#ˆ ˆˆ $$% - dailypioneer.com · (Gorakhnath) temple. “No matter how much you try, this alliance is not going to break. The alliance will go a long way. We have not forged this

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Upset at the drubbing in theLok Sabha polls with the

non-transfer of the SamajwadiParty votes in favour of herparty candidates contestingunder the banner of the grandalliance in Uttar Pradesh,Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)chief Mayawati hinted at goingit alone in the future.

During a review meeting ofthe UP unit in New Delhi onMonday, Mayawati asked partyoffice bearers, MLAs andnewly-elected MPs to get readyclaiming that the BSP wouldfight all 11 Assembly bypolls inUttar Pradesh.

Bypolls to these Assemblyseats are due as nine BJP MLAsalong with one each from theBSP and the SP won the LokSabha elections.

Mayawati reportedly toldthe party cadre that the BSPwon 10 seats in UP due to itstraditional vote bank and thevotes of the Samajwadi Partycould not get transferred totheir candidates. She stressedthat the party would have tostrengthen its own organisa-tional structure and not dependon other parties to win votes.She also stressed on the need toincrease the participation ofmembers of other backwardclasses in the organisation.

Interestingly, SP chiefAkhilesh Yadav on Mondaymorning shared the dais withSangeeta Azad, Lalganj BSPMP, in Azamgarh to thankvoters for backing the alliance.

While showing displeasure

at the non-transfer of SP votes,Mayawati did not blameAkhilesh for it, but sourcesmaintained that the BSP chiefheld the Congress and Shiv PalSingh Yadav-led PragatisheelSamajwadi Party Lohia (PSPL)responsible for the poor per-formance of the alliance.

Although Mayawati didn’tdirectly talk about the future ofthe alliance, she asked theparty workers to adopt a “waitand watch” policy till the fam-ily dispute in the SP is over,according to BSP sources.

“Neither did she criticisethe SP or Akhilesh, nor did shesay that the alliance was over,”

the source said.When asked about

Mayawati’s comments, SPSpokesperson RajendraChaudhry told PTI, “We willwait to know about officialstand of the BSP on alliance’sperformance in the Lok Sabhaelections, after that we willdecide what we have to do.”

Mayawati cited “poor per-formance” of its alliances invarious States during theAssembly and Lok Sabha elec-tions to emphasise that the BSPwill have to strengthen its ownorganisational structure andnot depend on other parties towin votes in the Assembly

bypolls.Her comments assume sig-

nificance as the BSP does notusually contest bypolls.

At the time of stitching upan alliance with BSP, Akhileshhad said the alliance would lasttill UP Chief Minister YogiAdityanath was sent back toGorakhpur as mahant of(Gorakhnath) temple.

“No matter how much youtry, this alliance is not going tobreak. The alliance will go along way. We have not forgedthis alliance only to oust PrimeMinister Narendra Modi fromthe Centre... We will not keepquiet until he and his disciple

Yogi are unseated from power,”Akhilesh had said.

Mayawati also pressed forthe need to increase theinvolvement of members ofother backward classes in theparty organisation by revivingdistrict-level committees.

Meanwhile, with fissuresappearing in the SP-BSPalliance, Uttar Pradesh DeputyChief Minister Dinesh Sharmaon Monday said the “gath-bandhan” is “taking its lastbreath, and is on ventilator”.

“Thanks to the develop-mental works of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andUP Chief Minister YogiAdityanath, people have brokenthe barriers of caste and reli-gion. The gathbandhan is todaytaking its last breath, and is onventilator,” he told PTI.

He added, “Alliances ofopposing ideologies are neversuccessful — be it the SP-Congress or the BSP-Congress.All experiments to forge caste-based alliances in UttarPradesh have proved to be afailure. People across the coun-try have accepted Modiji’s‘sabka saath, sabka vikaas,sabka vishwaas’ and outrightrejected such caste-basedalliances.

“The alliances which areformed or forged on the basisof caste or religion eventuallylose their existence. In UP,there was an unnatural andopportunistic alliance, it wasshattered by the caste-less(jaati-viheen) work of the BJPwhose mantra is ‘sabka saath,sabka vikaas, sabka vishwaas’.”

�� )31�*3�4"

In an eerie coincidence, anAN-32 plane of the IAF went

missing on Monday, exactly tenyears after an accident involv-ing an aircraft of the samemake in the same region, in thesame month, and ironically,with the same death toll.

The AN-32 plane wentmissing near Mechuka inArunachal Pradesh with 13people, including eight crewmembers, on board. A massivesearch and rescue operation ison to locate the aircraft fearedto have crashed.

Incidentally, an AN-32 air-craft had crashed in June 2009after taking off from Mechukakilling all 13 on board. AnotherAN-32 with 29 on board hadgone missing over the Bay ofBengal while it was on its wayto Port Blair from Chennai in2016 and is yet to be traced.

In the latest mishap, the ill-fated aircraft, popularly knownas workhorse of the IAF, tookoff from Jorhat in Assam forMechuka advanced landingground with eight crew mem-bers and five passengers around12.25 pm. The plane was last inradio touch and on radar till 1pm and then went missing. Theflying time between Jorhat andMechuka is about 50 minutesand the distance, as the crowflies, is nearly 206 km.

After the plane failed toland at Mechuka, the IAFlaunched a search operationdeploying SU-30 fighter jets forradar mapping of the terrainand C-310 J transport planesbesides MI-17 helicopters. Thelocal Army units were alsopressed into service to trace themissing plane, sources saidhere. Defence Minister Rajnath

tweeted about the incident andprayed for safety of the pas-sengers. Following someground reports about sightingof the wreckage, helicopterswere diverted for search, butthere was no success, officialssaid adding the search opera-tions with the help of the Armywill continue during the nightalso.

The Mechuka AdvanceLanding Ground is located inMechuka Valley in West SiangDistrict of Arunachal Pradesh.The landing strip is strategicallylocated near the Line of ActualControl (LAC) facing China.The AN-32 planes provide themuch needed logistical supportto the troops located on theLAC due to paucity of roadconnectivity. Besides Mechuka,there are seven more advancedlanding grounds in ArunachalPradesh, where the AN-32sand helicopters can land to sus-tain the troops.

The terrain under the flightroute of the AN-32 is moun-tainous and thickly forested.The landing and take-offapproaches to Mechuka areextremely difficult. Coupledwith erratic weather, the regionis among the most inhospitablefor air transport especially dur-ing this time of the year due toheavy clouds.

The An-32 is a Soviet-designed twin engine turbo-prop transport aircraft usedextensively by the Indian AirForce since induction in 1984.At present, the IAF has more

than 100 AN-32s and it ferriespeople and air-drop supplies.At least ten planes have metwith mishaps since induction.

The medium transporterAN-32 is the workhorse of theIAF and its fleet is in theprocess of being upgraded toextend their service life. In2009, India finalised a majorupgrade and life extension planfor the entire fleet under a $400million deal with Ukrainewhich would extend their lifeto 40 years. So far 46 aircrafthave been upgraded of which40 were done in Ukraine. Therest are being upgraded inIndia.

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With Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal

announcing free ride forwomen in Delhi Metro and theDelhi Transport Corporation(DTC) buses, the tug of warbetween the CentralGovernment and the DelhiGovernment has begun.

Moreover, the Delhi Metroauthorities are not on the samepage as they feel the Delhi CM’sproposal is not financiallyviable and is also difficult toimplement. The Fare FixationCommittee of the UnionHousing and Urban AffairsMinistry is the competent bodyto take any decision in thisregard.

The Delhi Government onMonday proposed a plan to

allow free travel for female pas-sengers in the metro and theDTC buses. However, the movehas been labeled as a mere pollagenda. The Opposition criti-cised the move as “populist”and aimed to “mislead” peopleahead of Assembly polls dueearly next year.

Kejriwal on Monday askedthe DMRC and DTC to draft aplan within a week to imple-ment the scheme by next 2-3months.

“The Delhi Governmenthas 50 per cent share in DelhiMetro... The scheme is neitherpossible nor can be imple-

mented in such a short time asmaking the public transportcompletely free is a big revenueloss but if the Government isready to bear the subsidy andtotal cost, it may be possible,”said an official on the conditionof anonymity.

Continued on Page 4

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Ajit Doval, the NationalSecurity Adviser (NSA),

resumed his second term onMonday with an elevatedstature of Cabinet rank. This isthe first time a NSA has got asecond back-to-back tenure.The Appointments Committeeof the Cabinet approved Doval’sappointment for a five-yearperiod with effect from May 31,2019. It will be co-terminuswith the term of the PrimeMinister, the order said.

“During the term of hisoffice, he will be assigned therank of Cabinet Minister,” theorder said. Doval, 74, wasappointed to the post on May30, 2014 and given the statureof a Minister of State inSeptember that year after theChinese side insisted on min-isterial-level talks.

A, 1968-batch IPS officerfrom Uttarakhand, Doval start-ed his career as AssistantSuperintendent of Police inThalassery in Kerala. After hisbrief stint in Kerala cadre,Doval was absorbed inIntelligence Bureau and retired

as the agency’s chief in 2005.During his first tenure as

NSA, Doval played a pivotalrole in the surgical strikes onterror launch pads in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir after theUri terror attack. He has alsobeen widely hailed for his con-tribution to the national secu-rity domain, including his roleduring the Balakot air strikeafter the Pulwama terror attack,officials said. Doval was thechief strategist in tackling theMyanmar-parked Naga rebels.

Continued on Page 4

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Amid the uproar over thedraft version of the

National Education Policy(NEP) 2019, which mandatedcompulsory learning of Hindiin non-Hindi-speaking south-ern States, the Ministry ofHuman Resource Development(MHRD) on Monday releaseda revised version of the policygiving the students freedom tochoose any language they wishto study under the three lan-guage model in schools.

The revised draft policystates, “In keeping with theprinciple of flexibility, studentswho wish to change one ormore of the three languagesthey are studying may do so inGrade 6 or Grade 7, so long asthey are able to still demon-strate proficiency in three lan-guages (one language at the lit-erature level) in their modularboard examinations some timeduring secondary school.”

There is no mention ofHindi in the “Flexibility in thethree-language formula” clause.

The revised policy requiresproficiency in any three lan-guages. The revised draft reads,“Since the modular boardexaminations for language pro-ficiency will indeed test onlythe basic proficiency in eachlanguage, such change in choicein Grade 6 would certainly befeasible if the student so desiresand would in such cases besupported by teachers and theschooling system.”

The revision to the draftcomes after many politiciansand citizens slammed theCentre for imposing Hindi, inan alleged attempt to“homogenise” the diverse lin-guistic fabric of the country,which has many regional lan-guages, especially down southwhere they have a prominentpresence as a part of theDravidian identity.

Continued on Page 4

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Noida Police has arrestedtwo men in Greater

Noida’s Dadri area for alleged-ly trying to kill their 22-year-old sister by throwing acid onher. Police said they have alsoarrested a third man who wasinvolved in the attack on the

woman on May 9 when she was found abandoned on the roadside near Kotvillage with her disfiguredface.

According to seniorpolice official, the accusedidentified as Irfan and Hafeezwere absconding since theattack on their sister Salmalast month and had a rewardof Rs 25,000 each on theirarrest. “They were arrested

on Sunday near the RailwayRoad crossing in Dadri, whilethe third accused, Imran, washeld from Dadri bus stand,”said the senior police official.

Irfan and Hafeez had takentheir sister Salma for a drive ina car on May 9 but midwaysplashed acid on her face andpushed her out of the vehicle,the officials said, adding thatshe was later found lyingunconscious and badly injuredby a passerby who alertedpolice.

“The woman, a native ofGulavati village in adjoiningBulandshahr district, was thenreferred to Delhi’s SafdarjungHospital. A case was registeredagainst the accused underIndian Penal Code sections307 (attempt to murder), 326A(acid attack) and 120B (crim-inal conspiracy),” said thesenior police official.

The National Commissionof Women (NCW) had alsotaken note of the attack andwritten to Uttar Pradesh PoliceChief O P Singh, requestinghim for action in the case andalso enforce a complete ban onthe sale of acid.

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The Central IndustrialSecurity Force (CISF) offi-

cials have apprehended a US-bound passenger at the IndiraGandhi International (IGI) air-port for allegedly carrying 25bullets in his baggage.

According to a senior CISFofficial, CISF officials deputedat the IGI airport to scan thebaggage of commuters, detect-ed bullet-like objects on the X-ray monitor while checking thebag of passenger DeepakKumar Saxena on Sundayevening.

“During checking of thebaggage, twenty-five live bulletrounds of 7.65 mm calibrewere recovered from the pas-senger who was supposed totake a flight to Washington (theUSA) along with two others,”said the senior CISF official.

The three passengers werenot allowed to take the f light and were handed over to police for further inves-tigation.

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Ministry of Development of North Eastern

Region (DoNER) has decidedto construct a 224-room hostel at Delhi’s JawaharlalNehru University at a cost of �11 crore to accommodate424 students from theNortheast.

According to officials, thefour-storeyed building willcome up on an area spread overone-and-a-half acres and theconstruction work will beginsoon.

The first-of-its-kind hostel will accommodate 200boys and 200 girls, besideshousing physically handicap students in 24 rooms. Officials have briefedDoNER Minister JitendraSingh about the progress of thework related to the JNU hosteland other projects.

Singh was informed that �11 crore has been releasedfor the construction of theJNU hostel and the CentralPublic Works Department(CPWD) is in the process of

issuing the tender. It wasinformed in the meeting that ahostel constructed inBengaluru for girl studentsfrom the Northeast has becomefunctional.

The process of land acquisition for another hostelin Rohini has started. TheRohini facility is meant for stu-dents from the Northeaststudying in colleges and insti-tutions of Delhi University.The Delhi DevelopmentAuthority has released �2.5crore for the land. The hostelwill be built on an area of aboutfive acres.

The status of the NorthEastern Cultural andInformation Centre, to be setup in Dwarka in Delhi, was alsodiscussed at the meeting. Theestimated cost of the project isabout �50 crore.

The Minister said the centre would act as a cultural and convention andinformation hub of the regionin Delhi. It will have a library-cum-reading room and an artgallery showcasing theNortheast.

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With seven fresh cases ofmalaria traced in last

one week, the national Capitalhas witnessed a spurt in casesof vector borne disease. Atleast 27 cases of malaria and 53cases of dengue have beenreported this year till June 1,according to a data released bythe South Delhi MunicipalCorporation (SDMC) onMonday.

Out of total cases of malar-ia, 18 cases diagnosed belong tothe neighbouring states while42 patients suffering fromdengue traced in Delhi belongto other states. Meanwhile,there is no news cases ofChikungunya reported in thecity.

Concerned over increasingnumber of cases of vectorborne disease, South DelhiMunicipal Corporation

(SDMC) has launched a twomonth campaign in all the104 wards to create awarenessamong the residents.

SDMC Mayor SuneetaKangra while inaugurating thecampaign from a school build-ing under Madipur ward,stressed upon the need of mak-ing united efforts against out-break of water borne diseases.

Addressing the gatheringof children and residents,Kangra said that the fear ofmosquitoes breeding becomesmore during rainy season.“The substantial breedingbecomes a cause of the out-break of the dengue andchikungunia. There is no treat-ment of these diseases and itrequire due care and caution,”she said, adding that these dis-eases are gaining ground onlybecause of our negligence.

The experts from the pub-lic health department request-

ed residents to take precau-tionary measures. They alsoadvised residents to clean allutensils, coolers, flower potsand other items which areconducive to the accumulationof water every week thorough-ly.

The Mayor described chil-dren as ambassadors of thecleanliness which is mostimportant in containing breed-ing. She stated that there is noneed of panic as 90 per centcases can be treated at home.

According to the report,

the north, south and east cor-porations have found mosquito breeding in 15374households in the city till June1,” As per the weekly datareleased by the SDMC. Thereport further stated that 16593legal notices have been servedto owners of houses, hotels andothers for various violationsand 794 prosecutions initiatedtill June 1.

Among the areas fallingunder the three municipal cor-porations, the cases of breedingreported were from areas of

north, south and east corpora-tions are 4450, 7911 and 3013respectively, the report stated.

A senior northCorporation official said thatthe regarding zonal officialshave been directed take pre-cautionary measures and toensure there was no breedingof mosquito larvae inside thehouses.

Usually cases of vector-borne diseases are reportedbetween July and Novemberbut this year civic body hastraced many cases in months ofMarch and April. With spurt innumber of cases, civic bodieshave stepped up awarenesscampaign and deployedDengue Breeding Checkers(DBCs) in various wards inorder to check breeding andadvising people to take pre-cautionary measures.

According to the SDMC,10 people had died due todengue in Delhi in 2017, ofwhich five were not residents ofthe national capital.

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The excise licence of a nightclub situated inside the

complex of five star hotelShangri La’s — Eros has beensuspended by the DelhiGovernment following vari-ous violations, including serv-ing liquor to underage cus-tomers.

According to an official,the action was taken after ateam of excise departmentrecently made an inspectionand found that three nightclubs were operating against asingle licence.

During the inspection, itwas also found that threeunderage persons were being served alcohol followingwhich a First InformationReport (FIR) was registered at Connaught Place police station.

As per the excise rules, thelegal drinking age in thenational capital is 25 years.“Excise licence of the night clubat Shangri- La’s Hotel was sus-pended by the excise depart-ment on May 30. All the threenight clubs were sealed,” theofficial said, adding that noticehas been served to the clubmanagement.

“Licence was initially takenin the name of Privee. Latername was changed to PriveeNovel Exo. And against thissingle licence, three separateclubs namely Privee, Noveland Exo were being operated,”he said.

Responding to the gov-ernment’s action, Shangri-LaHotel spokesperson said that‘Privee’ pub is a privately man-aged entity, with separateentrance access and manage-ment staff.

“We are deeply concerned that the Privee Pubwhich is adjacent to Shangri-La’s - Eros Hotel, New Delhi, had breached thelaw by serving alcohol tounder-aged patrons on SundayMay 26, 2019,” said thespokesperson.

“Shangri-La’s - Eros Hotel,New Delhi is not involved in any of the Pub’s operations.We strongly condemn such actions and we will raise the matter with all rele-vant parties to ensure strictercontrol and screening mea-sures are in place to prevent arecurrence,” said the spokesper-son.

However, one of the top officials in the excise department said thatthe L-16 licence is given to arestaurant or club inside a 5 or4 start hotel only.

�� )31�*3�4"

Delhi Police on Mondayclaimed to have arrested

two members of a gang forallegedly robbing a man of�1.4 crore at gunpoint in outerDelhi’s Rani Bagh in March thisyear. The accused have beenidentified as Babloo, a residentof Delhi’s Sultanpuri and hisassociate Vikas (39), a residentof Anand Parbat in Delhi.

According to RajeevRanjan, AdditionalCommissioner of Police, CrimeBranch, the accused werearrested near the Ashoka Metroon Sunday. “Around �5.50 lakhwere recovered from them.Documents of property worthmore than �26 lakh boughtfrom looted money has beenrecovered from them,” said the

additional CP. “Two other members of

their gang — Alam Ali andMustkeem were arrested inApril by the Crime Branchwhich had also recoveredaround �40.40 lakhs of thelooted money from them,” saidRanjan.

“The incident took place inMarch. In his complaint, thevictim, a resident of SaraswatiVihar had said when he wasreturning with his father in hiscar from Naya Bazaar, fourpeople on two motorcyclesstopped their vehicle nearPitampura and robbed them of�1.4 crores at gunpoint,” saidthe additional CP.

“Vikas and Babloo werealso involved in another case ofrobbery in west Delhi’s MotiNagar where they along with

their accomplices had looted aman of �8 lakhs at gunpoint.

Vikas used to keep tabs aboutmovement of cash in the Naya

Bazaar area and when he got toknow about such movements,he shared the information withBabloo. Then together the duoused to hatch a plan to rob thevictims,” said the additional CP.

“The gang usually followedtheir targets on their scooters.On an opportune moment,they would intercept the vic-tim’s vehicle. One of the scoot-er would block the target whilethe other scooter would blockthe target vehicle sideways.They would then threaten thevictims at gunpoint and robthem of their cash,” said theadditional CP.

“Babloo had purchased aflat worth �23 lakhs from thelooted amount in Palam andhad bought amenities worth�Rs 3 lakhs to furnish his flat.His associate Vikas has paid �

4 lakhs to a financier to get anew LGV (Light GoodsVehicle) from Tata Motors and�1.5 lakhs to an insurancecompany to clear his dues,” saidthe additional CP.

“Babloo was also involvedin 15 different cases includingthat of robbery, dacoity, snatch-ing and other heinous crimesregistered at various police sta-tions,” the additional CP added.

Investigation revealed thatthe fifth associate in the case,identified as Baba had morethan 24 criminal cases regis-tered against him at variouspolice stations.

“Baba orchestrated hisarrest in some other case undera false name so that the lootedcash stayed intact and he didnot have to return it,” said theadditional CP.

�� )31�*3�4"

Delhi Customs official havearrested a Chinese man for

allegedly smuggling goldworth Rs 27 lakh at the IndiraGandhi International (IGI) air-port in National Capital.

According to seniorCustoms official, the accusedwas intercepted upon hisarrival from Dubai on Friday.

“The man was stopped byofficials and during personaland baggage search of the pas-senger resulted in the recoveryof four transparent poly pouch-es containing gold weighing847 grams in a chemical pasteform,” said the senior Customsofficial.

“The gold, valued at Rs27.16 lakh, was seized and thepassenger has been arrested,”said the senior Customs official

adding that this is the firstinstance of a foreign nation-al being arrested for smug-gling in gold in paste form.

“Based on furtherenquiry of the Chinesenational, an Indian citizenwho said to be his handlerwas arrested from outside theairport,” the senior Customsofficial added.

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In the wake of complaintsagainst illegal colonisers dup-

ing people of their hard-earnedmoney, the District administra-tion has decided to lodge anFIRs against such a practice. Thestep has come to prevent illegalcolonisers from constructingunathorised flats and houses.

District Town & CountryPlanning (Enforcement) wing ofthe Municipal CorporationGurugram (MCG) will keep atab on illegal constructions andcolonies. Also, the expense of thedemolition drive will be recov-ered from the colonizers. MCG’sEnforcement wing on Mondaydemolished 12 new construc-tions in the restricted 900-meteraround the Indian Air Force(IAF) depot in Gurugram.

The enforcement wing ofthe MCG demolished 10 newconstructions/under construc-tion building at Noble Enclaveand 2 at Dharam colony. “Thecolonizers are promoting illegalconstruction without having avalid licence in the area. Despiteseveral warning, they had con-structed an illegal colony,” anofficial with the MCG (enforce-ment) wing said.

The officials claimed thatthe developers did not stop theconstruction work in unautho-rised colonies despite the factthat they imposed a ban onregistries and also conducteddemolition in these areas.

Moreover, the buyers

would get trapped once they willinvest money in such illegalcolonies where no developmentwill take place in future.

“Developers are not mend-ing their ways despite severaldemolition drives so FIR is thelast option. The demolition costwill als recover from the colo-nizers. The action aims at sav-ing people who are duped bysuch colonizers of lakhs ofrupees for purchasing land insuch colonies,” Yashpal Yadav,Commissioner MCG, said.

“We have directed the con-cern agencies to inspect areasunder their jurisdictions and filecomplaints with police wherev-er unauthorised

constructions are found,”he said.

It is pertinent to mentionthat the Punjab and HaryanaHigh Court has been orderedthat no new construction will beallowed in the restricted 900-meter air force stationGurugram. “Continuous actionis being taken by the MunicipalCorporation from time to timein the compliance of theseorders. The municipal corpora-tion and district administrationwill not allow any kind of neconstruction in the restrictedarea and legal action will bebrought in line with the rulesrelated to the related construc-tion,” Yadav said.

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Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) ledruling dispensation has

decided to strain every nerveand tell the people about theschemes and all good workdone for the people. Fromimparting quality education,health services, fulfilling basicneeds of drinking water andpower to the people of thenational Capital, the achieve-ments are in plenty for theDelhi Government.

Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal and his Cabinet will begoing to the people to makethem aware about all the worksdone by the Government. Themain thrust of the Governmentis to reach out to the last manas Government is already in thesecond half of the fifth year.

