihar, there is no parking spacefor cars. Those people whotravel by cars and want to helpthe farmers who are sellingfresh vegetables will now thinktwice because of fear of the carsbeing towed away and fined.Probably, there might be mark-ings in a survey for differentsmart cities, but our authoritiesare more worried about ‘cer-tificates’ rather than givingemployment to our poor peo-ple. On one hand, our heartsbleed for farmers, but when

they start selling their producewe arrest them or throw awaytheir fresh vegetables. Weshould not try to convert anunplanned city calledBhubaneswar into Switzerlandor Singapore overnight!

Fireworks and DJ musicare in full blast even after11pm. If someone tries toinform 100 then the police peo-ple may inform the ruffians asto who has objected to the pro-cession and fireworks. Here therule makers are silent. Bikesrun on footpaths; the bicycletracks are seldom used; most ofthe Mo Cycles remain unusedat roadside in their respectivestands collecting dusts andwearing rusts. Very few peopleuse them for fear of death. Ifsomeone wants to commit sui-

cide then he can ride a bike. MoBuses, specially the AC ones,run almost empty. TheGovernment wants people tobuy cars and bikes for theirown comfort because our pub-lic transport system is in ashambles.

Friends, it’s very difficult tochange people’s habits andmindsets overnight.

Roadside restaurants, alu-dam dahibara movable shops,vegetable shops, readymadegarment shops are managed byunemployed people. TheGovernment does not spend asingle paisa for them. But toincrease unemployment thesenew rules of no parking andtowing system is introduced toearn revenue so that that can beused as freebies for vote bank

politics. We are told that theMo Cycle and Mo Bus are a bigfailure. Only officers got theirreward during tender of thesevehicles. Huge buses only addproblem to the over-congestedroads of Bhubaneswar. Thosewho want to die early shoulddrive on Bhubaneswar andCuttack roads!

First have parking lots sothat people can use them andpurchase or do business asmost of the banks, offices andshops are situated on the road-sides.

People are now very muchfrightened to take out their carsfor going out. Once you are atmercy of traffic police, they canpunish you in different ways.On one hand, the Governmentgets huge revenue out of vehi-

cles; on the other hand, thesesudden ‘Singaporean’ rules lookbizarre to most of the people.

If the opposition partieshave common sense, they mayuse slogans of just the oppositewhat the present Governmentis implementing atBhubaneswar.

1. Wearing helmet isoptional

2. Using car seatbelt isoptional

3. Overriding is not pun-ishable

4.Those who have no validpapers while driving a car or abike may send it throughWhatsapp or e-mail to police or

RTO office within seven days.No fine on roadside

5. Separate lanes for two-and three-wheelers

6. No pollution certificatesneeded for two-wheelers. (Onetruck can pollute air whichhundreds of bike can’t do)

7. Even though law says noto trucks in the city roads atpeak hours, still then one canfind plenty of them. The bigtourist buses are also a big nui-sance on Bhubaneswar roads.

8. The shortcut road fromCuttack via Nandankanan hasmade Patia, Damna andKalinga Hospital traffic a bigheadache for the public and

traffic police.

To summarise: The changeshould neither be implement-ed to get a certificate nor toearn overnight revenue toplease the higher authorities.We would request our CM totravel in an unofficial car with-out police escorts and realisethe sufferings of the commonpeople who have made him theking for last twenty years. Giveone year’s time for people tochange or raise your arms andsurrender.

Your body your head takecare of it. No Government aidfor RTA; its insurance compa-ny’s headache.

(The writer is a senior citi-zen of Bhubaneswar)

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BJD MPs again met UnionFinance Minister Nirmala

Sitharaman in New Delhi onThursday requesting her torelease the pending basic andperformance grants amountingto around Rs 700 crore to theState in respect of 114 urbanlocal bodies (ULBs) arisingout of the 14th FinanceCommission recommenda-tions.

The MPs led by PrasannaAcharya met Sitharaman andurged her to release the grantsimmediately as the matter ispending for the last four years.The Minister assured the del-egation to look into the mattershortly, according to the MPs.

Sitharaman also assuredthe MPs that she had alreadyspoken to the RBI Governor onthe latter’s request for ensuringsafety of the fixed deposit of thePuri Jagannath Temple kept inthe Yes Bank.

Notably, on Wednesday,four BJD MPs had met theUnion Finance Minister urging

her to take steps to release thetemple funds parked in the pri-vate bank. Thursday’s MP del-

egation consisted of AmarPatnaik, Sarojini Hembramand Sasmit Patra.

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Sukinda BJD MLAPritiranjan Ghadai tied the

knot with Ollywood actressJhilik Bhattacharjee onWednesday evening.

The wedding ceremonywas held at a hotel in Chilika in

the presence of family membersof the groom and the bride.

“We seek everyone’s bless-ings and prayers for our newly-married life. Jai Jagannath,” theactress wrote in an Instagrampost with photos of the wed-ding. Pritiranjan, son of formerMinister Prafulla Chandra

Ghadai, is a teo-time MLA.Jhilik, who debuted in

Ollywood with the movie‘Target’ in 2013, was a part ofseveral super-hit Odia filmsincluding ‘Akhire Akhire’,‘Lekhu Lekhu Lekhi Deli’, ‘JagaHatare Pagha’, ‘Super Michhua’and ‘Agastya’.

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Aclerk of a Governmentschool here was caught

red-handed by Vigilance offi-cials while he was taking bribefrom a teacher of the sameschool on Thursday.

The clerk Narayan Sahooworks at the Bhakta MadhuVidyapitha.

A team of Vigilance sleuthscaught the accused red-hand-ed while he was demandingand accepting a bribe of Rs5,000 from complainantSumanta Kumar Dhanik,Assistant Teacher of the school,to prepare his 40% arrear billamounting to Rs 43,000.

The officials recovered thebribe amount from Sahoo andseized it. A Vigilance case wasregistered in this connection.

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In the biggestdrug haul in

the State, theSpecial TaskForce (STF) ofthe CrimeB r a n c hseized1.750 kgof brown sugarworth morethan Rs 1.7crore from theJatni area inKhordha district onWednesday evening.

The STF also arrested threepersons in this connection.

The police team had raid-ed three places, the Airfieldarea in Bhubaneswar, Jatni andPipili in Puri district. Duringthe raids, the officers seized1.749 kg of brown sugar from

the possession of the threeaccused and arrested them,said DGP Abhay.

In the year 2018-19, theOdisha police had seized lessthan four kg of contraband. Butin the current year, STF teamhas so far seized more than fourkg of contraband within twomonths, the DGP added.

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Bus services have not beenmade available to 44 gram

panchayats in the State due tolack of road communications,informed Transport MinisterPadmanabha Behera in theState Assembly on Thursday.

In response to a question ofBJP MLA Mohan Charan, theMinister said that 6,758 out of

total 6,802 GPs are now avail-ing bus services. There are 32buses running per one lakhpopulation in Odisha against22 buses running at nationallevel as per the Road TransportYear Book 2017, published bythe Ministry of Road Transportand Highways, he said.

The Minister furtherinformed that a total of 10,421private and 414 Governmentbuses now. He said 300 morebuses would be purchases inthe next three years for whichRs 80 crore has been allocatedthis year. The Governmentwould consider running moreprivate buses if proposalsreceived in coming days, hesaid.

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Congress MLA SantoshSingh Saluja on Thursday

demanded in the StateAssembly that Chief MinisterNaveen Patnaik give a state-ment in the House as to whenthe affected chit fund deposi-tors would get their moneyback.

Raising the issue DuringZero hour, Saluja expressedunhappiness saying that only2,200 out of 4,97,844 people,who had deposited less than Rs

10,000 in various chit fundcompanies, have got moneyback and the fate of the rest hasbeen pushed into uncertaintieswith completion of the 5-yearterm of the Justice MM DasCommission.

Alleging that some ofdepositors have committed sui-cide after failing to get backtheir hard earned money, Salujademanded that properties ofthe ponzi firm owners be con-fiscated and the amount real-ized so along with the corpusfund of Rs 300 crore be paid todepositors soon. “The ChiefMinister should make a state-ment informing when theaffected chit fund depositorswill get their money. Besides,the Government shouldenhance the term of the JusticeMM Das Commission,”demanded Saluja.

BHUBANESWAR: The num-ber of foreign tourists visitingOdisha has been on the riseduring the last five years from2015 to 2019, informedTourism Minister Jyoti PrakashPanigrahi in the State Assemblyon Thursday. A total of 1,15,128 tourists from countrieslike America, Japan, China,United Kingdom, France, Italy,Netherlands, Malaysia,Bangladesh and Australia vis-ited the State in 2019 against1,10,818 in 2018, 100,014 in2017, 76,361 in 2016 and66,971 in 2015. The number oftourists from other States hasalso increased during the peri-od. While 61,23,382 peoplefrom different parts of thecountry visited the State in2019, the numbers in preced-ing four years were 60,83,722in 2018, 56,04,828 in 2017,51,37,474 in 2016 and47,14,750 in 2015. PNS

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Leader of OppositionPradipta Kumar Naik on

Thursday demanded in theState Assembly that the StateGovernment meet all 10demands of the agitating kenduleaf pluckers at the earliest.

“Kendu leaf pluckers havebeen sitting on dharana at 111places across 21 districts topress for execution of 10demands. They have beendeprived of facilities like studystipends for their children and

marriage allowance for theirdaughters by a decision takenby the Chief Secretary and thePCCF at a KLCC meeting. Allthese supports were announcedfor them by the Chief Minister,”he said.

Stating that Kendu leafpluckers are facing difficultiesin managing their families,Naik demanded that theGovernment provide all sup-ports to them. Over Rs 80 crorehas been parked by theGovernment for their welfare,said Naik.

To this, Forests andEnvironment Minister BikramKeshari Arukha said he wouldhold discussions with officersand resolve the matter soon.

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The Banki police onThursday took into custody

a groom moments before thewedding over his allegedinvolvement in a murder casein Cuttack district.

According to reports,Prakash Swain of Talabarakotavillage in Dhenkanal districtwas on his way to a temple inAthagarh area in a car for hiswedding when a four-memberteam of the Banki police inter-

cepted the vehicle near theSapua bridge and picked himup.

Swain was then taken tothe Banki police station, wherehe was detained for question-ing. He was allegedly involvedin a murder case at Kadalibadiin 2018 and was absconding.The accused was on the run forthe last two years, policesources said.

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Astreet vendor was thrashedin public allegedly by a rail-

way staff and his associate inSoro of Baleswar district forrefusing to pay protectionmoney of Rs 200.

The incident came to foreafter a video of the incidentrecorded by a passenger wentviral on social media onThursday. Reportedly, MohanHembram, who was on-duty atthe ticket counter of the SoroRailway station, asked a

cucumber seller HarekrushnaSiala to give Rs 200 protectionmoney. But the latter expressedhis inability to give the money.

Livid with rage, Hembramand his associate abused thevendor with filthy language,dragged him on the road,kicked and punched him mer-cilessly. Though Harekrushnapleaded with the railway staffswith folded hands to releasehim, the latter did not pay anyheed and went on thrashinghim on the road. After a while,Harekrushna managed toescape from their clutches andlodged a police complaint inthis connection. Police areinvestigating into the incident.

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In a move to curb spread ofChinese virus, the Delhi

Government on Thursdaydeclared coronavirus an epi-demic and ordered closure ofschools, colleges and cinemahalls until March 31, but theongoing school examinationswill be held on schedule.

Also, people have beenadvised to stay away from pub-lic gatherings.

In a high-level meetingwith Health Minister SatyendraJain and health officials,Lieutenant Governor AnilBaijal and Delhi Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal reviewed thepreparedness to contain thespread of coronavirus.

Soon after the meeting,Kejriwal said, “All schools andcolleges shall also remainclosed till March 31, except forthe ones where the exams havebeen going on. We have suffi-cient beds in case people are tobe quarantined. We are arrang-ing Delhi Urban ShelterImprovement Boards flatswhich have remained unoccu-pied for long, and rooms inunder-construction hospitalsof the Delhi Government. Morethan 500 beds are ready to beinstalled in the DelhiGovernment hospitals.”

As the Governmentdeclared COVID-19 as an epi-demic, all the public spaces,Government, and private officepremises, malls, and shops,have been notified to disinfecttheir premises. The Delhi CMsaid, “Whatever we are doing isto contain the outbreak of thecorona. I hope that all thepeople will support us. We arenoticing how rapid the out-break has been, but in India, wehave successfully been able tocontain the outbreak with thesupport of the public. We shallremain alert to stop this diseasefrom spreading.”

Meanwhile, Deputy Chief

Minister Manish Sisodia alsoissued an order, saying, “Alleducational institutions —schools, colleges, ITIs, poly-technics, universities and pri-vate coaching and tuition cen-tres — will remain closed tillMarch 31, except for holdingexaminations.”

He said the DelhiGovernment schools will resortto “zero paper attendance” fromApril 1. “The process of digitis-ing exam result tabulation andattendance records is underway.Tablets will soon be provided toall remaining Governmentschool teachers,” he said.

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A76-year-old man who diedtwo days ago in Karnataka

while being treated for sus-pected coronavirus has becomeIndia’s first COVID-19 fatalitywith his samples taken earlierconfirming the infection, theKarnataka Government saidon Thursday. The deceasedhad gone to Saudi Arabia inJanuary end and came back onFebruary 29.

Officials said the patienthad severe co-morbidities suchas history of hypertension, dia-betes and asthma and appen-dicitis.

Coronavirus has continuedto spread its tentacles in thecountry taking into its grip 74persons with 14 fresh cases,including 10 from Maharashtraand one each from Delhi,Ladakh, and Uttar Pradeshbesides one foreign national.

Meanwhile, urging peo-ple not to panic, Prime

Minister Narendra Modi onThursday advised them toavoid non-essential travel andlarge gatherings to ensure safety.

In a series of tweets, Modialso said that no Minister of theCentral Government will trav-el abroad in the upcomingdays. “Say no to panic, say yesto precautions. No Minister ofthe Central Government willtravel abroad in the upcomingdays. I urge our countrymen toalso avoid non-essential travel,”Modi said adding that we canbreak the chain of spread andensure safety of all by avoidinglarge gatherings.

Taking a cue, theRashtrapati Bhavan closed allpublic tour visits from Fridayas a precautionary measureagainst the spread of deadlypathogens.

While Health MinisterHarsh Vardhan asked MPs toeducate people about the dis-ease in their respective con-

stituencies, the Indian Councilof Medical Research (ICMR)said the virus is difficult to iso-late but the scientists havebeen successful in isolating it.However, developing a vaccinewill take at least one-and-a-halfto two years.

The Ministry of Defence,on its part, announced it has setup seven more quarantine facil-ities for COVID-19 patients,especially for Indian citizensbeing brought back from coro-navirus-hit countries.

The facilities have beenset up at Jaisalmer, Suratgadh,Jhansi, Jodhpur, Deolali,Kolkata and Chennai. “We areexpecting more civilians to bebrought back to India. We areready with our facilities,” Armyspokesperson Colonel AmanAnand said.

The Army is operating aquarantine facility in Manesarwhile the one in Hindon, nearGhaziabad, is being operatedby the Air Force.

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The Indian stock marketsplunged into bear territory,

suffering their biggest everone-day plunge on Thursday asthe coronavirus pandemic lefta trail of red across globalfinancial markets.

The carnage on DalalStreet eroded investor wealthworth �11,27,160.65 crore, tak-ing the total market capitalisa-tion (m-cap) to �1,25,86,398.07crore on the BSE.

Stock markets tumbledacross the globe and oil pricesslumped on Thursday afterPresident Donald Trumpbanned all travel from main-land Europe to the US for amonth to fight the coronaviruspandemic, ramping up fears ofworldwide recession.

After nosediving over3,204.30 points on across-the-board selling, the 30-share BSESensex closed 2,919.26 pointsor 8.18 per cent lower at32,778.14. Likewise, the broad-er NSE Nifty gave up the 9,600

level, slumping 868.25 points or8.30 per cent to close at9,590.15.

This was the biggest dropfor the benchmarks in absoluteterms, eclipsing their previousrecord one-day fall on Monday(March 9). The markets havenow entered bear territory —that is more than 20 per centdown from a recent high. TheSensex and Nifty, which had hittheir lifetime closing highs onJanuary 14 this year, closed atmore than 2-1/2-year lows onThursday.

The rupee sank by 60 paiseto close at a fresh 17-month lowof 74.28 against the US cur-rency on Thursday due toheavy dollar demand asinvestors rushed to prune riski-er bets amid coronavirus pan-demic fanning recession fears.

Global markets reeled afterthe World Health Organization(WHO) declared the coron-avirus outbreak as a pandem-

ic, and expressed deep concernover the “alarming levels ofinaction”.

US President DonaldTrump suspended all travelfrom Europe, excluding theUK, to the US for the next 30days. Countries across theworld are imposing travelrestrictions, fuelling fears of aglobal recession, analysts said.

All Sensex componentsended in the red. SBI was thetop loser, crashing 13.23 percent, followed by ONGC, AxisBank, ITC, TCS and Titan.

“Global stocks includingIndia plunged into a bear mar-ket and oil slumped onThursday after US PresidentDonald Trump banned travelfrom Europe to stem the coro-navirus, threatening more dis-ruption to the world economy.

“Recession risk is risingand the markets do not seem tobe pricing that in fully.

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New Delhi: The ExternalAffairs Ministry on Thursdayadvised against holding thisyear’s IPL edition in wake of thecoronavirus scare, but left it tothe organisers to take a finalcall on it. This was stated byMEA Additional SecretaryDammu Ravi who has beenappointed as the nodal officerto coordinate efforts to dealwith the coronavirus outbreak.

Responding to questionsabout IPL and other sportingevents, Ravi said theGovernment’s advice would be“not do it at this time but if theorganisers want to go ahead, itis their decision”.

“We are assessing a lot ofrequests of this nature of sportsevents that have been held inIndia and some thing related tomega event already beingplanned. It is for the organis-ers to decide if they want to goahead with it or not,” Ravi saidduring a press briefing.

“Our advice would be notdo it at this time but if they stillwant to go ahead it is their deci-sion,” said Ravi.

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Against the backdrop ofcoronavirus becoming

pandemic, the External AffairsMinistry on Thursday advisedIndians to stay put whereverthey are and travel only undercompelling reasons.

External Affairs MinisterS Jaishankar told the LokSabha that coronavirus out-break was a matter of “greatconcern” and theGovernment’s initial focus isto bring back Indian pilgrimsstranded in Iran. The Minister

said there are over 6,000Indian nationals in variousprovinces of Iran.

Elaborating upon theefforts undertaken by theGovernment to meet the cri-sis, the External AffairsMinistry said the focus is oncontaining and stressed thepoint that there is no need topanic. Indians were alsoadvised to stay put whereverthey are, Dammu Ravi,Additional Secretary and Co-ordinator (COVID-19) said.MEA Raveesh Kumar saidthe Government has receivedrequests from four countriesfor assistance in arrangingprotective gears like masks.

They include Bhutan,Iran, the Maldives and Italyand India is processing it.Earlier, such request wasreceived from China, and apackage was sent, he said.

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The Reserve Bank of India(RBI) on Thursday allayed

concerns over the PuriJagannath Temple’s fundsdeposited at the Yes Bank say-ing all the depositors’ money atprivate-sector banks are safe.

In a letter to Chief SecretaryAsit Tripathy, RBI DeputyGovernor NS Vishwanathansaid, “We would like to point outthat the Reserve Bank has ade-quate powers to regulate andsupervise the private-sectorbanks; and by using these pow-ers it has ensured that the depos-itors’ money is entirely safe.”

Vishwanathan stated thatapprehension on the safety ofdeposits in private banks ishighly misplaced and any reac-tive decision would not be inthe interest of stability of finan-cial system in general andbanking system in particular.

He requested the OdishaGovernment to reconsider anydecision to withdraw or trans-

fer funds deposited by theState Government and its enti-ties in private-sector banks.

With an aim to retaindepositors’ confidence in pri-vate banks and mitigating theirhardships, the RBI has drawnup a draft scheme without anydelay and is in the process tofinalise the scheme, said theRBI Deputy Governor’s letter.

Meanwhile, UnionMinister Pratap Sarangi metUnion Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman in NewDelhi on Thursday and dis-cussed on the safety of Rs 545-crore fund of the JaganathTemple deposited in the YesBank.

He sought her personalintervention in the matter. Healso urged Sitharaman to sendnecessary directions to the RBIfor safe return of the templefund and to order a probe intoand action against the personsresponsible for parking themoney in the private bank. Related story on P2

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MLAs cutting across partylines on Thursday

demanded in the StateAssembly that the “BandeUtkal Janani” song written byKantakabi LaxmikantaMohapatra be accorded Stateanthem at the earliest.

Raising the issue during theZero Hour, BJD member AmarPrasad Satpathy said differentpeople are singing the song indifferent voices as it has notbeen accorded the StateAnthem status yet.

“In Assembly andGovernment programmes, wesing the Bande Utkal Jananiwith much respect. Everybodystands when it is sung. But uni-formity is not being main-

tained in voice and time. Whenit narrates the glory of Odisha,it needs to be accorded Stateanthem tag at the earliest,” hesaid

He further informed that aGovernment committee earli-er formed to look into thedemand made by differentquarters fixed 50 seconds forsinging of the song. But the rec-ommendation has remainedunimplemented for long, helamented.

Deputy Leader ofOpposition (BJP) BishnuCharan Sethi, CongressMember Suresh Routray, BJDmember Prafulla Samal,Congress member Tara PrasadBahinipati supported Satpathy’sdemand and urged the Speakerto give a ruling in this regard.

Speaker Surjya NarayanPatro said he would examinethe matter soon and take a verypositive decision anytime dur-ing the current Assembly ses-sion.

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Opposition members in theState Assembly on

Thursday expressed concernover the delay in paddy pro-curement from farmers again.

While they demanded areply from the Food Suppliesand Consumer WelfareMinister in this regard, SpeakerSurjya Narayan Patro said hewould hold discussion with theMinister and inform the House

about the outcome.Leader of Opposition

Pradipta Naik said farmers arestill facing difficulties in sellingtheir paddy as the Governmenthas not issued token to them.“There are huge quantities ofpaddy piled up at mandis inKalahandi, Balagir andSambalpur now. The Ministerhad assured that all paddycrops will be procured from theregistered farmers by March 31.However, most of the registeredfarmers have not yet beenissued token yet,” lamentedNaik.

Congress Legislature PartyLeader Narasingha Mishraalleged that the Minister hasnot implemented his commit-ments on paddy procurement

yet. “The Government has saidthat it will procure 19 quintalspaddy per hectare of irrigatedland and 13 quintals of paddyper hectare of non-irrigatedland from farmers. But inBalangir, upto 13 quintals ofpaddy per hectare have beenprocured. It means thatBalangir has no irrigated land.The Government is makingfalse claim of irrigating 50 percent of cultivable land inBolangir,” he alleged.

Mishra demanded a rulingfrom the Speaker asking theMinister to give data on paddyprocurement.

BJP ember JayanarayanMishra also demanded thatthe Government procurepaddy from all farmers soon.

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KandhamalMP Dr

A c h y u t aSamanta onThursday metD e f e n c eM i n i s t e rRajnath Singhin New Delhiand requestedhim to set up aK a l i n g aRegiment. Healso pleaded for a Sainik Schoolin Kandhamal.

A regiment in the name of'Kalinga' would recognise thepast glory of Odisha. Sincedecades, Odias have been pro-viding their valuable servicestowards the safety and securi-ty of the country serving in dif-ferent positions in the IndianArmy. Many of them haveearned glory in lieu of their sac-rifices and services. Once theregiment comes into force,many Odia jawans can be

assimilated in the same,Samanta told Singh.

Considering the impor-tance of the Paika Rebellion in

the Indian Independence strug-gle against the British, creationof such a regiment wouldorganise regional pride underone umbrella within the IndianArmy. He also requested to con-sider opening a campus of anArmy Public School or a SainikSchool in the KandhamalParliamentary constituency.

Singh said the StateGovernment can give a pro-posal to the Government ofIndia in this regard for furtheraction.

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The Assembly committee onhigher education has rec-

ommended to the StateGovernment not to open newdegree colleges.

After a review of the allo-cation made in the State Budget2020-21, the StandingCommittee on HigherEducation Department headedby MLA Bhupinder Singh hasrecommended for completeclosure of the system thatallows opening of new colleges.

However, the panel has sug-gested to the Government foropening of new educationalinstitutions under the HigherEducation Department in theblocks where there are no col-leges. It has also recommendedthat the number of seats in exist-ing degree colleges needs to beincreased in the regions wherethe students have no option to

pursue higher studies after com-pleting Plus II courses.

Assessing the need formore regional directors tomonitor more than 1,000Government and Government-aided colleges, the StandingCommittee has advocated forcreation of at least 15 regionaldirector posts in the 13 undi-vided districts.

The Government shouldfocus on recruitment to thepost of principals in all thedegree colleges, the committeehas said in its report recom-mending a hike in remunera-tion of guest faculties.

The committee has alsorecommended for infrastruc-ture development of privatecolleges using the MLA LocalArea Development (LAD)funds and to relax the agelimit for promotion to theposts of Readers in privateand aided colleges.

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Ganjam district CollectorVijay Amruta Kulange

on Thursday imposed apenalty of Rs 1 lakh on aliquor shop owner for lit-tering the surrounding.

As per reports, Kulange,accompanied by other offi-cials went around the townby a bicycle in the morning tocheck cleanliness.

He visited New Bus Stand,Kortpeta Chowk, JamapalliChowk, Jamapalli overbridgeand Lanjipalli Chowk to takestock of the situation.

During the visit theCollector slapped a fine of Rs10,000 on a mushroom sellerfor using single use plastic andseized polythene from him.He also slapped a fine of Rs10,000 on a tiffin stall owner forlittering the surrounding.Similarly, he also imposed a

fine of Rs 10,000 each on twoshopkeepers for making theirsurroundings.

Later, Kulange said peopleof the city have changed up to70 per cent in keeping theirsurroundings clean.

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Sanjeevani is an initiative bythe Keonjhar District

Mineral Foundation (DMF) toextend free health services tothe needy patients for availingspecialised treatment at theSCB Medical College Hospital,Cuttack. A patient facilitationcentre at the Keonjhar DistrictHeadquarters Hospital wasopened where referred needypatients would be sent to theattendant accommodation cen-tre (ACC) opened in the SCB.

Patients after reaching theattendant accommodation cen-

ter will be admitted in the hos-pital by volunteers engaged inACC while attendants will beallowed to stay in the ACC freealong with food allowance of Rs200 per day during the treat-ment of the patient.

Several needy patients whowere unable to afford treatmentat specialised hospitals can getfree treatment at SCB if referredfrom any of the sub-divisionalhospitals or CHCs. The costwould be borne from the DMFfunds, Collector KeonjharAshish Thakre said.

Health Minister NabaKishore Das inaugurated theproject in the SCB campus onMarch 5 in the presence ofMinister Premananda Naik,MLAs Jagannath Naik andBadrinarayan Patra.

