16
A gainst the backdrop of the prevailing unrest in Kashmir, the Army has decid- ed not to take any chance dur- ing the upcoming Amarnath Yatra. More than 14,000 secu- rity personnel from the Army, paramilitary and the local police will be deployed all along the 300-km pilgrimage route. This strength is more than double the number last year. The yatra will begin on June 29 and culminate on August 7. As major part of the yatra — a “high visibility” event in terms of magnitude of people from all over the country tak- ing part in the pilgrimage — passes through south Kashmir, which is now witnessing stone pelting and terrorists attacking security forces. The Army and paramili- tary are engaged in a massive exercise to ensure an incident- free pilgrimage. Admitting that providing protection to lakhs of people congregating during the yatra was a “huge challenge,” officials said here on Saturday. The Army plans to deploy two bat- talions (one battalion has 1,000 soldiers) along the sensitive sectors of the route. Moreover, the paramili- tary, including the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and Border Security Force (BSF), proposed to deploy more than 100 companies (one company has 100 personnel), they said. Last year, the number of companies deployed was near- ly half of the planned, under- lining the “heightened threat perception to the high profile event,” officials said. While the Army provides “prophylactic security,” the paramilitary and the local police will ensure security of the pilgrims and the route through which the yatra pass- es, they said. Explaining the meaning of “prophylactic” security, they said the Army battalions will provide cover from a distance as the Jammu & Kashmir Police is the lead agency for security of the yatra. The security forces, includ- ing the Army and paramilitary, will also step up search opera- tions in the coming weeks before the yatra begins to flush terrorists out of their hideouts in the villages in restive south Kashmir and force them to move to forests, the officials added. It is easier for the Army to go after terrorists in forests as the forces do not have to worry about collateral damage, they added. Elaborating on the concept of “prophylactic” measures, sources said the Army conducts area domination drills on both sides of the route to prevent ter- rorists prowling in to attack the pilgrims. This exercise is more preventive in nature, said they, adding all the stakeholders to perform security duty accord- ing to laid down procedures and zones of responsibility. J&K Governor NN Vohra held the first meeting for co- ordination of this massive exer- cise on Friday in Srinagar and more such sessions will take place in the coming days to firm up the security grid. Additional companies of para- military and Army battalions will start moving in their defined sectors a fortnight before the yatra commences, officials said. The annual pilgrimage has not seen any untoward incident in the last one decade or so, they said, adding terrorists had last targeted the yatra in 2003 and 2007. Given the scale of the event, livelihood of more than one lakh local traders and pony owners of the State depends on the yatra. The local business and pony owners suffered great losses last year as the yatra was affected in the wake of mass protests after Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani was killed in July. About three lakh yatris could visit the holy Amarnath shrine though the administra- tion had expected that more than five lakhs will come, they said. M umbai terror attacks mas- termind and Jamat-ud Dawah (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed and his four aides have been detained for “spreading terror- ism in the name of jehad”, Pakistan’s Interior Ministry has told a judicial review board. Saeed appeared before the board on Saturday and told it that he had been detained by the Pakistani Government in order to stop him for raising voice for Kashmiris. However, the Interior Ministry rejected his argu- ments and told the three-mem- ber board that Saeed and his four aides have been detained for “spreading terrorism in the name of jehad”. The board comprising Justices Ejaz Afzal Khan of the Supreme Court (head), Ayesha A Malik of Lahore High Court and Jamal Khan Mandokhail of Balochistan High Court direct- ed the ministry to submit a complete record regarding detention of Saeed and his aides — Zafar Iqbal, Abdul Rehman Abid, Abdullah Ubaid and Qazi Kashif Niaz on next hearing on May 15. The board also sought per- sonal appearance of the Attorney General of Pakistan on next hearing. Police produced Saeed and his four aides before the board at Lahore registry of the apex court amid high security. A large number of Saeed’s supporters gathered outside the court. Saeed’s counsel advocate AK Dogar was also present but the founder of Lashkar-e- Tayyeba (LeT) chose to plead his case before the court. “The allegations levelled by the Government against me had never been proved by any state institution. My organisa- tion and I have been victimised for raising voice for freedom of Kashmir and criticising the Government’s weak policy on the Kashmir issue,” Saeed said. He said he had been placed under house arrest in order to stop him for raising voice for Kashmiri people. Saeed appealed to the board to set aside the Punjab Government’s detention order. “The Government detained the JuD leaders on pressure of United Nations and international organisa- tions,” an official representing the federal Interior Ministry told the board. Last Thursday, Lahore High Court division Bench had questioned as why Saeed and others were not presented before a review board before the Government issued notification for extension to his detention for another 90 days. On April 30, detention of Saeed and his four aides was extended by the Punjab Government for another 90 days under preventative deten- tion under 11 EEE (I) and 11D of Anti-Terrorism Act 1997. Continued on Page 4 I n a first, a 21-year-old woman allegedly jumped to death from the DND flyway into the Yamuna River in South East Delhi’s Sunlight Colony area on Sunday afternoon. The deceased has been identified as Aarti, a native of Farrukhabad in Uttar Pradesh. Her identity was established through voter ID card found in her purse. She was working as a domestic help. Her body was fished out after one-and-a-half hour search operation by rescue teams, said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southeast) Romil Baaniya. According to police, a PCR call was received from a DTC bus conductor about a girl jumping into the Yamuna River from the DND flyway. “The bus conductor, Dheerender, informed us that a girl came to the flyway, kept aside her belongings such as purse, mobile phone and slip- pers on the footpath and jumped into the river,” said the DCP. Following which, a team of Sunlight Colony police, Boat Club and fire team rushed to the spot. “The woman’s brother, Pradeep, has been informed. The body has been sent for post-mortem to the AIIMS,” said the DCP. “No suicide note was recovered. Investigation is on,” said another police officer. A 26-year-old woman from the Northeast was alleged- ly gangraped by three men in a moving car after she was abducted in Gurugram in the wee hours of Sunday, police said. She was later thrown out of car in Najafgarh area in Delhi. According to police, the victim, a resident of Sikkim, has been living in a rented accom- modation in Sukhrali village in Gurugram Sector-17 for the past six months. The woman — who works as a data analyst with a private firm — was attacked around 2 am on Sunday when she was return- ing from Delhi’s Connaught Place to her residence. As she reached near her house, she was dragged by three men into their Swift car and gangraped the woman. On Sunday morning, she lodged an FIR at Sector 17/18 Police station. “We have registered a gangrape case against three unidentified men,” said Ram Kumar, SHO. “As per her statement, she went to Connaught Place on Saturday night and watched a movie and had some drinks in a pub with her friend named, Lohit. Later she took a cab for Gurugram, while her boyfriend left for Shahdara in Delhi,” said the official. “We have detained her boyfriend for the questioning. We have also questioned the cab driver who claimed that after dropping her, he spent around 10 minutes there for smoking and didn’t notice any- thing suspicious. We are veri- fying the victim’s version,” the SHO said. T he country’s cyber securi- ty agency has alerted Internet users against damag- ing activities of a strong and globally active ransomware virus — Wannacry — that critically infects work stations and locks them remotely. On Sunday evening, the Maharashtra Police depart- ment said it was partially hit by the ransomware. The “unprecedented” ran- somware cyberattack has hit as many as 2,00,000 victims in over 150 countries. “At the moment, we are in the face of an escalating threat. The num- bers are going up, I am worried about how the numbers will continue to grow when people go to work and turn (on) their machines on Monday morn- ing,” Europol Director Rob Wainwright said. Related reports on P12 Dibrugarh: India’s longest river bridge, capable of withstanding the weight of a 60-tonne battle tank, will be inaugurated in Assam close to the border with China on May 26 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. With the inauguration of the 9.15-km-long Dhola-Sadiya bridge over the Brahmaputra River, the Prime Minister will kick off the celebrations of the NDA Government’s three years in office from this eastern-most part of Assam. The construction of the bridge is seen as an attempt by India to shore up its Defence infrastructure along the India- China border. It is also part of the Centre’s endeavour to improve connectivity in the region. It is 3.55-km longer than the Bandra-Worli sea link in Mumbai, making it the longest bridge in India. “The Prime Minister will dedicate the strategically impor- tant bridge to the nation on May 26. It will bolster road con- nectivity in the Northeast as the bridge will be used by people of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh besides Defence forces exten- sively,” Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said. The construction of the bridge began in 2011 at a pro- ject cost of 950 crore. Continued on Page 4 I t is 11 am and 67-year-old gynaecologist Dr Hema Devi Goswami is busy examining pregnant women at the Dhirenpara First Referral Unit in Assam’s Kamrup district. Dr Goswami is one among those private practitioners from the State who have enrolled with the Modi Government’s unique safe pregnancy plan, Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan (PMSMA), launched last year in November in collaboration with the UNICEF. Under the scheme, gyne- cologists and radiologists from the private sector across the country are invited to volunteer to provide free antenatal care services (ANC) on the ninth of every month to pregnant women , especially those from under-served, semi-urban, poor and rural areas. Since its launch six months ago, around 3,636 gynaecologists across India have registered online on www.pmsma.nhp.gov.in. In Assam, 62 private doctors have registered with the PMSMA. The aim is to provide spe- cialist care to improve the health of pregnant women and their newborns and lower India’s maternal mortality rate (MMR) and infant mortality rate (IMR). India’s MMR of 167 per 1,00,000 births, has failed to meet its Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) target of bring- ing down maternal deaths to under 140 by 2015. In India, one pregnant woman dies every 12 minutes, with 45,000 dying each year. Of them, less than one in five (19.7 per cent) undergo prenatal health checks. The situation in Assam is no different. With the highest MMR of 300 per one lakh live births, double than the coun- try’s average, the North-Eastern State now pins hopes on Dr Goswami and her ilk from the private sector to help improve its health indicators. “I have enrolled with the scheme. Last week, I got a call from the State health officials to offer my services at this First Referral Unit on May 9. Continued on Page 4 H umans are not the only ones suffering due to the severe drought prevailing in Karnataka, animals are becoming victims of it as well, particularly aquatic creatures. Three fully-grown crocodiles have been found dead in Krishna River in Bagalkot dis- trict in the last 12 days due to lack of food. A forest official threw light on the ongoing man-animal conflict in Karnataka that has been reeling under severe drought for the past three years, with over 170 taluks affected this time around. “The river water has accu- mulated in small pits in the river bed where crocodiles and other aquatic creatures have taken shelter. With farmers drawing water for their land from these pits using motors, crocodiles and other aquatic creatures are deprived of their lifeline,” he explained. On Friday, a 13.4-feet- long crocodile, weighing 365 kgs was found dead on the banks of the Krishna River near Gudadinni Village in Bilagi taluk, Bagalkot district. Veterinarians said the croc- odile died due to unavailabili- ty of food and water as the river has dried up due to the drought. According to forest officials a giant crocodile was found dead near the old bridge at Korti Village on May 1, while anoth- er died on May 9 near Gudadinni Village. Continued on Page 4 Srinagar: Two Lashkar-e- Tayyeba terrorists, who had attacked an Army camp in Kupwara on April 26, have been gunned down in a fierce encounter in Waripora area of Handwara in Kupwara dis- trict. A huge cache of weapons has been seized. Sources said the terrorists were cornered in an orchard, just metres away from the populated area in Waripora. Detailed report on P7

ˆ ˙ . - The Pioneer in Uttar Pradesh. Her identity was established through voter ID card found in her purse. She was working as a domestic help. Her body was fished out after one-and-a-half

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Page 1: ˆ ˙ . - The Pioneer in Uttar Pradesh. Her identity was established through voter ID card found in her purse. She was working as a domestic help. Her body was fished out after one-and-a-half

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Against the backdrop of theprevailing unrest in

Kashmir, the Army has decid-ed not to take any chance dur-ing the upcoming AmarnathYatra. More than 14,000 secu-rity personnel from the Army,paramilitary and the localpolice will be deployed allalong the 300-km pilgrimageroute. This strength is morethan double the number lastyear. The yatra will begin onJune 29 and culminate onAugust 7.

As major part of the yatra— a “high visibility” event interms of magnitude of peoplefrom all over the country tak-ing part in the pilgrimage —passes through south Kashmir,which is now witnessing stonepelting and terrorists attackingsecurity forces.

The Army and paramili-tary are engaged in a massiveexercise to ensure an incident-

free pilgrimage.Admitting that providing

protection to lakhs of peoplecongregating during the yatrawas a “huge challenge,” officialssaid here on Saturday. TheArmy plans to deploy two bat-talions (one battalion has 1,000soldiers) along the sensitivesectors of the route.

Moreover, the paramili-tary, including the CentralReserve Police Force (CRPF)and Border Security Force(BSF), proposed to deploymore than 100 companies (onecompany has 100 personnel),they said.

Last year, the number ofcompanies deployed was near-ly half of the planned, under-lining the “heightened threatperception to the high profileevent,” officials said.

While the Army provides“prophylactic security,” the

paramilitary and the localpolice will ensure security ofthe pilgrims and the route

through which the yatra pass-es, they said.

Explaining the meaning of“prophylactic” security, theysaid the Army battalions willprovide cover from a distanceas the Jammu & Kashmir Policeis the lead agency for securityof the yatra.

The security forces, includ-ing the Army and paramilitary,will also step up search opera-tions in the coming weeksbefore the yatra begins to flushterrorists out of their hideoutsin the villages in restive southKashmir and force them tomove to forests, the officialsadded. It is easier for the Armyto go after terrorists in forestsas the forces do not have toworry about collateral damage,they added.

Elaborating on the conceptof “prophylactic” measures,sources said the Army conducts

area domination drills on bothsides of the route to prevent ter-rorists prowling in to attack thepilgrims. This exercise is morepreventive in nature, said they,adding all the stakeholders toperform security duty accord-

ing to laid down proceduresand zones of responsibility.

J&K Governor NN Vohraheld the first meeting for co-ordination of this massive exer-cise on Friday in Srinagar andmore such sessions will take

place in the coming days tofirm up the security grid.Additional companies of para-military and Army battalionswill start moving in theirdefined sectors a fortnightbefore the yatra commences,

officials said.The annual pilgrimage has

not seen any untoward incidentin the last one decade or so,they said, adding terrorists hadlast targeted the yatra in 2003and 2007. Given the scale of theevent, livelihood of more thanone lakh local traders andpony owners of the Statedepends on the yatra.

The local business andpony owners suffered greatlosses last year as the yatra wasaffected in the wake of massprotests after HizbulMujahideen commanderBurhan Wani was killed inJuly. About three lakh yatriscould visit the holy Amarnathshrine though the administra-tion had expected that more than five lakhs will come,they said.

���� 8��9+1

Mumbai terror attacks mas-termind and Jamat-ud

Dawah (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeedand his four aides have beendetained for “spreading terror-ism in the name of jehad”,Pakistan’s Interior Ministry hastold a judicial review board.

Saeed appeared before theboard on Saturday and told itthat he had been detained bythe Pakistani Government inorder to stop him for raisingvoice for Kashmiris.

However, the InteriorMinistry rejected his argu-ments and told the three-mem-ber board that Saeed and hisfour aides have been detainedfor “spreading terrorism in thename of jehad”.

The board comprisingJustices Ejaz Afzal Khan of theSupreme Court (head), AyeshaA Malik of Lahore High Courtand Jamal Khan Mandokhail ofBalochistan High Court direct-ed the ministry to submit acomplete record regardingdetention of Saeed and hisaides — Zafar Iqbal, AbdulRehman Abid, Abdullah Ubaidand Qazi Kashif Niaz on nexthearing on May 15.

The board also sought per-sonal appearance of theAttorney General of Pakistanon next hearing.

Police produced Saeed andhis four aides before the boardat Lahore registry of the apexcourt amid high security. A large number of Saeed’s supporters gathered outsidethe court.

Saeed’s counsel advocateAK Dogar was also present butthe founder of Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT) chose to pleadhis case before the court.

“The allegations levelled bythe Government against mehad never been proved by anystate institution. My organisa-tion and I have been victimisedfor raising voice for freedom ofKashmir and criticising theGovernment’s weak policy onthe Kashmir issue,” Saeed said.

He said he had been placedunder house arrest in order tostop him for raising voice for

Kashmiri people.Saeed appealed to the

board to set aside the PunjabGovernment’s detention order.

“The Governmentdetained the JuD leaders onpressure of United Nationsand international organisa-tions,” an official representingthe federal Interior Ministrytold the board.

Last Thursday, LahoreHigh Court division Benchhad questioned as why Saeedand others were not presentedbefore a review board beforethe Government issued notification for extension to his detention for another 90 days.

On April 30, detention ofSaeed and his four aides wasextended by the PunjabGovernment for another 90days under preventative deten-tion under 11 EEE (I) and 11Dof Anti-Terrorism Act 1997.

Continued on Page 4

����������� �10�718��

In a first, a 21-year-oldwoman allegedly jumped to

death from the DND flywayinto the Yamuna River in SouthEast Delhi’s Sunlight Colonyarea on Sunday afternoon.

The deceased has beenidentified as Aarti, a native ofFarrukhabad inUttar Pradesh.

Her identitywas establishedthrough voter IDcard found in herpurse. She wasworking as a domestic help.Her body was fished out afterone-and-a-half hour searchoperation by rescue teams, said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southeast) RomilBaaniya.

According to police, a PCR

call was received from a DTCbus conductor about a girljumping into the Yamuna Riverfrom the DND flyway.

“The bus conductor,Dheerender, informed us that agirl came to the flyway, keptaside her belongings such aspurse, mobile phone and slip-pers on the footpath and

jumped into the river,”said the DCP.

Following which, ateam of SunlightColony police, BoatClub and fire teamrushed to the spot.

“The woman’s brother,Pradeep, has been informed.The body has been sent forpost-mortem to the AIIMS,”said the DCP.

“No suicide note wasrecovered. Investigation is on,”said another police officer.

�����������:�+�:�

A2 6 - y e a r - o l dwoman from the

Northeast was alleged-ly gangraped by three menin a moving car after she wasabducted in Gurugram in thewee hours of Sunday, policesaid. She was later thrown out of car in Najafgarh area in Delhi.

According to police, thevictim, a resident of Sikkim, hasbeen living in a rented accom-modation in Sukhrali village inGurugram Sector-17 for thepast six months. The woman— who works as a data analystwith a private firm — wasattacked around 2 am onSunday when she was return-ing from Delhi’s ConnaughtPlace to her residence.

As she reached near herhouse, she was dragged bythree men into their Swift car

and gangraped thewoman.

On Sundaymorning, she lodged

an FIR at Sector 17/18Police station. “We have

registered a gangrape caseagainst three unidentifiedmen,” said Ram Kumar, SHO.

“As per her statement, shewent to Connaught Place onSaturday night and watched amovie and had some drinks ina pub with her friend named,Lohit. Later she took a cab forGurugram, while her boyfriendleft for Shahdara in Delhi,” saidthe official.

“We have detained herboyfriend for the questioning.We have also questioned thecab driver who claimed thatafter dropping her, he spentaround 10 minutes there forsmoking and didn’t notice any-thing suspicious. We are veri-fying the victim’s version,” theSHO said.

���� �10�718��

The country’s cyber securi-ty agency has alerted

Internet users against damag-ing activities of a strong andglobally active ransomwarevirus — Wannacry — thatcritically infects work stationsand locks them remotely. OnSunday evening, theMaharashtra Police depart-ment said it was partially hit bythe ransomware.

The “unprecedented” ran-somware cyberattack has hit asmany as 2,00,000 victims inover 150 countries. “At themoment, we are in the face ofan escalating threat. The num-bers are going up, I am worriedabout how the numbers willcontinue to grow when peoplego to work and turn (on) theirmachines on Monday morn-ing,” Europol Director RobWainwright said.

Related reports on P12

Dibrugarh: India’s longest riverbridge, capable of withstandingthe weight of a 60-tonne battletank, will be inaugurated inAssam close to the border withChina on May 26 by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi.

With the inauguration ofthe 9.15-km-long Dhola-Sadiyabridge over the BrahmaputraRiver, the Prime Minister willkick off the celebrations of theNDA Government’s three yearsin office from this eastern-mostpart of Assam.

The construction of thebridge is seen as an attempt byIndia to shore up its Defenceinfrastructure along the India-China border. It is also part of

the Centre’s endeavour toimprove connectivity in theregion. It is 3.55-km longerthan the Bandra-Worli sea linkin Mumbai, making it the

longest bridge in India.“The Prime Minister will

dedicate the strategically impor-tant bridge to the nation onMay 26. It will bolster road con-nectivity in the Northeast as thebridge will be used by people ofAssam and Arunachal Pradeshbesides Defence forces exten-sively,” Assam Chief MinisterSarbananda Sonowal said.

The construction of thebridge began in 2011 at a pro-ject cost of �950 crore.

Continued on Page 4

�������($���� :�0���3�

It is 11 am and 67-year-oldgynaecologist Dr Hema Devi

Goswami is busy examiningpregnant women at theDhirenpara First Referral Unitin Assam’s Kamrup district.

Dr Goswami is one amongthose private practitioners fromthe State who have enrolledwith the Modi Government’sunique safe pregnancy plan,Pradhan Mantri SurakshitMatritva Abhiyan (PMSMA),launched last year in Novemberin collaboration with theUNICEF.

Under the scheme, gyne-cologists and radiologists fromthe private sector across thecountry are invited to volunteerto provide free antenatal careservices (ANC) on the ninth ofevery month to pregnant

women , especially those fromunder-served, semi-urban,poor and rural areas.

Since its launch six months ago, around 3,636gynaecologists across Indiahave registered online onwww.pmsma.nhp.gov.in. InAssam, 62 private doctors haveregistered with the PMSMA.

The aim is to provide spe-

cialist care to improve the healthof pregnant women and theirnewborns and lower India’smaternal mortality rate (MMR)and infant mortality rate (IMR).India’s MMR of 167 per 1,00,000

births, has failed to meet itsMillennium DevelopmentGoals (MDGs) target of bring-ing down maternal deaths tounder 140 by 2015.

In India, one pregnantwoman dies every 12 minutes,with 45,000 dying each year. Ofthem, less than one in five (19.7per cent) undergo prenatalhealth checks.

The situation in Assam isno different. With the highest

MMR of 300 per one lakh livebirths, double than the coun-try’s average, the North-EasternState now pins hopes on DrGoswami and her ilk from theprivate sector to help improveits health indicators.

“I have enrolled with thescheme. Last week, I got a callfrom the State health officialsto offer my services at this FirstReferral Unit on May 9.

Continued on Page 4

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Humans are not the onlyones suffering due to the

severe drought prevailing inKarnataka, animals arebecoming victims of it as well,particularly aquatic creatures.Three fully-grown crocodileshave been found dead inKrishna River in Bagalkot dis-trict in the last 12 days due tolack of food.

A forest official threw lighton the ongoing man-animalconflict in Karnataka that hasbeen reeling under severedrought for the past threeyears, with over 170 taluksaffected this time around.

“The river water has accu-mulated insmall pits in theriver bed wherecrocodiles and

other aquatic creatures havetaken shelter. With farmersdrawing water for their landfrom these pits using motors,crocodiles and other aquaticcreatures are deprived of theirlifeline,” he explained.

On Friday, a 13.4-feet-long crocodile, weighing 365kgs was found dead on thebanks of the Krishna Rivernear Gudadinni Village inBilagi taluk, Bagalkot district.

Veterinarians said the croc-odile died due to unavailabili-ty of food and water as the riverhas dried up due to the drought.According to forest officials agiant crocodile was found deadnear the old bridge at KortiVillage on May 1, while anoth-

er died on May 9 nearGudadinni Village.

Continued onPage 4

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Srinagar: Two Lashkar-e-Tayyeba terrorists, who hadattacked an Army camp inKupwara on April 26, havebeen gunned down in a fierceencounter in Waripora areaof Handwara in Kupwara dis-trict. A huge cache of weaponshas been seized. Sources saidthe terrorists were cornered inan orchard, just metres awayfrom the populated area inWaripora.

Detailed report on P7

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Page 2: ˆ ˙ . - The Pioneer in Uttar Pradesh. Her identity was established through voter ID card found in her purse. She was working as a domestic help. Her body was fished out after one-and-a-half

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���������� �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� ������������������������������������� ��������������������������������������� ��������������� �� ���������������������������������������������������������� ������������ ����� ��������������� ��������������������������������������������������� ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� �������� �!����������������"���������� ���������������������������� �������������������� ���� ��������������������������������� �����������������������������#��������������������������� ���� ����$����%����&�������������������������� ��������������� �����������������������'����������������������������������� ���������������"��������������������(�����������������������������

���� �10�718��

With JNU student NajeebAhmad missing for over

200 days now, the Delhi Policehas approached mosques in thenational Capital and neigh-bouring Uttar Pradesh to makeregular announcements on himin the hope of making someheadway in the case.

Najeeb went missing aftera scuffle at his hostel allegedlywith ABVP members on thenight of October 14, 2016. Areward of �10 lakh wasannounced by the police forany information about him.

The probe into his disap-pearance has turned up no clueso far with police continuing togrope in the dark.

A senior police officersummed it up succintly :‘Despite so many teams work-ing on the case, we have failedto make any headway.’

Now, they have turned tomosques for help. The investi-gating officers met the imam ofFatehpuri Masjid in ChandniChowk and requested him tomake announcements aboutNajeeb during prayers.

‘We asked them to requestpeople to share any clues orinformation about Najeeb. Wehave even requested imams ofother mosques in Delhi, neigh-bouring areas and some citiesin Uttar Pradesh like Badaun,Bareilly where Najeeb hasstayed to make regularannouncements,’ said a seniorpolice officer.

The police have alsorequested them to share infor-mation about the disappear-ance with ‘jamaats’ who trav-el between mosques.

Meanwhile, Najeeb’s fami-

ly members say they have lostfaith in police.

‘We are as clueless aboutNajeeb now, as we were on thefirst day,’ said Najeeb’s brotherMujeeb. He said the police hasdone ‘little’ in tracing his broth-er and has only ‘harassed’ them.

‘It is very mysterious thatevery time the case is coming upfor a hearing in the High Court,we get a fake call sharing infor-mation about him. The police,very conveniently, says in thecourt that they are working onthe leads gained through thephone call,’ he added.

The Delhi High Court,while recently hearing a plea byNajeeb’s mother Fatima Nafeesseeking whereabouts of herson, had rapped the Delhi Policeover the manner of its probe.

The court said that theagency appeared to be lookingfor an ‘escape route’ and was‘beating around the bush’.

Amid all the gloom, thefamily is still hopeful of hisreturn. Whenever his familymembers receive a call from ananonymous number, they alwayshope that it might be Najeeb.

‘We always try and pickcalls and in case we miss anycall, we call back on the num-bers in the hope that someonemight be calling to tell us

about my brother,’ said Mujeeb.Recently, the family

received a call from a womanin Muzaffarnagar inquiringabout their son but it laterturned out that she had dialedtheir number by mistake sinceit was similar to her boyfriend’snumber, police said.

Najeeb’s mother, mean-while, is trying to stay strong.However, there are times whenshe breaks down.

Friday was one suchinstance. She broke down infront of DCP (Crime) GRamgopal Naik, who is investi-gating the case, after the courthearing, pleading with him tofind her son and bring him back.

‘I don’t cry in front of mychildren since they are alsogoing through a difficult phase.But I cry whenever I am pray-ing to God. I miss Najeeb a lotwhenever his favourite dishesare prepared or some otheranecdotes are discussed,’Fatima said.