Having learnt lessons fromthe just concluded Lok Sabhaelections, in which AAP hard-ly managed to get votes in allseven constituency, the DelhiCabinet led by Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal is ready to beatthe scorching heat by goingdoor to door to tom tom AAP’swork in all sectors includingPublic Work Development(PWD’s ) project or PublicDistributing System (PDS).

Notably, CM Kejriwal onMonday announced that all

the Cabinet Ministers of AAPwill interact with masses for“Direct Citizen Feedback” and“Project Monitoring” initia-tives.

Kejriwal said that theCabinet would also take stockof the Government facilitieslike schools, clinics and publicdealing offices with a purposeto get first-hand account ofAAP’s functioning.

“This would help theGovernment know the prob-

lems at the grassroots andmake public oriented solutionto them,” a Chief MinisterOffice’s statement quoted.

Kejriwal has already start-ed his padyatras, started fromDeoli and Tuglukabad, theAAP National convener haspromised South Delhi peoplefor the installation of newpipeline projects within fourmonths. He also assured peo-ple tanker mafia will not sus-tain for longer.

The key member ofKejriwal’s Cabinet — DeputyChief Minister Manish Sisodiawho also holds two importantportfolios of education andfinance minister visited sevenschools to take the status ofongoing construction worksin schools.

Sisodia will continue thisroutine visit to ensure the con-struction work to build newclass rooms complete on time.

Cabinet Minister

Satyendar Jain will be takingstock of hospitals, clinics, roads,construction projects of PWDand Irrigation and FloodControl apart from interactingwith people on issues likepower, healthcare and otherpublic services and utilities andwill interact people on Tuesday.Gopal Rai the Labor Minister,Kailsah Gahlot the TransportMinister and Social Justiceminister Rajendar Pal Gautamwould also be in the midst ofpeople of Delhi and will do real-ity check of all projects undertheir respective departments.Food & Civil Supplies andEnvironment Minister ImranHussain will also be makingsurprise checks on the publicdistribution system (PDS)shops to know the functioningand whether these shops wereworking properly or not.

“In his visit to PDS shops,he will interact the people tolearn about the grievances ofconsumers,” a DelhiGovernment official said .

�� )31�*3�4"

Delhi Government’s flag-ship CCTV installation

project will finally start fromJune 8. Chief Minister andAam Aadmi Party(AAP’s)National convener ArvindKejrwal has said that the pro-posal and tender has beenpassed. “The proposal and ten-der for 1.5 lakh CCTV camerashas been passed. We have donesurvey for 70,000 cameraswhich is completed and nowfrom June 8, the cameras willbe installed in different part ofthe city,” Kejrwal said.

Importantly, if one believesAAP Governemnt’s statement,the work to install CCTVs willbe complete in Decembermonth. “My Cabinet will alsopass another proposal for addi-tional 1.40 lakh cameras by themonth’s end,” said Kejriwaladding that a total of 2.80 lakhcameras will be installed acrossthe city.

The Government will alsoinstall CCTV cameras inschools, he added. “About 1.5lakh cameras will be installedin the schools.

The project has been start-

ed and this project will be com-pleted by November.” Work isalso on for installing camerasin DTC buses, he said.

The installation of CCTVcameras across the nationalcapital was a flagship pro-gramme and a poll promise ofthe AAP in Delhi which gotdelayed as the Delhi LG and thecity Government were not on

the same page over the condi-tions for the cameras. TheDelhi Government had blamedthe Centre for halting the pro-ject and holding up its file sev-eral times.

The project to install theclosed-circuit television(CCTV) cameras got the DelhiGovernment’s approval inAugust last year, three yearsafter the cabinet gave an in-principle approval to the pro-ject.

In September last year, theproject got the administrativeapproval and expenditure sanc-tions at a cost of �571.40 crore.In the Budget for 2019-20, thecity Government has kept �500crore for camera installation.

�� )31�*3�4"

As temperature of thenational Capital touched to

43 degree, Delhi’s peak powerload touched the seasons’ high-est of 6,612 megawatt onMonday. According to esti-mates, almost around 50 percent of Delhi’s power demandin summers’ increases becauseof the cooling load (ACs, cool-ers and fans), a BSES officialsaid and this is primarily themain factor behind the increasein Delhi’s power load.

In order to reduce powerconsumption, the power dis-tribution company BSES haslaunched several measuresincluding an innovative airconditioner replacement

scheme. Under the scheme,consumers in South, West,East and Central Delhi canreplace their old energy guz-zling ACs with energy efficient5-star rated ACs (both win-dows and split) from leadingAC manufacturers at up to over50 per cent discount, the offi-cial said, adding that under thescheme, 10,000 air-condition-ers (each in BRPL and BYPL)of leading brands are on offeron a first cum first serve basis.

BRPL, BYPL and Tatapower- DDL successfully metthe peak power demand of2829, 1524 and 1886 MW intheir respective areas. “Theexpected peak power demandof 7400 MW this year is anincrease of over 250 per cent

over the peak power demand of2879 MW in 2002.

It is interesting to notethat Delhi’s peak powerdemand is substantially morethan that of other cities. It is notonly more than the powerdemand of Mumbai andChennai put together but alsothrice than that of Kolkata,” theBSES official said.

The official informed thatarrangements have been firmedup by BSES discoms to sourceadequate electricity to meet thepower demand of over 42 lakhsconsumers. These arrange-ments include long term powerpurchase agreement (PPA) andbanking arrangements withother states includingHimachal Pradesh, Uttar

Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir,Meghalaya, Manipur andSikkim, he said, adding that incase of unforeseen contingen-cies because of low generationand outages in power plants,the discoms will purchaseshort-term power from theexchange.

Delhi’s peak powerdemand during the summers of2019 may clock 7400 MW.Last summers, they breached

the 7000 MW for the firsttime - peaking at 7016 MW.Peak power demand in BRPL’ area of South and WestDelhi, which had reached 3081MW during the summers of2018, is expected to toucharound 3200 MW this year. InBYPL’ area of East and CentralDelhi, the peak power demandwhich had reached 1561 MWlast year is expected to toucharound 1640 MW.

�� )31�*3�4"

The National Green Tribunalhas directed a committee to

take groundwater samples andstudy the methodology ofrecharging it after a plea allegedthat rainwater harvesting struc-tures built by the municipalcorporations and other civicbodies were contaminatingwater.

A bench headed by NGTChairperson Justice AdarshKumar Goel asked the com-mittee comprising representa-tives from the Central PollutionControl Board (CPCB), DelhiPollution Control Committee

(DPCC) and the CentralGround Water Board (CGWB)to submit the report within amonth.

The nodal agency will bethe DPCC for coordinationand compliance, the NGT saidand directed the petitioner tofurnish a complete set of papersto the CPCB, DPCC and theCGWB and file an affidavit ofservice within a week.

The tribunal was hearingthe plea, filed by a city residentMahesh Chandra Saxena, alleg-ing that groundwater rechargeby Delhi Jal Board, DelhiDevelopment Authority, PublicWorks Department, New Delhi

Municipal Council, SouthDelhi Municipal Corporationthrough rain water harvestingstructures is not scientific andis resulting in pollution ofgroundwater.

NGT had earlier imposeda penalty of Rs 5 lakh each oneducational institutions in thenational capital for failing toinstall rainwater harvestingsystems.

It had directed schools andcolleges to approach a com-mittee constituted by it. Thecommittee was to inspect thepremises and grant permissionto institutions for operating thesystem.

�� )31*3�4"

Delhi Bhartiya JanataParty (BJP) chief Manoj

Tiwari on Monday hit out atChief Minister ArvindKejriwal’s announcement offree metro and bus travel forwomen in the nationalCapital. “It is futile attemptjust to buy votes ahead ofAssembly elections,” Tiwarisaid.

Taking a jibe onKejriwal’s announcement,Tiwari said, “Now he(Kejriwal) will tell Delhicitizens, one bus will be atyour front door,” “If CMwants to do somethinggood for people, he mustimplement central govern-ment’s Ayushman Bharatscheme,” Tiwari said.

The BJP leader alleged thatAAP government’s proposalto make metro and bus travelfree for women is a desperatebid to buy votes.

He knows, he is losingground in Delhi also as they(AAP) defeated in Lok Sabha

elections,” said Tiwari.“Ghoshna mantri’ has madeanother announcement tomake people laugh”, the BJPMember of Parliament(MP)from the north east said .

“After his defeat in LokSabha electios, he started theprocess for implementing 10per cent reservation for eco-nomically weaker sections. He’smaking such announcements

to hold onto his ground inDelhi. It’s a desperate bid tobuy votes,” Tiwari said.

The BJP leader, how-ever, made it clear that he’snot against giving freerides to women in busesand the Delhi Metro.

“We are not againstthe idea. There is no prob-lem in giving free rides towomen, but where are thebuses? The AAP is befool-ing people,” he alleged.The BJP’s Delhi unit hasplans for free rides to all ingovernment buses, but wewill not make any tallpromises, Tiwari said.

Attacking the KejriwalGovernment over

insufficient number of buses inthe city, he said, “Around onecrore women in the city willneed 20,000 buses, but we havejust 3,500-3,800. Where willthey sit?” The AAPGovernment had alsopromised to deploy marshalsand install panic buttons in DTC buses, but failed todeliver on its promise, he addedfurther.

�� )31�*3�4"

After Delhi Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal

announced to provide freetravel to women in publictransport buses and Metrotrains, Delhi Congress termedit as a “publicity stunt” made inview of the coming Assemblyelections in Delhi.

Hitting hard at AamAadmi Party (AAP) led DelhiGovernment, Delhi Congressspokesperson Jitender Kocharsaid the state governmentshould also provide free travelto students and senior citizensin buses and Metro trains.

“Kejriwal often makesannouncements which heeither does not fulfil or whichdo not come under his juris-diction. The Assembly electionsin Delhi are due in the next fewmonths and he should stoppublicity stunt by making suchannouncements,” Kochar said.

Stating that the AAP lost allthe seven Lok Sabha seats inrecent polls and was pushed to

the third spot on majority ofthe seats, he said that was whythe party was making “pop-ulist” announcements for polit-ical gains in Assembly electionsdue early next year.

Both Congress and AAPwere routed and the BJP wonall the Lok Sabha seats in Delhiwith a huge majority. The AAPwas pushed to the third placein five of the seven con-stituencies by the Congress.

Former Delhi CongressMLA Mukesh Sharma saidthat Delhi people can no longerbe “fooled” by Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal.

“The proposal to provide free ride to women inMetro trains and public trans-port buses is aimed at hidingfailures of the DelhiGovernment. Also, theannouncement about installing1.5 lakh CCTV cameras is anattempt to divert attentionfrom unfulfilled promise offree wi-fi that AAP made topeople before coming topower,” Sharma said.

�� )31�*3�4"

A26-year-old man was beat-en to death with stone in

south-east Delhi’s Govind Puriarea after he objected a man forurinating near his house. Theincident occurred on the inter-vening night of Sunday-Monday.

The deceased has beenidentified as Lilu, a resident ofJhuggi, Nehru Camp. Policesaid that Lilu was a bad char-acter of Govind Puri police sta-tion and had 17 cases, includ-ing snatching and robbery,against him.

According to ChinmoyBiswal, the DeputyCommissioner of Police(DCP), South-East district,police received two informa-tion from AIIMS TraumaCentre at 12.49 am on Mondayregarding the admission of aperson.

“A police team was dis-patched and after reachingAIIMS Trauma Centre, Sanjay,the brother of Lilu, stated thatat around 12:15 am on Monday,he was coming after taking

bath near Public toilet Nehrucamp. He saw that his brotherLilu was being beaten by Ravi,Neel Kamal, their father ManSingh and mother Meera,” saidthe DCP. “During investiga-tion, it was revealed that thatMan Singh (65) was urinatingnear Lilu’s shanty. After seeingthe elderly man peeing outsidehis shanty, Lilu objected his actand slapped him followingwhich, a scuffle eruptedbetween them,” said the DCP.

“In the meantime, Singh’ssons Ravi and Neel Kamalcame there in the defence oftheir father. Ravi assaulted Liluwith a cement slab which hithim on his chest and he got

injured,” the DCP said. “Thereafter, he was rushed

to AIIMS Trauma Centrewhere he was declared broughtdead. A case under the relevantsections of the Indian PenalCode has been registered atGovindpuri police station andpolice is trying to nab theaccused persons,” the DCPadded.

“Lilu was previouslyinvolved in 17 which registeredat Govind Puri and Okhlapolice stations. The first case ofArms Act was registered in2009 and the last case of theftand snatching was registered in2017 against him,” said a policeofficial.

�� )31�*3�4"

Heatwave conditions abatedin Delhi on Monday, but

high humidity added to the dis-comfort of the people. Themaximum temperature was40.6 degrees Celsius, normalfor this time of the year, and theminimum was 29.4 degreesCelsius. Humidity levels oscil-lated between 39 and 62 percent, a Met official said.

The dip in the mercury canbe attributed to the easterlywinds that travelled to theDelhi-NCR region from theBay of Bengal via UttarPradesh, said KuldeepSrivastava, the IndiaMeteorological Department’s

regional weather forecastingchief.

Though the temperatureshave become normal, highhumidity has added to thewoes of the people, Srivastavasaid. The department has pre-dicted cloudy sky on Tuesday,with the possibility of lightrain/thunderstorm and windsgusting up to 40 kilometres perhour. The maximum and min-imum temperatures are likelyto hover around 41 and 30degrees Celsius, respectively.

A heatwave is declaredwhen the maximum tempera-ture is 45 degrees Celsius fortwo consecutive days in largeareas and severe heatwave iswhen the mercury touches the47-degrees mark for two dayson the trot.

In smaller areas, a heatwave is declared if the temper-ature soars to 45 degreesCelsius even for a day,Srivastava said.

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The Kerala Government onMonday said a college stu-

dent in Kochi is suspected tohave been infected with theNipah virus but a final confir-mation is awaited from theNational Institute of Virologyin Pune.

Health Minister KKShailaja said a list of 86 peoplewho have interacted with thestudent has been prepared andthey were under medical obser-vation.

The Kerala Health depart-ment has initiated precaution-ary measures to deal with thepossible outbreak of Nipahvirus.

Shailaja said inThiruvananthapuram the 23-year-old college student, whohas been admitted to a privatehospital in Kochi, is suspectedto have been infected with theNipah virus but final confir-mation is awaited from theNational Institute of Virologyin Pune.

She said isolation wardshave been set up at theKalamassery Medical CollegeHospital in Kochi.

The minister rushed toKochi after briefing ChiefMinister Pinarayi Vijayanabout the development.

She chaired a high-levelmeeting with top health offi-cials and people’s representa-tives to review the situation.

Addressing the media afterthe meeting, she said the sam-ples were sent to the StateInstitute of Virology andInfectious Diseases inAlappuzha for examinationand it was found that the stu-dent was infected with a virushaving similarities with Nipah.

The final confirmationfrom the National Institute ofVirology in Pune is expectedtonight, she said.

Instilling confidenceamong the people, the minis-ter said there was no need forany concern and theGovernment, which success-fully battled the Nipah out-break in Kozhikode andMalappuram districts last year,was fully capable of dealingwith the situation.

The Minister appealed tosocial media users not to cre-ate panic among the public.

Medical experts fromKozhikode have alreadyreached Kochi and there areenough medicines and medical

equipment to deal with the sit-uation, she said.

Health workers are beingimparted training in case thetest in Pune institute is positiveand more cases are reported.

She said a list of 86 peoplethe student had come in con-tact with has been prepared.

They were under observa-tion and will report to the near-est medical facility if theydevelop influenza-like symp-toms like fever, headache, myal-gia (muscle pain), vomiting andsore throat, she said.

No such complaints havebeen reported from them so far,the minister said.

Although the StateGovernment is awaiting areport from the Pune Instituteto confirm if the student hascontracted the Nipah virus,the Health department in thestate has geared up to deal witha possible outbreak.

A control room has beenopened in Ernakulam districtheadquarters.

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With fissures apparentlyappearing in the alliance

of Samajwadi Party andBahujan Samaj Party, UttarPradesh Deputy Chief MinisterDinesh Sharma Monday saidthe ‘gathbandhan’ (of SP-BSP)is today “taking its last breath,and is on ventilator”.

“Thanks to the develop-mental works of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andUP Chief Minister YogiAdityanath, people have brokenthe barriers of caste and reli-gion. The ‘gathbandhan’ istoday taking its last breath, andis on ventilator,” he told PTIhere.

He added, “Alliances ofopposing ideologies are neversuccessful -- be it the SP-Congress or the BSP-Congress.All experiments to forge caste-based alliances in UttarPradesh have proved to be afailure. People across the coun-try have accepted Modiji’s

‘sabka saath, sabka vikaas,sabka vishwaas’ and outrightrejected such caste-basedalliances.”

“The alliances which areformed or forged on the basisof caste or religion eventuallylose their existence. In UP,there was an unnatural andopportunistic alliance, it wasshattered by the caste-less(jaati-viheen) work of the BJPwhose mantra is ‘sabka saath,sabka vikaas, sabka vishwaas’.”

Sharma’s statementassumes significance as itcomes hours after BSP supre-mo Mayawati expressed herunhappiness over the perfor-mance of the ‘gathbandhan’ inthe just-concluded Lok Sabhapolls.

Earlier in the day, BSPchief Mayawati asked partyworkers not to depend onalliances to win votes but toimprove the party’s organisa-tion.

At a meeting of theBahujan Samaj Party’s Uttar

Pradesh unit in Delhi, sheasked office bearers, MLAsand newly-elected MPs to beprepared to contest the assem-bly by-elections on their own,sources said here.

A total of 11 assemblybypolls are due in UP afterMLAs won Lok Sabha polls.

Nine BJP MLAs won theLok Sabha elections, while oneeach from BSP and SP wereelected to the Lower House.

Mayawati told the gather-ing at the party headquartershere that the BSP won 10 seatsin Uttar Pradesh due to BSP’straditional votebank and thevotes of Samajwadi Party couldnot get transferred to its can-didates.

She cited poor perfor-mance of its alliances in vari-ous states during assembly andLok Sabha elections to drivehome the point that the BSPwill have to strengthen its ownorganisational structure andnot depend on other parties towin elections.

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Agroup of Hindu seers onMonday decided that they

will meet Prime MinisterNarendra Modi to press forearly construction of Ram tem-ple in Ayodhya, saying“Hindus” have reelected himwith a huge majority to com-plete the task.

The meeting was organisedhere by the Vishwa HinduParishad and attended by itsnational vice presidentChampat Rai.

“Hindu seers will soon bemeeting Prime MinisterNarendra Modi to discuss theissue of early construction ofthe temple,” said RamJanambhoomi Nyas presidentMahant Nritya Gopal Das. TheNyas is a trust to promote con-struction of Ram Temple inAyodhya.

Das, who presided overthe meeting, also said, “Hindushave elected Modi and (Uttar

Pradesh Chief Minister) YogiAdityanath for the constructionof Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. Soit is their responsibility to geta grand Ram temple built on the disputer site at theearliest.”

Reacting to the VHP meet,Dinendra Das, the Mahant ofNirmohi Akhara, the main lit-igant in the case from theHindu side, said, “The VHPmeeting has no relevance as theland of Ram Janambhoomibelongs to Nirmohi Akharaand we have worshipped LordRam there for ages.”

“We want the constructionof Ram Temple in a peacefulway,” he added.

The main litigant from theMuslim side, Iqbal Ansari,termed the VHP meet a “polit-ical stunt”.

“The matter of BabriMasjid and Ram Janambhoomiis pending before the SupremeCourt. We must wait for thefinal verdict,” he said.

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�� )31�*3�4"

Wear loose, light-colouredcotton clothes, stay

indoors and avoid drinkingalcohol, tea and coffee, the gov-ernment said on Monday in ahealth advisory issued in viewof the ongoing spell of heatwavein parts of the country.

On Monday, Chururecorded 50.3 degrees Celsiusbeing the hottest place in thecountry for the third consec-utive day.

“Heatwave can causeadverse effects on humanhealth, including other sec-tors,” the advisory, issued by theHealth Ministry, stated as itsuggested a series of Dos andDon’ts. The advisory askedpeople to use umbrella or capor towel when outside and fre-quently drink water and salted drinks like lassi,lemon water, fruit juice andORS (Oral RehydrationSolution).

“Person feeling unwell,especially old aged, young chil-dren, pregnant women, thosewith pre-existing medical con-ditions, and outdoor workers,should be immediately shiftedto a cooler place, put on min-imum clothing, be spongedwith cold water, applied icepacks wrapped in cloth, andtransported to nearest healthfacility,” the advisory said.

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AGujarat BJP MLA Mondayapologised after he was

caught on camera kicking andpunching a woman who wasdemanding restoration of waterconnection in her locality inAhmedabad district.

The legislator, BalramThawani, tendered an apologyafter the video of the assaultwent viral, saying “she is likemy sister”.

The Congress and NCPdemanded action againstThawani, MLA from Narodaconstituency, while the BJPcondemned the incident.

The woman, NeetuTejwani, said the MLA slappedher so hard that she fell down,following which he startedkicking and thrashing her.

Tejwani told reporters shehad approached the MLA’sbrother, Kishore Thawani, alocal corporator, with therequest to not disconnect thewater supply of her locality inNaroda town as the legalprocess to restore it was under-way. She claimed the corpora-tor, too, abused and hit her.

Tejwani said when noaction was taken even afterfour-five days, she went to theMLA’s office in Meghani Nagararea of Ahmedabad, along withother women of her locality.

“The MLA was not in theoffice. But his supporters start-ed abusing me,” the woman

said.“We shouted slogans

against Kishore Thawani. Soon,Balram bhai arrived in a vehi-cle, came out, snatched themobile phone from my handand slapped me very hard. I felldown, after which he startedkicking me. They hit me witha stick,” she said.

“He kicked me in the stom-ach and put his boots on myface. There were six-sevenmore people. When my hus-band tried to stop him, his mencame out from the office andstarted thrashing my husband,”the woman said.

Following an uproar, thelegislator apologised for hisaction and claimed that hewas attacked by the groupwhen he was telling them tomeet him on Monday.

Thawani said he went tothe woman’s residence to seekapology, claiming that she hadtied ‘rakhi’ on his wrist and par-doned him.

“I apologised and we haveresolved the issue. I told my sis-ter (Tejwani) to pardon me formy action. I’ve promised herthat I will stand by her,” he said.

“It happened unintention-ally. I did not intend to harmor insult anyone. I will rectifythe mistake and will even saysorry to her,” the MLA said.

Earlier, he alleged that thewoman and her husband, whoare NCP leaders, came to attackhim in a “pre-planned manner”.

�� )31�*3�4"

The disappearance of anIndian Air Force’s AN-32

aircraft on Monday broughtback agonising memories ofanother plane of the transportfleet going missing over the Bayof Bengal in 2016.

The Russian-origin planewith 29 people on board,including six crew members,had gone missing in June, threeyears ago, while flying fromChennai to Port Blair.

In 2009, the IAF had lostanother AN-32 aircraft whichcrashed near a village in WestSiang district of ArunachalPradesh, killing all the 13defence personnel in themishap.

Antonov AN-32 is a twin-engined military transport air-craft that can fly for up to fourhours without refuelling.

The AN-32 aircraft thatwent missing in June 2016 hadtaken off at 8:30 am fromTambaram in Chennai and thelast time it was contacted was16 minutes later, defencesources had then said.

A few months after the

incident, a Court of Inquiryhad concluded that those onboard the missing aircraft ofthe IAF were to be “presumeddead”.

Defence Ministryspokesperson, Col AmanAnand, when contacted, saidMonday that there was noupdate on the case of the air-craft that went missing in 2016.

“The Court of Inquiry,upon very careful scrutiny ofthe circumstantial evidenceavailable and in light of exten-sive search and rescue opera-tions carried out, has conclud-ed that it is unlikely that themissing personnel on board theill-fated aircraft would havesurvived the accident.

“It is with a feeling of pro-found sadness that the Court ofInquiry has recommended thatyour son/daughter be pre-sumed to have been fatallyinjured,” the letter from IAF,dated August 24, 2016, to thefamilies of those in the aircraft,had read. The letter had comeannexed with a certificate ofpresumption of death.

The plane did not have anunderwater locator system,

which had made the search dif-ficult.

“No fewer than 201 searchand rescue sorties, using allsuitable aircraft at our dispos-al were undertaken.Approximately 2,17,800 squarenautical miles (Sq Nm) havebeen covered multiple times bythese aircraft,” the letter hadstated.

