Lucknow - The Pioneer

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OPINION 8
WHEN THE SYSTEM FAILS,
UNSCRUPULOUS THRIVE
RNI No.2016/1957, REGD NO. SSP/LW/NP-34/2016-18
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MONEY 11
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SPORT 14
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Established 1864
Published From
DELHI LUCKNOW BHOPAL
BHUBANESWAR RANCHI RAIPUR
CHANDIGARH DEHRADUN
Late City Vol. 152 Issue 90
*Air Surcharge Extra if Applicable
LUCKNOW, SATURDAY APRIL 2, 2016; PAGES 16 `3
{
}
NAMRATA RAO
BUSY WRAPPING
UP ‘FAN’
16 VIVACITY
www.dailypioneer.com
‘Terrorists are united, why aren’t we?’ NIA to take
Ahead of Modi’s
visit, US-Saudi join
hands to restrain
Pakistani entities
Drop notion ‘his terrorist is not my terrorist’,
Modi tells world leaders; says all nations
must abide by nuclear security obligations
S RAJAGOPALAN n
WASHINGTON
Washington: The United States
and Saudi Arabia on Thursday
joined hands to sanction Pakistani
individuals and terrorist entities,
including Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT),
hours ahead of Prime Minister
Narendra Modi’s visit to Riyadh.
Thursday’s action targeted
James Alexander McLintock and his
Pakistan-based Al-Rahmah Welfare
Organization, which the Treasury
Department said is a front
organisation that provides money for
al-Qaeda, the Taliban, LeT and other
Afghan extremists groups under the
guide of helping orphans. “As of
early 2013, McLintock recruited
Afghan insurgents to obtain photos
of children, Afghan identity
documents and cell phone numbers
to create falsified dossiers used to
obtain donations,” Treasury said.
Continued on Page 10
rime Minister Narendra
Modi has urged the global
P
community to battle terrorism
unitedly by dropping the
notion that it’s someone else’s
problem since the perpetrators
of terror are now “globally networked” and are “using 21st
century technology”.
At a gathering of world
leaders attending the Nuclear
Security Summit hosted by
President Barack Obama, Modi
also underscored the need for
all nations to “completely abide
by their international obligations” to ensure nuclear security is an abiding priority for
every nation.
“Terrorism is globally networked. But, we still act only
nationally to counter this threat,”
he said at a White House working dinner that kicked off the
summit on Thursday evening,
stressing, “Terrorists are
using 21st century technology.
But our responses are rooted in
the past.”
Modi,
coming
to
Washington via Brussels that
witnessed the latest horrific terror attacks, lamented that while
the reach and supply chains of
terrorism are global, genuine
cooperation between nation
states is not.
“Drop the notion that terrorism is someone else’s problem and that “his” terrorist is
not “my” terrorist,” he
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CAPSULE
TV STAR PRATYUSHA
FOUND DEAD AT HER HOME
Mumbai: Popular TV actress
Pratyusha Banerjee,
who shot into fame
as Anandi in
celebrated drama
series “Balika
Vadhu”, was found dead at her
suburban residence on Friday in
a suspected case of suicide.
FATWA AGAINST CHANTING
OF ‘BHARAT MATA KI JAI’
Saharanpur: Islamic seminary
Darul Uloom Deoband on Friday
issued a fatwa against chanting
of “Bharat Mata ki jai”, saying
that the slogan goes against
the tenets of Islam.
WOMEN HAVE RIGHT TO
ENTER TEMPLES: HC
Mumbai: Women can no longer
be barred from entering
temples in Maharashtra with
the Bombay High Court holding
that it is their fundamental right
to go into places of worship
and the Government’s duty to
protect it.
‘U’KHAND ORDINANCE IS
CENTRE’S SINISTER PLOT’
New Delhi: Condemning the
ordinance authorising
expenditure in Uttarakhand from
Friday, the Congress on Friday
termed it a “sinister conspiracy”
by the Centre to obstruct and
annul implementation of public
welfare schemes and
programmes of the previous
Government.
ED ATTACHES `10CR ASSETS
OF 2 ACCUSED IN VYAPAM
New Delhi: Enforcement
Directorate has attached assets
worth over `10 crore of two
accused in connection
with its money laundering
probe in the ‘Vyapam’ scam in
Madhya Pradesh.
US President Barack Obama talks to Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a dinner
for world leaders ahead of the Nuclear Security Summit in White House
AP
remarked at one point.
Obama, hosting what will
be his fourth and final summit
to bring nations together to prevent terrorists and other nonstate actors from gaining access
to nuclear materials, was flanked
by Modi and Chinese President
Xi Jinping at the dinner table.
The Prime Minister made
the case for focusing on three
contemporary features of terrorism, noting, “First, today’s
terrorism uses extreme violence
as theatre. Second, we are no
longer looking for a man in a
cave, but we are hunting for a
terrorist in a city with a computer or a smart phone. Third,
State actors working with
nuclear traffickers and terrorists present the greatest risk.”
Turning to the global challenge for nuclear security amid
the mounting fears of nuclear
terrorism, the Prime Minister
said, “Nuclear security must
remain an abiding national priority.” He sought to drum home
the point that “without prevention and prosecution of acts of
terrorism there is no deterrence against nuclear terrorism”.
Lauding Obama for turning the spotlight on the critical
issue, Modi remarked,
“President Obama has done
great service to global security.”
“This legacy of President
Obama must endure,” he said,
given the probability that the
Obama initiative of holding
these biennial global summits
on this score could end when
he demits office next January.
“Brussels shows us how
real and immediate is the threat
to nuclear security from terrorism,” Modi commented.
With the world leaders
gathering at the Washington
Convention Centre on Friday
for the plenary sessions, the
discussions were slated to focus
on national actions to enhance
nuclear security. A separate
session has been devoted to
deal with the current foremost
terror challenge posed by ISIS.
airbase probe
to Pak turf
National Investigation Agency Director-General Sharad Kumar
addresses a Press conference in New Delhi on Friday
PTI
Dates of visit to be
worked out soon,
JIT welcomes idea
as conspiracy was
hatched in Pakistan
PNS n NEW DELHI
a reciprocal measure to
visit of the Pakistani
AstheInvestigation
‘India to bolster its N security framework’ Joint
Team (JIT)
Modi holds bilaterals with Cameron, Trudeau to India and to carry forward
S RAJAGOPALAN n WASHINGTON
rime Minister Narendra Modi
Pon Friday assured the world
community that India will
continue to attach the highest
priority to nuclear security by
bolstering its institutional
framework further and taking a
number of related measures.
In his intervention at the
summit’s plenary session, Modi
also informed that India will be
making another $1 million
contribution to the International
Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA)
Nuclear Security Fund. India had
pledged a like amount at the
second summit in this series, held
in Seoul in 2012. He also outlined
plans to further strengthen the
independence of the regulator and
press more resources for
technology upgrade and training of
personnel engaged in nuclear
security. India will coordinate with
IAEA on training measures.
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister
held bilateral meetings with his
British and Canadian counterparts,
David Cameron and Justin Trudeau.
its probe into the terror attack
at the strategic IAF base in
Pathankot by suspected Jaishe-Mohammad (JeM) cadre, a
team of the National
Investigation Agency (NIA)
will visit that country.
Dates for the visit will be
worked out later, DirectorGeneral of NIA Sharad Kumar
told reporters here at the end
of five-days of discussions with
Pakistani JIT which returned
home on Friday.
“We expressed that a team
of NIA could be sent to
Pakistan for a probe in that
country since the conspiracy
had been hatched there. They
welcomed the idea and the
dates will be worked out later,”
the D-G said.
Kumar said the NIA presented the JIT with “concrete
evidence” against the officebearers of JeM who conspired
in the attack and the handlers
of the terrorists who facilitated and guided them.
“The NIA also sought voice
samples of some senior officebearers of JeM,” he said without naming anyone. However,
NIA sources said that they
had sought voice samples of
JeM chief Maulana Masood
Azhar, his brother Abdul Rauf
and Khayyam Babbar, mother
of one of the slain JeM terrorists identified as Nasir Hussain
as he had called her before
launching the attack at the airbase in Pathankot.
Kumar also said that the
NIA has asked the JIT for a
DNA sample of the mother of
the dead terrorist.
Day 2: Search for bodies, liablility, answers continues
Flyover tragedy toll touches 24,
3 ICVRL Infra workers held, TMC
MP claims Mamata Government
was alerted about faulty design
SAUGAR SENGUPTA n KOLKATA
ven as the blame-game conE
tinued over the collapse of
the Vivekananda Flyover in the
busy Burrabazar-Posta area of
Kolkata north-west, three more
bodies were pulled out from
the debris on Friday, taking the
death toll to 24.
Till late Friday evening
one person was trapped inside
a truck on which the bridge
had collapsed. Around
90 people were being treated at
various hospitals, Kolkata
Police Commissioner Rajib
Kumar said.
The police arrested three
top officials of the Hyderabadbased construction company,
ICVRL Infra and slapped murder charges on them.
Earlier the police had
detained 10 officials of IVRCL’s
Kolkata office for interrogation
even as its Kasba office in
South Kolkata remained locked
for the second day on Friday.
The police said cases of
murder, attempt to murder
and criminal conspiracy had
People gather around
a mangled car in
Kolkata on Friday PTI
SELFISH SELFIES!
Work to clear debris going on at the
site where an under-construction
flyover collapsed on Vivekananda
Road in Kolkata on Friday
PTI
been slapped against the erring
company. The police had on
Thursday filed a suo motu case
of culpable homicide not
amounting to murder.
Meanwhile, statements
emanating from different
quarters questioned the role of
the Urban Development
Department. Locals claimed
that the accident could have
been avoided had the
Government been a little
more sensitive towards the
people’s concern.
Trinamool MP Sudip
Bandopadhyay said that he had
alerted the Mamata Banerjee
Government about the faulty
design of the bridge. “As a people’s representative, I had alerted the Government about the
faulty design. But by that time
about 50-60 per cent of the work
had been completed” he said.
The Opposition parties
immediately raised the issue
wondering
why
the
Government did not stop work
and got the plan changed.
“From Sudip Bandopadhyay’s
statement it appears that the
Government was aware that a
disaster might happen. The
question is why they did not
take action then,” said PCC
president Adhir Chowdhury.
Like the BJP did on
Thursday, the Congress too
demanded CBI enquiry into
the accident. “We are filing a
PIL demanding a CBI probe”
Chowdhury said.
Kolkata: Even as hundreds in
Kolkata did their best to rescue victims after the flyover’s
collapse, some youngsters displayed insensitivity by clicking
selfies with the injured.
Some teenagers as well as
young men were perched on a
broken pillar of the
Vivekananda Road flyover, taking pictures with their mobiles.
A few youngsters forced
themselves into a waiting
ambulance and started clicking
selfies with an injured man in
Posta area on Thursday.
They appeared to be
oblivious to the pain and suffering of the seriously injured
man who was pulled out of
the rubble by the policemen
and was waiting to be rushed
to hospital.
Sadly, none of the young
men cared to lend a helping
hand in the rescue operations
and police had to drag them
out of the ambulance. Several
ambulances were held up as
large groups of youngsters
almost laid siege to the vehicles in a desperate bid to click
snaps with the injured.
Decks cleared
for Jewar int’l
airport in UP
CM asks cops to pull up socks
‘India to receive
more than
normal rainfall’
BISWAJEET BANERJEE n
LUCKNOW
sking cops to pull up their
socks, Chief Minister
A
Akhilesh Yadav on Friday said
now. Uttar Pradesh
Iportt’swillofficial
get an international airat Gautam Buddha Nagar.
that providing better law and
order and effective check on
crime were the top priorities of
his government and no comprise would be made on that
front.
“Policemen have to see
that no injustice is done to the
common man and they should
work continuously for redressing the problems of the people,”
Yadav said.
“This will also increase
people’s faith in cops,” Yadav
added while addressing a meeting of senior police officials at
Tilak Hall here as part of Police
Week on Friday noon.
“As Uttar Pradesh is the
biggest state population-wise,
New Delhi: India will experience a little more than normal
rainfall this monsoon, according to a forecast by a weather
risk management company.
“As per our models, India
will receive more than normal
rainfall this year. June is
expected to receive fairly good
rainfall, around 25 per cent
more than the normal limit,”
said Kanti Prasad, senior consultant (climate sciences),
Weather Risk Management
Services Ltd.
In June, the country is
expected to receive 25 per cent
more rainfall than normal.
Rainfall will start receding
thereafter, but will remain within the parameters of “normal
monsoon”, he said.
The Centre had sent the
approval to the UP
Government last week asking it
to prepare DPR as per
Greenfield Airport policy, 2008.
“We have crossed all hurdles. The Centre has approved
construction of an international airport at Jewar. We
have sent the approval to the
UP Government last week
and asked them to prepare a
DPR,” Minister of State for
Civil Aviation and Tourism
Mahesh Sharma told The
Pioneer on Friday.
PNS n LUCKNOW
challenges before it are also different. In the changing scenario, challenges before police
have increased and the government is aware that policemen have to work in difficult
situations,” Yadav added.
The Chief Minister
observed that the exchange of
views at functions like Police
Week had positive results and
everybody came to know about
the good works being done by
their counterparts in other
areas.
Regretting that vested
interests sometimes tried to
present facts in a distorted
manner to tarnish the image of
the state, Yadav asked police
officers to remain vigilant and
ensure that such people did not
succeed in their designs.
He also asked police officers to make special efforts to
ensure that their good work
reached the common people.
Yadav added that law and
order should be addressed in a
manner so as to restore people’s
confidence in police.
The Chief Minister asked
cops to improve the “credibility” of UP Police to better the
image of the force in the eyes
of the people.
“Anyone in distress makes
the first contact with police so
you should give everyone a
patient hearing and do your
best to provide maximum relief
to the aggrieved person,” he
said, adding that this would not
only improve the image of
men in khaki but also raise the
‘credibility’ of the force.
He said the responsibility
of police officers in ensuring
prosperity and development
of the state was important as
they were directly in touch with
the people.
Highlighting the work
done by his government for
modernisation of UP Police,
including setting up of new
modernised control room
(Dial-100) to improve response
time, 1090 Women Help Line,
provision of new vehicles and
other gadgets, Yadav said that
he had paved way for timely
promotion and opened other
avenues for each cadre of the
police force.
The Chief Minister also
announced to raise uniform
allowance by 25 per cent for all
non-gazetted employees, 25
per cent hike in house
allowance for employees of
Provincial
Armed
Constabulary and UP Police.
Earlier, speaking of the
occasion, Chief Secretary Alok
Ranjan said the state government was making all efforts to
provide effective law and order
as no state could progress until
a peaceful atmosphere was
provided to the business community. He recounted several
outstanding works done by
UP Police, including a check on
cases of communal violence.
He asked cops to register all
complaints immediately as
non-registration of complaints
tarnished the image of the
government.
Principal Secretary (Home)
Dewasheesh Panda and
Director General of Police
Javeed Ahmed also highlighted the achievements of the
police force and said that all
policemen would contribute in
maintaining law and order and
in restoring the lost credibility
of the khaki.
city 02
LUCKNOW | SATURDAY | APRIL 2, 2016
Woman’s body
found in Gomti
KGMU removes addl med supdt
PNS ■ LUCKNOW
PIONEER NEWS SERVICE ■
LUCKNOW
ing George’s Medical
University on Friday
K
removed the assistant medical
he body of a 30-year old
woman was found floating
T
in Gomti near Madiaon on
Friday. The body was in a state
of decay. She was identified as
Sunita by her sister Gange
Devi.
Police still had doubts over
her identity despite Devi’s
claim. They were waiting for an
authentic source to identify the
body.
However, the body was
sent for the post-mortem.
Source said that the DNA sample would also be used to
ascertain the identity.
A morning walker noticed
the decomposed body floating
in the river at Lodhamau village
falling under Madiaon police
station and passed on the information to police.
Later, Ganga Devi, a resident of Bakshi-ka-Talab, who
claimed to be sister of the
deceased, identified the body.
Devi told police that the name
of deceased was Sunita and
she was the wife of Pappu
Rawat.
The couple left the house to
attend a marriage function in
a nearby village two months
ago but both failed to turn up
at their house.
Devi said that she and her
family members tried their
best to trace their whereabouts
but failed to locate them.
Uttar Pradesh State Roadways Transport buses parked at Charbagh following the strike by the roadways workers on Friday
the mark. Many attendants
complained of defunct geyser
and lights there. Even after
complaint with the staff, no
action was taken, they alleged.
For a private ward, a
patient pays Rs 900 for non-AC
room and Rs 2,000 for a private
ward with air-conditioning
facility.
superintendent posted at the
Limb Centre. He was charged
with negligence in maintaining
facilities in private wards.
KGMU Vice-Chancellor
Ravi Kant removed Dr
Anupam Wakhlu from the
position of assistant medical
superintendent in view of the
unhygienic conditions prevailing in private wards of the
Limb Centre.
Dr Abhishek Agarwal of
Orthopaedic Surgery department will take charge in place
of him.
The attendants of the
patients often complained of
unhygienic conditions in private wards despite hefty fees
being charged from patients.
The attendants of a patient said
that they had occupied a private ward in the hospital irrespective of its high charges but
still the services were not up to
LU to hire professional agency for security
PNS ■ LUCKNOW
ucknow University is
switching over to profesL
sional security agency to man
the gates and the campus.
Proctor Nishi Pandey, while
talking to The Pioneer on
Friday, said that they had a trial
run of 30 people from one of
the agencies.
She said that the security
would be outsourced and
would cost the same amount as
home guards who were currently employed. She said that
home guards would be gradually replaced and only 10 armed
guards would be retained from
the present 80 home guards.
“Lucknow University has
taken the decision to employ
services of the professional
agencies for security and we
have begun the trials. They will
soon replace home guards,”
Nishi said.
Trains to have additional coaches for summer rush
Lucknow (PNS): In view
of the expected rush during
summer months, Lucknow
division of Northern Railways
on Friday announced additional coaches in various trains.
The coaches in trains will be
added on a temporary basis till
the summer vacations.
New Delhi-Dibrugarh
Rajdhani Express (12236/35)
and New Delhi-Dibrugarh
Rajdhani Express (12436/35)
will have additional AC-3 tier
coach from April 3. VaranasiAnand Vihar Garib Rath
Express (22407/08) will also
have an additional high capacity AC-3 tier coach. An AC-3
tier coach will be attached to
Lucknow-New Delhi AC
Express (12430/29) till Juneend.
Moreover, extra sleeper
coach had been attached to
other trains passing through
Lucknow railway station.
An additional sleeper class
coach will be attached to New
Delhi-Raxaul Sadhbhawana
Express (14008/07) and New
Delhi-Pratapgarh Padmavat
Express (14208/07) from April
5 and April 3 respectively.
Other trains LucknowChandigarh Express (12231),
Allahabad-Chandigarh
Unchahaar Express (14218/17)
and Faizabad-New Delhi
Express (14205/06) will also
have an additional sleeper class
coach till June 30.
Meanwhile, the facility of
Clean Train Station (CTS)
started at Lucknow Junction on
Friday. With the launch of this
service, Lucknow Junction
became the second station in
the Lucknow division of NorthEastern Railway to have CTS.
Under this service, coaches of over 28 trains that arrive
at Lucknow Junction will be
thoroughly cleaned using high
pressure jet machines and
mopping
arrangement.
Spokesperson of Lucknow division of NER Alok Srivastava
said that the coaches would be
sanitised properly in an automatic way with the start of the
service. The service is an initiative under the Swachh Bharat
Mission.
CISH signs MoU for mango
wine with Bengal firm
PNS ■ LUCKNOW
WANTED
Methodist Girls Inter College, Bareilly
(An Minority Institution)
Applications are invited from
female candidates for one substantive vacant post of Asstt
Teacher (Home Science) in L.T.
Grade of Rs 9300-34800 plus
grade pay Rs. 4600/= and other
admissiable allowances p.m. for
appointment on one year's probation period, till 19-4-2016 by
Registered post. Application
form can be obtained from manager from 10 A.M. to 04 P.M. on
payment of Rs. 100/= in cash, at
following address.
(1) Education & Teaching
Qualifications :- As per appendix 01 of Regulation 01 chapter
-02 of Intermediate education
Act, 1921.
(2) Age :- Minimum 21
years (As on 01-04-2016)
Applications duly filled and
alongwith self attested testimonials may be sent on following
address.
Mrs (Macreena Massey)
Manager
C/o Warne Baby fold
101, Civil Lines, Bareilly (U.P.)
irector, Central Institute of
Subtropical Horticulture,
D
Shailendra Rajan said on Friday
that a memorandum of understanding (MoU) had been
signed for the mango wine
made by it with a company
from West Bengal.
“A memorandum of understanding was signed between
M/s Somsudha Wines Pvt Ltd,
West Bengal, and the director,
ICAR-CISH, Lucknow, for
commercial production of
mango wine in an area of West
Bengal. The commercialisation will support spread of the
mango-based wine industry
in the coming years in the
country,” said the director,
CISH, Shailendra Rajan.
At CISH, a technology for
mango wine has been developed by Neelima Garg, principal scientist and head of PHM
(Post-Harvest Management)
of CISH.
Talking to The Pioneer, the
scientist, Neelima Garg, said
that the wine had been prepared from three famous
mango varieties grown in the
mango belt of UP. She pointed
out that the varieties were
‘Dussehri’, ‘Langra’ and ‘Chausa’
and it was observed that ‘just as
each of the mango variety tasted different, each of the wines
too varied in taste as well as
flavour. “Mango wine contains
gallic acid, catechin, epi-catechin, caffeic acid, p-coumeric
acid and kaempferol. With a
range of seven to nine per cent
alcohol content, this unique
wine will surely be a big draw
for all those who are fond of
good liquor,” said Neelima
Garg. She said that the mango
fruit adapted itself well to the
tropical and sub-tropical climates. Neelima said that wine
was conventionally prepared
from grapes though other fruits
like apple, plum, cashew apple
etc were also utilised for the
purpose.
“However, the share of
wine prepared from fruits other
than grape, is low. Mango, the
choicest fruit of the tropics, has
a rich aroma and a delicious
taste with a delightful blend of
sweetness and acidity. The fruit
is a rich source of sugar,
carotene and ascorbic acid.
Both carotene and ascorbic
acid are well known anti-oxi-
dants. Besides, mango contains an anti-cancerous compound ‘Lupeol’ in its pulp
which is good for fighting cancer,” she said.
Neelima said that the
mango thrived well in almost
all the regions of the country
but could not be grown commercially in areas above an altitude of 600 metres.
“It constitutes an important
horticultural asset of Uttar
Pradesh (UP). UP contributes
a major share in the production
of mango and with rich wealth
and vast acreage has an
immense potential to improve
mango production. Uttar
Pradesh is the main mangogrowing state of India sharing
about 34 per cent of the total
mango production in the country. Indian mangoes are world
famous and have a great potential for export as compared to
the other fruits of the country.
Being a potential crop, the
state of UP has taken a lead in
the declaration of concentrated mango pockets as ‘fruit
belts’ in 11 districts. Thirteen
such ‘mango fruit belts’ in 11
districts have already been
notified,” she added.
FICCI FLO announces UP Women
awards to empower the fairer sex
Lucknow(PNS): FICCI
FLO announced the FLO
Women’s Uttar Pradesh Awards
to empower women. The aim
behind it is recognition and
felicitation of women from different spheres of life for their
exemplary contributions to the
society and nation to encourage more of their ilk to come
forward.
President of the FICCI
FLO Jyotsana Habibullah said
that the nominations were
invited until April 10, 2016,
online, by e-mail and post.
“From Jhansi Ki Rani to
Iron Sharmila, Indian women
have always stood up for their
rights and fought their battles
despite restrictions and limitations. They are the shining beacons of hope and have displayed exemplary dedication in
their respective fields. Women
are the true representatives of
any progressive society. Their
perseverance and intrepidity
shapes the destiny of a nation.
So it becomes imperative we
underline their role and celebrate the spirit of womanhood,” she said.
The organisation will be
felicitating women from different spheres of life for their
exemplary contributions to the
society and the nation. These
could be in the field of education, medicine, police, entrepreneurship, corporate, farming and social work.
FLO Women Uttar
Pradesh Awards is a series of
state’s honours conferred on
individual women for their
exceptional achievement each
year being instituted in 2016 for
the first time in Uttar Pradesh
UP-FLO has classified two
broad categories for the awards,
urban and rural.
Printed and Published by Vijay Prakash Singh for and on behalf of CMYK Printech Ltd., 4th Floor, Sahara Shopping Centre, Faizabad Road, Lucknow-226016 and Printed at Tin Tin Printech Pvt Ltd., C-33 Amausi Industrial Area, Nadarganj, Lucknow. Tel: (0522) 2438656 / 9336266608.
Editor: Chandan Mitra. Resident Editor: Vijay Prakash Singh. RNI No. 2016/57. Lucknow Telephones: EPABX: 4036600 Fax: 2345582. Allahabad Office: (95532) 2420818, 2421018, 3290460. Kanpur Office: (95512) 2304006, 2304416. Varanasi Office: (95542) 2414294, 2414295. Delhi
Office: Link House, II Floor, 3 Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi 110 002. Tel: (011) 23755271-274, 41509074.
city 03
BJP banks on Modi mantra
in Uttar Pradesh
PNS ■ LUCKNOW
rmed with Narendra Modi
App, Bharatiya Janata Party
A
workers will step into the shoes
of salesmen and go to people to
apprise them of the achievements of the Central government and expose the Akhilesh
Yadav ‘sarkar’.
“The battle of ballot has
begun. Everyday, go to the
people as good salesmen and
tell them about the good work
being done by the Modi government, including Mudra
banking, Jan Dhan Yojana and
introduction of interview-free
employment in class IV and
Class III government services,”
BJP’s UP in-charge Om Mathur
exhorted party workers while
addressing the state working
committee meeting here on
Friday.
“You have much to talk
about — what the Modi government has done in two years
no other government could
accomplish even in five
decades. Download the Modi
App in your smart phone. This
will keep you abreast of
achievements of the Modi government. Go and sell these
achievements to the people,”
Mathur said.
The one-day BJP state
working committee centred
around Narendra Modi. The
leaders, one after another,
talked about the achievements
of the BJP-led government at
the Centre and how it had
taken India to new height. All
of them spoke about the need
to take Modi’s name to the
grassroot level because his
name would be the selling
point for them.
“We will give the talking
points to district and divisional heads who would disseminate the information among
the booth level workers,” he
said.
“The best part is that the
Union MSME Minister Kalraj Mishra, BJP’s UP in-charge Om Mathur, BJP state president Laxmikant Bajpai and Mayor Dinesh
Sharma inaugurating the state working committee meeting in Luck now on Friday
BJP has over two crore members. We wanted to connect
with 1.40 lakh booth workers
and till date we have been able
to identify 1.12 lakh of them.
This means in every booth
we have a worker and this is a
very positive sign,” Mathur
said.
The BJP, which is looking
to revive its fortune in this
politically sensitive state, is set
to have a three-pronged strategy focusing on Modi, Dalits
and the misrule of Akhilesh
Yadav government. The party
leaders have been asked to tell
Dalits about the Modi government’s initiative to set up
‘Panch Teerth’ in the memory
of Dr BR Ambedkar.
Besides, the party will go to
towns with the National Crime
Bureau report which says UP
accounts for 18 per cent of the
total crimes against Dalits in
India.
“I will give you a list of 92
cases of atrocities on Dalit in
which police did not take
action against the criminals
because they belonged to the
party ruling the state. Expose
this corrupt and inefficient
government. The only achievement of this government is that
in the last four years, it has
given patronage to criminals
and propped up the Yadav
clan,” BJP state president
Laxmikant Bajpai said in his
presidential address.
He said people were fed up
with this corrupt government
which did not look beyond
people of a particular caste and
religion.
Bajpai said the law and
order situation was so bad that
Lucknow had become a dumping ground of dead bodies.
“Go to people with the slogan ‘Na gundai, na bhrashtachar, abki baar Bhajpa sarkar,”
Bajpai said.
The working committee
meeting concluded with an
appeal from Union MSME
Minister Kalraj Mishra to every
worker to take Modi’s good
work to every house.
“The opposition parties,
especially the Congress and the
Left, cannot digest the popularity of Modi and therefore
they have spread a canard
against the BJP-led government at the Centre,” Mishra
said.
The BJP state working
committee meeting also adopted a resolution — Uttar
Pradesh ke samagra vikas ka
sankalp — which talked about
cow slaughter, non-payment of
cane dues, drought in
Bundelkhand and failure of
the state government to extend
relief to farmers who lost crop
in unseasonal rain.
It also mentioned the
Comptroller and Auditor
General’s report to highlight
corruption and poor financial
state of UP.
“Go to the people with the
promise to give them a transparent and corruption-free
government. Tell them that
BJP is the only alternative as
other parties are corrupt and
lack the will to control crime,”
the resolution said.
Naik stress on improving law & order, modernising police force
Lucknow (PNS): Governor Ram Naik
on Friday stressed the need for improving
law and order and modernising the state’s
police force.
Addressing the senior police officers
after taking salute at the ceremonial
parade at Reserve Police Lines here on
Friday morning, the Governor said the
government should take care of welfare of
the men in uniform so that they served the
nation with full honesty and devotion.
He also reminded how during his
tenure as Union Petroleum Minister, he
gave petrol pumps and gas agencies free
of cost to family members of the Kargil
martyrs.
Naik said the prime duty of the men
in uniform was to maintain harmony and
peace, provide terror-free atmosphere to
every citizen, and initiate stern action
against anti-socials and criminal elements.
“You all must make people, particularly women, feel that they are safe and if
one visits a police station in search of justice, the cops must understand the problem and do their best to get it resolved,”
Naik said, while praising the role of
policemen in maintaining peace and communal harmony.
He called upon the policemen to take
a pledge to work for the welfare of common man as the ceremonial parade was the
most auspicious occasion for such commitments towards society.