She said that she prayseveryday to seek the almighty’shelp in finding her son.

‘Police has projected a neg-ative image of my son. He isvery good-natured and unlikewhat he has been made out tobe. I have full faith that he willcome back.’

����������� �10�718��

In a recent case of crimeagainst senior citizens in the

national Capital, a 71-year-oldDirector of an environmentalequipment manufacturingcompany and his wife wereallegedly held captive at knifepoint at their residence inSouth Delhi’s South Campusand robbed of cash and valu-ables worth �3 lakh.

Police said that the incidenttook place at Shanti Niketan areain the house of 71-year-oldChandrashekhar Umre, Directorof Indian EnvironmentalEquipment Company onThursday when after the two

maids left his house, twounidentified men rang the doorbell, entered the house and twomore followed them.

As per the complainant,Chandrashekhar and his wifeUrvashi were alone at theirhouse at the time of the rob-

bery. ‘On Thursday afternoon,after the two maids left thehouse after work, the menwho were wearing mask cameand pointed knife atChandrashekhar and his wife.Following which, the accusedthen tied Chandrashekhar andhis wife with a rope andallegedly dragged them fromone room to another and askedthem to hand them all the cash.The complainant then handedover �3 lakh cash and somejewellery to the accused,’ said asenior police officer.

After the accused fled, thecomplainant made a call to thePCR after which a team of localpolice rushed to the spot.

Police said that they wentthrough the CCTV footage ofthe house and the nearby areato establish the identity of theaccused. Meanwhile, policealso suspect the role of the twowomen maids — Ganga andGeeta — who work at thehouse of the complainant.‘Fifteen minutes before theaccused barged into the houseto commit robbery, these twowomen allegedly left the place,’said police sources.

Police said that they haveregistered a case under relevantsections of the Indian PenalCode (IPC) at the SouthCampus police station. Furtherinvestigation is still on.

�����������:�+�:+�

In a special drive againstunauthorised parking and

to remove encroachment onthe Mehrauli-Gurugram (MG)Road, the Gurugram trafficpolice issued 2,000 challans injust four days. While morethan 100 vehicles were towedaway. The drive was startedfrom May 11.

Meanwhile, the Haryanapolice have also been startedchallans with new amendmentsto the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988.The traffic police have issuedaround 54 challans who did nothave driving licence and to thoserunning from the spot duringchecking, as per the data wasprovided by the traffic police.

The new rule has beenannounced by the state gov-ernment, as part of amend-ments to the Motor VehiclesAct, 1988. As per the rule a fineof �500 is to be paid for drivingwithout a license the first time.The second time, the penaltywill be �1,000.

Meanwhile, underage dri-

vers will have to pay �1,000 ifthey are caught driving and willhave to cough up �2,000 forrepeating the offence and theowner of the vehicle which anunderage driver is found to bedriving is also punishable. Theoffence is punishable withimprisonment for a term whichmay extend to three months.

The compounding feefixed for driving a vehicle with-out high-security registrationplate would be �500 and �1,000for the subsequent offencerespectively.

Apart from this, traffic

violations will now have ahigher penalty for repeatoffences like not giving way toan ambulance etc to �1,000 to�5,000.

‘We will not tolerate anytraffic violations in the city. Thetraffic police have issued lots ofchallans during our specialdrive on MG Road and SohnaRoad,’ DCP Traffic, BalbirSingh said.

‘We will continue the driveso that the traffic violators canget a strong message that if theyviolet traffic rules they have topay a heavy fine,’ he said.

����������� �10�718��

The Directorate of RevenueIntelligence (DRI) has

seized 44 kgs of gold, valued atabout �12.5 crore, smuggledinto the country from Dubaiusing the sea route- a modusoperandi followed by smug-glers in the 1970s.

Acting on Intelligence, theDRI officials made the seizureon Saturday after interceptinga truck coming from theMundra Port, Gujarat, inChander Vihar area of Delhi.

DRI release issued onSunday said, the agency recov-ered 44 kg foreign markedgold of .995 purity concealed inmetallic packing case of poul-try egg incubator being import-ed by the smugglers.

The gold bars werewrapped in a thick silver greypaper smeared in adhesive toprevent metallic sound duringmovement, the DRI releasesaid, adding, it was almostimpossible to be detected dur-ing routine examination atgateway port. ‘One poultry eggincubator was being importedin every consignment alongwith few disassembled poultryegg brooder panel,’ said therelease. It said the smugglerswere bringing in around 40-50kgs of foreign marked gold barsconcealed in the metallic case(used as packing material) eachtime.

Since the market price ofgold fluctuates on a daily basis,smugglers normally prefer theair route to smuggle it intoIndia. Preliminary investiga-tions, however, reveal that thisyear alone, the racket membershave smuggled about 300 kgsof gold from Dubai, worthnearly �90 crore, using the searoute, it said.

‘They (the metallic casepackage) were subsequentlyretrieved by smugglers usingcutter and drill machines toimmediately sell it in the greymarket,’ the press release issuedsaid. Searches were also con-ducted on a residential premiseas well as factory of theimporter which led to therecovery of several incrimi-nating evidence, proof of pre-vious smuggling and hugeamount of hawala transactionto Dubai, it said.

����������� �10�718��

Several ex-servicemen andtheir family members were

on Sunday allegedly stopped bythe Delhi police at the JantarMantar while they weremarching to demand the OneRank One Pension (OROP)and pay homage to the soldierswho lost their lives at the border.

‘We had informed of ourprotest since April 25. They(police) were fine with it but onSunday morning we asked forpolice over the same, theyrefused and placed barricades,’an ex-serviceman said.

He further said that theyhave been protesting for thepast 700 days at the JantarMantar for OROP, adding thatthe government is misleadingthe whole country that they

have provided OROP.The protest march was

organised from the JantarMantar to India Gate to payhomage to the slain soldiersand to tell the people that thedemand for OROP is still notbeen fulfilled.

‘Our soldiers were muti-lated on border. Why is thegovernment not doing any-thing?’ asked Subedar-MajorRL Verma.

‘The police are saying thatthey are following the ordersfrom the Home Ministry. Ifthat is true then this is mis-fortune of the country that wehave such people in power,’said another protestor.

The protestors kept raisingslogans like ‘Jis desh ke sainiksadkon par us desh ka durb-hagya hai’ and ‘Sadda HaqAitthe Rakh’.

���� +9�3�.C�10�718��

In a shocking incident, a 10-year-old girl here was found

to be five months pregnantafter being raped repeatedlyallegedly by her stepfather,police said on Sunday.

The girl’s pregnancy wasconfirmed by the doctors whenher mother took her to a hos-pital, they said, adding theaccused was arrested.

Meanwhile, the NationalCommission for WomenChairperson LalithaKumaramangalam has said thatthe agency has taken a suomotu cognisance of the case.An NCW team is likely to visitRohtak tomorrow to look intothe matter.

The police said that theaccused, identified as Suresh,was arrested under section 506(Punishment for criminalintimidation) of the IPC andrelevant section of theProtection of Children fromSexual Offences Act (POCSOAct) 2012.

The family, originally hail-ing from Bihar, was residing atDurga Colony here, RohtakDSP (City) Ramesh Kumarsaid.

The mother, in a com-plaint lodged with the police,alleged that the girl’s stepfatherhad been raping her for a longtime and threatened the girl ofdire consequences if she daredto disclose it to anyone.

The girl was admitted toPGIMS, Rohtak, police said,adding that they were probingfurther into the matter.

����������� +9�3�.

Haryana Police is under thecloud in Rohtak gangrape

case with the murder of a Dalitwoman in Sonipat who wasbrutally gangraped on May 9.

While relatives of the vic-tim alleged that they (Police)had ignored a complaint ofstalking against the main sus-pect about three months ago.

In the autopsy of victim,this has been cleared that thewoman’s skull had been shat-tered, and sharp objects mayhave been inserted into her pri-vate parts.

‘The findings suggest thatit was a brutal rape and mur-der,’ said Dr SK Dhatterwal,head of the forensic medicinedepartment at the PostGraduate Institute of MedicalSciences (PGIMS) in Rohtak,where body’s post-mortem

examination was conducted.After the murder of victim,

the Special Investigative Team(SIT) was formed by DGP BSSandhu arrived in the IMTafter observing the incident inthe State and inspected the spotfrom the baricity.

Duing the investigation,besides the video of the inci-

dent, the team recovered abrick and some other luggagesfrom the murderers. Taking theaccused along with the inves-tigative team, the team has col-lected many samples from thecrime spot.

On May 9, a woman wasbrutally gangraped and mur-dered, wherein later her muti-

lated body was found in anempty plot in Haryana’s Rohtak.

The incident came to lightwhen the victim’s body wasfound in city’s IMT area.

The victim had refused amarriage proposal from theaccused, following which hereached her home a week laterwith his friends. Womanslapped him after a heated argu-ment broke out between them.

The accused along with hisfriends allegedly raped andmurdered the woman to teachher a lesson.

Meanwhile, HaryanaInspector General of police(IG) informed that two accusedhave been arrested in connec-tion with the case.

‘We cannot tell the inves-tigation details. Two accusedhas been arrested till now. Theinvestigation is underway,’ IGsaid.

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PUBLIC NOTICE

Hon'ble Supreme Court in its Judgment dated

22/02/2017 in W.P. (C ) No. 375 of 2012 entitled as,

"Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti and Another Vs. Union

of India and Others" directed that each industry which

requires "Consent to Operate" under the provisions of

the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act,

1974 from State Pollution Control Board/ Committees

has to install a functional primary effluent treatment

plant. In view thereof, it is directed to all the indus-

trial units in Delhi to set up Effluent Treatment Plant

(ETP) within 03 months from the date of above said

judgment without fail, which will be inspected by the

DPCC officials. In case of any violation, action will be

taken as per law.

Sd/-

DIP/Shabdarth/0225/17-18 Member Secretary, DPCC

DELHI POLLUTION CONTROL COMMITTEE4TH & 5TH FLOOR, ISBT BUILDING,KASHMERE GATE, DELHI-06

(visit us at website : http://dpcc.delhigovt.nic.in)

Page 3: ˆ ˙ . - The Pioneer in Uttar Pradesh. Her identity was established through voter ID card found in her purse. She was working as a domestic help. Her body was fished out after one-and-a-half

� (�� !"#�/�0'��*1 /�0*1 �23��4�5 ���������'

����������� �10�718��

Former Water Minister KapilMishra on Sunday accused

Delhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal and his Aam AadmiParty (AAP) of an array offinancial irregularities. Givingthe presentation on documentsallegedly revealing irregularitiesin the AAP’s finances, theMinister accused Kejriwal ofbeing involved in hawala trans-actions through hundreds ofshell companies, hiding finan-cial details from the Income-Tax Department and theElection Commission.

Demanding Kejriwal’s res-ignation, Mishra said that if hedidn’t step down, he woulddrag the Chief Minister by hiscollar and lock him up inDelhi’s Tihar Jail.

“It has now become clearthat Arvind Kejriwal is a cor-rupt man,” Mishra allegedbefore he swooned, apparent-ly weakened by five days of fast-ing in protest against AAP’srefusal to disclose details of fiveparty leaders’ travels abroad.

Addressing the Press con-ference, the ex-AAP Ministersaid at his residence that theparty had received crores ofrupees from shell companiesrun by people close to Kejriwal,mentioning in particular AAPlegislators Charan Goel andNaresh Yadav.

These shell companies,Mishra alleged, also had ghostdirectors who donated moneyto the party and convertedblack money into white.

He said there were also dis-crepancies in the moneyreceived by the AAP and theamount it declared before theElection Commission.

Presenting the power pointslide, Mihsra said, “The partydid not declare money that itreceived. They got 25 crores,but showed only 20 crores.Where have the 5 crores gone?

Earlier, referring to one ofthe cases of alleged discrepan-cies, Mishra said the AAPreceived �90 lakh as donationfrom a person identified asPriya Bansal of Bengaluru for2014-15 and 2015-16, but thetax payable on her income wasmerely �4,000.

“In 2014-15, the party had�65,52,40,752 in its bankaccount, but the ElectionCommission was informedabout only �32,46,16,662 whilethe party put only�27,38,71,611 in the publicdomain and told its volunteersit had no money,” Mishra said.

He also held that the partyhad made 461 bogus entries.

“All this happened withthe knowledge of ArvindKejriwal as these shell compa-nies deposited money in AAP’sbank account on the same day

and time in January 2014,”Mishra said, brandishing asheaf of documents.

Mishra was accompanied

at the meet by a man identifiedas Neil Haslam, who he saidhelped in exposing the funding.

“This is why I have been

demanding foreign travel detailsof five AAP leaders,” Mishra said.

He added that he wouldalso approach the CBI on

Monday with documents andwould soon expose another“scam” related to the AAP’smohalla or health clinics.

:4�'� #��� ���� ���� ����� ������,6/+��&17;

����������� �10�718��

Delhi Pradesh CongressCommittee president Ajay

Maken on Sunday sought aprobe into the allegations madeby Kapil Mishra regarding ille-gal foreign funding received bythe Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).Maken also demanded ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwal’s res-ignation on moral and legalground.

Maken said here should bean investigation to trace thesource of foreign funding toAAP, adding that it was“unlikely that the Government

agencies were unaware of it”.“The party (AAP), which

opened shell companies toconvert black money into white

money to show in its account,also gets illegal foreign funding,which is a serious matter,” hesaid.

The Congress leader alsotargeted the BJP-ledGovernment at the Centre andwondered why was it not tak-ing action against Kejriwal andwhy an FIR under thePrevention of MoneyLaundering Act was not lodgedagainst the AAP Government.

Mishra on Saturday accusedKejriwal and his party of “mas-sive financial irregularities”.

Earlier, Congress leadersAnand Sharma and AmarinderSingh had claimed that “divi-sive forces sitting in foreigncountries” were funding theAAP.

����������� �10�718���

The Delhi Government hasissued directions to all its

departments to take strictaction against employeesindulging in “wilful” absencefrom duty. The move comesafter the Directorate ofVigilance found that severalofficials working in variousdepartments were absent fromduty despite expiry of theirleaves, but no action was takenagainst them. In its writtencommunication to all HoDs,Principal Secretaries and sec-retaries, the directorate hasasked them to identify suchofficers and officials in theirdepartments and take strictaction.

“The directorate is inreceipt of many cases regard-

ing unauthorised absence fromdifferent departments ofGovernment of NationalCapital Territory of Delhi(GNCTD), in which no actionhad been taken against thedefaulter, despite lapse of considerable period of time...

“Central VigilanceCommission also recentlyadvised CVO (Chief VigilanceOfficer - GNCTD) to identifyall such cases in the DelhiGovernment,” the directoratestated.

In the written communi-cation, the directorate said,“In case of continued absencefrom duties, action is firsttaken to make the official tojoin his duties. For this, direction to join duties should be sent to at all

known address of the official.

“If the same are notresponded, public notice maybe issued through newspapersadvertisements asking the offi-cial to join his/her duty. If still,no response is received, action,as deemed fit, under relevantrules, may be taken.”

In December last year,Chief Secretary MM Kuttyhad also warned all officersand officials of strict action ifthey come to office after 9.45 am.

“The general administra-tion department needs toensure all officers working inthe Delhi Secretariat marktheir attendance through bio-metric system by 9.45 am,”Kutty had told officers in ameeting.

����������� �10�718��

The Anti-CorruptionBranch has summoned

Delhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal’s Private Secretary inconnection with its probe in analleged �400 crore tanker scam.

The anti-graft body hadrecorded sacked DelhiMinister Kapil Mishra’sdetailed statement last week.Mishra has also been called onMonday for further questioning.

ACB chief Mukesh KumarMeena said that Bibhav Kumar,Private Secretary to Kejriwal,has been called for questioningon Wednesday in the case.

Mishra is currently in hos-pital after he fainted during aPress conference in which herevealed purported details ofalleged financial irregularitiescommitted by the Aam Aadmi

Party for its donations.He has been on a hunger

strike demanding details ofKejriwal and his team’s foreigntours. If Mishra is not able toappear on Monday since he isunwell, he can also come dayafter tomorrow, said anotherofficer.

Mishra had alleged thatKejriwal had influenced theprobe into the tanker scam thatdates back to Sheila Dikshit’stenure as chief minister.

He had alleged that theinvestigation into the tankerscam was repeatedly delayedand influenced by Kejriwaland “his two men”.

Last year in August,Dikshit was “examined” bythe ACB officials in connectionwith her alleged involvementin the tanker scam besidesbeing handed over a set of 18written questions.

������������10�718��

The condition of formerWater and Tourism

Minister Kapil Mishra whowas admitted to Ram ManoharLohia Hospital (RMLH) afterhe fainted while addressing themedia on Saturday, is stable.

“He is conscious and nor-mal now and is being monitoredcontinuously. He will be shiftedto general wards,” an RML doc-tor said. “The Minister is suf-fering from a little weakness andmild dehydration,” the doctorsaid. Mishra, who has been ona hunger strike for five days,fainted at around noon in themidst of a Press conference.

On Saturday night, a teamof doctors from RML Hospitalhad examined Mishra andsaid his blood sugar level,

pulse rate and blood pressurewere normal. The doctors hadalso advised that he be hospi-talised, but Mishra carried onwith his hunger strike.

The doctors said that themild dehydration suffered by

Mishra was because of no saltintake for the last few days, anddescribed the condition asstarvation ketosis

Mishra started his hungerstrike on May 10, with thedemand that his party release

details of foreign tours under-taken by five leaders. He hasalso levelled allegations of cor-ruption against several partyleaders, including the ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwal andPWD Minister Satyendra Jain.

����������� �10�718��

Voting in the by-election tothe Maujpur ward of East

Delhi Municipal Corporation(EDMC) remained peacefulon Saturday with 57.85 per centvoters exercising their franchisebraving the scorching heat.

A total of 26,032 eligiblevoters cast their votes out of45,000 voters in the ward, asenior Delhi State ElectionCommission official said.

The voting began at 8 amand concluded at 5.30 pm.Counting of votes will takeplace on May 23.

Elections in Maujpur andSarai Pipal Thala, North DelhiMunicipal Corporation(NDMC) wards were post-poned due to death of candi-

dates there. The ward is cur-rently held by the BJP. Themain contenders in the electioninclude Suman Sharma (BJP),Rekha Sharma (Congress) andReshma (AAP) in Maujpur.

In Maujpur ward,Samajwadi Party candidateNaseema died resulting in thebypoll. Her daughter Shaheenis in the fray from the party.

Voting for rest of the 270 ofthe 272 wards in three munic-ipal corporations was held onApril 23 and results wereannounced on April 26.

“The voting percentage inthe morning was low as scorch-ing heat and a holiday kept vot-ers indoors with just 7 per centvotes cast till 10 am,” said asenior officer of Delhi StateElection Commission.

����������� �10�718��

Reacting to the allegation offinancial irregularities in

political funding leveled againstDelhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal by former Water andTourism Minister KapilMishra, ruling Aam AadmiParty (AAP) leader SanjaySingh said that it has followedall prescribed norms and rulesand the allegations were part ofa conspiracy hatched by theBJP to crush it.

“The Central Governmentand the BJP wanted to crushthe AAP and defame Kejriwal.“It is a conspiracy to de-recog-nise and de-register the AAPand the BJP is involved in ittotally,” said Singh.

“Mishra and BJP repeateach other. BJP repeats whatMishra says and Mishra repeatswhatever BJP says. And when-ever BJP leaders speak of cor-ruption, it is like Gabbar Singhis preaching non-violence,” hesaid.

Singh also questionedauthenticity of the chequesshown by Mishra while makingallegations in his Press confer-ence earlier in the day.

“Cheques of �35 crore eachwere shown. Nobody askedwhere they came from. It is abig fraud. Fake cheques wereshown. Anyone can do this.Even I can make such chequeof �70 crore in the name of theBJP. I ask BJP leaders to stopshooting its gun from Mishra’sshoulder,” he said.

Singh also accused the BJPof changing a law with retro-spective effect to save itselffrom a court-ordered action forirregular political funding.

“The BJP and the Congresshas not given declaration ofabout 70-80 per cent of dona-tions worth �1,000 crore in last10 years. They said these 70-80per cent donations werereceived from unknownsources. They are not ready to

reveal the source. Whether itcame from hawala or foreigncompanies or organisations?”he asked.

Singh further said thatafter the demonetisation, oldcurrency notes amounting to�14.5 lakh crore was in circu-lation but deposits of �17 lakhcrore were made.

“Who owns this �2.5 lakhcrore? Were they owned by theBJP or the Congress or terror-ists? RBI is not giving infor-mation about it. Despite ofhuge corruption, theGovernment is silent,” he said.

Singh also raked up pastincidences of corruption inwhich the BJP leader wereallegedly involved, while notingthat former Chief ElectionCommissioner SY Quraishihad said that the AAP was themost transparent when it cometo political donations.

AAP MLAs Charan Goeland Naresh Yadav denied linkswith the entities named byMishra and said they would filea defamation suit against him.

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NEW DELHI: Accusing theAam Aadmi Party (AAP) ofmoney laundering, Leader ofOpposition in Delhi AssemblyVijender Gupta said that theAAP is the biggest scam of thedecade because it is perpetrat-ed by experts with severalyears of practical experience inthe field.

Gupta demanded that theAAP who claims himself theonly imandar and flag-bearer ofmorality in politics, instead ofdiverting the real issue shouldfile a defamation suit against

Mishra. He also accused theAAP of being afraid of Mishrabecause he may have manymore secrets of corrupt leadersof the party up his sleeve.

“The serious aspect of thefinancial scams by the leadersrunning the Delhi Governmentand the AAP is that they arebefooling their volunteersshowing the party to be nearbankrupt so that they may fillthe coffers of the party to beused for foreign pleasure tripsof the 4-5 leaders,” he said.

������������

����������� �10�718��

BJP on Sunday has demand-ed the resignation of Delhi

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwalafter former Minister KapilMishra alleged massive finan-cial irregularities in the AamAadmi Party’s (AAP) funding.

Reacting to the AAP’sclaim that Mishra was acting atits behest, BJP nationalspokesperson Meenakshi Lekhisaid, “Kejriwal must come cleanabout the allegations levelled bythe sacked Delhi Minister. Hemust respond to Mishra’sclaims instead of resorting tomud-slinging.”

Terming Kejriwal as MrCorrupt Lekhi said, “MrCorrupt has increased corrup-tion in Delhi by leaps andbounds and this has overshad-

owed governance. The AAP’sleadership is being questionedbecause it is one man’s partyindulging in corrupt practiceand filling the coffers of his ownfamily and people around him.”

The AAP has now become“Kejriwal Aadmi Party”, sheadded. The AAP swept topower in Delhi riding on itsanti-corruption movement.

Responding to the AAP’sclaim that Mishra was “par-roting” the BJP, Lekhi, an MPfrom central Delhi, said thesacked Minister was onceKejriwal’s confidant.

“Nobody has to parrot theBJP’s lines. This person(Mishra) is somebody at whosebehest people like PrashantBhushan and Yogendra Yadavwere thrown out of the AAP.He was close to Mr Corrupt.

“The BJP has nothing to dowith him. When people fromwithin the AAP are question-ing the party leadership, wereally don’t have much task todo. We can only ask questionsin consonance,” she said.

Mishra told the media athis residence that the AAP hadreceived crores of rupees fromshell companies run by peopleclose to Kejriwal.

Meanwhile, Delhi PardeshPresident Manoj Tiwari hassaid that democracy is not agame of numbers it is a spirit togovern with transparency andaccountability towards people.

“Kejriwal may hold amajority of numbers inAssembly but he has totally lostthe confidence of the peopledue to his corrupt anarchic mal-administration,” said Tiwari.

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With the sanitation issuestill fresh in mind,

Delhiites expect BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP) to addresstheir civic issues.

The party after receiving anoverwhelming mandate in thecivic elections after defeatinganti-incumbency will have toresolve various problems relat-ed to the civic bodies, mainlysanitation.

Restoring functioning ofthe civic bodies by providinglong pending essential civicamenities to residents will be apriority for the newly-electedleadership. A number of issueswhich Delhi is suffering from,come under the ambit of thecivic bodies, but measures areyet to be taken on the groundto get rid of these problems.Every year thousands of peoplebecome victims of preventablediseases like Dengue andChikungunya.

The unhygienic surround-ing contributed by piles ofgarbage lying all around, chokeddrains, water logging in mon-soon, problem of unsystematicgarbage lifting, parking prob-lems, pathetic conditions ofhospitals, menace of stray dogsand monkey, drop out ratios inschools run by the MCDs and

repeated strikes by sanitationworkers are need to beaddressed with coordinated andwell managed efforts. Besidesinstalling CCTV cameras andLED lights in colony streets,parks and other areas underMCD is also will be priority.

The inability to improvehealth infrastructure is also amatter of concern as all the hos-pitals run by Corporation lackthe basic amenities. NorthMunicipal Corporation runssix big hospitals. Hindu RaoHospital is the biggest amongthem still it struggles with drugshortages, infrastructure, staff

shortfall and outdated equip-ment. The other five hospitalstoo face drug shortage, poorutilisation of infrastructure andnon-availability of staff.

A senior official of theCorporation said that the civicbody required well managedplanning with intention tobring things back on track.

“We have failed to keepmenace are under checkbecause the habit of passing thebuck is prevalent among thevarious authorities responsiblefor taking action. Obviously, inthe war of dengue and theCorporation, the winner is

Aedes mosquito as it has beendefeating us by claiming thou-sands of lives every year,” hesaid.

After securing a staggering180 seats, Manoj Tiwari, anactor-turned-politician andDelhi BJP unit chief said thatthe party will clean Delhi with-in two months and the BJPleader believes that after it noone will find any garbage onthe roads. But some of thesenior leaders in the Congressrefuted the claim and allegedBJP councillors of siphoning offfunds meant for municipalemployees in the Capital.

“The party is playing dirtypolitics with Delhi. The citycould have been cleaned beforeas the party is in power for tenyears. They have never beeninterested in cleaning the city,”said a senior the Congress leader.

The condition on primaryeducation is also need to berestored by taking measures toprevent dropout. According toestimates more than 50,000students quit from primaryMCD schools in the last threeyears. Many of Corporation’sschool even lacked even thebasic facilities like proper seat-ing arrangements, water avail-ability and clean toilets.

Refurbishing financiallyailing Corporation by manag-ing revenue from existingsources including reformingproperty taxes will also be verycrucial to carry out operationswithout financial constraints.The Delhi Congress presidentAjay Maken recently pointedout not even a single school hasinitiated measures to stop thealarmingly dropout ratio.

Political analyst is also pre-dicting that a politicallyemboldened party would soonroll out the much-delayedreforms to revamp tax structureof the Corporation.

A former influential leaderof the BJP in NorthCorporation admitted that

many of the projects includingregular routine works likesweeping, garbage collectionand maintenance of essentialcivic amenities including hos-pitals were affected becausescarcity of fund. “Increasingrevenue is very important tokeep on all the projects,” hesaid.

According to an estimate�300 crore is being collected astoll tax instead of total poten-tial stand for �1,922 crore.Also only 10 per cent of thetotal capacity of parking spacesis being converted to generaterevenue while there is an annu-al shortfall of at least �1,000crore when it comes to outdooradvertisements.

The revenue sources of thecivic body are yet to be tappedto the optimal level. A seniorofficial of the Corporation saidthat “revenue leakage” at dif-ferent levels is the main sourceof financial starvation.

