English hindu 23 01 2018

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P. Sathasivam leaves out portion of speech critical of NDA govt.

HPCL stake sale is just jugglery, says Abhishek Manu Singhvi

Former President Nasheed accuses China of land grab in Maldives

Chung advances as injured Djokovic hobbles out of Australian Open

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P rinted at . Che n n a i . Coim b ato r e . Be n g a luru . Hy de r a b a d . M a d u r a i . No i da . V i s a k h a pat n a m . Th i ru va n a n t h a pu r a m . Ko ch i . V i j ayawa da . Ma ng a lu ru . Ti ru c h i r a pa l l i . Ko l k ata . Hu b b a l l i . M o h a l i . M a l a p p u r a m . M u m b a i . Ti ru pat i . lu c k n ow

Qureshi suspected to be mastermind of 2008 Gujarat blasts

Loya death will be examined objectively, says CJI Bench

Hemani Bhandari

Supreme Court will “never gag the press,” says Dipak Misra

On the run for 10 years, IM co-founder arrested

NEARBY

AAP to le fresh plea in o ce­of­pro t case NEW DELHI

The Aam Aadmi Party will challenge the decision of the Election Commission to disqualify 20 party MLAs in the o ce­of­pro t case, a party leader said on Monday.

The move came after the 20 AAP MLAs withdrew their plea from the Delhi High Court challenging the poll panel’s recommendation to disqualify them in the case.

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I wanted riot cases revoked, says BJP MP

New Delhi

The Delhi police on Saturday arrested Abdul Subhan Qu­ reshi, 46, alleged co­founder of the Indian Mujahideen (IM) and operative of the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), who was on the run for the last 10 years.

Qureshi had allegedly masterminded the 2008 Gujarat serial blasts.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Pramod Singh Kushwah said he was apprehended at Gazipur in east Delhi, where he had come to meet an associate.

MEERUT

Sanjeev Baliyan, BJP MP and an accused in the 2013 Muza arnagar riots cases, has said that he had written to the Yogi Adityanath government requesting withdrawal of the cases registered against BJP leaders. The BJP leader said he told State Law Minister Brijesh Pathak that all “the cases were fake”.

NEWS

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Nabbed after gun ght “We had information that he would come to the Paper Market. After a brief ex­ change of re, he was nabbed around 8.15 p.m.,” Mr. Kushwah said.

Krishnadas Rajagopal NEW DELHI

The Supreme Court on Mon­ day said it would dispassion­ ately examine the circum­ stances surrounding the death of CBI judge B.H. Loya and reach its own objective conclusion. The court called the controversy over the death a “serious issue” and urged for a sense of objectivity.

Addressing fears that the media might be gagged, Chief Justice Dipak Misra said the Supreme Court would “never gag the press.”

A Bench of Chief Justice Misra and Justices A.M. Khanwilkar and D.Y. Chan­ drachud transferred two PIL petitions on Justice Loya’s death, pending before the Bombay High Court, to itself.

Prize catch: Abdul Subhan Qureshi (centre), who was arrested by the Delhi police on Saturday night. V. SUDERSHAN *

According to the police, Qureshi, who had a reward of 4 lakh on his head an­ nounced by the National In­ vestigation Agency, had plans to revive the Indian Mujahideen and SIMI for which he was raising funds and meeting associates.

“He had gone to Saudi

Arabia to meet the other founder of IM, Riyaz Bhat­ kal, to arrange nances to re­ vive IM in India,” said Mr. Kushwah.

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The Bench restrained oth­ er High Courts from enter­ taining any petition in con­ nection with Justice Loya’s death.

It allowed both the Maha­ rashtra government and the petitioners — journalist B.R. Lone and activist Tehseen Poonawala — to place on re­

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The Hindu is the undisputed #1 English daily in South India

Head to feet

Special Correspondent

Slain jawan’s family refuses last rites

#4 9 2 3 5 3

CHANDAULI (U.P.)

The family members of slain Army jawan Chandan Kumar Rai on Monday refused to perform his last rites demanding the presence of Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath during his funeral procession. The family nally yielded after intervention by the Chief Minister.

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tioners, in turn, submitted that they had accessed cer­ tain documents under the Right to Information (RTI) Act. The Bench allowed the Bombay Lawyers’ Associa­ tion to le an intervention application.

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cord additional documents.

Maharashtra produced documents containing the statements of four district judges, two of whom went on to become High Court judges. They had stated that Justice Loya died of cardiac arrest and they had taken him to hospital. The peti­

Devotees o ering worship to the 57­foot­high monolithic Gommateshwara statue on Vindhyagiri Hill at Shravanabelagola in Hassan district of Karnataka on Monday. 'Mahamastakabhisheka' will be performed on February 17. V. SREENIVASA MURTHY

The Hindu has retained its undisputed leadership amongst English language newspapers in South India, based on the recently re­ leased Indian Readership Survey (IRS) 2017, with a to­ tal readership of 38.5 lakhs in South India. This is 30% more than The Times of India’s 29.6 lakhs, nearly 3 times Deccan Chronicle’s readership (13.8 lakhs) and almost 4 times Deccan Herald’s readership (9.7 lakhs).

The Hindu’s dominance in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, And­ hra Pradesh and Telangana is unparalleled. In its home State of Tamil Nadu, The

Hindu’s readership is 18.8 lakhs, more than two times that of TOI’s 9.3 lakhs. In Chennai, 8.2 lakh people read The Hindu against 6.4 lakh of TOI. In the rest of Tamil Nadu (RoTN), amongst the fastest grow­ ing economic regions in the country, 10.6 lakh readers patronise The Hindu while merely 2.9 lakhs in RoTN read TOI. In Kerala, The Hindu has 6.5 lakh readers against TOI’s 3 lakhs. In Andhra Pradesh, The Hindu has 2.4 lakh readers, towering nearly two and a half times the 0.95 lakh readers of TOI. In Telangana, The Hindu’s readership is 3.4 lakhs,

about 10% more than that of TOI. True to its reputa­ tion of being “India’s na­ tional voice with a southern accent”, The Hindu enjoys nearly 5.4 lakh readers in Delhi and has rapidly esta­ blished a readership of 1.5 lakhs in its most recent edi­ tion in Mumbai.

“It is noteworthy that The Hindu is the highest priced English daily across markets. This leadership position is a validation of our readers’ trust in The Hindu’s credible journali­ sm and the steadfast adhe­ rence to our code of editori­ al values,” said Rajiv Loch­ an, Managing Director and CEO of The Hindu Group.

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Gang­rape victim kills self in Odisha Two States call for SC rethink on Padmaavat She was allegedly raped by four men in combat attire STAFF REPORTER BERHAMPUR

A Class IX girl, who was al­ legedly gang­raped by four security personnel in com­ bat attire near Kunduli of Odisha’s Koraput district on October 10 last year, com­ mitted suicide at her home in Musaguda village on Mon­ day afternoon.

Around 2.30 p.m., her fa­ mily members, who re­ turned after some work, found her hanging inside the house locked from inside.

She was seen hanging from her dupatta.

The family members

Protests were held last year demanding action against the accused. FILE PHOTO *

broke open the door and took her to the Kunduli Community Health Centre (CHC). Sunabeda sub­divi­ sional police o cer Narahari Nayak said the victim was declared “brought dead” by

the CHC doctors.

Angry villagers at Kunduli CHC refused to allow the police to remove the body for post­mortem till evening.

Odisha Chief Minister Na­ veen Patnaik, who had re­ turned to Bhubaneswar on Monday after being con­ ferred with the ‘Ideal Chief Minister’ award at the eighth Indian students’ parliament at World Peace University, Pune, condoled the girl’s death.

BJP leader and Union Mi­ nister Dharmendra Pradhan criticised the BJD govern­ ment for the girl’s suicide.

The lm is set for release on Jan. 25 Legal Correspondent NEW DELHI

The Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh governments on Monday said States are the best judges of what consti­ tutes a threat to public order and urged the Supreme Court to rethink its decision allowing Padmaavat to be screened in theatres.

A Bench led by Chief Jus­ tice of India Dipak Misra posted the hearing on the States’ applications for modi cation for January 23.

The States invoked Section

6 of the Cinematograph Act, 1952, to argue that the law provided for the State to ­ nally decide whether exhibi­ tion of a movie would trig­ ger public unrest.

Gujarat and Rajasthan is­ sued noti cations prohibit­ ing the screening of the lm.

Haryana had agreed, in principle, to ban the movie scheduled for nationwide release on January 25. Mad­ hya Pradesh too said it in­ tended to ban its screening.

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Don’t judge a snake by its colour Harmless species mimic their venomous cousins to fool predators, says report Aswathi Pacha CHENNAI

It’s not easy being a snake in the wild. With dozens of predators, death lurks in every nook. So they must resort to some weird tricks in order to survive. Now, a report in Herpetology Notes describes how an Indian coral snake resorts to mimicry to fool its predators.

The tropical snake Calliophis bibroni is a venomous species endemic to the Western Ghats.

In its infant stage, the snake develops a bright red colouration with black stripes, similar to another venomous snake CM YK

Natural actors: Oligodon dorsalis curls up its tail as a display of threat, while a juvenile Calliophis bibroni (centre) mimics Sinomicrurus macclellandi (right). SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT *

Sinomicrurus macclellandi.

Other snakes, too, exhibit this type of mimicry, with two or more species sharing the same danger signals.

Once the predator has learnt that red and black snakes are venomous, it will never touch any other species with the same colour pattern.

But the bright red colour that served as a protective shield of sorts in infancy would be a liability once the snake grows into an adult, as it would scare away prey as well.

To address this, the snake turns fully black in colour as it grows, merging well with the surroundings. This is the

rst time such dual mimicry has been reported from India.

Another common type of mimicry is Batesian Mimicry, wherein non­ venomous snakes copy the patterns of venomous snakes to fool the predator.

“The wolf snake, a non­ venomous snake, has white

stripes on its body, resembling the venomous krait,” explains Dileep Kumar of the Centre for Venom Informatics, University of Kerala, and the rst author of the paper on the coral snake.

“Oligodon snakes or kukri snakes are non­venomous snakes of South Asia. They are capable of twisting their tails and displaying their bright ventral side to distract the predator and save their heads. Display of bright colours, or aposematism, is seen in many other species, including frogs and lizards,” says Dr. Abhijit Das, Wildlife Institute of India.

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Twipraland on the back burner IPFT won’t demand separate State, says BJP The sa ron party has also promised to attend to the problems of the tribal peo­ ple of Tripura.

“We have agreed to ad­ dress the socio­economic, socio­cultural and linguistic concerns of the tribals in the State,” Mr. Deodhar said.

The talks for forging an electoral alliance with the IPFT were held at a two­day meeting in Guwahati last week, he said.

“Assam Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who is also the chairman of the Northeast Democratic Al­ liance, and BJP national gen­ eral secretary Ram Madhav arrived in the State on Sun­ day to work out the modali­ ties of a pre­poll alliance

Press Trust of India Agartala

The BJP, which is in the pro­ cess of nalising a pre­poll alliance with the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT), on Monday said the anti­Left tribal party will no longer raise its demand for a separate State.

A joint statement on the matter will be signed soon by the authorised signato­ ries of both parties, BJP State in­charge Sunil Deodhar said.

“The IPFT will not raise the demand for Twipraland or a separate state. It would work according to the agreed common minimum programme between the two parties,” he claimed.

with other anti­Left tribal parties,” Mr. Deodhar said.

The BJP wants to provide more autonomy to the tri­ bals, who constitute one­ third of the population in the State, and empower the tribal council, he said.

“After the nalisation of the alliance with the IPFT, we can say that we would win at least 18 of the 20 tri­ bal­reserved seats and se­ cure a huge majority in the 60­member Assembly,” he said.

“The tribal council will be empowered to provide more autonomy to all the 19 tribes of the State. The council will get one­thirds of the State budget, when the alliance is in power,” he said.

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Gutted

Two persons were charred to death and more than 300 shops were gutted in a re at Gora Bazar in the Dum Dum area of North 24 Parganas district on Monday. Locals and re ghters joined hands to douse the re. PTI *

Six dead in truck-auto collision #4 9 2 3 5 3

The victims were returning after cremating a relative Staff Reporter BHUBANESWAR

Six persons were killed and three others injured when a truck collided with an autor­ ickshaw on the new Jagan­ nath Sadak in Puri district late on Sunday night.

The victims were return­ ing from ‘Swargdwar’, the cremation ground in Puri,

after cremating a relative. All the deceased belonged to Andalsingha village under Kanas block of Puri.

Their autorickshaw collid­ ed head­on with a speeding truck. Four persons died on the spot while another died in Puri District Headquar­ ters Hospital. One more died later.

BJP issues notices to 2 MLAs in Arunachal Press Trust of India Itanagar

The BJP in Arunachal Pra­ desh has issued show­cause notices to two party MLAs for alleged anti­party activities.

The notices, served on Sunday, asked Pani Taram and Paknga Bage, who re­ present Koloriang and Dum­ porijo Assembly constituen­ cies respectively, to explain why disciplinary action

should not be taken against them within a week, a re­ lease said. The notices were served on the recommenda­ tion of the State Disciplinary Action Committee. Further action would be taken on the basis of their replies. CM Pe­ ma Khandu had on Decem­ ber 27 last year dismissed Mr. Taram as Parliamentary Se­ cretary for Home and Educa­ tion. Mr. Bage is an associate member of the BJP.

In another accident, one person died when an un­ identi ed vehicle hit a family near the Kalinga Stadium here. Dambarudhar Behera (50) and his two daughters were taking a walk when the vehicle hit them. Dambau­ rudhar died on the spot while the girls are battling for life.

Antique smuggling racket busted Press Trust of India Balasore (Odisha)

The kingpin of an inter­ State antique smuggling gang that recently stole an 11th century idol from a temple in Balasore district of Odisha was arrested in Uttar Pradesh on Monday.

The 2.5­feet­long granite idol of ‘Bajra Vairahi’, weighing 70 kg, went mis­ sing from the temple in Ni­ lagiri police station area of the district in December, police said. A joint team of Odisha and U.P. police nabbed Suresh Yadav (50) from Dwarikapuri area in Bijnor district. “We found that Yadav is the master­ mind of the gang,” a police­ man said.

DELHI

Timings

Tuesday, January 23

RISE 07:13 SET 17:53 RISE 11:02 SET 23:33 Wednesday, January 24

RISE 07:13 SET 17:54 RISE 11:39 SET 00:00 Thursday, January 25

RISE 07:13 SET 17:55 RISE 12:18 SET 00:31

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IN BRIEF

No respite from cold in north India NEW DELHI

Slain jawan’s family refuses last rites Yields after U.P. Chief Minister’s assurance of all help PRESS TRUST OF INDIA Chandauli(U.P.)

There was no respite from cold conditions in northern parts of India, with cold wave sweeping parts of Punjab and Haryana, and temperatures remaining below the freezing point in Kashmir and highaltitude areas of Himachal Pradesh. Kargil town recorded a low of minus 18.8 degrees. PTI

O.P. Singh may take over as U.P. police chief today LUCKNOW

O.P. Singh, a 1983-batch IPS officer, is likely to assume office as the Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police on Tuesday, sources said on Monday. Mr. Singh was relieved as the CISF chief on Sunday. PTI

The family members of slain Army jawan Chandan Ku­ mar Rai on Monday refused to perform his last rites de­ manding the presence of Un­ ion Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Chief Minister Yo­ gi Adityanath during his fun­ eral procession, but nally yielded when the CM intervened.

The signalman was post­ ed at a forward post in the Mankote sector of Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch dis­ trict, where he was injured in a cease re violation by Pa­ kistan and later succumbed to his injuries on Saturday night.

Rai (25), who was set to marry next month, had ap­

plied for leave and was ex­ pected to arrive at his native village early next month.

His mortal remains ar­ rived at the Varanasi airport on Sunday and were taken to 39 Gorkha Training Centre in the city.

The body was taken from there to Nadesar­Marufpur village in Uttar Pradesh’s Chandauli district on Mon­ day morning.

Rajnath’s vist sought The family members sat on a dharna and refused to per­ form the last rites until the Union Home Minister, who is also a native of the same district, and the U.P. Chief Minister visit Rai’s ancestral village.

U.P. Ministers Anil Rajb­

Watershed for water conservation in Rajasthan New targets set under Jal Swavalamban Abhiyan Special Correspondent JAIPUR

New targets have been set for third phase of the Jal Swa­ valamban Abhiyan to make Rajasthan self­reliant in the water sector. The conserva­ tion of water resources will get the highest priority in the campaign, while steps will be taken to increase ground­ water level and improve sur­ face water ow in the wa­ tershed projects.

Ministers launched the scheme’s third phase in va­ rious districts on Sunday

and called upon the people to join the State govern­ ment's e orts to improve the availability of water.

Home Minister Gulab Chand Kataria launched the campaign at Sanganer, near Jaipur, while Union Minister P.P. Chaudhary launched it in Pali.

‘Crisis addressed’ Mr. Kataria said the Jal Swa­ valamban Abhiyan had ad­ dressed water crisis in sever­ al areas. The four­year­long campaign comprises four

phases of one year each, during which various works for conservation of water re­ sources have been underta­ ken across the State.

The Minister said 62 crore has been allocated for the campaign's third phase, during which conservation works would be carried out at 4,198 water sources in 215 village panchayat areas.

Mr. Chaudhary said in Pali that the Jal Swavalamban Ab­ hiyan had delivered encou­ raging results in increasing water table in the State.

SAD left Punjab in massive debt, says Manpreet Badal ‘The party should stage dharna outside PMO for relief ’ PRESS TRUST OF INDIA CHANDIGARH

Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal on Monday accused the pre­ vious SAD dispensation of leaving the State with a “massive debt” and asked them to stage a sit­in in front of the Prime Minister’s O ce to bring some relief for the debt­ridden farmers.

The Minister’s remark came after the SAD alleged that the ruling Congress was making “excuses” for not waiving the entire farm debt in the State.

“We were not aware of the grave nancial position of the State (when the SAD left o ce). A day before count­ ing of poll results last year, the Akalis (who were then in power) converted 31,000 crore of cash credit limit (CCL) into term loan,” Mr. Badal claimed.

“How was I to know that State was left with unpaid lia­ bilities of 13,000 crore and they (SAD) issued 17,000 crore of UDAY bonds,” the Minister said.

Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal

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The SAD had on Sunday questioned Punjab Chief Mi­ nister Amarinder Singh for reneging on his promise of extending entire debt relief to farmers.

“I want to ask the SAD and Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal, who is part of BJP government at the Centre, to hold a dharna in front of PM Narendra Modi’s o ce to demand waiving of 31,000 crore CCL­related debt and then (if the demand is accepted), we will release the entire 31,000 crore to farmers,” Mr. Badal said.

The Opposition had also

questioned whether the Congress was not aware of Punjab’s scal health before making the promise of waiv­ ing entire farm debt.

The Chief Minister had said that the his government could not extend the debt waiver scheme to all farmers and waive loans of over 2 lakh because of “lack of sup­ port” from the Centre and the nancial problems inhe­ rited from the previous SAD­ BJP dispensation.

3,240 crore interest The Finance Minister claimed that Punjab was sad­ dled with 31,000 crore of CCL­related debt. “We are paying 3,240 crore per an­ num as interest on this debt and it has to be paid for 20 years,” he said.

The State government had taken up the matter with Centre to resolve the issue, Mr. Badal said.

On GST rates, he sought the abolition of the 28 per cent tax under it, claiming such a slab did not exist in any country.

har and Jai Prakash Nishad, District Magistrate Hemant Kumar and Superintendent of Police Santosh Singh, along with other district o ­ cials and local MLAs had reached the village to o er their condolences to the family.

The Chief Minister, who had announced 25­lakh ex­ gratia for Rai’s family, spoke to the jawan’s father Satya Prakash on the phone and assured him of all possible support. Following this assu­ rance, his family members went ahead with performing his last rites.

Minister Rajbhar earlier announced that the Ghazi­ pur­Chandauli connecting road will be named after the martyr.

M.P. govt. to launch social equality movement PRESS TRUST OF INDIA Omkareshwar

Madhya Pradesh Chief Mi­ nister Shivraj Singh Chou­ han on Monday said a “so­ cial equality” movement will be launched by his go­ vernment through a “cultu­ ral integration” trust to be formed in the name of Adi Shankaracharya.

The remarks are viewed as a bid to cobble up ‘social engineering’ in the State which is going to polls later this year.

The BJP has been in power in Madhya Pradesh since 2003.

“Our society is divided into di erent castes and sects. We have to uproot all the social di erences. The movement of social equali­ ty in the State will be start­ ed to achieve this pur­ pose,” the Chief Minister said while addressing a function to mark the culmi­ nation of the “Ekatm Ya­ tra” at Omkareshwar, a town known for the fa­ mous temple of Lord Shiva.

The programme was at­ tended by seers and spiri­ tual leaders.

#4 9 2 3 5 3

String of programmes Mr. Chouhan said the State government would hold a string of programmes in the coming days for ensur­ ing “social harmony” by establishing the “Adi Shan­ karacharya Cultural Inte­ gration Trust”.

“There is a great power in religion and spirituality.

At times, politics divides the society but religion and culture combine di erent parts of the society,” the Chief Minister said.

Mr. Chouhan said Adi Shankaracharya had en­ sured cultural unity across the country by holding sev­ eral ‘yatras’.

“The State government will also work for cultural, moral and spiritual renais­ sance through the Shanka­ racharya Cultural Integra­ tion Trust,” he said.

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Published by N. Ravi at Kasturi Buildings, 859 & 860, Anna Salai, Chennai-600002 and Printed by S. Ramanujam at HT Media Ltd. Plot No. 8, Udyog Vihar, Greater Noida Distt. Gautam Budh Nagar, U.P. 201306, on behalf of KASTURI & SONS LTD., Chennai-600002. Editor: Mukund Padmanabhan (Responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act).

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IN BRIEF

Row after Sathasivam omits parts of address to Assembly

‘JD(S) open to alliance with Left parties’

Hunters kill their own man by mistake

Will not support Cong.: Deve Gowda

Special Correspondent

But Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan tells media that he does not know about it

Special Correspondent

MYSURU

were not read by the Gover­ nor, especially portions re­ lating to environment.

Girish Menon Thiruvananthapuram

Actor Bhavana marries producer Naveen THRISSUR

Actor Bhavana got married to Kannada producer Naveen in a traditional ceremony at the Thiruvambadi Temple here on Monday. Family members and friends from the film industry attended the function.

TDP MLC Vakati arrested in bank fraud case NELLORE

TDP MLC Vakati Narayana Reddy has been arrested by the CBI, Bengaluru, on the charges of taking huge loans from the Industrial Finance Corporation of India (IFCI) by submitting fabricated documents and pledging low-value property as security.

Kerala Governor P. Sathasi­ vam kicked up a political row on Monday when he left out certain portions of his address approved by the State Cabinet, particularly those that were unfavoura­ ble to the Centre.

He left out an entire sen­ tence in paragraph nine: “We are also perturbed by the tendency of the Central government to ride rough­ shod over the best traditions of cooperative federalism by bypassing the State govern­ ment and directly dealing with the district authorities and local bodies.”

In the preceding sen­ tence, when he referred to the absence of communal riots, he left out the words

Opposition MLAs protesting against the Kerala government during Governor P. Sathasivam’s address on Monday. C. *

RATHEESH KUMAR

“despite the plotting by cer­ tain communal out ts.”

With the controversy hog­ ging the headlines in televi­ sion channels during the day, Chief Minister Pinarayi

HC okays marriage registration through videoconferencing ‘It ensures presence of a person living in another country’ Special Correspondent KOCHI

The High Court has held that the Local Registrar of Marriages under the Kerala Registration of Marriages (Common) Rules, 2008, can allow couples to appear before him through videoconferencing.

The court made the rul­ ing while allowing the plea of an NRI couple from Kol­ lam to appear before the marriage registrar through videoconferencing.

The court observed that personal appearance of couples was insisted on for

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registration of the marriage to ensure that the marriage was registered with their knowledge. It was common knowledge that virtual pre­ sence of a person living in a di erent country could be ensured by videoconferencing.

U.S. residents The court added that the re­ gistrar could certainly en­ sure that the application for registration of the marriage was made with the know­ ledge of the parties through videoconferencing.

The petitioners, resi­

dents of the U.S., had ap­ plied through their power­ of­attorney holder, for re­ gistration of marriage. The local registrar had called upon the petitioners to ap­ pear before him to sign the Register of Marriages.

The petitioners need to provide their marriage cer­ ti cate issued by the com­ petent authority in their country along with their ap­ plications to apply for Per­ manent Resident status in the U.S. As they are in the U.S., they are unable to ap­ pear before the marriage registrar.

Vijayan, in a rather terse res­ ponse to presspersons’ ques­ tions, said the issue had not come to his notice.

According to sources, a few other sentences also

Law and order Interestingly, the Governor dutifully read out the posi­ tive references to the law and order situation in the State, even though he had expressed his reservations about the political killings at a function here a few days ago.

Government and legisla­ ture secretariat sources did not read much into the Go­ vernor’s action.

They cited several such in­ stances that had taken place in the past.