Naik asked the UP Police to adopt
some inspiring slogan to motivate the cops
to work for the welfare of society. Naik
pointed out that in his home state
Maharashtra, the police force had the slogan ‘Sadarchadaya Khalinigrahadya’ which
meant that one should work for safety of
good people and punish the criminals. He
said such a slogan should be also drafted
for UP Police as it would not only inspire
the cops, but would also send a good message of the UP Police among the masses.
Laying stress on modernisation of UP
Police, Naik said the cops should be
armed with latest sophisticated weapons,
vehicles and other gadgets so that they
could easily take on any eventuality and
also accept the challenge thrown before
them with the latest changes in crime
trend.
He also stressed on providing training
to every cop so that they remained fit and
abreast of new ways to solve any problem.
On the occasion, Naik also paid tributes to the policemen who sacrificed
their lives while serving the nation. He also
gave away President’s Police Medals for
Gallantry to DIG (CBI) GK Goswami, SP
(Shamli) Vijay Bhushan, inspector Ashok
Kumar Singh, Sunil Kumar Tyagi and constable Mahendra Pratap Singh.
Besides, Naik gave away the President’s
Police Medal for Commendable and
Distinguished Services to DG Sutapa
Sanyal, ADG Chandra Prakash, ADG
Daljeet Singh Chowdhary, ADG Subhash
Chandra, Retired DIG MD Karndhar,
retired DIG Syed Waseem Ahmed, Retd
DySP Akhileshwar Prakash Singh and
head constable Rakesh Prakash Mishra.
Earlier, Ram Naik took salute of the
ceremonial parade (Raitik Parade) led by
SSP (Lucknow) Rajesh Pande (first in command), ASP in Agra Vineet Jaiswal (second in command) and DySP in
Bulandshahr Dr Dharmendra Yadav (third
in command). The parade comprised
members of sixth group of Provincial
Armed Constabulary (PAC), E Platoon of
10th Battalion of PAC, C platoons of 32nd
and 35th Battalion PAC, G platoon of 37th
Battalion PAC, commandos of AntiTerrorists Squad (ATS), Mahila Police,
Traffic Police, Mounted Police, Fire
Services, Police Radio Headquarters etc.
Manoj Sinha hogs limelight
PNS ■ LUCKNOW
ith it becoming clear that
the one-day BJP state
W
working committee meeting
held on Friday could be the last
one to be presided over by
party’s state president
Laxmikant Bajpai, the man
who hogged the limelight was
Manoj Sinha, who is tipped to
be the next state chief of the
party.
That the wind of change
may start blowing after elections in three states was evident
by the way the leaders followed
Sinha, who is the junior
Railway Minister. When one
leader thrust his card in Sinha’s
hand, he said: “I know you Rai
sahib.” Sinha acknowledged all
leaders with a casual ‘namaste’
or a brief chat. When one
leader saw him having tea in a
paper cup, he made it an issue
and brought tea in a sparkling
white cup and saucer.
When this reporter asked
Sinha the most pertinent question, about possibility of his
being the next state president
of the Bharatiya Janata Party
and leading the party in the
2017 Assembly polls, he said: “I
do not react on speculations.
As you have heard about this,
I am also hearing this news.
There is no official communication to me.”
“Moreover, I have a responsibility. I am a minister and am
fully focused on this job. I am
not thinking about anything
else,” said Sinha, who is a
Member of Parliament from
Ghazipur.
When asked whether he
was willing to take the new
responsibility, Sinha said being
a soldier of the BJP, he was
ready to take up any role.
“I am a dedicated soldier of
the party. I have no choice per
se. Today I am a minister
because the party asked me to
be a minister and if tomorrow
the party says you take organisational post, I will take up that
too. I will not hesitate a minute
to resign from the ministry,” he
said. As he was talking to ‘The
Pioneer’, Sinha was swarmed by
leaders, big and small. Even BJP
legislators came forward to
whisper some golden words in
his ears.
“I know. People of that area
have told me,” Sinha told
Upendra Tiwari, the lawmaker from Fefna in Ballia district.
city 04
SCHOOLSCAN
CMS STUDENT SHINES
Manas Dixit a student of
City Montessori School, Aliganj
(Campus I) has been selected
for the finale of International
Finance Olympiad co-organized by Eduheal Foundation
and Bombay Stock Exchange
Ltd. Manas had performed
brilliantly in the first two
rounds of the Olympiad securing a place for himself in the
grand finale.
Ghonghabasant Sammelan tickles
funny bone of Lucknowites
Governor inaugurates Oriya Diwas
Masako Ono mesmerises
LUCKNOW
described as residing within the
human body - within each one
of us - coiled like a serpent at the
base of the spine. Kundalini literally means coiling like a
snake. This is a metaphor for the
spiralling energies of consciousness which move within
us when spiritual awakening
takes place. Becoming aware of
this Kundalini leads to the
he Oriya Diwas programme was organised by
T
the Lucknow Oriya Samaj and
the Ayodhya Shodh Sansthan
at the Sant Gadge auditorium
here on Friday.
It was inaugurated by
Governor Ram Naik, who said
that he was impressed by the
fact that the Oriya Samaj was
showcasing its cultural activities in Lucknow.
“Their first home is Orissa
and their second one is
Lucknow and they love both of
them. The people of other
states should also showcase
their cultures in the state capital which is a cultural capital,”
he said.
President of the Oriya
Samaj G Patnaik presented its
annual report and children
who had won competitions
throughout the year organised
by it were also felicitated on the
occasion. Secretary, Oriya
Samaj, DR Sahu said that the
function which was held annually celebrated the formation of
the state of Orissa and also high-
PNS ■ LUCKNOW
More city news on
Page 7
lighted the art and culture of the
Oriya Samaj.
Masako Ono and performing arts dancers Tania,
Sheersha and Rashmi mes-
PNS ■ LUCKNOW
ucknow
Development
Authority (LDA) claimed that
L
the ongoing dispute with
Prabhandanagar farmers was sorted out. With this, the work on the
proposed township project will
begin shortly.
In order to protest against the
development authority’s arbitrary
approach, the farmers had
launched an agitation three months
ago and prevented the entry of
LDA officers and engineers to the
proposed site and the work on the
township failed to take off.
Source said that the LDA wanted to build a township on the outskirts of the state capital at the estimated cost of `5,000 crore with well
designed green belt spreading over
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bone of the audience on the
occasion of All Fools’ Day at
Ravindralaya here on Friday.
The programme also witnessed the presence of the
Governor, Ram Naik, as the the
chief guest.
The hall burst into laughter when the main organiser of
the programme, Shyam Kumar,
came on the stage dressed as
Asaram Bapu. He announced
the name of the winners of the
Murkh Ratan awards which
included Salman Khursheed,
Mani Shankar Aiyar,,
Nayantara Sehgal, Sakshi
Maharaj, Shashi Tharoor and
Kanhaiya. The Dhenchu
Samman was awarded to Rahul
Gandhi.
Stating the reasons for
these people getting their
respective awards, he said
Nayantara was being awarded
for starting the whole trend of
returning the awards on the
debate of intolerance and
Shashi Tharoor for comparing
Kanhaiya with Bhagat Singh.
The Bedhab Banarsi Award
n
merised the audience with their
recital ‘Kundalini- The Divinity
Within’.
Talking about her recital,
Masako said “Kundalini is
finding of the divinity within,”
she said.
The music for this contemporary performance was
given by Pete Lockett and Louis
Banks and the choreography
was done by Masako Ono herself. The dance was given
vocal support by Binod Bihari
Panda, Bijaya Jena played the
violin,
Ramesh Das,
Swapneswar Chakrabarti and
Rabishankar Pradhan played
the sitar and Nityananda
Mohapatra, Abhiram Swain
Pakkhawaj Sachidananda Das
and Ratikanth Mohapatra
played the flute.
Row with farmers over, work on township set to start
'kqf) i= lwpuk
he
Ghonghabasant
Sammelan organised by
T
Rangbharti tickled the funny
300 acres. It is said to be the largest
one in the country.
The farmers’ grievance was
that they wanted a piece of land free
of cost along with the adequate
compensation. Their demand was
turned down by its officials as allotting the land was beyond their
powers. The agitation had delayed
the launching of the project by
eight months causing big loss to the
development authority. The issue
was sent to the state government
for its approval. Finally, the state
government asked the development
authority to reserve a portion of
land for farmers. The proposed
township will come up on 5,500
acres of land.
It was resolved at the governing body meeting to allocate plots
sizing 950 square feet. There are
about 400 farmers. According to
the rules, no formalities have to be
done on the plot below 1,000
square feet. The person who has
been allocated a plot of 1,000
square feet can construct a house
without the approval of the blueprint. LDA Vice-Chairman
Satyendra Singh said that after a
long persuasion, the state government approved the proposal of allocating plots to farmers. He categorical said that there would be
complete transparency in distributing the plots.
He added that farmers would
have to bring documents regarding
their land acquisition and appear
before a panel set for this purpose.
The procedure will begin in May
and will be finished within a
month.
Rajnath to inaugurate awareness programme
PNS ■ LUCKNOW
he Government of India has
launched a very ambitious proT
gramme, ‘Pradhan Mantri Fasal
Bima Yojana,’ for the benefit of farmers. An awareness programme on
this scheme will be inaugurated by
Union Home Minister Rajnath
Singh at the ICAR-Indian Institute
of Sugarcane Research here on
Saturday.
“A kisan sammelan and an
agricultural exhibition will also be
organised in which more than 4,000
farmers will participate. Member of
Parliament from Mohanlalganj parliamentary constituency Kaushal
Kishore will grace the occasion as
the guest of honour. The participating farmers will be acquainted
with the benefits of the Pradhan
Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana and other
on-going schemes of the government for the welfare of the farmers
of the country.
Robbery case worked
out; all four arrested
PIONEER NEWS SERVICE ■ LUCKNOW
olice on Friday claimed to have
work out the case of robbery which
P
was committed at the house of Rakesh
Kumar Verma, a resident of Sujanapura
locality falling under Alambagh police station, on the intervening night of March 3
and 4.
Police had arrested three accused in
the robbery case a fortnight ago. The fourth
accused, who was reported to be absconding, was also arrested in the wee hours of
Friday. With, this all the four accused
named in the FIR have been arrested.
The miscreants took away jewellery
worth a few lakhs of rupees, silver ornaments and `20,000 in cash,
In the incident, Verma, his wife and
children sustained serious injuries after
being thrashed by them. Police had arrested Verma’s two domestic helps Ramu and
Lalaram along with their accomplices a
fortnight ago.
The fourth accused identified as Atul
was stated to be absconding.
In the past few days, police had conducted several raids at his probable hideouts but failed to nab him. An information
was passed on to police on Thursday late
night stating that Atul was seen at a bus
stand in Sitapur. Police went into action
and arrested Atul at 5.15 am.
Police recovered from Atul’s possession
`1,400 which was stated to be his share of
the money robbed from Verma`s house.
He confessed the crime and said that conspiracy was hatched with the help of Ramu
and Lalaram. Police had also recovered the
stolen goods when the domestic servants
were arrested a fortnight ago.
EXTORTION CALL
Director, UP AIDS Control Board,
Hari Lal Rawat received an extortion call
on March 29 demanding a sum of `20 lakh
failing which his son would be killed.
Rawat lodged an FIR at Madiaon police
station on March 30 alleging that Mihir
Verma called him up and threatened him
that his son would be killed if the money
was not paid.
Mihir Verma is the son of Devidayal
Verma who is working as an auditor in the
office of the divisional commissioner,
Lucknow, and a resident of Triveni Nagar.
Police swung into action and found that
the sim card on which the call was made
was purchased on a fake ID. But the investigation officer on the basis of the charge
made in the FIR detained Mihir for interrogation.
Teacher’s purse snatched
LUCKNOW
he purse of a private school
teacher was snatched by
T
two unidentified miscreants at
Akansha
crossing
in
Janakipuram on Friday afternoon. Source said 19-year
Priya Singh, a resident of sector-I, Janakipuram, was
returning home after the
school was over. Two unidentified miscreants on a motorcycle snatched away the purse
containing ATM card, `800 in
cash and a mobile phone.
They escaped away before she
could raise an alarm.
TRAIN MISHAP
Ajay Kumar Singh, aged
40 and a resident of Jagatpur
in Rae Bareli, died after he
came under the wheels of a
running train near Jalalapur
railway crossing in Para area.
The body was found near the
railway tracks on Friday morning. It is not known how he
slipped from the running
train. He was identified from
Aadhaar card found in one of
his pockets. Source said that
deceased was going to
Saharanpur by Nauchandi
Express. Source said that the
deceased was working with a
private
company
at
Saharanpur.
ARRESTED
Sanjay, a resident of Mall,
was arrested on Friday for sexually assaulting a girl. Source
said he went to his neighbour`s house by scaling the
wall. The girl was alone in the
house as her family members
went to attend a function in a
nearby village. He sexually
assaulted the girl and also
threatened not to disclose the
incident to any person. But she
mustered courage and later
informed her father. The father
lodged a complaint on Friday
and was arrested by afternoon.
THEFT
A theft was committed in
the house of Kamlesh Shukla,
a resident of Saidham falling in
Indira Nagar area. The
unidentified miscreants
entered the house by breaking
open the locks. They took
away the jewellery, silver orna-
ments, household goods and
clothes worth rupees a lakh.
Source said that she left for her
in-law’s house on March 22.
She was surprised to see the
house in disorder and goods
and other valuables missing.
She lodged an FIR at the
Indira Nagar police station.
INJURED
Suraj Pal Yadav, aged 55
and a resident of Kamalpur village in Banthra, sustained serious wounds when four
unidentified miscreants shot
several rounds on him near his
house. Yadav’s son Munna
said that his father was going
to the court to seek bail for his
brother Ghuppu who was in
jail for his involvement in a
double murder case. He
alleged in the FIR that Vinod
Yadav, Sandeep Yadav and his
bother in-law Sumit Yadav
and their unidentified accomplices were involved in the
shooting incident. The injured
was rushed to Balrampur
Hospital where his condition
was stated to be critical but out
of danger. No one was arrested so far.
CITYBRIEFS
WEATHER
was given to the famous stand
-up comedian from the
Laughter Challenge Show,
Pratap Faujdar from Mumbai.
The poet set the tone for the
evening with his composition.
Poet Sudip Bhola from
New Delhi said, ‘Sansad na hui
parchoon ki dukan ho gayee.
Gandhi Baba teri khaadi badnaam ho gayee.’
Poet
Aniruddha
Maweshiya from Mumbai had
the audience in splits with his
composition. ‘Aajkal hasana
muskurana bahut zaroori ho
gaya hai nahin to aadmi turant
pooch leta hai Congress ke
aadmi ho kya.’
Amit Anpad from
Lucknow recited the following
verse. ‘Samjhauta deshhit se
kabhi bhi ho nahin sakta,
tumhare sir taaj PM ka ho
nahin sakta,’ in reference to
Rahul Gandhi.
Poet Danda from Bijnore
recited the following verse,
‘Paisa bhi legi aur na harjai
karegi, sarkari police hai yeh
bewafai karegi.’ Shyam Kumar
himself recited the following
verse, ‘Farzi secularwad mitega, rashtravad jag jayega, goongi janta bol uthegi, loktantra tab
ayega.’.
Cloudy weather prevailed in the city on
Friday due to the presence of western disturbance over Pakistan and its neighbouring
areas. The Meteorological Department has forecast clear skies on Saturday. The city recorded
a maximum temperature of 38.3 degrees
Celsius which was two degrees above normal
and a minimum temperature of 19.3 degrees
Celsius which was one degree above normal.
Talking to ‘The Pioneer’, director JP Gupta said:
“The cloudy weather on Friday was due to the
western disturbance over Pakistan and its
neighbouring areas. The skies will, however,
become clear on Saturday.” The local forecast
for Lucknow and its neighbourhood is mainly
clear sky with the maximum and the minimum
temperatures being 38 degrees Celsius and 18
degrees Celsius respectively. The state forecast
is that the weather will remain dry over the state.
BOOK CORNER
Sanatkada will be launching a ‘Ram Advani
Book Corner’ on Saturday. “Our panel of invited speakers will read chosen readings in Hindi,
English and Urdu. The theme: Work written
at least 100 years before or set in a period 100
years before at least. We hope to have a short
open session too,” said Madhavi Kukreja from
Sanatkada. “The book corner will have second
hand books gifted to Sanatkada by its many
friends. Books will be sold at throwaway prices
(Rs 200, Rs 100). The idea is to share great
works and the gift of books. The contribution
so collected will support cultural activities held
at Sanatkada ka Adda,” she said.
SATSANG
Gurdwara Satsang Sabha will be organising the Khalsa Satsang Sabha on April 3, 10,
14, 15, 16 and 17.
nation 05
RAPE VICTIM MENTALLY CHALLENGED
Cong moves LS ethics panel against Minister
Trial under POCSO or
not? SC to take call A
Alleges that an absconding murder accused
was present at his residence last month
PNS n NEW DELHI
PNS n NEW DELHI
he Supreme Court on
Friday set out to examine
T
whether a man who rapes or
sexually abuses a mentally challenged victim can be punished
under the stringent provisions
of Protection of Children from
Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act
2012 as such victims have an
under-developed brain like
that of a child.
The occasion for the court
to examine this question came
on a petition by a Delhi-based
doctor whose daughter of 38
years with cerebral palsy was
raped by a man in the year
2010. Due to the impact of the
gruesome incident, the victim’s mental capacity drastically
reduced from that of an 8-year
old to a three-year old toddler.
This made the recording of her
statement before a Magistrate
extremely difficult.
Although the Delhi Police
proceeded with filing
Govt asks Indians
not to travel to
Yemen in any
circumstances
PTI n NEW DELHI
ndia on Friday strongly
advised its nationals to avoid
Itravelling
in “any circumstances, by any means, for any
purpose” to war-torn Yemen,
where an Indian nun has been
killed and a priest abducted in
recent attacks.
Asserting that the security situation in Yemen continues to remain fragile, the
External Affairs Ministry in its
advisory said, “In light of the
recent terrorist attacks in
Aden, which resulted in killing
of an Indian nun and abduction of one priest, Indian
nationals are again strongly
advised to avoid travelling to
Yemen under any circumstances by any means for any
purpose till further notice.”
The Ministry also said
that it had already issued
number of travel advisories
wherein Indian nationals have
been advised to refrain from
undertaking travel to Yemen
in view of the precarious security situation in the country.
Tom Uzhunnalil, a priest
from Kerala, was abducted by
after the Islamic State militant
group, which attacked a care
home run by Mother Teresa’s
Missionaries of Charity.
Gunmen had stormed the
refuge for the elderly earlier
this month and killed a
Yemeni guard before tying up
and shooting 15 other
employees.
Four foreign nuns, including an Indian, working as
nurses were among those
killed.
chargesheet against the accused
under Section 376(2)(L) of the
Indian Penal Code (sexual
assault with a mentally or physically challenged victim), the
victim’s mother approached the
Delhi High Court to allow
shifting of the case to the Special
Court trying POSCO cases.
The High Court in June last year
turned down the request forcing the 60-year old mother to
approach the Supreme Court.
Issuing notice on the peti-
tion, a bench of Justices Dipak
Misra and Shiva Kirti Singh
sought responses from the
Delhi Government and the
accused. The court was convinced by the argument of the
petitioner that the mental age
of the victim should be taken
as the criteria for classifying an
offence under POSCO instead
of the chronological age.
The petition filed by advocate Aishwarya Bhati said, “In
view of her present functional
age of three to four years following the heinous crime and
her previous functional age of
8-10 years, the matter be transferred to the Special Court
established under POSCO Act
as she remains a child in the
interest of justice.”
The POSCO Act prescribes
specific offences of sexual abuse
and assault and the punishment
becomes aggravated in cases
where the victim is mentally ill
or where the accused is in a
position of trust or authority.
fter the BJP, it’s the
Congress’ turn now to
move the Lok Sabha Ethics
Committee. The Congress has
approached the panel seeking
“expulsion” of Union Minister
Jitendra Singh over reports
alleging that an absconding
murder accused was present at
his residence last month. It said
it is a “serious” matter that
adversely impacts Parliament’s
dignity.
The move comes close on
the heels of the BJP complaining to the panel about Congress
vice president Rahul Gandhi’s
alleged British citizenship. The
panel had served notice to
Rahul, who replied on March 23.
In a petition to the panel
headed by LK Advani, that is
also examining the complaint
against Rahul, the AICC cited
media reports about presence
of a murder accused of 2013
Kishtwar communal clashes
Hari Kishan alias Kasooru at
the residence of Singh, who is
Minister of State in Prime
Minister’s Office.
It was also reported that a
Constitutional institution,” the
AICC said in the petition.
“It is unbelievable that
Singh had no acquaintance or
familiarity with Kasooru, more
so, when he (Kasooru) is a local
BJP leader of Paddar, which is
part of his Parliamentary constituency and has campaigned
for him and other BJP leaders.
Kasooru was neither a stranger
nor an outsider to Singh.
“...It is a clear case of giving protection to an accused
person, who is involved in
serious crimes. This act of
Singh is totally unethical and
contrary to high standards of
morality, dignity, decency and
value in public life as required
under the Code of Conduct of
a Member of Parliament,” the
AICC alleged in the petition.
THE MOVE COMES
CLOSE ON THE
HEELS OF THE BJP
COMPLAINING TO
THE PANEL ABOUT
CONGRESS VICE
PRESIDENT RAHUL
GANDHI’S ALLEGED
BRITISH CITIZENSHIP.
THE PANEL HAD
SERVED NOTICE TO
RAHUL, WHO REPLIED
ON MARCH 23
‘No sabotage from CRPF
in Dantewada killings’
PNS n NEW DELHI
RPF Director General K
Durga Prasad on Friday
C
ruled out any sabotage or leakage of information from within
the force or from other security forces about the movement of
the seven paramilitary personnel killed at Melawada in
Dantewada on Wednesday.
He said the Naxals had
planned a “deliberate ambush”
and brutally killed seven of its
troops, travelling to deliver a
cooler for an ailing sniffer dog,
in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada
and a court of inquiry is on to
find out how the information
of the “secret” movement was
leaked.
Prasad said the landmine
blast that took place near the
Melawada village on March 30
was a “setback” for the paramilitary and they are looking
at new measures and protocols
to “avoid” such incidents in the
future.
“However, there will be no
knee-jerk reactions. We will
take considered action,” he told
reporters here.
The DG, who came back to
the force headquarters here
after a visit to the ambush spot
on Thursday, said the Naxals
shot from a “close range” three
jawans after they were thrown
out of the vehicle by the impact
of the blast and lay almost lifeless on the road.
“No one was supposed to
know this. But some one saw
their movement and then passed
on the information (to Naxals),”
he said.
Prasad said he would not
like to hazard a guess from
where the information was
leaked as the TATA-709 vehicle
which was sent to fetch an air
cooler for an ailing Belgian
Malinois patrol dog of the force
could have been “spotted” while
either leaving the force camp at
a place called Renganar or from
a market place from where four
more troops, who were going to
their camp after leave, boarded
the ill-fated four-wheeler.
Seven Central Reserve
Police Force men were killed in
the deadly blast carried out by
Maoists that left a massive sixfeet deep crater on the road in
the worst Maoist violenceaffected Dantewada district of
the State.
The CRPF boss said it is suspected that Naxals dug a “fox
hole tunnel” from near a culvert
to plant almost 40-50kgs of
explosive beneath the ‘pucca’
black top road.
From April 14, on the 125th birth
anniversary of Ambedkar
PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n
NEW DELHI
ontinuing with its agenda
of pro-rural push, the NDA
C
Government is embarking on
an 11-day ‘Gram Uday Se
Bharat Uday Abhiyan’ (Village
Self Governance campaign)
from April 14, on the 125th
birth anniversary of Dalit legend Bhimrao Ambedkar.
The mega campaign which
aims to generate nation-wide
efforts to enhance social harmony across villages, strengthen panchayati raj, promote
rural development and foster
farmers’ progress will be kicked
off by Prime Minister Narender
Modi from Ambedkar’s hometown Mhow in Madhya
Pradesh.
Sharing details with
reporters here, Union Minister
for Rural Development,
Panchayati Raj and Drinking
Water and Sanitation Birender
Singh said, the campaign will
culminate on April 24, marked
as National Panchayati Raj Day
with Modi’s address to all the
gram sabhas across the country from Jamshedpur.
The event will be beamed
to all the villages across the
States.
The 2016-17 Budget,
which the Government has
termed as pro-poor and pro-
rural, will act as a reference
point for the people in the villages, said the Minister.
During the 11-day long
campaign, special event ‘Social
Harmony Programme’ will be
conducted in all gram panchayats in collaboration with
Ministry of Panchayati Raj and
the Ministry of Social Justice
and Empowerment. In this
programme, villagers will hon-
PNS n NEW DELHI
iger State Madhya Pradesh
is all set to have world’s first
T
White Tiger Safari. These rare
Union Minister of Urban Development, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation and Parliamentary Affairs Venkaiah Naidu with
Union Minister of Chemicals and Fertilisers Ananth Kumar and State president Prahlad Joshi during the inauguration of the
BJP State Executive Committee meeting in Bengaluru on Friday
PTI
our Ambedkar and resolve to
strengthen social harmony, the
Minister added.
Subsequently, between
April 17- 20 ‘Village Farmer
Assemblies’ will be organised in
gram panchayats with an aim
to promote agriculture. In these
assemblies, information regarding schemes regarding agriculture such as the Fasal Bima
Yojna, Social Health Card etc.
will be provided to farmers and
their suggestions for bringing
about improvements in agriculture will be sought.
Preceding the main event
of gram sabha meetings for
Panchayati Raj Day, a national meeting of tribal women
gram panchayat presidents
from Fifth schedule areas of ten
States will be held at Vijaywada,
focusing on panchayat and
tribal development.
this gene mutation or the
hereditar y chromosomal
change.
Yet, It shares the same
zoological name is Panthera
tigris tigris as its yellow counterpart. Both are believed to
come from the same stock, said
the experts. Even their habit
and the habitat are the same,
and so is their life cycle ranging from 16-20 years.
With this event, the NDA
Government aims to penetrate
deep into the hinterland, rural
areas and Tier-2 towns and
showcase its achievements of
the last two years since its coming to power.
In this direction, the rural
people will be made aware of
the schemes aimed for their
development, said the Minister.
In the Budget 2016-17, the
Government has already taken
initiatives for development of
agriculture and the rural sector
in the country.
Agriculture and farmers’
welfare have received a sum of
`35,984 crores and for rural
development as a whole an
amount of `87,765 crores has
been assigned in the Budget for
2016-17. Apart from this, a
sum of `38,500 crores has been
allocated for MGNREGS.
Three-fold hike in entry
fee for Archaeological
Survey monuments
ow shell out more to pay
for entry tickets for 116
N
monuments under the
in December 18, 1969, a holiday was declared in local
schools and markets were
closed as a mark of respect for
the dead white tiger.
The white feline since then
had become a subject of
research by wildlife biologists,
said the experts. For the
researchers at large, the mystery is how the yellow tiger
turned white, and what caused
New Delhi: The Government has
decided against processing fresh
recommendations made by 10
High Courts for appointment of
110 additional judges till the
Supreme Court ratifies the
revised draft of the
memorandum of procedure
(MoP) that will guide future
appointments to the higher
judiciary. Official sources said
chief justices of 10 high courts
have recommended the names
of 110 candidates — from the
State judicial services and the
Bar — for appointment as
additional judges.
ED ATTACHES `120-CR
SITTING MLA’S ASSETS
New Delhi: After veteran NCP
leader Chhagan Bhujbal and his
family, another party leader in
Maharashtra came under the
scanner of ED which on
Thursday attached assets worth
`120 crore of sitting MLA
Ramesh Kadam in a case of
alleged embezzlement of over
`300 crore in a state-run
corporation. Kadam, a Nationalist
Congress Party MLA from the
Mohol seat in Solapur, has been
the President of the Lokshahir
Annabhau Sathe Development
Corporation between August,
2012 and December, 2014,
during which, the ED alleged he
along with other officials of the
corporation allegedly
misappropriated large amounts.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court
on Friday failed to come to the
rescue of a Delhi Police head
constable PK Salim who sought
compensation for the reputation
loss suffered by him and his
family after a video circulated on
PNS n NEW DELHI
Govindgarh with its white
tigers caught attention from far
and wide. In 1960, US
expressed its interest in white
tiger following which a delegation visited Rewa. The white
tigress “Mohini” reached
Washington from Govindgarh
and the then US President W
D Eisenhower was known to
have received her.
Further, when Mohan died
GOVT PUTS SELECTION OF
110 ADDL JUDGES ON HOLD
NO SC RELIEF FOR DELHI
POLICE CONSTABLE
Govt to launch Gram Uday Se Bharat Uday Abhiyan
World’s first White Tiger Safari to open in MP
felines are being reared in
Mukundpur Zoo and Rescue
Centre in Satna district of
Rewa division. It will be dedicated to the public on April 3,
by Environment Minister
Prakash Javadekar and other
senior Ministers.
Elated over the development, sources informed that
the zoo will have three white
tigers, including a male named
Raghu and two females —
Vindhya and Radha.
The charisma of white
tigers had been mesmerising
since it was first spotted in the
region in 1951. As per legend,
the then King Maharaj
Martand Singh during his
hunting trip, found a white
tiger cub from a cave near
River Komar in the Vindhyan
region. It was brought to the
Govindgarh Palace, where it
was tamed and named
“Mohan”.
BJP MLA, who took Kasooru
to Singh’s residence, was also
named in police records.
When contacted, Jitendra
Singh dismissed the allegations,
saying “as elected representatives, we are expected to meet
any public deputation that seeks
appointment and this particular deputation was led by three
MLAs including one exMinister of Jammu & Kashmir
who came to present a memorandum regarding demand for
scheduled tribe status.”
He outright rejected the
Congress charge that he “sheltered” the accused. Earlier too,
he had denied any connection
with Kasooru.
