16
A fter both the NDA and Opposition parties nearly formalised their respective alliance for the Lok Sabha polls, the focus has now shift- ed on selection of candidates amid intense lobbying by the aspirants. The central election com- mittee (CEC) of the BJP is expected to meet on March 16 and 18 to decide the names of candidates for the seats going to the polls in the first phase of the Lok Sabha polls, beginning on April 11. The CEC may announce its first list of candidates for Maharashtra, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh on March 16. Names of some candidates for other States going to polls in the first phase on April 11 also may be announced on that day. Names of more candidates will be announced on March 18. BJP chief Amit Shah on Wednesday had personally met ticket aspirants and received their credentials. Around 18 candidates of Maharashtra will be announced in the first list. “Talks on anoth- er 4-5 seats, including those that the BJP could not win in 2014, are still going on. If they are not finalised by then, those names would be announced later,” the leader said. The State BJP core com- mittee meeting was held in Mumbai here on Thursday, where names of probable can- didates were recommended to the BJP’s national parliamen- tary committee. “Once the national com- mittee finalises the nominees, the final list will be announced on March 16,” another senior BJP leader said. With 48 seats, Maharashtra sends the second highest number of Parliamentarians after Uttar Pradesh, which has total 80 constituencies. Presently, BJP has 21 Lok Sabha members from Maharashtra, followed by Shiv Sena’s. The Central leadership is also expected to release the list of 22 of 28 Karnataka Lok Sabha seats on March 16. The State core committee will meet on March 15 to finalise the names of candidates which will be sent to the CEC. Meanwhile, the NCP announced its first list of candidates on Thursday. Party chief Sharad Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule figures in the first list of 12 can- didates. The list does not include the name of Pawar’s grand nephew Parth Pawar, as it does not mention Maval constituency from where the young politician is likely to be fielded. Sule has been renominat- ed from the Pawar family turf Baramati, which she repre- sents in the outgoing Lok Sabha. Prominent among those named are former Irrigation Minister Sunil Tatkare from Raigad, former State Minister Gulabrao Devkar from Jalgaon, Udyanraje Bhosale from Satara, Dhananjay Mhadik from Kolhapur, Sanjay Dina Patil (Mumbai North East) and Anand Paranjpe from Thane. Others in the list include Rajendra Shingane from Buldhana, Rajesh Vitekar from Parbhani and Babaji Balaram Patil from the Kalyan seat. The NCP has left the Hatkanangale seat for Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatna chief Raju Shetti. The Pawar-led party has field- ed Mohammad Faizal from Lakshadweep. The party has so far not announced its candidate for the con- tentious Ahmednagar and Madha seats. Pawar was expected to contest from Madha but recently declared he won’t do so. The Opposition Mahagathbandhan in Bihar is also likely to announce the seat- sharing arrangement on March 17 in Patna. There the con- stituents of the grand alliance will waste no time in releasing their list of candidates, which are nearly ready. Suspense remains on the candidature of suspended BJP MP Kirti Azad and BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha. Azad, who represents Darbhanga in Lok Sabha, formally joined Congress last week, but Sinha is yet to make his choice between the Congress and RJD. A Lok Sabha member from Patna Shahib constituen- cy, the Shotgun has repeated- ly asserted he would contest from his old seat. Sinha may have kept sus- pense over his choice of party, but there are enough indica- tions that he will seek re-elec- tion on the ticket of either of them. However, Azad will have to wait for the outcome of talk between the Congress and RJD before he knows his fate. RJD reportedly is plan- ning to field Md Ali Ashraf Fatmi, who has been a longtime associate of Lalu Prasad Yadav. Meanwhile, BSP chief Mayawati on Thursday gave final touches to the list of can- didates for the Lok Sabha elec- tions and discussed other important electoral issues at a party meeting in Lucknow. The BSP president held a meeting with important district and division-level leaders in Uttar Pradesh, a party release issued here said. I ndia on Thursday sought visa-free access from Pakistan for 5,000 pilgrims per day to the historic Sikh shrine in Kartarpur. This was con- veyed to the Pakistani delega- tion at a meeting here to dis- cuss the opening of a planned corridor for pilgrims between Punjab’s Gurdaspur district and Kartarpur Sahib across the border. “From our side, we have pressed for at least 5,000 pilgrims per day to be allowed to visit the holy Sikh shrine in the initial phase,” SCL Das, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs, told the media. This was the first meet- ing between an Indian and a Pakistani delegation since ten- sions between the two coun- tries spiked after the terror attack in Pulwama, followed by retaliatory air strikes on Pakistan’s Balakot. Das said Delhi wanted access for both Indians and people of Indian origin to the shrine, located where Sikhism’s founder Guru Nanak Dev spent the last years of his life. “We have also strongly urged them to allow the visit of pilgrims for all seven days a week without any break,” he said after the meeting. India emphasised that the corridor should be absolutely visa-free, Das said. “There should not be any additional encumbrances in the form of any documentation or proce- dure,” he added. India also wants Pakistan to allow devotees who want to travel on foot to the shrine across the border. I n a big embarrassment to the Congress, a close aide to Sonia Gandhi and Congress general secretary Tom Vadakkan — “hurt” by his Congress’ response to the IAF’s Balakot strike — joined the BJP. The Congress brushed aside the claim saying Tom had always abused Narendra Modi. The BJP got a boost in Bengal also with 4-time TMC MLA and Mamata Banerjee’s confidant Arjun Singh joining it. Tom joined the BJP after spending 30 years in the Congress giving a boost to the BJP’s political aspirations down south in Kerala. T he Supreme Court on Thursday said it will first decide on the preliminary objections raised by the Centre that the review petitioners in the Rafale jet deal case cannot rely on privileged documents obtained illegally. “Only after we decide the preliminary objection raised by the Centre, we will go into other aspect of the review peti- tions,” said a Bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi. The Bench, also comprising Justices SK Kaul and KM Joseph said that “only if we overrule the preliminary objection, we will go into other details”. At the outset, Attorney General KK Venugopal, claimed privilege over docu- ments pertaining to the Rafale fighter jet deal with France and said those documents cannot be considered as evidence as per Section 123 of the Indian Evidence Act. He contended that no one can produce them in the court without the permission of the department concerned as those documents are also protected under the Official Secrets Act and there disclosure is exempt- ed under the Right to Information Act as per Section 8(1)(a). The Centre objected to the admissibility of those docu- ments annexed by former Union Ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie as also activist lawyer Prashant Bhushan in their review petition against the apex court’s December 14 judg- ment dismissing all petitions against the Rafale jet deal. While the Centre was mak- ing submission that the docu- ments can be withheld from dis- closure under the RTI Act in view of the national security, the Bench said Section 22 of the RTI Act gave it an overriding effect over the Official Secrets Act. The Bench also said that under Section 24 of the RTI Act even security and intelligence establishments are not exempt- ed from disclosing information in relation to corruption and human rights violations. T he Income Tax department Bihar Jharkhand officials have set up a round-the-clock control room and complaint monitoring cell to check use of black money in elections. As per the instructions of Election Commission of India, the IT department has floated a helpline number 18003456547 for public to alert it about any suspicious move- ment of large cash or bullion in State. It will also intensify air surveillance at airports to check carrying of unaccounted cash or black money. Any person in State if dis- covers misuse of money in elections can also inform IT department through Fax 065123330157 or can also email at [email protected] v.in . As per ECI directives, any type of transactions above Rs 10 lakh is under the scanner and the persons have to inform the IT department for such transactions. KC Ghumaria, principal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, Bihar and Jharkhand said, “As per ECI directives we have appointed nodal officers in all districts to check misuse of money in elections. In case the IT authorities receive any information about movement of large amount of cash or bullion (gold), the IT department would investigate the case as per the provi- sions of IT Act and if the persons fails to gives satisfactory expla- nations, the IT sleuths would seize the cash and bullion.” Ghumaria also said apart from transactions of big amount (10 lakh), if the IT department sleuths also receives information about transportation of cash (say 2 to 3 lakh) by normal person whose financial condition is not so sound, the department will seek information from such persons too about the transac- tions . Ghumaria claimed that IT department along with State police and ECI nodal officers will be in service to check misuse of black money in elec- tions. The senior IT officer while addressing a press conference here on Thursday also dis- closed about the IT department targets in State for financial year 20118-19. The IT depart- ment for year 2018-19 has set tax collection target of 14,962 crore, out of which the depart- ment till date has collected tax of 9,635.5 crore. The IT department for the same fiscal year has estimated a target of 2,10,790 as new tax payee out of which 1,90,450 have been added as new list of tax payee which is nearly 90.35 per cent of the target. Continued on Page 4

ˆ ! - The Pioneer€¦ · on March 15 to finalise the ... Rajesh Vitekar from Parbhani and Babaji Balaram Patil from the Kalyan seat. ... ment till date has collected tax of 9,635.5

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Page 1: ˆ ! - The Pioneer€¦ · on March 15 to finalise the ... Rajesh Vitekar from Parbhani and Babaji Balaram Patil from the Kalyan seat. ... ment till date has collected tax of 9,635.5

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After both the NDA andOpposition parties nearly

formalised their respectivealliance for the Lok Sabhapolls, the focus has now shift-ed on selection of candidatesamid intense lobbying by theaspirants.

The central election com-mittee (CEC) of the BJP isexpected to meet on March 16and 18 to decide the names ofcandidates for the seats goingto the polls in the first phase ofthe Lok Sabha polls, beginningon April 11.

The CEC may announce itsfirst list of candidates forMaharashtra, Karnataka andUttar Pradesh on March 16.Names of some candidates forother States going to polls inthe first phase on April 11 alsomay be announced on that day.Names of more candidates willbe announced on March 18.BJP chief Amit Shah onWednesday had personally metticket aspirants and receivedtheir credentials.

Around 18 candidates ofMaharashtra will be announced

in the first list. “Talks on anoth-er 4-5 seats, including thosethat the BJP could not win in2014, are still going on. If theyare not finalised by then, thosenames would be announcedlater,” the leader said.

The State BJP core com-mittee meeting was held inMumbai here on Thursday,where names of probable can-didates were recommended tothe BJP’s national parliamen-tary committee.

“Once the national com-mittee finalises the nominees,the final list will be announcedon March 16,” another seniorBJP leader said. With 48 seats,Maharashtra sends the secondhighest number ofParliamentarians after UttarPradesh, which has total 80constituencies. Presently, BJPhas 21 Lok Sabha membersfrom Maharashtra, followedby Shiv Sena’s.

The Central leadership isalso expected to release the listof 22 of 28 Karnataka LokSabha seats on March 16. TheState core committee will meeton March 15 to finalise thenames of candidates which

will be sent to theCEC.

Meanwhile, theNCP announced itsfirst list of candidates onThursday. Party chief SharadPawar’s daughter Supriya Sulefigures in the first list of 12 can-didates. The list does notinclude the name of Pawar’sgrand nephew Parth Pawar, asit does not mention Mavalconstituency from where theyoung politician is likely to befielded.

Sule has been renominat-ed from the Pawar family turfBaramati, which she repre-sents in the outgoing LokSabha.

Prominent among thosenamed are former IrrigationMinister Sunil Tatkare from

Raigad, former State MinisterGulabrao Devkar from Jalgaon,Udyanraje Bhosale from Satara,Dhananjay Mhadik fromKolhapur, Sanjay Dina Patil(Mumbai North East) andAnand Paranjpe from Thane.

Others in the list includeRajendra Shingane fromBuldhana, Rajesh Vitekar fromParbhani and Babaji BalaramPatil from the Kalyan seat.The NCP has left theHatkanangale seat forSwabhimani ShetkariSanghatna chief Raju Shetti.The Pawar-led party has field-ed Mohammad Faizal fromLakshadweep.

The party has sofar not announced itscandidate for the con-tentious Ahmednagar

and Madha seats. Pawar wasexpected to contest fromMadha but recently declared hewon’t do so.

The OppositionMahagathbandhan in Bihar isalso likely to announce the seat-sharing arrangement on March17 in Patna. There the con-stituents of the grand alliancewill waste no time in releasingtheir list of candidates, whichare nearly ready.

Suspense remains on thecandidature of suspended BJPMP Kirti Azad and BJP MPShatrughan Sinha. Azad, whorepresents Darbhanga in LokSabha, formally joined

Congress last week, but Sinhais yet to make his choicebetween the Congress and RJD.A Lok Sabha member from Patna Shahib constituen-cy, the Shotgun has repeated-ly asserted he would contestfrom his old seat.

Sinha may have kept sus-pense over his choice of party,but there are enough indica-tions that he will seek re-elec-tion on the ticket of either ofthem. However, Azad will haveto wait for the outcome of talkbetween the Congress and RJDbefore he knows his fate.

RJD reportedly is plan-ning to field Md Ali Ashraf Fatmi, who has been alongtime associate of LaluPrasad Yadav.

Meanwhile, BSP chiefMayawati on Thursday gavefinal touches to the list of can-didates for the Lok Sabha elec-tions and discussed otherimportant electoral issues at aparty meeting in Lucknow.

The BSP president held ameeting with important districtand division-level leaders inUttar Pradesh, a party releaseissued here said.

����� 1/2��/'3+4����+

India on Thursday soughtvisa-free access from

Pakistan for 5,000 pilgrims perday to the historic Sikh shrinein Kartarpur. This was con-veyed to the Pakistani delega-

tion at a meeting here to dis-cuss the opening of a plannedcorridor for pilgrims betweenPunjab’s Gurdaspur districtand Kartarpur Sahib acrossthe border. “From our side, wehave pressed for at least 5,000pilgrims per day to be allowedto visit the holy Sikh shrine inthe initial phase,” SCL Das,Joint Secretary in the Ministryof Home Affairs, told themedia. This was the first meet-ing between an Indian and aPakistani delegation since ten-sions between the two coun-tries spiked after the terrorattack in Pulwama, followed byretaliatory air strikes onPakistan’s Balakot.

Das said Delhi wantedaccess for both Indians andpeople of Indian origin to theshrine, located where Sikhism’sfounder Guru Nanak Devspent the last years of his life.

“We have also stronglyurged them to allow the visit ofpilgrims for all seven days aweek without any break,” hesaid after the meeting.

India emphasised that thecorridor should be absolutelyvisa-free, Das said. “Thereshould not be any additionalencumbrances in the form ofany documentation or proce-dure,” he added.

India also wants Pakistanto allow devotees who want totravel on foot to the shrineacross the border.

����� 1/2��/'3+�

In a big embarrassment to theCongress, a close aide to

Sonia Gandhi and Congressgeneral secretary TomVadakkan — “hurt” by hisCongress’ response to the IAF’sBalakot strike — joined the BJP.The Congress brushed aside theclaim saying Tom had alwaysabused Narendra Modi.

The BJP got a boost inBengal also with 4-time TMCMLA and Mamata Banerjee’sconfidant Arjun Singh joiningit.

Tom joined the BJP afterspending 30 years in theCongress giving a boost to theBJP’s political aspirations downsouth in Kerala.

����� 1/2��/'3+

The Supreme Court onThursday said it will first

decide on the preliminaryobjections raised by the Centrethat the review petitioners inthe Rafale jet deal case cannotrely on privileged documentsobtained illegally.

“Only after we decide thepreliminary objection raised bythe Centre, we will go intoother aspect of the review peti-tions,” said a Bench headed byChief Justice Ranjan Gogoi.The Bench, also comprisingJustices SK Kaul and KM Josephsaid that “only if we overrule thepreliminary objection, we willgo into other details”.

At the outset, AttorneyGeneral KK Venugopal,claimed privilege over docu-ments pertaining to the Rafale

fighter jet deal with France andsaid those documents cannotbe considered as evidence asper Section 123 of the IndianEvidence Act.

He contended that no onecan produce them in the courtwithout the permission of thedepartment concerned as thosedocuments are also protectedunder the Official Secrets Actand there disclosure is exempt-ed under the Right toInformation Act as per Section8(1)(a).

The Centre objected to theadmissibility of those docu-ments annexed by formerUnion MinistersYashwant Sinhaand Arun Shourieas also activist lawyerPrashant Bhushan in theirreview petition against theapex court’s December 14 judg-

ment dismissing all petitionsagainst the Rafale jet deal.

While the Centre was mak-ing submission that the docu-ments can be withheld from dis-closure under the RTI Act inview of the national security, theBench said Section 22 of the RTIAct gave it an overriding effectover the Official Secrets Act.

The Bench also said thatunder Section 24 of the RTI Acteven security and intelligenceestablishments are not exempt-ed from disclosing informationin relation to corruption andhuman rights violations.

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The Income Tax departmentBihar Jharkhand officials

have set up a round-the-clockcontrol room and complaintmonitoring cell to check use ofblack money in elections.

As per the instructions ofElection Commission of India,the IT department has floateda helpline number18003456547 for public to alertit about any suspicious move-ment of large cash or bullion inState. It will also intensify airsurveillance at airports to checkcarrying of unaccounted cash

or black money.Any person in State if dis-

covers misuse of money inelections can also inform IT department through Fax 065123330157 or can also email [email protected] . As per ECI directives, anytype of transactions above Rs10 lakh is under the scannerand the persons have to informthe IT department for suchtransactions.

KC Ghumaria, principalChief Commissioner of IncomeTax, Bihar and Jharkhand said,“As per ECI directives we haveappointed nodal officers in alldistricts to check misuse ofmoney in elections.

In case the IT authoritiesreceive any information aboutmovement of large amount of

cash or bullion (gold),the IT departmentwould investigate thecase as per the provi-sions of IT Act and ifthe persons fails togives satisfactory expla-nations, the IT sleuthswould seize the cashand bullion.” Ghumariaalso said apart fromtransactions of bigamount (�10 lakh), ifthe IT departmentsleuths also receivesinformation abouttransportation of cash(say �2 to 3 lakh) bynormal person whosefinancial condition isnot so sound, thedepartment will seekinformation from such

persons too about the transac-tions .

Ghumaria claimed that ITdepartment along with Statepolice and ECI nodal officerswill be in service to checkmisuse of black money in elec-tions.

The senior IT officer whileaddressing a press conferencehere on Thursday also dis-closed about the IT departmenttargets in State for financialyear 20118-19. The IT depart-ment for year 2018-19 has settax collection target of �14,962crore, out of which the depart-ment till date has collected taxof �9,635.5 crore. The ITdepartment for the same fiscalyear has estimated a target of2,10,790 as new tax payee outof which 1,90,450 have beenadded as new list of tax payeewhich is nearly 90.35 per centof the target.

Continued on Page 4

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Page 2: ˆ ! - The Pioneer€¦ · on March 15 to finalise the ... Rajesh Vitekar from Parbhani and Babaji Balaram Patil from the Kalyan seat. ... ment till date has collected tax of 9,635.5

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To promote the electors tocast their vote during polls,

the East Singhbhum districtadministration has come upwith ‘Voter Selfie Zone’ at thedistrict headquarters onThursday. The ‘Voter SelfieZone’ having 20x30 size oneposter installed at height of 4-5 feet will allow visitors tostand before it and take theselfie.

Deputy CommissionerAmit Kumar said that keepingin view of rising craze for self-

ie a Selfie Zone has come up atthe headquarters. This willeducate the voters to spreadawareness about importance ofexercising their franchise.

Meanwhile, as part ofSystematic Voters' Educationand Electoral Participationprogram, better known asSVEEP DC Amit Kumarflagged off an ‘Election Express’Van from district headquarters.The van is designed to createawareness among the votersand enroll new voters.