Even if the Governor did not read certain portions, it was deemed to have been read, they said.

H.D. Deve Gowda

at least one seat in all dis­ tricts to ensure that it had re­ presentation in the Assemb­ ly from all districts.

Candidates would be nal­ ised by the end of February.

The party would seek votes on the basis of its “own principles and policies” and not by taking on the Con­ gress and the BJP. The JD(S) would also be strengthened in the State on the same basis.

Fourth tiger estimation begins in A.P.

HC summons A.P. Chief Secretary

Digital appliances being used to get accurate data

Legal Correspondent HYDERABAD

A division bench of the Hyderabad High Court on Monday directed the Chief Secretary and the DGP of Andhra Pradesh to appear in person in court next Monday to explain why they had not led any re­ port on prevention of cock­ ghts as directed by it.

The bench was dealing with a public interest litiga­ tion led by K. Ramachan­ dra Raju.

He had complained that the o cers did not stop gambling, women tra ck­ ing and other illegal activi­ ties carried out under the garb of cock ghts.

MANGALURU

The Janata Dal (Secular) is open to alliance with the Left parties in the Karnataka Assembly elections, party national president H.D. Deve Gowda said here on Monday.

The party would contest in all 224 constituencies, he said.

Mr. Gowda told pressper­ sons that the party had ta­ ken no decision on having an alliance with the Social Democratic Party of India.

Asked whether his party would support the Congress in case of a hung Assembly, he said: “I have burnt my n­ gers by supporting the Con­ gress [earlier in 2004].” He said H.D. Kumaraswamy, president, State unit, was re­ penting now for joining hands with the BJP in 2006.

Mr. Gowda said the party would make all e orts to win

A man was accidentally shot dead by his own group of hunters while they were attempting to kill a wild boar at Harohalli in Mysuru taluk on Monday.

The deceased, identi ed as Shivanna, 55, was part of a ve­member group of hunters looking for wild boars in the forest areas around Harohalli in Jayap­ ura Hobli.

“When they [hunters] red at a wild boar, a bullet accidentally hit Shivanna,” Additional Superintendent of Police, Mysuru, N. Ru­ dramani said.

The police arrested Nin­ garaju, who was part of the group. Three other ac­ cused were absconding, the police said. The inci­ dent came to light after re­ sidents found Shivanna’s body with bullet injuries and alerted the police.

S. Murali ONGOLE

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Amid optimism over an in­ crease in the number of big cats, the fourth All­India Tig­ er estimation began in the Nagarjunasagar­Srisailam Tiger Reserve (NSTR) on Monday.

The con dence stems from the increase in the fre­ quency of the encounter rate in recent times, sources said.

Equipped with android phones and a new app, for­ est o cials fanned out in the expansive Nallamala forests to collect eld data for digital enumeration.

The app, Monitoring Sys­

tem For Tigers – Intensive Protection and Ecological Status (M­StrIPES) is being used for the rst time to avoid human error involved in the traditional recording of the pugmarks and other signs, Markapur Divisional Forest O cer B. Jayachandra Reddy said.

The eld data collection exercise is being done by the forest personnel now in grids of 2 sq. km. each, as against 4 sq. km. earlier, for more accuracy.

The exercise is also to en­ umerate the number of panthers, bears and wild dogs in the tiger landscape spread over 3,728 sq. km. in­ cluding a core area of 1,251 sq. km, and a bu er zone of 1,283 sq. km, he said.

The o cials hitherto have

been collecting data manual­ ly in the pro forma on paper, which is prone to human errors.

Carnivore sign survey “The new app is used for the carnivore sign survey and transect marking to record details such as pellet density, vegetation status etc.,” the DFO said. The carnivore esti­ mation for three days will be followed by herbivore esti­ mation for another three days till January 27 to ascer­ tain whether the reserve has enough prey for the big cats to ourish.

“After compilation of the gures in two phases, the fourth phase of the survey of collective evidence through camera traps will be taken up in March/April,” he said.

Forest personnel study pug marks in the Nallamalla forests. KOMMURI SRINIVAS *

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6 NATION

NOIDA/DELHI

THE HINDU

TUESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2018

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IN BRIEF

Modi’s intervention sought in dairy sector

Sidelined Shivpal calls for SP unity

Mood upbeat in Himachal’s Chamba

Says he's still with ‘Netaji’, but supporters are getting restless

Staff Correspondent SHIMLA

Three of family killed in Rajasthan accident

Lucknow

KOTA

Three persons of a family, including two women, were on Monday killed and two others injured after the car they were travelling in plunged into a gorge in Rajasthan’s Bundi district after the driver lost control.

The three deceased were identified as Sampat Kumar Sharma (57), his wife Seema Devi (52), and their daughter­ in­law Neetu Sharma (36). PTI

The entire Bharatiya Janata Party leadership in Hima­ chal Pradesh is upbeat after the declaration and inclu­ sion of the remote district of Chamba in the list of most backward districts of the country. The district will get a special grant and would be developed with fresh parameters, BJP vete­ ran and Kangra Lok Sabha MP Shanta Kumar said.

Thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Mr. Kumar said it would be the biggest gift of the BJP government to the hill State as ignored districts like Chamba would also now see the light of de­ velopment.

Mr. Kumar said though the hill State comes in the category of reasonably de­ veloped States, Chamba was badly lagging behind in growth. He said the district requires economic invest­ ment and new industries.

Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda, who addressed a public meeting on Monday to celebrate the declaration,

Press Trust of India

Sidelined Samajwadi Party leader Shivpal Yadav on Monday stressed the need for unity in the party and the Yadav family in order to ght “communal forces” in the country.

“I am still with ‘Netaji’ [Mulayam]. I will do whatev­ er he directs me to do. I still pray for family unity. Only by being united, we can ght communal forces strongly,” Mr. Shivpal, who has been si­ delined in the party by ne­ phew Akhilesh Yadav, told reporters here, as he turned 63 on Monday.

‘A disgruntled lot’ “The State is facing a lot of challenges. Farmers and youths are a disgruntled lot.

Corruption is rising, but there is no one to listen,” he said. Mr. Shivpal’s birthday, which coincided with ‘Ba­ sant Panchami’, was cele­ brated by his supporters as ‘Satat Sangharsh Diwas’ (Re­ lentless Struggle Day).

Bond of brothers: Mulayam Singh along with his brother Shivpal Yadav in Lucknow. FILE PHOTO *

To mark the occasion, Mr. Shivpal released an e­book on his political life.

A close aide of Mr. Shivpal said a leader of his stature, who nurtured the SP and made it a principal political force in Uttar Pradesh, “can­ not live in a state of limbo” for an inde nite period.

Soon after the elevation of Mr. Akhilesh as the party president in January last year, Mr. Shivpal had an­ nounced that he would oat his own party by April 2017.

“The 2019 Lok Sabha

elections are hardly a year away and there is no let­up in the war of attrition bet­ ween Akhilesh and his un­ cle. It is time for Shivpal to act decisively,” a Shivpal supporter said.

Party insiders said it was too early to comment on whether Mr. Shivpal will go against the wishes of Mr. Mu­ layam and oat a new politi­ cal party, as the latter might not like the emergence of an SP splinter group that could dent his son’s claim to the State throne.

said the Congress, which ruled the hill State for a long time, had intentionally kept the district backward. He said the Union government would ful l its promise of bringing various develop­ mental projects to the dis­ trict.

New recruitments would be done at the Chamba Medical College and Hospi­ tal and a cement plant at Sikri Dhar would end the unemployment problem in the district, the Minister said.

A new road map for deve­ lopment would be readied by a special committee headed by the State Chief Secretary.

Chamba, which comes under the Kangra Lok Sab­ ha constituency, is the most backward district along with Sirmaur in Himachal Pradesh. Residents of some of its distant areas like Pangi and Bharmaur have already been declared as Scheduled Tribe.

The majority of the pop­ ulation is involved in agri­ culture and sheep breeding.

Allahabad University V-C denies allegations of irregularities Vikas Pathak NEW DELHI

Facing the heat over allega­ tions of irregularities and complaints from students and teachers, Allahabad Central University Vice­Chancellor R.L. Hangloo claims that he has tried to set things right in the university.

In an exclusive interview with The Hindu, Prof. Han­ gloo, who took charge on De­ cember 30, 2015, responded to speci c charges and claimed he had inherited dys­ functional systems.

“There is acute shortage of

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skilled sta . More than 90% of our employees do not know computers. The o ces are highly short of sta . Surpris­ ingly, even the o ce of the Vice­Chancellor has only one personal assistant and has no other clerk,” he said.

He added that he had tried to set things right and also “exposed” previous irregular­ ities in the university, includ­ ing the ‘fact’ that the “ 35 crore outstanding was pend­ ing against some of the teach­ ers and non­teaching sta and others for decades as loans and advances, which have to

be repaid to the university.”

However, Prof. Hangloo’s term has seen much turmoil.

Complaints against him have been made by teachers and students and a fact­ nding committee of the Ministry of Human Resource Develop­ ment, sources say, found faults with administrative and nancial management and the containment of violence that rocked the institution in April last year.

An audit committee also went to the institution and complaints have also been made to the President.

However, Prof Hangloo dis­ agrees with the ndings. “The (fact­ nding) committee did not nd much merit in the grievances. The audit com­ mittee report has clearly men­ tioned, as reported, that a group of activist retired teach­ ers created hindrances,” he told The Hindu in a communication.

‘Illegal appointment’ Asked about charges of “ille­ gal appointment” of contrac­ tual employees – as a letter to the President of India by a former university students’

Rainfall, temperature & air quality in select metros yesterday

District to get special grant from Centre

CHANDIGARH

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Monday sought personal intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to direct the Ministry of Agriculture for initiating major steps to boost the dairy sector across the State and supplement the income of dairy farmers in particular.

In a letter to the PM, Capt.

Singh demanded one time subsidy on the stocks of skimmed milk powder at the rate of 50 per kg and white butter at the rate of 25 per kg. PTI

Weather Watch

union president mentions – Prof. Hangloo said, “In order to make the university cam­ puses wi ­enabled as per the MHRD guidelines, certain technical and support sta has been engaged on a purely temporary and contractual basis in a transparent man­ ner, against 220 vacant posts of non­teaching employees…

Only 22 skilled persons were hired for such a professional work following all norms and procedures.”

Another charge against Prof. Hangloo is that three SUVs were purchased for his

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personal use against rules.

When asked, he replied, “This is patently wrong and a biased allegation. On the re­ commendation of a duly­con­ stituted transport committee the proposal for purchase of new cars was passed after the Vehicle Condemnation Com­ mittee proposed the disposal of two vehicles that were old and unusable.”

He added, “Out of the three vehicles, the V­C uses only one. The other two are being used by the Registrar and Fi­ nance O cer of the university.”

Temperature Data: IMD, Pollution Data: CPCB, Map: Skymet (Taken at 18.00 Hrs)

Forecast for Tuesday: Heavy rain/snow is likely at isolated places over Uttarakhand. Hailstorm at isolated places over Hi­ machal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and west Uttar Pradesh. Dense to very dense fog is likely at a few/isolated places over Bihar, east Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura city rain max min Agartala................. —.... 25.6.... 11.5 Ahmedabad............ —.... 30.8.... 14.1 Aizawl ................... —.... 26.7...... 9.7 Allahabad .............. —.... 26.0...... 6.7 Bengaluru .............. —.... 28.8.... 14.4 Bhopal................... —.... 28.8.... 12.2 Bhubaneswar ......... —.... 29.5.... 13.1 Chandigarh ............ —.... 22.0...... 7.0 Chennai ................. —.... 29.7.... 22.0 Coimbatore............ —.... 31.0.... 17.7 Dehradun............... —.... 22.4...... 6.7 Gangtok................. —.... 15.8...... 7.5 Goa ....................... —.... 31.9.... 19.0 Guwahati ............... —.... 27.2.... 13.0 Hubballi................. —.... 28.0.... 16.0 Hyderabad ............. —.... 29.5.... 14.0 Imphal................... —.... 23.7...... 6.2 Jaipur .................... —.... 25.7.... 10.6 Kochi..................... —.... 32.0.... 23.2 Kohima.................. —.... 18.3...... 7.8 Kolkata.................. —.... 25.5.... 13.2

city rain max min Kozhikode ............... —.... 32.2.... 22.5 Kurnool ................... —.... 31.2.... 17.0 Lucknow.................. —.... 23.8...... 6.0 Madurai................... —.... 32.2.... 19.2 Mangaluru ............... —.... 33.5.... 21.4 Mumbai................... —.... 31.5.... 17.0 Mysuru.................... —.... 29.5...... 9.6 New Delhi ............... —.... 25.2...... 5.9 Patna ...................... —.... 21.8...... 7.4 Port Blair ................ —.... 30.6.... 23.0 Puducherry.............. —.... 30.0.... 17.8 Pune ....................... —.... 30.6.... 10.6 Raipur ..................... —.... 29.6.... 14.2 Ranchi..................... —.... 26.4...... 8.5 Shillong................... —.... 17.0...... 4.0 Shimla..................... —.... 18.0...... 6.0 Srinagar .................. —.... 14.2.....-4.4 Trivandrum ............. —.... 32.4.... 21.1 Tiruchi .................... —.... 30.1.... 19.0 Vijayawada .............. —.... 29.3.... 17.0 Visakhapatnam ......... —.... 28.7.... 18.6

Pollutants in the air you are breathing CITIES

Yesterday

SO2 NO2 CO PM2.5 PM10 CODE

Ahmedabad ........84 .92 40.. 200 .....— ....* Bengaluru ..........11 .47 99......—..149 ....* Chennai..............20 .26 43.. 196 .....— ....* Delhi..................14 .46 29.. 419 .....— ....* Hyderabad............3 .68 43.. 149..132 ....* Kolkata ............. ..—...—..—......— .....—.....— Lucknow ............20 .88 46.. 403 .....— ....* Mumbai..............24 .40 50.. 142..137 ....* Pune ..................29 .17 55.... 50....73 ....* Vishakhapatnam .16 .78 47.. 205..189 ....*

In observation made at 4.00 p.m., Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh recorded an overall air quality index (AQI) score of 434 indicating an unhealthy level of pollution.

In contrast, Navi Mumbai recorded a moderate AQI score of 110

Air Quality Code: * Poor * Moderate * Good (Readings indicate average AQI) SO2: Sulphur Dioxide. Short-term exposure can harm the respiratory system, making breathing difficult. It can affect visibility by reacting with other air particles to form haze and stain culturally important objects such as statues and monuments.

NO2: Nitrogen Dioxide. Aggravates respiratory illness, causes haze to form by reacting with other air particles, causes acid rain, pollutes coastal waters.

CO: Carbon monoxide. High concentration in air reduces oxygen supply to critical organs like the heart and brain. At very high levels, it can cause dizziness, confusion, unconsciousness and even death.

PM2.5 & PM10: Particulate matter pollution can cause irritation of the eyes, nose and throat, coughing, chest tightness and shortness of breath, reduced lung function, irregular heartbeat, asthma attacks, heart attacks and premature death in people with heart or lung disease (Individual pollutant data for various cities are averages for the previous day)

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THE HINDU

NATION 7

NOIDA/DELHI

TUESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2018

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IN BRIEF

Somanath takes over as VSSC Director THIRUVANANTHAPURAM

S. Somanath, distinguished scientist, ISRO, and Director, Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC), has taken over as Director, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC). He succeeds K. Sivan, who has assumed office as chairman, ISRO. Mr. Somanath joined ISRO in 1985 and was a team leader for integration of PSLV during its early development phase and during the first two flights of the launch vehicle. He also conceived and executed the launch of commercial mini satellites.

Disqualify 11 BJP MLAs in Chhattisgarh: Congress RAIPUR

Opposition Congress in Chhattisgarh on Monday demanded that 11 MLAs of the ruling BJP be disqualified for “holding” posts of parliamentary secretaries.

They cited the issue of 20 Aam Aadmi Party legislators in Delhi being disqualified in an “office of profit” case.

“The action taken in Delhi has proved that the appointment of the BJP MLAs in Chhattisgarh to the posts of parliamentary secretaries is also unconstitutional,” Congress leader Mohammad said.PTI

Kamala Mills owner Ramesh Gowani arrested MUMBAI

The owner of Mumbai’s Kamala Mills compound, Ramesh Gowani, was arrested on Monday in connection with the pub fire, which claimed 14 lives on December 29, the police said. “We have arrested Gowani under IPC Section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder),” S. Jaykumar, Additional Commissioner of Police (Central Region) said. PTI

Now, an app to report roadkill in wildlife habitats Users can upload geotagged photos to a public forum Aathira Perinchery Kochi

Be it tigers or toads, roads that cut through their habi­ tats can be deathtraps for wild animals.

Now, a mobile­based ap­ plication, ‘Roadkills’, launched on January 21 by the Wildlife Conservation Trust, will help citizens re­ port such wildlife deaths by uploading geotagged photo­ graphs to a public forum.

The data generated can be used to identify crucial road or rail stretches that urgent­ ly require mitigation measures.

Easy-to-use app ‘Roadkills’, an easy­to­use android app, accesses loca­

Unsuspecting victims: Dominant tiger T-2/Bajirao, left, that was knocked down by a speeding vehicle on NH-6; an Indian fox killed on a highway and, right, a dead jungle cat.

tion information from phones and permits users to upload photographs of a dead wild animal on a road or a railway line.

With the resulting geo­ tagged photographs, users can also include what taxon the animal belongs to (bird, mammal, reptile or amphi­ bian), the species’ name (if known) and the area where

the roadkill was seen.

The information from all records reported from across India with this citizen science initiative will be compiled as a database, which can soon be viewed on a map on the campaign’s website (www.roadkills.in).

The Wildlife Conservation Trust (WCT), an NGO which developed the app, will also

share detailed data free of cost and under a Creative Commons licence to stu­ dents, wildlife researchers or infrastructure agencies who may need it to study patterns of wildlife deaths on roads and railway lines.

How this can help The information generated from the application can

‘Bihar human chain a op show’ RJD, Congress demand White Paper on expenses from Nitish government Amarnath Tewary Patna

A day after the Bihar govern­ ment organised a human chain against social evils such as dowry and child marriage, claiming that over 4 crore people had partici­ pated in it, the Opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress on Monday termed it a “big op” and demanded a White Paper on its expenses.

“People refused to join the human chain in most of the districts… we demand that the government should make public pictures taken by drones to prove its claim and also release a White Pap­

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi and other dignitaries taking part in the human chain in Patna on Sunday. RANJEET KUMAR *

er on expenses incurred in organising it,” senior RJD leader Shivanand Tiwari told journalists. Mr. Tiwari charged that the “human chain was basically an event management exercise by Nit­

ish Kumar for his image­ making”. “He is the most ex­ pensive CM Bihar has ever got,” he added.

Terming the event a “com­ plete waste of money”, State Congress president (in­

charge) Kaukab Quadri said: “Why don’t they organise a human chain on the issues of unemployment, caste and communal divide or the col­ lapsed educational system in the State?” Referring to par­ ty MLC Ram Chandra Bhar­ ti’s participation in the event despite the Congress boycot­ ting it, Mr. Qadri said, “If so­ meone is in the party he should follow the party line,” The government claimed that the human chain was a success. “Reports from dis­ tricts said people were en­ thusiastic about the human chain and actively took part in it,” Chief Secretary Anjani Kumar Singh said.

Did not give triple talaq: Ishrat Jahan’s husband

Kamal discusses about ground reality in T.N.

Says he is ready to live with her at his home in Bihar

Special Correspondent

Staff Reporter Kolkata

The husband of Ishrat Jahan, a key petitioner against tri­ ple talaq in the Supreme Court, has claimed he “nev­ er divorced her using triple talaq”. Ms. Jahan had stated that her husband divorced her using triple talaq on phone from Dubai in April 2015. However, she denied his latest statement, terming it as “false and baseless”.

Speaking to The Hindu on Monday, Ms. Jahan’s hus­ band Murtaza Ansari said on phone from Bihar that he had “never said teen talaq (triple talaq) to Ishrat on phone from Dubai”. He ad­ ded, “I have certain reserva­

Ishrat Jahan

tions about her conduct and if she changes herself and agrees to stay at my home in Bihar, then even now I am ready to live with her.”

Asked why he was not will­ ing to allow her to stay in Howrah district, Mr. Ansari claimed her “earlier con­ duct” at his Howrah resi­ dence was “inappropriate”.

Denying the allegations, Ms. Jahan said, “He divorced me by using triple talaq on phone from Dubai. So I don’t have any proof of it. He said that ‘I am giving (triple) talaq from Dubai’. There were two or three people with him at that time.”

Ms. Jahan rubbished alle­ gations raised by her hus­ band on her conduct.

“There is no such thing.

Where were they all these years when I was ghting against triple talaq? Now that I have joined politics, they are saying such things to malign me,” she said.

Ms. Jahan joined the Bha­ ratiya Janata Party earlier this month.

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Interacts with fans in southern districts CHENNAI

After announcing that he would meet people from Fe­ bruary 21, actor Kamal Haa­ san interacted with his fans from southern districts, where we will be touring rst, on Monday.

He met o ce­bearers of the Kamal Haasan Welfare Clubs from Ramanathapu­ ram, Madurai, Chennai and Dindigul at his Eldams road o ce. He took photographs with fans and will continue the exercise on Tuesday as well. According to those who attended the meeting, the actor discussed the “ground reality” in the State and about people’s expectations.

“He was mainly asking us

about the expectations of the people and if it is the right time to enter politics.

Besides, his interaction was about logistics of his pro­ posed State­wide tour,” said an o ce­bearer.

The actor had earlier an­ nounced that he would be­ gin his political journey on February 21 from the resi­ dence of former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam in Rama­ nathapuram district. From there, he is expected to visit Madurai, Dindigul and Siva­ ganga districts. In a state­ ment, he had said that he would announce the name of his political party and the principles to be followed at the beginning of his tour.

The rst public meeting could likely be in Madurai.

help identify crucial sections of roads or railway lines where animal deaths are high to pinpoint regions that require urgent mitigation measures.

The data can also help de­ termine what species are more at risk on speci c road or rail stretches and plan the ideal mitigation measures suited for the location – from

underpasses or overpasses for large mammals to cano­ py bridges for arboreal ones, such as monkeys.

“Unplanned development of roads and railway lines is the major cause of wildlife roadkill,” wildlife biologist Milind Pariwakam of WCT said.

“We hope that the infor­ mation from the campaign

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WCT

will help plan our infrastruc­ ture needs better and devise win­win solutions for wil­ dlife to make our infrastruc­ ture development smart and green,” he added.

The app has had 500 in­ stallations so far and will soon be launched as an IOS application. It will also cater to regional language users in future.

Rajasthan distributors not to buy Padmaavat rights Following threat of violence by Rajput groups SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT JAIPUR

Film distributors in Rajas­ than on Monday announced that they would not acquire the distribution rights of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s lm, Padmaavat, with Rajput groups demanding a com­ plete ban on the movie and threatening violence at cine­ ma halls screening the pe­ riod drama.

The exhibitors also gave in writing to Rajput Karni Se­ na, spearheading an agita­ tion, that they would not screen the lm. Meanwhile, Karni Sena founder Loken­ dra Singh Kalvi has agreed to watch Padmaavat on Mr. Bhansali’s invitation, before its release on January 25.

Rajasthan’s leading lm distributors, Yash Raj Jai Pic­ tures and Marudhar Cine En­ tertainment, said they had decided not to distribute the movie in the State. The deci­ sion came four days after the Supreme Court stayed the noti cations and orders of Rajasthan and two other States banning the lm’s re­ lease.

The apex court would hear on Tuesday the State government’s petition seek­ ing modi cation to its order.

Up in arms: Karni Sena activists staging a protest against Padmaavat in Bhopal on Monday. *

A.M. FARUQUI (SEE ALSO DELHI METRO PAGE 3)

Miscreants vandalise mall in Kurukshetra SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT CHANDIGARH

The Haryana police on Mon­ day said a few miscreants created ruckus and vandal­ ised the Kessel Mall in Ku­ rukshetra on Sunday even­ ing. They said the act could possibly be in protest against Sanjay Leela Bhansa­ li’s controversial lm Padmaavat.

“We have registered a case against unknown per­ sons for rioting. While the group of people created ruckus and broke window­ panes in the Kessel Mall, they didn’t shout any slo­

gans against the lm though. However, there is a possibility that the vandal­ ism was done to register protest against the release of the lm,” Abhishek Garg, SP, Kurukshetra, told The Hindu.

“A group of 20 people were reportedly involved.

We are trying to identify the accused and would soon ar­ rest them,” he added.

Director­General of Pol­ ice B.S. Sandhu said mea­ sures would be taken to en­ sure that the lm could be screened peacefully in the State.

Take interim steps for tribunal postings: SC Court asks AG, amicus to discuss issue Legal Correspondent NEW DELHI

The Supreme Court on Mon­ day directed Attorney Gen­ eral K.K. Venugopal and am­ icus curiae Arvind Datar to discuss an interim arrange­ ment for the committee ap­ pointing judicial members to key tribunals.

