Lucknow - The Pioneer

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RNI No.2016/1957, REGD NO. SSP/LW/NP-34/2016-18
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OPINION 8
WORLD 13
SPORT 15
AMEND SEDITION LAW
BUT DO NOT ABOLISH IT
‘ISIS COMMITS
SHIA-CHRISTIAN GENOCIDE'
DILSHAN DRIVES
LANKA HOME
Established 1864
Published From
DELHI LUCKNOW BHOPAL
BHUBANESWAR RANCHI RAIPUR
CHANDIGARH DEHRADUN
Late City Vol. 152 Issue 76
*Air Surcharge Extra if Applicable
LUCKNOW, FRIDAY MARCH 18, 2016; PAGES 16 `3
{
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TAAPSEE WANTS
TO WORK IN A
PUNJABI FILM
16 VIVACITY
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Sufism is epitome
of pluralism: Modi
Jaitley talks tough on Mallya
PM greeted by
loud chants
of Bharat Mata
Will recover every penny
ki jai by
of loan from liqour
audience at
baron, says FinMin; CBI
Sufi conclave
to probe all transactions,
At a time when the dark
loans by his firms
shadow of violence is
becoming longer, you (sufi
followers) are the noor or
the light of hope... Sufism
blossomed in India’s
openness and pluralism
NARENDRA MODI AT
WORLD SUFI FORUM
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi during the opening
ceremony of World Sufi
Forum at Vigyan Bhavan in
New Delhi on Thursday PTI
PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n
NEW DELHI
rime Minister Narendra
P
Modi on Thursday used
the platform of the first World
Sufi Forum in the national
Capital to assert that terrorism
is not a confrontation against
any religion, but it is a battle
that must be won through the
strength of values and “real”
message of religions.
Modi was greeted by loud
chants of Bharat Mata ki jai by
audience at the inaugural of the
three-day conclave. The PM
said, “Sufism is celebration of
diversity and pluralism...
Sufism blossomed in India’s
openness and pluralism. It
engaged with her spiritual tradition, and evolved its own
Indian ethos.”
Without naming any country, the Prime Minister stressed
there were terror groups that
were instruments of State policy and design and said terrorism
uses diverse motivations and
causes that cannot be justified.
“The fight against terrorism is not a confrontation
against any religion. It cannot
be. It is a struggle between the
values of humanism and the
forces of inhumanity,” he said.
Modi made an oblique reference to Pakistan and pointed
out that some terrorists are
trained in organised camps.
“There are forces and groups
that are instruments of State
policy and design. There are
others who are recruited to the
cause in misguided belief.
There are some who are trained
in organised camps. There are
those who find their inspiration
in the borderless world of
cyber space. Terrorism uses
diverse motivations and causes, none of which can be justified,” he said at the forum
convened by the All India
Ulema and Mashaikh Board to
discuss the role of Sufism in
countering rising global terror.
Claiming that terrorists “distort” a religion, Modi said they
kill and destroy more in their
own land than they do elsewhere, while making the entire
world “insecure and violent”.
“Terrorists distort a religion whose cause they profess to
support. They kill and destroy
more in their own land and
among their own people than
they do elsewhere. And, they are
putting entire regions in peril
and making the world more
insecure and violent,” he said.
“It is not a conflict to be
fought only through military,
Intelligence or diplomatic means.
It is also a battle that must be won
through the strength of our values and the real message of religions,” he said.
Modi said the world must
reject any link between terrorism and religion, as well as
those who spread terror
in the name of religion as antireligion. “And, we must
advance the message of
Sufism that stands for the principles of Islam and the highest
human values.
Continued on Page 7
RAKESH K SINGH n NEW DELHI
xpanding the ambit of the
IDBI loan case against
E
beleaguered businessman Vijay
Mallya, the CBI has decided to
probe all the transactions and
loans taken by his firms totaling `7,000 crore since 2004.
The agency will soon question
the top officials of the PSU
banks who are yet to come forward with complaints against
Mallya.
Even as the CBI is trying to
get to the bottom of widespread
irregularities in the grant of
loan to Mallya, Finance
Minsiter Arun Jaitley on
Thursday said that the banks
ttacking Delhi Chief
Minister Arvind Kejriwal
A
for opposing the construction
of Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL)
canal in Punjab, Haryana
Agriculture Minister OP
Dhankar on Thursday asked
him to “get his own canal constructed for carrying Delhi’s
share of water”.
“Seeing your stand (opposing the construction of SYL
canal in Punjab) Haryana will
not be able to deliver your
share of water in Delhi since
you have stood against the
interests of the farmers and
people of Haryana,” he said in
a letter to Kejriwal.
Dhankar
termed
Kejriwal’s stand as “wrong”
and alleged he has opposed
the proposed canal for gaining
CAPSULE
BOMB HOAX AT IGIA: ONE
FLIGHT CANCELLED
New Delhi: A bomb threat call
led to panic on one domestic
and another international flight at
the Indira Gandhi International
(IGI) airport on Thursday
morning as passengers were
hurriedly deplaned. Though the
bomb threat was later found to
be a hoax, one flight was delayed
while the other was cancelled.
GERMAN BAKERY BLAST:
BAIG’S DEATH COMMUTED
Mumbai: In a reprieve to the lone
convict Himayat Baig in 2010
Pune German Bakery blast, the
Bombay High Court on Thursday
quashed the death sentence
awarded to him due to lack of
evidence and the prosecution’s
failure to prove its case beyond
reasonable doubt.
P6
New Delhi: In a setback to
the Punjab Government bid
to give back Sutlej-Yamuna
Link (SYL) canal land to
farmers, the Supreme Court
on Thursday directed maintenance of status quo on land
after Haryana alleged that
attempts have been made to
alter its use by levelling it.
The apex court in its
interim order appointed
Union Home Secretary and
Punjab’s Chief Secretary and
DGP as the “joint receiver” of
land and other property
meant for the SYL canal till
the next hearing on March 31.
Detailed report on P10
The CBI will soon question the top
officials of the PSU banks who are yet
to come forward with complaints
against Mallya
The probe so far against Mallya has
revealed that out of the five lakh
transactions made by his companies,
60 per cent of them involved fund
outflow abroad
While the loan to Mallya’s firms from a
consortium of 17 banks was `7,000
crore, the actual loss could be more as the companies enjoyed overdraft
and credit limit and the same has to be ascertained during the probe,
the sources said
Officials also lamented that Mallya is yet to be declared a fraud by banks
agency, wherever he has violated law, is going to take strong
action. As far as banks are concerned, they are going to recover every penny of the rupee that
they can from him,” Jaitley said.
The Minister was answering questions at India Today
Conclave on what the
Government was doing to
recover money from Mallya,
who is currently in the UK.
He also said the
Government has been trying to
address the problem of NPAs in
sectors like steel, textile, highways and infrastructure, which
are on account of economic
slowdown.
Continued on Page 7
Mumbai: In a blow to lenders’ recovery
efforts, the auction for Kingfisher House
— once headquarters of Vijay Mallya’s
long-grounded airline — turned out to
be a damp squib with no bidders coming forward due to litigation fears and a
high reserve price of `150 crore.
The 17-member consortium, led by
SBI, will now meet on March 19 to discuss the future course of action to review
the reasons including the reserve price for
the failure of Thursday’s auction, sources
said. The reserve price has widely been
termed as too high for this property.
Challengers Bangalore has written to the
BCCI, intimating them about Vijay
Mallya’s resignation from the post of
Director of Royal Challengers Sports
Private Limited. The new chairman of
Royal Challenger Bangalore is Amrit
Thomas, president and Chief Marketing
Officer of United Spirits.
According to sources, top BCCI officials received an e-mail on March 7 from
franchise official Russell Adams, informing the board about the current ownership status in the franchise. It was five days
after Mallya left India for the UK.
Centre, Haryana on alert;
Khattar calls Jats for talks
3,000 paramilitary
personnel sent
to State; PM asks
CM to ensure peace
PNS n NEW DELHI/CHANDIGARH
ven as the Har yana
E
Government made a lastditch attempt to avert trouble
SHARIF INVITATION TO MODI: Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj shakes hand
with Pakistan Foreign Affairs Adviser Sartaj Aziz after accepting Nawaz Sharif’s
invitation to Narendra Modi in Pokhara on Thursday
AP
Aziz hails patience
over terror probe,
Pak team to arrive
in India on Mar 27
PNS/AGENCIES n
NEW DELHI/POKHARA (NEPAL)
akistani premier Nawaz
P
Sharif has invited Indian
Prime Minister Narendra Modi
to attend the SAARC Summit
scheduled for November 9-10
in Islamabad. The invitation
was on Thursday handed over
by Sharif ’s Adviser on Foreign
Affairs Sartaj Aziz to External
Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj
in Pokhara where the Foreign
Ministers of SAARC countries
held a meeting.
Pathankot terror attack figured predominantly in the over
20-minute meeting between
Sushma and Aziz, the first political-level engagement between
the two sides after the
January 2 terror strike. India has
been pressing Pakistan for
action over the brazen assault on
the key IAF base.
In another major development, the dates for Pakistan’s
Joint Investigation Team (JIT)’s
s arrival was announced by
Sushma. The JIT, probing the
Pathankot airbase attack, will
arrive in India on March 27, to
take forward its investigations
into the role of Jaish-eMohammad (JeM) and Pakistan
nationals in the attack. Making
an announcement in this regard
from Pokhara, Sushma said
that a lot of other pending
issues too were discussed with
Aziz in a “positive atmosphere”.
On his part, Aziz complimented the way the Pathankot issue
was handled and the cooperation extended on both sides.
“It is not possible that
Pathankot be not discussed in
Continued on Page 7
Post amputation, Shaktiman on its last leg?
PNS/PTI n DEHRADUN
ttarakhand Police horse
U
Shaktiman, which was
subjected to a brutal attack during a BJP protest in Dehradun
on Monday, had his injured
hind leg amputated in an emergency life-saving surgery on
Thursday even as a party worker was arrested for the assault.
The surgery was conducted at a veterinary hospital by a
team of doctors led by surgeon
Feroze Khambatta, hours after
Army doctors from Pune
opined that one of the hind legs
of the horse that was fractured
will have to be amputated as the
animal might lose its life by
Friday due to spread of gangrene from the wound.
“The surgery has gone as
will recover every penny of
loan given to him and investigative agencies will take
strong action against the liquor
baron wherever he is found to
have violated the law.
“... His (Mallya’s) facts are
very clear. Every Government
agency, whether its taxation
department or investigative
Mumbai: Liquor baron Vijay Mallya on
Thursday sought time till April for making personal appearance before the ED,
saying he will not be able to keep
Friday’s date pursuant to the summons
issued against him by the agency in the
IDBI bank loan default case.
ED sources said the agency may
accept his plea and give him time to present himself, probably in the first half of
April. Officials said the beleaguered businessman informed the ED’s probe team
through email that he will not be able to
keep Friday’s date and sought time till April.
“political benefits” in Punjab.
“For Delhi’s needs of water
you may take the trouble of
getting your own canal constructed from Nangal Dam
and Tajewala Headwork’s
(Yamunanagar) so
that
Delhi’s share of water reaches
the national Capital with
your efforts,” Dhankar told
Kejriwal.
SC bars Punjab
from returning
land to farmers
... His (Mallya’s) facts are
very clear. Every
Government agency, whether
its taxation department or
investigative agency,
wherever he has violated
law, is going to take strong
action. As far as banks are
concerned, they are going to
recover every penny of the
rupee that they can from him
ARUN JAITLEY
Mallya quits RCB, Amrit
Liquor baron seeks time No bidders for
is new boss
till April for ED summon Kingfisher House Thomas
New Delhi: IPL franchise Royal
Get your own canal:
Sushma-Sartaj Pathankot
Haryana Minister slams talks break India-Pak ice
Kejriwal for interference
STAFF REPORTER/PTI n
NEW DELHI/CHANDIGARH
TIGHTENINGNOOSE
planned,” Uttarakhand DGP BS
Sidhu said on Thursday night.
“The surgery was basically
necessitated by the fact that the
blood supply ceased to the
portion of multiple fractures
and it was essential for saving
the life of the animal. We got
the best possible surgeon in the
country to perform the surgery
and we hope he will be able to
survive,” Sidhu said.
Stating that Shaktiman will
take a month to recover from
the surgery, Sidhu said that in
the meantime he will be given
temporary prosthetic aid in the
form of artificial leg which will
be tailor made to his specifications.
“Army doctors are attending on the horse. We are doing
everything we can to help it
recover fully from the injuries,”
Dehradun SSP Sadanand Daate
said earlier in the day.
The BJP worker identified
as Pramod Bora was arrested
from Haldwani in Nainital district for forcefully pulling the
bridle of the horse and causing
its fall at the protest venue on
Continued on Page 7
by inviting Jat leaders for
talks on Friday with a
promise of getting a Bill on
reservation passed during the
ongoing Budget Session, the
Centre is monitoring the situation closely.
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi on Thursday ordered
Union Home Minister Rajnath
Singh and Haryana Chief
Minister Manohar Lal Khattar
to be alert and ensure that the
law and order situation does
not go out of control in the
State the way it did during last
month’s stir.
The Jat community has
been demanding quota in jobs.
The Haryana Government has
already accepted the demand to
include the community in the
Special Backward Class (SBC).
As many as 30 people were
killed and over 200 injured in
the State last month and property worth more than `20,000
crore damaged during the nine
days of violent agitation.
Haryana is again on the
edge with the 72-hour deadline
set by Jats for resuming their
quota agitation coming to an
end on Thursday night. The
Centre dispatched 3,000 paramilitary personnel to Haryana
to ensure peace and also
deployed another 300 personnel to guard the Munak canal
as Jat protesters had damaged
the canal, located about 100km from Delhi, disrupting
water supply to Delhi for several days last month.
“All arrangements have
been made for Haryana and
forces have been sent.
Additional paramilitary forces
have been deployed in all sensitive places, some spots on
highways and for Munak
canal,” a senior Home Ministry
official said.
The authorities also
imposed prohibitory orders
banning the assembly of five or
more people in Gurgaon.
Continued on Page 7
city 02
LUCKNOW | FRIDAY | MARCH 18, 2016
10-year-old girl strangled Fraudsters land in police net
Body found in Widow set afire in Banthra
sewer pipe
including her male friend,
PIONEER NEWS SERVICE ■ LUCKNOW
nidentified miscreants
strangled a 10-year-old
girl after sexual assault
and dumped her body in a
sewer pipe in posh Mahanagar
locality. Around 1 pm on
Thursday, some labourers
working at an ice-cream factory spotted the body and
informed police. The body was
stuffed in a plastic sack and was
lying at the opening of the
sewer pipe near China Lal
crossing
(towards
Kapoorthala). The sack was
open from one end and the
head was visible.
As the news spread, a number of residents flocked to the
scene. Later, two sweepers
reached the place and they told
police about the missing of a
daughter of their colleague in
Aliganj police station area.
A police team consisting of
a dog squad, forensic scientists
and fingerprint experts, led by
senior police officers, reached
U
mother-in-law at a shanty in
Banthra on Thursday morning. Kusmi (35) was living
with her three daughters, a
son and her mother-in-law.
Her husband died five years
back. Sources disclosed that
she fell in love with a local
Muslim youth who later
pushed her in country-made
liquor selling business.
Despite the protest from the
family over the liquor business, she did not stop as she
was in awe of her male friend.
They said some persons,
were present at the house
while victim’s family members were out on their work.
“In all probability, it seemed
that the suspects had set the
hut on fire following differences that cropped between
her and her male friend,”
they said. They added the victim’s male friend was
absconding since the
incident.
Pointing out property as
a reason behind the murder,
they said: “The victim was not
interested in selling the land
keeping in mind the future of
her children. It is possible that
some one played trick and she
died of burns.”
the place to supervise investigation into the case. The sniffer dogs moved to a vacant
house used as a godown by the
ice-cream factory. “It moved to
the lane and then returned.
Sources said the body was
in a naked state when it was
pulled out. Seeing the body of
a girl, the cops did not uncover it,” they disclosed.
A police team immediately contacted the family and victim’s father ascertained the
identity of the girl as his daughter. He said he lives with his
family at central employees’
colony in Aliganj and works as
nidentified miscreants
set afire a widow living
U
with her children and her
a sweeper. He added that his
daughter was missing since 10
pm on Wednesday. “We sent
her to go to a shop to purchase
some snacks after which she
went missing,” he told police.
The Mahanagar police
claimed that a missing report
was registered at the Aliganj
police station. “The missing
report was registered at 9 am
on Thursday,” the Mahanagar
police said. The Aliganj police
confirmed the claims made by
the Mahanagar police.
Initial report revealed that
the girl was seen moving
towards the Kapoorthala crossing in the footage of CCTV
installed at a man’s house near
her residence. Police believed
that the perpetrators of the
crime might be some acquaintance of the girl.
DIG, Lucknow range, RKS
Rathore said the police had
asked the Chief Medical Officer
to form a panel of doctors to
conduct the autopsy of the
victim’s body. “We will follow
existing standard procedure at
the time of autopsy. The forensic scientists has also been
inducted in the team probing
the case,” he said.
he crime branch team of
Lucknow police nabbed a
T
couple defrauding innocent
while posing themselves as
police station officer/incharge
of Mahila police station and
even claiming themselves to be
top executives of a news channels. Those arrested were identified as Sumit Mehra aka
Bunty of Thakurganj and
Deepa Mehra aka Babli of
Gudamba. Both owned up
their crime during investigation. Disclosing their modus
operandi, police said Deepa
used to send suggestive messages on unknown numbers.
Once a gullible responded to
the message, he got trapped by
the miscreants. Deepa used to
talk in a sexy way to stimulate
her trap and then she used to
record the entire conversation.
She later used to call up
her trap posing herself as
incharge of Mahila police station while stating that a
woman had given a complaint
against him. “She and her husband used to coerce their ‘target’ to cough up a sum if he
wanted to get the case settled,”
the police said.
But the ordeal of an innocent did not end here. Now,
Sumit used to call the innocent
posing himself as an inspector
of a police station. He used to
extort money from the victim.
Their target area is spread to
Varanasi, Allahabad, Kanpur
and other districts of Uttar
Pradesh. The miscreants also
used to pose themselves as an
editor or high executive of a
newspaper and used to force
their target to pay the extortion
money.
The thugs got inspiration
from a call centre where girls
used to talk seductively with
males and then used to fleece
them. Deepa used to visit the
office located in the basement
of an apartment on Sapru
Marg. The office is housed in
two rooms and the owner of
the company had not put up
any sign board at the gate of
the office.
Police could not have
dropped net on the miscreants
had a Kaiserbagh resident
Pradeep Sahni not lodged a
complaint with police. In his
complaint, he said that a
woman contacted her on his
cell phone and started talking
lewd. “I fell to her trap initially but later sensed her plan and
so stopped talking to her. In
the meantime, I got a call
from a woman who introduced herself as incharge of
Mahila police station. She
informed me about the complaint regarding seductive
talks. I identified her voice and
when checked I found that
there was no such woman
officer deployed at the Mahila
station. Later, I got a call from
a man who introduced himself
as an inspector and made the
similar demand,” he stated in
the complaint. Police worked
on the case and nabbed the
couple.
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5 held for defrauding Mixed response to bandh call
BSP supporters
PUBLIC NOTICE
I want to bring it to your
notice that my name in High
School Marksheet-2015 Roll
No. 4068832, Certificate No.
55340145 has been misspelt
as Deep Chandra. My actual
name is Deep Chand and not
Deep Chandra. Please correct
the spelling and issue me a
new High School Marksheet.
Deep Chand, 14/324, Baraf
Khana, Lucknow.
ive persons, including a former driver of a Bahujan
F
Samaj Party leader, were
nabbed for defrauding BSP
supporters in the name of BSP
leader Naseemuddin Siddiqui
OBITUARY
OBITUARY
SEP SENTU KUMAR SINGH
12 DEC 1993 - 29 FEB 2016
ALL RANKS OF ARMY MEDICAL
CORPS SOLEMNLY PRAY TO THE
ALMIGHTY TO BESTOW PEACE TO
THE DEPARTED SOUL AND GRANT
STRENGTH TO THE BEREAVED
FAMILY TO BEAR THE GREAT LOSS
OF SEP SENTU KUMAR SINGH WHO
DIED WHILE SERVING WITH 414
FD HOSP.
FROM: LT GEN MD VENKATESH, VSM
AND ALL RANKS OF ARMY MEDICAL CORPS
in Cantonment police station
area on Thursday.
Those arrested were identified as Nagendra Yadav of
Maal and his associates Sonu
Raidas of Hardoi, Lallan Gaddi
and Arun Lodhi, both of Maal,
and Shaan Mohammed aka
Shanu of Rae Bareli. The cops
recovered six mobile phones,
six SIM cards, a Maruti car and
fake letter of BSP and
envelopes.
SO, Cantonment, AP
Tripathi said Nagendra was
the mastermind of the gang.
“He used to send letters in the
name of Naseemuddin
Siddiqui to different party
workers demanding cash from
them. In the recent past, he sent
letters to BSP workers Nadim
Jaisi and Izharul Haq demanding Rs 5 lakh from each of
them,” the SO said.
He added the miscreants
owned that they had duped a
number of BSP workers in the
past. “Since Nagendra was a
familiar face at BSP office,
nobody doubted his credibility,” the SO said.
Lucknow (PNS): Traders
on Thursday took out a protest
march from Darulshafa to
Hazratganj crossing even as
their bandh called evoked a
mixed response. The traders
also burnt a symbolic effigy of
the Central government to
protest the excise duty on bullion trade.
In support of bullion
traders, Akhil Bharatiya Vyapar
Mandal had called a day-long
bandh to protest the excise duty
vko';drk gS
on bullion, online trading and
commodity trade and asked the
traders to keep the shops
closed. However, ABVM president Sandeep Bansal claimed
that the closure call was a success. “Most of the traders took
part in the protest. The markets
remained closed in the state
capital, as in various districts
like Sultanpur, Faizabad,
Sitapur, Ballia, Kanpur, Bareilly,
Gola,
Kushinagar,
Shahjahanpur, Deoria etc,” said
Bansal.
However, there was a lukewarm response to the bandh
call in Hazratganj, Halwasiya
and Janpath markets. “Holi is
just a week away and it’s time
when people go shopping.
Though we support the cause,
it is hard to keep the shops
closed,” a trader said.
Besides, there was a huge
rush in Aminabad area which
usually remains closed every
Thursday.
LMC bid to keep city hopes afloat
OBITUARY
Pioneer
Most of the shops in Janpath market did brisk business on Thursday
n a bid to keep the hopes of state
capital afloat in the fast-track
Ichallenge
round of the Smart City
mission, Lucknow Municipal
Corporation has approached various
departments to have a pact on several development ideas to be incorporated in the upgraded proposal.
LMC convened a meeting of
representatives from PWD, LMRC,
LESA, LDA, Housing &
Development Board, Traffic,
Transport, Archaeology and
Irrigation departments.
“LMC will sign a memorandum
of understanding (MoU) with all the
stakeholders. The idea is to incorporate the development initiatives of
SMART CITY PROJECT
various departments in Smart City
proposal,” Municipal Commissioner
Udairaj Singh said.
Once signed, the MoU will help
LMC include various development
projects of the various departments
in the upgraded proposal. The
Gomti Riverfront Development of
Irrigation department and Smart
City Surveillance of Traffic department are two of the top projects that
LMC wants to include in the upgraded proposal. LMC has also sought
support of the departments for
developing the future projects
together. “Under the Pan-City proposal and area-based development,
LMC is trying to sign a pact with the
departments so that finances can be
shared under the Smart City,” said
Singh. LMC is looking forward to
developing a culture and heritage
centre at Chhattar Manzil, smart
parking lot at Kaiserbagh bus station
and parking spaces at Globe Park.
It may be mentioned here that in
the first phase of Smart City mission,
the state capital ranked 29th. Given
that no other city from the state has
made a mark in the list, Lucknow has
been given a chance to take part in
the fast-track round for getting
funds from the Central government
in first phase. Under this round, the
proposal needs to be upgraded to the
benchmark level of the 20 cities
included in the list.
Scope for UP entrepreneurs in Canada
Lucknow (PNS): A stable economy, easy access to connect or
global gateway, favourable government policies, low corporate taxes,
good research facilities and education, scope for diversified industries
set-up-all this can attract an entrepreneur to start or expand his business. Such attractive reasons were
shared by the officials from High
Commission of Canada in India
who showed their keen interest in
joining hands with Indian Industries
Association to showcase the scope
of business in Canada for the industrialists in UP. The programme was
organised at the IIA Bhawan on
Thursday.
Grant Winton, International
Relations, Government of Alberta,
Jens Michael Schaal, Counsellor
(Commercial– Ontario), Robert
McCubbing, Deputy Programme
Manager, India Trade Programme,
were the main officials from the
High Commission of Canada in
India who widened entrepreneurs
mind to think about business in
Canada apart from United States in
North America.
Canada was defined as ‘the easiest place to do business’ due to
many factors like the best banking
system, a diversified and trustworthy economy and a competitive
and innovative environment which
brings profitability to business in
Canada. The officials also said that
as Canada was close to US people
with business ideas could also have
a privileged access to US market,
Mexican market and many other
larger ones.
Anil Gupta, former president,
IIA, gave an introduction about
SMEs in India and specially in UP
stating that SMEs were keen
investors for such places where
they could see convincing reasons
to expand their business. Moreover,
the president of IIA, Manish Goel,
said that SMEs in UP consider this
programme as an opportunity for
their business expansion.
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.
the pioneer
03
city 04
inger and actor, Aditya
Narayan, said here on
Thursday that the winners of
reality shows get complacent
after winning them and hence
they were not able to make a
mark in the area of playback
singing. The actor-cum-singercum-host said that the reality
shows provided a great platform to the singers.
Aditya Narayan said, “Sa
Re Ga Ma Pa has set a benchmark in terms of the quality of
talent it has introduced over
the past 20 years. This is my
fourth season as the host of ‘Sa
Re Ga Ma Pa.’ The show is like
a home to me, it has literally
seen me grow. I owe my success to this prestigious platform. The platform has always
been a great learning ground
for me as it puts me in touch
with phenomenal talent and
the mentors. This season aims
to set even higher benchmarks
as the challenge only gets
tougher. We have enlisted the
support of 30 music connoisseurs who are experts from the
music fraternity, will closely
assess the aspiring singer’s
right from the audition stage
and help the mentors in the
selection process. I’m super
excited and looking forward to
the upcoming season.”
He said that after screening 50,000 entries over eight
S
Office
or
The
Executive Engineer
E l e c t r i c i t y
Transmission
Division
Sultanpur Tender- Notice
Sealed Tenders in two parts (as
detailed in tender specifications) are hereby invited from
experienced contractors' up to
13.00 hrs and will be opened on
the same day at 15.30 hrs publicly in the office of the under
signed. The tender documents
can be had up to previous
working day of the opening day
on payment of Rs. 230.00
including VAT (NON REFUNDABLE) in cash or demand draft.If
tender document is required by
dak, Rs 50.00 will be charged
extra. Part-I of the tender will
contain an earnest money in
shape of CDR/FDR/BD duly
pledged in favour of the undersigned in official capacity and
part II will contain rates, terms
and conditions and other relevant details. Without earnest
money tender will not be accepted. In case of holiday on notified
opening day, the tender will be
opened on the next working day
at the same time. Undersigned
reserves the right to reject any
or all the tenders without assigning any reason thereof. Tender
No. 01/ETDS/2016-17 Cleaning
of Porcelain Insulators of CT, PT
& CB at 132 K.V. Sub- Station,
Dalmau, Raebareli the required
earnest money is Rs. 4000.00
(Rupees Four Thousand Only)
and will be opened on dated:18.04.2016 (S.K. Bhaskar)
Executive Engineer Electricity
Transmission
Division
Sultanpur No. 632 Date
11.3.2016 "SAVE ELECTRICITY
FOR NATION"
U.P. POWER TRANSMISSION CORPORATION LIMITED TENDER NOTICE Sealed tenders
for executing the following works
in two parts (as detailed in tender specifications) are hereby
invited from experienced contractors and will be opened on
the same dates mentioned
below at 15.30 hrs publicly in the
office of the under signed. The
tender documents can be had
up to previous working day of
the opening day on payment of
Rs. 230.00 including V AT(NON
REFUNPABLE) in cash or
demand draft. If tender document is required by post, Rs.
30.00 will be charged extra.
Part-I of the tender will contain
an earnest money in shape of
CDR/FDR/BD duly pledged in
favour of the undersigned in official capacity and part-Il will
contain rates, terms and conditions and other relevant details.
Without earnest money tender
will not be accepted. The above
Tender Proforma can be downloaded from UPPTCL website
www.upptcl.org. In case of
holiday on notified opening day,
the tender will be opened on the
next working day at the same
time. Undersigned reserves the
right to reject any or all the tenders without assigning any reason thereof. Tender No.
17/ESDS/2015-16 To be
opened on dt 19.04.2016,
Tender cost Rs. 230.00,
Earnest Money Rs. 2000.00
1. The work of cleaning, repairing and painting of RCC pale
fencing and main gate at Electy.
400KV Sub Station Sultanpur.
Executive Engineer Electy.
400KV Substation Division
Sultanpur No. 309 Date
16.3.2016 "Save Energy in
National interest."
Don’t be complacent, Aditya
tells reality show winners
weeks of gruelling auditions
across 14 cities to discover
India’s most talented singers,
only 12 of the most striking
voices with an ability to touch
your hearts will make it to the
stage of ‘Sa Re Ga Ma Pa .’
On being asked why the
singers who are winners of
these reality shows do not
make it in the playback field,
he said that normally they
become complacent after winning the show. “These singers
become complacent after winning the show and are happy
with the house and the money
they get,” he said.
When asked why things
did not work out for him, he
said that it was too early to
write him off. “I promise that
I will be a superstar one day. I
am only 27 years old and I do
not plan things because I go
with the flow.”
The show has been instrumental in identifying and
grooming some of the country’s most remarkable talent in
music - Shreya Ghoshal, Kunal
Ganjawala, Shekhar Ravjiani,
Bela Shende, Sanjivani, Kamal
Khan and Ranjeet Rajwada
over the past two decades.
The mentors include the
Dabangg duo of Bollywood
music, Sajid-Wajid, and the
affable, endearing and multiple
award-winning
Pritam
Chakraborty who is well
known for offering opportunities constantly to young newcomers. Joining them for the
very first time on ‘Sa Re Ga Ma
Pa’ is the king of Indi-Pop and
Bollywood playback, the performer par excellence - Mika
Singh. “For the first time ever,
a panel of 30 jury members
who are experts from the
music fraternity, will closely
assess the aspiring singer’s
right from the audition stage
and help the mentors in the
selection process. They represent different components of
today’s music scene from DJs
and music producers to
singers, arrangers and lyricists,” he said. The hunt for the
country’s best singers has
spanned across 14 cities,
including Bhubaneswar,
Guwahati, Patna, Lucknow,
Chandigarh,
Nagpur,
Dehradun, Ahmedabad, Jaipur,
Kolkata, Indore, Delhi,
Mumbai and Bangalore.