The Jamshedpur parlia-mentary constituency that has15,51,297 voters recorded 66.38per cent of voting 2014. A totalof 10.49 lakh voters exercisedtheir franchise in theJamshedpur Lok Sabha con-

stituency that comprises thefollowing six Vidhan Sabha(legislative assembly) segmentsBaharagora Ghatshila, Potka,Jugsalai, Jamshedpur East andJamshedpur West.

The van has a live pollingbooth, Electronic VotingMachine, Form-6 for enrol-ment of voters, pledge letters,signature campaign boards,cultural troupe and loud speak-er for announcement. It willmove across villages inAssembly segments.

The DC directed all BDOsto identify half a dozen modelpolling booths in their respec-tive blocks and provide a list ofthe same to the administration.He also reviewed the law andorder situation in the blocks. The DC has also asked the officials concerned to submit

report on places or boothswhere election malprac-tices are likely to takeplace. Such places includeareas where efforts may bemade by candidates ortheir supporters to influ-ence voters through vari-ous means or affect pollresults through bogus vot-ing.

Kumar said all basicamenities as directed bythe Election Commissionof India were available atmajority of polling booths.

He said booths nothaving such facility as yet

should be identified throughphysical verification for takingnecessary measures to providesuch facilities before May 12.

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Two youths from the citywho had gone to Bilaspur

in Chhatisgarh in search of jobshave gone missing sinceMonday. Shakti Kumar (26), aresident of Gaur Bustee inMango and another SunnyPrasad, a resident of Ramnagarin Kadma (27) are yet to betraced. Shakti's father SatishKumar Singh has lodged amissing person report withthe Mango police station today.

On the otherhand, Sunny'swife has gone to Bilaspur alongwith her two-year-old baby insearch of him. OC, Mangopolice station, Arun KumarMahatha confirmed about amissing person report.

"We have received a com-

plaint about a 26-year-oldyouth, Shakti Kumar, fromMango going missing inBilaspur. We are investigatingthe mystery. We have circulat-ed details about Shakti throughthe wireless across Kolhan andalso posted his photograph onsocial media today. We are intouch with the Chhatisgarhpolice about this," saidMahatha.

The OC informed thatShakti had gone to Bilaspur byboarding a train on March 9night along with his friend,Sunny. They two had gone tosearch jobs in Bilaspur, but theyhave received a missing personcomplaint about Shakti only.

Shakti's father SatishKumar Singh said his son wasregularly talking over his cell-

phone after he had reachedBilaspur on Sunday, but fromMonday afternoon his cell-phone is switched off.

“We are really very wor-ried. Not only Shakti, but hisclose friend Sunny who hasgone along had also talked tome on Monday noon.Cellphones of both Shakti andSunny were found switchedoff," said Singh who is a privatesecurity guard.

Singh said that Sunny'swife had gone to Kadma policestation for lodging a missingperson report about her hus-band on Wednesday evening."The police officials at Kadmaasked her to go to Bilaspurinstead of lodging such report,she has left for Bilaspur lastnight," Singh said.

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The income tax departmenthas deployed its sleuths to

keep a close watch on electionexpenditure and flow of blackmoney during the Lok Sabhaelections, which is scheduled tobe held on May 12 in Giridihand Dhanbad Lok Sabha con-stituencies, informed RKChoudhary, ITO Headquarter,Dhanbad.

Aiming to curb the use ofblack money during the elec-tions, the IT department hasconstituted Quick ResponseTeams, which will keep a closewatch on suspicious cash trans-actions and cash movements,he said.

The teams are at work in alldistricts of the State. “In case ofany suspicious transactions ourcomplaints monitoring cell willtransfer the information about

cash movements to these teamsin their corresponding areas,”said Choudhary.

In case of carrying cash ofsum of �50,000 or more the ITdepartment can seek explana-tion and proofs regarding thesource form the person. Cashwill be seized if the holder failsto reply satisfactory explanationor failed to produce proper evi-dences such as ATM with-drawal receipt including others,he said.

The income tax officialsmust be called, if the surveil-lance teams deployed by thedistrict administration recoverhuge cash from a person, forthe verification of the source ofthe cash, he said.

This team will also keep aneye on the Lok Sabha contes-tants and on their income andproperties disclosed by them,he said.

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DVC employees havestepped forward to spread

the word about the importanceof voting and the right to vote.In this connection, a Voters’Awareness campaign wasorganised by District adminis-tration at station club here onThursday.

The Voters Awareness pro-gramme was organised at theclub to create awareness aboutthe right to vote among theofficials of Bokaro thermal.The awareness drive about theright to vote was successfullyconducted under the guidanceof the Bokaro DC ShaileshKumar Chaurasia, DDC RaviRanjan Mishra and Civil SDOBermo.

On the occasion BokaroDC said that their aim is toensure 100 per cent voterturnout by creating awareness

among the public The employ-ees of DVC, Bokaro thermalactively participated in thecampaign. Even the first-timevoters were also a part of thedrive where, they spread aware-ness about the right to vote andalso the importance of thisright.

The DC motivated the offi-cials of DVC to vote and casttheir vote righteously. The DCsuccessfully motivated theemployees for the right to votethrough various activities.Notably, the programme was

held to appeal to voters of thecity to make sure that they casttheir vote on May12. The slo-gans like "saare kaam chhod dosabse pehle vote do, Matdaanmera haq hai" were circulatedamong the people to makethem aware of the significanceof voting.

Later, the DC adminis-tered voters awareness pledgeto local peoples and employees.Administration also distrib-uted pamphlets carrying thepledge to the people, it is anattempt to encourage DVCemployees to cast their voteswithout failed, added the DC.

As many as 150 employeesincluding Chief engineerKamlesh Kumar, CE, NikhilKumar Chaudhay, Dy CE B.KMandal, Abbey Sinha, NirajSinha and local participated inthe Voter’s Awareness com-paign spreading the good wordof voting.

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The 26 Battalion of CentralReserve Police Force

(CRPF) have initiated a skilldevelopment programmeaimed at empowering tribalyouth especially those from theinterior pockets of Jhumra thatare infested by Maoists.

The 26th battalion of CRPForganised today an event inwhich the unit conducted“Driving Coures” and distrib-uted licenses to 13 youths ofJhumra including 5 youthsfrom Jageshwar-Bihar, 2 youthsfrom Mahuatard 2, 2 fromGomia and Mandu while 2 youths from Chatrochati in district Bokaro under civic action programme.

Commandant AkhileshKumar Singh was Chief Guestwhile Mithilesh Kumar, DyC a m m a n d a n t ,M.K.Sinha,S.C.Day,KuldipS i n g h , P r a v e e nKumar,R.S.L.Pal, GaneshPaswan,Satnarayan and AnilKumar Singh were also pre-sent on the occasion.

Chief Guest appreciatedthe contribution of CRPFtowards the civil society whichhe said, would develop betterpolice relation.While theCammandant Akhlesh KumarSingh thanked the all officialsof CRPF for making the eventsuccess.

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The second day of SeraikellaChhau mask making exhi-

bition and workshop was quite

prolific. After its grand inau-guration, almost 50 studentsfrom all over Jharkhandreceived the first step of train-ing on Seraikella Chhau Mask

Making from SumitMahapatra, disciple and sonof Guru Sushant Mahapatra,on March 14, 2019. Theworkshop began at 10 am andconcluded at 5 pm. Thisgrand event is being con-ducted under the supervisionand guidance of Dr. AjayKumar Mishra, RegionalDirector, IGNCA.Throughout the ongoingworkshop, Mahapatra isbeing assisted byDakeswarMahato, RaviNayak, Abhi Nayak andBauribandhu Mahato.

More than 60 people vis-

ited the exhibition and amongthem, some also took interestin participating in the work-shop. The Centre witnessed thepresence of some importantguests namely, Prof. RameshKr. Pandey, Vice Chancellor,Ranchi University; Kalyan K.Chatterjee, IFS (Retired); Prof.A.P. Singh, Lucknow Universityand Prof. Mohan K. Gautam,Chancellor & President,Director-PIO Institute,European University of West &East, Netherlands. They wereextremely impressed with thetraditional art and culture ofJharkhand and appreciated theartists. Through the workshop,the artists, art lovers andupcoming art aspirants arebeing benefitted. The tradi-tional art form of mask mak-ing is also gaining further pop-ularity. The making of a maskgoes through many stages.8–10 layers of soft paper,

immersed in diluted glue, arepasted one after another on themould before the mud mouldis dusted with fine ash powder.The facial features are made ofclay. A special layer of mud andcloth is applied and the maskis then sun-dried. After this, themould is polished and a secondround of sun drying is donebefore separating the layers ofcloth and paper from themould. After finishing anddrilling of holes for the noseand eyes, the mask is colouredand decorated.

Among all these steps, thefirst step of mask making wastaught to the participants of theworkshop on the second day.The mud with which the masksare prepared was mixed withwater and mould was formed.

The mud mould was givenshape of the mask and eyes andnose was shaped on it.

The next step will be con-tinued on 15th March 2019, thethird day of the workshop,where, the lips and ears will becut out in shape and a basecolour will be added to themask.

The participants expressedgreat excitement and joy inlearning such a unique art.When asked, one of the par-ticipants said, “I have alwaysloved art and when I visited theexhibition, I made up my mindto learn how to make suchcolourful masks. It is a very exciting experience forme.” Spectators of the work-shop and exhibition was alsohooked to the documentaryfilm on Seraikella Chhau maskmaking that was continuouslybeing played in the exhibition.

��� � �103+

Acting on the directions ofthe Election Commission

of India office of the ChiefElectoral Officer in Jharkhandhas formed State level adver-tisement certification commit-tee on Thursday.

The committee wouldexamine and certify the cam-paigning materials comingfrom the political parties andtheir candidates ahead of theirairing in television channelsand cable networks. The com-mittee’s approval would berequired for any advertisementbefore it gets released.

Informing about the devel-opment Additional ChiefElectoral Officer ManishRanjan said that the commit-tee would play a significant rolein regulating the content of thecampaign materials related toelectioneering.

The Additional CEO has

also been designated as ex-officio chairperson of theadvertisement certificationcommittee whereas electoralofficer of Ranchi Lok Sabhaconstituency is one of themembers. Deputy Directorof the Press InformationBureau SMN Rizvi and RajeshRanjan Singh who is projectcoordinator and social mediaexpert are the other members.

The panel would be cer-tifying TV advertisements ofall such political parties whoseheadquarters are situated inJharkhand along with of thosehaving their registered officein the State.

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As their “exams” areapproaching, the Lok

Sabha member representingthe State can breathe easy.Most of the MPs have scoredwell and passed with distinc-tion in terms of utilisation ofthe fund coming under theMember of Parliament LocalArea Development Schemeknows as MPLADS.

Notable here is to mentionthat two of the representativeshave even gone on spendingover and above the fund sanc-tioned to them by theGovernment. The funds aremeant to be spent in buildingassets for the use of the peopleand also to improve amenitiesfor them.

Hazaribagh Lok Sabha MPJayant Sinha has spent 105.40per cent of the sanctioned �20crore, whereas his companionfrom Rajmahal, Vijay KumarHansdak, clocked 103.52 percent of �17.50 crore released.The excess is the amount accu-mulated in the form of the

interest earned over theMPLAD fund released anddeposited.

Not far away is JamshedpurMP Bidyut Baran Mahato whoscored 98.14 per cent closelyfollowed by Laxman Gilua ofSinghbhum and Shibu Soren ofDumka who figured intonineties.

The members have man-aged to utilise 91.61 per centand 91.49 per cent.

Five Lok Sabha MPs are in80s as far as their percentagesof expenditure are concernedand two—PN Singh ofDhanbad and Sunil KumarSingh of Chatra- fall in the 70per cent bracket. Both the BJPmembers have spent 77.27 percent and 76.45 per cent of the�22 crore and �20 crorereleased respectively.

Worst amongst the list of14 is Nishi Kant Dubey fromGodda who could managemeager 57.61 per cent spend-ing out of �7.50 crore releasedand �7.71 crore available withinterest for utilisation.

Moreover the fund has been used mainly for building PCC roads, guard-walls, drainage constructions and

construction of Chatth ghats.“We recommend MPLADfunds as per the demand andneed of the locals. In most ofthe cases people have to facefund crunch for building roadsand other basic amenities.Some proposals also come forbigger projects like canal orreservoir which are pending,”said an MP requestinganonymity. The Godda MPhowever could not be reachedfor his comments.

The performance holdsimportance especially duringthe poll year since the voters ofthe constituency judge theirleaders on the basis of theirlocal activities very promi-nently along with the raisingissues in parliament and thelegislative stands their respec-tive parties take.

����� �103+��

The BJP list of candidates for13 Lok Sabha constituen-

cies will be finalised by nextweek and the party high com-mand will release the list forfirst phase candidates by March20.

As the nominations forthe first phase of elections inState is to start on April 2, theBJP high command is likely torelease the list of first and sec-ond phase of candidates byMarch 20. In the first phasethree Lok Sabha constituenciesPalamu, Chatra and Lohardagaare to go for poll on April 29,while in second phase thepolling will be held forKoderma, Ranchi, Khunti andHazaribagh on May 6.

State BJP in-charge MangalPandey is to hold electioncommittee meeting on March15 and 16 where the probablecontenders’ names will be dis-cussed. Sources said that theBJP State unit is likely to sub-mit the list of two to three prob-able contenders for each LokSabha constituencies. State BJPin-charge Mangal Pandey said,“The election committee meetis scheduled on March 15, 16where the names of the candi-dates for Lok Sabha electionswill be discussed.”

Sources said that once thename is discussed at State unit,Chief Minister Raghubar Dasis likely to fly to Delhi for con-sultation of probable nameswith BJP Central High

Command. In Delhi it isParliamentary Board whichwill give its final nod to candi-date names.

The BJP ParliamentaryBoard headed by presidentAmit Shah is highest decisionmaking body of party decidingimportant decisions and evencandidates name for Lok Sabhaand State Assembly elections.

Sources said that as there issome resentment with somesitting MPs, the State unit islikely to have discussion on twoto three contenders for eachLok Sabha constituency.

Sources said that BJP Stateunit has also started initiativeto curb resentment withinsenior party leaders, and in thisconnection State BJP in-chargeMangal Pandey on Wednesdayheld a closed-door meetingwith former chief minister andsenior BJP leader ArjunMunda. Pandey met Munda atthe latter’s residence in Ranchiand discussed with him aboutJharkhand’s poll scenario andpolitical developments.

The three-time formerchief minister, Munda, is one ofthe top leaders in Jharkhand’sBJP and he is the party’s mostpopular tribal face. Apart frommeeting Munda, the disgrun-tled food, public distributionand consumer affairs ministerSaryu Rai also met MangalPandey on Wednesday toapprise him about the problemshe was facing with the incum-bent government led by chiefminister Raghubar Das.

����� �103+��

A team from the StateCommission for Women

on Thursday met owners of thefamous Meenakshi CinemaHall in Ranchi after the septu-agenarian member of the fam-ily accused her sons and daugh-ter-in-laws of ill-treating her.

The commission took suomoto cognizance of a viralvideo, in which 70-year-oldDevi Meenaxi accused herthree sons –Rohit Agarwal,Ravi Agarwal and RajuAgarwal- of misbehaving withher and asking her to leave thehouse.

“My sons and daughter-in-laws misbehave with me. Theyask me to leave the house ordie. How can I die until deathcalls me?” Meenakshi said inthe viral video.

In parts of the video, shotat Tagore Hill, she is seenweeping and seeking help fromoutsiders.

Kalyani Sharan,Chairperson of the StateCommission for Women,spoke to Meenakshi in a one-to-one interaction on Thursdayand found out that the familywas being indifferent towardsher.

“She had released in hersaree once and the family askedher to get it washed. Her sonsdo not give her even a penny tospend on her needs. Basically,

despite having three sons, thereis nobody to look after her,”said Sharan.

Later in the day she coun-seled the members ofMeenakshi’s family and askedthem to keep a 24x7 domestichelp for the ailing, septuage-narian woman.

“We have asked the familyto immediately keep a domes-tic help who would look afterthe elderly woman the entireday. She will give her medicineson time and ensure that sheleads a healthy life,” saidSharan.

The commission has

warned the family of legal con-sequences if the 70-year-oldagain complains about suchtreatment towards her.

Despite several attempts,members of the family couldnot be contacted for theirremarks.

The viral video, sources

said, was shot about a week agoafter Meenakshi was allegedlyforced to leave her house.Sources said that the NationalCommission for Women haddirected the women’s panel inJharkhand to intervene afterthe video reached its membersin New Delhi.

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The AJSU Party todaydecided to hold its par-

liamentary committee meet-ing on March 23 after Holiwhen the party will take afinal call on the candidate forcontesting Lok Sabha elec-tion from Giridih. A crucialmeeting of party officials wastoday held to review thestatus.

Chairing the meetingpresident of AJSU PartySudesh Mahto said that thefact that it is not importantwho is a bigger leader in theelectoral fight but it is veryimportant as to who givesbetter results. He asked theparty workers on the occa-sion to establish better coor-dination and connect peoplefrom social and politicalorganization.

A coordination com-mittee for lower levels wasalso formed alongwithcommittee for campaign-ing, office and media works.During the meeting it wasdecided that on March 16coordination committeemembers and Assembly incharges meeting will takeplace. It was also decidedthat on March 23 party’s par-liamentary committee meet-ing will take place, afterwhich the name of candidatefor Giridih Lok Sabha seatwill be announced.

Minister CP Chaudhary,MLAs Ramchandra Sahis,Rajkishore Mahto, exMinister Uma Kant Rajak,chief spokesperson DeoSharan Bhagat alongwithother senior leaders andparty workers were presenton the occasion.

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The people of Jharkhand,especially farmers, will get

prior information about thenatural disasters like thunder-storm, hailstorm, rainfall andwind pattern as IndianMeteorological Department(IMD) announced onThursday that it will install CBand Doppler Weather Radar(DWR) System in the StateCapital observatory.

Talking to media personsin a press meet IMD ScientistD Pradhan said that the UnionMinistry of Earth Sciences hasannounced that it will set up animproved weather warningcentre in Jharkhand and boostweather forecasting in the Statewith Doppler radar.

Speaking on the occasionPradhan said, Doppler radarsprovide precise informationabout thunderstorms, duststorms, hailstorms, rainfall andwind patterns. “With a radiusof 250km, they help in issuingnowcasts 2-3 hours prior tosevere weather events. Thespace for the system has beenidentified and it would beinstalled at premises of IMDcentre situated at Ranchi. Thesystem will take 12 months to18 months to start functioningin the State,” he added.

Informing about theimportance of the systemPradhan said that the DWRRadar is one of the mostadvanced tools for threedimensional monitoring forThunderstorm and short term

weather forecast. “Initiation ofThunderstorm, motion andseverity of Thunderstorm canbe monitored precisely. By theinstallation of DRW Radar andalso installation of new toolsand techniques will enhancethe accuracy of the short termweather forecast significantly interms of temporal and spatialdistribution with lead time oftwo hours to three hours,” headded.

Pradhan also briefed aboutthe upcoming mobile App forreal time transmission for var-ious weather related warningsand bulletins.