Submitting copies of the
newspaper reports as well as
the purported case documents,
AICC Legal Department
Secretary KC Mittal alleged
that the conduct of the Minister
in allowing the wanted accused
to surface at his residence and
having a photograph with him
was “unethical”.
“The facts in public
domain are of serious nature,
having adverse impact on the
dignity of Parliament, a prime
In its complaint, the AICC
claimed that Kasooru, a local
leader from Paddar and nine
others were accused in an FIR
of “murdering” a 52 year-oldLassa Khandey during the 2013
communal riots that took place
in Kishtwar, Jammu & Kashmir
in 2013.
The AICC urged the panel
to “take cognizance of the
facts” and the evidence
annexed and “expel” Union
Minister Singh as MP or pass
any other order, which may be
considered appropriate keeping
in view the nature of allegation.
INSHORT
Archaeological Survey of India
(ASI). The Union Culture
Ministry on Friday effected a
three-fold hike in the entry fee
for the monuments for domestic visitors and 100 per cent for
foreign tourists.
For the 32 ‘World Heritage
Monuments’, the ticket price
has been increased to `30
from `10 for the domestic
visitor, while the entry fee for
foreign nationals has been
hiked to `500 from `250.
As natives from South
Asian Association for Regional
Cooperation (SAARC) and
Bay of Bengal Initiative for
Multi-Sectoral Technical and
Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) countries are treated at
par with Indians, hence they
will charged similarly.
For monuments other than
the World Heritage ones, the
entry fee has been increased
three-fold to `15 from `5 for
the domestic visitor, while foreigners will have to pay `200
against `100.
“The enhancement comes
after a period of more than 15
years as the last increase took
place in 2000...The enhanced
rates are at par with entry fee
at monuments abroad,” the
official added.
Justifying the move, the
official said this would not only
boost the economy of the sector but also help in providing
better services and amenities to
tourists.
Last year, the Ministry
had announced that it would
implement the hike in entry
fee for monuments across the
country from November 1
but it was postponed due to
pressure from the tourism
lobby.
CBI begins handing
over Pearls group
asset documents
to Lodha panel
PNS n NEW DELHI
he CBI on Friday started
the process of handing over
T
documents of over `5,000 crore
worth of assets and 79 luxury
cars of Pearls’ Group, seized by
it, to the special committee of
SEBI that will liquidate the
properties in order to refund
money to the defrauded
investors.
CBI sources said the
agency had recovered about
20,000 documents related to
the group’s properties estimated to be worth `5,000 crore
which was said to be in addition to the 66 offices located in
upscale localities in the national capital.
The agency had also taken
into its possession original
documents of 79 luxury cars
from PGF and PACL which
included Rolls Royce, Porsche
Cayene, Bentley, BMW 7-series
and handed over the documents to the committee.
The sources said `108
crore which has been frozen by
CBI and deposited at the Delhi
High Court in the case has also
been transferred to the SEBI
account.
The Supreme Court on
February 2 had appointed the
expert committee headed by
the former Chief Justice of
India RM Lodha to monitor
the sales of assets and refund of
money to the investors of
PACL.
Meanwhile, bail pleas by
Pearls group executives
Gurmeet Singh and Subroto
Bhattacharya were rejected by
a sessions court here.
The Securities and
Exchange Board of India
(SEBI) has initiated recovery
proceedings against PACL Ltd
and its promoters and directors, including Nirmal Singh
Bhangoo, for their failure to
refund `49,100 crore to
investors.
social media portrayed him as a
drunkard while travelling in the
Metro train when actually he had
suffered bouts of fit. The apex
bench of Justices JS Khehar and
C Nagappan said that it was
nobody’s fault as the video was
not doctored. The Delhi Police,
which initially suspended him,
later took him back on realising
that the alleged “swaying and
collapsing” in a metro coach
was on account of a major
blockage in his brain.
SC DISMISSES INCREASE IN
JUDGES RETIREMENT AGE
on Friday declined a PIL for
increasing retirement age of
apex court judges who
superannuate at the age of 65. A
bench headed by Chief Justice
TS Thakur felt that the issue
stands settled by the
Constitution and it cannot be
looked into. The petition was
filed by a law student Vibhor
Anand. The Court requested for
withdrawal of the petition while
appreciating the enthusiasm
behind filing such a petition.
SC NIXES NETAS ASSETS
VERIFICATION PETITION
dismissed a petition filed by
eminent citizens of the country
demanding verification of assets
declaration by election
candidates contesting
Parliament and Assembly polls.
The bench headed by Chief
Justice TS Thakur found the
petition impractical as the
Election Commission presently
has no mechanism to verify
asset details. Moreover, it will be
a gigantic task given the fact that
thousands of candidates take
part in the election process. The
petition filed by former top cops
Julio Ribiero, Prakash Singh,
former CAG Vijay Shunglu, Air
Chief Marshal S Krishnaswamy
among 13 other former
bureaucrats and academicians
had alleged that elections had
become a reserve of wealthy
candidates whose assets need
to be verified.
LUCKNOW METRO TO GET
LOAN OF 450 MN EUROS
New Delhi: Lucknow Metro will
get a loan assistance of 450
million Euros (`3,502 crore)
from European Investment
Bank (EIB) for its Phase-1A
project. An agreement in this
regard was signed in Brussels
on March 30, 2016 in the
presence of Prime Minister
Narendra Modi during his visit
to the Belgium capital. The loan
amount will be released in two
tranches of 200 million Euros
and 250 million Euros. The
22.878 km long Lucknow Metro
phase-1A project envisaging
cost of `6,928 crore was
approved last year in December,
as per official statement on
Friday.
the pioneer
06
city/nation 07
NHRC seeks report on
B'khand people's plight
PNS ■ LUCKNOW
ational Human Rights
Commission has taken
suo motu cognisance
of media reports about the
deplorable condition in which
the people are living in the
drought-hit districts of
Bundelkhand region in Uttar
Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
The reports say the people
of this region face scarcity of
food and are starving to death.
In an official communiqué
released on Friday, the NHRC
pointed to media reports of
March 28, 2016 that exposed
the plight of the poor inhabitants of the Bundelkhand
region. It said if the reports
were true, they raised serious
issues of violation of human
rights to life, equality and dignity of the people.
The NHRC has issued
notices to the chief secretaries
of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya
Pradesh, seeking detailed
reports within four weeks.
The media reports said
that the people in Bundelkhand
were forced to eat chapatis
either with salt or potato as the
gram and pulses crops have
failed in the absence of rain.
Most of the people of this
region belong to Scheduled
Tribes and they do not have
their own land. According to
media reports, There are no
irrigation facilities and the
crops depend only on rain.
Even schools are not running
and the students are being
deprived of mid-day meal.
N
There is no work for villagers
under MNREGA.
Earlier in the month of
December, 2015 also, the media
had reported that the people in
the drought-hit Bundelkhand
region were forced to eat chapatis made of grass.
The NHRC also took a
serious note of the lackadaisical attitude of six states in the
rehabilitation of 740 bonded
child labourers rescued from
various parts of Rajasthan during March, 2013 an July, 2014.
These states include Uttar
Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar,
Jharkhand, West Bengal, and
NCT of Delhi.
Notices have been issued
for specific actions to the concerned authorities in all the six
states with directions to submit
action taken reports within
eight weeks without fail.
During its inquiry, the
NHRC found that 740 child
labourers were rescued -- 610
from Bihar and 130 from
Jharkhand, West Bengal, UP,
Delhi and Rajasthan -- but
release certificates were issued
for only 456 children from
Bihar. The children were not
given copies of the release certificate by the authorities in
Rajasthan. Release certificates
for 284 rescued bonded child
labourers were yet to be issued
despite it being essential for
starting the rehabilitation
process by the district administration concerned.
NHRC member, Justice
(Retd) D Murugesan, has
observed that no heed has
been paid to the miseries of the
children.
The issue of the rescue of
child labourers is not merely an
instance of employing a child
in violation of laws, it is more
heinous in nature as the children are taken from one state
to another, which cannot happen without the involvement of
human/child traffickers, he
observed.
He also observed that no
report had been submitted by
the state agencies of the six state
governments regarding the
action taken plan to curb the
menace of child trafficking,
which requires to be handled
with a coordinated approach to
prevent such instances in
future, adding that this
required impartial and transparent investigation.
Notices have been issued to
the Chief Secretar y and
Director General of Police of
Rajasthan to get the cases of
740 rescued child bonded
labourers investigated through
CB-CID.
A notice has also been
issued to the Labour
Commissioner of Rajasthan,
calling for an action taken
report indicating the reasons
for non-issue of the release certificates and steps taken for
recovery of outstanding wages
and rehabilitation amount from
the employers concerned,
including `20,000 for each rescued child and penal action
against the offenders involved
in child labour and child
trafficking.
Efforts on to make Lucknow Metro a
cost-effective project : Kumar Keshav
SHARMILA KRISHNA ■ LUCKNOW
anaging director, Lucknow Metro Rail Corporation
M(LMRC), Kumar Keshav said that it was making its
best efforts to make the Metro project a cost-effective
one. The managing director said that their focus was on
finishing the project within its scheduled time so that its
cost remained within the estimate projected in its
Detailed Project Report. He said that with the project
moving fast they had already gained the confidence of
the contractors.
Talking about the measures that they were taking
to make the project cost-effective, he said: “Our main
aim is that the project should be completed within its
scheduled time with the result that the cost of the
construction remained within the budget. The project
is thus moving extremely fast with the result that we
are able to win the confidence of the contractors,” said
Keshav.
He added that he made it a point to ensure that 80
per cent of the payments to the contractors were
released within two days and the remaining within 20
days. “When the payments are made fast the
contractor is able to carry forth the project. There are
several Metros where the delay has caused an
increase in the cost of construction,” he added.
He pointed out that with the confidence that they
gained from the contractors they had been able to get
the values for the different contracts below the values
mentioned in the Detailed Project Report. “We have
been able to get the contracts below the DPR values
because the contractors see for themselves that the
project is moving fast,” he added.
The managing director said that among the other
cost- effective measures that they had taken were that
they had not touched the contingency fund. “The
Corporation has been very particular about the fact
that it has not touched the contingency fund at all,” he
said. Keshav said that in terms of operation and
maintenance they were adopting a balanced approach.
“We are using a balanced approach wherein we will
take in a minimum strength of manpower to reduce
the costs. We will outsource for the other works in the
operation and maintenance,” he said.
The LMRC is the priority project of the state
government and trials for the priority sections are
slated to begin in October-November this year.
SC seeks CBI’s response on ex-UP
babu Neera Yadav’s bail plea
PTI n NEW DELHI
he Supreme Court on Friday
sought response from CBI
on a plea seeking bail for Uttar
Pradesh’s former Chief Secretary
Neera Yadav, who is convicted
in the Noida plot scam.
A bench headed by V
Gopala Gowda issued notice to
CBI and tagged her petition
challenging the Allahabad High
Court order of 2010, upholding
her conviction and four year
sentence with other related petitions pending before the apex
court.
“Issue notice to respondents (CBI). The main petition
is tagged with other matters
pending before other bench,”
the bench also comprising
Justice Arun Mishra said.
Counsel appearing for
Yadav said she has been convicted in the case and is currently in judicial custody.
He sought bail for Yadav
and informed the court that
T
The 1971 batch IAS
officer, Yadav, who
went on to become
UP’s first woman
Chief Secretary
during the
Samajwadi’s
government in 2005,
took voluntary
retirement in 2008.
The CBI probe was
ordered by the
Supreme Court on a
petition filed by
Noida Entrepreneurs
Association
another bench of the apex court
is seized of the pending matters.
Meanwhile, a bench headed by Justice PC Ghose, deferred
Yadav’s petition challenging of
recent High Court order
upholding her second conviction and sentence for hearing on
April 4.
Yadav has moved apex
court challenging last year’s
order of Allahabad High Court
convicting her and recently surrendered before a CBI court in
Ghaziabad on March 14.
On March 28, an apex court
judge Justice RK Agrawal had
recused himself from hearing
her appeal against High Court
order. Yadav was convicted for
the second time in the Noida
land scam and sentenced for
three years imprisonment.
In her first conviction, she
had got a four-year sentence in
December 2010 for illegally
allotting land to an industry
when she was Noida CEO.
Her second conviction was
in a case pertaining to making
illegal allotments of lands to relatives, bureaucrats and politicians.
A CBI court in Ghaziabad
had convicted Yadav and senior
IAS officer Rajeev Kumar in
2012 in a Noida plot scam that
took place between 1994 and
1995 and sentenced them to
three years’ imprisonment.
Yadav was the CEO of Noida
Authority at then and Kumar
was her deputy.
The 1971 batch IAS officer,
AMC to celebrate 252nd anniv tomorrow
Lucknow (PNS): The AMC Centre
and College will celebrate its 252nd
anniversary on April 3. A host of events
have been organised for the annual function. They started with a badminton
championship, a friendly volleyball
match between officers of AMC followed by the AMC Golf Cup at
Mauribagh Environmental Park and
Training Area (MEPTA) in Lucknow
Cantonment where a large number of
veteran officers and eminent civilian
dignitaries graced the occasion. Later, a
fascinating magic show was also organ-
ised by the AMC Centre at their open
air auditorium. Lt Col Nagesh Reddy,
a serving officer of AMC and an eminent magician, displayed his wonderful
skills which left the spectators spellbound. AMC celebrates April 3 as its
Corps Day to commemorate the formation of the Indian Army Medical
Corps in the year 1943 though the presence of medical fraternity in the Army
can be traced back to January 1, 1764,
when the commissioning of the first
Indian doctor had taken place in the
erstwhile Bengal Medical Corps.
AERB seals CT scan, X-ray
units of Balrampur Hosp
Lucknow (PNS): X-ray and CT scan units in Balrampur Hospital remained
closed on Friday as the authorities failed to submit the approval for running
these units to the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB).
A team of AERB found large-scale anomalies during inspection of
Balrampur Hospital. It found that the hospital did not possess registration certificates necessary for running CT scan and X-ray units. The hospital was running these units without the certificates for the last 10 years. The AERB team
sealed both the units and banned CT scan and X-ray examinations in the hospital. On Thursday, the hospital administration had applied online for these certificates and claimed that the units would work normally on Friday. But no CT
scan and X-ray examinations could be made on Friday and the patients had to
return disappointed. The hospital staff advised them to go to the KG Medical
University hospital for these examinations.
Chief Medical Superintendent, Dr Rajeev Lochan, said the hospital
administration had completed the necessary formalities and submitted the needed documents to the department concerned. He said both the units would start
functioning soon.
The digital X-ray unit in the Dental department of Ram Manohar Lohia
Hospital are also lying defunct for the past few days. The patients who came
to the dental OPD on Friday were asked to either wait or get the X-ray done
from outside. The hospital administration said they would get the machine
repaired soon.
Yadav, who went on to become
UP’s first woman Chief
Secretary
during
the
Samajwadi’s government in
2005, took voluntary retire-
ment in 2008. The CBI probe
was ordered by the Supreme
Court on a petition filed by
Noida
Entrepreneurs’
Association in 1997.
opinion 08
www.dailypioneer.com
paper with passion
Criminal callousness
Heads should roll over Kolkata flyover tragedy
hile the loss of life and property in the aftermath of the Kolkata flyover
collapse is saddening, what it shocking is that the incident follows a predictable and avoidable pattern. The blame-game began quickly after the
collapse: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress Government shifted the onus on its predecessor, the Left Front, which had sanctioned the project during its last days in power. The Left, led by the Communist Party of India
(Marxist), in turn sought to bring in the British via the Howrah Bridge, asking
if the Government would haul in the former colonisers if that iconic structure
fell today! The absurdity of this narrative notwithstanding, two aspects deserve
attention: First, Banerjee cannot escape responsibility. She has been in power
for five years now, and while no one is denying that she inherited a bad situation, one cannot ignore that she made it worse in just about every sector of governance. Second, there is still enough blame to be placed at the doorsteps of
not just both the State parties but also Union Governments, which have partially funded the project. The Hyderabad-based company building the flyover, IVRCL,
was kept on the project even though it had been red-flagged by several State
Governments and even Indian Railways. The Centre and the Calcutta Metropolitan
Development Authority, reportedly,
had reservations about the company
but still went ahead with it, mostly
because the officials weren't sure if
they could find a builder to replace
IVRCL, especially when much of the
work had been done. The question
here is: Why was IVRCL given the project in the first place? Simple answer:
It was the lowest bidder. This is a systemic problem with the Government
being penny wise, pound foolish.
Thankfully, at the Centre, the Modi
Government is now changing this, so
as to ensure better quality and timely completion. In Kolkata, the flyover
situation also seems to have been
made worse by Banerjee's rush to
complete the project. IVRCL won the
contract in 2009 and was expected to
finish the work in 2010, but repeatedly missed its deadlines — in part because
it was only given permission to work for five hours a day. In November 2015,
Banerjee announced that the project would be completed by February this year.
This was an impossible deadline given that at least 25 per cent of the work was
still to be done. The deadline was shifted again to August this year even as IVRCL
remained under pressure. This is possibly why its engineers did not pay attention to the weakening of the scaffolding (one of the factors that experts believe
caused the collapse), even after several bolts fell out of the bridge.
Notably, this is the second bridge in the State to collapse in three years; in
March 2013, a portion of the Ultadanga flyover collapsed into a canal. Such incidents are tragically common across the country. Bridges and buildings, roads
and canals, collapse all the time, and almost always the core problems are the
same — Greed and corruption, furthered by a vile nexus between builders, promoters, bureaucrats and politicians. There is a one-word solution to all of this:
Accountability. Those who toy with the lives of innocents must be made to pay,
and dearly so. Heads must roll.
W
A dangerous reluctance
UN can’t continue dodging terrorism definition
e may have been repeating himself, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi is
right in re-emphasising that the United Nations seems clueless on how to
define terrorism. This is not just a question of semantics; unless the UN
comes to an agreement on what constitutes terrorism, there is no way a unified global effort to combat the menace is going to be realised, let alone succeed. The Prime Minister's reminder came while he spoke with the Indian community in Brussels, where he had gone to attend the India-EU meet. His remarks
came on the heels of the terror attack in that city late last month. Later, in the
US for the nuclear security summit, Modi reiterated the thought: “Terrorism is
globally networked. But, we still act only nationally to counter this threat.” The
failure of the international community to find common ground on what precisely constitutes terrorism has given space to various state and non-state actors
to define terrorism as per their convenience. Pakistan, for example, does not
consider the militancy it has been promoting in Jammu & Kashmir as an act of
terror but a ‘legitimate struggle to free Kashmir from India'. Its patronage of antiIndia terror organisations such as the
Lashkar-e-Tayyeba and the Jaish-eMohammed too escapes the accusation (in the eyes of certain nations) of
fomenting terrorism. This has given
rise to the ‘good terrorist, bad terrorist' syndrome, helping state sponsors
of terrorism to make hay. The blur on
what defines terrorism has also
helped those such as China to keep
blocking New Delhi's attempt in the
UN to name the likes of Masood Azhar
as a designated terrorist. According
to reports, Beijing has for the second
time foiled India's move in this direction, asking a UN panel to defer, for
the moment, India's proposal to
name and ban Masood Azhar as a terrorist. Of course, it is unlikely that
China will do anything adverse against
Pakistan. But it is an unsettling thought that China should equate a ban on a
known Pakistani terrorist with acting against Pakistan's interests. If anything,
this goes to prove the link between Masood Azhar and Islamabad.
Prime Minister Modi had given a call to the United Nations to adopt a global convention on terrorism, in his speech to the UN General Assembly back in
September 2014. Since then, he has been hammering home the point from every
available international forum — to an as yet barely responsive audience — that
the time had come to shed politics over terror and work together. While the US
and the West in general, all of whom have faced terror attacks in recent years,
have appreciated India's concerns, there is still little movement in the UN on the
matter. Modi's disappointment over the global body's inaction is understandable. It appears that the United Nations has been unable to muster support from
influential members, especially those in the Security Council, in this endeavour.
The United Nations has to show spine before it's too late.
H
When the system fails,
unscrupulous thrive
HIRANMAY KARLEKAR
Despite the availability of Government bail-outs for public sector banks, a crisis situation may develop if
things don’t change. Message has to be sent to bank managers to behave and corporate entities to repay
ow that Vijay Mallya
has returned to the
headlines, it is
important to turn
to a question that
did not receive adequate attention while the storm raged. What
does the entire episode reflect in
terms of capitalism and its legitimacy, and the country’s prevailing economic system? Mallya
borrowed, allegedly on terms
that should never have been
given, and has not repaid much
of it. He has not paid salaries to
a section of his employees and,
allegedly, been a tax-defaulter. It
is hazardous to judge a system by
an individual’s conduct and competence. But for the massive
recession that began in 2008 and
is considered only second in its
severity to the Great Depression
that began in 1929, one would
have regarded the Mallya episode
as yet another of the many controversies that bedevil most
countries’ economies. Also, the
system he manipulated so
brazenly, no doubt with the full
complicity of those who did not
protect its integrity which they
should have, has been showing
signs of pervasive corruption for
a long time.
An important common element in the 2008 crisis and the
Mallya scandal is reckless lending by banks. In the case of the
latter, it has led to a massive
accumulation of outstanding
loans to the tune of thousands of
crores of rupees. In the case of
the former, it led to a meltdown
of the American economy which
then travelled to the rest of the
world, spreading havoc. The
question arises whether reckless
lending can undermine this
country’s banking system, pushing the entire economy is into a
crippling recession.
One must start by examining
the causes of the 2008 crisis. At
the root of it was an enormous
housing bubble fuelled by mortgage deals that offered alluringly low interest rates at the beginning but had built-in provisions
for their subsequent steep
increase and repeated refinancing, requiring high fees to be paid
at every stage. Mortgage dealers
deliberately went for the poor
and poorly-educated Americans
who, like most of their compatriots, longed to possess their own
homes. Many of the victims,
who came to be called subprime borrowers because they
had low and/or irregular
incomes, were unable to detect
the hidden dangers; some, who
N
expressed doubts, were disarmed
by false assurances.
These were high-risk loans
which Wall Street, the banks and
their executives blinked at — in
fact, encouraged — not only
because of the provisions for
steep interest escalation but
because they securitised the
mortgages, repackaged them in
many ways, and sold to one
another and banks and financial
institutions outside the US, making large profits at every step.
And high profits meant high
bonuses and pay hikes.
Joseph Stiglitz, who exposes
all this with remarkable clarity in
Free Fall: Free Markets and the
Sinking of the Global Economy,
writes, “Indeed, many of the new
‘innovative’ products based on
mortgages had some critical features in common: while they
may not have helped borrowers
manage risk, they were designed
to shift as much risk away from
the bank as possible and to generate as many fees as possibleoften in ways that the borrower
was never really aware of. The
products were also designed,
where necessary, to get round
regulator y and accounting
restraints that might restrict
lending and risk-taking.”
We are no longer
looking for a man in
a cave, but we are
hunting for a terrorist
in a city (who has) a
computer or a
smart phone.
Prime Minister
—Narendra Modi
CROOKEDNESS
DOES NOT THRIVE
IN A VOID. IT
REQUIRES AN
ENVIRONMENT THAT
CONDONES, IF NOT
ENCOURAGES IT,
AND PROVIDES
THOSE SO INCLINED
TO RESORT TO IT
WITH AT LEAST
SOME MEASURE
OF IMPUNITY
The bubble was bound to
burst sooner than later because
many people could not pay the
rising interest rates and recurring refinancing fees built into
their mortgage agreements. The
process was accelerated by
declining prices of houses following glut of new ones. The
result was payment defaults and
foreclosures. The effect of the
bubble’s collapse was disaster on
a national scale because, as
Joseph Stiglitz puts, the US
economy “was out of kilter:
two-thirds to three-quarters of
the economy (GDP) was housing related: Constructing new
houses or buying contents to fill
them, or borrowing against old
houses to finance construction.
It was unsustainable-and it wasn't sustained. The breaking of
the bubble at first affected the
worst mortgages (the sub-prime
mortgages, lent to low income
individuals) but soon affected all
residential real estate.”
Crookedness was doubtless
an important cause of the crisis.
As Stiglitz says, “The wheeling
and dealing of the mortgage
industry in the United States will
be remembered as the great
scam of the early twenty-first
century.” Mortgage originators,
SOUNDBITE
however, were not the only guilty
ones. At least as culpable were
Wall Street companies which,
besides exploiting the borrowers,
had innovated financial instruments that “had allowed the
banks to hide much of their bad
lending, to move it off their
balance sheets.”
Crookedness, however, does
not thrive in a void. It requires
an environment that condones
— if not encourages — it and
provides those so inclined to
resort to it with at least some
measure of impunity. A system
that places profit maximisation
above all else, including ethical
conduct, and lacks regulatory
mechanisms that can keep delinquents and delinquent and reckless banking practices in check,
provides a fertile soil for it. The
US, as Stiglitz points out, had a
fairly effective regulatory system
in place until the 1980s, which
witnessed its systemic whittling
down under the Reagan presidency. The process continued in
the 1990s and the first decade of
this century and did not spare
even provisions for restricting
predatory lending in the subprime sector.
All this was the result of an
economic approach that celebrated the sovereignty of the
market, ascribed to it powers of
self-correction, and of ensuring
stability for the economy and
prosperity for the people.
Regulations were regarded as
unnecessary obstructions that
only hobbled the economy. The
crisis has discredited this ideology which has been described as
market fundamentalism. But its
proponents continue defending
it blaming the crisis on individual delinquency, an unforeseen
accident and so on, overlooking
the fact that delinquencies
require opportunities to create
havoc and the numerous crises
that have occurred till date
debunk the idea of an accident.
In India, money had been
lent not to sub-prime borrowers
but corporate giants who have
defaulted. Sound banking practices have not been followed—
whether due to political pressure
or corruption among bank officials. Despite the availability of
Government bail-outs for public
sector banks, a crisis situation
may develop if things do not
change. A message has to be sent
to bank managers to behave and
corporate entities to repay. It
would be more difficult to insulate banks from political pressure
to sanction bank loans.
Violence stems from
lack of hope, lack of
trust. If peace talks
resume, nobody would
dare stab or shoot.
The only thing I’m
disappointed about
(in the semi-final
game) is those two
no-balls. Other than
that, we tried our
bestin the game.
Palestinian President
—Mahmoud Abbas
Indian T20 captain
—MS Dhoni
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Field levelled
Sir — This refers to the report, “Out
of the world! Windies put India out
of WT20 Cup” (April 1). India’s loss
to the West Indies in the T20 World
Cup semi-final, after a magnificent
knock from Virat Kohli, can be
widely attributed to the two let-offs
for Simmons due to over-stepping.
However, one should also
think what would have happened
if Kohli had been run out twice in
the same over as soon as he came
in to bat, despite both chances
being very easy pickings. Perhaps
this truly was a divine interjection
to level the ‘playing field’.
NS Rajan
Bangalore
Destiny rules
Sir — This refers to the report,
“Out of the world! Windies put
India out of WT20 Cup” (April 1).
One had never even dreamt that
India would lose the match to the
West Indies in the T20 World Cup
semi-final. After having set a target of 193 runs for West Indies, we
felt that it was a walk-over, but destiny had something else for us. The
batting of Lendl Simmons and
Andre Russell paved the way for
the victory of the West Indians.
Kolkata flyover tragedy a
wake-up call for officials
T
he collapse of an under-construction flyover in Kolkata, in which more
than 20 people were killed and over 80 injured, has sent shock waves
across the country. This incident should be a wake-up call for the relevant authorities and also for urban planners, structure designers and project management consultants. Questions have been raised about safety norms
at various construction sites and also on the callous attitude of the authorities towards construction projects and the construction workers.
The construction business in India has been completely unregulated.
Gaps in the system leads to poor quality of construction. For this, the regulatory authorities are to be blamed as they use low quality construction material and are also negligent about public safety. The need of the hour, therefore, is to use the best global construction practices, hire the best of experienced designers and an experienced project management construction team
so that the project can be completed in a time-bound manner.
Ramesh G Jethwani
Bangalore
Opener Johnson Charles too
contributed well by scoring 52 runs.
The 193-run target seems to be the
highest total achieved in a chase by
the Caribbeans in the knock-out of
T20. And no team has ever won a
T20 international at Wankhede
Stadium after losing the toss.
R Gururajan
Ooty
Proud diaspora
Sir — This refers to the editorial,
“Bridging the India-EU gap”
(April 1). Prime Minister
Narendra Modi’s direct and seemingly effortless outreach to the
Indian diaspora in Brussels makes
for a commendable performance.
While interacting with the
Indian community in Belgium,
the Indian Prime Minister outlined
some of the achievements of his
Government in the past year. He
also subtly pointed out to the
tremendous loss of national time,
manpower and resources — under
successive leaderships in the past,
which failed to keep a check on corruption or even provide for a basic
standard of living to a vast majority of the Indian population.
Modi’s hour-long address was
keenly perceived by a receptive
audience, with a sense of pride and
satisfaction. The honour in being
‘Indian’ could be felt among the
large gathering. This explains
Modi’s success in sharing people’s
Mann ki Baat as much as his own,
which surely deserves full praise
and appreciation.
Isha Shah
New Delhi
Employees’ woes
Sir — This refers to the article,
“Labour reforms will send positive
signals” (March 31) by Gautam
Mukherjee.
The
NDA
Government’s proposal to introduce
new labour laws is welcome, but one
hopes that the Government looks
into this issue from the employee
point of view too. In small sectors,
many employers are not paying
their staff on time.
While the employer’s lifestyle
is not affected, it is the employee
who is hit hard. Dearness
Allowance is a benefit that only
Government employees enjoy. The
situation is worsening day-by-day.
The young are vulnerable without
jobs; even if they have a job, they
are not paid on time. Hire-and-fire
is the current policy.