Strike continues
at RMLIMS
Lucknow (PNS): Scores
of employees of Dr Ram
Manohar Lohia Institute of
Medical Sciences (RMLIMS)
continued their strike on
Thursday leaving the patients
harried. Major surgeries were
postponed and the hospital
administration faced a torrid
time attending to the outdoor
patients. All the six OTs
remained closed as trained
staff were on strike. Besides,
operation dates could not be
given to a number of patients.
On an average, over 20 surgeries are performed at the hospital but only some minor
operations were performed as
the strike entered into second
day. The 300-bed medical facility has 256 employees, including technicians, nurses and
clerks and in the absence of
regular staff, contractual workers had their tasks cut out. They
handled the registration counters and took care of pathological tests. Meanwhile, president of Nurses’ Sangh Amit
Sharma said: “The staff will not
return to work till the demands
are met by the state government.” RMLIMS director
Deepak Malviya said though
the healthcare was affected but
the administration was taking
care of patients.
Bid to keep animals away from JNM Park
has been tightened at Janeswhar
Mishra Park and Over 200 employees
Sareecurity
keeping a close vigil to prevent the
entry of wild animals and reptiles in the
park.
This step has been taken by Lucknow
Development Authority after a crocodile
was sighted at the nearby Kukrail park on
Tuesday. LDA Vice-Chairman Satyendra
Singh told this reporter all the efforts
would be made to ensure safety of visitors.
On an average, the park witnesses
5,000 visitors on a daily basis. The LDA
V-C also directed the employees to keep
a watch on the movement of wild animals
and inform park’s incharge DC Sachan or
other officials from time to time.
He said it was their duty to help the
experts catch the animals without causing any harm to them.
The park has been divided into five
sectors and four groups formed to keep
a vigil in and around the park. Each group
consists of 50 employees and they have
been asked to make regular visits to their
respectively sectors. Incharges of the
groups will be given wireless sets and
torches.
Experts in the control room would
immediately reach on the spot on golf
carts in case there were any wild animal
or reptile. LDA has also made arrange-
ments for medical assistance to employees or experts in case of any injury.
Two vehicles will available round the
clock to rush the injured to hospital.
Sources said that Ram Singh, an
employee of LDA, was injured after being
bitten by a dog two months ago. His medical expenses were borne by LDA.
Besides, handbills will be pasted on
poles requesting the visitors to inform
security guards or the employees if they
notice animals roaming there.
The LDA Vice-Chairman said public
support would also help check the animal
menace. He said all efforts would be made
to make the park a safe place as it has
become the favourite place for people.
SCHOOLSCAN
CMS TEAM LEAVES
FOR JAPAN
DIVINE EDUCATION
CONFERENCES
City Montessori School,
Jopling Road and Mahanagar
(Campus III) campuses,
organised ‘Divine Education
Conferences’ on Thursday.
The event took off with the
Jopling Road branch students
presenting divine music. The
students delivered well
thought-out speeches on universal values, global understanding, service to the world
and excellence in all
things.
A delegation of City
Montessori School, including
Susmita Basu, head of Quality
Assurance and Innovation
Department, and Reena Soti,
principal of CMS Anand
Nagar campus, left for Japan to
attend Asia Pacific Regional
Conference. Prior to their
departure from Amausi airport, teachers extended their
best wishes to them. CMS
founder Jagdish Gandhi was
also present on the occasion.
The Asia Pacific Regional
Conference is being organised
from March 18 to 23 in Tokyo
in which representatives from
more than 16 countries are
participating. The conference
aims to strengthen the activities of Children’s International
64% candidates
appear in
LMRC exams
PNS ■ LUCKNOW
irector, Finance, AK
R astogi said on
D
Thursday that a total of 64
percent
candidates
appeared for Lucknow
Metro Rail Corporation
examinations which were
conducted for various posts
on March 14 and March 16.
“ The examinations
were conducted in 22 cities.
Sixty-four per cent candidates against the 83,000
applications received
appeared in the exams,”
said Rastogi. He added that
results were expected to be
out a week after Holi.
LMRC PRO Amit
Srivastava said they had
received 14,000 applications from women and
3,827 for train operators
and station controllers.
The examinations were
held in Agra, Ghaziabad,
Allahabad,
Bareilly,
Gautambuddh Nagar,
Greater Noida, Jhansi,
Kanpur, Meerut, Lucknow
and Varanasi. There were
12 centres in Agra, 10 in
Ghaziabad,
23
in
Allahabad, seven in Bareilly,
one in Guatambuddh
Nagar, five in Greater
NOIDA, four in Jhansi, 17
in Kanpur, four in Meerut,
22 in Lucknow and 14 in
Varanasi.
“There will be no interviews for these posts but the
candidates selected for the
train operators and station
controllers will need to take
a psycho-medical test for
reflexes,” Srivastava said.
For the category of drivers, better known as train
operators and station controllers, LMRC will recruit
50 persons in the general
category, 26 in OBC, 20 in
SC and one in ST and 19 in
women’s categories.
LMRC officials said
they would follow the reservation policies of the state
government as recruitments
would be made through
both horizontal and vertical
reservations. In case of
women candidates, reservation is in the horizontal
category with 20 per cent
seats
having
been
reserved.
The qualification for
train operators is a threeyear engineering diploma in
electrical, electronics and
telecommunication or
equivalent from a government-recognised university
or institute with a minimum of 60 per cent marks.
The age should be between
18 and 28 years.
Playing lawyer in new show
was challenging: Meghna
SHARMILA KRISHNA ■ LUCKNOW
or one who has played the
role of the rustic Ammaji
F
with aplomb, actress Meghna
Malik is all set to mesmerise the
audience with yet another
avatar of Suhasini Sinha. The
actress who was in the city for
the promotion of the show,
‘Dehleez’ said that she was
happy to shoot for a show
which was urban in nature,
portrayed a mature love story
and projected the bureaucratic corridors of New Delhi.
Talking about the character, she said it was the role of a
professional lawyer that she was
playing. “Normally the characters which are shown on the
television are either those who
make others cry or those who
are made to cry. But this is a
very professional story with a
completely urban get-up and
here the women are supportive,
friends with their husbands and
extremely professional in their
attitudes,” she said.
“An extremely principled
woman, Suhasini is a wellknown lawyer in the Delhi
Sessions Court. Very softspoken but yet quite stern, Suhasini
has an underlying strength
about herself which is very
intimidating. She understands
her profession like few do, and
is very clear on which cases she
wants to take up. At the same
time she is quite competitive
and hates to lose. At home she
is a strict mother who has
brought up her kids in the best
possible manner. She is a firm
believer of family values, good
upbringing and is very classconscious as well,” said
Meghna. Talking about the
AKTU inks MoU for setting up
three Centres of Excellence
bdul Kalam Technical
University signed an MOU
A
with three different companies
Summer Village Camp (CISV)
held in various countries every
year and promote inter-cultural and international understating among the students of
various nations. CMS has continuously been hosting CISV
camps for the past 22 years and
the delegation has been specially invited to participate in
this conference.
Pioneer
Meghna Malik in Lucknow on Thursday
challenges of shooting the
show, she said that she realised
how hard the profession of a
lawyer was. “I realised how
hard it was to work as a lawyer
when I visited a court to learn
about the way they worked. I
thought that it was only the
actors who used to keep standing for long hours,” she said.
The actress further said
that they were carrying out the
shooting in Delhi which made
them respond well as actors.
“We are not shooting in the
close confines of the studio but
in the open spaces of New
Delhi which make us respond
in a different manner,” she
said. ‘Dehleez’ is a contemporary love story set against the
backdrop of corridors of power
in Delhi. The show explores the
worlds of two interesting personalities,
Swadheenta
Ramakrishnan, an aspiring
lawyer from a South-Indian
middle-class household, and
Adarsh Sinha, an idealistic IAS
officer from a powerful and
influential family. The show
will highlight their different
approaches towards the same
cause. Adarsh has a clever tactic to fight the evils of society
while Swadheenta, on the other
hand, is righteous and wants to
help the poor. It is love at first
sight for Adarsh but
Swadheenta takes her own
time to reciprocate. The show
is supported by a stellar cast
and powerhouses of talent
which include Meghna Malik,
Amit Behl, Harshad Arora,
Trisha Choudhary, Hunar Hale,
Meer Ali and Aryan Pandit.
Keeping in mind the scale of
the show, the makers have shot
it entirely at real attractions in
Delhi such as Jama Masjid,
Khan Market, Sainik Farms in
Chhatarpur, the iconic India
Gate and other interesting
locations.
on Thursday for establishing
Centres of Excellence at three
institutes.The occasion saw the
presence of the Vice-Chancellor
of AKTU, Vinay Kumar Pathak,
and the Director, Entuple
Mehta, ANSYS Software Sale
Director, Krishnamurti, and
Director, Cadence, Vishal
Abrol.
The Centres of Excellence
will be established at three
institutes of the University,
including IET, Lucknow, JSS,
NOIDA, and ABEAS,
Ghaziabad. At the IET,
Lucknow, the Centre of
Excellence will be established in
the area of Mechanical Finit
Analysis and Computational
Fluid Dynamics at the JSS,
NOIDA, in the area of microelectronics and at the ABES, IT,
Ghaziabad, in the field of Power
Electronics and Drive. It was
informed that with the development of these centres the faculty development and skill
development for the students
will be focused along with giving a concrete shape to the
ideas. The Centres of
Excellence will have two experts
from the industry.
The Vice-Chancellor, Vinay
Pathak, while speaking on the
occasion said that these centres
were being established to
reduce the gap between the
academia and the industry. “It
is necessary to attach the stu-
dents with the industry so that
the development of their skills
take place. The students will get
the ambience of industry at the
institute itself and they can be
groomed as per its requirements,” he said.
The Director of Entuple,
Mehta, said that the Centres of
Excellence would help in promoting startups and act as a
link. He said that changes could
not be brought about quickly
and the Centre of Excellence
would connect the faculty and
the students to new ideas.
The Director, Cadence,
Abrol, said that through these
Centres of Excellence they
would bring competition
among the projects for the students wherein they would send
ideas.
CITYBRIEFS
AGITATION
UP Community Health
Worker Association during its
state convention held here
resolved to go on an indefinite
strike in support of the
demands shortly. National general secretary Manoj Kumar
condemned the Union government for not taking initiatives to revise their pay scale
and give a patient hearing to
their demands even as health
workers are involved in all the
major health schemes of the
Central government be it the
‘Beti Bachao Abhiyan’, ‘Swachh
Bharat Mission’ or the anti-leprosy campaign. Representatives
from Haryana, Punjab and
Uttarakhand also participated
in the convention and assured
their cooperation making the
proposed
agitation
a
success.
YASH BHARTI
State government will confer ‘Yash Bharti’ award on
KGMU Vice-Chancellor Ravi
Kant. Making the announcement on Thursday, director of
Culture department Anita
Meshram said: “The award is
given away to eminent persons
for their outstanding contribution on national and international level.” Chief Minister
Akhilesh Yadav would do the
honours during an award ceremony on March 21, Meshram
said. The prize carries Rs 11
lakh in cash and a certificate.
PROTEST
Scores of traders under
the banner of UP Udyog
Vyapar Mandal ended their
Pioneer
Shops selling colours and sprinklers have come in Lucknow ahead of Holi
two-day protest at Laxman
Mela Ground on Thursday.
INSPECTION
Rail Safety Commissioner
SK Pathak on Thursday completed the inspection of the 22
km-long rail route (Sultanpur
to Lambhua) and gave the nod
for train operation on this
route. The work on this route
ended on Thursday and the
trains will run as per schedule
from Friday.
WORKSHOP
The two-day national
workshop of the Centre for
Environment Education (CEE)
on ‘Composting and Smokeless
Cooking Stove’ began on
Thursday with the collaboration of Global Environment
Facility and United Nations
Development Programme Small Grants Programme and
a local NGO partner in an open
field on Kursi Road. “To learn
the technique of composting
NGOs and farmers coming
from 12 states of India took
part in the workshop. Over 160
participants attended it,” said
the Senior Project Coordinator,
CEE, Preeti Kannaujia. Anil
Arora, Senior Programme
Officer of the CEE’s
GEF/UNDP SGP project not
only started the two-day-long
programme but also spoke
about its agenda. Dr Abdhesh
Gangwar, Regional Director,
CEE’s Himalaya initiative and
Preeti R Kannaujia, Senior
Programme Coordinator,
shared their thoughts on sus-
tainable agriculture and CEE’s
initiative being taken up.
SYMPOSIUM
The four CSIR laboratories
of Lucknow, viz CSIR-CDRI,
CSIR-CIMAP, CSIR-NBRI and
CSIR-IITR have joined hands
with the CSIR Pensioners’
Association, Lucknow Chapter,
in hosting a three-day-long
symposium titled ‘CSIR contributions in health security
during the past 25 years and
futuristic vision.’ The symposium will be inaugurated on
Friday at the CSIR-National
Botanical Research Institute
followed by the keynote address
by Dr Nitya Anand, a
Padmashree recipient, and former Director, CSIR-CDRI,
Lucknow.
city 05
Cong threatens
Raj Bhawan gets CD, transcript stir if Ajai Rai
is not released
of House proceeding
AZAM’S OUTBURST AGAINST GOVERNOR
PNS ■ LUCKNOW
owing to the pressure of the
Raj Bhawan, the Vidhan
B
Sabha secretariat has sent a CD
and transcript of the House
proceedings of March 8, when
Parliamentary Affairs Minister
Mohammad Azam Khan had
questioned Governor Ram
Naik for not giving his assent
to the controversial Nagar
Nigam Bill.
Taking strong exception
to the criticism of the Raj
Bhawan, the Governor had
sought the “unedited” copy of
the proceedings of the House
from Speaker Mata Prasad
Pandey on March 9.
A highly placed source in
the Raj Bhawan told ‘The
Pioneer’ on Thursday that the
Speaker’s office had complied
with the Governor’s directive
and sent the CD and transcript
of the debate of March 8.
“The Raj Bhawan has
received the CD and the transcript of the proceedings on
Thursday,” the source said
Azam Khan had questioned the Governor for delaying the assent to the Bill related to urban local bodies.
Khan had said in the
Vidhan Sabha on March 9: “It
is very unfortunate that the
Governor is sitting tight on the
Bill passed by the House a year
and a half back. It seems that
the Raj Bhawan is trying to
protect the illegal acts of mayors and is favouring a particular political outfit.”
Khan said that if there
were irregularities in the Bill,
the Governor should have
returned it or sought clarification. “But by sitting on the Bill,
the constitutional head of the
state is not doing justice.
Instead, he is promoting illegal
acts of the mayors,” the minister had said.
Khan’s outburst had elicited strong protests from the
Bharatiya Janata Party lawmakers, who pointed out that
an issue related to the Governor
could not be raised in the
Assembly.
Reacting to Khan’s grouse,
Speaker Mata Prasad Pandey
had said that he would personally convey his feelings to the
Governor and assured the BJP
members that he would look
into Khan’s statement and
expunge parts that were unconstitutional.
The UP Nagar Nigam
(Amendment) Bill was passed
by the Assembly on March 26,
2015 amid BJP charge that it
was a direct assault on the powers of elected mayors.
Nine out of the 14 mayors
of the municipal corporations
in UP belong to the BJP.
The controversial UP
Nagar Nigam (Amendment)
Bill, 2015, vests the state government with powers to
remove mayors and curtails the
powers of local bodies.
The Bill provides for
enhancing the financial powers
of chairman of nagar palika and
nagar panchayat to Rs 5 lakh
and Rs 1 lakh respectively,
while pegging that of mayor at
Rs 15 lakh.
It also provides for merger of UP Nagar Nigam Act,
1959 and the UP Nagar Palika
Act, 1916.
It has provisions for
removal of mayors of municipal corporations and chairpersons of nagar palika and
nagar panchayat by the government. The Uttar Pradesh
Mayor Council had urged the
Governor not to approve the
Bill.
Certain other bills pending
with the Raj Bhawan include
Ram Manohar Lohia National
Law University (Amendment)
Bill, 2015 and UP Medical
Science University, Saifai, Bill,
2015. As per sources, the
Governor has expressed reservations over the appointment
of Chief Secretary as president
of Ram Manohar Lohia
National Law University and
the CM as Chancellor of Saifai
Medical University.
Lucknow (PNS): Congress leaders once again threatened to take to streets in protest against Samajwadi Party
government for not releasing their legislator Ajai Rai,
arrested under National Security Act in Varanasi.
The party charged the state government with taking
action against Rai at the behest of Prime Minister Narendra
Modi. The Congressmen had earlier marched from Mall
Avenue state headquarters of the party to Raj Bhawan
before handing over a memorandum demanding immediate release of Rai but it failed to cut ice with the government. Even Congress Legislature Party leader Pradeep
Mathur and other MLAs staged a demonstration on the
issue on the floor of the Assembly but the government
defused the situation assuring them to look into the matter. “A delegation of senior Congress leaders led by
Congress general secretary and in-charge of UP,
Madhusudan Mistry, and state chief Nirmal Khatri met
Ajai Rai in Fatehgarh central jail on Thursday and assured
him of party’s full support,” said UPCC vice-president and
media cell chief Satyadeo Tripathi in Lucknow on
Thursday evening.
Tripathi said the party would once again demand the
release of Rai and if the government did not act then the
party leaders and workers would take to streets and force
the Chief Minister to intervene and review the decision
to impose NSA on an MLA. The UPCC media cell chief
said that only Congress leaders were framed in the Varanasi
incident even when three Bharatiya Janata Party MLAs
were also present in the procession during which violence
erupted on October 5. The Varanasi police invoked
National Security Act against the Congress MLA.
Congmen pitch for Priyanka
as chief ministerial candidate
PNS ■ LUCKNOW
he demand for projecting
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra as the
T
chief ministerial candidate of the
Congress in the coming UP
Assembly polls once again came to
the fore at a function in party president Sonia Gandhi’s constituency Rae Bareli on Thursday.
The local Congress leaders
demanded that the poll campaign
be handed over to Priyanka and
she be projected as the party’s ministerial candidate candidate.
Priyanka is organisational incharge of Rae Bareli and campaigns for her mother and brother Rahul Gandhi in Rae Bareli and
Amethi Lok Sabha constituencies.
Sonia Gandhi’s representative
in Rae Bareli, Kishori Lal Sharma,
who was present at the function as
chief guest, assured the leaders that
he would convey their sentiments
to the party president and
Priyanka.
The function was organised at
Tilak Bhawan of district Congress
office in Rae Bareli to felicitate
Dinesh Pratap Singh on being reelected to UP Legislative Council
and Awadhesh Singh for election
as chairman of district panchayat.
Rae Bareli District Congress
chief Uma Shanker Mishra said in
his address that Priyanka had the
qualities to revive the party in UP
and she be asked to lead the party
in the coming polls.
He felt that Priyanka could
end the political drought for
Congress in UP since 1989 and
hence she should be projected as
the party’s chief ministerial candidate.
Mishra was joined by other
party leaders, and this forced
Kishori Lal Sharma to intervene by
saying that Sonia Gandhi had not
stopped Priyanka from entering
active politics.
“Priyanka will decide for herself when she would join active
politics. But I will convey your sentiments to Priyanka and discuss it
with Sonia Gandhi,” he said.
CM: Govt taking care of sportspersons Akhilesh to address IAS officers today
... to inaugurate agriculture C
C
fair in Saifai on March 28
PNS ■ LUCKNOW
PNS ■ LUCKNOW
hief Minister Akhilesh
Yadav said that his government was committed to
improvement of sports and
had started constructing stadiums to give sportsmen state-ofart facilities.
Speaking at a function after
unveiling the logo and jersey of
Indian Crossbow Shooting
Association at Eklavya Stadium
in Agra on Thursday, Yadav
said that his government had
announced awards and cash
prizes for sportsmen who
excelled at the international
level.
“Our government also
takes care of sportspersons
who have won laurels at national level competitions” Yadav
said.
Talking about the achievements of his government, he
said that people liked development and voted for the party
whose government had performed in the past.
“I am sure that people will
vote the Samajwadi Party back
to power because of its performance. We have fulfilled
almost all the promises we
had made,” the Chief Minister
said.
Yadav spoke at length
about development schemes
his government had launched
in the power sector and how his
government had worked hard
to construct roads.
“The state government has
Yadav will address the
administrative officers’ conference in Lucknow on Friday.
The conference will be
attended by all senior IAS officers, including principal secretaries, secretaries, commissioners and district magistrates.
The event is part of the
four-day-long IAS Week, an
annual event organised by the
UP IAS Association, that commenced on Thursday.
The Chief Minister’s
address is likely to focus on
inspection guidelines issued
for senior officials by the UP
government on Wednesday.
The state government had
on Wednesday issued stringent
inspection guidelines for officers, including divisional commissioners,
district magistrates and
district police chiefs ahead of
the Assembly polls.
As per the guidelines, the
district magistrates and district
police chiefs have to make
joint inspections of at least
three gram sabhas every month
from April and review disposal of complaints filed by villagers in the weekly Tehsil
Diwas and Samadhan Diwas.
Besides, the district magistrates have to inspect at least
offices of two departments or
tehsils in a month.
Additional district magistrates and additional superin-
PNS ■ LUCKNOW
Yadav will inaugurate a
C
two-day agriculture fair —
UP Agri Hortitech — at Saifai
in Etawah on March 28.
The fair is being organised
by the UP government in
association with the PHD
Chamber of Commerce.
A similar agriculture fair
was organised in Lucknow in
January.
The government expects
participation from companies
of Israel, Holland, France and
Italy in the fair at Saifai.
Agriculture Production
Commissioner Pravir Kumar
said the Agri Hortitech in
January had drawn enthusiastic response from farmers and
many Indian and foreign companies had received orders
from the state.
He said the challenging
task before the state government was to raise the incomes
of farmers by boosting agricultural productivity.
Kumar said that farmers
and entrepreneurs of agro and
horticulture-based industry
would get a platform to interact with their counterparts
from other states in the fair.
He said that the post-harvest waste in agriculture and
horticulture in UP was as high
as 30 per cent and the farmers
could immensely benefit by
reducing it.
also strengthened the police
force by modernising it. By July
2016, the ‘Dial 100 service’ will
be made available across the
state,” the Chief Minister said.
“The biggest achievement
of my government is bringing
55 lakh below poverty line
(BPL) families under social
security umbrella through the
Samajwadi Pension Scheme.
To ensure that farmers get the
benefit of our schemes, the government will celebrate this year
as Kisan Varsh,” Yadav said.
Owaisi postpones Uttar Pradesh visit
PNS ■ LUCKNOW
midst escalation of the row
over his refusal to chant
A
‘Bharat Mata ki jai’, All-India
Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen
chief Asaduddin Owaisi postponed his UP visit on
Thursday.
On Wednesday night, the
Lucknow district administration had denied permission to
the AIMIM for organising a
meeting and road show of
Owaisi in the state capital citing law and order issues.
Meanwhile, AIMIM state
head Shaukat Ali charged that
the permission was denied on
the pressure exerted by the ruling Samajwadi Party.
He said this was the 16th
consecutive time in the last
three years that the AIMIM
had been denied permission by
authorities in Agra, Azamgarh,
Allahabad and Lucknow to
organise meetings.
To protest the denial of
permission, AIMIM cadres
staged a demonstration at the
GPO Park on Thursday.
Ali said that the new dates
BJP workers burning an effigy of AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi in front of Vidhan Bhawan against his controversial remark, in
Lucknow on Thursday
of the meetings would be
announced soon and Owaisi
would visit the state after Holi.
Earlier, Ali had threatened
to go ahead with the scheduled
programme, irrespective of the
permission and had also said
that the party cadres would
gherao the Vidhan Bhawan if
permission for the meeting
was denied.
“The SP government is
scared of the growing popularity of Owaisi among the
Muslims of UP. The Muslims of
the state are now disillusioned
with the SP leadership, which
is neck deep in corruption and
has also failed to honour the
promises made to the community during the 2012 Assembly
polls,” Ali said.
Owaisi is in the centre of a
raging controversy over his
stand against chanting “Bharat
Mata ki jai” His stand evoked
protests across the country
and also in UP.
Meanwhile, activists of the
Other Backward Castes (OBC)
cell of Bharatiya Janata Party
burnt the effigy of Owaisi in
front of Vidhan Bhawan on
Thursday.
UP BJP OBC cell general
secretary Dilip Sahu said that
Owaisi was a politician who
promoted communalism in
the country.
RSS behind pre-poll survey: Samajwadi Party
PNS ■ LUCKNOW
pparently jolted by a pre-poll survey relegating it to the third spot in
A
the 2017 Assembly polls, the Samajwadi
Party hit back terming it as “a conspiracy by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak
Sangh aimed at confusing the masses”.
A leading Hindi TV channel had
conducted the survey and aired its findings on Wednesday.
Holding the RSS responsible for the
telecast of the survey findings,
Samajwadi Party spokesman Rajendra
Choudhary said in Lucknow on
Thursday that the “conspiracy industry”
had become very active with the
Assembly polls round the corner and
every one knew that the RSS was an
accomplished player of rumour mongering and spreading canard.
Accusing the survey of misleading
the masses, Choudhary said, “Chief
Minister Akhilesh Yadav’s warning that
casteist, communal and status quoist
forces will engineer conspiracies prior
to the polls has come true. The people
of the state are solidly behind the
Samajwadi Party and those conspiring
against it will soon realise their folly. The
humble behaviour of the Chief Minister
has enamoured the people and such
conspiracies will never succeed.”
The SP leader alleged that parties
pursuing the politics of caste and religion were unnerved by the loss of political ground and hence they were resorting to gimmicks like confusing the
masses through misleading surveys.
The SP leader claimed that some
parties and leaders were unnerved by
the Akhilesh Yadav’s popularity and had
joined hands to malign the SP government and its leader.
Visitors looking at pictures at an exhibition organised at Raj Bhawan during IAS Week
tendents of police are required
to inspect at least three gram
sabhas and hold on-spot public hearings. Chief development officers are required to
inspect at least four offices
under their jurisdiction.
As per the instructions,
sub-divisional magistrates and
circle officers have to visit at
least four villages in different
blocks in a month while the
district development officers or
project directors have to visit at
least two blocks and two
offices.
Similarly, municipal com-
missioners are required to hold
public hearing in at least four
wards or zones every month.
The district-level officers
are required to communicate
and publicise the dates of these
inspections at least three days
in advance by traditional methods as well as via social media
to attract maximum number of
people. Monthly reports of
these inspections have to be
prepared at the level of district
magistrate and the divisional
commissioners every month.
In the past too, the government had fixed inspection
schedule for senior officers
including principal secretaries,
secretaries as well as for the
Chief Secretary. The Chief
Minister will also host a lunch
for the IAS officers on Friday.
The annual general meeting of the UP IAS Association
will be held on March 19. The
election of the office-bearers of
the Association will also be
held in the AGM. On Saturday,
Governor Ram Naik will host
a dinner for the IAS officers.
The IAS Week will end on
Sunday with a cricket match
between CM XI and IAS XI.
Kidnapped son of paper trader released
Lucknow (PNS): The sixyear-old son of a leading paper
merchant of Agra was set free,
four days after he was kidnapped, after the family reportedly paid a hefty ransom to the
kidnappers in Jhansi on
Thursday.
However, the Special
Task Force claimed to have rescued the boy after arresting
four kidnappers. The family
members of the paper merchant were happy at the safe
release of the boy and refused
to talk about payment of ransom.
Interestingly, the STF did
not release any press note about
their success till late Thursday
evening. However, the Agra
police claimed before the local
media on Thursday afternoon
that the “rescue operation was
their success”.
Meanwhile, the Chief
Minister met the family members of the boy after his safe
release at Agra airport on
Thursday afternoon.
Yadav hailed the achievement of the cops in
ensuring safe release of the kidnapped boy and wished the
victim all the best for his
future.
As per reports, Divya was
recovered safely in Jhansi on
Thursday morning after which
four of the alleged kidnappers
were arrested and firearms and
a car were recovered from
their possession.
The kidnappers had
demanded Rs 2 crore as ransom from the family for the
release of Divya, who was kidnapped from the paper merchant’s residence in Agra last
Sunday.
Divya was cycling outside
the residence on Sunday
evening when two persons riding a motorcycle kidnapped the
boy before his mother and
grandmother’s eyes.
The paper merchant,
Prateek Varshneya, said his
son was fine and they had
taken him to a temple.
Muzaffarnagar area tense after
clash over eve-teasing
PNS ■ LUCKNOW
ommunal tension prevailed in the
Hanuman Chowk area of Muzaffarnagar
C
after an eve-teasing incident led to violence
between members of two communities on
Thursday.
Luckily, a heavy police force led by SSP KB
Singh rushed to the spot and controlled the situation. Later, two companies of PAC were
deployed in the area to assist the local police in
maintaining peace.
A case was also registered and over half-adozen persons were detained.
Talking to media persons, district police
chief KB Singh said the trouble started on
Wednesday evening after a youth was assaulted by the brother of a girl, who was teased by a
youth from the minority community. The situation became normal after saner elements intervened.
However, on Thursday morning, the youth
who was thrashed returned to the area, dragged
the girl’s brother and assaulted him with the help
of his aides.
The news of attack on the girl’s brother
spread like wildfire and within no time, members of both groups gathered at the spot and
clashed with each other. They pelted stones and
also opened fire to terrorise each other.
The SSP said that the local police were
already patrolling the area and they immediately used force and dispersed the crowd.
Later, senior officials also rushed to the spot
with force and shifted the injured to the hospital.
The SSP said the situation was tense but
under control and additional forces had been
deployed in the area while talks were on with
saner elements from both sides.
It may be mentioned that in September 2013,
a similar eve-teasing incident had lead to a
major communal riot in Muzaffarnagar and its
adjoining districts in which 68 people were
killed and more than 50,000 people of the
minority community had to flee their villages
and take refuge in shelter homes run by the government.
nation 06
Bank loan default case: Mallya seeks time till April to appear before ED
T N RAGHUNATHA n MUMBAI
ebt-trapped businessman
Vijay Mallya on Thursday
D
sought time till April for personal appearance before the
Enforcement Directorate (ED)
in the IDBI bank loan default
case, even as the Kingfisher
House, the erstwhile headquarters of his defunct airline, failed
to throw up even a single bid at
an auction conducted by SBI
Caps for a consortium of banks
led by State Bank of India (SBI).