An AN-32 transport air-craft of the IAF with 13 peopleon board went missingMonday afternoon around 33minutes after taking off fromJorhat in Assam for Arunachal’sMenchuka near the borderwith China, officials said.

The IAF said the aircrafttook off from Jorhat 12.27 pmfor the Menchuka advancelanding ground in Shi-Yomidistrict in Arunachal Pradesh,and its last contact with theground control was at 1 pm.

The IAF has deployed C-130J and AN-32 aircraftbesides two Mi-17 chopperswhile the Indian Army haspressed into service advancelight helicopters to locate themissing Antonov AN-32 air-craft.

�� )31�*3�4"

Several senior BJP parlia-mentarians, including for-

mer Union Ministers ManekaGandhi, Radha Mohan Singhand Virender Kumar, are incontention for the post of LokSabha Speaker as the party topbrass deliberates to finalise itschoice, sources said onMonday.

Former Union ministersJual Oram and S S Ahluwaliaare also among the probablecandidates, they said.

Eight-term MP Gandhi isthe most experienced BJP law-maker in Lok Sabha and isbeing seen as a natural choicefor the speaker’s post. She isalso likely to be appointed aspro-tem speaker, being thesenior most parliamentarian inthe seventeenth Lok Sabha.

Singh, a six-term MP, hasemerged as a strong contenderfor the job due to his deep rootsin the organisation and imageof an affable and gentle leader,the sources said.

Also a six-time MP,Kumar’s Dalit identity might

work in his favour, they added.Ahluwalia was a minister

of state for parliamentaryaffairs in the previous govern-ment and is known for hisknowledge of legislative mat-ters. A section of BJP leaders isof the view that the leadershipmay spring a surprise with itschoice for the post by appoint-ing someone from southernIndia.

The sources said that thepost of deputy speaker may goto the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) thistime and Cuttack MPBhartruhari Mahtab is beingconsidered for the post.

Mahtab was awarded as thebest parliamentarian award for2017. In the sixteenth LokSabha, the post of deputyspeaker was held by M ThambiDurai of the AIADMK.

The first session of thenew Lok Sabha is scheduled tobegin on June 17. Election tothe post of speaker will be heldon June 19. The BJP-led NDAnominee is set to be elected forthe post as it has nearly two-thirds majority in the 542-member house.

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From Page 1The earlier draft education

policy triggered outrage insouthern States, led by TamilNadu, which said they willnot tolerate Hindi impositionin the State that doesn’t speakthe language. The DMK andother parties in Tamil Nadu,which had strongly opposedthe proposal in the 484-pagedraft National EducationPolicy(NEP) to make Hindi amandatory third language to betaught in schools across thecountry, welcomed the Centre’sdecision. Oscar-winning com-poser AR Rahman welcomedthe Centre’s decision.“Draft(NEP) policy corrected.Beautiful solution,” he tweeted.

Tamil Nadu had alwaysresisted the “imposition” ofHindi. In 1965, the State wit-nessed violent protests againsta proposal that Hindi would beIndia’s only official language.

The DMK on Monday saidthe Centre’s decision showedthat late party patriarch MKarunanidhi was “living,”apparently suggesting that itwas a success to his legacy ofopposing “imposition” ofHindi. After presiding over ameet of his party district sec-retaries, MPs, and MLAs, DMKpresident MK Stalin said in atweet: “At a time when we arecelebrating the birth anniver-sary of Thalaivar (leader)Kalaignar (late Karunanidhi),the Central Government with-drawing the Hindi compulso-ry subject clause shows thatKalaignar is living.” “Let usguard mother Tamil always breaking up the hege-monic imposition of Hindi,” hesaid.

The earlier draft read,“…the study of three languagesby students in the Hindi-speak-ing States would continue to

include Hindi and English andone of the modern languagesfrom other parts of India, whilethe study of languages by stu-dents in non-Hindi speakingStates would include theregional language, Hindi andEnglish.”

After the protest overimposition of Hindi in non-Hindi speaking States, theMHRD last week has issued aclarification. “This is a draftpolicy submitted by the com-mittee and is placed for viewsof general public. It is not thepolicy announced by theGovernment,” reads the draft.

On May 31, former ISROChairman K Kasturirangan,Chairman of the Committeefor Draft National EducationPolicy, with other memberssubmitted the report to thenewly appointed HRD MinisterRamesh Pokhriyal Nishanksoon after he took charge.

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From Page 1Having the distinction of

being the first police officerwho received “Kirti Chakra”, amilitary honour, Doval will beproviding his deep insightabout the threats faced by thecountry from within and out-side.

Doval was awarded theKirti Chakra in 1988 for con-ducting anti-insurgency oper-ations in Mizoram and bring-ing Mizo insurgent leaderLaldenga to the negotiatingtable by winning over six of hisseven commanders. He hadalso clandestinely enteredMyanmar and China to breakthe dominance of Mizo insur-gent outfit.

He worked with theIntelligence Bureau for over 33years during which he had

served in the Northeast, Jammu& Kashmir, and Punjab. Heserved in the UK as well.Doval, known as one of the bestoperational brains in intelli-gence circles, was one of themain negotiators from Indiawith the hijackers of IndianAirlines plane IC-814 taken toKandahar in 1999.

After his retirement fromservice, he had been runningDelhi-based VivekanandaInternational Foundation, con-sidered to be a right-wingthink-tank. Known for his clearinsight into and vision onIndian and global securityissues, Doval has spoken exten-sively at home and abroad onstrengthening the Indian secu-rity apparatus and forging clos-er cooperation among securi-ty forces globally.

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From Page 1The official added, “There

will be many hurdles as it isimpossible both sustainably aswell as technically. Even ifDMRC will find ways it willtake time to implement it. It isa long process.”

While a Government offi-cial who wished not to benamed said, “As the CentralGovernment have 50 per centstake in the Delhi Metro, theDelhi Government first willhave to send the proposal to theLieutenant Governor (LG) AnilBaijal for approval.”

As per the sources, theGovernment will also need toseek permission from the otherdepartments and agenciesinvolved such as the financedepartment, LG’s office and

Union Housing and UrbanDevelopment Affairs Ministry.“There is fixation committee ofthe DMRC, which is quasi,judicial, and it will have to lookinto whether there is a role forthe committee in this scheme,”said sources.

In a meanwhile, theKejriwal during the announce-ment of the project said, “If theCentre did not pay heed to ourobjections against the fare hike.In this case we will bear theburden. If the scheme is imple-mented by the month ofAugust-September, the expen-diture for this financial yearwould be around 700 to 800crores.”

It may be noted that theGovernment in the end of lastyear proposed a plan to provideconcessions to senior citizen,disabled in the metro. TheDelhi Metro which has beenasked to draft a plan on thisproposal is also on process.However, as per process thereis no concrete update on the

project.Kejriwal further added that

the woman who can afford, canbuy ticket and travel and thosewho cannot afford thereexpenses will be bear by theDelhi Government, adding toit he said that DMRC andDTC has been given a sevendays time to draft the plan andonce the plan will be readied,the CM will call a special ses-sion of the Delhi Assembly willbe called for budgetary provi-sions.

The Government will alsoseek suggestions from peopleon how to implement thescheme for which it has creat-ed digital platform del-himetrowomensafety.comwhere people can send theirsuggestion.

The Chief Minister reject-ed the suggestion the move willlead to congestion in Metrotrains. He said around 1,000buses will be rolled out byNovember to boost the DTCfleet. “In next 12 months,

around 3,000 new buses will bedelivered. Further citing theridership data of metro andbus, he added around 30-33 percent daily ridership in busesand metro trains comprisewomen commuters.”The stepwill not lead to congestion inDelhi Metro trains as daily rid-ership will increase by just onelakh. Currently 25 lakh peopletravel by metro trains everyday.”

DTC buses have a dailyridership of 40 lakh and theDTC and the Delhi IntegratedMulti Modal System (DIMTS)-run cluster buses numberaround 5,500.

There are marshals in allDTC buses for safety of womenpassengers and directions havebeen given to depute them oncluster buses as well. All buseswill be equipped with CCTVcameras, he said.

“These are two majorannouncements which willboost the safety of womenwho feel quite unsafe in the

city,” said the Chief Minister.He further added, “The

female workforce participa-tion nationally is 27%, howev-er, it is only 11% in Delhi. Thismakes it clear that the numberof working women is quite lowin Delhi. We hope that thescheme will encourage moreand more of our women folk togo out to work.”

Between the years of 2017and 2019, the increase in themetro line is around 55%.While the total length was 212kilometres in the year of 2017,it has increased to 327 kilome-tres in 2019. However, the hikein the fares has led to the dipin the ridership.

While the Delhi BJP chiefManoj Tiwari dubbed the move“populist” and said Kejriwal“seems to have lost his mentalbalance” and was making theannouncement in view of thecoming Assembly election. Heis trying to recover the groundhis party lost in Lok Sabhapolls,” said Tiwari.

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Indian Air Force helicopters onMonday spotted the bodies of five of

the eight mountaineers who went miss-ing en route to the Nanda Devi Eastpeak in Uttarakhand, the IAF said.

The eight-member team consistingof climbers from the UK, the US andAustralia went missing on the way tothe Nanda Devi East peak.

Bodies of five mountaineers weresighted near an unscaled peak adjoin-ing Nanda Devi East during an airsearch by IAF helicopters on Monday,Pithoragarh District Magistrate VKJogdande said. Apparently, the moun-taineers were perished in an avalanchewhile ascending an unscaled peak nearthe Nanda Devi East peak after theyfailed to scale the latter, he said.

The IAF also tweeted about spot-ting the bodies.

“Today, #IAF crew spotted five bod-ies in the Himalayas during a#SearchAndRescue operation for miss-ing mountaineers. A team of eightclimbers had gone missing near theNanda Devi peak over a week ago,” it said.

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Union Law Minister RaviShankar Prasad on Monday

asserted that neither he nor hisMinistry will be a “post office”on judicial appointments andthat he will work as a stakeholderin consultation with theSupreme Court and HighCourts to expedite recruitmentof judges.

He also said theGovernment is in a “mood” tofast track consultations withstakeholders to set up an all-India judicial service to recruitjudges for lower courts.

Talking to newspersonsafter taking charge of hisMinistry, Prasad said, “The LawMinister and the Law Ministryare stakeholders, obviously giv-ing due regard and respect to thecollegium system.

“We have a stake (in judges'appointments) and we will con-tinue to pursue that stake in con-sultation with the SupremeCourt and the High Courts toexpedite the appointments,” he

said. The Modi Government inits previous term had on sever-al occasions returned to the SCcollegium recommendationsmade by it to appoint SC andHC judges, citing various rea-sons. The Government has allalong maintained that the LawMinistry is not a post officewhich will merely accept files.

Prasad's remarks are a reit-eration of the policy theGovernment has followed.

With more than 5,000 posi-tions of judicial officers in dis-

trict and subordinate courtslying vacant, the newly-appoint-ed Law Minister emphasised theneed for setting up all-India judi-cial services.

He said the Government isin a “mood” to fast track con-sultations with the stakeholders— the judiciary and StateGovernments — to set up theservice at the earliest.

“We want good people tojoin judiciary... The selectionprocess should be more meritbased... Deprived section (of the

society) should enter the servicebased on merit,” Prasad said.

The sanctioned strength ofjudicial officers in district andsubordinate courts was 22,644 ason September 30, 2018.

The Government has madeit clear that such a service wouldnot encroach on the powers ofStates. The selection andappointment of judges in sub-ordinate courts is the responsi-bility of high courts and StateGovernments concerned.

The Government has beenpitching for creation of an all-India judicial services to appointpeople in lower judiciary.

On the contentious issue offinalisation of memorandum ofprocedure (MoP), Prasad said,“We will work it out.”

“I have already conveyed itto you that there are certainissues about screening etc onwhich we have two views. Butthere is always a healthy meet-ing ground which we will be ableto find,” he said.

The MoP is a documentwhich guides the appointmentand transfer of judges of SC and HCs.

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ABill on triple talaq, a prac-tice banned in 20 Islamic

countries, would again bebrought in the Parliament toscrap the continuation of dis-criminatory tradition of instantdivorce to wife by Muslimmale in India.

Law Minister Ravi ShankarPrasad who assumed office ofhis Ministry said theGovernment will bring a Bill toban the practice in theParliament session of 17th LokSabha.

The Muslim Women(Protection of Rights onMarriage) Bill which could notbe passed in the Parliament asit was not backed by theCongress and some otheropposition parties in the upperhouse, objecting to the provi-sion of arrest of husband, hadlapsed after having been passedin the lower house. The billhad made triple talaq a non-

bailable offence.The Government had sub-

sequently made some changesin the bill which provided thathusband would be arrestedonly on the complaint of hiswife or blood relatives. It alsoallowed bail for husband dur-ing the trial period. A provisionwas added to allow the magis-trate to grant bail “after hear-ing the wife”.

While the bill made it a“non-bailable” offence, an

accused could approach a mag-istrate even before trial to seekbail. In a non-bailable offence,bail cannot be granted by policeat the police station itself.

Those bill which are intro-duced in the Rajya Sabha donot lapse with the dissolutionof the Lok sabha but same isnot the case with the bill whichare introduced in the lowerhouse.

Asked whether the bill ontriple talaq would be broughtagain, Prasad said, “Obviously.(The issue of) triple talaq is partof our (BJP) manifesto. Whynot?”

Responding to a questionon uniform civil code, he saidthe government would hold“political consultations” on theissue even as he goes throughthe Law Commission report onthe issue.

On August 31 last year, thelaw panel had issued a consul-tation paper instead of a full-fledged report on the issue, say-

ing a uniform civil code is “nei-ther necessary nor desirable” atthis stage. It had suggestedchanges in laws relating tomarriage, divorce, alimony,and marriageable age for menand women.

The government had pro-mulgated the ordinance ontriple talaq twice.

Under the Muslim Women(Protection of Rights onMarriage) Ordinance, 2019,divorcing through instant tripletalaq will be illegal, void andwill attract a jail term of threeyears for the husband.

A Bill to convert the earli-er ordinance, issued inSeptember 2018, was cleared bythe Lok Sabha in Decemberand was pending in the RajyaSabha

Since the Bill could not getparliamentary approval, a freshordinance was issued. Theseamendments were cleared bythe Cabinet on August 29,2018.

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Strengthening the imple-mentation of the Prime

Minister Narendra Modi's petproject, Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan ArogyaYojna (PM-JAY), eradicationof tuberculosis by 2025, com-pleting new AIIMS-like pro-jects and reforming the med-ical education sector are someof the priorities of doctor-turned-politician HarshVardhan who took charge asthe Union Health Minister onMonday here.

Vardhan, who reachedhis office Nirman Bhawan ona cycle, said he will ensurethat people in every nook andcorner of the country areable to avail the benefits of thePMJAY.

“Since the launch of PM-JAY, around 27 lakh peoplehave availed the benefitsunder the scheme. However,still many people are notaware of it. Some people whoare in dire need of the bene-fits provided under the insur-ance scheme are not able toavail it due to eligibility cri-teria issues,” Vardhan said.

Next on his priority list,he said, is to complete theunfinished target of trans-forming nearly 1.5 lakh pri-mary health centres and sub-centres as 'health and wellnesscentres' by 2022 to providecomprehensive and quality

primary care close to thecommunity.

Presently, around 10,000health and wellness centresare operational in 35 statesand Union territories underthe government's flagshipAyushman Bharat scheme.

Vardhan said he was“grateful” to Prime MinisterNarendra Modi for entrustinghim with the responsibility ofthe health ministry.

“I am thankful to PrimeMinister Narendra Modi fortrusting me and giving methis responsibility. TheGovernment will focus onstrengthening promotive andpreventive strategies so thatpeople adopt positive andhealthy lifestyles and remain

healthy. On PMJAY, he said that

concerted efforts will be madefor empanelling more pri-vate hospitals. Also, that theGovernment will resolve thebottlenecks in the imple-mentation of AyushmanBharat and make it morehandy and easily accessiblefor the common man. Dr.Harsh Vardhan emphasised tomake health a 'Jan Andolan'through people's involvement.He said that we can providemaximum possible helpthrough this Ministry as thereis instant benefit to the peo-ple. He further added thatIndia has the potential andcapacity for fulfilling the goalof 'Health for All'.

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Acouple of days after hetook over as the Defence

Minister, Rajnath Singh onMonday visited Siachen, theworld's highest battle field, toboost the morale of the soldiersguarding the border even as hesaid he would personally senda 'Thank You' note to their par-ents for sending them to jointhe forces. In his first visit out-side Delhi as Defence Minister,Singh also reviewed securitypreparedness in Siachen withtop field commanders of thearea.

Accompanied by ArmyChief Gen. Bipin Rawat and

General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of NorthernCommand Ranbir Singh,Rajnath saluted the valour ofthe soldiers and said he willpersonally send a thank younote to their parents for lettingthem serve the nation.

“Our soldiers in Siachenare performing their duty withgreat courage and fortitudeeven in extreme conditionsand treacherous terrain. I salutetheir vigour and valour,” theDefence Minister tweeted.

He also laid a wreath at the

Siachen war memorial. “I amproud of all Army personnelserving in Siachen who areleaving no stone unturned todefend our motherland,”Rajnath Singh said.

“I am also proud of theirparents who have sent theirchildren to serve the nation byjoining the armed forces. Iwill personally send a thankyou note to them,” Singh said.

At 1200 feet, the SiachenGlacier in the Karakorumrange is known as the highestmilitarised zone in the worldwhere the soldiers have to bat-tle frostbite and high winds.Avalanches and landslides arecommon at the glacier duringthe winters and temperaturescan drop to as low as minus 60degrees Celsius.

The Defence Minister saidmore than 1,100 soldiers havemade the supreme sacrifice

defending the Siachen Glacier.“The nation will always remainindebted to their service andsacrifice,” he said.

Later, Singh arrived at theheadquarters of Srinagar-basedChinar Corps at BadamibaghCantonment here for a briefingon India's preparedness to dealwith any possible eventuality ormisadventure by Pakistan.

Singh's predecessors likeSharad Pawar, GeorgeFernandes, Mulayam SinghYadav and Nirmala Sitharamantoo had visited Siachen.

Fernandes, as defence min-ister in the Atal BihariVajpayee-led NDA govern-ment, once sent two seniorbureaucrats of his ministry toSiachen glacier when he cameto know that they had heldback a file on purchase ofsnow bikes for soldiersdeployed there.

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What will cause serious con-cern, especially for the

Agriculture sector, privatebroadcaster Skymet Weatheron Monday said this has beenthe second driest pre-monsoonseason in the last 65 years. Thepre-monsoon rain is a phe-nomenon vital to agriculture inseveral parts of the country. In2019, India received just 99 mmof pre-monsoon rainfall asagainst the average of 131.5 mm.

Northwest India, CentralIndia, East, and Northeast Indiaand South Peninsula recordeddeficit rains of 30 per cent, 18per cent, 14 per cent and 47 per

cent respectively.According to Skymet, this

has been the second driestpre-monsoon season in thelast 65 years, with the lowestbeing recorded in 2012 whencountrywide cumulative rain-fall deficiency had mounted to31 per cent.

This does not augur wellfor the country. The agricul-tural sector still depends agreat deal on a healthy rainfallfor intended farm output.

The India MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD) has record-ed a deficiency of 22 per centin pre-monsoon rains in thecountry. Skymet too registereda 22-24 per cent deficit.

Pre-monsoon rainfall isimportant for horticulturecrops in some parts of thecountry. In States like Odisha,ploughing is done in the pre-monsoon season, while in partsof northeast India and theWestern Ghats it is critical forplantation of crops.

IMD said in parts ofnortheast India and theWestern Ghats, pre-monsoonrainfall is critical for plantationcrops. “There will be “moisturestress” in case of a deficit.Crops like sugarcane and cot-ton, planted in central India,survive on irrigation and alsorequire supplement of pre-monsoon rains”, IMD said.

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India's foodgrain production isestimated to fall marginally to

283.37 million tonne (MT) inthe 2018-19 crop year due to fallin pulses and coarse cerealsoutput even as the country har-vested record rice and wheatcrops. According to the thirdadvance estimates of productionof major crops for 2018-19,released by the AgricultureMinistry, the production offoodgrains (rice, wheat, coarsecereals and pulses) stood at285.01 MT in the 2017-18 cropyear (July-June).

The Agriculture Ministrysaid the rice production is esti-

mated at an all-time-high of115.63 MT during 2018-19,beating the previous record of112.76 MT achieved in 2017-18crop year. This is despite the factthat the country has faceddrought in 245 districts in 2018.

Wheat output is also seen atrecord 101.20 MT, surpassing99.87 MT in the previous year.However, production of coarsecereals is estimated to bedeclined at 43.33 MT from

record 46.97 MT in 2017-18crop year. Pulses output, too, ispegged lower at 23.22 MT fromrecord 25.42 MT.

In non-foodgrain category,oilseeds output is estimated to beflat at 31.42 MT as against 31.45MT in the previous year.

Cotton production couldfall to 27.59 million bales (of 170kg each) in 2018-19 from 32.80million bales in the previousyear. Sugarcane production isestimated at record 400.37 MT,up from 379.90 MT in the pre-vious year.

The output of jute andmesta is seen lower at 9.79 mil-lion bales (of 180 kg each) from10.03 million bales.

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The Rajya Sabha proceedingswill begin from June 20 and

end on July 26 for the upcom-ing session of Parliament,according to the Upper Housesecretariat communiqué issuedon Monday.

“The President has sum-moned the Rajya Sabha tomeet on June 20, 2019 for theupcoming Session ofParliament. Subject to exigen-cies of business, the session isscheduled to conclude onFriday, July 26, 2019,” it said.

The first session of theLok Sabha will commence onJune 17. The newly-electedmembers will be administered

the oath on the first two days,and the new Speaker will beelected on June 19.

President Ram NathKovind will address the jointsitting of both Houses ofParliament in the Central Hallat 11 am on June 20. FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharamanwill present the budget duringthe session on July 4.

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New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Mondaystayed the Madras High Court judgementordering demolition of top five floors of aneight-storey block of a private hospital inChennai for construction allegedly in vio-lation of the approved building plan.

A vacation bench comprising JusticesIndu Malhotra and MR Shah, however,directed Billroth Hospitals Ltd not to usethese top five floors for any activity.

The bench, which issued the notice andsought response from the Tamil NaduGovernment on the plea filed by the hos-pital challenging the high court verdict,granted 10 days to the hospital to vacate the

five floors.The High Court had ordered the demo-

lition to commence from June 16. Senior advocate AM Singhvi, appearing

for the hospital, told the apex court that ithad applied under the 2017 building regu-larisation scheme of Tamil Nadu. PTI

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New Delhi: Former SupremeCourt judge AK Patnaik onMonday said he has called forsome more information fromthe intelligence agencies —CBI, IB — and Delhi Police tofind truth behind the allega-tions of “larger conspiracy” toframe the Chief Justice of IndiaRanjan Gogoi.

Justice Patnaik wasappointed by the SupremeCourt to hold an inquiry intothe sensational allegationsincluding the fixing of bench-es after a lawyer claimed that alarger conspiracy was at workin the apex court.

Utsav Singh Bains hadmade the allegations when theapex court was hearing the sex-

ual harassment charges againstthe CJI in which the three-member in-house inquirycommittee did not find anysubstance.

When contacted, JusticePatnaik told PTI over phonefrom Cuttack, Odisha, that theinquiry will take some moretime as he has to peruse moredocuments to find out thetruth.

While ruling out the pos-sibility of submitting thereport by July, the retired apexcourt judge said he has gonethrough the documentsalready supplied to him but tofind clues he needs more doc-uments.

Justice Patnaik said he is on

vacation at his home town andwill recommence the work ofinquiry on coming back toDelhi in July.

“I will have to call forsome more material from allthe three — CBI, IB and DelhiPolice Commissioner — asafter going through the mate-rial received by them, I thinksome more material isrequired.

“I have to find out what clues I am getting.Whether there is any confir-mation about it or not. If there is no confirmation thenI will have to take a differentview. If more material is com-ing in, I will have to pursue it(the matter).” PTI

New Delhi: The Supreme Courtgranted three months to CBI onMonday to complete the probe inMuzaffarpur shelter home sexualassault case, including suspectedmurders, and directed it to widen thescope to investigate the “outsiders”involved in the crime.