Speaking on the occasionPradhan said that the Met cen-ter Ranchi is prepared for bet-ter monitoring of various dis-astrous weather events with available advanced tools and techniques. “At present DWR

Patna and Kolkata SynopticMethods and AutomaticWeather Station are being usedfor severe weather monitoring

and nowcast. In addition spe-cial products have been devel-oped based on high resolutionsatellites, radar and sophisti-cated numerical weather pre-dictions models for bettermonitoring and predictions ofthunderstorms. Severe weath-er warning should be dissem-inated through mobilewatsApp, e mails, telephonesand also through department’swebsite,” he added.

Addressing the gatheringon the occasion Pradhan said,this will enable the State to pre-pare better in case of develop-ing low-pressure and furtherstrengthen the present fore-casting activity of the IMD’sexisting office in the State cap-ital.

“The radar, which costs 10

crore, will cover almost allpart of the State,” he added.

Informing about the func-tioning of the Radar Pradhansaid, Thunderstorms are easi-ly captured by radar.

“The track can be seen andwarning can be issued threehours ahead. Since they areformed in association withheavy rains and cyclones, theseradars are extremely usefullinks before severe weather affects the State, headded.

Pradhan said thatJharkhand government haddemanded for the Radar in theyear 2010 but due to variousreasons it delayed finally thedepartment has decided that itwill install the system in theState along with Chhatisgarh.

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The Election Commission ofIndia’s (ECI) cVigil App, a

platform for commoners tolodge complaints highlightingModel Code of Conduct vio-lation, has fast gained popu-larity in Jharkhand. In onlythree days since its launch inthe State, people of

Jharkhand have lodged atleast 22 complaints through theplatform, said latest figureswith the ECI.

Out of the 22 complaints,five each came from Ranchiand Palamu. Four complaintswere lodged from Gumla, twofrom Hazaribagh and one eachfrom Bokaro, Deoghar,Dumka, Godda, Latehar andLohardaga.

“On the first day (Tuesday),we received two complaints,one from Hazaribagh and onefrom Jamshedpur. Both thecomplaints were regarding ille-gally pasted hoardings andwere addressed within 100minutes,” said Manish Ranjan,Additional Chief ElectoralOfficer, Jharkhand.

cVigil, which stands for cit-izen’s vigil, was first used dur-ing the Assembly Elections in

Madhya Pradesh,Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan,Telangana and Mizoram in2018. Commoners can down-load the app from Google PlayStore and Apple Store.Through this app, one cansend video recordings or pic-tures as evidence for theircomplaint. The ECI claimsthat all complaints are to beaddressed within 100 minutes.

The Chief Electoral Officein Jharkhand has also beenholding training sessions forthe use of cVigil App and urg-ing voters here to use it asmuch as possible.

According to Google Play,the App has been downloadedby at least 1,00,000 androidphone users across India.“Since polls will begin here inthe fourth phase, the people of

Jharkhand have more time toactively participate in theprocess and raise their con-cerns. By now, commonershad no role in highlightingModel Code of Conduct vio-lations. This is a revolutionarymeasure that allows public’sinvolvement in the process,”said Ranjan.

Out of the 22 complaintslodged so far in Jharkhand, sixwere found to be correct andnecessary actions will be taken,officials said.

According to figures withthe ECI, at least three cases arepending for investigation, whilefour cases have been droppedby the concerned ReturningOfficers.

A total of five complaintswere dropped by the DistrictContact Centres (DCC) whilefour are pending at the con-cerned DCC, says ECI’s officialdata. During the 2018 elec-tions, the App received a warmresponse in the five states thatwent to polls. Telangana alonelodged at least 2500 complaintsthrough the App during pollslast year.

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Ranchi: In a bizarre incident, an unidentified person looted threeunits of blood on gunpoint from a popular blood bank at RanchiSadar Hospital in broad day light on Thursday. Later the inci-dent was proved to be committed by a mentally unstable manas according to Sadar Police Station Incharge the man who,entered into the hospital, was mentally challenged. He was report-edly holding a pistol and threatened blood bank staff to loot blood.The police team arrested the boy and recovered the blood. Thehospital authority had not filed any written complain to the policestation till the time of filing of the report. PNS

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The man is his clothing”, sobelieved the Greeks .The

readymade garments businessof Ramgarh Cantt, could notagree more. Following thetrends and styles is what keepsthe proprietors and their clientsthriving and happy. There areabout 100 shops into the ready-made garments arena. Shopsare flooded with haute couturesfor all age groups and both thegenders.

According to the sellers,the readymade section hasrisen because, today the con-sumer has succumbed to theneed of the finished textileproducts, available at affordableprices. The striking feature ofthe readymade garmentsindustry is that they are notcustom tailored according tomeasurements, but rather gen-eralised according to anthro-pometric studies.

Distinguished changes hap-pened in the apparel industryof Ramgarh with the advent ofthe social media and the can-didness of the fashion industry.Initially, it was the local tailorsscoring a high for their design-ing and tailoring. Today, ready-made garments are the fore-runners of globalisation andpeople do understand the fash-ion sense.

Readymade garments mar-ket gained its pace at Ramgarhin the 90's, when branded gar-ments made it foray into thecoalfield markets. Mass revo-lution was observed. The keymarket players during that erawere National Stores, AradhanaDresses and Bagaria Brothers.The market was dominated bythe practice of offering "Thecheap and the best" having stat-ed by Lalit Jain, of NationalStores that his journey of ready-made garments began whenthe no so brand oriented con-

sumers of the nearby collieriesshowed a keen interest in thefinished apparels. They foundthe market of Ramgarh moreapproachable, in terms of dis-tance and price tags.

Interestingly, today the elitelocalites have been seen swarm-ing stores like KashmirVastaralya, Fbb, City Style,Bargain Bazaar etc. ArunBagaria of Bagaria Brotherssaid that his family has spentaround 37 years in this indus-try and they have so far learntthat just because the gentry oftoday have experienced that itis one's clothing sense thatinfluences and determines hisposition in the society.

The horserace continueswith the younger generationsembling the tinsel town, spe-cially their attires. ManinderSingh of Aradhana Dressessupplied that hero worship isthe reason of the flourishing ofhis store. He also added that he

selects his stock carefully keep-ing in mind the trends set bythe blockbusting movies andstars. For Example T-shirtsshouting out movie slogans. Healso said that during the mar-ket slump, it is the readymadeuniforms which keep his cash-box ticking.

Ramgarh being centrallylocated among all the collieriesattracts customers from adjoin-ing places like Bhurkunda,Argadda, Sirka and Patratu.Around 25% of the clientele ofthe market is from the armycantonment.

They are seen procuringformals and school uniformsfrom their nearest and nonplush market... Ramgarh.Previously, the masses wereseen making special trips toRanchi, for satisfying theirfads, but currently, with themediocre combination of avail-ability and infrastructure in theforms of malls, branded stores

and marketcomplexes,the buyers ofthe campbase and theeager localitesbombard themarket ofR a m g a r hconsideringits ambienceand conve-

nience.Abhishek, a student of class

12, from the Army school,claimed that though his parentsare staunch supporters of tai-loring and stitching, but hefinds this an hastle.Considering the amount oftime it takes and the difficul-ties arising at the time of alter-ations readymades serve hisneeds on the spur of themoment or for any particularoccasion. His favourite shop-ping destination is KashmirVastaralya though.

Shweta Jain, a fashionista ofRamgarh finds the boutiques ofRamgarh as appealing andequipped as the ones in Ranchiupfront. She opted to explorehere, because a drive to Ranchiis either planned or uncertainfor her and moreover,if shederived satisfaction with hermerchandise here, going hunt-ing elsewhere appeared futileand useless.

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India on Thursday expressed“disappointment” after China

blocked yet another move atthe United Nations to designatePakistan-based terror groupJaish-e-Mohammed’s chiefMasood Azhar as a “global ter-rorist”. The latest Chinese moveis the fourth instance in the lastover one decade that it hasblocked sanctioning of thedreaded terrorist.

For her part, UnionMinster Harsimrat Kaur Badalexhorted people to boycottChinese goods even as #boy-cottchinesegoods trended onmicroblogging site Twitter.

“We are disappointed bythis outcome. This has pre-vented action by the interna-tional community to desig-nate the leader of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), a pro-scribed and active terroristorganisation which has claimedresponsibility for the terroristattack in Jammu and Kashmiron February 14,” the MEAsaid.

The proposal to designateAzhar under the 1267 AlQaeda Sanctions Committee ofthe UN Security Council wasmoved by France, the UK andthe US on February 27, nearlytwo weeks after the suicidebombing in Pulwama inJammu and Kashmir in which40 CRPF personnel were killed.The JeM had claimed respon-sibility for the attack.

“We will continue to pur-

sue all available avenues toensure that terrorist leaderswho are involved in heinousattacks on our citizens arebrought to justice,” the MEAsaid expressing gratitude toMember States who movedthe designation proposal andthe unprecedented number ofall other Security Councilmembers as well as non-mem-bers who joined as co-sponsors.

The development at theUN also led to a sparringbetween the ruling BJP and the

Congress. Congress PresidentRahul Gandhi tweeted, “WeakModi is scared of Xi. Not aword comes out of his mouthwhen China acts against India.NoMo’s China diplomacy: 1.Swing with Xi in Gujarat. 2.Hug Xi in Delhi. 3. Bow to Xiin China.”

“With China havingblocked our bid to designateMasood Azhar a global terror-ist, the question on everyIndian’s mind is, what was theuse of all the swinging with

Modi and President Xi,” theCongress said on its officialTwitter handle.

Reacting to Congress’charge, the BJP hit back atRahul, asking why he is in a cel-ebratory mood whenever Indiais in pain over China blockinga UN resolution against Azhar.Law Minister Ravi ShankarPrasad said, “Why is RahulGandhi in a celebratory moodwhen country stands failed bythis attitude of China? Yourtweet would be shown in the

office of Jaish-e- Muhammadwith much merry...I ask withgreat pain today that what is theCongress’commitment todayto fight against terror.”

Meanwhile, China defend-ed its stance against designationof Azhar as a global terrorist,saying the move would give ittime for a “thorough and in-depth assessment” of the caseand help the parties concernedto engage in more talks to finda “lasting solution” acceptableto all.

On a question as to whyChina once again blocked themove, Foreign Ministryspokesman Lu Kang told amedia briefing in Beijing thatthe decision is in line with therules of the committee.

Stung by the Chinesemove, US National SecurityAdvisor John Bolton said in atweet, “Met with Indian FSGokhale to advance progresson the US-India strategic part-nership & our shared vision forthe Indo-Pacific, as well asreiterate that the US standsshoulder-to-shoulder withIndia in the fight against ter-rorism.”

“Both (Gokhale andBolton) underlined the impor-tance of Pakistan taking tangi-ble and irreversible actionagainst terrorist groups basedin territories under its controland denial of safe haven forthese groups to launch cross -border attacks,” the IndianEmbassy in Washington said ina readout of the meeting.

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Debriefing of WingCommander Abhinandan

Varthaman by the IAF andother agencies is over and thepilot, who was captured byPakistan on February 27 andreleased on March 1, has pro-ceeded on at least four weeks’medical leave. An IAF medicalreview board will shortly con-duct fitness test of the pilot,who had to eject from hisMIG-21 Bison after it was shotdown thereby putting his bodyunder great stress. He may beallowed to resume active flyingif found physically fit.

Giving this informationhere on Thursday, sources saidhere debriefing included get-ting fist person account fromVarthaman about the treat-ment meted out to him duringcaptivity and questions askedby the Pakistan Army. He wasin custody for not more than 50hours or so and kept blind-folded in a small room, theyadded. While Varthaman wasnot subjected to physical tor-ture, the Pakistani interrogatorsput the pilot through mentalharassment, officials said.Harassment entailedVarthaman forced to stand forlong hours and loud musicblaring to deny him rest, it waslearnt.

The Indian authoritiescommenced debriefing soonafter Varthaman reached New

Delhi on March one andunderwent preliminary med-ical tests here the next day. Hewas allowed to meet his imme-diate family for a short while,sources said.

As regards the detailedmedical review board review,they said as per standard oper-ating procedure a pilot who hasto eject from a crashing planehas to undergo the examinationas his body is put to great stress.

Varthaman had to ejecthis MIG-21 Bison on February27 after it was hit by Pakistanair defence after he successful-ly brought down a Pakistani F-16 in aerial combat when atleast three Pakistani jets intrud-ed into the Indian airspace inRajouri sector. During thechase, Varthaman enteredPakistan Occupied

Kashmir(POK) and landedthere after ejection. He wasbeaten up locals before thePakistan Army rescued andcaptured him

Prime Minister ImranKhan announced in PakistanParliament on February 28about the decision to releasethe downed pilot as a peacegesture and Varthaman wasreleased on March 1. He setfoot on Indian soil at theAttari-Wagah land border inAmritsar and then flown thesame day to New Delhi.

IAF chief BS Dhanoa onMarch 4 had said Varthamanwill fly an aircraft again after heis declared fit and may rejoinhis Srinagar based No. 51Squadron of Mig-21 Bisons.He was posted in the samesquadron there.

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In a move that would go along way in saving the criti-

cally endangered Great IndianBustards (GIB) from beingcrushed by the wind turbines’spinning rotor blades and theirassociated infrastructure —power lines and towers — theUnion New and RenewableEnergy Ministry has directedwind farm developers to adoptbirds-friendly measures likebird diverters on the conduc-tors, paint vane tips of the windturbines and lay undergroundtransmission lines.

The move follows requestfrom the Union EnvironmentMinistry Secretary SK Mishrawho had, early this monthshot off a letter to the UnionMinistry of Power and Newand Renewable Energy besidesthe Rajasthan and GujaratGovernments, highlighting thecritically endangered status ofthe (GIB) and the threat posedto them by overhead powerlines in their habitat. India isthe only home of the GIB.

Fewer than 150 GIBs sur-vive today. A majority of themlive in the fragmented grass-lands of Rajasthan and Gujarat,said Mishra as he highlightedthat collision with overheadpower lines has proved to bethe most serious threat to thesurvival of this species. “Basedon ground surveys, the WildlifeInstitute of India (WII) esti-mates that 15% of the global

population of the GIB suc-cumbs to power line collisionsevery year,” he said.

The Bombay NaturalHistory Society (BNHS) too inone of its recent reports haspointed out that power lines areone of the major causes ofunnatural deaths for wingedbeauties in a large part of thecountry.

“Though exact numbers

are unknown but annually mil-lions birds are killed. It hasbeen observed that the twomajor impacts of power lineson birds are electrocution andcollision. Electrocution mostcommonly occurs at mediumvoltage distribution lines (1 kVto 60 kV), due to the close spac-ing of the structures. It ofteninvolves large perching birdspecies, such as storks, birds ofprey and corvids, which caneasily bridge the gap betweentwo cables, or the chargedparts and the power line struc-ture,” the report said.

A senior official from theMinistry said that an ambitiousGreat Indian Bustard SpeciesRecovery Programme in col-laboration with WII and GIBrange States like Rajasthan andGujarat has already beenlaunched which includes iden-tification of the critical powertransmission lines and windenergy farms in GIB habitatsand making them GIB friend-ly.

Also, Standing Committeeof National Board of Wild

Life as well as Forest Advisoryhas already made it mandato-ry for power transmission lineagencies to deploy bird divert-ers on conductors and paintthe vane tips of wind turbinewith orange colour to avoidbird hits.

Underscoring the need tosave the GIB, Scientist DrRahul Rawat from MNRE inthe letter said “it is requestedthat power transmission lineagencies and wind energy farmdevelopers may identify criti-cal power transmission linesand wind energy firms passingthrough the Great IndianBustard (GIB) habitats inRajasthan and Gujarat in con-sultation with the Wild LifeInstitute of India (WII) andconcerned States Governmentsand accordingly take up riskmitigation measures againstbird hits.”

NGOs like ConservationIndia, The Corbett Foundationand Sanctuary NatureFoundation have alreadylaunched a campaign to savethe GIB in the country.

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The Election Commission (EC) on Thursday starteda new mobile app called ‘Observer App” for election

observers. Using this App, General, Police andExpenditure observers can submit their Observer’s reportsecurely to the EC, to upload the relevant document fromthe mobile app.

According to EC, the observers will get all impor-tant notifications, alerts, and urgent messages on this Appwhile they are on duty. It will also facilitate observers toget their deployment status, download the ID card andupdate their profile.

“Since the observers will be closely involved in real-time disposal of the cVIGIL Model code and expendi-ture violation cases, this App would help see all thecVIGIL cases under their jurisdiction. The Observers canmake a written observation after the flying squads haveinvestigated the matter. Observers are put on deputationwith ECI for the entire duration of the election process,”the EC said.

On Thursday, EC held a meeting with ChiefElectoral officers of all states and Union Territories andelection observers. Over 1800 senior officers drawn fromIAS, IPS officers as also from Indian Revenue Serviceand few other Central Services attended the briefingmeeting. These officers are being deployed as General,Police and Expenditure Observers.

Reminding the Observers of their crucial role, theChief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora pointed outthat the officers need to be earnest and have no choicebut to ensure that no mistakes are committed. ElectionCommissioner Ashok Lavasa reminded the group thatas Observers, they need to ensure implementation of allinstructions of the EC in letter and spirit. During the daylong briefing sessions, the officers were given compre-hensive and thorough inputs about the various aspectsof election management by the Senior Deputy ElectionCommissioner, DECs and DGs of ECI. Detailed thematicpresentations were made on Election planning, Observer’sroles and responsibilities, electoral roll issues, enforce-ment of Model Code of Conduct, legal provisions,EVM/VVPAT management, media engagement and thewide array of activities undertaken for voter facilitationunder the Commission’s flagship SVEEP (SystematicVoter’s Education and Electoral Participation) pro-gramme.

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In a move to reach out toyoung voters and increase the

voting percentage in theupcoming Lok Sabha polls,the Election Commission (EC)has asked chief electoral officersof all States and UnionTerritories to remove doubts ofvoters and answer all theirqueries through live streamingon social media sites likeFacebook and Twitter.

The officials will alsoinform the electorate aboutvoter verifiable paper audittrail (VVPAT) , ElectronicVoting Machines (EVMs) ,election procedures, registra-tion in voter list or steps toenroll those who are left out.

CEO Chhattisgarh will golive stream on Facebook onMarch 15 at 12 pm. Throughthis they will answer thequeries. The Facebook pagewill have all necessary infor-mation about enrolling one’sname in voter list, list of cen-tre and other necessary infor-mation. Anyone having anyquery or even complaint canpost on this page and officialsconcerned will reply to it.

Nearly 900 million peoplehave so far registered for the17th Lok Sabha elections, outof which 15 million are firsttime voters between the age of18-19.This includes the citizenswho turned 18 on 1 January,

and have been registered aselectors. These first-time vot-ers’ accounts for 1.66% of thetotal electorate compared to thelast Lok Sabha elections in2014, where the voter turnoutwas recorded to be 814.5 mil-lion including 23.1 millionnew voters. The total voterturnout in the last generalelections was 66.4%, the high-est since 1952 elections.

Sources said that throughsocial networking sites, firsttime voters will be made awareabout election process and vot-ing. “Youth constitue a largechunk of voters and social net-working site Facebook is thebest option to reach out tothem”, said EC officials. At pre-sent a large chunk of votersespecially youth are onFacebook social networkingsite so this is the best way to getconnect with them.

The move will help toremove doubts on EVMs,VVPAT, or any doubts on elec-tion proceedings includingmodel code of conduct.

First time voters behavedifferently. They are often bet-ter informed, more educatedand tech-savvy than the rest oftheir family, and they can takea stand that goes against thefamily’s established politicalleanings. “Many voters in theage group of 18-35 years do notexercise their voting rights forwhatever reason,” he added.