Rajendra Vora
Via web
Send your feedback to:
letterstopioneer@gmail.com
3rdeye {saturday special} 09
Will Madhesis impose economic blockade again?
s per media reports, leaders of
United Democratic Madhesi
A
Front have given ultimatum to the
During the six-month-long
protests, the Madhesis have
become more aware of their
rights. More than that, the
youth and women, cutting
across caste, religion and
other barriers, have become
more radical and so their
movement to secure rightful
place in the Constitution
through peaceful means
cannot be suppressed. Now
as Kathmandu has been given
a chance to address the
grievances of Madhesis, if
this golden opportunity is
lost, the Madhesi Front
leaders might be compelled
to take more stringent
measures even to the extent
of re-imposing economic
blockade along Nepal-India
border, which could prove
disastrous for Nepal and also
affect India to a certain extent
HARI BANSH JHA
Government of Nepal to address
their grievances by mid-April. They
have threatened to launch an
unprecedented massive agitation
again as they call their last-ditch
effort “now or never”. Eminent leaders from Madhesi-based political
parties have openly declared that
they could go to the extent of reimposing economic blockade to
pressurise Kathmandu to provide
them their due.
In early February 2016, the
Madhesi Front leaders had unilaterally opened Birgunj-Raxaul trading
point after 135 days of blockade with
the expectation that Kathmandu
would favourably reconsider their
demands for the formation of two
States under the federal structure,
ensure proportional representation
in Government bodies, facilitate
electoral constituencies both for the
House of Representatives and the
National Assembly on the basis of
population and correct citizenship
— related discriminatory clauses. But
then no significant effort was made
by the Government to address their
grievances thereafter.
Until the economic blockade
was lifted, the entire population of the
country in one or the other way experienced its heat due to severe shortage of goods, including the essentials
like petroleum products and LPG. To
counter this move, Kathmandu tried
to play “China card” by allowing
China to open trade and transit
routes through Nepal’s northern border to provide essential items to
Nepal. It also entered into agreement
with China for the import of petroleum products. But given the geoeconomic realities, China did little to
avert the crisis.
However, the ruling elites in
Kathmandu is not interested in
resolving the Madhesi crisis as this
gives them enough excuse to foment
anti-India hysteria in the Himalayan
nation and get adequate backup
from certain sections of the society
to perpetuate their control over the
Madhesis, Tharus and other indigenous population. Of course, the
Government amended certain provisions of the Constitution and set up
a political committee to re-draw the
provincial boundaries. But the
Madhesi Front leaders rejected such
measures as they believe that their
issues would not be addressed
through such superficial measures.
In the meantime, the Nepali
Congress after the 13th Convention
of the party is making more serious
endeavour to woo the Madhesis as it
fears it may lose its vote bank in this
region. Mahesh Acharya of the Nepali
Congress admitted that the formation
of political mechanism to address
demand for the provincial boundaries
was unilateral in character and so it
was likely to widen gulf between the
Government and the Madhesi parties. Also, the newly elected general
secretary of the Nepali Congress,
Shashanka Koirala, has claimed that
his party is committed to resolving
the Madhesi issues through “consensus, collaboration and trust building” as Madhesis happen to be the
cradle of democracy.
In New Delhi, there is a growing
perception that that permanent peace
in Nepal cannot be maintained unless
the Madhesis are given legitimate
rights within the framework of the
new Constitution. There is a feeling
that the Madhesis would not remain
silent as long as the State’s discrimination towards them continues. New
Delhi is highly concerned that any
escalation of conflict right across its
border in Terai is likely to make its
impact on India. The more the
Madhesis are excluded by the State in
Nepal, the more there will be the tendency for them to secure active support from the border inhabitants as
well as the establishments in Patna,
Lucknow or even Delhi. This is but
natural as the Madhesis have close
relations with the people across the
border in India.
Importance of Nepal in India’s
foreign relations cannot be undermined. Nepal is not what the other
neighbours are for India. India’s border with China, Pakistan, Bangladesh
and Myanmar is sealed. Even with Sri
Lanka there is sea between the two
countries and so there cannot be
direct impact of turmoil from one
country to the other. India’s relations
with Bhutan are intact as it is a stable nation. But Nepal is the only
country in India’s neighbourhood
with which it has open border ever
since the history of civilization.
Therefore, any turmoil in Nepal will
have direct bearing on India.
Today, Nepal is of biggest concern for India. New Delhi can’t
afford to ignore the Madhesi issues.
Therefore, New Delhi reiterated its
position to Kathmandu during the
recently concluded meeting of the
SAARC Foreign Ministers in Nepal.
However, a section of the people
in India treat the Madhesi issue
purely as an internal affair of Nepal
and so they don’t want this country
to get involved. Have those people
ever thought as to what would have
been their own position if they were
like Madhesis in India? Would they
have tolerated such discriminatory
provision in which the Indians marrying with foreigners could have little scope either for their spouse or the
children to reach top positions in
Government jobs? Will the Punjabis
or Bengalese ever accept their homeland to be mixed with other States?
Will the Biharis or Uttar Pradeshis
ever tolerate if they had the same
number of representatives in the Lok
Sabha or the Rajya Sabha as the States
like Sikkim, Nagaland or Arunachal
Pradesh? Will any Indian tolerate if
electoral constituencies for Parliament
are ever fixed on the basis of geography instead of population? But this is
what is happening in Nepal with the
Madhesis. Most of their ancestral land
has been cut into pieces and merged
with the hill states in the seven
provincial model of federalism. Also,
the electoral constituencies in the
country have been fixed not on the
democratic principle of population,
but more on the basis of geography.
Recent developments show that
the Madhesis are being left in the
lurch. Their struggle against the
State for the restoration of their rightful place in the Constitution has not
attracted enough support from India.
But this does not mean that New
Delhi has totally given up its interest in Madhesis. It cannot afford to
do that considering the fact that the
agitation is still continuing across the
border. Only the border that was
blocked by the Madhesi Front leaders on Birgubnj-Raxaul and other
such trade points along the NepalIndia border is open, but their
protests continue.
During the six-month-long
protests, the Madhesis have become
more aware of their rights. More than
that, the youth and women, cutting
across caste, religion and other barriers, have become more radical and
so their movement to secure rightful
place in the Constitution through
peaceful means cannot be suppressed.
By all indications, it appears that
Kathmandu has been given a chance
to address the grievances of
Madhesis. If Kathmandu ignores
this golden opportunity, the Madhesi
Front leaders might be compelled to
take more stringent measures even to
the extent of re-imposing economic
blockade along Nepal-India border,
which could prove disastrous for
Nepal and also affect India to a certain extent. To avoid this chaotic situation, New Delhi needs to intensify its engagement with Kathmandu
to ensure the Madhesis enjoy the
same treatment as other people in the
country and are considered an essential element in the progress of the
nation. By doing so, India could contribute in making Nepal a peaceful,
prosperous and stable nation in its
neighbourhood.
(The writer is Executive Director
of Centre for Economic and Technical
Studies, Kathmandu, Nepal)
PERSPECTIVE
Political standoff in Brazil: Why Dilma Rousseff won’t fall
he current political crisis in
Brazil is centred around a
T
multi-billion dollar scandal
probe, popularly known as ‘Lava
Jato’ or Operation Car Wash, an
investigation launched by Judge
Srgio Moro as early as in March
2014. It is focused on Brazil’s
huge State-controlled oil company Petrobras’ contracting
process under which its executives and Government officials
allegedly conspired to award
massively inflated and lucrative
contracts to companies working
for it. President Dilma
Rousseff ’s political trouble
began in early 2015, when allegations surfaced that she has
indulged in political graft and
bribery while chairing the
Petrobras Board of Directors
from 2003 to 2010. It is also
alleged that Rousseff had used
funds from Petrobras to support
her second term presidential
election campaign in 2014.
Besides the President, top politicians from almost all parties and
billionaire businessmen, the
most important personality
who is being implicated in the
Operation Car Wash is Brazil’s
ex-President Lula. The political
climax of the investigation
came, when Lula was brought to
a local police station on March
4, 2016, under the warrant of a
judge, called ‘Conducao coercitiva’ (Bench warrant) which
implies that a person is commanded to appear before
authorities to give testimony.
The prosecutors allege that Lula
had received massive illicit benefits from the kickback schemes
of Petrobras while he was in
office from 2003 to 2010. What
investigators have found is that
this is perhaps the biggest
money laundering and political
corruption scandal in Brazil’s
history so far.
The Brazilian political fiasco has reached a critical stage.
Rousseff is receiving renewed
calls from international
observers and millions of
Brazilians to step down from
office. The latest public opinion polls conducted by
Datafolha Institute indicate
that 68 per cent of her countrymen want her to quit. But
despite having constant trouble
in managing the top political
hot seat, she has redoubled her
effort to hold on, saying she
“will never resign”.
The current political crisis
is reminiscent of another historic street march more than
half a century ago which
Demonstrators protest efforts to impeach Brazil’s President Dilma
Rousseff and in support of her mentor, former President Luiz
Inacio Lula da Silva in Sao Paulo, Brazil
File photo/AP
ensued in a military coup of
March 31, 1964 to Brazil.
How it all began?
More or about a decade
ago, Brazil, the largest country
of South America was revered
as a “role model” for the rest of
the developing nations in the
continent. Its economy was
moving upward and a huge
trade volume of raw materials
and commodities with China
helped the country come out of
the long economic slowdown.
In fact, Brazil had a longdrawn agenda which propelled
its economic growth with hightech industries, extensive training and development of its
engineering professionals, etc.
These measures led the nation
to become a true leader of the
developing world. The most
remarkable feature of this period was an innovative welfare
programme known as “Bolsa
Familia” (Family Allowance)
with its sole emphasis on nutrition and education that spearheaded the fastest improvement in the social and economic sectors. Astonishingly,
“Bolsa Familia” fought a crusade through decades old stagnant Brazilian economy to wit-
ness the light of the day; it lifted nearly 40 million people out
of poverty. Consequently, this
success translated into a second-term electoral victory for
Lula. This further helped in
bringing his protégé Dilma
Rousseff to power to continue
the reign of Worker’s Party.
Despite having the gains of
the last decade, millions of protesters across 300 cities in
Brazil have upped the ante
against Lula and Rousseff,
demanding her immediate resignation and a jail term for her
mentor. Majority of the protesters are middle class whites,
who have long enmity towards
the PT and for its populist Leftwing economic policies. Also a
very disturbing sign of the
protest is that a section of
demonstrators are raising slogans for return of the military
rule in Brazil. But thankfully,
today’s military in Brazil is contented with their regular job,
displaying no ambition to play
an active role in politics.
Despite Brazil’s rich and the
poor living cheek-by-jowl for
decades, the gap between them
has become wider enough to
pose a serious blow to the survival of the country’s political
system in case the antiGovernment protests prolong.
This and many other protest
movements in the recent past
have brought to light the deep
fissures already developed
between the rich and the poor,
the black and the white. On the
other hand, the proGovernment protesters comprise people belonging to
mixed-race and working class
who have mainly benefitted
from social welfare schemes
launched by the PT in the past.
To them, the anti-Government
rallies calling for the impeachment of the President is equivalent to an attempted coup
against a popularly elected
Government of the country.
Both the demonstrating factions display their sharp differences in the colours they are
wearing as well — those carrying green & yellow Brazil’s
flag and banners calling for
President’s ouster; and those
wearing red supporting the
Government and its allies.
Could she be really
impeached?
Taking into account the
strength of the Opposition in
Brazil and their dubious record
of corruption in public life,
possibly Rousseff is all set to
retain her presidency at least
for the time being. It seems
there are only three possible
exits for Rousseff from the
Plantalto, the presidential
palace. First of all, it would be
the sole responsibility of the
Justice Moro-led investigation
team to prove that the
President herself has obstructed or blocked the Petrobras
investigation by all possible
means. Although a Senator
belonging to her party claims
that she has obstructed the
investigation process, allegations are yet to be proved in the
court of law. Apart from this,
her deliberate attempt to safeguard Lula from the prosecution trial may surely embolden grounds for impeachment.
Second, the country’s top electoral court (TSE) may call for
a fresh Presidential poll provided it could come to the conclusion that Rousseff ’s 2014 reelection campaign was funded
by bribes received from the
Petrobras scandal. It is a cumbersome process which might
take considerably a longer time.
The TSE has traditionally
turned a blind eye to campaign
finance violations in the past,
and over a period of three
decades, it has taken action
against only a few politicians of
lower order. Even if it takes a
decision to remove Rousseff,
the decision of the TSE could
be appealed in the Supreme
Federal Tribunal (STF) which
may not agree with the TSE.
Third, Rousseff may honorably
step down on her own before
she is forced to step down
through the established constitutional mechanism of the
country. It seems quite unlikely at the moment.
Apart from the third option,
the rest of the two possibilities for
removing Rousseff might either
be difficult or ineffective as the
time passes by. Though the differences between the Right and
the Left are all out on the street,
the move to “Fora Dilma” or
‘“Dilma out” may not be successful as the Opposition is
widely polarised and too tainted to vigorously pursue the
issue. In the event of her departure, Vice-President Michel
Temer, the leader of the Party of
the Brazilian Democratic
Movement (PMDB), would take
over as the President as per the
constitutional provisions.
Unfortunately, there are allegations pending against every single politician in the presidential
succession: Vice-President
Temer, Chamber President
Eduardo Cunha, Senate
President Renan Calheiros, STF
President Ricardo Lewandowski,
as well as Senator Aecio Neves,
Rousseff ’s rival in 2014 presidential election. All of them are
directly or indirectly implicated
in the Petrobras scandal.
Interestingly, out of a total of 594
members of the Brazilian
Congress, 352 are currently facing criminal cases. Therefore,
Rousseff ’s impeachment might
open an opportunity for the voters to choose a new President
(most probably a tainted politician), but the same old corrupt
and criminal politicians would
continue to rule the country’s
Congress till their term ends in
2019. Thus, she could fairly
claim legitimacy to continue in
office as none of the allegations
made against her justified the
impeachment immediately.
Indeed impeachment is more of
a political game played carefully than a purely legal one. The
ruling PT has already created a
strong popular narrative about
coup mongering (golpismo) of
the Opposition parties against
the Rousseff Government, particularly targeting PSDB and
the DEM that had their historical ties with the past authoritarian regimes of Brazil. The
probe against the ruling coalition
and Lula is termed as a “politicised probe” by many independent observers. Also there is
strong evidence to suggest that
politicians have tried to influence
the ongoing investigation
process. In fact, the head of the
Impeachment Committee has
suggested that the mood of the
street protesters should be carefully assessed by the
Congressmen concerned while
deliberating on the charges
against the President. This simply suggests that it is a ploy to
oust an unpopular elected leader
by the Opposition. Rousseff
built one more ring of protection
by inducting Lula as her Chief of
Staff on March 16; Lula would
surely help the President survive.
Lula being the Chief of the Staff
(equivalent to a Minister rank)
is enjoying partial immunity
from immediate prosecution,
and he could only be tried by the
Supreme Court. Finally, the Lava
Jato suspects are given extra and
crucial mileage by the judiciary
while flouting the legal norms in
the process of investigation.
Justice Moro has released the
recorded conversations between
Lula and his associates, including President Rousseff. This
clearly violates an established
judicial norm that only the
Supreme Court may disclose
such conversations in case one
of the parties (currently the
President) has legal immunity.
This all would make Rousseff ’s
stay longer unless an extraordinary mass mobilisation takes
place to oust her.
The only fear is that if this
investigation is watered down or
somehow managed politically to
cover up the “entire episode”
through smart manoeuvres (it
seems so till now), the same old
political and the business elite
would continue ruling the sixth
largest economy of the world,
help entrenching corruption
and misrule — the emerging
rule of law in Brazil. But very
cautiously Rousseff once
acknowledged in early 2014
that “this (scandal) may change
the country for ever”. So let’s
wait and watch what “Fora
Dilma” awaits Brazil!
(The writer is an
independent political analyst
based in Delhi)
President Dilma
Rousseff’s political trouble
began in early 2015, when
allegations surfaced that
she has indulged in
political graft and bribery
while chairing the
Petrobras Board of
Directors. It is also
alleged that Rousseff had
used funds from
Petrobras to support her
second term presidential
election campaign in
2014. However, taking
into account the strength
of the Opposition in Brazil
and their dubious record
of corruption in public life,
Rousseff is all set to
retain her presidency at
least for the time being
MAKHAN SAIKIA
nation 10
Punjab law axing water pacts Mallya seeks more time
breaches federalism, SC told to appear before ED in
IANS n NEW DELHI
aryana on Friday told the
Supreme Court that 2004
Punjab law terminating all
water sharing agreements with
neighbouring
Har yana,
Rajasthan, and Delhi breached
principles of separation of powers and was also contrary to the
country’s federal polity.
Assailing the Punjab
Termination of Agreement Act,
2004, it told the constitution
bench headed by Justice Anil R.
Dave that the Punjab assembly
can’t pass a law to neutralise the
judgment of the apex court in
which its own executive was a
party to dispute.
Addressing Punjab’s contention that there was a
change of circumstance,
senior counsel Shyam Divan,
appearing for Haryana, said
the Punjab assembly was not
competent to enact a law on
the grounds that the dispute
had already been decided by
the court, the extra-territorial nature of the legislative act
and the federal structure of
the country’s polity.
Arguing that the state
could not have usurped the
judiciary’s authority, Haryana
H
‘India to...
From Page 1
The Prime Minister also
highlighted India’s progressive
shift away from use of material with radioactive potential,
particularly in the medical
field.
After the meeting with
Cameron, External Affairs
Ministry spokesman Vikas
Swarup tweeted that the two
leaders discussed ways on
“enhancing a vibrant partnership”.
Details of the meeting were
awaited at the time of writing.
Their meeting has come against
the backdrop of a crisis in
Britain’s steel industry after
Tata Steel announced its decision to “explore all options for
tion and the final judgment was
delivered after hearing them.”
The court had said this
while holding unconstitutional the Kerala Irrigation and
Water
Conser vation
(Amendment) Act, 2006 in its
application to and effect on the
Mullaperiyar dam.
While Tamil Nadu had
sought to increase the water
level in the dam to 142 feet,
Kerala had opposed it citing
threat to the safety of the dam.
Haryana cited the earlier
ruling in the course of the hearing of a Presidential reference
seeking the court’s advisory
opinion on the Punjab
Termination of Agreement Act,
2004.
Meanwhile Punjab represented by senior counsel Rajeev
Dhavan on Friday again sought
to know the central government’s stand on the Punjab
Termination of Agreement Act
so that it could address this in
the course of its arguments.
Senior counsel Ram
Jethmalani also representing
Punjab told the court that it
should refuse to answer the
Presidential reference and
sought time to address the
court on this point.
portfolio restructuring including the potential divestment of
Tata Steel UK, in whole or in
parts”.
Modi had last met
Cameron in London last
November, when the British
Prime Minister made it a point
to be personally present at
Modi’s address to a large gathering of the Indian Diaspora at
Wembley Stadium.
At his meeting with
Trudeau, the Prime Minister
extended an invitation to
Canadian energy majors to
participate in India’s proposed
expansion of the hydrocarbons sector. He also extended
an invitation to the new
Canadian PM to visit India,
which he readily accepted, saying he would like to pay a visit
along with his family.
Rawat moves HC against
Central Ordinance
PNS n NAINITAL/DEHRADUN
dmitting a petition by the
former Chief Minister
A
Harish Rawat and former
Finance and Parliamentary
Affairs Minister Indira
Hridayesh, challenging a
Central Ordinance authorising
expenditure in Utarakhand
under President’s Rule, the
Uttarakhand High Court has
directed the Government of
India to submit the necessary
documents by April 5. The
High Court also set the matter
for next hearing on April 6.
Bombay HC for women’s
entry into temples
* HC bench directs Govt to enforce
Maha Hindu temple entry law strictly
* Women activists to visit Shani
temple in Ahmednagar district today
TN RAGHUNATHA n MUMBAI
olding that it was fundamental right of women to
H
enter temples and it was the
State’s duty to protect it, the
Bombay High Court on Friday
directed the Maharashtra
Government to take “all necessary steps” to implement
strictly the Maharashtra Hindu
Place of Worship (Entry
Authorisation) Act 1956 which
prescribes six months’ imprisonment to those prohibiting
anyone from entering the place
of worship.
Invoking Articles 14, 15
and 25 of the Constitution, A
Division Bench of Chief Justice
DH Waghela and Justice MS
Sonak asked the BJP-led saffron
alliance Government to take
“pro-active” steps to implement women’s rights “are fully
realised and not allowed to be
encroached upon by any
authority".
On a day when the State
Government assured the High
Court that it would implement scrupulously Maharashtra Hindu Place of Worship
(Entry Authorisation) Act
1956, Chief Justice Waghela
noted: “The Maharashtra
Government shall take all necessary steps to implement the
Act. Ultimately it is the fundamental right of a woman and
our (Government) fundamental duty to protect this right”.
In a landmark direction
that will help eliminate gender
bias at places of worship in the
State, the HC bench said: "The
acting Advocate General has
assured the court that the government is against gender discrimination. Keeping in view
Article 14, 15 and 25 of the
Constitution of India, the
Government can take proactive steps to ensure that the
fundamental rights of a citizen
are fully realised and not
allowed to be encroached upon
by any authority".
Hearing a Public Interest
money laundering probe
told the constitution bench
also comprising Justice Pinaki
Chandra Ghose, Justice Shiva
Kirti Singh, Justice Adarsh
Kumar Goel and Justice
Amitava Roy that the state
could not be a judge of its own
cause.
Referring to the apex court
judgment on Cauvery water
dispute between Karnataka and
Tamil Nadu and dispute
between Kerala and Tamil
Nadu over Tamil Nadu’s
demand for increasing the
water level in Mullaperiyar
dam to 142 feet, Divan said that
any change of circumstance
could only be considered by the
court alone and legislature
can’t step in.
He referred to the apex
constitution court verdict of
May 7, 2014 in Mullaperiyar
dam case where the court had
said: “The legislature cannot by
invoking ‘public trust doctrine’
or ‘precautionary principle’
indirectly control the action of
the courts and directly or indirectly set aside the authoritative
and binding finding of fact by
the court, particularly, in situations where the executive
branch (government of the
state) was a party in the litiga-
Litigation filed by senior advocate Nilima Vartak and activist
Vidya Bal challenging prohibiting the entry of women in
the Shani Shingnapur temple,
the HC bench directed the
secretary of Maharashtra's
Home Department to ensure
that the policy and purpose of
the Act “is fully carried out, and
directions are issued to all district
collectors
and
Superintendents of Police”.
Earlier, Acting Advocate
General Rohit Deo gave an
undertaking to the high court
saying that it would take “all
necessary steps” to comply
with the provisions of the Act
which prescribes a punishment of six months’ imprisonment for those preventing anyone from entering a temple.
"The provisions of the Act
shall be scrupulously implemented. The Government is
completely against gender discrimination. A circular or
directive shall be issued to all
district authorities informing
them about the Act and its provisions," the acting AG told the
high court.
The HC bench, which had
on Wednesday made a telling
observation that “no law prevents women from entering a
place of worship and if men
are allowed, then women too
should be permitted”, averred
that while the Maharashtra
Government’s statement was
“good enough”, it was necessary for the state administration “to strengthen the hands
of the authority who is on the
field”.
“Making a statement that
the Act and its provisions will be
implemented and enforced and
that you (Government) are
against gender discrimination is
good enough. But you have to
strengthen the hands of the
authority who is on field and has
to take action as per the Act,” the
HC bench said.
While disposing of the PIL,
the HC bench made it a point-
ed that the direction it had
passed to the State Government
was general in nature and not
specific to any particular temple,
the Judges noted: "This court can
only pass a general direction. We
cannot go into individual or specific cases. If any person has
grievance that the Act is not
being implemented, then he or
she can approach local authority with their complaint".
During the course of his
submission before the high
court, Acting AG Deo clarified
that the provisions of the Act
would not be of any help if a
temple in the State did not
allow any person, irrespective of
their gender, inside the sanctum
sanctorum. “However, if a temple allows men in the sanctum
sanctorum but prohibits women,
then this Act and its provisions
can be used,” he said.
Describing the high court’s
direction to the state government to ensure the entry of
women into the temples as the
“victory of women power”,
Bhumata Rangranai Brigade
(BRB) convenor Trupti Desai –
who and her fellow activists had
been campaigning for the past
three months against the gender
bias at temples in the state,
announced in the afternoon
that she and colleagues would go
to the Shani Shingnapur temple
on Saturday.
“We welcome today’s ruling
of the Bombay High Court.
This is a victory of women
power and the campaign we had
launched. In view of today’s ruling, my other fellow women
activists and I will go to the
Shani Shingnapur temple and
offer prayers and offer prayers to
the presiding deity at the platform,” Desai said.
Replying to a question,
Desai said that she had not spoken to either the temple management or the Shingapur villagers who had in the past
opposed the entry of women
inside the Shani temple. “I have
not spoken to the temple management or the villagers. Unlike
in the past, this time around, the
state Government is on our
side. We will tell the police this
evening that we intend to go the
Shani temple and ask them to
facilitate our smooth entry up to
the platform near the presiding
deity,” she said.
NEW DELHI: Liquor baron
Vijay Mallya has expressed
his inability to appear before
the Enforcement Directorate
on Saturday when the deadline
given by the probe agency in
connection with money laundering probe ends. In an email,
Mallya has asked the ED to
give him time till May to
record his statement after stating that he is negotiating with
banks about loan money.
The ED had asked Mallya
to appear before it on April 2
in connection with its money
laundering probe in the over
`900 crore IDBI loan fraud
case.
The new summons came
after the United Breweries
(UB) group chairman sought
more time from the agency to
present himself on a later date
instead of the scheduled time
for March 18.
The ED had recently registered a money laundering
case against Mallya and others
based on a CBI FIR registered
last year. The agency is also
investigating the overall financial structure of the now
The petition has contended that the Vidhan Sabha had
duly passed the Appropriation
Bill by voice vote on March 18
before imposition of President’s
Rule and promulgation of
Uttarakhand Appropriation
(Vote on Account) Ordinance,
2016 by the President a day ago.
A writ petition challenging
promulgation of the ordinance
was advocated by senior
Supreme Court lawyer and
former Union minister Kapil
Sibal before the division bench
of the Uttarakhand High Court
comprising Chief Justice KM
From Page 1
The department said
McLintock used his organisation
to allegedly provide money to
Afghan orphans while helping
finance Taliban militant activities
in Afghanistan’s Kunar province.
McLintock received about
$1,80,000 from donors in Britain
between April 2011 and April
2012 and also received money
from charities in the Persian Gulf
and the United Kingdom,
Treasury said. McLintock also is
suspected of smuggling cash to
insurgents in Afghanistan and
moving parts for improvised
explosive devices between
Pakistan and Afghanistan.
AP
‘Terrorists are united, why...
defunct Kingfisher Airlines
and will look into any payment
of kickbacks to secure loan.
Mallya is facing legal proceedings for alleged default of
loans worth over `9,000 crores
from various banks. He had
recently expressed willingness
in Supreme Court for a settlement by offering a proposal to
pay back `4,000 crore by
September this year.
The proposal was placed
jointly by Mallya and his companies — Kingfisher Airlines
Ltd, United Breweries
(Holdings) Ltd and Kingfisher
Finvest (India) Ltd. Agencies
Joseph and Justice VK Bist.
The ordinance is to provide
for withdrawal of certain sums
from and out of the
Consolidated Fund of the State
of Uttarakhand for the services
of a part of the financial year
2016-17, it said.
On Friday, after hearing the
argument presented by the
petitioners’ lawyer, the
Government of India represented by assistant solicitor
general, Rakesh Thapliyal
sought more time for filing its
reply, a request which was
rejected by the court.
NIA to take airbase...
From Page 1
The NIA briefed the JIT
on investigations carried out
here in the case. The terror
attack executed by the
Pakistan-based terror group
JeM on January 2 at Pathankot
airbase left seven security
personnel dead. Six terrorists
were also killed in the gunbattle with the security forces.
The Pakistan JIT, headed
by Additional Inspector
General of Police, Counter
Terrorism Department,
Muhammad Tahir Rai and
also including ISI’s Lt Col
Tanvir Ahmed, in turn, shared
with NIA the results of investigations carried out by them
so far in Pakistan.
“The interaction with JIT
was held in accordance with
terms of reference mutually
agreed on the basis of reciprocity. The Pakistan JIT
assured us of their full cooperation and promised to execute the LR which has been
received by them,” he said.
The JIT, which arrived
here on March 27, interacted
on the Pathankot case with
NIA officials and the itinerary
of the visiting team included
a tour of the IAF base where
they were shown the scene of
crime as well as the location
from where the terrorists
sneaked in and hid before carrying out the assault.
The JIT also visited the
spot where Ikagar Singh’s
vehicle was snatched, where
he was murdered, and the spot
INSHORT
Ahead of Modi’s...
from where the terrorists
hijacked the SUV of SP
Salwinder Singh, Kumar said,
adding the route taken by the
terrorists was also shown to
the JIT.
“These are part of the
standard legal procedure of
investigation followed in both
nations,” he said.
On JIT’s request, the NIA
provided certified copies of
post-mortem reports, ballistic
report of the seized weapons,
call data record, DNA reports
of four terrorists and the
seizure memo of articles from
the scene of crime.
The Pakistan JIT was
given access to 13 witnesses
including Salwinder Singh,
his cook, Rajesh Verma and
some witnesses as per agreed
terms of reference and extant
legal provisions.
“The JIT informed us that
they were collecting admissible evidence outside Pakistan
under the provision of Section
188 of the CrPC of Pakistan,
that will legally enable them to
be used in prosecution,” he
said.
The NIA has also requested the JIT to verify the various articles seized from the
terrorists including arms and
ammunition as mentioned in
the Letters Rogatory sent earlier to Pakistan.
The NIA shared with JIT
the identity and the address of
the 4 terrorists and requested
that the JIT confirm those
details.
From Page 1
India and the United States, meanwhile, signed a
Memorandum of Understanding for setting up a new Laser
Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) in
India to carry forward frontline research on various aspects of
gravitational wave astronomy.