The apex court is consi­ dering the question wheth­ er the Central Tribunal, Ap­ pellate and other Authorities (Quali cations, Experience and other con­ ditions of Service of Mem­ bers) Rules of 2017 is a blow to the independence of the tribunals.

The development came on several petitions, prima­ rily one by Congress MP Jai­ ram Ramesh, challenging the provisions of the 2017 Rules and the Finance Act, 2017, introducing the modi­ cations in key tribunal appointments.

CM YK

“The petitions are pend­ ing here. But tribunals have to be manned. We have to nd an interim solution,” Chief Justice Dipak Misra, heading a three­judge Bench, observed.

Mr. Datar said the tenure of the chairperson of the tri­ bunals should be extended to ve years instead of the present three.

He said the committee appointing the judicial members to the National Green Tribunal (NGT) and other tribunals should com­ prise only two members from the Centre instead of the present three, and two with judicial background.

He said the Finance Act strikes at the root of the in­ dependence of quasi­judi­ cial bodies, such as the NGT. Mr. Venugopal said the go­ vernment is agreeable to ex­ tension of the tenure of the Chairperson.

The next hearing will be on February 2 when the go­ vernment may argue on the independence of quasi­judi­ cial bodies.

A ND-NDE

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8 EDITORIAL

NOIDA/DELHI

THE HINDU

TUESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2018

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Getting back on the democratic path India gave itself a great system but now does not seem to know how to keep it up to standard

Two States

Locked down The government shutdown in the U.S. could hurt both Republicans and Democrats

k.s. bajpai

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owsoever anniversary stock­takings assess pluses and minuses, one conclu­ sion is surely inescapable: India remains woefully short of its po­ tential. Whatever our excuses, one cause is equally fundamental: the decisions shaping our destiny are themselves shaped by considera­ tions increasingly unworthy of a serious nation. Yes, we are a di ­ cult country to govern, none ever coped with so many competing di­ versities, rights and claims, in such huge proportions — and through democracy. This makes it all the more necessary to employ com­ mon sense, vision and judgment, balance and largeness, and above all reason. The less these matter to us, the farther back must we fall.

Mutual con ict “The whole essence of… Parlia­ mentary Government lies in the intention to make the thing work… [its] strength… is exactly mea­ sured by the unity of political par­ ties upon its fundamental objects.”

Lord Balfour’s perception pin­ points why we have mangled our system out of recognition: far from seeking congruence of fundamen­ tal objectives, leave alone unity, our parties compete to prevent things working. Our needs, long incompatible with the forces work­ ing amongst us, have moved into mutual con ict.

Our social tensions need sensi­ tive healing, but su er ever harsh­ er divisiveness; our political insti­ tutions and processes need to address rising challenges but sink ever deeper in backwardness; our administrative machinery desper­ ately needs e ciency but corrodes into dysfunctionality; we live in a turbulent, dangerous world but have neither time nor expertise to attend to it. Our security challeng­ es become more complex while both our conceptual and procedu­

CM YK

principles come back. The world needs that to happen there again, but our active concern must be at home.

That our democracy is seriously ailing is so obvious, one wonders why our political parties are so oblivious. The party claiming, not unjusti ably, to have led us to free­ dom seems devoid of ideas — o er­ ing no vision, no version of our fu­ ture, which could possibly inspire anybody. And others are worse.

The greatest success story of our times, the astonishing speed and extent of China’s rise, surely shows that the decisive cause is that a di­ recting mind chose speci c objec­ tives and worked for them with de­ termination. Authoritarianism doubtless made possible advances open societies cannot match, but dictatorships abound which keep their countries backward, whe­ reas there are serious democracies seriously striving for betterment.

Originally denoting di erences in economic levels and ideologies, ‘Third World’ also represents backward, if not chaotic, ways of governance — sel sh, often barbar­ ic despotisms ruling by whim over peoples depressed and oppressed.

The key di erence that separates properly run states lies in serious­ ness of decent purpose. We In­ dians lose our way in tangents: Third World conditions beckon.

China’s record over the last cen­ tury is hardly edifying — revolu­ tions, civil war, famines, war­ lords, etc. Corruption is rampant, sloth and incompetence hardly unknown, but things get done be­ cause there is a directing force which devises and executes for­ ward­looking plans for national greatness. How many shaping our destinies have any real sense of na­ tional, as distinct from personal or sectional, purpose, leave alone

Time for concern Democracy depends on the En­ lightenment’s ideals — the cease­ less expansion of liberty and equality, the impartial functioning of impersonal law and institutions, the reconciliation of society’s dif­ ferences by accommodative com­ promise, above all the primacy of reason. India’s democracy, how­ soever imperfect, worked awhile because those who led us into In­ dependence had imbibed these ideas. Always hugely dispropor­ tionate to their tiny size, their in­ uence is nished; Enlightenment teachings no longer resonate with electorates in which group obses­ sions stultify basic national inter­ est. Most stunningly is this manif­ est today in the U.S.; ugly forces prevail there periodically, some­ how the humanist Enlightenment #4 9 2 3 5 3

Regain the checks The dispersion of power between executive, legislature and judici­ ary is undermined by both our tra­ ditional acceptance of personal rule and the appalling incompe­ tence of each branch. Our political executives are self­seeking while the permanent branches are dys­ functional; our legislatures hardly meet and when they do there is bedlam; our judiciary, the last re­ maining estate to retain some pu­ blic respect, has discarded it along with the decorum of self­respect; and the Fourth Estate, so essential a safeguard, competes in descent.

That we blithely carry on as though it will all come out in the wash is as incredible as it is fatal.

We must realise what we have done to our system and repair it urgently.

Diagnoses upon diagnoses, what is the cure? It is hard not to conclude there is none: some pro­ blems have no solutions, one can only manage things as best one can. In 150 years of modernising in uences we never grew out of our old ways. Enormous reforms we need we reject: how can any society advance when saddling it­ self with khap panchayats, dis­ graceful dowry systems, blatant practice of untouchability, accep­ tance of castration and other primitivisms? Ways of thinking and behaving are universally in­ tractable. Claiming Europeanism, and with generations of modernis­ ing after Kemal Ataturk, Turkey

clings to old tendencies. For all its astonishing progress, China prac­ tises female infanticide. One West­ ern humanist state after another is rocked by tribalism. But civilisa­ tion evolves through e orts to change, even if change itself keeps resisting, but the e ort must be forward­looking, not regressive.

The road map ahead We need a planned, determined push to make our system work and modernise. Only an organised bo­ dy with such a purpose can do anything. Despite the obstruction­ ism we have made our norm, this government is positioned to get things done — if it only will; no oth­ er force seems at all likely. This Prime Minister, particularly, has built a personal position of great possibilities, and his international approaches show the imagination and dexterity needed for national greatness. His party’s electoral cal­ culations present our greatest ob­ stacle: of course, elections need winning ways, but at what cost?

The furtherance and exploitation of obscurantism and regression will only help our enemies, deny­ ing us the progress essential for handling modern challenges. Can (re)building legendary temples help us handle a China already reaching the forefront of techno­ logical innovation?

“Forget the excuse that politics is the art of the possible, remem­ ber leadership is the art of making even the impossible possible.” My father Girija Shankar Bajpai’s ob­ servation points to the prime ne­ cessity: the will to succeed, a care­ fully thought out plan, a commitment to ful lment, ob­ viously not to reviving a past irrele­ vant to today, if indeed it ever ex­ isted, but to a state and society adapted to our times. We the peo­ ple are ultimately responsible but political leaders have to lead. We can only appeal to them to do so — or meander into the anarchy we seem most at home in, or authori­ tarianism — or both.

K.S. Bajpai is a former diplomat who was Ambassador to Pakistan, China and the U.S., and Secretary, External A airs Ministry

Towards an endgame?

Turkey makes a decisive move against Kurdish ghters on the border with Syria

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ast week, the 19th federal government shutdown in U.S. history went into force. If previous occa­ sions are any indication, this shutdown will also lead to the furlough of many hundreds of thousands of government workers, closure of national parks with a potential loss of hundreds of millions of dollars in reve­ nue, and a possible overall macroeconomic cost of sev­ eral billions of dollars in terms of productivity loss asso­ ciated with the cessation of multiple public services.

This encore is entirely preventable and the seismic pay­ ment default can be traced back to one inescapable reality in Washington: congressional dysfunction stem­ ming from bitterly partisan politicking. A federal shut­ down occurs when lawmakers fail to agree on a spend­ ing bill, and cannot even sign o on a stopgap funding measure that might keep the government machinery humming for a few more months. In this case, the bill in question would have helped tide over a looming scal gap at least until the middle of February. Yet that did not happen, because Republicans refused to compro­ mise on a hardline approach on immigration policy, speci cally on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), the Obama­era clemency policy for foreign­ born children of U.S.­based undocumented workers.

That policy was ended in September 2017 when Presi­ dent Donald Trump revoked his predecessor’s execu­ tive order to protect these children, the so­called DREAMers, from deportation. This apparently rattled Democratic lawmakers to the point where they were willing to make a stopgap budget deal, contingent on Congress agreeing to legislation to shield nearly 700,000 of these law­abiding youngsters from removal.

With dark clouds on Capitol Hill overshadowing the rst anniversary of Mr. Trump’s presidency, he has reit­ erated his call for strong border security and a crack­ down on “illegal immigrants”. Interestingly, a recent CNN poll suggested 84% of Americans want DACA ex­ tended. But a government shutdown is likely to cut both ways, hurting the prospects of those on both sides of the aisle seeking re­election in the November 2018 mid­ term election. Voters may well consider Democrats to be obstructionist, or as putting undocumented workers ahead of national security. And Republicans may lose votes for failing to keep the government working des­ pite controlling the Senate, House of Representatives and the White House. Regardless of who wins in that election, the debate on immigration reform will conti­ nue. Too much is at stake for not only the nearly 11.3 million undocumented workers but also the nearly 1.5 million temporary foreign workers, among whom are 500,000 to 700,000 H­1B visa holders, the majority of them from India. For, when Congress nally transcends its partisan biases and legislates a comprehensive immi­ gration reform package, it will likely introduce a revised policy for each of the visa categories.

ral drawbacks retard our response­capabilities.

India is not alone in such di ­ culties. Countries worldwide nd existing governmental systems un­ able to cope with contemporary challenges or people’s expecta­ tions, some even with basic needs.

Particularly alarming is the condi­ tion in democracies, where the ideals and concepts, the very es­ sence of their being, are threa­ tened. Widely idolised till now, with even those trampling it claim­ ing to uphold it, democracy has never had many practitioners. A few North Atlantic states apart, most even in Europe, claiming to be exemplars, actually became de­ mocracies after India. Almost all colonised states started as democ­ racies, almost all turned rapidly into autocracies. We Indians could long claim shining exception, but the ease with which the Emergen­ cy could be imposed is warning enough how fragile our version is.

vijay prashad

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n January 20, Turkish Presi­ dent Recep Tayyip Erdo an announced that Turkish forces alongside the Free Syrian Armyhad begun armed operations in the Syrian town of Afrin, to be followed by a push in Manbij. Tur­ kish aircraft are bombing the city as Turkish and allied forces have moved across the border.

Turkey has long threatened to enter Syria and clear out the forces of the U.S.­backed Syrian Demo­ cratic Forces (SDF). The SDF was created in 2015 by the various Syr­ ian Kurdish political forces and their military wing, the People’s Protection Units (YPG), and the Women’s Protection Units (YPJ).

The Syrian Kurds made a political decision that they would not have the ability to properly confront the Islamic State (IS) in northern Syria without an alliance with other mi­ nority groups (Assyrians, for in­ stance) — and with the major Sun­

ni tribes in the region (the Shammars, for instance). The SDF was created as a platform for the Syrian Kurds to join with these other groups into an anti­IS mili­ tary alliance. But, to the Turks, it has always been clear that the SDF is dominated by Syrian Kurds, and is therefore essentially a Kurdish project.

Heart of the con ict The war to defeat the IS at Raqqa, the major city in northern Syria, could not have been conducted by the U.S. and Russia and their va­ rious allies entirely from the air. It required a partner on the ground.

The Turkish army was not willing to enter Syria to battle the IS. The Syrian Arab Army was then en­ gaged in operations towards the west and the south of the country.

It did not have troops to move to­ wards Raqqa. For that reason, the U.S. government made an arrange­ ment with the SDF to provide it close air support as SDF forces moved across the Syria­Turkish border. The SDF, with air support from the U.S., routed the IS from Raqqa in mid­October 2017. The Syrian­ Kurdish leadership sug­ gested that Raqqa’s people could join the Kurdish­run Democratic

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Minister on evolution The comments made by Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development Satyapal Singh on Darwin’s theory of evolution are over the top.

He clearly does not have any idea about what the ‘Theory of Evolution’ is.

Science is always open to correction if there is authentic evidence, but there appears to be a sad trend nowadays of people who are grossly unaware of the basics making loose statements.

wrong. But the process of approving or disapproving some theory should follow the principles of research, and in a methodical way. The Minister cannot come up with half­baked statements against a scienti c theory especially as he has a constitutional duty to spread a scienti c temper among people. After the discovery of DNA, the theory of evolution has received more endorsements than contestations.

Dr. D.V.G. Sankararao, Nellimarla, Andhra Pradesh

The Minister’s statement is amusing. Science is not absolute and scienti c theories are always open to being challenged and proven

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The Minister’s statement is only the culmination of the dangerous tendency, demonstrated of late, of living under the past glory of the Indian civilisation.

Almost all scriptures were

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Federation of Northern Syria, commonly known as Rojava.

The term “Rojava” reveals what is at the heart of the con ict. It means “Western Kurdistan” and asserts the ambitions of the Kur­ dish population towards the re­ gion as well as for a future inde­ pendent Kurdish state that would encompass land in Iraq (Eastern Kurdistan) and Turkey (Northern Kurdistan). The attempt by Iraqi Kurds in 2017 to declare indepen­ dence was curtailed for now by the armed intervention of the Iraqi ar­ my into the Kurdish autonomous region. The attempt by Syrian Kurds to produce a similar autono­ mous region on the Syria­Turkish border raised hackles in Ankara.

Turkey sees all Kurdish ambi­ tions for self­determination as an abomination. It has declared the instrument for these ambitions within Turkey, the Kurdish Work­ ers’ Party (PKK), as a terrorist or­

ganisation. The war against Tur­ kish Kurds continues in south­eastern Turkey, with cur­ fews in Kurdish towns and with Kurdish political parties e ectively banned. The war against the PKK has spilled over into Iraq and Sy­ ria, where the Turkish air force has routinely bombed PKK­ and PKK­a liated camps.

To confuse matters, it was the PKK that helped Syrian Kurds de­ velop the YPG, which was the ba­ sis for the SDF. The U.S., following its NATO partner Turkey, had de­ clared the PKK as a terrorist organ­ isation. But, confounded by a lack of a ground army in Syria, the U.S. allied with the SDF in the war against the IS. Turkey, at that time, grumbled but did not act to stop the alliance. The U.S. had few choices. But now, with the IS large­ ly defeated and with the U.S. a ck­ le ally to Syrian Kurds, the Turkish armed forces have made their move.

Abandonment Turkey has not acted alone as Mr. Erdo an sought assurances from all the major players in northern Syria before he sent in his troops.

The U.S. betrayed its Syrian Kur­ dish allies when U.S. Secretary of

State Rex Tillerson said that the U.S. does not propose to form a permanent border force in the north manned by the SDF. The Russians withdrew their forces from the region as the Syrian Arab Army, dependent on the Russians, gave assurances that it would not contest the Turkish invasion.

There is no one to stop the Turkish entry into Syria and no one to pro­ vide Syrian Kurds with assistance.

The Turkish air force continues to bomb SDF positions without chal­ lenge. The Syrian Kurds do not have a chance.

Turkish tanks have moved swift­ ly through Afrin’s Shera and Shera­ wa districts, with YPG and YPJ ghters trying their best to hold o the ground assault. Turkey’s total domination of the air over these border towns will give its ground troops a decisive advantage against Syrian Kurds. Protests in­ side Turkey against this interven­ tion will have little impact. Nor will there be anyone willing to go to the United Nations to ask Tur­ key to call o its war.

Vijay Prashad is the Executive Director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research

Letters emailed to letters@thehindu.co.in must carry the full postal address and the full name or the name with initials.

Sruthi M.S., Kollam, Kerala

GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCKPHOTO

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y adopting a draft resolution against any electoral alliance or understanding with the Congress, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of In­ dia (Marxist) privileged a long­term political/ideological view over compelling short­term electoral calculations.

The CC voted 55­31 for the resolution, backed by former general secretary Prakash Karat but opposed by current general secretary Sitaram Yechury. Those opposed to the resolution and in favour of an understanding with the Congress may well believe that there is no success in the long term without survival in the short term. In West Bengal, they would argue, the CPI(M) needs the Congress more than the Congress needs the CPI(M). Ho­ wever, despite the resolution nding Mr. Karat and Mr. Yechury on opposite sides, this was essentially a di e­ rence over tactics. It was not so much the result of any ideological confusion about goals as it was of practical di erences on how to achieve them. Crucial to the di e­ rences over the tactical line are the political complexi­ ties in two States where the CPI(M) is strong, Kerala and West Bengal. As the Congress remains the CPI(M)’s principal rival in Kerala, the State unit is opposed to any understanding with it in an environment where the BJP is not a contender. In Bengal, where the Trinamool Congress is the main rival and where the BJP is gather­ ing strength through communal mobilisation, the CPI (M) unit views the Congress less as a foe. In the 2016 As­ sembly election, large sections of the Bengal unit suc­ cessfully pushed for an alliance with the Congress.

Although the CPI(M) fared worse then than in 2011, it is di cult to determine whether the alliance won the Left Front more seats than it might otherwise have got.

Those supporting a broad­based understanding with the Congress will hope that the decision is reversed at the Party Congress, a body with a larger and more di­ verse composition. But such an outcome could actually sharpen divisions within the CPI(M), given the over­ whelming support the draft resolution received in both the CC and the Polit Bureau. The West Bengal election is a whole three years away and there will be opportuni­ ties for the party to review political tactics in accor­ dance with the political situation, in the event it choos­ es to. There has been a lot said about what the CPI(M)’s decision means for opposition unity in the 2019 general election, but the fact is that Kerala can be won only by a Congress­led or a CPI(M)­led front and it is not clear what impact a Congress­CPI(M) electoral understand­ ing will have in West Bengal. At the same time, the party is not constrained, post election, by the resolution in engaging with an opposition grouping if the situation so demands.

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The vote against an alliance with the Congress exposes divisions within the CPI(M) on tactics

greatness? China is both a yard­ stick and a warning: fall behind and we fall under. We have no op­ tion but to make our system func­ tional and to the right purposes.

We gave ourselves a great system but have not known how to keep it up to standard. Currently resur­ rected, Alexander Hamilton is ap­ propriate: “A government must be tted to a nation as much as a coat to the Individual… what may be good at Philadelphia may be bad at Paris and ridiculous at Peters­ burg.” People end up with govern­ ments functioning like them­ selves, and we have transmogri ed our original system through our own weaknesses.

written not more than a couple of thousands of years ago. Evolution, on the other hand, is a process that operates over millions of years and is di cult to perceive.

It is deeply problematic for a Minister to expect textbooks to be rewritten according to his personal beliefs.

Governance must be constitutional and in the interest of the public, and not according to the ideological codes of any political party (“Scientists ‘deeply pained’ by Minister’s claim”, January 22).

Sanchary G., Bengaluru

Integrated medicine It is a fact that government doctors who complete their basic medical degree are

uninterested in practising in rural and isolated pockets.

The protest against the National Medical Commission Bill and resistance against the ‘deployment’ of alternate practitioners smacks of sel shness.

Capacity­building of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy practitioners and other non­MBBS sta will ll the void at public health centres and enable better dissemination of services in rural India apart from improving the doctor­patient ratio.

The government is fully within its constitutional obligations to secure a welfare state for all its citizens (“Capacity building

for primary health care”, January 22).

Nishant Choudhary, Ajmer, Rajasthan

Inspiring Compliments to the “less favoured” heroes, the Indian visually handicapped cricket team, for its victory against Pakistan in the Blind World Cup (‘Sport’ page – “Dominant India does it again”, January 21).

It is not just about it being about India or Pakistan.

Rather, it is more about the shining victory of spirit and passion. If you chase your dreams, you can achieve what you want. It is a shame that the near­empty stadium was the only blot on such a magnanimous achievement.

Abdul Jabbar, New Delhi

more letters online: www.hindu.com/opinion/letters/

corrections & clarifications: The Central Committee of the Communist Party of India (Marx­ ist) considered and voted only in favour of the Polit Bureau’s resol­ ution rather than the general secretary Sitaram Yechury’s proposi­ tion on the tactical line that the party must adopt for the 2019 general elections against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). And it was not the draft of the general secretary as mentioned in the Single File, “Left without consensus” ( January 22, 2018).

The U.S. President, Donald Trump was sworn in on January 20, 2017 and not 2016 as mentioned in a report, “U.S. govt. shuts after impasse” ( January 21, 2018).

The Readers’ Editor’s office can be contacted by Telephone: +91-44-28418297/28576300; E-mail:readerseditor@thehindu.co.in A

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THE HINDU

OPED 9

NOIDA/DELHI

TUESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2018

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The perilous march of Hindistan

Payroll reporting works

The project to replace English with Hindi and other Indian languages is reaching an in ection point

The increase in the number of youth on payroll is substantive

of more Hindi newspapers and ma­ gazines in all Central government of­ ces, public sector undertakings, in­ stitutions funded by the government, and private companies engaged in public service. Recommendation No. 107 reads: “In order to end the domi­ nance of English (not its use), such schools should not be given recogni­ tion by the government which do not impart education in Hindi or mother tongue.” So on and so forth.

D. Shyam Babu

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor re­ cently questioned in Lok Sabha the purpose of making Hindi an o cial language at the United Nations. He said: “I understand the Prime Minis­ ter and External A airs Minister can speak in Hindi, but what if a future External A airs Minister comes from Tamil Nadu or West Bengal, who couldn’t speak in the language?”

Last year, Karnataka Chief Minis­ ter Siddaramaiah termed the three­ language policy as “not reasonable.”

He was pleading with the Centre to remove Hindi signage in Bengaluru’s Namma Metro in response to popu­ lar sentiment against Hindi in his State. In e ect, he sought exemption for Karnataka from the three­lan­ guage policy (like Tamil Nadu) but stopped short of demanding a policy change.

Both leaders raised relevant ques­ tions on our language policy, but they should have asked their own party, the Congress, how it created a situation where Hindi is feared to be subsuming many subnational identi­ ties in the country.

The three-language policy In the sixties, when the language pol­ icy ran into rough weather, the three­ language formula was conceptual­ ised as a modus vivendi (an accepta­ ble solution). Parliament passed the O cial Language Resolution in 1968, stipulating that a “modern Indian language, preferably one of the southern languages”, be studied in Hindi­speaking areas (along with Hindi and English) and that Hindi be studied in areas where it is not spo­ ken (along with the regional languag­ es and English).

The three­language policy was meant for the entire country. Howev­ er, the policy took a whole di erent shape as if it was a prescription for non­Hindi­speaking States alone.

While non­Hindi­speaking States (ex­ cept Tamil Nadu) adhered to the three­language policy, Hindi­speak­ ing States took a U­turn: they not on­ ly gave up on teaching a non­Hindi language in their schools but e ec­

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SATWIK GADE

tively delegitimised English.

The mischief of using the three­ language policy to spread only Hindi took place when Congress enjoyed power at the Centre and in most States. Even the move to make Hindi an o cial language at the UN was a recommendation that the Commit­ tee of Parliament on O cial Lan­ guage (CPOL) made in 2011. So, the issues that Mr. Tharoor and Mr. Sid­ daramaiah have raised are the handi­ work of their own party.

Recommendations Though the CPOL was created in 1976 “to review the progress made in the use of Hindi for the o cial pur­ poses... of the Union” and make re­ commendations on the same, its cur­ rent mandate is much more. In fact, the Committee operates not only to promote Hindi everywhere but also banish English from the land. It ap­ pears to believe that Hindi cannot thrive as long as English survives.

In 2011, in its ninth report, the pa­ nel made 117 recommendations and the President approved more than 95% of them. Of the handful of re­ commendations that the President did not accept, two merit attention to understand the wrong direction that the panel is showing to the na­ tion. The rst recommendation per­ tains to adding a column on Hindi uency in the annual con dential re­ port of all employees/o cers. This

obviously targets Central govern­ ment employees in non­Hindi States.

The second is to have only Hindi or one’s mother tongue as the language to be used in Parliament. In fact, the panel is more magnanimous than Ar­ ticle 120(2) of the Constitution. While the Article (in abeyance since 1965) seeks to make Hindi the sole lan­ guage in Parliament, allowing any other language as an exception when a member cannot speak in Hindi, the panel recommendation gives equal space to Hindi and other Indian lan­ guages. It is not clear what the Com­ mittee meant by mother tongue.

Even if it meant languages in the Eighth Schedule (22 and counting), and if this recommendation is ac­ cepted in future, Parliament would become an assembly of tongues.