Several girls were sexually andphysically assaulted at an NGO-runshelter home in Bihar's Muzaffarpurand the issue had come to light fol-lowing a report by Tata Institute ofSocial Sciences (TISS).

The apex court also directed CBIto probe the allegations of unnatur-al sexual assault under section 377 ofthe Indian Penal Code.

Besides, it asked the agency toprobe the offences under theInformation Technology Act regard-ing the video recordings of thealleged assault on girls at the shelterhome. CBI, which filed an interimstatus report in a sealed cover on itsongoing investigation in the case,requested a vacation bench com-prising Justices Indu Malhotra andM R Shah to grant them six monthsto complete the probe.

“We grant three months to theCBI to complete its investigation,” thebench said. The apex court directedCBI to investigate the role of “out-siders who were involved and facil-

itated the sexual assaults on theinmates”, after administering themintoxicants and also probe againstthose who allegedly indulged intrafficking of girls from the shelterhome.

It observed that these aspectswere required to be probed and askedthe CBI to submit its final report tothe court within three months.

The bench directed all the otherconcerned agencies to cooperate inthe probe being carried out by CBI.

The apex court had earlierdirected CBI to complete by June 3its probe into the alleged murder of11 girls at the shelter home and askedit to file a status report.

Additional Solicitor GeneralMadhavi Divan, appearing for theCBI, told the bench that the agencyhas so far excavated two bodies andit is awaiting the forensic report sothat the identities could be ascer-tained. Divan said trial against 21accused, chargesheeted by CBI in foralleged sexual and physical assaulton the inmates, was on and theprogress was satisfactory. AdvocateAparna Bhat, who is assisting thecourt as an amicus curiae in thematter, said that murder aspectneeds to be investigated thorough-ly since several victims have givenstatements to that effect. PTI

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New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Mondayrefused to stay the Madras High Court orderwhich quashed the land acquisition processfor the �10,000-crore Salem-Chennai eight-lane green corridor project.

A vacation bench comprising JusticesIndu Malhotra and MR Shah howeverissued notices to the parties including theTamil Nadu government

the appeal of the National HighwaysAuthority of India (NHAI), an autonomousagency of the central government which haschallenged the high court order.

“We are going to issue notices on thespecial leave petition (SLP)... We are not

going to stay the high court's order,” it said,while declining the plea of the ProjectImplementation Unit of NHAI that the highcourt's order be stayed.

NHAI had moved the top court on May31 and the bench had then agreed to hearthe appeal.

The high court had held that the envi-ronmental clearance was mandatory for thesensitive project.

The high court's order had come on abatch of petitions filed by 35 land owners andPMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss. The pleashad challenged the land acquisition pro-ceedings.

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The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP)spectacular performance in theLok Sabha election is as much apositive vote for the strong andassertive leadership of Prime

Minister Narendra Modi as it is a negativevote against the vulgar and abusive cam-paign launched by Congress presidentRahul Gandhi and his colleagues againstthe Prime Minister.

Having lived in bungalows in Lutyens’Delhi for decades, sometimes without theright to do so, the Nehru-Gandhis viewedModi as an intruder, who had no businessto find a place in this hallowed part of thenational capital. Second, ever since heemerged as the main political challengerto the Nehru-Gandhis, this family and thebunch of courtiers surrounding it, tooktheir resentment to unacceptable levels andbegan showering abuses on him. It wasoften implied that Modi did not have the“class” to be the country’s Prime Minister.He was only fit to sell tea. The Nehru-Gandhis began targeting him from the daysof his chief ministership in Gujarat whenSonia Gandhi described him as the “mer-chant of death” (maut ka saudagar).

Since then, Modi has been subjectedto relentless verbal assault. During the LokSabha election, Rahul Gandhi began call-ing him a “thief ”. Given Modi’s social andeconomic circumstances in his formativeyears and the fact that he helped augmenthis family’s income by selling tea on rail-way platforms, the Nehru-Gandhis oughtto have been more circumspect while crit-icising him. Since the Nehru-Gandhisclaim their political legacy from MahatmaGandhi and the egalitarian principles of theparty during the freedom movement,their comments on Modi were perceivedby the electorate as invidious and hurtful.It seemed as if the very privileged Nehru-Gandhis were mocking at the rise of anordinary, under-privileged citizen.Therefore, democracy had to assert itselfand make India’s grand old party pay forsuch crass insensitivity.

As it turned out, the Congress’ perfor-mance in this election has been inverselyproportional to the level of its vituperation.Now, let us look at the consequence of allthis in electoral terms for the Nehru-Gandhis and India’s oldest political party.

But old habits die hard and theCongress continues to remain graceless inits defeat and is in complete denial. TheCongress bagged 145 seats and came topower with just 26.53 per cent of the votein 2004. In 2009, it won 206 seats with just28.55 per cent of the vote. Thus, it ruledthe country with Sonia Gandhi as the dejure Prime Minister for a full 10 years withan average 28 per cent of the popular vote.Yet, leaders of this party were questioningthe legitimacy of the Narendra ModiGovernment formed in 2014 because theBJP had secured 282 seats with just 31.34

per cent of the vote. They areagain questioning the legitima-cy of Modi’s victory in 2019despite winning 303 seatsbecause the BJP’s vote share is37.40 per cent. They say over60 per cent of the electorate areopposed to the ruling establish-ment. This is false because theBJP was part of the NDA coali-tion and this coalition has won45 per cent of the vote.

These arguments are spe-cious because even JawaharlalNehru managed to secure just45 per cent of the vote in thefirst Lok Sabha election held in1951-52. In that election, theCongress won 364 of the 489seats in the Lok Sabha. Theparty had no worthwhile oppo-sition — just a potpourri ofsmall and disparate parties.The Bharatiya Jana Sangh,which was the precursor to thepresent-day BJP, won just threeseats in that election, whichmeant that it was picking upone seat for every 100 won bythe Congress. In 1957, theCongress’ tally was 371 with 48per cent of the vote and 361seats with about 45 per cent ofthe vote in 1962.

The tables have nowturned. The BJP-led NationalDemocratic Alliance (NDA)has 358 seats in the new LokSabha with the BJP itself com-

manding 303 seats. TheCongress on the other handhas come a poor second withjust 52 seats, a marginalimprovement over the 44 itwon in 2014.

In all these elections, theCongress was sarvavyaapi —well spread out and winningseats in every nook and cor-ner of the country. The BJP isnow taking that position.

One of the most signifi-cant outcomes in this electionwas the maturing of the elec-torate as seen in the electoralchoices they made in Odisha,Rajasthan, Madhya Pradeshand Chhattisgarh. Althoughthe BJP lost power in all thethree northern States onlyfive months ago, the votersgave a decisive mandate to thisparty in the Lok Sabha elec-tion, thus clearly drawing adistinction between State andnational elections. The out-come in Odisha was evenmore stark because the voterswere voting simultaneouslyfor the State Assembly and theLok Sabha on two differentvoting machines. Out of the21 Lok Sabha seats in theState, the voters backed theBJP in eight seats and the BijuJanata Dal (BJD) in 12 seats.However, in the StateAssembly poll , the BJD

walked away with 112 of the146 seats, which is over 75 percent and the BJP had to makedo with just 23. Thus, therewas a strong undercurrent infavour of Modi in the LokSabha poll whereas BJD chiefNaveen Patnaik was thefavourite to run the State.

Such maturity augurs wellfor our democracy becauseState and local-level electionsare often dominated by casteand other divisions, whereasa Lok Sabha election revolv-ing around a leader, a party oran idea cuts through thesedivisions, leading to a moreeclectic voter base for thewinning party.

The BJP is now clearlyspreading itself out and if itkeeps up the pace, its electoralmap next time round shouldresemble that of the Congresswhen Nehru was at the helmin 1957 or 1962 when it hadseats in virtually every State.

Meanwhile, the Congressmust go back to the drawingboard and begin rebuildingthe party much like the BJPdid after 1984 when it wasreduced to just two seats inthe Lok Sabha!

(The writer is an authorspecialising in democracy studies. Views expressed arepersonal)

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Sir — Union Minister NirmalaSitharaman has really broken theglass ceiling by reaching whereshe is today. Prime MinisterNarendra Modi has surprisednot only the Dalal Street but alsomost of us by appointing her asthe country’s Finance Minister.Remember, the Prime Ministerhad thrown a similar surprise in2017 when he appointedSitharaman as the DefenceMinister. With a master’s degreein economics and a doctorate inIndo European Textile trade,Sitharaman is the first womanMinister to hold these two port-folios after Indira Gandhi.

Surely, Sitharaman’s appoint-ment must have raised eyebrowsin the financial circles as manyhad believed that the PrimeMinister would give finance toparty chief Amit Shah or RailwayMinister Piyush Goyal, who hadheld the portfolio briefly whenArun Jaitley was ailing. It isunfortunate that Sitharaman hastaken over at a time when thecountry’s economy is not in thebest of health. Thus, Sitharamanhas her job cut out and how farshe will succeed will depend on

a number of factors. As FinanceMinister, one of her prioritiesshould be to find the money tofund Prime Minister Modi’s elec-tion campaign promises, keepingin mind the budget deficit target.

Meghna ANew South Wales

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Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “Trump’s latest target” (June3). US President Donald Trump’smove to terminate India’s desig-nation as a beneficiary develop-

ing nation under the keyGeneralised System ofPreference trade programmeisn’t surprising as we all knew itwould come sooner or later.

The way Trump-led USGovernment has been usingprotectionism, it is going to

hurt the US economy in times tocome as we live in a truly glob-alised world.

Nevertheless, now that thedamage has been done, Indiawill have to address the issue athand. Indeed, it is going to bevery tricky for CommerceMinister Piyush Goyal, who willhave to walk on a very thin wireto satisfy Trump as well as hisown Prime Minister.

The US will do well to notequate every country with thesame weighing scale. India’sgrowing stature in the world cannow no longer be ignored.

Bal GovindNoida

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Sir — In an article titled, “Cashis the only King”(May 31) byHima Bindu Kota, the writer hadinadvertently mentioned that amerger had taken place betweenHDFC Life and Max LifeInsurance in the Life Insurancesector. The merger had beenproposed but did go through.The error is regretted.

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Narendra Modi 2.0 has begun on a tri-umphant note for the BJP and its allies.Obviously, it has come as a shock to ‘sea-

soned’ politicians, none of whom — with all theexperience of electioneering behind — couldanticipate such a massive mandate in favour ofNarendra Modi. Many of them thought the 2014victory was a fluke; that people were tempted bywhat they called ‘unfulfilled promises’.Congressmen were convinced that people wouldreturn back to the grand old party; other partiesthought that their caste base was intact as Modicould not bring back black money, out of whichevery Indian was to get 15 lakh in his/her account.Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadavdismissed the panel of spokespersons of the party.Congress has decided not to send spokespersonsfor TV debates for a month. Bahujan Samaj Party(BSP) continues to complain about ‘good EVMs’and ‘doctored EVMs’. All of these indicate the leveland intensity of pain the defeat has inflicted onmajor Opposition parties.

Yes, it is a sharp indictment inflicted by thepeople on them and it will be tough for these par-ties to come out of the shock. They are best advisedto seek solace and guidance from what AlvinToffler had written a couple of decades ago: “Theilliterate of the 21st century will not be those whocannot read and write, but those who cannot learn,unlearn and relearn.” Think of TDP chief NChandrababu Naidu, who was travelling to var-ious places, making an attempt to bringOpposition parties together and offer a nationalalternative — even a Prime Minister! In his ownState, he was facing the Assembly elections.Probably he knew nothing about which way thewind was blowing there. Literacy has so manydimensions. The contours of Indian electoral pol-itics have undergone a silent though majortransformation over the years and those, who con-tinue to depend upon taking the voter for grant-ed, will just vanish from the scene. One can besure that the fate of Trinamool Congress (TMC),SP, BSP and Indian National Congress — still keento continue the politics of 1980s — shall beobserved very closely even by international pun-dits of electoral politics.

Pre-election activities to the 17th Lok Sabhapolls shall be remembered in history for theabsence of efforts by Opposition parties to com-prehend the prevailing mood of the electorate.Absence of strategic deficiencies and restlessnessamong all major Opposition parties was visibleall around. They targetted Narendra Modi, andwere not against the BJP. The manner chowkidarchor hai boomeranged indicates the absence of“unlearn and relearn.” After the elections,Opposition parties face a bleak future. They area worried lot as this election could herbal a totaltransformation of the Indian political scenario dur-ing the next five years. Political parties based oncaste, sub-caste and communal considerations,mostly owned by individuals and families, havealready sensed grave danger to their very existenceafter the renewed arrival of Narendra Modi on thenational scene. In the 2014 elections, his popu-larity cut across caste, creed, regional or parochialconsiderations. He could even make a dent in theMuslim community votes, which indeed was agreat achievement even as the numbers were not

so impressive. Modi has endeared himself to theliberal and educated Muslim community on theone hand and on the other, to those who are grate-ful to receive gas connections, pucca houses, toi-lets and several other benefits. The Oppositionknew it well — though they could not accept itpublically for obvious reasons — that some of theschemes launched by Narendra Modi had impact-ed millions of families who were deprived of basicfacilities and human dignity for ages. A gas con-nection, toilet, pucca house, a bank account, healthsupport, farm insurance and the like brought achhedin to crores of families — without any discrim-ination. This was one well-thought out step thatrelated every member of the beneficiary familyto Prime Minister Modi on one-to-one basis.

Here was a Prime Minister, who was worriedabout the smoke in the kitchen of the poor andthe embarrassment suffered by women who hadto suffer due to the practice of open defecationall along. He had the courage to speak about itfrom the ramparts of the Red Fort. He could setthe entire nation on the move — clean India anODF India. Not that these concerns were not high-lighted in policies and programmes earlier, butimplementation mostly remained on files only.Things are different this time: A family that usestoilets now shall never let it go non-functional inthe future. Those, who are used to the luxury ofshining marble-floored attached toilets for four-five decades, just could not visualise the impacton the families getting a toilet for the first time.

Think of the political leadership of the firsttwo decades after independence. Most of them hadimpressive saga of sacrifices and sufferingsbehind them. They had worked with the people,understood India, were practicing Gandhian val-ues, knew India likes and adores those who com-prehend the import of non-accumulation;Aparigrah. People are just trying to find one per-son in public life who practices Aparigrah like

Modi in his real life. The newly elected MP fromBalasore, Pratap Sarangi, comes in this category.He received the maximum applause while takingoath as a Minister of State in the new Cabinet. Helives in a thatched house, rides a bicycle and cre-ated history by winning the election without anyexpenditure. People are keen to know more abouthim, his lifestyle and the way he conducts him-self. They are least concerned about his caste orpolitical affiliation. This India is now emerging.It has naturally caused great concern among thosewho find their citadels of power, affluence andauthority crumbling under the upthrust frombelow — the rise of neglected people, deprivedpeople and those who were presumed destinedto suffer forever.

People are no more impressed by lavishlifestyles, long cavalcades and hoards of favour-seekers around their leaders. Gradually, India hasdeveloped distaste for avoidable pomp and show,particularly by elected representatives, includingthose occupying high positions in theGovernment. It was left to Narendra Modi torealise that the red beacon on vehicles was dis-liked by practically everyone in the public. By onesingle act, he won over innumerable fans through-out the country. One could enlist several such suc-cessful initiatives that have changed the psyche ofthe people of India. They are breaking the barri-ers in Indian politics, freeing it from the bondagesof caste and communal shackles. The real andrealistic change is taking place in villages and smalltowns of India. And this indeed is a very encour-aging sign. The manner in which political partiesand leaders are incisively analysed in village chau-pals and roadside tea stalls can often become aneye-opener for political pundits. Voting patternsin States of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh andChhattisgarh are rare examples of the increasingmaturity of the Indian voter. They installedCongress Governments in these States just six

months ago, but extended full-scale support toModi in national elections. It is this newly-acquiredskill of discrimination that represents an increasein the strength of democracy.

The new Government deserves six tension-free months to put its plans and promises in actionmode. The Opposition can utilise this time to setits house in order. Most regional parties are fac-ing some crises or the other. There is disappoint-ment in parties like BSP, SP, NCP, TDP and thereis immense frustration that has manifested mostin West Bengal, or in speeches of leaders likeFarooq Abdullah, Mamata Banerjee or MehboobaMufti. The best course open for Opposition par-ties is to direct their leaders and workers to go tovillages, stay there for at least a month, if not more,and find out what people really need and whatimpacts them. Take one example: If instead ofgoing abroad for two months on a secret mission,Rahul Gandhi had stayed — at least once in fiveyears — in Amethi for that much period, he wouldcertainly not have suffered a humiliating defeat.He would have gathered tremendous experiencein understanding India if he had gone to take med-icine from the local health centre, accompanieda farmer to the police station to get an FIR reg-istered, visited sarkari schools to find what hap-pens to the mid-day meal scheme.

Smriti Irani maintained her links even afterlosing the 2014 elections and her doors were open24X7 to anyone coming to Delhi from Amethi.This was bound to pay dividends. It worked andshe could achieve what was considered impossi-bility by most experts. It will be interesting andrewarding if someone could study and analysehow many candidates, who came second in 2014elections, really kept in touch with their electoratefor five years. My presumption, sadly enough, isnot encouraging at all.

(The writer is the Indian Representative on theExecutive Board of UNESCO)

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Earlier this year, a tech reporternamed Kashmir Hill spent sixweeks of her life blocking

Amazon, Facebook, Google, Microsoftand Apple from “getting her money,data and attention”, using a custom-builtVPN. These are famously the ‘BigTech’companies. In the pieces she wrote doc-umenting the process, she noticed thatcutting off some websites and serviceswas easier than others, although it wasalmost impossible for some likeAmazon and Google. For instance,Amazon not only operates in a major-ity of retail businesses, but also controlsother crucial services and key websitesthrough ‘Amazon Web Services’ andemploys a secondary service called acontent delivery network to load webpages faster. She also found that almostevery business and app uses AWS.

Google is similarly omnipresent.Cutting off Google means cutting offapps like Uber, Spotify, emails, mostpictures on the Internet and newspa-per articles which use them, Airbnb andscores of other services.

What Hill found is critical tounderstand how technology behe-moths control the way we experiencelife today. Is it possible to live withoutthese services? Perhaps yes. But doingso will alter the way most of us com-municate, relate, consume and experi-ence the Internet, making our worldsdramatically different and exceeding-ly difficult. For most businesses, con-tinuing to deliver services or distrib-ute/market products will be criticallyimpacted. This trade-off, therefore —between privacy and ethics on the onehand to be able to be employed, deliv-er at work, earn a living, research, trav-el, transact, communicate, investigateand live a meaningful life in a digitalage on the other — is inequitable andseemingly insurmountable. It places lib-ertarian principles in direct conflict withconvenience. Hence, data, privacy andprinciples that we trade away and con-tinue to do so, to get slivers of this con-

venience and buy into the promises offuture convenience are the hidden pricewe pay for our existence today. This isthe price expected of us and willinglyor unwittingly, this is the price we mustpay to survive. Margrethe Vestager, thenoted European Commissioner forCompetition, categorically stated thatnone of the services offered by the‘BigTech’ should be confused withbeing ‘truly free’. In fact, with the pro-liferation of smart devices and onlineservices addressing our every need, itis clear that consumers and business-es will continue to accept this trade-offof privacy and data with convenienceand ‘efficiency’. Therefore, the questionthat arises in a world with an undeni-ably hidden cost of ‘convenience’ is oneof knowing the true cost of this ‘con-venience’. One way of doing this is tovalue the data we trade away, theuntapped price of our yet un-tradeddata and privacy, and forming a frame-work to negotiate effectively.

However, calculating the value ofthis data is not just resource-intensiveand difficult but also a near impossi-ble task, given that we know almostnothing about the inner workings of

big technology firms. More crucially,in an age of Cambridge Analytica, elec-tion rigging and fake news, there hasbeen a visible breakdown of trustbetween the holders of technology andits consumers.

One way to approach this informa-tion asymmetry, just like we do for bigbanks and corporations, is throughincreased and more meaningful disclo-sures. An analogy to the financial cri-sis and the gradual mistrust that devel-oped post the crisis may be relevant toa great degree here because just like thebehemoth banks and financial institu-tions, technology giants have consis-tently denied sharing information onprocesses, governance mechanismsand customer assets like data, citing thatmore disclosure will not help. However,in a recent study on financial crisis,which analysed the link between bankdisclosures and financial stability, it wasfound that there was little evidence toprove that disclosures set off problemsor destabilised banks. Instead, poor andunreliable disclosures by banks led toerosion of trust, which coupled withdelayed loss recognition, was a biggerproblem than overreaction to bad

news and bank runs because of that.The second way in which the con-

versation around BigTech regulation isbeing shaped is to suggest a break upof the giants. In recent times, none otherthan Chris Hughes, the co-founder ofFacebook, advocated for this. In his arti-cle in the New York Times on howFacebook has become too big and pow-erful to regulate, he wrote that the com-pany must be broken up like a usualmonopoly because it has become pow-erful using simple tools like mergers,acquisitions and copying innovations.He blamed these predatory economicpractices to be the reason for no othermajor social networking companybeing founded since the fall of 2011.

Vestager, however, suggested thatcompetition law may not be complete-ly adequate because it is not equippedto handle questions of adequacy andsafety of digital products. In suggestinga framework outside of competitionlaw, she suggested we move beyondconsumer welfare as the basis for stateinterventions. Instead, she suggestedmore transparency and more mecha-nisms available to register consumerdiscontent. She suggested we reform

our thinking to distinguish between a‘convenient’ life and a ‘good’ life. If theprice of using the Internet is our dataand privacy, then mere ownership ofdata and information about the use ofdata will not be sufficient, although anecessary first step is to establish indi-vidual autonomy. The second order andmore meaningful exercise of rights willcome from the power to exercise theownership of these rights.

Therefore, the future of technolo-gy regulation will have to take dynam-ic trade-offs over static ones as Tim Wu,Professor at Columbia Law School,insists and will have to look at combi-natorial regulation both within compe-tition law and outside of it, demand-ing more meaningful information andtrying to discover the hidden costs oftrade-offs. Without understanding thehidden costs of data and privacy we soeasily give, we only pave the way formore subversive exploitation and hid-den predatorial business models. Inshort, we need to understand how tomake the transition from ‘convenient’life to ‘good life’.

(The writer if fellow at the EsyaCentre)

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The Indian rupee onMonday appreciated by

another 44 paise to close at69.26 to the US dollar in linewith an intense rally in domes-tic equities amid hopes of a ratecut by the Reserve Bank.

The domestic currencyopened strong at 69.48 andlater rose to the day’s high of69.10 at the interbank forexexchange market.

The Indian unit finally set-tled at 69.26, higher by 44 paisefrom the previous close. Therupee Friday had settled at69.70 to the US dollar.

This is the second straightsession of gain for the domes-tic currency, during which ithas strengthened by 58 paise.

Forex traders said therupee strengthened on expec-tation of a rate cut in key pol-icy rates by the Reserve Bankof India.

The RBI’s Monetary PolicyCommittee (MPC) is slated toannounce its bi-monthly poli-cy Thursday.

“Falling crude oil and slow-ing economic growth boostedspeculations of monetary eas-ing by the Reserve Bank ofIndia (RBI) in its next bi-monthly policy. Market isalready pricing 25 bps cutinterest rate and surplus liq-uidity conditions after major-ity government at the Centre,”said V K Sharma, Head PCG &Capital Markets Strategy,

HDFC Securities.Moreover, heavy buying

in domestic equities, selling ofthe American currency byexporters and foreign fundinflows also supported thelocal unit.

The dollar index, whichgauges the greenback’s strengthagainst a basket of six curren-cies, fell 0.11 per cent to 97.64.

“Fall in US treasury yieldsand bets for the US interest ratecut weighted on the AmericanDollar,” Sharma said.

Meanwhile, the 10-yeargovernment bond yield was at6.99 per cent on Monday,against the previous close of7.03 per cent on Friday.

According to Sharma,sharp fall is being witnessed incrude oil prices in the last threesessions and the same helpedthe rupee to appreciate againstthe dollar.

Meanwhile, Brent crudefutures, the global oil bench-mark, rose 1.02 per cent to

trade at $62.62 per barrel.Foreign funds infused

�3,068.88 crore in the capitalmarkets on a net basis Monday,provisional data showed.