Although, the NorthCorporation has also regis-tered an impressive growth of�242 crore by collecting �613crore in 2016-17 from �371crore in 2015-16 and neededsuch efforts further to boostproperty tax revenue, with aninteractive portal on propertytax system which would allowresidents to query or apply fordetails regarding property tax.

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Page 4: ˆ ˙ . - The Pioneer in Uttar Pradesh. Her identity was established through voter ID card found in her purse. She was working as a domestic help. Her body was fished out after one-and-a-half

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The family members of slainBSF head constable Prem

Sagar were befuddled when theDeoria district administrationinstalled a window aircondi-tioner, put up a sofa and carpetat their home ahead of ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath’s visitthis Friday.

They were in for even agreater shock when these trap-pings of affluence vanishedwithin minutes of the ChiefMinister’s departure.

Sagar’s family members

said they were taken aback when the authoritiesremoved the air conditioner,sofa and carpet soon after the Chief Minister left theirplace.

“Officials took away thecarpet, sofa and AC soon afterAdityanath left our resi-dence....Within 15 to 30 min-utes of his departure, every-thing was gone,” Dayasagar, thebrother of the fallen BSF troop-er said.

There was, however, noofficial word on it.

The Deoria administra-

tion had installed aircondi-tioners, put up new curtains,sofas and carpets in the livingroom where the Chief Ministerwas to meet the family.

A day before CM’s visit,dusty roads in the village werecleaned and drains whichalways used to remain openwere covered.

Head Constable Sagar wason patrol duty on May 1 alongthe Line of Control in Jammuand Kashmir’s Poonch whenPakistan’s Border Action Team(BAT) crossed the LoC andambushed the patrol team.

While taking cover, Sagar andNaik Subedar Paramjeet Singhof the Army were left behind.

They were killed and theirbodies mutilated.

Sagar’s family had refusedto cremate his body, insistingthat the Chief Minister visitthem. They agreed to hold thelast rites only after the chiefminister spoke to them.

Adityanath visited Sagar’sfamily on May 12 at his nativevillage Tikampaar to offer con-dolences and presented acheque for Rs 4 lakh.

He also reportedly

promised employment toSagar’s children after they com-plete their studies.

The Chief Minister said ashaheed smarak (martyr’smemorial) and a girls inter col-lege will be set up in the villagein the memory of the slaintrooper.

He also promised a road toconnect the village to the mainroad.

With regard to a demandfor a gas agency for the fami-ly, he had said a recommenda-tion will be sent to the centralGovernment.

New Delhi: Union MinisterManeka Gandhi wants specialhomes to be set up for childrenwith permanent disabilities,saying child care institutions are“unable to provide” sustainedand permanent care to them.

In a letter to the UnionSocial Justice andEmpowerment MinisterThaawarchand Gehlot, sheurged him to set up specialhomes for such children instates, which could be run byNGOs under the supervision oflocal child welfare committees.

She suggested that whilesmaller states would require oneor two centres, larger states likeUttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan,Maharashtra and West Bengalwould need more number ofsuch centres. PTI

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The Centre will soon beginwork on a �11,000-crore

project to provide road con-nectivity to 44 Naxal-affecteddistricts, including Sukma inChhattisgarh, which hadrecently witnessed one of thedeadliest Maoist attacks.

Five per cent of the totalproject cost i.e �550 crore willbe kept aside for administra-tive expenses including fordeployment of security forces at strategic locations,officials said.

To improve rural road con-nectivity in the left wingextremism affected districts,the Cabinet had last yearapproved the centrally-spon-sored “Road ConnectivityProject for Left WingExtremism (LWE) Affected

Areas” scheme.The project will be imple-

mented under the PradhanMantri Gram Sadak Yojana

(PMGSY) in the districts thatare critical from a security andcommunication point of view.

Under the project, there willbe construction or upgradationof 5,411 kms of roads and 126bridges. Work will be taken upat an estimated cost of �11,724.53crore in the above districts.

The project is likely to bestarted in the next few weeksand all necessary arrangementshave been made for its launch,a top government official said.

Out of these 44 districts,the maximum are inChattisgarh, where 25 person-nel of the Central ReservePolice Force were killed byNaxals last month.

Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar,Madhya Pradesh, Telanganaand Maharashtra are the otherstates that will be coveredunder the scheme.

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Aspate of national-levelconferences in Srinagar

may be keeping the alreadyhard- pressed police force onits toes, but the administra-tion hopes the meets will give a boost to Kashmir’scrumbling tourism industry.

Finance Minister ArunJaitley will be addressing aconference of ministers andofficials on GST (Goods andService Tax) in Srinagar laterthis week.

The city’s shopkeepersand hoteliers hope that theconference will help tradersdo business in the season ofprotests that has severely hittourism.

For the Jammu andKashmir Police, busy fightingmilitancy and controlling stu-dent protests, the conferencesare an additional burden onan already over-stretchedforce.

But a senior police officialsaid as long as the meetingspromoted tourism, helpingtraders and others, the police

were ready to go the extramile.

“If the locals do not investin peace in the Valley, we maynot be able to have the desiredresults,” the official said.

Around 1,000 securitypersonnel will be pressed intoservice for sanitising the areafor the GST conference,which opens here on May 18and is expected to be attend-ed by state finance ministersand officials. Another 400men will be deployed for thesecurity of the delegates, theofficial said.

The Boulevard Road run-ning along the Dal Lake wasabuzz with activity last weekas the city hosted two mega conferences — the AllIndia Medical ScienceCongress and the JudicialConference.

“We only hope that thedelegates, when they return totheir cities, will promoteKashmir as a tourist destina-tion. Promotion by word ofmouth has a better impactthan advertisements,” a hote-lier said.

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The Ministry of ExternalAffairs has said it has not

received any request so far forextradition of 26/11 Mumbaiattack mastermind HafizSaeed and 1993 Mumbaibombings accused DawoodIbrahim from the agenciesprobing them.

The ministr y wasresponding to an RTI queryfiled by a PTI Bhasha corre-spondent seeking informa-tion on the action taken bythe government for bringingback Jamaat-ud-Dawah chiefSaeed and fugitive gangsterIbrahim.

“The ministry of externalaffairs has not received anyrequest for extradition/depor-

tation/return in respect ofHafiz Sayeed and DawoodIbrahim from the investigat-ing agencies concerned inIndia,” it said.

Ibrahim is the mainaccused in the 1993 serialbomb blasts case in Mumbaiin which around 260 peoplewere killed, and more than700 were injured. He fled thecountry post the bombingsand is understood to be hid-ing in Pakistan at present.

Saeed, also the co-founderof Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba terror group, is accusedof plotting the militant attackin Mumbai on November 26,2008, in which 166 peoplewere killed by a group of ter-rorists who had entered thecity through a sea route.

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India on Sunday boycottedChina’s high-profile Belt

and Road Forum, taking itsprotest over a controversialeconomic corridor travers-ing through Pakistan-occu-pied Kashmir (PoK) to a newlevel despite Beijing’s over-tures to ensure New Delhi’sparticipation.

Following India’s boycott,Pakistan Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif, taking a veiledswipe at New Delhi’s move,said the multi-billion dollarChina-Pakistan EconomicCorridor (CPEC) was an eco-nomic project open to all thenations in the region and it“must not be politicised”.

No Indian official of anylevel was present at the elab-orate opening ceremonyattended by 29 heads of Stateand Government along withtop officials of the world bod-ies like the UN, the WorldBank and the IMF.

India skipped the meetingdue to its sovereignty concernsover the

USD 50 billion CPEC,which passes through PoK.

Sharif, Sri Lankan PremierRanil Wickramasinge, RussianPresident Vladimir Putin andTurkish President RecepTayyip Erdogan were amongthe world leaders who attend-ed the meeting inaugurated byChinese President Xi Jinping.

The US sent a delegationled by Matt Pottinger, specialassistant to the President andsenior director for Asia at theNational Security Council.

China apparently sawIndia’s boycott coming as noseat was allotted to it at thehigh-tech Convention Centreduring the opening ceremonytelecast live. The event, how-ever, was attended by a fewIndian scholars representingthink tanks, which took part inthe group discussions.

Skirting any references toIndia’s absence at the meeting,Xi, in his address after inau-gurating the Summit, said allcountries should respect sov-ereignty.

“All countries shouldrespect each other’s sover-eignty, dignity and territorialintegrity, each other’s devel-opment paths and social sys-tems, and each other’s core

interests and major concerns,”the 63-year-old leader said.

Xi said the Belt and Roadinitiative is “a project of thecentury” that will benefit peo-ple across the world.

Dismissing assertions thatthe initiative was aimed atforming a “small group” ofnations taking part in the OneBelt and One Road (OBOR)venture, Xi said China plans tobuild it as a road to peace andlink his country to much ofAsia, Europe and Africa.

“Pursuing the Belt andRoad initiative, China has nointention to form a smallgroup detrimental to stability,”as the pursuit of the initiativerequires a peaceful and stableenvironment, Xi said.

Xi, in his address, pledgedto pump in a whopping USD124 billion for projects that arepart of the ambitious venture.

In the run-up to theforum, China had sought toallay India’s concerns over theCPEC, saying that the projecthas no bearing on its stand onthe Kashmir issue whichshould be resolved betweenIndia and Pakistan throughdialogue.

��������� � *�,���+

Two personnel of theDistrict Reserve Group

(DRG) were on Sundayinjured in an encounter withMaoists in Bijapur district ofBastar, police said.

The encounter took placeat about 10:00 a.m. near theforests of Timarpur-Basagudaaxis in the said district when a security squad led bythe elite CoBRA commandosof the CRPF had an exchangeof fire with Maoists in thearea.

“Two DRG personnel ofChhattisgarh police have beeninjured in the encounter” asenior police officer said.

The CoBRA team andother troops are still under-

taking the operat ion and more details are awaited,he said.

���� �+���:�+

The people of Jammu andKashmir have to choose

between peace and violence,Chief Minister MehboobaMufti said on Sunday as sheasked students to focus ontheir education by letting theelders address bigger issues.

“The people here need todecide...They need to thinkwhat they want and how theywant it. (Whether) by peltingstones, by killing bright chil-dren like (young army officer)Ummer Fayaz or a bankemployee or a youth workingin police (who work hard forearning their livelihood) orby resorting to looting banksand weapons?

“Are we not, God forbid,strangulating Kashmiriyat (bysuch acts)? I am hopeful thatpeople here are fundamentally

peace-loving and preferbrotherhood and would notforget the teachings ofKashmiriyat or co-existencewith every religion,” she said.

The chief minister wasspeaking to reporters on thesidelines of a function in herhome const ituency ofAnantnag in south Kashmir.

On being asked about thestudent protests across thevalley, Mehbooba said thestudents should focus on theireducation and leave the big-ger issues to the elders.

“They all are our childrenwhether they study in schoolsor not. I think our childrenare intelligent and I have saidit time and again that wher-ever our children go, whetherin sports or education or KASand IAS examinations or outof the country, they excel.

“But unfortunately, I

think someone has cast anevil eye on their intelligence,on the people of Kashmirand this beautiful valley. I feelthe children should study andthe bigger issues should beaddressed by the elders,” shesaid.

She also appealed the par-ents and teachers to help thechildren focus on their stud-ies.

Incidentally, the chiefminister had yesterday met21-year-old football coachAfshan Ashiq. A photographthat captured her hurlingstones in rage at policemenhas become the new definingimage of stone pelters in thevalley.

The PDP leader alsoraised the issue of corruptionand how it takes a backseatwhen the valley witnesses lawand order situation.

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From Page 1It has been designed to

withstand the movement ofmilitary tanks.

“Assam and ArunachalPradesh have huge strategicvalue to the country. Since thebridge is located close to ourborder with China, it will helpquick movement of militarytroops and artillery in times ofconflict,” Sonowal said.

The bridge is located 540-km from Assam capital Dispurand 300-km from ArunachalPradesh capital Itanagar. Theaerial distance to the Chineseborder is less than 100 km.

After Kaliabhomora bridgenear Tezpur, there is no bridgeover the Brahmaputra for thenext 375 km upstream till Dhola,where the new one has beenconstructed. Currently, all trans-portion between the two banksof the river is through water. Thebridge, when opened to public,will cut down the travel timebetween Assam and ArunachalPradesh by as much as fourhours.

As there is no civilian air-port in Arunachal Pradesh andthis bridge will help people of thestate reach the nearest rail headin Tinsukia and the airport inDibrugarh easily.

Sonowal said the construc-tion of the bridge was expedit-ed after Modi assumed thecharge in 2014. The bridge wasoriginally scheduled to open in2015.

The BJP Government inAssam will complete one year in

office on May 24.The bridge is one of the key

projects of the Ministry of RoadTransport and Highways in thenortheast and has been built inpublic-private partnership.PTI

From Page 1It feels good to help these

needy women,” said DrGoswami. Commending thescheme, she hoped that her fra-ternity will come forward todedicate at least one day amonth to helping pregnantwomen in rural areas in theState, who often die in child-birth due to poor access tohealthcare.

“Among pregnant women,anemia tops the list followed byirregular menstruation, hyper-tension, diabetes, multiplepregnancies, more than threemiscarriages and congenitalabnormalities,” she said, point-ing out that the list is long.

For instance, Phulbano(19), who has come for acheck-up for the first timefrom nearby Lokhara Village,is acutely anemic. Her first

child died in the womb itselfand now she’s taking irontablets as advised by the ASHAworker accompanying her.

Like Phulbano, many oth-ers, belonging to the BPL cat-egory, have come from far offareas like Gualpada, Kamruprural and Managldoi village forcheck-up.

Dr Pankaj Suthar, Statematernal health consultant,UNICEF, is very optimistic.“The scheme is gradually pick-ing up. So far, gynecologistshave rendered services atPandu First Referral Unit,Mahendra Mohan ChoudhuryHospital, Panbazar, andDhirenpara First Referral Unit,to name a few. We have beenconstantly writing to the pri-vate gynecologists.

“Since June 2016, we havecovered 1.50 lakh pregnantwomen under the ANC ser-vices in our 288 health facili-ties in 32 districts. Our yearlytarget is 7.9 lakh pregnant

women. We want to focus onhigh risk pregnancies to cutdown mortality rate.

“Though ultra-sonogra-phy facilities are only in 69First Referral Units, we haveidentified 288 sites for ANCservices under PMSMA. Ifneeded, help from other hos-pitals and private clinic is alsotaken.”

As part of the scheme,women are tested for anemia,blood pressure, high bloodsugar (gestational diabetes),and other problems associatedwith pregnancy and providedfree ultrasounds to track thehealth and development of thebaby in the womb.

A Das, a gynecologist withthe Pandu First Referral Unitstressed on creating awarenessabout the scheme among thetargeted beneficiaries and hold-ing regular meeting with the pri-vate doctors to sensitize them.

Dr JP Sharma, in-charge ofthe Dhirenpara First Referral

Unit, echoed similar viewssaying Assam registers notonly high MMR but also a veryhigh IMR of 48 per one thou-sand live births as against 41 allIndia average. “High MMR isin certain belts like tea pock-ets and rough terrain wherefacilities are out of bound,” hesaid and hoped that PMSMAwould give encouragingresults.

Dr Sharma said that high-risk pregnant women are beingidentified and counseled aboutnutrition, family planning andoverall birth readiness for new-borns and postnatal care.

The programme has beeninitiated on the premises thatif each and every pregnantwoman in India is examined bya physician and appropriatelyinvestigated at least once dur-ing the PMSMA and thenappropriately followed-up, itcan help in reducing the num-ber of maternal and neonataldeaths in the country.

From Page 1Veterinary doctor Dr

Basavaraj, who conducted thepost-mortem said that thecrocodiles were facing foodscarcity due to lack of waterin the river.

“They are coming to thebanks of the river in search offood. But, being cold-blood-ed animals, crocodiles areunable to bear the tempera-ture which is as high as 40

degrees Celsius. As a result, their body

temperature goes up and thecrocodiles are dying due tomult i-organ fai lure,” heexplained.

According to off icialsources Krishna River driedup completely after 3.27Thousand Million Cubic Feet of water was released toNarayanpur reser voir last month. “Moreover, defi-

cient rain in the region toohas added to the woes,” headded.

Bi lagi Range ForestOfficer Hanumantha Donisaid that five crocodiles hadrecently entered the sugarcanefields on the banks of the riverin search of food and theyhave been rescued.

He said, “The carcass ofthe crocodile found dead onFriday was buried in the river

bed on Saturday after a post-mortem.”

However, there is a ray ofhope for both humans andanimals as water resourcesdepartment officials haveconfirmed that Maharashtrahas agreed to release water from Koyna reservoir toKrishna River, which mighthelp save humans as well asthese endangered speciesfrom dying.

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From Page 1The Punjab Government

on January 30 had put these fiveunder house arrest in Lahore fortheir involvement in activitieswhich can be prejudicial topeace and security.

The Government has alsoplaced JuD and FIF under sec-ond schedule of the anti-ter-rorism act. The NawazGovernment had reportedlytaken action against Saeed afterthe US clearly told Islamabadthat in case of not taking actionagainst JuD and Saeed it mayface sanctions.

JuD is said to be the frontfor the banned Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT). The organisa-tion has been declared as a for-eign terrorist organisation by theUS in June 2014.

Saeed and his aides said intheir petition that theGovernment detained themwithout any legal justification.They said the UN resolution fol-lowed by the government didnot seek detention of any citi-zen.

“The detention of the JuDleaders is a simple case of malafide intention and ulteriormotive on part of theGovernment as it has beendone so to please India and theUnited States,” the petition said.

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AClass XI girl student, whowas allegedly abducted, was

on Sunday rescued from a farm-house here after which she com-plained of being raped by threeyouths during her captivity,police said on Sunday.

The girl, a resident ofModinagar area in neighbouringGhaziabad, had gone to herinstitute on April 28 to collecther marksheet but did not returnhome.

Following this, her relativesfiled a police complaint on May

1 against one Ashu and two oth-ers, accusing them of abductingher, a police official said.

“The girl was rescued froma farmhouse in Kankarkherahere last night,” said Modinagarpolice station SHO DhruvBhushan Dubey.

“She had jumped to the roofof an adjoining building. Onhearing her cries, the owner ofthis building informed policefollowing which she was res-cued,” Dubey said.

The official said the girl willbe sent for medical examinationto confirm rape.

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Coimbatore: The 112 feettall ‘Adiyogi’ Lord Shiva steelstatue situated in Coimbatoreat the Isha Yoga Centre, hasbeen declared the world’slargest bust by the GuinnessBooks of World Records.

Prime Minister NarendraModi had unveiled the statueon February 24 this year.

Speaking about theGuinness record, the repre-sentative said, “The ‘Adiyogi’is the source of yoga and tocreate awareness among thepeople about adiyogi science, this 112 feet tall statue hadbeen consecrated by PrimeMinister Modi duringFebruary this year.”

“It took thirty months todesign and eight months toerect this statue, adding that

now this statue had enteredinto the Guinness Book ofWorld records,” he said.

The face of Adiyogi, set

up by the Isha Foundation ledby spir itual guru JaggiVasudev, attracts thousands ofpeople every day. Agencies

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Page 5: ˆ ˙ . - The Pioneer in Uttar Pradesh. Her identity was established through voter ID card found in her purse. She was working as a domestic help. Her body was fished out after one-and-a-half

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Justice CS Karnan has thrown a big challengenot just to the judiciary but also to the Kolkata

cops who are camping in Chennai with anorder of the Supreme Court to arrest him toundergo a six-month prison sentence forcommitting contempt of court. Grapevine hasit that soon after the SC issued order of hisarrest on May 9, the Kolkata Police request-ed the CJI to direct the authorities to ensureKarnan did not flee the country. The CJI toldthe cops, “Since we have said that he shouldbe arrested forthwith, there will be no time forhim to go anywhere.” Almost a week has sincepassed with the judge still untraceable.

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The Prime Minister’s office is keenly watch-ing service records of private secretaries

and Officers on Special Duty of all Ministers.The PMO wants all the ministers to strictlyadhere to the rule that any officers reachingthe level of Joint Secretary cannot continueas personal staff of the Ministers. Grapevinehas it that the PMO has given marching ordersto the PS of a very senior minister and senthis back to his IRS cadre.

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Ministries such as external affairs, defence,finance, and home, all located on the

Raisina Hill, are undergoing a major faceliftfor the last one week. Teams of workers arewashing the outer sandstone walls of thesepower centres and filling the gaps with match-ing plaster. The façade now looks brighter. “The sprucing up may be cosmetic affair, but itis also a reflection of the new work cultureprevailing in these ministries,” quipped asenior officer.

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The Director General of the ArcheologicalSurvey of India (ASI), Rakesh Tiwari, who

was supposed to retire on May 12, has beenasked to continue for next six months. Thesearch committee of the Cabinet appointmentpanel is yet to find a suitable candidate toreplace him. Tiwari who headed the StateArchaeology Department of Uttar Pradesh,prior to his present posting, was appointed byChandresh Kumari Katoch, former CultureMinister in UPA Government. Incidentally,Tiwari had to wait to take over the ASI topjob for nearly a year after he was selected owingto litigation issues.

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With RJD leader LaluPrasad and his fam-

ily members under attackfor corruption charges,BJP Minister RavishankarPrasad wondered whyChief Minister NitishKumar not speaking out onthe issue. When someonereferred to Kumar ‘s excusethat “jor se boleny se galakharab hota hain”, Prasad retort-ed,” there are many throat cleaning tabs available.”On the consequences of corruption chargesagainst Lalu, the BJP minister said “ baat nikle-gi to door talak jayegi..”

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Controversial Baba and Big Boss 10 con-tester Swami Omji is angry with Election

Commission of India. The reason: he was nei-ther invited nor allowed entry in the all par-ties meeting called by the ECI on electoralreforms and electronic voting machines threedays ago. Omji claimed he had contested sev-eral elections in the past , and he was the pres-ident of an independent national party.

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Delhi Police dogs’squad is going for

summer vacation due toexcessive heat wave in thenational capital. This is thefirst time that dogs of DelhiPolice would be enjoy suchsummer holiday. Theywould be called only onemergency duty until Julyend. It is learnt that most ofthe dogs are from foreignbreeds and finding difficult to adopt the severeweather condition during summer.

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Like many others, Air India CMD AshwaniLohani too has adopted the most accept-

able method to keep off the stress and give hisbest to the national carrier.. After the Shiv SenaMP episode which kept the AI in controver-sy for weeks, Lohani has taken to the teach-ings of Bhagwad Gita. Even in his office he isseen occassionbaly flipping through the pagesof Gita. He begins his day by performing Yogaand then delves into the spiritual discoursesdelivered by Lord Krishna.

New Delhi: National broadcast-er All India Radio will highlightthe achievements of theNarendra Modi Governmenton completion of its three yearsin office through a string of pro-grammes featuring songs, doc-umentaries and interviews.

These programmes will bebroadcast by the AIR’s networkof over 400 centres in Hindi,English and all regional lan-guages, an Information andBroadcasting Ministry officialsaid. The BJP-led NDAGovernment completes threeyears in office on May 26. Peoplewould be interested in knowingabout the outcome and imple-mentation of various decisionstaken by the Government in thelast three years, the official said.

Special discussions would beheld on demonetisation, the leg-islation to regulate the real estatesector and amendments to taxtreaties with various countries toexplain in depth the rationalebehind these decisions, he added.

Interviews of experts andleaders, and documentarieswould be broadcast to “dissem-inate factual information” on var-ious initiatives, including the ‘onerank, one pension’ scheme forex-servicemen and tax reformmeasure GST. PTI

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AParliamentary StandingCommittee on Personnel,

Public Grievances, Law andJustice headed by Deputy Leaderof Congress in Rajya SabhaAnand Sharma is presentlyexamining the subject ‘electoralreforms’. The 31-member panelheaded by Sharma has 21 mem-bers from the Lok Sabha and 10from the Rajya Sabha. The panelalso may examine the function-ing of EVMS.

The Election Commissionof India (ECI) had earlier thisweek discussed with 53 politi-cal parties on electoral reformsand use of EVMs. Confrontedwith allegations of EVM tam-pering, the ECI has decided tosoon throw an “open chal-lenge” to test the infallibility ofEVMs in a next few days.

“In this process theCommittee may inter-aliaexamine the functioning ofElectronic Voting Machine sys-tem and its Up-gradation tak-ing Cognizance ofInternational Experience andBest Practices; Electoral fund-ing; the prevalent as well as thealternative voting systems, etc.The Committee has decided tosolicit memoranda thereonwithin 15 days after publicationof the advertisement to this

effect,” sources said. The issue of tampering

and manipulation of EVMs ofwas earlier raised byOpposition parties inParliament, particularly inRajya Sabha, amid intense spar-ring between members of thetreasury and the Opposition.The issue was raised in thebackdrop of election results infive states in which BJP formedgovernment in four. The issuehas seen parties like SamajwadiParty, Bahujan Samaj Party,Congress and Aam Admi Partyraising doubts about the EVMs.

Sources said theCommittee is likely to asksenior officials from theElection Commission of India(ECI) and Ministry ofPersonnel and PublicGrievances soon to take a view

on the tamperability of EVMs. “Those who are willing to

appear before the Committeefor oral evidence, may indicateso in their memorandum. TheCommittee’s decision in thisregard shall be however, final.The memoranda submitted tothe Committee shall be treatedas confidential,” sources said.

AAP convener ArvindKejriwal was the first politicianswho alleged that rigged votingmachines transferred his party’svotes to the SAD-BJP combinein Punjab. BSP chief Mayawatialso echoed the similar viewson the tampering of votingmachines in UP. A delegationof 16 opposition parties hadmet ECI officials on this issue.BSP and Trinamool Congresshave demanded the ECI to con-duct elections on ballot papers.

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Home Minister Rajnath Singhwill inaugurate on Monday

the two-day-long NationalPlatform for Disaster RiskReduction (NPDRR) which willbe attended by over 1,000 dis-tinguished guests includingunion ministers, parliamentari-ans, heads of local self Gover-nment, heads of specialised dis-aster management agenciesbesides others. The NPDRR is amulti-stakeholders national plat-form headed by the home min-ister and it promotes participa-tory decision making in disastermanagement and strengthensfederal policy of the country.

The NPDRR meet will onthe theme “Disaster RiskReduction for Sustainable Devel-opment: Making India resilientby 2030”, an official statement

said. The meeting will have a ple-nary session, one session on out-comes of pre-events, four tech-nical sessions on four priorityareas of Sendai framework fordisaster risk reduction, one tech-nical session on monitoring ofSendai framework and a closingcum valedictory session.

Besides, there will be anexclusive ministerial session afterthe inaugural ceremony, whereministers from the Centre, Statesand Union Territories will delib-erate on various aspects of dis-aster risk reduction. The homeministry with the help of theNITI Aayog has also organisedan online call from startups andinnovators in the areas like firefighting, GPS-based solutions,search and rescue operations,reconstruction, low cost shelteretc. In MyGov.In for display dur-ing the NPDRR meet.

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Aproposal of the ElectionCommission seeking

statutory powers to counter-mand a poll over cases ofbribe-for-votes has receivedthe backing of the OppositionCongress while the BJP hassuggested that illegal gratifi-cation should have similardefinition in all laws.

At an all-party meetingheld on Friday, the commis-sion had sought the views ofparties on its proposal tohave a specific clause in theRepresentation of the PeopleAct “to take appropriateaction including counter-manding of election in theevent of incidents of briberyof electors”.