What of those recommendations has the Centre accepted?

The Committee’s fervour is palpa­ ble in every recommendation, throwing rationality, pragmatism and national interest under the truck. It says that students in colleges and universities in non­Hindi­speak­ ing States will henceforth have the option of taking exams and inter­ views in Hindi. It asks that govern­ ment advertisements in Hindi new­ spapers be of “bigger size” and “at starting pages”, while those in En­ glish newspapers be of “relatively smaller size” and “in middle or end­ ing pages”. It mandates the purchase

Caught in between Broadly, two factors are relevant to our language policy. One, English has become a global language and a certain uency in it is taken as a gi­ ven for mobility as well as for access to global knowledge. Hindi possesses no such advantages. Two, many non­ Hindi Indian languages are older than Hindi and their speakers are justly proud of their rich cultural and literary heritage. They strive to make their respective languages promi­ nent in governance and education, while keeping English for what it is.

These States lack both the desire and the need to learn Hindi.

In any case, it is not apparent how not knowing Hindi renders one less of an Indian, or even less of a Hindu.

As the president of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, Raj Thackeray, said in an interview to The Hindu last year: “There could be Marathi Hindu or Tamil Hindu and so on, but one cannot make blanket imposition of Hindi on the entire country. All Hin­ dus cannot be Hindi.” He likened In­ dia to Europe — a mosaic of cultures, languages and traditions. His stance seems to have found resonance even in a faraway State like Assam.

Non­Hindi States are unlikely to accept the ‘imposition’ of Hindi, even if it comes in a friendly garb and with a smile. Only time will tell if they make a common cause on the issue.

India nds itself sandwiched bet­ ween a relentlessness that assumes semi­religious overtones to banish English and a vehemence with latent subnationalism to reject Hindi. Ironi­ cally, any impassioned deliberation on India’s language policy highlights the centrality of English not only as a link­language but as a glue that binds India together. #4 9 2 3 5 3

D. Shyam Babu is Senior Fellow, Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi. Views are personal

Soumya Kanti Ghosh & Pulak Ghosh

There have been a few issues raised in the public domain, including in this paper (“A misleading story of job creation”, Jan. 22), re­ garding our report, ‘Towards a Payroll Re­ porting in India’. We believe they must be ad­ dressed. This is the rst study to dig out raw data and use big data analytics to construct a payroll report in India. Previous studies used the survey­based method and extrapolation, which is arguably awed.

Disproving claims The rst issue relates to the fact that new re­ gistrations in the age group of 18­25 years with the Employees’ Provident Fund Organ­ isation (EPFO) are not those who have got new jobs but are primarily a byproduct of formalisation initiatives by the forces of de­ monetisation (FY­2017) and the Goods and Services Tax (FY­2018). However, this is merely a claim or a hypothesis that is not substantiated by any data, but has instead been inferred from many surveys during these periods.

First, we considered only those who spec­ i cally joined jobs during that year in the age group of 22­25 years (most jobs in the 18­25 age group are clustered around 22). They are hence strictly rst­time employees. Also, we only considered those rst­time employees who had been making continuous non­zero contributions since their date of joining.

Second, even for the sake of argument, if we assume that these jobs were already there, it means that only people in the age group of 18­25 years lost jobs during demo­ netisation and thereby got formalised and no one else in other age groups lost their jobs.

And if such a hypothesis existed, we were de­ nitely under­reporting payroll in India for both the formal and informal sectors, and that is precisely our bone of contention for creating a better reporting of payroll.

Third, it may be possible that during any year, existing employees who are below 19 years would come newly into the EPF and add to the payroll. However, this is a normal event every year and we believe that this ­ gure is not material on net basis as we have excluded rst payments from those who are 25 years and above and who could have also joined the payroll for the rst time (the num­ ber of such outstanding payrolls is as much as 54.8 lakh).

In a similar vein, it has been pointed out that job losses as a part of GST cannot be captured by EPFO. Again, even if we assume that there have been job losses, we need to mention that our objective is to capture rst­ time payroll reports through EPFO. By de ­ nition, EPFO is not a platform to estimate hy­ pothetical job losses, but new payroll cap­ ture through real­time data analytics. We

Our stock of payroll for March 2017 is 9.2 crore, which is much less than the National Sample Survey Organisation estimates. This means that our estimates were purely con­ servative. Also, the argument that EPFO con­ tributions have jumped many times in FY­2017 and hence create a false narrative is not correct, as this is exactly the point that we are making but for a di erent reason.

There were 10 million EPFO additions under the Amnesty scheme during January and June of 2017 and this has resulted in a surge in EPFO contributions, but we have not ta­ ken this into consideration for our analysis.

Also, we must remember that about 1.5­1.8 million people retire every year, creating va­ cancies for new hires, and hence 7 million is the gross gure. But the fact that there were this number of new employees on payroll stands. Young people are getting jobs and contributing to Employees Provident Fund and Employees’ State Insurance and that is what the data shows. Even though we appre­ ciate the enormity of India’s job challenge, we believe that the debate about jobs should move to adequate reporting, skilling and compensating our labour force. Until our well known labour economists understand this simple logic, they will continue to say that data analytics has gone berserk!

Soumya Kanti Ghosh is Group Chief Economic Advisor, State Bank of India, and Pulak Ghosh is a Professor at IIM Bangalore. Views are personal

FROM

SINGLE FILE

The colour of inequity

ARCHIVES

FIFTY YEARS AGO JANUARY 23, 1968

Bangalore colleges closed: anti-Hindi rioting

The government should rethink its decision to issue orange passports for those requiring emigration checks

Police red several times in the air, burst 200 teargas shells and lathi­charged anti­Hindi stone­throwing student demon­ strators at the University Campus area (Central College) in the heart of the city here [Bangalore] to­day [ January 22]. All the colleges in the jurisdiction of the Bangalore University have been ordered to be closed from January 23 to 27 both days in­ clusive, according to an announcement by the Registrar. The Vice­Chancellor of the University, Dr. V.K. Gokak, charged the police with violating the academic sanctity by entering the campus without his permission and said the police beat up students, the Principal of the Central College, and some mem­ bers of the teaching sta . The police also entered the Geology and Kannada Departments, besides the University Library, where they beat up students reading books. The situation was tense until late this afternoon in the area around the Universi­ ty campus.

Barkha Deva

K.K. MUSTAFAH

CM YK

RESPONSE

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CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

The government announced that citi­ zens whose passports carry the stamp ‘Emigration Check Required’ (ECR) will hold orange passports, while those who don’t require emigration checks will carry dark blue passports. It also introduced another change. Over the past few years, certain sections of women, and children with single parents, have made a strong case against the name of the spouse/father being mentioned in the passport.

In response, the Ministry of External A airs has decided that it will no longer be printing the name of the spouse/ father/legal guardian on the last page of passports. In fact, the last page will be left blank. While the government’s deci­ sion addresses the concerns raised by these women and children, it will have devastating consequences for others.

ECR passport­holders are those who, among other things, have not passed their matriculation examination or are not income tax payees. Data from the Protectorate General of Emigrants shows that a majority are likely to belong to a mi­ nority or marginalised community from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. To prevent the exploitation of such unskilled workers when they are employed in certain parts of the world, an ECR stamp is made on their passports. Now that the last page is going to be left blank, the government, in an appa­ rent attempt to improve e ciency at airports, has decided that it will issue an orange passport for them.

By failing to use technology­led solutions to identify ECR passport­holders quickly, and issuing orange passports only to poor and marginalised migrant workers, the administra­ tion is creating a situation where some citizens will proudly carry the dark blue document while others will carry one that is an evidence of the failure of the state to provide edu­ cation and income opportunities to all. While it is no one’s case that the government intended to create a citizenship document that will visibly identify some as members of eco­ nomically and socially marginalised or minority communi­ ties, unfortunately that’s how it will play out. For, every time the orange passport will be used at airports around the world, it will not only shout out that Indians have reneged on a core promise laid out in the Preamble of the Constitu­ tion — “to secure to all its citizens equality of status and of opportunity” — but will also separate and stigmatise a set of citizens for their poverty.

History is replete with odious instances of countries that have di erentiated between citizens in the past — be it the Judenstempel or the big red “J” that was stamped on pass­ ports held by German Jews in the 1940s, or the Dompas, a pass book that had to be carried by some South Africans to declare their quali cations to seek work in speci c areas.

Each of these serves as a reminder for everything that a de­ mocracy like ours cannot have any space for. Can the world’s largest democracy allow a document, issued in the name of its President, to divide it on the basis of economic or social capital?

would be happy if our celebrated labour eco­ nomists can construct a measure of such thorough use of big data analytics and not speci cally rely on market surveys.

Fourth, it has been also argued that when an employee loses her job, her membership from the EPFO account is not removed auto­ matically and hence the payroll number could be an overestimation. This is a miscon­ strued argument as we have worked strictly with only active EPFO accounts and those who are making continuous contributions since the date of joining till the time we did our analysis. In fact, we adjusted 4.2 crore individuals data from our database: Even a single detail missing for an account meant that the account details were incomplete and hence the account was not considered for our purpose. All those who joined under the Amnesty scheme were not considered. Nor were those who made no contributions. We also divided our data into two subsets of new employees with continuous contributions and old employees for arriving at the FY­17 March stock, and then we worked on the new employees only. All this has been elabo­ rated in our report and it is surprising that this was not read.

A HUNDRED YEARS AGO CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

CONCEPTUAL

ABSTRACT

Chinese wall Finance

This refers to any kind of information barrier erect­ ed between di erent divi­ sions of a nancial institu­ tion or any other conglomerate, to prevent the unethical use of busi­ ness information. A bank division that employs brokers to advise custom­ ers on what stocks to buy, for instance, may be barred from communicat­ ing with another division of the same bank that o ­ ers investment banking services to publicly listed companies. This wall is generally erected to pre­ vent charges of con ict of interest. In some cases, banks may decide to com­ pletely spin­o their va­ rious business divisions in­ to separate legal entities to prevent any malpractice.

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MORE ON THE WEB

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IPL auction 2018: Six uncapped Indian players to keep an eye on http://bit.ly/IPLauctionwatch

Detecting the change, early on How normal cells change into cancerous ones R. Prasad

Researchers from the In­ dian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune, have for the rst time studied the early stages of normal cells transforming into cancer­ ous cells. Using breast epithelial cells (on the sur­ face) grown in 3D cul­ tures, a team led by Mayu­ rika Lahiri also found a particular protein (DNA­ dependent protein kinase, DNA­PK), which normally repairs any damage to cell DNA, playing a central role in the transformation process. The results of the study have been pu­ blished in the Journal of Cell Science.

While cells are conti­ nually exposed to DNA­da­ maging agents, the sur­ veillance system in place in cells checks for any er­ rors on the DNA and im­ mediately repairs them.

But when either one of them gets compromised, the errors on the DNA

tend to accumulate in the genome. After a while, the cells appear abnormal and have most of the characte­ ristics of cancerous cells.

In the study, an alkylat­ ing agent (a drug used in chemotherapy) was used to induce the transforma­ tion of breast epithelial cells into cancerous cells by activating the DNA­PK gene. The activated DNA­ PK was found to disrupt the structure and function of the Golgi, an organelle found in the cell.

“Observing the abnor­ mal Golgi was sheer seren­ dipity.

Cancer­causing agents cause damage to the DNA, which is found inside the nucleus. But in this case, we found the al­ kylating agent to also dis­ rupt the Golgi, which is found outside the nu­ cleus,” says Prof. Lahiri.

As a result of the dis­ ruption of the Golgi mor­ phology, the movement of proteins (tra cking) from the endoplasmic reticu­ lum to the cell membrane

via Golgi was found to be impaired. As a result, the polarity — ability to distin­ guish the top and bottom sides of the epithelial cell — was disrupted and the cells were no longer epith­ elial cells, thus resulting in their transformation to cancerous cells. “Disrup­ tion of polarity is one of the hallmarks of cancer­ ous cells,” she says.

The cells treated with the alkylating agent were found to be forming colo­ nies; the ability of cells to form colonies is one of the important characteristics of transformation.

To con rm that activa­ tion of DNA­PK was caus­ ing the phenomena of transformation, the re­ searchers used a small molecule to inhibit the ac­ tivity of DNA­PK. “The in­ hibitor was able to partial­ ly reverse the polarity disruption and the Golgi regained its normal mor­ phology. But the tra ck­ ing could not be reversed at all,” says Prof. Lahiri.

JANUARY 23, 1918.

New Chief Secretary for Travancore.

The long talked of retirement of Mr. A.J. Vieyra, Chief Secre­ tary to the Travancore Government, seems to be near at hand.

He has, for the present, been given leave for three months and permitted to retire at the expiry of this leave. Mr. R. Mahadeva Iyer, B.A., Dewan Peishkar and District Magistrate of the Qui­ lon division, has been promoted to the place of the Chief Se­ cretary. This action of the government of Mr. Krishnan Nair has given universal satisfaction, for it is considered the crown­ ing reward for valuable and excellent work done for over thir­ ty­four years in the di erent branches of the State service by one of the most able, talented and hard­working o cers of the State.

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DATA POINT

A ND-NDE

https://t.me/EStore33

https://www.estore33.com/

https://t.me/TheHindu_Zone

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10 NEWS

NOIDA/DELHI

THE HINDU

TUESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2018

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FROM PAGE ONE

SC: Loya death will be examined objectively

Congress plays down CPI(M) resolution Says too premature right now to talk about alliances, but senior leader feels Left party is committing ‘historic blunder’

Tough road ahead for Yechury

Sandeep Phukan New Delhi

The Bombay Lawyers’ Asso­ ciation was represented by senior advocate Dushyant Dave.

Senior advocate Indira Jaising was also allowed to le an intervention applica­ tion on behalf of certain so­ cial activists.

“Let us look at the matter with a sense of objectivity.

Of course, it is a serious is­ sue. We have the records be­ fore us. We will also look at records which you say were obtained through RTI, so that we have a consistent statement of what exactly happened. We cannot ana­ lyse merely on the basis of media reports,” Justice Chandrachud observed.

The Bench took excep­ tion to comments made by Mr. Dave about senior advo­ cates Harish Salve and Mu­ kul Rohatgi, appearing for the Maharashtra govern­ ment.

Mr. Dave said Mr. Salve had earlier appeared for BJP president Amit Shah, who was discharged as an ac­ cused in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case. This was the very case Loya was hearing when he died in De­ cember 2014.

“We are looking into the death of a judge. Please do not pass any comments about persons appearing in the matter. To appear for or not, we all do according to our conscience,” Justice Chandrachud said.

The to­and­fro between lawyers on both sides heightened when Mr. Salve requested the court that the records given to lawyers in the case should not be shared outside.

Immediately, Ms. Jaising termed it as an attempt to gag the media. Mr. Dave also joined in to say that “the en­ tire institution is trying to protect one man.”

Mr. Salve explained that two serving judges have made statements, which are part of the records of the case. Discussing these state­ ments in public would “em­ barrass” them. “How can anyone discuss an issue which is sub judice?” Justice Khanwilkar asked. “You cannot stop the nation from

discussing,” Mr. Dave re­ plied. Ms. Jaising said the judges had made their state­ ments as witnesses and there was no bar in a discus­ sion of their statements.

Raised tempers At one point, when Mr. Dave raised his voice, Justice Khanwilkar asked him why he was “provoked.” But Mr. Dave continued to say that “all this is to protect one man and one man only...

Amit Shah.”

“What is this ‘Amit Shah, Amit Shah’? What is this jumping three steps and passing comments about people behind their back just because he is a promi­ nent politician... This is the highest court and you can­ not cast aspersions on peo­ ple who are not represented here,” Mr. Salve shot back at Mr. Dave.

“Let us not cast asper­ sions on people... We will dispassionately go through the documents and with a spirit of co­operation. Only then can we get to the root of the matter,” Justice Chan­ drachud observed.

The hearing also saw a visibly angry Chief Justice Misra chastise Ms. Jaising for “drawing an inference” that the court is set to pass an or­ der to gag the media.

“I am very hurt... Ma­ dam, we did not utter a sin­ gle word, yet you draw your conclusions. I have said the other day. We will never gag the press. You should say sorry,” Chief Justice Misra said, addressing Ms. Jaising, who apologised.

The case was posted for hearing on February 2.

On the run for 10 years, IM co-founder arrested The police said that after the arrest of SIMI chief Safdar Nagori in 2008, Qureshi took the lead and plotted the 2008 Gujarat blasts which left 57 dead and sev­ eral injured.

In July 2006, his name al­ so gured in the investiga­ tion of the Mumbai train blasts.

His involvement is also suspected in the 2001 Guja­ rat case under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, two cases in Karnataka un­ der the Explosive Substanc­ es Act in 2008, and organis­ ing a training camp in Kerala in 2008.

After 2008, Qureshi alleg­ edly moved to Nepal via

Ranchi and Raxaul where he was living till 2015 in the guise of an English teacher at a private school.

Mr. Kushwah said that in Nepal he met a man identi­ ed as Nizam Khan, who was allegedly a SIMI sym­ pathiser, but did not reveal his identity. With Khan’s help, he got a passport in the name of Abdul Rehman as resident of Nepal.

In February 2015, he al­ legedly went to Saudi Arabia and met Bhatkal to discuss their plans. “In Saudi Ara­ bia, he worked as a sales­ man as a cover and met sev­ eral SIMI and IM sympathisers,” the DCP said.

Two States call for SC rethink on Padmaavat On January 18, the Supreme Court stayed attempts by the four States to prohibit the screening of the lm.

This was after Viacom 18, the producers, approached it. The court restrained all the States from passing such prohibitory orders.

The Bench made it clear that “once Parliament has conferred the responsibility and power on a statutory Board and the Board has certi ed the lm, non­exhi­ bition of the lm by States is contrary to statutory provisions.”

Maintaining that States were under a constitutional obligation to maintain law and order, the apex court said this duty also extended to providing police protec­ CM YK

tion to the exhibition of the lm, persons involved with it and the audience.

In their latest plea, the States argued that the Cen­ sor Board did not have the expertise or wherewithal to gauge the security risks and public order situation when it certi ed a lm for public screening.

They contended the States had a right to prevent “breach of peace.” Rajas­ than referred to Section 7 of the Rajasthan Cinemas Reg­ ulation Act of 1952 in this regard.

Padmaavat is based on the historic battle of the 13th century between Maharaja Ratan Singh and his army of Mewar and Sultan Alauddin Khilji of Delhi.

The Congress on Monday played down the CPI(M) adopting a draft political re­ solution ruling out “any elec­ toral alliance or understand­ ing with the Congress”.

Asked if the CPI(M) move is a setback to Opposition unity ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Ma­ nu Singhvi said, “It is not ne­ cessary for us to respond at a stage when they themselves say that they have not taken a nal decision. It will be ta­ ken at the plenary [party congress]. And it is too pre­ mature right now to talk about alliances.”

But former Minister and senior Congress leader K.V. Thomas was blunt in saying that if the CPI(M) did not re­ vise its stand, then it would be committing another “his­ toric blunder”.

Unity message “All the like­minded parties must come together if you want to take on Prime Minis­ ter Narendra Modi and the RSS. We can give a message that we are all united. But if they continue with this poli­ cy [keeping a distance from the Congress], then they

Even a second term is not assured Sobhana K. Nair New Delhi

Unity in disarray: CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury with other Opposition leaders.

would be committing anoth­ er ‘historic blunder’ as in 1996,” Professor Thomas, Lok Sabha member for Er­ nakulam, told The Hindu on the phone.

In 1996, the CPI(M) Cen­ tral Committee did not allow the former West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu to lead the United Front coali­ tion government as Prime Minister.

Admitting that the Con­ gress and the CPI(M) cannot

work together in Kerala where the two parties are bitter political rivals, Profes­ sor Thomas said the “coun­ try as a whole needs a larger message”.

*

SANDEEP SAXENA

The Congress leader said the Left parties were weak outside Kerala and were los­ ing support even in former strongholds such as West Bengal and Tripura. So, he said a tie­up with the Con­ gress would help the Left.

“We can give a message that we are all united for the sake of the country. The Left parties, especially the CPI (M), must think about it and change their position,” he said.

Economic issues He said the two parties were not ideologically very di e­ rent, except on economic is­ sues. “If there are issues, we can settle it like we did dur­ ing the UPA I government,” he said.

‘CPI(M) decision not a surprise’ Bengal Congress leadership says it never expected the Left party to ally with it ground level to take on the Trinamool Congress, and an electoral understanding was forged,” he said.

Special Correspondent Kolkata

The draft resolution of the CPI(M) Central Committee, which negates the possibility of an electoral understand­ ing with the Congress, did not come as a surprise, West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury told The Hindu on Monday.

“After the 2016 Assembly polls in the State, there have been a number of byelec­ tions for which the CPI(M) has unilaterally rejected an electoral understanding by announcing candidates without any consultation with us. This makes it evi­ dent that the CPI(M) would

Modi arrives in Davos for annual WEF

Tipping point Mr. Chowdhury ruled out any formal alliance with the CPI(M) in the upcoming pan­ chayat elections in the State.

Mr. Chowdhury, one of the architects of the “electo­ ral understanding” with Left parties in the 2016 Assembly polls, said the tipping point in the relationship came when CPI(M) general secre­ tary Sitaram Yechury was re­ fused a renomination to the Rajya Sabha with the sup­ port of Congress MLAs from the State.

#4 9 2 3 5 3

Parting ways: A view of the CPI(M) party o ce at Alimuddin street in Kolkata. ASHOKE CHAKRABARTY *

have no truck with Congress in the State post­2016,” Mr. Chowdhury said.

According to the State Congress president, a great deal has changed since the

2016 Assembly polls in West Bengal. “During the 2016 As­ sembly polls, there was huge enthusiasm among suppor­ ters of both the Congress and the Left parties at the

It is going to be an uphill task for CPI(M) general se­ cretary Sitaram Yechury to seek a second term after the party’s Central Committee decided on Sunday to adopt a draft political resolution which he opposed.

The draft proposes a bar on any “understanding” or “alliance” with the Congress and was backed by the Kera­ la faction of the party led by its former general secretary Prakash Karat. The resolu­ tion got 55 votes for and 31 againt.

For now, the Polit Bureau has refused to accept Mr. Ye­ chury’s o er to resign, say­ ing it would be disastrous for party unity. He was told to complete the three months remaining of his term. By the party constitu­ tion, one can be general se­ cretary for three terms of three years each.

Sources close to Mr. Ye­ chury says he now wants to take the battle to the Party Congress scheduled for April, where the nal call on the political line will be taken.

“The political resolution cleared by the Central Com­ mittee will win with a bigger margin in the Party Con­ gress. The call to give Sita­ ram Yechury a second term will be taken up at that time.

If the minority submits to the majority, there will be no problem. If not, it will be di cult for him to lead the party, especially since he does not sincerely believe in its political line,” a Polit Bu­ reau member said.

The 700 delegates to the Party Congress are elected from the States based on the number of members in a State unit and the strength of the movement. West Ben­ gal and Kerala have 175 dele­ gates each. Tripura, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh and Telangana (both togeth­

‘HPCL stake sale just jugglery’ Congress says it’s an attempt to show that govt. is meeting disinvestment target

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Special Correspondent

Davos

New Delhi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday arrived here to attend the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meet where he would share his vision for India’s future engagements with the international community.

Mr. Modi, the rst In­ dian Prime Minister to at­ tend the summit in two de­ cades, would deliver the opening plenary address at the summit on Tuesday.

He would meet Swiss President Alain Berset on Tuesday and host a dinner for global CEOs. He is also scheduled to have a meet­ ing with Swedish Prime Mi­ nister Stefan Lofven.

Days after state­owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) announced that it is acquiring a 51.11% stake of Hindustan Petroleum Cor­ poration Ltd. (HPCL), the Congress said on Monday that the whole exercise was an attempt to show that the Modi government was meet­ ing disinvestment targets.

“This is being done to make the balance sheet of the Government of India be­ fore Budget look all right, that they have increased bor­ rowing. Second, it is done to show that the disinvestment target is met,” Abhishek Ma­ nu Singhvi, party spokes­ man, said.

Listing out the govern­

16), the government’s target­ ed disinvestment proceeds fell short by 40%, it said.

“Now this year, technical­ ly to show that they have done some disinvestment, they have disinvested their shares in HPCL but investing into another public sector unit (PSU). This is the usual Modi government style of jugglery,” the Congress lead­ er said.

The Congress spokesper­ son said the Union govern­ ment was “forcing the ONGC to borrow from the market” only to show that the govern­ ment could manage to keep scal de cit under check.

“According to a Morgan Stanley report, you are likely to have a scal de cit of 3.5% of the GDP overshooting the

Abhishek Manu Singhvi

ment’s own gures, the Con­ gress said that in 2014­15, the Modi­led Central govern­ ment missed its disinvest­ ment target by 44%.

The following year (2015­

Budget estimate of 3.2% and that’s why the government wants to show it is not bor­ rowing,” Mr. Singhvi said.

No bene t to consumers The Congress said the Modi government got a windfall gain of 6 lakh crore from taxes on petroleum products because of low international crude oil prices.

However, it chose not to pass on the bene ts to the consumer.