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An unidentified youth man-aged to dupe a person here

by exchanging a counterfeitnote of Rs 2,000 denomination.

The incident occurred at abirth day party when noteddramatist Dilleswar Moharanaand his wife were at GopinathGarden here on Monday. Theyouth came near Moharanaand said, “Uncle, I had bor-rowed Rs 1,000 from your sonKanha at Pune. Please keep thisRs 2,000 note and return methe rest Rs 1,000.”

Moharana though at firstexpressed his unwillingnessfor such transaction but hiswife kept the currency notewithout least doubt either overthe youth or the note. She alsopromptly returned him Rs1,000 in exchange. However,later, the couple found that theRs 2,000 note was a fake one.

A similar type of dupingalso occurred at Anand Nagararea in the town the same day.Interestingly, nobody haslodged an FIR.

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Strong resentment is brewingamong the paddy growing

farmers of the district as theyalleged that their paddy was notprocured despite possessingtokens.

On Wednesday, severalfarmer leaders of Rasalpur,Nadigaon, Chelluapada,Bhimpur , Chandipur ,Mistalkuchur and Patana, aftermeeting Civil Supply Officer(CSO) Rabinrarayan Prustyvented their anguish and alsosought immediate interven-tion of the district Collector inthe issue.

The procurement date ofKharif crop although has beenextended till March 31, yetmany farmers are still waitingto sell their paddy. The agitat-ing farmers under Rasalpursociety alleged that the societywas not procuring paddy fromthem although they possessedtokens.

The CSO while asked thefarmers to approach the ACSOstating that the ACSO waslooking after the paddy pro-curement, the ACSO told thattokens were issued more than

the targets. However , ACSOAjay Kumar Mallick asked theRasalpur society to procurepaddy from the farmers whowere registered but so farcouldn’t sell off their produce.

He , however , said thatthere was no need to panic asthe closing date was March 31adding that the token systemwas introduced under a Statelevel arrangement and the localofficials had nothing to dowith it.

Despite assurances by theofficials, the farmers submitteda memorandum to the CSOand threatened to agitate beforethe CSO with paddy loadedtractors if the issue was notaddressed by the target date.

Farmer leaders NiranjanDas, Harishchandra Das,Soumendra NarayanMohapatra and RabindraGhadei were present.

(�� ""��#

More than 60 thatchedshops at Niali in Cuttack

district were reduced to ashesas unidentified miscreantsallegedly set a weekly veg-etable market on fire onWednesday night.

The vendors suffered hugeloss as properties worth lakhsof rupees were gutted in theblaze. The traders at the mar-

ket were seen undergoingsevere inconvenience in themorning as they came to the

market with vegetables for sale.Some drunkards and drug

addicts used to gather at themarket during evenings andmight have resorted to arson,the vendors alleged.

Notably, the police hadpicked up a few of the anti-socials and given a warning, afew days back. It is suspectedthat the incident might be fall-out of that.

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Communication betweenRourkela city and sev-

eral panchayats inKuarmunda block ofSundargarh district has beendisrupted after a bamboobridge over a river in thePasara area collapsed due toa heavy flow of water fol-lowing heavy rains in theupper catchment areas ofJharkhand.

The bridge served as amajor pathway for hundredsof people residing inKuarmunda block.

The State Governmenthad earlier laid the foundation-stone for a bridge on RiunGhat, but the location waslater changed to Pasara.Although a bamboo bridgewas built to serve the purposeon a temporary basis, con-

struction work for a permanentbridge has not been initiatedyet. A local person said, “Weare facing a lot of problemsafter the bamboo bridge col-lapsed as we used to solelydepend on it for daily com-

muting.”Though repair work of the

bamboo bridge has been start-ed, locals have stronglydemanded construction of apermanent bridge on the riverat the earliest.

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The Ganjam MuslimCultural Association at

Khaza Street here organiseda free health camp wheredoctors from diabetes, med-icine, dental, ECG, and gyne-cology departments of AMRIHospitals, Bhubaneswar,conducted the checkups andtreated patients.

Brahmapur MLABikram Kumar Panda inau-gurated the camp onThursday where a total of160 persons got benefitted.

Association president DrSayed Ismail, secretary RahimKhan, advisor Abdul Satar, SAKhallil led the programme.

Vice-president Tohid Ahmad,Md Sameer, Md Aslam andElias Ahmad Khan, amongothers, coordinated the event.

(�� ,��

Anewborn baby was res-cued from a graveyard at

Balaramprasad under theNalco police limits in Anguldistrict on Thursday.

According to reports, awoman of the locality heard thebaby crying at the graveyard inthe morning. As sheapproached nearer, she foundthe newborn wrapped in abag. She immediately and res-cued the infant.

On being informed bylocals, officials of the DistrictChild Protection Unit (DCPU)reached the village and lodgeda complaint in this regard withpolice.

The newborn was admittedto the District HeadquartersHospital. Investigation wouldbe carried out to ascertain theperson who abandoned thebaby at the graveyard, an offi-cial said.

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The Rourkela Steel Plant(RSP) has suspended with

the biometric attendance sys-tem in a precautionary mea-sure to avoid the risk of infec-tion of coronavirus through

contact, till March 31.The management has

instructed its employees tomark their attendance inmanually in registers duringthe period. Besides, the RSP,the authorities of the NationalInstitute of Technology,Rourkela (NITR) have alsodecided to do away with thebiometric attendance systemtill further order.

It may be noted here thaton Januar y 30, theInternational HealthRegulat ions EmergencyCommittee of World HealthOrganisation declared theoutbreak a public healthemergency of internationalconcern. It is a contagious dis-ease and people can getinfected by touching the com-municated surface or objects.So after this the SupremeCourt of India suspended thebiometric attendancemachine and introduced theirattendance system manuallyin the attendance register.

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Atotal of seven child mar-riages have been foiled in

Nabarangpur district followingswift action by District ChildProtection Unit (DCPU) andWomen and ChildDevelopment Department offi-cials on Wednesday.

While attempts to marryoff three minor girls werethwarted in Garudaguda andGitkudiaguda under Dabugamblock, an equal number ofsuch attempts were foiled inTuranjiaguda, Kusumguda andBelgam under Nandahandiblock. And yet another childmarriage bid was foiled inJharigam block, an official said.

All the girls were agedbetween 14 and 16 years, he

said. Officials of the districtadministration and activists ofan NGO went to the villagesafter getting information aboutthe attempts to marry off theminor girls. Though the fami-lies were initially reluctant todrop the idea of marriage ofthe, later they realised thatsuch practices are illegal, hesaid.

"All the parents have givenundertakings that they willnot get their daughters marriedtill they attain the permissibleage 18 years," NGO Childlinecoordinator Rabindra Pradhansaid.

With this, in the last twomonths, the district adminis-tration has stopped at least 19child marriages, Pradhanadded.

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Hundreds of protestersstaged a dharna in front of

the office of Superintendent ofPolice, Jagatsinghpur, demand-ing justice in a rape and mur-der case of Dalit girl LaxmiPriya Das of Tentoi villageunder Naugaon police stationof the district.

The protesters shouted slo-gans and submitted theirmemorandum to the SP,Jagatsinghpur. Their demandsincluded arrest of IIC ofNaugaon PS and his dismissalfrom service for aiding andabating the crime in con-nivance with the accusedunder trial; police security to22 Dalit families of Repatnavillage of Tirtol PS, financialcompensation for loss of theirproperty, physical abuse andmental torture by the uppercaste Hindus and deploymentof police personnel in thetrouble-torn area till peaceprevails.

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Kendrapada Superintendentof Police Niti Sekhar

lodged an FIR at the Townpolice station against two per-sons for their alleged involve-ment in uploading his photo-graph in social media andpassing derogatory remarks.

The duo also later circulat-ed the post to others, informedTown PS IIC Jyoti RanjanSamantaray. The accused wereidentified as Soumya Singhand Sarmistha Mohanty.

Acting on the FIR, policehave registered a case underSections 29/4,507,500,501 ofthe IPC and Sections 67, 67(a)of the Information Technology(IT) Act and investigating intothe incident.

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sA seminar on‘Union Budget

2020-Impact onEconomy, Taxesand Investment’ wasorganised by theTa l c h e r - A n g u lchapter of theInstitute of CostAccountants of India (ICAI) atTalcher.

Retired IRS Sarat KumarDash was the chief guest on theoccasion. Chairman of theChapter CMA AntaryamiAcharya presided.

ED (S&P) , Nalco MPMishra, AdditionalCommissioner, GST, AngulRange TR Pradhan, AreaFinance Manager, MCL CMACR Dash, CCM, chairman

Indirect Taxation CommitteeICAI CMA Niranjan Mishra,chairman, EIRC CMA PallabBhattacharya, vice chairman,EIRC CMA BB Nayak andGM, MCL Md Mian, spoke.

The chapter felicitated thechief guest. There were twotechnical sessions with resourcepersons CMA Niranjan Swainand Trinath Lenka. The day-long seminar was attended by150 delegates and participants.

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The 49th National SafetyWeek was concluded at the

Paradip Port Trust, whereCommandant, CISF Unit, PPTMadhabananda Biswal as chiefguest lowered the Safety Weekflag at Gate No. 4.

Top port officials like ChiefEngineer Moloy Dasgupta,CME, PPT SK Das, DeputyCME Deepak Rath, DeputyCEE Chandan Panigrahi andAssistant Director, Dock SafetyP Gopinath were present.

A tribunal salute wasoffered by Safety Officer, PPTRN Panigrahi.

Addressing the gathering,Biswal said, “Safety and secu-rity are like two faces of thesame coin and they go hand inhand and safety should not beneglected at any cost.”

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Despite various incentivesoffered by the

Government to stimulate theeconomy, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s ambitious Rs5.35-lakh-crore BharatmalaPariyojana Phase-I has beendelayed and running at a snail’space.

Due to slow down in roadsector and shortages of fund-ing, only 12,178 kms workshave been awarded instead oftotal target of 34,800 kms (worth Rs 5,35,000 crore) tillJanuary 2020. The completionof first phase is scheduled by2021-22. Besides, out of thetotal 2,000 kms, the works foronly 168 kms ( 77 km ofcoastal roads and 91 km of portconnectivity roads) have beenawarded so far.

According to Ministry ofRoad, Transport and Highways,out of the 34,800 km approvedunder Bharatmala projectPhase-I, total of 172 projects oflength 6,782 km have beenawarded till January 31 2020.“Out of the approved financialoutlay of Rs. 3,85,000 Crore forprojects to be awarded underthe project, projects of 8,276km length have been appraisedand approved up to January 31,2020, with estimated capitalcost of Rs. 2,25,358 Crore,” the

Ministry informed the parlia-mentary standing committeeon transport, tourism and cul-ture.

Similarly, against theapproved outlay of Rs. 1,50,000Crore for residual NationalHighways DevelopmentProjects, 3,902 km has beenappraised and approved up toso far with total estimated cap-ital cost of Rs. 78,486 Crore.However, based on per kmTotal Capital Cost of theappraised & approved projects,the Estimated Total CapitalCost for the Bharatmala Phase-I projects (including residualNHDP) would be Rs. 8,58,570crore. against Rs. 5,35,000 croreapproved by CabinetCommittee on EconomicAffairs.

Of the 168 kms of coastalroad projects includes includesDwarka-Khambhaliya coastalcorrider (72 kms); airstrip nearDatrana village in Gujarat (5

kms); Belakeri Port to Kumta- Sirsi road in Karnataka (59kms); six Laning of dedicatedPort road to KrishnapatnamPort (Package-I) in AndhraPradesh (18 kms);Visakhapatnam Port Road (13kms) and construction of gradeseparator from H-7 area to Portconnectivity Road by passingConvent Junction inVisakhapatnam (one kms).

The parliamentary panel,headed by TG Venkatesh,expressed concern over theslow pace of PM’s flagship pro-ject and noted that BharatmalaPhase-I is allocated a noticeableportion of the Ministry’s fundsevery year and this being theflagship project of the Ministryat present, any delays wouldhave significant bearing on thefinancial health of the Ministrysince there is a direct relationbetween delays and expendi-ture incurred on a project.

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Setting aside speculationabout Priyanka Gandhi

Vadra’s entry into theParliament from MadhyaPradesh, the Congress onThursday announced its elevencandidates for the Upper Houseand included Digvijay Singhfrom the State. A section of MPCongress and even CM KamalNath had pitched for Priyanka’s

nomination from the State tothe Rajya Sabha.

There were speculationthat the party may fieldPriyanka from MadhyaPradesh in place of JyotiradityaScindia, which led the latter toquit the party and join the BJPwhich nominated him to Rajya Sabha.

The last date for filingnominations for the 55 vacantseats in April is March 13.

Senior leader MallikarjunKharge’s name was also not inthe list of nine candidatesannounced by the party for

Rajya Sabha. The Congress’ names

include KTS Tulsi fromChhattisgarh, Phool SinghBaraiya from Madhya Pradesh,

AICC general secretary KCVenugopal and Neeraj Dangifrom Rajasthan, KennedyCornelius Khyiem from

Meghalaya, Rajiv Satav fromMaharashtra, Shahzada Anwarfrom Jharkhand and PhuloDevi Netam fromChhattisgarh.

The party also nominatedDeepender Singh Hooda as itscandidate from Haryana andShaktisinh Govil andBharatsinh Solanki fromGujarat. Former Haryana ChiefMinister Bhupinder SinghHooda was successful in gettinghis two time Lok Sabha MPson, Depender’s candidaturefrom Haryana. Senior Hoodahad catapulted the party into astrong position in the Assembly

elections last. Three Rajya Sabha seats

from MP, currently held byDigvijaya Singh, and BJP lead-ers Prabhat Jha andSatyanarayan Jatiya, are fallingvacant next month. Digvijayahas been re-nominated. Hereached the State Assemblysecretariat around 12.30 pmand submitted his papers to thereturning officer and VidhanSabha principal secretary AP

Singh. MP will see a keen contest

in one out of three seats as theBJP has also announced twocandidates — JyotiradityaScindia and Sumer SinghSolanki.

Congress and the BJP,given their respective strengthin the Assembly, can ensureeasy win for one candidate,while a contest is on cards onthe third seat.

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Showcasing BJP’s prized catchJyoitraditya Scindia, Home

Minister Amit Shah and

Defence Minister RajnathSingh on Thursday put uptheir pictures with the formerCongress MP on social mediamaintaining his induction into

the party will further strength-en BJP’s resolve to serve thepeople of Madhya Pradesh.

Scindia , who had joinedBJP on Wednesday in the pres-

ence of party president JPNadda, paid “courtesy” visits tothe two senior BJP leadersand Union Ministers at theirrespective residences here inthe morning.

After meeting the partyleaders, Scindia reached Bhopalalong with Union Minister ofAgriculture & Farmers Welfareand Minister of RuralDevelopment, Narendra SinghTomar, to file his nominationpapers for the Rajya Sabhaseat on the BJP ticket. He isexpected to file his papers forRajya Sabha on Friday.

After meeting Scindia,Shah said in a tweet, “I am surehis induction into the party willfurther strengthen BJP’s resolveto serve the people of MadhyaPradesh.”

And Singh tweeted: “I wel-come him to the BJP. His join-ing will help in furtherstrengthening the party. Iextend my best wishes to himin all his endeavours.”

While joining BJP, Scindiahad said he quit his erstwhileparty as it was not open to“fresh ideas” and remainedstruck in “inertia”, cut-offfrom the “reality”.

JP Nadda assured him thathe would find his feet in theBJP as it was a “very democra-tic party”.

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Aday after JyotiradityaScindia joined the BJP,

former Congress chief RahulGandhi on Thursday termedthe former Union Minister an“old friend” but hit out at himsaying he forgot his ideologyas he was apprehensive abouthis political future.

“ Scindia will neither getrespect in BJP, nor will he feelsatisfied there,” Rahul assert-ed a day after he revealed hisemotions for the Scindia scionsaying that he was the personwho could visit his houseanytime.

Speaking on Scindia’sshock move to the BJP afterbeing in the Congress foryears, Rahul recalled his longassociation with the Gwaliorstrongman and said there is a

difference between what is inhis heart and what he is say-ing. While some senior lead-ers like Rajasthan ChiefMinister Ashok Gehlot havebeen scathing in their criti-cism of Scindia, Rahul’sresponse to his quitting theCongress has been tempered.

“I know the ideology ofJyotiraditya Scindia ji, he waswith me in college. I wouldkeep talking to him, I knowhim well. Jyotiraditya Scindiafeared for his political future

and therefore kept his ideol-ogy in his pocket and wentwith the RSS. But the reality isthat neither will he get respectthere, nor will the truth andemotion in his heart be satis-fied. He will come to realise it,”Rahul talking to media outsidethe Parliament.

“This is a clear cut fight ofideologies. On one side is theCongress party’s ideology, onthe other hand is the RSS-BJPideology,” Rahul Gandhiadded.

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The Opposition on Thursdaycautioned the Government

against any move to privatisethe Railways and called forbringing back the practice of aseparate Budget for the publictransporter so that it could getadequate attention.

Debating on the demandsfor Grants in Lok Sabha onRailways, the members appre-ciated the modernisation andcleanliness of railway stationswhile raising doubts of entry ofprivate players in main sectorsof railways.

MK Raghavan (Congress)said the BJP Government hasshown consistent apathytowards railways in the last fiveyears and the dismal perfor-mance is visible in the highoperating ratio, which is theworst in last 10 years. “Railwaysis a services sector. BJP isunaware of reasons for estab-lishment of Railways. Railwaysis not an engine to be auctionedoff to the highest bidder, it is forpoor man’s service,” he said.

“This Budget is a call forprivatisation and eventual sell-ing off of railways which is the

lifeline of Indian people,” hesaid. Opposition members,including Supriya Sule of theNCP and Arvind Sawant of theShiv Sena, acknowledged thatrailway stations have becomecleaner.

SS Palanimanickam(DMK) accused the BJP gov-ernment of moving towardsprivatisation of railways. “AirIndia is on verge of privatisa-tion, land and sea transportshave already been privatised. Isuggest just give up the idea ofprivatisation of railways,” hesaid.

Palanimanickam said thereshould be separate Budgetwhich will encourage the RailMinistry to discuss demands ofvarious railway zones. “Earlierthere was separate budget forall zones. The Rail Ministerused to hold meeting withMPs to know demands ofzones, but now no such meet-ings take place,” he said. TheGovernment had mergedRailway Budget with GeneralBudget from 2017-18 onwards,ending a 92-year-old practice ofa separate Budget for the coun-try’s largest transporter.

Tapir Gao (BJP) said theIndian Railways has developed

so many facilities that its ser-vices are now comparable tothose offered by airlines. “Even60 years after Independence,Arunachal Pradesh andMizoram did not have railconnectivity. It is only underModi Government that railwayextended connectivity to everycorner of the country,” he said.

Before the House took updiscussion of the Demand forGrants of Railways, SpeakerOm Birla said the House has todiscuss Demands for Grants ofsix ministries and sought toknow from members if they areokay if Lok Sabha proceedingsare held on Saturday andSunday. As Opposition mem-

bers and some members fromtreasury benches were seennot supporting the idea, theSpeaker suggested that theHouse will sit late on Thursdayand Friday to discuss them.

In her speech, Sule soughtto know what is the status ofmodel stations, a proposal thatformer railway minister Suresh

Prabhu had f loated, anddemanded clarification fromthe government about details ofprivatisation.

Saugata Roy of the TMChit out at any move to privatiserailways and also attackedRailway Minister Piyush Goyalfor the move to merge all rail-way services.

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Allaying apprehensions on lawslike CAA, NPR and NRC across

the country that led to protests,including violence in the nationalCapital, Union Home Minister AmitShah on Thursday asserted that “nodocument is required for theNational Population Register(NPR)” and that the CAA(Citizenship Amendment Act) is notagainst taking citizenships fromany community but it’s about grant-ing citizenship.”

During a reply to the shortduration discussion on Delhi vio-lence, Shah said that no documentwill be required during NPR andsuggested that an Opposition dele-gation led by Leader of Oppositionin Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azadmay visit him and sort out all theconfusions pertaining to CAA, NPRand NRC. “I am always ready for adiscussion,” Shah said.

“I will discuss all these at pri-ority and urged the oppositionmembers to stop spreading falseinformation on these subjects as so

many have already lost lives whichis regrettable,” Shah said in the RajyaSabha amidst several interruptionsfrom the Opposition benches andsimultaneously treasury benchesdemanding from the Vice ChairmanSatyanarayan Jatiya that the HomeMinister may be allowed to com-plete his speech.

On a query from Congressmember Kapil Sibal about manda-tory documents, Shah said: “If onedoesn’t want to give certain infor-mation, no questions will be askedregarding that. There will be nodoubtful citizen marking”.

Shah said that under the NPR,it is being said that documents willbe asked for, “but let me tell all, nodocuments will be asked for underthe NPR”. “Earlier also under theNPR no document was asked forand so will be the case this time aswell,” said the Home Ministerprompting Ghulam Nabi Azad toreiterate the Centre’s stand andmake it clear.

“Those who don’t have infor-mation to produce, for that we haveclarified through a press release.Whatever information people want

to give, they are free to submit,”Amit Shah said.

“I clearly once again say, underthe NPR, no document will beasked for. You don’t have to provide

any information you don’t possess.Lastly, nobody will be marked‘doubtful’. Nobody needs to bescared of the process of the NPR inthis country,” Amit Shah said when

Sibal questioned about the ‘D’(Doubtful) category.

The Home Minister alsoreferred to the hate speeches in thecountry after the citizenship bill was

made an Act. “The minorities, espe-cially Muslims, were fed with fearthat the CAA will revoke their cit-izenship,” Shah said without nam-ing the Congress and its leaders’speech. The first seeds of hatespeech were sown on December 14,2019 at a rally in Ram Lila maidanwhen a Congress leader gave the callfor a do or die situation. “December16th the Shaheen Bagh started,” saidthe home minister.

The Home Minister assertedthat those responsible for the recentriots in Delhi will be brought tobook irrespective of their caste,religion and political affiliations. Hesaid that 1922 faces have beenidentified using facial identificationsoftware.

On the transfer of Justice SMuralidhar a day after his orders onDelhi violence, Shah said that theorder is issued by the governmenton the recommendation of theSupreme Court collegiums and it isnot related to the Delhi violencecase. “What sort of mindset is thatan individual judge can only do jus-tice and others can’t? Shah asked themembers of Rajya Sabha.

Earlier in the day, theOpposition panned the govern-ment as well as the police over theriots and warned that the spread ofthe “communal virus” would even-tually pose to a threat to democra-cy. Taking part in a short-durationdebate in Rajya Sabha someOpposition members said the “com-munal virus” being unleashed by theBJP was “no less harmful” than thecoronavirus.

If the “virus” is spread amongthe youth, democracy will bedestroyed, senior Congress leaderKapil Sibal said, initiating the dis-cussion. The Opposition also tooka swipe at Prime Minister NarendraModi and alleged when riots wereraging in the nation capital he andShah were busy “entertaining” thevisiting US President Donald Trump.

They also questioned the HomeMinister on “inaction” against lead-ers who gave public speeches toinstigate riots in northeast Delhi.Condemning the “delay” in actionto curb the riots and alleging intel-ligence “failure”, several Oppositionmembers demanded a probe by aSupreme Court judge.

New Delhi: The SupremeCourt on Thursday told theUttar Pradesh Governmentthat there is no law as of nowto back its action of puttingroadside posters of thoseaccused of vandalism duringthe anti-CAA protests inLucknow.

A vacation Bench ofJustices UU Lalit andAniruddha Bose told SolicitorGeneral Tushar Mehta, appear-ing for Uttar Pradesh, that it isa matter of “great importance”.

The bench also askedMehta whether the state gov-ernment has the power to putsuch posters.

The apex court, however,said there is no doubt that

action should be taken againstthe rioters and they should bepunished.

Mehta told the court thatposters were put up as a “deter-rent” and the hoardings onlysays the persons are liable topay for their alleged acts dur-ing the violence.

The hearing in the matteris underway.

The top court is hearing anappeal filed by the UttarPradesh Government chal-lenging the March 9 order ofthe Allahabad High Courtdirecting the state adminstra-tion to remove posters of thoseaccused of vandalism duringthe anti-CAA protests.

PTI

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The Centre on Thursdaydecided to fast-track envi-

ronmental clearance processfor projects entailing produc-tion of bulk drugs and bulkdrug intermediaries in thecountry to ensure that it doesnot have to depend on othernations like China for manu-facturing the drugs.

India imports large quan-tities of bulk drug for its phar-maceutical industry with Chinaalone accounting for over 68per cent of India''s totalimports. Coronavirus has com-pletely disrupted this supply.

The bulk drug is activepharmaceutical ingredient(API) that goes into manufac-turing of formulation andbranded drugs. However, in amove to ensure that it sufficientbulk drugs is manufacturedlocally, the Union EnvironmentMinistry on Thursday issuedan office memorandum statingthat the decision to clear the

projects on priority basis will beimplemented with immediateeffect.

In a notification, theEnvironment Ministry said theexpeditious environmentalclearances given to unitsinvolving active pharmaceuti-cal ingredients (API) and bulkdrug intermediates will ensureoverall preparedness and avail-ability of drugs to reduce theimpact of the outbreak.

“In order to ensure drugavailability/production toreduce the impact of the out-break of Novel Corona virus(COVID-19) and to improveoverall preparedness of drugs,the ministry hereby directsprojects or activities in respectof Bulk drugs (API and bulkdrug intermediates) shall be

considered out of turn andclearances shall be issued expe-ditiously,” the notificationissued by Sharath Kumar, sci-entist at the ministry’s ImpactAssessment division, said.

The notification has beensent to the Central PollutionControl Board, ExpertAppraisal Committee and pol-lution control boards in allstates and Union Territories.

The Government has setup a committee to look into theissue of drug shortages comingfrom trade restrictions in thewake of coronavirus spread.The committee, in its report,has said that the present stock-in-hand of the APIs may besufficient for 2 to 3 months tomanufacture formulations.

India has already restrict-ed export of about 26 APIs andformulations including antibi-otics, vitamins and hormones,as the Government exploresmeasures to ensure there is noshortage of drugs in India dueto lock-down in China.

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US Defence Secretary MarkEsper's forthcoming visit

to New Delhi next week hasbeen postponed in the view ofcoronavirus. He was scheduledto hold bilateral talks withDefence Minister RajnathSingh on March 16. The post-ponement comes days afterthe Navy called off the multi-lateral naval exercise Milan inVisakhapatnam.

More than 40 countrieswere to participate in the exer-cise held every two years. Thisyear the exercise was to com-mence from March 18 and endon March 28.

Some other big events werealso postponed in view of coro-navirus threat. They include atwo-day conference organisedby the Manohar ParrikarInstitute of Defence Studies andAnalysis (IDSA), which was tostart from Thursday.

The Defence Minister andHome Minister Amit Shahwere scheduled to attend theconference, which includedseminars on a range of securi-

ty issues in Asia.“Due to the prevailing

global situation with regard toCOVID-19, it has been decid-ed to postpone the 21st AsianSecurity Conference (ASC) toa later date. Fresh dates for theConference will be conveyed indue course,” the Ministry ofDefence think tank said in anemail to the participants.