On a day when no bids
were made at the auction of
17,000 sq ft Kingfisher House at
Vile Parle near the domestic airport her conducted by the SBI
Caps, official sources said that
Mallya had written to the ED
about his inability before the
agency on Friday for questioning in the alleged money laundering case involving the default
in payment of `900 crore dues
to IDBI bank from the nowdefunct Kingfisher airlines.
The sources said that the
beleaguered businessman, who
is believed to be in the United
Kingdom, had sought time till
April to appear before the ED.
On March 11, the ED had
issued summons to Mallya to
appear before it on March 18 for
questioning under the provisions of the Prevention of
Money Laundering Act in the
IDBI case.
The sources said that the
ED officials were examining the
reasons cited by Mallaya for his
inability to appear before the
agency for questioning in the
IDBI bank loan default case.
They said that the ED would
soon take a final decision on
whether to give Mallya time till
April to join the investigations
in the case.
Based on a case registered
by the CBI last year, the ED had
recently registered a money
laundering case against Mallya
and others. The agency is also
investigating the overall financial structure of the now defunct
Kingfisher Airlines and will
look into any payment of kickbacks to secure loan.
The ED is looking for
details of overseas and domestic assets of Mallya and his company officials, in coordination
with central security agencies
and the CBI
On its part, the CBI had
booked Mallya, the Chairman
of Kingfisher Airlines, its
Directors, former Chief
Financial Officer of the airlines
A Raghunathan and unknown
officials of IDBI Bank in its FIR
alleging that the loan was sanctioned in violation of norms
regarding credit limits.
The ED, which has already
A view of the Kingfisher House which was put up for e-auction by SBICAPS Trustee to recover debt from loan defaulter Vijay
Mallya, in Mumbai on Thursday
PTI
questioned Raghunathan, former United Breweries Chief
Financial Officer Ravi
Nedungadi along with a few
other accused in connection
with the money laundering case
registered by it against Mallya,
is looking into the “proceeds of
crime” that would have been
generated using the slush funds
of the alleged loan fraud. The
agency is also investigating if
some of this amount was sent
abroad illegally.
The ED has also written to
the 17-bank consortium, led by
SBI, which lent money to the
grounded airlines, and later
went to the Debt Recovery
Tribunal (DRT) for recovery of
these dues. It has also sent official requests seeking details of
the investigations being conducted by the Income Tax and
Service Tax departments and
the Serious Frauds Investigation
Office (SFIO) against the airline
in the past.
Meanwhile, the auction of
Mallya’s Kingfisher House,
organised by the SBI Caps,
proved to be a non-starter, with
no bidders coming forward to
purchase the property owing to
litigation fears and a high
reserve price of `150 crore
fixed by the auctioneers.
The auction of Kingfisher
House, which has a built—up
area of over 17,000 sq ft at Vile
Parle near the domestic airport
in north-west Mumbai, began at
11.30 am and ended at around
12.30 pm, with no bidder coming in with an offer to purchase
the property.
“There were no bidders. I
think the higher reserve price
was the reason for it,” a SBI Caps
official said.
The auction was conducted
under the Securitisation and
Reconstruction of Financial
Assets and Enforcement of
Security Interest Act (Sarfaesi),
2002.
The official said that the
bidders had stayed from the
auction because the latter must
have felt that the reserve price
of `150 crore fixed for
Kingfisher House was on a
higher side.
Sources in the SBI Caps said
that the 17—member consortium of banks would soon meet
to review the reserve price fixed
by it earlier. “The auctioneer
may be asked to scale down the
reserve price of the property by
at least `50 crore when the
property is put up for a fresh
auction in the coming weeks,”
the sources said.
Boeing, Airbus 2010 PUNE GERMAN BAKERY BLAST CASE
gung-ho over
aviation plans HC commutes Baig’s
OMER FAROOQ n HYDERABAD
death penalty to life term
ith India emerging one of the most
promising market for the civil aviW
ation industry, the two top air craft man-
TN RAGHUNATHA n MUMBAI
ufacturers of the world appeared gungho on their plans for the country.
While Boeing, the biggest supplier of
aircraft in the country said that India will
need another 1740 new aircraft over the
next two decades, the European manufacturer Air Bus said that the country will
need 1,600 new passenger and freight aircraft over the same period of time. Air Bus
has in fact upgraded its forecast keeping
in view the impressive growth of civil aviation sector in the country.
The officials of the two global players
came out with this promising projection at
the India Aviation 2016, the international
exhibition and conference of civil aviation
currently on in Hyderabad.
Dinesh Keskar, senior vice president
(Sales), Asia Pacific and India, Boeing
Commercial Planes told a press conference
on the sidelines of the event at the
Begumpet airport on Thursday that the
value of the 1,740 new aircrafts required by
India will be at $240 billion. 1,460 of these
will be single isle while remaining 15% will
be wide bodied. These projections conform
to the aggressive plans drawn in India by
the Government to provide air connectivity to the Tier II and Tier III cities beyond
the big metropolitan cities.
Pointing out that the fuel as percentage of operating cost of airlines in India
came down to 23 percent in February 2016
from 49% in January 2013, Keskar said that
it was still higher compared to the fuel cost
of the US Airlines. “Indian carriers were still
paying over 50% more fuel than the US carriers”, he said.
Keeping in view the needs of customers
such as India, Boeing was developing new
fuel-efficient airplanes, Keskar said.
He said that the fuel prices and the
exchange rate continue to driver the airline
and operating cost and profitability of airlines of airlines. The domestic passenger
traffic in India was at the level over the last
five years and the airlines in India were
returning to profitability as lower fuel prices
and increased load factors were driving the
recovery. However, the exchange rate was
an area of worry as the rupee was declining steadily since mid 2014.
Giving the comparative figures Keskar
said that the number of domestic air passenger shot up to 80 million in 2015 to 66.4
million in 2014. Boeing’s plans for India
were also in tune with the policy of Indian
government to promote India as a hub of
MRO or maintenance, recovery and overhaul operations. “We have met our commitment and the MRO facility built in
Nagpur has been handed over to India”, he
said. The state of the art facility has the
capacity to serve two wide body Boeing 777
and six narrow body 737 Aircrafts.
n a major setback to the
Maharashtra police, the
IB ombay
High C ourt on
Thursday quashed capital
punishment awarded to lone
convict Mirza Himayat Baig
by the trial court in the 2010
Pune German Bakery blast for
lack of evidence, even while
confirming the life sentence
imposed on him for possession of explosives.
Reading out the operative
part of the judgment in the
German Bakery blasts case in
the open court, a HC division
bench of Justices N H Patil
and S B Shukre ruled that it
had acquitted Baig of all
charges under the Unlawful
Activities Prevention Act
(UAPA), under Sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 302
(murder) and 307 (attempt to
murder) of the IPC, and under
some Sections of the Explosive
Substances Act.
The HC bench, however,
confirmed Baig’s conviction
and life imprisonment awarded to him by the trial court
under Section 5(B) of the
Explosive Substances Act, for
possession of RDX.
The court also confirmed
Baig’s conviction under section 474 of IPC, for submitting
forged documents while
procuring mobile phone SIM
cards.
The HC bench noted that
the prison term already
undergone by Baig in prison
from his arrest till date would
be considered as part of the
sentence.
Thirty-five-year-old Baig,
dressed in a black shirt and
blue jeans, was present in the
court when the HC bench
pronounced the verdict in the
case.
Buttonholed for a comment by media persons while
he was being escorted from
the court to the police van,
Baig pleaded innocence and
said: “I was framed in the
case...I have told the truth to
the court”.
Talking to media persons
outside the court, Baig’s
lawyer Mehmood Paracha
said: “ My client (Baig) has
been acquitted of the charge of
his involvement in the
German Bakery blast. He has,
however, been convicted for
possession of explosives and
forging documents...We will
go through the entire order
and decide the next course of
action”.
The HC bench also noted
that it need not pass any
order on the applications filed
by two witnesses in the case,
as it had acquitted Baig of the
charges.
It may be recalled that
when filed moved the High
Court challenging the death
penalty, two witnesses in the
case had also filed an application seeking their evidence to
be recorded again as their
statement was taken under
duress.
The high court had on
December 22, 2015 reserved
its verdict on petitions, seeking and opposing the confirmation of death sentence of
Indian Mujahideen operative
Mirza Himayat Baig, the lone
convict in the 2010 Pune
German Bakery blast.
On April 18, 2013, a Pune
court had sentenced Baig to
death on four major counts,
including murder and conspiracy, in the February 13,
2010 German Bakery blasts, in
which 17 persons were killed
and 60 others injured.
Baig had been sentenced
to death under Sections 302
(murder), 120 (b) (criminal
conspiracy), of IPC, besides
section 16 (a) of Unlawful
Activities Prevention Act
(UAPA) and Section 3 of
Explosive Substances Act – all
of which attracted death
penalty.
Making a strong case for
the confirmation of death
sentence awarded to Baig by a
trial court, Special prosecutor
Raja Thakre had argued
before the high court that
there was enough circumstantial evidence to form complete chain of events leading
to the blast. He said the testimony of witnesses was corroborated by the documentary
evidence which was not disputed by the convict.
The defence lawyer didn’t
dispute the chemical analyser’s
report confirming that traces
of the explosive substance
RDX found at Baig’s house
and that found at the Bakery
chemically matched.
Thakre told the court that
a Delhi forensic laboratory
where CBI had sent samples
and the one in Pune where the
ATS had earlier sent the samples come to the same conclusion.
On his part, Baig’s lawyer
Mahmood Pracha had said
that as already argued by the
lawyer who defended Baig in
the trial court, the ATS had
“thrust” upon on Baig by the
ATS which had concocted
the whole case.
Pracha had demanded a
retrial, or a recall of two witnesses who had alleged that
they were forced to depose
against Baig. “Baig was not in
Pune on the day of the blast
but in Aurangabad... `RDX’
showed as recovered at Baig’s
behest was not proved to be an
explosive substance. The discrepancies were in documents
including the station diary
that recorded the finding of
RDX,” Pracha had said.
Heavy rains, snowfall in Srinagar take toll on traffic
KHURSHEED WANI n SRINAGAR
he authorities on Thursday
closed down Srinagar-Jammu
T
National Highway for vehicular
traffic following incessant rainfall
in the region. The entire Kashmir
Valley is reeling under a renewed
winter-like situation after heavy
rainfall in plains and snowfall in
the upper reaches triggered a cold
wave.
The Meteorological department has predicted moderate to
heavy rainfall in the region for the
next two days. The rainfall
restarted after a daylong lull on
Wednesday when a bright sunshine warmed up the surroundings. The weather took a turn on
Monday afternoon after a prolonged dry spell during the actual winter months between midDecember and February-end.
A moderate snowfall was
observed in famed hill stations of
Gulmarg and Sonamarg while
some vital roads in north
Kashmir got blocked due to
landslides and shooting stones.
The authorities said that vital
300-kilometer Srinagar-Jammu
National Highway was closed
for vehicular movement following massive landslides in some
areas between Jawahar Tunnel
and Ramsoo.
They said the incessant rainfall triggered landslides and hampered clearance work compelling
the traffic managers to halt the
vehicular movement. Two persons died and three others went
missing when a vehicle on way to
Jammu from south Kashmir’s
Shopian district when their vehicle skidded off the road and
plunged into Bishlari nullah.
The vehicles from Srinagar to
Jammu were allowed to ply despite
the advisory until all vehicles
were cleared off the landslideprone areas. The vehicles had left
Srinagar in the morning. The
authorities ensure that least number of passenger vehicles is stranded on the highway. No vehicle was
allowed to proceed towards
Srinagar.
Sources said that more than
600 trucks were stranded on the
highway.
The officials have also closed
Batote-Doda-Kishtwar highway,
which was reopened earlier this
week following a prolonged
blockade due to landslides. The
treacherous road is one of the
most dangerous routes in the
region, prone to worst road accidents. The fresh snowfall in
Sonamarg Zoji La region is likely to postpone re-opening of
Srinagar-Leh National Highway.
The highway normally opens in
mid-April but this year the
authorities were confident to reopen it by the end of March due
to less accumulation of snow in
the area.
nation 07
AIIMS doctor found dead
Grassroots protests over candidates shock Kerala CPM
New Delhi (PNS): An AIIMS doctor, said to be addicted to
drugs, was found dead in his hostel room under suspicious circumstances, police said on Thursday. The doctor, identified as
Kumar Kunal (34), a junior resident in Medicine Department,
was found dead in room number 602, the Masjid Moth doctor’s
hostel of the institute, a senior police official said. “The body was
found on the bed and the room was bolted from inside. There
were no injury marks on his body...So far investigations have
revealed that he was not eating since the last three days and was
also not seen during the same period,” the official said. “The cause
of death is yet to be ascertained so we have registered a case under
section 174 of CrPC (related to drugs),” the official said.
“As Kunal did not come out of his room last evening, the hostel warden informed AIIMS security. The security informed the
police. They broke open the door of his room and found his body,”
an AIIMS staff said. Police suspect that the deceased was a drug
addict.
VR JAYARAJ n KOCHI
pen protests coming up
from the grassroots in sevO
eral Assembly constituencies
People celebrate Lathmaar holi with sticks, shields and colors at Radhe Rani
Temple in Barsana, Mathura on Thursday
PTI
against the selection of candidates by the party's higher
committees have shocked
Kerala's CPI(M) leadership
even as it is struggling to meet
the deadline set for concluding
the process of seat-sharing
among the constituents of the
LDF it leads for the May 16
Assembly polls.
Though the protests,
appearing in the form of
demonstrations and poster
campaigns objecting to the
selection of candidates by the
party committees or demanding fielding of particular leaders as candidates, have taken
place in several constituencies, the leadership seems to be
confused over how to handle
the situation.
While moderate leaders in
the CPI(M) prefer to explain
these protests away as "normal
and harmless reaction", a section in the leadership is trying
to put the blame on the party's
"enemies" for the development. "There is no doubt that
these (protests) are being
sponsored by the party's enemies," said CPI(M) central
committee member EP
Jayarajan.
"Our party is not used to
such protests which may be
common in 'bourgeois parties'
like the Congress. We have seen
group rivalry in such parties
spilling into the streets. I think
that tendency is slowly creeping up into the CPI(M) also,"
said a former State committee
member of the party.
Protests had raged during
the Assembly elections of 2006
and 2011 against the leadership's decision not to give ticket to senior leader VS
Achuthanandan. "But that was
an exceptional situation. One
can understand the sentiments
in the case of VS. It has no
comparison with what is happening now. How far can you
allow sentiment decentralisation?" asked the leader.
Grassroots protests against
selection of candidates by district and State leaderships came
up
first
from
the
Wadakanchery constituency in
Thrissur district in central
Kerala in the form of posters
that appeared on Wednesday
morning. The State leadership
had the other day decided to
field 69-year-old film actress
KPAC Lalitha as LDF's
Independent candidate in
Wadakanchery.
"The service of star glamour parachuted from elsewhere
are unwanted here. We need a
person
who
knows
Wadakanchery's heart," read
the posters. Though Lalitha is
presently
settled
in
Wadakanchery, the native place
of her late husband Bharathan,
a film director, she belongs to
southern Kerala originally.
Poster campaigns against
dropping of the names of locally popular leaders from the list
of candidates and selection of
"unpopular" persons as candidates were seen in Kottarakkara
and Kundara in Kollam district,
Thripunithura in Ernakulam,
Kayamkulam in Alappuzha,
etc. In some cases, the leadership has already succumbed to
grassroots pressures.
EC cracks the whip; videographed route march for CPRF in WB
Five groups of
CEO-headed
Mamata shoots down probe into Narada expose
Spl Observers
for Bengal
SAUGAR SENGUPTA n
KOLKATA
n a clear testimony of
Election Commission’s
Iimpression
of Bengal’s law
and order situation the national poll panel is dispatching five
groups of special observers,
each headed by a chief electoral officer of a State.
The decision comes close
on the heels of the full bench
of the Commission touring
Bengal last week.
Responsible for supervising the State administrative
machinery's handling of the
electoral process the elite
groups will soon go around the
State, ECI sources said adding
the group of special observers
would work in addition to the
police observers whose number has been doubled from
what it was in 2011.
Earlier the Commission
while taking stock of the situation had severely repri-
JAITLEY TALKS...
“NPAs due to sectoral slowdown
would cease to be NPAs once there
is an upturn,” he added. However,
Jaitley said, the real source of worry
was the cases involving “misconduct” on the part of individuals.
“There is a second category
where large amounts of loans have
been given in individual cases and
some of the people misconducted
themselves, there may not be adequate sureties and that’s a source of
worry... This is the one, which is real
cause of worry because there are
moral and ethical issues without legal
liability. Meanwhile, the probe so far
against Mallya has revealed that out
of the five lakh transactions made by
his companies, 60 per cent of them
involved fund outflow abroad.
Officials also lamented that Mallya is
yet to be declared a fraud by the
banks, agency sources said, adding
the agency is investigating the issue
from the angle of cheating. The FIR
registered had applied only sections
relating to criminal conspiracy and
criminal breach of trust besides relevant provisions of the Prevention of
Corruption Act. The probe has
revealed that Mallya allegedly created a web of transactions trail in multiple countries. The agency has
already written to Indian missions in
four countries to seek information
through diplomatic channels on the
leads gathered so far, the sources
said. Official sources said the probe
has been scaled up to do justice to
the ongoing probe in the IDBI loan
fraud case as all the transactions by
Mallya’s firms are interconnected.
While the loan to Mallya’s firms from
a consortium of 17 banks was Rs
7,000 crore, the actual loss could be
more as the companies enjoyed overdraft and credit limit and the same
has to be ascertained during the
probe, the sources said.
The sources said the IDBI bank
loan fraud case was the trigger for
investigating the goings on in other
banks that extended loans to Mallya.
IDBI bank case was closer to fraudulent activity as it was the last to
extend loan to his firms and that too
at a time when the companies visibly unhealthy in terms of financial status. The CBI had written twice to IDBI,
once in 2012 and later on in 2014 but
the bank did not come up with a complaint after which the agency decided to register a case suo moto as an
informatory complaint revealed prima
facie irregularities. In early 2016, the
agency also wrote to United Bank of
India but the bank is yet to come forward with a complaint.
Compliant from a bank is necessary to register an FIR as a Union
Finance Ministry circular suggests
drafting of such complaints in a certain format. It is the banks’ prerog-
manded four IPS and a couple
of IAS officers for their biased
handling of affairs and had
asked them to “pull up your
socks before the Commission
was forced to take appropriate
measures.” Sending five groups
of special observers under a
CEO each was an “unprecedented decision even by UP
and Bihar standards let alone
B engal,” said a retired
Additional Director General of
Police adding “the decision
itself shows that the ECI has
no faith in the State administrative machinery.”
The poll panel has also
directed the administration to
put the Central forces to full
use so that they do not sit idle
like it happened in the 2014
General elections. “ The
Commission has asked to
take the CRPF to interior
areas and not confine the
route march to the main roads
only” said an official adding
all the route marches had to
be video graphed.
"A police officer will
accompany the Central forces
and after reaching a locality
they will announce in loudspeakers of their arrival and
ask the voters to come out and
vote fearlessly" the ECI official
SAUGAR SENGUPTA n
KOLKATA
n the defensive after the
Narada expose the
O
Trinamool Congress ruled out
any probe into the video
graphed scam even as Bengal
Chief Minister Mamata
Banerjee continued to attack
the Opposition for hatching
conspiracy to malign her party
before the elections through
such “concocted tapes.”
Banerjee who was
addressing an election rally in
Alipurduar district thundered
“having failed to defeat us
politically and electorally the
opposition parties like the
CPI(M), Congress and the
BJP have teamed up to malign
our image by releasing such
concocted tapes but they
should remember that more
they take resort to such types
of character assassination programmes more the people
will vote against them."The
Trinamool will walk in a
protest march against the
expose in Kolkata on Friday.
Videographed scenes
released by a news portal
showed Trinamool MPs and
State Ministers taking bribe
from a fictitious company in
lieu of promising future
favours. Among those who
were shown in the tape accepting bribe were senior MPs and
former Union Ministers
Saugato Roy, Sultan Ahmed,
said adding each posse of the
central force will have at least
2-3 Bengali-speaking jawans.
Mobile phone numbers will
also be provided by the march-
ing contingent for the voters to
make contact in case of
urgency.
The strong measures of
the ECI tended to show results
with the police making some
arrests over the past couple of
days and recovering crude
bombs from places like Malda
and Raghunathganj in
Murshidabad district. On
Thursday a drum full with 24
live bombs were recovered
from an orchard in
Raghunathganj.
cases lodged against its workers
including Joshi with the Leader of
Opposition in the State Assembly
Ajay Bhatt asserting that they
were being framed at the behest
of the State Government to cow
down the Opposition.
merce.“It drew on the immense talents of its people and also Islam’s
engagement with diverse civilizations, ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia
and Africa; the Persian, Central
Asian and Caucasian lands; the
region of East Asia; and, with
Buddhism and Indian philosophy
and science,” he said.He said from
its origins in Egypt and West Asia,
Sufism travelled to distant lands,
holding aloft the banner of faith and
the flag of human values, learning
from spiritual thoughts of other civilisations, and attracting people with
the life and message of its saints. “In
the different settings of Saharan
Africa or in South-East Asia, in
Turkey or in Central Asia, in Iran or
India, Sufism reflected the universal
human desire to go beyond the practice and precepts of religion for a
deeper unity with the Almighty,” he
said. Talking about the significance
of the forum, Modi said this was an
extraordinary event of great importance to the world, at a critical time
for humanity. “At a time when the
dark shadow of violence is becoming longer, you are the noor, or the
light of hope,” he said, adding,
“When young laughter is silenced by
guns on the streets, you are the voice
that heals.”
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
ative to take decision and declare
whether they were cheated or not.
The sources said while the banks are
cooperating with the ongoing probe
but are yet to commit on the alleged
fraud committed by Mallya’s firms
and not coming up with formal complaints. Meanwhile, the agency
has detained chartered accountant
Bharat Bomb and his associate
Shankar Khandelwal in the Rs
1,000 crore Syndicate Bank fraud
case. While Bomb is being questioned at the agency headquarters
here, Khandelwal is being questioned Jaipur. Two branches of the
Bank in Jaipur and another one in
Udaipur in connivance with the
accused persons defrauded the
bank to the tune of Rs 1,000 crore
issuing credit limits in a fraudulent manner. Almost all the officials
and employees of these branches
were involved in the fraud, the
sources said.
SUSHMA-SARTAJ...
my meeting with Sartaj Aziz. The
date for JIT visit has been decided. It will arrive on (March) 27th
night and will begin their work on
March 28,” Swaraj said addressing the media with Aziz after the
two leaders held talks on the
sidelines of the SAARC ministerial meeting. The date for JIT visit
was proposed by Pakistan which
India accepted. Asked if the JIT
would visit the Pathankot air base,
government sources said the
modalities of the visit will be
worked out in the coming days.
Swaraj and Aziz met for about
20 minutes to give a fresh momentum to the paused India-Pak talks
ever since Pathankot episode took
place in January. The proposed
talks between Foreign Secretaries
in January too got deferred in the
process even though the two FS
and
National
Security
Advisors (NSAs) have been regularly in touch. Swaraj said that the
understanding between the two
Governments is slowly getting
better. “I must say this SAARC
atmosphere was different from the
previous ones. Some issues
which were unresolved between
our two countries, we have taken
a decision on them in a very positive manner,” Swaraj said while
referring to her talks with Aziz.
Aziz too sounded positive
with the outcome of talks and said
the meeting was held in a very
good atmosphere as all issues
where there were hiccups were discussed and resolved. “We also discussed various issues where we
had differences and on how to
Kakoli Ghoshdastidar, Kolkata
Mayor Sobhan Chatterjee and
his deputy Iqbal Ahmed,
Ministers Subroto Mukherjee
and Firhad alias Bobby
Hakim.
On whether the State
Government was planning to
order a probe into the Narada
expose in order to absolve
itself from the infamy party
general secretary and State
Minister Partho Chatterjee
said "there is no question of
any probe. We are not going to
order any inquiry."
When reminded that it
was in the interest of the
Trinamool Congress to show
that its leaders were clean he
said "we will not order any
inquiry as we are confident
about our leaders" adding the
people would give the "conspirators" a befitting reply in
the elections.
make SAARC more effective. It is
hopeful that from now till then
(SAARC Summit in November),
some issues in which work has to
be done, will be done,” Aziz said.
During his meeting with
Swaraj, Aziz recalled the November
30 meeting between Modi and
Sharif and said that this was followed up by a meeting between the
National Security Advisors of the
two countries in Bangkok after six
days. “Three days later, Sushmaji
arrived in Islamabad and it was
decided that comprehensive bilateral dialogue will restart. Prime
Minister Modi had also arrived in
Lahore after that to wish Prime
Minister Sharif. But the Pathankot
attack became a hurdle,” he said,
complimenting the cooperation
on both sides after that. Aziz
added there was a possibility of the
two PMs meeting in Washington
during the Nuclear Security
Summit end of this month. “Not
sure whether there will be a structured dialogue but hopeful that they
will meet in the US on the sidelines
of the nuclear summit,” he said.
POST AMPUTATION...
March 14 and leaving it injured,
Daate told PTI. Bora was arrested
from Mukhani area of Haldwani on
a requisition by Dehradun police,
Nainital SSP Sweety Agarwal said,
adding he has been handed over
to a police team from Dehradun
and is being taken to the state capital. On reports that summons
were issued to BJP MLA Ganesh
Joshi by him in connection with
the attack, Uttarakhand DGP B S
Sidhu said only the Investigating
Officer is competent to issue
summons. When queried,
Investigating Officer Arun Pandey
neither denied nor confirmed issuing summons to the legislator,
saying investigations are still on.
The horse in fact fell with its
entire weight on its hind quarters
under the combined impact of
Joshi's frontal attack with a lathi
and Bora pulling up its reins from
one side, Daate said. “Shaktiman”,
a well trained horse which was
part of Uttarakhand Mounted
Police for years, was allegedly
attacked by Joshi, an MLA from
Mussoorie, during the march. The
animal suffered fractures in one of
his hind legs during the protest.
An FIR had been lodged at
Nehru Colony police station
against Joshi and his associates.
Chief Minister Harish Rawat also
expressed concern over the
horse's condition. The BJP has
been demanding withdrawal of the
CENTRE, HARYANA...
The ban under Section 144 of the
Code of Criminal Procedure also prohibits people from carrying weapons.
The order will be effective till May 15.
A senior police official said that
since Gurgaon was home to foreigners as well as corporate workers, “the city needs extra care and
better security coordination among
the civil administration and police”.
Deputy Commissioner TL
Satyaprakash on Wednesday issued
orders to appoint 23 duty Magistrates
for various areas around the city. Over
1,000 people were booked in
Gurgaon under various sections of
the Indian Penal Code during last
month’s Jat agitation. However, no
one was arrested. Meanwhile, in a bid
to nip trouble in the bud, the Khattar
Government invited Jat leaders for
talks on Friday. The Jats said they will
take a decision on the future course
of action after holding the meeting
with Haryana Chief Secretary and
Director-General of Police in the afternoon. “We have been invited by the
Government for talks tomorrow at
Chandigarh. Till then we will not
resume our agitation,” All India Jat
Aarakshan Sanghursh Samiti president Yashpal Malik said. “After meeting the top officials of Haryana the
next course of action will be taken,”
he added.
SUFISM IS...
This is a task that states, societies, sages, scholars and families
must pursue,” he said. Modi also said
that since the beginning of this century, tens of thousands of families
have lost their loved ones in thousands of terrorist incidents globally
and just last year alone, over 90 countries experienced terrorist attacks.
“Parents in 100 countries live
with the daily pain of their children lost
in the battlefields of Syria. And, in a
globally-mobile world, one incident
can claim citizens of many nations.
“Every year, we spend over $100 billion on securing the world from terrorism, money that should have been
spent on building lives of the poor.
The impact cannot be fully captured
in statistics alone. It is changing the
way we live,” he said. Claiming that
Sufism represented the rich diversity
of the Islamic civilization that stands
on the solid bedrock of a great religion, Modi said, “It is a civilization
that reached great heights by the
15th century in science, medicine,
literature, art, architecture and com-
opinion 08
www.dailypioneer.com
paper with passion
Fight against sedition
Amend the relevant law, but do not abolish it
very now and then, when someone or the other is booked under Section
124A of the Indian Penal Code that deals with sedition, demands arise in
favour of the law's abolition. The primary explanation is that the Section is
being misused, and the reason why this is so is because the provisions of the
law are vague enough to be misinterpreted and used to harass dissenting citizens. Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju admitted in the Rajya Sabha
that the law indeed was “very wide” and can be reviewed. He also added that
the Law Commission of India was studying the matter and would submit its finding to the Government soon. There is indeed a need for review to eliminate legal
confusion, but the demand for scrapping the anti-sedition law must be dismissed
outright. The Union Government must not succumb to pressure from various
lobbies — human rights activists and assorted elements within and outside the
political system — who would like nothing more than the absence of a strong
law to counter anti-national activities that pass muster in the name of freedom
of expression the Constitution of India guarantees. As recent and past developments have shown, anti-India elements are sprouting and flourishing in various
parts of the country, and their offence cannot be effectively handled without specialised laws in place. Their indulgence
is not of the kind that can be termed
as a routine ordinary law and order
issue. It must be kept in mind that this
country has special anti-terror laws,
including the Unlawful Activities
(Prevention) Act. Earlier, there was the
Terrorist and Disruptive Activities
(Prevention) Act, and also the
Prevention of Terrorism Act. At various stages, they were extremely useful in tackling the menace of terrorism
(homegrown and those from outside
the country). It would be foolish to do
away with the anti-sedition provisions
merely because the British had conceived and placed them in the IPC to
punish the country's freedom-fighters.
A vast part of the Indian Penal Code
is of British origin, but that is no reason to scrap it. Improvements through amendments, keeping in view the changed
situation, are certainly necessary and must be done at the earliest. Similarly, misuse of the law cannot be made an excuse for throwing the baby with the bathwater. Laws have been subjected to misuse, but they cannot be terminated. The
position by certain sections of society, including politicians, NGOs and the intelligentsia, that anti-sedition laws have no place in a democracy, is naïve. No robust
democracy will tolerate ‘break nation to pieces' slogans; every such country must
have dedicated laws to deal with the misuse of democratic rights.
It is for the legal fraternity such as the apex court, the Law Commission of
India and eminent jurists to deliberate upon the best way to streamline Section
124A and remove the anomalies. Interestingly, many legal minds that are seeking a review of or demanding an end to the law, had in the past opined that the
Section was clear on what constitutes ‘sedition'. This they had done to differentiate between offensive speech and a seditionist one. The Congress, which
has been loud in its objection, too had used the provisions of Section 124A when
in Government, and didn’t do anything to revamp the law.