“As of today, the petrol price in Mumbai is about 84 a litre. We have been saying that petroleum products should be brought under Goods and Service Tax (GST) so that consumers can bene­ t,” said the Congress spo­ kesperson.

EC pulled up for backing simultaneous polls It does not have the mandate to decide on the issue, say members of parliamentary panel Sobhana K Nair New Delhi

At a meeting of a parliamen­ tary committee on Monday, lawmakers questioned the Election Commission about its recent statements endors­ ing simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and the As­ semblies, saying it does not have the mandate to decide the issue.

The Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grie­ vances, Law and Justice dis­ cussed electoral reforms.

Law Secretary Suresh Chan­ dra and a team of Election Commission o cials were present.

“Our parliamentary sys­

tem of governance does not permit simultaneous polls.

What is the guarantee that all the State governments and the Union government elected on the same day will survive for the next ve years,” asked a member who attended the meeting.

Sources said many mem­ bers questioned the recent statement by Central Elec­ tion Commissioner­desig­ nate O.P. Rawat in favour of simultaneous elections. He had said the EC was ready to hold simultaneous elections post­September 2018. “How can they seek simultaneous elections? It is not for them to decide; the call has to be

Busy schedule: Thirteen States will go to the polls in 2018, nine in 2019 and one in 2020. PTI *

taken by Parliament and the Assemblies,” the member said.

There had been simulta­ neous elections until 1967,

but the pattern changed af­ ter the dissolution of some Assemblies through the im­ position of President’s rule under Article 356. Since

then, there have been in­ stances of two general elec­ tions within a year. The next Lok Sabha election is sche­ duled for 2019. In 2018, 13 States will go to the polls, nine in 2019 and one in 2020.

The Law Secretary ex­ plained the steps needed to amend the Constitution to facilitate simultaneous polls.

A constitutional amendment would have to be cleared by both Houses of Parliament followed by rati cation by the Assemblies of half of the States. The other way was for all Assemblies and the Centre to agree to the plan voluntarily.

Sitaram Yechury

er) send close to 60 each.

Delegates from Kerala, Tripura, Bihar, Andhra, and Telangana backed Mr. Ka­ rat’s line, while all but three from West Bengal, all from Maharashtra and Uttarak­ hand, a few from Punjab and half from Tamil Nadu backed Mr. Yechury.

No walkover However, sources close to Mr. Yechury says it will not be a walkover at the Party Congress.

There are is one vacancy in the 91­member Central Committee. At the time of voting, Kashmir State secre­ tary Yousuf Tarigami, Kerala Finance Minister T.M. Isaac Thomas, Maharashtra State secretary Ashok Dhawale and Narasiah Adam and Ra­ miah from Andhra Pradesh were not present. The Ye­ chury camp says the rst three would have voted in favour of the minority reso­ lution.

The question being asked is whether the position that goes against Opposition un­ ity will make things easy for the BJP. “In the recent Gujarat As­ sembly polls, the Congress pursued soft Hindutva.

They may be ghting the BJP electorally, but they are pur­ suing the same neo­liberal policies,” Polit Bureau mem­ ber S. Ramachandran Pillai said. He insists that allying with Congress may give tem­ porary electoral gains but will weaken the left move­ ment in the long­term.

Rahul: Modi hugs only the privileged Special Correspondent New Delhi

Congress president Rahul Gandhi took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi by tweeting that he hugs only privileged persons and not farmers, labourers or jawans.

Mr. Gandhi’s tweet comes barely two days af­ ter Mr. Modi told a TV channel that he is unaware of protocols as a common man and defended his hug­ ging of world leaders.

“He claims he is a com­ mon man, but embraces only the special ones. Privi­ leged. Modiji, what is your compulsion. It’s important that farmers, labourers and jawans are also hugged,” he tweeted.

Aaditya to be in Shiv Sena’s top body Alok Deshpande Mumbai

The Shiv Sena is all set to bring in a major organisa­ tional change as it readies for the national executive meet on Tuesday.

Aaditya Thackeray, Par­ ty chief Uddhav Thacke­ ray’s son and chief of the party’s youth wing Yuva Sena, is to be made a part of the Sena’s highest deci­ sion making council, the Ashtapradhan Mandal (eight­member body).

He would be the party’s face as it plans to expand beyond Maharashtra. He was made the chief of the youth wing a few years ago.

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THE HINDU

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IN BRIEF

Now, Mumbai train blast mystery thickens Delhi police say Abdul Subhan Qureshi, arrested for Gujarat explosions, was involved in the 2006 attack in the metropolis that killed 189 Prime Minister to visit UAE next month NEW DELHI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the United Arab Emirates in February will be a clear sign of bilateral bonhomie, its ambassador, Al Banna, said.

He spoke on Mr. Modi’s visit as he launched a phone app to help Indian visitors to the UAE. ”We will host Prime Minister as the state guest of UAE,” Dr. Al Banna said.

ED files another case against Sandesara NEW DELHI

Based on an FIR by the CBI, the Enforcement Directorate is pursuing another case against Sandesara Group, whose flagship company Sterling Biotech is involved in a loan fraud case, and three senior IRS officials. The charge is that the group acted as a repository of funds for officials.

Justin Trudeau to visit India in February NEW DELHI

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will be in India from February 17 to 23.

Announcing the visit, on the cards for nearly two years, the External Affairs Ministry said it would further cooperation in counterterrorism and bilateral issues.

Space cooperation would be a focus area.

Vijaita Singh New Delhi

The Delhi police have reig­ nited a debate on the actual perpetrators of the 2006 Mumbai train blasts that killed 189 people.

A press release issued by a special cell of the police on Monday said that “on 11 July, 2006, SIMI/IM executed se­ rial blasts in local trains in Mumbai”, contradicting the ndings of the Mumbai pol­ ice and the subsequent con­ viction by a local court.

Seven bombs went o on the suburban trains during peak hours, in one of the biggest terrorist attacks in Indian history. Ten days la­ ter, the Maharashtra Anti­ Terrorism Squad (ATS) ar­ rested 12 people with al­ leged allegiance to the Pakistan­based Lashkar­e­ Taiba. In 2015, they were convicted. Six of them were sentenced to death.

IM group’s claim However, there have occa­ sionally been questions about the claims of ATS and the court conviction. Two Indian Mujahideen opera­ tives — Mohammad Sadiq Is­ rar Sheikh, who was arrest­ ed in 2008 by the Mumbai Crime Branch, and Yasin Bhatkal, who was arrested by the Delhi police in 2013 —

Abdul Subhan Qureshi used to live in this Mira Road building in Mumbai.

have said that the blasts were carried out by their group.

Now adding a new twist and raising more questions about the conviction of the 12 accused, the Delhi police say that Abdul Subhan Qu­ reshi, alias Tauqeer, who is identi ed as one of the founders of the Indian Muja­ hideen and ideologue of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India, was in­ volved in the blasts.

Alleging Qureshi’s hand in a series of bomb blasts from 2006 to 2013, the pol­ ice’s press release said, “On

initial inputs < > Our were credible and had shown links to the Bihar border Retired RAW official

11 July, 2006, SIMI/IM exe­ cuted serial blasts in local trains in Mumbai. Subse­ quently Tauqeer’s [an alias used by Qureshi] name ­ gured in this case and he ed from Mumbai to Karna­ taka. SIMI and IM together wanted to carry out wides­ pread terror activities.”

A retired senior RAW o ­ cial told The Hindu that the agency was always suspi­

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SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

cious of ATS claims. “Our in­ itial inputs were credible and had shown links to the Bihar border. However, the ATS in no time changed the script and came up with this lmi claim,” he said.

Initial cases One of the rst cases in which Qureshi was arrested was in 1988 when he was booked for defacing public property with a poster on Babri Masjid. He then moved to the Delhi head­ quarters of SIMI where he published its monthly ma­ gazine, Islamic Movement.

It’s a multi­State terrorism trail

Wanted by Maharashtra police too

Hemani Bhandari

Gautam S. Mengle

New Delhi

Mumbai

Abdul Subhan Qureshi, al­ leged co­founder of Indian Mujahideen, who was ar­ rested on Saturday, quit a well­paying job in 2001, al­ legedly writing to his em­ ployer that he was resign­ ing to get involved in religious matters — a claim that is yet to be veri ed, sources said.

There was no looking back ever since as his name appeared in several investi­ gations of terror activities.

According to an NIA chargesheet led in 2011, Qureshi and 29 other al­ leged SIMI activists were accused of organising a se­ cret training camp in Waga­ mon of Kerala in December 2007 for three days, where they allegedly taught ring and making of petrol bombs and conducted classes on “Jihad In India”.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) P.S. Kushwah said that owing to his language skills, Qureshi is the suspected signatory of IM threat letters and e­

The Maharashtra Anti­Ter­ rorism Squad will seek cus­ tody of Abdul Subhan Qu­ reshi, alias Taufeeq, arrested in Delhi on Mon­ day, in connection with two cases pending against him with the ATS. Qureshi, who grew up in Pydhonie, had his rst brush with the law here in 1998, when he was booked by the Pydhonie police un­ der the Maharashtra Pre­ vention of Disruptive Activ­ ities Act for associating with members of the Stu­ dents Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). He was con­ victed and ned 2,000.

The Maharashtra ATS booked him in two cases — the rst was registered in 2006, when Qureshi alleg­ edly attended a huge meet­ ing of SIMI members in Ujjain.

The second case was in connection with the bust­ ing of a SIMI module in Pune, where its literature was seized on a large scale in 2008.

Abdul Subhan Qureshi

mails. The police, who called him a ‘Phantom’ of SIMI and IM, said that after SIMI was banned in Sep­ tember 2001, he moved his base to Karnataka where he allegedly met the Bhatkal brothers and later founded the Indian Mujahideen.

A senior police o cer said that Qureshi’s arrest is probably the nal nail in the co n for the Indian Mujahideen’s operations in India.

After graduating in 1995, he bagged a private job in Fort Mumbai. But around 1994, he is suspected to have started attending SIMI meetings.

Less nationalism, more connectivity: ASEAN leader Thailand’s Ambassador Chutintorn Sam Gongsakdi calls for a solution to India’s concerns on the China factor in trade

1 killed in blast at IOC plant in Panipat Press Trust of India

Suhasini Haidar NEW DELHI

Connectivity projects can grow in the region only if there is a “political atmosph­ ere”, and “nationalist rhe­ toric” is reduced, Chutin­ torn Sam Gongsakdi, Thailand’s Ambassador to India and a key o cial con­ vening the ASEAN­India summit this week here, says in reference to the challeng­ es of free trade negotiations, border trade logistics and the infrastructure in the northeastern States.

“Connectivity is impor­ tant, but we are also at a point across the region when nationalism and populism are on the rise. To have con­

nectivity work to its full po­ tential, it is necessary to dial down the nationalistic rhe­ toric,” Mr. Gongsakdi told The Hindu in an interview ahead of the summit, which will see all 10 leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations assemble in Delhi for the 25­year com­ memorative summit on Ja­ nuary 25 and as chief guests of the Republic Day parade.

On Monday, an ASEAN­In­ dia Business and Investment Meet and Expo brought Trade and Economy Minis­ ters along with business de­ legations from ASEAN in­ cluding Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Singapore, Indo­ nesia, Laos, Vietnam, Malay­

However, Mr. Gongsakdi warned that unless India and ASEAN work out their reservations on free trade, including the Regional Com­ prehensive Economic Part­ nership (RCEP) agreement, they would not bene t from the infrastructure.

#4 9 2 3 5 3

Motto is integration: Chutintorn Sam Gongsakdi.

sia, Brunei and the Philip­ pines. Several o cials will travel to Assam and other northeastern States to in­ spect the possibilities for in­ dustry and trade, which would connect to Southeast

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V.V. KRISHNAN

Asia through projects in the pipeline like the India­Myan­ mar­Thailand trilateral high­ way and the Kaladan multi­ modal transport corridor ex­ pected to be completed in the next few years.

Looking at the long term “Building of roads, that just needs engineering and mo­ ney. But the other part, con­ vincing all the parties that there will be more costs is the di cult one. In the end, regional integration and lib­ eralisation can be good for your country, and make the leadership more popular, but people need to have pa­

Indians feel CEOs should be paid less Oxfam survey highlights glaring di erence in earnings; respondents suggest a salary cut of 60% the wealth of India’s richest 1% increased by over 20.9 trillion during 2017 — an amount equivalent to the to­ tal budget of the Central go­ vernment in 2017­18.

Special Correspondent New Delhi

Respondents in India felt that company CEOs should take an average 60% cut in their salaries, according to a new report on income in­ equality, which also showed that a common worker’s per­ ception of a CEO’s salary was far lower than the actual amount.

Oxfam’s report titled ‘Re­ ward Work, Not Wealth’ found that the richest 1% in the world owns more wealth than the whole of the rest of humanity; 82% of all growth in global wealth in the last year went to the top 1%, while the bottom half of the world’s population saw no increase at all.

“Oxfam’s polling in 10 countries, representing one­ quarter of the world’s popu­ lation, shows that the public thinks CEOs should have

their pay cut,” the report said. “Across all countries, respondents think CEOs should on average take a 40% pay cut. In countries like the U.K., U.S. and India, respondents think CEOs should take a 60% pay cut.”

The report also found that while most people in India thought CEOs earned 63 times the salary of an ‘ordin­ ary worker’, and felt that they should earn only 14

times more, the actuality was that CEOs in India earn a shocking 483 times more salary.

The richest 1% in India ac­ counted for 73% of the wealth generated in the country last year, according to the report, which added that the poorer half of the population —about 67 crore people — saw their wealth in­ crease by only 1%.

The survey showed that

Billionaire wealth “Between 2006 and 2015, or­ dinary workers saw their in­ comes rise by an average of just 2% a year, while billio­ naire wealth rose by nearly 13% a year — almost six times faster,” the report said.

It also found that about a third of all billionaire wealth was derived from inheri­ tance. “Over the next 20 years, 500 of the world’s richest people will hand over $2.4 trillion to their heirs — a sum larger than the GDP of India, a country of 1.3 billion people,” the report said.

“In total, Oxfam has cal­ culated that approximately two­thirds of billionaire

wealth is the product of in­ heritance, monopoly and cronyism,” the report added.

“Oxfam’s survey of 10 coun­ tries shows that over half of respondents think that des­ pite hard work, it is di cult or impossible for ordinary people to increase the mo­ ney they have.”

Nearly two­thirds of all respondents felt the gap bet­ ween the rich and the poor needs to be addressed ur­ gently or very urgently — this number was 73% in India.

“In countries like India and the Philippines, at least one in every two workers in the garment sector are paid below the minimum wage,” the report found, adding that this imbalance is even starker for women in the sec­ tor, with 74% of them earn­ ing less than the minimum wage.

(With PTI inputs)

I wanted riot cases revoked, says BJP MP Mohammad Ali Meerut

Sanjeev Baliyan, BJP MP and an accused in the 2013 Mu­ za arnagar riots cases, said on Sunday that he had writ­ ten to the Yogi Adityanath government requesting withdrawal of the cases re­ gistered against BJP leaders.

His claim comes a day af­ ter the government said it had written to the District Magistrate and Senior Supe­ rintendent of Police, Muzaf­ CM YK

farnagar, asking for their opi­ nion on withdrawing the cases in “public interest.”

“The Samajwadi Party booked many innocent peo­ ple during the riots. That is why I wrote to the State Law Minister Brijesh Pathak. I told him that all these cases were fake. I requested a fresh probe because there was hardly any solid evi­ dence in many cases and pe­ ople were booked as part of a political vendetta,” Mr. Ba­

liyan said on Sunday.

“I requested the Law Mi­ nister that if the fresh investi­ gation reveals trumped up charges, then all the cases should be withdrawn,” he said. Mr. Baliyan himself is an accused in two cases of in ammatory speeches and was charged with provoking the violence that killed over 60 people in Muza arnagar and Shamli in August 2013.

Among the leaders booked in the riots cases are

Bijnor MP Bhartendu Singh; Cane Development Minister in the Yogi Adityanath Cabi­ net Suresh Rana; Budhana MLA Umesh Malik; and par­ ty leader Sadhvi Prachi.

Jats’ demand Meanwhile, the Jat commun­ ity and its various khaps too have demanded that the riot cases against its members be withdrawn.

“The riots were orches­ trated to mobilise and com­

munally polarise voters. The announcement that the Yogi government would with­ draw riot cases against its party leaders shows the dou­ ble standards of the present government. Our demand is that if the government plans to rescue its party leaders, then hundreds of Jat youths who are in jail too must get that relief,” said Naresh Ti­ kait, chief of the politically in uential farmers’ body Bharatiya Kisan Union.

tience to see the long­term bene ts,” he said.

India’s worry Over the past few years, the RCEP negotiations have oundered largely over In­ dian concerns on unfettered Chinese entry into Indian markets through free trade with the ASEAN countries.

Countries in the negotia­ tions, which also include Australia, New Zealand, Chi­ na, Japan and South Korea, besides those of ASEAN and India, are now calling for a hard deadline to end talks by the end of 2018.

The failure to forge an agreement could also cost bi­ lateral trade between ASEAN

countries and India, which is at present $76 billion, well short of a projected $200 bil­ lion, and is likely to be a ma­ jor issue for discussion dur­ ing the summit on Thursday.

“We have to nd a solu­ tion to India’s concerns about [the RCEP opening the door for] China trade as well ... we have to stop the lip ser­ vice to ASEAN India ties and actually negotiate this through,” Mr. Gongsakdi said.

Maritime security, terro­ rism and cybersecurity will be highlighted in the joint statement, along with the “3Cs” of commerce, connec­ tivity and culture, o cials said.

Chandigarh

One person was killed and ve others injured in an ex­ plosion on Monday at an In­ dian Oil Corporation Limited plant in Haryana’s Panipat district, the police said. The blast took place in the ‘Naph­ tha Cracker’ plant at 2:30 p.m., they said. “One con­ tractual employee died,” the police said.

Chelameswar calls for free judiciary Staff Reporter New Delhi

Justice J. Chelameswar, who had led three other senior judges against the Chief Justice of India on the issue of allotment of sensitive cases, on Mon­ day called for an indepen­ dent judiciary, saying it was necessary for a liber­ al democracy.

“For the survival of a liberal democracy, an im­ partial and independent judiciary is essential,” he said, at the release of a book Supreme Court of India: The Beginnings, authored by late Prof. Ge­ orge H. Gadbois, Jr. Justice Chelameswar said that for the welfare of the country, a constant examination was re­ quired on how exactly the judiciary was func­ tioning, “what are its achievements, or how to improve the institution.”

He said only 10 crore people were in direct contact with the judici­ ary, of the 1.3 billion pop­ ulation. But the decisions made by the Supreme Court, “some way or the other, touch the lives of the population of this country.”

Justice Chelameswar said that though the back­ log of cases in various courts appeared “almost impossible to clear, a so­ lution must be found.” “A solution must be found if the institution is to re­ main relevant,” he said.

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12 WORLD

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THE HINDU

TUESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2018

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ELSEWHERE

Former Maldives President Congress votes to reopen accuses China of ‘land grab’ the U.S. government ‘Chinese interests are building ports and other infrastructure in 16 leased islets’

Democrats drop objections after reassurance over DACA Associated Press

Agence France-Presse

Kurds invited to Syrian peace congress: Lavrov MOSCOW

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday said they have invited Kurdish representatives to take part in an upcoming Syrian peace congress that will take place in in Sochi next week, despite a Turkish o ensive against Kurdish militia in northern Syria. AFP

Ex-Pak. envoy booked for hate speeches ISLAMABAD

Pakistan’s former envoy to the U.S. Husain Haqqani has been booked for allegedly giving hate speeches and writing books and articles defaming the military and the government. Mr. Haqqani was named in FIRs lodged by three people, accusing him of “maligning” Pakistan, the Dawn News reported. PTI

Seven siblings die in house fire in UAE

Colombo

Exiled Maldives Opposition leader Mohamed Nasheed on Monday accused China of seizing land in the politically­ troubled Indian Ocean archi­ pelago and undermining its sovereignty.

Mr. Nasheed said Chinese interests had leased at least 16 islets among the 1,192 scat­ tered coral islands and were building ports and other in­ frastructure there.

The 50­year­old former President said the increased Chinese presence could threaten the Muslim­majori­ ty nation of 3,40,000 and the wider Indian Ocean re­ gion. During a visit to Colom­ bo, where his Maldivian De­ mocratic Party activists are based, Mr. Nasheed called

the Chinese action a “land grab”.

“This is colonialism and we must not allow it. We want other countries [in the region] to join us and speak the same language [against Chinese expansion]. We are not against any country, not against direct foreign invest­ ment, but we are against re­ linquishing our sovereignty.”

Repaying debts Mr. Nasheed said 80% of the Maldives’ foreign debt was owed to China and the na­ tion could end up handing over more land and infras­ tructure as it may not be able to repay the loans. He was referring to Sri Lanka’s expe­ rience under former Presi­ dent Mahinda Rajapakse who borrowed heavily from

He was Maldives’ rst de­ mocratically elected Presi­ dent in 2008. .

Mohamed Nasheed

China. The new government had to sell projects to repay debts.

Mr. Nasheed, who wants to contest this year’s Presi­ dential election, said he would renegotiate contracts with China if successful. He said the current administra­ tion had entered agreements with China without making them public.

Hopeful of returning Mr. Nasheed was later jailed on terrorism charges he says were politically motivated.

He has lived in exile for two years after Maldives authori­ ties let him travel to London for medical treatment.

The Maldives Constitution bars Mr. Nasheed from being a candidate because of a 2015 criminal conviction.

But he hopes the restriction will be lifted in response to international pressure.

A UN panel has ruled that his imprisonment was illegal and ordered authorities to pay compensation, which the government has refused to do.

Gunmen ‘searched for foreigners’

DUBAI

Seven brothers and sisters, aged between five and 13, died of smoke inhalation in a house fire in the United Arab Emirates on Monday, the police said. The local police chief said investigations were underway and called on residents to install smoke detectors as a safety precaution. AFP

Class 12 student kills Principal in Pakistan PESHAWAR

A Class 12 student on Monday gunned down his school principal over alleged blasphemy in Pakistan’s restive Khyber­Pakhtunkhwa province, the police said.

Sareer Khan was killed by Fahim Ashraf, who was later arrested with a gun, district police chief Zahoor Afridi said. PTI

Kabul attack survivors say militants went from room to room killing people Agence France-Presse Kabul

Taliban militants who killed at least 22 people at a luxury Kabul hotel went from room to room searching for fo­ reigners, the survivors said on Monday as more details of the victims emerged.

Insurgents armed with Ka­ lashnikovs and suicide vests attacked the landmark Inter­ continental Hotel overlook­ ing the Afghan capital late on Saturday in an assault that lasted more than 12 hours and prompted questions ov­ er how the attackers breached security.

Guests hid behind pillars and in rooms as gunmen sprayed bullets and set re

Keeping caution: Afghan security forces guarding the entrance of the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul. REUTERS *

to parts of the six­storey building.

“They were saying, kill the foreigners,” a 20­year­ old hotel employee who gave his name as Hasibullah said from his hospital bed.

He described hiding in a

fth­ oor room and listening as the gunmen went from room to room, forcing doors open “with daggers” and killing those inside.

One other witness claimed he had seen the mil­ itants beheading guests.

The attack ended on Sun­ day with all six militants killed by Afghan forces, aid­ ed by Norwegian troops.

Afghan Health Ministry spokesperson Waheed Maj­ roh said 22 bodies had now been taken to Kabul hospi­ tals. “Some of the bodies [are] burned badly and need DNA tests to be identi ed,” he said.

The Interior Ministry gave a lower toll on Monday, say­ ing 19 people were dead, 14 of them foreigners.

Authorities said they were still investigating how mili­ tants breached security, which was taken over by a private company three weeks ago.

Washington

Congress sped towards reo­ pening the government on Monday, as Senate Demo­ crats dropped their objec­ tions to a temporary funding bill in return for assurances from Republicans leaders that they will soon take up immigration and other con­ tentious issues.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell’s commit­ ment to quickly tackle the is­ sue of immigrant “Dream­ ers” was contingent on Democrats providing enough votes now for a stop­ gap spending measure last­ ing a little less than three weeks. The measure needed 60 votes, and Democrats provided 33 of the 81 it got.

Eighteen senators, including members of both parties, were opposed.

Trump’s sign pending Before the government can reopen, the Senate must vote on nal passage, the House must approve in turn, and President Donald Trump must sign the measure.

Democrats climbed on­ board after two days of ne­ gotiations that ended with new reassurances from Mr. McConnell that the Senate would consider immigration proposals in the coming weeks.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer lent his backing to the agreement during a speech on the chamber’s oor. “Now there is a real pathway to get a bill on the oor and through the Senate,” he said of legisla­ tion to halt any deportation e orts aimed at “Dreamers,” who were brought to the country as children and are now here illegally.

Still hopeful: Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal speaking at a rally in support of Dreamers in Washington.

Earlier on Monday, Mr. McConnell raised hopes for a quick end to the shutdown, saying “I hope and intend” to reach an agreement soon on immigration and other contentious issues if the De­ mocrats agreed to the stop­ gap spending measure last­ ing a little less than three weeks.