The conference organisedby IDSA, now rechristenedManohar Parrikar Institute ofDefence Studies and Analysis,was to be attended by partici-pants from countries such asthe US, Russia, Australia,Vietnam, Sweden, Belgium,Japan and the UK.

Besides this, Milan-2020,the largest multilateral exercisehosted by the Navy to be heldfrom March 18 to 28 inVisakhapatnam, was indefi-nitely postponed as a precau-tion.

Another military drill —India Egypt Joint Special Forcesexercise 2020 — which wasscheduled to be held at Jodhpurfrom March 11 to 13, has beenpostponed as well.

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The Congress on Thursdayaccused the Government of

“completely failing” in tacklingcoronavirus and destroying theeconomy. The party alsoaccused Prime MinisterNarendra Modi of being “neg-ligent” towards the health of thepeople.

Congress said the Indianeconomy was suffering from“coronavirus” and demanded adetailed statement inParliament from PrimeMinister on the economicdecline of the country.

The party alleged the stepstaken by the Government indealing with coronavirus were“inadequate”. Former Congresschief Rahul Gandhi said thePM is not speaking a word oneconomy while FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharamandoes not understand economy.

In a blistering attack on theGovernment over the economyand the coronavirus fear, Rahul

accused Modi of “sleeping atthe wheel” and “absolutelyclueless” on how to tackle whathe called an oncoming “tsuna-mi”.

“PM Modi and his ideolo-gy have destroyed the economy.(Finance Minister) NirmalaSitharaman is saying nothing.I can understand that sheunderstands nothing so shecan't say anything. But PMmust explain to the nation,”said Rahul.

On the coronavirus pan-demic, Rahul said: “There isabsolutely no preparation. TheGovernment doesn't realisethat the coronavirus is spread-ing in this country.”

“The prime minister is

being casual, actually negligenttowards the health of the peo-ple of India,” he charged. Thegovernment has completelyfailed in tackling coronavirus,in preventing it, in identifyingpeople (affected by the virus),in quarantining them, and intaking important steps,”Congress' chief spokespersonRandeep Surjewala alleged.

“This Government runson knee-jerk reactions, whetherit comes to taking economicsteps to revive or stabilising theeconomy and to prevent eco-nomic corona from affectingthe investors' lifetime savings,or preventing coronavirus fromspreading in this country,” saidthe Congress.

“I dont think a pandemiclike coronavirus can be dealtwith in this casual fashion. It isreally sad the Union healthminister is himself a doctor.The Prime Minister is also adoctor of entire political sci-ence,” he said.

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Ahmedabad: Even as theCentre has imposed Visa curbsto stop the spread of coron-avirus in the country, no posi-tive case of the deadly diseasehas been so far found inGujarat, where more than 2,600travellers have been screened atairports till now, said officialson Thursday.

Out of the 65 samples ofsuspected cases collected sofar in Gujarat, 63 came negativefor the novel coronavirus(COVID-19), while two resultsare awaited, said a release by thestate health department.

The '104' fever helpline isgetting over 200 calls seekinginformation about the deadlyvirus, it said. A total of 2,611travellers have been screened atAhmedabad and Surat inter-national airports so far, therelease said.

Moreover, 1,217 travellers,who were kept under observa-tion upon their return, havecompleted their 28-day obser-vation period, the healthdepartment said.

On Wednesday, DeputyChief Minister Nitin Patel hadinformed the Assembly thatover 2,300 people, mostly crewmembers, on-board 55 shipswere also screened at majorports in Gujarat.

As a precautionary mea-sure, as many as 576 isolationbeds and 204 ventilators havebeen kept reserved at differentgovernment hospitals in thestate, the officials added.

On Wednesday, India sus-pended all visas, except a fewcategories such as diplomaticand employment, till April 15in a bid to contain the spreadof novel coronavirus. PTI

Mumbai: Of the 40 peopleadmitted to Civic-runKasturba Hospital here for sus-pected coronavirus infection,20 have tested negative, theBrihanmumbai MunicipalCorporation (BMC) said onThursday.

Of the 190 people quaran-tined at Kasturba Hospitalsince January 18, 168 havetested negative so far, saidDaksha Shah, deputy director,BMC health department.

“Test reports of another 20are awaited,” she said.

At present there are onlytwo confirmed patients of thecoronavirus in the city, bothbeing treated at an isolationward at Kasturba Hospital.

Those who had come incontact with these two patientstested negative, but doctorswill keep watch on their healthfor the next 14 days, Shahsaid. “The people close to twopositive people have been con-tacted. They have been advisedto stay in home isolation,” shesaid.

Three “close contacts” of

the coronavirus patients wereadmitted to Kasturba Hospital,but their test results showedthey had no infection them-selves. Still, they will be keptunder observation, Shah said.

The number of beds at theisolation ward of KasturbaHospital has been increased to50 from 28, and another 50beds will be added soon, shesaid.

Isolation wards have beenkept ready at four hospitals inthe suburbs. Another isola-tion facility with 300 beds isready at the private Seven Hillshospital too, she informed.

People should not believerumors, Shah appealed.

“Please remain cool andcalm,” she said, adding thatpeople should take generalprecautions while coughing.

A team of 46 doctors andsome 20 para-medical staffhas been deployed at theMumbai airport for screeningof passengers in three shifts,along with medical teams of thestate government and the air-port, she said. PTI

Pune: One more person testedpositive for the coronavirushere on Thursday, taking thenumber of confirmed patientsof the disease in the Pune cityto nine, a senior official said.

District collector NavalKishore Ram said a personwho had travel history to theUnited States tested positiveon Thursday.

With this, the number ofconfirmed COVID-19 cases inMaharashtra has reached 12.Apart from nine confirmedpatients in Pune, two personshave tested positive for thevirus in Mumbai and one inNagpur.

Collector Ram said the per-son who tested positive onThursday had arrived from theUS on March 1 and his sampleswere taken on March 11.Thecondition of all the patients inthe city, being treated at thecivic-run Naidu Hospital, isstable, he said. PTI

Aizawl: A conglomerate of 15 major Churches ofMizoram has asked its constituents to seek divineintervention to contain the coronavirus pandemic, achurch leader said on Thursday.

Member churches of the Mizoram KohhranHruaitute Committee were asked to seek God's inter-vention so that the state remains safe from novel coro-navirus attack and the global pandemic is contained,MKHC general secretary Rev Lalrinsangasaid.

The World Health Organization on Wednesdaydeclared the novel coronavirus a pandemic, sayingit has affected more than 1,18,000 people andclaimed 4,290 lives worldwide.

“All the member churches across the state willhold congregational prayer during church serviceseither on Saturday or Sunday night as per their con-venience,” Lalrinsanga told PTI.

“We have appealed to the people to follow andobey the dos and don'ts set by the government inorder to prevent the spread of coronavirus,” the churchleader said.

The church leader also said that the committeeheld a meeting in Aizawl on Wednesday during whichit expressed concern about alleged hoarding of essen-tial commodities.

“The church committee appeals to the people notto hoard commodities and hike prices at the time ofglobal crisis,” he said.

To allay fears of people, officials of state food, civilsupplies and consumer affairs department said therewas enough stock of rice, cooking gas and oil to lastfor three months.

The state government has formally sealed stateborders with neighbouring countries and states onWednesday. PTI

Pune: Passengers arrriving hereby Dubai -Pune flights wouldbe placed under quarantine athospital if they have visited,after February 15, any of theseven “high- risk” countrieswhich have seen major coron-avirus outbreaks.

Eight Pune residents,including a couple whoreturned from Dubai, havetested positive for the coron-avirus.

Passengers from sevenhigh-risk countries will bestraightway sent to quarantineirrespective of whether theyhave any symptoms, said divi-sional commissioner DeepakMhaisekar.

A Spice Jet flight fromDubai is scheduled to land at

the Pune airport on Friday andanother on Saturday.

“As per the Union govern-ment's guidelines, if passengerson these flights have travelhistory to China, Italy, Iran,Republic of Korea, France,Spain and Germany afterFebruary 15, they will be keptunder institutional quarantine(in hospital) in the city,” saidMhaisekar.

“We are trying to obtaintravel history post-February15 of the passengers on thesetwo flights,” he added.

A “containment program”has been launched in three-kmradius in four areas of the citywhere the patients who havetested positive for the viruslive. PTI

Chennai: The Madras High Court hasDisposed of a petition seeking a directionto the State Government to shutdownschools from kindergarten upto highschool till the coronavirus is contained.

When the plea came up, the court tooknote of two letters issued by the state gov-ernment mentioning precautionary mea-sures against the disease and instructionsgiven to airports for screening all passen-gers. It directed the state government to takeappropriate steps for issuing instructionsthat may be necessary in relation to all edu-cational institutions in the state.

Disposing of the plea filed by advocateVK Rajavelu, the court said the petitionerhas nowhere disclosed in the entire affidaviteven a single incident pertaining to anoccurrence of a coronavirus case in anyeducational institution.

“In the absence of any such material,such cavalier petition does not deserve tobe entertained as a knee jerk reaction to shutdown the schools,” the First Bench, com-prising Chief Justice AP Sahi and JusticeSenthil Kumar Ramamoorthy, said.

The petitioner said coronavirus caseswere increasing the world over and accord-ing to doctors, children and elderly peopleare less immune and likely to get infectedsoon. PTI

Mangaluru: The man whoarrived here from Dubai withsuspected symptoms of coron-avirus has shown no signs ofthe disease following tests, dis-trict officials said here onThursday.

The man, who was diag-nosed with a high fever after hearrived at the MangaluruInternational Airport (MIA) onMarch 8, had left the govern-ment Wenlock Hospital duringthe early hours of March 9refusing to undergo tests.

He was later traced andadmitted to the governmenthospital at Bantwal on March9.

He has since then been dis-charged from the hospital andasked to stay at home quaran-tined for the next 14 days,Dakshina Kannada Deputy

Commissioner Sindhu BRupesh told reporters here.

A total of 49 people areunder quarantine in the districtof which five have completedthe 28-day cycle.

All passengers arrivingby international flights andthose in contact with themshould voluntarily report to thedistrict health team and under-go self-quarantine for 14 days,she said. Screening facility atthe MIA has been strengthenedby posting doctors from sevenprivate medical colleges onrotation basis.

These doctors have beenposted in addition to the med-ical officer at the airport.

An ambulance has beenplaced at the airport exclusivelyto shift people to the hospitals,she said. PTI

Pune: Authorities in Pune havewarned of penal action againstthose who reveal the identity ofpatients testing positive forcoronavirus on social mediaplatforms.

Taking cognisance of acomplaint from a relative of aPune-based patient, who test-ed positive for COVID-19,divisional commissionerDeepak Mhaisekar said policehave been asked to monitorsocial media posts and takeappropriate action in such mat-ters.

“The police have beenasked to monitorsocial mediaplatforms through their cybercell to make sure that norumours are spread and theidentity of patients should notbe revealed,” Mhaisekar said. Ifthe identity of a patient isrevealed, the person and hisfamily could face social hard-ships, he noted.

“So, there is a need to bemore socially concerned aboutthese issues. We have beenmaking appeals since day one,but despite that, some people

are spreading wrong and mis-leading information on socialmedia, and we have receivedone such complaint,” he said.

Mhaisekar said the PunePolice's cyber cell is keeping aclose watch on rumour-mon-gers and those revealing theidentity of coronavirus patients.

He assured that appropri-ate penal action will be takenagainst such people.A relative of one of theCOVID-19 patients onWednesday wrote to the divi-sional commissioner, allegingthat informationabout theinfected person was revealedon social media and this has ledhis family to face hardships.

“The family is facing asocial boycott-like situation”, hesaid.The complainant soughtaction against those whorevealed the identity of thepatient on social media.

So far, 11 positive coron-avirus cases have been report-ed from Maharashtra, includ-ing eight in Pune, two inMumbai and one inNagpur. PTI

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Lucknow: A 35-year-oldIndian-origin doctor fromCanada, who came to visit herrelatives here, has been testedpositive for novel coronavirus(COVID-19) at the KGMUand her samples have been sentto Pune’s National Institute ofVirology for reconfirmation, asenior doctor said on Thursday.

She has been kept in an iso-lation ward while her hus-band, who had accompaniedher, has also been tested but hasbeen found to be negative inthe two tests conducted onhim, Professor D Himanshu of

King George’s MedicalUniversity’s MedicineDepartment said.

The 35-year-old doctor ofIndian origin is based inToronto, Canada and hadarrived here on March 8. Shewas tested positive onWednesday night and her sam-ples have been sent for recon-firmation to NIV, DrHimanshu said.

Though she did not showany symptoms during screen-ing at the Lucknow airport, shedeveloped fever and coughlater and contacted the doctorsat KGMU, he said.

The doctors are also iden-tifying those who had inter-acted with her between March8 and 11 and they will all betested, he added.

“Her husband is alsounder observation in the hos-pital but he will be dischargedby evening today,” DrHimanshu said. KGMUspokesman Dr Sandip Tiwarisaid a total of 300 samples fromacross the state have been test-ed in the lab in KGMU hospi-tal and besides the seven casesof Agra, the latest case of theCanadian doctor has beenfound to be positive. PTI

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Activists belonging to Leftwing and Dravidian

Forum will stage a night longsit-in at the Himalaya Lawnsof the IIT-Madras on Fridayto express their solidaritywith Shaheen Bagh kind ofprotests across the country.

This was stated by one ofthe student leaders on condi-tion of anonymity. “we haveput up many hoardings acrossthe IIT campus and are cir-culating posters to be dis-played during the 12 hour sit-in,” said the student leader. Heclaimed that the teachingcommunity and the studentswere in unison with the sit-in. Tamil Nadu is still wit-

nessing protest marches andrallies across the Statae againstthe CAA and related laws.The Muslim organisations inthe State want the Tamil NaduLegislative Assembly to passa resolution condemning theCAA. But the chief ministerand his cabinet colleagueshave rejected the demand.

Situation in Coimbatore,a communally sensitive citycontinues to be tense follow-ing attacks on Hindu Frontleaders and counter-attackson leaders of Islamic organi-zations. More than 2,000policemen have beendeployed in the sensitive areasof the city in the backgroundof attacks using petrol bombsand other deadly

weapons.

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Bengal BJP is planning toproject former State Minister

and Trinamool Congress discardSovan Chatterjee as its Mayoralcandidate in the coming KolkataMunicipal Corporation elec-tions.

A senior State BJP leadersaid “Sovan da is a seasonedcampaigner and can be an assetfor the BJP if he chooses to leadthe party from the front in theKMC elections… already ourall-India president JP Naddajihas been informed about theState party’s views and he is notopposed to the idea of ropinghim in.”

Chatterjee once a blue-eyedboy of Chief Minister MamataBanerjee quit the party after itapparently backed his wife Ratnain her legal matrimonial battlewith Chatterjee.

Subsequently Chatterjee aformer Mayor of Kolkata joinedthe BJP along with his closewoman aide Baisakhi Banerjee.However, he distanced himselffrom his new outfit withinmonths of his joining it follow-ing differences with BJP’sobserver for Bengal KailashVijabargiya.

At present Chatterjee findshimself parked on a “no man’sland” maintaining equidistance

from both the outfits though theBJP sources say that he is still aprimary member of the partyregardless of the distance he ismaintaining.

The BJP renewed its effortto project Chatterjee as itsMayoral candidate after theTMC entrusted his estrangedwife Ratna Chatterjee with thepre-poll organsational functionsfrom Behala East Assembly con-stituency from where SovanChatterjee is still a sitting MLA.

Though neither Sovan norBaisakhi would mince words ontheir future course of actionsources close to them they havenot as yet made up their mindson whether to take up theresponsibility that the BJP is will-ing to entrust on him.

“There is no formal com-munication from any side…No decision has yet been taken.Let an opportune moment comethen only a decision will betaken,” Banerjee said whileSovan maintained a studiedsilence. When contacted seniorState BJP leader Pratap Banerjeesaid his party was indeed will-ing to field Chatterjee as its facein the KMC elections. “Sovan dais a big leader and as far as Iknow he is stilla BJP member. Inthat case the only question iswhether he will take active partin the elections.

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Tamil film’s super starRajinikanth, who was

expected to make an importantdeclaration on Thursdayregarding the launch of his pro-posed political party made itknown that he was not in ahurry and also he would neverbe the Chief Minister of theState.

“Had I wanted, I wouldhave become the ChiefMinister in 1996 at the age of45. Why should I aspire for apost which I had declined 24years ago?” he asked whilespeaking to journalists atChennai on Thursday. Thereigning star of South Indianfilms asked the people of theState to create an environmentwhereby his idea of gover-nance and Government couldbe implemented. “If only thepeople accept the kind of pol-

itics which I want, we will beable to make any change.Otherwise it will be like cook-ing Chakkarai Pongal (a sweetTamil delicacy) in the same potwhere Meen Kuzhambu (fishcurry) had been cooked,” saidRajinikanth.

Explaining the rationalebehind his decision not toaccept the post of ChiefMinister, Rajinikanth said pre-ferred Tamil Nadu to be therole model for other States inthe country.

“The Chief Minister shouldbe one who is fully devoted tothe matters affecting the Stateand he/she should not be bur-dened with other tasks. It wasin Tamil Nadu we brought aregional party (DMK) to powerdefeating the Congress for thefirst time in the country’s his-tory. My idea of a chief minis-ter’s job is different from thatof a conventional political boss.My idea of politics is that the

party president and ChiefMinister should be differentpersons.,” explainedRajinikanth.

He also disclosed that morethan 50 per cent of the posts inhis party as well as the cabinetwould be reserved for peoplebelow the age of 50 and whohas professional qualifications.“We will rope in retiredbureaucrats and professionalsfor advisory jobs. Ours will notbe a political party of profes-sional politicians,” he said.

The actor set precondi-tions for his entry into theunknown terrain of politics.“As on today, Tamil Nadu isdominated by two Jambavans,two entities with all resourcesavailable in the world. TheAIADMK and the DMK.While the DMK has been outof power for the last ten years,it is bestowed with men andinfrastructure. The AIADMK is

in charge of public treasury andis in a position to manipulatethe way people think,” he said.

According to Rajinikanth,there are 50,000 office bearersworking all over Tamil Nadu inboth the DMK as well as theAIADMK. “This is the rootcause of corruption and I wantthat system to go. Politicsshould not be for makingmoney but it should be for pub-lic welfare,” he said.

He asked the people ofTamil Nadu to set the agendaand prepare the ground for therevolutionary change envis-aged by him. “Then we willthink about the politics andgovernance,” he said.

Maalan Narayanan, TamilNadu’s leading author andpolitical commentator who hasbeen tracking the course ofRajinikanth’s political journey,described the actor’s Thursdayannouncement as a tacit with-

drawal from the battle field. “Itis like one step forward and twosteps backward.

Rajinikanth’s concept ofpolitics is the same that waspreached by Mahatma Gandhibut I doubt whether it wouldmaterialise in the near future.There is lot of differencebetween practical politics andpragmatics. I feel chances arethat he may end up like hisadvisor Tamilaruvi Manian,who too harps on value basedpolitics,” Maalan told ThePioneer.

Kolahala Srenivaas, politi-cal observer, was blunt in hisobservation that Rajinikanthwould not take any hasty deci-sion. “He has set the ground forhis withdrawal from politics. Idon’t think people in TamilNadu would be able to providehim what he has asked for inreturn for his entry into poli-tics; revolution, upsurge andwave.

Chennai: Tamil Nadu ChiefMinister K Palaniswami onThursday sought to allay fearsover coronavirus, saying thestate was home to the bestmedical practitioners in thecountry and people need notpanic. Making his first com-ment on the coronavirus in thestate Assembly on Thursday,Palaniswami said the diseasespread only through those peo-ple coming from foreign desti-nations and those living in thestate were not affected.

The state reported its firstcoronavirus case on March 7 inwhich a 45-year-old engineerhailing from Kancheepuramhad tested positive after return-ing from Oman.

The Chief Minister saidthe government was screeningthose who come to the state

from various foreign destina-tions and those showing symp-toms were isolated and givenproper treatment at the RajivGandhi Government GeneralHospital (RGGH).

Reiterating the earlier com-ments made by Health andFamily Welfare Minister CVijayabhaskar that the diseasewas spreading through thoseindividuals who had returnedfrom overseas, Palaniswamisaid facilities are available to giveproper treatment to those peo-ple if they show symptoms ofthe virus. “There is no need toworry. Around 1.50 lakh peoplewho had arrived from foreigncountries were screened andonly those with symptoms of thevirus are given treatment by iso-lating them,” Palaniswami said. PTI

Jammu: The Jammu &Kashmir administration onThursday said 1,433 travellersand persons in contact withsuspected coronavirus caseshave been put under surveil-lance in the Union Territory,which has reported one posi-tive case so far.

With the cases of coron-avirus on the rise in the coun-try, Financial Commissioner ofthe Jammu & Kashmir Healthand Medical EducationDepartment Atal Dulloo tookstock of measures put in placeto prevent the spread of the dis-ease in the Union Territory(UT). He also inspected thefacilities for suspected patientsin two hospitals in Jammu.

“In UT of J&K till date,1,433 travellers and persons incontact with suspected cases

have been put under surveil-lance, of whom 1,178 are underhome quarantine,” a Healthbulletin issued by the UTadministration said.

Of them, 17 are under hos-pital quarantine, 80 in homesurveillance and 158 have com-pleted their 28-day surveil-lance period, it said.

As many as 74 sampleshave been sent for testing andout of which, 29 are negativeand only one have tested pos-itive, while reports of 44 sam-ples are awaited, it said.

The administrationappealed to the people to vol-untarily declare their foreigntravel history.

Officials said coronavirustesting labs have been started inSher-i-Kashmir Institute ofMedical Sciences in Srinagar

and Government MedicalCollege in Jammu.

Another facility atGovernment Medical Collegein Srinagar was operationalisedon Thursday.

Control rooms and sur-veillance teams have been con-stituted in all districts, theysaid. The government hasstrongly urged all social, reli-gious and political organisa-tions to avoid large gatherings.

There is no need to panic,the public is advised to main-tain social distancing; avoid un-necessary travel and use of pub-lic transport; and also takebasic precautions, includingpersonal hygiene, frequenthand washing with soap andobserving coughing and sneez-ing etiquettes,” the govern-ment advisory said. PTI

Srinagar: PDP leader and for-mer trade unionist AbdulQayoom Wani on Thursdayrenounced politics in protestagainst the Centre’s decision torepeal Article 370 and bifurca-tion of Jammu & Kashmir intoUnion Territories.

Wani, a trade union leader,had joined the PeoplesDemocratic Party (PDP) aheadof the Lok Sabha polls in 2019.

“I am renouncing politicsto protest against the illegal andunconstitutional decision ofthe Centre regarding abrogation

of Article 370 and repeal ofArticle 35A,” he said in a state-ment.

Wani contested from northKashmir’s Baramulla Lok Sabhaconstituency on a PDP ticketand stood fourth.

He had demanded that theCentre should release all main-stream and separatist politicianswho have been arrested afterthe government’s August 5,2019 decision to abrogateArticle 370, which gave specialstatus to the State of Jammu &Kashmir. PTI

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Coimbatore: Tight vigil isbeing maintained in the cityand those involved in attack onworkers of SDPI and RSS willbe brought to book soon, PoliceCommissioner Sumit Saransaid on Thursday.

Police have taken 127 peo-ple into preventive custody asa precautionary measure, hetold reporters here and soughtcooperation from the regionaloutfits to maintain peace andcommunal harmony.

Adequate police force hasbeen deployed in and aroundthe city to meet any eventual-ity and also instill confidenceamong the public, he said.

Besides, vehicle checkshave been intensified at 40strategic points across the city,particularly during night, hesaid, adding that three caseswere registered in connectionwith the incidents over the lastone week.

Arrests have already beenmade in the two cases of hurl-ing of petrol bombs on amosque and Hindu Munnanioffice.

Those protesting werealso asked to avoid any type ofagitations in the city for oneweek, he added.

A RSS worker was attackedon Wednesday, in a fresh inci-dent in the cycle of violence inthe city for the past few daysafter the assault of a Hindu out-fit leader last week.

Tension gripped parts ofthe city since the attack onHindu Munnani SecretaryMadukkarai Anand on March5 when he was returning homeafter attending a pro-CAAdharna and hurling of a petrolbomb on a mosque withinhours.

On Tuesday, the HinduMunnani office here cameunder petrol bomb attack whilea functionary of the SDPI wasthrashed by some unidentifiedpeople. PTI

Guwahati: Over 1,000 posts ofdoctors were lying vacant inhealth institutions acrossAssam due to which around1,800 doctors were engaged oncontract to overcome thisshortage, a state minister saidin the Assembly on Thursday.

Though steps were beingtaken to fill the 1,115 vacanciesin a phased manner, the stategovernment has meanwhileengaged 1,792 doctors on acontractual basis under theNational Health Mission(NHM) to meet the immediate

requirement, state Health min-ister Himanta Biswa Sarmasaid.

The state government hasalso engaged 12,528 nongazetted employees against3,999 posts lying vacant, theminister said in a reply to aquestion of Rupjyoti Kurmi ofthe Congress.

The posts were lying vacantin health facilities of the stateunder Health and FamilyWelfare (A) Department.

Another 1,342 posts ofgazetted and non-gazetted staffin medical colleges and other

institutions under Health andFamily Welfare (B) Departmentare also lying vacant, Sarmasaid.

At least 366 faculty postsunder the Directorate ofMedical Education and 57 sim-ilar posts under the Directorateof AYUSH are lying vacant,Sarma said.

A total of 355 posts of assis-tant professors in government-funded colleges, and 22,938posts in different categorieswere also lying vacant underthe Directorate of SecondaryEducation, he said. PTI

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It’s obvious to anyone, who has seen thevideos and read the first-hand accountsof residents in the troubled north-eastarea of Delhi, that what happened therewas a bloody Hindu-Muslim commu-

nal riot. Tensions were building up ever sincesome citizens launched a nationwide protestagainst the Citizenship Amendment Act(CAA), which often turned violent and dis-rupted normal life in many Indian cities forover two months. Videos shot in the affect-ed areas of Delhi show huge pile of petrolbombs, acid, bricks and stones on the terracesof Muslim residents, including that of a Delhilegislator, burqa-clad women thrashing hap-less policemen and joining the lynch mob.Such was the ferocity of the attacks that sev-eral senior officers suffered grievous injuriesand a Hindu Intelligence Bureau (IB) officialwas hacked to death by his Muslim neigh-bours. He is said to have been stabbed sev-eral hundred times. One had heard of suchbarbarity during the Moplah uprising in 1921and the Kolkata riots after MA Jinnah’s callfor “direct action” on August 16, 1946, tosecure an Islamic nation. It was a blood bath.

This is not to say that the Hindus innorth-east Delhi were silent and innocentspectators. They were not and as much guilty.Seeing the build-up in the Muslim mohallas,they stocked up, too and, therefore, when theriots broke out, the streets resembled a bat-tle field. One had not seen such hatred andviolence between the two communities in along time. So, what triggered this timearound?