The Congress, the mainOpposition party inParliament, said that it standsfor strengthening of democra-tic institutions in their fightagainst graft. “The Congressparty stands for strengtheningof institutions of democracy.All steps which will fight andreduce the menace of moneypower will have the support ofthe party,” party leader VivekTankha said. Tankha, a formerAdditional Solicitor General,

had represented the Congressat the all-party meeting.

BJP general secretaryBhupendra Yadav said his partywill apprise the ElectionCommission of its stand on theissue in detail and insisted thatthe term gratification be “syn-chronised” with all laws. “Theterm gratification should besynchronised with all laws.Parliament is already consid-ering the subject in the form ofamendments to the Preventionof Corruption Act,” he said.Yadav had represented the BJPin the meeting.

The Commission has askedthe Government to add a newSection 58 B in the Represent-ation of People Act, 1951, on thelines of Section 58 A, whichallows adjournment of poll orcountermanding the election onthe ground of booth capturing.The left Leaders also supportedthe EC move in this regard.

As of now, theCommission uses its powersunder Article 324 to counter-mand elections where votershave been bribed in large num-bers to influence the outcome.

The RK Nagar assemblybypoll in Tamil Nadu was can-celled on the same groundsrecently.

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Sharpening his attack againstthe Congress leadership in the

National Herald case, BJP leaderSubramanian Swamy has peti-tioned to CBI and EnforcementDirectorate to register casesagainst Sonia Gandhi, RahulGandhi and other Congressleaders under Prevention ofCorruption Act and Preventionof Money Laundering Act.

In his petition filed onSaturday, Swamy said by illegal-ly forming the private companyYoung Indian, Sonia and Rahultook control of the land allottedto National Herald newspaper byUrban Development Ministry onlease.

In his petition to CBIDirector, Swamy said SoniaGandhi should be booked underPrevention of Corruption Act forabuse of power since she heldCabinet Rank in the capacity ofNAC Chairperson during thescam period 2010-2011. Pointingout that the others accused per-sons, Rahul Gandhi, MotilalVora and Oscar Fernandez wereruling party MPs, he alleged thatthey abused their power bygrabbing the prime land allottedby Urban Development Ministry

for publication of NationalHerald newspaper.

“The land allotted inBahadur Shah Zafar Marg werethe Herald House stands allottedat concessional rates in thisprime area by the CentralGovernment was exclusively forpublication of newspaper andthus the act of the accused per-sons grabbing public property,cheating, criminal breach oftrust and forgery etc, not only areIPC offences the of which I amindependently pursuing in theMagistrate Court in PatialaHouse in New Delhi, but it isclearly also offences under thePrevention fo Corruption Actand PMLA,” said Swamy in histhree page letter to the CBI andED Directors.

“Moreover, the first accusedand prime conspirator SoniaGandhi was holding CabinetRank as NAC Chairperson whenthe crime was allegedly com-mitted 2010-11,” he added.

Swamy accused that previ-ous Directors of the CBI andthe ED had not acted on hispetition even after the trialcourt found prima facie fraudand land grabbing and moneylaundering of �90 crore involv-ing Congress party.

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Two warships of the IndianNavy on Sunday reached

Malaysia on a six-day visit asthe force aims to further deep-en bilateral maritime cooper-ation including effectivelycontaining piracy in theIndian Ocean Region.

The ships — INS Shivalikand INS Jyoti — are part of anoverseas deployment to theSouth East Asia and SouthernIndian Ocean in sync withIndia’s ‘Act East Policy’.

“The visit of the IndianNaval Ships seeks to underscoreIndia’s peaceful presence and sol-idarity with friendly and har-monious countries towards

ensuring good order in the mar-itime domain and to strengthenexisting bonds between Indiaand Malaysia,” Navy Spokes-person Capt DK Sharma said.

Indian naval assets havebeen increasingly deployed inrecent times to address themain maritime concerns of theregion. In addition, as part ofthe Indian Government’s visionof SAGAR (Security andGrowth for All in the Region),the Indian Navy has also beeninvolved in assisting countriesin the Indian Ocean Regionwith surveillance of the exclu-sive economic zones, search andrescue operations and othercapacity-building and capabil-ity-enhancement activities.

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The two major Oppositionparties — Congress and the

Trinamool Congress — arelikely to take a final call thisweek to finalise the candidatefor the Presidential elections.

In the scheduled meeting ofCongress president Sonia Ga-ndhi and West Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee onTuesday, the focus will also be onchalking out the contours of ananti-BJP front on the nationallevel.

Mamata, who is also thechief of the TMC, would alsomeet Delhi Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal even thoughthe latter is mired in deepcontroversy over the allegedallegations of graft by his own

partymen. Congress sources said that

Sonia is going to be proactive-ly engaged in uniting theOpposition and impress uponthem to sink their differencesand collectively take on theBJP. The State unit of theCongress has its own differ-ences with the TMC, but Soniais ready to overlook these.

West Bengal Congress pres-ident Adhir Ranjan Chowdhuryhas expressed his discontentover Sonia’s proposed meetingwith Mamata Banerjee. In hisletter, Chowdhury stressed thatthe Congress central leadershipshould be careful while dealingwith the West Bengal CMbecause most of the Trinamoolleaders are under scanner inNarada and Saradha case.

Sonia has already has met

leaders of several partiesincluding Bihar Chief MinisterNitish Kumar and CPI(M)General Secretary Sitaram

Yechury in the last few weeksto discuss the possibility ofputting up a joint candidate forthe Presidential elections and

propping up a anti-BJP front totake on the Modi Governmentin 2019 general elections. .

After holding talks withMamata, Sonia would meetother key Opposition leaderssuch as BSP chief Mayawatiand DMK leader MK Stalin.She has already met NationalConference leader OmarAbdullah and spoken on phonewith Samajwadi Party patriarchMulayam Singh Yadav andRJD chief Lalu Prasad, NCP’sSharad Pawar and IndianUnion Muslim League leaderPK Kunhalikutty. Congressvice-president Rahul Gandhitoo has spoken over phonewith former Uttar Pradesh CMAkhilesh Yadav with whom theparty stitched an alliance in thejust concluded UP Assemblypolls.

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The Centre has stumbledupon a few encouraging

nuggets while studying theGanga, with the discovery of aflourishing aquatic life in a sin-gle stretch of the river, consid-ered one of the most pollutedin the world.

After 70 years, theDehradun-based WildlifeInstitute of India (WII), whichis enumerating aquatic life inthe Ganga for the Government,reported spotting Siebold’ssmooth scaled water snake, amildly venomous serpentwhich grows to a maximumlength of 76 cm, in the first legof the survey of the river’smainstream from Bijnor toKanpur in Uttar Pradesh.

It also sighted 50 Gangeticdolphins, an endangeredspecies, at 28 spots, up from 42

spotted in a 2015 study by theUP government, in the 570km-long river stretch, sourcesin the union water resourcesministry said.

Scientists attached to theWII have also discovered newbreeding spots of the IndianSkimmer bird, protected underIndian Wildlife (Protection)Act, 1972, in the river basin.

The concentration of thebird, a declining species whichpreys on aquatic animals fromthe river surface, is prominent

in Allahabad, where 350 nest-ing birds were observed in theWII survey conducted betweenApril 14 and April 25.

Usually, the IndianSkimmer is found in theNational Chambal GharialWildlife Sanctuary, located atthe tripoint of Rajasthan,Madhya Pradesh and UttarPradesh, and in the Mahanadiriver basin.

The study, carried out by anine-member team includingfour biologists, also found 27

gharials, released by the UttarPradesh Government in thepast, in the Ganga, particular-ly in the Hastinapur WildlifeSanctuary.

It found several promi-nent species of turtles, includ-ing the three-striped roofed,black pond, crowned river,Indian flapshell, Indian soft-shell, Indian roofed, Indiantent and brown roofed turtles.

“Contrary to popular per-ception that Ganga’s waterquality has deterioratedbecause of pollution, the find-ings suggest that biodiversity isstill active,” senior WII scien-tist SA Hussain told PTI.

Hussain attributed theactivity to restoration effortspromoted by the union waterresources ministry through theNational Mission for CleanGanga (NMCG), which aims atcleaning up the river.

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Amid vengeful repetition ofhistory marked by ran-

dom bombing and capturing ofbooths, the Bengal Oppositionparties on Sunday demandedcountermanding of civic elec-tions.

Sunday saw violence rid-den voting with goons takingcontrol of most of the munic-ipalities save the four in erst-while Darjeeling district in themountains where political tem-perature was cooler than whatit was in the plains of Raiganj,Domkal and Pujali where moregoons than voters traversed thestreets. The only departurefrom the regular gun-and-bomb affair — from Parliamentto panchayat polls — was areported plan by the BJP tobring impeachment motionagainst State ElectionCommissioner who remainedincommunicado on the issue oframpant electoral violence thatleft at least a dozen peopleinjured and many bombs andmotor bikes seized.

Opposition Left, Congressand BJP agitated outside theState Election Commissionoffice after the SEC remainedburied within the four-walls ofthe Commission office beforethe former two filed a policecomplaint against a ‘political-ly biased and servile commis-sion’ for sullying the pollsprocess at the neighbouringShakespeare Sarani PoliceStation.

This whereas sources in the

BJP said the party would con-sider bringing impeachmentmotion against the SEC andcalled upon the otherOpposition outfits to joincause.

The poll process that start-ed briskly in the morning wentviolent by the noon with gun-totting goons taking over thestreets at Raiganj in NorthBengal, Domkal inMurshidabad district and Pujaliin South 24 Parganas.

“In all the cases they fol-lowed the same pattern. Theywere bike-borne, carried back-packs filled with bombs andwickets,” said a policeman onduty at Pujali refusing to givehis name.

“They hurled bombs atwill and stopped voters from

going to vote,” BehrapmporeMP Adhir Chowdhury said.Suryakanta Mishra the CPI(M)State secretary said the partyhad withdrawn from pollprocess at Raiganj as there is nocondition to participate in vot-ing. There is no democracy inBengal. It is history beingrepeated all the way.”

At Domkal local CPI(M)MLA Anisur Rehman claimedTrinamool candidate SoumikHusein had employed trans-border criminals from neigh-bouring Bangladesh whorobbed the voters of their IDcards in night long operationsas the police remained mutespectators. Same cards wereused the next day for castingfalse vote.

BJP State president Dilip

Ghosh said Bengal was differ-ent from the rest of the coun-try as there was no democra-cy in the State. “The civic elec-tions are a glaring example ofthis. The wants countermand-ing of the elections and a freshpoll,” he said.

Things however remainedcooler in Darjeeling hills wereelections were held for fourboards of Darjeeling,Kalimpong, Kurseong andMirik.

While Darjeeling polled52 per cent, Kalimpong saw 58per cent voting. The figures forKurseong and Mirik were 66percent and 75 per cent respec-tively. In violence-torn Raiganj66 per cent voters cast votes hilein Pujali 79 per cent votedwhereas at Domkal 78 per cent

exercised their franchise. Therate of violence could begauged from the fact that theaverage rate of voting in allthese places is normally beyond83 per cent.

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VK Sasikala, the jailed gen-eral secretary of the

AIADMK and her nephewTTV Dinakaran, the deputygeneral secretary of the partyare against any kind of alliancewith the BJP. This was revealedon Sunday by Nanjil Sampath,a spokesperson of theAIADMK (Amma) factionheaded by Sasikala.

Nanjil Sampath isdescribed as the ears, eyes andloud speaker of the Sasikala-Natarajan duo.

“The AIADMK shouldnever have any kind of alliancewith the communal BJP. Seewhat is happening in Gujaratand Uttar Pradesh. A ChiefMinister insists that all peoplein the State should follow hisstyle of haircut. A member ofthe Legislative Assembly slapsa woman police officer. ShouldI explain further?” askedSampath while speaking to aTV news channel.

It may be recalled thatSampath had warned theAIADMK Government that87 of the 122 AIADMK MLAswere with Dinakaran when itwas announced by theAIADMK (Amma) that theywould keep the aunt-nephewduo from the party’s leadership.

The announcement bySampath has enlivened thepolitical scenario being evolvedfor the upcoming Presidentialelection. If the AIADMKdecides to vote against theBJP’s candidate in thePresidential election sched-uled for July, it would havenational ramifications.

Sampath’s outburst against

any kind of alliance with theHindutva party came even as Edappadi K Palaniswami,Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu,was sharing a dais with MVenkaiah Naidu, UnionMinister for Information andBroadcasting who is also the BJP strongman from south India in a function held in Chennai on Sundayto dedicate to the nation astretch of the Chennai MetroRail, an infrastructure expect-ed to give a facelift to themetropolis.

While Palaniswami wascomplimenting the Centre forthe timely help extended to theState Government to executethe Metro Rail project andVenkaiah Naidu in his felicita-tion speech reminded the peo-ple about the warm relation hehad with late Chief MinisterJayalalithaa, the AIADMK pro-paganda man Sampath parrot-ed the words believed to havebeen taught by aunt Sasikala,who is serving a four-year jailterm at Parappana AgraharaCentral Jail in Bangalore in theDisproportionate Asset case.Dinakaran is in Tihar Jail inconnection with the criminal

case registered against him forhis attempt to bribe theElection Commission of Indiaofficials in the party symbolcase.

Sampath has been goingaround Tamil Nadu allegingthat the BJP was responsible forDinakaran’s imprisonment. “Itis a conspiracy hatched at New Delhi by the BJP. Theywant to destroy the AIADMK,”he had told reporters since theDelhi Police arrestedDinakaran last month.

Sampath was with Vaiko’sMDMK before he jumpedfence and joined the AIADMK.Though he announced his res-ignation from the AIADMKimmediately after the electionof Sasikala as general secretaryof the party, he retracted andre-joined the party after a per-sonal audience with Sasikala.Since then he has been func-tioning as the ears, eyes andlounge of Sasikala.

Other than Sampath, theAIADMK MP AnwharRaajhaa, representing Ramana-thapuram Constituency toohad blamed the BJP for the tur-moil in the AIADMK. Theimminent election to the localbodies in Tamil Nadu wouldsee the realignment of variousparties in the State.

While the CPI(M), theCPI, the VCK and Islamistoutfits are all waiting for thegreen signal to join the DMKbandwagon, the moves to bemade by the PMK, MDMKand DMDK are still not known.Dr Ramadoss, the medicaldoctor-turned-politician hadmade it clear that his outfit thePMK would never align eitherwith the AIADMK or theDMK.

���� *1�:�8�+�

Congress leader MallikarjunKharge on Sunday said his

party will fight the 2018Assembly election in Karnatakaunder ‘collective leadership’.

To a question whether he isbeing considered for the party’sState unit president post, theleader of the Congress in theLok Sabha said, “I have noteven applied for it.”

“We will go (to polls) undercollective leadership... Afterwe come to power, things willhappen according to what isdecided by the CLP (CongressLegislature Party) and our highcommand,” he told reportershere.

There is a stiff competitionamong senior party leadersfor the State Congress presi-dent’s post ahead of the 2018Assembly polls.

While Home Minister GParameshwara is seeking toretain the post, other leaderslike DK Shivakumar, MB Patil,SR Patil are also said to be inthe fray.

Kharge said, unlike theBJP, where all powers are con-centrated with one person,that is Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, the Congresshas a high command whichtakes decisions.

Speaking to reporters onFriday, Karnataka ChiefMinister Siddaramaiah had

expressed confidence that theCongress will return to powerin the State after the nextAssembly elections under hisleadership and the ChiefMinisterial candidate will bedecided by the party high com-mand. He had said the party’snorm is that the CM candidateis first selected by the CLP afterwhich it is ratified by the highcommand.

“So, as of now, I cannot saythat I will be the ChiefMinisterial candidate. It is adecision of the high com-mand,” Kharge said.

Newly appointed Congress'general secretary in-charge K CVenugopal had on Wednesdaysaid there is no difference in theparty’s State unit and ‘all con-fusion’ on the new PradeshCongress Committee presi-dent will be cleared within thismonth.

Polling for the 224 seats inKarnataka Legislative Assemblyis expected to be held earlynext year.

����� 8�4.�90

Even as the number arestacked against it, the

Opposition parties are all set tocreate uproarious scene anddisrupt the inaugural session ofthe 17th Uttar PradeshAssembly. The Opposition,with less than 80 MLAs againstthe overwhelming majority ofthe BJP with 325, members, isall set to stall the Governor’sAddress to the Joint Session ofthe State Legislature onMonday.

The Opposition is gearingup to corner the ruling BJPwith series of incidents of casteand communal conflict partic-ularly two incidents in a row inSaharanpur district. Opposi-tion will also corner theGovernment on the incidentsof violence involving the BJPleaders particularly inSaharanpur where the BJP MPallegedly ransacked the officialresidence of the SSP of the dis-trict.

The 55-day-old YogiAdityanath Government willhave to face wrath of theOpposition, who would try tomake their presence felt aftersuffering a humiliating defeatin the recent State Assemblyelections on different issues.The Treasury Benches havealso geared up to face theonslaught of the Opposition.

The week-long inauguralsession, would begin withGovernor Ram Naik’s addressto the joint sitting of the StateLegislature at 11 am onMonday. The important leg-islative business would be theconsideration and passage ofthe State GST Bill. The BJP hasa huge majority in theAssembly with 325 membersalong with their allies Apna Daland Bharatiya Samaj Party inthe 404-member House. Theruling party is in minoritywith only eight members in the100-member LegislativeCouncil. In the Council, theprincipal Opposition Samajw-adi Party has the majority with66 members.

However, leader of theOpposition and SP memberRam Govind Choudhury saidthat the Opposition are unitedagainst the Government onthe law and order and otherissues. “We will not spare thisGovernment which is workingon the agenda of the RSS whichis having adverse impact on thesociety. The Government alsowants to revise the school syl-labus and saffron the educationas per the agenda of the RSS.The goons of the Sangh Parivarand its affiliates have created

havoc in the lives of Dalits andthe minorities,” said the Leaderof Opposition.

Choudhury said, “At firstwe had announced to give thisBJP Government six monthstime to perform, but situationhas changed fast and series ofincidents of crime and grow-ing tension in society hasforced us to ensure theaccountability of the Govern-ment.”

The BSP State PresidentRamachal Rajbhar, who is themember of the Assembly, saidthat the party members willraise the issue of Dalit atroci-ties in this BJP regime.Congress leader in the HouseAjay Kumar Lalu said thatthey will join the Oppositionagainst the BJP over the failuresof the Yogi Government.

According to the AssemblySecretariat, the first sessionwould comprise of six sittings.During the special session, theHouse will approve the GSTBill. Besides, it will hold afour-day-long debate on thethanks motion to theGovernor’s address. Some Billsand Ordinances are also likelyto be tabled in the House.This would be for the first timethat the new protocol to receivethe Governor during this jointaddress would be done. As perthe new protocol, theGovernor, who will arrive in aprocession amid blowing oftrumpets, will be received bythe Chief Minister and othersat the entrance of the Assemblywhile on his way to address thejoint session of the StateLegislature.

According to the numbersin the Assembly, the ruling BJPhas 312 members while its allyApna Dal has 9 and SuheldevBharatiya Samaj Party has 4members respectively.

���� ��17�*�7

Senior Gujarat Congressleader Shankersinh Vaghela

on Sunday said he was not keenon contesting the upcomingAtate Assembly polls to beheld later this year.

Responding to a query byreporters about his choice ofConstituency from where hewould want to contest the

polls, the 77-year-old formerChief Minister said he hadcontested enough number ofelections in his life and it nolonger held importance forhim.

“I have contested manyelections in my life. Now, timehas come to fight for the prob-lems faced by the people ofGujarat. Contesting Assemblyor Lok Sabha polls is not

important for me,” he toldreporters in Bayad town ofArvalli district.

Meanwhile, Vaghela onSunday ‘un-followed’ Congressvice president Rahul Gandhiand many other party leadersfrom his Twitter account.

The developments cameon the day when the StateCongress organised its IT Cellconference here, which saw

the presence of Congress pres-ident Sonia Gandhi’s politicalsecretary Ahmed Patel andmany other senior leadersfrom the State.

In March, Vaghela, who isthe Leader of Opposition in the Gujarat Assembly, hadclaimed he was not in the race for the Chief Minister’spost for the State Assemblyelections.

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Eighty four-year-oldJanardan Bhatt, a retired

employee of State Bank ofSaurashtra (SBS), set anexample by donating �1 croreto the National Defence Fund(NDF) for the welfare ofjawans and their families.

NDF is used for the wel-fare of the members of theArmed Forces (including ParaMilitary Forces) and theirdependents. It was set up totake charge of voluntary dona-tions in cash and kind receivedfor promotion of the nation-al Defence effort, and todecide on their utilisation.

Based in coastal town,Bhavnagar Bhatt has no son ordaughter and hence he decid-ed to donate all his savings forthe noble cause. “In the recentpast I had been watchingnews related to martyredjawans and the way they are

guarding our borders in chal-lenging conditions. At thisage, I did what best I coulddo,” said Bhatt.

Many celebrities includingmovie star Akshay Kumar,

cricketer Gautam Gambhiramong others hit the headlinesby donating huge amount forsuch noble cause. In the caseof Bhatt, he belongs to a mid-dle class family and has a heart

to donate all his savings for thejawans. After retirement, hehad invested his ProvidentFund smartly which yieldedhim hefty returns. Now he isusing money for the noble

cause.“During his entire career,

Bhatt was active in SBSEmployees Union. As a unionleader he had helped many ofhis colleagues and fought with management for theirrights. Even after retirement,he was active in social servicesin his hometown Bhavnagar,”said his ex-colleague Mahas-ukhbhai Dave, adding that allthose who had worked withhim are feeling proud forBhatt.

This not first time Bhattcame forward for the noblecause. In the past too he andhis likeminded friends col-lected and donated more than�50 lakh for various socialcauses.

The NDF is administeredby an Executive Committee,with Prime Minister as thechairperson, and Defence,Finance and Home Ministersas members.

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The Bengal Police onSunday filed suo motu

cases against State BJP lead-ers Locket Chatterjee andJayprakash Majumdar forinciting violence in Dinhataon Saturday.

The Trinamool Congressand BJP workers had clashedat Dinhata in Coochbehardistrict where the saffronparty had done well in the lastParliamentary electionsemerging as the secondbiggest outfit after theTrinamool Congress.

Vehicles were damagedand party offices were ran-sacked and torched.

“My vehicle was attackedby the Trinamool goons,”Chatterjee an actress-turnedpolitician said.

“We will also answer theTrinamool Congress in thesame language that theyunderstand,” he added

The police on Sundayfiled suo motu cases againstChatterjee and Majumdar.“The Trinamool has startedplaying politics of vengeancein Bengal. We will fight theissue politically” saidChatterjee on Sunday.

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����� 8�4.�90

The Yogi Adityanath Gover-nment in Uttar Pradesh got

a jolt on Sunday as the rulingparty MLA from Ballia issued astatement against the ChiefMinister and staged a dharna.Surendra Pratap Singh, firsttime BJP MLA from Beria seat,also threatened to go on hungerstrike from May 24 if hisdemands were not met.

The MLA led a humanchain on NH-31 on Saturdayalong with the flood affectedpeople of his Constituency fortwo hours.

Talking to media here onSunday, Surendra Pratap Singhalleged that the State Gover-nment has done nothing toprotect the villages in his Cons-tituency from the floods.

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Page 7: ˆ ˙ . - The Pioneer in Uttar Pradesh. Her identity was established through voter ID card found in her purse. She was working as a domestic help. Her body was fished out after one-and-a-half

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The Kerala Police has iden-tified the killers of local RSS

leader Choorakkad Biju (34),who was brutally hacked todeath in Payyannur in Kannurdistrict on Friday, even as fearand anxiety spread among theresidents of the sensitive areasin the district despite stepped-up security arrangements.

The police said they hadreceived clear informationabout the identities of all theseven members of the killergang — all of whom areCPI(M) sympathisers or work-ers— that had murdered Bijuand that all of them would "fallinto the net without delay".Two persons have already beentaken into custody in connec-tion with the killing.

According to the police,Biju, Ramanthali MandalKaryavahak of the RSS and12th accused in the case per-taining to the murder ofCPI(M) worker CV Dhanaraj(38) at Ramanthali, Payyannurlast July, was killed by a seven-member CPI(M) gang headedby Rineesh and Anoop ofPayyannur, both said to beaccused in several criminalcases.

The police have come tothe conclusion that the ganghad murdered Biju as an act ofrevenge for the murder of theirclose friend, Dhanaraj. Theyhave also found out that Biju'skilling was the result of a con-spiracy and that the killershad stalked the RSS leader forseveral days before committingthe crime.

Biju was hacked to deathon Friday evening at Palakkodnear Pazhayangadi inPayyannur as he was goinghome on a motorbike beingdriven by his friend Rajesh. At

a bridge near Palakkod, thekillers hit the bike with theToyota Innova car they weretravelling in and then hackedBiju to death. It was Rineeshand Anoop who had hackedthe RSS leader.

The CPI(M)'s Payyannurarea committee said actionwould be taken after inquiriesif anybody related to the partywas involved in the murder asthe party's State secretary anda native of Kannur, KodiyeriBalakrishnan, alleged that theBJP and RSS had embarked ona campaign against the CPI(M)and the LDF Government itwas heading by using the"unfortunate incident".

The police on Sunday tookinto custody two persons onthe basis of the statement givenby Rajesh on whose bike Bijuwas travelling. They wereBenoy, the owner of the Innovacar used by the murderers, andJijesh, who had provided assis-tance for the gang to take thecar on rent on April 25.

The car was taken intocustody by a police patrol teamfrom Payyannur earlySundaymorning but the drivermanaged to escape. Beforeescaping, he had sprinkledchili powder inside and the carand on its body. Forensicexperts confirmed that thepatches of paint found on theseized Innova had come from

the motorbike on which Bijuwas travelling.

According to the investi-gators, Biju, a paint worker, wasaware that the Marxists hadbeen stalking him for sometime. For the same reason, hehad planned to stay away fromKannur and had found a job inMangalore for the purpose.The gang had waylaid andmurdered him when he wasreturning home fromMangalore on Friday eveningafter arranging the job.

A top police official saidthat the incident had strikingsimilarities with the murder ofMarxist rebel TPChandrasekharan inOnchiyam, Kozhikode districtin May, 2012.

"In that case also, the killers had waylaid the victimusing a car taken on rent,which they had abandonedafter brutally hacking him todeath," he said.

Meanwhile, fear and anxi-ety over the violence reachedpanic levels among the resi-dents of sensitive areas likePayyannur, Koothuparambuand Panur in Kannur districtwhich have a history of violentCPI(M)-RSS conflicts. Thepolice have stepped up securi-ty by deploying large numbersof personnel but that has nothelped in mitigating the panicamong the people.

"Since last May, peoplehere had expected the vio-lence to come down becausethey thought the CPI(M), asruling party, would showrestraint. But the incidentssince July last have disprovedthat hope. With Friday's inci-dent, the people have onceagain slipped into fear," saidRamesh Nambiar, a formerCPI(M) activist fromThalassery, Kannur.

����� 8�4.�90

Aterrorist of HizbulMujahideen was nabbed by

Shashatra Seema Bal (SSB)when he was trying to infiltrateinto the Indo-Nepal border inSonauli on Saturday night.Soon after his arrest, ADG(Law and Order) instructed theAnti Terror Squad (ATS) tointerrogate the terrorist.