A block of liberal Demo­ crats some of them 2020 Presidential hopefuls stuck to their opposition. Senators Elizabeth Warren of Massa­ chusetts, Dianne Feinstein of California, Kirsten Gilli­ brand of New York and Cory Booker of New Jersey voted no, as did Independent Ber­ nie Sanders of Vermont.

‘Not persuaded’ Ms. Feinstein said she wasn’t persuaded by Mr. McCon­ nell’s assurances and did not know how a proposal to pro­ tect the more than 700,000 younger immigrants would fare in the House.

The Senate vote came as most government o ces cut back drastically or even closed on Monday, as the major e ects of the shut­ down were rst being felt with the beginning of the work week.

Mr. McConnell said he

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AP

hoped to reach bipartisan solutions on immigration, border security, disaster aid, military funding and more

by February 8. If not, he said “it would be my intention to take up legislation” address­ ing those issues.

The Senate over the wee­ kend inched closer but ulti­ mately fell short of a deal that could have reopened the government before the beginning of the workweek.

Mr. McConnell and Mr. Schumer said negotiations lasted late into the night.

On Sunday night, Demo­ crats appeared to be holding out for a rmer commitment from Mr. McConnell. “We have yet to reach an agree­ ment on a path forward,” Mr. Schumer said then.

There were hours of be­ hind­the­scenes talks over the weekend between the leaders and rank­and­ le lawmakers over how to end the display of legislative dys­ function, which began at midnight on Friday after De­ mocrats blocked a tempor­ ary spending measure.

Democrats have sought to use the spending bill to win concessions, including pro­ tections for roughly 700,000 younger immigrants.

#4 9 2 3 5 3

‘Trump quotes Modi to support Afghanistan stand’

Jerusalem Embassy to open in 2019 Associated Press

Recalls a statement that the PM had made last year Special Correspondent Washington

U.S. President Donald Trump quotes Prime Minis­ ter Narendra Modi in inter­ nal deliberations to buttress his point that the American strategy in Afghanistan has been a failure, the Washington Post reported.

The Post said Mr. Trump also imitates Mr. Modi’s ac­ cent while quoting him.

“Never has a country gi­ ven so much away for so lit­ tle in return,” Mr. Modi had said of the U.S role in Af­ ghanistan, during his inte­ ractions at the White House last year. The Prime Minister had possibly meant it as an appreciation of the Ameri­ can commitment in Afghan­ istan, but Mr. Trump sees it as an endorsement of his long held position that the U.S has been foolish in stay­ ing on in the trouble­torn country.

After much dithering in

A le photo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and U.S. President Donald Trump. REUTERS *

the initial months, Mr. Trump approved the open­ ended continuation of American troops in Afghan­ istan.

‘No nation building’ The Trump administration, however, says its policy, un­ like the previous Obama ad­ ministration, does not at­ tempt any nation building there.

Since the announcement

of the new South Asia policy

by Mr. Trump, American troop levels have increased in Afghanistan and a newly formed Security Force Assis­ tance Brigade is set to be de­ ployed there soon.

The expanding role of the U.S. military will take it clos­ er to the frontlines and into combat roles. Mr. Trump has also authorized air strikes, which were discontinued earlier.

Jerusalem

U.S. Vice­President Mike Pence on Monday told Is­ rael’s Parliament that the U.S. Embassy will be moved from Tel Aviv to Je­ rusalem by the end of 2019, ahead of schedule, receiv­ ing a rousing ovation as he pledged to barrel ahead with a plan that has set o weeks of unrest and thrown U.S. peace e orts into disarray.

The move, in the rst ev­ er address of a sitting American vice­president to the Israeli Knesset, marked the highlight of Mr. Pence’s three­day visit to Israel.

“Jerusalem is Israel’s capital and as such Presi­ dent [Donald] Trump has directed the State Depart­ ment to immediately begin preparations to move the United States Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusa­ lem,” the Vice­President said adding that the embas­ sy “will open before the end of next year.”

Man who tracked Osama forgotten The doctor is caught in a tangle of mistrust between U.S. and Pakistan cial support entitles it to Pa­ kistan’s support in defeating the Taliban.

As a Presidential candi­ date, Donald Trump pledged to free Dr. Afridi, telling Fox News in April 2016 he would get him out of prison in “two minutes. ... Because we give a lot of aid to Pakistan”.

But Pakistan is resentful of what it sees as the U.S. in­ terference in its a airs.

Associated Press PESHAWAR

Shakil Afridi has been lan­ guishing in jail since 2011 when the Pakistani doctor used a vaccination scam to identify Osama bin Laden’s home, aiding U.S. Navy Seals to track and kill the al­Qaeda leader.

Americans might wonder how Pakistan could impri­ son a man who helped track down the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks.

Pakistanis are apt to ask — how could the U.S. betray its trust and a ect its sovereign­ ty with a secret night­time raid that shamed the military and its intelligence agencies?

“The Shakil Afridi saga is the perfect metaphor for U.S.­Pakistan relations” — a CM YK

Shakil Afridi

growing tangle of mistrust and miscommunication that threatens to jeopardise key e orts against terrorism, said Michael Kugelman, Asia programme deputy director at the Woodrow Wilson Cen­ ter in Washington.

The U.S. believes its nan­

Delayed procedures Dr. Afridi hasn’t seen his la­ wyer since 2012 and his wife and children are his only vis­ itors.

For two years, his le “dis­ appeared,” delaying a court appeal that still hasn’t pro­ ceeded.

The courts now say a pro­

secutor is unavailable, his la­ wyer, Qamar Nadeem Afridi said.

Dr. Afridi used a fake he­ patitis vaccination pro­ gramme to try to get the DNA samples from bin Laden’s fa­ mily as a means of pinpoint­ ing his location.

But he has not been charged in connection with the bin Laden operation.

If charged with treason, which Pakistani authorities say he committed, Dr. Afridi would have the right to pu­ blic hearings and numerous appeals all the way to the Su­ preme Court, where the de­ tails of the bin Laden raid could be laid bare, someth­ ing neither the civilian nor military establishments want, his lawyer said.

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EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

% CHANGE

IMF raises global growth forecast, sees U.S. tax boost Fund sees world economy expanding by 3.9% in 2018 and 2019, spurred by increased investment in the U.S. and a boost to its trading partners Reuters DAVOS, Switzerland

NIFTY 50 PRICE CHANGE

Adani Ports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 438.05. . . . . . . . . 4.60 Ambuja Cements. . . .. . . . . . 268.45. . . . . . . . -0.15 Asian Paints. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 1176.00. . . . . . -13.90 Aurobindo Pharma . . . . . . 640.80. . . . . . . . -2.40 Axis Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 611.55. . . . . . . 21.30 Bajaj Auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3274.50. . . . . . . 64.10 Bajaj Finance . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 1706.35. . . . . . . . . 4.45 Bharti Airtel . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 490.70. . . . . . . . -7.20 Bosch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19981.50. . . . . . . . . 5.35 BPCL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 469.15. . . . . . . . -8.15 Cipla . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 601.15. . . . . . . . -1.60 Coal India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285.05. . . . . . . . . 1.05 Dr Reddys Lab . . . . . . . .. . . . 2496.55. . . . . . . . . 6.20 Eicher Motors. . . . . . . . .. 27649.80. . . -359.65 GAIL (India). . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 457.40. . . . . . -11.35 HCL Tech. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 966.35. . . . . . . . . 8.05 HDFC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1872.00. . . . . . -29.25 HDFC Bank. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1963.35. . . . . . . 11.15 Hero MotoCorp . . . . . .. . . . 3602.95. . . . . . . 13.20 Hindalco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255.10. . . . . . . . -2.90 HPCL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401.80. . . . . . -14.40 Hind Unilever . . . . . . . . .. . . . 1355.10. . . . . . . . -7.35 Indiabulls HFL . . . . . . . .. . . . 1355.15. . . . . . . 53.35 ICICI Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351.50. . . . . . . . -2.10 IndusInd Bank . . . . . . . .. . . . 1683.20. . . . . . . . -0.80 Bharti Infratel . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 343.50. . . . . . . . -2.55 Infosys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1150.00. . . . . . . . . 6.55 Indian OilCorp . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 382.50. . . . . . . . -3.45 ITC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273.65. . . . . . . . -0.90 Kotak Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1074.10. . . . . . . 13.55 L&T . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1398.85. . . . . . . 27.40 Lupin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 930.05. . . . . . . . . 5.95 M&M . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 759.60. . . . . . . . -5.80 Maurti Suzuki . . . . . . . . .. . . . 9310.10. . . . . . -13.85 NTPC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172.40. . . . . . . . -0.35 ONGC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200.70. . . . . . . . . 7.00 PowerGrid Corp . . . . .. . . . . . 195.30. . . . . . . . -0.80 Reliance Ind . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 971.50. . . . . . . 40.20 State Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306.50. . . . . . . . -2.75 Sun Pharma . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 576.15. . . . . . . . . 4.05 Tata Motors . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 421.90. . . . . . . . . 3.85 Tata Steel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 752.20. . . . . . . . -0.80 TCS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3116.40. . . . . 157.10 Tech Mahindra . . . . . . .. . . . . . 569.50. . . . . . . 16.60 UltraTech Cement . .. . . . 4330.00. . . . . . . 30.00 UPL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 813.60. . . . . . . 11.25 Vedanta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326.95. . . . . . . . -4.70 Wipro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321.55. . . . . . . . -7.40 YES Bank. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355.35. . . . . . . . . 6.00 Zee Entertainment . . . . . . 608.85. . . . . . . . . 8.50

EXCHANGE RATES Indicative direct rates in rupees a unit except yen at 4 p.m. on January 22 CURRENCY

TT BUY

TT SELL

US Dollar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 63.67. . . . . . . 63.99 Euro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 78.02. . . . . . . 78.42 British Pound . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 88.54. . . . . . . 88.99 Japanese Yen (100) . .. . 57.52. . . . . . . 57.81 Chinese Yuan . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 9.94. . . . . . . 10.00 Swiss Franc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 66.28. . . . . . . 66.62 Singapore Dollar . . . . . . .. . 48.23. . . . . . . 48.52 Canadian Dollar . . . . . . . . .. . 51.08. . . . . . . 51.34 Malaysian Ringitt . . . . . .. . 16.19. . . . . . . 16.27 Source:Indian Bank

BULLION RATES

CHENNAI

January 22 rates in rupees with previous rates in parentheses Retail Silver (1g) . . . . . . . . . . . 42.01. . . . . (42.00) 22 ct gold (1 g) . .. . . . . . . . . . . 2,878. . . . . (2,876)

The International Monetary Fund on Monday revised up its forecast for world eco­ nomic growth in 2018 and 2019, saying sweeping U.S. tax cuts were likely to boost investment in the world’s lar­ gest economy and help its main trading partners.

However, the IMF, in an update of its World Econom­ ic Outlook, also added that U.S. growth would likely start weakening after 2022 as tem­ porary spending incentives brought about by the tax cuts began to expire.

Strengthen the dollar The tax cuts would likely wi­ den the U.S. current account de cit, strengthen the U.S. dollar and a ect internation­ al investment ows, IMF chief economist Maurice

Obstfeld said.

“Political leaders and poli­ cymakers must stay mindful that the current economic momentum re ects a con­ uence of factors that is un­ likely to last for long,” Mr. Obstfeld told reporters at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

‘Rising federal debt’ He said economic gains from the tax cuts would be partial­ ly paid back later in the form of lower growth as tempor­ ary spending incentives, not­ ably for investment, expired and as rising federal debt took a toll.

IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde pointed to a “troubling” increase in debt levels across many countries and warned poli­ cymakers against compla­ cency, saying now was the

Temporary gains: Dividends will be partially paid back as growth slows once spending incentives expire, says IMF.

*

AP

lead to questions about the debt sustainability of some countries and lead to a dis­ ruptive correction in “elevat­ ed” equity prices.

time to address structural de ciencies in their economies.

Mr. Obstfeld said a sudden rise in interest rates could

Axis Bank pro t rises 25% on lower base Asset quality improves but trading gains slump; says margins have bottomed out SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT Mumbai

Private sector lender Axis Bank reported a 25% year­ on­year growth in net pro t to 726.4 crore in the quarter ended December 31, mainly due to a lower base and re­ duced provisions for bad loans. In the corresponding period of the previous scal, the lender had reported a whopping 73% decline in net pro t to 580 crore due to increased provisioning.

While the bank reported 9% growth in net interest in­ come to 4,732 crore, non­in­ terest income fell 24% to 2,593 crore as trading gains declined to about 200 crore from 1,595 crore.

“In a declining rate envi­ ronment you have a lot more ability to book trading

Lower provisioning: The bank’s provisions for bad loans fell to 2,811 crore, from 3,796 crore a year earlier. REUTERS *

gains,” Jairam Sridharan, CFO, Axis Bank, told The Hindu. “But in Q3 this time, you saw an environment where the g­sec [government security] yields went up by about 70 basis points. This was anticipated,” he added.

The lender reported a bad loan provision of 2,811 crore as compared with 3,796.

‘Slippages to stabilise’ Asset quality improved se­ quentially with fresh slippag­ es falling by about 50%. “We

had, for a few quarters, slip­ pages in the 4,000 crore range,” he said.

“Last quarter, because of the RBI report on diver­ gence, slippages went up to 8,800 crore. We are back to the 4,000 crore to 4,500 crore kind of range. I do not expect an increase in that number going forward,” Mr. Sridharan said.

The gross NPA ratio of the bank at the end of December was 5.28% compared with 5.9% in the previous quarter and 5.22% a year earlier.

The bank’s net interest margin also fell 5 basis points last quarter to 3.38%.

“We are starting to believe that margins have bottomed out. Next quarter [ Jan­Mar], either you should see stabili­ ty or improvement,” he said.

U.S. President Donald Trump signed Republicans’ massive $1.5 trillion tax over­ haul into law in December, cementing the biggest legis­ lative victory of his rst year.

The tax package, the lar­ gest such overhaul since the 1980s, slashed the corporate rate from 35% to 21% and temporarily reduced the tax burden for most individuals as well.

Pointing to growth in the United States and China, the IMF forecast global growth to accelerate to 3.9% for both 2018 and 2019, a 0.2 percen­ tage point increase from its last update in October.

The U.S. economy has been showing steady but un­ derwhelming annual growth since the last recession in 2007­2009. The IMF now ex­ pects it to expand by 2.7% in 2018, much higher than the

2.3% the fund forecast in Oc­ tober. U.S. growth was pro­ jected to slow to 2.5% in 2019, it said.

Euro area, Japan The IMF also revised up its growth forecasts for the euro area, especially for Germany, Italy and the Netherlands “re ecting the stronger mo­ mentum in domestic de­ mand and higher external demand”.

However, it cut its forecast for Spain’s growth for 2018 by 0.1 percentage point, say­ ing political uncertainty linked to the Catalonia re­ gion’s independence push was expected to impact busi­ ness con dence and demand.

The IMF revised up its growth forecast for Japan to 1.2% this year and 0.9% in 2019. It maintained its pro­

jection for Britain’s growth at 1.5% this year.

The IMF maintained its fo­ recast for growth in emerg­ ing markets and developing countries for this year and next. China’s economy was expected to expand 6.6% this year and slow to 6.4% in 2019.

It said growth in the Mid­ dle East, North Africa, Af­ ghanistan and Pakistan was also expected to pick up in 2018 and 2019 but remain subdued at 3.6% this year.

The IMF revised down its growth estimate for South Africa to 0.9% for this year and next amid concerns over political uncertainty.

In Latin America, it said growth would be weighed down by an economic col­ lapse in Venezuela despite a pick­up in economic activity in Brazil and Mexico.

RIL becomes India’s rst rm to cross 6­lakh crore in market cap HDFC Bank is rst lender to cross 5­lakh crore mark Special Correspondent Mumbai

Reliance Industries (RIL) be­ come the rst Indian compa­ ny to cross the 6­lakh crore mark in market capitalisa­ tion as its shares touched a 52­week high of 974.5 fol­ lowing the announcement of robust Q3 pro ts on Friday.

RIL shares rose 4.5% to 971.2 valuing the company at 6,15,150 crore. RIL is owned 40% by its chairman Mukesh Ambani, making him the richest Indian with personal wealth of $40.7 bil­ lion and the 20th richest glo­ bally, according to Bloom­ berg’s billionaire index.

Out of 25 brokerages, 18 have revised their price tar­ get for RIL shares with an av­

REUTERS

22-01-2018

Sensex dddddddddddddddddddddd 35,798 ddddddddddddddd0.81 US Dollar dddddddddddddddddddd 63.87 ddddddddddddd -0.04 Gold ddddddddddddddddddddddddddd 31,075 ddddddddddddddd0.72 Brent oil ddddddddddddddddddddd 68.51 ddddddddddddd -0.33

*

market watch

erage target price of 1,031.

“Energy projects are driv­ ing upside surprises, tele­ com monetisation is acceler­ ating, and capex intensity continues to fall. Oil in a sweet spot, leveraging coun­ ter cyclical downstream in­ vestments, and consolida­ tion in telecom set the stage

for surprises in 2018. Stay overweight,” said Morgan Stanley in a note to clients.

India’s largest software exporter, Tata Consultancy Services follows RIL with market capitalisation of 5,95,946 crore. The market cap of BSE listed rms stood at 1,55,48,572 crore at close of trade on Monday as the Sensex gained 286 points to close at a record high of 35,798.

HDFC Bank become the rst bank to cross market capitalisation of 5 lakh crore on Friday.

The shares, which­ touched a 52­week high of 1,986 on Monday, closed at 1,963.8, valuing the bank at 5,08,648 crore.

#4 9 2 3 5 3

Prabhu urges better India­ASEAN connect

‘Bad loans to rise to 9.5 lakh cr. by March’

Moots value chains in farm, minerals

‘Rising NPAs an opportunity for ARCs’

Special Correspondent

Press Trust of India

New Delhi

New Delhi

Commerce and Industry Mi­ nister Suresh Prabhu on Monday called for greater trade and investment en­ gagement between India and the ten­member ASEAN bloc, especially in agricul­ ture as well as minerals and ocean resources, and sug­ gested the creation of India­ ASEAN regional value chains in these segments.

Speaking at the ASEAN­ India Business and Invest­ ment Meet and Expo, Mr. Prabhu also pitched for ea­ sier movement of profes­ sionals and skilled workers between India and ASEAN countries to boost services trade as well as investment.

The Minister also sought an improvement in India­ ASEAN physical connectivi­

India’s banking sector will be saddled with gross non­ performing assets (GNPAs) worth a staggering 9.5 lakh crore by March­end, rising from 8 lakh crore a year earlier, a report said.

The high level of stressed assets in the banking sys­ tem, however, provide enor­ mous opportunity for asset reconstruction companies (ARCs) which are important stakeholders in the NPA re­ solution process, said the Assocham­Crisil study.

At the same time, it said, the growth of ARCs was ex­ pected to come down signif­ icantly owing to capital con­ straints. “While growth [of ARCs] is expected to fall to around 12% by June 2019, the AUM [assets under man­

Suresh Prabhu

ty through better infrastructure.

Mr. Prabhu added that In­ dia would work closely with ASEAN nations to success­ fully conclude negotiations on the Regional Compre­ hensive Economic Partner­ ship, a proposed mega­Free Trade Agreement between ASEAN and six of its FTA partner nations.

agement] are expected to reach 1 lakh crore, and that is fairly sizable,” said the report.

It said GNPAs would in­ crease to “ 9.5 lakh crore as on March 31, 2018, i.e. about 10.5% of total advances, while stressed assets are ex­ pected to be at 11.5 lakh crore.”

Separately, Minister of State for Finance Shiv Pra­ tap Shukla had said in Par­ liament earlier that GNPAs of banks crossed 8.5 lakh crore at the end of Septem­ ber. The report further said that with banks expected to make higher provisioning over and above the provi­ sions made for stressed as­ sets, they may sell the assets at lower discounts, thus in­ creasing the capital requirement.

WGC mulls global gold kilobars standard LME considering accepting the kilobars of the yellow metal as collateral

Di erent norms: The LME cannot accept gold kilobars as they di er from the London Good Delivery standard bars. REUTERS

er the exchange was consi­ dering accepting kilobars.

ICE declined to comment when asked.

WGC talks on creating a global kilobar standard would aim to include compa­ nies from the world of gold re ning, banks and brokers that trade the precious metal in the futures and physical markets and the LBMA. The LBMA said it was not currently involved in any speci c discussions over the creation of a new standard.

around 400 ounces, as spec­ i ed by the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA).

Independent of the WGC initiative, the LME has been looking at accepting kilobars as collateral for all its con­ tracts which include copper, aluminium and zinc, sources familiar with the matter said.

The council and the LME declined to comment. Inter­ continental Exchange’s ICE

‘For global acceptance’ “The plan is to create a stan­ dard for kilobars that can be adopted around the world, delivered anywhere, possi­ bly using blockchain to iden­ tify the bars, their origins,” a physical gold trading source said. “Rigid standards and blockchain would bring in people who are worried they could be getting con ict me­ tal,” he said.

Reuters London

The World Gold Council (WGC) is studying the crea­ tion of a global standard for gold kilobars so they can be deployed as collateral in fu­ tures markets and potential­ ly encourage demand, sourc­ es close to the matter said.

Kilobars —1 kg gold bars — dominate Asian trade but a lack of transparency about their origin and the absence of a global standard hinders their use on exchanges elsewhere.

Clearing houses, some of which allow bullion to be used as collateral on futures markets, might accept such bars if they all met a set of in­ ternationally recognised criteria.

London Metal Exchange clearing arm LME Clear can­ not accept the kilobars used in Asia because they di er from London Good Delivery standard bars, typically CM YK

*

Clear Europe and CME Group’s U.S.­based clearing house accept bullion as col­ lateral, but only if it con­ forms with LBMA criteria, which typically would rule out bullion traded in Asia.

“We continuously eval­ uate new forms of collateral based on client demand and at this time, we haven’t heard interest from clients,” CME said when asked wheth­

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IN BRIEF

NIIF, DP World to invest $3 bn Alliance to fund sea ports, terminals, logistics; river ports, SEZs too on the cards supply chain to provide cost­ e ective logistics and ware­ housing solutions to India's growing economy and trade,” he added.

Special Correspondent MUMBAI

Skoda eyes 20% sales growth in India this year NEW DELHI

Czech automaker Skoda expects its sales to grow by up to 20% to about 20,000 units in India this year riding on the back of a revamped product portfolio. The company, which ended last year with a sales growth of 30% at about 17,500 units, expects refreshed versions of Rapid, Octavia and Octavia RS to re ect in the current year’s sales, according to Skoda Auto India director, Sales, Service and Marketing, Ashutosh Dixit. PTI

AEON Learning raises $3.2 mn from MEMG

Dubai’s DP World and the National Investment and In­ frastructure Fund (NIIF), a fund­managing entity of the Government of India have set up an investment plat­ form to invest in ports, ter­ minals, transportation and logistics businesses in India.

The platform, which is based on a previous agree­ ment, will invest up to $3 bil­ lion to acquire assets and de­ velop projects in the sector, the entities said in a joint statement.

The investment platform will also look at opportuni­ ties beyond sea ports such as river ports and transporta­ tion, freight corridors, port­ led special economic zones, inland container terminals, and logistics infrastructure

Sharing expertise: DP World will bring cost­e ective logistics and warehousing solutions, says the group’s chairman.

including cold storage.

“DP World has been a part of India’s growth story for nearly two decades,” said Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, group chairman and CEO, DP World. “We believe that our expertise in building best­in­class logistics infras­ tructure, together with the

NIIF’s local knowledge and government partnership is the right combination to take advantage of the signi ­ cant growth opportunities in India,” he added.

“We are proud to partner with NIIF and share our ex­ pertise and experience in these areas and the global

‘Aim to reduce cost’ Commenting on the deve­ lopment Sujoy Bose, CEO, NIIF said, “E cient logistics and cargo movement are critical components for the continued growth and deve­ lopment of the Indian eco­ nomy, particularly [in] ma­ nufacturing.” He said the platform will aim to reduce the cost of moving cargo from and to the ports.

“This is NIIF’s rst invest­ ment and is a good example of how NIIF can work with international capital and ex­ pertise to invest at scale to build critical infrastructure in India,” Mr. Bose said.

Canadian pension fund to buy stake in ReNew Power CPPIB to acquire ADB’s entire 6.3% holding for $144 million Special Correspondent MUMBAI

Canada Pension Plan Invest­ ment Board (CPPIB) has agreed to acquire the Asian Development Bank’s 6.3% stake in Sumant Sinha’s Re­ New Power Ventures Pvt. Ltd. for $144 million.

Once completed, the ADB will make a handsome re­ turn on its $50 million equi­ ty investment made in Re­ New Power in 2014. ReNew Power, which competes with Tata Power Renewable Ener­ gy, has about 2,500 MW of commissioned wind and so­ lar energy assets, with another 1,000 MW under construction or develop­ ment.