E
Akhilesh Yadav’s dilemma
Balancing development and vote-bank politics
t is good that the Uttar Pradesh Government has decided to focus on development projects in the run-up to the Assembly election scheduled for early
next year. For far too long, the Samajwadi Party regime of Chief Minister Akhilesh
Yadav has concentrated on partisan, appeasement politics in the hope that its
vote-banks will deliver during the election. But, post-Muzaffarnagar violence especially, it must have realised the danger of putting all its eggs in one basket and
ignoring the basics that the people of the State had voted overwhelming for, in
2012. The Chief Minister also seems to have taken a leaf out of the Bharatiya
Janata Party's emphatic sweep of the State's seats in the 2014 Lok Sabha election, which came on Narendra Modi's promise of inclusive development: Sabka
saath, sabka vikas. It's not that Akhilesh Yadav Government has done no development work in the last four years, but the pace has been slow and the little
that has been achieved was overshadowed by other incidents, be it the
Muzaffarnagar riots, the insensitivity demonstrated by holding the Saifai event
in the backdrop of the violence, senior Minister Mohammed Azam Khan's intemperate remarks, poor law and order
etc. Akhilesh Yadav wants these
memories diluted by a fresh thrust on
various development schemes that
can deliver soon (there's no time left)
and keep voters Samajwadi Party-positive as they walk into the polling
booths. The Chief Minister can claim
that the State's growth rate has been
steadily high even when the country
witnessed a slowdown during the
UPA’s rule, but figures alone do not
tell the entire story. Several villages
in the State still do not have electricity (poles may have been put up and
wires strung, but power supply is
either not there or erratic and of poor
quality); primary and tertiary healthcare is far from good; and casteism
in Government appointments, from
the police to educational institutions, has been virtually institutionalised to tilt
in favour of a particular caste. To add to this is the perception that Akhilesh Yadav
is not in control of his Government; party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, his
brother Shivpal Yadav and old-timers such as Azam Khan call the shots. While
the presence of the first is understandable given that he heads the party, it's the
role of the others that has undermined the Chief Minister's authority.
On surface, the Samajwadi Party has got off the block first, issuing regular
advertisements in various publications that tom-tom its Government's achievements. The Chief Minister's fresh drive to complete unfinished development projects is part of this campaign. But the Bahujan Samaj Party is active too at the
grassroots level, without making a song and dance, to highlight the Government's
failures. A rejuvenated Bharatiya Janata Party smells an opportunity to outperform the two regional parties this time around. The Samajwadi party has formidable competition that it did not face in 2012.
I
Dangerous to nurture
poisonous dissent
JS RAJPUT
Those who patronise characters raising anti-national slogans, must recall Ambedkar's warning that the
threat to the country’s independence is from within. We need to deal with anti-India elements firmly
hen one refers to
the Constitution
of India, it is
impossible not to
recall and salute
with adulation the outstanding
contributions of BR Ambedkar. His
concluding speech just before the
formal acceptance of the newly-prepared draft Constitution on
November 26, 1949, in itself is a historic document for its comprehension and futuristic vision. In the
contemporary context, it is relevant
to recall how he had expressed his
apprehensions, particularly about
those who would try their best to
sabotage what ‘We the people’ were
giving to ourselves on January 26,
1950. The communists and ‘those
who think alike’ and consistently
shout hoarse as being the sole protectors of the weaker sections,
never hesitate to sabotage democratic functioning and, to achieve
their sinister designs, are ready to
sacrifice national interests:
“The condemnation of the
Constitution largely comes from
two quarters, the Communist
Party and the Socialist Party.
Why do they condemn the
Constitution? Is it because it is
really a bad Constitution? I venture to say ‘no’. The Communist
Party want a Constitution based
upon the principle of the
Dictatorship of the Proletariat.
They condemn the Constitution
because it is based upon parliamentary democracy. The socialists want two things. The first
thing they want is that if they
come in power, the Constitution
must give them the freedom to
nationalise or socialise all private
property without payment of
compensation. The second thing
that the socialists want is that the
Fundamental Rights mentioned
in the Constitution must be
absolute and without any limitations so that if their party fails to
come into power, they would have
the unfettered freedom not merely to criticize, but also to overthrow the State.”
While the communist parties
have transitioned to innumerable
factions, the socialists have not
lagged behind. Together, they have
just confirmed what Ambedkar had
anticipated based on his in-depth
understanding and vision. He knew
that these two would not hesitate to
come together whenever they smell
a chance to damage the cause
espoused in the Constitution. Who
can forgive the communists for
what they did in 1942, during the
Chinese invasion of 1962, to recall
only two of the umpteen instances?
Communists and other Leftists
W
fully exploited the weakness of the
Congress when the minority
Government of Indira Gandhi had
to seek their support for survival.
They had their plan ready: Prepare
people and towards that, bargain for
control over institutions and use
education to propagate their ideology. Further, various institutions
were most suited strategically to sabotage the ancient culture and history of India and Indians. Jawaharlal
Nehru University is one amongst
many that exemplify the success of
the Left strategy. With their hegemony at stake, the Leftists are restless and are targeting the young to
play their game.
JNU is, without any doubt, a
pampered institution in a country that still runs substantial
numbers of its schools without
teachers and blackboards, and
with schools where drinking water
and functional toilets are still a
luxury. How could some young
persons be allowed to stay in hostels for decades together and
indulge in active party politics
while other coming from far-off
places are forced to rent rooms
outside? This is what was responsible for the orchestrated strike at
If it comes down to
Donald Trump and
(Democratic frontrunner) Hillary
Clinton, I would certainly support
Donald Trump.
Louisiana Governor
—Bobby Jindal
JNU IS A PAMPERED
INSTITUTION IN A
COUNTRY THAT
STILL RUNS
SUBSTANTIAL
NUMBERS OF ITS
SCHOOLS WITHOUT
TEACHERS, AND
SCHOOLS WHERE
DRINKING WATER
AND FUNCTIONAL
TOILETS ARE STILL
A LUXURY
the Film and Television Institute
of India in Pune. Is it not an amazing situation, if not amusing in a
manner, that those who shout slogans against their own country,
celebrate every year Afzal Guru as
a martyr, or rejoice on the massacre of 73 CRPF jawans in
Chhattisgarh, have the cheek to
complain of ‘growing intolerance’.
They complain that the constitutional guarantee of freedom of
expression is being throttled!
Here is an institution staffed
with persons who are distressed that
India has ‘illegally’ kept Jammu &
Kashmir under its occupation.
Move outside JNU: A former judge
of the Supreme Court of India
speaks in a public gathering in
Kolkata and finds fault with the
judgement of his brother judges in
the case of Afzal Guru. A former
Home Affairs Minister, too, expresses grave reservations on how justice
was ‘not delivered’ in Afzal Guru
case. Which other country would
permit the organisation of ‘cultural evenings’ that celebrate the martyrdom of attackers on its
Parliament, on Mumbai, and killers
of hundreds of innocent people?
Whatever excuses may be
SOUNDBITE
offered, mostly as afterthought,
they cut no ice with the people who
had overthrown a lethargic, corrupt
and thoroughly incompetent
Government at the centre and
installed an alternative government with full majority in May
2014. They are waiting for the new
regime to deliver on the poll
promises. They expect the
Opposition to respect their verdict
and let the incumbent Government
function without being heckled at
every step by frustrated out-ofpower politicians, who find only a
bleak future ahead of them. Those
who never allowed the minorities
(read Muslims) to progress for six
decades and unabashedly used
them as vote-banks, are now making attempts to endear themselves
to the community on the plank of
‘Narendra Modi’s intolerance
towards minorities’. Ambedkar had
warned the nation on this count too:
“My mind is so full of the future
of our country that I feel I ought to
take this occasion to give expression
to some of my reflections thereon.
On January 26, 1950, India will be
an independent country (cheers).
What would happen to her independence? Will she maintain her
independence or will she lose it
again? This is the first thought that
comes to my mind. It is not that
India was never an independent
country. The point is that she once
lost the independence she had. Will
she lose it a second time? It is this
thought which makes me most anxious for the future. What perturbs
me greatly is the fact that not only
India has once before lost her
independence, but she lost it by the
infidelity and treachery of some of
her own people. In the invasion of
Sind by Mohammed-bin-Qasim,
the military commanders of King
Dahar accepted bribes from the
agents of Mohammed-bin-Qasim
and refused to fight on the side of
their king. It was Jaichand who
invited Mohammed Gori to invade
India and fight against Prithviraj
and promised him the help of himself and the Solanki kings. When
Shivaji was fighting for the liberation of Hindus, the other Maratha
noblemen and the Rajput Kings
were fighting the battle on the side
of Mughal emperors. When the
British were trying to destroy the
Sikh rulers, Gulab Singh, the principal commander of the Sikhs, sat
silent and did not help to save the
Sikh kingdom.”
These words, and warnings,
could serve as the beacon light for
the young of India to serve their
Motherland and thus express their
gratitude to the great man who
loved India and Indians.
Actors shouldn't look at
films or roles in a selfish
manner. The more good
stories you do, the better your library.
Former Chief
Minister Ajit Jogi of
the Congress was
patronising Maoists
and Christian missionaries during
his rule.
Actor
—Sidharth Malhotra
BJP leader
—Chinmayanand
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Action, finally
Sir — This refers to the article,
“Taking the fight into Opposition
camp” (March 17) by Gautam
Mukherjee. The Modi engine is
finally beginning to purr. The
Prime Minister must govern the
next three years the way
Australians play their cricket:
Aggression backed by some solid
ground work.
Narayanan Mahalingam
Via web
Nuanced act
“New political order in
Naypidaw” (March 17) by Mayuri
Mukherjee. Democracy has won
in Myanmar and there is no
doubt that NLD chief Aung San
Suu Kyi will be the power behind
President Htin Kyaw’s throne. Suu
Kyi’s balancing act in the
Government will be a big test for
her — she mustn’t be dictatorial.
The Army-backed party may
have lost the election but the military still holds 25 per cent of the
parliamentary seats. This will be
a big problem for the new
civilian regime.
Ganapathi Bhat
Akola
Recognise inhumanity
of the caste system
T
he killing of a Dalit youth, married to a high-caste girl, in Tamil Nadu
is disturbing. No less disturbing is the widespread indifference to such
honour killings in society at large. To ignore these brutal murders is
to betray humanity. Hacking a young man to death, in the presence of his
injured wife, in full public view on a busy road, as was done to V Shankar,
is unfathomable.
Many regard inter-caste marriages involving Dalit men as unforgivable crimes. Concepts of family honour and the so-called purity of the gene
pool are used to rationalise these macabre murders. All caste votaries have
the blood of young Dalit men, murdered for being born into the ‘wrong'
caste, on their hands.
Following these dreadful killings, society must recognise the inhumanity of the caste system. These caste-based murders vindicate and
strengthen BR Ambedkar's case for the annihilation of caste.
G David Milton
Maruthancode
Check China
“Navy requires a long arm for
Indo-Pacific” (March 16) by
Ashok K Mehta. India need not
commit itself to the US’s re-balance to Asia policy to the extent
that it loses its sovereign autonomy, but it is important to check
Chinese belligerence through
cooperation with other nations.
India should participate in
multilateral defence exercises
while asserting an independent
freedom of navigation policy,
based on the UN Convention on
the Law of Sea. It must also
enhance its economic clout and
modernise the Navy so that,
when needed, India is powerful
enough to flex its muscles.
Dhruv Bhardwaj
Noida
Fight corruption
“Mallya isn’t the main problem”
(March 16) by Shivaji Sarkar. The
authorities need to investigate the
bank officials who sanctioned the
bad loans to Vijay Mallya and the
politicians who backed their decisions. If the Prime Minister is
serious about fighting corruption,
he needs to address this issue
head-on, even if it means punishing BJP leaders who may have
been involved in Mallya’s case.
SG
Via web
Sainthood, officially
Sir — The decision to declare
Mother Teresa a saint has been
welcomed by many Indians who
have long admired her work. It
can be argued Mother Teresa was
already a saint in the hearts of
thousands of her admirers, and
that the Church’s announcement
is a mere formality.
Padmini Raghavendra
Secunderabad
Positive outreach
Sir — Through its vibrant public
service announcements, the
Ministry of Information and
Broadcasting has injected enthusiasm into departments engaged
in social welfare activities. These
announcements reach millions of
people, with a positive message.
CK Sardana
Bhopal
Send your feedback to:
letterstopioneer@gmail.com
3rdeye 09
POINTCOUNTERPOINT
The Aadhar Bill does not provide for adequate
safety and privacy of data collected. The data
could reach the wrong hands.
—JD(U) leader
KC TYAGI
This isn’t case
of tech theft
The developed nations’ argument that
compulsory licensing in India will
scare foreign investors, is bogus
ndia's National Manufacturing Policy, that intends to
ensure the success of the Make in India programme,
has also given a push to the Technology Acquisition
and Development Fund, which will help promote access
to technology through patent pooling and compulsory licensing of patents. The draft Intellectual Property
Rights Policy that is being discussed here also supports
compulsory licensing. India
has been trying to develop
political consensus on compulsory licensing for promoting access to technology
particularly for green technologies at the UN Framework
Convention on Climate
Change and other fora.
Developed countries have
NITYA NANDA
been strongly opposing such
an approach and dub it as
theft. Compulsory licensing is the grant of permission
to use patented technology without the consent of the
patent holder but, of course, with a compensation to
be decided either mutually or by the Government.
Interestingly, compulsory licensing isn’t an idea created by India or any other developing country. It is prevalent in several developed world jurisdictions including
the US and the EU. As a patent gives monopoly rights
to its owner, compulsory licensing is a tool to balance
the arrangement so that the owner doesn’t abuse its
acquired monopoly position.
Till date, the US has issued the largest number of
compulsory licenses in the world. In comparison, India
has successfully issued a compulsory license only once
in more than 100 years of its experiment with patent
law since 1911. The Government granted a compulsory license for Nexavar (Sorafenibtosylate), that had
been patented by Bayer, to Natco pharma on March
9, 2012. Nexavar is a crucial medicine for kidney and
liver cancer. After rounds of litigations, the compulsory
license was finally cleared by the Supreme Court on
December 12, 2014. Twice before, in the 1960s, India
had taken the initiative of granting compulsory license
of patents owned by foreign companies but had failed.
The question here is: Why do developed countries,
that liberally use the compulsory licensing tool, get
annoyed when India grants just one compulsory
licence? The reason is not difficult to understand. Apart
from the fact that some medicines in the US cost 300
times more than in India, in case of a conflict between
the patent holder and the consumer, in a developed
country, the Government cannot blindly side with a private company. However, if the conflict is between a private company and a consumer in another country, the
Government usually supports the corporate. There have
also been situations when complementary patents were
held by rival companies, and as a result the inventions
were not working. The US forced patent pooling, often
with compulsory licenses, to ensure that the new knowledge benefitted society.
Over the last few years, developed countries have
tried to convince developing countries that granting
compulsory licensing is against their commitments at
the World Trade Organisation and also put political pressure to restrain them from issuing compulsory
licenses. But such efforts haven’t succeeded, as developing countries have gone ahead with granting compulsory licenses. Hence, developed countries are now
using the bogey of reluctant foreign investment — they
argue that developing countries with ‘weak’ patent laws
won’t attract the much needed FDI.
According to India patent law, the major ground
for issuing a compulsory license is that the patent in
question is not working in the country. This means if
a patent holder has not been able to produce something in India using the patent technology or has not
licensed the technology to any other company in India
to produce the relevant product, then it will have the
risk of its patented technology being granted licence
to some other company. It is clear that such a threat
will encourage the patent holder concerned to invest
and produce in India to avoid a situation wherein another company could get the licence of its patented technology without its consent. Hence the argument that
compulsory licensing discourages foreign investors
defies logic.
Of course, foreign companies want strong
patent regimes. The essential condition for getting a
patent is that disclosure of the new technology. Hence
any patented technology is public knowledge. The
technology is disclose with the assurance that nobody
else will be able to use it. Hence, if a technology is
already public knowledge, then how will a foreign company protect it better by not coming to India? If the
knowledge in question is a trade secret, then one can
accept that going to a foreign country with weak
enforcement of trade secrets can involve some risk.
However, in case of patented knowledge, not going
to a foreign country which may have a weak patent
regime but otherwise offers huge opportunities,
amounts to ostrich-like behaviour.
FDI in China picked up with the beginning of 1980s
even though its patent regime was one of the weakest in the world. Many commentators then argued that
foreign companies felt that having a local presence
helped them prevent potential infringement of their
patented technologies or getting remedies in case of
actual infringement.
Developed countries have been trying to make IPR
regimes in developing countries stronger and have been
successful in this regard, having signed several trade
agreements with higher IPR standards. What benefits
these agreements have brought to the developing countries is questionable but they have made access to cheap
medicines and technologies more difficult. India will
face even more pressure in the coming days, alongwith spurious ideas and specious arguments. It must
hold its own.
(The writer is a fellow at the Centre for Global
Agreements, Legislation and Trade at The Energy and
Resources Institute, New Delhi)
The new Aadhar Bill on privacy is stronger
than the original (UPA) Bill. The new Bill has
very robust privacy protection.
—Former Aadhar chief
NANDAN NILEKANI
Congress’s new nightmare
Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and an assorted group of Congress leaders associated with National Herald will have a
lot of explaining to do as the case progresses in a court in Delhi. There could be fresh twists as more facts emerge
he National Herald
case is showing every
indication of turning
into a nightmare for
the Congress, especially its senior leadership including party president Sonia Gandhi
and vice president Rahul Gandhi.
Earlier efforts by the Congress to
dismiss the issue as a canard and
an unsubstantiated taint by the
irrepressible Subramanian
Swamy, have not worked. Despite
their best attempts at nipping the
problem in the bud, the matter
has reached the Trial Court and
hearing has begun. All that Sonia
Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi have
gained so far is exemption from
personal appearance in the court
(and for that too, they had to go
to the Supreme Court). They
failed in their attempt to get the
case quashed. The next hearing is
on Monday.
The latest headache for the
Nehru-Gandhis and the Congress
in general is that the Trial Court
has summoned, on Swamy’s plea,
accounts of the party as well as
that of Associated Journals
Limited (National Herald’s publishing company) for the year
2010-11. The accounts are critical to the case because it was during this period that the Congress
had floated Young Indian Private
Limited, which eventually
acquired Associate Journals
Limited in a controversial deal
that is under the scanner. But
before that, other mysterious
things happened. In an attempt to
keep the ailing AJL alive, the
Congress gave it unsecured interest-free loans for a few years, right
up to 2010. By that year-end, the
firm’s unsecured debt stood at
close to `90 crore. Then came
along Young Indian Private
Limited in 2010, and Sonia
Gandhi joined the board of directors. The All India Congress
Committee, which had rights
over National Herald, decided to
T
I
RAJESH SINGH
Much as the
celebrated
lawyers and the
well-wishers of
the Congress
want, the National
Herald case is
unlikely to die out
anytime soon in
the court.
Subramanian
Swamy is a man
possessed when
he tastes blood.
He will not let the
issue slip out of
his hands
assign the AJL debt to the new
company, thereby making Young
Indian Private Limited the new
owner of AJL and, thereby of the
defunct National Herald. Various
points are being contested in the
courts, including the nature of the
buy-out and the legality of using
party funds for private business.
But this is not the petitioner’s
first success in getting crucial
recorded material before the
court. Months ago, Swamy had
piled up woes on the Congress by
obtaining an order from the Trial
Court to summon documents
pertaining to the case from as
many as five Government agencies: Income Tax Department,
Enforcement Directorate,
Ministry of Finance, Registrar of
Companies and the Urban
Development Ministry. The last
named is especially significant
because allegations have been
floating that the Congress connived to own Associated Journals
Limited to get hold of the enormous and expensive real estate
the company was sitting on,
across the country. Indeed,
Swamy has been arguing that the
real reason for the buy-out deal
had nothing to do with the
Congress’s affinity with National
Herald; the party and its top leadership wanted to lay their hands
on the properties (worth, some
say, more than `1,500 crore) the
firm owned. That, of, course, is as
yet, an allegation.
But from all accounts, the
financial transaction and the
speculated motive behind it are
causing great discomfort to Sonia
and Rahul Gandhi and keeping
High electoral stakes
in Tamil Nadu
Jayalalithaa and Karunanidhi will fight out yet another bitter round
of politics. There are others whose fate hangs in balance
mong the States that are going
to polls this summer, the
most fascinating one is Tamil
Nadu, as the fate of its leaders —
Chief Minister and All India Anna
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam boss
J Jayalalithaa, Dravida Munnetra
Kazhagam chief M Karunanidhi,
Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam head
Vijayakanth Desiya and Pattali
Makkal Katchi boss S Ramadoss —
will be decided on May 19. Stakes are
high for all of them.
Jayalalithaa is desperate to come
back to power and has been working for it more so after the Karnataka
High Court acquitted her in
a disproportionate assets
case last year. She is optimistic because a split in the
Opposition votes will be
beneficial for the AIADMK,
which has a vote share of
about 44.3 per cent.
The party won 37 of the
39 Lok Sabha seats in 2014.
Even in 2011, it won 151
seats with a vote share of 38.4
per cent. The AIADMK was
not in alliance with any
major political party during
the 2014 general election. In
the 2011 Assembly poll, the
party had smaller allies.
However, it has none in the
upcoming election.
Jayalalithaa also has not developed any second-rung leadership.
She believes that there is no need for
any other leader. The problem is that
she is not keeping well and even vigorous campaigning may be affected.
She faces the danger of a political
witch-hunt if she loses.
Stakes are also high for
Karunanidhi, who has led the DMK
for almost five decades and has
served as the Chief Minister of
Tamil Nadu five times. He will fade
away quietly if the party loses this
time. He is seeking votes as a last
chance. He is the chief ministerial face
for the party, which has aligned with
A
the Congress this time. If he wins, he
will be 98 years old by the time he
completes his term and, therefore,
may anoint his son MK Stalin as the
Chief Minister.
Karunanidhi also has to balance
a family feud wherein his daughter
Kanimozhi Karunanidhi and elder
son MK Alagiri are jockeying for his
legacy. His party was also hit by the
2G Spectrum scam and is yet to
recover from the shock. That is why
he is wooing smaller parties, including the DMDK. In the 2011
Assembly poll, the DMK aligned with
the Congress, PMK, Viduthalai
Chiruthaigal Katchi, Kongunadu
Munnetra Kazhagam. For the 2014
general election, the DMK was in
alliance with VCK, MMK, the Indian
Union Muslim League and the
Puthiya Tamizhagam.
Jayalalithaa and Karunanidhi
may not depart from the scene at the
same time. With age not on her side,
Jayalalithaa may hang around at least
till the next election if her health permits. If the DMK loses, it will probably split and join smaller parties like
the PMK and the DMDK.
For DMDK chief Vijayakanth,
the poll is crucial. Has he been overrated? This will be proved by the
the party on tenterhooks. The
battery of high-profile lawyers
representing them — many, like
Kapil Sibal and Abhishek Manu
Singhvi, been drafted for duty
from within Congress ranks —
have had a difficult time trying to
mitigate the embarrassment to
the party and its senior-most
leadership. There have been many
such instances, with the following two serving as examples:
When the Delhi High Court
upheld the summons issued to
the mother-son duo for personal appearance, and even passed
strong observations (which the
apex court later expunged); and
when the Supreme Court refused
to dismiss the case, saying, “Let
there be a fair trial”.
Now the fresh round of worry
for the Congress and its top brass
is Swamy’s strategy to officially
involve Government agencies into
the case on legal grounds. Until
now, while the Bharatiya Janata
Party has been questioning the
National Herald deal, the
Government it leads has taken the
position that the matter is between
the Congress and Swamy. While it’s
true that some Government agencies have been looking into the matter, there had not been any calibrated inquiry involving relevant
Government departments. Now,
the Income Tax Department, the
Enforcement Directorate, the
Union Ministry of Finance, the
Registrar of Companies and the
Urban Development Ministry, will
all be part of the ongoing hearing
in the court. There is a possibility
that a coordinated approach can
bring more skeletons tumbling
out of the Congress’s National
Herald cupboard.
Much as the lawyers and the
well-wishers of the Congress
want, the case is unlikely to die out
anytime soon in the court. Swamy
is a man possessed when he
tastes blood. He will not let the
issue slip out of his hands, regardless of whether he gets support
from the Government or not. His
campaigns against the 2G
Spectrum scam, in favour of Ram
Sethu and against the
Sethusamudram project that
sought to destroy Ram Sethu,
indicate his doggedness. There
could be another fall-out in case
the petitioner continues to be on
a roll: Government agencies such
as the Serious Frauds Investigation
Office and even the Central
Bureau of Investigation may have
to step in to unravel what appears,
prima facie, to be at the very least
an improper business deal, and
worst an illegal take-over in complete violation of existing laws and
with an intent to corner expensive
real estate to be eventually managed by a handful of individuals
in a political party.
Different ‘world banks’
for different regions
KALYANI SHANKAR
DMDK’s performance this time.
The party was formed in 2005 by the
Tamil actor. It had an alliance with
the AIADMK for the 2011 Assembly
poll and was a part of the BJP alliance
for the 2014 general election. Though
the party is not a threat to the two
Dravidian majors, it is an important
ally due to its strongholds in certain
areas of Tamil Nadu. It had a vote
share of 7.8 per cent in 2011 and won
30 seats in the Assembly, but has no
seat in Parliament. Vijayakanth is
going it alone after rejecting overtures
from other parties.
The PMK, a caste-based party,
has a single seat in the Lok
Sabha and three in the
Assembly. Former Union
Minister
Anbumani
Ramadoss, son of PMK chief
S Ramadoss, is its chief ministerial candidate. The party
was a part of the DMK
alliance in 2011 and was with
the BJP in 2014. It has a 4.4
per cent vote share.
The Congress, which
has lost its prominence
since 1967, is yet to be
revived. It has been riding
piggyback on the Dravidian
parties. It has no local leader
to match Jayalalithaa or
Karunanidhi. It won no
seats from Tamil Nadu in
2014 and has only five seats in the
State Assembly. Its vote share has
come down from 9.3 per cent in
2011 to 4.3 per cent in 2014.
The BJP has one Lok Sabha seat
from Tamil Nadu and its vote share
has gone up from 2.2 per cent in 2011
to 5.5 per cent in 2014. It too has no
important State leader. But the BJP
might gain strength with the support
of the Kongu Nadu Makkal Katchi.
The Marumalarchi Dravida
Munnetra Kazhagam has a 3.5 per
cent vote share but no seat in either
the Assembly or the Parliament. Party
chief V Gopalsamy will perhaps
disappear if he loses again.
While World Bank and IMF were set up in the US, the ADB
came up in Manila while the AIIB is located in Beijing
ne of the key pillars of
developmental planning should be an
insight from the history of
ideas. The power of ideas to
shape reality and the power of
reality to generate ideas needs
to be appreciated. A clarification may help.
We live in an era where
investments are a key domain
of effort. Everyone is trying to
draw or generate investment.
In the real world, what is actually short is land and water.
The philosopher will draw
attention to virtual organisations. However ‘virtuosity’
goes only so far (the pun is
entirely unintended!).
Human race and life also
needs material assets and aids
in abundant measure and,
therefore, one needs land for
manufacturing and services.
Water is a universal prerequite anywhere!
The investors pay a lot of
attention and perhaps rightly
so to how the price of petrol
is going up or down and how
it will affect the financial
institutions. This approach
cannot be grudged.
However, beyond investments is the institutional
framework of financial operations. Indeed, the commercial/intermediary financial
institutions such as the banks
have their own role.
Perhaps even more definitely came the global organisations which seek to maintain global monetary stability or improved living standards. For obvious reasons, we
cannot overlook the need to
build welfare institutions to
take care of human needs.
The World Bank was
founded in 1944 with its headquarters in Washington, DC,
O
with a membership of 188
countries and commitments of
$60 billion as of June 2016.
The
International
Monetary Fund was also
founded in 1944 in
Washington and it also has
188 countries as members.
The Asian Development Bank
was founded in 1966 in
Manila with a membership of
67 countries. Being closer to
the World Development
Bank, the ADB focused on
schools, health clinics, energy
entities and the like. In 2014,
it had a financing of $23 billion. In this stream of agencies,
the US influence was clear.
However, as would be
expected, sooner than later
alternate streams of thoughts
were bound to emerge. One of
them which got into prominence was Islamic banking.
From Malaysia west-wards in
many Muslim-dominated
countries, this acquired prominence. Interestingly more nonMuslims in Malaysia are today
buying Islamic financial products and services then Muslims.
In many parts of South
East Asia Islamic banking and
finance have fast become a
viable alternative to traditional banking. This is also true in
West Asia. Preliminary figures
show that Islamic finance
assets in 2014 could have surpassed two trillion dollars.
The story does not end here.
Many would have heard
of the developments of 2013
where in Bali (Indonesia) the
philosophy of the Chinese
lead Asian Infrastructure
Investment Bank was first
spelt out by Chinese President
Xi Jinping. Today with a
membership of 57 nations
and a committed capital of
$100 billion, Britain,
VINAYSHIL GAUTAM
Germany, Australia and South
Korea have signed up for this
bank. Whether this was a
rebuff to the US or not is a
moot point.
Quite understandably
people leading their nations
felt that their national interests
should be fine-tuned also to
the emerging global order. It
may be worth mentioning
that in November 2015 itself,
the Renminbi had joined the
Dollar, the Euro, the Pound
and the Yen as a global reserve
currency. Of course, the
Dollar remained at the centre
but the periphery was also
acquiring status. This has
done a huge deal of good to
China’s extending sphere of
economic and political influence, while the rules of the
game change.
Zheng Xin Li, a dominant
figure in the Asian
Infrastructure Investment
bank, is credited with an
Asian view to many concerns
of development. Illustratively,
he saw parallels between the
developments and spatial
spread of remote villages
along the Mekong river in
Laos. He felt that economically this region was complementary to China.
This fitted in well Xi’s
nationalist strategy. It is here
that people like Jin acquired
significance. A former chairman of China Sovereign
Wealth Fund (with a passion
for Shakespeare) Jin symbolised a gross truth of institutions, irrespective of ideological divide and political color,
institutions grow around people. That is another story.