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Ahigh-level team headed by DeputyElection Commissioner in charge of

West Bengal will be in West Bengal,Assam, Tripura and Manipur in thecoming days to assess poll preparednessafter BJP urged the poll watchdog todeclare West Bengal a “super sensitiveState”.

Sources said that a team led byDeputy Election Commissioner SudipJain is expected to visit West Bengal toassess the ground reality from March 16to 19. Jain will lead the team to WestBengal on Saturday, Tripura on Sunday,Assam on Monday and Manipur onTuesday to assess election preparednessin the four states.

While Lok Sabha elections in WestBengal are spread across all the sevenphases, they will be held in two phaseseach in Tripura and Manipur and threein Assam.

The sources in the poll panel saidthat the chief electoral officer of WestBengal has also been asked to file areport on the actual ground situation.

The BJP had on Wednesday alsodemanded that central forces bedeployed at all polling stations in thestate.

Briefing the media after meeting ECofficials, Union Law Minister RaviShankar Prasad had said, “We haverequested the Election Commissionthat the state of West Bengal should bedeclared as super-sensitive. And havealso demanded that central forces shouldbe deployed at all polling booths in thestate.”

He said the party also requested thepoll panel to transfer those police offi-cers whose electoral impartiality isquestionable as well as the withdrawalof former Kolkata Police CommissionerRajeev Kumar from election duty.

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As many as 40 farmersunions on Thursday said

political parties should includevarious demands, such as�5,000 monthly pension and anadditional income supportunder the PM-KISAN scheme,in their election manifestos.

The All India CoordinationCommittee of Farmers’Movement (ICCFM), com-prising major farmer bodieslike Bharatiya Kisan Union(BKU), Karnataka Rajya RaithaSangha (KRRS), TamilagaVivasayigal Sangam (TVS) andAdivasi Gothra Mahasabha(AGM), also demanded a whitepaper on all the free-tradeagreements signed by India, itsperformance, a special sessionin Parliament on agriculturalissues and lifting of ban ondiesel vehicles older than 10years used in agriculture.

The Lok Sabha electionsare scheduled to be held inseven phases starting fromApril 11. The Model Code ofConduct has already kicked inand the political parties arebusy finalising candidates andthe election manifestos.

“We have 18 key demandsand we want all the politicalparties to include in their elec-tion manifestos with clear man-date of timeline when theywould implement,” YudhvirSingh said.

He said the direct incomesupport of �6,000 per hectare(comprising 2.5 acres) beingoffered in three instalments ina year to small and marginalfarmers under the PM-Kisan

scheme is insufficient and doesnot cover everyone.

“We want the governmentto give an additional incomesupport of �10,000 per acre peryear per farmer to all farmersacross the country,” Singh toldreporters.

Small and marginal farm-ers should also be given a pen-sion of at least �5,000 permonth after the age of 60, headded. Among other demands,ICCFM wants the governmentto fix minimum support price(MSP) based on the formulasuggested in the Swaminathanreport to ensure 50 per centprofit over the cost of the pro-duction.

It should be ensured thatthe crops should not be pur-chased below MSP under anycondition. There should be aprovision of penalty if this isnot followed by the agriculturemandi, it said, adding thatthere should also be a guaran-

tee from the government for100 per cent procurement of allcrops.

On crop loan, the farmers’body said there should be an“unconditional” waiver of alltypes of loans of all farmers,including tenant ones.

ICCFM demanded tweak-ing of the Pradhan MantriFasal Bhima Yojana (PMFBY)to ensure the entire premiumis paid by the government,payment of sugarcane arrears,free electricity for irrigation viatube wells, specific social secu-rity scheme, and linking ofMGNREGA to agriculture.

Among others, theICCFM demanded zero goodsand services tax on all equip-ment used in agriculture,detailed action plan for pro-tection from wild and strayanimals, non-eviction ofindigenous people and forestdwellers, and keeping agricul-ture out of WTO.

����������>�����%�����1/2��/'3+

Following confirmation thata seven-year-old boy from

Malappuram in Kerala suf-fered from the mosquito-bornedisease West Nile Virus, theUnion Health Ministry onThursday sent a multi-disci-plinary team to support theState health authorities in man-aging the virus which is most-ly reported in the continentalUnited States.

In a statement here, UnionHealth Ministry said thatUnion Health Minister JPNadda is “closely monitoringthe situation and has reviewedit with Secretary (HFW) PreetiSudan. He has directed for allsupport to be extended toKerala in its prevention andmanagement.”

According to the Centersfor Disease Control andPrevention (CDC), West NileVirus (WNV) is the leading

cause of mosquito-borne dis-ease in the continental UnitedStates. It is most commonlyspread to people by the bite ofan infected mosquito.

“Cases of WNV occur dur-ing mosquito season, whichstarts in the summer and con-tinues through fall. There areno vaccines to prevent or med-ications to treat WNV in peo-ple. Fortunately, most peopleinfected with WNV do not feelsick. About 1 in 5 people whoare infected develop a fever andother symptoms.

“About 1 out of 150 infect-ed people develop a serious,sometimes fatal, illness. You

can reduce your risk of WNVby using insect repellent andwearing long-sleeved shirtsand long pants to prevent mos-quito bites,” said a statementfrom the Ministry.

The Indian Council ofMedical Research (ICMR) hasalso been alerted and a closewatch is being maintained atCentral and State level. Thereare no reports available so farfor spread of this virus in otherparts of the country.

Secretary Sudan has alsospoken with Additional ChiefSecretary Rajeev Sadanandanin Kerala and reviewed the sit-uation.

The WHO says that about20 per cent of the people whobecome infected with WNVwill develop West Nile fever.Symptoms include fever,headache, tiredness, and bodyaches, nausea, vomiting, occa-sionally with a skin rash (on thetrunk of the body) and swollenlymph glands.

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Kozhikode: Launching hisparty's poll campaign in Kerala,Congress chief Rahul Gandhion Thursday flayed the rulingCPI(M) in the State and BJP-RSS for allegedly indulging inviolence and accused PrimeMinister Narendra Modi ofignoring voices of farmers,fishermen and small business-men.

"BJP and CPI(M) use vio-lence which is the weapon ofthe weak," Gandhi said mount-ing a scathing attack on the twoparties at a massive electionrally here this evening.

In a whirlwind visit to thestate after the election schedulewas announced on Sunday,Gandhi also referred to theRafale deal to attack Modi andreiterated his promise that aMinimum Guarantee Incomewould be provided to all citi-zens if the Congress party isvoted to power.

Stating that he was happyto come to a state where peo-ple of different ideas and reli-gions live happily together, hesaid an "ideological battle" wasbeing played out in the coun-try today.

Taking pot shots at Prime

Minister Narendra ModiGandhi said "the PrimeMinister's job is not to tell thenation his Mann ki Baat but tolisten to the mann ki baat of thepeople," he said.

The congress president saidthe Congress was the "voice" ofthe country and not just thevoice of one person or a com-munity. It was the voice of allthe people, he said.

"Congress does not want toimpose anything on India. Wedo not want to impose any idea

on this country.The Congress party wants

to listen to what the peoplehave to say and act according-ly. That's why the doors ofCongress is open to every-one," he said.

"While Congress listensto to everyone, RSS wants totell India what to do. Theyhave an ideology which theyare convinced about and theywant to tell everybody thattheir ideology is the truth," hesaid. PTI

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The line-up for the April 18Lok Sabha election, to be

held in Tamil Nadu andPuducherry for electing 40 lawmakers, has been finalised. Theruling AIADMK signed thedeal with Tamil ManilaCongress (TMC) onWednesday evening. This has,in a way, ended the process ofalliance formation for the ensu-ing election in the State.

As per the agreementsigned by Chief MinisterEdappadi Palaniswamy ,Deputy Chief Minister OPanneerselvam and TamilManila Congress president G KVasan, the AIADMK wouldallocate one constituency to thelatter in return for the wholehearted support of the TMC tothe NDA candidates for the LokSabha election and the 21AIADMK candidates in theby-polls to be held for thevacant assembly constituencies.

The AIADMK has PMK(seven seats), BJP (five), DMDK(four), Puthiya Tamilakam,New Justice Party, All India NRCongress and TMC (one eachfor the last four) in its front. TheDMK-led UPA has theCongress, the CPI(M), the CPI,VCK, Muslim League, IJK, KJK

as its alliance partners. Whilethe DMK has almost finalisedthe allocation of constituenciesfrom where the front partnerswould contest, the AIADMKleader Panneerselvam said onThursday that his front wouldannounce the details of con-stituencies by early next week.

The Tamil Manila Congressis returning to the AIADMKfold after 18 years. The partywas born when G K Moopanar,a senior leader came out of theCongress in 1996 in protestagainst the then CongressPresident Narasimha Rao’s deci-sion to fight the assembly andparliament election in alliancewith the AIADMK. The TMC-DMK combine had swept the1996 election. But in 2001,Moopanar joined the AIADMKfront and contested the assem-bly election which saw theobliteration of the DMK.

B S Gnanadesikan, formerpresident of the TNCC whoquit the party along with Vasanin 2014 told The Pioneer thatthere was nothing strange in theTMC joining the front consist-ing of the BJP. “The DMKitself was an ally of the BJP from1998 to 2004 and was in thecouncil of ministers headed byA B Vajpayee. The Congressleadership should ask itself whywe had to come out of the party.

The regional leaders of theparty do not get any recognitionin the party,” said Gnanadesikanwho was a two-term RajyaSabha member.

He also disclosed that therewas no issue in the TMC align-ing with the BJP. “We willshare the stage with them andwill campaign along with PrimeMinister Narendra Modi,” saidGnanadesikan.

Veteran commentators dif-fered in their opinions about theTMC’s decision of joining theAIADMK led front. “It will notmake any impact in theprospects of the DMK-led frontwhich is expected to win mostof the seats. The AIADMK’spopularity is at its lowest ebband the BJP’s strategy of exploit-ing the Hindutwa sentimentswould not work in TamilNadu,” said GovindarajanSatyamurthy, columnist.

Though Sam Rajappaagreed with Satyamurthy, hewas of the view that the rulingparty-led front was in for a totalrout. “The incidents since the2016 assembly election are stillfresh in the minds of the peo-ple. There is strong anti-incum-bency feeling against both theCentre and the State govern-ments and it would be reflect-ed in the results,” said SamRajappa.

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Jammu: The Jammu &Kashmir Police said onWednesday that it wouldagain approach the state juve-nile board with necessary evi-dence to seek the custody ofthe grenade thrower who wasarrested in connection withthe Jammu bus stand attacklast week.

The juvenile board hadearlier rejected medicalreports suggesting the teenag-er allegedly involved in thegrenade attack was in fact an"adult" and had asked police tosubmit all relevant documentsto establish his age.

The reports of the boneand teeth tests conducted onthe accused showed that heaged around 19 and based onthe report, police had soughta 10-day remand which wasrejected by the board.

"We will project our caseafresh with all documents andproof, including the doctor'sreport," SeniorSuperintendent of Police,Jammu, Tejinder Singh toldreporters here.

The teenager was nabbedimmediately after he alleged-ly threw the grenade at theJammu bus stand that left

two people dead and 29injured on March 7.

While according to the medical tests he's agedaround 19, one set of docu-ments recovered from himshows that he turned 16 onTuesday and another showsthat he's 14.

During his initial interro-gation, the 'juvenile' had saidthat he was paid �50,000 by aHizbul Mujahideen militant tocarry out the grenade attack.

Replying to a questionabout the board rejecting themedical report, the SSP said:"We are going to present ourcase before the board with allthe documents and proofwhich have been collected,including the doctor's report,so that they can take a call."

He said police are takingvarious steps to prevent suchtype of attacks in the city inthe future.

"The daily footfall at thebus stand is around 10,000. So,we are working on developingand improving intelligencenetwork to ensure safety andsecurity of people," the officersaid adding the main focus ison intelligence gathering andbeing "pro-active". PTI

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The Bengal BJP continued topoach the Opposition,

clinching erstwhile TrinamoolCongress strongman and MLAArjun Singh as the latest pickeven as senior saffron leaderMukul Roy went on record say-ing “this was a picture and trail-er follows.”

Singh, a fourth-time MLAenjoys a substantial clout in theBhatpara-Barrackpore labourbelt comprising largely ofmigrant labourers from Biharand Uttar Pradesh. Though theBJP leaders would not commentmuch on Singh’s political futureapart from the Thursday’s floorcrossing, insiders said he wasdefinitely going to be fieldedagainst TMC veteran and formerRailway Minister Dinesh Trivediwho had already been nomi-nated from the Barrackporeparliamentary constituency.

Even as BJP’s Bengal observ-er Kailash Vijaybargiya echoedRoy’s “trailer-picture” observa-tion saying, “there is no full stopor coma to what you see today.Such things will continue in thecoming days,” senior StateMinister Firhad Hakim cursedSingh for playing the traitor.

“He is a traitor, a man ofquestionable conduct. Even lastevening he was here in MamataBanerjee’s house saying he waswith the party and would followthe party discipline and today heis there. Soon he will see the realface of the BJP,” Hakim said.

The Chief Minister had ear-lier in a circuitous reference toSingh had said “there are somegreedy people who want moreand more. I have already setthem free. It hardly matterswhether they stay or go from theparty.” Singh is the fifth turncoatin the past few weeks to join theBJP. He follows Khagen Murmua CPI(M) MLA from Malda,Dulal Chandra Bhar a CongressMLA from North 24 Parganas,Birbhum MP Anupam Hajraand his Bishnupur colleagueSoumitra Khan who had alreadyjoined the saffron party andwere likely to land tickets.

Reacting to the continuedfloor-crossing by the TMCleaders, another senior Minsaid “these are the people whohave gone there with the lustfor ticket. The BJP cannot findcandidate for even half of the42 seats which is why they aredelaying the announcement oftheir list.”

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Bengaluru: Former PrimeMinister and JD(S) supremo HD Deve Gowda on Thursdayannounced the candidature ofNikhil, son of Karnataka ChiefMinister H D Kumaraswamy,from the party bastion ofMandya Lok Sabha con-stituency.

"After consulting with allour legislators, our party choseNikhil as JD(S) candidate fromMandya Lok Sabha con-stituency," Gowda said at aparty rally in Mandya, about 90km from here.

Kumaraswamy said Nikhilwas interested to serve thepeople of the constituency andadded that party leaders wouldensure his victory in the elec-tions.

Countering BJP's allega-tions that he was promoting hisfamily by using his officialposition, Kumaraswamy saidhe was not working for mone-tary gains but for the people ofthe state.

"Karnataka and people aremy assets, not money. I am notkeen on making monetary

gains," he said.Kumaraswamy said farm-

ers across the State have bene-fited from the farm loan waiv-er scheme implemented by hisGovernment.

Prajwal Revanna, son ofGowda's elder son and PWDMinister H D Revanna, is con-testing from the party strong-hold of Hassan Lok Sabha con-stituency, which the JDS chiefhad represented.

The Congress will contest20 seats and JD(S) eight in theLok Sabha polls in Karnatakaunder a deal finalised by thetwo ruling coalition partnerson Wednesday after weeks ofhaggling. PTI

Amaravati: Creation of 10 lakhjobs every year and introductionof a universal free health schemewith an insurance cover of �10lakh per person are some of thehighlights of the Jana Sena Partymanifesto released on Thursday.

Party founder-presidentPawan Kalyan released the man-ifesto for the April 11 election onits foundation day atRajamahendravaram onThursday night.

Fifteen per cent budgetaryallocation for the education sec-tor and a major thrust to agri-culture sector with an offer of�5,000 monthly pension forfarmers over 60 years are theother main highlights.

The Jana Sena promised tomove from the existingMinimum Support Price systemto a new Profitable Price System(PPS) by including 25 additionalcrops that are not covered underMSP. It also promised to supplyfarm inputs like high-qualityseeds, micronutrients, fertilizersand biocides free of cost, besides150 units of free electricity tofarmers houses.

A zero-interest agricultureloan for unirrigated and fallowlands will also be ensured undera new scheme Rythu Sampada,Kalyan announced. PTI

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In an effort to curb use ofblack money in the Lok

Sabha polls, the office ofDirector General of Income tax(Investigation), Mumbai, willkeep a close watch over themovement of cash and valu-ables and on other unlawfulmeans that influence electionsin the six constituencies ofMumbai.

For the purpose, theInvestigation Directorates ofIncome Tax has set up a 24 x 7control room in Mumbai.

In a statement issued here,the office of Director General ofIncome tax (Investigation),Mumbai, the Director Generalof Income tax (Investigation),Mumbai—to ensure free andfair elections and curb the useof black money in elections —-has urged citizens to pass onany information regardingstocking, movement and dis-tribution of black money, cash,gold silver on its specified tele-phone numbers

“The Office of DirectorGeneral of Income tax(Investigation), Mumbai isgathering intelligence and keep-ing a strict watch over themovement of cash and valu-ables and on other unlawfulmeans of influencing electionsin the constituencies ofMumbai, so as to take necessaryaction under Income Tax Laws,”the IT statement said. PTI

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Jaipur: A court in Rajasthanhas sentenced BJP MP KirodiLal Meena to six monthsimprisonment and asked himto pay a compensation of �1lakh to the Railways in con-nection with two separate casesregistered against him in 2009-10.

The court has also imposeda fine of �10,000 on the BJP MP.

A bench of Munsif

Magistrate Jaya Agarwal ofGangapur city court foundMeena guilty of violatingSection 144 (prohibiting anassembly of more than four per-sons in an area) of the CrPC intwo separate cases.

He was booked under IPCSection 188 (disobedience toorder duly promulgated bypublic servant).

The court sentenced six-month imprisonment each inboth the cases along with thepenalty, Assistant PublicProsecutor Kuldeep SinghBaroliya said Thursday. PTI

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The NCP on Thursdayreleased its first list of 12 can-

didates —including 11 candi-dates from Maharashtra andone candidate from theLakshdweep Island —for theLok Sabha polls.

Raju Shetty, founder presi-dent of the Swabhimani ShetkariSanghatana (SSS), is among the12 candidates released by the

SSS. The SSS is an ally of theNCP and a constituent of theO p p o s i t i o n“Mahaghatbhandhan” inMaharashtra.

The NCP did not name thecandidate for the Maval con-stituency in Pune district fromwhere Parth Ajit Pawar, thegrandson of NCP PresidentSharad Pawar is expected to con-test. The NCP also did notannounce its candidate fromMadha constituency in westernMaharashtra, from where SrPawar was to contest but heopted out on the ground that hehad to pave way for youngergeneration.

The NCP will in all likeli-

hood field its senior leader andsitting MP Vijaysinh Mohite-Patil as its candidate fromMadha constituency.nHis sonRanjitsinh is also lobbying forthe Madha seat. Ranjitsinh hasthreatened to quit and join theBJP in the event of his beingdenied the Congress ticket.

Among the named candi-dates are: Supriya Sule-Pawar forBaramati, Sunil Tatkare(Raigad), Udayanraje Bhosale(Satara), Dhananjay Mahadik(Kolhapur), Rajendra Shingane(Buldhana) and GulabraoDeokar (Jalgaon).