Benchmark equity indicesended at their life-time highson Monday. The 30-shareSensex also saw its all-timepeak in intra-day trade at40,308.90; while the 50-shareNifty rose to 12,103.05 duringthe session to mark its all-timehigh.

The BSE gauge finally set-tled 553.42 points, or 1.39 percent, higher at 40,267.62. Thebroader NSE benchmarksurged 165.75 points, or 1.39per cent, to settle at 12,088.55.

The Financial BenchmarkIndia Private Ltd (FBIL) set thereference rate for therupee/dollar at 69.8058 and forrupee/euro at 77.7288. Thereference rate for rupee/Britishpound was fixed at 88.0093 andfor rupee/100 Japanese yen at64.08.

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The micro-finance indus-try saw a 38 per cent

growth in its gross loan port-folio at �1.87 lakh crore in the2018-19 fiscal, says a report.

Gross loan portfolio ofthe sector was �1.35 lakhcrore in FY2017-18.

Total number of micro-finance accounts stood at9.33 crore as on March 31,2019, registering a growth of21.9 per cent over FY18,according to a reportlaunched by MicrofinanceInst itut ions Networks(MFIN).

MFIN, an RBI recognisedself-regulatory organisationand industry association,constitutes 53 NBFC-MFIsas members.

The members collective-ly disbursed 3.25 crore loansworth �82,928 crore in FY19.

“In 2018-19, microfi-nance industry showed itsresilience by growing steadi-ly in spite of liquidity squeezethat all NBFCs faced in thethird quarter and natural dis-asters like cyclones anddrought,” MFIN’s chief exec-ut ive of f icer HarshShrivastava said.

NBFC-MFIs hold thelargest share of portfolio inmicro-credit with total loanoutstanding of �68,868 crore,which is 36.8 per cent of totalmicro-credit universe.

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Boeing announced Sundaythat some of its medium-

haul 737s, including the 737MAX 8, could have a defectivewing part, but that there hadbeen no reports of flight issueslinked to the defect.

The American aviationgiant, which has been rockedby an unprecedented crisisafter its entire 737 MAX 8 fleetwas grounded in mid-March,said a subcontractor informedit of problems with a batch ofa part involved in deploying thewings’ leading edge.

The leading edge of an air-craft is key to takeoff and land-ing because it is meant toimprove the wing’s drag andtherefore the jet’s aerodynamics.

Boeing said in a statementthat it had relayed the defectivelot number to aircraft ownersso they can inspect the parts inquestion.

If operators find the defec-tive parts on their aircraft,they should replace thembefore putting the plane back inservice, the company said.

“This is a device consid-ered critical because if theleading edge slats don’t deploysymmetrically, there could bea lift differential that can bedangerous especially on take-off and landing,” one aeronau-tics expert told AFP on condi-tion of anonymity.

The planes were groundedafter a combined 346 peopledied in two deadly crashes, thefirst in Indonesia in October

followed by one in Ethiopia inMarch.

Long considered a “goldstandard” internationally, theUS Federal AviationAdministration’s reputation hassuffered amid scrutiny of itsoversight process and reports itallowed Boeing to effectivelyself-certify some features of theMAX.

Boeing is working on asoftware fix that will allow theMAX 8 to begin flying again,but differences have arisenbetween the United States andCanada on how to train pilotson the software after the update.

Washington believes train-ing on computers or tablets issufficient for seasoned pilots,but Ottawa wants to requiretraining on flight simulators.

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India will hold a mega spec-trum auction for 5G and

other radiowaves in the currentcalendar year, and intends tostart 5G trials in the next 100days, the newly appointedTelecom Minister Ravi ShankarPrasad said Monday.

Setting an action-packedagenda for the ministry soonafter taking charge, Prasad saidhe would prioritise the revivalof crisis-ridden telecom PSUsBharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd(BSNL) and MahanagarTelephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL)but added that the two com-panies will have to reciprocateand do their bit by adopting aprofessional attitude.

On the contentious issue ofwhether Chinese telecom gearmaker Huawei will be allowedto participate in the upcoming5G trials, the Minister toldreporters that the “complexissue” will be looked at seriouslyincluding security aspects.

The Minister also clearedthe air over timing of spectrumauctions in the country, saying,“I am of the belief that in the

current calendar year, we willauction spectrum. We haveadequate spectrum available.”

The Telecom RegulatoryAuthority of India (Trai) hasrecommended auction of about8,644 MHz of telecom fre-quencies, including those for5G services, at an estimatedtotal base price of �4.9 lakhcrore, but the financiallystressed industry has contend-ed that prices are unaffordable.

“Trai has given its recom-mendation on spectrum. Wehave a system of standing com-mittee, finance committee, theyare examining it. Once theycome with solution...Whetherthere is a need for more con-sultation with Trai, we will haveto look into it. Then, we have togo to the Cabinet and appointauctioneer,” the minister said.

Other major issues on theminister’s immediate agendainclude starting 5G trials in 100days and creating a BroadbandReadiness Index, which reflectsthe realities of the Indian mar-ket, besides fast-tracking offive lakh WiFi hotspots, andpromoting telecom manufac-turing in India. The index will

be based on parameters likeinfrastructure, approvalprocesses and utilisation ofhigh-speed Internet.

“As far as 5G network is con-cerned, we will start trials in 100days. We propose to earmark aportion of spectrum also for 5Gpurposes. It shall be our endeav-our that 5G technology is alsoused for deprived sections, socialcauses, education and health, andfor bringing technology to ruralpeople,” Prasad said.

5G will play a major role indigital inclusion, he said addingthat the government will strivetowards this goal. Another areawould be channelising thestart-up movement in India forproliferation of 5G, he said.

Prasad acknowledged therole of state-owned corpora-tions in maintaining a “soberequilibrium” in the market,but at the same time sent out astrong message to the two tele-com PSUs - MTNL and BSNL,which are cash-strapped andhave faced issues in payment ofsalaries in recent times. Theminister emphasised that thetwo companies will have to“become professional”.

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Industry chamber Assochamhas demanded cut in effec-

tive corporate tax to 25 percent, doing away with dividenddistribution tax (DDT) andindexing of allowances anddeductions under personalIncome Tax with inflation.

In its pre-budget meetingwith the Revenue Secretarylast week, Assocham alsodemanded reduction of exciseduty on Aviation Turbine Fuel(ATF), and a cut in customsduty rates on raw materialsused in domestic manufacturing.

It also suggested thatMinimum Alternate Tax(MAT), which is levied at 18.55per cent, should be abolishedand demanded that relaxationin norms for start-ups.

“The effective corporatetax on distributed profit isover 48 per cent. Need toreduce to 25 per cent andgradually to 20 per cent,”Assocham said.

It further said thatDividend Distribution Tax

(DDT) at 20.55 per cent is“burdensome” and suggestedthat it be replaced withDividend Taxation.

With regard to personaltaxation, Assocham recom-mended that all allowancesand deductions —medical/conveyance etc —should be “indexed as per costof inflation”.

Such a step would makeallowances more realistic andhelp in neutralising the impactof inflation for taxpayers.

With regard to rationalis-ing excise duty on ATF, theindustry body said post imple-mentation of Goods andServices Tax (GST), credit ofexcise duty paid on purchase ofATF is not eligible. This hasresulted in increasing the costcomponent for the airlineindustry.

“Government should con-sider decreasing the excise dutyrates on ATF, in order to helpaviation industry in India...Lower excise duty rates wouldbe required to offset the impactof rising international fuelprices,” it said.

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For its superlative performance,Bharat Heavy Electricals

Limited (BHEL) has been award-ed the Dalal Street InvestmentJournal (DSIJ) Award 2018 forthe ‘Fastest Growing Maharatnaof the year — Manufacturing’, inthe country.

An independent jury unan-imously selected BHEL for therecognition in the manufac-turing category based on out-standing profit and EarningsPer Share (EPS) growth.

As a result of strategic ini-tiatives, BHEL registered quan-tum growth in its profit andgained significant traction ingrowth drivers - diversificationand technology. In the lastthree years BHEL’s profit beforetax has surged by three timeswhile registering a consistentrevenue growth.

Prudent strategies of gar-nering higher market share ina shrunken and highly com-petitive business environmentenabled BHEL to maintain itsleadership position with 100%market share in the thermalpower equipment business.

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There was a moderation insentiment among Micro

and Smal l Enterpr ises(MSEs) during the quarterended March 31, 2019, the6th CriSidEx survey shows.CriSidEx or the CRISIL-SIDBI MSE Sentiment Indexwas launched by CRISIL Ltd.and Smal l Industr iesDevelopment Bank of India(SIDBI) last year.

At 122, the CriSidExscore for January-March2019 was moderately lowerthan the 128 seen inOctober-December 2018, butmarginally up from 121 ayear back.

At a parameter level,while both manufacturingand services sectors report-ed a small increase in theshare of positive respondentson order-book size, both sec-tors reported a decrease inthe share of positive respon-dents in employee base com-pared with the previousquarter.

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Global consumer insightsand data analytics leader

J.D. Power’s 2019 India originalequipment tyre customer sat-isfaction index study hasranked Bridgestone India high-est is customer satisfaction.The study ranked BridgestoneIndia highest in midsise carsegment and utility vehiclesegment with remarkable scoreof 861 and 836 respectively inthe said categories.

The study focuses on the tyredesign, climate, road conditionsand driver habits influence in thelifespan of a vehicle’s tyre there-by projecting a factual picture interms of their findings.

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Fintech adoption rate hasrisen to an average of 64 per

cent this year, with emergingmarkets like China and Indialeading the way, according toa report by Ernst & Young(EY).

In its report titled ‘GlobalFinTech Adoption Index 2019’,EY said emerging markets likeChina and India (87 per centadoption rate) led the charts,followed by Russia and SouthAfrica (82 per cent).

Among developed mar-kets, Netherlands (73 per cent),the UK (71 per cent) andIreland (71 per cent) saw highadoption rates, it added.

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India is expected to main-tain the current level of

thermal coal imports as thecountry’s power demand islikely to increase, said areport by Fitch Ratings onMonday.

Growth in renewableenergy capacity may not beable to keep pace, it said.

“Fitch expects India tomaintain its level of thermalcoal imports,” the ratingagency said.

Domestic output of dryfuel and logistics bottlenecksin coal transportation willalso affect supply of coal tothe market, it said.

“Indian coal importsincreased by about two percent y-o-y (year-on-year) inthe nine months to March2019,” it added.

“India’s thermal powerplant utilisation increased...In2H18, driven by higher elec-tricity demand and lowercapacity addition,” it said.

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Tamil Nadu’s wait forNavodaya Vidyalayas, the

Centre-funded public schoolsin each district of the State isdestined to get delayed furtherbecause of the hatred for Hindiby the Dravidian politiciansand intelligentsia.

Tamil Nadu is the onlyState in the country which hasbanned Navodaya Vidyalaya, apublic school concept launchedacross the country at theinstance of then Prime MinisterRajiv Gandhi in 1985.

“What is shocking is thatthe Indian National Congressof Rajiv Gandhi is hand inglove with the DMK and otherTamil fringe groups in theiropposition for implementingthe dream of Rajiv Gandhi,”said SV Badri, theatre person-ality and founder of the famousdrama team Crazy Creations.

The call for massive agi-tation against the proposal tohave three-language systemcomes amid an observationmade by Governor BanwarilalPurohit that the States of Keralaand Tamil Nadu have a vastcollection of Sanskrit manu-scripts in public repositoriesand private collections. “It hasbeen stated that there are morethan a lakh and half Sanskritmanuscripts in Tamil Nadu

and Kerala which are waiting tobe translated. There is a hugetreasure of knowledge stillwaiting to be tapped fromSanskrit sources like inscrip-tions,” said the Governor.

This could be undertakenif only there are youngsterswith knowledge in Hindi and

Sanskrit, according to NGopalaswamy, former ChiefElection Commissioner ofIndia who is the chairman ofKalakshetra Foundation.

“We have set up theNational Manuscript Missionand digitised 40 lakh pages ofSanskri manuscripts. But this

is just tip of the ice berg,”Gopalaswamy told The Pioneer.Learning of Hindi means creation of lakhs of jobs, hepointed out.

Nobody is as disappointedmore than M Ravinson, presi-dent of Kumari Maha Sabha,am organisation fighting for therights of the Tamil Nadu chil-dren to learn Hindi and also toopen Navodaya Vidyalayas inthe State. “The politicians andsome of the elite groups do notwant our children to learnHindu. They also want therural poor to remain as poorand uneducated. NavodayaVidyalayas are meant for therural poor to get quality edu-cation financed by the govern-ment. Denying the same to thechildren is violation of humanrights,” said Ravinson, a lawyerby profession.

But the intelligentsia inthe State have other ideas.“Knowing Hindi is an advan-tage for the ambitious middleclass. Tamil Nadu has all alongbeen a self-sufficient State andthere hasn’t been any need tolearn it. With the changingdemographics, I am afraid itwould become a necessity.Already students, especiallythose from poor economicbackground, aren’t expressiveeither in English or Tamil.Making Hindi compulsorywould worsen things,” said AR

Meyyammai, senior scribe.Dr YR Johnson, a former

principal of NavodayaVidyalaya, who is relentlesslyfighting for the cause of chil-dren said that the Dravidianpoliticians are destroying thefuture of Tamil Nadu studentsby not allowing the three-lan-guage formula and opposing

the Navodaya Schools in theState. “Times have changed.The anti-Hindi agitation ofthe 1960s was a serious mistakeand it has already dome a lot ofdamage,” said Johnson pointingout that schools passing out ofNavodaya Vidyalayas standbetter chance to get admissionin medical colleges and IITs.

Jammu: The trial in the brutalgangrape and murder of aneight-year-old nomadic girl inKathua in Jammu & Kashmirthat shook the nation endedMonday and the judgement inthe case in which there areeight accused including a vil-lage head is likely to be deliv-ered on June 10.

District and sessions judgeTejwinder Singh announced inthe court in Pathankot after theconclusion of the in-cameratrial that he is likely to deliver theverdict on June 10, special pub-lic prosecutor JK Chopra said.

Defence lawyers completedtheir final arguments followedby brief concluding statementfrom prosecution team led byChopra, officials said. Accordingto 15-page chargesheet, eight-year-old girl, who was kid-napped on January 10 last year,was allegedly raped in captivi-ty in a temple in Kathua districtafter having been kept sedatedfor four days before she wasbludgeoned to death. PTI

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Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy has called

a meeting of JDS legislators onTuesday amid expected Cabinetexpansion or reshuffle to savethe Government headed byhim following persisting dissi-dence within coalition partnerCongress.

A senior JDS functionaryon Monday said the meetingwas likely to discuss the recentpolitical developments in theState, performance in the LokSabha and Urban Local bodypolls and steps the party willneed to take politically in the future.

All political issues, includ-ing expansionor reshuffle of the

Congress-JDS ministry, arelikely to come up for discussionduring the meeting, he said.Kumaraswamy and coalitionCoordination Committee chiefand senior Congress leaderSiddaramaiah have held sever-al rounds of meetings recent-ly, the last being on Saturdaynight regarding cabinet expan-sion or reshuffle.

A top official source hadsaid it is likely to take place onlyafter June 4.

The Congress in Karnatakalast week had gone into a hud-dle to avert a potential exis-tential crisis to the one-year-oldcoalition ministry and dis-cussed about the possible cab-inet rejig to address the dissi-dence within.

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In a judgment of far-reaching ramifica-

tions, the Bombay HighCourt on Monday upheldthe Constitutional validityof a provision introduced inIndian Penal Code after the2012 Nirbhaya gangrape inci-dent, providing for either lifesentence or death penalty for“repeat” rape offenders.

Dismissing petitions filedby hree convicts sentenced todeath in the much-discussed2013 Shakti Mills Compoundgangrape case challenging theconstitutional validity of theirpunishment, A HC Bench ofJustices BP Dharmadhikari andRevati Mohite Dere held thatthe newly incorporated sectionof 376 (E) of IPC “is not ultra-vires the Constitution.”

Upholding the punishmentmeted out to them under 376E of IPC under which the threepetitioners had been sentenceddeath by a sessions court in2014, the two judges noted, “Weare of the opinion that the Sec.376 E of Indian Penal Code isnot ultra-vires the Constitutionand hence need not be quashedin the present case”.

Handing out first-ever cap-ital punishment to the “repeatoffenders” under the new pro-vision 376 (E) of the rape lawthat came to be amended afterthe December 2012 gang rapein Delhi, Principal Judge of thetrial court Shalini PhansalkarJoshi had observed, “The gang-rape accused were not onlyenjoying the act of sexual assaultbut also the survivor’s helpless-ness...It (crime) was executed inthe most gruesome mannerwith no mercy or show ofhuman dignity to the survivor.

The IPC section 376 Ereads thus, “Whoever has beenpreviously convicted of anoffence punishable under sec-tion 376 or section 376A or sec-tions 376AB or section 376 Dor section 376 DA or section376 DB and is subsequently

convicted of an offencepunishable under any ofthe said sections shallbe punished with

imprisonment for lifewhich shall mean impris-onment for the remainderof that person’s natural

life, or with death1.The IPC came to be

amended to incorporate Section376E in it on basis of recom-mendations of Justice J S VermaCommittee, which had beenconstituted to consider changesin law to deal more sternly withoffenders in sexual offence casesfollowing nationwide outrageover the brutal gangrape of a 23-year-old paramedical studentin Delhi in December 2012.

It may be recalled that onApril 4, 2014, a trial court —while handing out first-evercapital punishment to the “repeatoffenders” under the new pro-vision 376 (E) of the rape law thatcame to be amended after theDecember 2012 gang rape inDelhi — sentenced three “com-mon” convicts in the two cases— Vijay Jadhav (19), KasimBengali (21) and MohammedSalim Ansari (28), to death.

The three convicts wereamong the seven persons whohad earlier been named asaccused in the two Shakti Millrapes that took place on July 31and August 22, 2013. While theAugust 22 incident came tolight first, the details of the firstincident that took place on July31 came out subsequently.

The photojournalist, work-ing for a Mumbai magazine,was gang-raped on the eveningof August 22 by five men in thedefunct Shakti Mill compoundat Mahalaxmi in south-centralMumbai, where she had gonealong with her male colleagueto take pictures for a magazinestory. In the July 31 incident,the rape survivor — who worksas a telephone operator with aprivate firm at Bhandup andlives at Mulund in north-eastMumbai — was gangraped ina similar manner in the ShaktiMill area.

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Buckling under mountingpressure from the

Opposition, the BJP-ledMaharashtra Government onMonday transferred an IASofficer Nidhi Choudhari for hercontroversial tweet onMahatma Gandhi in whichshe “glorified” his killerNathuram Godse.

In a development thatcame after the OppositionCongress and NCP rooted foraction against the controversialofficer, the MaharashtraGovernment shiftedChoudhari, a 2012 batch IASofficer, from her post as aJoint Municipal Commissionerof the BrihanmumbaiMunicipal Corporation (BMC)to a relatively insignificant

position as a deputy secretaryin the State Water Supply andSanitation Department.

Among others, NCP pres-ident Sharad Pawar andMaharashtra Congress presi-dent Ashok Chavan had urgedChief Minister DevendraFadnavis to initiate stern actionagainst Choudhari.

Choudhary has also beenserved a show-cause notice toexplain her controversial tweetof May 17, 2019.

In her 17 May tweeted, shehad stated, “What an excep-tional celebration of 150thbirth anniversary year is goingon...High time, we remove isface from out currency, his stat-ues from across the world,rename institutions/roadsnamed after him! That wouldbe a real tribute to all of us!

ThankU #Godse”.However, Choudhary

claimed that she had deletedthe tweet on May 31, sayingthat it was against those glori-fying Godse — and it was“sarcastic”.

“I have deleted my tweet of17.05.2019 w.r.t. GandhiJibecause some people misun-derstood it. If only they had fol-lowed my timeline since 2011they would’ve understood thatI would NEVER even dream ofinsulting GandhiJi. I bowbefore him with deepest regard& will do till last breath,” shetweeted.

“I feel extremely pained atthe manner in which it hasbeen misrepresentated…” shelater wrote in a Facebook post.

Senior NCP legislatorJitendra Awhad made an issue

of Choudhari’s tweet onSaturday last.

Following an uproar, Pawarwrote to Chief MinisterFadnavis the same night,demanding “exemplary pun-ishment” for Choudhari whohad insulted a national icon byher remarks and also sought toglorify Gandhiji’s assassinNathuram Godse.

In his letter to Fadnavis,Pawar stated: “If theGovernment doesn’t takeaction it would be deemedthat its policy and intention hasreached its lowest ebb....A gov-ernment official in a progres-sive state like Maharashtramaking such insulting com-ments against MahatmaGandhi, and the state govern-ment turning a blind eye to itis a serious matter”.

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Still licking her wounds fromthe recent electoral defeat

and facing flak from the criticsfor confronting head on the“lumpen saffron supporters viti-ating Bengal’s secular culture” byintroducing Jai Shri Ram as anew political catchphrase,Mamata Banerjee on Mondayopened a new front againstwhat many a TMC leader called“electronically manipulatedmachines” or EMMs.

Apparently heaping theresponsibility of her party’selectoral loss on EVMs manip-ulated by the BJP the BengalChief Minister on Mondaydemanded restoration of goodold ballot boxes.

Out of 42 parliamentaryseats from Bengal BJP got 18and TMC won 22 seats makingit Trinamool’s biggest loss since2006. Emerging from a meet-ing with senior ministerial col-

leagues Banerjee said herparty’s official stand was forballot boxes. “We want ballotbox and we don’t want EVMswhich can be manipulated andhas been manipulated by theBJP” which uses money andmuscle power to win elections,she said.

That her party would “starta new struggle to restore” Indiato the age of ballot boxes,Banerjee said “We don’t wantEVMs. Bring back ballot boxand take back EVMs. Savedemocracy.”

Incidentally Banerjee’sstatement came hours aftersenior BJP leader Mukul Roysaid not only the TMC rankand file, but also their seniorleaders were in touch withhim and were expressingurgency to join the BJP.

“Not only the lower rungsupporters but at least 50 MLAsand four MPs who have justwon the elections are in touch

with me and have been callingme up repeatedly seeking datefor joining our party,” Roy aformer Railway Minister whohimself joined the BJP afterserving the TMC for about 18years said.

Ignoring Roy’s claimsBanerjee concentrated on theEVMs saying her party wouldstart a new campaign to bringback the ballot boxes.

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In a grand gesture provingthat their traditional, frater-

nal ties are still strong, retiredKashmiri Pandit bank employ-ees living in different parts ofthe country joined theirMuslim counterparts in theKashmir Valley to help a poorcolleague get pension.

The story of Ghaffar (namechanged) reads like any com-mon place tragedy of an aban-doned, helpless old man.Ghaffar, who worked for alocal regional rural bank (RRB)called “Ellaquai Dehati Bank”in the state, retired from servicein 2009 as a bank attendant.

There was no pension forRRB personnel then and histerminal benefits amounted toaround Rs 9 lakh.

Ghaffar lived in a village in

Ganderbal district with hisson and daughter-in-law whoreportedly served him till theyused all his life’s savings forrepairing their house, buyinghousehold goods and otheritems to make their life com-fortable.

Once the money got over,Ghaffar was thrown out of thehouse. Left with no means oflivelihood, Ghaffar startedrepairing shoes at a market.

However, a recent verdictby the Supreme Court said thatall RRB staff in the countrywould get pension and variousRRBs were told to pay pensionto their retired officers/employ-ees. But there was a rider toobtain the pension.

Each retired staff memberhad to declare his/her optionfor the pension scheme bydepositing the bank’s share of

their provident fund they hadtaken along with their terminalbenefits.

Ellaquai Dehati Bankreleased a list of its retired staffmembers showing the amountof the provident fund to bedeposited by them to becomeeligible to get pension, withJune 3, 2019, as the last date todeposit the money.

But Ghaffar did not havemoney to even travel to thebank’s head office in Srinagar,leave alone paying around Rs 2lakh to the bank to become eli-gible for pension.

Retired bank staffers in theValley sent WhatsApp mes-sages to retired Kashmiri Panditcolleagues, now living in vari-ous parts of the country,recounting Ghaffar’s ordeal andhow they had to collect Rs 2lakh through donations in a day

so that it could be deposited inGhaffar’s account to make himeligible for pension.