The Prime Minister looked at the LIGO project not only as
a great example of India-US scientific collaboration but also one
that has the potential of generating curiosity in a lot of young
minds in India and creating a whole new generation of Indian
scientists who can get enthused with this remarkable breakthrough in science, External Affairs Ministry spokesman Vikas
Swarup told reporters. “What was significant about this project
is that now that India has agreed to be a part of this project, the
possibility is that India will become central to the LIGO project
partly on account of the fact that geography favours us,” Swarup
said, pointing out that the Union Cabinet has already approved
an outlay of Rs 1,200 crore for the project in India.
Decks cleared for...
From Page 1
Though the Centre has
approved the project, it needs
to be ratified by the Akhilesh
Yadav Cabinet. Once approved,
this airport will be built under
Design Build Finance Operate
Transfer (DBFOT) basis.
“Earlier, Airport Authority
of India raised a red flag over
construction of international
airport at Jewar saying it cannot be constructed within a
radius of 150 km of international airport in national
Capital. Once this rule was
changed the Civil Aviation
Ministry approved the proposal to have the international airport at Jewar,” the Minister
said.
Jawer is 100 km from
Indira Gandhi International
Airport in New Delhi and falls
in Gautam Budh Nagar, which
incidentally is parliamentary
constituency of Sharma.
The Jewar airport was proposed in 2001 when Mayawati
was Chief Minister. Mayawati
had vigorously pushed for it.
Even the techno-feasibility
study had been conducted and
submitted to the Centre for
action and bidding document
prepared. Her regime had even
planned to get the airport
operational before the 2010
Commonwealth Games. The
project was estimated to cost
nearly Rs 3,500 crore spanning
about 3,700 acres and handle 4
million passengers annually.
When Akhilesh came to
power in 2012 he scrapped the
Jewar airport project and
pitched for an airport in Agra
to cater the Taj Mahal-Braj
tourist
circuit.
The
Government had even identified land near Etmadpur, about
16 km from Agra City, for the
mega project.
Sharma said that Chief
Minister Akhilesh Yadav earlier wanted an international airport at Agra but the proposal
was shelved because Defence
Ministry did not approve it.
“In November 2015, the
Uttar Pradesh Government sent
a letter expressing willingness to
revive the Jewar airport proposal. The Civil Aviation
Ministry worked on it and
finally gave approval to the UP
Government last week,” Sharma
said. Sharma said besides new
airport Centre has also given a
push to tourism sector in UP.
“The Tourism Ministry has
sanctioned Rs 510 crore for
Buddhish, Krishna and
Ramayana circuits. The UP
Government has received
over 70 per cent of the money,”
he said, adding that the
onus is now on the State to
improve infrastructure for these
circuits.
RAJIV GAUBA IS NEW SECY,
MINISTRY OF URBAN DEV
New Delhi: Rajiv Gauba, IAS
(Jharkhand cadre-1982) on
Friday took over as Secretary in
the Ministry of Urban
Development. He replaces
Madhusudhan Prasad following
his retirement. Gauba has
served in the Central
Government in the Ministries of
Home, Defence, Finance,
Environment and Forests and
Department of Electronics and
Information Technology in
senior positions.
PATRICK FARMER LAUDED
BY UNION TOURISM SECY
New Delhi: Hailing him as
‘Brand Ambassador of Incredible
India in Australia,’ Union Tourism
Secretary Vinod Zutshi on Friday
felicitated Patrick Farmer, ultra
marathon runner and his team at
a function here on successful
completion of the 4600 Km
“Spirit of India Run” from
Kanyakumari to Srinagar in 64
days. Former member of
Australian Parliament, Farmer
traversed through Tamil Nadu,
Kerala, Karnataka, Goa, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, UP,
Haryana, Delhi, Chandigarh,
Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir
during the run.
COURT REJECTS INDRANI’S
MEDICAL BAIL PLEA
Mumbai: A special CBI court
here on Friday rejected the bail
plea on health grounds filed by
former media baron Indrani
Mukerjea — one of the prime
accused in the Sheena Bora
murder case. Refusing bail,
Special Judge HS Mahajan
however permitted her to take
treatment in a private hospital.
In her bail application, Indrani
said she was suffering from
chronic small vessels inchemic
changes which could lead to a
life-threatening brain stroke as
oxygen supply to the brain may
be interrupted.
‘India to receive
more than...
From Page 1
Northeast India, however,
may not receive good rainfall,
he said.
“Generally, the trend is
when the entire India receives
good rainfall, the northeastern
part does not receive good
rainfall,” Prasad added. The
India
Meteorological
Department is expected to
come out with its forecast later
this month. It has indicated a
good rainfall this year with the
weakening of El-Nino. PTI
SELFISH SELFIES!
From Page 1
They positioned themselves in a way so that
they could take selfies with the wounded —
many dazed and in pain and some dying.
The large crowd of onlookers choked the
crucial Rabindra Sarani where a taxi and a Tata
Sumo vehicle crushed under the flyover were
kept. Some selfie-seekers positioned themselves on a crane brought to the site to clear the
rubble. A few were seen virtually competing with
each other in clicking gory videos of the
destruction.
“Ami peye gechi, ami peye gechi (I have got
it, I have got it),” shouted a teenager, proudly
showing his video to his friends.
A common thread in their operations was
to ensure their faces were seen in the videos.
Quickly would they post “their successes”
on Facebook, Twitter and Whatsapp to send out
a message to friends that they were at the spot
where the flyover crumbled killing 24 people and
leaving many badly injured
IANS
NIT closed after clashes
KHURSHEED WANI n SRINAGAR
he authorities in Kashmir
closed down National
T
Institute of Technology (NIT)
after clashes broke out between
sections of students over Indian
cricket team’s defeat in the semifinals of the T20 World Cup in
Mumbai Thursday night.
The NIT, located at Nigeen
in Hazratbal area of Srinagar, in
the vicinity of University of
Kashmir campus, has predominantly non-local students on
rolls. Sources said the clashes
erupted when some Kashmiri
students celebrated the Indian
team’s defeat.
They said the non-local students came out of hostels and
chanted slogans in favour of
Indian team and marched carrying national flag. The authorities on Friday closed entry gates
of the NIT when the non-local
students began protests inside the
campus. They were demanding
adequate security.
“In view of the prevailing
indiscipline created by the students, the Institute is closed till
further orders from today, the 1st
of April, 2016. The students are,
therefore, directed to vacate the
hostels,” Registrar NIT, FA Mir
said.
He said the decision has been
taken after the agitating students refused to maintain discipline despite repeated requests by
the Institute authorities as well as
the local administration,” he said.
Many non-local students
updated the goings-on inside the
campus on social networking
sites. This created panic among
their families and relatives.
Day 2: Search for bodies, liability, answers continues
From Page 1
Meanwhile, in a sensational revelation local people
claimed that the parts of the
construction work had been
sub-contracted to a construction syndicates run by local
Trinamool leaders.
One such company S
Enterprises was allegedly doing
the casting work at the site,
Kamlesh, a local said, adding,
the company belonged to the
nephew of local Trinamool
MLA. Another company called
R Constructions allegedly held
under a benami deal by the
same MLA’s relatives was also
involved in some kind of activities in the construction of the
flyover, sources said.
“It should be investigated as
to whether the main company
from Hyderabad had to cough
up huge amount to these companies and compromised in the
quality of work to make up for
the losses,” they added.
The workers involved in
the work also said that they had
been employed by Rafiqul, a
Trinamool strongman from
Rajarhaat-Salt Lake area.
BJP leaders like Babul
Supriyo and Siddharthnath
Singh also pointed fingers at
the connivance between the
local Trinamool MLA and the
construction company and
demanded a probe. “The
reports of some kind of link
between the construction company and the local Trinamool
MLA is coming this should be
probed,” he said.
However, Firhad Hakim,
Urban Development Minister,
on Friday attacked Singh for
“playing politics when so many
people have died.”
Notwithstanding Hakim’s
appeal to depoliticise the rescue operations, his own party
leaders prevented CPI(M) supporters from donating blood
at the Government-run Central
Blood Bank at Maniktulla.
This, at a time when there
was a huge shortage of blood
being reported from the hospitals. Sources said about 100
SFI members had donated
blood but after that Trinamool
MLA Dr Nirmal Maji got the
blood donation camp removed.
“He said that we will not
take CPI(M)’s blood,” Blood
Bank sources said. He, however, rejected the claim saying he
had not given such orders
adding as well that there was no
need of blood.
Meanwhile, the layout of
the area and the ‘pattern’ of the
collapse made the rescue work
all the more difficult even as an
NDRF engineer pointed out
how the partially smashed
truck is literally holding the
huge girder on which one lane
of the collapsed flyover is resting with its entire weight.
If the heavy-duty cranes
are used to pull out the truck
to release the trapped person,
“there is a possibility of the
whole weight subsiding on the
vehicle causing even the tyres
and the fuel tank to explode
causing bigger disaster,” said
the NDRF engineer. So, concrete cubes had been piled up
underneath the precariously
inclined girder. One side of the
beam was touching the road at
the Rabindra Sarani crossing in
the east and the other side
hanging from the pier number
39 to the western side. To
escape fire sand bags had been
piled up around the truck and
the entire locality had been
cleared, the police sources said.
“We have to pull the truck
out and salvage the dead person because finally the body
may start decomposing,” an
NDRF official said.
During the day forensic
experts visited the area and collected materials which would
throw light on two things in the
least, experts said. First, the test
will ascertain whether there
was sabotage, and secondly, it
will find out whether the material being used was up to the
mark,” said Partho Roy, a
Jadavpur University professor
and a structural engineer.
money 11
We do believe that 7.5 per cent
rate can be improved upon...
And Government is
concentrating on several areas
specially rural India. People in
India are benefiting from the
whole process of liberalisation
FINANCE MINISTER
ARUN JAITLEY
BUZZ
FROM
GOVT & CORP
British Govt to help secure a
buyer for Tata Steel’s UK biz
PTI n LONDON
mid fears that 15,000 jobs
may be lost, the UK on
A
Friday said it will appoint independent advisors once the sale
of Tata Steel’s UK business
commences and, alongwith the
Welsh Government, help in
securing a buyer for the country’s largest steelmaker.
Government also assured
the workers that “all possible”
ministerial, official and diplomatic influence will be exerted
to secure the steel industry’s
long term future.
“Business Secretary Sajid
Javid will today visit Port Talbot,
where Tata Steel UK’s largest
plant is based, to meet workers
and the management,” UK
Government said in a statement.
Tata Steel, one of the flagship firm of the over $100 billion Indian conglomerate Tata
Group, earlier this week disclosed plans to sell its entire UK
business.
The move has threatened
over 15,000 jobs amid a deepening crisis in the UK’s oncestoried sector that the Indian
conglomerate had entered nearly a decade ago with a $14-billion takeover with much fanfare.
“He (Javid) will say that
once formal Tata sales process
is underway, independent advisors will also be appointed by
the Government,” the statement said.
It added that as Prime
Minister David Cameron has
already said, the UK
Government intervention
helped ensure that Tata
announced a sales process for
Port Talbot, rather immediate
closure allowing ministers to
play an active part in finding
a sustainable solution, including engaging with market for
potential buyers.
“Javid will work with
Commercial Secretary to the
{usp}
Treasur y Jim O’Neill,
Chancellor of Duchy of
Lancaster Oliver Letwin and
Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns as
well as Welsh Government in
helping secure a buyer for
Tata’s Steel assets following
their announcement of their
intention to divest their UK
assets,” the statement added.
During his visit to Port
Talbot, Javid will also meet the
members of the Welsh
Government, unions and local
MPs.
On his visit, the Business
Secretary said: “I’m going to
Port Talbot to meet staff and
management, who are understandably extremely anxious
about their future.
“I will listen to them, and
I want to reassure them myself
that the Government is on
their side in working hard to
achieve a long term solution for
them, for the region and for the
wider UK steel industry.”
He further said: “Whilst
we can’t change the status of
the global steel market, we can
and are playing a positive role
in securing a sustainable
future.”
The Government said the
measures imposed in January
on reinforcing steel bar
imports are starting to have
effect as imports during the
months declined 99 per cent
from January 2015.
Tata Steel, which operates
UK’s biggest steel plant at Port
Talbot in south Wales, is losing
1 million pounds ($1.4 million)
a day in its UK operations.
Tatas had entered the
British steel sector, which once
dominated the British economy, in early 2007 with acquisition of Anglo-Dutch steelmaker Corus after a fiercely
fought takeover battle -- which
till date remains the biggest
ever overseas acquisition by an
Indian group.
Timely measures by the
Government and a good monsoon
will be essential in sustaining this
positive trend. The journey from
here promises to be even more
exciting as we gear-up to launch
our in-house developed products
HERO MOTOCORP CHAIRMAN,
MANAGING
DIRECTOR AND CEO PAWAN
MUNJAL
Mallya’s son Sidhartha
steps down as UBHL director
NEW DELHI: Amid growing
clamour for recovering over
`9,000 crore dues to banks
by now-defunct Kingfisher
Airlines, Vijay Mallya-led
United Breweries (Holdings)
Ltd on Friday said its nonexecutive, non-independent
director Sidhartha V Mallya
has vacated the office of
director with effect from
March 31.
This development comes
days after Mallya, who is
believed to be in the UK,
took to Twitter to ask people not to target his son
Siddharth.
“In terms of the provisions of Section 167(b) of
the Companies Act, 2013,
Mr Sidhartha V Mallya, a
Non - E x e c ut i v e ,
Non Independent Director of the
Company has vacated the
office of Director w.E.F.
March 31, 2016,” UBHL said
in a BSE filing.
O n We d n e s d ay, on
microblogging site Twitter,
Vijay Mallya said: “My son
Sid @sidmallya does not
deserve all this abuse as he
had nothing to do with my
business. Slam me if you
must but not a young man.”
Later in that day, liquor
baron Vijay Mallya and
Kingfisher Airlines Ltd had
submitted in a sealed cover
a proposal for repayment of
`4,000 crore out of the loan
Maruti, Hyundai post
record annual sales in FY16
PNS n NEW DELHI
aruti Suzuki India (MSI)
and Hyundai Motor
M
India on Friday announced
An Interaction Programme with Media was organised at NTPC Dadri recently. During the programme GGM (Dadri), Debasis
Sarkar, mentioned about the achievements and highlights of the power station during the FY-2015-16. Sarkar said that NTPC
Dadri has been awarded Swarn Shakti Award-2014-15 for productivity, most efficient plant and better employee relations.
BHEL COMMISSIONS 500 MW THERMAL UNIT IN MAHARASHTRA
BHEL has successfully commissioned its fifth 500 mw set at Chandrapur Super Thermal Power Project (STPP) in Maharashtra.
With this, 9 coal-based sets aggregating to 3,340 mw, all supplied and commissioned by BHEL, are now operational at Chandrapur
STPP of Maharashtra State Power Generation Co Ltd (MAHAGENCO). Notably, the commissioned unit is the second 500 mw unit
of Stage-III (2x500 mw) of the project being executed by BHEL. It has been a major partner in the power development programme
of the state of Maharashtra. It has contributed more than 15,500 mw of generating capacity to the state, which is the highest
capacity added by BHEL in a single state. Significantly, BHEL has supplied over 85 per cent of the coal-based sets installed by the
state utility. BHEL had earlier commissioned the first set of this project in March, 2015. BHEL-make 500 mw sets of this rating
class today form the backbone of the Indian power sector and have been performing much above the national average as well as
the international benchmarks. BHEL has already established its engineering prowess in the past through successfully delivering
higher rated units such as 600 mw, 660 mw, 700 mw and 800 mw thermal sets having a high degree of indigenisation.
HSCC (India) Ltd celebrated its 34th
foundation day on Friday. Annual
awards were presented to deserving
employees for their long term
contribution to the organisation.
Chairman and Managing Director,
HSCC, Gyanesh Pandey, presented
the awards in the presence of SK
Jain Director, (Engg). In his address,
Pandey congratulated all on the
occasion and said that the
organisation has set new
benchmarks in both its construction
and operation related activities in
the health care sector.
Union Minister
of State
(Independent
Charge) for
Power, Coal and
New and
Renewable
Energy, Piyush
Goyal,
addressing at the
MoU signing
ceremony for
Impacting
Research
Innovation and
Technology.
their best ever annual sales in
the fiscal ended March 31,
while Mahindra & Mahindra
and Honda Cars India (HCIL)
posted marginal sales growth
in 2015-16.
For the 2015-16 fiscal,
MSI posted sales of 14,29,248
units, a growth of 10.6 per
cent. This comprises highest
ever domestic sales of
13,05,351 units and 1,23,897
units of exports.
“We posted record
(domestic) sales in 2015-16.
While the industry grew by
around 7 per cent, we grew
11.5 per cent during the fiscal,”
MSI Executive Director
Marketing and Sales R S Kalsi
told news agency PTI.
Rival Hyundai Motor
India Ltd saw its sales rise 15.1
per cent in 2015-16 at 4,84,324
units compared to 4,20,668
units in 2014-15.
HMIL Senior VicePresident
(Sales
and
Marketing) Rakesh Srivastava
said the company achieved the
EPFO puts on hold
new PF withdrawal
norms till Apr 30
NEW DELHI: Retirement fund
CSR Contribution
of PFC Green
Energy Limited
(PFC GEL) to
'Swachh Bharat
Kosh', CEO (PFC
GEL), Dinesh Vij,
and CFO (PFC
GEL), Alok Sud
handing over draft
of about `31.96
lakh to JS & OSD
(PPD), Dr Vivek
Joshi, Department
of Expenditure,
Ministry of
Finance.
body EPFO on Friday deferred
till April 30 implementation of
new norms that restrict 100 per
cent withdrawal of provident
fund by members after unemployment of more than two
months, among others.
The EPFO subscribers
who are out of job for more
than two months can file for
full and final settlement of
provident fund till month end.
In view of practical difficulties faced in implementation of the notifications, the
new provisions will come into
effect from May 1, 2016, a circular by the Employees
Provident Fund Organisation
(EPFO) said.
“Accordingly, all the claims
received up to April 30, 2016
are to settled as per the provisions existing prior to the issue
of the notification dated
February 10, 2016,” it added.
Earlier in February, the
EPFO amended the EPF Scheme
1952 to tighten the various
norms for withdrawal of provident fund including increasing
age limit for filing such claims by
retiring employees to 58 years
from 54 years.
PTI
best ever yearly sales due to
strong performance of models
like Creta, Elite i20 and Grand
i10.
Homegrown utility vehicles major Mahindra &
Mahindra’s domestic sales during the FY16 rose by 5 per cent
to 4,58,065 units compared
with 4,34,568 units in 2014-15.
M&M Chief Executive
(auto division) Pravin Shah
said the last financial year
was significant for the firm
considering the number of
new product launches which
were well received by the customers leading to a positive
growth both in domestic and
overseas markets.
“Going forward, we hope
to see good opportunity with
our wide product portfolio.
Further, the likely softening of
interest rates in the upcoming
RBI monetary policy will help
the automotive industry to
maintain its growth momentum in FY2017,” he added.
Honda Cars India Ltd
(HCIL) said in the fiscal ended
March 31, 2016, its domestic
sales were at 1,92,059 units as
against 1,89,062 units in
2014–15, up 2 per cent.
Commenting on company’s sales performance, HCIL
Senior Vice President –
Marketing & Sales Jnaneswar
Sen said: “Year 2015-16 was an
eventful and rewarding year
for HCIL. We continued our
growth journey in the market
making this year as 4th consecutive year of annual sales
growth.”
On the outlook, he said:
“The new fiscal year holds
tremendous opportunity for
our further growth as we will
enhance our product line-up
with the launch of new models and expand our dealer
network.”
He said with the upcoming launch of Honda BR-V, the
company will will mark its
entry into a new product segment.
In March, MSI’s domestic
sales increased by 14.6 per cent
during the month to 1,18,895
units as against 1,03,719 units
in the same month last year.
Sales of mini segment cars,
including,
Alto
and
WagonR,however declined 8.7
per cent to 36,678 units in the
month from 40,159 units in
the year-ago month.
The company said sales of
the compact segment comprising Swift, Estilo, Ritz, Dzire
and Baleno increased 20.9 per
cent to 46,786 units in March
this year as against 38,710
units in the same month last
year.
Rival Hyundai Motor
India (HMIL) sold 41,201
units last month in the domestic market as compared with
39,525 units in March 2015, up
4.2 per cent.
Utility vehicle major
Mahindra and Mahindra saw
its domestic sales rise up 19
per cent during the last month
at 48,967 units compared with
41,105 units in March 2015.
Similarly, Renault India
reported 160 per cent jump in
its domestic sales at 12,424
units in March. It had sold
4,782 units in the corresponding month last year.
“In a short span of time,
we have exponentially grown
our reach in terms of sales and
network expansion... This
month, we recorded our best
ever sales figures in India,”
Renault India Operations
Country CEO and Managing
Director Sumit Sawhney said.
Aviation policy likely to be
cleared by Cabinet this month
NEW DELHI: A degree of “con-
sensus” among various stakeholders on issues in draft civil
aviation policy including norms
for international flying by
domestic airlines has “emerged”
and it is likely to be approved by
the Cabinet this month, a top
official said on Friday.
“(As far as) 5/20 and other
issues raised in the draft civil
aviation policy (are concerned),
a degree of consensus has
already emerged,” Civil Aviation
Secretary RN Choubey told
reporters on the sidelines of the
29th anniversary of Bureau of
Civil Aviation Security (BCAS).
Under the ‘5/20 rule’ only
those airlines having at least five
years of domestic flying experience and a minimum of 20 aircraft are allowed to fly overseas.
BCAS is country’s nodal
aviation security agency.
Choubey said that his ministry will be taking the matter to
the Cabinet this month itself,
adding, “the (new aviation) policy, which will also clear the
position on 5/20, will be
approved this month.”
The draft policy was
amount of `6,903 crore to
the consortium of banks led
by State Bank of India by
September this year.
Along with Mallya and
Kingfisher, the proposal was
also submitted by United
Breweries (Holdings) Ltd
a n d K i n g f i s h e r Fi nv e s t
(India) Ltd.
PTI
VW suspends
sale of select
Vento model
PNS n NEW DELHI
erman auto maker
Volkswagen (VW) is haltG
ing sales of a select version of
its mid-sized sedan Vento in
India with immediate effect
due to inconsistent Carbon
Monoxide (CO) emissions and
is recalling 3,877 units of the
car.
Emissions of Vento
equipped with 1.5-litre diesel
engine and manual gearbox
were observed to be sometimes exceeding the threshold
limits during the Conformity
of Production tests done by the
ARAI, Volkswagen India said
in a statement.
“At the same time,
Volkswagen India is temporarily holding back sales of
the manual gearbox version of
the Volkswagen Vento with
1.5-litre diesel engine with
immediate effect,” it added.
The company is analysing
the issue and will propose
technical measures to ARAI to
solve this inconsistency at the
earliest, it said.
Once approved and confirmed by the competent
authorities, Volkswagen India
will implement the measures
and resume the production
and sales of the vehicle, it
added.
“The same technical measures will also be implemented in the impacted vehicles
that are already with customers,” it said.
Cos raise `48,952 cr
via various instruments
in Financial Year 16
PNS n NEW DELHI
espite stock market volatility
and a negative return of 9.4
D
per cent from the Sensex, 2015-16
unveiled in October last year
and since then Government
has held extensive consultations with various stakeholders
including ministries, airlines,airport operators, ground handling
agencies, among others during
this period.
“We have already done a
couple of rounds of inter ministerial consultations. We will
now be in a position to take the
matter to the Cabinet this
month,” he said.
The policy was expected to
be finalised in the previous
financial year as certain proposals were to be implemented from April 1, 2016.
While startup carriers
Vistara and Air Asia India,
where Tatas is a stakeholder,
are demanding that the 5/20
rule be done away with, the
grouping of four private Indian
carriers comprising IndiGo,
SpiceJet, Jet Airways and
GoAir wants the rule to continue.
The proposed policy seeks
to give a boost the Indian aviation sector, which has high
growth potential, and strengthen regional connectivity.
It has suggested tax incentives for airlines, maintenance
and repair works of aircraft
besides mooting 2 per cent levy
on all air tickets to fund regional connectivity scheme.
PTI
saw good participation in new
equity issuances and companies
raised a total of `48,952 crore
through various instruments, says
a report.
“In financial year 2015-16, a
total of `48,952 crore was raised
through various equity market
instruments including initial public offers, qualified institutional
placements, follow-on public offers
and offers-for-sale,” a report by
Centrum Wealth Research said on
Friday. This was, however, lower
than `58,801 crore raised in fiscal
2015. IPOs garnered `14,772 crore
in fiscal 2016, a massive leap
from `2,769 crore raised in the previous fiscal. Money raised through
QIPs stood at `14,438 crore, lower
than `29,102 crore in the last fiscal, but rights issues raised `8,785
crore, a 30 per cent jump from
`6,750 crore in FY15.
money 12
IT dept notifies new ITRs 8 states issue bonds worth
Taxman eyes those earning over `50L
PTI n NEW DELHI
eople with an income of
more than `50 lakh per
annum and having the pleasure of owning a yacht, aircraft
or valuable jewellery will now
have to disclose these costly
assets with the IT department
notifying a new set of Income
Tax Return (ITR) forms for
assessment year 2016-17.
Filing for the new forms
begins with the onset of the
new financial year on Friday.
The Finance Ministry published a gazette order in this
regard on March 30 and taxpayers can file their ITRs till
the stipulated deadline of July
31.
The department has introduced a fresh reporting column in the new ITRs (ITR-2
and 2A) called ‘Asset and
Liability at the end of the year’
which is applicable in cases
where the total income exceeds
`50 lakh. Individuals and entities coming under this income
bracket will also have to mention the total cost of such
assets.
So, while immovable assets
like land and building have to
be furnished under the new
ITR regime, movable assets like
cash in hand, jewellery, bullion,
vehicles, yachts, boats and aircraft will also have to be disclosed to the taxman.
The entity reporting these
high-value possessions will
P
also have to describe their
“Liability in relation” to these
items.
“The new reporting mechanisms for people earning over
`50 lakh per annum are made
to check tax evasion by highnet worth individuals and entities. While their income
returns used to cover this in a
way till now, a new exclusive
column was essential to keep
the taxman informed,” a senior
official said.
For the first time, the ITRs,
keeping in spirit the government’s flagship agenda of promoting startup businesses has
brought out a separate column
for earnings made from this
sector.
The ITR-2A, to be filled by
those individuals and HUFs
who do not have income from
either business, profession or
by way of capital gains and do
not hold foreign assets, has the
new column called Pass
Through Income (PTI) and
seeks details from business
trust or investment fund as per
section 115UA and 115UB of
the Income Tax Act (investments made in a venture capital company) which pertains
to emerging companies or
startup firms.