“This transaction aligns well with our overall power

Sumant Sinha

and renewables strategy, further diversifying the CPP Fund,” said Scott Lawrence, MD, Head of Fundamental Equities, CPPIB. Power industry growth “India’s overall power indus­ try continues to grow and we see solar and wind as at­

tractive clean energy sourc­ es to meet the country’s growing demand for elec­ tricity.”

On September 30, 2017, CPPIB’s investments in India amounted to C$6.1 billion.

“We are committed to transform our country’s energy portfolio and CPPIB’s investment...will strengthen our resolve. Asian Develop­ ment Bank made an equity investment in ReNew Power during our early days in July 2014 and we are thankful to them for their sustained partnership,” said Mr. Sinha, founder chairman and CEO, ReNew Power.

“We will continue to focus on developing and investing in high­quality projects,” Mr. Sinha added.

BENGALURU

AEON Learning, an education technology rm said it had raised $3.2 million in funding from MEMG Family O ce LLP, a fund set up by Dr. Ranjan Pai, chairman of the Manipal Education and Medical Group. The rm said it would use the funds towards growing its business through university tie­ups and skill programmes. The start­up expects to reach a student base of more than 1 lakh in the next ve years.

HungerBox gets funded; to expand operations BENGALURU

Food­tech start­up HungerBox said it had raised $2.5 million in funding. The investment was led by Lionrock Capital and S. Gopalakrishnan, Infosys co­founder. “The funding.... will boost our ability to scale operations,” said Sandipan Mitra, CEO, HungerBox. The rm said it operates more than 100 cafeterias for more than 75 corporate clients, including Qualcomm, Microsoft and Amazon.

JLR seeks ‘reasonable’ taxes on luxury cars Levies restrict market expansion: Suri

Asian meet to focus on producing greener steel Industry experts to address corrosion, waste utilisation

Press Trust of India New Delhi

Special Correspondent

The government must not impose high taxes on big SUVs and cars just because they are luxury vehicles, said Jaguar Land Rover ( JLR) India president & MD Rohit Suri.

Instead, he added, a rea­ sonable way must be consi­ dered to help expand the market and contribute more in employment creation.

Noting that taxes on luxu­ ry vehicles in India are among the highest in the world, Mr. Suri said this had restricted volume growth thereby preventing compa­ nies from assembling more models here. “After the cess increase, taxes on SUVs have gone up from 43% to

KOLKATA

Rohit Suri

50%. This is one of the high­ est in the world. This kind of... taxation does not allow the market to expand. I hope the government will look into this,” Mr. Suri said.

In September, the Centre had raised cess by 5% on large cars and 7% on SUVs, taking the total incidence of taxation to pre­GST levels.

bourg besides Indian rms.

Making steel a better­looking and a more environment­ friendly product will be among the focus areas at the three­day Asian Steel Confe­ rence starting February 6.

The triennial conference, organised by the Iron and Steel Institute of Japan, The Chinese Society for Metals, The Korean Institute of Me­ tals and Materials and the In­ dian Institute of Metals, is coming to India after 2003, Anand Sen, president TQM and Steel Business, Tata Steel and Chairman, Asian Steel 2018, said.

Tata Steel is the main sponsor of the event, which will be held in Bhubanes­

war. About 70 keynote speakers, half of them from countries such as China, Ko­ rea, Japan, Netherlands, U.K., U.S., Germany, Belgi­ um, Canada are expected to address the meet.

They will represent major producers such as Nippon Steel, POSCO, Bao Steel, SMS Paulwurth Germany/Luxem­

‘Lagging West’ Noting that the Asian steel industry lagged the West in many respects, Mr. Sen said there was a lot of catching up to do. “Steel needs to be­ come better­looking at a low­ er cost, and more environment­friendly.”

“Academics from the Un­ iversity of Cambridge, and Chongqing University, Chi­ na, heads of research labs at Nippon Steel and Sumitomo Metal, Japan and POSCO, Ko­ rea will address issues such as surface treatment and corrosion, steel products and applications and envi­ ronmental engineering and waste utilisation,” he added.

India to see healthy M&A activity, says EY Driven by consolidation, expansion Press Trust of India New Delhi

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in India are expected to continue this year, driven by domestic consolidation, market share expansion and entry into new markets, ac­ cording to a report.

According to EY’s 17th Global Capital Con dence Barometer (India), compa­ nies were embracing the ‘ongoing digital evolution’ and adopting an inorganic route to growth amid a ‘sup­ portive economy and easing credit availability’.

“Despite dynamic global geopolitical conditions, In­ dian corporates are positive on the domestic deal market on the back of a stable eco­ nomy, positive deal market

fundamentals and a promis­ ing deal pipeline,” said Amit Khandelwal, managing partner, Transaction Advi­ sory Services, EY. The year 2017 recorded 1,011 deals with a disclosed deal value of $40,961 million.

‘Focus on reforms’ Mr. Khandelwal noted that the Centre’s focus on re­ forms, along with resilient capital markets and a fa­ vourable credit environ­ ment, should stimulate in­ vestments and encourage rms to actively plan their acquisition strategy.

Indian executives remain positive on M&A prospects with 55% expecting their rms to actively pursue M&A in the next 12 months.

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TUESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2018

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Beleaguered Indians need to regroup for ‘Bull Ring’ battle

‘We had our moments but missed some important ones’ Shastri sees biggest positive in the pacers’ performance

The pace, bounce and seam movement on a green top and the ambience can be unnerving INDIA IN SA S. Dinakar Johannesburg

The South Africans will be moving in for the kill at the ‘Bull Ring’. The hosts’ pace pack has been a predatory force in the series and a green pitch here will make it smell blood.

There is something about the Wanderers, an iconic ground, that thrills the sens­ es. A sense of anticipation, sometimes fear of what might happen, abounds.

For the visiting sides, the atmosphere here can be un­ nerving. The crowd, rooting for the fast bowlers, doesn’t make it any easier. Hence, the name ‘Bull Ring.’

For the batsmen, in partic­ ular, this venue, with its steep steps leading to the pa­ vilion, and lively pitches, re­ presents, both a threat as well as a challenge.

The Indians know what they are up against when the third Test gets underway on Wednesday. There will be pace, bounce and seam movement.

The Indians will also sni at an opportunity for re­ demption of sorts if they are able to nail the chances that come their way. Despite be­ ing competitive, they have not played the key moments of the series well. Otherwise the score­line could have been di erent.

Rain factor Rain could be factor too in the match. Showers have been forecast on all days of the Test but given the nature of the surface – the last two Tests here have ended in

IPL-11 from April 7

Top issue: The opening pair of M. Vijay and K.L. Rahul, which is likely to get another go, needs to stand up to the test and deliver. FILE PHOTO *

three days – a result other than a draw is very much a possibility.

The Indian team had a vi­ brant practice session at the Wanderers. Bowling coach, B. Arun, who has done a fab­ ulous job with the pacemen, had a close look at the seamers.

India might go into the Test with four seamers and

The skipper’s 59-ball 126 is his best in Twenty20s Y.B. Sarangi

New Delhi

KOLKATA

The 11th Indian Premier League will be held from April 7 to May 27, the IPL governing council said on Monday.

Mumbai will host the opening match and the nal of the tournament.

The IPL governing council also decided to shift the start of the matches, which were scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. and 4 p.m. earlier.

“The Broadcasters requested for a change in timings and IPL governing council in principal has accepted it,” IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla said.

Suresh Raina’s blistering un­ beaten 59­ball 126, his best T20 score, took Uttar Pra­ desh to a 75­run victory over Bengal in its opening Group B super league engagement of the Mushtaq Ali T20 tour­ nament at the Eden Gardens here on Monday.

Skipper Raina’s swash­ buckling knock on a batting paradise propelled Uttar Pradesh to 235 for three after electing to bat.

It also boosted his case ahead of some international limited­over assignments

Sachin meets SA-bound Indian women

is likely to pick the best ele­ ven for the conditions.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who could nd telling sideways movement here, is expected to be added to the four seam­ ers who did the job at Centu­ rion — Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bum­ rah and Pandya.

The Indian pace attack has been buzzing in this se­

Raina powers UP to victory

Press Trust of India

Matches at 5.30 & 7 The 8 p.m. game will now start at 7 p.m. and the 4 p.m. match at 5.30 p.m. There will be an overlap on double­ header days.

Kings XI Punjab will play four of its home games in Mohali and three in Indore.

The home matches of Rajasthan Royals will be decided after the Rajasthan HC’s hearing on January 24.

pace­bowling all­rounder Hardik Pandya. For the rst time, India could enter a ve­ day tussle with ve pacemen and no spinner.

That would be hard on R. Ashwin, who bowled his heart out in the second Test at Centurion and has batted better than some of the spe­ cialists in this series. But then, the team­management

and the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Uttar Pradesh relied on Kuldeep Yadav’s excellent four­wicket haul and sensa­ tional display of catching by its eldsmen to wrap up the hosts’ innings for 160.

Raina made light of the early loss of Samarth Singh (0) and Shivam Chaudhary (8) to launch a spellbinding assault on the owlers, who su ered because of their choice of line and length and gifted the left­hander a

MUSHTAQ ALI T20 much­needed con dence­ building performance.

The 31­year­old began his onslaught by clubbing two fours and as many sixes on the leg­side in seamer Mu­ kesh Kumar’s second over.

Pulls, icks and straight­ batted shots on the onside dominated Raina’s 13 hits to the fence and seven over it as he reached his half­century o 22 balls and century o 49. He reached his fourth T20 hundred placing Sayan Ghosh to square­leg for a sin­ gle in the 18th over.

“It’s about your atti­ tude and the process,” said Raina, looking for­ ward to important up­ coming events.

Raina stitched a 163­ ball partnership in 13.2 overs with right­hander Akshdeep Nath, who daz­ zled with seven cleanly­ hit fours and four sixes in his 43­ball 80.

Uttar Pradesh, which ag­ gregated 106 for two in 10 ov­ ers, recorded the highest ev­ er total in the tournament.

Thanks to Shreevats Gos­ wami’s daring 28­ball 57, containing seven fours and three sixes, Bengal put up some ght before losing the plot due to Kuldeep’s intelli­ gent bowling.

The chinaman bowler picked up three wickets, in­ cluding two in a row, in his

third over and Bengal’s 11th to de ate the chase.

Samarth took two extraor­ dinary catches on the ropes to remove Goswami and Pra­ mod Chandila, while Sarfa­ raz Khan pouched Anustup Majumder at cover. Later, Kuldeep scalped Sudip Chatterjee.

Punjab rode on useful contributions from opener Manan Vohra (42, 31b) and Yuvraj Singh (40, 34b) and Gurkeeerat Mann (43, 18b) to chase down 199 set by Mumbai.

The scores: Group A: Mumbai 198 for four in 20 overs (Shreyas Iyer 79 n.o., Akhil Herwadkar 42, Mayank Markande two for 32) lost to Punjab 199 for seven in 19.2 overs (Gurkeerat Mann 43, Manan Vohra 42, Yuvraj Singh 40, Shivam Dube three for 27).

Jharkhand 157 for ve in 20 overs (Virat Singh 43, Ishan Kishan 39, Shahbaz Nadeem 27, Aditya Garhwal two for 15, Dee­ pak Chahar two for 35) lost to Rajasthan 158 for six in 19.1 ov­ ers (Aditya Garhwal 43, Salman Khan 34, Varun Aaron two for 24, Jaskaran Singh two for 42).

Group B: Uttar Pradesh 235 for three in 20 overs (Suresh Raina 126 n.o., Akshdeep Nath 80) bt Bengal 160 in 16.1 overs (Shree­ vats Goswami 57, Sudip Chat­ terjee 36, Kuldeep Yadav four for 26, Mohsin Khan three for 35).

Baroda 140 for eight in 20 overs (Kedar Devdhar 77, Sub­ odh Bhati four for 20) lost to Delhi 143 for eight in 19.1 overs (Dhruv Shorey 74, Lukman Me­ riwala four for 24).

Mumbai

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Captain’s knock: Raina’s swashbuckling knock on a batting paradise propelled UP.

#4 9 2 3 5 3

Johannesburg

The Indian team has been under re in the series and coach Ravi Shastri was typi­ cally combative with his res­ ponse during an interaction with the media here on Monday.

He said India would need to change the way it pre­ pares for important overseas tours. “I am sure, in the fu­ ture, when itineraries are made, preparation will be ta­ ken into account, there is ab­ solutely no doubt about that. You have to get there a couple of weeks earlier and prepare.”

Asked about the contro­ versies regarding the selec­ tion of the eleven in this se­ ries, he observed, “If Ajinkya [Rahane] had played rst, and not done well, you would have asked me the same question, why Rohit [Sharma] hasn’t played. Ro­ hit played, he didn’t do well, you are asking me why Ajin­ kya didn’t play. The same thing with the pacemen.”

Queried about India mak­ ing too many changes, Shas­ tri responded, “Chopping and changing overseas is ea­ sier. In India, you don’t need to chop and change because you know what the condi­ tions are. Overseas, you go on current form and you go on conditions and you see which player can adapt to certain conditions quicker than the other.”

On India’s performance in the rst two Tests, Shastri said, “We did have our mo­ ments in both Tests and we looked like the No. 1 team when we bowled out South Africa for 130 at Newlands, or when we closed the gap at Centurion, thanks to Virat’s

Ravi Shastri.

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PTI

brilliant innings and had them two­down with just around 30 ahead. Not many teams look half that when they come to India. We fought back, did well, but missed some important moments.”

Shastri said the way the Indian pacemen have red in the series has been the biggest positive for him.

“I would rather focus on the 20 wickets we have ta­ ken. That gave us a chance to win in both Tests. If our top order can re, it will be a good Test here.”

Special Correspondent Johannesburg

South African seam bowler Vernon Philander, who destroyed India in the rst Test at Newlands, said here on Monday, “There are no dead rubber games and we are well prepared and keen to win the third Test.”

My rhythm is good: Kuldeep

*

FILE PHOTO

Y.B. Sarangi KOLKATA

Chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav is eager to show his prowess when India switch­ es to the blues after the Test series in South Africa.

After taking four wickets for Uttar Pradesh in the Mushtaq Ali T20 super league match against Bengal at the Eden Gardens here on Monday, Kuldeep spoke about his game. Excerpts: Importance of this tour­ nament: Every match here is important. The team needs you and it is a matter of pride to play for the State, which has given you eve­ rything. So I came to play. It also gives you good match practice as you get to play against big players.

Preparation for South Africa: So far it has been good. I have played the full

Kuldeep Yadav. *

FILE PHOTO

T20 season (Syed Mushtaq Ali). My rhythm is good.

Hopefully, I will be able to continue bowling well there.

Eden is like home: It has been ve years with Kolkata Knight Riders. It is like fami­ ly and this is like a home

ground for me. I know the angles from where to bowl and am well­versed with the pitch. There is no pressure here. This has been a lucky ground for me.

Fightbacks while bow­ ling: You will leak runs in T20 cricket. T20 is all about how many wickets you take.

Wickets help the team.

When there is a score of 230­ plus on the board, you know the opposition will go for it. I always look to take wickets that’s my style. If I look to restrict runs, I may end up conceding more.

Looking tter: When you are playing for India you have to be t. Also, if you want to survive for a long time, tness is very impor­ tant. I have been working a lot on my tness for the last two years. Hopefully, I will become tter by the day.

Thakur hopes to adapt well He has joined the squad with a positive mindset Amol Karhadkar MUMBAI

He may not be tall like a ma­ jority of genuine fast bow­ lers. Still, Shardul Thakur is one of the few express pac­ ers in India.

Despite having nally earned the India cap — dur­ ing the ODI series in Sri Lan­ ka last year — Thakur refers to the year gone by as a ‘mixed bag’. The Mumbai bowler hopes he can start o 2018 by creating an impact during the limited­over se­ ries in South Africa.

“I hope I can contribute to the team’s cause whenev­ er I get an opportunity,” the 26­year old Thakur told The Hindu after Mumbai’s West Zone T20 campaign in Raj­ kot last week.

It may be noted that Tha­ kur was asked to join the Test squad as a back­up bow­ ler for the third Test.

For more than six months now, ever since he reco­ vered from an ankle injury he developed early in 2017, Thakur has been dealing with the challenges of being

Shardul Thakur.

*

FILE PHOTO

on the fringes of the Indian team. It deprived him of game­time; he had to hop between the Indian team and the domestic arena.

How does he deal with it?

“Mentally, it was quite challenging because you are not sure about your place.

Sometimes you are in the team but you don’t know whether you are playing a game for India. Sometimes there’s even a gap of a month. It’s not easy to go back to domestic [cricket] and perform right away. It takes a bit of time to get the match­rhythm back. On

Dwelling on Cheteshwar Pujara’s run outs in both in­ nings of the second Test, Shastri said, “It hurts a lot.

As it is, the conditions are very tough, and on top of that, if someone gets run out, then you feel bad. They are schoolboy errors and have to be recti ed. In tough conditions like these where there is not much di erence between the two teams, you cannot a ord to give away wickets like that. The boys have been told that.”

Talking about the grass on the Wanderers pitch, Shastri noted, “Well, there is grass on the track and you expect that overseas. We are not here to moan about the tracks because the pitch is the same for both sides. We are not here to complain.”

About India asking the cu­ rator to roll the practice pitches on Monday, Shastri said, “They were damp. I thought they might have wa­ tered it last night, it was a lit­ tle spongy and two­paced.

By rolling it, we wanted it to be a little harder.”

No dead-rubber games: Philander

Spinner eager to impress in the shorter formats in SA

Special Correspondent

Sachin Tendulkar had a one­hour interactive ses­ sion with the South Africa­ bound Indian women’s team, led by Mithali Raj, here on Monday at the MCA’s BKC facility.

The team will leave for South Africa on Wednes­ day morning to play an One­Day International and Twenty20 series that will be part of the ICC Women’s League.

According to a BCCI o ­ cial, Tendulkar elded questions from the team members.

ries. It is batting that has let the side down.

The top­order has not been able to keep the South African fast bowlers at bay and the middle­order, save skipper Virat Kohli, has been porous.

Under the circumstances, it is likely that vice­captain Ajinkya Rahane will come in for Rohit Sharma, who, des­ pite loads of runs in India, has failed to make a di e­ rence in these conditions.

The indications are that Parthiv Patel, whose ’keep­ ing left a lot to be desired in the second Test, may retain his spot in the eleven. The catches put down by him hurt India at Centurion.

Dinesh Karthik, own in as injury replacement for Wriddhiman Saha, appears keen and hungry, but may have to wait before he gets a look­in in Tests.

The opening pair of M. Vi­ jay and K.L. Rahul, that has such an important role to play on seaming tracks, could receive another go.

The value of someone like Vijay, given his ability to pick the line, leave deliveries out­ side o and cope with the bounce, is immense.

Kohli did have a long con­ versation with Vijay during the nets.

Vijay could do so much better than what his num­ bers show in this series. He has to be patient, wear down attacks and put away the loose deliveries.

The Indians need to enter the match with a positive mindset. This might be a dead­rubber match, but then, every Test at the ‘Bull Ring’ is an occasion in itself.

Special Correspondent

those parameters, it was dif­ cult to manage myself this year.”

But he seems to have fared well, despite injuring his shoulder during Mum­ bai’s last Ranji league game against Tripura while at­ tempting a catch.

Mumbai’s quarter nal ex­ it gave Thakur enough time to regain tness and get into the best frame of mind for the challenges in the rain­ bow nation.

The Indian team may not be in an ideal frame of mind, but Thakur has joined the squad with a positive mind­ set. Thakur is hoping to ex­ ploit the pace­friendly con­ ditions, even with the white­ball.

“The home team will al­ ways have an advantage.

They are aware about how the pitch behaves. The chal­ lenge for us is to adapt in those situations. Skill­wise I think everyone has it. But, it’s about how con dently you go out there and execute your skills in a match. I hope we can deliver consistently.”

Talking about the green surface at the Wanderers, Philander said, “It looks like the normal Wanderers pitch with pace and bounce.”

Philander, whose contributions with the bat have been valuable on occasions, said, “I consider myself an all­ rounder.”

Anand takes on Carlsen Sports Bureau WIJK AAN ZEE

Viswanathan Anand will clash with Magnus Carlsen in their much­awaited clash in the ninth round of Tata Steel chess tourna­ ment here on Tuesday.

When the action res­ umes after Monday’s rest day, Anand will sit behind the white pieces against the World champion who caught up with Anish Giri and Shakhriyar Mamedya­ rov in the lead after two successive victories, with white.

In the three rounds bet­ ween the two rest days, Anand’s form slumped as he could collect only two draws on either side of a loss to Vladimir Kramnik.

On the other hand, Carlsen scored two wins and a draw.

On Sunday, Carlsen was very fortunate to win after blundering away a bishop against England’s Gawain Jones.

With Carlsen riding his luck, and looking to avenge the loss su ered to Anand in the recent World rapid championship, their clash promises to be an exciting one.

B. Adhiban plays a strug­ gling second seed Fabiano Caruana.

Messi, Suarez run riot Agencies Madrid

Barcelona rode further away from its crumbling tit­ le rival on Sunday as Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez scored twice each in a 5­0 thrashing of Real Betis which opened up an 11­ point gap at the top of the La Liga standings.

A strike from Ivan Rakit­ ic broke the home side’s re­ sistance in the 58th minute and top­scorer Messi and the in­form Suarez took turns in adding to the scor­ ing to cap a sixth successive league win for Ernesto Val­ verde’s imperious team.

The result: Real Betis 0 lost to Barcelona 5 (Rakitic 59, Messi 64, 80, Suarez 69, 90).

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TV PICKS U­19 WC: Quarterfinals: STAR Sports 1 (SD & HD), 3 a.m.

Australian Open: Sony TEN 2, Sony Six (SD & HD), 5.30 a.m. & 1.30 p.m.

Tri­series: Bangladesh vs Zi­ mbabwe, SS Select 2 (SD & HD), 11.30 a.m.

Syed Mushtaq Ali T20: Ut­ tar Pradesh vs Tamil Nadu; Delhi vs Bengal, STAR Sports 1 (SD & HD), 2.30 & 6.30 p.m.

IN BRIEF

Harmanpreet inks CEAT bat deal NEW DELHI

Harmanpreet Kaur, who guided India to the final of the ICC World Cup 2017, became the first woman cricketer from the country to sign a bat endorsement deal with CEAT, on Monday.

Harmanpreet, who signed a two­year deal with CEAT, joins the likes of Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane and Ishan Kishan. PTI

Renne upsets Yana Quali er Renne Singla defeated second seed Yana Dhammija in the girls’ rst round of the IIFL Wealth Asian u­14 tennis tournament at the DLTA Complex here on Monday.

Renne led 6­1, 3­1 when Ya­ na retired.

New Delhi:

Other results ( rst round): Boys: Vishesh Patel bt Sivasa­ my Nathin Ram 6­0, 6­0; Ma­ nas Dhamne bt Shine Tokas 6­0, 6­1; Aman Dahiya bt Aa­ rav Hada (Nep) 6­1, 6­0; Ar­ jun Gohad bt Hasith Srujan Gummuluru 6­1, 6­1; Omaansh Choudhary bt Vishal Prakash 6­1, 6­1; Jasmeet Du­ han bt Samprit Sharma 6­2, 6­0; Harsh Fogaat bt Lakshya Chugh 2­6, 7­5, 6­3; Sukh­ preet Singh Jhoje bt Sidd­ harth Reddy Vaada (USA) 6­3, 6­4; Garv Bahl bt Dhananjay Athreya 7­5, 6­2; Brendan Hendrata (Ina) bt Krishang Raghuvanshi 6­4, 7­6(0); Aayush Bhat (USA) bt Rushi­ kesh Sunkara 6­1, 7­5; Ved Kulkarni bt Rohan Gandhi Su­ rapaneni 6­2, 6­0; Aryan Giri (Nep) bt Rohan Patel 6­1, 6­0; Chirag Duhan bt Agriya Yadav 6­2, 6­1.

Girls: Sanjana Sirimalla bt Ananya Manchanda 6­0, 6­1; Tishya Khandelwal bt Pimma­ da Lim (Tha) 6­0, 6­1; Ria Washimkar bt Rayana Shah (Nep) 6­3, 6­3; Veda Raju Pra­ purna bt Pari Singh 6­4, 6­3; Vaishnavi Adkar bt Chandril Srinivasan 6­2, 6­1; Kanishka Shree bt Sharvani Shrestha (Nep) 6­2, 6­3; Jannat Kaur Anand bt Saumya Ronde 6­4, 7­5; Radhika Rajesh Mahajan bt Hetvee Chaudhari 6­2, 6­1; Saloni Tamang (Nep) bt Rosh­ ni Ghosal 6­4, 6­3; Shruti Ah­ lawat bt Kumkum Neela 6­1, 6­0; Aarni Reddy Yellu bt Malishka Kuramu 7­5, 6­3; Sai Bhoyar bt Harsshali Mandav­ kar 6­7(5), 6­4, 6­0; Shruuthi Khanna bt Isha Shree Shah (Nep) 6­2, 6­1; Pavitra Parikh bt Mahi Tyagi 6­2, 6­1; Ridhi Choudhary Poka bt Shubhan­ gee Laxmi Shah (Nep) 6­2, 6­2.