Though the local retiredemployees and the KashmiriPandits had not met for 30years, the response to theappeal was overwhelming.Pandit ex-employees fromPune, Delhi, Jammu and manyother places not only sent theircontributions but were the firstto pitch in.

The contributions fromtheir Pandit colleagues trig-gered such a response in thelocal Muslim staff membersthat Ghaffar’s account wasoversubscribed even beforeMonday afternoon.

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Bengaluru: Congress leaderand ex-Chief Minister ofKarnataka SiddaramaiahMonday strongly opposedthe the three-language for-mula in the draft NationalEducation Policy, which hasnow been dropped, sayingimposition of Hindi is noth-ing but “a brutal assault” onthe States.

“Nothing should be doneagainst our opinion. There isno need for three languages.English and Kannada arethere... They are enough.Kannada is our mothertongue, so primacy should begiven to Kannada,” he said. InMysuru, he told reportersthere will be no compromiseon issues of Karnataka’s water,land and language. PTI

Chennai: The Centre droppingthe contentious clause of manda-tory Hindi teaching in non-Hindi speaking States was onMonday welcomed by TamilNadu parties, including mainOpposition DMK. The DMKsaid the decision showed that lateparty patriarch M Karunanidhiwas “living,” apparently suggest-ing it was a success to the lateleader’s legacy of opposing“imposition” of Hindi. A reviseddraft education policy was issuedthat did not have mention ofHindi being compulsory amidcontroversy over recommenda-tion of an HRD Ministry panelto teach language in non-Hindispeaking States. PTI

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The Samajwadi Party willfight for social justice

together with the BahujanSamaj Party, said SP chiefAkhilesh Yadav on Monday,hours after BSP supremoMayawati expressed dissatis-faction over the poll perfor-mance of the alliance betweenthe two parties.

“We and Bahujan SamajParty will fight for social justicetogether,” said Yadav, address-ing a public meeting here dur-ing his first visit to the con-stituency after declaration ofthe Lok Sabha poll results.

BSP chief Mayawati earli-er told her party workers inNew Delhi that the Lok Sabhapoll drubbing in Uttar Pradeshwas due to the “poor perfor-mance” of the alliance with theSP. She also asked her partyleaders and workers to prepareto contest the Assembly by-elections on their own, raisingquestions over the future of the‘gathbandhan’.

Addressing the publicmeeting in Azamgarh,Akhilesh Yadav, however,defended the poll performanceof the alliance, saying that theLok Sabha poll battle this timewas of a different kind, whichhe could not understand.

“It was a race betweenFerrari and a cycle (the SP’selection symbol). Everybodyknew the Ferrari will win. TheLok Sabha elections were notfought on issues, it was foughton something else,” said Yadav.

The SP chief also subtlyblamed media for his partypoor performance in the polls.“Tell me who was seen on tele-visions everyday? They pene-trated into our brains. Theyplayed with our minds with TVand mobile phones. This was a

different kind of battle, whichwe could not understand. Theday we understand this, we willemerge victorious,” he said.

Conceding that his party’s“opponents are very strong”, theformer UP Chief Minister saidhe would try to counter themthrough social alliance. “Ourparty may have lost the elec-tions, but we throw an openchallenge to rival parties thatthey compare the develop-mental works done duringtheir regime with those done inour tenure. Their work will notbe able to stand in front ofours,” he said.

Before Akhilesh Yadav’spublic meeting in Azamgarh,an SP spokesperson said theparty was “waiting” for theBSP’s “official stand” onwhether to continue with thealliance or not. The SamajwadiParty’s statement followedMayawati’s direction to herparty leaders to prepare tocontest the coming assemblybypolls on their own.

“No one has got the officialstand of the BSP regarding thealliance. We are waiting for anofficial statement,” SP chiefspokesperson RajendraChaudhary told PTI earlier.

Earlier, in her party workers’meet, Mayawati had asked herparty leaders not to depend onthe alliance to win votes butwork to expand the organisation.

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Be it the Break Up Songconsoling us after a

heartbreak or an energeticrhythm of Sau Tarah Ke togroove on during week-ends, Jonita Gandhi hascrooned some unforget-table songs in her soulfulvoice. “It’s always helpful tohave a unique voice sincethere’s so much competi-tion. It undoubtedly helpsto stand out but it alsodepends on how you givethe song an exotic feel,” saysthe 29-year-old singer.

Gandhi has sung formany Bollywood films andher latest number is for theforthcoming season ofRoyal Stag Barrel SelectMTV Unplugged Season 8.This has extended herrepertoire beyond films andshe is also enthusiasticabout making her debuton the show as a solo per-former. She says, “I was apart of Season 6 but it wasin collaboration with AmitTrivedi, which was a greatexperience.”

According to Jonita, inthe West, singers get estab-lished as “brands” as theyhave a unique voice andthey don’t have to provetheir adaptability and ver-sati l ity. However, shebelieves, “In India, the play-back singer has to targetboth the youth throughpeppy numbers as well asplay a enchantress in aparty-themed song. Themusic industry is separateand independent abroadsince the singers get betteracknowledgment for theirwork solely.”

There are many musi-cians and singers thatinspire Gandhi to be thebest version of herself andwiden the ability in improv-ing her performance. Shebelieves that the biggestchallenge for an aspiringsinger today is to stand outamong the bunch of con-tenders today. She says,“Being yourself in terms of

trends but more so applyingyour own versatile person-ality to explore artisticopportunities can help tomake a mark.”

She feels that there’s along way to go before any-

thing changes in a notice-able manner. The audienceis enormous and there is alot of variety and diversityglobally. One can’t impresseveryone with every song.“There are people who

acknowledge me for myunplugged albums andthere are others who willstill talk about the songswhere I’m singing in a lowpitch and in English. I justwant to explore myself andthe atmosphere,” she says.

She claims to be a goodexample of making a markin Bollywood without agodfather. “It definitelyhelps in opening up doorsbut you have to show effortsand hard work to cementyour position. I am stilllearning to work on myvoice while recording anysong,” she says.

Gandhi is developingher YouTube channel fur-ther because that platformhas given her a remarkablerecognition. “My fans knowme because of my covers. Ican be myself in the videosand it gives me satisfaction,”she says.

The singer promises tobring new content for herfans. She considers return-ing back to Youtubebecause that is where shehas gained recognition. Shesays, “I will continue mak-ing singles on that platformas that is where my fans hadstarted acknowledging andaccepting my work. I wouldsimultaneously work forBollywood, single musicalbums and unplugged cov-ers, the only challenge real-ly is to manage both intime. But apart from that,they all co-exist in harmo-ny,” says she.

Across the sweeping horizon allover the undulating hills andslanting valleys one can see

straight rows of leafy grape vinesstretching far into the distance. Thesight of the vineyards is as stunning astheir final produce, maybe more. Well,vineries account for only a small per-centage of the agriculture industry inIndia as grape-growing accounts foraround 4.9 per cent of arable and per-manent croplands.

While there have been develop-ments and advancements around appli-cation technology, crop protection tech-niques and many other agriculturalpractices, the question remains howmuch of it is environment-friendly?Organic, biodynamic and sustainably-produced vines and practices have beena rising trend in various internationalvineyards, but what about the same inthe Indian viticulture?

Inesh Singh, CSO (chief sustainabil-ity officer), Sula Vineyards lists someways in which a more sustainableapproach could be adopted towards viti-culture and vine producing practices inIndia.

��%��It is an abundant resource which

can be harnessed relatively easily.Vineries can leverage this resource,which in turn will allow them to mas-sively reduce their carbon footprint aswell as electricity expenses. Now run-ning for more than 10 years, the 196-kilowatt (kW) SunPower solar PV ener-gy system installed at Napa Valley’sDomaine Carneros is built into its roofover a waterproof membrane, saving thewinery money and reducing its waterand energy consumption. At maxi-mum capacity, the panels produceemission-free electricity to power morethan 190 average homes and reduceCO2 emissions by 2,400 tonnes over 30years, which is, as per a study, the equiv-alent of planting trees across nearly 700acres.

At Sula, Singh explains, their cur-rent solar panel setup allows them to

generate almost 50 per cent of their elec-tricity needs, which they are currentlyaiming to increasing to 75 per cent. Theenergy generated by solar panels con-stitutes 49 per cent of what they use atsites and they have plans to reach 75 percent in the next 12 to 18 months.

�� ,��&��Wine-making requires water

beyond what it takes to grow grapes.From bottles to wash, barrels to scrub,and floors to clean, there are multipleprocesses associated with water. But

what if winemakers treated the water leftover from all that cleaning and reusedit to irrigate vineyards? Even thoughresearchers wondered if the wastewatermight be harmful to the vines, the soil,or even the wine, the myth has beenbusted. As per a two-year-long researchcarried out in Napa and Lodi inCalifornia, winery wastewater is indeeda viable source to irrigate vineyards.

At vineyards, normal water con-sumption also results in significantsewage generation. Typically, thissewage is sent to the municipality for

disposal. This makes it imperative tosetup water treatment plants whichallow vineries to recycle and reuse thewater. At Sula, the re-usage allowsthem to cut down on their freshwaterconsumption in water-starved areas,resulting in a win-win situation for themand the surrounding areas. They reuse100 per cent of the waste water gener-ated by their sites which totals toalmost 40 million litres.

��?FIn a world replete with plastic

waste, glass would seem to be a sustain-able packaging choice for anything.Glass wine bottles have been around forcenturies and glass is easily recycled.However, as per recent data, it is onlyabout a third of wine bottles which actu-ally get recycled — the rest end up inthe landfills. Only some wine makers areusing recycled glass in their bottles.

However, research has shown thatboxing wine is not only cost-effectivebut more eco-friendly than bottling it.Shipping a three-litre box of wine gen-erates about half the emissions per 750millilitres. Cardboard is no less recy-clable than glass and, in fact, is recycledabout twice as often. One downside tocardboard wine boxes is the plastic linerand spigot. Most analyses ignore the bagin the box and look only at the outercardboard container. One life cycleanalysis found that even with the sus-

tainability impacts of non-recyclablepackaging components, bag-in-a-boxwines were more sustainable than glassbottles.

Sanket Gawand, winemaker atVallonne Vineyards, tells us that everybottle at their vineyards, which is con-sumed at the restaurant, is reused. “Wecannot do much about the bottles thatgo to the retail shops as it becomes dif-ficult to track the bottle and get to thewinery. And some of our wines havepotential to age further so a lot of ourconsumer tends to age it further. A lotof our regular guests also return usedbottles of wine,” she says.

&��.Another way that Sula is trying to

give back to local communities is byproviding water solutions. Impetus isgiven to not only the operations at thevineyards but largely the communitiesthey operate in as well. They haveinstalled water ATMs in nearby commu-nities which provide water securityand safe drinking water to approximate-ly 600 families near their plant. Thenumbers are expected to only increasewith time.

“We have a responsibility towardsthe local communities in the areaswhere we operate. We want to ensurethat we are able to increase their stan-dard of living as we continue to grow asa business,” says Singh.

Chris Hemsworth feels he has spent hiswhole career chasing one thing after

another and now wants to live in themoment. The actor has decided not to shootanything more this year and says he wantsto step back to spend some quality time withhis three children in Australia.

After steering projects like Homeand Away and JJ Abrams’ StarTrek, Hemsworth scored his bigbreak in 2011 with film Thor asNorse God of Thunder Thor,embarking on the journey ofbecoming one of the biggest andbankable movie stars in theworld. “I have spent so manyyears. I think my wholecareer, kind of looking sofar ahead and chasing thatworld. (Thinking I shouldgo for) this thing and thatthing and (thinking) if Iget this job and maybethis is it,” Hemsworth saidwhile looking back at thetime when he started hisjourney in showbiz.

The constant rush, hesays, can be; for one,exhausting and two, “youare never in the momentenjoying the process.”

“I am trying to just be morepresent. And that gives me greatersense of comfort and not out of‘Oh, I have made it. I can sit backand rest’. It is more of just appreci-ating and enjoying it now,”Hemsworth added.

The actor wants to take amoment to appreciate things in hislife but doesn’t want to take things forgranted. “You don’t want to get com-fortable in the sense that you are sit-ting back and taking it for grantedand thinking ‘That’s it, I have madeit’... Unless, you are quite okay withnot working in and just be whereyou are,” Hemsworth said.

“I do feel more comfortable now and notout of thinking because ‘I have made it’... Ifyou would have asked me 10 years ago about

what my dream scenario with career in lifewould be, this will be it. I am really sort oftrying to appreciate this experience in thismoment now,” added the actor, who will soonbe seen in Men in Black: International.

Is it easy to stay in the moment or easi-er said than done? “It is tricky.” But a day dur-ing the busy press tour helped the 35-year-old take a decision. “I was just on theAvengers: Endgame press tour and I wasreading scripts for another job and talkingabout the next thing. And I was like ‘Thisis crazy. One of the biggest film of all timeis releasing and I am already thinking about

something else’. I had to say, ‘I don’twant to talk about it for fewweeks’.”

He has made up his mindnow — well, almost. “This year,I will probably won’t shoot any-thing. I have shot Dhaka at thestart of the year. I just want tobe at home now with my kids.They are at a very importantage. They are still young at themoment. And they are awarewhen I leave more than before.

“And I am like, if there isever a chance where I couldstop and just be at home, thisis it. So I am just going to enjoy

that for the moment, and see whathappens,” he said with a chuckle anda gleam in his eyes as he spoke abouthis family.

For now, Hemsworth, who hasfeatured in projects like Ghostbustersand Snow White and the Huntsman,is happy to be associated with thelegacy of Men In Black.

Men in Black: Internationalwill take place in the same universeas the previous trilogy with EmmaThompson back as Agent O.Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson

portray the new agents dealingwith aliens. The plot centers ona mole in the Men in Blackorganisation.

The film will release in India on June 14in Hindi, English, Tamil and Telugu.

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It’s rare that I request anartist to come home andshow me his/her works.

And Ashok Gulati, who is alsoa filmmaker, was one suchexception. His abstractions onpaper reminded me of one ofIndia’s finest artists, SohanQadri, and I was happy toknow that the duo are closefriends.

��,Gulati’s works on paper are

light and lithe and he has beendoing abstractions for more

than 25 years. His handling oftechnique and opacity dependson the varying weight andshifting density of his linestraced through diffusion andinterweaving brushstrokes tocreate remarkably refineddepth and structure. He some-times divides his singular zoneswith lines, which are geomet-ric products of unconsciousaction, the artist’s poise, move-ment and twists of hand. Thus,interacting with the lines on asheet of paper to produce aserene space inside the mind of

the viewer.Ashok says, “I paint with

my will. My mood is about soli-tude and the different sensa-tions I feel while putting thebrush to paper, my handlingand my strokes reveal not justmy humble wristwork. But Ibelieve that spaces and flowinglines are more than just skills.They are also about one’s ownintuition.”

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Sometimes his works have

undulating lines that verge onthe spiritual. Ashok’s paintingsare imbued with his innervoice and this expression fromthe heart further incorporatesnatural imagery as well. Theartist at once affirms thatabstractions are actually distil-lations of heartfelt reactionsthat travel, absorb and respondto nature. He takes the essenceof an inner landscape frommemory, which could be frag-ments of mountains andstreams, and pours out hisheart on the sheets of paperthrough abstract techniques.

Taking nature’s rhythmsand fusing it with the artist’sheart or ideas is to show thecreator's imagination, learningand personality on the canvas.Ashok melds together theexpressionist spirit of variousWestern media to reinterpret‘abstraction’ and, in doing so,creates small mappings in soli-taire.

His yellow and tangerinetinted work flows like silk andextends to the inner realms ofa mantra. We can think of asunset — on the edge of river

or on the paths of a mountain— and perhaps think of theriver gods making way betweenthe mountains. The soothingand rolling ranges of the flowof the river, Ganges, mirroringa sunset are rendered in someworks through the varyingshades and swathes of yellowand tan, while the moss green,dark bronze and greyish-greensculpt the outlines of fantasti-cal rock formations, roaringrivers and eccentric saplings.One cannot help but bereminded of the sages andtales that bring into being aspace that is out of this worldand utterly articulate — theartist’s poetic artistry workingin concert with his heart in hissmall studio in Vasant Kunj.

His small studies ofabstraction give us a glimpse ofthe artist’s amalgamation of hisspirit and the nature. This isexpressed through the mediumof painting to revolutionise‘Abstract’ representation andredefine the substance ofexpressionism in modern artwhile fusing Indian andWestern aesthetics.

What do you get when you have a touch-ing tale full of emotional twists, which

brings forth genuine humanity, witti-ness, clumsy romance with a touchof humour? Animals Out of Paper,based on an original play pennedby Pulitzer-nominated play-wright Rajiv Joseph, promises allthis and more.

It was after Joseph went to ashow in New York, which wasbased on origami, that he got anopportunity of conversing with a cou-ple of specialists in that art. Astonished bythe Japanese artwork, he realised that it alsoworked as a soothing therapy for the artists towork on it. This inspired him to write a playthat could feature and look at origami close-ly.

The strength of the play appears to be itssound storyline which features Geeta Sudan,Vivek Mansukhani and Sriharsh Sharma in thelead roles. The plot spins around the lives ofthree individuals and it exhibits how they influ-ence each others’ lives. The story revolvesaround origami artist Nina, who had recent-ly got divorced, lost her dog and is stuck in herlife circumstances. The one, who hasn’tanswered her phone calls in over two months,

opens her art studio to an unpredictable schoolteacher Andy, who introduces her to his teenstudent Suresh. The characters start to formand reshape each others’ lives while simulta-neously overlapping their origami art.

The play portrays how rapidly emotionstransition from positive to negative, howheartaches shift perspectives, how failurechanges the outlook of diverse people on theirlives. As director Aditee Biswas adapts the playand recreates it as her new direction, she saysthat the most important thing to make the sto-ryline stand out is to compose it in a simplemanner.

She says, “The audience must be able torelate with the characters since it is about day-

to-day life chaos and emotions. Nina’sstory has everything to make one

laugh, learn and imagine how deeplyentrenched the impact of some emo-tions is. The dialogues and the easeof every act attract the people’smind.”

She says that the trio of Nina,Andy and his student Suresh have

encountered a lot of hardships in theirlife. “The play makes us question our tol-

erance towards loved ones when their dark sidesurfaces,” she adds.

Categorising the play as a comedy with adash of drama, she says, “It has connotationsof angst and melancholy. While love and long-ing are the overriding emotions, it delves deepinto how grief transforms us.”

Aditee believes in giving new talents achance. She says that she always considers newactors in her projects. “We have preserved theoriginal script but our characters are based inIndia, speaking regular English instead of usingthe American style,” says the director.

(Produced by Scene Stealers, the play willbe staged on June 8 and 9 at the SteinAuditorium, Indian Habitat Centre, at 7.30 pm.)

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Britain will roll out the redcarpet for US President

Donald Trump on Monday ashe arrives in Britain for a statevisit already overshadowed byhis outspoken remarks onBrexit.

Queen Elizabeth II willwelcome Trump and his wifeMelania to Buckingham Palace,where they will be treated to aguard of honour, a privatelunch and later, a glittering statebanquet.

But beneath the pomp andceremony, Britain is in turmoilwith Prime Minister TheresaMay due to step down withinweeks over her handling of hercountry's exit from theEuropean Union.

True to form, Trumpripped up the diplomatic rulebook before he even toucheddown by saying former foreignminister Boris Johnson wouldmake an "excellent" choice tosucceed May.

He also recommendedMay's successor walk awayfrom talks with Brussels, refuseto pay Britain's agreed divorcebill and leave the EU with nodeal.

The much vaunted UK-US"special relationship" wasalready under strain over dif-ferent approaches to Iran,China and the Paris climate

change accord.Opposition politicians are

boycotting the banquet overwhat London's mayor SadiqKhan called Trump's "divisivebehaviour" and large protestsare expected across the capital.

But May and Trump areexpected to emphasise thewider benefits of the oldalliance when they hold talks atDowning Street on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, they willjoin other world leaders in theEnglish port of Portsmouth tocommemorate 75 years sincethe D-Day landings, whichchanged the course ofWorld War II.

"Our relationship has

underpinned our countries'security and prosperity formany years, and will continueto do so for generations tocome," May said ahead of thevisit.

May announced her resig-nation last month after failingto get her Brexit deal throughparliament and twice delayingBritain's EU departure.

She will formally quit asher Conservative party's leaderon Friday, but will stay on whilethey find someone to replaceher.

Three years after the refer-endum vote for Brexit, Britainremains divided and anxiousabout its place in the world.

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US President Donald Trumpdescribed Pakistani-origin

London Mayor Sadiq Khan as"nasty" and a "stone cold loser"as he landed here on Mondaywith wife Melanie and anentourage of his family for athree-day state visit hosted byQueen Elizabeth II.

Trump will meet membersof the Royal Family, and isexpected to discuss climatechange and Chinese technologyfirm Huawei during his talkswith outgoing Prime MinisterTheresa May.

Just moments before hisAir Force One touched down atStansted Airport, the USPresident took to Twitter in hischaracteristic style to attackLondon Mayor Khan withwhom he has clashed in the past,terming him "nasty" and a "stonecold loser".

"Sadiq Khan who by allaccounts has done a terrible jobas Mayor of London, has beenfoolishly "nasty" to the visitingPresident of the United States, byfar the most important ally of theUnited Kingdom. He is a stonecold loser who should focus oncrime in London, not me," hesaid. Trump compared the 48-year-old Khan with New York

Mayor de Blasio as having donean equally "terrible job".

Khan recently brandedTrump a fascist and divisive fig-ure who should not be accord-ed the pomp and ceremonyassociated with a UK state visit.

Protests are planned acrossthe UK during the visit, includ-ing in London, Manchester,Belfast and Birmingham and agiant balloon depicting Trumpas a baby is to take to the skiesonce again over London, in arepeat of his last UK visit in2018. On Monday, the USPresident will be given a tour ofWestminster Abbey and willalso meet Prince Charles and theDuchess of Cornwall for tea attheir Clarence House residencein London. In the evening, theQueen will host the ceremoni-al state banquet at BuckinghamPalace for Trump and the FirstLady Melania Trump. She will bejoined by the Duke and Duchessof Cambridge, William andKate.

The agenda for Trump'sweeklong tour of Europeincludes the World War II D-Day commemoration cere-monies on both sides of theEnglish Channel and his firstpresidential visit to Ireland,which will include a stay at hiscoastal golf club.

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Atop White House officialsaid Sunday that President

Donald Trump is "deadly seri-ous" about imposing tariffs onimports from Mexico, butacknowledged there are noconcrete benchmarks being setto assess whether the US ally isstemming the migrant flowenough to satisfy the adminis-tration.

"We intentionally left thedeclaration sort of ad hoc,"Mick Mulvaney, the actingWhite House chief of staff, saidon "Fox News Sunday."

"So, there's no specific tar-get, there's no specific per-centage, but things have to getbetter," Mulvaney said.

"They have to get dramat-ically better and they have toget better quickly." He said theidea is to work with theMexican government "to makesure that things did get better."

On Monday, top officialsfrom the two countries willstart meetings in Washington.Mexican Economy MinisterGraciela Marquez plans talkswith Commerce SecretaryWilbur Ross. Two days later,delegations led by Secretary ofState Mike Pompeo andForeign Relations Secretary

Marcelo Ebrard will meet.But Trump played down

the effort. "Mexico is sendinga big delegation to talk aboutthe Border," the presidenttweeted Sunday. "Problem is,they've been 'talking' for 25years. We want action, nottalk."

Trump claims Mexico hastaken advantage of the UnitedStates for decades but that theabuse will end when he slapstariffs on Mexican importsnext week in a dispute over ille-gal immigration.

"America has had enough,"he tweeted.

The president said lastweek that he will impose a 5 percent tariff on Mexican goods onJune 10 to pressure the gov-ernment of Andres ManuelLopez Obrador to blockCentral American migrantsfrom crossing the border intothe US.

Trump said the import taxwill increase by 5% everymonth through October, top-ping out at 25 per cent.

But the president has beenhere before, issuing high-stakesthreats over his frustrationwith the flow of migrants onlyto later back off. They includehis threat earlier this year toseal the border with Mexico.

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Sudan's military rulers force-fully broke up a weeks-long

sit-in outside Khartoum's armyheadquarters on Monday leav-ing at least 13 dead, a doctors'committee said as gunfireechoed from the site.