One, having got used to a standard dietof appeasement for seven decades, theMuslims find the “no-appeasement” policyof Prime Minister Narendra Modi unaccept-able and, therefore, there has been simmer-ing discontent in the community, which onlyneeded a trigger to explode. Some leaders ofthe community added fuel to the fire by cit-ing the abrogation of the special status ofJammu & Kashmir last August and theSupreme Court’s judgment in the RamJanmabhoomi-Babri Masjid case as develop-ments that hurt the Muslims. The commu-nity was, therefore, looking for a cause andthe CAA came along. Then, the riots hap-pened and it found a chance to play the vic-tim card again.

It must also be said that this timearound, there is gross miscalculation amongthe Muslims about the response of Hindus totheir assertiveness and violence. Havingwatched the sociological transformation of theHindus over many decades, it must be saidthat the Hindu of the 1950s or 1960s, whowould stoically bear with the demands of thisaggressive minority in the hope that eventu-ally things would settle down, no longer exists.The attitude of the Western media and itsIndian cohorts, who are busy spreading Hinduphobia, has proved to be highly provocative.They are actually promoting hatred and vio-lence among these communities. The role ofsocial media and the videos in circulation is

the new-age fuel for communalconflagration. Both communitieshave to factor in the new attitudesthat govern them. The Muslimshave to realise this and arrive ata new equation for peaceful co-existence. The Hindus have tounderstand the anxieties plagu-ing this religious minority andfind ways to restore harmony.Both communities must nowaccept that the old equation hascollapsed.

Following Partition, theMuslims of India on this side ofthe border had the option toeither cross over and become partof an Islamic State or stay put andbecome citizens of a secular,democratic India. Around 35million of them chose to stayback and live in a democraticnation. They constituted about 10per cent of the 350 million peo-ple in India after Partition. Latestestimates indicate that theMuslim population has swelledto 175 million over the last sevendecades and this community iswell spread out across the lengthand breadth of this country.

The integration of theMuslims into a secular, democ-ratic nation that emerged in1947 would have been easy if onlythe then Government, headed byPrime Minister JawaharlalNehru, had given them theoption of either living in an Indiawith a common civil code thatwould be uniformly applicable toall citizens across communities or

to cross the border and live in anIslamic State. Nehru’s Muslimappeasement policy encouragedthe hotheads among the Muslimsto such an extent that even afterPartition and the creation ofPakistan, some Muslim membersof the Constituent Assemblydemanded separate electoratefor the Muslims in democraticIndia. Sardar Patel and otherleaders felt that this demand waspreposterous.

The concession Nehru madeto the Muslim clergy after inde-pendence is indeed the timebomb that is ticking away andthreatens to destroy India’s unityand integrity. After Nehru, hisdaughter Indira Gandhi, in orderto muster the Muslim vote aftershe split the Congress in 1969,continued to molly-coddle theulemas. The Congress got thebest opportunity to wash away itssins vis-à-vis Muslim appease-ment when the Supreme Courtdelivered the historic judgmentin the Shah Bano case anddeclared that divorced Muslimwomen were entitled to mainte-nance like other divorcees, as pro-vided for in Section 125 of theCode of Criminal Procedure. Thecourt took the opportunity todraw the country’s attention toArticle 44 of the Constitution,which committed the State tobring in a Uniform Civil Code.It said such a code would help thecause of national integration.

While this judgment was

hailed across the country, theMuslim clergy was up in armsagainst the apex court’s decision.Even though Prime MinisterRajiv Gandhi had won the biggestmandate ever in the country’sparliamentary elections — over410 seats — he was unable orunwilling to stand up to the mul-lahs and brought in a law to undothe top court’s verdict. This law,the Muslim Women (Protectionof Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986,declared that Muslim men hadno obligation to pay maintenanceto their divorced wives like othermen.

Given this history, the viciouspropaganda unleashed byMuslim communalists in theinternational media against Indiais bunkum. India was and is theworld’s biggest secular, democra-tic nation and its Hindu major-ity is very proud of it. TheMuslims must acknowledge thisand be wary of the false narrativebeing spread my mischief-mak-ers. For once, the UnionGovernment has begun to assertitself to correct the follies ofNehru and his progeny. This isthe only way by which we canpreserve the core values of ourConstitution and protect India’sunity and integrity. The majori-ty cannot allow some malcon-tents among a minority to wreckthis.

(The writer is an author spe-cialising in democracy studies.Views expressed are personal.))��

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Just another Scindia” (March12). It was more than clear thatJyotiraditya Scindia was at oddswith his party ever since he wasdenied the rightful place he wasaspiring for. Both in Rajasthanand Madhya Pradesh, theCongress high command reliedheavily on the old guard and didnot pay heed to the leadershipcapability of the young Turks.

The Congress was able toform a Government in MadhyaPradesh with support from lead-ers like Kamal Nath, DigvijayaSingh and Scindia. Yet therewards weren’t apportioned fair-ly. Scindia was naturally infuriat-ed for being ignored. Politicalanalysts have expressed theiropinion that such a crisis, thoughnot entirely unexpected, couldhave been averted had the grandold party addressed mountingdiscontent among its leaders. Butis Scindia a mass leader as is madeout to be? Is it so easy to changeparty ideology? Having politicalambitions is one thing but com-prising on ideology another.

Vinod C DixitAhmedabad

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Sir — This refers to the article,“Uddhav doing a tightrope walk”(March 12) by Kalyani Shankar. Ifthe past is any indication, coali-

tion Governments have had ashort shelf-life. Notwithstandingthis, political parties are compelledto fall back on regional parties,which time and again keepreminding the Central leadershipof their compulsions and vulner-

abilities. A tripartite alliancepremised starkly on different ide-ologies, like the one inMaharashtra of the Shiv Sena, theNationalist Congress Party (NCP)and the Congress, is yet anotherexperiment in this series. Verily

speaking, keeping its partners ingood humour while adhering tothe Hindutva plank is an uphilltask for Sena supremo UddhavThackeray.

The writer’s observation thatthe Sena, NCP and Congressshould keep their respective pub-lic images intact in order toretain their electorate holds goodeven as Uddhav has admitted thathe doesn’t want a Hindu Rashtra.As long as utopia prevails, nobodyminds — happiness flowing frompeace, communal harmony, tol-erance and respect for one and all,irrespective of faith, religion,region, language caste and creed.

Azhar A KhanRampur

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Sir — The State Bank of India (SBI)is perhaps the best shock absorberin the banking sector. But with sev-eral enterprises experiencing stressand surge in bad loans, how longcan it retain its elasticity is a mat-ter of grave concern.

ShantanuVia email

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If one were to look at the headlines dominat-ing our news channels and the print mediathese days, the COVID 19 pandemic would

be a distant third, behind the political upheavalin Madhya Pradesh following JyotiradityaScindia’s departure from the Congress Party andthe collapse of Yes Bank amid allegations of fraudand deceit by its former chairman and founder,Rana Kapoor and his family. We would do wellto remember that the former two issues, whileimportant, are certainly not life-threatening. Theglaring fact is that till about the third week ofFebruary, Italy had just about the number of casesthat we have today. These crossed the 12,000mark, with over 600 fatalities, in just a matter ofa fortnight. There is of course the possibility thatthe Coronavirus may not impact us as badly forany number of reasons, ranging from high tem-peratures that are usually prevalent at this timeof the year to the fact that we may be God’s cho-sen people. It may even be that because gener-al hygiene is not exactly our strong suite and wehave a better immunity because of it, we mightbeat any impact the Coronavirus might other-wise have on us. However, if these are the ratio-nales that we prefer to exercise to ignore theimminent danger that the Coronavirus poses,then we may well be in for a rude shock.

Megan McArdle, The Washington Postcolumnist and author, uses this old brain teaserto explain the spread of the Coronavirus pandem-ic. “You have a pond of a certain size and uponthat pond, a single lily pad. This particular speciesof lily pad reproduces once a day, so that on daytwo, you have two lily pads. On day three, youhave four and so on. If it takes the lily pads 48days to cover the pond completely, how long willit take for the pond to be covered halfway?” Theanswer is of course 47 days and not 24 as someof us may well conclude but more importantlyeven as late as day 40, one will barely know thelily pads are there as the numbers will still be quitesmall.

Now here’s the catch. Events in both Wuhan,where the virus is said to have originated, andItaly suggest that the number of people infect-ed by the virus doubles every four-five days,which means a ten-fold increase every fortnight.But since there is no preventive anti-virus drugavailable yet, leaving aside some rather fancifulsuggestions, our complete population is clearlyat risk. This obviously implies that if appropri-ate preventive measures are not adopted, ourhealthcare system, which has inherent flawsalready, is at great risk and is bound to be over-whelmed in a relatively short period of time, oncethe threshold is crossed. The threshold is thepoint at which we would just not have therequired infrastructure, i.e. the doctors, nurses,beds or even the ventilators essential for treat-ing those affected.

That in turn would have its own repercus-sions because once that occurs, the doctors wouldhave to play God and select and treat only thosepatients who have the best chance of survival.Triage, as it is known in military circles, is alleged-ly already happening in Italy and may well havebeen resorted to in China. Without doubt, thiswould be the rational choice as one would rather

provide the necessary medical facilitiesto a 20-year-old with better chances ofsurvival and a brighter future ahead ofhim, than to a 65-year-old whosechances of making it are infinitely less.However, make no mistake, that if andwhen such a situation occurs, themedical fraternity will find itself underthe spotlight, facing a great deal ofscrutiny and controversy for the choic-es that they will make, given thatthese will greatly impact social cohesionfor reasons not too difficult to visualise.

Therefore, when the PrimeMinister and the Health Minister, him-self a doctor, tell us not to panic, theyundoubtedly make eminent sense, butfor the fact that we do not really see thekind of drastic measures being initiat-ed here as we have seen in China, Italy,Hong Kong or even Singapore. This isnot a political issue and just talk of“being prepared” or “screening” cannotbecome the buzzword to suggest thatthe Government is in control. The sadfact is that in this specific case, for nofault of the Government, it is theCoronavirus that is in the driver’s seatand we, the people, are on the back foot.Fortunately, the Government has takenthe important step of cancelling all visasissued for entry into the country for onemonth. While this will certainly help,whether it goes far enough in prevent-ing infections remains to be seen.Because more than worrying about thevirus being transmitted by those com-ing from the affected regions, we alsohave to take into account its transmis-sion from within our own communi-ties. The Government thus has littlechoice but to be ahead of the curve and

cannot wait to be overwhelmed beforeit initiates the necessary curbs onmovement and other such drastic mea-sures to firewall the spread of theCoronavirus. Undoubtedly, this will addto our economic burdens, along witha host of other issues. But, that will befar lesser than if we wait till some pre-determined numbers are affected, bywhich time it will be too late to halt thespread of the Coronavirus exponential-ly. As some experts have suggested, thetime for mere containment is gone andwe need to look at measures that willhelp in mitigation.

In this context, the Governments atthe State and Centre would do well toremember that we have problems thatare peculiar to us, which will greatlyimpact our ability to effectively imple-ment the measures that they may putin place. For one, we have an extreme-ly large part of our population that isignorant about matters such as person-al hygiene and what is worse, lackingthe necessary infrastructure requiredlike toilets and piped water. Issueswhich are of critical importance here.Moreover, many among us are whollylacking in the understanding of theirown civic responsibilities and tend tobe even less inclined to fulfil themunless forced.

That apart, hyperbole, superstitionand plain idiocy have run amok andthere are those, including prominentpolitical and religious leaders, who havemade bizarre and scientifically-unproven claims about how to counterthe Coronavirus. Unfortunately, theirviews receive uncalled for publicitythanks to social media and add to the

confusion. Second, unlike China, we neither

have the ability nor the self-disciplineto ensure that measures such as lock-downs can be effectively implementedby our police force. If we are to controlaccess and prevent gatherings ofcrowds, especially for religious events,then there is an urgent need for theGovernment to mobilise the CentralArmed Police Forces and the militarywith the necessary protective clothingand the requisite training. Mobilisationand training take time, as does deploy-ment, something we are very short of.Therefore, it is absolutely essential thatthe Government acts now and movesthe required forces so that they can beeffective as early as possible. There isin fact no time for a separate Plan B, itneeds to be implemented concurrent-ly.

Finally, there is no space for poli-tics here because the Coronavirus killswithout bias and does not respectboundaries, caste or creed. If we are tohalt its spread, we will have to worktogether and hard decisions will haveto be taken now, regardless of theirrepercussions. Just as the Reserve Bankof India was forced to declare a mora-torium on Yes Bank to prevent a run onthe bank, the Government must takedrastic action now if we are to controlthis pandemic. It would do well toremember that it is always better to besafe than sorry.

(The writer, a military veteran, is aconsultant with the Observer ResearchFoundation and a Senior Visiting Fellowwith The Peninsula Foundation,Chennai)

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While presenting the UnionBudget 2020-21, FinanceMinister (FM) Nirmala

Sitharaman proposed setting up fivenew smart cities to attract investmentand drive economic growth. Unlikethe metropolises under the SmartCities Mission (SCM) modelled aslight house with area-based and pancity development, the new smartcities will embrace full-fledged newdevelopment like GIFT city, SpecialEconomic Zones and so on.

However, a closer look at theprogress of the SCM reveals some dis-appointing trends. As of July 25, 2019,of the total approved projects ofunder �3 lakh crore, only 18 per centhave been completed; work ordershave been issued for 37 per cent pro-

jects; tenders have been issued for 16per cent and 29 per cent of proposedprojects are still at the “detailed pro-ject report” stage. Moreover, theSCM’s progress has been lopsided as54 per cent of the completed projectshave come from just four States —Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Gujaratand Uttar Pradesh. At the city level,10 cities (New Delhi, Belagavi, Surat,Indore, Varanasi, Raipur, Tumakuru,Vadodara, Ajmer and Ahmedabad)account for 48 per cent of the com-pleted projects. And 34 smart cities donot have evidence of even a singlecompleted project.

Even the holistic improvement ofthe cities seems to be unrealistic as,on average, the Area BasedDevelopment projects account for upto 80 per cent of the funds but don’tbenefit even five to 10 per cent of thecity’s population. However, theMinistry of Housing and UrbanAffairs (MoHUA) and the SCMnever leave any stone unturned tohighlight cosmetic achievements andannounce new measures like pairingsister towns on the basis of best andworst 20 performing cities or estab-lishing a Smart City Observatory. Tomany observers, the SCM’s initiatives

have become futile. For instance, theEase of Living Index report thatMoHUA started for all smart cities in2018 could not be furnished in 2019despite floating tenders for the sameover six times. Moreover, it was alsoreported that a SCM 2.0 will belaunched in 2020 that would cover allthe 4,302 cities in India. Hence, giventhe Centre’s continued and renewedfocus on smart cities, it is imperativeto understand the constraints plagu-ing the SCM since its inception.

Given the capacity problem at thecity level, leading private firms arebeing engaged as consultants and asProject Monitoring Units (PMUs) bythe Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs)for the preparation of the concept planand execution of the smart city pro-jects. Further, their aim is to create asustainable revenue model to attractprivate investment, but, this turns outto be abysmally low.

The SCM guidelines state that the“rights and obligations” of the city willbe transferred to the SPVs withoutspecifying the exact terms of the rela-tionship and hierarchy between them.The SPVs, headed by a CEO and reg-ulated by the Companies Act 2013,consist largely of bureaucrats with

only a small representation of elect-ed representatives or any experts. Themajor decision-making powers restswith the SPV and its board of direc-tors. Hence, many of their policychoices are guided by centrally-for-mulated guidelines. Quite contrary tothe ethos of decentralisation andempowerment of city Governments,the SPV-led process of implementingthe SCM becomes more bureaucrat-ic and technocratic. Even though it ispragmatic to allow the SPVs to workon smart proposals, that should be inconsonance with and not to theexclusion of elected representatives ofcity Governments.

Public participation has beenvirtually limited to consultationsonline on social media or websiteswith public responses in the form ofmultiple choice answers. This, inturn, increases the risk of makingthese proposals more elitist, leavingbehind the voices and needs of poorand marginalised citizens. In fact,there is evidence showing preferencefor costlier infrastructure over thebasic needs of majority urban resi-dents. Nearly 40 per cent of trans-portation projects are focussed onroads and parking lots, while only 20

per cent of the budget is focussed onpublic transportation and only twoper cent on buses.

Regarding the financing of SCM,studies have indicated a clear patternof not only heavy dependence on pub-lic funds for financing the mission, butthere has been a movement awayfrom market-oriented sources offunding like public-private partner-ships (PPPs) and loans, especially insmaller cities.

The FM’s proposal to develop fivenew smart cities highlights collabo-ration with States in a PPP mode.However, the contribution of suchPPP projects in value terms as well asthe sourcing of revenue from munic-ipal bonds continues to be ambigu-ous. In the absence of robust econom-ic, legal, financial and project viabil-ity, the municipal projects are rarelyperceived to be commercially viable.For this, funds can be arrangedthrough PPPs or by accessing the cap-ital market. With the banking systemcurrently under stress with bad debts,the SCM might not receive the nec-essary investments from the privatesector, at least, in the short term.

Nonetheless, some cities havemade significant progress in terms of

implementation of PPP (Nagpur,Vadodara) while some other citieshave taken specific measures (e.g.appointment of transactional advi-sors) for generating revenue frommunicipal bonds. Pune, Hyderabad,Indore, Bhopal and Amaravati havesuccessfully launched municipalbonds to finance some of their urbandevelopment projects. Emphasis hasalso been placed on land monetisa-tion as another important source forfinancing the SCM.

However, since land is a State sub-ject, city Governments cannot exer-cise their control over it and thus lackthe autonomy to use land indepen-dently to increase their revenues.Further, the use of land especially inthe SCM era has prompted concernsabout forced evictions in many citiesand raised concerns on the inclusiveideals of the SCM. Solutions to theabove problems are well-known andhave been recommended by expertsmany times. The real issues constrain-ing the functioning of cities are age-old in which the SCM has been stuck.City Governments will have to acquiregreater capability in raising resourcesfrom conventional sources (e.g., prop-erty tax, user fee and so on). This

would make them attractive forpotential private investors.

With the global urban populationpoised to grow in the coming decades,Indian cities will be enormouslyresponsible for “global growth andwell-being.”

Simply trusting specific sectorslike manufacturing or services forgrowth seems outdated for the 21stcentury, unless the governance ofcities is fixed.

In essence, into its fifth year ofimplementation, the SCM has turnedout to be inherently unsmart. Itneeds to change its course of actionif it aims to achieve inclusive growthand sustainable development. Forthis we need to draw lessons from fail-ures and build upon the SCM’s suc-cesses.

The Government must demon-strate its commitment towards localeconomic development, sustainabledevelopment and ease of living byinviting experienced countries topartner in the execution of the SCMand tackle the persisting challengesassociated with it in India.

(Soumyadip is Visiting SeniorFellow at IMPRI and Kumar isDirector, IMPRI)

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Given the coronavirus pan-demic and the resultant

bloodbath in global markets,including in the country, andplunging asset prices, the RBIwill begin to look beyond infla-tion and start easing rates to thetune of 65 basis points (bps) byJune, and the first rate cut couldcome even before the Aprilreview, according to Britishlender Barclays.

The domestic marketsrecorded its worst fall in historyon Thursday plunging as much8.2 per cent, while the rupeeplunged 56 paise to a 17-month-low of 74.24 to a dollar.

After nosediving over3,204.30 points on across-the-board selling, the Sensex closed2,919.26 points or 8.18 per centlower to 32,778.14, and theNifty gave up the 9,600-level,slumping 868.25 points or 8.30per cent to close at 9,590.15.

The rout followed the mar-kets bloodbath across the worldafter the World HealthOrganization (WHO) onWednesday termed the coron-avirus outbreak as a pandem-ic. “Growth risks have risendramatically, while CPI(Consumer Price Index) infla-

tion remains outside its targetband (at 6.58 per cent inFebruary down from 7.59 percent in January and 2.57 percent in February 2019).

“But, given the evolvingmacroeconomic situation anddeteriorating global backdrop,we believe risks of an inter-meeting cut of 25-40 bps haveincreased materially. Even ifRBI doesn’t make an inter-meeting move, we see themcutting by at least 65 bps byJune, with risks biased towardsmore easing than this,” Barclayssaid in a note on Thursday.

On the timing and thequantum of rates cuts, thereport says, “As a pre-emptivestep, the RBI could consider atleast 65 bps cuts over the nextthree months, which would pegreal rates close to 0, as CPIinflation appears set to declineclose to 4.5 per cent by June ifcrude stays close to current lev-els.” But, analysts at Barclays arequick to underline that “ratecuts will have little impact onnear-term growth withoutaccompanying steps to keepliquidity conditions ample”which it could ensure throughincreased long-term repo oper-ations (LTROs) or even out-right open market operations.

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India’s travel and hospitalityindustry is headed for its

worst crisis with an at least�8,500-crore hit in revenuesdue to suspension of mostvisas over fears of spread ofcoronavirus that would resultin lower footfalls and drop inbusiness for tour operators,hotels and aviation industry.

Hotels and tour operatorshave seen a spurt in cancella-tions particularly after theWHO declared the outbreak apandemic. Tourists cancelledtravel, hitting hotels, airlinesand tax collections after thegovernment suspended mostvisas in a bid to halt the spreadof coronavirus.

At least 40 per cent ofrooms across big chains ofhotels are going empty whilebanquet bookings have beencancelled, industry officialsand associations said.

Tour operators estimate

January-March quarter earn-ings could fall by more than 60per cent.

India, which annuallyearns �2,200 crore from foreigntourists arrivals, attracts near-ly one million overseas visitorsa month, a number whichcould see a drastic fall nextmonth due to travel restric-tions.

Indian Association of TourOperators (IATO), andAssocham saw job losses in thesectors as companies try to tideover the situation by cuttingnon-essential workforces andstopping recruitment. Theywanted the Government toreview the decision to sus-pend visas for a month andallow inbound travel throughlimited gateway cities.

“The ban on travel to Indiafor a period of one month willhave a cascading economicimpact and will lead to job loss-es in the entire hotel, aviationand travel sector. We estimate

that it will lead to direct loss ofnot less than �8,500 crore,”IATO Secretary Rajesh Mudgilltold PTI.

Assocham Tourism andHospitality Council ChairmanSubhash Goyal said since theoutbreak of coronavirus, theaviation and tourism industriesin India have been adverselyaffected.

“However, we were able tomanage our expenses and keepthe staff because some amountof essential travel was going on.The suspension of visas lastnight has come as an immedi-ate blow to the entire tourism,aviation and hospitality indus-try,” he said.

Warning of the conse-quences of the step, Goyalsaid, “If no visas are valid, with-in next ten days this travel andtourism industry will come toa virtual stop. It would meanthat everyone will cut downcosts and terminate non-essen-tial staff and stop recruiting

additional staff.”Expressing similar views,

Mudgill said, “In view of thestaggering loss that the entireindustry stares at, we requestthe Government to consider areview of the situation after 10days and also consider givingrelief in taxation to the sectoras it will help in mitigating thelosses suffered.”

Federation of Hotel &Restaurant Associations ofIndia (FHRAI) Vice PresidentGurbaxish Singh Kohlisaid,”Since November, whencoronavirus made news, hotelroom cancellations began andcrossed the 80 per cent mark.New bookings are almost com-pletely on hold, including theNRI segment which accountsfor 60 per cent of the tourismrevenues mostly in the monthsfrom April to September.”

Yatra.Com Co-Founderand COO, Corporate Travel &Head Industry Relations,Sabina Chopra said the latest

suspension of visas from allcountries to India is expectedto have a substantial impact onthe foreign tourist arrival in thecountry which was alreadywitnessing a drop due to theprevailing situation.

“We have received close to35 per cent cancellation queriesfrom travellers planning theirtrip to foreign destinations,” shesaid, adding airfares to affect-ed destinations have droppedby 40 per cent.

Chopra added, “There hasbeen about 18 per cent drop inhotel rates and we are receivingcancellation requests from var-ious travellers who are wary of

taking up trips domestically aswell.” According CII, this is oneof the worst crises ever to hitthe Indian tourism industryimpacting all its geographicalsegments — inbound, out-bound and domestic, almost alltourism verticals — leisure,adventure, heritage, MICE,cruise, corporate and nichesegments.

CII Tourism Committeesaid to save on variable costsand minimise fixed costs manysmall and mid-sized hotels,resorts and car rental compa-nies are shutting down opera-tions and asking staff to go onleave without pay.

Moreover, the workingcapital of many corporates inthe tourism sector is seriouslyhit by almost 60 per cent andfor micro, small and mediumtourism enterprises by almost80 per cent, it added.

“Most of the Indiantourism travel and hospitalitycompanies are facing demandsfor full refunds and they aredoing so out of their cashreserves even for which theyhave paid advance tax andGST,” the CII assessment reportadded.

The report further saidcancellations are “reaching apeak of almost 80 per cent nowin March in many Indian loca-tions. The value at risk fromthis segment will be in multi-ples of tens of thousands ofcrores.” With India cancellingall visas, the chamber said theimpact “will be worse”.

ANAROCK PropertyConsultants Chairman AnujPuri said, “The cancellation ofvisas for foreigners as well asthe strong advice issued toIndians to refrain from unnec-essary travel will have a marked

effect. This is the most unset-tling healthcare crisis in recenttimes and hotel bookings willgo south.”

On Indians being advisedto refrain from unnecessarytravel, the CII report said,“The December holiday seasonof 2019 took an estimated hitof almost 40-50 per cent, theholiday season of April to July2020 is likely to take a humon-gous hit which could be as highas 80-100 per cent, unless thereis positive news of the pro-gression of virus decreasing.

VFS Global Regional GroupCOO — South Asia, MiddleEast and North Africa, AmericasVinay Malhotra said,”While it istoo early to comment on theimpact of coronavirus on visaapplication trends, so far, ourvisa application processes inIndia continue on schedule asper the mandates of our clientGovernments.”

MakeMyTrip Group CEORajesh Magow said, “The deci-sion by the Government willhave an impact on inboundand outbound internationaltravel.”

New Delhi: India’s factory out-put showed a marginal rise inJanuary, while retail inflationeased to a two-month low inFebruary, paving the way forRBI to cut interest rate toboost the economy that may belosing steam due to the coro-navirus outbreak.

The Index of IndustrialProduction (IIP) grew by 2 percent in January against 1.6 percent a year back, displayingmoderate green shoots, officialdata released on Thursdayshowed. According to the datafrom the National StatisticalOffice (NSO), the manufac-turing sector output grew by1.5 per cent as compared witha rise of 1.3 per cent in the cor-responding month a year ago.

However, going forward,the February factory outputmay be impacted as severalindustries such as automo-biles, technology, pharma andfashion have some exposure toimports of raw and intermedi-ate materials from China.

Retail inflation eased to6.58 per cent in February, from7.59 per cent in the previousmonth, but remained above theReserve Bank of India’s targetband of 4 per cent, plus orminus 2 per cent.

Manufacturing, which isthe largest component of IIPhaving 77.6 per cent weight,continues to be down. It grewat 1.5 per cent in January 2020and just 0.3 per cent for the first10 months of current fiscal.