Still a lot left in the tank: Sardar ‘I have a lot of experience; if I can take care of my body’s recovery, I can go longer’ Stan Rayan KOCHI

Sardar Singh is probably closely following Roger Fe­ derer’s progress at the Aus­ tralian Open tennis these days. Despite being 36, the Swiss great continues to in­ spire the former Indian hockey captain as he looks to extend his international career.

Sardar, now 31, feels that he has a few more years of hockey in him, but despite being one of the country’s few world­class players in the last six or seven years, he needs to frequently keep convincing the men who matter that he is still a force to reckon with.

The seasoned mid elder did not nd a place in the In­ dian team for the Hockey World League Final in Bhu­ baneswar in December and also was ignored for the four­nation tournament cur­ rently on in New Zealand.

However, Sardar is not perturbed. In fact, he does not even see the New Zea­ land miss as a case of being dropped but as an oppor­ tunity to try out youngsters.

“With the Common­ wealth Games, Asian Games, Champions Trophy, Asian Champions Trophy and the World Cup all lined up, this is a very busy year.

So, we are trying out many

Paprika wins HYDERABAD: Paprika (Akshay Kumar astride) won the RCTC Plate Division I, the main event of the Hyderabad races at Malakpet on Monday. Trained by L.V.R. Deshmukh, the winner is owned

by M/s. Zaveri Stud Farm Private Limited represented by Mr. Champaklal Zaveri, Mrs. Bindu C. Zaveri, Miss Niti N. Desai and Miss Harsha N. Desai.

Jockey Akshay Kumar and Trainer Faizal Hasan scored a treble each.

NORTHERN DANCER PLATE (D. I), (1200 m), Cat. II, maiden 3­ y­o only (Terms): SUPER DART (Deep Shanker) 1, Wings of Eagles (Imran Chisty) 2, Long Range (An­ eel) 3, Surprise Gift (Nakhat Singh) 4. 5­3/4, 1­3/4, 1­1/2. 1m 12.60s. 8 (w), 6, 7, 23 (p), SHP: 19, FP: 36, Q: 26, Tanala: 724. Fa­ vourite: Super Dart. Owner: Mr. S. Pathy. Trainer: Laxman Singh.

STARRY SCENE PLATE (D. I), (1100 m), Cat. II, 5­y­o & over, rated 42 to 62: ROYAL DYNAMITE (Akshay Kumar) 1, Dream Girl (N. Rawal) 2, Palisades Park (Arshad Alam) 3, Negress Pearl (Deepak Singh) 4. Not run: Amazing Venus. 1, nk., 2­3/4. 1m 06.16s.

22 (w), 8, 10, 8 (p), SHP: 23, FP: 113, Q: 43, Tanala: 310. Favourite: Dream Girl. Owner: Mrs. Junaid Ali Khan. Trainer: Faisal. Hassan.

NORTHERN DANCER PLATE (D. II), (1200 m), Cat. II, maiden 3­y­o only (Terms): EXCLUSIVE SHANGHAI (Imran Chisty) 1, Rapid Fire (Akshay Ku­ mar) 2, Alexanderthegreat (Neeraj Rawal) 3, Secretary (G. Naresh) 4. Not run: Running Fire, The Special One. S hd., 2­3/4,1/4.

1m 14.04s. 55 (w), 9, 7, 5 (p), SHP. 16, FP: 394, Q: 129, Tanala: 598. Favourite: Alexander­ thegreat. Owners: M/s. G. Narasa Reddy & Sardar Jivtesh Singh.

Trainer: Arjun Anne.

R.C.T.C. PLATE (D. I), (1200 m), Cat. II, 4­y­o & over, rated 58 to 78: PAPRIKA (Akshay Ku­ mar) 1, Kalinda (Deepak Singh) 2, Green Image (B. Dileep) 3, Vallee Sceptre (Kuldeep Singh) 4. 3­1/2, 3/4, 1/2. 1m 12.26s. 33 (w), 12, 30, 15 (p), SHP: 147, FP: 892, Q: 504, Tanala: 12891. Favourite: Vallee Sceptre. Owner: M/s. Zaveri Stud

1

2 Young at heart: Olympian Sardar Singh feels today’s sport is all about tness.

new players,” said Sardar in a chat with The Hindu after opening the Maharaja Agra­ sen Sports Meet in Kochi.

If there was any disap­ pointment, he masked it nicely saying, “these tourna­ ments are not really impor­ tant. I’ve been playing con­ tinuously for the last 12 years, I’ve got almost 300 In­ dia caps. So, when you play for that long, rest is very im­ portant…I have to work har­ der on my tness for the big ones.”

The talk running around is that despite his skill and experience, Sardar has been dropped as there is a push for faster legs in the Indian

team, that his leg speed is not enough for the fast­ paced world of modern hockey.

Sardar, who is still a na­ tional camper, takes it very positively.

“When people tell you so­ mething, that’s good, that’s what I like… I can improve on that, try to get faster,” said Sardar who led the In­ dian team to gold at the las Asian Games in Incheon in 2014.

Incidentally, he was also India’s youngest­ever cap­ tain when he led the team at the Azlan Shah Cup in Ma­ laysia in 2008. He was 21 then.

*

STAN RAYAN

So, how long does he think he can go on…does he see himself playing at 35?

“It’s really hard because in modern hockey, everyth­ ing depends on your tness.

But if you see Teun de Nooij­ er, one of Holland’s nest players who retired about a year ago, and Australia great Jamie Dwyer, they played till about 35­36, so it’s up to you.”

“I have a lot of expe­ rience, if I can take care of my body’s recovery, I can go longer.

“Age does not matter, you look at Roger Federer …to­ day sport is all about t­ ness.”

Kerala enters nal round

3

4

Farm Private Limited represented

by Mr. Champaklal Zaveri, Mrs. Bindu C. Zaveri, Miss Niti N. Desai & Miss Harsha N. Desai. Trainer: L.V.R. Deshmukh.

FALAKNUMA PLATE (1100 m), Cat. III, 4­y­o & over, rated 26 to 46: VALLEE BLOOMER (Deep Shanker) 1, Exclusive Symbol (G. Naresh) 2, Lord Gift (Imran Chisty) 3, Soaring Sensex (Akshay Kumar) 4. 1, 1­1/4, 1/2. 1m 06.53s.

215 (w), 34, 18, 11 (p), SHP: 56, FP: 4863, Q: 1864, Tanala: 104592. Favourite: Apowerx.

Owners: M/s. V. Narendar Reddy & Gurpal Singh. Trainer: Faisal Hassan.

R.C.T.C. PLATE (D. II), (1200 m), Cat. II, 4­y­o & over, rated 58 to 78: DANCING LEAF (Arshad Alam) 1, Pentagon (Koushik) 2, Ar­ agonda Princess (Kuldeep Singh) 3, Commanding Boy (Kunal Bunde) 4. 2­1/2, 1/2, 1. 1m 11.59s.

33 (w), 9, 7, 7 (p), SHP: 19, FP: 114, Q: 52, Tanala: 532. Favourite: Pentagon. Owners: M/s. M. Rama Krishna Reddy & R. Vinayak Reddy. Trainer: L. D`Silva.

STARRY SCENE PLATE (D. II), (1100 m), Cat. II, 5­y­o & over, rated 42 to 62: PLATINUM (Akshay Kumar) 1, Undu Undu Undu (An­ eel) 2, Symbol of Gold (Imran Chisty) 3, Cash Landing (Gopal Singh) 4. 2, hd., 1/2. 1m 05.68s.

18 (w), 7, 10, 14 (p), SHP: 30, FP: 183, Q: 109, Tanala: 1364. Favour­ ite: Mahathi. Owners: M/s. K. Ra­ makrishna, K. Mallikarjuna Rao, Mirza Ayub Baig & Mohammed Rashed Ali Khan. Trainer: Faisal Hassan.

COMMAND LAND PLATE (1400 m), Cat. III, 5­y­o & over, rated upto 30: CHARLIE BROWN (N. Rawal) 1, Good Taste (P. Ajeeth Kumar) 2, Mountain of Light (N.S. Parmar) 3, Carnival Express (A.A. Vikrant) 4. Not run: Invasion. 1, 1, nk.. 1m 28.56s . 74 (w), 20, 12, 40 (p), SHP: 34, FP: 1324, Q: 455, Tanala: 14548. Favourite: Brioni.

Owners: M/s. Harinath Reddy Teegala & Amarnath Reddy Tee­ gala. Trainer: K.S.V. Prasad Raju.

Treble (i): 413 (122 tkts.), (ii): 11385 (four tkts.), (iii): 3839 (36 tkts.).

Consolation: 39129 (four tkts.).

Jackpot: 365209 (carried over).

5

6

7

8

Wellington

Bengaluru

Colin Munro ensured New Zealand continued a stellar home summer on Monday when it thrashed Pakistan by seven wickets with 25 balls to spare in the opening T20I match here.

Munro was left unbeaten on 49, when a wide by Hasan Ali in the 16th over allowed New Zealand to pass its 105­ run target.

It kept New Zealand unde­ feated after 13 matches across all three formats in­ cluding ve one­dayers against Pakistan and a series of Tests, ODIs and Twen­ ty20s against the West Indies.

Munro and Tom Bruce

#4 9 2 3 5 3

Safe hands: Tamil Nadu custodian M. Manikandan pulled o a number of ne saves, including this one from Kerala’s Sajith Poulose. SUDHAKARA JAIN *

the Kerala coach, Satheevan Balan, afterwards. “Our line­ up was not defensive. We created chances but we mis­ sed them. De nitely there was some tension towards

the end. Except our defen­ ders all our players looked shaky today. Our wingers failed; our strikers and cen­ tral mid elders were not up to the mark either.”

Siddharth wins maiden international title Press Trust of India Uppsala (Sweden)

Siddharth Pratap Singh se­ cured his maiden interna­ tional title, bagging the Swedish Open Junior Inter­ national Series badminton with a straight­game victo­ ry over Denmark’s Mads Christophersen in the nal here.

Playing his rst career ­ nal, Siddharth defeated Christophersen 21­15 21­11 in a 33­minute match to claim the men’s singles title on Sunday.

Ashwin Achal Bengaluru

R. Umadevi Nagaraj defeated Karnataka Statemate M. Chi­ tra 76­51, 77­23, 31­76, 76­65 in the nal to emerge as the senior National women’s bil­ liards champion, at KSBA here on Monday.

This is Umadevi’s sixth se­ nior National billiards title.

Umadevi, 52, battled fatigue to get the job done. “I was not able to play my game in the third frame. I was too

tired, possibly because of my age. I was also nervous, which led me to miss many easy shots,” Umadevi said.

The results: Women’s billiards: Final: R. Umadevi Nagaraj (Kar) bt M. Chitra (Kar) 76­51, 77­23, 31­76, 76­65.

Third­place playo : Keerath Bhandaal (Del) bt Varshaa San­ jeev (Kar) 14­51, 50­19, 50­31.

Men’s snooker: Group stage: Pankaj Advani (PSPB) bt Vishal Gundrecha (Guj) 73­7, 36­66, 61­18, 118­0; E. Pandurangaiah

Man of the moment: Colin Munro steered New Zealand to victory over Pakistan with a timely knock. AFP *

(26) set up the New Zealand victory with a 49­run stand for the third wicket after the hosts wobbled at the start of

the modest run chase.

After a cautious start to their partnership, Munro and Bruce took 11 runs o

Munro’s 43­ball innings in­ cluded three fours and two sixes and he was left a frus­ trating one­run short of be­ ing only the third player be­ hind Brendon McCullum and Chris Gayle to score four consecutive half­centuries in T20 cricket.

The scores: Pakistan 105 in 19.4 overs (Babar Azam 41, Seth Rance three for 26, Tim South­ ee three for 13) lost to New Zealand 106 for three in 15.5 overs (C. Munro 49 n.o., Tom Bruce 26).

Good day for Asab

Umadevi triumphs

G.P. SAMPATH KUMAR

Other result: $15,000 ITF men, Anning, China: Dou­ bles: (pre­quarter nals): Ar­ jun Kadhe & Lakshit Sood bt Yu Hsiang Chiu (Tpe) & Lii Yuanfeng (Chn) 6­2, 6­3.

the ninth over and 12 o the 10th and they coasted from there. Following Bruce’s dis­ missal, Ross Taylor part­ nered Munro through to the end with a rapid 22 o 13 deliveries.

Agence France-Presse

*

ANNING (CHINA)

Manish Sureshkumar beat Bruno Mardones of Spain 6­3, 6­3 to move into the pre­quarter nals of the $15,000 ITF Futures tennis tournament on Monday.

Asian junior champion Nitin Kumar Sinha did well to qualify for the main draw, winning three rounds.

The Kiwis are undefeated in 13 games across all formats in the home summer

Shreedutta Chidananda

Umadevi

SPORTS BUREAU

New Zealand’s stellar run continues

SANTOSH TROPHY

Kerala booked its spot in the nal round of the Santosh Trophy with a goalless draw against Tamil Nadu at the Football Stadium here on Monday.

Kerala needed only a point from the nal South Zone quali er to nish on top of Group B (on goal di e­ rence) and it accomplished the task, even if a little un­ convincingly. With the clock ticking down, Tamil Nadu — needing a win to advance — looked increasingly bold, but there was no breakthrough.

“I’m not happy; I’m not disappointed either,” said

Manish advances

(Rlys) bt K.S. Naveen Kumar (Kar) 76­10, 78­27, 69­14.

Dharminder Lilly (Pun) bt Sunil Kumar (HP) 35­46, 61­0, 53­23, 69­25; Dhruv Sitwala (PSPB) bt G. Prabhu (TN) 68­ 38, 31­70, 75­36, 71­31; Lucky Vatnani (Tel) beat I.H. Manudev (Odi) 94­25, 98­26, 59­20; Digvijay Kadian (Har) bt Dhvaj Haria (PSPB) 107­9, 61­28, 28­ 67, 67­49; Lalrina Renthlei (Miz) bt Rishabh Jain (Del) 61­ 33, 74­30, 74­24; Siddharth Pa­ rikh (Rlys) bt Abhijeet Ranade (Mah) 67­02, 82­15, 69­41.

Tops in both the matches in double trap Special Correspondent NEW DELHI

Mohd. Asab topped in both the matches in double trap with scores of 139 and 137 in the shooting National selec­ tion trials at the Dr. Karni Singh Range.

Sanjay Rathore and An­ kur Mittal took turns to take the second position, while the young Shardul Vihan

managed to reach the third spot ahead of many good shooters in both the matches.

In women’s double trap, Shreyasi Singh topped both the trials and was followed

by Varsha Varman and Sha­ gun Chowdhary both the times.

The results: Men: Double trap­2: 1. Mohd.

Asab 139; 2. Sanjay Rathore 138; 3. Shardul Vihan 135.

Double trap­1: 1. Mohd. Asab 137; 2. Ankur Mittal 135; 3.

Shardul Vihan 133.

Women: Double trap­2: 1. Shreyasi Singh 91; 2. Varsha Varman 86; 3. Shagun Chowdhary 85.

Double trap­1: 1. Shreyasi Singh 91; 2. Varsha Varman 87; 3.

Shagun Chowdhary 81.

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

THE HINDU CROSSWORD 12221

(set by Gridman)

12 Animal doesn't complete dash (4)

4 He has depressant drug — without an iota of doubt (5)

13 Brother's old mantra to x witchcraft (10)

6 Catches section put up by section (5)

15 Oddball German withholding one small key (6)

7 Clearly stated: withdrawal involves one employed in corporation (8)

17 Bombard old newspaper from Mumbai (5) 20 Freight vehicle to leave (5)

11 Sailor snatches fty away from fat person (6)

24 I'm one with ad­man in cooking up a Net identi cation string (6,4)

14 Swimming pool keeps order under cover (4)

29 Sel sh trait of learner leaving troubled Limoges (6)

■ ACROSS 1 Head of visitors gets Indian potato dish that is very spicy (8) 5 Mark rebel leader in small wood (6) 9 Cowardly disavowal involving soldiers (8) 10 Lout put out last of grass for foremost of marine shells (6)

CM YK

FAITH

Bhakti is realisation

8 Karnataka chap holds essentially brazen and reckless person (8)

21 Pawn's planted in central body (6)

27 If one's in __, one is queued up (4)

SUDOKU

16 Try to manage holding copper — it will be fruitful! (6) 17 Painter ignores basically crass foolish talk (4)

30 With this, we can do what we like (4,4)

18 Fast runners get Secret Service to detain Chennai's top milk producer (8)

31 Small tract in case (6)

19 Bloomer from priggish girl (8)

32 Son's making quick trips, buying things (8)

22 Almost huge relative gets one swimming dress (6)

■ DOWN

23 Travel sickness brings black girl back (3,3)

1 Grieve madly one's discarded rule of church official (6)

25 Small picture mother picked out from principal group (5)

2 Cretan's distillation of juice (6)

26 Pack up hard for parade (5)

3 Old French painter rises brie y (4)

28 Ooze style at rst, then go up (4)

Solution to puzzle 12220

Solution to yesterday’s Sudoku

Sage Suka’s narrative on Ambarisha’s faithful observance of Ekadasi Vrata and Puja throws light on many subtle aspects of bhakti bhava, pointed out Sri Muralidhara Swamigal in a discourse. The vrata entails fasting on Ekadasi day and is n­ ished the next day by taking food before Dwadasi elapses.

Once, the king decides to observe the Ekadasi vrata on the banks of the Yamuna, along with his entourage. The fast is duly observed and on Dwadasi morning, the abhisheka to the Lord’s Sudarshana chakra that the Lord had given him on an earlier occasion is performed. This is followed by serv­ ing food to all to mark the completion of the vow.

When the king is about to break his fast, Sage Durvasa vi­ sits him. The king considers this his fortune and the sage too gladly accepts his hospitality and goes for his ablutions. But now Ambarisha faces a dilemma. Should he complete the vrata on time since this is crucial for the vow or wait for the sage?

After much thought, he takes a sip of water in lieu of com­ pleting the vrata. This act enrages the sage who creates a bhuta to attack the king. The king feels apologetic that his act has thus angered the sage and stands with folded palms, willing to face the consequences. But the Sudarshana chakra rises in the king’s defence and destroys the bhuta; it then starts to attack the sage.

It is ironical that the sage, who is supposed to be endowed with atma jnana, runs from pillar to post to save himself, while Ambarisha, entitled to kingship and other bhogas, does not worry when his life is in danger, revealing the ma­ turity level of his realised state. Ambarisha is pained when the sage tries to fall at his feet to save him from the chakra.

Such is his humble devotion to the Lord and His devotees.

A

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THE HINDU

SPORT 17

NOIDA/DELHI

TUESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2018

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Chung sends ‘idol’ Djokovic crashing Business as usual for Federer as he sets up a quarter nal meeting with Berdych

Punjab packs o Uttarakhand

Agence France-Presse Melbourne

Injured 12­time Grand Slam winner Novak Djokovic was sent tumbling out of the Aus­ tralian Open by Korean giant­killer Hyeon Chung on Monday, but ice­cool Roger Federer roared into the quarter nals.

The Serb, who was return­ ing from six months out with a right elbow injury, was clearly in pain as his hopes of a seventh Melbourne Park title were extinguished on Rod Laver Arena 7­6(4), 7­5, 7­6(3).

He was keen not to take away from bespectacled Chung’s huge achievement after the 21­year­old followed up his win over fourth seed Alexander Zverev in the last round.

“Congratulations. Amaz­ ing,” said Djokovic.

Injury trouble Djokovic said the injuries started troubling him at the end of the rst set and a deci­ sion on where he goes from here would be made after talking with his medical team.

Chung’s reward is a last­ eight clash with unheralded American Tennys Sandgren, who upset Austrian fth seed Dominic Thiem 6­2, 4­6, 7­6 (4), 6­7(7).

The Korean, ranked 58, described Djokovic as “my idol”.

“I can’t believe this, dream’s come true tonight.”

Sandgren was also in a daze, becoming just the se­ cond man in the last 20 years since Frenchman Nicolas Es­ cude to make the quarter ­ nals on his Australian Open

Keenly fought: The Punjab­Uttarakhand contest was a lively a air which the former won. K.V. SRINIVASAN *

S. Prasanna Venkatesan CHENNAI

Punjab dethroned Uttarak­ hand 70­68 (17­13, 11­16, 18­ 20, 24­19) in the quarter ­ nals of the senior National basketball championship at the Nehru indoor stadium here on Monday. Jagdeep Singh top­scored with 16 points.

Punjab secured 13 points from turnovers compared with its opponent’s 10.

While the former managed 20 fast break points, Utta­ rakhand scored 14. It also had 21 bench points as op­ posed to just two for its op­ ponent. Uttarakhand, ho­ wever, had the most second­chance points (16) over Punjab (8).

Uttarakhand led for most part of the close contest.

Railways defeated Rajas­ than 103­79 (17­18, 29­32, 26­ 18, 31­11) to qualify for the semi nals. Services beat Karnataka 90­70 (17­19, 25­ 17, 27­20, 21­14) to book a last­four berth too.

Giant­killer: Hyeon Chung shocked a battle­weary Novak Djokovic in straight sets to reach the last eight. AFP *

debut. For a composed Fe­ derer, it was business as normal.

The Swiss defending champion swatted aside one­ time training partner Marton Fucsovics 6­4, 7­6(3), 6­2 to make the last eight for an in­ credible 14th time.

World No. 1 Simona Halep eased into the last eight,

beating unseeded Naomi Osaka of Japan 6­3, 6­2.

Bopanna and Roger-Vasselin out Rohan Bopanna and partner Edouard Roger­Vasselin suf­ fered a major blow as they went down 4­6, 7­6(5), 3­6 to Mate Pavic and Oliver Ma­ rach in the third round.

THE RESULTS Fourth round: Men: 19­Tomas Berdych (Cze) bt 25­Fabio Fog­ nini (Ita) 6­1, 6­4, 6­4; 2­Roger Federer (Sui) bt Marton Fucsov­ ics (Hun) 6­4, 7­6(3), 6­2; Ten­ nys Sandgren (USA) bt 5­Do­ minic Thiem (Aut) 6­2, 4­6, 7­6(4), 6­7(7), 6­3; Hyeon Chung (Kor) bt 14­Novak Djo­ kovic (Srb) 7­6(4), 7­5, 7­6(3).

Women: 17­Madison Keys (USA) bt 8­Caroline Garcia (Fra) 6­3, 6­2; 21­Angelique Kerber (Ger) bt Su­wei Hsieh(Tpe) 4­6, 7­5,

6­2; 1­Simona Halep (Rom) bt Naomi Osaka (Jpn) 6­3, 6­2; 6­ Karolina Pliskova (Cze) bt 20­ Barbora Strycova (Cze) 6­7(5), 6­3, 6­2.

Doubles: Third round: Men: 7­ Oliver Marach (Aut) & Mate Pavic (Cro) bt 10­Rohan Bopan­ na & Edouard Roger­Vasselin (Fra) 6­4, 6­7(5), 3­6; 1­Lukasz Kubot (Pol) & Marcelo Melo (Bra) bt 16­Divij Sharan & Ra­ jeev Ram (USA) 6­3, 6­7(4), 4­6.

Kerala keeps winning In the women’s category, defending champion Kerala continued its winning run beating Delhi 63­42. The in­ form Jeena top­scored with 21 points.

Host Tamil Nadu lost 64­

96 (19­14, 15­28, 18­29, 12­25) to Railways. Shruti Menon top­scored with 26 points for Railways while Pushpa got the most points (16) for Tamil Nadu.

Srividya had been the top­scorer with 17 points when Tamil Nadu beat West Bengal 84­50 in the pre­ quarter nal earlier in the day.

The results: Men: Quarter nals: Tamil Na­ du 97 (Harish 24) bt Chandi­ garh 43 (Amit 10); Railways 103 (Palpreet Singh 33) bt Ra­ jasthan 79 (Sharad Dadhich 21); Punjab 70 (Jagdeep Singh 16) bt Uttarakhand 68 (Yad­ winder Singh 22); Services 90 (Jairam Jaat 23) bt Karnataka 70 (Arvind 29); Pre­quarter ­ nals: Services 87 (Isaac Tho­ mas 18) bt Gujarat 59 (Kasi Ranjan 14); Chandigarh 83 (Ra­ vi Bhardwaj 24) bt Kerala 70 (Akhil 15).

Women: Quarter nals: Kerala 63 (Jeena 21) bt Delhi 42 (Ras­ preet Sindhu 24); Chhattisgarh 90 (Anju Lakra 26) bt Maha­ rashtra 61 (Carina Menezes 18); Karnataka 78 (Priyanka 22) bt Uttar Pradesh 63 (Vaishnavi Yadav 35); Railways 96 (Shruti Menon 26) bt Tamil Nadu 64 (Pushpa 16); Pre­quarter ­ nals: Tamil Nadu 84 (Srividya 17) bt West Bengal 50 (Suku­ moni 10); Uttar Pradesh 69 (Preeti Kumar 15) bt Telangana 54 (Manasa 15).

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TUESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2018

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