Heavily armed securityforces in pick-up trucks mounted with machine gunswere deployed in large numbers all around the capital,while gunshots were heardfrom the protest site by an AFPjournalist.

The United States andBritain called for an end to thecrackdown on demonstrators,who want the generals behindthe overthrow of veteran pres-ident Omar al-Bashir to handover to civilian rule.

The Central Committee ofSudanese Doctors, which isclose to the protesters, updatedthe death toll "raising thenumber of martyrs to 13" in aFacebook statement.

It also reported a "largenumber of critical casualties"and called for "urgent support"from the InternationalCommittee of the Red Crossand other humanitarian organ-isations to help the wounded.

The military council hasdenied multiple reports of theirforces violently dispersing the

sit-in in front of army head-quarters, as protesters took tothe streets in towns around thecountry.

But protest leaders said thesite had been cleared of demon-strators.

"The Rapid Support Forcesand the army and police andmilitia battalions dispersed thepeaceful sit-in," the Alliance forFreedom and Change, the pro-testers' umbrella group, said ina statement.

Outside the army head-quarters "there is no one, butthe pure bodies of our martyrsthat it has not been possible toevacuate from the site".

The Sudanese ProfessionalsAssociation (SPA), which spear-headed nationwide proteststhat started in December, saidit amounted to a "bloody mas-sacre" and hundreds of peoplehad been wounded.

It called on Sudanese totake part in "total civil disobe-dience" to topple the militarycouncil.

The doctors' committeesaid forces were also openingfire inside the city's East NileHospital and "chasing peacefulprotesters".

It said another hospitalnear the site of the sit-in wassurrounded and volunteerswere prevented from reachingit.

Rallies against Bashir'sauthoritarian, three-decade ruleled to his ouster in April, butprotesters had remained outsidethe army headquarters callingon the generals to cede powerto a transitional authority.

Near the demonstrationsite, a witness living in the Burrineighbourhood said he could"hear the sound of gunfire and

I see a plume of smoke risingfrom the area of the sit-in."Another resident of the area, ineast Khartoum, said he hadseen forces in "police uniform"trying to expel the demonstra-tors.

The military council "didnot disperse the sit-in by force,"its spokesman said. "The tentsare there, and the youth are

moving freely," ShamseddineKabbashi told Sky News Arabia.

Protests erupted in townsacross Sudan in response to theviolence in Khartoum. "Nowthe streets are closed (withbarricades made) from stoneand the chant is going round'Just fall, that's all, the wholeCouncil'," a witness in PortSudan on the Red Sea said.

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Egypt on Monday urged allsides in Sudan to return to

the negotiating table as securi-ty forces moved to break up aweeks-long protest camp inKhartoum.

Violence erupted at the sit-in outside the army headquar-ters in the Sudanese capital ear-lier in the day leaving at leastnine protesters dead, accordingto medics. Thousands have beencamped at the site calling onSudan's ruling generals to handover power to civilians follow-ing the ouster of long-timeautocrat Omar al-Bashir inApril.

The military council hasdenied multiple reports of itsforces violently dispersing thesit-in. "Egypt is following withgreat interest the developmentsin Sudan," the ministry said ina statement.

"Egypt also underscores theimportance that all Sudanesesides commit to calm, self-restraint and return to the nego-tiating table," it added.

The move to disperse thesit-in comes after the head ofSudan's ruling military council,General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan,paid visits to Saudi Arabia, theUnited Arab Emirates and Egyptlast week.

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Iran's President on Mondayruled out negotiations with

Washington until it acts "nor-mal", after Secretary of StateMike Pompeo said the US isready to talk to Tehran withoutpreconditions.

"The party that has left thenegotiating table, the partythat has trampled the pactmust return to a normal"behaviour, Hassan Rouhanisaid in a televised speech.

"If the enemy truly realis-es that the path it took waswrong, that will be the day tosit at the negotiation table andfix any issue," the presidentadded.

Tensions have spiked inrecent weeks between Tehranand Washington, which lastyear pulled out of a landmarkIran nuclear accord andimposed tough sanctions onthe Islamic republic.

But Washington's topdiplomat appeared to soften theUS stance on Sunday, saying"we are prepared to engage in

a conversation with no pre-conditions." Washington is"certainly prepared to have (a)conversation when the Iranianswill prove they are behaving asa normal nation," Pompeo saidin Switzerland, which repre-sents Washington's interestsin Iran in the absence of bilat-eral relations.

Pompeo however gave noindication that lifting sanc-tions would be on the table. OnSaturday, Rouhani insisted thatIran would not be "bullied" intotalks with the United States,saying "total respect" was need-ed for negotiations to takeplace.

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China on Monday warnedstudents and academics on

the "risk" of studying in theUnited States, citing an uptickin visa denials and delays amida trade war and other tensionswith Washington.

The warning comes asnegotiations to resolve thetrade spat have stalled andWashington pushed backagainst what it says is Beijing'saggressive militarisation of thedisputed South China Sea.

In recent months US offi-cials and lawmakers havevoiced concerns that Chinesestudents and academics couldbe used for espionage purpos-es by the Communist govern-ment.

The Chinese educationministry in a statement saidstudents applying to US uni-versities should brace them-selves for visa troubles and"strengthen risk assessment...And make relevant prepara-tions".

Chinese students and aca-demics have recently experi-enced visa restrictions, delaysin obtaining them, and visaswith shorter duration, accord-ing to the ministry.

From January to March,over 1,350 Chinese studentshad applied for US studentvisas but 182 were "unable tomake the trip as planned" dueto visa issues, accounting for

13.5 per cent of all applicants,Xu Yongji, deputy head of adepartment overlooking for-eign academic exchanges at theministry, told state broadcast-er CCTV.

Xu said this was a markedincrease from just over threepercent of applicants who expe-rienced visa issues in 2018, cit-ing data from the ChinaScholarship Council.

Visa denials have "dam-aged the dignity" of Chinesestudents and cast a "cold spell"over research collaborationsand academic exchanges hesaid.

China is the biggest sourceof international students on UScampuses, with 360,000 ofthem attending last year — athird of the foreign studentbody — with many paying fulltuition.

Chinese students con-tributed $14 billion to the USeconomy in 2017, the official

Xinhua news agency estimatedlast month, citing US officialdata.

China's foreign ministryspokesman Geng Shuang saidthe US had been setting"unnecessary obstacles" to peo-ple-to-people exchangesbetween the two countries.

"This has been widelyopposed by the education cir-cles in China and the UnitedStates, as well as by (Chinese)students studying abroad," hesaid.

US complaints about tech-nology and intellectual prop-erty theft by China have beena major bone of contention inthe trade war between the twocountries.

FBI director ChristopherWray said in April that Beijinghad used Chinese graduatestudents and researchers,among others, in its economicespionage efforts in the UnitedStates.

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The Kremlin insistedMonday that the Russian

Army was targeting "terrorists"in Syria's last jihadist strong-hold of Idlib, after US PresidentDonald Trump called onMoscow to halt "this butchery."

The Kremlin has been sup-porting a Syrian governmentoffensive in Idlib despiteprotests from the United Statesand Turkey.

Trump said on TwitterSunday that Syria and Russiashould stop "bombing the hell"out of Idlib.

Russian President VladimirPutin's spokesman DmitryPeskov responded Monday thatIdlib fighters were targetingcivilians and Moscow's troops.

"There is a fairly largebuildup of terrorists and fight-ers in Idlib," Peskov toldreporters.

"Terrorist fire in Idlib is ofcourse unacceptable," he added."Measures are being taken toneutralise such firing posi-tions."

He said Russia and Turkeywere coordinating their posi-tions over the situation.

Peskov said last week thatit was Turkey's responsibility tomake sure fighting ends inIdlib and reiterated this onMonday. "The World is watching this butchery. What isthe purpose, what will it getyou? STOP!" Trump said onTwitter.

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Uppsala (Sweden): A Swedishcourt heard arguments onMonday before deciding ifprosecutors can proceed torequest Julian Assange's extra-dition from Britain, after a2010 rape probe was re-openedin May. Both sides presentedtheir arguments to the Uppsaladistrict court which adjournedto deliberate. It was expected toannounce a decision at 4.00 pm(local time).

Swedish deputy directorof public prosecutions Eva-Marie Persson said theWikiLeaks founder had notcooperated with the Swedishinvestigation previously, fleeingfrom an extradition order, andtherefore needed to be detainedand questioned in Sweden.

She asked the court toorder Assange's detention in hisabsence, a standard part ofSwedish legal procedure if asuspect is outside the countryor cannot be located, andwhich would be the first step tohaving him extradited.

"The purpose of this deten-tion is to be able to completethe investigation and bringJulian Assange to justice,"Persson said.

Assange's Swedish lawyer,Per E Samuelson, meanwhileargued that a detention orderwas "meaningless" as Assangeis currently imprisoned inBritain and should not be con-sidered a flight risk. AFP

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Two Muslim governors in SriLanka resigned on Monday

after thousands of people,including majority Buddhistcommunity monks, launched aprotest in the pilgrim city ofKandy, demanding their sack-ing for allegedly supportingIslamist extremists responsiblefor the Easter suicide bombings.

Western Province GovernorAzath Salley and EasternProvince Governor MALMHisbullah, handed over theirresignation letters to PresidentMaithripala Sirisena in responseto protests by the majorityBuddhist monks, officials said.

Salley and Hisbullah, bothMuslim allies of Sirisena andappointed by him, were underpressure to resign after beingaccused of being linked toextremism.

Both Salley and Hisbullahhave rejected the allegations.

This is a direct fall out of theEaster Sunday suicide bombattacks carried out by ISISlinked local Islamist groupNational Thowheeth Jamaath(NTJ).

The resignation came fourdays after Buddhist monkAthuraliye Rathana, who is alsoa parliamentarian from aSirisena allied party, sit on ahunger strike in the centraltown of Kandy near the fore-most Buddhist shrine, theTemple of Tooth.

"I will end my fast only afterthe president will sack the twoMuslim governors," Rathanasaid at the commencement ofhis protest.

A crowd of about 10,000Buddhists held demonstrationat the famous temple onMonday morning raising anti-Muslim slogans.

Firebrand monkGalagodaaththe Gnanasara,released from jail on a presi-dential pardon last month, wasalso present. Gnanasara has long been accused of insti-gating hate crimes againstMuslims.

The head of the CatholicChurch in Colombo, CardinalMalcolm Ranjith, also travelledto Kandy on Monday to expresssolidarity with Rathana.

Shops and offices remained

closed in the city, 115 kilome-tres east of Colombo, whileblack flags were raised in sup-port of Rathana.

Following the April 21attacks that claimed 258 lives,the Muslim minority politi-cians representing the govern-ment came under criticism fortheir alleged support extendedto the rising Muslim militancy.

One such minister, theIndustry and CommerceMinister Rishath Bathiyutheenwas directly accused of sup-porting the NTJ, which carriedout the suicide bombings onthree Colombo hotels and threechurches.

The Opposition moved amotion of no confidence in theParliament against Bathiyutheenwho has denied links to the NTJand its terror activities.

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Pakistan shocked England by 14runs at Trent Bridge on Monday as

they ended a long losing streak in one-day internationals despite two centuriesfor the World Cup host nation.

Joe Root (107) and Jos Buttler(103) were guiding the tournamentfavourites towards an imposing targetof 349 after Pakistan left England need-ing a World Cup record chase.

The pair put on 130 for the fifthwicket but both were out shortly afterreaching their hundreds and the tailhad too much to do.

It was a remarkable turnaround forPakistan, whose opening match of thisWorld Cup had seen then slump to 105all out in a seven-wicket defeat by theWest Indies at the same ground.

That defeat was their 11th straightloss in completed one-day internation-als, including the recent 4-0 seriesdefeat by England.

But they started strongly at TrentBridge on Monday and made 348 foreight, Mohammad Hafeez top-scoringwith 84.

No side had previously mademore batting second to win a WorldCup match than Ireland, with 329 forseven against England at Bangalore in2011.

England's chase got off to a badstart when Jason Roy was lbw on thesweep to leg-spinner Shadab Khan toleave them 12 for one.

Jonny Bairstow, whose openingpartnership with Roy has been a keyfactor in England's rise to number onein the one-day international rankings,then fell for 32 when he was caughtbehind off Wahab Riaz.

It was the spinners who strucknext, England captain Eoin Morgan(nine) bowled by Mohammad Hafeezbefore Pakistan captain and wicket-

keeper Sarfaraz Ahmed held an edgedcut by all-rounder Ben Stokes (13) offShoaib Malik.

� ��&��But Buttler and Root both hit tow-

ering sixes off Hafeez as Englandaccelerated on a pitch where they hadtwice set the world record for the high-est ODI total.

Buttler completed a typically dash-ing fifty off 34 balls when he pulledShadab for six as England, who onlylast month chased down a target of 341to beat Pakistan in the fourth ODI atTrent Bridge, started to take charge.

Root pulled Hasan Ali for four togo to 97 before his quick single off Riazsaw him to a 15th ODI century in 97balls, with nine fours and a six.

But he fell soon afterwards, steer-ing Shadab to Hafeez at short thirdman to end a stand of 130 withButtler.

Wicketkeeper Buttler, one delivery

after completing a 75-ball century, wasalso caught at short third man whenhe guided Mohammad Amir to fellowleft-arm quick Riaz.

Chris Woakes (21) kept Englandin the hunt before he was caughtbehind off Riaz and, at 320 for eight atarget of 29 off 12 balls proved toomuch.

Earlier,Hafeez led a vastlyimproved Pakistan batting effort thatsaw Babar Azam (63) and Pakistancaptain Sarfaraz Ahmed (55) alsomaking fifties.

Pakistan coped and for all the talkabout England's quicks, it was off-spin-ner Moeen who took the first threewickets.

England, who launched theirWorld Cup campaign with a 104-runthrashing of South Africa, were sur-prisingly sloppy in the field, while theirfast bowlers were expensive — JofraArcher's 10 wicketless overs cost 79runs.

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The fickle Englishweather has left theIndian team fretting

over its bowling combinationfor the World Cup openeragainst South Africa.

The Ageas Bowl pitch inSouthampton is expected tobe flat and South Africanbatsmen's weakness againstthe slow bowlers wouldmake Kuldeep Yadav andYuzvendra Chahal first XIstarters in the lung opener.

However, a spell of rainon Monday and forecast ofcloudy weather and showeron Wednesday has broughtBhuvneshwar Kumar inthe equation and theteam may thrustthree specialistspeedsters intoaction.

In that case, theteam will have to leaveout either Yadav orChahal and also decidewhich all-rounder betweenKedar Jadhav and VijayShankar to field.

South Africa's recordagainst the two wrist spin-ners during India's last awaytour was below-par withmost of them unable to pickthem off their wrists.

On that 2018 tour ofSouth Africa, Kuldeep had17 wickets from six gameswhile Chahal had one lessfrom equal number ofmatches.

Virat Kohli's propensityto go for the kill is preciselythe reason why he would liketo prefer attacking optionslike 'Kul-Cha' as they arefondly known.

Whatever little layer ofgrass was there has beenshaved off and the pitchresembles a typical sub-con-tinental 22-yard strip wherea lot of lateral movementcan't be expected.

The grounds in England,equipped with superbdrainage system, dry outquickly and unless there ispersistent rain there is nopossibility of underlyingmoisture, which could thenhelp the ball to jag aroundeven in sunny conditions.

The forecast onWednesday shows a maxi-mum temperature of 17degrees with partly cloudysky and chance of rainfall.

If the choice comesbetween Kuldeep andChahal, the left-arm china-man might get the prefer-ence over the wiry Haryanaleggie despite former's poorform in recent times.

Ravindra Jadeja had twogood warm-up games but heis seen more as a restrictiveoption, who can be moreeffective against England orPakistan.

However the other prob-lem will be the choice

between fit-again KedarJadhav and Vijay Shankar.

Shankar had two badwarm-up games but that willcount for little consideringthe ability he has shownwith the bat.

However Kedar Jadhav'shandy off-breaks along withhis cheeky batting at No 5 or6, makes him a better choicewhile chasing a big score.

But in case, the condi-tions are overcast, thenShankar could share the fifthbowler's role along withHardik Pandya with JaspritBumrah, Mohammed Shami,Kuldeep and Chahal takingcare of the other 40 overs.

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Australian great Glenn McGrath onMonday said Hardik Pandya can be

the stand out player for India in the ongo-ing World Cup and make the differencelike Yuvraj Singh did in the 2011 edition.

Yuvraj was named player of thetournament in 2011 when he shone withboth bat and ball to help India win thetitle for the second time.

Asked if India would miss a playerlike Yuvraj who provided the firepoweras a finisher in 2011, McGrath said:"Pandya can play that role. DK (DineshKarthik) is a good finisher too. I thinkthey have got the team to dowell.

"Their bowling attackwith Jasprit Bumrahwho is up there withthe best ODI bowlersin the world. Thelengths he bowls andbowls quality york-ers. He is a really goodfinisher. They have gotthe team to performreally well in this WorldCup. Have to see how theygo in the English conditions,"said the former pacer here.

M S Dhoni will be another key play-er for India, said the Australian.

"There is always a lot of pressure onthem (the Indian team) in a big tourna-ment. But, they have played well in bigtournaments before. But English condi-tions... It is going to be interesting.Dhoni I think he is going to be a key play-er for India.

"The experience that he has and theway he goes about the game, he knows itso well... It will benefit India. And the wayDhoni finished recently in Australia in the

one-dayers... They have plenty of otherquality players. It is just about being con-sistent," he said.

McGrath, who is Director ofCoaching at the MRF Pace Foundationhere, picked England, India and Australiaas his three favourites for the World Cup.

"England... They are a quality One-Day unit. To me they are favourites... Indiahave played good one-day cricket. Thebrand of cricket it plays can be very sim-ilar to England. Australia are peaking atthe right time. I think Australia have theability to win this world cup... But I thinkEngland are the favourites," he said.

"West Indies will have somegood games. It is fearless, but

needs to be consistent."McGrath said he is

looking forward towatch the likes of PatCummins, MitchellStarc, Kagiso Rabadaand Bumrah at theWorld Cup.

"Pat Cumminshas done incredibly

well, Mitchell Starc is amatch-winner when he

gets it right and Rabada ofSouth Africa. Bumrah is one

guy I am really impressed with.They are the guys I enjoy watching," headded.

About the prospects of his World Cuprecord of 71 wickets being broken, he saidif anyone can play long enough, he couldsurpass him.

"If they play long enough, they can.I was lucky enough to play in four. I did-n't take too many wickets in my first out-ing, but did decently afterwards. Recordsare there to be broken. If you got to beatthat tally, you probably have to feature infour WCs," he added.

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South Africa have no margin for error after sec-ond World Cup loss and should take advantageof India’s ‘first game nerves’ to bring their World

Cup campaign back on track, said legendary all-rounder Jacques Kallis.

South Africa, who were thrashed by England inthe opening match, suffered their second successiveloss in the World Cup, going down by 21 runs againstBangladesh on Sunday. The Proteas will be undera lot of pressure ahead of their clash against favouritesIndia. It’s disappointing and frustrating and thereis lots of pressure on the next game, otherwise thetournament could be over before it’s really starts forSA.

It doesn’t get any easier though against India butit’s their first game and our third, so maybe that couldgive us the edge we need. They’ve not played for aweek and maybe they’ll be some first game nerves,where as we are settled. India will make South Africapay if they commit any silly mistake. We’ve got toplay all our cards and we can’t afford anymore sillymistakes at vital stages — these are the best sidesin the world and they’ll always punish you.

Strange things happen in this sport and if wecan get a win then I think we can go on a streak andwe are still good enough to be a contender. Therewill be no margin for error though. I think you’llneed six wins, maybe five with a really good run rate,to finish in the top four, so SA almost need to winevery game they will play.”

South Africa are battlinginjury issues with pacerLungi Ngidi beingruled out ofIndia clash

due to a hamstring strain and Kallis feels experiencedDale Steyn needs to be drafted into the playing XI.

The injury to Ngidi certainly didn’t help Faf, he’sa world-class player and a big part of our attack.You’ve got to play Dale Steyn against India now, andhopefully he is close to fitnes. Bangladesh postedtheir highest ODI total, scoring 330 for six at the Ovalafter du Plessis elected to bowl after winning the toss.

South Africa then fell short at 309 for eight whiletrying to become the first team to successfully chasemore than 330 in a World Cup match. Bangladeshgot all their partnerships going and once you get over300 then it always become a tough chase, letting themscore 50 or so runs in the final four overs really did-n’t help either and ultimately proved the difference.

I understand what Faf du Plessis was doing withthe toss and playing the extra pace bowler. However,the wicket just didn't allow it and perhaps he stuckwith the tactics a bit too long and should have start-ed bowling a little fuller and straighter.

It’s great having a game plan but you need to havea back-up. We were one step behind the entire matchand just tactically a bit off. Weneed to be a bit smarter.

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The tag of eternal chokersis as painful as‘ S h a k e s p e a r e a n

tragedies’ but the ongoingWorld Cup could be differentfor South Africa since young-sters in the side are not carry-ing burden of the past, sayspacer Kagiso Rabada.

Since their return to inter-national cricket in 1991, theonly major event won bySouth Africa was the 1998inaugural mini-World Cup(later known as ChampionsTrophy) in Bangladesh.

They have never made itto the final of an ICC WorldCup. “It’s something that hasbeen haunting us for years. It’slike a Shakespearean tragedyalmost. Hopefully, we canchange that,” Rabada said.

Rabada said youngsterslike him go into the tourna-ment with a clean slate. “Youcan’t be anything but positivegoing into the World Cup. Webelieve we have every chanceto win the World Cup. Whathas happened in the past, yougot to let go of that,” said the24-year-old, who has 108wickets from 67 ODIs.

“We have a young teamthat has shown potential. AndI feel it’s a blessing that notmany of them have been tothe World Cup. It’s youngand it’s fresh,” said Rabada.

In 2015, when SouthAfrica toured India, Rabadahad bowled a fabulous finalover to Mahendra SinghDhoni at the Green Park inKanpur, defending less than10 runs. That match perhapswas the first indication ofDhoni’s waning powers as afinisher.

When asked about hisperfect executions at thedeath, Rabada said that morethan all the homework done,it is all about what works atany given moment.

“These days players do alot of analysis. So the battersand bowlers are looking upbatting and bowling histo-ries. You can prepare whatcould be coming your way.

“But it’s more about whatworks for you on the day ofthe match rather than all theplanning you've made,” saidRabada, whose ODI economyrate is an envious 5.01.

Being compared to JaspritBumrah is a compliment forthe talented Protea, who reck-ons that the ongoing WorldCup will be an interestingone for the fast bowlers.

“Well, that’s a complimentsurely. But I don’t know whois the best because all teams atthe moment have good fastbowling units. Which is alsoa big reason why I think thisWorld Cup will be a veryinteresting one,” he said.

South African cricket overthe years has suffered due toa lot of quality cricketers quit-ting international cricket toplay county cricket, using theKolpak agreement.

The Kolpak deal allowsany player from EuropeanUnion as well as Caribbeanand South Africa to ply theirtrade in UK without beingconsidered overseas citizen.

“Kolpak is a touchy issue,people are entitled to theirchoices of course. For meplaying for the country is a bigdeal,” Rabada made his prior-ities clear.

With Faf du Plessis in alllikelihood playing his last 50over World Cup, Rabada iscertainly a contender fornational captaincy, a chal-lenge he wants to accept headon as and when the opportu-nity arises.

“I get asked this questionvery often. I think if I amgiven the responsibility Iwould take up the challenge.There’s a lot you need tolearn,” said the youngster.

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After South Africa sufferedtheir second consecutivedefeat in the ongoing

World Cup, fans on social mediapointed out that the Proteas aremissing the services of battinggreat AB de Villers and injuredpacer Dale Steyn. They havegone on to add that their presencecould have made the differencefor the Faf du Plessis-led side.

But former South Africa all-rounder Jonty Rhodes begged todiffer and said that it was hightime that the Proteas realised thatde Villiers had retired and hewouldn’t be available for selec-tion. While South Africa lost by104 runs against hosts England intheir campaign opener, theProteas lost by 21 runs againstBangladesh on Sunday.