The terrorist was identifiedas Nasir Ahmad Wani akaSadiq of Banihal village underRamban police station area ofJammu and Kashmir.

Preliminary interrogationwith the accused revealed thatNasir joined HizbulMujahideen in 2002-03 and

later left for Pakistan. In 2002,he and his aides had anencounter with the Army andhe suffered two bullet injuriesin the counter firing then.

In Pakistan he wentthrough a rigorous arm train-ing during which he learnt tooperate AK 47, AK 56, SLR andAssault Rifles. He later settledin Lalamusha locality underKharian Tehsil of Gujrat districtof Pakistan. He entered intomarriage with Ashanaeem inPakistan and got a Pakistanipassport on this address.

ATS sleuths said Nasir

along with another terrorist leftfor Faislabad in Pakistan andlater reached Sharjah and thentraveled to Kathmandu.

As per an official commu-niqué, the case was transferredto ATS at the instruction ofADG (Law and Order). Thesleuths had been asked to takeNasir on remand to interrogatehim to know about the manwho was associating him dur-ing their travel to Kathmandu.They will also interrogate Nasirto know his plans and their tar-get for which he and his aidewere infiltrating the border.

�������� ����� ,��

The situation along the Lineof Control in Nowshera

sector continue to remain grimfor the second consecutive dayon Sunday. After a brief lull offew hours during the nightmortar shelling from thePakistan side resumed earlySunday morning.

According to Defencespokesperson in Jammu,“Pakistan Army initiated indis-criminate firing along the lineof control earlysunday morn-ing.” He said, “Pak Army used82 mm and 120 mm mortars totarget the civilian areas alongthe LoC.”

As firing intensified IndianArmy retaliated effectively,spokesman added. The firingcontinued for about two hoursin the area, he added.

District authorities inRajouri claimed ceasefire vio-lation was reported atManjakote and Chingus areasat 6.20 am on sundaymorning.

According to them PakArmy shattered peace inChhotibakri village in Doongiarea where at least 30 shellsexploded near habitations.No loss of life or injury wasreported. Three cattle werereported dead in the area. InTarkudi area 14-15 shells land-ed from across the line of con-trol, however, no loss wasreported.

In Niaka-Panjgrain villageof Manjakote 3-4 shells weredropped in cross-bordershelling. More than 40 shellslanded in various areas ofManjakote where 3 houseswere damaged.

Due to prevailing securitysituation in the forward areas1114 persons of 298 familieshave been accommodated in 5different relief camps estab-lished in Nowshera.

Eight villages of Nowsherahave been badly affected byheavy shelling which include

Khamba, Sarya, Bhawani,Kalsian, Manpur, Danaka,

Khori and Ganya. More than1000 people have been shifted

to camps in last 24 hours.Deputy Commissioner, Dr

Shahid Iqbal Choudhary saidmore than 2694 families com-prised of 10,042 persons havebeen affected in shelling.

Two civilians including aminor girl were killed onSaturday while 6 others wereinjured. 65 livestock were alsoreported dead. Standing cropsand green forest suffered heavydamages during intenseshelling.

Deputy CM Prof NirmalSingh visited Nowshera andinteracted with border resi-dents camping in relief camps.He directed the district author-ities to provide basic necessitiesto these people.

������� �6����� �+���:�+

The security forces onSunday shot dead two

Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT) ter-rorists suspected to have beeninvolved in a fidayeen attackon an artillery garrison inKupwara on April 27. Policesaid the two terrorists werekilled in a brief encounter atWarpora area of Handwara innorth Kashmir’s Kupwara dis-trict, around a hundred kilo-meters from here.

Director General of PoliceDr SP Vaid said the two ter-rorists have been part of thegroup that infiltrated lastmonth to launch an attack onan army garrison. He said itwas unclear whether the duohad actually taken part in thesuicide strike. Army said thatone of the slain terroristshad a unhealed wound thatindicates that he might havebeen involved in the fidayeenstrike at Panzgam formation.

The Panzgam strike was

the first fidayen (suicide)attack in Kashmir this yearthat resulted into killing ofthree soldiers including aCaptain, and two terrorists onApril 27. The artillery garrisonclose to the Line of Control(LoC) was stormed from therear side of the camp at weehours as the attackers cut thebarbed wire to force theirentry into the camp.

The Sunday gunfighterupted when the Army’s 21Rashtriya Rifles and SpecialOperation Group (SOG) ofJammu and Kashmir policelaunched an anti-terrorist oper-ation in Waripora following

inputs about presence of ter-rorists .

“During the brief firefightthat lasted around 10 minutestwo LeT terrorists were killed.Their identity is being ascer-tained but they appear to bePakistani nationals linkedwith the Lashkar,” SeniorSuperin-tendent of Police,Handwara, Ghulam Jeelanisaid.

“We have found yet-to-heal graze wound on one of theeliminated terrorist which isindicative of a likely involve-ment of these two terrorists inthe Panzgam suicide attack. Wehave found some other evi-

dence also amongst the war likestores confirming their involve-ment in Panzgam incident,”Commanding Officer of 21RR, Col Kuldeep Singh toldreporters.

In a separate incident anAK rifle, three magazines wererecovered in Handwara onSunday. Police said the recov-ery was made during thedemolition of an old mosque inRajwar area of Handwara.

“During the demolition ofan old Masjid Sharief inLashipora, Rajwar, locals foundan AK rifle and three maga-zines. Later on, villagersinformed Handwara police andhanded the rifle and magazinesto them,” a police spokes-man said.

Meanwhile, three personswere injured in a mysteriousblast in Tral during the inter-vening night of Saturday andSunday. Police said a mysteri-ous blast took place at PastunaTral, some 40 kilometers fromSrinagar.

����� 8�4.�90�

Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath

has said that the thirdInternational Yoga Day pro-gramme on June 21 will be heldat Ramabai Ambedkar Maidanin Lucknow. Prime MinisterNarendra Modi will attend theprogramme.

Free transport will be pro-vided to those participating inthe Yoga Day function at theRamabai Park. This would be thethird International Yoga Dayfunction and first in UP. The firstInternational Yoga Day functionattended by the Narendra Modiwas held in Delhi and second inChandigarh.

The Chief Minister onSunday reviewed the prepara-tions for the International YogaDay with the Union HomeMinister Rajnath Singh andUnion Ayush Minister S Naik.Rajnath Singh is also MP fromLucknow.

Along with the main pro-gramme in Lucknow, Yoga Daywould be observed at all thedistrict headquarters, tehsiland development block head-quarters, schools, colleges,parks and at other publicplaces. The Government willalso take measures to ensurethe participation of the com-mon people.

Chief Minister said besidesrefreshment, yoga mat, and Tshirt will be provided to theparticipants of the Yoga Dayprogramme. He said 55,000people are expected to partic-ipate in the programme.

“Social organisations andschool children would be given special entry for thefunction for which registrationwould start soon,” the ChiefMinister said.

����� 8�4.�90�

UP Chief Minister YogiAdityanath has slammed

those calling the RashtriyaSwyam Sevak Sangh as com-munal. Yogi called for thereview of the Indian history asthe history of the great Indianswho fought the invaders hasbeen erased from the con-science of the country.

“Let there be a nationaldebate on the issues of com-munalism and nationalism. RSS

is being targeted for being com-munal even as this organisationis doing selfless service for thedowntrodden and the underprivileged sections of the soci-ety. Those who perceive India asone organic nation fromKashmir to Kanyakumari aredubbed as communal whilethose who indulge in vote bankpolitics and divide the societyon the lines of caste, creed andreligion call themselves ashumanists'” said Yogi whileaddressing a VHP meeting.

����� 8�4.�90�

The UP Government onSunday shifted 31 Indian

Police Services officers andappointed new police chiefs in15 districts.

According to officialsources DIG Sonia Singh wait-ing for posting has been post-ed as DIG Kanpur Nagar whileSSP Kanpur nagar AkashKulhari goes in same capacity

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Jammu & Kashmir DeputyChief Minister Prof Nirmal

Singh Sunday said victims ofcross-border firing in the Statewould receive �5 lakh com-pensation in the form of fixeddeposit as approved by theCentre in August 2016.

Reacting to the news reportpublished in The Pioneer onMay 14, the Deputy ChiefMinister told this correspondentthat funds have been released bythe State Government to com-pensate these victims of cross-border firing as per the existingnorms of the Central AssistanceScheme.

Commenting on the rea-sons behind delay caused inclearing these payments earli-er Nirmal Singh said, “wecould not do it because theCentre had not released fundsto the State Government.”

He said, “I have been

informed by the DivisionalCommissioner Jammu that hehad discussed the matter withthe chief secretary and home sec-retary and they have agreed to

release the money. He said soonthe compensation amount wouldbe handed over to the next of kinof cross border firing victims inthe form of fixed deposit.”

The decision to enhancethe Central assistance to thetune of �5 lakh was taken bythe Union Cabinet headed byPrime Minister Narendra Modiin August 2016. Since then thecross-border firing victimsentitled for the compensationwere not given single penny.

A total number of 15 peo-ple have died so far acrossJammu region in cross-borderfiring incidents after the com-

pensation amount wasenhanced by the Centre.

The district developmentcommissioners could notprocess their cases as they wereawaiting fresh guidelines andfunds from the StateGovernment. In the wake offresh firing along the line of con-trol three civilians have lost theirlives in Rajouri district alone.

Deputy Commissioner,Rajouri, Dr Shahid IqbalChoudhary told The PioneerDeputy CM Prof Nirmal Singhvisited the families of cross-bor-der firing victims in Nowsheraon Sunday and took stock of thesecurity situation and directeddistrict authorities to ensurebasic amenities are organised forborder residents camping in therelief camps. Prof Singh alsocriticised Pakistan Army for tar-geting civilian areas and said theCentre has given free hand tothe Army to give befitting replyto Pakistan.

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Upcoming Marathi filmproducer Atul Tapkir com-

mitted suicide in his room at aleading hotel in Pune in theearly hours of Sunday, afterposting a suicide note on hisFacebook page.

In FB post, Tapikar saidthat he was ending his life byconsuming poison. He attrib-uted his suicide to the financiallosses suffered in the making ofhis critically acclaimed Marathifilm Dhole Taashe Pathak andthe mental harassment he wasallegedly facing at the hands ofhis wife Priyanka.

Taikar was staying in HotelPresident off Karve Road inPune. As he did not open thehotel room on Sunday morn-

ing, the hotel managementcalled the police who brokeopen the room. He was foundlying dead.

The body of Tapikar, whois suspected to have consumedpoison, was sent to the State-run Sassoon General Hospitalfor post-mortem.

The Deccan Gymkhanapolice station have registered acase and are investigating thecase.

Tapikar is survived by hiswife, son Vishwajit, daughterSakshi, father Bajirao Tapikarand sisters Ujwala and Nirmala.

In his suicide note, Tapikarallleged “Since my film wentinto losses, I was debt trapped.As a consequence, my wifestarted harassing me.... I wasdriven out of my own home by

my wife and she also distancedme from my children. She alsostarted defaming me amongmy neighbours and friends. Tothat extent, my friends stoppedinteracting with me.... Becauseof the harassment, I beganconsuming liquor.”

Tapkir also alleged that

while father and sisters weresupporting him, his wife washarassing him to no end andthat she had also complained tothe police demanding his arrest.

Dhole Taashe Pathak ,which is the first Marathi polit-ical drama that revolve aroundthe culture related to people

who play drums and instru-ments in cultural processions inMaharashtra was released inJuly 2015. Though well-made,the film – directed by AnkurKakatkar and starring AbhijeetKhandkekar, Hrishitaa Bhattand Jitendra Joshi starring—bombed at the box office.

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to Bareilly. SP Gonda SudhirKumar Singh will be the newSP of Ambedkarnagar;Commandant PAC BareillyAnil Kumar Singh will be thenew SP of Barabanki replacingVaibhav Krishna, who has beenmade SSP Etawah.

Umesh Kumar Singh, wait-ing for posting has been post-ed as SP of Gonda, SSP BareillyJogendra Kumar has been goesto Police Academy Moradabadas SP. SP Bijnore Ajay KumarSahani has been made SPAzamgarh, SP CB-CID AtulSharma has been made SP ofBijnore, SP Police AcademyMoradabad Vinod KumarMishra has been made SSP ofMathura, and SP MahobaVipin Tanda has been made asSP Rampur replacing KKChoudhury, who has beenmade SP Railway Moradabad.

SSP Etawah Shiv HariMeena has been made SPRailway Agra, Deepak KumarBhatt, who was on waiting forposting has been made SPRailway Allahabad, SPCooperative cell Sanjeev Tyagi has been made SP Auriya,SP Traffice (HQ) Rajiv Malhotrahas been made SP Deoria replac-ing Ms Sriparna Ganguli, whocomes to Lucknow as SPAdministration at DGP office.

SP Ambedkarnagar PiyushSrivastava has been made com-mandant PAC Varanasi.

Page 8: ˆ ˙ . - The Pioneer in Uttar Pradesh. Her identity was established through voter ID card found in her purse. She was working as a domestic help. Her body was fished out after one-and-a-half

When one thinks of thetriple talaq debate logi-cally, there is no sense inthe arguments that it isan established religious

practice and is essential to the practiceof Islam. Not only have theocratic Islamicnations outlawed the practice but in atime where we as a society realise thatwomen have equal rights, just how canthis frankly barbaric insult to women’srights continue? This does not any wayattack the rights of people to practiceIslam, but like any other religion, thereneeds to be an understanding by religiousleaders that religion must evolve.

The great Bengali reformer andpatriot and founder of the BrahmoSamaj, Raja Ram Mohan Roy was one ofthe first to speak up against the terrify-ing practice of sati. After he saw hisbrother’s wife effectively murdered on hisfuneral pyre, he campaigned ferocious-ly against the practice.

Roy, a pioneer of the Hindu renais-sance and the revival of political poweramong Hindus, was a man who realisedthat the religion had to evolve. This wasdespite the fury that greeted some of hisproposals in Bengal. Yet, it was only 190years ago that the practice of sati was

abolished. While revivalist Hinduism stillhas some practices that need to bepurged out, the era of sati is considereda dark blot in history.

Similarly, triple talaq has to go,whether it happens judicially or inParliament. It is a practice rooted in reli-gious history, but from a time long agowhere society, and the human race for thatmatter, were far more backward. We livein a time where technology rules our livesand we know that women have equalrights. And it is not as if this is practisedby those from a backward educationalbackground. Stories of people who havehad a modern education indulging in prac-tice have also emerged.

The triple talaq issue thus has becomeone where reconciling between women’srights and religious freedom have becomeintertwined. Yet, there should be nodebate whatsoever, because human rightsscore above religion at all times. And thisis a lesson that the violent Gau rakshaksmust also heed. Vigilantism should notbecome the order of the day.

True, there is a serious problem of cat-tle-rustling across the country, and someof the vigilantes have formed gangs inresponse to that. Yet, if we are to show thatwe are a civilised society, there needs tofaith reposed in the rule of law. Just liketriple talaq is an abhorrent practice thatmust be consigned to history, there needsto be strict action against violent Gau rak-shaks and the like.

There are vestiges of much olderpractice that continue to dominate thepolitical discourse in India, such as thecaste system. There is no excuse for the

varna regime, and when you hear storiesof higher caste gangs attacking Dalit mar-riage parties because the groom ‘dared’ toride on a horse, you cannot but think thatit unfortunate that the work of Raja RamMohan Roy and Dayanand Saraswati is notbeing taken forward in this generation.

Indeed, the advent of mass media hasonly highlighted just how bad the casteproblem remains outside the richer partsof large metropolitan cities. Between tripletalaq and the caste system, India’s claimsto be a rising society sound hollow. Butunlike trying to address the social injus-tice of the caste system, the country has letinternal religious discrimination or hascondoned other practices.

For example, Sikh women are allowedto ride a two-wheeler without a helmetin Delhi because their religious leadershave gained for them an exemption.What is depressing is that many Sikhwomen really do not wear helmets ontwo-wheelers even though commonsense would make anybody realise thatwearing a helmet adds to safety. How canany ‘religious’ leader want to make suchan exemption? Because this valueshuman life below that of following a prac-tice. That is simply wrong.

And Parliament has to soon consid-er implement an Uniform Civil Codebecause such a code will codify a simplefact, Humanism and the respect of allhuman beings as equal before any reli-gious book. Keep in mind, every majorreligious text is over a millennia old, andsome of the older ones three or four mil-lennia old. You could not live in a timebefore the internal combustion engine,

flight, modern medicine and the inter-net? So how can you live by some rulescodified back then? A Uniform CivilCode will ensure that people — men orwomen — do not suffer legally or soci-etally because of the faith they profess,whether it is Islam, Hinduism,Christianity or any other religion.

Because when you think about it, welive in a time of instant gratificationthrough social media and online con-sumerism. We are but a click away frombeing to fly across 10,000 kilometresacross the face of the planet. We are achiev-ing things that were unimaginable to ourancestors so we must evolve. Among amajority of younger people in developedcountries religion’s importance is fadingaway. Yet, we are fighting wars and greatcivilisational wars in the middle east thatin essence are religious wars.

This is not to argue that faith or reli-gion is not important, some of the great-est scientists in the world have managedto reconcile their faith and the advance-ments. No matter how scientific onemight be, most births, marriages andfunerals are still highly religious events.Yet, a basic tenet of every faith is respectfor a fellow being. How can men andwomen of any faith reconcile themselveswith some of the practices which even ifthey do not profess, others in their faithdo? It is important for reformers to standup and force change. If we are to becomea truly secular country we have to be acountry which has one common law forevery man, woman and child.

(The writer is Managing Editor, The Pioneer)

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Grim Kashmir scenario” (May12). It is indeed unfortunate thatlocals in Kashmir obstructed theArmy from giving a state burial toLieutenant Ummer Fayaz, whileall streets were full when BurhanWani was being buried. If localscannot even show empathytowards their own man who wasserving the Army then, it is cer-tain that they do not want a pos-itive path for their future inspiteof both State and UnionGovernments asking them torestrain from violence and not bemisguided by militants who arebasically exploiting them.

Bal Govind Noida

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Grim Kashmir scenario” (May 12).The Indian Army needs to start asystematic military operation acrossthe entire Kashmir valley to destroyall militant cells. Pro-PakistaniKashmiri leaders have to be perma-nently put behind bars.

Internet and cellular phone ser-vices must be cut off or limited toofficial business in all affected areas.Even President’s Rule and dawn-to-dusk curfew with shoot-at-sightorders should be considered. Thatis the only way to stop Kashmir fromslipping away from Indian rule.

Marty MartelVia web

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Grim Kashmir scenario” (May12). The problem is that a sub-stantial section of the valleyMuslims are jihadi sympathisersand previous regimes at theCentre have been mollycoddlingthem. We have to hit them thehardest with all our might. It mustbe a no holds barred fight and tothe finish.

Ashok MehtaVia web

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Sir — This refers to the article,“Kashmir’s problem and resolu-tion” (May 10) by SudipBhattacharyya. We cannot toler-ate local Kashmiri citizens toopenly defy militants.Government has to restore lawand order, instill confidence inadministration. Governmentmust tone up administration.

There is need for a shake-up,right from the Governor to theStation House Officer level. In theUnion Ministry of Home Affairs,we need some tough knowledge-able Ministers like former bureau-crat RK Singh, who can take careof the laggards and Pakistan-sympathisers that abound in largenumber in and outside offices.

ArunVia web

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The country has witnessed asignificant increase in healthinsurance coverage across pop-

ulation groups. A recent study byBrookings India, ‘Health andMorbidity in India: Evidence andPolicy Implications’, indicates that inthe decade from 2004 to 2014, thenumber of Indians insured throughsome mechanism increased from 55million to over 350 million. The cov-erage went from one per cent of thepopulation to 15 per cent in a decade.

While universal health coveragethrough insurance remains some waydown the road, the increased cover-age is welcome. India accounts forsome of the lowest health insurancecoverage in the developing and lowand middle-income countries cohort.

This along with low health spends asa percentage of the gross domesticproduct has meant that over sevenper cent of the population is pushedto poverty on account of catastroph-ic healthcare expenditures. This isnot only unpardonable but alsowholly addressable.

Researchers suggest that univer-sal health insurance along with astrengthened primary healthcareinfrastructure are the most importanttools to ensure that all Indians haveaccess to an equitable and affordablehealth system.

However, as the Brookings studyindicates,”Public health insuranceis not associated with lower out-of-pocket expenditure, probability offacing catastrophic health expendi-tures or impoverishment caused byhealth expenditures.”

While it would seem intuitive toassume that increased coverageshould lower out of pocket expens-es for health needs, this is not whatthe data alludes to. It may be conjec-tured that inadequate coverage, lackof quality at institutions servicing a

health insurance policy and asym-metric availability of healthcare facil-ities mean that out of pocket spend-ing for both inpatient and out patientcare remain high.

While health coverage itself is thetarget of most health insuranceschemes, adequate and comprehensivecoverage for a range of services anddiseases has remained elusive. Curativeand invasive interventions like surg-eries or inpatient care is covered inmost public health insurance policies.

However, with the rise of non-communicable diseases — now con-tributing to over 60 per cent of alldeaths in India — health insuranceschemes seem inadequately plannedto meet this disease burden. Lackofcoverage for outpatient care and pre-existing conditions act as impedimentsfor obtaining a comprehensive andaffordable health insurance scheme.

Similarly, coverage for diag-nostics and health tests remainspatchy. The Brookings study indi-cates that the latter has been thelargest contributor to health expens-es in urban India.

More than comprehensive cover-age, the lack of quality and outcomesremains a major source of worry. Indiamust move from an output-based toan outcome-basedparadigm. Oftenhealth insurance policies mandatecoverage at pre-determined empan-elled hospitals for its beneficiaries.These hospitals are selected adoptingthe ‘L1’ tendering process, wherelowest bids are considered ‘superior’and ‘cost effective’. Therefore, cost con-trols, rather than optimal health out-comes, are key considerations for bothpayers and providers.

The lack of co-relation betweencoverage and out-of-pocket expens-es could be explained by this preva-lent practice. The insured may lookat options beyond the empanelledproviders, mostly in the private sec-tor, which could drive up costs toadequately cover their health needs.Therefore, the need to build in qual-ity and outcomes into the coverageregime is an imperative.

Quality, unlike numerical pop-ulation coverage remains a challenge.Qualitative assessment of clinical

quality and outcomes has been dealtthrough models like the diagnosis-related group (DRG) reimburse-ment, pay-for-performance and out-come-based reimbursements theworld over. The need to evolve suchmodels in India will be important.Health insurers have relied on priceceiling as their preferred tool for costcontrols, especially for reimburse-ments for private providers.

However, this remains inade-quate for public providers and alsofor high-end tertiary care. Similarly,price controls on pharmaceuticalsand medical devices are the approachthat Governments are taking to con-trol costs. This too remains contro-versial and inadequate in ensuringoverall outcomes and in reducingDisability-Reduced Life Years(DALY) in India.

Further, quality assurancethrough institutional certificationslike the National Accreditation Boardfor Hospitals & Healthcare Providers(NABH) and National AccreditationBoard for Testing & CalibrationLaboratories (NABL) have been

mandated by insurers for reimburse-ments. But these serve only as cer-tifications; a more comprehensiveevaluation system for outcomes andperformance for all healthcareproviders needs to be created. Also,quality assurance and outcomeslinked performance assessment forthe primary healthcare networkremains unaddressed.

Costs and coverage remain twinchallenges. We must add quality andoutcomes to these overarching pillarson which a 21st century health sys-tem for India is to be created. As theBrookings Study indicates, cata-strophic health expenses continue torise in India, something that Indiacan ill-afford.

But mere price controls andincreased coverage alone too shallnot address this and other challenges.Quality, outcomes and reliabilitymust all be central to our combinedefforts for an accessible, equitable andeffective health system.

(The writer is general manager,Operation &Public Affairs,Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals)

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More than two millenniaago, in his ingeniouspolitical treatise calledthe Arthashastra,Kautilya detailed the

notion of Raja-mandala or the ‘Circle ofstates’. An approach to foreign policy thatstill holds relevance, it classified king-doms among four different categories.A kingdom that wished to expand itsempire was called Vijigishu. The stateneighboring Vijigishu, and most likelyits enemy, was called Ari. Adjoining theterritory of these two states and strongerthan both of them was called Madhyamawhile the neutral kingdom lying outsidethe immediate region, yet holding astrong influence on all three, was calledthe Udasina. The theory was based onthe premise that in order for Vijigishuto expand its kingdom, it needed to part-ner with its neighbour’s neighbour.

The circle of states finds much res-onance in the current geo-political rela-tionships between India, China, Pakistanand other entities such as the US,Japan, the EU and Russia. These relation-ships (the four categories being inter-changeable depending upon whichcountry is Vijigishu) are bound tobecome starker in the context of China’sBelt and Road Initiative. India(Vijigishu), finds itself trapped in the cir-cle of states — Pakistan (Ari) andChina (Madhyama) as it raises concernsabout the credibility of China’s ambitiousOne Belt One Road (OBOR) project,especially in the context of the ChinaPakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

Interestingly, in the same treatise,Kautilya also elucidated the key prin-ciples a state could employ whentrapped within this circle of states.India’s strategy towards the CPECand OBOR when viewed from theChanakya lens, is actually quite sound— but it can definitely be improved.Where does India’s argument againstthe validity of CPEC stand?

Many in the Indian establishmentview the OBOR as a unilateral nation-al initiative by China — its raison d’êtrebeing geo-political hegemony ratherthan Asian economic development.The China Pakistan Economic Corridor,a part of the OBOR, runs from Xinjiangin western China to the Gwadar port inBalochistan via Gilgit-Baltistan andother parts of Pakistan-occupiedKashmir. The Government of India’sargument can perhaps be best represent-ed by the recent statement from UnionMinister Arun Jaitley: “I have no hesi-tation in saying we have some seriousreservations about it, because of sover-eignty issues.” The remarks reveal almosta hint of confidence.

The CPEC comprises multiple pro-jects which are financed partly by theChina-led multilateral financial institu-tion, the Asian InfrastructureInvestment Bank (AIIB) and partly byother entities. In the affairs of the bank,

India holds a voting share of 8.0294 percent, second only to China’s 27.845 percent. India also holds a seat among thevice presidents of the AIIB. Additionally,the report on the Articles of Agreementof the AIIB clearly states, “A policy onoperations in disputed areas would pro-vide that, for financing in a disputedarea, member consent is obtained inaccordance with paragraph 3, and theBank does not take a position on terri-torial claims.” This is echoed in sectionIV of the bank’s Operational Policy onInternational Relations.

The particular CPEC project in con-tention here is the Thakot-Havelian sec-tion of the Karakoram Highway con-necting China and Pakistan. The officialwebsite of CPEC mentions the project’sfunding as “possibly through GCL”.Even though the particular project inquestion is not being directly funded bythe AIIB, it is part of the larger One BeltOne Road corridor in question whichreceives funds from the lending agency.India’s potential argument against theOBOR would be that it includes projectsthat pass through a disputed area, andif the AIIB were to fund projects inOBOR, which includes those passingthrough a disputed territory, it wouldimply the bank taking a ‘position on ter-ritorial claims’ and hence against thebank’s official stand.