Meanwhile, the typology
of developmental banks across
the world is no longer monotonously of the same breed.
nation 10
SC orders to maintain Cong takes on LS Speaker for Rahul’s citizenship row
status quo on SYL canal T
PNS n NEW DELHI
PNS n NEW DELHI
he Punjab Government’s
attempts to restore the land
T
acquired for construction of the
Satluj-Yamuna Link Canal
(SYL) to its original owners suffered a major setback on
Thursday in Supreme Court,
which ordered status quo on
the said land and appointed a
joint committee of Union
Home Secretary, Punjab Chief
Secretary, and Director General
of Punjab Police to oversee
implementation of its order.
The order came on an
application filed by the
Haryana Government citing
news reports that showed erstwhile land owners taking forceful possession of the SYL land,
its property and filling the
dug-out canal with soil using
earth movers and JCBs. The
land owners had acted in anticipation of a law passed by
Punjab Legislative Assembly
called the Punjab SYL Canal
(Rehabilitation and Re-vesting of Proprietary Rights) Bill
2016, which is yet to receive
Governor’s assent.
Although Punjab opposed
the order for status quo, the
bench of Justices AR Dave, PC
Ghose, Shiva Kirti Singh,
Adarsh Goel and Amitava Roy
asked senior advocates Ram
Jethmalani and Rajeev Dhavan
appearing for Punjab, “Do
you deny what is stated in the
newspaper reports and in the
application by Har yana
Government. You could have
done something if you wanted to on the earlier date
(March 14).”
Restricting the Punjab
Government to proceed any
further on the law, the bench
said, “Prima facie, it appears
that an effort has been made to
see that execution of a decree
of this Court is being made
inexecutable and this Court
cannot be a silent spectator of
the said fact and therefore, we
direct status quo…”
Senior advocate Shyam
Divan who argued for Haryana
had submitted that the action
of Punjab was to defeat the
jurisdiction of the Supreme
Court which is yet to decide the
right of both States under a
water-sharing agreement of
December 1981. Despite orders
passed by apex court in the past
directing Punjab to share water
with Haryana and other States
by constructing SYL Canal,
Divan pointed out that the
new law sought to be introduced by the Punjab Assembly
amounted to challenging the
authority of Supreme Court
and verdicts given from time
to time.
he Congress on Thursday
made a veiled attack on Lok
Sabha Speaker Sumitra
Mahajan saying “blindly” referring the case of citizenship of
Congress vice president Rahul
Gandhi to the Ethics
Committee of the Lok Sabha
showed “hatred” against the
party leadership and the
Opposition.
A day after the first leg of
Budget Session, the party also
took credit for the passage of
several bills but struck a cautious note on Government’s
claim that the much delayed
GST Bill would be passed in the
second phase of the Parliament
session.
Former Union Minister M
Veerapa Moily said a “dark
spot” of the just concluded first
part of the Budget session of
Parliament was the discussion
in the Lok Sabha on the Ishrat
Jahan issue. “It was a black day
for the Lok Sabha,”Moily said.
Addressing a joint Press
conference with Leader of the
Opposition in the Rajya Sabha
Ghulam Nabi Azad, Moily
Dark spot of the just concluded
first part of the Budget session
of Parliament was the
discussion in the Lok Sabha on
the Ishrat Jahan issue. It was a
black day for the Lok Sabha
— M VEERAPA MOILY
lamented that the case of
Congress vice president has
been referred to the Ethics
Committee “without any sense
of judgement”.
“Blindly referring the case
of citizenship of Rahul Gandhi
to the Ethics Committee,
without any sense of judgement, without making any
case, shows hatred against
the Congress leadership,
against the Opposition,” he
remarked.
In January, Mahajan had
for warded to the Ethics
Committee of Parliament a
complaint by a BJP MP alleging that Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi had presented himself as a British cit-
izen to float a firm there. The
Ethics Committee is chaired by
BJP veteran LK Advani.
BJP MP from East Delhi
Maheish Girri, had some time
back written to the Speaker
requesting for “appropriate
inquiry” into the allegations of
his
party
colleague
Subramanian Swamy that
Rahul had declared himself as
a British citizen to float a firm
in that country. Requesting
the Speaker to initiate an
appropriate inquiry, Girri had
said it was necessary that people should know the reality.
On Isharat Jahan issue,
Moily wondered how a discussion on the matter took
place in Lok Sabha and alleged
that there has been a “design”
to “subvert” cases against some
officers in the CBI court. He
said three authorities including
those from judiciary ones have
found Ishrat was killed in a fake
encounter.
Congress also took credit
for the passage of several Bills
in the Budget session. But
when
asked
about
Parliamentary Affairs Minister
M Venkaiah Naidu expressing
confidence that the key GST
Bill would be passed in the second phase, Azad said the
Government has so far not
talked to the Opposition on
taking up the bill.
“We will cross the bridge,
when we come to it,” Azad said.
Insisting that such bills are first
taken up by the Government
with Opposition and other
political parties in the Business
Advisory Committees of the
Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha,
Azad said the GST was not
brought up there.
Azad replied in a similar
vein when asked about Finance
Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement that it was difficult to
accept Congress’ demand to
cap GST rate in the pending
Constitution Amendment bill.
Seeking to take credit for
passage of several bills, Moily
said, “Rajya Sabha functioned
at 129 per cent of the scheduled
time and Lok Sabha at 120 per
cent. This is in contrast to the
performance of the Opposition
led by BJP during UPA-II,
when the House wasn’t allowed
to function.”
Azad said it was on the
insistence of Congress, and
not the Government, there
were extra sittings in
Parliament. “Without the cooperation of Congress, no legislation would have been passed
in the Rajya Sabha,” he said
underlining
that
the
Government lacked majority in
the Upper House.
He claimed the Prime
Minister had refused to answer
“any of the issues” that were
raised by the Opposition,
including the Pathankot terror
attack, farmers suffering due to
unseasonal rains, black money,
and the Vijay Mallya issue.
“Sadly, the Prime Minister did
not respond to any of these
questions,’ he said.
KANNUR TERROR CAMP CASE
World T-20 travel permit:
arrested in Kerala
Pak denies MEA’s claim Absconding accused
He was an office bearer
PNS n NEW DELHI
PNS n NEW DELHI
ejecting the claim of
Ministry of External Affairs
R
(MEA) that 19 of its Delhibased officials have been issued
travel permits to attend the
World T-20 matches, the
Pakistan High Commission
officials said on Thursday that
Indian Government’s statement was “misleading.”
Pak High Commission
sources said only ten people
have been cleared so far and
among those who have not
been given permission include
Defence Advisor, Press
Counsellor, three Political
Counsellors, Naval Advisor
and Air Force Advisor.
“The High Commission
applied for 34 officials to watch
four matches two in Kolkata
and two in Mohali. They have
so far given permission for
only ten which also includes
High Commissioner and family members of the officials.
While permission for Defence
Advisor, Press Counsellor,
three Political Counsellors,
Naval Advisor, Air Force
Advisor, and Protocol
Assistants have not been given
permission. The figure of 19
given by India is misleading,”
High Commission sources
said.
However, sources in Indian
Government had already ruled
out giving travel permits to
Pakistan diplomats who have
links to military and Pak
Intelligence agency Inter
Services Intelligence (ISI).
he National Investigation
Agency (NIA) on Thursday
T
arrested a man from Kerala
wanted for his role in conducting a terror camp in
Kannur district of the State in
2013. Officials said a team
from NIA’s Kochi unit arrested
KV Abdul Jaleel (41) in the wee
hours from a house in Narath
area where his wife was staying.
He is expected to be produced
before a special NIA court in
Kochi.
The case pertains to the
conduct of a secret training
camp in Narath area by Popular
Front of India (PFI) operatives.
The men were trained inside a
building owned by Thanal
Foundation Trust in use of
swords and explosives for executing terror attacks.
of Thanal Foundation
Trust that had provided its
building for conducting
the traning camp at
Narath, in Kannur district
of Kerala on April 24, 2013
— NIA ‘S PRESS RELEASE
“He is accused in the case
relating to a criminal conspiracy to impart training to cadres
of PFI/SDPI (Popular Front of
India/Social Democratic Party
of India) in use of explosives
and weapons. He was an office
bearer of Thanal Foundation
Trust that had provided its
building for conducting the
traning camp at Narath, in
Kannur district of Kerala on
April 24, 2013,” said NIA ‘s
Press release.
Jaleel was the officiating
chairman of the foundation. A
non-bailable warrant issued
by the court and a Look Out
Circular were pending against
him in the case, the officials
said. The agency has also
picked up another person,
identified as Shihab, along with
Jaleel for questioning. A special
NIA court in Kerala had early
this year convicted 21 men of
PFI in the case.
The court had found them
guilty under several charges,
including criminal conspiracy,
membership of unlawful
assembly, possession of arms
and explosive substances, inciting communal disharmony,
assertions prejudicial to national integration besides organising a terrorist camp.
Panel approves three-fold
hike in IIT annual fees
Khadi all set to make grand
entry into global fashion world
PTI n NEW DELHI
hadi is all set to make a grand entry into the global fashion
scene, chaperoned by none other than international fashion
K
designer Ritu Beri.
proposal for a three-fold
hike in annual fees of IITs
A
from the present `90,000 was
approved on Thursday by an
IIT panel though a final decision would require the nod of
HRD Minister Smriti Irani.
Another key recommendation the Standing Committee
of IIT Council (SCIC) made
was that the proposed new
entrance examination designed
to test the aptitude conducted
by a National Authority of
Test (NAT) would be held
from 2017 onwards.
Final decision in this
regard too rests with Irani, it is
learnt.
Sources told PTI that the
SCIC, a body comprising IIT
directors and senior officials, in
a meeting adopted the report
presented earlier by a subcommittee headed by IIT
Bombay Director Devang
Khakhar which had suggested
hiking fees to `3 lakh and also
recommended multiple sources
of financing for the IITs.
“However, the sub-committee has been again asked to
consider if this fee hike should
also be applied to students
studying at Post-Graduate level
as they are studying on a fellowship basis,” a source said.
If the recommendations
HOWEVER, THE SUB-COMMITTEE
HAS BEEN AGAIN ASKED TO
CONSIDER IF THIS FEE HIKE SHOULD
ALSO BE APPLIED TO STUDENTS
STUDYING AT POST-GRADUATE
LEVEL AS THEY ARE STUDYING
ON A FELLOWSHIP BASIS
— SOURCES
of the SCIC are accepted, even
the fees of foreign students
would be raised from the current annual $4000 to $10,000,
they added.
However, the committee
has also emphasised that every
student should be provided
educational loans at an interestfree basis and without collateral
under the Vidyalakshmi
scheme, sources said.
Another nod that the committee is learnt to have given is
regarding a proposal to hold
IIT admission tests in eight
countries abroad to attract the
best of foreign students.
Sources said the panel also
approved the recommendations of a report prepared by a
committee of eminent persons
headed by Ashok Mishra for
holding an aptitude test conducted by a National Testing
Service, on the basis of which
candidates will be shortlisted
for taking JEE (Advanced) for
entry to IITs.
However, the committee
has recommended that the test
should be conducted from next
year onwards and not this year.
The Ashok Mishra committee
had focused on reducing the
dependence on coaching institutions by IIT aspirants.
It is desired by the committee that coaching by best
quality teachers for such exams
should be provided through
online platforms by the
Government, reducing the
need that candidates may feel
for private tuitions, a source
said.
PNS n NEW DELHI
The Khadi and Village Industries Commission has appointed
the fashion queen as advisor to the Commission and its Chairman
for promotion of khadi within and outside the country.
Announcing the development, Commission Chairman
Vinay Kumar Saxena said Ritu Beri would advise on introduction of state of the art multi-fashion designs and styles in khadi
readymade garments and on promotion of Khadi in the country and abroad. She will be associated with KVIC as an advisor
for a period of one year.
Saxena handed over the appointment letter to Beri on
Wednesday at New Delhi. Senior BJP MP, MeenakshiLekhi was
present on the occasion.
Noting that Beri has had 25 years of experience in the global fashion arena designing clothes for international and national celebrities including Bill Clinton, Prince Charles, Nicole
Kidman and Ivana Trump, to name just a few, Saxena said, “we
hope her association will help take Khadi to newer heights both
locally and globally”.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah at an election
committee meeting of the party, in New Delhi on Thursday
PTI
he Forest Research Institute
(FRI) submitted to Water
T
Resource
&
Ganga
Rejuvenation Ministry, a
Detailed Project Report (DPR)
on forestry intervention for a
Clean Ganga, emphasising on
extensive plantations in natural, agricultural, and urban landscapes as also mass awareness
drives to boost efforts for protecting the river. The DPR
aims at achieving an increase in
the flow of river water.
According to the Ministry,
the experts used remote sensing and GIS technologies for
spatial analysis and modeling of
pre-delineated Ganga riverscape covering 83,946sq.Km
out of a much larger Ganga
River basin area in the country.
FRI has designed four sets
of field data formats to obtain
site specific information on
proposed forestry plantations
in natural, agricultural, and
urban landscapes along the
river course and in other conservation interventions.
More than 8,000 data sheets
were obtained from five States
along the river course. The
institute also developed software
to collate, analyse and report
generation on potential plantation and treatment models.
Extensive plantations in
natural, agricultural, and urban
landscapes besides conservation interventions such as soil
and water conservation, riparian wildlife management, wetland management and sup-
porting activities such as policy and law interventions, concurrent research, monitoring
andevaluation, and mass
awareness campaigns have
been envisioned in the DPR.
Altogether, 40 different
plantation and treatment models have been selected for
implementation by five States
— Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh,
Bihar, Jharkhand and West
Bengal.
The project will be implemented over a period of five
years by the State Forest
Departments of these five states
in Phase-I (2016-2021), the
statement said.
As part of the project,
active involvement of two battalions of Eco Task Force has
been envisaged in Uttarakhand
‘Will act if Sikh jokes are
commercially exploited’
PNS n NEW DELHI
he petition to ban Sardar
jokes online got the backing
T
of the Shiromani Gurdwara
Prabandhak Committee
(SGPC) on Thursday which
joined the chorus in Supreme
Court to put an end to such
jokes that demean and insult
the community.
The apex bench of Chief
Justice TS Thakur and Justice
UU Lalit directed the petition
to be listed along with two
other petitions filed by lawyer
Harvinder Chaudhary and the
Delhi Sikh Gurdwara
Management Committee
(DSGMC), expected to be
taken up on April 5.
During the hearing, the
bench asked advocate Satinder
Singh Gulati, appearing for
SGPC, to suggest areas in
which the Court can pass
orders. The Court assured that
if such jokes are being commercially exploited, it will certainly pass orders to stop cir-
culation of the jokes on internet.
Gulati told the Court that
SGPC has been pursuing with
this subject and had even complained against the publication
and circulation of jokes on
Sardars in the past giving an
impression that Sikhs are stupid. He said, “A stereotype has
been created and Sikhs are
being discriminated in society
because of a particular language and religion.” In this
regard, SGPC even wrote to
Khushwant Singh, whose jokes
on Sardars were widely read
and circulated, pointing out the
community’s displeasure over
his work.
Earlier, the plea by
DSGMC had sought direction
to Telecom Ministry to filter
websites which targeted the
Sikh community on the ground
of being violative of Sections
153A and 153B of the IPC
relating to promoting enmity
between different religious
groups.
PTI
INSHORT
SC ASSURES AVUT OF EARLY
OPEN COURT HEARING
New Delhi: The Supreme Court
on Thursday assured the
Association of Victims of Uphaar
Tragedy (AVUT) that it will
accord an early open court
hearing of its plea seeking
review of its 2015 verdict by
which real estate barons Sushil
and Gopal Ansal were required
to serve two-year jail term if
they failed to pay `30 crore
each. A bench comprising Chief
Justice TS Thakur and Justice U
U Lalit said that it will take up
the early hearing plea with
Justice AR Dave, who is heading
the bench hearing a similar plea
by the CBI in the case.
RAILWAYS SIGNS
MOU WITH ISRO
New Delhi: Railways on
Thursday joined hands with
ISRO for effective use of space
technology tools in introduction
of web-enabled rail user-centric
services, remote sensing and
GIS based applications. Terming
the inking of the MoU as “not
the marriage of convenience but
the marriage of necessity”,
Prabhu said the initiative would
help both Railways and ISRO.
Looming Leprosy threat: Govt
mulls preventive treatment
ARCHANA JYOTI n NEW DELHI
DPR on forestry intervention for Clean Ganga
PNS n NEW DELHI
President Pranab Mukherjee meets former Chief Minister of Haryana Bhupinder Singh Hooda delegation of MLAs, at
Rashtrapati Bhavan on Thursday
and Uttar Pradesh for raising
plantations in difficult terrains.
The specific State forest
departments are also expected
to involve ITBP, Nehru Yuva
Kendra Sangathan and civil
society organisations for various proposed activities, including monitoring and awareness
campaigns.
The DPR will be released
by the Minister for Water
Resources, River Development
and Ganga Rejuvenation, Uma
Bharti, on March 22, 2016. The
meeting will also be attended
by the Environment Minister
Prakash Javadekar.
NGT blames Environment Ministry
for delay in site acquisition
NEW DELHI: The National
Green Tribunal on Thursday
reprimanded the Environment
Ministry for delay in acquiring
a site for dumping of municipal solid waste in Almora district of Uttarakhand, pending
for nine months. The green
panel also slammed the
Ministry for causing adjournments in the case for “small
reasons” and directed it to deal
with the proposal, expeditiously.
aking up to the increasing leprosy threat in the
W
country, the Government is
mulling a preventive treatment
for contact persons of newly
diagnosed patients to decrease
their risk of developing the
crippling disease.
The Union Health
Ministry’s decision comes in
the wake of a successful outcome from its similar initiative
in high-endemic Dadar and
Nagar Haveli Union Territory
wherein the household, neighbours and social contacts of the
leprosy patients were administered Single Dose of Rifampicin
(SDR) drug as a preventive
measure.
“Considering the success of
chemoprophylaxis, in reducing
number of new cases, using
single dose of Rifampicin in
contacts of leprosy cases, in
Bangladesh and Indonesia, we
attempted similar approach in
Dadar & Nagar Haveli, a highendemic zone,” a senior official
from the National Leprosy
Elimination Programme
(NLEP) said.
The Leprosy Post Exposure
Prophylaxis (LPEP) Project
was launched in collaboration
with the NLEP of Dadra &
Nagar Haveli and Gujarat,
German Leprosy and TB Relief
Association (GLRA) and
Netherlands Leprosy Relief
(NLR) with support from
Novartis
Foundation
Switzerland.
The aim was to test the
operational feasibility and
administration of a single dose
of rifampicin, as chemoprophylaxis to household, neighbours and social contacts, and
to observe the impact.
About 11,632 contacts were
examined and after exclusion,
single dose of rifampicin (SDR)
was given to 10,518 contacts.
Children less than two years,
pregnant women and those
found suspected of tuberculosis were excluded. There was no
adverse reaction reported from
the contacts receiving SDR.
Encouraged by the positive
response, the technical resource
group of the NLEP has recommended administering the
SDR to all the contacts of the
leprosy patients across the
country. The Ministry will
soon formulate a strategy in
this regard.
“Overall, though there are
137 districts in the country
which are on the priority list
and where we are witnessing a
rise in leprosy cases, 50 districts
need immediate attention.
These districts have a prevalence rate of more than one case
per 10,000. Also, cases of children suffering from the disease
are coming up from various
areas,” the official added.
The 50 districts are in
Odisha, Maharashtra, West
Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh,
Jharkhand and Madhya
Pradesh. The Ministry has
also kicked off a vigorous
campaign with the help of
ASHA workers to detect the
cases and ensure treatment
accordingly.
money 11
I would still want the Congress
party to come on board. I can easily
see and this is going to happen at
this stage of biennial election. The
numbers are significantly changing
and in any case, I am reasonably
confident that the numbers in the
Upper House now also are in favour
of GST
FINANCE MINISTER ARUN JAITLEY
BUZZ
FROM
CORPORATES
Airtel to buy Videocon’s
spectrum for `4,428 crore
The telecom major strikes the mega deal of 1,800 megahertz band spectrum of Videocon Telecom
in 6 circles which include the areas such as Bihar, Haryana, MP, eastern UP, western UP and Gujarat.
PNS n NEW DELHI
n a bid to compete Reliance
Inetwork
Jio’s 4G services and increase
coverage throughout
the country, telecom major
Bharti Airtel on Thursday
struck a deal of `4,428-crore to
buy Videocon Telecom’s 1,800
megahertz band spectrum in
six regions. The six licence
areas where Dhoot’s familyowned Videocon had spectrum are Bihar, Haryana,
Madhya Pradesh, eastern Uttar
Pradesh, western Uttar
Pradesh and Gujarat.
The deal comes at a time
ahead of Mukesh Ambaniowned Reliance Jio is launching commercial 4G services
across the country as it has
already got pan-India 4G spectrum and has already launched
services on a pilot basis for its
employees.
The mega deal also came
close on the heels of Idea on
Wednesday night announcing calling off its November
pact to buy Videocon’s airwaves in Gujarat and UP
(West) for `3,310 crore. It is
expected that the agreement
with Videocon will help Airtel
strengthen its footprint in 4G
space ahead of the launch of
Reliance Jio’s fourth-generation wireless services later this
year.
“Bharti Airtel has entered
into a definitive agreement
with
Videocon
Telecommunications Ltd
(VTL) to acquire, at an aggregate consideration of `4,428
crore, rights to use 2x5 MHz
spectrum in 1800 MHz band
for six circles,” the company
said in a BSE filing, adding
‘Indo-Swiss auto information
exchange regime likely soon’
NEW DELHI: Working “very
closely” with India on co-operation on tax matters,
Switzerland expects an automatic exchange of information
regime between the two countries to be in place soon.
Amid the crackdown on
illicit fund flows in the global
financial system, both countries
have stepped up their cooperation on tax matters related to
black money allegedly stashed
by Indians there.
Swiss Ambassador to India
Linus von Castelmur on
Thursday said automatic
exchange of tax information
between India and Switzerland
is expected to happen “rather
soon”.
“Switzerland and India are
working very closely (on information exchange on tax matters)... We have received
requests for exchange for information from Indian authorities,” he told reporters here.
Describing automatic
information exchange as
“future music”, Castelmur said
both sides are working
towards it.
There should be a bilateral arrangement where both
sides can commit to proceeding with automatic information
exchange, he added.
As part of global efforts to
curb flow of illegal funds in the
financial system, Switzerland
has agreed to be part of the
automatic tax information
exchange framework.
In recent months,
Switzerland has disclosed
names of more than a dozen
Indians about whom information has been sought by the
Indian Government amid suspicion that their accounts in
Swiss banks were used for
stashing illicit money.
Swiss banks, known for
their banking secrecy practices, have come under global
pressure as countries, including
India, are ramping up efforts to
crack down on the black
money menace.
According to Castelmur,
the Swiss government had
given information to India
with regard to the HSBC case.
A leaked list of hundreds
of Indian clients of HSBC’s
Geneva branch had found
its way to the Indian tax
authorities, which are probing the matter.
PTI
that the closing of the transaction is subject to satisfaction
of standard conditions.
Airtel is likely to pay
about `642.06 crore as service
tax for the deal to the
Government. Announcing the
Budget, Finance Minister
Arun Jaitley has clarified that
right to use spectrum and its
subsequent transfer is a service which will attract the
Service Tax. Airtel will be
buying spectrum for Bihar,
Haryana, Madhya Pradesh,
UP (East), UP (West) and
Gujarat. Videocon had won
spectrum in these six circles in
the 2012 auctions for
`2,221.44 crore. The spectrum is valid up to December
18, 2032. Post the deal, Airtel
4G footprint will increase to
19 circles from the current 15.
Airtel has already
launched 4G services in over
350 towns across the country.
The market for 4G is heating
up with telecom operators
including Vodafone and Idea
he Centre’s Domestic
Ef f icient
Lighting
T
Programme will result in savings of up to $6.5 billion
annually through energy efficiency and also help reduce
carbon dioxide emission by
80 million tonnes (MT),
Power and Coal Minister
Piyush Goyal said on
Thursday.
“Energy efficiency has
been a serious priority of this
Government. In fact, it has
more potential than any other
programme. The LED programme can lead to a $6.5 billion savings and reduction of
80 MT carbon dioxide emission per year,” Goyal said at
the India Today Conclave.
The Government initiat-
awaited National Civil Aviation
Policy in the letter and spirit
and also suggested going for
open skies along with 100 per
cent FDI in airlines and a final
decision on the contentious
5/20 Rule. “It may cause some
pain initially, but will make
Indian carriers more efficient,
quality conscious, passenger
centric and global player,” the
report said.
Achieving double-digit growth in the current global environment is extremely difficult,
but there is scope for improvement if current reforms are carried on, says Jaitley
PNS n NEW DELHI
xamining all glitches on Goods
and Services Tax (GST),
E
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on
Thursday said it would be difficult
to accept Congress’ demand to cap
GST rate in a Constitution
amendment bill pending in Rajya
Sabha even as he remains hopeful of passage of the key bill. With
current reforms are at place, the
Finance Minister is also hopeful
that there is scope to improve
growth rate, if not double-digit
growth.
Explaining the rationale,
Jaitley said, it is extremely difficult
to accept because every time you
need to increase tariff in a given
emergency, you have to amend the
Constitution and the tariff needs
to be decided by the GST Council
and not by a Constitutional cap.
“I think that’s the only glitch that
remains. I would still want the
Congress party to come on board.
I can easily see and this is going
to happen at this stage of biennial election. The numbers are significantly changing and in any
case, I am reasonably confident
that the numbers in the Upper
House now also are in favour of
GST,” he said at the India Today
Conclave here.
The landmark legislation, the
biggest indirect tax reform since
Independence, seeks to replace a
slew of central and state levies with
a uniform GST rate to convert the
country into a customs union. “In
the Lok Sabha, the Congress
walked out, every other party
voted in favour. The Congress
party has now made a statement
that it has only one issue about the
Constitutional cap which is a little difficult because our tariff is not
decided through Constitution
amendment,” he said.
The Congress, the original
author of the tax reform, has called
the Bill pending in Rajya Sabha as
‘flawed’ and wants the
Government to cap the GST rate
at 18 per cent. The legislation has
already been approved by the Lok
Sabha but is pending in Upper
House, where the ruling NDA
does not have a majority. After it
is approved by the Rajya Sabha,
the legislation needs to be
approved by half of the 29 states
so as to roll out GST possibly by
October 1.
Asserting that it is extremely
difficult to achieve double-digit
growth in the current global environment, Jaitley said there is
scope for improvement from the
current rate if reforms are carried
on. “I don’t claim that it is possible in this global environment to
come anywhere close to doubledigit growth. It’s extremely difficult, it’s practically impossible to
do that,” he said.
Jaitley also said given the various variables India can at least
aim high and improve. “For
example, if you carry on some of
the pending reforms and if you
concentrate on some of these
to undergo transformation exercise
MUMBAI: Tata Motors’ newly
appointed chief Guenter
Butschek on Thursday said the
company will undertake a
transformation exercise, which
would include a relook at brand
positioning, revamping products and increasing its global
footprint, in order to be “future
ready”.
“Tata Motors will undergo
a major transformation process
in order to get future ready...We
would like to effectively review
the entire setup of Tata Motors
as far as its structure is concerned, as far as the processes
are concerned and when it
comes to manufacturing, as
far as the equipment and tools
are concerned,” he told
reporters in his maiden media
interaction.
Butschek, the ex-chief
operating officer of European
aviation major Airbus, who
took over as the managing
director and chief executive of
Tata Motors last month, hinted
that the process will start with
relaunch of a refined brand
positioning in a fortnight.
“Instead of having a scattered brand identity where people have different interpretations internally as well as in the
market, we would like to have
a very strong brand statement
which will serve as the backbone for internal transformation process, but also serve as
a reference point for product
launches and expanding dealer network,” he said.
Butschek added that there
is room for improvement in the
quality of the manufacturing
and the company is also looking at reducing the number of
suppliers.
“We will certainly reduce
the number of suppliers...I
would rather focus my energy
and resources on development
of my strategic supply partners
instead of wasting awful lot of
efforts into ones who would
always remain sub-standard,” he
said.
He said focussing on producing more models from a
single platform and quicker
ed the Domestic Efficient
Lighting Programme (DELP)
last year under which it has
already provided over 7.9
crore LED bulbs to families
through power distribution
companies through an EMI of
`10 per month per each bulb.
The discoms add the EMI to
consumers’ electricity bills.
Through bulk tendering,
the Government has
reduced the procurement
price of these LED bulbs to
`64.41 in January 2016 from
the market rate of `310 in
February 2014.
Goyal, who also holds
the portfolio of New and
Renewable Energy, said the
Government will achieve its
target to electrify 18,452
villages within the set deadline.
Allow 100% FDI in airlines, Initiate action on CAG audit
resolve 5/20 issue fast: Study objection within 2 mths: CBDT
HYDERABAD: Pitching for
open sky policy and 100 per
cent FDI in airlines sector, an
industry study on Thursday
urged the Government to put
in place the proposed civil aviation policy at the earliest and
resolve the vexed issue of international flying norms for local
carriers. The joint Ficci-KPMG
report on India Aviation 2016
sought finalisation of the long-
Difficult to accept Cong’s
demand on GST cap: FM
Under new head, Tata Motors
Energy efficiency will help save $6.5 bn/yr, says Goyal
PNS n NEW DELHI
expanding their coverage for
the high-speed service.
The telecom major took
the opportunity when Idea
and Videocon had mutually
agreed to call off their `3,310crore spectrum deal for
Gujarat and UP (West) telecom circles. Idea in November
had announced to buy airwaves held by Videocon in
these two circles for `3,310
crore, which was billed as the
first spectrum trading deal of
the country.
Speaking on the deal,
Gartner Research Director
Amresh Nandan said the deal
would help Airtel increase
their spectrum capacity and
another benefit is that with
more 1,800 Mhz spectrum
coming into their fold across
these circles, they will have a
better flexibility of spectrum
planning across all the three
technologies. “There is spectrum auction coming up but
it is difficult for anybody to
predict what would be the
pricing at that point of time.
By acquiring the spectrum
from Videocon, Airtel has a
better control on business
plan,” he added.
We would like to effectively
review the entire setup of Tata
Motors as far as its structure is
concerned, as far as the
processes are concerned and
when it comes to manufacturing,
as far as the equipment and tools
are concernedd
TATA MOTORS CHIEF GUENTER
BUTSCHEK
New Delhi: In order to promote a non-adversarial tax
regime, CBDT on Thursday
said that remedial action on
audit objections by CAG should
be initiated by the tax
Department within 2 months
and appeals should not be filed
if unjustified.
Modifying the guidelines
for dealing with audit objection,
Central Board of Direct Taxes
said: “Appropriate remedial
action should invariably be initiated within two months of the
receipt of the local audit report
and necessary orders should be
passed within 6 months thereafter.” As per the circular, the
adverse order of the first appellate authority in cases involving
revenue audit objections should
be carefully scrutinised by the
commissioner.
turnarounds in launching new
models to address the opportunities will also be a focus area.