As per use-based classifi-cation, out of six sectors four —namely capital goods, infra-structure/construction goods,consumer durables and con-sumer non-durables — record-ed negative growth in January2020. CPI inflation in Februaryreversed six months of increas-ing trend mainly due to baseeffect and sequential decline infood price inflation as well asa dip in transport and com-munication inflation.

Core inflation, a measure ofdemand conditions in the econ-omy, also reversed after increas-ing for three months and camein at 4.08 per cent in February.Between Q1 FY19 and Q3FY20, core inflation declined to3.6 per cent from 6.2 per centand GDP growth declined to 4.7per cent from 7.1 per cent.

With the epidemic spread-ing fast in Europe and the US,a slowdown in these economieswill impact the global demandfor industrial and manufac-tured goods. PTI

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Stock markets tumbled acrossthe globe and oil prices

slumped Thursday afterPresident Donald Trumpbanned all travel from main-land Europe to the United States for a month tofight the coronavirus pandem-ic, ramping up fears of world-wide recession.

With the market panichaving already wiped awaymore than USD 11 trillion inglobal value, the head of theWorld Health Organisationsaid the COVID-19 outbreak“is a controllable pandemic” ifcountries stepped up measuresto tackle it.

“We are deeply concernedthat some countries are notapproaching this threat withthe level of political commit-ment needed to control it,”WHO director-general TedrosAdhanom Ghebreyesus tolddiplomats in Geneva, accord-ing to a statement.

Following an overnightslump, Sydney tumbled 7.4per cent on Thursday to sufferits worst session since the 2008global financial crisis.

Tokyo closed down 4.4 percent, putting it in a bear mar-ket after slumping more than20 per cent from a recent high.

Hong Kong shed 3.7 per

cent, though Shanghai was off1.5 per cent as China continuesto see infection rates slow.Manila crashed nearly 10 percent — sparking a brief tradinghalt — after it emergedPhilippines President RodrigoDuterte would undergo a pre-cautionary test for the virus.

In the Gulf, Saudi dumped3.0 per cent in value, Dubaitumbled 8.0 per cent and Qatarshed 4.5 per cent.

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The largest lender State Bankof India on Thursday

announced a �7,250-crore fundinfusion into the crippled YesBank under which it will pickup to 49 per cent equity in thefourth largest private sectorlender.

The fund infusion is part ofthe Reserve Bank-mandatedrescue plan.

SBI said its shareholding inYes Bank will remain within 49per cent of the paid up capitalof the private lender and fol-lowing the fund infusion, it willpick up 725 crore shares.

“The executive committeeof the central board at its meet-ing held on March 11 accord-ed approval for purchase of 725crore shares of Yes Bank at aprice of �10 a share, subject toregulatory approvals,” SBI said

in an exchange filing onThursday.

The bank, however, didnot mention the exact quantumof stake it will be buying in YesBank. Under the reconstruc-tion scheme, SBI will have tobuy 49 per cent of Yes Bank andcannot reduce its holdingbelow 26 per cent before for thenext three years.

The SBI investment of�7,250 crore is much higherthan �2,450 crore it had plannedinitially for 49 per cent stake inthe private sector lender thatbegan operations in 2004.

Last week, SBI chairmanRajnish Kumar had toldreporters that the bank wouldinvest �2,450 crore to buy 245crore shares of Yes Bank. Hehad also spoken about ropingin other investors and SBIinvestment would not exceed�10,000 crore.

On March 5, the RBIimposed a moratorium on YesBank, restricting withdrawalsto �50,000 per depositor tillApril 3. The RBI also super-seded the board and placed itunder an administrator,Prashant Kumar who is a for-mer deputy managing directorand CFO of SBI.

Since the RBI action, thecentral agencies ED and CBIhave arrested Yes Bank’s co-founder and former CEO RanaKapoor for alleged moneylaundering and corruption,while his wife Bindu and threedaughters are also beingquizzed by these agencies fortheir role in siphoning of pub-lic funds.

One of the biggest chargesagainst Kapoor is that he ille-gally benefitted to the tune of�3,000 crore by lending to cer-tain troubled companies like

DHFL, Anil Ambani group andEssel group — all the loansworth around �20,000 crorethat have turned into bad debt.

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Former Union MinisterSuresh Prabhu on Thursday

said it is essential that globalcommunity must join hands,develop new vaccines, helpvulnerable communities, poorcountries, restore public con-fidence and strengthen publichealth systems.

The former RailwayMinister left for Saudi Arabiaon Wednesday even as most ofdelegates cancelled their visit tothe country in the wake ofWHO declared pandemic

corona. “Must develop early warn-

ing system, work on preventivemeasures and avoid futurescare,” Prabhu said at the G20meeting of Sherpa at Khobar inSaudi Arabia.

Prabhu as an Indian rep-resentative who has been nom-inated as Sherpa by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi isattending the two day confer-ence on world economy. ASherpa is a personal represen-tative of a head of state whoprepares ground for him or herat international summits.

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Script Open High Low LTPUPL 510.00 520.20 435.00 443.55