Finance
Minister Arun Jaitley had
announced in the recent
Budget that startups will get
100 per cent tax exemption for
three years. The respective
form, for this year, has hence
NIFTY 50
SCRIP
OPEN HIGH LOW
LTP CHANGE
BANKBARODA 145.7 153.5 145.35 152.85
5.85
ITC
326.1 336.8 325.5
336
7.75
ACC
1,371.25 1,417.00 1,371.25 1,414.00
32.1
BHEL
113.8 120.7 113.35
116
2.15
LT
1,212.00 1,248.30 1,212.00 1,237.35 20.65
AMBUJACEM
231.9 236.4 229.15
236
3.45
AXISBANK
440.9
452 440.05
449.6
5.45
INFRATEL
380.9 392.1 376.2
386.2
4.25
HCLTECH
820
824
807
822.5
8.4
TATAPOWER
64.95
65.5 63.65
65.3
0.65
BAJAJ-AUTO 2,410.00 2,427.40 2,378.00 2,427.40 21.45
HDFC
1,100.00 1,117.80 1,092.25 1,115.20
9.6
NTPC
128.7
131 128.3 129.75
0.9
SBIN
193.7 197.25
192 195.25
1
ICICIBANK
236 239.45 232.7
237.7
1.05
CIPLA
513.8 517.3
510
514
2.05
EICHERMOT 19,080.6019,450.0018,910.8519,230.00
49.4
MARUTI
3,700.45 3,764.95 3,682.00 3,720.00
3.7
HEROMOTOCO 2,931.10 2,969.45 2,923.00 2,948.00
2.3
GRASIM
3,811.00 3,887.00 3,811.00 3,845.05
0.9
ASIANPAINT
871 883.95
865
868
-0.4
HINDUNILVR
867.1 874.9
856
866.9
-2.6
KOTAKBANK
682 686.65 677.15
678.1
-2.55
WIPRO
567 572.5 557.2
561.5
-2.75
ZEEL
384 389.7 383.1 385.05
-1.9
HDFCBANK 1,068.80 1,076.40 1,056.80 1,065.05
-6.1
SUNPHARMA
821
824 809.4
815
-5
INDUSINDBK 966.65
969 950.75
961
-6.6
POWERGRID
139.8
140 138.1 138.15
-0.95
TATAMTRDVR
289.7 289.7 281.2
286.2
-2.15
ULTRACEMCO 3,249.00 3,260.00 3,190.00 3,204.00 -24.75
INFY
1,216.00 1,222.20 1,195.10 1,207.60
-10.7
LUPIN
1,475.90 1,484.00 1,451.25 1,465.50 -13.75
TATASTEEL
317.65 319.85 313.35
316.7
-3
RELIANCE
1,039.10 1,046.30 1,025.00 1,035.00
-10.2
YESBANK
863 865.5 852.4 854.25
-10.8
M&M
1,206.70 1,207.40 1,188.00 1,192.80
-17.9
TATAMOTORS
386.4 386.4 377.7 380.15
-6.45
COALINDIA
292 293.75 285.65
286.9
-5.05
ADANIPORTS
248
248 239.5
243.3
-4.4
HINDALCO
87.5 87.65 86.05
86.35
-1.6
DRREDDY
3,020.20 3,026.15 2,965.15 2,978.30
-56.9
BPCL
900
900 885.2 886.35 -17.95
ONGC
214.5 214.95 208.1 209.35
-4.75
GAIL
354.65 355.7 346.3 348.15
-8.25
AUROPHARMA 731.8 747.6
720
727.5
-17.4
TCS
2,505.00 2,520.85 2,434.10 2,458.00
-62.3
IDEA
110.5 110.8 106.4 107.25
-2.95
TECHM
476 476.05
460 462.05
-12.9
BHARTIARTL
350.2 350.2 332.2 335.95 -14.85
BOSCHLTD 20,825.0020,825.0019,723.9519,900.00 -884.5
NIFTY NEXT 50
SCRIP
OPEN HIGH LOW
LTP CHANGE
DLF
114.5 121.35 113.2 120.75
6
PNB
84.5
88.1 84.25
87.75
3.05
CUMMINSIND
840 894.9
840
860.2
18.4
DIVISLAB
984.95 1,011.45 977.95 1,008.80 21.55
TORNTPHARM 1,348.00 1,368.00 1,343.25 1,367.80 27.55
BAJAJFINSV 1,712.00 1,764.95 1,712.00 1,746.00
34.9
SIEMENS
1,095.00 1,128.90 1,091.00 1,120.00
20.3
CONCOR
1,243.00 1,266.00 1,224.85 1,265.10 21.75
APOLLOHOSP 1,337.00 1,353.00 1,324.00 1,347.10
17.8
CADILAHC
316.5 325.7 313.15 321.05
4.15
ASHOKLEY
108.4 110.85 107.8
110
1.4
GODREJCP 1,384.90 1,403.85 1,360.15 1,398.45 17.65
OIL
314.4 317.3 312.55
316.7
3.7
ABB
1,275.00 1,315.40 1,264.85 1,297.00 14.85
SAIL
43.2
44.3
43
43.5
0.4
HINDPETRO
784 797.8 775.55
793
5.25
RCOM
49.9 51.15
49.7
50.25
0.25
COLPAL
829.85 837.3 823.65
835
4.15
HINDZINC
183.85 186.45 183.7
184.5
0.9
OFSS
3,529.00 3,565.00 3,499.00 3,544.95 15.55
CASTROLIND
374.9 381.4 373.6
375.6
1.45
MCDOWELL-N 2,484.00 2,524.05 2,465.00 2,505.30
5.9
DABUR
248.05 251.35 247.3
250.3
0.4
VEDL
89.75
91.6 87.55
89.95
0.1
GSKCONS
5,950.00 6,045.00 5,950.00 6,040.00
3.25
UBL
829
842 819.15 827.75
0.4
TITAN
339
343 335.4
339
-0.1
NMDC
98.9
98.9 97.05
97.8
-0.2
IOC
395.65 396.8 391.6 392.75
-0.85
CAIRN
154.5
155 151.1
153.5
-0.35
BAJFINANCE 6,939.00 7,030.95 6,800.05 6,900.05
-24.1
GLENMARK
789.7 796.75 781.25
792.3
-2.75
PIDILITIND
588 597.75 586.35 587.15
-2.15
BRITANNIA 2,661.50 2,717.90 2,661.50 2,671.10
-15.4
NHPC
23.7
24.2 23.55
24
-0.15
IBULHSGFIN
650.95
660 638.2
645
-4.9
RECLTD
166.5 167.1 163.5 164.95
-1.25
GLAXO
3,802.00 3,850.00 3,767.55 3,775.00 -39.75
EMAMILTD
933 934.95 915.25
922
-10.3
MARICO
244.55 246.4 240.1
241.6
-2.7
BHARATFORG
877
883 858.65
861.6
-11.5
PGHH
6,255.00 6,419.70 6,160.00 6,184.00 -100.25
PFC
171
171 166.1 168.45
-2.9
LICHSGFIN
489.2 493.5 483.25 484.55
-8.6
JSWSTEEL
1,271.35 1,277.30 1,251.00 1,260.25
-23
SHREECEM 12,296.3012,400.0012,012.1012,182.00 -238.5
MOTHERSUMI
264.7 264.7 258.45 260.95
-5.5
UPL
474.45 474.85 461.45
467.1
-10.6
BEL
1,208.00 1,218.95 1,191.55 1,193.35 -30.95
SRTRANSFIN
955.1 957.75
920
925 -28.15
gone upto eight pages (including annexures) as compared to
the same document of 7 pages
last fiscal.
The ITR-2, used by similar category of entities but
who own foreign assets, also
features the new PTI column.
A total of nine such ITRs
have been notified which
include the Sahaj (ITR-1), ITR2, ITR-2A, ITR-3, Sugam (ITR4S), ITR-4, ITR-5, ITR-6, ITR7 and an acknowledgement
form called the ITR-V.
The simplest ITR-1 (Sahaj)
for individuals having income
from salaries, one house property or other sources, now
features an additional column
to mention the Tax Collected
at Source (TCS) and the form
now has 7 pages as compared
to the earlier five.
The department has not
made any changes in columns
seeking declaration of foreign
assets and income by entities
and individuals and smart features like providing Aadhaar
number, personal mobile
phone number and email id
have been retained. Furnishing
of Passport details has not
been made mandatory this
time too. The requirement of
furnishing total number of
savings and current bank
accounts held by the individual or entity, at any time during the previous year, (excluding dormant accounts) has
been continued this time too.
`1L cr to tackle discom debt
PNS n NEW DELHI
ight states, including
Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh
and Bihar, issued bonds worth
almost `1 lakh crore in 2015-16
under the UDAY scheme meant
for revival of debt-ridden power
distribution companies. The
discoms have accumulated debt
of `4.37 lakh crore. Till date, as
many as 10 states have formally signed up for the scheme.
Under the programme, the
states will issue bonds to take on
75 per cent of the debt of these
discoms and the remaining
credit will be paid through
state-guaranteed bonds issued
by discoms.
“Another target achieved:
UDAY bonds worth almost `1
lakh crore issued in the last
E
Another target achieved: UDAY
bonds worth almost `1L cr issued
in the last FY helping achieve 24X7
affordable power for all, says
POWER MINISTER PIYUSH GOYAL
financial year helping achieve
24X7 affordable power for all,”
Power Minister Piyush Goyal on
Friday said.
The tentative data collected
from the states show that bonds
worth `99,541 crore were issued
by states under the UDAY
scheme launched by the Centre
in November last year for revival
of debt-stressed distribution
companies, a source said.
Rajasthan has issued bonds
worth `37,350 crore followed by
Uttar Pradesh at `24,332 crore,
Haryana at `17,300 crore and
Punjab `9,860 crore.
Jharkhand issued bonds
worth `6,136 crore while Jammu
& Kashmir and Bihar issued
securities worth `2,140 crore and
`1,553 crore, respectively.
Chhattisgarh has issued bonds
worth `870 crore under the
scheme to pare debt of its discoms. Goyal, in a tweet, also said
Uttarakhand has formally signed
the agreement to come on board,
thus becoming the 10th state to
formally subscribe to UDAY.
SBI Chairman expects
RBI to address systemic
liquidity issues in policy
MUMBAI: Reserve Bank's
forthcoming monetary policy
review should outline steps to
curb the volatility in systemic liquidity, SBI Chairman Arundhati
Bhattacharya said on Friday.
RBI is scheduled to announce
this fiscal's first bi-monthly monetary policy on April 5.
“We expect RBI to address
the issues of systemic liquidity,”
Bhattacharya said in a statement
here. Currently, high volatility in
currency holdings of public
(both in the form of cash and
jewellery) as well as government’s cash balances with RBI
is leading to volatility in systemic liquidity, she said.
“To this end, Government’s
cash balances may be placed
with public sector banks, instead
of with RBI, so that the cash
remains within the banking system and does not create unnecessary volatility in money markets,” she added. This step will
provide a clear picture of the
money available within the system which will not get distorted
by Government borrowing.
This step would increase
government’s revenue as the
funds can be kept in an interest
bearing account with the banks,
she stated. Bhattacharya said RBI
should examine the reasons for
increase in currency holdings
with public. RBI may also alleviate the market participants concern about potential dollar shortages in September/ October 2016
related to maturity of special
FCNR (B) swaps, she said. PTI
Flipkart buys payment co PhonePe IMF for innovation to battle global growth slowdown
their unique identification and
PTI n BENGALURU
lipkart on Friday announced
the acquisition of PhonePe,
F
a city-based mobile payments
company co-founded by the ecommerce giant’s two former
employees. PhonePe, co-founded by Sameer Nigam and Rahul
Chari, is building India's first
Unified Payments Interface
(UPI) based product. UPI,
planned to go live in April, will
allow users to transact using
mobile phone number or virtual
payments address without sharing any other bank details. In
contrast to the present payments
process, which involves entering
numerous account/card details
and multi-level interventions,
UPI will provide a highly secure
hassle-free digital payments
experience, Flipkart said.
Anyone holding an active
bank account can easily perform instant transactions by
using their mobile phone, it said
WASHINGTON: Facing slowing growth in the
global economy, the International Monetary
Fund called on Friday for policies that support
research and development to promote innovation.
“Fiscal policy can play an important role in
stimulating innovation through its effects on
research and development (R&D), entrepreneurship, and technology transfer,” the IMF said
in a report ahead of its twice-yearly meeting in
Washington in April.
Among its recommendations, the IMF
estimated that businesses in advanced economies
should invest 40 per cent more in R&D on aver-
age than they do currently, which could in the
long run increase the gross domestic product of
their respective countries by 5.0 per cent, and
in turn boost growth in the global economy
through technology transfers.
Innovation is also a way to improve productivity amid concerns ‘that the global economy may be trapped in an era of mediocre
growth,” the report said. “The slow growth in
total factor productivity (TFP) is particularly
worrisome,” it said, referring to the part of output than cannot be explained by the amount of
inputs, typically labor and capital, used in production. AFP
Bse 500
Script
Traded
3MINDIA
8KMILES
AARTIDRUGS
AARTIIND
ABAN
ABB
ABBOTINDIA
ACC
ADANIENT
ADANIPORTS
ADANIPOWER
ADANITRANS
ADVANTA
AEGISLOG
AIAENG
AIL
AJANTPHARM
AKZOINDIA
ALBK
ALLCARGO
ALOKTEXT
ALSTOMT&D
AMARAJABAT
AMBUJACEM
AMTEKAUTO
ANANTRAJ
ANDHRABANK
APLLTD
APOLLOHOSP
APOLLOTYRE
ARVIND
ASAHIINDIA
ASHIANA
ASHOKA
ASHOKLEY
ASIANPAINT
ASTRAL
ASTRAMICRO
ASTRAZEN
ATUL
Last
Price
10756
2023
460
521.65
179
1291.25
4675
1411.9
76
242.75
34.75
35.15
477.45
99.3
942
615.5
1385.1
1355.6
57.7
151.5
4.64
439.45
885.2
235.05
30.8
34.1
55.6
591.85
1350
174.4
273.3
153
136.85
171.6
110.2
870.8
413.15
110.75
1159.75
1519.1
Abs Change
Change
%
-26.8 -0.25
27.2
1.36
5.5
1.21
4.25
0.82
2.3
1.3
14.75
1.16
-32.5 -0.69
31.6
2.29
2.35
3.19
-4.95
-2
0.1
0.29
0.85
2.48
-7.2 -1.49
2
2.06
4.1
0.44
8.8
1.45
-25.4
-1.8
0.05
0
3
5.48
-1.7 -1.11
0.12
2.65
-5.25 -1.18
5.65
0.64
2.9
1.25
0.45
1.48
1.15
3.49
3.3
6.31
-8.75 -1.46
25.55
1.93
-0.6 -0.34
0.2
0.07
1.5
0.99
5.55
4.23
1.45
0.85
1.65
1.52
2.1
0.24
-6.35 -1.51
5
4.73
3.1
0.27
-21.75 -1.41
CCL
CEATLTD
CENTRALBK
CENTURYPLY
CENTURYTEX
CERA
CESC
CHAMBLFERT
CHENNPETRO
CHOLAFIN
CIPLA
CLARIS
CLNINDIA
COALINDIA
COLPAL
CONCOR
COROMANDEL
CORPBANK
COX&KINGS
CRISIL
CUB
CUMMINSIND
CYIENT
DABUR
DALMIABHA
DBCORP
DBREALTY
DCBBANK
DCMSHRIRAM
DEEPAKFERT
DELTACORP
DEN
DENABANK
DHFL
DISHMAN
DISHTV
DIVISLAB
DLF
DRREDDY
DYNAMATECH
ECLERX
EDELWEISS
200.55
1071.6
76
171.2
540.2
1820
473.35
55.55
202.1
729.05
513.45
133.2
602.4
287.8
835.95
1264.85
191.4
40.1
181.25
1778
97.15
864.15
457.5
250.95
805
309
44.1
80.1
143.05
149.5
68.45
98.85
29.8
199.7
330.55
85.45
1008.7
120.85
2979.95
1703.75
1306
56.1
5.5
-12.55
1.95
0.85
11.5
-19.5
0
0.7
2.9
15.6
1.25
2.7
7.7
-4.2
8.3
23.7
1.5
1.05
0.7
-22.2
2.35
22
32.1
1.8
8.6
0.1
1.6
1.15
4
1.95
2.35
12
1.05
3.5
-5.3
-1.35
23.65
6.25
-54.95
-28.5
8.6
-0.25
2.82
-1.16
2.63
0.5
2.18
-1.06
0
1.28
1.46
2.19
0.24
2.07
1.29
-1.44
1
1.91
0.79
2.69
0.39
-1.23
2.48
2.61
7.55
0.72
1.08
0.03
3.76
1.46
2.88
1.32
3.56
13.82
3.65
1.78
-1.58
-1.56
2.4
5.45
-1.81
-1.65
0.66
-0.44
NSE: GAINERS
BSE: GAINERS
Current (Chng %)
Current (Chng %)
BANKBARODA
152.85 (3.98)
8.53 (11.65)
ITC
336.00 (2.36)
335.10 (8.03)
ACC
TUBEINVEST
418.00 (8.01)
BHEL
CYIENT
457.50 (7.55)
LT
-14.4
6.75
5
11.05
-4.65
8.15
41.25
0.46
33
-2.2
-1.25
-7.45
1.25
5.55
3.5
-10.65
-4.05
-8.7
9
-21.75
-8.1
-0.95
1.6
-8
-15.65
3.15
0.55
8.65
12.85
5.1
78.65
9.4
1.05
-908.6
-14.45
5.7
3.9
-1.1
8.9
30.2
-3.8
68.2
-3.5
35.05
0.26
2.1
EICHERMOT
EIDPARRY
EIHOTEL
ELGIEQUIP
EMAMILTD
ENGINERSIN
ENIL
EROSMEDIA
ESCORTS
ESSELPRO
EVEREADY
EXIDEIND
FAGBEARING
FCEL
FDC
FEDERALBNK
FINCABLES
FINOLEXIND
FORCEMOT
FORTIS
FRL
FSL
GAIL
GATI
GAYAPROJ
GDL
GEOMETRIC
GESHIP
GHCL
GICHSGFIN
GILLETTE
GLAXO
GLENMARK
GLOBOFFS
GMDCLTD
GMRINFRA
GODFRYPHLP
GODREJCP
GODREJIND
GODREJPROP
GPPL
GRANULES
GRASIM
GREAVESCOT
GREENPLY
GRINDWELL
DEN
98.85 (13.82)
JPASSOCIAT
GESHIP
AUROPHARMA
AVANTI
AXISBANK
BAJAJ-AUTO
BAJAJCORP
BAJAJELEC
BAJAJFINSV
BAJAJHIND
BAJAJHLDNG
BAJFINANCE
BALKRISIND
BALMLAWRIE
BALRAMCHIN
BANKBARODA
BANKINDIA
BASF
BATAINDIA
BAYERCROP
BBTC
BEL
BEML
BERGEPAINT
BFUTILITIE
BHARATFORG
BHARTIARTL
BHEL
BHUSANSTL
BIOCON
BIRLACORPN
BLISSGVS
BLUEDART
BLUESTARCO
BOMDYEING
BOSCHLTD
BPCL
BRITANNIA
CADILAHC
CAIRN
CANBK
CANFINHOME
CAPF
CAPPL
CARBORUNIV
CARERATING
CASTEXTECH
CASTROLIND
730.6
405
449.55
2417.15
381
198.5
1745
20.5
1494
6927
628.25
565.8
108.9
152.65
100.55
862
503
3760
377.05
1197.75
1028.35
243.55
566.95
864.8
335.25
116.9
36.45
490.75
375
131.9
6144.7
393.05
48.6
19878.5
887.15
2681.25
320.85
153.25
198.75
1184.55
427.65
1079.45
172
967.4
5.56
376.95
-1.93
1.69
1.12
0.46
-1.21
4.28
2.42
2.3
2.26
-0.03
-0.2
-1.3
1.16
3.77
3.61
-1.22
-0.8
-0.23
2.45
-1.78
-0.78
-0.39
0.28
-0.92
-4.46
2.77
1.53
1.79
3.55
4.02
1.3
2.45
2.21
-4.37
-1.6
0.21
1.23
-0.71
4.69
2.62
-0.88
6.74
-1.99
3.76
4.91
0.56
1,414.00 (2.32)
116.00 (1.89)
1,237.35 (1.70)
19238.5
219.9
103.5
130
922.2
171.2
780
173.4
139.4
161
234.4
141
3834.6
20.35
181.1
46.75
287.15
367.4
2937
180.55
129.35
33.7
347.65
109.95
527
280.55
196
335.1
120.95
249.45
4370
3780
791.55
190.35
65.3
11.98
1192.7
1390.15
353.25
305.2
173.3
119.8
3845
123.05
175
667
98.65
1.85
-1.35
0.4
-8.6
0.95
-0.6
4.4
0.35
-0.05
3
1.35
14.15
-0.2
-4.15
0.65
6.8
3.1
82
5.1
0.7
0
-8.7
0.55
2.65
0.65
-8.8
24.9
5.8
2.95
-44.65
-20.65
-2.75
7.85
-0.05
0.29
4.2
10.8
-1.2
8.9
-1.6
-0.15
3.65
-0.45
0.95
-8.15
0.52
0.85
-1.29
0.31
-0.92
0.56
-0.08
2.6
0.25
-0.03
1.3
0.97
0.37
-0.97
-2.24
1.41
2.43
0.85
2.87
2.91
0.54
0
-2.44
0.5
0.51
0.23
-4.3
8.03
5.04
1.2
-1.01
-0.54
-0.35
4.3
-0.08
2.48
0.35
0.78
-0.34
3
-0.91
-0.13
0.1
-0.36
0.55
-1.21
SENSEX
GRUH
GSFC
GSKCONS
GSPL
GUJFLUORO
GUJGAS
GULFOILLUB
GVKPIL
HATHWAY
HATSUN
HAVELLS
HCC
HCL-INSYS
HCLTECH
HDFC
HDFCBANK
HDIL
HEIDELBERG
HEROMOTOCO
HEXAWARE
HFCL
HIMATSEIDE
HINDALCO
HINDCOPPER
HINDPETRO
HINDUNILVR
HINDZINC
HITACHIHOM
HMT
HONAUT
HSIL
HTMEDIA
IBREALEST
IBULHSGFIN
ICICIBANK
ICIL
ICRA
IDBI
IDEA
IDFC
IDFCBANK
IFBIND
IFCI
IGL
IIFL
IL&FSTRANS
INDHOTEL
INDIACEM
INDIANB
INDIGO
INDOCO
INDUSINDBK
INFRATEL
INFY
INGERRAND
INOXLEISUR
INOXWIND
INTELLECT
IOB
IOC
IPAPPM
IPCALAB
IRB
ISGEC
ITC
J&KBANK
JAGRAN
JAICORPLTD
JBCHEPHARM
JBFIND
JETAIRWAYS
JINDALPOLY
JINDALSAW
JINDALSTEL
JISLJALEQS
246
66.4
6019
135.4
527
539
530
6.95
38.2
415
313.45
19.75
44.15
820.7
1111.55
1064.9
77.25
86.6
2955
271.05
16.95
196.5
86.65
51.4
795.35
866.4
184.85
1200
44.8
8649.95
289.55
77.45
57.8
645.35
238.6
985.5
3837.25
72.55
106.9
40.5
48.95
326
25.05
564.65
206
73.25
101
88.45
104.15
906.5
279.6
960
386.25
1205.9
645.5
199.4
266.9
236.7
31.35
393.15
293.5
572.9
237.15
4100
336
60.75
158
69.85
249.75
183.6
566.5
426.95
41.55
63.5
60.35
6.85
1.8
-16.15
-3.15
9.2
-10.55
22.9
0.12
-0.55
5
-8.8
0.15
0.85
6.55
6
-6.3
4.3
5.5
11.6
3.5
0.7
1.55
-1.25
0.65
9.8
-3.1
1.35
-12.2
0
-0.05
11.3
1.35
1.7
-1.4
2.05
17.15
-37.75
3.05
-2.85
0.1
0.7
8.65
0.45
-4.8
-0.3
1.35
1.7
2.25
-0.55
33.5
-8.3
-7.6
4.05
-12.05
-0.6
7.7
6.55
11.15
1.05
-0.3
-0.3
-6.85
4.8
4.5
7.95
0.05
-2.2
1.05
0.35
0.85
19.5
3.65
3
3.45
0.05
NIFTY
2.86
2.79
-0.27
-2.27
1.78
-1.92
4.52
1.76
-1.42
1.22
-2.73
0.77
1.96
0.8
0.54
-0.59
5.89
6.78
0.39
1.31
4.31
0.8
-1.42
1.28
1.25
-0.36
0.74
-1.01
0
0
4.06
1.77
3.03
-0.22
0.87
1.77
-0.97
4.39
-2.6
0.25
1.45
2.73
1.83
-0.84
-0.15
1.88
1.71
2.61
-0.53
3.84
-2.88
-0.79
1.06
-0.99
-0.09
4.02
2.52
4.94
3.47
-0.08
-0.1
-1.18
2.07
0.11
2.42
0.08
-1.37
1.53
0.14
0.47
3.56
0.86
7.78
5.75
0.08
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BSE: SENSEX
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0.3
0.89
0.45
0.34
-1.5
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-5.85
20.55
4.15
4.6
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0.5
-0.85
2.3
1.3
34.25
-1.6
3.45
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2.95
0.4
2.35
2.7
1.95
1.95
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-35.2
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5.25
22.1
-14.85
0.45
-15.1
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3.45
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8.65
0.05
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4.15
8.3
-2
0.95
16.4
0.65
0.3
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-4.9
4.05
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2.45
0.25
1.35
3.8
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8.05
0
38
-173.95
0.4
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0.4
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-1.9
-2.25
-1.31
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0.79
11.65
5.36
7.26
-2.16
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-1.41
1.61
0.55
1.59
-0.09
0.24
-0.3
1.88
0.61
7.84
-0.23
2.34
-1.97
-2.4
0.78
1.21
2.3
2.39
3.07
2.41
-0.2
-1.06
-0.77
1.96
1.82
-1
2.39
-1.25
-0.02
4.65
1.55
-0.74
2.06
0.14
-0.76
-0.97
0.11
4.47
-0.24
0.25
2.52
1.74
0.14
-0.64
-1.84
1.49
-4.57
-2.62
3.65
1.41
0.76
0.92
-1.51
-1.21
-0.83
0.86
0
2.53
-3.02
0.91
-0.42
-0.21
0.08
-0.02
-1.03
VITAL STATS
25301.70
High
656.5
270.3
333.5
83.55
38.4
8.53
8.85
5.02
68
1262.95
410.5
1294
761.3
294.2
952
205.2
280.65
124.4
213
470.95
679.4
150.85
815
217.25
379.2
33.55
104.7
115.7
65.55
83
592.2
3300
486.6
273.2
1238.3
1465.4
19.3
1194.55
242.45
77.7
29.55
193.8
429
35
240.65
45.75
3723.25
193.9
833.3
387.8
668.45
38.05
217.7
1648.25
262
276.2
467.4
37364.6
69.5
17.95
179.45
415.85
39.05
760.1
83.7
948.85
75.85
1538
5595
44.35
70.6
24.05
497.5
1105
183
Mumbai
Delhi
Kolkata
GOLD
28900
28100
28270
SILVER
36780
36780
36780
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75.10
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0.59
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PURVA
PVR
RADICO
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RAJESHEXPO
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RAMCOSYS
RATNAMANI
RAYMOND
RCF
97.9
668.5
129.95
241.55
489
3536.4
316.35
145.9
208.75
96.35
151.9
12100
356.6
1045.95
740.55
247
168.7
1765.05
34
6181
302.7
589
568.5
87.8
189.55
138.1
91.6
172.8
82.95
63.1
23.05
48.95
734.25
96.7
31.1
619.95
168.5
401.2
711.05
457.5
403.6
39.4
-0.05
20
1.15
-0.2
0.7
8.55
2.9
1.3
-6
4.7
-0.6
-60.75
-8.35
9.9
-21.1
-3.75
-3.15
-21.5
0.05
-98.6
2.65
-2.7
1.1
3.1
-0.6
-1
2.35
0.45
2
-0.7
0.6
2.05
3.85
1.05
1.2
-0.6
-1.4
0.75
-0.9
-6.25
-2.7
0.6
-0.05
3.08
0.89
-0.08
0.14
0.24
0.93
0.9
-2.79
5.13
-0.39
-0.5
-2.29
0.96
-2.77
-1.5
-1.83
-1.2
0.15
-1.57
0.88
-0.46
0.19
3.66
-0.32
-0.72
2.63
0.26
2.47
-1.1
2.67
4.37
0.53
1.1
4.01
-0.1
-0.82
0.19
-0.13
-1.35
-0.66
1.55
SRF
SRTRANSFIN
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TECHNO
TEXRAIL
THERMAX
THOMASCOOK
TIMKEN
TITAN
TNPL
TORNTPHARM
TORNTPOWER
TREEHOUSE
TRENT
1279.05
925.65
1065.9
91.35
24.25
170
816.15
222.75
377
746
192.7
14.15
60.65
2495.3
71.25
378.5
142
369.1
91.85
383.7
1903.6
122.5
476.25
379.55
286.05
65.2
471.5
317.7
277.7
2455.4
462.85
535
103.55
757.45
188.05
437
340.3
221.45
1362.45
229.05
76.9
1595.2
-26.8
-28.2
-22.6
0.75
-0.45
-0.85
-3.3
-2.7
0.8
7.7
-0.1
0
0.45
118.45
3.55
-5.75
-0.35
-4.15
2.05
2.75
23.05
1.5
7.05
-6.75
-2.6
0.55
2.45
-1.8
-5.6
-60.65
-12.6
-1.35
-0.8
3.9
0.25
0
1.5
2.75
22.75
-1.1
1.5
9.15
-2.05
-2.96
-2.08
0.83
-1.82
-0.5
-0.4
-1.2
0.21
1.04
-0.05
0
0.75
4.98
5.24
-1.5
-0.25
-1.11
2.28
0.72
1.23
1.24
1.5
-1.75
-0.9
0.85
0.52
-0.56
-1.98
-2.41
-2.65
-0.25
-0.77
0.52
0.13
0
0.44
1.26
1.7
-0.48
1.99
0.58
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50.3
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384
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1033.65
287.9
555.4
14.98
585
352.25
77
50.25
10.18
294.85
43.6
4130
505
195.7
378.05
144
66.3
191.2
148.95
116.5
239.05
428.75
361.25
12285.9
1501.3
1123
237.2
80.2
35.65
28.9
1285
546.3
778
274.9
3425
147.8
18.25
290.3
65.95
57.15
0.3
0.25
-0.45
-0.7
20
9.4
-11.6
2.6
21.8
0.33
5.4
11.55
1.45
0.9
0.23
1.35
0.6
130.1
2.9
1.4
-7.5
-2.15
1.25
-8.05
2.55
-1.05
5.65
0.65
-3.35
-135
1.15
24.3
-12.9
3.1
0.45
0.25
39.15
0.6
-2.9
1.75
-46.7
2.65
0.65
2.35
2
1.9
0.6
0.37
-0.27
-0.61
5.49
2.55
-1.11
0.91
4.09
2.25
0.93
3.39
1.92
1.82
2.31
0.46
1.4
3.25
0.58
0.72
-1.95
-1.47
1.92
-4.04
1.74
-0.89
2.42
0.15
-0.92
-1.09
0.08
2.21
-5.16
4.02
1.28
0.87
3.14
0.11
-0.37
0.64
-1.35
1.83
3.69
0.82
3.13
3.44
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4335.05
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418
40.75
325.25
2334
311.95
94.55
825.7
40.7
175.55
3204.45
224
139.25
2500
5.28
19.85
466
326
199.1
90.2
885
108
32.1
379
106.1
285.1
370.15
1600
781.15
517.7
6195
97.6
98.5
195.4
695.5
561.5
976.25
382.7
25.8
855.7
386.65
950.95
740
0.55
0.15
-6.35
0.14
31
0.45
2.6
24.55
2.75
-0.4
1.7
2.05
1.3
-22.55
2.05
8.4
0.5
0.35
0.8
-11.6
6.65
1.25
0.3
8.75
1.3
0.75
-8.9
1.1
8.15
-0.65
-19.9
7.8
-2.3
-54.25
-0.75
-0.85
0.4
-6.7
-1.85
3.1
-6
2.15
-8.85
0.25
21.05
-3.15
1.07
0.16
-0.15
2.11
8.01
1.12
0.81
1.06
0.89
-0.42
0.21
5.3
0.75
-0.7
0.92
6.42
0.02
7.1
4.2
-2.43
2.08
0.63
0.33
1
1.22
2.39
-2.29
1.05
2.94
-0.18
-1.23
1.01
-0.44
-0.87
-0.76
-0.86
0.21
-0.95
-0.33
0.32
-1.54
9.09
-1.02
0.06
2.26
-0.42
world 13
Obama finds common cause China defends blocking India’s Turkey forcibly sending
Syrian refugees back
on North Korea with China UN bid to ban JeM chief
PTI n BEIJING
AP n WASHINGTON
n the face of mounting
threats from North Korea,
US President Barack Obama on
Friday urged closer security ties
among its chief allies in Asia
and increased cooperation with
strategic rival China to discourage Pyongyang from further advances in nuclear
weapons. As world leaders
gathered for a nuclear security summit, Obama first met
with Japanese Prime Minister
Shinzo Abe and South Korean
President Park Geun-hye.