On the products side, he
said the company has the right
mix, from the lowest end to the
high-end, on the commercial
vehicles (CVs) front which
makes it possible for it to enter
any market, but added that this
requires investments on the
distribution and sales front.
One of the markets which
the company is planning to tap
for CVs is Latin America, he
said.There will be more passenger car launches, starting
with the hatchback Tiago soon,
which will be followed up with
the crossover Hexa showcased
at the Auto Expo, he said,
adding that there is at least one
more car its engineers are working on at present.
“In the last couple of years,
TM has taken a creative break
in order to rethink its strategy
in order to put the right product on the PV side in the
pipeline and now...We will
deliver on the expectations,” he
said.
He called the launch of the
Nano a “visionary decision”
which created a unique market
segment but also conceded that
the company has not achieved
sales as per its expectations.
Butschek said the transport
industry is at a crossroads at
present, given the traffic problem in cities which warrants a
rethink at the solutions.
When asked about the
recent strike at its Gujarat plant,
Butschek said he would like to
be more proactive when it
comes to industrial relations
rather than do firefighting once
a crisis erupts.
He said the company will
also work with its subsidiary - the marquee Jaguar Land
Rover -- on the processes front,
and would also explore leveraging on the product side synergies in the future.
Butschek said in the last
four weeks, he has visited plants
at Jamshedpur, Lucknow and
Pantnagar, and also held meetings with the dealers to understand the company.
Senior executives had also
gone out on a two-day offsite
where the strategies around
new branding exercise and
organisational restructuring
were discussed, he said.
The transformation will be
carried out with the mantras of
making the company faster,
taking out complexity and making it an agile organisation, he
said.
PTI
areas like manufacturing, investment in agriculture etc. If you can
improve health of the banking
system so as it supports growth,
your private sector becomes
more oriented to investment. If
you are not able to go anywhere
close to double-digit growth, the
prospect of greater economic
activity and improving upon
your present rate is always there.
The idea is to improve upon our
growth rate even in the adverse
global environment,” he said.
Terming the current 7-7.5
per cent growth ‘impressive’
compared to the global growth,
Jaitley said, compared to our own
inherent ability, one always feel
that India can do much better. If
India has to increase growth by
2 per cent from the present
capacity, he said, a combination
of several factors would be
required including a supportive
global environment and increasing share of manufacturing in
economy.
On the Compensatory
Afforestation Fund Bill, the
Finance Minister said the report
of the Parliamentary committee
has come. “Over the last 8-10
years, the Supreme Court compelled us to have compensatory
financing for forestry. We have Rs
45,000 crore lying in the
Compensatory Afforestation
Fund Management and Planning
Authority (CAMPA) fund and
nobody knows how to use it,” he
added.
Call drops: Telecom
Minister to personally
go on ‘drive tests’
NEW DELHI: As the ‘call drop’
menace refuses to subside,
Telecom Minister Ravi
Shankar Prasad on Thursday
said he will personally go
around the National Capital
along with the top officials to
monitor the quality of mobile
calls.
The Minister also exhorted state-run telecom operator
BSNL to work harder to
expand its customer base and
asked its top officials to “come
out of their office and work on
the ground level”, saying he
himself was ready to “sit and
sell SIMs for BSNL”.
“I, (JS) Deepak and
Anupam (Shrivastava) will go
around in Delhi to monitor call
drops,” Prasad said at a BSNL
event where he launched modern telephone service of the
telecom PSU.
Prasad had earlier conducted drive tests in Indore
with Shrivastava, the
Chairman and Managing
Director of BSNL. As part of
its steps to rein in call drop
menace, the Telecom
Regulatory Authority of India
(Trai) too conducted drive tests
in December-January . PTI
Amar Abrol to succeed Mittu
Chandilya as CEO of AirAsia
PNS n NEW DELHI
n a top-deck reshuffle that
ends months of speculation,
IAirAsia
India on Thursday said
Amar Abrol will take over the
reins of CEO from Mittu
Chandilya, who has been at the
helm of the no-frills airline since
inception nearly three years ago.
The exit of Chandilya,
whose contract ends this month,
also comes at a time when there
are concerns in certain quarters
about control and ownership at
the airline, a three-way joint venture.
Putting to rest speculation
over the continuance of
Chandilya at the helm, AirAsia,
in a release, announced the
appointment of Abrol as his
successor.
Abrol, who has over 20
years of experience, was most
recently the CEO of Tune
Money, a start-up that aims to
deliver low-cost financial products in South-East Asia.
To ensure a smooth transition (rpt) transition, Chandilya
-- who has been with the CEO
since June 2013 -- will continue
with the carriertill end of April.
AirAsia India has a fleet of
six aircraft, covering 12 routes
and carrying over 1.8 million
passengers.
The carrier, which began
operations in June 2014, is a joint
venture between Malaysia’s
AirAsia Berhad, the Tatas and
Arun Bhatia’s Telestra
Tradeplace.
AirAsia India Chairman S
Ramadorai said Chandilya led
the airline team from the front
through its launch and establishment in an intensely competitive market.
“The board deeply appreciates his contribution. In
Abrol, we have a strong successor, with years of experience
in customer delivery, which
will be critical to the airline’s
future. Together with his senior
management team, we are confident that Abrol will lead
AirAsia India into its next
stage of growth,” Ramadorai
said.
On Wednesday, AirAsia
Berhad Group CEO Tony
Fernandes had only said that
“his (Chandilya) “contract will
be up soon” in response to
queries about reports that
Chandilya was quitting.
In August 2015, Chandilya
was appointed managing
director, in addition to the
CEO position.
Besides, AirAsia India has
announced the appointment of
Ankur Khanna as the chief
financial officer and Kiran
Jain as the head of commercial.
On his appointment, Abrol
said, “AirAsia India is poised
for strong growth. I look forward to leading the team and
together, giving many more
Indians the opportunity to
access the exciting promise of
Indian civil aviation.”
Before joining Tune
Money in 2013, Abrol spent 19
years with American Express,
leading diverse teams across
multiple markets, including
Hong Kong, Singapore, the
UK, India and Malaysia.
Born and raised in India,
Abrol graduated from Delhi
University and is a Chartered
Accountant from the Institute
of Chartered Accountants of
India. Khanna will be joining
AirAsia India from Air
France/KLM,where he recently headed regional finance for
the Middle East/Gulf region
based in Dubai.
money 12
Tough to achieve double-digit growth
given global headwinds: Jaitley
PTI n NEW DELHI
sserting that it was
"extremely difficult to
achieve double-digit
growth in the current global
environment, Finance Minister
Arun Jaitley on Thursday said
there was scope for improvement from the current rate if
reforms were carried on.
"I don't claim that it is possible in this global environment to come any where close
to double-digit growth. It's
extremely difficult, it's practically impossible to do that," he
said at the India Today
Conclave here.
Given various variables,
the Finance Minister said,
India could at least aim high
and improve.
"For example, if you carry
on some of the pending
reforms and if you concentrate
A
on some of these areas like
manufacturing, investment in
agriculture etc... if you can
improve health of the banking
system so as it supports
growth, your private sector
becomes more oriented to
investment.
"If you are not able to go
anywhere close to double-digit
growth, the prospect of greater
economic activity and improving upon your present rate is
always there... the idea is to
improve upon our growth rate
even in the adverse global
environment," he said.
Terming the current 7-7.5
per cent growth "impressive"
compared to the global growth,
Jaitley said, "Compared to our
own inherent ability, one
always feel that India can do
much better."
If India has to increase
growth by 2 per cent from the
present capacity, he said, a
combination of several factors
would be required including a
supportive global environment
and increasing share of manufacturing in economy.
"Domestically, the maximum potential to grow in
terms of sector is agriculture...
there is huge potential for
growth... we can do much better in manufacturing if we
develop an expertise for lowcost manufacturing considering the wage bill in China is
going up and of course you
need reform temperament in
the country," he said.
The constituency that supported reforms today was
much larger today, he said,
adding, it was much bigger
than one which obstructs
reforms.
"Therefore, slowly we are
moving in the right direction
and if all the policy changes,
taxation and otherwise do
come about in India, you have
better monsoon, step up
investment in agriculture and
private sector... and the supportive global environment,
it is possible for India to get a
significant amount of growth,"
he added.
BMW may look at
local assembly of
Mini Convertible
Panaji: German luxury carmaker BMW, which launched its
fifth Mini Convertible model in
India on Wednesday, is open to
local assembly when it reaches
a critical mass in sales.
“We can look at local assembly here, when we reach a critical mass in sales volume. That
can happen some years down
the line,” BMW Group India
President Philipp von Sahr told
PTI but refused to share more
details. BMW India has an
assembly line in Chennai and
makes eight models in the country. Sahr was quick to add that
the company does not want to
make it a mass-brand for the
sake of just increasing the volume by diluting the brand
proposition of being the most
premium small car in the world
as well as in India. “Local assembly could be looked at when we
start selling thousands of units,
which is some time later. But we
are serious to do so,” Sahr said.
‘Review FTAs, evolve new strategy to stem exports decline’
PNS n NEW DELHI
overnment should review
free trade agreements and
G
come out with a fresh strategy to stem continuous fall in
exports, industr y body
Assocham said on Thursday.
It said that going by the trend
the country’s exports in 201617, would be down to the level
of 2010-11.
“With a 16-18 per cent
contraction, exports will
aggregate around $260 billion,
a level quite close to $251 billion attained in 2010-11. This
is the lowest since the exports
NIFTY 50
SCRIP
OPEN HIGH LOW
LTP CHANGE
BPCL
827.65 869.4
825
865
46.6
AMBUJACEM
207.5 219.9 207.5
217.7
11.5
TECHM
471
490
471 486.35 20.55
GAIL
346.05 360.55 344.25 352.85 13.15
ACC
1,243.90 1,284.30 1,243.90 1,277.05
40.9
ADANIPORTS
231.4 239.5 231.05 235.95
7.4
IDEA
99.25 101.5 98.75
101.5
3.1
BHEL
107.55 112.2 106.85
109.7
3.3
CAIRN
154
155 151.5
151.8
3.5
ONGC
208.55 214.9 208.5
211.3
4.8
ULTRACEMCO 2,990.10 3,047.05 2,980.80 3,031.00 62.75
BHARTIARTL
341.3 351.7 338.05 342.75
4.25
GRASIM
3,600.00 3,659.95 3,593.00 3,625.05 43.75
TCS
2,334.00 2,361.80 2,332.00 2,349.00 21.95
BOSCHLTD 18,198.0018,299.0018,102.0518,200.00 167.55
BAJAJ-AUTO 2,256.55 2,283.30 2,250.15 2,270.00
20
ASIANPAINT
870
876 865.1
872.4
7.5
HEROMOTOCO 2,815.10 2,839.00 2,805.00 2,820.00
21.7
AXISBANK
430
435 425.5 426.65
2.05
INFY
1,156.90 1,169.75 1,154.05 1,157.00
4.55
LT
1,198.00 1,205.00 1,184.45 1,187.60
4.4
RELIANCE
1,027.00 1,036.90 1,012.00 1,014.50
3.25
ITC
323.25
325 321.5
322.9
0.85
ZEEL
389.7 392.85 383.6 385.15
0.7
HINDUNILVR
848.1
855
843
845.5
1.35
WIPRO
541.6 543.95 535.6 538.65
0.2
SBIN
188 189.3
185
185.2
0
TATAMOTORS
366.9 367.4 358.6
359.5
-0.05
PNB
85
85
82.3
82.5
-0.25
ICICIBANK
230 236.25 224.95 225.55
-0.85
COALINDIA
297.2 298.2 293.45
294.4
-1.25
HCLTECH
820
829 810.55 811.05
-3.85
KOTAKBANK
655.9 657.25 644.2
646.8
-4.45
VEDL
88.7
89.7 85.55
85.7
-0.6
BANKBARODA
146 146.7
141
141.9
-1.05
HINDALCO
82.5
83.8
80.7
80.85
-0.65
TATAPOWER
59.1 59.35 58.25
58.35
-0.5
MARUTI
3,686.35 3,750.00 3,620.00 3,627.20 -40.15
NTPC
127.4 128.25
126 126.05
-1.5
INDUSINDBK
926.5
928 901.35
904.8 -10.85
DRREDDY
3,164.40 3,165.10 3,105.35 3,117.00
-37.3
YESBANK
811.1 818.8
793 794.45
-9.95
TATASTEEL
304.5 305.65 294.9 295.75
-3.75
POWERGRID
139.25 140.25 136.9
137
-1.75
CIPLA
536.3
537 521.55
524
-7
HDFCBANK 1,034.95 1,039.00 1,011.15 1,016.75
-13.7
SUNPHARMA
842 843.9 821.8 824.15
-11.6
M&M
1,219.10 1,225.00 1,190.00 1,194.90
-17.2
HDFC
1,135.55 1,152.00 1,104.00 1,107.05
-18.9
LUPIN
1,762.70 1,766.30 1,665.10 1,668.95 -81.25
NIFTY NEXT 50
SCRIP
OPEN HIGH LOW
LTP
SUNDARMFIN 1,229.00 1,310.00 1,220.50 1,278.60
HINDPETRO
743.2
765
740 755.65
BAJAJHLDNG 1,421.00 1,470.00 1,401.10 1,452.00
GSKCONS
5,750.00 6,010.85 5,750.00 5,950.00
NMDC
94.7
97.5
93.9
95.95
FEDERALBNK
48.7
51.7
48.6
49.7
RELINFRA
507.9 520.6
507 511.35
MARICO
242.8 247.75 240.65
246
IOC
393.4
405 393.4
397
SIEMENS
1,011.10 1,033.80 1,011.10 1,025.00
BHARATFORG
814.6
837 814.4
826
MOTHERSUMI 244.95 249.75 244.5 245.15
RECLTD
166.9
171 165.25 167.75
TATACHEM
357.5
362 356.5
361
MRF
33,990.0034,100.0533,500.0033,960.00
OFSS
3,318.00 3,410.70 3,318.00 3,380.00
GLAXO
3,325.00 3,388.00 3,300.00 3,371.00
APOLLOHOSP 1,374.90 1,391.40 1,367.25 1,378.80
CONCOR
1,157.80 1,173.95 1,154.00 1,170.00
UPL
436 444.6 433.7
435.7
RCOM
51.1
51.5
50.5
51.15
DIVISLAB
980 983.75 966.5 975.25
OIL
307 309.5 305.25
306
PFC
169.8 172.15 167.15 169.15
M&MFIN
232.4 236.5 230.7
232.2
TATAGLOBAL
116 116.95
115
116
INFRATEL
370.9 373.9 365.75
370
GODREJCP 1,290.00 1,298.00 1,273.05 1,287.25
SAIL
43.45
43.9 42.55
42.75
LICHSGFIN
448.5 457.6 447.7
448
PETRONET
251 251.5 245.65 247.75
DABUR
247.8
250 246.3
247.5
COLPAL
835.4 840.65
822
836
UBL
808.9 808.9 797.2 802.75
BAJAJFINSV 1,645.00 1,672.00 1,631.10 1,643.70
EXIDEIND
135.5 136.35 134.4 134.75
RELCAPITAL
369.9 373.4 361.75 362.45
TITAN
343.5 343.9 337.7
338.9
JSWSTEEL
1,211.50 1,220.85 1,197.00 1,197.10
IBULHSGFIN
640.4 648.35 631.3
634
AUROPHARMA 731.1
735 722.35 723.05
BANKINDIA
96.5
96.9 94.45
95
SRTRANSFIN
918.5 925.7 905.4
907
CANBK
191.5 191.65
186
186.4
MCDOWELL-N 2,574.80 2,589.90 2,505.00 2,528.00
CUMMINSIND
862
862 840.1
840.1
BRITANNIA 2,740.00 2,740.10 2,688.00 2,688.00
ASHOKLEY
97 97.85
94.8
95.1
GLENMARK
835
835 804.5 805.85
EICHERMOT 18,780.0018,800.0017,995.0018,003.10
CHANGE
58.35
28.6
50.85
206.55
2.85
1.4
14.3
6.8
8.4
20.4
15.45
4.15
2.7
5.65
505.65
46.7
45.95
18.8
15.9
5.3
0.55
9.4
2.65
1.45
1.95
0.9
2.8
8.45
0.25
2.25
0.5
0.25
0.65
-0.25
-1.25
-0.15
-0.7
-0.75
-3
-2.05
-2.45
-0.4
-4.3
-1.2
-19.85
-7.25
-32.3
-1.15
-22.6
-690.35
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
10652
2128.5
486.55
471.05
185.35
1148.85
4725.7
1273.7
67.3
235.2
29.95
32.2
443.6
101.95
926.5
578.05
1358.1
1294.2
52.05
157.9
5.26
394.3
901.55
217.4
30.5
31.9
50.5
605.5
1385
170.4
271.9
137.25
133.55
180.85
95.15
870.75
400.25
102.5
1185.9
1495.25
broke the $300 billion-mark
for the first time in 2011-12,”
Assocham said in a statement. It has given this detail
as part of the feedback to the
Rajya Sabha for Examination
of Demand for Grants for the
Ministry of Commerce and
Industr y for 2016-17.
Abs Change
Change
%
-98 -0.91
28.2
1.34
-1.1 -0.23
-15.35 -3.16
3
1.65
24.1
2.14
-83.6 -1.74
36.15
2.92
1.15
1.74
7.05
3.09
0.1
0.34
0.5
1.58
11.95
2.77
-1.85 -1.78
46.05
5.23
-18.4 -3.08
-25.2 -1.82
23.65
1.86
0.1
0.19
-2.5 -1.56
0.4
8.23
-11.55 -2.85
0.15
0.02
11.6
5.64
0.35
1.16
-0.05 -0.16
-0.5 -0.98
-16.95 -2.72
25.15
1.85
2
1.19
0.65
0.24
1.25
0.92
2.35
1.79
-0.65 -0.36
-0.9 -0.94
3.9
0.45
-4.35 -1.08
-1.25
-1.2
6.65
0.56
-4.25 -0.28
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
DHANUKA
DHFL
DISHMAN
DISHTV
DIVISLAB
DLF
DRREDDY
DYNAMATECH
ECLERX
-1.85
8.1
-0.15
-1.15
1.4
-43
-6.85
-0.2
2.6
26.25
-8.2
1
3.25
-1.25
0.3
15.8
0.65
-1
7.3
2.65
1.6
-5
7.4
0.85
21.6
5.6
-0.25
0.3
-0.35
1.95
-0.25
-4.9
-0.15
0
-5.65
7.05
0.45
-5.15
-1.55
-33.75
-3.6
-10.3
-0.95
0.75
-0.22
-0.7
0.29
-2.33
-1.46
-0.37
1.33
4.02
-1.54
0.74
0.54
-0.42
0.04
1.37
0.38
-2.44
4.29
0.15
1.84
-0.59
1.79
0.34
3.1
1.79
-0.58
0.39
-0.26
1.3
-0.4
-5.11
-0.52
0
-3.13
2.09
0.55
-0.53
-1.45
-1.07
-0.22
-0.8
Current (Chng %)
Current (Chng %)
5.26 (8.23)
193.3
1086.65
68.6
163.95
486.15
1798.75
461
53.8
197.9
679.9
524.45
135.6
601.75
294.35
835.75
1169.1
172.6
39.9
177.35
1791.35
88.45
843.15
421
247.55
717.5
317.75
42.95
78.1
132.65
151.9
62
91.05
28.5
556.05
175
345
82
974
105.05
3121.65
1600
1277.8
NSE: GAINERS
BSE: GAINERS
ALOKTEXT
Dropping for the 15th month
in a row, exports dipped by 5
per cent in February.
“How se3vere is the situation can be gauged from a
possibility that it would take
another few years, maybe not
before 2017-18, before we
retrieve the export levels
BPCL
865.00 (5.69)
BPCL
862.65 (5.67)
AMBUJACEM
217.70 (5.58)
AMBUJACEM
217.40 (5.64)
TECHM
486.35 (4.41)
AIAENG
926.50 (5.23)
GAIL
352.85 (3.87)
MPHASIS
489.05 (5.10)
ACC
1,277.05 (3.31)
-0.35
-7.8
3.7
20.15
-5.7
-0.7
5.55
-0.57
44.95
101.1
6.9
7.8
-2.2
-0.95
-0.85
-2.3
-8.2
7.5
0.6
17.35
-10.25
-0.95
5.65
16.45
1.9
4.5
0.55
-10.4
19.5
-1.9
-13.9
5.25
0
114.45
46.3
-26.35
-1.75
4.1
-0.85
-17.35
0.3
-4.75
-0.1
19.7
0.1
-2.9
EDELWEISS
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
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
726.15
398
427.95
2269.8
379.85
187
1650
18.15
1445
6583.9
609
552
95.45
142.1
94.8
772.15
481.55
3550.5
365.5
1079.7
1022
229.1
586.7
825.45
341.55
110.85
36.95
463.5
368.9
136.85
5557.95
361
45.95
18171
862.65
2692.65
336.5
152.45
186.95
1017.7
398.75
1006
173.95
918
5.85
371.1
-0.05
-1.92
0.87
0.9
-1.48
-0.37
0.34
-3.04
3.21
1.56
1.15
1.43
-2.25
-0.66
-0.89
-0.3
-1.67
0.21
0.16
1.63
-0.99
-0.41
0.97
2.03
0.56
4.23
1.51
-2.19
5.58
-1.37
-0.25
1.48
0
0.63
5.67
-0.97
-0.52
2.76
-0.45
-1.68
0.08
-0.47
-0.06
2.19
1.74
-0.78
55.4
18017.7
194.35
103.3
132.5
941
161
745
157.7
131.95
154
241.5
135.25
3815.8
20.45
184.55
49.9
240.25
364.2
2570
179.35
134.65
34.55
353.1
109.4
524.65
252
194.45
309
110.8
207.25
4445.2
3350.45
811.1
257.75
64.9
11.57
1174.25
1290.1
338.5
273.15
163.2
118.5
3612.3
122.7
181.9
-1.05
-684.95
-7.3
-1.25
-0.05
-5.9
0.45
2.85
1.35
2.9
-0.45
2.05
0.7
-1.25
0.05
-0.05
1.55
-3.65
7.45
-36
2.85
-2.15
-0.1
13.7
0.05
-3.6
0.3
-5.9
0.05
-0.15
-0.35
-14.75
31.65
-16.9
0.05
0.3
-0.07
5.85
9
5.95
0.5
4.05
-1.65
30.4
-0.55
0.65
-1.86
-3.66
-3.62
-1.2
-0.04
-0.62
0.28
0.38
0.86
2.25
-0.29
0.86
0.52
-0.03
0.25
-0.03
3.21
-1.5
2.09
-1.38
1.61
-1.57
-0.29
4.04
0.05
-0.68
0.12
-2.94
0.02
-0.14
-0.17
-0.33
0.95
-2.04
0.02
0.46
-0.6
0.5
0.7
1.79
0.18
2.54
-1.37
0.85
-0.45
0.36
achieved 2011-12. That would
be a seven-year reversal,”
Assocham said. It said that
while the external sector
would remain challenging,
new game plan including
review of the Free Trade
Agreements (FTAs) should
be devised.
SENSEX
GRINDWELL
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
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
654.1
236.05
64.4
5898
129.8
498
524.15
465.1
6.72
36.9
404.95
291.9
19.25
41.5
814.65
1109.7
1017.85
68.7
74.95
2819.5
266
15.05
188.65
81
50.05
758.35
846
168.95
1158.6
43.7
8650
280
79.25
51.8
635.5
227.55
937.2
3500.05
66.65
100.35
37.7
324
23.65
520.95
183.95
70
94.15
79.25
101.4
805
276.75
903
368
1160.2
638.75
197.8
265.05
201.3
27.1
398.75
294.85
531.7
231.8
4275
324
60.65
148.15
70.25
253
179.95
523.25
436.5
40
58.9
55.85
-1.55
-0.45
-1
171.25
5.45
-0.5
21
-4.15
-0.11
-3.15
-1.05
2.15
0
-0.55
0.15
-16.25
-12.9
-0.6
1.9
21.55
-2.1
-0.4
-3.35
-0.45
2.35
24.05
2.4
0.15
10.25
1.3
99.05
-0.7
-0.35
-1.05
-0.2
1.1
-13.7
-45.85
1.05
2
0.15
-12.9
-0.5
5.3
-4.4
-0.75
0.8
2.25
2.55
3
2.5
-12.95
0.75
8.2
27.55
-3.35
-0.5
-2.7
-0.4
10.25
3.2
-0.1
1.3
1
1.9
-0.5
1.85
3.55
-6.3
0
-4.75
-3.5
0.05
0.15
0.9
PTI n MUMBAI
-0.24
-0.19
-1.53
2.99
4.38
-0.1
4.17
-0.88
-1.61
-7.87
-0.26
0.74
0
-1.31
0.02
-1.44
-1.25
-0.87
2.6
0.77
-0.78
-2.59
-1.74
-0.55
4.93
3.28
0.28
0.09
0.89
3.07
1.16
-0.25
-0.44
-1.99
-0.03
0.49
-1.44
-1.29
1.6
2.03
0.4
-3.83
-2.07
1.03
-2.34
-1.06
0.86
2.92
2.58
0.37
0.91
-1.41
0.2
0.71
4.51
-1.67
-0.19
-1.32
-1.45
2.64
1.1
-0.02
0.56
0.02
0.59
-0.82
1.26
5.32
-2.43
0
-0.9
-0.8
0.13
0.26
1.64
JKCEMENT
JKIL
JKLAKSHMI
JKTYRE
JMFINANCIL
JPASSOCIAT
JPINFRATEC
JPPOWER
JSWENERGY
JSWSTEEL
JUBILANT
JUBLFOOD
JUSTDIAL
JYOTHYLAB
KAJARIACER
KALPATPOWR
KANSAINER
KEC
KIRLOSENG
KITEX
KOTAKBANK
KPIT
KPRMILL
KRBL
KSCL
KSK
KTKBANK
KWALITY
L&TFH
LAKSHVILAS
LAOPALA
LAXMIMACH
LICHSGFIN
LINDEINDIA
LT
LUPIN
LYCOS
M&M
M&MFIN
MAGMA
MAHABANK
MAHINDCIE
MAHLIFE
MANAPPURAM
MARICO
MARKSANS
MARUTI
MCLEODRUSS
MCX
MHRIL
MINDTREE
MMTC
MOIL
MONSANTO
MOTHERSUMI
MOTILALOFS
MPHASIS
MRF
MRPL
MTNL
MUTHOOTFIN
NATCOPHARM
NATIONALUM
NAUKRI
NAVNETEDUL
NBCC
NCC
NESCO
NESTLEIND
NETWORK18
NEYVELILIG
NHPC
NIITTECH
NILKAMAL
NIRLON
over 265 points on fag-end selling in healthcare and realty
stocks, while other emerging
markets perked up after the US
Federal Reserve maintained a
status quo on policy rate.
However, the NSE Nifty
managed to eke out a small
gain and closed above the crucial 7,500-mark.
Though the first half was
upbeat, tracking global peers
on Fed's dovish stance, things
changed dramatically later as
profit-booking emerged, capping broader advances.
"Federal Open Market
Committee has signaled that
future rate hikes will be on the
low gear, indicating only two
rate hikes in CY16 due to tepid
global growth. This is positive
for emerging markets to attract
foreign funds," said Vinod Nair,
head of fundamental research
at Geojit BNP Paribas.
Market has remained
buoyant since the Budget on
widespread expectations that
RBI would reciprocate the government's commitment to fiscal prudence with a rate cut
sooner than later after a survey
showed that services sector
activity fell to a three-month
low amid muted growth in new
orders.
High
24948.30
Low
24576.52
Current value
24677.37
Previous close
24682.48
Change (Pts)
-5.11
Change (%)
-0.02
610
295
311.35
79.2
39.5
7.07
8.75
4.66
68.5
1196.15
382.15
1141.2
645.95
281.85
940.2
193.2
273.1
118.55
210.1
402.95
646.05
141.4
755
210
387.7
37.9
100.65
113.75
56.15
85.75
580.5
3259
450.55
265
1193.8
1674.5
20.45
1198.35
233.7
77.95
29.1
169
429.9
35.45
245.2
53.95
3633.1
179.4
822.9
377.9
656.6
35.9
207.4
1644.1
245.75
285
489.05
33839.3
57.65
17.55
177.1
465.7
39.85
770.5
81.45
942
73.1
1510
5080
42
65.85
21.5
469.45
1101.75
183
11.75
-3.6
6.2
0.05
0.65
-0.12
-0.07
0.02
0.2
-1.75
6
-2.4
-2.75
-3.65
-5.85
1.8
-2.9
0.35
0.1
3.2
-5.5
0.7
-3
-3.05
-0.25
0.45
4.05
-0.7
0.35
-0.85
-8.9
-29.75
4.65
-4.25
10.95
-74
1.4
-14
3.1
-0.3
0.1
-6.65
-1.55
0.25
5
6.65
-33.25
0.7
-9.25
-3.35
16.8
1.55
9.5
-26.95
4.2
5.8
23.75
411.65
2
0.25
1
-14.35
0.3
-13.75
-1.5
-15.5
1.5
8.5
53.6
-0.65
1.15
-0.3
-14.9
-5.75
-0.2
1.96
-1.21
2.03
0.06
1.67
-1.67
-0.79
0.43
0.29
-0.15
1.6
-0.21
-0.42
-1.28
-0.62
0.94
-1.05
0.3
0.05
0.8
-0.84
0.5
-0.4
-1.43
-0.06
1.2
4.19
-0.61
0.63
-0.98
-1.51
-0.9
1.04
-1.58
0.93
-4.23
7.35
-1.15
1.34
-0.38
0.34
-3.79
-0.36
0.71
2.08
14.06
-0.91
0.39
-1.11
-0.88
2.63
4.51
4.8
-1.61
1.74
2.08
5.1
1.23
3.59
1.45
0.57
-2.99
0.76
-1.75
-1.81
-1.62
2.09
0.57
1.07
-1.52
1.78
-1.38
-3.08
-0.52
-0.11
VITAL STATS
24852.18
Mumbai
Delhi
Kolkata
"Now the ball is in RBI's
court, since the domestic data
like inflation and fiscal deficit
are at a comfort level," Nair
added.
Sensex started-off on a
strong foot and advanced further to hit a high of 24,948.30
points, however, on selling in
bluechips like healthcare, it
slipped into the negative zone
to a low of 24,576.52, before
settling 5.11 points or 0.02 per
cent lower at 24,677.37.
The NSE Nifty continued
its upward journey and gained
13.80 points or 0.18 per cent to
end at 7,512.55.