RELIANCE 1087.00 1100.70 1049.50 1061.60

HDFCBANK 1075.00 1078.90 1003.55 1021.70

SBIN 232.70 232.70 208.80 212.75

TCS 1915.00 1915.00 1759.20 1769.85

BAJFINANCE 3896.00 3896.00 3629.40 3734.30

YESBANK 28.80 28.80 22.55 25.05

INFY 670.00 670.00 627.70 631.55

ICICIBANK 440.00 445.75 416.10 425.00

TATAMOTORS 92.70 94.90 85.75 88.00

LT 1077.00 1077.00 1005.00 1013.15

IDEA 4.70 4.70 4.05 4.20

IBULHSGFIN 175.95 175.95 138.45 162.90

TATASTEEL 276.90 291.80 267.35 286.80

ASIANPAINT 1870.00 1873.90 1815.80 1842.85

INDUSINDBK 771.00 831.50 768.30 782.25

KOTAKBANK 1520.00 1546.05 1430.20 1466.45

HDFC 1981.75 1989.35 1863.95 1874.90

ITC 170.00 170.00 150.40 156.25

MARUTI 5958.00 5958.00 5555.55 5640.65

EXIDEIND 152.80 152.80 139.70 143.40

AXISBANK 598.60 598.60 532.00 542.85

BAJAJFINSV 7999.00 7999.00 7399.30 7437.45

BPCL 387.00 391.55 330.60 345.15

WESTLIFE 381.60 381.60 325.00 374.10

CERA 2300.00 2382.25 2295.00 2344.65

RBLBANK 204.00 215.10 194.70 207.55

ONGC 67.90 68.30 62.00 62.60

INDIGO 1039.95 1039.95 946.65 1018.50

BHARTIARTL 483.00 483.00 459.45 464.95

SUNPHARMA 371.00 372.70 346.65 354.85

EICHERMOT 17000.00 17272.50 16701.10 16887.75

POWERGRID 181.55 181.55 165.00 165.85

GODREJIND 375.00 375.00 348.85 353.25

DALBHARAT 696.00 712.00 610.00 637.70

VEDL 86.80 86.80 78.70 79.85

HINDUNILVR 2109.90 2123.10 2032.50 2059.35

HDFCAMC 2835.00 2835.00 2436.90 2480.15

JSWSTEEL 210.00 213.20 200.65 203.05

GODREJAGRO 420.00 420.00 380.25 390.35

JUSTDIAL 410.00 427.40 370.00 375.10

MOTHERSUMI 86.10 86.10 66.75 68.05

BANKBARODA 62.35 62.85 56.20 56.65

JUBLFOOD 1502.00 1573.60 1462.20 1474.60

PNB 35.95 36.25 33.55 33.80

JINDALSTEL 120.00 121.20 110.25 114.00

EIDPARRY 166.25 166.25 146.00 150.85

HEROMOTOCO 1991.00 1991.00 1803.20 1904.50

DLF 170.00 170.00 154.60 156.40

PEL 1168.00 1168.00 1019.40 1036.60

COALINDIA 160.00 162.60 150.10 155.25

HDFCLIFE 498.00 498.00 453.25 472.45

L&TFH 88.00 91.90 80.45 81.50

BHARATFORG 395.00 395.00 363.75 369.25

NESTLEIND 15822.25 15873.80 15044.35 15619.40

TITAN 1169.00 1169.00 1065.00 1078.20

ULTRACEMCO 3950.00 3950.00 3616.00 3663.80

GLENMARK 252.00 252.00 196.45 199.55

NATIONALUM 29.40 29.45 25.90 27.10

AUROPHARMA 443.00 443.00 371.10 374.50

GRASIM 596.10 609.65 555.00 560.25

GODREJCP 601.10 601.10 546.55 557.95

M&M 431.55 435.70 400.00 423.80

IOC 93.90 93.90 87.10 87.75

BIOCON 296.00 296.00 267.25 273.80

AAVAS 1850.00 1875.80 1661.00 1749.25

ZEEL 194.00 199.75 188.70 190.80

RECLTD 102.00 102.00 91.35 93.30

NCC 24.75 24.75 21.70 22.15

BAJAJ-AUTO 2550.00 2550.00 2321.00 2337.00

NTPC 100.80 100.80 93.20 94.40

BATAINDIA 1481.00 1481.00 1388.30 1410.60

ASHOKLEY 65.00 65.05 60.60 63.35

TORNTPOWER 300.00 300.00 280.15 289.90

APOLLOHOSP 1621.00 1621.00 1480.00 1508.35

SPICEJET 53.90 53.90 48.30 48.55

GAIL 85.50 88.60 79.20 79.90

ESCORTS 714.00 714.00 664.00 680.25

IDFCFIRSTB 32.50 32.50 27.20 27.60

BANDHANBNK 365.00 365.00 327.55 334.80

CIPLA 423.00 423.00 391.00 394.85

HAVELLS 600.00 600.00 515.40 576.15

BHEL 26.75 26.75 24.00 24.25

PIDILITIND 1688.00 1688.00 1586.20 1593.05

TATAPOWER 36.45 41.20 34.00 40.50

TECHM 685.10 686.35 637.90 649.80

HINDPETRO 208.00 208.00 180.10 183.85

MANAPPURAM 140.00 140.00 128.10 130.00

NAM-INDIA 272.00 287.50 258.40 279.15

LICHSGFIN 275.00 282.10 252.15 255.60

DIVISLAB 2145.00 2145.00 1829.70 1915.95

M&MFIN 316.00 316.00 279.55 283.70

CANBK 109.00 109.00 97.25 98.50

MUTHOOTFIN 817.00 817.00 749.60 754.95

DEEPAKNI 450.90 450.90 390.10 440.15

ACC 1185.00 1185.00 1082.50 1143.35

MIDHANI 210.05 210.05 180.35 188.95

HINDALCO 131.00 131.00 118.05 120.00

INFRATEL 203.00 224.30 203.00 221.20

BRITANNIA 2939.75 2974.80 2788.15 2807.10

HCLTECH 525.00 525.00 486.65 492.90

PVR 1450.00 1450.00 1335.95 1358.45

TATACONSUM 324.00 324.00 297.40 303.75

FEDERALBNK 68.50 68.50 62.50 63.10

ADANIPOWER 38.00 39.20 29.75 30.35

BALKRISIND 1009.40 1009.40 930.95 977.20

WIPRO 205.90 206.60 197.75 199.20

PETRONET 205.00 220.00 205.00 215.15

SRTRANSFIN 960.00 960.00 831.45 842.90

SAIL 27.30 27.30 24.50 24.75

ADANIGAS 111.55 114.50 95.80 98.90

SRF 3677.95 3677.95 3346.65 3366.90

ADANIENT 184.00 184.00 160.60 162.45

SOBHA 229.95 246.30 212.75 240.55

PFC 100.80 100.80 86.70 89.85

ICICIGI 1139.95 1169.20 1065.00 1100.25

MARICO 265.00 265.00 248.45 260.55

UJJIVAN 296.90 296.90 261.40 262.95

MFSL 490.00 490.00 441.00 442.60

NAVINFLUOR 1377.00 1419.05 1317.85 1336.25

BANKINDIA 38.00 38.00 32.40 33.80

COLPAL 1232.00 1254.00 1174.60 1203.20

WOCKPHARMA 240.05 240.05 204.75 206.70

GMRINFRA 17.95 17.95 15.35 15.85

SUNTV 398.00 398.00 352.05 360.35

NAUKRI 2468.00 2475.00 2348.70 2361.50

DRREDDY 2994.00 2994.00 2803.55 2854.80

ADANIPORTS 307.25 307.25 284.15 286.70

STAR 425.00 442.35 371.95 400.10

MCX 1221.00 1221.00 1053.10 1169.10

NIITTECH 1548.60 1550.10 1402.80 1438.15

APOLLOTYRE 105.00 107.00 96.75 100.25

OIL 78.90 80.75 73.70 75.20

MRF 62300.00 62300.00 60001.10 60662.65

TATAELXSI 950.00 950.00 868.65 878.15

CRISIL 1428.15 1527.45 1361.80 1419.30

TATAMTRDVR 41.80 45.25 37.50 44.30

LUPIN 632.00 632.00 583.65 593.05

DELTACORP 108.00 108.00 94.55 96.40

INDHOTEL 110.10 118.00 96.55 110.45

AMBUJACEM 185.50 185.50 169.25 175.85

GRANULES 165.00 165.00 141.30 155.65

NBCC 17.90 19.80 17.50 18.45

SBILIFE 799.00 799.00 700.00 753.75

ICICIPRULI 399.95 399.95 362.05 372.05

BAJAJHLDNG 2900.00 3000.00 2840.60 2904.70

BOSCHLTD 12140.00 12413.20 11222.40 11327.80

GRAPHITE 170.85 176.25 158.30 159.85

DABUR 478.90 478.90 451.95 454.95

BEL 67.30 67.30 62.50 65.65

BERGEPAINT 477.00 486.55 459.70 472.70

VOLTAS 638.00 638.00 587.50 618.90

AVANTI 338.00 338.00 286.20 310.50

POLYCAB 975.80 975.80 850.05 874.70

NMDC 80.00 80.00 71.20 72.15

CONCOR 381.90 385.00 353.40 376.95

SHREECEM 21200.00 21214.65 20170.45 20307.75

INDIACEM 84.40 84.70 79.20 79.60

HEXAWARE 335.00 335.00 275.00 291.60

EQUITAS 84.00 84.00 71.15 73.05

SIEMENS 1279.80 1279.80 1151.65 1182.15

AUBANK 989.00 989.00 920.55 942.40

TEAMLEASE 2284.95 2351.85 2201.35 2330.05

PAGEIND 20620.00 20620.00 18983.80 19415.75

UNIONBANK 31.45 31.45 28.85 29.05

BLISSGVS 92.90 95.10 86.45 93.70

DBL 318.00 318.00 272.50 282.10

MGL 955.00 955.00 902.50 911.85

ABCAPITAL 65.95 65.95 57.30 59.00

TRENT 640.00 640.00 567.55 596.10

LTI 1709.75 1730.45 1550.00 1609.95

UBL 1165.00 1165.00 1021.35 1082.25

STRTECH 80.00 80.15 69.90 72.80

TORNTPHARM 2130.00 2130.00 1961.70 1985.15

DMART 2070.00 2070.00 2018.20 2018.20

ABBOTINDIA 14255.00 14445.30 12700.00 13886.45

IGL 410.00 410.00 385.45 388.30

DIXON 4198.00 4198.00 3884.00 4019.70

NOCIL 87.30 87.30 76.35 77.50

CADILAHC 256.00 256.00 234.65 236.30

CUMMINSIND 467.00 467.00 418.00 449.15

CGCL 200.00 205.00 181.50 201.40

AMARAJABAT 585.00 598.95 546.50 558.35

SPARC 125.25 125.25 108.90 113.10

OMAXE 156.25 156.25 153.00 153.55

METROPOLIS 1700.00 1730.00 1535.50 1674.15

IRCON 371.00 377.00 345.10 363.30

TVSMOTOR 400.00 400.00 366.30 389.50

HEG 820.00 820.00 725.05 740.80

RADICO 333.00 333.00 275.50 314.00

3MINDIA 20300.00 20300.00 18600.00 19081.75

MINDTREE 805.00 842.00 772.00 815.25

LALPATHLAB 1590.10 1649.90 1508.50 1613.20

IPCALAB 1379.00 1379.30 1250.00 1283.40

ISEC 390.00 390.00 321.70 369.20

PCJEWELLER 12.75 12.75 11.15 11.80

SUNTECK 298.00 298.00 271.70 287.65

CHOLAFIN 253.00 253.00 233.15 243.75

PIIND 1490.00 1490.00 1319.05 1347.65

PFIZER 4272.90 4272.90 3950.00 4156.15

SANOFI 7261.75 7261.75 6895.00 6959.35

BOMDYEING 58.00 58.00 50.70 52.45

ALKEM 2560.00 2560.00 2205.00 2382.10

BEML 620.00 620.00 510.00 520.55

PRESTIGE 267.55 267.55 225.25 225.30

CANFINHOME 400.50 433.95 336.00 392.25

PNBHOUSING 250.00 250.00 221.15 232.85

VENKYS 965.00 965.00 852.70 886.10

RAYMOND 396.00 396.00 344.10 346.55

SCI 46.50 46.50 39.10 40.70

DCBBANK 142.60 149.10 141.60 146.30

KANSAINER 460.00 469.00 429.50 464.55

VINATIORGA 836.00 836.00 740.00 818.55

CEATLTD 921.80 930.60 811.80 842.35

IRB 74.00 74.00 62.80 64.35

RITES 269.00 269.00 231.00 245.20

GUJGAS 268.00 270.25 250.10 261.45

PGHH 9865.85 9865.85 8950.00 9576.95

KTKBANK 52.10 59.00 52.10 55.85

ABFRL 230.00 230.00 214.00 224.65

FRETAIL 230.00 248.75 213.45 213.45

WHIRLPOOL 2030.05 2073.50 1988.00 2007.55

GHCL 132.70 132.70 109.80 109.80

HINDZINC 158.00 158.00 140.55 145.00

WELSPUNIND 33.90 33.90 27.70 28.15

BASF 1020.00 1020.00 916.05 973.85

RELAXO 647.00 663.90 604.50 657.20

FORTIS 138.30 141.50 131.10 134.35

ATUL 4900.00 4900.00 4275.00 4575.30

JAICORPLTD 65.50 66.65 60.15 61.90

INOXLEISUR 350.00 350.00 288.45 315.15

BALRAMCHIN 114.85 114.85 100.65 102.85

AJANTPHARM 1380.00 1380.00 1261.55 1284.95

CASTROLIND 133.50 133.50 126.00 128.30

JUBILANT 430.00 430.00 375.60 379.55

GLAXO 1281.00 1281.00 1150.00 1201.90

GODREJPROP 888.90 888.90 776.45 823.90

NHPC 20.80 20.85 18.70 19.90

PTC 41.45 41.45 37.65 39.05

JCHAC 2800.00 3023.30 2530.80 2954.75

HONAUT 32999.90 32999.90 30100.00 31021.65

GNFC 135.00 144.45 130.80 133.00

LUXIND 1281.05 1281.05 1202.05 1242.05

FORCEMOT 966.00 966.00 880.00 888.70

ENGINERSIN 67.00 67.00 58.50 61.50

GESHIP 221.40 221.40 200.00 201.75

IDFC 27.00 29.45 23.90 24.50

JMFINANCIL 92.90 93.00 82.35 90.05

ORIENTELEC 217.05 225.00 193.00 212.90

IDBI 24.80 24.80 21.05 21.30

RVNL 16.40 16.40 15.60 16.00

MASFIN 1011.15 1011.20 848.65 993.45

RAIN 82.00 82.00 67.55 70.90

ADANITRANS 189.00 189.00 163.10 163.85

LEMONTREE 44.00 44.00 36.80 38.15

ASTRAL 1100.00 1108.60 994.50 1030.50

PHILIPCARB 87.60 87.60 75.00 79.80

SUDARSCHEM 391.55 391.55 350.30 357.70

INDIANB 61.00 61.00 53.55 54.35

GSPL 215.95 215.95 189.00 208.95

PGHL 3896.60 3901.35 3580.90 3606.90

REPCOHOME 245.10 246.05 211.10 214.55

AKZOINDIA 2400.00 2417.55 2280.00 2339.70

LTTS 1504.00 1504.00 1355.90 1419.30

KEI 461.00 461.00 382.30 392.65

GILLETTE 5575.00 5603.75 5350.00 5405.65

CARERATING 405.00 436.70 381.10 422.05

RAJESHEXPO 679.50 680.00 663.00 665.15

INFIBEAM 47.40 47.40 39.50 41.20

FSL 36.00 38.20 33.40 36.55

SONATSOFTW 290.00 290.00 250.25 261.30

SOUTHBANK 7.69 7.69 7.11 7.22

JINDALSAW 71.95 71.95 62.20 62.95

RATNAMANI 1235.00 1235.00 1146.25 1166.25

EDELWEISS 67.00 67.00 60.00 61.95

IEX 160.00 163.50 145.50 148.45

ERIS 429.90 429.90 387.00 402.65

CHAMBLFERT 129.10 132.35 119.95 123.80

JBCHEPHARM 533.80 541.80 468.00 508.75

APLAPOLLO 1650.00 1650.00 1430.00 1521.95

NESCO 613.35 619.45 582.95 591.05

COCHINSHIP 300.00 300.00 240.60 244.85

CROMPTON 244.00 255.00 233.70 246.90

VIPIND 359.00 359.00 322.85 332.65

SJVN 21.25 21.50 20.00 20.20

KAJARIACER 523.00 523.00 481.05 489.70

APLLTD 600.00 600.00 567.00 580.50

MEGH 46.00 48.00 45.10 45.45

HSCL 39.00 44.00 35.75 41.05

ITI 61.00 63.10 55.25 56.10

RPOWER 1.37 1.40 1.37 1.37

VBL 770.95 770.95 705.95 752.00

JSL 35.00 35.00 29.25 30.00

KEC 300.05 300.05 260.85 277.40

CREDITACC 807.00 810.00 693.40 782.30

RCF 32.10 32.65 29.55 30.65

TV18BRDCST 18.50 18.50 17.05 17.15

COROMANDEL 607.25 608.25 555.55 575.30

CUB 201.90 201.90 186.50 190.00

VAIBHAVGBL 970.00 970.00 800.00 804.55

ORIENTBANK 43.00 43.00 37.70 38.25

CYIENT 380.00 380.00 336.40 369.65

GMDCLTD 42.30 42.30 35.10 36.90

GSKCONS 9200.00 9213.45 8819.35 8905.10

AMBER 1421.00 1421.00 1243.00 1262.95

NATCOPHARM 565.00 573.30 537.15 547.55

HINDCOPPER 27.00 27.00 23.40 24.45

BDL 229.70 229.70 200.00 204.75

SCHNEIDER 80.00 81.70 74.60 79.35

ASTRAZEN 2400.00 2400.00 2060.40 2256.15

JKCEMENT 1220.00 1255.85 1127.00 1153.75

SUZLON 2.20 2.23 2.18 2.18

DISHTV 6.16 6.16 5.67 5.68

NILKAMAL 1230.35 1300.00 1151.85 1276.75

VGUARD 190.00 190.00 179.40 180.50

RALLIS 213.00 213.00 190.25 199.75

LAXMIMACH 2775.00 2775.00 2525.00 2579.05

QUESS 465.00 465.00 424.00 441.50

RAMCOCEM 680.00 680.00 647.40 654.10

BBTC 1050.00 1050.00 984.00 998.10

WABAG 162.00 162.00 133.05 135.50

LAURUSLABS 406.00 406.00 360.25 367.35

CESC 567.70 567.70 504.05 506.80

FINEORG 2112.30 2112.30 1858.95 2039.20

NH 306.90 309.00 265.05 302.95

INTELLECT 96.30 96.30 77.05 77.05

TIINDIA 493.50 493.50 466.00 481.40

SUPREMEIND 1175.00 1175.00 1104.35 1126.00

VMART 2100.00 2100.00 1870.00 2004.95

IFCI 4.89 4.89 3.82 4.04

GALAXYSURF 1460.00 1467.05 1425.20 1454.30

HEIDELBERG 171.00 171.00 158.40 160.20

SWANENERGY 100.25 105.00 99.85 101.05

JSLHISAR 58.45 58.45 47.90 49.00

ASHOKA 76.00 76.00 63.15 63.20

WABCOINDIA 6620.00 6620.00 6387.00 6413.00

SHRIRAMCIT 1345.05 1352.00 1241.00 1250.80

BAYERCROP 4080.00 4185.35 3812.00 4113.10

MOIL 109.00 109.05 99.90 102.15

FINOLEXIND 551.00 551.00 499.95 512.20

GREAVESCOT 117.80 117.80 109.90 113.25

TATAINVEST 756.00 777.00 705.00 718.95

EMAMILTD 220.00 220.00 191.10 201.15

TIMKEN 901.00 905.00 829.50 890.30

OBEROIRLTY 470.70 474.80 448.85 452.90

GODFRYPHLP 1105.00 1108.00 1031.00 1050.75

OFSS 2315.55 2315.55 2054.00 2195.25

SYNDIBANK 17.90 17.90 15.10 15.30

NLCINDIA 46.90 46.90 42.45 44.30

MPHASIS 765.00 765.00 720.00 735.05

GICRE 149.00 149.00 136.60 136.60

GSFC 47.20 47.70 45.00 45.40

AEGISLOG 192.00 192.00 167.30 174.10

SYMPHONY 1187.85 1195.15 1065.00 1075.85

WELCORP 111.00 111.00 107.55 107.55

CAPPL 309.90 309.90 278.00 280.50

JKTYRE 60.40 60.40 52.00 52.70

MOTILALOFS 655.05 687.00 620.00 647.90

JSWENERGY 47.50 47.50 43.70 46.20

TATACOFFEE 70.25 70.50 66.00 66.60

THYROCARE 501.60 501.60 436.60 479.05

BIRLACORPN 635.05 688.00 565.35 589.45

PARAGMILK 72.00 72.00 62.10 63.50

MINDAIND 330.00 333.70 300.00 327.85

LINDEINDIA 540.00 540.00 508.15 512.40

DEEPAKFERT 82.00 82.00 69.00 71.15

MAHSCOOTER 3553.00 3568.95 3167.50 3230.10

JKLAKSHMI 261.65 262.95 225.00 229.25

BLUESTARCO 751.00 766.45 712.50 741.15

HUDCO 25.50 25.50 22.70 23.25

HFCL 10.40 11.15 9.75 9.86

IIFL 134.20 137.05 120.30 123.55

PHOENIXLTD 795.00 795.00 749.15 766.55

ALLCARGO 100.00 103.40 97.95 98.70

LAOPALA 199.90 203.00 174.85 187.85

GARFIBRES 1438.00 1438.00 1240.25 1278.25

BAJAJCON 165.00 165.00 147.10 149.85

KNRCON 242.80 242.80 222.45 234.60

ALBK 8.99 8.99 7.80 8.12

KRBL 235.00 235.00 195.40 200.05

TRIDENT 4.50 4.51 4.14 4.17

RESPONIND 82.05 83.10 79.00 80.25

FDC 225.00 225.00 205.00 214.35

PNCINFRA 165.55 165.55 138.60 149.85

SYNGENE 280.05 284.00 272.25 281.15

VSTIND 3750.00 3810.00 3520.05 3725.05

CCL 205.00 205.00 187.95 194.60

BAJAJELEC 382.00 382.00 359.10 369.25

FINCABLES 276.05 288.80 269.00 278.10

JAMNAAUTO 29.65 29.65 26.10 27.45

AIAENG 1740.00 1741.25 1632.00 1698.65

VARROC 320.00 344.00 275.10 287.00

BALMLAWRIE 88.95 88.95 81.00 85.40

INDOSTAR 277.65 280.50 273.55 278.70

JYOTHYLAB 120.00 120.70 109.00 112.30

DCMSHRIRAM 285.00 286.75 254.25 255.80

NIACL 97.40 97.40 89.00 90.45

CHENNPETRO 89.00 89.00 73.00 78.35

PERSISTENT 675.00 675.00 632.40 647.90

TVTODAY 187.00 187.00 175.25 176.90

ITDCEM 43.05 48.00 40.60 47.10

MAGMA 36.90 36.90 27.60 28.10

HAL 581.00 581.00 536.90 538.80

NBVENTURES 58.90 58.90 49.80 50.15

MRPL 36.05 36.25 34.10 35.75

SIS 518.00 518.85 460.00 486.90

TATAMETALI 542.20 545.70 505.15 536.05

J&KBANK 16.40 16.60 14.50 14.85

SUNDRMFAST 380.00 380.00 356.05 368.00

KALPATPOWR 290.00 290.00 250.00 269.80

GUJALKALI 275.00 275.00 250.00 251.70

BLUEDART 2500.00 2500.00 2170.00 2416.55

ADVENZYMES 132.00 132.00 113.00 120.05

TTKPRESTIG 5551.00 5551.00 5297.50 5406.95

CENTRALBK 13.40 13.40 12.50 12.65

IOB 8.00 8.15 7.55 7.71

LAKSHVILAS 15.05 15.05 15.05 15.05

MAHSEAMLES 275.30 275.30 226.05 231.45

JISLJALEQS 4.60 4.61 4.52 4.52

SOMANYCERA 155.25 155.25 132.00 134.10

GEPIL 575.00 602.60 568.45 594.50

ESSELPRO 174.00 174.00 151.55 160.65

MAXINDIA 82.00 82.00 78.10 78.95

GPPL 70.10 70.90 62.10 65.45

ARVINDFASN 287.00 290.25 272.00 288.85

SCHAEFFLER 4160.70 4190.00 4000.00 4111.80

MMTC 14.10 14.10 12.95 13.05

UCOBANK 11.11 11.37 10.70 10.96

TVSSRICHAK 1383.00 1383.00 1170.00 1180.55

TCIEXP 686.25 691.40 626.85 639.70

JAGRAN 53.05 53.05 44.90 48.25

THERMAX 840.00 850.00 812.85 831.15

ZENSARTECH 122.90 122.90 105.00 108.80

TNPL 145.00 145.00 127.45 132.50

MAHABANK 10.00 10.00 8.90 9.28

ITDC 172.80 172.80 162.90 162.90

UFLEX 178.50 179.05 170.00 172.30

SKFINDIA 1770.00 1791.00 1673.00 1749.65

ANDHRABANK 10.45 10.45 9.55 9.62

EIHOTEL 108.35 108.35 95.20 97.65

GET&D 115.00 115.00 101.65 109.25

ASTERDM 142.00 142.00 120.10 121.40

REDINGTON 103.10 104.65 99.35 100.50

MINDACORP 85.45 87.85 75.00 84.65

ZYDUSWELL 1380.00 1380.00 1300.00 1324.65

CENTRUM 15.40 15.40 12.95 13.60

TIMETECHNO 38.55 38.55 34.60 36.75

CENTURYPLY 140.00 141.70 130.40 136.30

CHOLAHLDNG 476.15 479.00 442.00 464.35

STARCEMENT 77.00 77.00 69.00 73.00

CORPBANK 11.90 11.90 10.80 10.80

SOLARINDS 1056.55 1056.55 1025.00 1037.40

HIMATSEIDE 82.05 84.00 80.00 80.35

GICHSGFIN 75.00 75.00 67.45 69.55

PRSMJOHNSN 44.90 46.80 44.55 45.30

TAKE 60.00 60.05 54.25 54.80

SHOPERSTOP 340.25 344.00 312.80 314.60

KPITTECH 90.00 90.00 71.50 71.50

HERITGFOOD 300.00 307.75 289.30 299.60

DHANUKA 377.00 383.45 345.00 350.90

MHRIL 190.00 190.00 167.00 171.60

RELINFRA 13.70 13.70 13.55 13.55

GULFOILLUB 645.00 656.00 625.55 631.40

KPRMILL 515.00 542.00 500.00 533.70

ORIENTCEM 70.00 70.00 61.20 61.65

FCONSUMER 13.55 13.55 13.55 13.55

UNITEDBNK 5.14 5.14 4.50 4.58

VRLLOG 201.50 209.00 197.00 200.90

VTL 900.05 940.15 882.00 932.00

SUPRAJIT 163.90 164.55 158.00 159.50

BRIGADE 193.20 197.80 190.00 190.90

MAHLOG 302.05 308.75 289.00 292.25

MAHINDCIE 113.00 113.85 103.00 108.65

FLFL 337.75 337.80 304.85 329.00

ENDURANCE 900.00 909.30 820.00 865.65

ADANIGREEN 124.40 124.40 124.40 124.40

ECLERX 494.70 494.70 460.85 464.20

GDL 109.20 109.45 97.15 104.80

IFBIND 380.00 380.00 329.00 342.00

MAHLIFE 305.00 313.10 283.90 307.60

SHILPAMED 394.70 394.70 394.70 394.70

SFL 1480.00 1547.95 1450.05 1535.85

ORIENTREF 169.40 173.75 160.00 161.50

CARBORUNIV 281.00 281.00 250.80 266.15

IBREALEST 59.25 59.25 59.25 59.25

CHALET 263.15 296.00 233.60 252.00

GRINDWELL 530.00 544.70 518.10 539.90

INOXWIND 25.25 25.25 21.55 22.40

TEJASNET 45.95 45.95 41.50 42.45

HATHWAY 17.00 17.00 14.35 14.70

RELCAPITAL 4.93 4.93 4.81 4.81

NETWORK18 22.15 22.15 21.50 21.50

DBCORP 96.00 96.00 89.50 92.60

SHK 85.20 86.55 80.30 83.00

DCAL* 66.55 67.50 66.05 66.05

DHFL 14.35 14.35 14.35 14.35

TCNSBRANDS 461.60 494.75 461.60 489.60

SADBHAV 48.30 48.30 48.30 48.30

IBULISL 82.65 82.65 82.65 82.65

SHANKARA 387.75 387.75 387.75 387.75

GAYAPROJ 14.60 14.60 14.60 14.60

��

SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY 50 10039.95 10040.75 9508.00 9590.15 -868.25

INFRATEL 207.00 224.50 207.00 222.00 -2.75

ASIANPAINT 1864.95 1874.80 1815.00 1852.95 -29.90

NESTLEIND 15869.45 15882.75 15045.00 15690.00 -358.55

TATASTEEL 275.00 291.80 267.20 291.45 -8.30

HINDUNILVR 2102.40 2123.00 2031.65 2074.00 -81.00

DRREDDY 2948.00 2982.50 2803.55 2882.00 -118.60

EICHERMOT 16999.80 17281.50 16700.00 16945.85 -807.75

CIPLA 412.50 412.50 390.75 395.25 -21.85

HEROMOTOCO1956.00 1978.95 1793.75 1922.00 -114.05

BHARTIARTL 478.50 481.50 459.20 466.00 -27.80

WIPRO 204.00 206.95 197.50 200.00 -13.10

M&M 427.90 435.95 399.65 421.70 -29.90

COALINDIA 161.00 163.00 150.10 156.75 -11.25

ICICIBANK 438.00 445.95 416.00 432.95 -32.70

BPCL 391.30 392.55 330.55 375.00 -29.40

HDFCBANK 1075.00 1080.00 1003.45 1032.00 -81.80

SUNPHARMA 365.50 372.70 346.40 357.45 -28.50

BAJFINANCE 3860.00 3869.95 3628.10 3729.00 -301.65

KOTAKBANK 1509.90 1546.45 1350.95 1468.00 -121.30

BRITANNIA 2945.00 2968.95 2785.05 2813.75 -234.55

HDFC 1990.00 1990.00 1861.10 1874.50 -161.75

HCLTECH 521.00 527.80 486.35 494.00 -42.80

INFY 668.00 670.00 627.50 631.00 -55.00

RELIANCE 1085.00 1101.00 1048.70 1059.00 -94.55

MARUTI 5939.30 5939.30 5555.55 5642.25 -504.05

TITAN 1150.00 1153.95 1064.65 1090.00 -97.65

TECHM 676.00 690.00 637.10 650.00 -58.55

NTPC 99.00 100.00 93.25 94.50 -8.55

ULTRACEMCO 3890.00 3890.00 3612.50 3660.00 -333.40

LT 1070.00 1070.05 1004.10 1020.00 -96.95

POWERGRID 176.20 177.90 164.75 165.60 -15.80

ZEEL 191.50 199.80 188.55 190.80 -18.70

JSWSTEEL 210.00 214.30 199.05 203.30 -20.20

BAJAJ-AUTO 2519.95 2535.00 2319.05 2352.00 -239.55

TCS 1904.00 1908.40 1758.35 1772.90 -180.80

INDUSINDBK 775.20 831.95 770.00 772.00 -81.55

IOC 93.00 93.65 87.25 87.60 -9.30

ADANIPORTS 288.20 301.90 284.00 289.40 -30.80

GRASIM 609.75 610.00 555.00 564.90 -60.35

TATAMOTORS 91.10 94.90 84.10 88.95 -9.95

BAJAJFINSV 7900.00 7981.95 7400.00 7405.10 -848.90

ITC 169.00 169.15 150.55 155.80 -19.85

AXISBANK 592.00 594.00 528.15 545.10 -74.25

GAIL 85.00 88.80 79.10 79.55 -10.95

SBIN 231.90 231.90 208.60 215.40 -29.70

ONGC 66.60 68.40 62.00 63.00 -8.70

HINDALCO 130.00 130.00 118.15 120.90 -16.90

VEDL 84.75 85.50 78.25 80.40 -11.60

UPL 504.55 520.40 434.80 450.00 -66.95

YESBANK 28.70 28.70 17.45 25.05 -3.75

��

��

SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY NEXT 50 24047.10 24087.45 22629.65 22776.40 -2179.20

IDEA 4.60 4.60 4.05 4.30 -0.05

COLPAL 1223.00 1254.00 1172.00 1225.00 -25.15

PETRONET 217.00 220.35 208.50 214.80 -6.65

CONCOR 377.95 385.40 351.00 381.25 -13.40

MARICO 260.00 263.60 248.30 260.50 -9.25

PGHH 10000.00 10000.00 8899.10 9699.00 -358.55

NHPC 20.05 20.90 18.65 20.30 -0.80

BAJAJHLDNG 2856.00 3009.25 2840.00 2910.00 -129.65

SBILIFE 761.00 775.70 700.00 771.00 -37.95

ICICIPRULI 384.00 389.95 361.95 385.00 -19.75

HAVELLS 590.00 596.95 514.65 583.00 -30.20

DMART 2049.00 2049.00 2004.50 2004.50 -105.45

ACC 1161.00 1163.95 1082.65 1154.65 -60.80

HDFCLIFE 495.00 498.00 453.30 485.50 -28.05

BERGEPAINT 482.25 492.20 460.00 473.95 -28.45

PIDILITIND 1670.10 1675.00 1586.75 1597.00 -102.75

DABUR 477.50 478.00 451.70 456.55 -31.45

LUPIN 629.00 629.00 583.65 597.00 -41.80

AMBUJACEM 183.00 183.75 169.10 177.35 -13.10

SHREECEM 21006.15 21540.00 20128.15 20379.55 -1515.35

GODREJCP 595.00 595.00 543.45 565.00 -42.40

UBL 1140.05 1150.00 1017.45 1090.00 -82.95

PAGEIND 19600.05 20943.95 19021.00 19467.95 -1532.75

BIOCON 294.70 294.70 267.25 275.00 -21.70

SIEMENS 1255.00 1258.00 1150.05 1190.70 -94.90

ICICIGI 1135.65 1169.80 1072.00 1101.00 -89.05

OFSS 2300.00 2343.55 2055.00 2194.00 -182.60

CADILAHC 250.80 252.60 234.50 238.00 -20.10

ASHOKLEY 65.00 65.35 60.55 63.15 -5.40

BOSCHLTD 12199.00 12485.05 11220.05 11415.00 -993.35

HINDZINC 153.00 155.00 140.15 145.70 -14.30

NIACL 96.50 96.50 89.00 90.60 -8.95

MCDOWELL-N 600.00 601.00 532.25 547.65 -60.55

GICRE 147.50 147.50 136.80 136.80 -15.20

DIVISLAB 2129.00 2129.00 1826.85 1925.50 -223.70

PFC 98.00 98.85 86.50 92.00 -10.80

NMDC 77.00 78.75 71.10 72.60 -8.65

INDIGO 1044.25 1044.25 945.00 1036.00 -124.25

BANDHANBNK 362.55 362.70 327.25 335.60 -40.50

HINDPETRO 204.65 204.65 180.30 187.50 -23.55

PNB 35.35 36.30 33.10 34.10 -4.35

DLF 168.00 169.00 154.50 157.00 -21.45

SRTRANSFIN 958.00 958.00 830.60 849.00 -139.15

PEL 1130.00 1147.50 1016.55 1050.00 -177.05

BANKBARODA 62.10 62.95 56.15 56.70 -9.90

IBULHSGFIN 176.00 176.00 131.50 165.90 -29.65

L&TFH 90.00 91.55 80.50 82.50 -14.85

HDFCAMC 2820.00 2820.00 2435.50 2470.00 -451.95

AUROPHARMA 439.80 439.80 371.00 375.00 -75.15

MOTHERSUMI 85.85 85.85 66.80 67.15 -21.10

Hyderabad: The world’s largestaircraft manufacturer Airbus onThursday forecast that Indiawill need nearly 1,900 new air-craft by 2038 and the country’sair traffic growth will be 7.7 percent, almost twice the expect-ed world average of 4.3 per cent.

India’s domestic trafficgrowth over 2018-2038 periodis projected at 8.2 per cent, oneof the world’s highest. The inter-national traffic growth for thecountry is pegged at 5-7 per cent.

Anand Stanley, Presidentand Managing Director, AirbusIndia & South Asia told a newsconference here on Thursdaythat they were bullish on theIndian market but their forecastwas conservative and has takeninto account cyclical eventslike coronavirus.

He said out of 1,880 aircraftrequired, 1,670 will be small and210 in medium and large cate-gories. Some 1,440 aircraft arefor growth and 440 are neededto replace aircraft that will beretired. Taking into account the440 retirements, India’s existingdomiciled fleet of 510 aircraftwill quadruple to 1,950 by 2038,he said. The news conferencewas organised on the first day of

Wings India 2020, Asia’s largestevent on civil aviation.

On average one Airbusaircraft will be delivered toIndia every week for the next10 years.

Anand said India was set tobecome one of the world’slargest economies, with some ofthe world’s fastest growingcities in terms of GDP includ-ing Hyderabad, Chennai andBengaluru.

“In the next 20 years airtransportation is expected to bea key enabler and a beneficia-ry of this economic growth.Rising wealth and urbanisation,and the Indian government’sambitious regional connectiv-ity programmes are all growthdrivers,” he said.

He said with world-classengineering and training cen-tres and 45-strong supplier net-work, Airbus’ industrial foot-print in India set new standardsamong international aircraftmanufacturers. “Today, everyAirbus commercial aircraft ispartly made in India and we areworking to double our sourcingvolumes from the country tomore than US$ 1 billion by2025,” he said. IANS

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Gold prices on Thursdayfell �128 to �44,490 per 10

grams in the national Capitalthough rupee depreciationcapped the downside, accord-ing to HDFC Securities.

The yellow metal hadclosed at �44,618 per 10 gramson Wednesday.

Silver also dropped �302 to

�46,868 per kg, compared with�47,170 per kg in the previoussession.

“Spot gold of 24 karat inDelhi was trading down by�128, matching the overnightfall in global gold prices. Spotgold prices in India limited thedownside on Thursday with asharp rupee depreciation,”HDFC Securities SeniorAnalyst (Commodities) Tapan

Patel said.The spot rupee was trading

around 53 paise weaker againstthe dollar during the day, hesaid.

Meanwhile, in the interna-tional market, gold recoveredto trade at $1,645 per ounceafter witnessing decline onWednesday. Silver, however,was trading almost flat at$16.73 per ounce.

Mumbai: Hiring activityremained flat during Februarycompared to the same monthlast year, mainly due to slug-gishness in sectors like insur-ance, hospitality and travel,according to a report.

The Naukri JobSpeakIndex stood at 2,414 inFebruary 2020, compared to2,415 in the same month lastyear. Naukri JobSpeak is amonthly index which calculatesand records hiring activitiesbased on the job listings onNaukri.Com website.

According to the report,the flat trend was primarily ledby a decline in growth ratesacross sectors such as insurance(-23 per cent), hotel/ restau-rants/airlines/travel (-18 percent), auto /auto ancillary (-16per cent) andrecruitment/employment (-15per cent) compared toFebruary 2019.

Despite a flat trend in hir-ing activity, crucial industrieslike accounting/ taxation/finance, education/ teach-ing/training, BPO/ITES andIT-software recorded growth of14 per cent, 12 per cent, 9 percent and 5 per cent, respec-tively.

The job market inHyderabad picked up 5 percent, whereas other

cities like Mumbai,Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru,Delhi NCR and Pune declinedover the past year. PTI

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Aparliamentary panel haspulled up the Ministry of

Planning for under-utilisationof funds in important areas andalso flagged the issue of vacantpositions in Governmentthink-tank Niti Aayog.

The Standing Committeeon Finance, headed by JayantSinha, in a report noted that ascrutiny of the budget of theMinistry of Planning revealsunder-utilisation of funds inimportant areas.

The budget estimates (BE)for the ministry for the year2020-21 stand at Rs 650 crore.

According to the report,under the head DevelopmentMonitoring and EvaluationOffice (DMEO), out of allo-cated funds of Rs 11 crore for2019-20, only Rs 6.18 crore wasutilised till December 2019,which is 56.18 per cent of thetotal allocation.

Similarly, for OfficialDevelopment Assistance(ODA) from JapanInternational CooperationAgency (JICA) for SustainableDevelopment Goals (SDGs),out of the allocated funds of Rs120 crore, only Rs 61 crore wasutilised, which is 50.83 per centof allocation.

The committee said it isconstrained to note that evenafter four years of the consti-

tution of DMEO, which comesunder the Niti Aayog, morethan 100 positions are vacantout of the sanctioned strengthof 157.

Noting that a large numberof private professionals andconsultant firms are beingengaged by the ministry, espe-cially for evaluation ofschemes, the report said “theCommittee expect that thequalifications are well laiddown and recruitment aredone in a transparent mannerand open tendering process befollowed for engaging the con-sultant firms.”

Appreciating Niti Aayogfor bringing out SDG IndiaIndex 2019 covering all SDGs,the panel said it would like torecommend the ministry toconsider options of bringingout a similar index taking dis-tricts as the base.

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Infosys on Thursdayannounced that it has been

selected by Siemens to deployWingspan, the Bengaluru-headquartered company’s dig-ital learning and talent trans-formation platform.

The company-widedeployment will provideemployees a personalisedlearning experience and makeit possible for them, amongmany other useful features, totrack their progress and suc-cesses, according to an Infosysstatement.

“Infosys will supportSiemens to stay ahead of thecurve through a highly effectivelearning experience platform,while leveraging and simplify-ing the existing learning tech-nology ecosystem”, it said.

New Delhi: Telecom majorBharti Airtel on Thursday saidit has acquired a strategic stakein Spectacom Global under itsAirtel Start-up AcceleratorProgram that supports early-stage start-ups in India.

The company, however, didnot disclose the quantum ofstake picked and the financialdetails of the transaction withSpectacom.

Spectacom, which producesdigital content that allows peo-ple across languages, geogra-phies and fitness levels to con-nect with each other and explorehealth and fitness training pro-grammes, is the brainchild ofAdnan Adeeb and Zeba Zaidi —creators of the Devils Circuitmilitary-style obstacle races.

Spectacom is the secondcompany to join the Airtel Start-up Accelerator Program afterBengaluru-based Vahan. PTI

New Delhi: Over 3,600 URLs(uniform resource locators)were blocked in 2019, up from2,799 in the previous year,under a specific provision ofthe Information TechnologyAct, 2000, Parliament wasinformed on Thursday.

In a written reply to aquery in the Rajya Sabha,Electronics and IT MinisterRavi Shankar Prasad saidSection 69A of the IT Act provides for blocking of unlawful and malicious onlinecontent in the interest of sovereignty and integrity ofIndia, defence and security ofthe country, friendly relationswith foreign states or publicorder or for preventing incitement to the commissionof any cognisable offence relat-ed to these. PTI

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Burlington (US): BernieSanders is vowing to pressahead with his presidentialcampaign at least long enoughto debate Joe Biden this week-end, even while acknowledginghis deficit in the Democraticrace may be insurmountable.

The Vermont senator onWednesday offered no furtherdetails on what his campaignmay look like before or after heand Biden — the last twomajor candidates vying for theDemocratic presidential nom-ination — spar Sunday nighton stage in Arizona.

The only thing on Sanders’public schedule was taping anappearance on Wednesday’s“Tonight Show Starring JimmyFallon.”

And that will continue toraise questions — as unlikely asit may seem less than twoweeks after losing his once-commanding front-runner sta-tus — about how long Sanders

will persist against increasing-ly daunting odds, especially asthe pressure within his ownparty increases exponentially.

Sanders addressed reportersin Burlington after offering nopublic statements Tuesday night,when he suffered a devastatingdefeat in Michigan and losses inMissouri, Idaho and Mississippi.

Sanders noted that he wonNorth Dakota and that the con-tinuing count in Washingtonstate remained close — butadmitted he was trailing badlyin the race to secure enoughdelegates to clinch the nomi-nation before the DemocraticNational Convention inMilwaukee.

“While our campaign haswon the ideological debate,we are losing the debate overelectability,” Sanders said,meaning Democrats thinkBiden has a better chance ofbeating President DonaldTrump in the fall.

“That is what millions ofDemocrats and independentstoday believe.” He was quick toadd that he thinks he’s thestronger choice, and that hecould show that duringSunday’s debate. Sanderspromised to press Biden foranswers about millions ofAmericans who don’t havehealth insurance, a criminaljustice system he said unfairlytargets and punishes minoritiesand raising the federal mini-mum wage.

After that, though,Democrats’ desperate desireto defeat Trump could affect hiscalculus. Should Sanders getout soon, he could saveDemocrats months of a messyand expensive primary fight.But an early departure wouldalso deprive the party’s mostpassionate supporters, includ-ing many young people, of theone man who embodies thedramatic change they crave.

Sanders also noted that hewas winning a greater per-centage of young voters whileBiden continues to run up thescore with older ones. AP

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Washington: Podiums get sani-tised before the candidate stepsup to speak. Fist or elbowbumps take the place of hand-shakes, and kissing babies is outof the question.

Rallies are cancelled, leav-ing candidates speaking to ahandful of journalists andstaffers instead of cheeringcrowds of thousands.

This is campaigning in theage of the coronavirus, whenfears of the new pandemic’srapid spread are upending JoeBiden’s and Bernie Sanders’campaigns.

The urgency of the issuecomes at a pivotal time in theDemocratic presidential pri-mary, as Biden is beginning topull ahead as a front-runner forthe nomination and as Sandersis scrambling to catch up.

“If coronavirus has the last-ing impact that we all fear it will,it will also dramatically reshapethe way a presidential campaignunfolds,” said Jesse Ferguson, aveteran Democratic strategistand former spokesman forHillary Clinton’s campaign.

“Politics is fundamentallyabout leaders interacting withthe people who they represent,and if a pandemic foreclosesthat ability, it changes every-thing — how you campaign,how you knock doors, how youdo events and how you do theretail part of politics.” Tuesdaymarked the first moment theissue affected the campaigns ina substantive way. Both Bidenand Sanders decided to cancelplanned election-night rallies inOhio at the advice of localhealth officials. AP

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Geneva: The new coronavirusoutbreak “is a controllable pan-demic” if countries step upmeasures to tackle it, the headof the World HealthOrganisation said on Thursday.

WHO director-generalTedros Adhanom Ghebreyesusacknowledged on Wednesdaythat the global outbreak of thenew coronavirus could now beconsidered a pandemic — a dis-ease actively spreading globally.

But he told diplomats inGeneva that describing the out-break as a pandemic should notmean that countries give up thefight to stop it spreading further.

“This is a controllable pan-demic,” he said, according to astatement of his remarks.

“We are deeply concernedthat some countries are notapproaching this threat withthe level of political commit-ment needed to control it. Theidea that countries should shiftfrom containment to mitigationis wrong and dangerous,” hestressed.

More than 4,500 peoplehave died, according to an AFPtally, while the WHO said some125,000 cases had been report-ed from 118 countries and ter-ritories.

“To save lives we must

reduce transmission,” Tedrosinsisted.

“That means finding andisolating as many cases as pos-sible and quarantining theirclosest contacts,” he said, urgingstates to test every suspected caseof COVID-19 in a bid to slowtransmission.

“Even if you cannot stoptransmission, you can slow itdown and protect health facili-ties, old age homes and othervital areas — but only if you testall suspected cases.” AFP

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Kuala Lumpur: DisgracedMalaysian ex-leader NajibRazak’s corruption trial washalted Thursday after hisdefence team were reportedlyordered to self-quarantine overfears about the coronavirus.

Najib and his cronies areaccused of looting billions ofdollars from sovereign wealthfund 1MDB and using it tofinance a global spendingspree.

The allegations played amajor part in Najib losingpower in 2018, and he has since been arrested and is facing multiple trials over the scandal. He denies wrong-doing. AFP

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Sri Lanka on Thursdayannounced the closure of all

schools across the country tocombat the spread of the coro-navirus.

The Education Ministryannounced that all schools willremain shut down till April 20,as second person in Sri Lankatested positive for the virus.

The second patient, iden-tified as a 44 year-old man, issaid to have had close contactwith the first patient detectedwith the virus in the country,Director-General of HealthServices Anil Jasinghe said.

Tehran: Iran’s Health Ministryon Thursday said the new coro-navirus has killed 75 more peo-ple, raising the death toll to 429amid over 10,000 cases as theIslamic Republic revealed it hadasked for a multibillion-dollarloan from the InternationalMonetary fund to fight thevirus.

Health Ministry spokesmanKianoush Jahanpour announcedthe latest virus figures in a tele-vised news conference.