Together, they warned
North Korea would face even
tougher sanctions and more
isolation if provokes again with
nuclear and missile tests.
Then Obama met Chinese
President Xi Jinping and both
called for North Korea to give
up its nuclear weapons. China
agreed to implement in full the
latest economic restrictions
imposed by the UN Security
Council against Pyongyang.
More than 50 governments
and international organisations
are attending the two-day summit on preventing nuclear ter-
hina on Friday defended its
decision to once again
C
block India’s bid at the UN to
I
President Barack Obama meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping during the
Nuclear Security Summit in Washington
rorism - the last in a series of
global meetings Obama has
championed on the issue. The
risk posed by the Islamic State
group tops this year’s agenda but
concerns about North Korea are
also commanding focus.
“Of great importance to
both of us is North Korea’s pursuit of nuclear weapons, which
threatens the security and stability of the region. President Xi
and I are both committed to the
denuclearization of the Korean
Peninsula,” Obama said at the
start of his meeting with Xi.
“China and the US have a
responsibility to work together,” Xi said in his comments
Our nukes no cause for
concern, says Pakistan
IANS n WASHINGTON
akistan has sought to allay
concerns about the safety of
its nuclear programme maintaining that the country had
never suffered a nuclear accident or breach of security.
At a news briefing here on
Thursday, Pakistan’s foreign
secretary Aizaz Chaudhary
said the impression that
Islamabad’s nuclear installations were insecure was baseless, Dawn online reported on
Friday.
“Pakistan’s nuclear installations are not only secure but
the world also acknowledges
that they are,” he said.
Chaudhar y said the
International Atomic Energy
Agency has recorded 2,734
nuclear incidents worldwide,
including five in India, but “not
a single accident or breach
P
happened in Pakistan,
although our programme is 40
years old”.
The foreign secretary said
it was wrong to describe
Pakistan’s short-range missiles
or small nukes as battlefield or
tactical weapons.
“Pakistan has short-range
and long-range missiles, and
the purpose behind both is to
deter aggression,” he said,
adding “we want to prevent
war, to prevent the space
Indians created for war” by
building military installations
close to the Pakistani border as
part of their cold start doctrine,
he added.
“Calling them battlefield
weapons creates a wrong perception.
These are for deterrence,
only and only for defence,”
Chaudhary said. “There is no
cause for concern.”
AP
made to reporters via an interpreter. As for their “disputes
and disagreements,” the
Chinese leader said the two
sides could “seek active solutions through dialogue and
consultation.”
North Korea’s fourth
nuclear test in January, followed
by a space a launch in February,
have heralded more convergence among often-fractious
powers in East Asia - at least on
the need to press the government of Kim Jong Un toward
disarming.
US Prez promises
candid exchange
with Xi amid
maritime disputes
AFP n WASHINGTON
S President Barack Obama
opened a meeting with
U
his Chinese counterpart Xi
Jinping with a promise of candid discussion over Beijing’s
alleged military buildup in the
South China Sea.
“We will have candid
exchanges about areas where we
have differences, issues like
human rights, cyber and maritime issues,” Obama said.
US officials have expressed
concern that China’s actions in
the South China Sea are not consistent with Xi’s pledge at the
White House last year not to pursue militarisation of the hotly
contested and strategically vital
waterway. “We do continue to be
concerned about militarisation in
the South China Sea,” said senior
Obama foreign policy aide Ben
Rhodes ahead of the meeting
with Xi.
Israeli transgender asks to go to women’s prison
Jerusalem: A transgender
Israeli teenager, jailed for
refusing to join the military as
a conscientious objector, has
petitioned the army to be
moved to a women’s prison.
Aiden Katri, 19, is the first
Israeli transgender woman to
be jailed for refusing to serve in
the military. Noa Levy, a lawyer
from Mesarvot, a group that
supports Israelis refusing to
serve in the military on ideological grounds, said the
request was made yesterday.
GLOBE
TROTTING
I stay quiet on ‘Empire’ set:
Naomi Campbell
London: Model-actress Naomi Campbell
always stays quiet
on the set of
“Empire” because
she feels she has so
much to learn.
The 45-year-old
supermodel, who
plays fashion
designer Camilla
Marks on the
musical drama
series, insists she
hasn’t taken on the
role for “fame”
and despite her
fiery reputation,
she tries to stay
“quiet” during
filming so she can
take in as much as
possible, reported Female First. “I’m not looking for fame. I’m already known so it’s really
about me learning a new craft and trying to do
the best I can. I’m learning each day... I’m very
quiet on set because, for me, it’s a learning experience. “I don’t speak very much, I just focus
on what I have to do and I’m very observant
of key things. I’m taking in everything and I’m
learning. That’s what I’m like when I model.
Even when I model today after doing it for
almost 30 years, I still am quiet, even when I’ve
known the photographer for 30 years,” she said.
Ariana Grande wants end to
sexist lyrics in songs
London: Singer Ariana Grande wants male
singers and rappers to stop using derogatory
sexist terms in their songs. The 22-year-old
singer wants to put an end to the use of derogatory terms used by rappers and musicians in
their tracks, as well as in real life, to address the
opposite sex and insists the vulgar trend needs
to “go away soon,” reported Female First. “When
men talk about women in songs it’s like, ‘Oh,
hell yeah b******’. And if a girl makes a song
about a break up then it’s like, ‘Wow, I can’t
believe she did that!’ Whether it’s the music
industry or real-life
we need to break the
standard and it needs
to go away soon.”
The “Dangerous
Woman” hitmaker,
who previou ly dated
rapper Big Sean and
has worked with
Chris Brown, both
known for using sexist terms in their
songs, likes to see
women stick up for
themselves and she
believes talking
about the issue is the
only way it will ever
get resolved. “I love
seeing women be more vocal about these things
because it is the only thing that will make a
change - being really honest and speaking up.
It’s about being supportive of one another and
keeping your friends close.
Kendall Jenner secretly dating
Jordan Clarkson?
Los Angeles:Model Kendall Jenner has reportedly been dating
Lakers player Jordan
Clarkson. “They have
been secretly dating
for months and they
are super into each
other. He is super
sweet and a total gentleman and Kendall
loves that,” a source
said. The 20-year-old
model was spotted
out with Clarkson,
23, on a night out in
West Hollywood,
reported People magazine. Clarkson plays
alongside
Iggy
Azalea’s fiance Nick
Young for the Los
Angeles Lakers basketball team. Jenner was most recently linked
to Harry Styles.
ban Jaish-e-Mohammad chief
and mastermind of the
Pathankot terror attack Masood
Azhar, saying that it acts on
such issues based on facts and
rules in an “objective and just
manner”.
Asked about China’s
reported last minute move
putting a technical hold on
India’s submission which Indian
officials say was armed with
strong evidence of the JeM’s terror activities and its role in the
Pathankot attack, Chinese
Foreign Ministry spokesman
Hong Lei said here that China
“supports UN playing a central
and coordinating role in international cooperation against
terrorism”.
“We always deal with the listing issue (banning militant groups
and their leaders) under the UN
Security Council committee established under resolution 1267
based on facts and relevant rules
of procedures in an objective
and just manner,” he said.
“The Chinese side has
always been in communication
with relevant parties on the listing issue,” he said hinting that
China is also in touch with
India on the issue.
This is not the first time
China has blocked India’s bid to
get Pakistan-based militant
groups and leaders proscribed
by the UN.
The UN had banned the
JeM in 2001 but India’s efforts
for a ban on Azhar after the
2008 Mumbai terror attack also
did not fructify as China, one
of the five permanent members
of the UN group with veto powers, didn’t allow the ban apparently at the behest of Pakistan
again.
Last July, China had similarly halted India’s move in the
UN to take action against
Pakistan for its release of
Mumbai terror attack mastermind Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi,
saying that its stand was “based
on facts and in the spirit of
objectiveness and fairness” with
Beijing again claiming at the
time that it was in touch with
New Delhi. Stating that China
is opposed to all forms of terrorism, Hong said
“China has also taken active
part in international counter
terrorism corporation”. To
another question about Prime
Minister Narendra Modi’s
comments at the Nuclear
Security Summit in Washington
yesterday that the world community should “drop the notion
that terrorism is someone else’s
problem and that ‘his’ terrorist
is not ‘my’ terrorist,” Hong said
“China opposes double standards on the issue of terrorism”.
“We believe that all parties
should enhance communication in a bid to forge counterterrorism synergy to work
together with entire international community including
India to jointly fight against the
threat of terrorism and safeguard peace and stability of the
region and beyond,” he said.
to war zone: Amnesty
AP n ISTANBUL
mnesty International says
Turkey has forcibly
A
returned hundreds of Syrian
refugees to their homeland
since mid-January. It said this
practice exposes “fatal flaws” in
an agreement between Turk
and the European Union.
The organisation says its
research on the Turkish-Syrian
border suggests that around
100 Syrians who often have not
registered in Turkey are
expelled from Turkey each day.
Advocacy groups are concerned that the deal, which
aims to stem the flow of illegal
migrants and goes into effect
April 4, threatens the rights of
asylum seekers, and they question whether Turkey is a safe
country for them.
The EU-Turkey deal stipulates the return to Turkey of
any Syrian refugee arriving on
the Greek islands, to be offset
by resettling a Turkey-based
Syrian in the EU.
“Far from pressuring
Gas blast rocks central Myanmar clears way for Suu
Paris apartment block Kyi as consultative figure
17 injured
AFP n PARIS
massive gas explosion
destroyed the top floors
A
and roof of a residential building in central Paris on Friday,
injuring 17 people, rescuers
and police said.
The blast near the Jardin de
Luxembourg park caused jitters
in the French capital, which
remains on edge after the Paris
attacks in November and the
Brussels bombings last month.
It was traced to a fire that
caused a gas stove to blow up,
sending a thick cloud of smoke
into the sky, police said.
"People were scared, they
thought it was a bomb," an
employee of the nearby
Ferrandi culinary institute said.
The force of the blast blew
Brazil’s woes
mount as swine
flu adds to Zika
problem
Sao Paulo: Brazil, the country
hardest hit by the Zika virus, is
facing another health problem
with the Olympics it is hosting
just months away: a swine flu
outbreak.
The outbreak of Type A of
the H1N1 virus has killed 46
people in less than two months
in Brazil. That is 10 times the
figure for all of 2015, the
Health Ministry said. In Rio de
Janeiro, which will host the
Games from August 5-21, a
first fatality was reported yesterday by health care authorities.
Through March 19, 305
cases were reported throughout
the country, compared to 141
in all of 2015.A large majority
- 260 cases, 38 of them fatal were reported in the Sao Paulo
region, the economic and
financial engine of the now
struggling South American
powerhouse.
People have been waiting
in line for more than three
hours outside some hospitals to
get vaccinated. In Brazil the
H1N1 virus has normally
appeared in recent years
between May and July when
temperatures are cooler.
out some of the windows at the
prestigious school, a witness
said.
A fireman was seriously
injured in the blast and another 16 people were also hurt,
including 10 firefighters.
"I was at home, the windows shook in my building two
streets away... We thought it
was an attack," said local resident Sylvie Guillaumin, 51,
adding that gas supplies had
been cut in the area.
The blast came more than
four months after the jihadist
attacks in the French capital in
November that claimed 130
lives and more recently the
March 22 attacks in Brussels.
French
authorities
announced last week they
had foiled an attack plot
after discovering a stash of
weapons and explosives in a
Paris suburb.
IANS n NAYPYITAW
59 Indian fishermen
arrested in Pakistan
PTI n KARACHI
ifty-nine Indian fishermen
have been arrested in
F
Pakistan and their 10 boats
seized for allegedly violating the
country’s territorial waters.
The fishermen were arrested by Pakistan’s Maritime
Security Agency (MSA) while
they were fishing in Sir Creek,
a disputed area on the maritime
border of Sindh and Gujarat.
The MSA detained people
in Karachi and handed them
over to the police for legal
action. The fishermen have
been taken into custody and
cases have been lodged against
them under section 3 and 4 of
the Foreigners Act and 3 and 9
of the Fisheries Act, the Express
Tribune quoted a police official
as saying.
Both Indian and Pakistani
fishermen are often arrested for
illegal fishing since the Arabian
Sea border is not clearly
defined and many boats lack
the technology to fix their precise location.
In two goodwill gestures
last month, Pakistan freed 86
fishermen in two batches each.
chairperson,
was
on
Wednesday appointed as
Myanmar’s new foreign minister, concurrently holding
three other portfolios -- minister at the president’s office,
minister of Education and
minister of Electric Power
and Energy.
Army MPs slam
move, call it
‘unconstitutional’
Yangon: Myanmar military MPs
on Friday said a plan to bolster
Aung San Suu Kyi’s power with
a special advisory role was
unconstitutional, as the new
civilian government tussled with
the army just days after taking
office.
The Southeast Asian nation
was dominated by the military for
more than half a century until
Wednesday when Suu Kyi and
her pro-democracy party took
power. The Nobel laureate, whose
party secured a landslide election
win in November, has vowed to
rule the country despite a constitutional block on her becoming president.
In a surprise early act of parliamentary business by the new
government, Suu Kyi’s party proposed a bill to grant her a special
“state counsellor” position.AFP
Google rolls back April Fool’s prank
IANS n NEW YORK
nternet giant Google on
Friday rolled back its April
IFool’s
Day prank that it played
by introducing “send + drop
the mic” feature in Gmail for its
users that let them have the last
word in a tense and unwanted
conversation.
Google reversed the prank
after it caused several Gmail
users to unwittingly insert animated photos into business
emails and other important
communications,
Techcrunch.com reported.
“Well, it looks like we
pranked ourselves this year.
Due to a bug, the MicDrop feature inadvertently caused more
headaches than laughs. We’re
truly sorry. The feature has
been turned off. If you are still
seeing it, please reload your
Gmail page,” Google was quoted as saying.
Earlier in the day, Google
posted on its blog that “Gmail
is making it easier to have the
last word on any email with
Mic Drop”.
“Simply reply to any email
using the new ‘Send + Mic
GLOBE
TROTTING
US SAILOR CHARGED
FOR RAPE IN JAPAN
Tokyo: An US sailor was indicted
in Japan on Friday for allegedly
raping a Japanese woman on
Okinawa, according to reports, in
a case that could further increase
tensions over the American
military presence on the fortified
island.
yanmar’s House of
Nationalities (Upper
M
House) on Friday approved
the Bill designed to pave the
way for appointing Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi as a
consultative figure to the state.
The bill calling for appointment of a state consultative figure was submitted to the House
of Nationalities of Myanmar on
Thursday, Xinhua news agency
reported.
The bill, moved by a member of parliament from the ruling National League for
Democracy (NLD) and was
accepted by the house for
debate, aims at flourishing
democracy, building federal
union, peace and development,
it was explained.
Aung San Suu Kyi, NLD
Turkey to improve the protection it offers Syrian refugees,
the EU is in fact incentivsing
the opposite,” said John
Dalhuisen,
Amnesty
International’s director for
Europe and Central Asia.
“Having witnessed the creation of Fortress Europe, we are
now seeing the copycat construction of Fortress Turkey.
In earlier stages of the
conflict, Syrians who held
passports were able to cross at
regular border gates and even
those who entered illegally
could register with the authorities. Now only those needing
urgent medical care are
allowed to enter and there are
an estimated 200,000 displaced Syrians within 20
kilometers (12.4 miles) of
Turkey’s border.
Tightened border restrictions and new visa requirements for Syrians, the organisation said, have also pushed
Syrians into the arms of smugglers who charge an average of
USD 1,000 per crossing.
Drop’ button. Everyone will get
your message, but that’s the last
you’ll ever hear about it. Yes,
even if folks try to respond, you
won’t see it,” Google’s official
blog read when it launched the
prank. The report noted that
“the button placement was
problematic”.
Google substituted “send
and archive” button -- which
many people use habitually -with ‘MicDrop,’ that proved to
be a disaster for many. An initial prank warning was sent out
but those who did not notice
the catch were in for a surprise.
PAK SIKH BODY ELECTS
CARETAKER PRESIDENT
Lahore: Pakistan’s Sikh religious
body on Friday elected a
caretaker president after its first
chief Sardar Sham Singh died
this week. Sardar Tara Singh was
elected the caretaker ‘Pardhan’ at
an emergency meeting of the
Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara
Parbandhak Committee here.
Tara Singh, who is in his 40s, is
the youngest member of the 10member PSGPC.
AL-ARABIYA SHUTS
LEBANON OFFICES
Dubai: The Saudi-owned AlArabiya news channel has shut
down its offices in Lebanon, it
said today, in a new sign of
tensions between the kingdom
and the Iran-backed Hezbollah
movement. The kingdom halted a
usd 3 billion programme of
military aid to Lebanon to protest
what it said was “the stranglehold of Hezbollah on the state”.
EX-GERMAN FOREIGN
MINISTER GENSCHER DIES
Berlin: Germany’s Cold War-era
veteran Foreign Minister HansDietrich Genscher, who was the
country’s top diplomat when the
Berlin Wall fell, has died at age
89, his office said today.”HansDietrich Genscher died last night
at the age of 89” said a
statement by his private office.
CHIKUNGUNYA VACCINE
STRATEGY DEVELOPED
Washington: Scientists,
including one of Indian-origin,
have found a novel vaccine
strategy that can provide both
short-term and long-term
protection against the
Chikungunya virus when
combined with a traditional DNAbased vaccine.
24 MIGRANTS RESCUED
OFF CYPRUS COAST
Nicosia: Cyprus rescued 24
migrants from a fishing boat
intercepted off the Mediterranean
island’s west coast near Paphos
on Friday, officials said.
Nepal says India-EU statement’s reference to it uncalled for
PTI n KATHMANDU
epal on Friday hit out at
the India- EU joint stateN
ment that referred to the need
for an “inclusive Constitutional
settlement” in the country, saying it was “uncalled for” and has
hurt people’s sentiments. India
and the European Union
pledged continued support to
Nepal in its reconstruction
efforts following the devastating
earthquakes in 2015, including
capacity building and long term
development, said a joint statement issued after 13th India-EU
Summit in Brussels. “They also
agreed on the need for a lasting
and inclusive Constitutional settlement in Nepal that will
address the remaining
Constitutional issues in a time
bound manner, and promote
political stability and economic
growth,” the statement said. The
Nepalese Foreign Ministry, in a
statement issued a day after the
EU-India
Summit
on
Wednesday, maintained that the
Constitution-making and its
promulgation were essentially
Nepal’s internal matters. “Nepal
promulgated the Constitution
through a democratically elected Constituent Assembly and
the Constitution has fully
accommodated the aspirations
of the people of Nepal,” it said.
Nepal has now moved ahead
along the path of political stability and economic develop-
The India-EU
statement came as
the Madhesis, have
been demanding the
new Constitution be
amended to include
their concerns about
adequate political
representation
ment, the Nepalese Foreign
Ministry said and made it clear
that the promulgation of the
Constitution formally concluded the nationally-driven peace
process initiated in 2006 and
institutionalised significant
democratic gains including the
federal and republican system.
“Against this backdrop, the
EU-India Joint Statement not
only hurts the sentiments of the
people of Nepal but also defies
the fundamental principle of
non-interference in internal
affairs of a country in breach of
UN Charter and norms of international law,” the statement sai.
“The Nepalese government
called on all sides to fully respect
the sovereign and democratic
rights of the Nepalese people
and refrain from making
uncalled for statements,” it said.
The statement asserted that the
government and people of Nepal
are fully capable of resolving
their issues themselves within
the framework of the
Constitution.
The 13th India-EU Summit,
held after a gap of four years, was
attended by Prime Minister
Narendra Modi and EU leaders.
The India-EU statement came as
the Madhesis, mostly of Indian
origin, have been demanding the
new Constitution be amended to
include their concerns about
adequate political representation
and redrawing of federal boundaries. They had enforced
months-long blockade of Nepal’s
all trading points with India, creating huge shortage of essential
commodities in the country
and souring Indo-Nepal ties.
Nepal had accused India of
imposing the “economic blockade”, which India denied.
sport 14
WILL REAL MADRID STAND UP?
Barcelona look to pay tribute to late Johan Cruyff when they meet rivals in El Clasico
AP n MADRID
arcelona looks to honor its idol.
Real Madrid gets a shot at revenge.
The second "clasico" of the season
arrives with the Spanish rivals in different states of mind.
Barcelona is focusing on paying
tribute to the late Johan Cruyff, the former star who died last week after battling cancer.
Real Madrid is hoping to avenge the
humiliating home loss to the rival earlier this season, a defeat that ignited the
club's latest crisis.
"The good thing about football is that
it constantly gives you opportunities to
get even," Madrid defender Sergio Ramos
said. "Now we have a chance to do well,
away from home, against a great team
such as Barcelona."
Saturday's game also gives Madrid its
last real chance of rejoining the title race
at the Spanish league. Anything but a victory will mean the end of the line for
Zinedine Zidane's team in the La Liga.
A win at the Camp Nou, in addition
to denting Barcelona's confidence entering a decisive stretch, would cut the rival's
lead to seven points. Atletico Madrid,
which hosts Real Betis earlier Saturday,
is nine points behind Barcelona.
"Anything is possible in football,"
Madrid striker Gareth Bale said. "We'll
fight until the end. Winning La Liga is still
possible and if we win on Saturday we'll
be seven points behind and you never
know what might happen."
A victory by Barcelona would leave
the Catalan club significantly closer to its
second consecutive league title, as Madrid
is the last big challenge on its schedule.
But many thoughts on Saturday will be
on honoring Cruyff, the former Dutch
great credited with steering the club on
its path to glory.
The club is preparing a mosaic of
90,000 cards displaying the words
"Thanks, Johan," in Catalan. The words
will also appear on Barcelona's jerseys.
A minute of silence and a video tribute are also planned for Saturday.
Here are other things to watch in the
Spanish league this weekend:
Villarreal.
DOMINANT BARCA
MATCHING NOTTINGHAM
B
Barcelona has won four of the last five
league games against Real Madrid,
including the last two at the Camp Nou
and this season's 4-0 rout at the Santiago
Bernabeu.
Madrid hasn't won at the rival's venue
since a 3-1 result in the semifinals of the
2013 Copa del Rey, when Jose Mourinho
was still in charge. The last time Madrid
won at Barcelona in the Spanish league
was in the 2011-12 season, when it won
the La Liga for the last time.
Real Madrid is on a hot streak, having won five straight games, while
Barcelona is coming off a 2-2 draw at
Chennai: India's leading men's player Saurav Ghosal
improved by a rung to 18 in the April rankings released
by the PSA while the highest ranked Indian Joshna
Chinappa remained on 14. Dipika Pallikal went down a
place to 19 and the third Indian woman was Sachika
Ingale, who rose to her career high of 81. In the men's
section, Mahesh Mangaonkar, improving with each
outing lately jumped to 58 from his previous 65.
Harinder Pal Sandhu, nursing a hamstring injury has
dropped to 71 but the overseas Indian Vikram
Malhotra made a huge leap from 125 to 92 now.
Mohun Bagan gear up to take on EB
Siliguri: Still smarting from their shock defeat
against Aizawl FC, defending champions Mohun
Bagan will look to bring their campaign back on track
when they face arch-rivals East Bengal in the I-League
derby at the Kanchenjunga Stadium here on Saturday.
Placed at the top, Mohun Bagan (25) are three points
clear of second placed Bengaluru FC while East Bengal
have 20 points. Having played 11 matches, the greenand-maroon suffered their first defeat of the season
when they lost to debutants Aizawl FC in Mizoram. Joel
Sunday (3') opened the scoring before Cornell Glen
(24') equalised but Lalchhawnkima (54') scored from
the spot to hand Mohun Bagan the first defeat of the
2015/16 I-League campaign in a match which they
played sans Jeje Lalpekhula, Pronay Halder, Pritam
Kotal and Haitian Sony Norde who went for their
national commitments. Norde is back but did not
practice today and is a doubtful starter for the muchanticipated return leg derby.
Solid start for Lahiri, lies tied 32
Real Madrid’s Gareth Bale during team’s practice session on Friday ahead of El Clasico clash on Saturday
With a win or a draw on Saturday,
Barcelona would match Nottingham
Forest's 1978 streak of 40 consecutive
games without a loss.
Luis Enrique's team would be three
games shy of the mark set by Juventus in
2012. The Italian team went 43 games
without a loss in all competitions.
Barcelona is the record-holder for
unbeaten games among Spanish clubs.
FEELING AT HOME
Cristiano Ronaldo has felt quite
comfortable when playing at the Camp
Nou, having scored nine goals in the last
PTI n QIAN'AN (CHINA)
n Olympic quota place pocketed, Indian
boxer Shiva Thapa (56kg) ended his campaign with a silver medal after losing in the
final of the Asian/Oceania Qualifying
Tournament here on Friday.
The 22-year-old Assamese, who is a
World Championship bronze-medallist, went
down 0-3 to Thailand's Chatchai Butdee in
the summit clash. Butdee is the reigning
Asian champion.
Meanwhile, it
was a heartbreak
once again for L
Devendro Singh
(49kg), who missed a
second opportunity
to qualify for the
Olympics.
The
Commonwealth silver-medallist, who
lost in the semifinals
on Thursday, on Friday went down in the
box-off for the Olympic slot.
Devendro fought his heart out in a keenly-contested bout against Mongolia's GanErdene Gankhuyag but lost 2-1. The Indian
lost the opening round unanimously and the
second round on a split decision before winning the final in three minutes.
However, that was not enough to make up
for the deficit he conceded earlier in the bout.
On Saturday, star woman boxer M C Mary
Kom (51kg) will take on Chinese Taipei's YuTing Lin in the box-off to decide the new rankings and seedings for next month's World
Championships in Kazakhstan.
A VICTORY BY
BARCELONA WOULD
LEAVE THE CATALAN
CLUB SIGNIFICANTLY
CLOSER TO ITS
SECOND CONSECUTIVE
LEAGUE TITLE, AS
MADRID IS THE LAST
BIG CHALLENGE ON
ITS SCHEDULE
AP
eight times he played at the venue.
Since the 2011-12 season, Ronaldo
scored at least one goal in seven of the
eight games at the rival's stadium. He only
failed to find the net in the league clasico in the 2013-14 season.
The Portuguese striker has scored 11
goals in Madrid's last nine games overall. He is the Spanish league's leading
scorer with 28 goals, two more than
Barcelona forward Luis Suarez.
ZIDANE VS. ENRIQUE
Saturday will mark the first duel
between Zinedine Zidane and Luis
Enrique as coaches. The former players
faced each other many times on the field,
with the most famous encounter coming
in 2003, when the two almost got into a
fight after a foul by Zidane.
Enrique was one of the first Barcelona
players who charged toward Zidane to
protest, and the former Madrid star
shoved him away with a hand to his face.
KEEP PUSHING
With some help from the city rival in
the clasico, Atletico Madrid can move within six points of Barcelona if it beats Real
Betis at the Vicente Calderon on Saturday.
Atletico is looking to rebound from a 2-1
loss to Sporting Gijon in the league, a result
that unhinged the team's nine-game
unbeaten streak in all competitions.
"We face each match as if it were a
final," Atletico midfielder Saul Niguez said.
ico Rosberg edged Mercedes
teammate Lewis Hamilton in
N
another dominant display by
Formula One's top team in Friday's
opening practice session for the
Bahrain Grand Prix.
Rosberg, who has won the past
four races dating back to last season,
set a time of 1 minute, 32.294 seconds at the Sakhir circuit, half a second faster than Hamilton and a surprising 1.8 seconds faster than third-
Houston (USA): Anirban Lahiri got off to a fine start
with a three-under 69 in the first round of the Shell
Houston Open here. Lahiri, who makes his second
appearance at the Masters next week, had five birdies
against two bogeys and was lying tied 32 on a lowscoring opening day. Also shooting 69 were three-time
Masters champion Phil Mickelson, Rickie Fowler, Charl
Schwartzel, Patrick Reed and Angel Cabrera. Sitting on
top of the leaderboard was three-time PGA Tour
winner Charley Hoffman, who has nine birdies in his
18 holes and just one bogey for a card of eight-under
64 that gave him a one-shot lead over four others,
including Dustin Johnson, Morgan Hoffman, Scott
Brown and Roberto Castro.
Nishikori beats Monfils in Miami Open
Miami: Japan's Kei Nishikori advanced to the semifinals of the Miami Open tennis tournament with a 46, 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) victory over Gael Monfils, who
squandered five match points late in the contest. The
Japanese No.6 seed nearly paid dearly for his poor
play on serve in the opening set and his unforced
errors in critical moments of the third set on
Thursday. Monfils, meanwhile, suffered physically in
the hot South Florida conditions but fought back
valiantly late in the third set before losing the match
in a heartbreaking fashion.
Agencies
Leicester city: The team to fear
AP n MANCHESTER
be in line to play against
Bournemouth on Saturday.
City is in fourth place — the final
Champions League qualification
position - and only one point ahead
of West Ham and Manchester United.
West Ham hosts Crystal Palace on
Saturday, and Manchester United is
at home to Everton on Sunday.
here have been considerable
knock-on effects for Leicester
T
following the team's giddy rise to the
top of the English Premier League.
Qualification to the Champions
League for the first time? Almost
certainly, especially if the surprise
leader beats Southampton at home
on Sunday.
Then there's growing international recognition for its star players.