Though quite strong, it is likely thatIndia’s clout in AIIB may not be suffi-cient to stop the CPEC from takingshape. Taking a cue from Kautilya, Indiamust continue to extend its influence inthe ‘circle of states’ and build tradingports and routes that foster India’s geo-political sovereignty. India’s $500 millioninvestment in the Chabahar port of Iran,approximately 75km away from the

Gwadar port, has seen repeated delays. India’s decision to not participate in

the Belt and Road Initiative Summit,being hosted in Beijing, has been readas a sign of its disapproval with theOBOR. In the coming of the ‘AsianEconomic Order’, as many pundits liketo call the times ahead, India must be apart of the larger shaping exercises andnot allow petulance to drive its policy.

Before New Delhi can counterChina with trade and energy corridorsof its own, it needs to build the neces-sary supporting infrastructure internal-ly. Chanakya niti dictates that before aruler can take on a neighboring state,it must augment itself by exploiting itsown resources. If one looks at the pro-jects proposed by India to the AIIB, theyreflect a similar stand. By the samepremise, in order for the Bangladesh,China, India and Myanmar (BCIM)Economic Corridor to bear fruit, Indiamust first build the necessary comple-menting infrastructure in its easternand northeastern regions.

Chinese Ambassador Lui Zhaohuihas been courting India to join theOBOR, and he recently came up with afour-point agenda for India. What ismissing is a similar sharing of agendafrom the Indian side. Though India isjustified in proceeding cautiously, itneeds to come up with an alternative.

One possible way forward for Indiato play a greater role in the Chinese ini-tiative is to first ask the Xi JinpingGovernment to drop the CPEC projectsin Pakistan-occupied Kashmir fromOBOR and re-route them as a separateChina-Pakistan initiative. Alternatively,India could also ask China to walk thetalk and allow India to expand trade withTibet. China has repeatedly claimed that

the One Belt One Road Initiative isaimed strictly to promote economicgrowth in Asia and not establish theChinese hegemony. If that were the case,India and China could work out anarrangement to expand border tradethrough the Nathu La pass into ‘tradeacross the border’ in the form of anestablished Kolkata-Siliguri-Gangtok-Lhasa corridor. As the situation standstoday, India has repeatedly requestedpermission for opening an official tradeoffice in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa but,as expected, it has been repeatedlydenied the same.

India’s response strategy must alsoinclude stepping up its foreign diploma-cy and engaging with its neighbours tohighlight the kind of debt trap some ofthe projects in OBOR could pose. TheGovernor of Pakistan’s own nationalbank has expressed doubts on Pakistan’sability to pay back the debt to China. InSri Lanka, Chinese investments areshowing poor returns and the SriLankan Government has fallen into adebt trap with China already. It is notsurprising that Sri Lanka’s debt-to-GDP ratio is approximately 75 per centand almost 95 per cent of itsGovernment’s revenue is slated to beused for repaying debts. Here, anotherChanakya lesson is in order: “There issome self-interest behind every friend-ship. There is no friendship without self-interest. This is the bitter truth.”

Before we throw the towel, Indiamust tread carefully and devise ways torespond to Chinese proposals withoutalienating itself from the grand initiative.

(The writer is a Yenching Scholarat Peking University, China, and ispresently working as a policy andstrategy consultant)

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Eleven Indian-Americaninves tors fe ature in

Forbes magazine’s annuallist of the 100 best venturecapitalists who are behindsome of the highest- return-ing investments in the tech-nology sphere.

The ‘Midas 2017’ com-prises 100 best venture cap-italists in the world, takinginto account a five-yearlook-back at a partner’sportfolio, with exits by IPOor acquisition of $200 mil-lion or more and privateholdings that raised moneyat valuations of $400 millionor more over that time peri-od.

The list has been toppedby Jim Goetz, Partner inSequoia Capital. He retainsthe top spot three years after

the monumental sale of mes-saging giant WhatsApp toFacebook for nearly $22 bil-lion.

Goetz, the only investorin the company, transformed$60 mi l l ion over t hre erounds into more than $3billion in Facebook stock.

The list includes 11 ven-ture capitalists who are ofIndian-origin and have beenbehind some of the highest-returning investments in thetechnology sphere in theUS.

Neeraj Agrawal, GeneralPartner in Battery Ventureson the 17th spot leads thepack of Indian-origin ven-ture capitalists on the list,followed by Sameer Gandhi,Partner in Accel Partners(23) , Asheem Chandna,Partner in Greylock Partners(28) , Sa l i l D eshpande,

Managing Director in BainCapital Ventures (33), AneelBhusri CEO and Cofounderof Workday (37).

Gaurav Garg, FoundingPartner of Wing VentureCapital (48), Promod Haque,Senior Managing Partner of

Norwest Venture Partners(67) , Hemant Taneja ,Managing Director ofGeneral Catalyst Partners(70) , Navin Chaddha,Managing Director ofMayfield Fund (73), RaviMhatre , Par tner inLightspeed Venture Partners(76) and Deven Parekh,Managing Director of InsightVenture Partners (99).

Agrawal returns to theMidas List for the 7th consec-utive time. Two of Agrawal’ssoftware companies, Coupaand Nutanix, went public in2016, and another,AppDynamics, was about to gopublic in early 2017 before itwas scooped up by Cisco for$3.7 billion.

Taneja, who holds fivedegrees from the MassachusettsInstitute of Technology, debutson the Midas List due to an

early investment in Snap, thesocial platform that went pub-lic at a market capitalization of$25 billion in February 2017.

Haque, an alumnus ofDelhi College of Engineering,has served as senior managingpartner at Norwest VenturePartners since 2013, where hefocuses on enterprise andhealthcare IT.

In his more than 15 yearsof venture capital experience,Haque has invested in morethan 70 companies that haveproduced more than $40 billionin exit values.

Forbes said while micro-blogging site Twitter stillaccounts for 12 Midas investorsand Facebook another 10,they’re now making way forSnap, the social app that wentpublic in February 2017, and itseight investors in the 2017Midas ranks.

���������� Executive searchfirm Head Hunters India onSunday said the job cuts in ITsector will be between 1.75 lakhand 2 lakh annually for nextthree years due to under-pre-paredness in adapting to newertechnologies.

“Contrary to media reportsof 56,000 IT professionals to losejobs this year, the actual job cutswill be between 1.75 lakh and 2lakh per year in next three years,due to under- preparedness inadapting to newer technolo-gies,” Head Hunters IndiaFounder-Chairman and MD KLakshmikanth told PTI,analysing a report submitted byMcKinsey & Company at theNasscom India LeadershipForum on February 17.

McKinsey & Companyreport had said nearly half of theworkforce in the IT servicesfirms will be “irrelevant” over thenext 3-4 years.

McKinsey India ManagingDirector Noshir Kaka had alsosaid the bigger challenge aheadfor the industry will be to retrain50-60 per cent of the workforceas there will be a significant shiftin technologies.

The industry employs 3.9million people and the majori-ty of them have to be retrained.

“So, when we analyse thesefigures, it is clear that 30 to 40 percent of the workforce cannot beretrained or re- skilled. So,assume that half of this work-

force can continue to work onold skills, then balance willbecome redundant.

“So, the number of peoplewho will become redundant in

the next three years will beabout five to six lakhs. This willworkout to, on a average,between 1.75 lakh to 2 lakh peryear for next three years,”

Lakshmikanth explained.However, he said job cuts

will not take place in major citieslike Mumbai or Bengaluru, butcities like Coimbatore or a few

remote places, he said.Lakshmikanth further said

the IT services industry is pass-ing through an uncertain timeas the growth in digital tech-

nologies like cloud-based ser-vices is happening at a muchfaster pace and the companiesare combining learning of someof the new technologies andreskilling.

“Because of the changingtechnology, the most affected willbe the professionals aged 35and above, for it would be verydifficult for them to get jobs,”Lakhsmikanth said.

Asked if it is fair to blame USPresident Donald Trump’s poli-cy for job cuts, Lakshmikanthsaid it is not fair because he hasfulfilled the promise after win-ning the elections.

“How can we blame Trump,for he has fulfilled the electionpromise of giving jobs to localpeople including IT profession-als by tightening H1-B visanorms, which were being mis-used by companies by paying lessto foreign professionals workingin US. It is for companies to tack-le the situation, and such situa-tion they have undergone in pre-vious years. It is not new forthem. They know to tide over it,”he said.

Lakhsmikanth also said itis not fair even to target theIndian Government as the ITindustry grew on its own inIndia, but at later stages respec-tive State Governments andCentral Governments provid-ed them facilities like land orcreating special economiczones, among others.

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��6� ������As digitisation andautomation become the newnormal, IT biggies like Infosys,Cognizant and Tech Mahindraare seeing a spate of layoffs andthis trend may continue for thenext 1-2 years, say experts.

The pink slips are beinghanded out to thousands ofemployees as part of their per-formance appraisal process, butit is believed that these aredirected more towards costcontrol amid pressure on bot-tom line due to a rising tide ofprotectionism in most targetmarkets.

Indian software exportersin particular are facing head-winds in the business environ-ment and stricter work permitregime in countries like the US,Singapore, Australia and NewZealand.

Moreover, with newer tech-nologies in artificial intelli-gence (AI), robotic processautomation and cloud com-puting, which help complete thejob with less manpower, soft-ware companies are now hav-ing to reconsider their strate-

gies.“It’s a situation wherein

the available talent haven’t keptup with the pace at which theindustry was evolving andhence, many of them findthemselves redundant,” saidRituparna Chakraborty,TeamLease Services ExecutiveVice-President and co-founder.

Executive search organisa-tion GlobalHunt MD SunilGoel said: “This rationalisationdoes happen in every 3-5 yearsin the industry through new-age technologies, but this hasimpacted it more this time as

the US also has changed poli-cies for foreign IT workers.”

Goel further noted that“the consolidated trend maycontinue for next 1-2 years”, butsees it as an opportunity for ITprofessionals to upgrade them-selves and get into the new–agetechnologies where demand isgoing to be huge.

Pink slips are likely forjobs in manual testing, tech-nology support and systemadministration since these areincreasingly going to be man-aged by AI and robotics processautomation based systems.

However, there is surge indemand for latest and innova-tive technologies like data sci-ence, artificial intelligence anddigital domain specific skills.

“It is a painful transitoryphase. However, things wouldlook up in the next two quar-ters as each of the IT servicescompany successful steerstowards a stable growth phase,”Chakraborty said.

Talent management solu-tions provider KellyOCG IndiaCountry Director FrancisPadamadan said, “We will con-tinue to see some amount ofrationalisation happeningamong IT companies though itis difficult to put a number.”

Japanese brokerage firmNomura, in a research note, saidthat the job cuts of 2-3 per centof the overall headcount ofnearly 7,60,000 by Infosys,Cognizant, Tech Mahindra andWipro are not material.However, this kind of rational-isation is likely to be a contin-uing phenomenon until theworkforce realignment towardsdigital skills is complete. ���

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India is scouting for globalinvestors as there is a huge

demand for infrastructureinvestment in the country,LSE CEO Nikhil Rathi hassaid.

“So, India is a fastestgrowing economy in G-20,growing at 7 per cent a year.There is huge demand forinfrastructure investment inIndia, and it is going globaland looking for globalinvestors and London is prov-ing to be natural place for it,”Rathi said.

The London StockExchange (LSE) saw listing ofbonds worth �7,000 crore onThursday and Friday.

Road Transport MinisterNitin Gadkari launched Rs5,000 crore worth of NHAIbonds on Thursday.

Power, Coal andRenewable Energy MinisterPiyush Goyal on Fridaykicked off trading of papersworth �2,000 crore fromIndia’s biggest power genera-tion utility NTPC.

“We have seen thatprogress built year after year.More money being raised atlower prices to invest direct-ly in Indian infrastructure,whether that’s power, roads,housing, renewable energy.Indian companies are findingwelcome opening,” he said.

Asserting that Indianpower sector is one of thefastest growing power sec-tors in the world, Rathi saidthat the country will certain-ly achieve its ambitious renew-

able energy target of 175 GW.“India’s renewable energy

target that brings with it hugeneed to investors and also forprojects. But, I think thatthere is lot of confidence inminister’s (Power MinisterPiyush Goyal’s) leadership.This ambitious target will bedelivered and delivered effec-tively,” he said.

He asserted that more andmore investors are sensingthat Indian growth story ishugely exciting one, and arelooking at platform likeLondon Stock Exchange(LSE)with global reach to provideaccess to these opportunities.

The Indian Governmentbelieves that London will con-tinue to remain the premierglobal financial centre and theplace where India will look for-ward to in a bid to finance forinfrastructure, he said.

“We are global. We havelarge number of investors fromUS, Europe, Middle Wast andAsia. We are seeing that recur-ring issuance coming fromIndian bond issues. We have avery large US manager comingto our market. So, we are glob-al and that will continue to bethe case,” he said. ���

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��6� ������A one-stop shop fordetails on all financial transac-tions of lenders, informationutilities under the insolvencyand bankruptcy law are likelyto be operational in next threemonths, a top official said.

These “unique” institutions-- governed by the Insolvencyand Bankruptcy Code (IBC) -- would act as repository ofinformation about lending andborrowing activities done by allfinancial institution.

“They will provide readyinformation for resolution pro-fessionals and courts likeNCLT. It will help them savetime as information would bereadily available for expeditiousclearance of cases,” Insolvencyand Bankruptcy Board of India(IBBI) Chairman MS Sahootold the news agency.

Having such institutionsmight also help fight against thebad loans menace amid theGovernment empowering RBIto direct banks to initiate insol-vency and bankruptcy pro-ceedings against defaultersunder the IBC.

Under the Insolvency andBankruptcy Code (IBC), infor-mation utilities can have amaximum of 49 per cent for-eign holding and rules for set-ting up such entities are alreadyin place.

“One company has appliedfor in-principal approval...AndFDI beyond 49 per cent is notallowed. Information utilitycompany should become areality in next 2-3 months,”Sahoo said.

An information utilitywould be storehouse of finan-cial information that helpsestablish defaults as well as ver-ify claims expeditiously. Havingsuch a system would facilitatecompletion of transactionsunder the Code in a timebound manner.

“It is going to be big IT-intensive system... We arelooking at operationalisinginformation utilities, anorganisation that will give

financial information likelending, borrowing all that isrequired in transaction,” hesaid.

Emphasising that there isno parallel of this in theworld, Sahoo said informationutility would be set up by mar-ket and this would be some-thing unique to India.

It would be a public com-pany with a net worth of atleast �50 crore, among otherrequirements, and more thanhalf the directors of its gov-erning board should be inde-pendent.

Its promoters, directors,key managerial personnel andpersons holding over 5 percent of its paid-up equityshare capital or total votingpower, would be considered asfit and proper persons.

Sahoo said utilities “con-stitute a key pillar of the insol-vency and bankruptcy ecosys-tem, the other three being theAdjudicating Authority(National Company LawTribunal and Debt RecoveryTribunal)”. ���

3809�1���������������&�����"���� �� ������������������ ��6� ������ Keen to increase

non-aeronautical revenues,Airports Authority of India(AAI) is preparing new set ofregulations for monetisation ofits land assets in a “transparentmanner”.

The move also comes at atime when the Government isworking on amending the AAIAct which would do away withcertain regulatory restrictionsfor land utilisation.

The national airports oper-ator -- which is estimated tohave garnered over �12,000crore revenue in 2016-17 -- isin possession of large swathesof land in different parts of thecountry but these assets havenot been effectively exploited asa source of revenue.

Elaborating on the effortsto ensure optimal use of landassets, AAI ChairmanGuruprasad Mohapatra saidmore revenues from such assetswould help in reducing thedependence on aeronauticalsources.

“We are preparing a set ofland regulations which willmake the process of puttingland into commercial use eas-ier and transparent,” he told the

news agency in an interview.For the land norms, AAI is

in discussions with the CivilAviation Ministry and afterfinalising the contours, theywould be sent for approval ofthe Cabinet.

“Once land regulations arein place, we do not have to goto Cabinet for every small par-cel of land for decisions.Cabinet will lay the boardguidelines, purposes, proce-dures everything on disposingoff land,” Mohapatra said.

Airports Authority of India(AI) manages a total of 125 air-ports, including 81 domesticand 11 international ones.Besides, it provides Air TrafficManagement Services (ATMS)over entire Indian air space andadjoining oceanic areas.

Charges levied from airlineoperators for landing, parkingand air navigation services,among others, fall under aero-nautical revenues bracket.

Non-aeronautical revenuesrefer to those coming frommonetising land resources aswell as from sale of duty freeproducts, food and beverages,among others inside the ter-minal building. ���

��6� ������ As they battle theNPA menace, banks are set to see“huge ramifications” next fiscalwith the implementation of newaccounting norms that willrequire the lenders to makehigher provisioning for loans.

The Indian AccountingStandard (Ind AS) 109, set to beeffective from April 1, 2018, islikely to have an impact on the“banking numbers”, ICAIPresident Nilesh Shivji Vikamseysaid.

The Institute of CharteredAccountants of India (ICAI) isthe apex body of charteredaccountants in the country.

While the new accountingstandard is broadly aimed atensuring that there are no cred-it shocks like those seen duringthe global financial crisis in2008, it would have an effect onthe “banking numbers”.

Converged with theInternational Financial ReportingStandard (IFRS), Ind AS 109would be applicable for all enti-ties, including banks and non-banking finance companies.

Indian Accounting Standard(Ind AS) is converged with IFRS.

“It (Ind AS 109) is anaccounting policy that has to befollowed and that will have huge

ramifications on the numbers.The provisioning will be moreand P&L (Profit & Loss) will beimpacted,” Vikamsey told thenews agency in an interview.

There might be a “hit on thebanking numbers, including thecapital adequacy provisioningwhere the RBI and the govern-ment may have to come withsome moratorium or so,” henoted.

From the current accountingsystem that focuses on ‘incurredcredit loss’, entities would bemoving to ‘expected credit loss’proposition with Ind AS 109.

The transition would alsocome against the backdrop ofmounting NPAs (NonPerforming Assets) estimated tobe worth over �7 lakh crore in thebanking system. The governmentand the RBI have been workingon ways to deal with the menace.

Vikamsey said the biggestchallenge for the banking sectorwould be when banks go for IndAS 109, with prior year numbers.

The new accounting stan-dard would be applicable worldover from January 1, 2018while it would be effective inIndia from April 1 that year.Ind AS 109 is converged withIFRS 9. ���

��6� ������An inter-ministe-rial panel being constituted tosuggest a policy prescriptionfor the failing financial healthof the telecom sector willconsult banks and operatorsbefore finalising its views inthree months.

The committee is expect-ed to have representationfrom the Departments ofEconomic Affairs, Revenueand Financial Ser vices,besides the TelecomDepartment, an official famil-iar with the matter told thenews agency.

The panel is expected tofinalise its recommendationsin the next three months.

Some of the recommen-dations could be placed beforethe Telecom Commission -the highest policy-making

body in the TelecomDepartment - for an approval.For the other proposals moot-ed by the panel, a Cabinet go-ahead may be necessary.

“The internal plan is thatthe views of banks, telecomoperators and also the largeinvestors in the sector will besought,” the official said.

The Department ofTelecom is attaching top pri-ority to the issue, the officialsaid adding that the firstmeeting of the panel membersis likely to be held this monthitself.

The extent of financialstress in the telecom sectorcan well be gauged from thefact that the industry has adebt of Rs 4.6 lakh crore.

The sector has beenunder severe pressure since

the entr y of newcomerReliance Jio, last year.

In September 2016, bil-lionaire Mukesh Ambani’sventure Jio stormed into theIndian telecom market (inci-dentally, the second largestmarket globally with 1.2 bil-lion subscribers) with freevoice and data services, forc-ing established operators toslash rates to protect theirturf.

This put revenue andprofitability of all telcos undersevere pressure, although sub-scribers benefited from attrac-tive data and voice packs.

Even after launching itspaid services post-March2017, Jio continues to beaggressive, offering data atrock-bottom prices whilevoice calls are free. ���

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��6� ����: THE INITIAL PUBLIC OFFERING ( IPO ) OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVEL-OPMENT CORPORATON ( HUDCO ) SAW BUMPER DEMAND AS THE ISSUE GOT SUB-SCRIBED 79.47 TIMES ON THE FINAL DAY OF THE BIDDING PROCESS ON THURSDAY.THE OFFER RECEIVED BIDS FOR 16,21,62,88,000 SHARES, THE DATE TILL 7.00 PMSHOWED. QIB SECTION WAS SUBSIBED 55.45 TIMES, WHILE NII QUOTA GOT SUB-SCRIBED 330.36 TIMES. TETAIL INVESTORS PUT BIDS AT 10.60 TIMES AND EMPLOY-EE PORTION WAS SUBCRIBED 0.74 TIMES. ���

���� C��6� ���� �Switzerland may be knownin popular perception as analleged haven for blackmoney, but it is the fakeIndian rupee notes whichseem to have seen a hugesurge in the Alpine nation.

The quantum of fakeIndian currency seized bythe Swiss authorities saw anover four-fold increase dur-ing 2016, making it thethird most seized counter-feit foreign currency inSwitzerland after euro andthe US dollar.

The fa ke c ur renc ieswere in the denominationsof �500 and �1,000 -- bothof which have been with-d r aw n by t h e In d i anGovernment from the list oflegal tenders. There was noseizure of any counterfeit�2,000 note, which wereintroduced as part of theambitious demonetisationdrive late last year to checkthe menace of fake notesand the black money prob-lem.

According to the latest

data released by the SwissFederal Office of Police(Fedpol), as many as 1,437fake �1,000 notes wereseized in Switzerland during2016, while there were alsofive counterfeit �500 notes.

This marks a huge surgefrom 342 fake Indian cur-rency notes seized by Swissauthorities during 2015 --five were counterfeits of�500 notes, 336 for �1,000

and one for �100.Over the years, coun-

terfeits have been found inSwitzerland mostly for �500and �1,000 notes, whilet h e re h ave b e e n s om einstances for other denom-inations such as �10 and�100 notes as well.

As per the latest Fedpoldata, the number of coun-terfeit local currency, Swissfrank, seized during 2016

was 2,370. Among foreigncurrencies, the maximumamount of counterfeits wasin case of Euro at 5,379,while it was 1,443 for theUS dollar -- just one morethan that for the Indianrupee.

The number of coun-terfeit British pound foundduring 2016 was 65, amongmajor currencies.

An analysis of the coun-

terfeit statistics released bythe Fedpol over the yearsshows that the maximumnumber of fake Indian cur-rency was seized duringthe year 2012 when it stoodat 2,624, but fell sharply to403 in the subsequent year2013 and even further tojust 181 in 2014.

E ar l ier in 2011, thenumber of fake rupee noteswas 1,144 -- up from 212 in2010. Prior to that, thenumber were in single dig-its mostly except for 25 in2007 and 100 in the year2000. No such notes werefound in the year 1999 andagain in 2003.

Fake currency has beena major concern for India aswell as many other coun-tries, due to which theykeep improving securityfeatures to make it difficultfor them to be counterfeit-ed. Still, there have alreadybeen some instances ofnewly introduced �2,000notes getting counterfeitedand found in some parts ofIndia. ���

(�������������� D���������6���� ��# D������ �������� Pitching for rapid

movement towards digitisa-tion of the economy, Unionminis ter Ar jun R amMeghwal on Sunday said theGovernment’s digital initia-tive is crucial to curb theblack market.

“In this country, 22-26per cent is shadow economy(ie illicit economic activitieslike black market transac-tions and undeclared incomeexisting alongside the officialeconomy),” the minister ofstate for finance said here.

“This is a large percent-age and it is not good for anation. As and when shadoweconomy is constrained thegross domest ic product(GDP) of the country willgrow,” he added.

Noting post-demoneti-sation of high value curren-cy notes, the country hasrapidly moved towards digi-tisation which has helpedkeep a check on the shadoweconomy, Meghwal said ‘dig-ital India’ is a necessary ini-tiative to “hurt” the illiciteconomic activities.

“When we have a largeshadow economy, digitalIndia will help curb it and wewill be able to account forthe illicit transactions. Thiswill result in growth of con-

sumption, investments andexport and as a result GDPwill also grow.”

The minis ter wasaddressing the ‘Digital IndiaSummit – Role ofC o op erat ive B anks inAdopting and Advancing thePrime Minister’s FlagshipDigital India Programme’.

Meghwal observed that2017 “would be known inhistory as the year of eco-nomic reforms” on accountof various government ini-tiatives, including imple-mentation of goods and ser-vices tax (GST).

“This year we made var-ious changes to budget likemerging the railways withUnion budget and passedthe finance bill before March

31 for the first time. Now wewill roll out the goods andservices tax from July 1which will make it easier todo business in the country,”Meghwal said.

“GST will help it easier todo business. For instance inIndia, logistic charges arehigh compared to US andCanada but with GST thesecharges will come to parwith these developed coun-tries.”

Hailed as the biggest taxreform since India’s inde-pendence, GST will replacean array of central and statelevies with a national salestax, thereby creating a singlemarket and making it easi-er to do business in thecountry. ���

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��6� ������NPCI is planningto launch a mega campaignacross the country to educatemasses on how to go cash-lessby using mobiles and RuPay-enabled Jan Dhan debit cardsfor day-to-day transactions.

The exercise is part of thedigital drive of the NationalPayments Corporation ofIndia (NPCI), which is at theforefront of the campaign tomake India less dependent oncash.

The intent is to make dig-ital money popular and be lessdependent on cash, A P Hota,managing director and chiefexecutive officer of NPCIsaid.

During demonetisationperiod, debit card usagejumped by almost six timesand e-commerce platforms

witnessed five times moretransactions, Hota said.

“After February, we sawthe number going down fromJanuary level but it has againstarted picking-up. I believeMay would be pretty muchbetter and come back toJanuary level and from Juneonwards it will be much high-er,” he added.

“The optimism is onaccount of the fact that we willbe shortly starting a big pub-licity campaign in the countryon use of RuPay (debit) cardas well as the BHIM app asalso the Aadhaar Pay,” Hotasaid during an interaction.

It is to publicise differentdigital products and to educatethe masses, he added.

Hota said NPCI so far hasissued close to 37 crore RuPay

debit cards, of which about 25crore are Pradhan Mantri JanDhan (PMJDY) cards.

“A many as 12 crore cardsare mainstream cards and theusage has been growing. Thepoint of sale (PoS) terminalshave now expanded to 3 mil-lion due to Government’s spe-cial push from a mere 1.5 mil-lion earlier.

“On Bharat QR codeacceptance infrastructure, Ibelieve another 1 million PoSterminals would be addedduring next six months,” hesaid.

During demonetisationphase, what customers used todo because of unavailability ofcash, they will now do it outof choice, he said, adding it isbetter to use the digital plat-form. ���

#+03�������� ����������������� ��������������������

��6� ������ Markets will seestock-specific action this week,with sentiment being shaped byquarterly earnings of bluechipslike SBI and HUL, experts said.

Bourses may also react toIIP and inflation data whichwere announced post markethours on Friday.

“We believe market isalready trading at high and to gofurther, we need to have bettercorporate earnings as well assomething positive for bankNPAs,” said Abnish KumarSudhanshu, Director andResearch Head, Amrapali AadyaTrading and Investments.

“In absence any majorglobal events coming up in thenear future, we will continue towitness stock-specific actionthis week.

“Currently, market is wit-nessing profit-taking and slow-down in momentum at regu-lar intervals. However, stockspecific activity should con-tinue to dominate. Overall,we do not expect any big cor-rection coming in anytimesoon,” said Vijay Singhania,Founder-Director, Trade SmartOnline.