Shares of pharma companies led by Lupin, Cipla, Dr
Reddy's and Sun Pharma came
under selling pressure towards
the fag-end of session, falling
by up to 4.23 per cent.
On the other hand, stateowned oil marketing companies hogged the limelight by
surging 6 per cent after Indian
Oil Corporation announced
an increase in petro and diesel
prices.
BPCL went up by 5.67 per
cent to `862.65, HPCL gained
3.28 per cent to `758.35 and
IOC climbed 2.64 per cent to
`398.75.
Meanwhile,
foreign
investors bought shares worth
`625.58 crore on Wednesday as
per provisional data.
Globally, other Asian markets depicted a mixed trend
arket benchmark Sensex
ended lower on Thursday
M
after giving up its early gain of
NIFTY
BSE: SENSEX
Open
Dovish Fed fails to do the trick
as Sensex inches lower
GOLD
29100
28000
28700
SILVER
37095
37095
37095
66.88
75.07
95.16
0.60
NMDC
NOVARTIND
NTPC
OBEROIRLTY
OCL
OFSS
OIL
OMAXE
ONGC
ORIENTBANK
ORIENTCEM
PAGEIND
PCJEWELLER
PEL
PERSISTENT
PETRONET
PFC
PFIZER
PFS
PGHH
PHOENIXLTD
PIDILITIND
PIIND
PIPAVAVDOC
PNB
POLARIS
POWERGRID
PRAJIND
PRESTIGE
PRISMCEM
PTC
PUNJLLOYD
PURVA
PVR
RADICO
RAIN
RAJESHEXPO
RALLIS
RAMCOCEM
RAMCOSYS
RATNAMANI
RAYMOND
95.95
643.75
126.8
243.9
466.25
3370
306.3
141.1
212.55
88.7
142.5
11374.9
342.7
938
652
247.2
169.75
1661.6
35.15
6150
332
595.2
572.4
66.85
82.8
215
136.6
83.75
130.9
76.6
62.75
22.55
47.9
726.1
95.35
28.6
576.6
167.9
400
696
445.85
382.6
2.85
-14
-0.7
0.35
63.2
43.1
2.7
0.35
6.1
-0.8
5.05
229.05
-7.3
1.1
-10.8
-0.8
1.95
-23.15
0.05
127.2
7.35
6.45
1.25
-2
-0.05
0.1
-2.05
-0.45
-5.1
0.4
0.1
0.3
-0.8
23.65
-1.7
0.45
3.95
3.1
9.9
-2.65
-4.1
-2.5
3.06
-2.13
-0.55
0.14
15.68
1.3
0.89
0.25
2.95
-0.89
3.67
2.06
-2.09
0.12
-1.63
-0.32
1.16
-1.37
0.14
2.11
2.26
1.1
0.22
-2.9
-0.06
0.05
-1.48
-0.53
-3.75
0.52
0.16
1.35
-1.64
3.37
-1.75
1.6
0.69
1.88
2.54
-0.38
-0.91
-0.65
with Hong Kong's Hang Seng
ending 1.21 per cent higher and
Nikkei falling 0.22 per cent.
Shanghai ended 1.20 per cent
higher.
Europe too failed to maintain initial higher levels and
were trading lower in afternoon
deals.
Back home, of the 30-share
Sensex pack, 17 scrips ended
higher while 13 finished lower.
Major gainers were BHEL
(4.23 pc), GAIL (4.04 pc),
Adani Ports (3.09 pc), ONGC
(2.95 pc), L&T (0.93 pc), Bajaj
Auto (0.90 pc), Axis Bank
(0.87 pc), TCS (0.81 pc), Hero
MotoCorp (0.77 pc) and
Infosys (0.71 pc).
However, Lupin dropped
by 4.23 per cent followed by
Cipla 1.54 per cent, HDFC 1.44
per cent, HDFC Bank 1.25 per
cent, M&M 1.15 per cent, Tata
Steel 1.14 per cent, Dr Reddy's
1.07 per cent and Sun Pharma
1.01 per cent.
Among BSE sectoral and
industry indices, oil & gas rose
by 2.26 per cent, capital goods
1.08 per cent, IT by 0.88 per
cent, teck by 0.88 per cent and
telecom 0.77 per cent while
healthcare dropped by 1.24
per cent, realty 0.94 per cent
and auto 0.19 per cent.
The market breadth
remained negative as 1,309
shares ended lower, 1,303
closed higher while 183 ruled
steady.
SREINFRA
SRF
SRTRANSFIN
STAR
STRTECH
SUNASIAN
SUNDRMFAST
SUNPHARMA
SUNTECK
SUNTV
SUPREMEIND
SUVEN
SUZLON
SWANENERGY
SYMPHONY
SYNDIBANK
SYNGENE
TAKE
TATACHEM
TATACOFFEE
TATACOMM
TATAELXSI
TATAGLOBAL
TATAINVEST
TATAMOTORS
TATAMTRDVR
TATAPOWER
TATASPONGE
TATASTEEL
TCI
TCS
TECHM
TECHNO
TEXRAIL
THERMAX
THOMASCOOK
TIMKEN
TITAN
TNPL
TORNTPHARM
TORNTPOWER
TREEHOUSE
54.6
1191.45
908
1029.25
80.1
28.85
144
828.2
234.95
365
752
200.75
13.38
61.9
2405
62.9
390.55
151.8
360.7
88.7
360.95
1912.75
115.9
494.95
361.05
263.1
58.45
474.55
295.8
275.75
2346.1
486.2
480.1
99.5
773.95
187.15
418
337.5
205.3
1256.45
239.4
76.85
0.05
-10.25
-0.8
-25.8
0.4
-0.55
0.25
-8.45
2.6
2.5
-25.15
-3.7
-0.17
-0.55
-51.8
-0.1
-3.7
-2.8
5.3
-0.65
2.05
-5.8
0.6
-5.85
1.2
1.45
-0.2
5.4
-3.4
2.2
18.75
20.3
4.1
-1.7
12.65
5.6
-1
-2.5
0.8
1.8
-0.45
-0.6
0.09
-0.85
-0.09
-2.45
0.5
-1.87
0.17
-1.01
1.12
0.69
-3.24
-1.81
-1.25
-0.88
-2.11
-0.16
-0.94
-1.81
1.49
-0.73
0.57
-0.3
0.52
-1.17
0.33
0.55
-0.34
1.15
-1.14
0.8
0.81
4.36
0.86
-1.68
1.66
3.08
-0.24
-0.74
0.39
0.14
-0.19
-0.77
NSE: LOSERS
BSE: LOSERS
Current (Chng %)
Current (Chng %)
HATHWAY
36.90 (7.87)
LUPIN
1,668.95 (4.64)
DEN
91.05 (5.11)
HDFC
1,107.05 (1.68)
1674.50 (4.23)
M&M
1,194.90 (1.42)
LUPIN
RENUKA
14.51 (3.97)
SUNPHARMA
RTNPOWER
11.53 (3.92)
HDFCBANK
-0.55
0.15
3.3
0.6
-5.65
0.7
-6.2
-7.05
11.25
-0.6
-4.75
27.5
-2.2
2.1
0.1
-0.47
-3.45
0.3
-140.2
5.1
1.05
2.1
-1.1
0.35
-3
-9.1
-0.25
-0.6
-2.15
-1.55
151.75
-14.15
20.45
5.45
0.35
0
0.1
34.65
-3.45
6.65
4.15
137.75
-8.15
0.15
-0.75
-1.9
TRENT
TRIDENT
TRITURBINE
TTKPRESTIG
TTML
TUBEINVEST
TV18BRDCST
TVSMOTOR
TVSSRICHAK
TVTODAY
TWL
UBL
UCOBANK
UFLEX
ULTRACEMCO
UNICHEMLAB
UNIONBANK
UNITDSPR
UNITECH
UNITEDBNK
UPL
VAIBHAVGBL
VAKRANGEE
VEDL
VGUARD
VIDEOIND
VIJAYABANK
VINATIORGA
VIPIND
VOLTAS
VRLLOG
VSTIND
VTL
WABAG
WABCOINDIA
WELCORP
WELSPUNIND
WESTLIFE
WHIRLPOOL
WIPRO
WOCKPHARMA
WONDERLA
YAMNINV
YESBANK
ZEEL
ZENSARTECH
ZYDUSWELL
RCF
RCOM
RECLTD
REDINGTON
RELAXO
RELCAPITAL
RELIANCE
RELIGARE
RELINFRA
RENUKA
REPCOHOME
RICOHQ
RKFORGE
ROLTA
RPOWER
RTNPOWER
SADBHAV
SAIL
SANOFI
SBBJ
SBIN
SBT
SCHNEIDER
SCI
SEINV
SEQUENT
SFCL
SHARDACROP
SHILPAMED
SHOPERSTOP
SHREECEM
SHRIRAMCIT
SIEMENS
SIMPLEXINF
SINTEX
SITICABLE
SJVN
SKFINDIA
SKSMICRO
SMLISUZU
SOBHA
SOLARINDS
SONATSOFTW
SOUTHBANK
SPARC
SPICEJET
35.95
50.8
168.4
110
372.95
363.75
1015.55
280.05
508.25
14.51
578.5
571.75
335.7
76.75
46.1
11.53
260
42.8
4154
499.9
186.15
377
145.45
63.45
180
165.9
107.25
220.5
417.2
348.45
11600.05
1495.65
1025.8
220.8
69.7
35.95
28.8
1194.65
519.95
758.45
259.4
3350
151.9
17.4
289.15
57.8
-1.51
0.3
2
0.55
-1.49
0.19
-0.61
-2.46
2.26
-3.97
-0.81
5.05
-0.65
2.81
0.22
-3.92
-1.31
0.71
-3.26
1.03
0.57
0.56
-0.75
0.55
-1.64
-5.2
-0.23
-0.27
-0.51
-0.44
1.33
-0.94
2.03
2.53
0.5
0
0.35
2.99
-0.66
0.88
1.63
4.29
-5.09
0.87
-0.26
-3.18
824.15 (1.39)
1,016.75 (1.33)
1470
52.5
96.4
4195
6.05
376.2
38.7
283
2354.05
291.4
95.1
804.65
36.85
153.75
3021.3
215
126.35
2526.1
5.07
19.45
436.2
346.65
221.45
86.35
836.25
110.85
31.15
408
96.75
251.5
365.3
1600
757.65
514
5392.75
97.6
936.8
193.3
664
538.25
951.35
363.2
23.15
799.3
386.2
853.8
713.1
15.65
-0.5
-3.65
43.35
0
-13
-0.6
-0.9
-84.2
-7.7
-0.8
2.55
-0.1
0.85
46.95
-4.5
0.05
-21.2
-0.14
0.2
5.45
-8.2
0.2
0
0.2
1.45
-0.25
8.75
0.7
4.15
-1.3
5
-8.25
6
41.7
0.65
-1.4
5.1
-4.05
-0.7
-8.1
0.1
-0.75
-5.1
1.35
-8.85
10.95
1.08
-0.94
-3.65
1.04
0
-3.34
-1.53
-0.32
-3.45
-2.57
-0.83
0.32
-0.27
0.56
1.58
-2.05
0.04
-0.83
-2.69
1.04
1.27
-2.31
0.09
0
0.02
1.33
-0.8
2.19
0.73
1.68
-0.35
0.31
-1.08
1.18
0.78
0.67
-0.15
2.71
-0.61
-0.13
-0.84
0.03
-3.14
-0.63
0.35
-1.03
1.56
world 13
Conflict-plagued Myanmar
plans ethnic ministry
AFP n YANGON
yanmar’s incoming government announced
M
plans on Thursday to create a
ministry for ethnic affairs,
marking the importance it
places on relations with minorities in a country scarred by festering civil wars and sectarian
tensions. The move was contained within a wider civil service reform plan announced in
parliament that aims to streamline the unwieldy junta-era
bureaucracy, slashing the total
number of ministries from 36
to 21. A new civilian leadership,
led by Aung San Suu Kyi and
her presidential proxy Htin
Kyaw, will take office at the end
of the month.The ministry
plans will be debated by lawmakers tomorrow, parliament
speaker Mann Win Khaing
Than said. They will be implemented after Htin Kyaw is
sworn in on March 30. Suu
Kyi’s National League for
Democracy (NLD) has vowed
to run a more inclusive administration open to Myanmar’s
ethnic minorities, many of
whom chafed under military
rule and launched frequent
armed struggles seeking greater
autonomy.
Last week an ethnic Chin
Christian, backed by the NLD,
was elected one of two vicepresidents, while the party has
pledged to form a cabinet from
across the political spectrum.
Myanmar is still burdened by
the legacy of half a century of
junta domination that plunged
the nation into poverty and iso-
Christians and Shia Muslims.
US Secretary of State John
Kerry on Thursday said the
United States has declared that
ISIS committed genocide in
Iraq and Syria against
Christians, Yazidis and other
ethnic minorities.
Kerry spoke from the State
Department and said ISIS is
guilty of “crimes against
humanity.”
“In my judgment, Daesh is
responsible for genocide
against groups in areas under
its control, including Yazidis,
Christians and Shia Muslims,”
the secretary of State said,
using the Arabic name for Isis.
He said he had based his
decision on the many accounts
gathered by the state department, intelligence service and
other sources in recent months.
But he said a lack of access
to end.
He is up against Labour’s
Sadiq Khan, a politician who
proudly proclaims his working
class roots as the son of a
Pakistani bus driver.
In an effort to grab an
edge over Khan, Goldsmith’s
team has been using a leaflet
with an image of him shaking
hands with the Indian Prime
Minister alongside British
counterpart David Cameron
during Modi’s visit to the UK
last November.
The message reads,
“Standing up for the British
he Conservative party
candidate for the highT
profile London mayoral polls
In this Sunday, Nov. 1, 2015, file photo, Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi greets supporters before delivering a
speech during a campaign rally of her National League for Democracy party in Yangon, Myanmar. Myanmar’s general elections
are scheduled for November 8, 2015, the first since a nominally civilian government was installed in 2011.
File Photo
lation. The new government
faces an obstacle course of
challenges as it takes the reins
of power, including ethnic conflicts, poverty and the residual
power of the army.It also inherits a notoriously inefficient
and creaking bureaucracy, that
was neglected, underfunded
and riddled with corruption
during military rule. Under the
current system, for example,
there are separate ministries for
electric power and energy,
while rail transport is run separately from the transportation
ministry. Three key ministers
— those of home affairs, border affairs and defence — will
still be run by the army, despite
the country’s leap towards
democracy in recent years.
While rank and file civil servants are not expected to lose
their jobs, the ministries themselves will be trimmed down in
the new plan, which has one
minister each for energy, transport, agriculture and the president’s office. The ministry of
information, which churned
out propaganda and diatribes
against the democracy movement under junta rule, will also
remain. The plan also combines the powerful ministry of
mines into a broader natural
resources and environment
portfolio. This will remain a
crucial position in the nation,
whose rich natural resources
are largely concentrated in ethnic minority areas where local
people see little sign of the billions of dollars in revenues they
produce. A particular challenge will be Myanmar’s massive jadeindustry in conflicttorn Kachin state, which
remainssecretive and poorly
regulated.
EIU highlighted
the tycoon’s
alienation
towards China
as well as his
comments on
Islamist
extremism
he prospect of Donald
Trump winning the US
T
presidency represents a global
Lahore: A petition was filed on
Thursday in the High Court
here to stop Pervez Musharraf
from leaving Pakistan, a day
after the country’s top court
allowed the former military
ruler to travel abroad for medical treatment. Musharraf, who
is facing trial in a number of
cases including high treason, is
all set to leave for Dubai after
the Supreme Court ordered the
removal of his name from the
Exit Control List (ECL), allowing him to travel abroad.
Petitioner Syed Iqtidar Haider
pleaded before the LahoreHigh
Court (LHC) that General
Musharraf is facing a treason
case under Article 6 of the
Constitution for clamping
emergency in the country on
November 3, 2007, and being
a‘suspected traitor’ he should
not be allowed to leave the
country (on the pretext of getting medical treatment). He
asked the court to intervene
alleging that the government
led by Prime Minister Nawaz
Sharif has struck a deal with
Musharraf, 72, therefore it is
not going to stop him from
proceeding abroad. He requested the court to place the name
of Musharraf on ECL again. On
Wednesday a five-member
bench of SC ordered the governmentto remove Musharraf ’s
name from the ECL.
PTI
he US says the Islamic State
(ISIS) group has committed
T
genocide against Yazidis,
PTI n LONDON
AFP n LONDON
Petition filed to
stop Musharraf
from leaving Pak
AGENCIES n WASHINGTON
to ISIS areas meant it was difficult to get a complete picture
of the atrocities.
He said the “full facts”
must be sought, and said the
US would “strongly support”
efforts to collect evidence of
ISIS atrocities and brings those
responsible to account.
This declaration comes
after the US House of
Representatives voted 393-0
on a nonbinding resolution
calling the atrocities committed by ISIS genocide. It is the
first time the US has declared
genocide since Darfur in 2004,
according to CNN.
Mayor polls: Candidate uses Modi images to woo British Indians
Trump victory a major global risk: EIU
threat on a par with jihadist
militancy destabilising the
world economy, according to
British research group EIU. In
the latest version of its Global
Risk assessment, the Economist
Intelligence Unit ranked victory for the Republican frontrunner at 12 on an index where
the current top threat is a
Chinese economic “hard landing” rated 20.
Justifying the threat level,
the EIU highlighted the
tycoon’s alienation towards
China as well as his comments
on Islamist extremism, saying
a proposal to stop Muslims
from entering the United States
would be a “potent recruitment
tool for jihadi groups”.
It also raised the spectre of
a trade war under a Trump
presidency and pointed out
that his policies “tend to be
prone to constant revision”.
“He has been exceptionally
hostile towards free trade,
including notably NAFTA (the
North American Free Trade
Agreement), and has repeatedly
labelled China as a ‘currency
manipulator’.” it said.
ISIS commits Shia-Christian genocide: US
“He has also taken an
exceptionally right-wing stance
on the Middle East and jiadhi
terrorism, including, among
other things, advocating the
killing of families of terrorists
andlaunching a land incursion into Syria to wipe out IS
(and acquire its oil).” By comparison it gave a possible armed
clash in the South China Sea an
eight — the same as the threat
posed by Britain leaving the
European Union — and ranked
an emerging market debt crisis at 16. A Trump victory, it
said, would at least scupper the
Trans-Pacific Partnership
between the US and 11 other
American and Asian states
signed in February, while “his
hostile attitude to free trade,
and alienation of Mexico and
China in particular, could escalate rapidly into a trade war.”
“There are risks to this
forecast, especially in the event
of a terrorist attack on US soil
or a sudden economic downturn,” it added.However, the
organisation said it did not
expect Trump to defeat his
most likely Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, in an
election and pointed out that
Congress would likely block
some of his more radical proposals if he won November’s
election. Rated at 12 alongside
the prospect of a Trump presidency was the threat of Islamic
State, which the EIU said risked
ending a five-year bull run of
US and European stock markets if terrorist attacks escalated.
The break-up of the eurozone following a Greek exit
fromthe bloc was rated 15,
while the prospect of a new
“cold war”fuelled by Russian
interventions in Ukraine and
Syria was put at 16.
is using leaflets with Prime
Minister Narendra Modi’s
image to woo Indian-origin
voters against his veteran
Labour party rival who is the
son of Pakistani immigrants.
Z ac Goldsmith, an
Oxford-educated millionaire,
is the Conservative party candidate for the race for the polls
on May 5 to replace Boris
Johnson when his term comes
US to start
accepting H-1B
applications
from April 1
Obama looked for diversity in
SC but opted for the best: WH
that the federal bench is as
diverse as the rest of the country. “When you take a look at
the President’s track record,it’s
quite strong. That starts with
the two previousappointments
that the President has made to
fill vacancies onthe Supreme
Court. He appointed the first
Hispanic to theSupreme Court
in the form of Justice
Sotomayor,” Earnest said.
PTI n WASHINGTON
he US would start accepting applications for the
T
much sought-after H-1B work
visas for highly-skilled workers
for the fiscal year 2017 from the
beginning of next month, officials said.
H-1B visa, popular among
Indian techies, is used by
American companies to
employ foreign workers in
occupations that require highly specialised knowledge in
fields such as science, engineering and computer programming.
There is no change in the
congressionally-mandated cap
of 65,000 on H-1B visas for the
Financial Year 2017, beginning October 1. The first
20,000 H-1B petitions filed for
individuals with a US Master’s
degree or higher are exempted
from the 65,000 cap.
In a statement, the US
Citizenship and Immigration
Services (USCIS) said this year
it expects to receive more than
65,000 petitions during the
first five business days of the
programme.
The agency will monitor
the number of petitions
received and notify the public
when the H-1B cap has been
met.
“If USCIS receives an
excess of petitions during the
first five business days, the
agency will use a computergenerated lottery system to
randomly select the number of
petitions required to meet the
cap,” the official statement said.
Indian community.”
However, the 41-year-old’s
tactic seems to have backfired
as he was accused of a Hindu
bias by only mentioning festivals of “Diwali, Navratri and
Janamashtami” in reference to
his “strong engagement with
the Indian community.”
The Goldsmith team also
issued tailored letters for
London’s Tamil-origin population which tend to have
expensive jewellery in their
homes, warning that Khan is
planning a “wealth tax on
family jewellery.”
INDIANS DISAPPOINTED
WITH OBAMA’S DECISION
PTI n WASHINGTON
ejecting criticism that US
President Barack Obama
R
missed a golden opportunity to
bring in diversity in the
Supreme Court bench and
could have chosen someone
younger, the White House
asserted that he nominated
“the best” to serve on the apex
court. “The President’s commitment to the principle of
ensuring we have a judiciary
that looks like the rest of the
country is rock-solid,” White
House Press Secretary Josh
Earnest told reporters at his
daily news conference.
“And the other principle
that he has strongly adhered to
is making sure that he’s choosing the best person for the job,
and I think he’s demonstrated
over the course of his seven
years in office that it is
absolutely possible to do both,”
he added. Earnest was responding to questions on Wednesday
as to why Obama overlooked
the s rong credentials for the
judge from diverse communities including African
Americans, Indian Americans
and Asian Americans even as
some of them figured on his
short-list.
“I can tell you that the
President considered a diverse
array of candidates, and I think
that’s what you’d expect considering the diverse array of
individuals that the White
House consulted in advance of
the President making his decision. The President took that
advice quite seriously and considered a diverse array of candidates,” he said. “The
President ultimately settled on
Chief Judge Garland for one
reason, and one reason only,
and that is simply that he
believes that Chief Judge
(Merrick) Garland is the best
person in America to do that
job. And that’s how the
President made the decision,”
Earnest said. He said that the
President himself has talked on
a number of occasions about
how important it is to ensure
Indian-Americans
expressed their disappointment over Barack Obama’s
decision not to nominate “trailblazer” Sri Srinivasan to fill the
vacancy on the Supreme Court
bench but appreciated the US
President for“strongly considering” the Indian-origin judge.
Srinivasan, 48, was among the
few judges interviewed by
Obama for the top judicial
post, but in the end he opted to
nominate judge Merrick
Garland to the Supreme Court.
Encouraged by the fact that
Obama during his presidency
nominated a record number of
Indian-Americans to senior
judiciary positions, community leaders from across the
country were hoping that
Srinivasan would be the pick.
“The expectations were high
and Sri was eminentlyqualified.
The community was disappointed to say the least.This
SCOTUS (Supreme Court of
the United States) process
could take a while during this
political season so let’s wait and
see what happens,” a entrepreneur said.
Nightmares may increase suicide risk GLOBE
PTI n LONDON
o you frequently have
nightmares? You might be
D
at an increased risk for suicide,
according to a new study which
has found a relationship
between sleep problems and
suicidal thoughts, plans and
attempts. Researchers found
that the relationship between
nightmares and suicidal behaviours is partially mediated by a
multi-step pathway via defeat,
entrapment and hopelessness.
Results show that suicidal
thoughts, plans or attempts
were present in 62 per cent of
participants who experienced
nightmares and only 20 per
cent of those without nightmares. Multiple analysis suggest that nightmares may act as
a stressor in people with posttraumatic stress disorder
(PTSD). The nightmares may
trigger specific types of negative cognitive thoughts - such
as defeat, entrapment and
hopelessness - which reinforce
suicidal thoughts and behaviours, researchers said. The
pathways between nightmares
and suicidal behaviours appear
to operate independent of
comorbid insomnia and
depression, they said. “PTSD
increases the risk of suicidal
thoughts and behaviour, and
our study shows that nightmares, a hallmarksymptom of
PTSD, may be an important
treatment target to reduce suicide risk,” said Donna L
Littlewood from University of
Manchester in the UK. “This
study emphasises the importance of specifically assessing
and targeting nightmares within those individual experienc-
ing PTSD. In addition, monitoring and targeting levels of
negative cognitive appraisals
such as defeat, entrapment,
and hopelessness, may reduce
suicidal thoughts and behaviours,” said Littlewood.
According to the American
Academy of Sleep Medicine,
nightmares are vivid, realistic
and disturbing dreams typically
involving threats to survival or
security, whichoften evoke
emotions of anxiety, fear or terror. A nightmare disorder may
occur when repeated nightmares cause distress or impairment in social or occupational functioning. Nightmares
beginning within three months
of a trauma are present in up
to 80 per cent of patients with
PTSD, and these post-traumatic nightmares may persist
throughout life.
Data for the study was collected from 91 participants
who had experienced traumatic events, 51 of whom met
criteria for PTSD currently,
and an additional 24 of whom
reported a prior diagnosis of
PTSD, researchers said.
Nightmares were measured by
summing the frequency and
intensity ratings of relevant
items on theclinician-administered PTSD scale. Participants
also completedquestionnaire
measures of suicidal behaviour,
hopelessness,defeat, and
entrapment, they said.
TROTTING
Kardashian faced racism
because of Lamar Odom
Demi Lovato celebrates
four years of sobriety
I use eyeliner as lipliner to
get my perfect pout: Kylie
Los Angeles: Reality TV star Khloe
Kardashian says she experienced racism
because of her marriage to former NBA
player Lamar Odom. The 31-year-old
“Keeping Up With The Kardashian” star
said she “very much so” believes racism
still exists, reported ET online. “I was in
an interracial marriage. I would never
think to have to say, ‘Oh, by the way, my
husband’s black, so when he comes in,
don’t let your jaw drop.’ When I moved to
Dallas was the first time that was thrown
in my face,” Khloe said. However, her nowestranged marriage was not the first
times he experienced racism, it was when
her dad, Robert Kardashian Sr, defended
OJ Simpson during his double-murder
trial. Khloe was 10 at the time,I experienced a ton of racism she said.
Los Angeles: Singer Demi Lovato celebrated the fourth anniversary of her
pledge to stay away from drugs and alcohol. The 23-year-old “Confident” singer
took to Twitter to share that she was four
years sober. “This last year I experienced
so much life and too muchdeath...But I
made it through...Sober. #4Years
#GodsWill,” she tweeted. Lovato had a
year of extreme highs and lows. She
released her album, “Confident,” which
received rave reviews. But alsosuffered the
loss of several family members and
friends in addition to the deaths of two of
her beloved dogs. The former Disney star
has been open about her addictions and
struggles. In 2011, she entered rehab for
substance abuse, bulimia, cutting and bipolar disorder.
London: Reality TV star Kylie Jenner has
revealed she created her Lip Kit By Kylie
range after she had trouble finding the perfect shade for her pout. The Keeping Up
With The Kardashian’s star had to turn to
using a brown eyeliner she already owned
in order to get the desired shade for her
famous lips, reported OK! magazine. “I
actually used a brown eyeliner as a lipliner. At the time, I couldn’t find a decent
brown lipstick anywhere. So I
decided to take matters into my own
hands and create my own. That way, I can
never run out of my favourite colour.” The
18-year-old reality star also revealed her
lip shadesare heavily inspired by 90’s fashion. “Lipstick is such a passion of mine I’m really into 90’s shades, so I wear loads
of mauve, nude, and brown tones.”
14
[
South Africa have won three
and lost just one in four
matches played against
England in WT20. In total, they
have won seven, lost three and
abandoned one in 11 meetings
[
WE KNOW IT (WEST INDIES) IS GONE
NOW AND TO ADVANCE IN WT20 WE
NEED TO FOCUS ALL OUR ENERGY ON
THE NEXT GAME. WE'VE GOT TO
FOCUS ON THAT AND LEARN FROM
WHAT HAPPENED
— ENGLAND’S JOS BUTTLER
T O D A Y I N A C T I O N
H A I L G AY L E
England vs South Africa | MUMBAI Live Star Sports 7:30 pm
Poms in survival clash
Proteas look to cash in on Gayle mauling of England
S K I P P E R C H AT
Looking forward to see
what AB (De Villiers)
does for us in the tournament, but as I mentioned
we have a few guys who
are looking good and
whole batting line up
looks in good form and it
is a dangerous sign for
the opposition
— South Africa skipper
Faf Du Plessis
We look at all games as mustwin, certainly the next one,
given that we played tonight in
similar conditions. A little rest
for bowlers tonight than was
against Kiwis (warm-up), there
was a lot of due and the ball
got wet. At the toss I said I
would chase, it can be a great
part in the South Africa game
— England captain
Eoin Morgan
B R E AT H I N G
DATELINE MUMBAI
FIRE
PTI
ruised and battered by the Chris
Gayle mauling, England are
faced with a must-win situation
as they look ways to contain South
Africa in their ICC World Twenty20
match here on Friday.
Shell-shocked by Gayle's record
47-ball century, England are required
to win against the Proteas, to whom
they lost 0-2 in the tune-up to the tournament, if they are to progress to the
semi finals from Group 1.
The 2010 champions' under-fire
bowlers and fielders will be up against
a strong rival batting line-up comprising the innovative A B de Villiers holder of the world's fastest 50, 100 and
150 in ODIs, big-hitting David Miller
and the solidity of captain Faf du
Plessis, Hashim Amla, Quinton de
Kock and J P Duminy.
The key, perhaps, would be how
effectively England's spinners — Adil
Rashid and Moeen Ali — can perform
after being sent to the cleaners by the
big-swinging bat of Gayle who struck
successive sixes into the top tiers of the
Wankhede stadium off both these slow
bowlers.
B
AP
The toss, won by Darren Sammy,
proved an important one for West
Indies and on Friday the team winning
it could insert the other side in so as
to avoid bowling and fielding when the
dew fall is heavy.
The one major plus in England's
heavy six-wicket defeat to the Windies
was the forthright batting, sans the
T20-style slogs, by their premier Test
batsman Joe Root, who is ranked second by the ICC presently. His elegant
48 was the platform on which England
posted a competitive score of 182.
It's not going to be an easy task for
Morgan's side though they do have the
personnel to deliver the goods under
pressure.