Sanjay Dina-Patil (MumbaiNorth-East) is the only NCPcandidate who will contest in the

country’s commercial capital.Rajesh Vitekar (Parbhani),

Anand Paranjpe (Thane), BabajiB. Patil (Kalyan)andMohammed P. P. Faizal(Lakshadweep Isles) are othercandidates. The NCP has allo-cated the Hatkanangale con-stituency for Raju Shetti of theSSS. “We will announce twomore lists of candidates in thecoming days,” NCP’sMaharashtra President JayantPatil said. The NCP’s first list ofcandidates for the Lok Sabhapollst came out a day after its allyCongress announced its secondlist of candidates which includ-ed five candidates fromMaharashtra.

Srinagar: The NationalConference has decided not tomeet the Election Commissionof India (EC) delegation arriv-ing in Jammu & Kashmir onThursday, saying the party hasnothing more to add to itsdemand of having simultaneousLok Sabha and assembly pollsin the state.

Three special observersappointed by the EC is arrivinghere on Thursday to assess theground situation for holdingAssembly elections.

They will interact with rep-resentatives of mainstreampolitical parties and districtelection officers during their

two-day visit to the state."In view of the EC visit to

Srinagar today, the NationalConference has decided not tomeet the EC delegation," aparty spokesman said here.

He said the NC has alreadymade its position clear on LokSabha and Assembly electionsin the State.

"Our demand of havingsimultaneous Assembly andLok Sabha elections in the statein our earlier meetings with theEC team remains as it is. Wehave, therefore, nothing more toadd," the spokesman said.

In a statement issued here,party's general secretary Ali

Mohammad Sagar said post-ponement of assembly polls canhave serious ramificationsacross the State.

"The ones who took thisincoherent decision must be upto some mischief otherwisethere is no sound reason for notconducting both assembly andLok Sabha elections together. Ifthe situation is conducive forparliament elections, what stopsthem from conducting assem-bly elections at the same time?"he said. Sagar said the powersthat be "are up to somethingwhich will create more fis-sures" in a sensitive state likeJammu & Kashmir. PTI

Srinagar: PDP chief MehboobaMufti on Thursday said Indiaand Pakistan were holding talkson Kartarpur corridor but thepeople of Jammu & Kashmirwere bearing the brunt of thehostilities between the twocountries.

"This is what we have beentalking about that why is it onlythat Jammu & Kashmir bearsthe brunt whenever there arehostilities between India andPakistan. If Kartarpur is open-ing, Wagah is open, (then why)the Poonch-Rawalkote is closed,Uri-Muzaffarabad road wasclosed," she told reporters here.

India and Pakistan held

their first meeting Thursday tofinalise the modalities for thecorridor linking GurudwaraDarbar Sahib in Pakistani townof Kartarpur with Gurdaspurdistrict in Punjab.

Mehbooba said the PDPwants that assembly polls beheld as soon as possible in theState.

"Our party's stand is clearthat elections should take placeand take place sooner. Peopleare facing tremendous difficul-ties — when there are arrestsgoing on and hardships in everyway. The polls should take placesoon and a Government beformed," she said. PTI

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Mumbai: Five persons werekilled and 29 injured after amajor portion of a foot over-bridge near a train station insouth Mumbai collapsed onThursday evening, officials said.

The bridge which con-nected the area near the Timesof India building with the icon-ic CSMT station was com-monly known as 'Kasab bridge'as the 26/11 Mumbai attack ter-rorist passed through it duringthe terror strike.

All the injured have beenrushed to nearby hospitals, adisaster management cell offi-

cial said.An eywitness said when the

bridge collapsed, there was a redlight at the nearby signal, andthat is why the death toll wasnot more.

Another eyewitness saidthe overbridge was being useddespite repairs being carried outthis morning.

The incident took placearound 7.30 pm when a majorportion of the bridge caved in,the official said.

Some motorists who werepassing beneath the bridgewhen it came down, were

among those injured, he added."Fire brigade personnel

reached the spot immediatelyand rescue work is in fullswing. We have appealed themotorists to avoid the D N roadto JJ flyover section," he said.

"Foot over bridge con-necting CST platform 1 northend with B T Lane near Timesof India building has col-lapsed. Injured persons arebeing shifted to hospitals.Traffic affected. Commuters touse alternate routes. Seniorofficers are on spot, Mumbaipolice tweeted. PTI

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New Delhi: Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Thursdayexpressed deep anguish over theloss of lives in the Mumbai footoverbridge collapse.

Five people were killed and29 injured after a major portion

of a foot overbridge near a trainstation in south Mumbai col-lapsed in the evening.

"Deeply anguished by theloss of lives due to the foot over-bridge accident in Mumbai.My thoughts are with the

bereaved families. Wishing thatthe injured recover at the ear-liest," Modi tweeted.

He said the MaharashtraGovernment was providing allpossible assistance to thoseaffected. PTI

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Jammu: Former BJP leaderand founder of the DograSwabhiman Sangathan (DSS)Choudhary Lal Singh onThursday said the demand fora CBI probe into the rape andmurder of a minor girl last yearwould be the core issue of hisparty in the Lok Sabha polls.

Singh had launched theDSS on July 22 last year tomark the 100 days of his cam-paign in support of the demandfor a CBI probe into the rapeand murder of an eight-year-old girl from a nomadic com-munity in Kathua district ofJammu & Kashmir.

Body of the minor wasrecovered from a forest onJanuary 17, 2018, a week after

she went missing from the for-est area while grazing horses.

"The demand for CBIprobe will be the core issue ofthis election...We will continueto strive for the probe and takethe agitation to its logical con-clusion because the incidenthas put a question mark on sec-ularism in Jammu and image ofDogras," Singh said.

Singh was addressing awell-attended rally at KoothaMorh near the scene of the lastyear's crime.

The DSS has announcedSingh as its candidate fromKathua-Udhampur-Doda LokSabha constituency.

The Crime Branch of J&KPolice, which investigated the

case, arrested eight people,including the alleged master-mind Sanji Ram, in connectionwith the case which is present-ly being heard on daily basis ina court in Punjab under thesupervision of the SupremeCourt.

According to the chargesheet, the girl was allegedlyraped in captivity in a villagetemple and was kept sedated forfour days before being blud-geoned to death. Singh, alongwith his colleague ChanderPrakash Ganga, had resignedfrom the previous PDP-BJPGovernment on April 13 2018,after uproar over his participa-tion in a rally allegedly in sup-port of the accused. PTI

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Ahmedabad: Over twomonths after the murder of for-mer Gujarat MLA JayantiBhanushali, former BJP leaderChhabil Patel, a prime accusedin the case, was arrested as soonas he landed at the Ahmedabadinternational airport onThursday morning, officialssaid.

The arrest was made theGujarat CID-Crime.

Talking to reporters,Director General of Police,CID-Crime Ashish Bhatia said,Patel admitted that he played akey role in the conspiracy to killBhanushali, his political rival.

Patel had fled to Muscat inOman a week beforeBhanushali was murdered.While Bhanushali was shot

dead in a moving train onJanuary 8 (this year), Patel hadfled to Muscat on January 2.Thereafter, Patel went to the USon January 10 and lived withhis daughter in New Jersey,Bhatia said.

"Patel was arrested fromthe Ahmedabad airport as soonas his flight from New Yorklanded here early today morn-ing. He confessed to us that heplayed a key role in theBhanushali murder case. Herevealed how he contactedsharp shooters and conducteda recce of Bhanushali," Bhatiasaid.

He said, more details willemerge once they secure hisremand after he is producedbefore the court. PTI

Srinagar: The NationalInvestigation Agency (NIA) onThursday issued fresh sum-mons to moderate separatistleader Mirwaiz Umer Farooq toappear for questioning at theprobe agency headquarters inconnection with a terror financ-ing case, officials said.

According to the notice,the Mirwaiz has been asked toappear at the NationalInvestigation Agency (NIA)headquarters in New Delhi onMarch 18, the agency officialssaid.

The NIA had on February26 carried out searches atpremises of separatist leaders,including the Mirwaiz, in con-nection with the case related tofinancing of terrorist and sepa-

ratist groups in Jammu &Kashmir.

The NIA team, accompa-nied by police and CRPF per-sonnel, searched residences ofsome of the separatist leaders,including the Mirwaiz, NaseemGeelani and Ashraf Sehrai, thechairman of the Tehreek-e-Hurriyat. The houses of JammuKashmir Liberation Front(JKLF) leader Yaseen Malik,Shabir Shah, Zaffar Bhat andMasarat Alam were also raided.

Barring the Mirwaiz andSehrai, all other leaders werejailed for some time.

The NIA had questionedtwo maternal uncles of theMirwaiz — Maulvi Manzoorand Maulvi Shafat — and hisclose aides last year. PTI

"!����� ������� ���������������A����1 ����������������Mumbai: The Bombay High

Court on Thursday said theState has been reduced to a"laughing stock" by adoptingelementary methods in probingrationalist Govind Pansare'skilling.

A bench of Justices S CDharamadhikari and B PColabawalla summonedMaharashtra HomeDepartment's additional chiefsecretary on March 28 toexplain the cause of the slowprogress made in the case.

"Let the state feel somepressure. It must face conse-quences some day. For mostoften, the police gets away. Nomemos are issued, no explana-tions sought," the bench said.

"If crimes will be probedonly after the court's interven-tion...If in matter after matter,judiciary is the only saviour,

then it is a tragedy. What mes-sage are we sending to the soci-ety?" the judges asked.

They were irked after read-ing a progress report, submittedin a sealed cover byMaharashtra CID's SpecialInvestigation Team (SIT), in thePansare case.

As per the judges' observa-tions made in an open court, theSIT submitted, among otherthings, that in order to trace twoabsconding accused persons inthe case, it questioned their rel-atives.

It also submitted that one ofthe absconding accused ownedan immoveable property in thestate and, therefore, the SIT vis-ited the place to trace his where-abouts.

The bench, however, saidthe SIT must realise that afterfour years since the crime was

committed, it was unlikely theaccused would stay somewherewithin the state, or close to thecrime spot.

"What stops them fromgoing and hiding anywhereacross the country? Merelybecause someone owns a prop-erty doesn't mean he will stickaround in that area. The accusedcan seek shelter anywhere in thecountry. The elementary stepsyou are taking to nab theaccused have reduced you to alaughing stock," the bench said.

"Because of you, the publichas a perception that somepeople can get away, remainuninvestigated only becausethey enjoy a certain patronage,"it said.

It said a "progressive State"such as Maharashtra must feelproud of its thinkers and ratio-nalists. PTI

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�������� ���������������������������"�������Dimapur: The ruling People'sDemocratic Alliance (PDA) inNagaland on Thursdayannounced its candidate forthe lone Lok Sabha seat in theState.

The candidate, TokhehoYepthomi, is the sitting LokSabha member and a leader ofthe Nationalist DemocraticProgressive Party (NDPP), amajor constituent of the PDA.

The NDPP alsoannounced the candidate forthe by-election to AonglendenAssembly constituency.

Sharingain Longkumer,the consensus candidate ofthe PDA, would contest the by-poll.

It was necessitated by thepassing away of Imtikumzuk,

the sitting MLA, on September22, 2018.

Polling for the lone LokSabha seat and the by-poll willbe held on April 11.

The PDA comprises theNDPP, the BJP, the NationalPeople's Party, the Janata Dal(United) and Independents.

Nagaland Chief MinisterNeiphiu Rio said the PDAcandidates need to win by ahuge margin.

PDA chairmanChingwang Konyak, also thepresident of the NDPP, askedthe alliance partners to workhard and not to be complacent.

The Opposition NagaPeople's Front (NPF) and theCongress are yet to declaretheir candidates. PTI

Pratapgarh (UP): The BSPin-charge for the PratapgarhLok Sabha constituency isamong 68 people booked forviolating the model code ofconduct, police said onThursday.

On Saturday, sector mag-istrate Pradip Kumar reachedVerma Nagar crossing wherean election meeting was goingon without permission.

The organisers failed toproduce any document toestablish they had permissionfor the meeting, Sub-InspectorDharmendra Singh said.

A case was registeredagainst BSP leader and LokSabha constituency in-chargeAshok Tripathi, divisional pres-ident Ajay Pasi, KamleshVerma and 65 unnamed peo-ple at Lalganj Kotwali onWednesday evening, the SIsaid. PTI

Page 8: ˆ ! - The Pioneer€¦ · on March 15 to finalise the ... Rajesh Vitekar from Parbhani and Babaji Balaram Patil from the Kalyan seat. ... ment till date has collected tax of 9,635.5

The Rajdhani Express, runningbetween New Delhi and Howrah,recently completed 50 years in service.

But it is no longer the same train that wasintroduced on March 1, 1969 as 101 Up and102 Dn between New Delhi and Howrah.It has become a brand and proliferated ona number of routes connecting different statecapitals with New Delhi. Its current avatarreflects the socio-economic and mentaltransformation of the Indian society asmuch as the technological evolution of theIndian Railways.

The time taken to travel between NewDelhi and Howrah has remained more orless the same though. It was 17 hours and20 minutes in 1969, when the train ran ata maximum speed of 115 km per hour. Itis in the vicinity of 17 hours now (unless onegets trapped for an extra hour betweenGhaziabad and Delhi as is often the case)running at a maximum of 120 km per hour.But way back then, the engine could haulonly five coaches to meet that speedrequirement. Out of the five, only one wasthe AC Sleeper Car having 18 berths whilethe remaining four were AC Chair Car com-partments, each having 71 chairs. The faresof two categories were as different as �280and �90. But it was still able to find 96 percent occupancy within three years.

Chair cars are not conducive for longand overnight journeys. But few complainedabout it for auxiliary advantages that theRajdhani Express entailed like end-to-endair conditioning, great speed, complimen-tary quality food, books and magazines andexcellent upkeep. It was like a flight on therails. Only one had to endure it for 17 hourstoo long. But chair cars were not intention-al on the part of the Indian Railways. Justthat in those days, it was not possible tomanufacture coaches having enough safe-ty features to accommodate sleepers andsimultaneously travel at such a high speed.

On May 17, 1972, the first RajdhaniExpress between New Delhi and BombayCentral was introduced. Since both NewDelhi-Howrah and New Delhi-Bombay rantwice a week, both trains were oversub-scribed. For a long time, there was ademand to increase the accommodatingcapacity by adding coaches, increasing thefrequency of trains and introducingRajdhani Expresses on new routes. Thesedemands pointed towards the growingclout of the Rajdhani brand. By the 1980s,Indian Railways was reportedly developinghigh speed coaches. But high speed loco-motives were still not there. Thus on April1, 1981, when another AC Chair Car coach(in view of increased demand) was addedon the New Delhi-Bombay Central route,authorities conceded that the speed wouldbe reduced, which could be compensated byputting an additional locomotive.

Since the mid-1980s, powerful locomo-tives took over gradually. The Expresshauled no less than 16 habitable coaches

without suffering retardation inspeed. Madhav Rao Scindia,Rajiv Gandhi’s Railway Minister,is considered one of the bestever. Under him, the railwaylocomotion, dominated bysteam engines until the middleof the 1980s, gave way to dieselengines. But it was a barrenperiod as far as RajdhaniExpress was concerned. Therewere clamouring voices inParliament to introduceRajdhani Express to Madras(now Chennai), Secunderabadand Bangalore which he stern-ly rejected. He rather introducedthe Shatabdi Express in 1988,which ran faster than theRajdhani but for a lesser dis-tance without the need for anovernight journey.

But a new phase opened upin the early 1990s, when C.K.Jaffer Sharief became theRailway Minister. Sharief, per-haps being from Karnataka,treated those voices from theSouth with sympathy. In his firstrailway budget on February 25,1992, he announced weeklyRajdhani Expresses from NewDelhi to Secunderabad andBangalore respectively. Based onpassengers’ response, he evenannounced that new Rajdhaniservices would be introduced onthe Madras andThiruvananthapuram routes.In 1993, a weekly Rajdhani

Express was started from HazratNizamuddin to Madras.Simultaneously, both the orig-inal Rajdhani Expresses toHowrah and Bombay Centralrespectively became a dailyphenomenon.

Sharief was somehow deter-mined to play Santa Claus withthe Rajdhani Express. By theend of his term in 1996, the pre-mium train was operating on 11different routes from NewDelhi. He also took an impor-tant decision to replace the ACchair cars with AC 3-tier on allRajdhani Expresses. Thebedrolls were to be supplied bythe Indian Railways. This, how-ever, had a cost to the customer,which was 25 per cent higher.

The AC 3-tier coaches(with 67 berths) manufacturedat Railway Coach Factory atKapurthala (estd.1986) around1994 were innovative productsthat became extremely popular.By the end of 1996, they hadbeen introduced on 46 trains,including 11 Rajdhani Expressroutes. It was a game-changerfor the Indian Railways.

The advent of AC 3-tier,replacing the chair car, signifieda reconceptualisation of theRajdhani Express. It was the endof that elite train as one knewit for 25 years. It was now a“normal” super fast train wherepassengers could spend their

nights sleeping rather than beseated. It was actually this fea-ture that made the RajdhaniExpress India’s favourite trainwhereas earlier it was just exot-ic. Today it is a brand amonglong distance AC superfasttrains. The demand for intro-ducing the service on newroutes is constantly heard inboth houses of Parliament. InOctober 2017, the present gov-ernment introduced a weeklyservice on the New Delhi-Agartala route, the longest dis-tance covered by any RajdhaniExpress. But at the same time,the frequency of the New Delhi-Bhubaneswar Rajdhani viaBhadrak and Adra was reducedfrom thrice to twice a week asan alternate route was openedup through Sambalpur City.

With the introduction ofdynamic pricing, a berth inRajdhani Express could be dear-er by 150 per cent than its noti-fied price. But on the otherhand, the government is exper-imenting with cost-cutting mea-sures that hit service quality. Forinstance, from last year, snacksand soups have been reduced ortaken off from the menu. IsRajdhani Express still evolvingor scrambling?

(The writer is an indepen-dent researcher based in NewDelhi. The views expressed here-in are his personal))������*����������� ��� ����

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������������� �����Sir — This is with regard to the edi-torial “Women reset agenda”(March 14). Congress general sec-retary Priyanka Gandhi’s debutpublic speech at the party’sAhmedabad rally stood out for itsdignity and clarity. In the land ofMahatma Gandhi, the contrastdrawn between the power of loveand the pain inflicted by hatestruck a responsive chord with theexpectant audience. Rightfully fora politician, she spoke about theunfulfilled promises withoutattacking the promisor inunsavoury language. Terming eachindividual vote a weapon, sheurged the huge crowd to use it judi-ciously. It seemed to resonate withthe masses. Her call reminded usof the great Abraham Lincoln’squote, “Elections belong to thepeople. It’s their decision. If theydecide to turn their back on the fireand burn their behinds, then theywill just have to sit on their blisters.”It was a good beginning by allmeans.

Haridasan RajanKozhikode

� ��������������� ��Sir — Women’s reservation is along-pending electoral reform

which cries out for attentionconsidering that women comprisealmost half of our electorate andtheir representation in Parliamentis a dismal 12 per cent. All polit-ical parties talk of women’s reser-vations during the time of elec-tions but conveniently forget towork towards it after the electionsare over and they settle down tobusiness as usual. The Congressruled the nation for over seven

decades and the BJP for fiveyears but the women’s quota bill,though tabled in the House manytimes, was allowed to lapse.

The main reason for rejectingthe bill by our male-dominatedpolitical class is that its powerfulmen don’t want to lose theirshare in power. This is shamefulconsidering that even countrieslike Afghanistan have allocated acertain percentage of reserva-

tion in their law-making bodiesto women. What prevents Indiafrom enacting a law earmarkinga certain percentage of seats inour legislature as a form ofempowerment? Women in pan-chayats have shown how anempowered role has helped themtake better decisions for the com-munity.