On Tuesday, England started with
two Leicester players — in this case,
Jamie Vardy and debutant Danny
Drinkwater — for the first time in 42
years in the 2-1 loss to the
Netherlands. And on the same night,
N'Golo Kante, Leicester's enforcer in
central midfield, made his full debut
for France on his 25th birthday and
marked it by scoring one of the goals
in a 4-2 win over Russia.
Leicester's fans will be saying the
same kind of things.
After narrowly escaping relegation last season because of an
incredible run of results in the
final nine games, Leicester is mounting the most unlikely of title challenges and is five points clear of second-place Tottenham with seven
games left. The club has never won
a top-flight English league title.
Training would have been
unusually quiet for Leicester manager Claudio Ranieri over the recent
international break, given the
MANAGERLESS VILLA
Last-place Aston Villa is heading into its home match against
Chelsea without a manager following the departure of Remi Garde on
Tuesday. With seven games left,
Villa is 12 points from safety and has
only won three league games.
Former Leicester manager Nigel
Peasron has been linked with the
vacancy, as is David Moyes.
CHARLTON TRIBUTE
increased number of national-team
call-ups. Ranieri, therefore, must
reignite the team's momentum from
before the two-week hiatus ahead of
the biggest six weeks in the club's
132-year history.
Southampton could be one of
the toughest remaining opponents
for Leicester, with the visitors from
the south coast having won their last
two games to climb within four
points of the Champions League
places. Tottenham would pile the
pressure on Leicester by beating
Liverpool on Saturday, a day before
Leicester plays.
Here are other things to watch
out for this weekend:
MAN CITY'S REINFORCEMENTS
In danger of dropping out of the
top four, out-of-form Manchester
City has been handed a much-needed boost on the injury front.
Three midfielders - Samir Nasri,
Kevin De Bruyne and Fabian Delph
— were back in training this week
after long injury lay-offs and could
Manchester United great Bobby
Charlton will be honored for his
contribution to the club by having
a stand at Old Trafford named
after him on Sunday, ahead of
United's game against Everton.
The South Stand - the side of the
stadium where the dugouts and
changing rooms are located — will
be renamed the Sir Bobby Charlton
Stand at a ceremony. It will mark 60
years after Charlton made his debut
for United. The 78-year-old Charlton
was an attacking midfielder who
played 758 games for United and
scored 249 goals, still a club record.
Rosberg edges Hamilton as Merc dominates in Bahrain
AP n BAHRAIN
New Delhi: Star pugilist Vijender Singh on Friday
discussed the scope of professional boxing in India
with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and accorded
him a formal invitation for his WBO Asia Title fight in
the capital on June 11. Vijender was accompanied to
the Delhi Secretariat by his promoter Neerav Tomar,
MD, IOS Boxing Promotions. Vijender said, "It was an
honour for me to meet Delhi Chief Minister Mr. Arvind
Kejriwal and I personally invited him for my WBO Asia
Title fight scheduled to be held in the capital on 11th
June. "We discussed the scope of professional boxing
in India and he assured me of his help and support for
which I am very grateful. "I look forward for Mr.
Kejriwal to come and watch me live in the Capital on
11 June. I am happy to know that Mr. Kejriwal is
following my professional fights."
Saurav climbs to World No 18
Shiva wins silver
at Asian Qualifiers
A
singles
Vijender invites Delhi CM for title fight
place Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari.
Following a 1-2 finish in the
opening race in Australia, Mercedes
remains a cut above its opposition,
with Rosberg's lap time being 5.5
seconds faster than last year's opening practice session.
Red Bull drivers Daniel
Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat were
fourth and fifth fastest, respectively, ahead of Force India driver Nico
Hulkenberg.
Toro Rosso pair Carlos Sainz Jr.
and Max Verstappen were seventh
and eighth, followed by Haas driver
Romain Grosjean and Williams driver Felipe Massa.
B elgian
driver
Stoffel
Vandoorne, who is filling in for the
injured Fernando Alonso this weekend, was 18th fastest, within a second of McLaren teammate Jenson
Button.
Force India reser ve driver
Alfonso Celis of Mexico also got his
first taste of F1 and was 21st, 2.7 seconds off teammate Hulkenberg's
time.
Saina in semi-final
PTI n NEW DELHI
efending champion Saina
Nehwal took another step
D
towards retaining her title
when she played out of her skin
to eke out a thrilling win over
Korea's Sung Ji Hyun in the
quarterfinals of the India Super
Series here on Friday.
Olympic bronze medallist
Saina defeated Sung 19-21, 2114, 21-19 in an energy-sapping
women's last-eight match at the
Siri Fort stadium.
There was hardly any winner in the grueling three-game
match as each rode on the
other's unforced errors.
Saina, who has beaten
Sung five times in the past used
her drops early on to catch the
Korean at the forecourt.
However, unforced errors
and a few deceptive returns
helped Sung to lead 8-4. The
Indian showed her resilience to
claw back at 10 before a shot
from Sung left her stranded.
After the break, Saina
turned the tables to lead 14-12
but soon Sung once again drew
parity. The Indian once again
nosed ahead to 17-15 but once
again Sung fought back and
grabbed a 18-17 lead after
Saina made a wrong line call
and then hit the net.
Another return going to
net and then failure to retrieve
a shot at the right side gave
Sung a 20-17 lead. Saina saved
two but left the next thinking
it will drop inside the line.
In the second game, Saina
lead 3-1 when Sung took a
break to attend to her right
ankle. When the match
resumed, Saina continued her
good run to lead 6-2.
Sung slowly leveled par at
6-6 when a low return from
Saina went to the net. The
Indian again surged ahead and
entered the break at 11-7.
After the interval, Saina
extended the lead to 13-8 and
then zoomed to 19-10 with the
Korean crumbling. Sung
grabbed three points before
another long shot gave Saina a
20-13 lead.
In the decider, Sung lead 52 early on but she faield to rein
her unforced errors as Saina
soon turned it around at 8-6.
The Korean looked visibly tired
as she didn't even try to retrieve
some of the shots as Saina
reached the break with a 11-7
advantage. A change of side
seemed to change the fortune
of Sung, who reeled off six
straight points to grab the lead
13-11. A net error broke the
rhythm but Saina again hit
wide as Sung lead 14-12.
Two wide shots from Sung
brought Saina to an even-knell
at 17-17 befroe he grabbed the
lead when the Korean erred at
the net.
A couple of long shots
from Sung took Saina to a 2019 lead. Sung saved one but
Saina grabbed the net after
another fierce rally and threw
up her arms in ecstacy.
15
Virat Kohli became the eighth Indian
and 38th batsman overall to play 100
fifty plus knocks in International
Cricket. His 89* with 11 fours and
one six against West Indies in the
second semi final on Thursday was
his 100th fifty plus innings in 275
innings of 255 International matches
[
[
I WAS DISAPPOINTED FOR INDIA, OF
COURSE. WHEN CHRIS GAYLE GOT OUT,
I SAID 'IT IS GOING TO BE ONE WAY
INDIA' SO IT IS DISAPPOINTING. YOU
GOT TO GIVE CREDIT TO WEST INDIES,
THEY PLAYED REALLY WELL
— BRETT LEE, FORMER AUS PLAYER
After India’s loss to W
A D A Y A F T E R
‘Two no balls swung the game’
T W I T T E R R E A C T S
Tough luck boys. It was a good match and well
fought! Best wishes to West Indies and England
for the finals
—SACHIN TENDUKLAR
Having survived two times, two extra balls turned the table on India says Simmons
DATELINE MUMBAI
PTI
endl Simmons, who top scored
with a brilliant 82 to steer West
Indies to the final of the ICC
World T20, said the two no balls
bowled by the Indian bowlers swung the
game in the favour of his team.
"I obviously think it (the two no
balls) swing in our way...It could have
been different ball game had I been out
and a new batter (batsman) would have
been in and you never know what could
have happened," Simmons said after
West Indies beat India in the semifinals
of World T20 here.
Simmons survived two chances.
While Ravichandran Ashwin's no-ball
gave man-of-the-match Simmons 'life'
at 18 when Jasprit Bumrah had taken
the catch and then Pandya overstepped
when the right-hander was on 50.
Heaping praise on Johnson Charles
(52), Simmons said the opener took the
pressure off him.
"He (Johnson Charles) took a lot of
pressure off myself. Getting those
boundaries, he read the conditions
well, he batted perfectly in the situation,"
he said.
Simmons said he felt jittery going
into Thursday’s match.
"When I went out to bat, I had a
clear mind what I had to do, because we
had a target to chase, so we had a plan.
Before the game I was a bit nervous, I
was a bit (under) pressure from the guys
as (I) came here a job , I feel, but overall it was good, we had a target to chase
and, we got there.
"Today was my day, I had a bit of
luck on my side, I rate my luck and
things went the way I wanted it," he said.
Simmons insisted the successful
chase of 193-run target showed that
West Indies were not dependent on just
one person.
L
I GOT THE NEWS (OF
PLAYING IN THE
SQUAD) AFTER THE
AFGHANISTAN GAME
AND THE CHAIRMAN
CALLED ME AND
ASKED ME IF I WAS
FIT. I SAID I WAS FIT
AND I WAS TO LEAVE
ON FRIDAY TO COME
TO MUMBAI TO GET
READY FOR IPL. I SAW
AN OPPORTUNITY TO
GET READY FOR THE
IPL, THIS IS MY HOME
GROUND AND I KNOW
THE CONDITIONS
— LENDL SIMMONS
WEST INDIES PLAYER
MAN ON A MISSION: Lendl Simmons in action against India during WI’s semi-final match on Thursday
PTI
"There is no one man show
in this team. Chris Gayle did not
get off but we still managed to
get over the line and that was a
big total and seeing that he
(Gayle) did not perform and we
still were able to put up a fight
and win the game, shows a lot of
character from our players."
Simmons said that the players should not be over confident
ahead of the final, to be played
against England in Kolkata.
"Conditions (in Kolkata)
will be different, it won't be a batting track like the wicket today,"
he said.
The 31-year-old, who plays
for the Mumbai Indians in the
Indian Premier League, said the
cash-rich tournament has helped
him improve as a player.
"Obviously it has made me
a better player. The amount of
games you have in the IPL, you
are constantly playing cricket
and after playing in the IPL and
on these pitches, you adjust to
different strokes and different
situations of a game. And playing with guys like (Virat) Kohli
and (Mahendra Singh) Dhoni
help me in analysing my game,"
he said.
Simmons, who was called
into the squad on Tuesday as a
replacement for injured allrounder Andre Fletcher, said: "I
got the news (of playing in the
squad) after the Afghanistan
game and the chairman called
me and asked me if I was fit. I
said I was fit and I was to leave
on Friday to come to Mumbai to
get ready for IPL.
"I saw an opportunity to get
ready for the IPL, this is my
home ground and I know the
conditions and I think I read it
well," he explained.
E X P E R T S P E A K
‘Dhoni
was too good in
DATELINE MUMBAI
PTI
WT20’
Chappell, Fleming
applaud Indian
skipper for his
performance in
ICC World
Twenty20
P A K F I L E
he way Mahendra Singh
Dhoni has performed in the
T
WoT20, he can extend his career
as India skipper, says former
Australia captain Ian Chappell.
"Well! I think he was in
form in T20. It means as a player and as a captain. He captained pretty well in the T20.
We don't have him as a Test
captain but we want him and I
think he was too good in World
T20," Chappell said on
ESPNcricinfo programme
'Match Day'.
"I think they would be
quite happy about that.
Anything above 190 or more
than 8 an over, you feel you can
win. There are not more games
you lose."
The Australian batting great
was critical of left-arm spinner
Ravindra Jadeja's performance
at the Wankhede Stadium.
"He seems to control the
delivery when there is help.
When there is no help, he loses
control."
The 72-year-old felt the
Windies were not great on the
field in the semifinal but made
up for that with their ability to
produce big shots.
"You think about the things
West Indies do. They are not
great runners between the wickets. They were not very good in
the field today. Without these
you cannot make up except hitting those sixes and fours."
FLEMING HAILS MSD'S FITNESS
The coach of new IPL team
Pune Supergiants Stephen
Fleming today made light of the
speculations over retirement
of Mahendra Singh Dhoni from
international cricket and hailed
his "remarkable" fitness.
Asked about Dhoni's future
in the context of India's loss yesterday in the World Twenty20
semi-final, Fleming said what he
saw in him was a "sprightly wicketkeeper batsman, a fresh captain with a remarkable fitness".
In reply to a question,
Fleming, interacting with
reporters
about
Pune
Supergiants for the forthcoming
IPL season, did not visualise any
possible "conflict of egos" in the
team that also has Australian
captain Steve Smith and South
African skipper Fa du Plessis.
"Leadership can take many
forms. M S Dhoni is an inspiring captain who is open to
ideas," he added.
A U S F I L E
ROOTALK
Alam questions Afridi's leadership ‘We must be true to Contracts for Khawaja, Burns
DATELINE KARACHI
our character to win’ DATELINE SYDNEY
PTI
he national team manager
Intikhab Alam has blamed
T
captain Shahid Afridi for
Pakistan cricket team's recent
poor performances, including at
the World Twenty20 in India.
The report states that Afridi
was involved in 'needless controversies' during the World T20. In
the five-page report submitted to
the PCB and fact-finding committee of the PCB, Alam said that
the team failed to sustain the
stress and the pressure associated with the world event.
"The recent Asia Cup and
the ICC World T20 have made
it evident that we have critical
gaps both in batting and bowling and our fielding keeps on
leaking runs, thus releasing pressure. In bowling, with the exception of Muhammad Amir, we do
not have a bowler who can win
us matches.
"Our death bowling also is
way below par. And the same goes
with our batting line-up, where we
do not have reliable pinch hitters
an the top and power hitter to
clinch us games," Alam wrote in
his report, leaked to media.
Alam, who has been associated with Pakistan cricket even
after retirement in different positions for over three decades, also
said that Afridi did not help matters by giving needless statements in India.
"To cap it all, the tournament
was being held in India, where
the team was under multiple
scanners at the same time, pushing the stress and anxiety levels
very high. Much to our chagrin
[added to the above reasons], was
a captain in his farewell event
after a career spanning nearly 20
years, yet absolutely clueless in
terms of on-field tactics and offfield leadership," he said;.
AFP
DATELINE KOLKATA
PTI
ngland batsman Joe Root
believes if they stay true to
E
their character, it will not be a
problem to beat West Indies in the
ICC World Twenty20 summit
clash on Sunday.
"I don't think there's been an
attitude swing or the way we
approach practice or anything like
that. We went into the tournament and stayed true to what we believe in as a side
and the way we play our cricket. I think that's probably been the most important thing," Root said ahead
of the final.
The promising youngster struck a matchwinning
83 from 44 balls to script their famous win against South
Africa chasing a huge 230 as they have not looked back
since then.
"It's about making sure that we did not go away how
we wanted to play and the way we wanted to approach
our cricket. Having that self-belief in each other and
we could get and win against South Africa and build
our confidence from that point onwards. Everyone contributed in some way, shape or form which is always
nice getting into the final," Root said.
sman Khawaja, Adam
Voges and Joe Burns were
U
among seven new players to be
handed central contracts on
Friday as Australia rebuild after
a series of retirements.
The new players were not
on the initial list for the
2016/2017 season announced a
year ago but they have since
forced their way into the selectors' plans.
Nathan Coulter-Nile, John
Hastings, Peter Nevill and Peter
Siddle have also been added to
the 20-man list as Australia
looks ahead to the home Ashes
series starting in late 2017.
"There is a lot of talent
within this group and we have
confidence that the players
chosen can be successful in all
three forms of the game," chief
selector Rodney Marsh said in
a statement.
Michael Clarke, Brad
Haddin, Ryan Harris, Mitchell
Johnson, Chris Rogers and
Shane Watson all called it
quits for Australia last year.
Australian media said
batsman Usman Khawaja
was expected to pocket
more Aus$1 million
($770,000) from his new
contract after his
sparkling form in all
three formats.
Burns
is
reaping the
benefits of his
ascension to
Test opener,
replacing the
retired Rogers, which included his man-of-the-match 170
against New Z ealand in
Christchurch in February.
Proud of the Indian cricket team, no matter what.
Very well played!! Great effort guys right from
the start
—PRAGYAN OJHA, Indian spinner
"What a game!! I've never seen anything like it.
@westindies will need next 2 days to get over
celebrations tonight #WT20
—GLENN McGRATH, Former Aus pacer
Forget the result .... That was a fantastic game of
Cricket ... 2 great teams .. Brilliant pitch ..
Incredible crowd... Bloody Love T20 ..
—MICHAEL VAUGHAN, Former England captain
Great great great!!! Well done Windies!!!
#silence #wankhede #WestindiesvsEngland
#ICCWT20 #finals proud to be West Indian
—BRIAN LARA, Former West Indies player
WARNEPOINT
Indian team reacts after losing semi-final to West Indies on Friday PTI
‘India got basics wrong’
DATELINE MUMBAI
PTI
re-tournament favourites India got their basics wrong
in Thursday’s high-scoring semifinal against the West
P
Indies here and paid the penalty to make an early exit
from the ICC World T20 championship, according to
Australian leg spin legend Shane Warne.
"I backed India for the title before the tournament,
but yesterday they did not do their basics right. The couple of no-balls and the dew cost them dearly," said Warne.
India rattled up 192 for 2, their second-highest ever
score in the tournament history but were flattened by
newly inducted West Indies opener Lendl Simmons'
unbeaten knock of 83, after being caught twice off noballs bowled by off spinner R Ashwin and medium pacer
Hardik Pandya, who piloted them home to a seven-wicket victory with two balls to spare.
"Virat Kohli did so well yesterday. He's the best T20
player at No. 3 for me," said Warne about Kohli's unbeaten 89 which laid the foundation for India's big score.
"I thought 192 was a good score, but in 20-20 anything can happen. When Chris Gayle was out (cheaply), I thought India will win. But credit to the West Indies
and now I look forward to the final against England
(April 3 in Kolkata)," added Warne.
"I will have to look at the wicket and conditions in
Kolkata before commenting," said Warne when asked
who was the favourite for the title. Warne said he was
not a man to say no to any proposition such as coaching the Indian team but presently his plate was full as
a Tv broadcaster and professional poker player.
S U N N Y
S P E A K S
Unacceptable for spinner
to bowl no ball: Gavaskar
DATELINE MUMBAI
PTI
riticising the Indian bowlers for conceding no balls at crucial juncture of
C
the semifinal match against West Indies,
former captain Sunil Gavaskar on Friday
said it is "unacceptable for a spinner to
bowl a no ball".
"The spinners are really not
expected to bowl a no ball. Fast
bowlers, in their effort to bowl a
yorker or a bouncer, can sometimes
overstep. Thus, for a spinner to bowl
a no ball is unacceptable. This is
something you got to practice in the
nets," Gavaskar told 'NDTV'.
Title aspirants India were last
night knocked out of the WT20 with
a heartbreaking seven-wicket defeat at
the hands of West Indies.
He insisted that West Indies have
proved that cricket is a team game.
"West Indies is not a one-man
team. We were talking about Chris
Gayle versus Virat Kohli. He didn't
score runs. But look how others put their
hands up and contributed. It has always
been a team game. We tend to highlight
one or two players and that is understandable. But it is never a one man game and
West Indies have proven that," said
Gavaskar.
vivacity {48 hours} 16
S H O R T
C I R C U I T S
BHUMI PEDNEKAR
SHALMALI KHOLGADE
REMO D'SOUZA
MEGHNA GULZAR
KYLIE JENNER
It’s very humbling to see
that my performance was
appreciated and that’s
what I am proud of. There
is nothing more important
to me than my craft and I
really hope that even in
the future, apart from the
way I look, people will
speak about my work
and performance.
The content is only gaadi,
ladki and alcohol, of course.
Yes, it is (about car, girls and
alcohol) and I don't know
why... It's all coming from
north India and I think north
Indian audience digs that kind
of thing. I think Raftaar and
Badshah will have the potential
to write something differently
and present good music.
Dance+ is a platform for
Indian talent that puts a
spotlight on pure superlative unique dancing. We
have a lot of raw talent
hidden in this country
capable of taking on the
world dance stage by
storm. It was extremely
gratifying to receive such a
great response.
I have done films in the past
which were more about
women and more soft... So
Talvar was completely out of
my comfort zone. I was
scared to do this as I had to
step out of my comfort zone.
There was a completely allmale (factor) and it was so
masculine — be it the treatment, genre... everything
I get my nails done every
week. I've sat literally for
four to five hours doing
them. I used to spend so
much time doing the craziest artwork... I'm really into
matte polish. It spices up
anything. My mom always
drilled it in my head to have
nice, pretty nails. It's just
really important to her.
FROM HER HEART ONE HOUR
The final cut
When
NAMRATA RAO
gets busy at the
chopping block,
everything else
becomes
secondary. The
film editor, who
is currently
wrapping up
Fan, tells
SHARABSTI
MALLIK that
Shah Rukh
Khan has
always given
her space and
creative
freedom
FIRST LOOK 3O MINUTES
Change
the game
easer poster, trailer and now, the first look — the
team behind the promotion of Azhar is leaving no
T
stone unturned to keep fans at the edge of their seats.
aking a film involves a very strenuous, if
not an intricate, process. Scripts need to
be written, actors decided, budget discussed upon, locales hunted out and gruelling shoot
schedules worked upon. Now thanks to the
Internet and social media, we get regular updates
on what a film crew is up to. And then in no time,
the promotions start and before you know it, the
movie has hit the theatres.
Amidst all the humdrum, we sometimes forget the most important part of the entire filming
process, the one factor that can potentially make
or break a movie — the editor. A director calls the
final shots, yes. But an editor calls the final cut.
Considering the seriousness of their profession,
editors execute their job under a lot of pressure.
But not Namrata Rao. A few years into the profession and she has not only worked on few of the
best movies helmed in the last decade but also
bagged a National Award for one. Currently, she
is busy making the final edits in Fan. “We are in
the last leg of editing. It hits the screens on April
15, so we are wrapping up,” said Rao in between
last-minute reviews.
She does not carry the air of being one of the
most sought after editors today, having worked with
some of the big names in the industry. She is
grounded and that adds to her girlish charm. Rao
is a self-confessed fan of Shah Rukh Khan and Fan
is her second movie with the star (Jab Tak Hai Jaan
being the first).
“I have said this before but he is an amazing
person to work with. When he is on the sets, he
is there. Everything else becomes immaterial. And
he really gives you space to do your work and listens to everything patiently,” Rao said.
When asked about the experience of working
with her favourite actor, she summed it up in one
word, “Great.” But she added, “It is not just about
working with him because I have done that before.
The amazing thing in the movie is that he is completely different. He is in the skin of a character
he has never portrayed before. To that add all the
VFX and the visual effects — all these have made
the movie more special.”
There were reports that the star had apparently asked her to edit the movie rather tightly because
M
she did not cut off any scene from
Jab Tak Hai Jaan. But Rao cleared
the speculation. “He has not even
come to the edit room once,” she
laughed. “He did not even see the
final cut,” she continued, “It is my second movie with him and I can honestly say that he has never gotten
involved in the editing process. The
best part is that he never interferes
with anybody’s work and goes with the
director’s vision.” Rao did, however, add
that since Fan is a thriller, she is keeping the editing tight.
With only a few days left for Shah
Rukh’s first release of the year, the expectations are quite high. But Rao does not
let the pressure affect her. “There is no
one way to deal with the pressure and
I have learnt that in these few years. I
am feeling everything one moment at
a time. Honestly, when you are editing a film, you focus so much on
telling the story that everything else
becomes secondary. The thought
that you have to tell the story in a way
that everybody gets it is always at the
back of your head. You just have to
hope that you have done your best
and that everyone likes it,” she said.
It has been eight years since Rao
has stepped into Bollywood. “It’s
been that long!” was her reaction
when we asked her about her initial
days in the industry and how she
charted her path to where she is now.
“It has been quite simple. I have
always picked up one film at a time
and I feel lucky to have worked with
great directors more than once. I have
learnt so much along the way. It’s not
easy to always land good films with the
best directors,” she said, not forgetting
to mention her relationship with Yash
Raj. “I have been working with them
for quite some time now and I value
their faith in me,” she summed up.
n How did this project come together?
MIRREN: When I received the script, I didn’t know that there was a back story of the narrative originally written for a man. So I applaud
director Gavin Hood for not only casting me,
which was obviously great, but for coming up
with the idea of a woman in the role. I loved the
way he articulated it and took it out of the context of being a boy centric movie about war and
made it more universal.
I wish more directors and writers had that
point of view. I received the script, and like
Gavin, I had exactly the same response
to it. It was an absolute page-turner, but
I thought much more than that. The
subject matter was serious and threw
up a conversation that I think we
all need to be having. This is the
reality of war in our present
day and age and I can
only assume will
become more and
more prevalent as we
travel through time.
So, we need to discuss this and really
be aware of what the
various issues are. I
thought this film was a
Great War film.
Usually war films are
basically about good guys and
bad guys but this is not. Of
course, we do have bad guys in it
but it’s more about the terrible
moral decisions that any war throws
up. So, I thought it was wonderful, and
I hope that it will go into the canon of
great war movies.
There were a couple of other projects
that were flying around at the time and
were a possible conflict with this, but I
had made it clear to my agent, “That’s the
movie I want to do. If there are any conflicts, I’m telling you, that’s the movie I
want to do.”
Actor Emraan Hashmi took to micro blogging site
Twitter to share the news. “The journey of #Azhar
begins! Here’s the official #AzharPoster.. Wish us
luck!! (sic), he tweeted.
It is a known fact that the movie is an autoborgraphical representation of the life of Mohammad
Azharuddin, the former captain of the Indian
cricket team. The plot of the film, directed by Tony
D’Souza primarily deals with the dark phase of the
skipper’s life when he was accused of match fixing
in 2000, which ultimately put a stop to his rising
career. The ban was, however, lifted by an Andhra
court in 2012.
The teaser poster and the trailer both echo
“Match fixing ka illzaam hai mujhpar” bringing out
the hinge on which the movie revolves.
Azharuddin had earlier said that he was a fan
of the actor and had also mentioned that if ever a film
were to be made on him, no one would portray him
better than Hashmi.
The actor in turn did everything he could to fit into
the shoes. From visiting the cricketer at his home, looking
through old photographs of the Indian cricket team, practicing for hours on the pitch to get his body language correct — he did everything to understand the person he was
to play.
In fact, he underwent intense training sessions with
celebrity fitness and movement-training expert, Praveen
Tokas, who had devised a special workout
programme for him. Emraan also
spent hours in the gym to work on
his stamina and to model his
physique.
He said, “Azhar has turned out
to be the most physically demanding film for me. Preparing for the
role has been an amazing
experience. I had to undergo
a physical transformation. I’m
really enjoying the process.”
The first look of Prachi
Desai, who would be seen as
one of Azhar’s wife, was also
released yesterday.
The film is being produced by Ekta Kapoor, Shobha
Kapoor and Sneha Rajani
under their banners Balaji
Motion Pictures and MSM
Motion Pictures. It will hit the
theatres on May 13.
O LUCKY WOMAN ONE HOUR
On a classified mission
Actor HELEN MIRREN opens
up about being casted in a
role originally written for a
man in the movie Eye in the
Sky. She talks about how the
definition of warfare has
changed over the years
n Did you do any research before it went on
the floors?
MIRREN: We were very lucky. We had a
British military man who was on set all the time
and was very accessible. I had long conversations with him about who Colonel Powell might
be. Obviously, she’s a woman who joined the
military maybe in her early 20s or her late teens,
at a time when that was not commonplace. So,
what kind of a girl decides to do that in the first
place, and then possess the abilities that have
brought her to this position of authority and
power within the military? He was a great help
in giving me guiding points about what he felt
about the sort of woman Powell would be. That
apart, he was very valuable in terms of literally physical things, about the way you wear your
uniform and the way in which soldiers should
conduct themselves.
n The film is based in the present scenario
where warfare is influenced by technology and
Gavin has incorporated a lot of drones in the
screenplay. Did your views about how warfare
is conducted change after this?
MIRREN: I had no idea how far the technology has come. And because it's come this far,
how far, therefore, will it go in the future, in the
next 20 years? That completely took me by surprise. You read in the newspaper there was a
drone attack somewhere. I’ve never really
thought about it and it made me obviously really consider the reality of this stuff on the ground
and the extraordinary way in which warfare has
changed. You think of the 19th century idea of
warfare with people riding into battle on horses with sabres, and then the First World War
idea of trenches and guns, the Second World
War idea of airplanes and bombs. And now,
we’re sort of in this Third World War and warfare is continuing at the push of a button, literally. And I suspect it will be very much a part
of the future.
I do remember my parents, who went
through the German blitz in London, telling me
it was a terrifying thing to get bombed. It was
what the Germans had invented, a thing called
the Doodlebug, which was a very early form of
drone warfare. It was an unmanned vehicle that
came over and made this sound. She said the
terror was when you heard the sound stop,
because when it stopped, was when it dropped
its bombs. So, my mother, in a way, had a firsthand experience of what these people must
experience. It must be so terrifying because it's
coming out of nowhere.
n Earlier you spoke about the still moments
in this movie which are incredibly powerful
and intense...
MIRREN: We were very lucky in that the
film happens in real time over the two-hour
period. That was the idea. The two hours that
you watch it in is the two hours in which the
film happens. The politicians hadn’t been shot.
The drone pilots hadn’t been shot. We all shot
completely separately from each other for
financial reasons. They couldn’t afford to bring
us all to South Africa. We shot it in Cape Town.
We couldn’t all stay in hotels while everyone did
their part. To save money, the people in the
bunker with me were all brought in, and we just
shot our stuff. When I was talking on the phone
to Alan or to Aaron, I was actually talking to
Gavin or the first AD or the sound guy.
Frankly, I’ve never shot a movie like this.
n What are your future projects?
MIRREN: I’m about to start working on a
film called Collateral Beauty, which is with Will
Smith. We’ll be shooting in New York.
Eye in the Sky released in India on March 18
by Pictureworks India

Lucknow - The Pioneer

Transcription

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