SQUAD
With Steyn back into the squad
after his injury woes, South Africa's
bowling attack looks truly formidable.
Apart from their spinners,
England's pace battery was also ripped
apart by Gayle and Marlon Samuels
who belted sixes off Ben Stokes and
David Willey.
If England want to alter their pace
combination they have Liam Plunkett,
a late replacement for the injured Steve
Finn, to call upon to fill in for one of
the pacers.
South Africa: Faf du Plessis (capt),
Kyle Abbott, Hashim Amla, Farhaan
Behardien, Quinton de Kock (wk), AB
de Villiers, JP Duminy, Imran Tahir,
David Miller, Chris Morris, Aaron
Phangiso, Kagiso Rabada, Rilee
Rossouw, Dale Steyn, David Wiese.
England: England: Jason Roy,
James Vince, Alex Hales, Joe Root,
Moeen Ali, Eoin Morgan (capt), Jos
Buttler (wk), Ben Stokes, Sam Billings,
David Willey, Liam Plunkett, Reece
Topley, Chris Jordan, Adil Rashid,
Liam Dawson.
T A Y L O R M A D E
New Zealand vs Australia | DHARAMSALA | Live Star Sports 3:00 pm
Uphill Tasman battle
PL franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore has
written to the Indian cricket board (BCCI), intiImating
them about Vijay Mallya's resignation
I suppose to succeed there has to be an element of setting up
yourself as a batter, you never really see Chris go from ball one
and just like smashing, he definitely sets up himself up first
and that's the same with AB. He plays best when he accesses
the condition and see what's the bowler all about and then we
he gets set, he is difficult to bowl to
— South Africa skipper Faf Du Plessis
from the post of Director of Royal Challengers
Sports Private Limited (RCSPL).
The new chairman of Royal Challenger
Bangalore is Amrit Thomas, President and Chief
Marketing Officer of United Spirits.
According to reliable sources, the top BCCI
officials in the IPL governing council received an
e-mail on March 7 from franchise official Russell
Adams, informing the board about the current
ownership status in the franchise.
"Yes, we received an e-mail communication
from Russell Adams, who will now be the man
in-charge of the RCB team. The e-mail stated that
Dr Vijay Mallya has resigned from his post as
Director of RCSPL and will only be an Honorary
Chief Mentor till his son Siddhartha is in the
Board of Directors," a senior BCCI official, in the
know of things told on Thursday.
The letter stated that Siddhartha Mallya will
be present in the Board of Directors "in a limited role should the members wish to consult him".
Adams, who is a Vice-President (Commercial
Operations and Cricket Academy at RCB), also
made it clear that there will be "no change in ownership pattern" due to Mallya's resignation.
Adams will be the point of contact for the
BCCI reharding franchise related matters.
The BCCI official said that clarity on ownership was required after Mallya's resignation.
"BCCI has some strict rules and regulations
in place regarding franchise ownership changing
hands. The owners need to intimate BCCI
beforehand whether there is partial or complete
transfer of stake. As of now they have made it clear
there is no change in ownership pattern in RCSPL
which is a subsidiary of United Spirits, which is
controlled by Diageo," the official said.
Mallya, who has defaulted in loans in excess
of `9000 crore, is facing probe by various investigative agencies. The 60-year-old bought RCB in
2008 but the popular franchise has not been able
to win a single IPL title.
Let’s talk of Samuels
DATELINE DHARAMSALA
We all talk about Chris today, but Marlon (Samuels) set up the
game, nicely first. The way he played, he took a lot of pressure
off Chris and that's the way we have been trying to get him to
play because when he plays like that he is a class act. He will
get some 70/80s also and he will win games for us and he has
to be commended for the way he took pressure off Gayle early
— WIndies coach Phil Simmons
PTI
igh-flying New Zealand will
have their tails up and eye
H
another upset when they resume
the trans-Tasman rivalry with a
strong Australian side in the ICC
World Twenty20 here on Friday.
Both sides are seeking a maiden triumph in this global event.
New Zealand are on a high
having shocked tournament
favourites and hosts India in their
campaign opener.
Their batsmen may have
found the going difficult in the
first match but the bowlers
brought them right into the game.
The spin-trio of Ish Sodhi,
Mitchell Santner and Nathan
McCullum shared nine wickets
among them to comfortably
defend a low total of 126.
If the pitch at HPCA offers
turn, Kiwi captain Kane
Williamson, who made a bold
decision by dropping pace duo of
Tim Southee and Trent Boult
against India, will continue with
same spin trio.
However, Australia have
always been an indomitable side,
especially in big events like the
World Cup, and they too will
fancy their chances on Friday.
Australia and New Zealand
have only met four times since the
inaugural international T20 match
between them in 2005 and have
never played each other outside
Australasia. New Zealand won
their last encounter — back in
2010 — in a Super Over but
Australia have been winners on
every other occasion.
Australia have played just
seven T20 internationals since the
start of 2015 and they come into
the game having done a lot tinkering with their line-up.
He certainly did what he does. He was outstanding in
conditions that favoured the bat a lot more than the ball. We
could have been better by the way we executed our skills I
think. But when he got in he didn't give us any chances and
took on our bowlers. He played Adil (Rashid) particularly very
well. There are a number of plans to stop Gayle. We bowled
short to him for a while, he countered that. He is a very difficult
batsman to bowl to. He plays a couple of dot balls but also has
the ability to take any of our bowlers down, just in one over.
Tonight his skill level was quite up. Our plans were very good
and execution of them was all right. But he is a world class
player, he played really well tonight.
— England captain Eoin Morgan
FAIRSHARE
MATCH 1
PTI ■ NEW DELHI
Gayle’s skill level was quite up
Gayle similar to De Villiers
After defeating India, pumped up Kiwis meet all-set
Aussies under menacing cloud-cover
Mallya quits as
RCB director
11 sixes
against England,
Gayle has so far hit
most sixes (98)
in Twenty20
Internationals till
date, surpassing
Kiwis Brendon
McCullum‘s record
of 91 sixes
WHEN IN INDIA: Australian team practices ahead of its match against New Zealand in Dharamsala
1
S TAT I S T I X
Australia and New Zealand will be
facing each other for the first time in
World T20.
5
Kangaroos and Kiwis have faced
each other five times in the past,
with Australia winning four and the
other match ending as a tie.
214 Coincidentally, both the teams highest team total against each other
remains at 214. Australia scored
214/5 in 2005 and 214/4 in 2010,
while, Kiwis managed 214/6 in
2010.
116 Brendon McCullum is the only player to score a century in this clash,
when he produced an impressive
116 not out in 2010 at Christchurch.
Faisel Features
Australia are still looking to
find their best final XI after chopping and changing during the
recent T20I series versus India and
South Africa.
Given their IPL experience, it
would not be surprising to see the
Australian batsmen dominating
the show. The top four could comprise Shane Watson, Aaron Finch,
Steven Smith and David Warner.
The big-hitting Glenn Maxwell
and Marsh are game changers in
their own right. So New Zealand
will have their task cut out.
As far as New Zealand batting
is concerned, Corey Anderson,
GIVEN THEIR IPL EXPERIENCE, IT WOULD NOT BE
SURPRISING TO SEE THE AUSTRALIAN BATSMEN
DOMINATING THE SHOW. THE TOP FOUR COULD
COMPRISE SHANE WATSON, AARON FINCH, STEVEN
SMITH AND DAVID WARNER, FOLLOWED BY BIG-HITTING
GLENN MAXWELL AND MITCHELL MARSH
AP
Ross Taylor and Kane Williamson
will be the key players and they
also have the experience of playing in the sub-continent.
Having failed to impress after
getting out to rash shots in the
opener, Guptill and Munro would
also be looking to make amends.
SQUAD
New Zealand: Kane Williamson
(C), Martin Guptill, Henry
Nicholls, Luke Ronchi, Ross
Taylor, Colin Munro, Mitchell
Santer, Nathan McCullum, Grant
Elliott, Mitchell McClenaghan,
Tim Southee, Trent Boult, Adam
Milne, Ish Sodhi, Corey
Anderson.
Australia: Steven Smith (C),
David Warner, Ashton Agar,
Nathan Coulter-Nile, James
Faulkner, Aaron Finch, John
Hastings, Josh Hazlewood, Usman
Khawaja, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn
Maxwell, Peter Nevill, Andrew
Tye, Shane Watson, Adam Zampa.
New Zealand vs Ireland
MOHALI
LIVE Star Sports 3:30 pm
Irish Test for NZ eves
DATELINE MOHALI
ners.
PNS
SUZIESPEAK: We started
off well, but nothing can be
taken for granted. We are
inspired and motivated by
the performance of Men's
team and it feels great to play
here where cricket is like a
religion and people watch
with so much passion.
fter a terrific performance in their opener
A
against Sri Lanka, high on
confidence New Zealand
eves will take on Ireland at
PCA stadium here on Friday.
ALL-ROUND KIWIS: The
team showed how dangerous
it can be with its convincing
win over the island nation. If
the bowling was an all-round
show, then their batting was
a level above with skipper
Suzie Bates leading from the
front.
In today's match the Kiwis
are likely to go for five spin-
MATCH 2
PLAYING TIME: South Africa player Dale Steyn during a practice session on Thursday
THE 2010 CHAMPIONS' UNDERFIRE BOWLERS AND FIELDERS
WILL BE UP AGAINST A STRONG
RIVAL BATTING LINE-UP
COMPRISING THE INNOVATIVE A
B DE VILLIERS — HOLDER OF
THE WORLD'S FASTEST 50, 100
AND 150 IN ODIS, BIG-HITTING
DAVID MILLER, CAPTAIN FAF DU
PLESSIS, HASHIM AMLA,
QUINTON DE KOCK AND J P
DUMINY
With the
UNDERDOGS IRELAND:
Ireland has been given the
tag of underdogs coming into
this tournament.
Despite the tag placed over
their head, the Irish team, led
by Isobel Joyce, will be looking for an optimistic start
against the more established
opponents.
South Africa vs Australia
NAGPUR
LIVE Star Sports 7:30 pm
15
[
Lasith Malinga may have missed
the match against Afghanistan
WT20 opener, but that will not
hamper his position at the top of
the overall wickets tally with 38
[
THE GREATEST T20 BATSMAN RIGHT NOW
IS VIRAT KOHLI. HE HAS AN AVERAGE OF
OVER 50 AND AN AMAZING STRIKE RATE. I
SEE A BIT OF TENDULKAR IN HIM
EVERYTIME HE WALKS IN TO BAT
—STEVE WAUGH, FORMER AUS CAPTAIN
On Virat Kohli
M A T C H R E P O R T
S N A P S H O T
Dilshan drives Lanka home
DATELINE KOLKATA
If we click, we
can do anything:
Mathews
PTI
fghanistan posed a spiritedchallenge before the seasoned
A
Tillakaratne Dilshan guided Sri
Lanka to a six-wicket win in their
opening match of the ICC World T20
here on Thursday.
Dilshan (83 not out off 56 balls)
steered Sri Lanka to victory in 18.5
overs after Afghanistan put up a
competitive 153 for seven, courtesy a
captain's knock from Asghar
Stanikzai (62).
It was a morale boosting win for
Lankans who suffered three consecutive losses in the Asia Cup and lost
two warm-up games in the lead up
to their tournament opener on
Thursday.
The Afghans fought till the end
but the Associate Nation's inexperience let them down.
Dilshan led a successful chase and
was in his elements very early into his
innings, producing his signature
'Dilscoop' against Dawlat Zardan in
the third over when he hit the
Afghan bowler for consecutive sixes.
With Dinesh Chandimal (18 from
17 balls; 2x4, 1x6), the Sri Lankan
opening duo gave them a brisk start,
racing to 41 from 32 balls before
before Mohammed Nabi gave the first
breakthrough.
Young legspinner Rashid Khan
did well in the middle but Dilshan
held his nerve at the other end.
Earlier, Stanikzai led from the
front with a half centur y as
Afghanistan overcame a slow start to
post a challenging total.
The Lankans stifled Afghanistan
top-order by reducing them to 51/4
after 11 overs before Stanikzai and
Samiullah Shenwari (31 off 23) built
the innings.
The duo stitched 61 off 33 balls for
the fifth wicket and Stanikazai got a
life twice, on 34 and 44 respectively.
Stanikzai was at his explosive
best towards the later stages and hit
Thisara Perera's widish full length
delivery over long on with one foot,
reminding one of the trademark helicopter shot of Indian skipper MS
Dhoni.
After Stanikzai's departure, lefthander Najibullah Zardan also had
some meaty blows with a four and six
against Nuwan Kulasekara in the last
over. Afghanistan added 59 runs from
the last five overs to set up competitive total.
The Afghans however had a terrible start with inform opener
Mohammad Shahzad, who was
instrumental in their qualification to
the Super 10, looking out of sorts.
Shahzad had a miss-and-hit stay
as Afghanistan crawled to six runs in
the first two overs.
Noor Ali Zardan stepped up the
run rate with a 20 off 23 balls but
Herath once again triggered a collapse
before the Stanikzai led by example.
BRIEF SCORES:
Afghanistan: 153/7 in 20 overs
(Asghar Stanikzai 62,; T Perera 3/33)
Sri Lanka: 155/4 in 18.5 overs (T
Dilshan 83 not out, Angelo Mathews
21 not out)
KOLKATA: After a morale boosting win over Afghanistan, Sri
Lanka captain Angelo Mathews
said his team is capable of 'doing
anything' provided it plays to its
potential.
"We haven't played too well in
the recent past. Credit to the
Afghan batters, they put us under
lots of pressure. We played really
good cricket in the practice games,
the attitude was superb. No matter
who you play, you have to be positive. We aren't looking too far
ahead, if we click we can do anything," said Mathews after Sri
Lanka secured a six wicket win over
Afghanistan.
Sri Lanka suffered three
straight losses in Asia Cup before
losing their two warm up matches
against New Zealand and Pakistan
in the run up to their tournament
opener.
Opener Tillakaratne Dilshan
roared back to form and guided
his team home with an unbeaten
83 off 56 balls. Dilshan was out
`for a duck in the two warm up
games.
"Two games I had two ducks,
but I needed runs going into the big
games. I'm really happy that i finished the game. 150 is a good total,
this wicket is slow. Later a little dew
helped. They had some quality
bowlers but we managed very well
in the middle. Come to these
kinds of tournaments, first match
is very important that I get some
runs. Senior guys need to stand up
and do it for the team. The middle
order can bat around us," said
Dilshan.
Afghanistan captain Asghar
Stanikzai said Dilshan took the
game away from them.
"The total was good, not bad
but Dilshan played really well. He
took responsibility and played well.
When you play big teams, our fielding wasn't good. We'll trey our best.
Thanks to our president and parliament members for their support."
HUG IT OUT: Suresh Raina (left) and Shoaib Malik in Kolkata
PTI
Raina-Malik
camaraderie
DATELINE DHARAMSALA
PTI
hey could be breathing down each others’ necks in
their marquee World T20 clash on Saturday, but a
few of Indian and Pakistani cricketers on Thursday
showed great camaraderie and friendship as they trained
simultaneously at the same venue here.
Indian left-handed batsman Suresh Raina and
senior Pakistani all-rounder Shoaib Malik were seen hugging and patting each other, shaking hands during optional practice sessions, making it a perfect photo opportunity ahead of their much hyped Super 10 Group 2 match
at the Eden Gardens.
Seeing the left-hander, Malik came to greet him as
the duo were seen engaged in talks for a few minutes
before going back to each other's camp as both the rivals
camps had simultaneous session.
A day after their morale-boosting 55-run victory over
Bangladesh, the Pakistan team had a training session
without some of their batsmen and bowlers, while India
had Raina, Ajinkya Rahane and Pawan Negi in their session conducted by batting coach Sanjay Bangar.
Malik, who too had come under fire along with
skipper Shahid Afridi for their "more love in India than
in Pakistan" comments, also gave away his pair of gloves
to the local seamer Rajiv Keshri and obliged them with
selfies.
Pakistani trio of Afridi, Mohammad Hafeez and
Ahmed Shehzad who contributed in their big win on
Wednesday, however, skipped the optional nets.
The left-arm pace trio of Mohammad Amir,
Mohammad Irfan and Wahab Riaz also opted out of the
optional net session to take rest.
As for the Indian camp, the duo of Raina and Rahane
concentrated on batting as they faced left-arm spinner Negi.
T
T H E M AT C H A F T E R
M O T I O N P I C T U R E
English eves beat B’desh
DATELINE BENGALURU
PTI
iding on half-century from skipper Charlotte Edwards, England
R
women outclassed Bangladesh by 36
OTHERSPORT
Afghan nationals in their traditional costumes gather to support their team against Sri Lanka at the ICC World Twenty20 2016 cricket tournament
in Kolkata, India on Thursday
AP
runs in a group league encounter of
the ICC World T20, here on Thursday.
Opting to bat, England scored 153
for seven with Edwards scoring
60 off 51 balls.
Apart from Edwards,
Natalie Sciver smashed 27
off 22 balls with two
boundaries before the
slog overs, and Katherine
Brunt and Danielle
Wyatt hammered 17
and 15 in eight and
seven balls, respectively, helping England reach
the 150-mark.
In reply, Bangladesh were
never in the hunt as they finished on 117 for six despite 64
run-stand for the fifth wicket
between Nigar Sultana (35) and
Salma Khatun (32 not out).
Bangladesh could only take one
positive from the match as they bet-
All eyes on Yogeshwar at Asian
Olympic wrestling qualification
PTI ■ ASTANA (KAZAKHSTAN)
tar grappler Yogeshwar Dutt would
seek to grab an Olympic quota place
in his first opportunity when he spearheads a 17-member Indian campaign
at the Asian Olympic Qualification
wrestling championship, starting here
on Friday.
It will be a tough three-day competition from March 18-20, considering that only the top two finishers in
each weight category here will secure
an Olympic berth for a country.
S
This is the second qualifying event
for the Rio Games. The first was held
last year at the World Championship
in Las Vegas, where just one Indian in
Narsingh Yadav bagged a quota place
for the country in Men's 74kg freestyle.
With India's entry at Rio de Janeiro
ensured in 74kg category, no one will
be competing in this category. Sushil
Kumar also fights in the same weight
division as Narsingh.
Yogeshwar, who pulled out of the
2015 World Championship due to an
injury, has the best chance of grabbing
an Olympic berth for India.
Yogeshwar had won bronze at the
last Olympics in Men's 60kg Freestyle but
since then moved up to 65kg after the
international governing body FILA rejigged the weight classes at end of 2013.
While Yogeshwar remains India's
best bet here, men's freestyle team also
comprises the likes of Rahul Aware
(57kg) and Satyawart Kadiyan (97kg),
both of whom according to chief
national Freestyle coach Jagminder
Singh have good chance of earning
Olympic berths too.
tered their previous total of 91 for
seven against India in this game.
Bangladesh started the run chase
rather poorly, losing wickets at regular intervals. They were 46 for four in
10.3 overs.
Sharmin Akter(0), Ayasha
Rahman(2), Fargana Hoque (19),
were removed by Katherine Brunt,
Anya Shrushbole and Danielle Hazell
respectively. Rumana Ahmed was
unfortunately run out for 19.
Earlier, when England batted
Sciver put up a crucial 47-run partnership with Edwards for fifth wicket.
Before that, Sarah Taylor and
Edwards scripted a 36 runs
partnership for the second
wicket, before Bangladesh
bowlers succeeded in picking up two wickets in
three balls, thus reducing
England to 71 for three
in 10.1 overs.
Brief Scores
Eng: 153/7 (Charlotte 60,
Sciver 27, Jahanara Alam
3/32) beat Bangladesh:
117/6 (Nigar Sultana
35, Salma Khatun 32,
Anya 2/27) by 36
runs.
TRAINING TIME: Pakistan players during training session
PTI
AFTER THE LOSS TO
NEW ZEALAND, INDIA
WILL BE UNDER FAR
MORE PRESSURE
AGAINST PAKISTAN. I
FEEL PAKISTAN START
AS FAVOURITES FOR
THE GAME ON
SATURDAY.
IT IS STILL PRETTY MUCH INDIAN
BATTING VERSUS PAKISTAN BOWLING.
HOWEVER, WITH THE WAY INDIAN
BOWLERS HAVE PERFORMED RECENTLY,
THEY ALSO WON'T BE EASY
TO TACKLE EITHER.
—SUNIL GAVASKAR
Prannoy, Sameer in top 16
PTI ■ BASEL
shuttlers H S Prannoy
and Sameer Verma continued
Itheirndian
winning run in the men's
singles competition to advance
to the pre-quarterfinals of the
$120,000 Swiss Open Grand
Prix Gold here.
In late night matches, 13th
seed Prannoy beat Germany's
Lars Schaenzler 21-16, 21-13 to
set up a meeting with Rajiv
Ouseph of England.
Young Sameer also continued to punch above his weight,
notching up a stunning 21-19
22-20 win over fourth seed
Chinese Wang Zhengming. He
will next take on Tanongsak
Saensomboonsuk, seeded 16th.
However, it was the end of
11th seed Ajay Jayaram's campaign as his fight ended with a
narrow 21-23, 18-21 loss to
Kenichi Tago of Japan.
B Sai Praneeth also made it
to the pre-quarterfinals after
prevailing over Uzbekistan's
Artyom Savatyugin 21-7, 21-10.
He will next take on second
seed Chou Tien Chen of
Chinese Taipei. Two-time
champion and top seed Saina
Nehwal and PV Sindhu also
HS Prannoy in File Photo
reached pre-quarterfinals.
vivacity 16
WALK THIS WAY
Purab will bring
family to India
PURAB KOHLI, who recently had
a daughter with his lady love Lucy
is all set to welcome them to
India for good. Currently filming
for Rock On!! 2, Purab had been
juggling his family life and
work life in India
simultaneously with his
loved ones in London.
“The last couple of
months have been
really hectic. But
thankfully we now
feel Inaya
(daughter) is ready
to take her first
flight and I'm
going to bring
them back with me
on this trip,” Purab
said in a statement.
Sharing that his
daughter is lucky for
him, the 37-yearold says, “My
daughter has
already got me
dancing to her
tunes and her luck
is bring me some
really good work too. Looking
forward to the year now with all
this interesting shooting to do
and also have my family close by
to me,” he said.
Actress TAAPSEE
PANNU is happy to
see Punjabi films
tasting success on
international shores,
and hopes to become
a part of the industry
soon. “Being from a Punjabi
family, my parents have always
dreamt of me working in a Punjabi
movie. And now, when I am
getting a few good scripts, I would
like to become a part of one more
industry,” said Pannu. Her next
project will be with Big B.
The makers of
Indian film Ghar
Wapsi have
announced that
Ghulam Ali will
launch the movie's
music in the capital
on April 4, after “a
brave but failed attempt” to do so
in Mumbai earlier this year.
Director Suhaib Ilyasi has
demanded “adequate” security for
the Pakistani ghazal maestro.
What was on
Dillane’s mind?
STEPHEN DILLANE, the 58 year
old actor known for playing
Stannis Baratheon in the popular
fantasy drama series Game of
Thrones confirmed that his
character Stannis Baratheon, who
appeared to meet a sticky end at
the hands of Brienne of Tarth in
the series five finale, was dead as
far as he knew. The actor said of
the worldwide hit programme,
which is filmed largely in Northern
Ireland: “It's pretty brutal, I
couldn't watch much of that
anyway. It's hardcore. Too tough
for me. It's just too painful. "It's
pretty intense, quite
overwhelming. The whole world
of it is pretty overwhelming.”
Asked what he got out of starring
in the massively popular show, he
replied bluntly: “Money.” Despite
saying he did not “blame” people
who stopped watching after his
character ordered his daughter to
be burnt alive, he backtracked and
said the show was “fantastic.”
KNITTED PATTERNS
Rina Dhaka gets inspired by the 90s for her knitwear collection at the
ongoing Amazon India Fashion Week Autumn-Winter 2016
odels sashayed down to
the onomatopoeic tick-tock
of stilettos in sheer shades
of nude to grey and then black. The
arduously knitted off-shoulder dresses started making way soon, which
seemed to be a sure pick for the winter wardrobe. The runway was full
of nostalgia with bygone techniques
of knitting.
The bottom plaids with printed
breezy tops, to sleek cut-outs settled
on shoulders, with a dash of sparkle
going on, Dhaka had a rather novel
take on autumnal bits. The body
hugging knitted dress with ruffles
and fringes made a statement with
enough doses of boho drama with
choker necklace. The boat necks and
the off shoulders accentuated with
scarf highlighted that peculiar practical yet stylish look.
The intricate stitch structures
added surface dimension and texture
like ikat, chinar, knitted with Lurex
in various blends to create dresses.
“I used circles with minimal colours.
What’s special is that I knitted
everything. I went back to the 90s to
create this collection along with
some inspiration from the lanes of
Varanasi. The pain was more about
the development of textile and texture. I brought in the fringes and ruffles to create a boho look but essentially it was a knitwear line with
pieces of woven garments,” said
Dhaka.
The colour palette consisted of
beige, black, black and green,
maroon, gold with a splattering of
nudes which is prevalent this season. On the incorporation of ‘Make
in India’ theme, she shared, “Some
of the things like a few jackets had
a hint of Banaras. Few of the motifs
were very modern but essentially it’s
a very simple line.” Dhaka set out
some trends for the fall season with
a refreshed take on the existing ones
like, sweater dresses, off shoulder
outfits and boat necks with stoles
and scarves in tartan. It was complemented with sheer printed tops.
The collection had some interesting pieces, which included nude
gold shell sweater with pleated lace
skirt, off shoulder knitted popcorn
jacquard dress, black wool sheath
dress, tribal sheath with green beetel leaf embroidery, off shoulder
babydoll with green lurex knitted
dress, black and gold bagru booti on
skirt with a chiffon top.
M
What a
Meltdown!
Gaurav Gupta raised concerns about
climate change with his collection Melt
at the Amazon India Fashion Week
t’s always a good idea for a designer to root
for a social cause through his collection.
IThat’s
something which Gaurav Gupta did
THOUGH RINA
DHAKA USED
DARK WINTER
COLOURS IN HER
COLLECTION,
THERE WERE
HINTS OF NUDES
AND PASTELS IN
BETWEEN
photos: Pankaj Kumar
ASHISH
& VIKRANT
esiners are known to play
around with fabrics, weaves
D
and traditional crafts and Ashish &
SAMANT
CHAUHAN
amant Chauhan’s
Rajputana collecStion
The Silk Route
Vikrant are no different. For their
Autumn/Winter collection at the
ongoing India Fashion Week they
chose not one, but two indegenous
cratfs from Gujarat — the Patan
Patola and the Mashru. Patols is also
known as double ikkat and this technique, also called partial dying,
originated for the
Indonesian countries.
Owing to the fact that
their
technique
involved a lot of dyeing, the garments displayed were, needless
to say, bright and
vibrant. The designers
though made it a point
to accessorise their
models with apt pieces
of jewellery which
were not blingy but that look antique
and rustic — seamlessly complementing the designs.
The reason why they took up
this craft was because it needs the
motivation for maintaining the
heritage of the country. At present
only two families are working with
the pure silk and natural dyes for
weaving Patola. Duplication in
the market has also affected
this craft.
was nothing less
than a royal tale.
This is the seventh
time that the
designer has
worked with this theme. This season the Rajputanas are travelling
in search of the Silk Route. So,
in the collection, they will
cross China, Tibet and Nepal,
and will reach Mongolia
amidst heavy winter.
The ramp was as grand
as the collection that he
presented. It took us back to
the Middle Ages where
travellers along the Silk
Route were not only
attracted by the trade but
also by the art and cultural exchange. “The challenge for me was that I
use Bhagalpuri silk,
colours and embroidery. To do something
different while being
restricted within these
boundaries is a difficult task because if I
repeat, no one will
buy my clothes,” he said.
photos: Sanjeev
Kumar
while showcasing his autumn-winter collection titled Melt. The show was sort of an
appeal to people to pause and reflect on
the dire global issue of climate change.
With tunes of Earth Song by MJ being
played in the background, he aimed at
making the atmosphere quite contemplative. The models emerged out of the billows of smoke adding to the sombre mood.
His signature aesthetics of edgy asymmetrical silhouettes in bold monochromes
mingled well with the darkness of the
evening.
The environment-conscious collection was conceptualised because
of the capital’s raising pollution levels. “The world and our city in general is getting worse with alarming
pollution levels. Some parts of the
world, as we know it, are either going
to freeze or melt. So it has been in my
thought process for a long time to
come up with a collection that will
force people to think about what is
happening and will happen to the
world we live in, if we don’t start a
change now. It made me pensive
about how things melt and that’s what
inspired this collection. There is a feeling of melancholic apocalypse in the
collection,” said Gaurav Gupta.
“The embroidery has been
inspired by global warming which
reminds me of meltdown. The entire
collection consists of colours taken
from fire, from a flaming orange to
a dark blazing blue, then absolute
black in coal deep fire and shades of
ashes in grey to absolute white ash.
All in all it’s a very contemporary take on climate change,” the designer added.
The collection was full of shades of ashes
and coal to fabrics that were structured with
fluid suitings, neoprene, sparkling jerseys and
silk, forming long molten gowns. Some of the
garments in the collection are zerowaste garments which reinforce Gupta’s
concerns about his cause. He has made
sure to use the draping techniques in
a way that there is no wastage of fabric at all.
The structured collection included long molten gowns, asymmetric
jackets with trousers, structured
embroidered jackets and capes, flared
empire silhouette and flock-coat
gowns, which might work well
keeping the nip in the air in mind.
But it was more of an evening, even
a red carpet collection.
The one-shoulder gowns
with silver accents highlighted
with twisted hem and ruffles
made for an interesting diva look.
There were flared dresses highlighted with bling motifs. Gupta’s
another all-time favourite, the
high neck, was mixed well with
the sleek body-hugging dress.
What created the ultimate
drama was the train with a pair
of bodice and pants. Then
there were gowns with intricate necklines and sheer backs
and gloves which took the
glamour quotient to another level. There were also a
few wide-legged wrap-up
pants for that high drama.
photos: Pankaj Kumar
MALINI
RAMANI
RIMZIM DADU
Never
before in the history
of a fashion week has a
desiger engaged an interaction
between the weavers, and the
audience and visitors. But on the
second day, Rimzim Dadu not only
settled her weavers on the ramp but
also allowed everyone to talk to
them and satisfy their
inquisitive soul
The
modern day woman
was the theme of Malini
Ramani’s collection. Titled
Supernova (the burst of light after
the explosion of a star) the line was
meant for the confident woman who
shines brightly from within. The
line was inspired from kutch
designing. photos:
Sanjeev Kumar

Lucknow - The Pioneer

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