Moreover, the crime graphagainst women in our country is

going north. so time has come forwomen to be included in theprocess of law-making anddemand a decent and honourableliving in society. The party whichpromises women’s reservation inthis elections is sure to getwomen’s support.

Sravana Ramachandran,Chennai

���� �� ������� ��Sir — After senior Congressleader Digvijay Singh calledOsama bin Laden as Osamaji andHafeez Muhammad Saeed asHafeez Sahab, party presidentRahul Gandhi is now at the cen-tre of a controversy for callingMasood Azhar as MasoodAzharji.

Whatever the satire or asso-ciations, both could have avoid-ed the reference to terrorists insuch terms. What everybodyneeds to understand is that theIndian voter is mature and hasseen both the UPA and NDAadministrations. They will votethe party of their choice regard-less of campaign gimmicks.

KV SeetharamaiahHassan

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Dear Modi ji, Rahul ji, Pawar ji, Mamata di,Akhilesh ji, Babu Garu, Rao Garu, Naveenji, Stalin ji, Thackeray ji, Gowda ji and all

the leaders of parties contesting the 2019 gener-al elections: In a few days’ time, India will chooseits new government. This means one among youhas a chance to become the next Prime Ministerof India. For each one of you, including the incum-bent Prime Minister, it will be a new beginningto lead the country.

Having served as the director in the PrimeMinister’s Office, I have seen how leaders evolve.The moment a leader becomes the PrimeMinister, one sheds the political colour and makes“development of the nation” as the priority. WhenNarendra Modi held his first meeting withsenior officers in the PMO, he said, “I want toachieve development like never before. Please sug-gest the policies I should focus on. You don’t needto bother about what I said during the electioncampaign, that’s for elections. Now that I am thePrime Minister, I would like to take forward thegood policies of previous governments andremove the wrong ones. Your job is to suggest thebest policies to take the country forward.” It wasaudacious of him to say this. Similar was theapproach of all past Prime Ministers, fromPandit Nehru to Dr Manmohan Singh.

As one of the participants of this meeting inthe PMO, I suggested the importance of focus-ing on the youth and PM Modi was very inter-ested. However, there was little follow-up to this.Though I have had multiple careers since, my workwith the youth has remained constant. It is withthis experience that I am putting forward a fewpolicy ideas that could help you become the bestPrime Minister. A country’s potential for growthis determined by its policies for its youth. About75 per cent of India is below 40 years of age, andin the next quarter century, India will have thisenvious demographic advantage with a majorityyoung population. The business communitymay project oil, land or data as the greatestresources for growth but none of them can matchthe invaluable power of the youth. If nurturedproperly, the youth can become the greatest gamechanger for the next government. But don’t for-get that having 75 per cent of the population asyouth is as much an advantage as it is a danger.If not nurtured and treated well, this segmentcould also become the greatest threat to India. InKashmir, marginalised youth turn to terrorism andin other areas, where they are disadvantaged, theyturn to anti-social activities. With the advent ofmobile, digital and media technologies, theyouth are now living in a globalised world. Accessto any information or any place in the world isjust a click away. It has made them ambitious andthey are aware that they could make their dreamsinto reality. If utilised well, “information” couldbecome the greatest empowering tool because itis key to development in a democracy. If plannedand executed well, you could turn this threat intoyour greatest resource.

The first step to nurture the youth is to pro-vide high-quality education to catapult them intoemployable and empowered citizens.Unfortunately, budget allocation for educationdoes not match the talk. While the direct tax col-lection has been increasing consistently, the allo-

cation for education has only decreased danger-ously. If this trend continues, the next generationwill not forgive you. In 2013-14, when the directtax collection was over �6 lakh crore, the budgetfor education was over �63,000 crore, at 6.15 percent of the budget. And this year, when the directtax collection has crossed �12 lakh crore, the bud-get allocation for education has been reduced to50 per cent at over �90,000 crore, which is just over3.3 per cent of the budget.

If you are sincere in your intention of devel-oping the people and the country, allocate at least10 per cent of the budget to the education seg-ment in the first year and increase it by two percent every year. A part of this may be earmarkedfor technological intervention. The world of edu-cation is changing and it could become inclusivewith the use of digital, mobile and internet tech-nologies. Nehru had started adult education butclasses for seniors are still using the convention-al methods or doing almost nothing. Transformthese departments with tech-interventions.Classroom teaching, by the best IIT professors,could be made available to anyone in the worldat a very low cost. Harvard, MIT and so on areusing these ways to make education inclusive.

The AAP government in Delhi has shownhow a good budget could transform education andempower the next generation. By consistently allo-cating 25 per cent of its budget to education, ithas brought visible changes. This has empowerededucators, enhanced infrastructure and trans-formed the students. As the 13th child born to afarmer and brought up in a village, that is not con-nected by roads even today, I endorse this as it iseducation and reading that have transformed mefrom a village boy to a social innovator.

Second, focus should be on skill development.Though Modi is the one who started a Ministryfor Skill Development, eventually the PM had toremove even the Minister! The entire allocationmeant for skilling the youth and providing themwith a job became a bogus affair as the business-es could take money on the pretext of “re-skilling”the already employed. Simply put, the businesshouses, especially in the manufacturing industrieslike textiles, could take away the money meant forthe unskilled and unemployed youth. And a well-intended dream was again wasted.

The third area that needs focus is equippingyouth for innovations and entrepreneurshipbecause it is through these that jobs can be cre-ated. For an emerging economy and a develop-ing nation, there should be adequate policies andbudget allocation for innovations and entrepre-neurship. Rajiv Gandhi started the IT/telecom rev-

olution, which powered India to create the high-est number of professionals, industry, educationinstitutions and FDI. The IIMs are the top man-agement institutes in the country and their flag-ship programmes are on Agriculture Management.But 99 per cent of the students don’t work in agri-culture anymore. However, if the next governmentcould allocate substantial funding for agri-star-tups to tap into these bright MBAs, it could beanother game changer for India. What is pullingback the rural economy is lack of innovations inagriculture. Similarly, there should be focus on themanufacturing and the service sector.

Another area to lay emphasis on could be pol-icy initiatives for preventive healthcare. Most ofthe healthcare spending is on hospitals. Byadding a subject in school curriculum on preven-tive healthcare for 12 years of school education,it could instill a culture of prevention. Like bud-get allocation for education, the allocation forhealthcare has also been reduced to half this year.Among the start-up initiatives, the greatest pos-sibilities for growth are for healthcare and hencethe government should start a special scheme tosupport entrepreneurial initiatives by medical pro-fessionals. Engage youth for community service.Projects like ‘Swachh Bharat’ could have easilyinvolved the youth groups like National ServiceScheme (NSS), NYKS among others. If these insti-tutions are headed by people with no connectionwith volunteerism or headed by secretariat ser-vice officers, they are bound to fail. The NYKSwas started as a department for engagement of therural non-student youth. It remains headless foralmost two years, after the ex-Army officer, whoafter heading it for two years was asked to leavesince he failed to connect with the youth and workwith his colleagues cohesively. Youth developmentcannot be achieved with an ornamental event; theyshould be engaged consistently. The long-stand-ing programme of the NSS has not been able toattract the youth organically. Since the collegeshave a compulsory programme, the students joinNSS as it fetches grace marks for participating inan annual event and one campus event. If the nextgovernment could do so, not only would the goalof nation-building be achieved, it could also incul-cate the culture of service.

The future of governance will be based on ahybrid model, where youth are engaged in poli-cy formulation along with the executive. This willhave a greater impact, as they will come up withpolicy ideas that work for all and are more futur-istic. In any case, it is the legislature, the repre-sentatives of the people, who will have the finalsay on this.

Continuing with policies like GST, Aadhaarand strengthening them with legislative reformswas a good step forward. Not only the policies,even the professionals hired for the DigitalMulti-media Centre that I had started during mytenure in the PMO are completing another full-term. But the executive may not advise this. Thebabus ensured that an effective specialist headingNSDC was shown the door. Eventually, when theskills programme started showing negative effect,Modi had to replace the officers and even theMinister. Always remember, nobody in the exec-utive will know the pulse of the people the waythe political class would know. Specialist leadersand not generalists are the need of the hour. Theway reputed economists are brought in by everyPM to run the finance and economic departments,the next PM could bring in 25 best educators fromacross the world to run the Human ResourceDevelopment (HRD), and youth specialists tohead youth-linked organisations. They will ensurethat set goals are achieved, targets are met and themission is accomplished. Remember, it is Kurien,Swaminathan and Homi Bhabha who led thewhite revolution, green revolution and thenuclear revolution respectively.

Kerala sets an example of how education andengagement of their youth could transform a soci-ety. It was in 1846, when a Christian priest frommy village of Kainakary, Fr Kuriakose EliasChavara, insisted on “pallikoppam pallikoodam”,meaning “a school with every church.” As he uni-versalised education, there was opposition fromthe elite as they felt education was their fiefdom.His schools were open for everyone irrespectiveof caste, creed and economic status. Inspired byhis work, every religious/caste group startedschools: SD/NSS schools by upper caste Hindus,SNDP by the Ezhavas and the MES by theMuslims. Today, Kerala has an educated, devel-oped and vibrant society. The Keralites are ableto find jobs in India and abroad. Most important-ly, they remain the symbol of peace and progress.

If you as the next Prime Minister could takea leaf out of his example and initiate a ‘Mandir kesaath Shiksha-Mandir’, you could transformIndia. No youth aspires to remain unemployed.They want to make progress; economically andsocially. Education and engagement are the onlyroute to attain this. With this youth focussed man-ifesto and policy interventions, I am confident thatyou will become the best Prime Minister that Indiahas produced.

(The author is a young global leader of theWorld Economic Forum and founder of many ini-tiatives for the youth. He was director in PMO)

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American professor of history AdamRothman, in a November 14, 2018article for the Washington Post,

writes that “tribalism” has become a “hottopic” to explain the deep divisions with-in the American polity. Tribalism, in thiscontext, means that societies are rejectingconventional notions of ideological nation-alism and pluralism, and the economics ofglobalisation and the multiculturalismthat it inspired, and adopting the prima-cy of tribalism. Rothman cites examples inwhich various American analysts haveposited tribalism as the thing that is mak-ing American politics so polarised andtoxic. These analysts believe that thesame is happening in many Europeancountries as well.

Interestingly, this debate has erupted

with the rise of the right-wing nationalistparties and individuals in various coun-tries. Yet, a controversial book by theChinese-American academic Amy Chua,Political Tribes: Group Instinct and the Fateof Nations, claims that political tribalismcan be found among liberal and/or pro-gressive groups as much as it can in con-servative or reactionary ones.

Chua writes that thousands of yearsago, when humans began to organise astribes, tribalism offered safety and iden-tity, for which one had to fully identify withwhatever the tribe stood for. That mind-set was overcome by ideas such as consti-tutionalism, nationalism, science andmodern economics. Nationalism, in fact,was a more sophisticated form of tribal-ism, but one which attempted to eschewethnic and religious divisions within anation, even if through force. Are we moreconcerned about who is saying somethingthan what’s being said? Chua argues thatonce the nation states based on national-ist impulses and ideas consolidated them-selves, economic factors such as risingincome inequalities and the formation ofruling elites created severe divisions with-in these nations’ polities. This is when,according to Chua, the tribal mindset,

which is still “hard-wired” in the humanpsyche, reappeared.

Chua sees the polities of many nationstates now as extremely polarised bymodern-day tribes competing againsteach other. These tribes see themselves asvictims of an economic and political elite.These include working-class Whites, work-ing-class Blacks, gays and lesbians, femi-nists, White supremacists, anti-immigra-tion activists, anti-racist groups,Islamophobes, anti-Islamophobes and soon. Chua writes that the US and Europebecame too haughty about their scientif-ic, political and ideological triumphs andcompletely undermined the fact that trib-al mindsets not only existed in develop-ing nation states but also within thedeveloped ones.

Chua’s thesis has faced severe criticismby many of her peers in the Western intel-ligentsia (her own tribe?). ProfessorRothman writes that indeed the tribalmindset has been a reality for centuries,but it has been constantly checked throughprogressive political, economic and sociallegislation. The US has had a history ofproducing violent groups which under-mined the American democracy longbefore the emergence of Chua’s modern-

day political tribes. But eventually, theyhave all been relegated to the fringes.

Chua herself is not a fan of moderntribalism. However, her ideas have alsobeen criticised for facilitating the narrativesof those groups who claim that the moreprogressive and egalitarian notions ofdemocracy are the vocations of the polit-ical and economic elitists who want toundermine the voices of the “disaffectedmajority.” For example, recently the famousIndian journalist, Barkha Dutt, wonderedwhether the rise of Hindu nationalism inIndia was mainly due to the way her coun-try’s secular and left-liberal elite ridiculedthe religiosity and beliefs of conservativeHindus.

One can also argue that Chua’s expla-nation of tribalism is a renegade branchof nationalism. The populist nationalistparties and figures such as Donald Trump,Narendra Modi, Vladimir Putin, Brazilianpresident Jair Bolsonaro, UK’s pro-Brexitactivists and — at least before he becamethe Prime Minister — Imran Khan, allclaimed to be the voice of an ignoredmoral, political and economic majoritybeing exploited and undermined by a cor-rupt ruling elite, who pose as enlighteneddemocrats. The irony is that most of these

leaders are either billionaires and/or havehad close links with rich men and women.

But as Professor Rothman is likely tosuggest, this form of nationalism has exist-ed long before Trump or Brexit. It failedto neutralise the reaction and retaliationof conventional and wider nationalism anddemocratic institutions and norms. In fact,it either faded away or became part of themainstream political apparatus that ithad set out to demonise and challenge.

Chua is clear that even though mod-ern-day tribalism is more prominentamong right-wing groups, many left orliberal groups are not immune to it. TheAmerican professor of psychology, DanielR Stalder, agrees. In his essay forPsychology Today (June 18, 2018), Stalderwrites that conservatives as well as lib-erals have a tendency to exhibit “group-centric bias.” However, Stalder maintainsthat tribal thinking is more ingrained inmodern conservative groups.

Recently, at the height of the Indo-Pak tensions, a Pakistani woman onFacebook posted a quote about why warwas not the answer to the two countries’problems. Being an Imran Khan fan, sheintentionally or mistakenly, attributed the

quote to Khan. It received dozens of“likes” and positive responses. However,an hour or so later, when someonepointed out that it was a 2016 quote byformer Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, notonly did the “likes” decline but theinformer was told that Sharif said thisbecause “he had illegal business interestsin India.”

On Twitter, as most Indians seemedto have been sucked in by the rather con-voluted narrative being shaped by thehyperbolic Indian news channels, onePakistani gentleman suggested that theIndian pilot captured by Pakistani forcesshould be released. The gentleman is aself-described “leftist” and “proudly anti-establishment.” But when PM Khanordered the release of the pilot, the samegentleman tweeted it was the wrong moveundertaken under pressure!

Stalder writes that those who becomepart of a tribe (on the left or the right)invest a lot of ego into the group theyhave become a part of. That’s why theycannot admit the other side has a goodidea because they would feel like they aregiving in to the “enemy.” In tribalism, rea-son is willingly replaced by myopia.

(Courtesy: Dawn)

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The rupee appreciated by 20paise to close at a seven-

month high of 69.34 against theUS dollar on Thursday, extend-ing gains for a fourth session ina row, on robust foreign inflowsahead of general elections.

The domestic currency inthe four sessions to Thursdayhas appreciated by 80 paise or0.8 per cent on hopes of forexinflows.

“Rupee and sovereignbonds have recovered fromday’s low and turned positiveeven after RBI’s plan to inject$5 billion liquidity via three-year foreign exchange swapauction,” said V K Sharma,Head PCG & Capital MarketsStrategy, HDFC Securities.

The Reserve BankWednesday said it will injectlong-term liquidity worth $5billion into the system throughdollar-rupee swap arrangementwith banks for three years.

“RBI announcement willhave a limited impact onUSD/INR spot on higher rupeeliquidity in the economy, expec-tations of lower OMOs and like-ly greater FX inflows on lowerhedging costs,” Sharma said.

The strong foreign fundflows in current month alsobode well for the rupeestrength.

“FIIs have flooded Indian

markets with $1.8 billion tilldate in March which has par-tially helped market rally,” saidSunil Sharma, ChiefInvestment Officer, SanctumWealth Management.

At the Interbank ForeignExchange market, the rupeeopened weak at 69.75 a dollarover its previous closing priceof 69.54. The local unit movedin a range of 69.78 to 69.26before finally ending at 69.34,showing a gain of 20 paise overits last close.

This is the highest closinglevel since August 10, when therupee had finished at 68.83.

Meanwhile, the dollarindex, which gauges the green-back’s strength against a basketof six currencies, gained 0.24per cent to 96.78.

Foreign institutionalinvestors (FIIs) remained netbuyers in the capital markets,putting in �1,482.99 crore

Thursday, as perprovisional data.

H e m a n gJani, Head -A d v i s o r y ,Sharekhan byBNP Paribas,said that capitalmarkets seem tobe factoring inanother term forthe currentG over nment .FIIs have

pumped in �30,000 crore thisyear.

Meanwhile, Brent crudefutures, the global oil bench-mark, rose 0.16 per cent totrade at $67.66 per barrel.

Benchmark indicesSensex and Nifty closedalmost flat Thursday after avolatile trade. The BSE Sensexerased its early gains to end upby just 2.72 points, or 0.01 percent, at 37,754.89, extendingthe winning run to a fourthsession. The broader NSENifty closed marginally up by1.55 points, or 0.01 per cent,at 11,343.25.

The Financial BenchmarkIndia Private Ltd (FBIL) set thereference rate for therupee/dollar at 69.6657 and forrupee/euro at 78.8416. Thereference rate for rupee/Britishpound was fixed at 92.2880 andfor rupee/100 Japanese yen at 62.43.

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Aviation regulator DGCAmay bar beleaguered carri-

er Jet Airways from takingadvance bookings beyond aparticular period amid a dras-tically reduced capacity andmassive flight cancellations, anofficial said on Thursday.

As per the official, JetAirways has been flying only 61of the 116 planes it has in thefleet, forcing it to cancel as muchas 45 percent of its total flightsper day. Jet Airways operatesover 600 flights within Indianand overseas.

“We may ask Jet Airwaysnot to accept forward bookingsbeyond a particular period,” asenior DGCA official told PTIThursday. The comments camein the wake of the full servicecarrier announcing on its web-site sale at an starting all-inclu-sive fares of �1,165 for travel to37 domestic destinations withone-year travel period validityunder a discount scheme.

For record, the directorategeneral of civil aviation (DGCA)had taken a similar actionagainst budget carrier SpiceJetin late 2014 when it was on theverge of closure.

At that time, it allowedSpiceJet to sell tickets only fortravel within a month.

The official also said that afinal decision on the issue willbe taken after seeking a report

from Jet Airways.Meanwhile, the DGCA will

review flight schedule of thecash-starved carrier at a meet-ing Friday.

A senior official last monthsaid the DGCA is reviewing theairline’s flights schedule every 15days in order to ensure that thereare no sudden flight disruptionsdue to grounding of aircraft.

In addition to offering flighttickets at starting fares as low as�1,165, the airline is also offer-ing 10 percent discount on flightbookings for four or more pas-sengers travelling together, as perJet Airways website.