Iran has asked for an emer-

gency $5 billion loan from theInternational Monetary Fund tocombat the outbreak there,which has killed more than 360people and infected some 9,000people in the Islamic Republic.

Iran’s Central Bank chiefAbdolnasser Hemmati onThursday said he made therequest last week in a letter toIMF chief Kristalina Georgieva.

The international lenderhas said it stands ready to sup-port countries through a RapidFinancial Instrument. AP

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Perth: Australia on Thursdayput forward a $11.4 billionstimulus package meant to staveoff a recession due to the impactof the virus outbreak on itseconomy.

The package includes cashpayments for small businessesand welfare recipients to counterthe impact of the disease, whichhas infected more than 126,000people worldwide. Australiahas recorded 127 cases of thevirus and three deaths. AP

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The 57-year-old femaleteacher, who had recentlybeen hospitalised in criticalcondition with pneumonia,was put into an artificialcoma and on a ventilator but“unfortunately she died notlong ago,” Poznan deputymayor Jedrzej Solarski toldreporters. AFP

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Washington: Three servicemembers were killed, includingtwo Americans, and a dozenmore were injured when a bar-rage of rockets were fired at amilitary base in Iraq, US offi-cials said Wednesday.

One of the officials said fiveservice members were serious-ly wounded and evacuatedfrom the Camp Taji base andseven others were still beingevaluated. Buildingson the base were in flames. Theofficials spoke on condition ofanonymity to give details of theattack ahead of a publicannouncement.

Army Col. Myles Caggins,a US military spokesman inIraq, confirmed that three per-sonnel from the US-led coali-tion were killed and about 12were wounded, but did not pro-vide details about what countrythey were from.

The US military said thatthe names of those killed wouldbe released after family notifi-cations.

Caggins, in a statement,said that about 18 107mmKatyusha rockets struck the

base and that Iraqi SecurityForces found a rocket-riggedtruck a few miles from CampTaji. Such Russian rockets havebeen used in the past byIranian-backed militia groupsin Iraq. AP

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Baghdad: Iraq’s military onThursday said it opened aninvestigation into a rocket attackhours earlier that killed three ser-vicemen, including twoAmericans, at an Iraqi basehousing coalition forces.

At least 12 coalition per-sonnel were also injured lateWednesday by a barrage of rock-ets targeting Camp Taji base,located 27 kilometers (17 miles)north of Baghdad, according toa US-led coalition statement.

A truck rigged with 107mm Katyusha rocket launcherswas discovered by Iraqi securityforces a few kilometers (miles)from the base following theattack. A military statement fromIraq’s joint operations commandsaid caretaker Prime MinisterAdel Abdul-Mahdi ordered theinvestigation into what he called“a very serious security challengeand hostile act.” AP

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Washington: Defying a vetothreat, Congress has approveda bipartisan measure to limitPresident Donald Trump’sauthority to launch militaryoperations against Iran.

The House gave final leg-islative approval to the measureWednesday, 227-186, sendingit to Trump. The president haspromised to veto the war pow-ers resolution, warning that ifhis “hands were tied, Iran

would have a field day.”The resolution, sponsored

by Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va.,declares that Trump must winapproval from Congress beforeengaging in further militaryaction against Iran. Kaine andother supporters say the mea-sure is not about Trump oreven the presidency, butinstead is an importantreassertion of congressionalpower to declare war. AP

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Beirut: An air strike killed 26fighters of Iraqi paramilitarygroup Hashed al-Shaabi in east-ern Syria after a deadly attack onUS-led coalition troops in Iraq,a war monitor said Thursday.

Updating its toll for theWednesday strike, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory forHuman Rights said it was prob-ably carried out by the coalition.The coalition did not immedi-ately provide comment.

Before the strike near theborder town of Albu Kamal,rockets were fired at a militarybase north of Baghdad hostingcoalition troops, killing twoAmericans and one Briton.

It was the deadliest suchattack in years on an Iraqi mil-itary base hosting foreign troops.

There was no immediateclaim of responsibility, but theUnited States has blamed Iran-backed factions from theHashed al-Shaabi for similarviolence in recent months.

Within hours, the airstrikes were launched againstHashed forces just across theborder in Syria.

Hardline Hashed factionshave fought alongside Syriangovernment forces for severalyears and have been targetedby both coalition and Israeli airstrikes. AFP

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Lawmakers in Washingtonhave proposed a ban on

most imports from China’sXinjiang region, charging thatgoods produced by Uighurforced labourers were easilymaking their way into theUnited States.

The US already bans prod-ucts made through slavery,but with rights groups sayingas many as one millionUighurs and other minoritiesare held in camps in Xinjiang,lawmakers said forced laborwas interwoven into theregion’s economy.

“These practices inXinjiang are one of the world’slargest human tragedies. Itremains unimaginable, frankly,that this is happening in 2020,”Senator Marco Rubio, aRepublican sponsor of thebipartisan measure, toldreporters on Wednesday.

Representative JimMcGovern, a Democrat wholeads the Congressional-Executive Commission onChina — which looks athuman rights — said that wit-nesses, surveillance photos andleaked documents all showedthe existence of forced labor.

Colombo: Sri Lanka’s NationalElection Commission hasinvited foreign observers tomonitor the upcoming par-liamentary polls in the islandnation.

President GotabayaRajapaksa on March 2 dis-solved Parliament six monthsahead of its schedule andcalled a snap election on April25. The earlier Parliament wasappointed on Sept 1, 2015.

Rajapaksa sacked theHouse after the minimumterm of four-and-a-half yearsnecessary to dissolve it.

Rajapaksa, who was elect-ed to office in November lastyear, had said he cannot workfreely because his powers hadbeen reduced. He also facedrestrictions as the oppositioncommanded a majority in the225-member House.

According to NationalElection Commission mem-ber S Ratnajeevan H Hoole,the organisation has invitedobservers from the EuropeanUnion (EU), Commonwealthcountries and the NGO, AsianNetwork for Free Elections(ANFREL), to monitor theupcoming parliamentary elec-tion, the Daily Mirror report-ed on Thursday. PTI

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Extra-small crossover SUVs make upthe fastest-growing class in the auto-

motive industry over the past five years,according to Edmunds data. The seg-ment surpassed the one million mark innumber of vehicles sold for the first timein 2019.

Consumers are increasingly attract-ed to these models because they’re lessexpensive than popular small crossoverSUVs such as the Honda CR-V andToyota RAV4 but still offer driversmore cargo storage space and a higherseating height than a typical sedan.

Buying an extra-small crossoverSUV is not without drawbacks. Theytypically cost a few thousand dollarsmore than similarly sized sedans and getlower fuel economy on average. Theyalso sometimes lack features found onbigger crossover SUVs, such as all-wheeldrive or power rear liftgates. Still, ifyou’re going the SUV route, these small-er models can be an appealing choice.

These are five worthy picks for anextra-small crossover SUV, as selectedby the experts at Edmunds. All pricesbelow include the destination charge.

�9"+3.��173�Starting manufacturer’s suggested

retail price: $21,420EPA-estimated fuel economy: 37-30

mpg combinedThe best extra-small crossover SUVs

take the sharper driving characteristicsof a sedan and add utility. Hyundai Konais a prime example of this formula doneright. Fitted with its optional tur-bocharged engine, the Kona is surpris-ingly quick to accelerate. It’s also nim-ble when going around turns.

Every Kona comes with features thataren’t always standard for this class, suchas Apple CarPlay and Android Autosmartphone integration. The Kona does-n’t have as much rear legroom or cargoroom as some of its rivals, but on thewhole it’s a great choice.

��+�!1�-3!74-Starting MSRP: $24,195EPA-estimated fuel economy: 26-31

mpg combinedThe Buick Encore is a slightly

altered version of the Chevrolet Trax.The two vehicles share their engine andmost of their underpinnings. The Encorehas several key features that set it apart,though, and only commands a smallprice premium. That upscale yet afford-able feel is enough to earn a recommen-dation from our experts.

The biggest difference is theenhanced interior. The Encore useshigher-quality cabin materials and moresound-deadening techniques to blockout wind and road noise. You’ll have toaccept sluggish acceleration and limit-ed cargo space, but otherwise the Encoreis a smart small SUV choice.

�973.��94;$Starting MSRP: $21,940EPA-estimated fuel economy: 28-30

mpg combinedIf you’re finding that other extra-

small crossover SUVs don’t provideenough room for passengers and cargo,the Honda HR-V could be the way to go.Its back seat is roomier than the norm,and we’ve found that adults can be fair-ly comfortable when seated there. It alsohas special folding seats that allow youto carry long or oddly shaped items thatwouldn’t fit in one of its rival crossovers.

Downsides include a somewhatloud and underpowered engine and atouchscreen infotainment system thatcan be overly distracting to use while dri-ving. But overall the HR-V is pricedright, and it’s practical andstrong in all the areas

a pint-

sized crossover should be.

��+��4+�!47��4-1Starting MSRP: $23,155EPA-estimated fuel economy: 25-30

mpg combinedMost extra-small crossover SUVs

aren’t designed for recreational use. Onenotable exception is the SubaruCrosstrek. It has standard all-wheeldrive to provide extra traction on loosesurfaces as well as higher-than-averageground clearance to clear ruts androcks when out on a trail. The Crosstrekalso comes standard with raised roofrails that make it easy to install racks tohaul your favorite gear.

The Crosstrek is still a solid pickeven if you’re not planning on off-roadadventure. It has a smooth ride quality,a roomy back seat and easy-to-use con-trols. Nearly all Crosstreks sold alsocome standard with advanced driversafety aids such as forward collision mit-igation. Slow acceleration is the maindrawback to going with this Subaru.

��+.��EDStarting MSRP: $35,695EPA-estimated fuel economy: 22

mpg combinedLuxury brands are also playing the

extra-small SUV game. Audi’s entry isthe Q3. It’s Audi’s least expensive vehi-cle, yet it has many of the traits thebrand is known for, such as a high-qual-ity interior, a smooth ride and featuressuch as advanced driver safety featuresthat can help mitigate accidents andreduce driver distraction.

The Q3 isn’t the sportiest model inits class, and its fuel economy is belowpar. But on the whole, this little Audishows you don’t need to spend stacksof cash to get a stylish and practical lux-ury crossover SUV.

Edmunds says: A new breed ofcrossover SUVs is here. Extra-smallcrossovers provide close to the same

utility as small crossovers but costless and get better fuel econ-

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Irrfan Khan won’t be arriving at the bigscreens in the city with Angrezi

Medium, neither will Akshay Kumar’slatest biggie Sooryavanshi (which hasbeen postponed). Sandeep Aur PinkyFaraar featuring Parineeti Chopra andArjun Kapoor will be affected, too. Theimpact of restrictions to stem the spreadof the coronavirus in the Capital will befelt at the box office as Delhi cinemaswill be shut till March 31.

With the Delhi government official-ly announcing all cinema halls, schools,colleges in Delhi to be shut till March31 due to the outbreak of coronavirus,the film trade in the city is bound to feelthe impact. After the postponement ofSooryavanshi, massive shuffle of releasedates is expected.

“It is going to put a full stop to theforthcoming releases. Delhi is a hugemarket. If you look at the business oftwo releases — Shubh Mangal ZyadaSaavdhan and Thappad, they were fan-tastic in Delhi and NCR. Even other-wise, Delhi-NCR is a huge market. Thelosses will be worth crores. Why wouldyou even want to release when you knowthat the film will not be released inDelhi? Delhi is a big territory. Producerswill now pay attention and think aboutchanging release dates,” trade analystTaran Adarsh said.

The new announcement will ruinbox office takings of Irrfan’s AngreziMedium (scheduled for March 13) andParineeti Chopra-Arjun Kapoor’s

Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar (March 20).“The producers will strongly think todelay the release. I think they will haveto defer releases,” trade expert GirishJohar said.

According to Johar, shutting downof theatres in Delhi will have a “hugeimpact to potential revenue.” He said,“Delhi is a very important market. It isone of the topmost cities among revenueearners for Bollywood films across thecountry. In some cases, it is the num-ber one city among all regions andsometimes Mumbai is the number onecity. Delhi is one of the topmost crucialmarkets. If it shuts down theatres, it willhave a huge impact on Bollywood’spotential revenue,” Johar said. “We alsoneed to keep in mind that overseas, too,we are losing a major chunk right now,with the US under a lockdown, parts ofEurope and Australia also under lock-down. All these are big potential mar-kets. Now, Delhi cinemas will also beclosed. It will be a big loss,” he added.

The fate of the Ranveer Singh-star-rer 83 (April 10) is also undecided.Other big films slated in the first quar-ter include the Amitabh Bachchan andAyushmann Khurrana-starrer GulaboSitabo, Varun Dhawan-Sara Ali Khan’sCoolie No.1, Salman Khan’s actiondrama Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai,Akshay Kumar’s Laxmmi Bomb, BuntyAur Babli 2 and Kangana Ranaut’sThalaivi.

Haathi Mere Saathi, Gunjan Saxena:The Kargil Girl, Ludo and Chehre arealso lined up in the first half. Accordingto Joginder Tuteja, trade analyst, “Baaghi3 came at a time when the news aboutvirus arriving in India had just broken.The makers didn’t have the time to reactand had to release it over the weekendgone by. Though the virus has impact-ed the film, we need to credit the massycontent due to which it has still donewell in its first week and is on course tobe a hit.”

Talking about the impact, RajKumar Mehrotra, general manager atDelite Cinema, said: “Around 10 to 12films are doing good business in Delhi-NCR right now. Shutting down the hallswill affect business of all these films. Bya rough estimate, if halls are asked toshut down till the end of the month, itcould even pile up a cumulative loss ofaround �100 crore in this territory.”

Sanjay Suri, who was set to bring theOscar-nominated drama Les Miserablesto India on March 13, hopes the situa-tion improves soon. “We shall wait forthe situation to improve and see if aphase-wise release is possible or notwhen shutdown is lifted. Safety is mostimportant,” Sanjay said in a statement.

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Our design stories begin with apiece of cloth and we, thedesigners, romance it,” says

Nida Mahmood. For her, fabrics arethe most integral part of her designprocess as they have evolved to beaccepted and recognised as an artform. So it is that she resolves her cre-ative challenges through fabrics. It’s thereason that she has launched a sustain-able line through a sub-brand calledMadam Marigold. It revolves aroundIndian traditions with a contemporarytouch that aims to revive age-old artforms and techniques that do notexhaust natural resources and arelong-lasting. It comprises tunics,pants, saris, jackets, overlays anddresses.

The marigold flower has acted asNida’s muse as it stands for “everythingthat is Indian,” be it a wedding or a rit-ual or a new shop. “It epitomises Indiain several beautiful ways and cele-brates its true essence,” says she.

The collection brings Indian sim-plicity back in the limelight by reviv-ing age-old craftsmanship. In hermaiden collection, she has exploredthe ajrak printing from Gujarat andalso worked on a 160 year-old ana-logue photography technique toexpose designs on the garments andprints on textiles and paper. Ajrak, ablock-printed cloth with deep, crim-son red and indigo blue background,bears symmetrical patterns with inter-spersed unprinted sparkling-whitemotifs. The term is derived fromAzrak in Arabic which implies ‘blue’as it is one of the principal colours init. The colour is the major reason whythe designer chose the technique. It’sher “favourite” and she believes thatthere couldn’t have been a better wayto add her personal touch to the col-lection. She says, “Ajrak printing hasalways fascinated me, especially theindigo colour that it uses widely. It’san art form that needs labour of love.As a designer, my work has alwaysbeen about celebrating India and it’sbeautiful culture. Ajrak, hailing fromas old as the Indus valley civilisation,allows me to do so. I also feel that thiscraft has now been declining due tothe advent of more modern andquicker methods of printing. Brighterchemical dyes are replacing the nat-

ural, muted colours and this slow andcareful process of printing this tradi-tional textile is getting lost.”

In Ajrak, the process of dyeing andprinting the fabric is repeated again

and again with different kind of dyesto achieve the perfect design. Howchallenging is it to deal with such aslow and time-consuming processand yet balance it with the deadlines?“Yes, it is an extremely tedious tech-nique and requires a lot of attentionand care. We coat the fabric with aphotosensitive material so that thedesign and the colours are exposed.The entire process can even takearound two weeks to finally come toend. But once it takes shape, everydesign differs from each other in var-ious aspects. That is the beauty of it,”says Nida.

Eco-sensitivity forms the core ofher collection as the techniques usedfor dyeing, printing and other surfaceornamentation are sustainable. Eventhe process of Ajrak printing is long-lasting as it uses colours from natur-al elements like turmeric, pomegran-ate, onion peels, tea leaves, beetroot,hibiscus, marigold, natural indigoand many others. “It is very importantto consider the impact of the fashionindustry on the land that we are liv-ing. This is an eco-friendly brand. Wefocus on circularity in fashion whichpromotes minimum waste and anoptimum use of all resources. Wemake sure to constantly minimise thenegative impact of any resources onenvironment,” says she.

While the designer is known forintroducing new trends in fashion,what has been her creative process? “Ibelieve in following my heart as a cre-ative person and the only rule is to nothave rules. When one doesn’t box one-self in the rules set by society or anyindustry, one is able to create work thatis fresh and has an independent andfresh perspective,” says she.

As the fashion trends keep evolv-ing with every season, a designerneeds to constantly update his/herdesigns. What keeps Nida going? Shesays, “The love for what I do keeps thelight glowing. This is my bread andbutter and as an entrepreneur it isimperative for me to work towardsachieving mid-term and long termsbusiness goals. Though we nee to beon the toes all the time but there is nopressure. I guess one just slides intothe role that I need to play as it is sucha transient industry.”

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We all know by now thatwhole grains are good

for us and that we should beeating more of them. Anyonewho has dipped a toe (orspoon) into the world of farro,brown rice and quinoa alsoknows how satisfying and ver-satile the arena of whole grainscan be. But what are wholegrains exactly, and which onesshould you stock in yourpantry? The Whole GrainsCouncil, a nonprofit consumeradvocacy group, defines wholegrains as those that contain allthe essential parts and natural-ly occurring nutrients of thegrain seed. When grain isprocessed (for example, bycracking, crushing, rolling orcooking it), some of thosehealthy qualities can bestripped away.

Nutritionists have longtouted the health benefits ofwhole grains. Especially today,when many people are cuttingback on meat, whole grainscan provide texture, flavourand often protein.

Some of the whole grainsyou might experiment with areamaranth, barley, corn(including popcorn!), oats,farro, sorghum, millet, spelt,bulgur, wheatberries, crackedwheat, quinoa, rye, teff, andbrown and wild rice. Besideseating the whole grains whole,consuming things made withwhole grain flours is anotherway to get at the good stuff.

Read labels carefully :Some products might say“made with whole grains” or“made with whole grainflours” but the amount ofwhole grains in them might bevery small. “Multigrain” isanother possibly misleadingterm — multiple grains does-n’t mean that all or even anyof them are whole grains.Look for labeling that says“made with 100 per cent wholegrains”.

Whole grains can star in acasserole or grain salad, beserved up as a side dish, andbolster all kinds of recipesfrom meatloaves to fritters.The grains are often cookedbefore they’re used in a recipe,usually in water or broth.They can also be used in bak-ing, both savory and sweet.Whole grains soak up saucesbeautifully, and can be madeahead and frozen.

A handful of whole grains

to explore:Brown Rice: Switching to

more brown rice instead ofwhite is one of the simplestways to get more whole grainshappening at the table. Brownrice is rice with the inedibleouter hull removed but withthe germ and outer layer intact.It is more nutritious than whiterice, and has a denser, chewier,nuttier grain. It takes longer tocook than white rice, about 45minutes, and the ratio of waterto rice is about 2.5:1.

Quinoa (pronouncedkeen-wah) has been a star ofthe whole grain world forquite some time now.Although it might seem trendyand modern, however, it was astaple in the diet of the ancientIncas. Quinoa is actually aseed but is treated and cookedlike a whole grain. It takesbeautifully to all kinds of sea-sonings and uses. Whencooked, it has a light andfluffy texture, and a lightlynutty flavor. It’s got a high pro-tein count (8 grams in a halfcup of cooked quinoa), a nicedose of fiber and is gluten-free.

Millet (actually, a memberof the grass family) can becooked as a cereal, made intoflour, served as a side dish,made into pilafs or stuffings,you name it. It can even bepopped like corn. It’s rich inprotein, fiber, vitamins andminerals, easy to digest, andhas a slightly sweet, nutty fla-vor. Use millet in soups, saladsand stews.

Teff, a mainstay of tradi-

tional Ethiopian cooking, isbecoming popular worldwide.The grains are tiny, about thesize of poppy seeds but they arepacked with fiber, iron, calci-um and protein. You can useteff in many ways, cooked likeoatmeal or polenta or drycooked in a pan and sprinkledon salads.

Farro is often called speltin the US, where we are justdiscovering its charms, butthe Italians have been creatingfarro masterpieces for cen-turies. The grain originated inwestern Asia. It is similar tobarley, but denser and chewier.Farro is low in gluten, but notgluten-free. There is more thanone way to cook it, even on thestovetop. Some people prefercooking it like rice, with justthe right amount of liquid to befully absorbed. Others cookfarro in a lot of water, likepasta, and then drain it.

Bulgur Wheat: A staple inMiddle Eastern andMediterranean regions, bulgurwheat is whole wheat grainthat has been cracked andpartially precooked. It’s terrif-ic in side dishes, soup, pilafs,casseroles and salads (grainsalads and green salads alike).It can be added to meat dish-es like kibbeh and meatloaf toboost nutrition and bulk themup. Many people have encoun-tered bulgur as the backboneof Middle Eastern Tabboulehsalad. It is high in fiber, low infat, with a nice amount of pro-tein and a lovely nutty flavor.

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There wasn’t much availablefor people to ‘waste’ theirtime on during the pre-

internet era. Of course, unliketoday, there were certainly noweb channels to watch films onat one’s own convenience. Butthere was something specialabout standing in queues of sin-gle-screen theatres to buy the‘first day, first show,’ ticketswhich adhered to strict timings.Films, with their dream-likesequences in idyllic locations,were an escape from monotonyof everyday life. The Hindi filmindustry has influenced us inmore ways than we can everrealise. And Noida Social at DLFMall of India gives us a perfectpeek into nostalgia.

As one enters the externalpremises of the cafe inside thebusy mall, tired after a day ofendless shopping, one noticesthat the table tops have faces oficonic characters fromBollywood like Mogambo andMr India. There are posters ofclassics and blockbusters fromthe 70s, 80s and 90s on a roundpillar. Moving towards the inter-nal premises, one comes acrossa poster of Dilwale Dulhaniya LeJayenge, which informs us thatit was one of the longest runningHindi films in the history ofIndian cinema. A windowtowards its left is designed likea ‘Box-Office’ panel. The hugehall inside the cafe remindsone of the vintage 80s cinemahall with old seat preferences —the stall, balcony, dress circle andbox. It has the touch of a typi-cal Broadway theatre with its redcarpet flooring. There are train-like window compartmentstowards the left, each with a redvelvet curtain on its side. I amcertainly teleported to an era Ihaven’t been a part of or haveonly seen being romanticised inBollywood films itself. Well,what an irony!

I realise I have admired mysurroundings way too much tohave ordered even a single dish,the reason why I had come herein the first place. I order EggsKejriwal mac n cheese, the firstitem that grabs my attention inthe newspaper-like menu.Meanwhile, I notice yet anoth-er addition which furtherenhances the cafe’s cinematheme — background music.English artistes from the 70s to90s like Bryan Adams, BonJovi, Celine Dion, Elvis Presleyand more feature ontheir playlist andtheir videos play ont h e

screen at the centre. Comingback to food, the Eggs Kejriwalseem like the perfect-lookingfirst dish. I wish it’s the same onthe taste front. The spicy macand cheese, topped with friedegg appears like a lasagna in abowl. Baked with cheese, I catchthe macaroni pasta as I dig myfork into the thick layer. The dishhas been cooked to perfection.The egg and cheese on top andthe pasta underneath are just theright blend.

Next up is Chaat kegubaarey. The dish is on mytable and I am wondering if Ihave got the wrong order. Itdoesn’t look like the way I hadimagined it to be nor themanner in which thewaiter had described it.

T h e

plate full of papdis looks exact-ly like a typical chaat. The onlyunusual thing being a white egg-like oval ball on each one ofthem. I wonder why there areeggs in a papdi chaat. After eat-ing one, I realise that what I havebeen thinking to bean egg is actual-ly a ball of hungcurd. Well, fullmarks to thepresentation aswell as the tasteas the curd meltsinside my mouthlike cream. It doesnot for a momentmake you feel that

you need toa d d

any-

thing more.Hummus aur tum, reminis-

cent of a typical Bollywoodfilm name, makes its way to mytable. I initially thought that thedish was a typical hummus pitaone. However, this too is a sur-prise. Two round pita breads aretopped with hummus, braisedtomatoes, feta cheese, arugulaand pomegranates. I polish offthe pair of breads with delightand realise that this is one dishthat I wanted to eat till eternity.It is certainly the best hummuspita dish I have had.

Till now, I haven’t been dis-appointed by any item. It is theturn for some drinks. A Cosmoexplosion cocktail lands on thetable. The drink is a blend ofcranberry juice, triple sec, maltaorange zest and vodka, which ispoured over a candy floss lyinginside the glass after it is broughtto the table. The floss melts soonenough and the cocktail is ready.I would describe this drink asslightly tart, a little sassy andcompletely delicious. There havebeen times when I don’t feel likehaving a cocktail because it’s notproperly mixed with alcohol.Sometimes the juice content islow and at other times, the alco-hol is not properly mixed. Thisone makes me relish a cocktail’sactual taste due to its right bal-ance.

The next is Benarasi Patiala.Social describes it as its most“dangerous combination” offreshly squeezed sugarcane juicewith homemade sweet and sourcondiments, fresh mint, ginger,organic salt and vodka. It can bedrunk as a mocktail too. But Iam already so impressed withthe place’s cocktail-making skillsthat I don’t flinch while order-ing another one. And this oneisn’t disappointing too.

I walk out with a contentheart. The place not only makesyou relive Bollywood’s goldenera but proves to be a box-office

hit when itcomes tofood. Well,you’ll cer-tainly enjoythis show!

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Real Madrid went into quarantineon Thursday as La Liga

announced Spain’s top two divisionswill be suspended for at least two weeksover the coronavirus.

La Liga authorities made the deci-sion after Real Madrid confirmed itssenior football team is in quarantineafter one of the club’s basketball play-ers tested positive for the virus.

Real Madrid’s football and bas-ketball players share facilities at CiudadReal Madrid, the club’s training groundin Valdebebas.

A club statement read: “A playerfrom our basketball first team has test-ed positive for the COVID-19 coron-avirus.

“Since then, the recommendationhas been made to quarantine both thebasketball first team and the football firstteam, given that the two squadsshare facilities in Ciudad RealMadrid.

“Likewise, it has been decided toclose the facilities at our training ground

and it is also recommended that allReal Madrid personnel who work

there remain in quarantine.”La Liga has also followed

Italy’s Serie A in suspendingits matches, after a meeting

on Thursday with theSpanish Football

Federation and the SpanishPlayers Union (AFE).