Several companies are

scheduled to announce theirearnings this week, includingPunjab National Bank, TataSteel, Hindustan Unilever,Bajaj Auto, Bank of Baroda,State Bank of India and TataPower.

“Markets are currentlytrading at fair valuations andhence sustainability of earningsgoing forward is very impor-tant at current levels.

“Any disappointment onthe earnings front and theoutlook could result in profitbooking,” said Teena Virmani,Vice President, PCG Research,Kotak Securities.

Over the past week, theSensex ended up by 329.35points (1.10 per cent) while theNifty gained 115.60 points(1.24 per cent).

“This week as there are nomajor events we feel marketswould remain range-boundwith stock specific movements,”said Foram Parekh, ResearchAnalyst, Bonanza Portfolio Ltd.

On the macro front, indus-trial output rose at a slower rateof 2.7 per cent in March, com-pared to 5.5 per cent a year ago,according to data based on therevised base year of 2011-12.��

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The Greek Government onSunday slashed GDP growth

forecast for 2017 as it movedtowards submitting new auster-ity measures, including a widertax net, for approval by lawmak-ers.

The Government loweredthe GDP growth target for theyear to 1.8 per cent from a pre-vious estimate of 2.7 per cent, thestate news agency ANA report-ed.

The latest estimate also fallsshort of the EuropeanCommission’s projection of 2.1per cent growth, set in February.

The downward revisionappeared in the government’sbudget proposal for 2017-2021,handed to parliament last night,along with a bill proposing atighter budget, ANA said.

Greece is seeking to meetthe demands of creditors in anarduous bailout process, with aproposed new law projecting taxincreases for 2019 and 2020,even for income just above thepoverty level.

That along with pensioncuts -- for the 14th time since thebeginning of the crisis -- is pro-jected to earn 4.5 billion euros($4.9 billion), according to ANA.

Part of a July 2015 bailoutdeal with the EU and IMF toprovide debt relief for the coun-try, the new proposals are set foradoption Thursday night,according to the parliamentaryofficials.

Lagging in the polls forbeing seen as caving to creditordemands, Prime Minister AlexisTsipras will need full backingfrom his small majority of 153out of 300 seats in parliament.

���� 89�79�

The Government is explor-ing the possibility of

putting under the hammeraround seven to eight morecoal blocks for commercialmining by private players,taking the total number ofmines to be auctioned to upto 12.

“So we are examiningthe possibility of addingsome more mines for com-mercial mining which aresmaller, and some work hasalready happened on them.So the process can start fasterand bring in more flexibili-ty in availability of coal,”Coal and Power MinisterPiyush Goyal, who was on avisit to Austria and the UKfrom May 10-13 for anEnergy Dialogue, told thenews agency.

India is in the process ofthrowing open commercialmining to private firms forthe first time in four decades,with the aim of shifting the

world’s third-biggestimporter towards self-suffi-ciency.

“That could be about 7-8 mines which are smaller innumber. So, in total, fourlarge mines and 7-8 smallmines would be auctioned,”the minister said.

The Government hadearlier said that opening upof commercial coal mining toprivate companies will bringin completion in the coal sec-tor and reduce power tariff.

The Centre had said itwanted to convey to poten-tial investors that sustainableand efficient mining, not

revenue maximisation, is theidea behind commercialmine auction.

As per the Coal MinesSpecial Provision Act of2015, the Government canopen up commercial coalmining for private players.

With a chunk of popula-tion going without electrici-ty, the Government had saidthat it would ensure thatthese people get power.

A group of secretarieshad earlier suggested thatthe government should cre-ate competition for CoalIndia by opening up com-mercial coal mining.

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��6� ������The Reserve Bankhas initiated an exercise ofupgrading measures for securedstorage and movement of cur-rency at over 4,000 chests acrossthe country in view of height-ened threat perception.

In recent times, severalinstances of looting of cashvans and banks, as well asATMs dispensing fake curren-cy notes have been reportedfrom different parts of thecountry.

The RBI has already con-stituted a High LevelCommittee on CurrencyStorage and Movement (HLCC-SM) to review the existing secu-rity arrangements relating tostorage, movement and pro-

cessing of currency.The RBI is now seeking

global expertise to assist theCommittee in matters relatingto security aspects, movementand storage of currency,automation of currency pro-cessing and handling.

Expression of interest from

experts has been invited for“identifying international bestpractices in movement, modesof transport, storage systemsand processing of currencynotes from the point of view ofsecurity, process efficiency andcost efficiency”.

The selected expert will

also help the panel in devisinga Standard Operating Procedure(SOP) for movement of cur-rency.

HLCCSM was set up in thecontext of “changes in securityenvironment”, availability oftechnological tools and aids toenhance security, superior andmore secure modes of transportand increasing volumes of cur-rency.

The bank notes printed atfour security presses and coinsminted are received at 19 IssueOffices of the RBI from wherethese are further distributed toover 4,000 currency chests oper-ated by banks.

The soiled and not fit forcirculation notes are withdrawn

by banks and deposited in thechests.

The old �500/1000 noteswhich were deposited by pub-lic in banks following demon-etisation too were deposited inthe chests.

On the day of demonetisa-tion (November 8, 2016) therewere 17,165 million pieces of�500 and 6,858 million pieces of�1,000 notes. These two types ofnotes amounted to about 87 percent of the total currency in cir-culation.

As part part of remonetisa-tion, the RBI (till March 3, 2017)had injected �9.26 lakh croreinto the system, thus taking thetotal notes in circulation to�11.73 lakh crore. ��

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The unprecedented globalcyberattack affected "more

than 75,000 victims" in dozensof countries, French policesaid in a statement on Sunday,the day after the ransomwarehit Russia's banks, British hos-pitals and European car facto-ries among others.

"This is a provisional figureof the number of infected com-puters and could rise signifi-cantly over the coming days,"Valerie Maldonado, deputy headof the French police's anti-Cybercrime Office told. Europoldescribed Friday's cyberattack as"unprecedented".

The attacks used ran-somware, which locks users'files unless they pay the attack-ers a designated sum in the vir-tual Bitcoin currency.

Images appeared on victims'screens demanding payment of$300 in Bitcoin, saying: "Ooops,your files have been encrypted!"

����� 89�79�

International investigatorshunted for those behind an

unprecedented cyberattackthat affected systems in dozensof countries, including atbanks, hospitals and govern-ment agencies, as securityexperts sought to contain thefallout.

The assault, which beganFriday and was beingdescribed as the biggest-evercyber ransom attack, struckstate agencies and major com-panies around the world —from Russian banks andBritish hospitals to FedEx andEuropean car factories.

"The recent attack is at anunprecedented level and willrequire a complex interna-tional investigation to identi-fy the culprits," said Europol,Europe's police agency.

Europol said a special taskforce at its EuropeanCybercrime Centre was "spe-cially designed to assist insuch investigations and willplay an important role in sup-

porting the investigation".The attacks used ran-

somware that apparentlyexploited a security flaw inMicrosoft operating systems,locking users' files unless theypay the attackers a designatedsum in the virtual currencyBitcoin.

Images appeared on vic-tims' screens demanding pay-ment of USD 300 in Bitcoin,saying: "Ooops, your files havebeen encrypted!"

Payment is demandedwithin three days or the priceis doubled, and if none isreceived within seven days the

files will be deleted, accordingto the screen message.

But experts and govern-ment alike warn against ced-ing to the hackers' demands.

"Paying the ransom doesnot guarantee the encryptedfiles will be released," the USDepartment of HomelandSecurity's computer emer-gency response team said.

"It only guarantees thatthe malicious actors receivethe victim's money, and insome cases, their bankinginformation."

Experts and officialsoffered differing estimates of

the scope of the attacks, but allagreed it was huge.

Mikko Hypponen, chiefresearch off icer at theHelsinki- based cyber securi-ty company F-Secure, toldAFP it was the biggest ran-somware outbreak in history,saying that 130,000 systems inmore than 100 countries hadbeen affected.

He said Russia and Indiawere hit particularly hard,largely because Microsoft'sWindows XP — one of theoperating systems most at risk-- was still widely used there.

French police said therewere "more than 75,000 vic-tims" around the globe, butcautioned that the numbercould increase "significantly".

The virus spread quicklybecause the culprits used adigital code believed to havebeen developed by the USNational Security Agency --and subsequently leaked aspart of a document dump,according to researchers atthe Moscow-based computersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab.

Kathmandu: Voting began inNepal on Sunday in its firstlocal-level polls in two decadesthat are crucial for cementingdemocracy amid political tur-moil in the country.

The first phase of localelections are peacefully takingplace at 281 local units out of283 in province 3, 4 and 6, saidthe office ElectionCommission.

It said as the candidateshave been elected unopposedin two local units, polls are tak-ing place in remaining localunits only.

Altogether 4.9 million vot-

ers are eligible to cast their votesin the first phase of elections.

Nearly 50,000 candidatesare vying for the position ofmayor, deputy mayor, wardchairman and ward member in281 local municipalities.

The second round of pollsin provinces 1, 2, 5 and 7 willbe held on May 14 and June 14respectively.

The absence of elected rep-resentatives in the local bodiesfor more than 15 yearsobstructed development in thevillages and towns across thecountry including the capitalcity Kathmandu. PTI

Damascus: Civilians and rebelsbegan evacuating a third oppo-sition-held district of Damascuson Sunday, bringing theGovernment closer to cementingits control over the Syrian capital.

An AFP correspondentinside Qabun saw around 10buses carrying out residents andfighters in the morning, after adeal for the neighbourhoodwas announced late Saturdayfollowing heavy fighting.

The agreement mirrorsthose implemented earlier thisweek in the nearby rebel-helddistricts of Barzeh and Tishrin.

State media announced theevacuation had started, and anactivist inside the remainingopposition-held part of thedistrict earlier confirmedpreparations for the operationwere underway.

"The buses are being pre-pared, they are waiting in theareas controlled by the regime,"Odai Awdeh told AFP.

"The names of those whowant to leave, whether civiliansor fighters, are being regis-tered," he added. AFP

����� �����

Acholera outbreak in war-torn Yemen has killed 115

people and left 8,500 ill as hos-pitals struggle to cope with aninf lux of patients, theInternational Committee ofthe Red Cross said on Sunday.

"We now are facing a seri-ous outbreak of cholera," saidICRC director of operationsDominik Stillhart at a newsconference in the capital Sanaa.

Citing figures compiledby the Yemeni health ministry,Stillhart said 115 people haddied of cholera between April27 and yesterday.

More than 8,500 suspect-ed cases of the waterborne dis-ease were reported in the sameperiod in 14 governoratesacross Yemen, Stillhart said, upfrom 2,300 cases in 10 gover-norates last week.

This is the second out-break of cholera in less than ayear in Yemen, the Arabworld's poorest country.

Yemen is witnessing a dev-

astating war between theSaudi- supported governmentand Iranian-backed Huthirebels, and less than half of thecountry's health facilities arefunctioning two years intothe conflict.

Stillhart said hospitalswere filled beyond capacitywith patients displaying symp-toms of cholera, a bacterialinfection contracted throughingesting contaminated foodor water.

"There are up to fourcholera patients in one singlebed," Stillhart said.

"There are people in thegarden, and some even intheir cars with the IV driphanging from the window."

The World HealthOrganisation now classifiesYemen as one of the worsthumanitarian emergencies inthe world alongside Syria,South Sudan, Nigeria and Iraq.

Critical food imports arealso at an all-time low asmany of the country's Red Seaports are blockaded.

���� �9��39�

Abomb-sniffing dog is beinghailed as a hero after he

took a bullet meant for his han-dler during a shootout.

K9 Kasper, who has pro-tected President Donald Trumpin the past, is recovering afterbeing shot in the side whendeputies with the Palm BeachSheriff 's Office (PBSO)exchanged gunfire with a want-ed man who was killed.

Phillip Oshea was accusedof a shooting and robbery onFriday in Jupiter, Florida. Laterthat day, deputies came toapprehend him, and he firedshots at them, Fox 13 Newsreported.

"During the gunfire, PBSOK9 Kasper was shot while pro-tecting his handler," the sher-iff 's office said in a Facebookpost that included a photo ofthe wounded dog on a veteri-narian's operating table.

Deputies had pursuedOShea to Jupiter following ashootout off Okeechobee

Boulevard in which a policeofficer was injured while div-ing for cover.

Details of the finalshootout were scant, but policesaid it took place in a parkinglot.

During the encounter,Kasper was struck in the lefthip by gunfire. The bulletmissed his vital organs, and itwas removed with surgery atPalm Beach VeterinarySpecialists, according to a videoposted on Twitter by the sher-iff 's office.

The bullet was out andKasper had recovered fromanesthesia. The video showedhim walking out of the clinicwith relative ease.

"He's on antibiotics and iswalking fairly well, all thingsconsidered," said MicheleTucker, the veterinary center'smanaging director of patientservices, on the video.

Kasper, a bomb-sniffing,patrol and street crimes dog,has protected Trump during hisvisits to Florida.

����� ��+��

Emmanuel Macron wasinaugurated as France’s

youngest ever President onSunday, saying the countryhad chosen “hope” and promis-ing to relaunch the flaggingEuropean Union.

Macron, a 39-year-old cen-trist, took the reins of powerfrom Francois Hollande a weekafter he won a resounding vic-tory over far-right leaderMarine Le Pen in a tumultuouselection.

After a warm welcomefrom Hollande at the ElyseePalace, the two men held aclosed-doors meeting duringwhich Macron was handed thecodes to launch France'snuclear arsenal.

In a moment heavy withsymbolism, 62-year-oldHollande - who launchedMacron's political career byappointing him first as advisorand then economy minister -was then driven away from thepalace to applause from his staffand the new president.

The former investmentbanker who had never evencontested an election beforewas then proclaimed presi-dent by Laurent Fabius, presi-dent of the ConstitutionalCouncil.

"In order to be the man of

one's country, one must be theman of your time," Fabius toldhim.

"You are now the man ofyour time... And by the sover-eign choice of the people, youare now, above all ... The manof our country."

In his first speech, Macronsaid the French people hadchosen "hope" and shown awillingness to change in the

election.He promised that the EU,

hit by the imminent departureof Britain, would be "rejuve-nated and relaunched" duringhis time in office.

"The world and Europeneed France now more thanever and they need a strongFrance with a sense of its owndestiny."

To underline his European

ambitions, Macron will visitGerman Chancellor AngelaMerkel in Berlin on Monday inhis first foreign trip.

The new President's wifeBrigitte, a 64-year-old who washis high school drama teacher,listened to his sombre 12-minute speech wearing a lightblue Louis Vuitton outfit.

At the end of the formali-ties, a 21-gun salute rang out

from the Invalides militaryhospital on the other side of theRiver Seine.

Macron was later to be dri-ven to the Arc de Triomphe tolay a wreath at the tomb of theunknown soldier.

The new president faces ahost of daunting challengesincluding tackling stubbornlyhigh unemployment, fightingIslamist-inspired violence anduniting a deeply divided country.

Socialist Hollande's fiveyears in power were plagued bya sluggish economy and bloodyterror attacks that killed morethan 230 people and he leavesoffice after a single term.

Security was tight, witharound 1,500 police officersdeployed near the presidentialpalace and the nearby ChampsElysees avenue and surround-ing roads blocked off.

After a formal lunch,Macron will visit Paris's townhall, a traditional stop for anynew French President in his"host" city.

Macron's first week will bebusy. On Monday, he is expect-ed to reveal the closely-guard-ed name of his Prime Minister,before flying to Berlin.

It is virtually a rite of passagefor French leaders to make theirfirst European trip to meet theleader of the other half of the so-called "motor" of the EU.

����� 31�+��

Iran's reformist ex-presidentMohammad Khatami on

Sunday endorsed PresidentHassan Rouhani in a videomessage, calling on voters togive him another term in thisweek's election.

"Mr Rouhani'sGovernment has been a suc-cessful one, despite all the lim-itations, problems and the greatexpectations," he said in thevideo posted on social media.

"We should all go and votefor Rouhani, for freedom inthought, logic in dialogue, lawin action, securing the rights ofcitizens and enforcing socialand economic justice."

Khatami praised the gov-ernment for taming rampantinflation of above 40 per cent in2013 to below 9.5 per cent and the"steps" taken against stagnation.

Unemployment hasincreased in the past four yearsfrom 10.5 per cent to 12.5 percent, while youth joblessnessstands at 27 per cent.

"Many issues have beenresolved but bigger issuesremain, which we must allhelp to solve," he said in thevideo published on hisTelegram messenger account.

Khatami, the de factoleader of the reformist camp,has been under a media banduring the past few years forsupporting the GreenMovement protesters in the2009 presidential election thatsaw hardliner Mahmoud

Ahmadinejad re-elected.In 2016, he released a video

that played a crucial role in help-ing pro-Rouhani candidates todefeat ultra- conservatives inparliamentary and Assemblyof Experts elections. The videobecame well-known for his useof the phrase "I repeat".

"This time, it is you whoshould repeat. Repeat the vote fordear Rouhani, to boost hope forfuture," he said today, referringto Friday's presidential election.

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North Korea on Sundaylaunched a ballistic missile

which flew around 700 km, theSouth Korean Joints Chief ofStaff (JCS) said.

This is the first provocativemove from North Korea sinceSouth Korea appointed MoonJae-in as the country's newPresident on Wednesday.

The US calculated that themissile landed in water 60miles south of Russia'sVladivostok region, anAmerican security official toldCNN. Vladivostock is home tothe Russian Pacific Fleet.

The US called for reper-cussions from the internation-al community.

"Let this latest provocationserve as a call for all nations to

implement far stronger sanc-tions against North Korea,"White House Press SecretarySean Spicer said in a statement.

"North Korea fired an

unidentified missile at around5.27 a.m. today (Sunday) froman area in the vicinity ofKusong, North Pyonganprovince," Yonhap NewsAgency quoted the JCS as say-ing in a statement.

A US defence official con-firmed that it flew that far, butsaid Washington was still inves-tigating to determine the typeof missile.

In response, South KoreanPresident Moon has stronglycondemned North Korea forthe launch, describing it as agrave threat to regional securityand a clear violation of the UNSecurity Council resolutions.

������ 89�79�

Another major cyberattack isimminent after Friday's

global hit that infected morethan 125,000 computer systemsand could come on Monday, asecurity researcher warned onSunday.

The UK security researcher"MalwareTech", who helped tolimit the ransomware attack,predicted "another one com-ing... quite likely on Monday",the BBC reported.

The virus, which took con-trol of users' files, spread to 100countries, including Spain,France and Russia.

In England, 48 NationalHealth Service (NHS) trusts fellvictim, as did 13 NHS bodiesin Scotland.

Some hospitals were forcedto cancel procedures andappointments, as ambulanceswere directed to neighbouringhospitals free from the com-puter virus.

After taking computers

over, the virus displayed mes-sages demanding a payment of$300 in virtual currency Bitcointo unlock files and return themto the user.

MalwareTech, who wantsto remain anonymous, washailed as an "accidental hero"after registering a domainname to track the spread of thevirus, which actually endedup halting it.

"We have stopped this one,but there will be another onecoming and it will not be stop-pable by us," the 22-year-oldtold the BBC on Sunday.

"So there's a good chancethey are going to do it... maybenot this weekend, but quitelikely on Monday morning."

He also warned hackerscould upgrade the virus toremove the "kill switch" thathelped to stop it.

"Version 1 of WannaCryptwas stoppable but version 2.0will likely remove the flaw.You're only safe if you patch assoon as possible," he tweeted.

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Ramallah: Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah partywas ahead in most of the West Bank's main cities after munic-ipal elections that highlighted persistent divisions with its rivalHamas, results showed on Sunday.

Voting took place yesterday only in the occupied West Bank,controlled by Fatah, and not in the Gaza Strip, which is run bythe Islamist movement Hamas.

Attempts to hold the first joint elections in the West Bankand Gaza since 2006 failed after the two movements were notable to reach an agreement.

Hamas did not present candidates under its party label inthe vote.

Official figures showed turnout at 53.4 per cent, or nearlythe same as local elections in the West Bank in 2012, electoralcommission chief Hanna Nasser told journalists in Ramallah.

However, turnout was far lower in large cities than in sur-rounding communities, with the lowest in Nablus, the main cityin the northern West Bank, where it was less than 21 percent.

AFP

Moscow: Thousands of peopleprotested in central Moscow onSunday against the city's planto tear down Soviet-era apart-ment blocks as part of a con-troversial urban redevelop-ment programme.

The measure, announcedin February by Moscow MayorSergei Sobyanin, prompted anoutcry from many residents whosee a ploy to funnel state fundsinto construction companies.

It would also rideroughshod over propertyrights, they say, while forcingmany homeowners to move toneighbourhoods with lowerproperty values.

Muscovites yelled "Handsoff Moscow" and "No to demo-lition" while shouting downenvoys from the office of themayor, a staunch supporter ofPresident Vladimir Putin whohad served as his chief of staff.

"Let us keep our houses!"fumed Svetlana Ilyina, a 59-year-old engineer. "It 'sSobyanin who should bedemolished. This is in theinterest of developers and theauthorities who will receivehuge kickbacks." AFP

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Afirst international retro-spective exhibition on the

world-famous rock band PinkFloyd which recalls how theBritish group became a cultur-al icon since it was born in the1960s, opened in London.

"Pink Floyd is one of thebiggest bands of the last cen-tury. They came to promi-nence in the mid-60s whenthey were in the vanguard ofthe psychedelic movement,when music was really chang-ing," the exhibition's curatorVictoria Broackes told Xinhuanews agency on Saturday whenthe exhibition -- Pink Floyd:Their Mortal Remains --opened at the Victoria andAlbert Museum in London.

Pink Floyd, formed byyoung architecture students --Syd Barrett, Roger Waters, RickWright and Nick Mason, chosethe name by amalgamatingthe names of two AmericanBlues musicians PinkAnderson and Floyd Counsel.

The band's living membersWaters and David Gilmour wholater joined the band as the leadguitarist and vocals after Barrett'sdeparture, and Mason, all ofwhom offered items for display.

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Jio launches JioFiber previewJio which disrupted the mobile market in India is set to dis-rupt the broadband market soon. It is planning to launch highspeed broadband services under the JioFiber brand across thecountry. The company has officially started the preview offerfor JioFiber in Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Ahmedabad, Jamnagar,Surat and Vadodara. While the company would initially offerspeeds up to 100Mbps on the service, one can expect speedsup to 1Gbps in the near future. While pricing for JioFiber isnot revealed, it is expected to be competitive.

Xiaomi introduces it’sfirst Mi Home store inIndia Xiaomi which initiallysold its products exclu-sively online is nowbetting big in Indiaand is planning tolaunch several Mi-branded stores acrossthe country known asMi Home to tap theoffline market. Thecompany has launchedthe first such store atPhoenix Market City inBengaluru and plans toopen similar MiHomes in Delhi,Mumbai, Hyderabadand Chennai. The stores will stock all products sold on the com-pany’s website and consumers could even reserve products. Wecan also expect to see products which are not yet launched inIndia at the store. Xiaomi has Mi homes across China wherethe company is head quartered. The store in Bengaluru will openfor business on May 20.

Honor 8 Lite with 4GBRAM and 4G VoLTElaunched Huawei is looking to tap thesub-20K price segment withthe launch of the Honor 8Lite. It packs a 5.2-inch FullHD display, powered by aKirin 655 processor, runsAndroid 7.0 (Nougat) withEMUI 5.0, has a 12-megapix-el rear camera and an 8-megapixel front-facing cam-era. It has a fingerprint sen-sor on the glass back,brushed metal finish on thesides. The Honor 8 Lite ispriced at �17999 and will beavailable through all Honor partner stores offline across Indiathis week.

Nokia phones fromHMD Global tohurl in IndiaThe much-awaitedAndroid poweredNokia phones couldlaunch in India inthe month of June.HMD Global whichcalls itself the homeof Nokia phones isexpected to launchthe Nokia 3, 5 and 6devices in anattempt to reclaim the lost glory of the Nokia brand in a mar-ket where it once was the leading player. The rehashed Nokia3310 is also expected to go on sale in the coming weeks.

Changhua city in Taiwan liter-ally doesn’t generate paper

waste. Its senior citizens operatetheir lives on a digital platformand there are bicycle aggregatorsfor easy rides within the city,ensuring a low carbon footprint.

The dynamic changes inphysical, economical and techno-logical environment across theglobe have resulted in cities usingsmart elements to improve thequality of life of their citizens.

Taiwan’s New SouthboundPolicy, introduced by PresidentTsai Ing-wen is seeking to pro-mote the country’s ties with the10 ASEAN nations, includingIndia.

Michael Lin, Director ofthe Taipei World Trade Centreliaison office said, “The com-ponent of a smart city restslargely on critical ICT solu-tions that have the power togive a boost to smart living.Taiwan has been boasting an

array of great smart ICT solu-tions around the world for

many years.” Taiwan is looking to pro-vide its expertise for India’s

Smart Cities mission becausethe country believes that Indiahas a huge regard for innovationand cutting-edge technologyproducts, he adds. “We are eagerto join hands with India and shareour experience in technologyand smart living tools which canbenefit government agencies, theenvironment and residents,” hesays.

There are Taiwanese brandswhich are eager to have

long term partnerships withIndia. Ming-ku Wei said,

“Changhua has plenty experi-ence of renewable energy man-agement and would like to coop-erate with the government ofChennai especially on the smartvehicle parts, smart city manage-ment, and energy saving.

In both technological capabil-ities and local implementation,

Taiwan is taking the lead insmart city development. Taiwanalready has one of the world’sleading technology manufactur-ing sectors. Changhua’s adminis-trative results in energy-savingand carbon-reduction, including“Turn Animal Manure Into CashProject;” the implementation of

YouBike, which establishedChanghua as the first city in cen-tral Taiwan to have public bicy-cles; the promotion of the inter-nal online document submissionand approval system, whichreduces two million piece ofprinting paper annually, achiev-ing the goal of energy-saving

and carbon-reduction effectively;the promotion of internet since2008 to reduce the digital divideand create employment opportu-nities, enabling elderlies to learnhow to use the internet to enrichtheir lives; and also, the promo-tion of the national exclusive“Social Welfare at your Door”project, which allows the house-hold registration system to alsohandle passport and health cardapplications. The administrativemeasures done by the ChanghuaCounty Government in recentyears were not only heart-felt bythe people but also affirmedinternationally. It is hoped that,the future of Changhua can beeven more magnificent and thelives of people more convenientusing smart technology.

Changhua established a safeand secured environment

via promoting the construction ofa smart policing protection net-work. Free Wi-Fi hotspots, whichwould be able to reach 500hotspots at the end of the year,and estimated to reach of goal of1000 hotspots by the middle ofthe following year, enabling thepublic to enjoy the conveniencesof internet.

Director of the Taipei WorldTrade Centre liaison office said,“The component of a smart cityrests largely on critical ICT solu-tions that have the power to givea boost to smart living.”

Taiwanese-based companiesare already collaborating withgovernments across the world toprovide smart solutions in vari-ous areas ranging from increas-ing carbon usage efficiency torenewable energy and hardware

solutions. About India’s aspira-tion to build 100 smart cities,Yang Kuang-Ming, DeputyExecutive Director, strategic mar-keting department, TAITRA said,“The new policy is importantespecially when India has hugepopulations with immense mar-ket potential. The global compet-itiveness of the country in thesoftware space is also very well-known. Taiwan has expertise inhardware production and its awin win situation for both coun-tries.”