It has, however, not givenany cut-off date for bookingtickets under the offer.

“The tickets are valid for 12months from the date of com-mencement of journey,” accord-ing to the website.

The Naresh Goyal-pro-moted carrier has been lookingat various ways to raise fundsamid acute liquidity crunchthat has forced it to ground air-craft, cancel flights in largenumbers, shut down stationsand delay salary payments to itspilots and engineers along withother senior staff.

On March 8, Jet Airwayschairman Naresh Goyal wroteto Etihad Airways Group CEOTony Douglas seeking an urgentfunding of �750 crore under anMoU signed between variousstakeholders.

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The Civil Aviation Ministrywill create a simplified reg-

ulatory regime to speed upclearances for airport develop-ment and other aviation pro-jects while taking due care ofenvironment sustainability,according to a white paper.

In a white paper on‘National Green Aviation Policy’that has been put up for publiccomments, the ministry saidaviation regulator DGCA wouldwork with other Governmentagencies for making bio-jetfuels commercially viable.

Besides, the watchdogwould assess and understandemissions from all aviationrelated sources, their contri-bution to the local air qualityand their effect on compliancewith local air quality regula-tions, as per the paper.

According to the paper, theministry would create a“favourable regulatory regimefor clearances of aviation pro-jects such as new airportsdevelopment and expansion”.

There would be a specialprovision and timelines thatwould be worked out in col-laboration with central andstate government bodies, envi-ronment Ministry, pollutioncontrol boards and the DGCAto speed up the developmentalactivities with due care envi-ronment sustainability, it added.

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Cash-strapped Pakistan hasfailed to secure a $3.2 bil-

lion oil on deferred paymentsfacility from the UAE, a mediareport on Thursday quotedFinance Minister Asad Umar assaying.

The oil facility was part ofthe $6.2 billion that theUnited Arab Emiratesannounced to give to Pakistanin December to help thecountry overcome the seriouseconomic woes.

“Most probably, the UAEoil facility agreement will notmaterialise,” Finance MinisterUmar told The Express Tribune.

The development couldagain bring under stressPakistan’s foreign currencyreserves that have so far beenmaintained with help offriendly countries, the reportsaid.

But Umar said theGovernment has made alter-native arrangements to meet itsexternal financing needs forthis fiscal year.

The reasons for cancella-tion of the $3.2 billion oilfacility by the UAE could notbe immediately ascertained,the report said while notingthat the UAE had also post-poned a scheduled meeting ofthe Joint MinisterialCommission last month.

The UAE has already trans-ferred $2 billion cash into thecoffers of the State Bank ofPakistan (SBP) and another $1billion was expected very soon,the report said.

During the visit of Abu

Dhabi Crown Prince SheikhMohammed bin Zayed AlNahyan, Pakistani authoritieshad hoped that he wouldannounce the UAE credit oilfacility following the samemodel of Saudi Arabia. Later,the February deadline wasgiven that was also missed, thereport said.

It will be a setback for theFinance Ministry that haddeclared fully bridging thefinancing gap on back of $14.5billion financial support fromthe UAE, Saudi Arabia andChina, the report said.

So far, only Saudi Arabiahas given $3 billion in cash andits oil facility on deferred pay-ments has also been finalised.

The development on theUAE front came amid a delayin finalisation of an agreementwith the InternationalMonetary Fund (IMF), thereport said.

Umar said the IMF isdemanding free f loat ofexchange rate but the govern-ment wants to move aheadtowards this objective in aphased manner.

“The timing and pace ofadjustments on f lexibleexchange rate was a matter ofdifference but now the differ-ences have narrowed down,” hesaid.

The negotiations with theIMF are continuing sinceOctober last year. China isalso expected to provide $2 bil-lion dollars as loan next week,said the Finance Ministry thattried to downplay the cancel-lation of the UAE oil facility.

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After four years of consecu-tive losses, the state run

banks are likely to report aprofit of �23,000-37,000 crorein the next financial year, withtheir gross non performingloans declining to 8.1-8.4 per-cent by March 2020, says areport.

In the last four years, withlarge capital infusion from theGovernment, the state-runbanks have been able to recog-nise and provide for theirstressed assets with a steadydecline in their gross NPAs(GNPAs) and net NPAs(NNPAs).

It also helped them inimproving their capital ratios

which also supported the exit offive PSBs from prompt correc-tive action (PCA) framework ofthe Reserve Bank of India.

“PSBs are expected toreport net profits of �23,000-37,000 crore during FY20, afterfour consecutive years of loss-es, even though overall prof-itability will remain weak withreturn on net worth (RoNW)

of 4-6.3 percent,” rating agencyIcra said in a note.

It said the GNPAs andNNPAs of PSBs is likely todecline to 8.1-8.4 percent and3.5-3.6 percent by March 2020,as against 10.3 percent and 5.3-5.4 percent, estimated forMarch 2019 and; 10.9 percentand 6.3 percent as onDecember 31, 2018.

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Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airwayssaid Thursday it lost $1.28

billion in 2018, the third-straight year the Government-owned long-haul carrier haslost over a billion dollars.

Since 2016, Etihad has losta total of $4.75 billion as itsstrategy of aggressively buyingstakes in airlines from Europeto Australia to compete againstEmirates and fellow rival QatarAirways exposed the companyto major losses.

In the time since, it hasembarked on a cost-cutting ini-tiative and recently announcedit would restructure plannedaircraft purchases from Airbusand Boeing.

“Our transformation isinstilling a renewed sense ofconfidence in our customers,our partners and our people,”Etihad Aviation Group CEOTony Douglas said in a state-ment announcing the results.

The airline reported rev-enues of $5.86 billion in 2018,down from $6 billion in 2017.It flew 17.8 million passengerslast year, down from 18.6 mil-lion the year prior.

Previously, Etihad report-ed losses of $1.52 billion for2017 and $1.95 billion in 2016.It blamed “challenging marketconditions and effects of anincrease in fuel prices” in partfor the loss in 2018.

Abu Dhabi’s rulerslaunched Etihad in 2003, com-peting with the establishedDubai government-owned car-rier Emirates that flies out ofDubai International Airportonly 115 kilometers (70 miles)away. Last year, Etihad beganloaning pilots to Emiratesunder a new program.

In February, Etihad saidthat it will take delivery of fiveAirbus A350-1000, 26 AirbusA321neos and six Boeing 777-9 aircraft “over the comingyears.” The airline said it alsowill continue to accept its ordersfor Boeing 787 Dreamliners,without elaborating.

It said its remaining orderswill be affected by “reschedul-ing, restructuring or reduction.”In its 2013 purchase, Etihadmade orders for 87 Airbus and56 Boeing aircraft. Etihad cur-rently has a fleet of 106 aircraft.

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New Delhi (PTI): India’s lifeinsurance industry witnessed arise of 32.7 per cent in its col-lective new premium income at�18,209.50 crore duringFebruary 2019, data from Irdaishowed. The life insurers hadcollected first-time premiumworth �13,724.96 crore in samemonth a year ago.

Insurance behemoth LIC,which has the largest marketshare of 66.26 per cent, regis-tered a growth of 42.2 per centin its new year premium at�12,055.81 crore during themonth, according to InsuranceRegulatory and DevelopmentAuthority of India (Irdai) data.

The rest of the 23 marketplayers in life insurance business(market share 33.74 per cent)collected premium of �6,153.70crore from new customers, wit-nessing a rise of 17.25 per centfrom a year ago.

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Benchmark indices Sensexand Nifty closed almostflat on Thursday after a

volatile trade as gains in finan-cials and power stocks werebalanced out by heavy profitbooking in IT and energycounters.

The BSE Sensex erased itsearly gains to end up by just 2.72points, or 0.01 per cent, at37,754.89, extending the win-ning run to a fourth session.

The broader NSE Niftyclosed marginally up by 1.55points, or 0.01 per cent, at11,343.25 as gains in financialslike IndusInd Bank, Yes Bank,pharma and power stocks wereoffset by losses in IT, energy andauto stocks.

Financials such as IndusIndBank, Yes Bank, Kotak Bankand HDFC rose up to 2.84 percent on expectations of loangrowth following the RBI’smove to inject liquidity throughthe dollar-rupee swap auction.The RBI on Wednesday said itwould inject long-term liquid-ity worth USD 5 billion into thesystem through dollar-rupeeswap arrangement with banksfor three years.

NTPC was the top gaineramong the Sensex stocks, risingby 3.53 per cent. Coal India,ONGC and Sun Pharma also

rose up to 2.41 per cent. BhartiAirtel, Vedanta and Tata Steelalso gained. Losses in indexheavyweight RelianceIndustries, ICICI Bank, and ITstocks such as TCS, Infosys andHCL Tech offset the gains.

RIL touched a 52-week highof �1,361.45 in early trade butfailed to hold onto the gains dueto heavy profit booking andended down by 0.41 per cent.HCL Tech with a 2.11 per centfall was the biggest loser amongSensex scrips. Hero MotoCorp,Tata Motors and PowerGridwere also among the laggards.

“Market was range boundand ended on a flat note whileFIIs continued to pour liquidi-ty into the domestic market.RBI’s new mechanism to pumpadditional liquidity of USD 5 bil-lion through foreign exchangeswap from banks is likely toboost loan growth,” said VinodNair, head of research at GeojitFinancial Services.

The trend in broader mar-kets was mixed with the BSEmidcap index shedding 0.26 per

cent and the smallcap index end-ing 0.09 per cent higher. Amongsectoral indices, the BSE real-ty, metal, telecom and health-care indices ended the day inthe green while IT, auto andpower indices settled in the red.

Bank Nifty hit a recordhigh of 29,070.35 in day tradebefore settling up 0.13 per centon hopes that RBI may con-sider a rate cut on the back ofmoderate inflation and slow-down in growth.

According to the officialdata, wholesale inflation inchedup to 2.93 per cent in Februaryover the previous month onaccount of firming up of pricesof food items. Foreign investorsremained net buyers in the cap-ital markets on Thursday also.On a net basis, foreign institu-tional investors (FIIs) boughtshares worth �1,482.99 crore onThursday while domestic insti-tutional investors (DIIs) were netsellers to the tune of �817.77crore, provisional data avail-able with BSE showed.

“India seems to be catching

up with the emerging marketpeers after a steep underperfor-mance in first two months of2019. FIIs have flooded Indianmarkets with USD 1.8bn till datein March which has partiallyhelped market rally,” SunilSharma, chief investment officerat Sanctum WealthManagement, observed.

On the market rally, HemangJani, head (advisory), Sharekhanby BNP Paribas commented:“The markets seem to be in apositive mood ahead of the 2019general elections. FII’s havepumped around �30,000 crorethis year which is a positive forthe markets. The markets seemto be factoring another term forthe current government.”

Markets may continue toremain volatile with the run-uptowards the elections, he added.

Elsewhere in Asia, HongKong’s Hang Seng rose 0.15 percent, Korea’s Kospi was up 0.34per cent, while ShanghaiComposite Index fell 1.20 percent, and Japan’s Nikkei ended0.01 per cent lower. Similarly, inthe Eurozone, Frankfurt’s DAXgained 0.43 per cent. Paris CAC40 rose 0.69 per cent andLondon’s FTSE was up 0.46 percent in early deals.

Global crude benchmarkBrent crude futures rose 0.41 percent to USD 67.83 perbarrel.

����� 1/2��/'3+

Inflation based on wholesaleprices inched up to 2.93 per

cent in February over the pre-vious month on account offirming up of prices of fooditems, including vegetables andcereals, according to govern-ment data released onThursday.

The Wholesale Price Index(WPI)-based inflation was 2.76per cent in January this year and2.74 per cent in February 2018.

Earlier this week, theConsumer Price Index data alsoshowed that retail inflation,which is factored in by the RBIwhile deciding key interest rate,rose to 2.57 per cent, which wasa four-month-high level, inFebruary due to costlier foodarticles.

According to the latest WPIdata, the inflation in the foodbasket was 4.28 per cent inFebruary, compared with 2.34per cent in the previous month.

On a monthly basis, the datashowed that inflation was high-er in cases of cereals, paddy,wheat, pulses, vegetables, fruitsand other protein-rich kitchenessentials such as egg, meat andfish. However, the rate of pricerise in February was slower inthe case of milk.

The wholesale inflation inthe fuel and power segment wasalso higher at 2.23 per cent,compared with 1.85 per cent inJanuary.

Meanwhile, the WPI forDecember 2018 has been reviseddownwards at 3.46 per cent ascompared to provisional esti-mate of 3.8 per cent.

In its analysis of the WPIdata, CARE Ratings said infla-tion in the economy has startedmoving up from the troughreached last month both atretail and wholesale levels.

“The rise in wholesale infla-tion can be ascribed to increasein primary articles viz food andnon-food articles... The build-upinflation so far (April 2018-Feb2019) was 2.75 per cent, higherthan the 2.56 per cent registeredin the corresponding periodlast year,” it said.

Now, all eyes are on theReserve Bank of India’sMonetary Policy Committee,which will be meeting in Aprilfor the first bi-monthly mone-tary policy review of the next fis-cal, at a time when growth rateof industrial production is slow-ing and inflation inching up.

New Delhi (PTI): RelianceInfrastructure Ltd on Thursday said itwould sell its entire stake in Delhi-Agra TollRoadway to Singapore-based CubeHighways for �3,600 crore, following whichthe Anil Ambani led company’s debt will bereduced by 25 per cent to less than �5,000crore. Reliance Infrastructure (RInfra) hasentered into a pact with Cube Highways inthis regard.

Cube Highways and Infrastructure IIIPte Ltd is a Singapore-based company

formed by global infrastructure fund-ISquared Capital and a wholly-owned sub-sidiary of the Abu Dhabi InvestmentAuthority. The transaction is in line withReliance Infrastructure’s strategic plan ofmonetising non-core business and focus onmajor growth areas like engineering & con-struction (E&C) business.

RInfra on Thursday announced thesigning of Definitive Binding Agreementwith Cube Highways and Infrastructure IIIPte Ltd for the sale of its 100 per cent stake

in Delhi-Agra (DA) Toll Road PrivateLimited, the company said in a statement.“The total deal enterprise value is over�3,600 crore. In addition, NHAI claims of�1,200 crore to be filed by DA Toll Road PvtLtd will flow directly to RelianceInfrastructure,” the company added.

RInfra said, it would utilise the proceedsof this transaction entirely to reduce its debt.Reliance Infrastructure’s special purposevehicle DA Toll Road Private Limited oper-ates the 180-km long six-lane road on NH 2.

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Script Open High Low LTPSUZLON 6.89 7.19 6.80 7.05RCOM 4.90 4.95 4.65 4.69YESBANK 247.00 254.00 246.25 249.85JUSTDIAL 626.00 654.50 617.20 638.45LAURUSLABS 360.95 384.40 347.65 375.45JPASSOCIAT 6.57 6.68 6.10 6.20RELIANCE 1350.00 1361.45 1334.00 1341.20RELCAPITAL 188.10 188.95 170.10 171.95DHFL 134.00 136.65 130.45 132.05PCJEWELLER 82.25 88.85 81.20 86.25INDUSINDBK 1644.60 1701.15 1637.45 1682.80RELINFRA 129.15 131.15 124.10 124.90BOMDYEING 135.95 141.90 132.60 139.85SPICEJET 76.50 80.15 76.00 79.65IBREALEST 83.30 90.85 83.30 88.05DLF 192.95 203.00 189.90 201.35IFCI 14.10 14.17 13.70 13.84IBULHSGFIN 715.00 727.95 700.10 702.15ITC 290.30 296.00 290.30 295.45WESTLIFE 411.90 450.00 411.90 445.05SBIN 294.15 294.60 290.45 291.15IDBI 43.15 44.00 42.45 43.10TATAGLOBAL 203.65 211.85 203.35 206.40SUNPHARMA 463.00 468.90 456.30 467.10RPOWER 11.50 11.59 10.67 10.77KTKBANK 131.00 131.10 126.40 128.05BEML 972.05 985.95 954.15 970.40JUBLFOOD 1324.00 1369.90 1317.40 1331.20INFY 714.00 715.00 706.30 708.35TATAMOTORS 181.00 182.30 177.65 179.70ICICIBANK 392.00 393.00 386.95 387.90NBCC 60.00 65.10 59.50 64.65AUBANK 610.70 627.00 573.70 586.65JETAIRWAYS 235.80 242.00 232.50 236.90ENGINERSIN 113.25 115.05 112.45 114.35AXISBANK 743.95 749.55 737.50 740.45JINDALSTEL 168.50 171.65 163.75 165.15WIPRO 259.75 259.75 255.00 256.80LUPIN 755.00 779.40 755.00 766.60KOTAKBANK 1267.60 1277.70 1259.00 1270.50HDFCLIFE 368.20 369.30 366.00 366.60ESCORTS 788.00 811.00 785.35 800.85HINDPETRO 267.55 269.00 263.50 267.35PNB 85.60 85.75 83.70 84.45ZEEL 453.00 463.00 448.05 450.55BEL 94.10 94.80 91.20 93.10TATASTEEL 514.05 522.00 513.45 517.80LT 1378.70 1395.00 1376.75 1379.30INFIBEAM 43.10 46.10 43.10 45.70GRAPHITE 461.00 473.75 460.05 462.05HDFCBANK 2235.00 2247.25 2210.60 2223.25ASHOKLEY 94.00 94.55 92.90 93.80VEDL 173.75 174.70 171.55 173.70M&M 685.00 687.90 678.00 685.70IOC 150.00 152.15 149.50 151.40NATIONALUM 52.50 53.50 52.15 52.60TCS 2009.00 2009.00 1982.30 1988.60JUBILANT 829.00 874.55 810.70 859.45AVANTI 425.95 441.20 420.10 424.25CGPOWER 41.30 42.85 40.80 42.15RECLTD 134.30 138.00 133.95 137.65COALINDIA 240.05 244.35 238.65 243.35MINDTREE 933.00 954.00 925.00 950.75EDELWEISS 184.30 189.00 184.10 187.50TECHM 796.50 796.50 775.65 788.50MARUTI 7100.00 7147.95 7049.00 7086.80HDFC 1967.10 1974.30 1949.50 1957.85MGL 928.10 950.00 923.80 928.00BANKBARODA 116.00 117.90 114.40 116.60MANPASAND 130.00 130.00 116.00 118.80BHARTIARTL 338.45 346.00 334.95 342.85FEDERALBNK 91.25 92.35 89.90 90.20NCC 107.00 107.85 104.85 106.20DMART 1500.00 1515.60 1462.00 1467.95DELTACORP 247.60 258.25 247.60 250.65M&MFIN 435.55 447.00 421.10 426.55IDFCFIRSTB 50.20 51.10 49.80 50.45JMFINANCIL 87.95 89.15 87.25 88.10BAJFINANCE 2826.00 2833.20 2789.00 2808.75HCLTECH 1033.50 1040.50 1004.65 1006.55JAICORPLTD 110.10 114.80 110.10 112.25MANAPPURAM 120.00 122.15 117.10 118.00SPARC 192.00 200.60 192.00 196.90DBL 613.00 623.90 593.60 603.05SAIL 53.00 53.75 51.60 52.70L&TFH 145.10 146.55 143.05 143.45BANKINDIA 92.85 93.35 90.95 92.35BHARATFIN 1026.25 1066.45 1025.75 1054.90TATACOFFEE 92.15 99.45 92.15 95.35JISLJALEQS 62.10 62.35 60.15 61.75MUTHOOTFIN 594.55 612.75 592.15 595.40WOCKPHARMA 427.00 439.50 422.00 431.65ABCAPITAL 96.10 98.40 94.95 96.05HAVELLS 767.20 771.60 745.05 747.15RAYMOND 807.00 819.80 794.00 817.00NTPC 149.00 154.60 148.20 153.80STRTECH 267.50 267.90 255.00 258.05CANBK 267.85 267.85 259.00 262.30RBLBANK 626.25 643.75 624.15 636.90HEG 2215.10 2250.00 2195.00 2200.55AUROPHARMA 765.00 784.50 765.00 778.30INDIACEM 104.00 105.35 100.10 101.65GREAVESCOT 136.15 140.50 135.70 139.75LICHSGFIN 507.05 519.00 506.25 511.95ASIANPAINT 1435.20 1446.00 1420.45 1434.05IOB 14.60 14.95 14.43 14.50HIMATSEIDE 213.75 231.60 213.50 221.75IDEA 33.80 34.40 33.55 33.75