Rhodes took to Twitter andsaid that relying on a couple ofplayers wouldn't work and it wasa case of some poor battingwhich resulted in South Africa’ssecond defeat in the showpieceevent. After Sunday's game, a fantold Rhodes: “Your country(South Africa) is seeing the lackof AB (de Villers) and (Dale)Steyn in the matches.”

The 49-year-old then replied:“Whole team can’t rely on twoplayers; there is no more ABD.Batsmen got in and got out. Badshot selection; so many top orderplayers out ‘bowled’ on goodbatting surface tells a story.”

Rhodes also felt that his sidewill make a strong comeback inthe tournament and said thatmost of the people believed thatthe duo's absence is the reasonbehind the Proteans dismal show.

“Sadly, there are many peoplesaying the same thing; it’s notrocket science! It will come; butfor us SA fans, it needs to comesooner rather than later!,” headded.

In the clash againstBangladesh on Sunday, SouthAfrica had failed to chase downBangladesh’s total of 330 on agood batting track. It was Shakib

Al Hasan (75 off 84) andMustafizur Rahman (3/67), whostarred for Bangaldesh in their21-run win.

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Considered underdogsfor a long t ime,Bangladesh have the

strength to get the better offbig teams and his side’s 21-runwin over South Africa in theWorld Cup should not beseen as a surprise anymore,believes skipper MashrafeMortaza.

Bangladesh started theirWorld Cup campaign on aperfect note, posting theirhighest one-day internation-al score of 330 on the back ofhalf centuries by Shakib AlHasan (75) and MushifiqurRahim (78).

Sublime bowling perfor-mances by Mustaf izurRahman (3/67) andMohammad Saifuddin (2/57)then helped them beat WorldNo. 3 South Africa at the Ovalon Sunday.

Asked if this was a sign ofBangladesh’s development, theskipper replied: “Do you thinkthis was a surprise? If we candeliver our best we knewwhat we could do.

“I’m sure some peopledon’t think well of our crick-et. We are concentrating onour game and let other peopletalk.”

Experienced allrounderShakib said expectations fromthe Bangladesh team havechanged since their triumphsover India and South Africa inthe 2007 edition.

“It’s been 12 years, so ourcricket has come a long wayforward. At that time, if weplay well, that was goodenough for the crowd and forus. But now, they are not sat-isfied with defeat to any otherteam. This is the expectationlevel we’ve got in these 12years,” Shakib said.

“We prepared ourselveswell. We were in Ireland, wherewe played really well againstWest Indies and Ireland. Thatgave us a lot of confidence andbelief.

“There are so many thingsto prove in this tournament,and we were upto the chal-lenge. The boys were confident,

but at the same time, we wererelaxed. We knew we have theskill to beat big teams."

Mortaza also hailed histeam’s all-round show againstSouth Africa.

“We played so well, espe-cially being in England. It’s noteasy for us in the conditions,which don't favour us in theway they do at home,”Mortaza said after the win.

“I thought it was one ofour best performances, andwe love to play the way weplayed in this game. I’m sure

that it won’t happen every day,but that is the idea.”

Bangladesh have landedin the UK with a blend ofexperience and new players.While the likes of Mashrafe,Shakib, Tamim Iqbal andMushfiqur featured in theside’s 2007 World Cup victo-ry against South Africa,youngsters l ike SoumyaSarkar, who smashed 42 off 30balls provide new dimensionto the team.

“We have a heavy battingline-up. You look at the expe-

rience, I have Tamim openingand Shakib batting at three,Mushfiqur comes back at four.Soumya, he’s coming out withsomething out of the box.”

Mortaza was also lavish inhis praise for all-rounderShakib.

“Shakib has got the expe-rience and makes sure that inthe top order, he's moreresponsible and he can holdall the pressure to deliver athis best. He’s exactly spot on,and performed so well for theteam,” Mortaza said.

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Sri Lanka, who were comprehen-sively beaten by New Zealand intheir opening game, will look tocome out with a much improvedperformance when they take on

dark horsesAfghanistan in theongoing WorldCup at the CardiffWales Stadiumhere on Tuesday.

Sri Lanka didnot have the idealstart to their WorldCup campaign asthey lost by 10wickets to the BlackCaps on June 1.None of their bats-men — apart fromskipper DimuthKarunaratne who remainedunbeaten at 52 — could standagainst the hostile bowling fromthe Kiwi pacers and were bundledout for 136. The bowlers alsofailed to come up with an inspir-

ing performance and proved ineffectiveas New Zealand chased down the tar-get inside 16 overs.

Karunaratne's men need to pull uptheir socks and improve in all the threedepartments if they want to beatAfghanistan, who have a well-roundedbowling attack. Afghanistan, despite

being comprehensively beaten byAustralia in their opening game, willback themselves to bounce back

againsta demoralised Lankanteam. However, in order to do

that, their openers need toscore runs and make sure theyset a platform for the lowerorder, which performed rea-sonably well against the likes

of Mitchell Starc and PatCummins in Bristol.

In Rashid Khan, theynot only have a world-

class spinner but alsoa decent batsman who

can score big on hisday. And theywould also begaining confidencewith the perfor-

mance of fast bowler Hamid Hasan, whoproduced a fast, disciplined openingspell against the mighty Aussies.

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(c), Avishka Fernando, Suranga Lakmal,Lasith Malinga, Angelo Mathews,Jeevan Mendis, Kusal Mendis (wk),Kusal Perera (wk), Thisara Perera,Nuwan Pradeep, Dhananjaya de Silva,

Milinda Siriwardana, LahiruThirimanne, Isuru Udana, JeffreyVandersay

Afghanistan: Gulbadin Naib (c),Mohammad Shahzad (wk), Noor AliZadran, Hazratullah Zazai, RahmatShah, Asghar Afghan, HashmatullahShahidi, Najibullah Zadran, SamiullahShinwari, Mohammad Nabi, RashidKhan, Dawlat Zadran, Aftab Alam,Hamid Hassan, Mujeeb ur Rahman.

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�After being hit, Hamid Hassan wentdown like it was pretty serious, but no oneseemed to be that concerned.

No, no, he’s fine. Hassan was hit by theball — but, no, he’s feeling well.�You’re not worried about him notplaying tomorrow?

No, no. He’s ready to play. It’s good now.�And obviously you got Sri Lanka who,like you guys, are one of the lower-rankedteams. This is a really a big opportunityfor you guys, isn't it?

Yeah, definitely I saw the Sri Lankanplay on TV, and they lost few games in lasttwo years and they’re struggling in one-daymatches. We have opportunity to do wellagainst them. I hope if play is 50 over, espe-cially in the batting, so maybe definitely wecan beat them. So they also a good team,Sri Lanka, and we can’t take easy. We cantry to score big, If we play 50 overs maybedifficult for them.�Your main strength is spin attack. Onthis surface, we saw NZ seamers had goodpurchase. How would your seamers planon this and do you think the spinners willbe ineffective?

Definitely if in the start the seamersbowl well, so automatically confident goesto the spinners. So we have a good spin-ner attack, like Rashid and Mujeeb. If youdo well in the bowling I think especially in10 overs, so maybe everything will go well.So I have full confidence in the spinners.We want momentum on the match,because they need the momentum ofspinners like how they bowl, like especial-ly Rashid and Mujeeb. Just one match ifthey grab the momentum, so maybe it'svery difficult for all teams.�There is a big chance of rain tomorrowand obviously that might shorten thegame. Do you think that brings you guysin a little bit?

We not going for the weather. We willsee what’s the weather. So if we can reducethe overs it will be much better for us. Wehave potential now so like limited overs, solike everyone knows about Afghanistanbatting lineup, so it will be good.�What’s the main message been to yourplayers after Oz defeat?

Just one thing: We got to be positive.If you look, we missed out on 12 overs (pre-vious game), yet we scored 200 plus. If youhave wickets in hands, maybe the score is300-plus. So one thing we tell them, so ifyou stay on the wicket and you don’t givewicket in the middle. So if you have wick-ets in the hand last, we can do — you havepotential to do in the last 10 overs 98 plusruns like this. So one thing I got is just playyour natural game and stay calm in thewicket. This is the main thing.�Any changes in the team for today’game?

It’s depends. We saw the wicket, socome in the morning time and then wedecide who is playing.�The wicket seems to be more suited forpacers. Are you going to stick with themain three spinners, or will Aftab bemaking a comeback?

The wicket is suitable for the seamers,so it’s looksgreen. But one match hasalready ben played on the same wicket, soI can’t say anything.�How are you looking at this tourna-ment as such?

If you look for the last game playagainst Australia, we did well a lot of thingsthere, so definitely if you face this kind ofteam on the world stage, World Cup, top10 teams playing there, you should be pre-pare well to playing against them. I thinkwe played how we played last two, threeyears cricket back, so we improve a lot ofthings, especially in domestic level. We havegood growth now. So maybe the tourna-ment will be difficult for everyone. Can’tsay any one team. So we have a good teamnow. You have eight, nine games each team.Maybe will be very difficult. So think it'sgood for us here. If you play this kind ofmatches only this kind of team, you takea lot of positive things and it's work in thefuture.

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2��!��++0��++�3Former swashbuckling batsman andPakistan skipper Shahid Afridi has put hisweight behind the Sarfaraz Ahmed-ledGreen Brigade and said that the team iswell capable of winningthe ICC Cricket WorldCup 2019, currentlyunderway in Englandand Wales.Pakistan had openedtheir tournament cam-paign on a disastrousnote after suffering ahumiliating seven-wick-et defeat to West Indiesat in Nottingham as theywere folded out for a paltry 105 runs. TheWindies then overhauled the target in just14.4 overs, losing three wickets.Afridi then took to Twitter, urging theteam to build confidence and strive for awin in their second group game againsthosts England, which is presently inprogress in Nottingham on Monday. "I'm fully confident in our team and theircapabilities & truly believe they can go onto win this World Cup. Wishing the bestof luck to our boys including@SarfarazA_54. Early games are crucial inbuilding up confidence & momentum; weshould strive for a win against England2day," tweeted Afridi on Monday. F�8��*

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Experienced Sri Lankabowler Lasith Malingastressed the importance of

patience as his side look tobounce back with an emphaticperformance in a "must-win"game against Afghanistan.

The two teams are bothsearching for their first wins of theWorld Cup when they meet inCardiff.

Sri Lanka were on the wrongend of a heavy defeat to NewZealand in their opening match,with captain DimuthKarunaratne's unbeaten fifty theonly highlight of a ten-wicket loss.

And after Sri Lanka collapsedto 136 within 30 overs against theBlack Caps, Malinga admitted thebatsmen must take more respon-sibility when they face the ever-improving Afghans.

"At the moment, we are con-cerned with our own skill andhow we're going to play," he said."That's what we are most con-

cerned about. Whoever is battingor bowling, he has to have a per-fect game.

"We need a must-win game inthis competition, we need a must-win game tomorrow. We will tryour best in accuracy and tactical-ly, everything hopefully will bethere tomorrow.

"The most important thingwe need is patience, patience isvery important. We know theseconditions, we can have someoneget 60, 70 runs and still some ballscan move.

"We have to have a bit ofpatience; we have to analyse theconditions. Whoever is the bats-man, he has to finish the game.It's down to whoever is there, hehas to finish the game.

"Whoever takes responsibil-ity, bowler or batsman, whoeveris the best tomorrow will win.Afghanistan have good experi-ence players because most of theplayers play in franchise cricket.

"They have that experience,they know how to accelerate and

they have confidence, a few fromIPL and others have been playingfranchise cricket. The importantthing is pressure handling.

"I think they have more expe-rience, especially handling pres-sure, and that's the big challengefor us. I believe if we do our best,we can see good finishing at theend of the day."

Sri Lanka were World Cupfinalists in 2007 and 2011 afterwinning the trophy in 1996, butthey had only won two of theirlast 16 completed ODIs cominginto this year's tournament.

And despite their less thanpromising start, Malinga believesSri Lanka have the ability to go farif they can pick up a confidence-boosting victory againstAfghanistan in the Welsh capital.

"I think for our first matchback against New Zealand, weknow how tough these conditionsare and we tried our best but itdidn't go our way," said the 35-year-old fast bowler.

"We have in this tournament

nine matches, but it's just our sec-ond match starting tomorrowand before the match both teamsare the same - no runs, no wick-ets, still the same.

"Whoever is doing best firsthalf innings, they can carry on thewinning way. That's why we arelooking forward to the game andtrying to do our best after 10:30.

"We have talent but not muchexperience in these conditionsand people to have to realise whatthe team expects in this situation.We see Dimuth had a good tem-perament to play this condition.

"I feel we have also top sevenbatsman and they have responsi-bility, but bowlers have a big roleto play in the game as we neverknow what's going on, who isbowling first or second.

"Bowlers can change thegame, I still believe that. I feelplayers need to get confidence,but we can improve skill at themoment and we need to getmentally tough as all the pressureis on us."

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Speaking to Justin Langer aheadof this World Cup I remindedhim of the players that hadsuccess in 1999 in England. Itwas the batt le-hardened

proven Test match performers thatexcelled and influenced the outcome.

I believe the same will happen inthis tournament purely because thepitches give both the bowler and thebatsman an opportunity to showcasetheir class.

If you are good enough, you canutilise the conditions to swing thematch in your team's favour more sothan the bland cookie-cutter pitchesthat are so often rolled out for one-day cricket that totally favour thebatsman.

As such you will see phases of thegame that resemble a Test match,such as a short-of-a-length fast-bowling barrage, a measured inningsfrom a top-order batsman and morethan one slip fielder being employed.

I'm sure both the players andspectators will relish this type ofcricket as it is an even contest thatcan be unpredictable.

I still expect large scores to be thenorm purely because of the fastoutfields, high quality bats, smallboundaries and the physiques of themodern-day players but high-classbowling can and still win matches inpressure situations.

With that in mind, Saturday'sseven-wicket win over Afghanistanwas a thoroughly professionalperformance from Australia.

It was exactly what they wouldhave wanted to achieve from theirfirst outing and an excellent way toease themselves into what is going tobe a long and exhausting schedule.

It was a tricky first opponent whohad nothing to lose and everything togain while Australia were expected todominate and dispose of Afghanistanwith minimum fuss.

In particular, Dave Warner stoodout with an innings that was lessmemorable but infinitely moresignificant than any innings he'dpreviously played for Australia.

For them to win the World Cup,Warner needs to be a shining light

and for him to spend quality time inthe middle was exactly what heneeded after a 12-month absence.

By no means did Australia play attheir full potential and nor wouldthey want to or expect to. WorldCups are won by the teams thatgather momentum and confidence asthe tournament unfolds.

The West Indies will provide amore realistic gauge on how the teamare tracking, for they possess a squadfull of match winners that candominate if they gain any sense ofascendency in a match.

They are the most watchableteam in the tournament with a

batting line-up that can kidnap anybowling attack with brute force.

No ground is big enough whenthis behemoth of a batting orderclicks into overdrive but they alsohave a vulnerability against high-quality bowling as they tend to playone dimensional at times.

For the first time in a long whilethey have fast-bowling depthvindicated by Friday's win againstPakistan without their finest inKemar Roach and Shannon Gabriel.

Their Achilles heel however willbe their lack of mobility in the fieldand this is where Australia caninfluence the outcome.

Every side in this tournamentwill be wary of playing the Windiesand I wouldn't want to face them in aknock-out match. They are the sortof team that, if they get on a roll andbuild some momentum, then theycould win it all like the ICC Men'sWorld T20 back in 2016.

All things considered, I think thisstands as a very important game forboth sides. After comfortableopening wins, both want to get anidea of where they really stand - andthis will be the perfect soundingboard.

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Novak Djokovic on Monday becamethe first man to reach the French

Open quarter-finals for 10 successiveseasons while defending women's cham-pion Simona Halep swept into the lasteight in just 45 minutes.

Top seed and world number oneDjokovic continued his bid to hold allfour Grand Slam titles simultaneously forthe second time by thrashing Germany'sJan-Lennard Struff 6-3, 6-2, 6-2.

The 32-year-old will now face fifthseed Alexander Zverev in what will behis 13th appearance overall in the quar-ter-finals in Paris.

"It was tricky with the rain, but that'sParis," said the 2016 champion after play-ing in drizzly conditions.

"I'm really confident with my serve.I hope it continues like that."

Only Australian great Rod Laver hasheld all four majors at the same timetwice before, after his calendar GrandSlams in 1962 and 1969.

German fifth seed Zverev reachedhis second successive Roland Garrosquarter-final with a 3-6, 6-2, 6-2, 7-6(7/5) win over Italy's Fabio Fognini.

Last year he achieved his best runat the Slams, making the quarter-finalswhere he was defeated by eventual run-ner-up Dominic Thiem.

Japanese seventh seed Nishikoricame back from 1-4 and 3-5 down in thefinal set to beat Benoit Paire of Franceand set-up a quarter-final clash onTuesday against defending championRafael Nadal.

Nishikori won 6-2, 6-7 (8/10), 6-2,6-7 (8/10), 7-5 in a shade under fourhours to reach his third last-eight matchat the French Open.

"He almost had it today," saidNishikori who had led two sets to onewhen the last-16 tie was suspended onSunday.

"He served for the match at 5-3 butI just tried to fight and play one pointat a time."

The 29-year-old Japanesecould have wrapped it up inthe fourth set when hehad two match pointsbut squandered both,the second on a doublefault.

Paire, the worldnumber 38 who was try-ing to make the quarter-final of a Slam for the firsttime, was eventually undone

by 15 double faults and 79unforced errors.

Nishikori has onlydefeated 11-time FrenchOpen champion Nadaltwice in 12 meetings withboth of those wins com-

ing on hard court.The Spaniard, celebrat-

ing his 33rd birthday on

Monday, has won all four of their meet-ings on clay.

"It's going to be a tough match, he'sthe greatest ever clay court player," saidNishikori.

For Paire, it was an opportunity lost."I should have lost it in three or four

sets but I should have won it in the fifthset," said the 30-year-old.

French interest in the singles endedfor another year just a few hours laterwhen 14th seed Gael Monfils wasdefeated 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 by Austrian fourthseed Thiem, the 2018 runner-up.

Thiem will be playing in his fourthsuccessive quarter-final in Paris wherehe will face either 10th-seeded RussianKaren Khachanov or two-time semi-finalist Juan Martin del Potro.

The Austrian also pulled off amemorable 'tweener' shot between hislegs.

"When it goes in, it's called a hot-shot," said the 25-year-old.

Halep reached her fourth FrenchOpen quarter-final with a 45-minutethrashing of Polish teenager Iga Swiatek.

The Romanian third seed raced toa 6-1, 6-0 win as Swiatek failed to holdserve in the match.

Halep will face American 17-year-old Amanda Anisimova, who defeatedSpain's Aliona Bolsova 6-3, 6-0, for asemi-final place.

"Kind of perfect," said Halep afterher win.

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Assistant coach BradHaddin says captainAaron Finch ‘would

be silly not to’ use the inputfrom Steve Smith andDavid Warner

If Aaron Finch upholdshis country’s proud WorldCup record and becomesthe fifth Australian cap-tain to lift the trophy atLord's in six weeks’ time,from a leadership perspec-tive, he won’t have done italone.

On pure numbers, thedesire to whisk Steve Smithand David Warner backinto Australia's top orderfor their 50-over tit ledefence was a no-brainer.

However the reintegra-tion of two players whohave both previously cap-tained the side, but are nowbarred from holding anyofficial leadership position— until next year for Smithand indefinitely for Warner— had the potential tocause disruption.

The Australian campinsists it hasn’t, and Finch isensuring the duo’s vastexperience and tactical

nous isn’t

lost to the team, despite theongoing sanctions.

“Aaron’s got a very goodcricket brain first and fore-most, but there's alwaystimes in a game when yougo to your senior players,"assistant coach BradHaddin in his interviewwith cricket.com.au.

“Sometimes you getcaught up in the momentand you can miss littlethings, so it is importantthat all your senior playersare there to support yourcaptain.

“Smithy and Davey areno different. They’ve gotgreat cricket brains so atcertain times in matchesyou’d be silly not to usethem.”

“I think Steve’s just real-ly excited to be back bat-ting,” Haddin continued.“It’s never been an issuewith the leadership or thecaptaincy. Both Steve andDavid are just really excit-ed to be back playing inter-national cricket.

“They're just excited tobe out there. Whatever roleyou give them they’ll behappy at the moment.”

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Antoine Griezmannscored as Franceeased past Bolivia 2-

0 in a friendly in Nantes onSunday, ahead of the worldchampions' resumption oftheir Euro 2020 qualifyingcampaign.

Thomas Lemar gaveFrance the lead on fiveminutes and Griezmann,who last month announcedhe was leaving AtleticoMadrid, notched a secondbefore the break.

Griezmann movedeighth on the list of France'sall-time leading scorers withhis 29th goal as he sur-passed 1998 World Cupwinner Youri Djorkaeff.

He is now just one goal

behind Just Fontaine andJean-Pierre Papin, and twoadrift of Zinedine Zidane.

There was a slight noteof concern for Francethough as they lost KylianMbappe to an ankle injuryat half-time.

Didier Deschamps' sidereturn to competitive actionon June 8 when they faceTurkey in Group H. Bothnations have six points fromtwo matches.

"We needed to get a lit-tle warm-up in. It's going tobe tough in Turkey, we'llhave to be ready," saidGriezmann.

"I may not be in topform. This match will do megood, to get some minutesand be in good shape forSaturday."

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Colombian midfielder JamesRodriguez will leave BayernMunich ahead of next season

after the club decided not to sign himpermanently from Real Madrid, Kickermagazine reported on Monday.

Rodriguez, 27, joined Bayern on loanin 2017, and the German club have theoption to sign him permanently for 42

million euros ($46.9m) when the two-year deal expires on June 30.

Yet according to Kicker, the recent-ly crowned Bundesliga champions havedecided against triggering the option-to-buy in Rodriguez' contract.

"The Bayern bosses have agreedinternally not to sign James," wrote themagazine on Monday.

Rodriguez has scored 14 goals in 43Bundesliga games for Bayern, but has hada difficult relationship with coach NikoKovac this season.

The Colombian has also struggled tohold down a first-team place, amid com-petition from the likes of Mueller, LeonGoretzka and Thiago Alcantara.

With a return to Real Madrid con-sidered unlikely, Kicker reported thatRodriguez is on the verge of a move toSerie A club Napoli, where he would bereunited with former Bayern and Madridcoach Carlo Ancelotti.

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Indian ace P V Sindhu willresume her chase for the firsttitle of the season, while

Sameer Verma too will eye agood show when the AustraliaOpen World Tour Super 300tournaments begins with thequalifiers here on Tuesday.

World No 5 Sindhu reachedthe semifinals at India Openand Singapore Open, besides acouple of quarterfinal appear-ances at Indonesia and ABC buta title has remained elusive.

What would be frustratingfor the Indian is her losses againsttop players such as CarolinaMarin, Korea's Sung Ji Hyun,China's He Bingjiao and Japan'sNozomi Okuhara — opponentsshe has had better results in thelast season.

Sindhu, who had last playedat the Sudirman Cup, will take ona qualifier in the opening roundbefore a likely contest withThailand's PornpaweeChochuwong.

Former Olympic championLi Xuerui is likely to stand on wayto her quarters, while she is

expected to face All EnglandChampion Chen Yufei for a placein the semifinals if she can crossthe earlier round.

World No 12 Sameer, on the

other hand, will be itching forrevenge as he faces Malaysia's LeeZii Jia in the opening round here.The Malaysian had defeated himin a crucial match of the

Sudirman Cup as India crashedout of the group stage.

Among other Indians, for-mer Singapore Open championB Sai Praneeth, H S Prannoy and2014 Commonwealth Gameschampion P Kashyap are also infray.

While Praneeth, who hadreached the finals of Swiss Openthis year, will face Korea's LeeDong Keun, Prannoy meets thelegendary Chinese Lin Dan, whohas shown form on way toMalaysia Open title, and Kashyapsquares off against Thailand'sSuppanyu Avihingsanon in theopening round.

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy andAshwini Ponnappa will take onChinese Taipei's Wang Chi-Linand Cheng Chi Ya, while Ashwiniand N Sikki Reddy faces Koreancombination of Baek Ha Na andKim Hye Rin in women's dou-bles, and Satwiksairaj and ChiragShetty will meet compatriotsManu Attri and B SumeethReddy.

In qualifying round, 2018Asian Junior Champion LakshyaSen will face Malaysian Teck ZhiSoo.

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