The Taiwan excellence award,an initiative of the Taiwan Bureauof Foreign Trade and managed bythe Taiwan External TradeDevelopment Council(TAITRA), represents the inno-vative and technological image ofTaiwan’s most competitive indus-tries and it is a symbol of out-standing reliability, innovationand value.

For Taiwanese brands coop-eration by the Indian governe-ment is essential to develop/assistsmart cities, “The attitude ofany governemen is essential todevelope a smart city. They haveto think beforehand to provideuseful solutions to fulfill the cit-izens’ needs. Show your empathyfor understanding the situation,and build the relationship withtrust to create a win-win state,”said Yang Kuang-Ming

Taiwan Excellence had set upan exclusive pavilion at SmartCities Expo, Pragati Maidan thatshowcased a group of 40 brandswith 86 products in smart ICT,smart healthcare products, inter-net of things (IoT) solutions andsmart-life devices.

Brooding, intense, thinkingwoman’s sex symbol, addscomplexity and depth to

the characters are some descrip-tions that pepper any conversa-tion around the actor IrrfanKhan. But it is not a broodingcharacter that he plays nor inten-sity that he displays in his newmovie, Hindi Medium, whichreleases this week. The actorwould be unfurling his flair forcomedy and his impeccable tim-ing with the movie. “I was dyingto do comedy. After this too, Iwould be doing two more,” saysthe actor, who answers questionspatiently minus any tantrums.

He took on this movie as hewas attracted by the way it dealtwith the topic of parents aspiringto put their children in Englishmedium schools. “The subjectwas not preachy. It is comic. Evenin an issue based film, peopledon't want to be preached to.They go to a movie to be enter-tained. And it's your job as a filmmaker or a story teller as to howyou penetrate the layer, ratherthan putting the issue on the sur-face,” he says. Khan is in the cap-ital where he learnt the nuancesof his craft at National School ofDrama during the 1980s, to pro-mote his movie.

Saba Qamar, a Pakistaniactor, whom Indian audienceshave seen in some popular seri-als like Maat and Waqt Ne KiyaKya Haseen Sitam on the Zindagichannel stars opposite him in themovie. Khan is glad that hismovie has been released withoutmuch brouhaha over the castingof an actor from across the bor-der and is all praise for her. Hesays, “She is very experienced andhas done many series. She tooka little time to adjust as in seriesthere are long takes unlike cine-ma where there are several takesjust for one dialogue Whatworked for her was her sense ofhumour and her comic timing -she has both in ample measure.”

Khan has also bagged yetanother Hollywood project withMarc Turtletaub. He will be star-ring in Puzzle, based on anArgentine movie, Rompecabezas.But this is not the first time that

he would be a part of an interna-tional venture. Inferno (2016),Life of Pi (2012), SlumdogMillionaire (2008) and JurrasicWorld, were some of his previousoutings. “Kelly Macdonald is inthe movie which is a story abouta relationship. It is something thatI have been wanting to do. Thisis a new area for me and I want-ed that some other aspect of mineshould be explored,”

But that is Khan for you.Despite his unconventional looksand the absence of a godfather inan industry which is known tothrive on nepotism, Khan hasmade sure that he makes hismark in every movie that he is apart of. During the screening ofSlumdog Millionaire (2008), JuliaRoberts stepped out of the the-atre to complement him on hisportrayal of a police inspector.

One is naturally curious toknow where he learnt to getunder the skin of the character.Khan says there is no place inIndia where realistic acting istaught. His portrayals are borneout of trial and error. InHollywood there are schools toteach you the way to approach acharacter. He says, “The situa-tions in a movie are not foreign.You have to personalise them andwhen you personalise the char-acter, situation and story you startreflecting on life and behavingaccording to the situation. That'swhen even your breathing comesin sync with the character.”

Khan has always been metic-ulous. The son of a wealthyzamindar from Tonk inRajasthan, before joining movies,Khan tried many different thingsfrom business to service butsoon realised that these did notinterest him. “I understood thattill the time I enjoy doing some-thing I cannot do it continuous-ly. If you are bored out of yourwits within six months, how canyou continue to do it for the restof your life?” he says.

He watched a lot of moviesand found it engaging. “I was fas-cinated by the craft. I watchedDilip Kumar sahib andNaseeruddin Shah and was fas-cinated by their performance

and not by style or glamour. Soit was important for me to learnthe craft," he says. Someone toldhim about the National School ofDrama and also that Shah hadgraduated from the place. Khangot obsessed by acting and theidea that he had to get into NSD.And heavens did conspire tofinally make sure that he got intothe course. “If NSD wasn’t thereI wouldn’t have been here. It hasgiven me everything,” he says.

After graduation Khan want-ed to hone his skills rather thanentering the industry immediate-ly. But things worked out a littledifferently for him as comparedto the average Bollywood strug-gler. “I was in drama school andsome small offers started comingto me. Perhaps they weren’t to myliking, but were enough to sur-vive. I was planning to stay inDelhi and work with Repertorytill the time I felt I was ready. Butit didn't work out that way,” saysKhan, whose first role was inMira Nair’s Salaam Bombay!(1988) - which was chopped atthe editing table.

Since then he has played avariety of characters, many ofwhich he feels, were importantmilestones in his career. FromHaasil where he played RanvijaySingh, a character which gothim the Filmfare Award for BestPerformance in a Negative Roleto Vishal Bhardwaj’s Maqbool(2003) where he was pittedagainst stalwarts like PankajKapoor, Naseeruddin Shah, OmPuri and Tabu. Pan Singh Tomar(2011) , a biopic grabbed eyeballsas did Life in a Metro (2006) andPiku (2014), where he displayedhis flair for comedy.

In Piku he felt the directorwas important as he was notaffected by star presence. “All ofus completely trusted him. It wascollective trust that made itenjoyable. For me the discoveryof Deepika (Padukone) as anactor was pleasing. I will alwayscherish those memories,” he says.

But then there are thosemovies which did not work too.“There are few which have givenme some very special momentsBut then there are so many

movies that I did and I believedin but they didn’t work. But thatis what is mysterious about thisindustry. You can’t say what willwork,” he says. He recalls thatwhen he saw The Namesake(2006) for the first time, he neverthought it would have so much ofimpact but when he saw it for thethird time it threw up a complete-ly different perspective. “Thereare few films that grow on you,”he says with a quiet confidence.

Khan has worked in differentfi lm industries - Hindi,Hollywood, British and has alsoacted in a Japanese web series andalso one for Netflix. “This hashelped me to expand my craft. Itis an exposure as every directorhas a different sensibility and itaffects your approach to the role.A person who is making a filmfor the regional audience is dif-ferent from one who makes it fora national audience or a univer-sal audience - all have differentapproaches and so that changesyour approach,” says the actor,who has recieved the PadmaShri, India’s fourth highest civil-ian award in 2011

But when one asks how muchhas the actor and the personchanged with time, the otherwisearticulate actor pauses and givesit a thought before answering.“The first and foremost thingabout acting is that you have toreflect on yourself. It is a kind ofmeditation where you see your-self as a third person and objec-tively. Once you understandyourself, then you put this under-standing to work. When youstart reflecting on different sto-ries, situations and yourself, youchange.”

What gives him immensesatisfaction is the way he con-nects with the audience. He says,“Acknowledgement is not just kyabadhia acting ki hai but also theexperience that you get. And thefact that through our own expe-rience through stories, it is reach-ing out to people. And that ismore precious -- this acknowl-edgment.” And that is what hecontinues to do - establish a con-nection.

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Recently, a prominentEnglish daily did a storyon the subject, “The

world of godmen: From sub-lime to ridiculous,” whichraised a lot of questions aboutthe faith people had investedin their so-called gurus. Thereis no doubt in it that there aresome people who have intenselove for spiritualism but that isnot constituted of pure spiritu-ality. It has streaks of material-ism of one sort or the other. Nodoubt, these people engagethemselves in spiritual practicesand persuade others also tohave spirituality in their life butstill their own mind is tied in knots of materialism. They devotetheir time and energy in propagating spirituality and are ded-icated to high ideals but their manners and methods and theirhopes and aspirations clearly reflect some special kind of mate-rialism.

It is true that they understand the benefits of soul-conscious-ness and advise others to give up body-consciousness. Theythemselves also practise soul-consciousness but in their zealthey have their eyes set on those people who have money andmaterial goods so that their money and material things canbe used for the spread of spiritualism. But in doing this, theirintent is not wholly spiritualistic but has a touch of worldlyambition or the hidden desire for glory and praise. They holdbig congregations and mass gatherings where people in largenumbers come to listen to their discourse and have commu-nity dinners. But the purpose for holding these mass scale pro-grammes is not to spread waves and vibrations of spiritualitybut to have a large number of people who remain in their fold.Thus, they have desire for name, fame and material abundance.In this sense, they are protagonists of materialistic spiritual-ism.

Such people start their spiritual career by just being seek-ers of truth or being simple spiritual practitioners. As theymarch forward on the spiritual path, people begin to praise andadore them for their noble intent, simple life and their spiri-tuality and start offering them money, materials and lands. Thegurus also acquire or accept grand titles, high epithets anddevelop a taste for such programmes as are meant to felicitateand honour them as persons.

It is said that the path of spirituality is paved with many slip-ping tiles and hence one has to be very cautious in one’s gait.Sometimes, one may be surrounded by flatterers and flippantsand, at other times, by those who want some special favoursby offering fat purses, costly gifts, big bouquets or words ofpraise. This may sharpen one’s thirst for fame, hunger for posi-tion, power, high profile or honour.

However, a true spiritualist is one who remains above all thesetemptations and is a living example of lotus in the mud. At thesame time it should also be noted that true spirituality doesnot mean that one should not accept any money, raise any build-ing or have any programme. It only requires that one shouldhave the spirit of sacrifice — should be able to renounce world-ly things that are short-lived, evanescent and hollow. One mustonly love things that are of the spirit and not of the matter.Needless to say that one must look after one’s health and havenecessary things but at the same time one must lead a simplelife and not stretch things out of the controllable limit.

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Buddha ki duniya meinGhalib se mulaqatein huin

meri, sari peshkash hai unse jobatein huin meri (I had meet-ings with Ghalib in Buddha’sland....this is a presentation onthe conversation I have had),”said Ashok Lal, director of theplay Buddha Ghalib. It is basedon the works of the poet andthe man who talked of peaceand non-violence. Thoughseparated by centuries, bothhave had the same insights andare relevant in contemporarytimes.

Giving an insight into theplay, Lal explained, “The playis a journey that aims to bringalive the works of the poet andthe man who is a messenger ofpeace. A train of thoughts

that began with a Buddhistprecept would reach Ghalib’spoetry and vice–versa.”

Lal happens to be a greatfan of Ghalib. While research-ing, he found some similarprecepts in Buddhist philoso-phy. So, he started pursuingBuddhist studies. “I looked atGhalib’s poetry from the

Buddhist perspective. It was atotally new way of looking atthe legendary poet. Buddhismtells us about the ‘oneness ofself and the other’. It holds thatany effort to escape sufferingscauses more suffering andtrue happiness lies in makingothers happy. Ghalib livednext to a mosque but often

preferred to find peace in hisdaily drink. Yet he said that wecould only be rescued by afaith that can be described ashumanism,” he told us.

Lal, who speaks Urdu theway Ghalib would have, pre-sented a lecture on Buddha-Ghalib at Chicago in 2010.“Ever since I was a child, I had

heard of Ghalib being called agreat poet by my family ofUrdu poets. But it was onlyafter I started practisingBuddhism at the age of 50 thatI could actually relate to theflashes of enlightenment insome of Ghalib’s couplets. Theentire process of discoveringthe Buddha in Ghalib hap-pened in the realm of theheart. The mind sieved therealisations when put inwords,” he said.

It is quite unusual in Indiathat a paper read out at a sem-inar leads to a play. Accordingto Lal, “Many had analysedGhalib’s works in comparisonto his contemporaries. Manytoo had discussed the dread inhis works. Some had spentyears digging into his Persiantreasure trove. Yet nobodyabsolutely thought it appropri-ate to find the Buddhist influ-ence on Ghalib.”

With Lal himself playingGhalib, the play was a treat forUrdu lovers. “My interpreta-tions of Ghalib might appearimprobable to some moralists.However, they are irradiatingand creative to the core.Mujhko lagta hai mera sarakalam Mirza Ghalib ne keh liyapehle (I feel as if all of my poet-ry was filtered by MirzaGhalib),” he said.

Growing up in the hills andshadowed by the colonialtimes, Manju Kak was

unaware of the reality that lay behindthe smiles of the paharis. “The livesof the hill school staff were one of gen-eral oblivion. Little did we know oftheir real names and called them Rosydhoban, Marie ayaah or Tommybearer. They were sturdy, hard-work-ing school staff who lived in the stafflodgings at the fringe of Ramnee Park.We imagined they lacked ‘our’ senseof sophistication and merited littlediscussion or scrutiny. How misin-formed we were, for their rich worldof myths, invocation of divinity, rit-uals and customs rooted in a deep rev-erence for nature, escaped our under-standing.”

However, her true revelationsstarted with the numerous trips to fixKnock Fierna (Where the FairiesKnock), a house that her husband’sfamily owned. “Our old-fashionedcolonial house has walls that exudethe history of the century and halfthat it has stood. Invariably it drawsyou in to dig out other stories.Exploring, digging deep into somecorner of the earth, deep enough toreally understand its palimpsest,allow one to comprehend the ‘real’India we all live in. To know just onebit of geography intimately, doesn’tmatter which, is also to know whatit means to be Indian. Finally, I putall of this together in a book. It is anoutcome of all that I collected like amagpie and all the people whohelped me do it. The wondrousphotographs of Anup Sah, VaibhavKaul, Deb Mukherjee and others, thesketches and drawings and mostly thebus rides and conversations over a hotcup of hill chai.”

After ten to 15 years of researchand writing, Kak is able to draw thelives of the Paharis from the prism ofUttarakhand’s unique woodcraft. “Iused the wood carvings, which werevery common in the region and theremnants of which are still found insome beautiful doorways of villagehomes, as a metaphor for under-standing the people, caste structuresand environmental policies. Thewood used for this craft tradition,locally called the ‘tun’, a derivative ofmahogany, became a very rare speciesdue to the environmentally-insensi-

tive policies of the colonial rule. Alsothe pan-Indian nature of the motifsand their iconography showed arare sophistication which pointed toan evolved aesthetic language sus-tained through traditions thatappeared to me paradoxical and atvariance with the accepted notionthat mountain people were ‘less-cul-tured’ or ‘culturally poor and unso-phisticated.’”

Talking about the balanced hillculture, she also stresses the innaterespect of the locals for the environ-ment and their sensitivity to degra-dation issues because of tree-cuttingmethods and cycles. “The environ-mental consciousness rooted in their

traditions is a cornerstone of all theirlivelihood patterns. It becomes theethos of hill life. Today disregard forthis age old traditions is what is caus-ing many environmental disasters. Itis important for those who work ingovernance to acquire knowledgefirst and create policies later. I remem-ber one story about a woman tellingme how the government had oncepushed for Jersey cows, little realisingtheir weight did not allow them to becomfortable treading village foot-paths or khranchas. As a result, thecow would fall down precipices andget traumatised.”

She highlights the prominentsocial status of the women in theKumaon region who are deeply affect-ed by the economical and environ-mental drift. “There is no doubt thatthese are some of the toughest womenknown. They could put our urbanfeminists to shame. Even the burdenof collecting fuel and fodder for ani-mals falls on them. They operate inwhat has become known as a money-order economy where the men folkfind jobs in the plains towns whilewomen sustain home, hearth, farmanimals and families. It is no surprisethen that the prevailing reverence forShakti, or Devi, is all pervading.”

Kak talks about the need to lookfurther into the cultures and tradi-tions, rather than just merely passingby. “One learning that we urbandwellers should take from them is thegreater joy lies in having less. And thatbeauty in nature is non pareil. If youmust dig, then dig deep because onlythen will the effort be worth your while.”

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Royal Challengers Bangalore endeda miserable season with a consola-tion victory over hosts Delhi

Daredevils by a margin of 10 runs hereon Sunday. The victory was achievedthrough intelligent batting and cleverbowling making one wonder why theyhave ended up as wooden spoon holders.

Defending a modest looking target of162 on a pitch that seemed good for bat-ting and conducive to strokeplay, RCBbowlers decided to take as much pace offthe ball as possible and and sucked thelife out of Delhi batsmen's shots.

Ironicallly, at the start of the chase,newcomer Avesh Khan impressed withhis pace and bounce and got the wicketof Sanju Samson in his and innings' veryfirst over. Karun Nair and Shreyas Iyer,though, looked comfortable and took theattack to Yuzvendra Chahal.

Nair (26 off 22 balls) seemed to be insublime form with some delightfulboundaries. However his innings was cutshort when an attempted pull off Watsonended up in the hands of the fielder.

Iyer was joined by Rishabh Pant andtogether they steadied the ship and tooktheir team to fifty in 7.4 overs. Pant wentafter Travis Head in the ninth over by hit-ting a four and a six. Delhi were 76/2 afterfirst 10 overs.

But then, RCB probably realisedthat on this pitch where the ball comeson to the bat nicely, taking pace off is thebest option. This strategy was imple-mented best by Shane Watson, who withhis cutters made scoring extremely dif-ficult for Delhi and ended up with figuresof 1/16 in 4 overs.

Harshal Patel on the other hand, wasa bit quicker and was easier to score offbut he dealt two big blows to Delhi by dis-missing Iyer and Marlon Samuels off con-secutive deliveries in the 12th over.

Corey Anderson then joined Pant totry and get the chase back on track butthe lack of pace in the bowling made itextremely hard for both, especiallyAnderson, to score boundaries.

Anderson was dismissed trying toforce the pace in the 16th over. Pant, how-

ever, continued his fight and when hestruck a six in the 17th over off Patel,hopes were raised but soon quelled as hewas dismissed attempting a big heave inthe same over. With that, Delhi's hopesfaded and while there were the oddboundaries that came, RCB managed tohold on for a 10-run victory.

Earlier, in a good bowling display,hosts Delhi were able to restrict RCB toa modest score of 161/6.

Zaheer Khan got some early swingbut Chris Gayle flicked him for a coupleof boundaries in the very first over. WhileGayle was showing aggressive inten-tions and timing the ball well, his part-ner, Vishnu Vinod, couldn't get the ballaway and eventually Vinod was dismissedwhen he attempted a pull shot off PatCummins but instead got an inside edgeonto the stumps in the fifth over.

Kohli walked in and he too, likeGayle, was enjoying the pace of the wick-et and looked in good touch.

Cummins, though, was bowling welland with assistance from other bowlerswas able to keep Gayle and RCB relativelyquiet. At the midway point in the innings,RCB had just 66 runs on the board.

Anderson was brought into theattack and he bowled to the RCB captainround the wicket, wide of off-stump witha point, backward point and short thirdman and it almost worked when Kohli gota leading edge which flew over these field-ers. Gayle, after being sedate, decided tobreak the shackles in the 12th over bysmashing Amit Mishra over mid-wicketfor six. Kohli did the same thing in thatover when he got on strike and followedit with a four.

Gayle was out in the 15th over, going

for a big hit of Shahbaz Nadeem's bowl-ing. He scored 48 in 38 balls.

The new batsman, Travis Head wasrun-out in the next over. Delhi looked tobe in danger of stumbling but Kohlilooked seemed to be in pristine touchand reached his 50 in 39 balls.

The duo of Kohli and Kedar Jadhavwere now looking to press the acceler-ator.

Kohli played a magnificent writyflick off a full-toss from Zaheer in the17th over for six but was dismissed offthe next ball attempting to clear long-off. He was dismissed for 58 off 45 balls.

Jadhav too, was soon dismissedlooking for a big hit.

Delhi were bowling well, especial-ly Cummins whose high pace andaccurate yorkers were making things dif-ficult for RCB. Mohammad Shami

assisted him well.Thanks to three boundaries struck

in the final over by Pawan Negi, RCBmanaged to get past 150 and ended upwith 161.

���� ���1

Rising Pune Supergiant captainSteve Smith on Sunday said

the team will miss Ben Stokes inthe IPL play-offs after they com-fortably beat Kings XI Punjab ina do-or-die match here.

In a potential knock-outclash, Pune defeated Kings XIPunjab by nine wickets to finishsecond in the points table behindMumbai Indians, which meansthey will get two shots for a placein the summit clash.

It was complete dominationby the home team, which firstskittled out Kings XI Punjab fora paltry 73 and then knocked offthe runs in only 12 overs.

"It was a nice day. Thebowlers did a terrific job," saidSmith.

"We were searching a bit inthe first few games. We had new

players coming in, we have agood balance now. Really goodto finish second and have bitesat the cherry. Yeah, we have acouple of options for Stokes. Hehas been magnificent and will bea big loss. Hopefully, the otherguys will stand up for us," he

added.Stokes, the costliest player of

IPL who will leave for nationalduty after Sunday's match,scored 316 runs from 12 gameswith 103 not out being his high-est. With the ball the English all-rounder picked up 12 wicketsfrom as many games.

Smith said toss played acrucial in deciding the outcomeof the match.

"We were fortunate to winthe toss, the ball was stopping.It was an easy decision today, thewicket was sticky. Shardul(Thakur) was outstanding,(Jaydev) Unadkat again was out-standing," he said.

Meanwhile, Kings XI Punjabskipper Glenn Maxwell saiddespite failing to qualify for theplay-offs there were a lot of pos-itives to take from this edition ofthe IPL.

���� .98.�3�

Mumbai Indians bats-man Saurabh Tiwary

feels that his side have gotthe momentum goingahead of the IPL play-offsas they have topped theleague table and also test-ed their bench strengthwith success.

Playing his first matchof the season, SaurabhTiwary, who opened theinnings in place of ParthivPatel, sparkled with a 43-ball 52, while AmbatiRayudu was their top-scorer with a 37-ball 63 asMumbai Indians defeatedKolkata Knight Riders bynine runs. "It's a goodthing that our bench wastested. We will have ourbest XI for the play-off.

The momentum is with us,and it's a big advantagethat we will have the play-off (Qualifier 1) at home,"he said.

By virtue of being thetable toppers, Mumbai willhave the cushion of fea-turing in the Qualifier 1

between the top- two sidesthat will give both theteams two shots at makingthe Final.

"There's very littlemargin of error in play-offs. But the good thingabout us is, if we havesomeone injured, we

would not have someoneto play his first match. Itbecomes difficult espe-cially in a stage like play-off where there's very lit-tle room for error," hesaid.

Captain Rohit Sharmaopted to rest six of hisside's regulars — Patel,Nitish Rana, HarbhajanSingh, Jasprit Bumrah,Lasith Malinga andMitchell McClenaghan –but it did not affect theirperformance as they fin-ished with 20 points.

"This was like a secondstring Mumbai Indiansside. We have a very goodbench strength. The cred-it goes to our preparationin the build-up to the sea-son," said the Jharkhandplayer.

����9�3189

Lewis Hamilton beat Sebastian Vettel to win theSpanish Grand Prix on Sunday, tightening

Formula One's intense title fight.Vettel edged past the pole-sitting Hamilton at the

first corner, but the British driver overtook Vettel'sFerrari with more than 20 laps left while running ona faster set of tires as Mercedes' pit strategy paid off.

"What can I say? Fantastic job. The strategy wason point with the pit stops," Hamilton told his teamvia radio after crossing the finish line.

Hamilton's second win in five races this seasoncut Vettel's lead from 13 points to six heading intothe Monaco GP.

Daniel Ricciardo brought his Red Bull across ina distant third place to complete the podium, his best

result of the season. Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen and2016 race winner Max Verstappen of Red Bull col-lided on the first turn, knocking both drivers out ofthe race. Valtteri Bottas also dropped out after hisMercedes engine failed midway through the race.

Vettel had a great jump from second on the grid,going past Hamilton to the first right-hand turn andstaying in front just as his Ferrari partner's race ended.

Before Bottas broke down, he gave Hamiltonsome critical help by holding Vettel up through athrilling lap-long duel. Vettel eventually got by, butby then Hamilton had clawed back a few valuable sec-onds. "I was surprised that when I came out we wereso close," Vettel said. "I was doing what I could to sayin front, but as soon as I was alone he just flew past."

������� ���������H�����Force India recorded their best result of the 2017

season so far as Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon fin-ished fourth and fifth respectively in the SpanishGrand Prix here on Sunday.

With new upgrades, Perez and Ocon had qual-ified eighth and 10th in the qualifying.

Personally, it was a memorable race for Ocon, whoachieved his best ever finish in Formula One.

The team amassed 22 points from the race, tak-ing its overall tally to 53 after five rounds.

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Rising Pune Supergiant cruisedinto the Indian Premier League

play-offs with a thoroughly one-sided nine-wicket victory overKings XI Punjab in a do-or-die finalgroup league match, here onSunday.

It was complete domination bythe home team, which first skittledout Kings XI Punjab for a paltry 73and then knocked off the runs inonly 12 overs to finish second in theeight- team table with 18 points.

Young Rahul Tripathi blasted28 off 20 balls to make a mockeryof the chase in an encounter whichturned out to be an anti-climax ofsorts.

It was the ninth time in 10 sea-sons of the IPL that a team involv-ing Mahendra Singh Dhoni madeit to the final four stage.

In the first eight seasons with

the Chennai Super Kings, Dhoniwas a part of the last four on alloccasions.

The only other player to achievethis feat in 10 seasons is Suresh

Raina (CSK and Gujarat Lions).It was only last season that a

team involving the former Indiaskipper couldn't make it to the lastfour.

The victory also givesSupergiant, the cushion of twoshots at a place in the final. Theywill be playing Mumbai Indians inQualifier 1 while Sunrisers

Hyderabad (3rd with 17 points) willmeet Kolkata Knight Riders (4thwith 16 points) in the 'Eliminator'.

The match as a contest was overby the time Kings XI Punjab skip-per Glenn Maxwell (0) got out withthe scoreboard reading 32 for five.The chase was a mere formalitywith Tripathi blasting the threeSharmas — Mohit, Ishant andSandeep — for four boundariesbefore hitting a six over deep mid-wicket off Rahul Tewatia.

The run-rate pressure was non-existent which made it easier forAjinkya Rahane (34 not out) andskipper Steve Smith (15 not out) toknock off the runs after Tripathi gotout. Rahane finished the match witha six off Maxwell.

Put into bat, Kings XI Punjabput up their worst batting perfor-mance of the season when it mat-tered the most.

After the high of scoring 230

against Mumbai Indians in the lastgame, their campaign hit the worstnote as it became a virtual no-show.

They were all but out of thegame after being shot out in only15.5 overs. Axar Patel was the top-scorer with 22 runs whileWriddhiman Saha's 13 was the nextbest.

Shardul Thakur (3/19 in 4overs) was the pick of the bowlersand he got fantastic support fromJaydev Unadkat (2/12 in 3 overs),Adam Zampa (2/22 in 3.5 overs)and Dan Cristian (2/10 in 2 overs).

Even Ben Stokes (0/10 in 3overs) looked dangerous as he beatthe bat a number of times.

Martin Guptill (0) uppishlydrove to Manoj Tiwary at shortcover off the very first delivery fromUnadkat.

Shaun Marsh (13) hit a coupleof boundaries before he failed toclear Steve Smith at mid-off.

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