It had been decided onTuesday that games inSpain’s top two divisions

would be held behind closeddoors but those fixtures over thenext 14 days will now be suspend-ed.

Domestic league matches inFrance, Germany and Portugalhave been put behind closeddoors while Serie A in Italy hasbeen suspended until April 3.

A La Liga statement read: “Inview of the circumstances known

this morning, referring to the quarantineestablished in Real Madrid and the pos-sible positive tests from players at otherclubs, La Liga considers that the circum-stances now exist to continue with thenext phase of action against COVID-19.”

“La Liga agrees to suspend at least thenext two matchdays,” the statementadded. “This decision will be re-evaluat-ed after the quarantine at affected clubsand other possible situations that couldoccur have ended.”

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Paris Saint-Germain playerscelebrated with supporters

gathered outside the groundafter Neymar set them on theirway to a 2-0 win over BorussiaDortmund behind closed doorson Wednesday, taking themthrough to the ChampionsLeague quarter-finals 3-2 onaggregate.

PSG needed to overturn a 2-1 defeat in the first leg of theirlast-16 tie in Germany, butNeymar’s 28th-minute headerput them ahead on the night inthe second leg amid a surrealatmosphere, as banned sup-porters congregated outside theParc des Princes instead.

Juan Bernat then deflectedin a Pablo Sarabia assist to makeit 2-0 and PSG — for whomKylian Mbappe was only fitenough to appear as a substitute— go through to the quarter-finals for the first time since2016. Dortmund finished thenight with 10 men after EmreCan was sent off.

This game was playedbehind closed doors after theFrench government banned allgatherings of more than 1,000people due to the coronavirusoutbreak, but many still cametogether outside.

Those supporters bran-dished flares as the team busarrived before the game andsang and set off fireworksthroughout the match.

PSG players rushed to aconcourse at the back of the sta-dium to celebrate with them atthe end of the game after break-ing a run of three straight exitsin the first knockout round ofthe competition.

“We played like a team. Itwas a pleasure to be their coachtonight,” PSG coach ThomasTuchel told broadcaster RMCSport.

“The atmosphere was greatcoming here in the bus, with allthe ultras singing. We were allsinging together and it was a spe-cial atmosphere.

“It needed a huge effortfrom us, playing without spec-tators made it all the more dif-ficult.”

Neymar was caught oncamera in tears after the match,having shaken off desperate dis-appointment in the competitionin the last two years, with injurypreventing him from playing inthe second leg against RealMadrid at this stage in 2018 andin both legs against ManchesterUnited last season.

Dortmund were disappoint-ing, though, with Erling BrautHaaland never looking likerepeating his first-leg heroicswhen he netted twice.

Their defender MatsHummels admitted his teamstruggled with the atmosphere,saying: “It was really bizarre, butfor both teams. The start of thegame was really strange, like afriendly.”

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Atletico Madrid managerDiego Simeone defend-ed his side’s approach

after dumping Liverpool out ofthe Champions League with a3-2 victory after extra time atAnfield to progress to the quar-ter-finals, winning 4-2 onaggregate.

The holders looked to haveended Atletico’s dogged resis-tance when Roberto Firminoput them ahead in the last-16tie after Georginio Wijnaldum’sfirst-half header forced the sec-ond leg into an extra 30 min-utes.

However, Liverpool weremade to rue a host of missedchances to kill the tie off in 90minutes as Llorente twicecurled home from outside thebox before Alvaro Morata twist-ed the knife by breaking awayto score in added time of extratime.

Defeat ends JurgenKlopp’s proud record ofnever losing a two-leggedEuropean tie as Liverpoolmanager and he took aswipe of Atletico’s defen-sive tactics.

“The way they play, Idon’t get it,” said Klopp. “Theycould play proper football butthey stand deep and havecounter-attacks.”

It remains to be seen if andwhen Atletico will play in thelast eight due to the chaoscaused across the continent bythe new coronavirus.

But Simeone basked inanother famous European nightfor the side he has twice led tothe final in his eight years incharge.

“We play to win, with thearms that we have,” saidSimeone. “Respecting our iden-tity, the characteristics of ourplayers and exploiting thedefects of our rivals.”

OBLAK ‘BEST IN WORLD’A packed Anfield played its

part in trying to roar Liverpoolonto another ChampionsLeague conquest as, unlike innumerous countries acrossEurope, no restrictions have sofar been put on supportersattending games in the UnitedKingdom.

But it was the nearly 3,000travelling fans in attendance,that celebrated a stoic rearguarddisplay from their side.

The European championsdid not manage a single shot ontarget in a 1-0 defeat in Madridthree weeks ago, but Jan Oblakwas quickly put to work.

But Oblak was helpless asLiverpool levelled the tie justbefore half-time throughWijnaldum’s powerful down-ward header.

The goal did not changeAtletico’s approach as theyplayed a risky game andrelied on Oblak to keepthem in the game.

The Sloveniansaved from MohamedSalah, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain andFirmino, while AndyRobertson hit the bar asLiverpool missed a number ofchances that ultimately cameback to cost them.

“I have no doubt Oblak isthe best goalkeeper in theworld,” added Simeone.

Despite Liverpool beingon the brink of a first PremierLeague title in 30 years, theirnumber nine Firmino had notscored at home all season until

four minutes into extra-time.The Brazilian’s header

from Wijnaldum’s crosscame back off the post

and perfectly backinto his path to slothome with Oblakgrounded.

“ E v e r y b o d ywho saw the game

tonight knows it couldhave been different,” said

Klopp. “I loved our first 90minutes, but we scored thesecond goal too late.”

However, no sooner had

Liverpool gone in front for thefirst time in the tie than Atleticohit back with a sucker-punch.

The visitors had barelytested stand-in Liverpool goal-keeper Adrian, but the loss ofAlisson Becker to a hip injuryeventually proved Liverpool’sdownfall.

Adrian fired a simple clear-ance straight to Joao Felix,who fed Llorente and he foundthe bottom corner.

“The pass was not helpful.Adrian is a super player, I lovethe boy, but in this moment, itis the wrong decision,” addedKlopp.

Llorente had joinedAtletico from bitter rivals RealMadrid in a controversial movein June.

But the man whose fatherand great uncle, FranciscoGento, also played for Real,made himself a Rojiblancohero with a second that securedAtletico’s place in the last eightwith another precise low finishin added time at the end of thefirst half of extra time.

Another former Real play-er Morata then broke away andfinished calmly to inflictLiverpool’s first ChampionsLeague home defeat since 2014.

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Juventus and Italy defender DanieleRugani told fans ‘don’t worry, I’m fine’

on Wednesday after becoming the firstSerie A footballer to test positive for thenew coronavirus.

The 25-year-old “is currently asymp-tomatic,” the Italian champions said, butthe Turin-based club are “currently acti-vating all the isolation procedures requiredby law, including those who have had con-tact with him.”

“I want to reassure all those who areworried about me, I’m fine,” Rugani latersaid on Instagram.

“At this moment, however, I feel evenmore duty to thank all the doctors andnurses who are struggling in hospitals tocope with this crisis.

“I invite everyone to respectthe rules, because this virusmakes no distinctions! Let’sdo it for ourselves, for ourloved ones and for thosearound us.” Rugani is thefirst top-flight footballer tofall victim to the viruswhich has killed 827 in Italy,the second moststricken country inthe world afterChina, andinfected 12,000people, includ-ing severalSerie C players.

�� 1��2 The Indian Super League finalbetween ATK FC and Chennaiyin FC on March14 will be played without any spectators at theJawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Margao due to theCOVID-19 pandemic, the organisers said onThursday.

Owing to the current preventivemeasures advised by the Sports Ministry,league organiser Football SportsDevelopment Limited (FSDL) has decid-ed to hold the season’s final behind closeddoors.

FSDL said the decision was taken in viewof the health and safety of players, fans and sup-port staff.

“Upcoming Hero Indian Super League2019-20 Final on Saturday, March 14, 2020,between ATK FC and Chennaiyin FC, will nowbe played behind closed doors at the JawaharlalNehru Stadium, Fatorda, Goa,” the ISL organ-isers said in a statement.

The decision came after the Sports

Ministry’s advisory to all national federationsto follow the Health Ministry’s advisory andavoid large gatherings in sports events.

“...Ensure that no public gathering takesplace in any sporting event. In the event the

sporting event cannot be avoided, the samecould be done wihout allowing gather-ing of people, including spectators,” readan order from the Sports ministry.

This is the second time that an ISLmatch will be played in an empty stadi-

um after this year’s game betweenNorthEast United FC and Bengaluru FC washeld behind closed doors in Guwahati in thewake of the protest against the CitizenshipAmendment Act in Assam.

FSDL said it will soon initiate the processof ticket refunds and an announcement will bemade through Hero ISL channels.

The final match will be telecast live on StarSports, Hotstar and Jio TV.

PTI

�� 1��2 The remain-ing 28 matches of the I-League, including themarquee Kolkata derbybetween championsMohun Bagan and EastBengal, are likely to beplayed in empty stadi-ums owing to theCOVID-19 pandemic,an All India FootballFederation official said.The AIFF, however, willhold a meeting with theI-League clubs on Fridaybefore announcing afinal decision.

“We don’t want totake a unilateral deci-sion, we want to hear theclubs. So, we have fixeda meeting on Fridaywith them. But the mostlikely option is that theremaining 28 matchesare played behind closeddoors,” the official said.

“The AIFF will holda Skype meeting withrepresentatives from allI-League clubs at 4pmon Friday (March 13) inview of the guidelinesissued by the Ministry of

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+�� )�� $��!�� (��:;:;��4"�#��(��2UEFA has called a crisis meetingto take place next week, European foot-ball’s governing body announced onThursday, as the coronavirus outbreak

threatens to force the postpone-ment of Euro 2020 and the ongo-ing Champions League.

A videoconference will be held“to discuss European football’sresponse to the outbreak” nextTuesday “in the light of the ongo-

ing developments in the spread ofCOVID-19 across Europe and thechanging analysis of the World HealthOrganisation.” The meeting will involve

representatives from all 55 nationalassociations and club and player bodies.

However, UEFA did not confirmwhether matches scheduled forThursday or for next week would be ableto go ahead as planned.

Meanwhile, two Europa Leaguelast 16, first legs scheduled for Thursdayand involving Italian clubs have beenpostponed.

Euro 2020 is due to kick off in threemonths and the final four qualifyingspots are due to be decided in play-offmatches scheduled to be played at theend of this month. AFP

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Youth Affairs and Sports con-cerning the recent global out-break of COVID-19,” read astatement from AIFF.

Mohun Bagan havealready clinched the I-Leaguetitle on Tuesday with fourrounds still to be played but theofficial said the remaining

matches cannot be cancelled.“There will be relegation

and promotion and otherthings. These cannot be decid-ed without playing the fullleague. So, we have to hold allthe remaining matches,” hesaid.

PTI

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Bengal’s ‘Man Friday’ AnustupMajumdar stood between

Saurashtra and Ranji Trophy witha defiant unbeaten 58 as the sum-mit clash entered a tantalisingfinal day with the visitors needing72 runs more.

Bengal ended the fourth day at354 for six as Majumdar added 91runs for the unbroken seventhwicket stand with Arnab Nandi (28batting, 82 balls), who showed a lotof courage despite getting hit onthe finger by Jaydev Unadkatdelivery.

Majumdar, who had bailedBengal out of a precarious positionin the quarter as well as semi-final,was the saviour again and gotmuch needed support from Nandias the duo batted out the entire

evening session to keep the matchevenly poised going into day five.

The home team was guilty ofpoor fielding and allowing easyruns to Bengal in the final sessionwhere 90 runs were scored.

Harvik Desai at first slipdropped a regulation catch ofMajumdar, who was on 10 at thattime, and it proved to be a costlymiss.

On an absorbing day four,Bengal won the morning andevening session while Saurashtrastayed in the game by taking threewickets in the afternoon.

By day three, it had becomeclear that final will be decided bythe first innings lead and both

teams were locked in a fierce bat-tle on day four.

Resuming the day at 134 for 3,Sudip Chatterrjee (81 off 241) andWriddhiman Saha (64 off184) kept Bengal’s fightgoing with a 101-run part-nership, consuming 49overs in the process. Theyfrustrated Saurashtra inthe wicket-less morning ses-sion, scoring 89 runs in 29overs. Saurashtra found a much-needed breakthrough in the eighth

over after lunch when against therun of play, Chatterjee was caughtat short leg off Jadeja.

That allowed Saurashtra tobuild pressure on the oppositionand soon after, Saha’s stay in themiddle finally ended after playedon to his stumps off mediumpacer Prerak Mankad. It was a

thick edge which just kissedthe off-stump to dislodgethe bails.

Towards the end of theafternoon session, left-armpacer Chetan Sakariya

crashed through ShahbazAhmed’s stumps to make it 263

for six. It was just the kind of ses-sion Saurashstra wanted as they

conceded only 46 runs in 28 oversand more importantly took threewickets.

(-�� ;��!�5��

The first ODI between India andSouth Africa was on Thursday aban-

doned without a ball being bowled dueto incessant rain here.

It was the second match in less thansix months to be abandoned at the pic-turesque Himachal Pradesh CricketAssociation (HPCA) Stadium because ofinclement weather.

Incidentally, that match was also anIndia-South Africa clash in Septemberlast year.

The first ODI of the three-matchseries was always in doubt after theweatherman forecast widespread rainsand thundershowers over the region onThursday and Friday because of freshwestern disturbance over north Pakistanand adjoining Jammu and Kashmir.

Fans and organisers had offeredprayers at the Indrunag Temple in thehills overlooking the stadium in anattempt to appease the rain gods.

Heavy rain had also lashed the hilltown just after the two teams’ practice ses-sions on Wednesday, forcing the organ-

isers to cover the entire playing area.If that was not enough, it rained the

entire night on the eve of the match.It was overcast for major part of the

day and heavens opened up just beforethe start. It rained on and off after that,forcing the toss to be delayed and bring-ing ground staff into action.

The rain was not that heavy but wasenough for water to accumulate, forcingorganisers to press three super-soppersinto action.

But despite working tirelessly, theground staff failed to clear the ground,forcing the on-field umpires to call off thematch.

The cut-off time for a 20-over gamewas 6.30pm (IST) but the on-fieldumpires made their final inspectionand decided to abandon the matchmuch before that.

The novel coronavirus outbreak andadverse weather conditions affected tick-et sales as well.

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The remaining two one-dayersbetween India and South Africa

will be played in empty stadiums inLucknow and Kolkata due to thedreaded novel coronavirus pandemic.

The matches are scheduled to beheld in March 15 (Lucknow) andMarch 18 (Kolkata).

While the Uttar Pradesh CricketAssociation (UPCA) confirmed thatLucknow ODI will be held behindclosed doors, the Cricket Associationof Bengal (CAB) has also put ticketsales on hold with immediate effect, anindicator of things to come.

“The BCCI is in receipt of thesports ministry’s advisory. Obviously,if we are advised to avoid large gath-erings, we will have to abide by it,” aBCCI source said.

UPCA secretary Yudhveer Singhconfirmed the development to thereporters in Lucknow on Thursday.

“After receiving the governmentadvisory, we had a discussion withBCCI officials and then decided thatspectators will be barred from enter-ing the stadium during second ODIbetween India and South Africa onMarch 15,” Yudhveer said.

The Cricket Association of Bengal(CAB) has decided to put ticket saleson hold, informed president AvishekDalmiya, who also met Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee at the state secretari-at in Kolkata to discuss the prevailingsituation.

“I met our honourable CM at thesecretariat. We would like to adhere tothe government directive that hasbeen issued today and we are stoppingall ticket sales with immediate effect.We will wait till further directive,”Dalmiya said from Kolkata.

So, isn’t it a foregone conclusionthat the matches will be played inempty stadiums?

“I wouldn’t like to make any pre-mature comment. As of now, we willstop ticket sales till further directive.That’s how it stands as of now,”Dalmiya said.

In case, the matches are heldbehind closed doors, then only TVcrew, commentators and journalistswill be allowed inside the stadium,apart from the players and supportstaff.

(-�� ;��-

The money-spinning IPLmulled a closed-door edition

in a desperate bid to avoid can-cellation as the deadly COVID-19 sent Indian sports into quar-antine after a government direc-tive asked for fans to be keptaway from all action to preventthe pandemic from spreading.

“...Ensure that no publicgathering takes place in anysporting event. In the event thesporting event cannot be avoid-ed, the same could be done with-out allowing gathering of people,including spectators,” read anorder from the Sports Ministrywhich caused quite an upheavalthrough the day.

The directive ensured thatthe remaining two ODIsbetween India and South Africain Lucknow and Kolkata, theIndian Super League footballtournament final in Goa, and thelast day of the Ranji Trophy sum-mit clash in Rajkot will beplayed in front of empty stadi-ums, an unprecedented turn ofevents in Indian sports.

On the IPL, the BCCI main-tained a stoic silence but theSports Ministry dropped enoughhints that the glitzy T20 tourna-ment could be held in empty sta-diums too due to the health cri-sis even as foreign players wereruled out till April 15 followinggovernment-imposed travelrestrictions. The event is due tostart on March 29 in Mumbai.

The Ministry of ExternalAffairs has also advised theBCCI to “not do it at this timebut if the organisers want to goahead, it is their decision”.

In another major develop-ment, the All India FootballFederation said that the remain-ing 28 matches of the I-League,

including the marquee Kolkataderby between championsMohun Bagan and East Bengal,are likely to be played in emptystadiums.

This came a day after organ-isers of badminton’s India Open,starting March 24, decided theywon’t allow spectators this year.

Besides, the national tennisfederation and the ParalympicCommittee of India decided toput on hold all national andstate-level championships tillApril 15, keeping in mind gov-ernment directions.

The Athletics Federation ofIndia, on the other hand, with-drew invitations to foreign com-petitors for the Federation Cupbut said that the event itself willgo ahead in Patiala from April10-13.

The IPL’s fate would be upfor discussion at the event’sGoverning Council meeting onSaturday and the BCCI hasdecided to adopt a wait andwatch policy till then. SportsSecretary Radhey ShyamJulaniya said that events cancontinue but without the pres-ence of crowds.

“We have asked all theNSFs, including the BCCI, tofollow the Health Ministry’slatest advisory, which says pub-lic gatherings should be avoid-ed in all events, including sport-ing activities,” Julaniya said.

“The sporting events can goon but the advisory needs to befollowed,” he added.

The government onWednesday suspended all visas,barring a few categories likediplomatic and employment, inan attempt to prevent the spreadof coronavirus as cases acrossIndia rose to more than 70.

The outbreak, declared apandemic by the World HealthOrganisation (WHO) onWednesday, has led to morethan 4,000 deaths and left over100,000 infected globally.

In India, Karnataka and

Delhi have declared COVID-19epidemics. The two states arehome to IPL teams RoyalChallengers Bangalore (led byVirat Kohli) and Delhi Capitals.

The shooting World Cupand the Indian Open golf tour-nament are so far the biggestevents to have been postponedin the Indian sporting calendar.

Meanwhile, the Indian box-ing team, returning from theAsian Olympic Qualifiers inJordan, will be asked to stay“home-quarantined” eventhough all the members havegot the necessary health clear-ances.

A total of 13 boxers andalmost an equal number ofcoaching staff arrive back onThursday after clinching anunprecedented nine Olympicslots in the qualifiers whichconcluded on Wednesday inAmman.

“They will be asked to quar-antine themselves at theirhomes or hostel rooms for a fewdays. They have, however, beengiven the necessary health clear-ances by the Jordanian Olympicassociation,” Boxing Federationof India’s Executive Director RK Sacheti said.

The coronavirus outbreakhas also led to speculation overthe fate of the Tokyo Olympicsthis year. The InternationalOlympic Committee (IOC),however, has insisted that theGames will be held as scheduledin July-August.

(-�� -!5-�,��5�

Rising Indian shuttlerLakshya Sen was knocked

out of the All EnglandChampionships after losing instraight games to VictorAxelsen here on Thursday.

Lakshay went down to theworld number seven Dane 17-21, 18-21 in a hard fought sec-ond round battle which last-ed 45 minutes.

The 18-year old Indian,who won five titles last season,had defeated Hong Kong’sCheuk Yiu Lee 17-21, 21-8 21-17 in the opening round.

On Wednesday night, starIndian shuttler Saina Nehwal’s

chances of qualifying for theOlympics took a hit after shemade a first-round exit, fol-lowing a loss to Japanesenemesis Akane Yamaguchi.

Up against world numberthree Yamaguchi, it was atough opening round for

Saina, who lost 11-21, 8-21 injust 28 minutes.

Saina is placed 20th onthe BWF rankings with 46267points and the 2012 LondonOlympics Bronze-medallistneeds to enter the top-16bracket by April 28 to makethe cut for the 2020 TokyoGames.

She now needs strongperformances to pocket cru-cial ranking points.

The 29-year-old is sched-uled to compete at the SwissOpen (March 17-22), IndiaOpen (March 24-29) andMalaysia Open (March 31-April 5) in the followingweeks.

(-�� 5�5��-

The Road Safety World Series, featuring crick-et greats such as Sachin Tendulkar and Brian

Lara, have been cancelled for the time being in viewof the rising coronavirus threat in Maharashtra.

The organisers said the series have been calledoff for the safety of the players and the public.

“In the interest of public safety and security,and following the advisory issued by Ministry ofHealth and Family Welfare, the organising bodyhas unanimously agreed to reschedule the remain-ing matches of the series to a later date,” a mediarelease said.

“The remaining seven matches in the serieswill now be played when the situation is conduciveto hold public events with large gathering and thereare no travel restrictions,” the statement added.

�� 1��B(-�C2 The gov-ernment has made it clearto the Board of Control forCricket in India (BCCI)that any sporting event thathas to be held amid theongoing coronavirus out-break will have to be behindclosed doors and the fran-chises are okay with the ideaof the IPL being held withempty stands. But they wishfor their foreign players tobe made available from thestart of the season.

Speaking to IANS, anofficial of one of the fran-chises said that with thegovernment making itsstance clear and the WorldHealth Organisation(WHO) declaring the coro-navirus outbreak a “pan-demic”, there is no otheroption than to play thematch behind closed doors.

“See, the gate money isno issue as these things areinsured. As for the fans, itis disappointing, but wedon’t really have much of anoption as we have to abideby the diktat of the centralgovernment and evenWHO has declared the out-break a “pandemic”.

“This makes it clearthat if we have to have anIPL this year, it has to bebehind closed doors. Sonow, would we rather wantan IPL where fans canwatch the games on televi-sion or we don’t want anIPL in 2020? So, we are okaywith that, but the BCCImust sit down and speak tothe central government tomake an exception andallow the foreign players tocome in before April 15 asthe IPL loses its sheen oth-erwise,” the official said.

While there have beenrumours that the league

could be started in the sec-ond week of April, anotherofficial said that was a strictno-no as that would meanmissing the foreign starsgoing into the business end.

“The internationalcommitments that the play-ers have cannot be toyedwith and the host broad-casters have already made itclear that they are not tookeen on double headers. So,keeping the interest of allparties in place, the bestoption is to have an IPLbehind closed doors. Thefranchises will have to bearthe loss that comes withmerchandise sales, but thatis a nominal amount ascompared to the losses thatwill be incurred if the IPLdoesn’t happen in 2020,” theofficial said.

An official of anotherfranchise made it clear thatthe BCCI must ensure thatthey sit down with the con-cerned governmentaldepartments and ensurethat at least the foreignplayers are handed permis-sion as they are alreadytouring around the world.

“See, the Proteas arealready in the country, so asper the directive, they caneasily stay back. Also, if yousee, the Englishmen arealready in Sri Lanka and theKiwis are playing theAussies in Australia, so theyare anyway on the road. Wejust need the BCCI to sitdown with the governmen-tal departments and get usthe clearance so that we canhave the IPL with foreignplayers. The whole tourna-ment will lose its charm ifthe foreign players are notthere. It is the biggest crick-et carnival in the world fora reason,” the official said.

�� ;��-

West Indies legend Brian Lara feelsthat India are still the best trav-

elling team in Test cricket despite theirrecent 2-0 defeat in New Zealand. Indiahad lost the first Test by 10 wickets andthe second by seven with their battinglineup looking all at sea in all fourinnings.

Lara considers what happened inNew Zealand an “aberration.”

“I think India have been travellingvery well in the last ten or so years.What happened in New Zealand, I

think it's more of an aberration, I thinkcoming off so much one-day and T20cricket, it might have been tough forthem in the Test arena outside of India.But I think India is still maybe the besttravelling team in the world,” Lara toldESPNCricinfo.

Lara said that West Indies and Indiawould be two teams that Australia willbe worried about the most at the T20World Cup later in the year. “In termsof a team, obviously I want to see theWest Indies go all the way and win,” saidLara.

“India, with the fact that they pro-

duce so much international cricketersthrough their league (Indian PremierLeague) has enhanced every single play-er who plays for India. I mean KL Rahulis my favourite player in the world, Ilove watching him and I think India isgoing to be a force to reckon with.

“Australia at home… it’s not goingto be an easy World Cup for anyone.Australia is going to be worried aboutIndia and the West Indies, West Indiesare going to be worried about every-body because of their inconsistencysometimes. So it’s going to be a greatWorld Cup to look at.”

(-�� ;��!�5��

Flamboyant India all-rounderHardik Pandya has revealed that he

felt a lot of “mental pressure” when hisefforts to recover fast from his backinjury did not fructify.

The 26-year-old had undergone asuccessful surgery in October last yearto treat an acute lower-back injury,which kept him out of action for sixmonths.

“I missed this atmosphere inthese past six months, playing for Indiaand the feeling that you get wearing the

team’s colours. That had becomemental challenge and there were a lotof setbacks,” Pandya said during hisappearance on Chahal TV ahead of theseries-opener.

“I was trying to get back to full fit-ness quickly but that did not work outand there was a lot of mental pressureat that time. But everything went fine,the rehabilitation went well and a lotof people helped me,” he added.

Last month, he was ruled out ofthe Test series against New Zealandafter failing to regain full match fitnessbut was included

He finally made comeback tocompetitive cricket by featuring in theReliance 1 team in the DY Patil T20Cup, an invitational tournament.

He scored two centuries, the sec-ond of which was an unbeaten 55-ball158 in which he smashed 20 sixes.Pandya said it was an “importantinnings” for him.

“I had not played a single game forsix and a half months. I wanted tomake an international comeback so itwas very important for my confidence.No matter how much you practice thematch situation is always different.”

“So I just kept on playing, my con-fidence kept improving and the sixeswere coming of well. I though if theyare coming off well, why should I stopand I keep going. But I never thoughtthat I will hit 20 sixes in an innings,”he added.

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��#��$��*,+-2 The final day of theRanji Trophy summit clashbetween Bengal and Saurashtrawill be played without any spec-tators due to the COVID-19 pan-demic, the BCCI said onThursday.

“No public will be allowed onthe final day. Only the players,match officials, officials from thehost association and media areallowed,” BCCI general managerSaba Karim, who is in charge ofdomestic cricket, said. PTI

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