TRIDENT 71.50 72.55 70.05 70.65HINDUNILVR 1752.75 1752.75 1728.75 1737.35INDIGO 1301.00 1325.00 1292.00 1299.55BAJAJ-AUTO 3022.00 3022.00 2970.05 3010.50GRUH 272.00 279.50 271.50 277.55UNIONBANK 82.90 83.85 81.50 82.75ECLERX 1117.00 1174.00 1095.55 1149.70DISHTV 37.70 38.95 36.85 38.35UJJIVAN 343.80 344.90 336.70 339.70CHOLAFIN 1364.00 1393.20 1345.00 1362.85STAR 441.75 456.95 438.20 449.20ONGC 149.70 152.15 149.60 151.35DCMSHRIRAM 460.00 479.00 457.10 466.10EXIDEIND 230.45 231.70 227.60 229.15BHEL 67.90 68.70 66.65 67.35SUNTV 615.00 623.00 603.25 613.55POWERGRID 189.00 189.50 186.75 187.45ADANIPOWER 51.50 51.75 50.30 50.90FORCEMOT 1763.00 1797.90 1741.00 1755.60MOTHERSUMI 166.00 167.20 161.50 163.35VOLTAS 616.45 617.00 598.50 602.80GUJGAS 156.10 157.00 154.25 155.05BAJAJFINSV 6897.00 6944.00 6857.20 6909.70TATACHEM 578.00 582.50 568.90 576.50NETWORK18 35.20 36.50 35.00 35.85PEL 2595.05 2673.00 2584.15 2654.05EIHOTEL 204.50 214.95 203.00 204.80CASTROLIND 166.15 170.25 166.00 166.40TATAPOWER 74.00 74.00 72.70 73.00DRREDDY 2652.00 2666.15 2616.55 2653.65PIDILITIND 1185.00 1188.00 1166.00 1169.90FORTIS 139.05 140.25 135.30 136.65MEGH 63.95 64.95 61.60 61.85GNFC 312.40 313.00 305.90 311.00ORIENTBANK 97.05 100.60 95.60 99.70HEROMOTOCO 2824.95 2824.95 2745.00 2755.35CONCOR 519.90 521.30 502.30 507.15ISEC 263.00 264.20 253.35 258.95ACC 1577.00 1583.80 1535.70 1539.80JSWSTEEL 287.50 289.80 284.00 287.00KALPATPOWR 443.60 449.60 437.00 445.30TAKE 133.35 133.35 124.25 124.95MOTILALOFS 610.10 640.00 610.10 626.60ABFRL 228.60 233.90 226.35 229.95BANDHANBNK 520.00 524.50 511.25 513.35PFC 111.00 112.85 109.60 111.25INTELLECT 200.75 203.55 198.80 199.70HEXAWARE 340.10 342.00 333.10 336.85APOLLOTYRE 225.05 226.95 220.10 223.10ALBK 53.15 56.05 53.15 55.00UPL 912.10 915.00 900.80 903.30

JKTYRE 96.50 96.80 94.75 95.05ALLCARGO 114.30 126.00 111.70 121.15BATAINDIA 1369.00 1372.45 1339.00 1363.70VIPIND 439.00 439.00 425.20 428.10TATAELXSI 965.90 968.05 945.90 949.70DABUR 441.00 441.10 435.15 438.95ADANIPORTS 366.45 368.20 360.40 364.95VENKYS 2266.70 2323.15 2264.35 2277.95HINDALCO 202.00 204.60 200.00 201.25SOBHA 447.50 447.50 430.00 435.05MFSL 434.40 444.00 433.40 435.90INDIANB 265.50 270.85 264.10 266.90CANFINHOME 321.80 324.65 315.30 321.40BPCL 389.50 392.00 383.00 390.35TITAN 1078.00 1088.80 1064.00 1084.85MPHASIS 981.00 981.00 956.10 958.20VGUARD 214.75 220.35 212.25 214.95RAIN 114.50 114.50 110.00 110.45HSIL 254.00 268.80 254.00 263.90BAJAJCON 335.00 335.00 324.85 326.25SIEMENS 1057.10 1059.40 1034.00 1036.85GODREJAGRO 522.30 523.15 510.20 513.70MCX 769.00 784.80 767.05 780.35BIOCON 618.00 623.65 612.40 618.40SRTRANSFIN 1279.20 1285.20 1236.00 1246.15NMDC 113.50 114.75 112.80 114.45REDINGTON 96.00 102.50 95.10 99.75ADVENZYMES 181.00 183.00 175.15 181.20TRENT 367.85 377.00 363.20 372.75IBVENTURES 282.00 287.00 280.10 281.05J&KBANK 47.45 48.10 46.40 46.65JSL 41.20 41.65 38.30 38.85PHILIPCARB 180.00 181.90 177.25 178.25GODREJCP 723.00 723.00 705.80 715.25TATAMTRDVR 91.35 91.60 89.35 90.05KEC 296.75 298.00 288.20 295.10GODFRYPHLP 1080.00 1092.00 1058.25 1078.90

BALKRISIND 935.35 948.40 921.10 931.60APOLLOHOSP 1122.00 1143.85 1122.00 1131.80FRETAIL 439.00 439.00 425.00 435.95GRASIM 822.00 837.00 809.45 833.05FLFL 450.00 475.20 450.00 465.95CADILAHC 332.00 335.50 328.50 330.35INDHOTEL 154.60 154.60 149.05 149.80RNAM 202.05 204.60 189.05 192.60TVSMOTOR 497.00 501.55 488.00 491.80ABB 1310.00 1324.00 1291.50 1307.20ICICIGI 969.25 970.35 940.60 946.70GAIL 351.05 357.00 347.10 354.40BHARATFORG 538.95 540.75 528.00 529.25COFFEEDAY 298.90 306.50 297.45 303.50SRF 2399.00 2425.00 2349.00 2356.75OMAXE 210.00 210.45 206.65 208.50SOUTHBANK 15.22 15.39 15.10 15.14KSCL 435.50 441.00 431.40 437.85PETRONET 241.90 242.90 236.45 237.55ULTRACEMCO 4025.10 4055.70 3935.40 3965.40OIL 176.10 179.05 175.60 178.70DIVISLAB 1669.00 1701.65 1669.00 1694.25ALKEM 1729.00 1738.50 1704.00 1717.20IRB 152.10 153.15 149.35 151.85ICICIPRULI 338.00 344.70 334.10 336.50GRANULES 111.15 114.00 110.15 112.80SUVEN 251.00 254.00 247.00 250.50JSWENERGY 68.55 69.15 66.50 67.15GLENMARK 633.95 635.55 624.60 630.40HFCL 24.50 24.70 23.65 23.75LEMONTREE 84.45 85.40 81.00 83.65NIITTECH 1330.00 1340.20 1315.60 1319.80CENTURYTEX 896.10 896.95 879.65 891.90ESSELPRO 112.00 119.00 111.00 117.10OBEROIRLTY 484.55 487.45 477.95 479.65MARICO 343.00 348.55 339.75 346.50AJANTPHARM 1001.00 1033.75 1001.00 1028.40DEEPAKFERT 136.05 137.60 134.60 135.55EICHERMOT 22600.00 22960.00 22540.95 22640.10MAHLIFE 380.00 380.00 360.30 363.15ASHOKA 139.85 141.85 136.50 138.55FSL 45.05 45.20 44.20 44.35BRITANNIA 3135.65 3168.25 3116.15 3149.90AMBUJACEM 231.40 231.40 224.00 224.65RCF 59.00 59.20 57.55 58.25ADANIGREEN 40.40 40.40 38.25 38.50GODREJIND 528.00 533.00 518.80 530.30RELAXO 742.00 789.00 742.00 757.60DCBBANK 202.00 202.20 199.25 199.90ISGEC 5350.00 5650.00 5255.10 5544.20SUNTECK 452.40 457.20 449.40 454.85HUDCO 44.95 45.05 44.20 44.75PRSMJOHNSN 100.10 100.10 96.20 96.85KEI 424.00 431.45 420.70 428.50WELCORP 120.40 124.75 119.20 121.25EQUITAS 135.90 137.10 133.05 135.20JINDALSAW 93.10 95.35 92.60 93.55OFSS 3433.90 3433.90 3350.00 3378.20PNBHOUSING 901.05 902.50 883.15 889.05IPCALAB 917.75 918.25 895.35 897.45GMRINFRA 16.95 17.30 16.70 17.15CUMMINSIND 738.00 749.50 738.00 741.55SYNDIBANK 38.90 39.15 38.25 38.85RAJESHEXPO 618.00 627.70 616.50 619.05NAVINFLUOR 688.00 712.05 684.75 705.55UBL 1361.00 1387.80 1361.00 1378.60NHPC 24.90 25.15 24.50 24.80RALLIS 162.20 163.30 160.00 160.25HEIDELBERG 178.05 180.05 173.90 174.65NOCIL 143.50 143.70 140.90 142.20MAGMA 118.10 119.20 116.00 116.55PVR 1630.00 1641.80 1617.55 1632.95CIPLA 531.00 534.15 530.60 533.55EVEREADY 208.60 212.00 205.40 209.05INFRATEL 312.85 317.80 312.65 314.00CEATLTD 1155.00 1167.80 1145.10 1151.55KAJARIACER 585.00 593.05 573.75 582.90LTI 1640.00 1657.00 1630.40 1650.30DCAL 210.00 215.00 205.00 214.20KRBL 361.00 373.00 361.00 370.55FCONSUMER 46.95 47.45 45.75 46.10MAXINDIA 61.90 64.00 60.90 62.90IDFC 41.70 42.25 41.10 41.90ITI 97.00 97.00 94.40 94.80WABAG 326.00 334.95 321.00 326.50NESTLEIND 10749.00 10754.00 10545.35 10742.25GICHSGFIN 265.00 269.30 260.40 261.45NAVKARCORP 45.25 45.95 44.15 44.55REPCOHOME 458.85 465.30 451.65 452.90HINDCOPPER 49.15 49.75 48.65 48.80AMARAJABAT 755.60 757.10 741.50 747.45NAUKRI 1895.00 1914.00 1856.85 1895.05BLISSGVS 171.60 174.00 169.75 171.50CROMPTON 223.05 230.10 223.05 227.15SUNDRMFAST 524.40 532.50 522.00 528.95JAMNAAUTO 61.75 64.00 61.35 63.45HINDZINC 276.70 277.50 272.10 274.25COLPAL 1281.00 1295.00 1275.90 1280.50NLCINDIA 70.05 73.55 70.05 72.85PARAGMILK 258.30 258.45 252.80 255.40WHIRLPOOL 1601.55 1615.00 1581.90 1599.60BBTC 1335.00 1344.65 1314.60 1331.85EIDPARRY 217.00 219.50 212.00 217.65GODREJPROP 700.40 704.00 692.55 695.40DEEPAKNI 258.30 262.85 254.55 258.20LAKSHVILAS 69.95 69.95 65.00 65.90BLUESTARCO 667.10 686.70 659.60 674.85LTTS 1550.00 1550.00 1507.00 1513.45BERGEPAINT 307.40 311.35 304.05 305.80

RADICO 400.40 401.35 394.00 396.25SHANKARA 471.00 471.00 446.35 448.05MAHINDCIE 247.00 247.00 240.05 243.80IGL 293.00 296.15 289.50 291.70ASTRAL 1220.95 1234.90 1150.00 1157.30PTC 78.90 79.75 77.50 78.05WELSPUNIND 64.35 64.80 63.35 63.65MINDAIND 362.40 369.60 358.20 360.75CHENNPETRO 264.35 266.20 261.05 264.30GICRE 250.00 260.20 250.00 255.75CYIENT* 670.00 682.95 670.00 674.30TORNTPHARM 1830.00 1840.60 1820.00 1835.40SCI 36.60 37.60 36.60 37.30IBULISL 320.00 330.50 305.15 323.70PAGEIND 23800.00 24052.00 23572.05 23691.75STARCEMENT 107.50 109.90 104.00 104.45SBILIFE 615.00 620.75 611.00 612.95GMDCLTD 87.55 88.10 85.00 85.35QUESS 783.85 785.10 764.65 779.50SADBHAV 253.80 258.40 252.75 256.50NIACL 200.10 201.30 194.00 195.00ADANITRANS 211.00 214.75 206.45 207.35PRESTIGE 210.10 212.05 207.00 211.25AARTIIND 1470.00 1470.00 1421.00 1425.95INOXLEISUR 309.35 316.20 300.80 311.60TATACOMM 595.00 610.90 592.00 607.70BOSCHLTD 18708.15 18708.15 18316.00 18603.55SCHNEIDER 103.00 109.00 103.00 107.60AEGISLOG 202.00 205.60 200.80 205.05BAJAJELEC 505.00 508.50 502.60 505.15MHRIL 240.15 252.80 240.15 244.40SHK 151.85 154.15 150.00 150.45MMTC 28.00 28.50 27.70 27.90KNRCON 263.70 263.70 252.85 257.05TORNTPOWER 255.70 257.85 253.55 255.85GSFC 103.15 104.10 101.25 101.80MOIL 160.65 162.70 160.10 160.85IEX 164.20 167.00 163.20 165.30ZENSARTECH 216.00 217.50 212.05 215.70CAPPL 434.00 444.90 423.00 425.85JSLHISAR 91.00 93.90 84.00 92.10GUJFLUORO 1056.85 1073.85 1055.00 1062.85VMART 2833.40 2852.40 2655.00 2671.65PIIND 1000.50 1023.25 994.95 1011.00SREINFRA 31.70 32.00 31.20 31.40KANSAINER 462.10 465.20 458.80 462.55INOXWIND 74.00 74.45 71.25 73.05HSCL 122.30 122.95 121.10 121.85LUXIND 1297.20 1321.15 1276.80 1304.50TV18BRDCST 36.85 37.05 36.00 36.45INDOSTAR 357.75 357.75 342.25 343.85NATCOPHARM* 587.95 587.95 575.05 576.50HERITGFOOD 526.90 538.10 525.30 535.65SYNGENE 580.00 596.00 574.40 584.00GSPL 178.60 182.20 178.00 180.05MRPL 73.00 73.60 72.70 73.40TATAMETALI 666.10 671.05 652.50 655.50RAMCOCEM 724.95 726.00 711.60 716.75CENTRUM 35.45 35.50 34.40 34.85THERMAX 1044.05 1057.20 1018.10 1030.30GUJALKALI 524.65 524.70 513.95 517.45ASTRAZEN 1944.50 2028.50 1944.50 2000.85UCOBANK 20.00 20.00 18.80 18.90PFIZER 3131.00 3200.00 3117.40 3155.25GET&D 298.80 304.00 295.00 297.85VINATIORGA 1660.00 1690.50 1660.00 1671.75SWANENERGY 105.20 109.60 105.20 106.10BIRLACORPN 543.00 543.00 531.50 535.70PNCINFRA 160.00 162.15 155.90 159.55BASF 1474.90 1489.35 1428.05 1441.05JKLAKSHMI 356.50 356.50 349.00 350.60HATSUN 720.00 726.00 710.00 711.95EMAMILTD 399.95 401.05 397.10 399.00CHAMBLFERT 166.25 167.30 163.60 165.25ENDURANCE 1163.00 1163.10 1149.00 1151.35PERSISTENT* 669.00 682.00 665.10 676.25TNPL 222.00 222.00 213.25 214.35SUPPETRO 224.00 224.50 222.05 223.90PHOENIXLTD 634.45 665.00 630.35 658.35TEJASNET 178.00 180.60 176.95 179.45COCHINSHIP 385.05 387.50 382.90 384.20ITDCEM 138.40 138.40 131.75 133.75NBVENTURES 105.90 106.50 103.55 104.50VBL 822.75 822.75 805.10 815.75FINCABLES 472.00 479.90 462.65 469.80NH 224.00 229.90 221.50 224.60JKCEMENT 828.50 833.00 814.00 831.00

GPPL 92.55 93.45 92.20 92.90CENTURYPLY 194.80 194.80 189.65 191.50IFBIND 945.00 969.00 941.00 962.45SONATSOFTW 332.00 332.70 328.00 329.15HAL 683.00 685.00 675.00 675.85BALMLAWRIE 184.90 188.90 184.90 187.10SANOFI 5688.90 5790.00 5640.00 5724.65TIMETECHNO 104.00 104.00 101.45 101.70SYMPHONY 1353.45 1353.50 1314.00 1317.10GDL 124.45 128.00 122.05 124.55BAJAJHLDNG 3324.00 3375.00 3320.00 3338.90SJVN 24.15 24.30 24.00 24.15JYOTHYLAB 186.35 190.35 185.35 187.30TTKPRESTIG 9020.15 9160.00 8985.35 9092.20MERCK 3460.00 3485.00 3400.00 3422.40COROMANDEL 481.35 488.00 475.00 480.05ANDHRABANK 26.70 26.70 26.25 26.35CCL 297.15 297.15 286.80 287.60SUPRAJIT 232.70 236.75 225.45 228.003MINDIA 24300.00 24350.00 23861.00 23896.65BAYERCROP 4299.00 4335.00 4295.00 4319.10CENTRALBK 33.95 34.25 33.60 34.00CORPBANK 31.25 31.25 29.05 29.15SHARDACROP 378.55 381.00 377.20 380.60LINDEINDIA 515.00 516.00 503.00 505.55GREENPLY 152.00 152.00 146.55 150.35JBCHEPHARM 335.85 340.50 331.95 336.30GESHIP 291.50 292.00 287.50 288.50KPRMILL 594.00 594.40 586.70 590.85APLAPOLLO 1389.70 1391.80 1361.90 1370.35SUPREMEIND 1135.05 1142.65 1126.00 1130.70UFLEX 222.50 222.50 219.10 220.10BDL 288.95 288.95 283.40 283.90TATAINVEST 846.00 849.45 843.00 844.80JCHAC 2039.80 2039.80 1985.00 1997.10MAHABANK 13.40 13.65 13.34 13.43ASTERDM 152.50 157.85 152.10 156.30ATUL 3330.45 3330.45 3285.00 3299.70NAVNETEDUL 109.40 111.20 108.10 110.30MAHLOG 496.90 501.75 488.30 493.55THYROCARE 531.10 548.00 523.00 534.15AIAENG 1761.75 1795.00 1740.00 1750.80CARERATING 1006.75 1006.80 995.00 1001.70THOMASCOOK 222.05 223.00 220.40 222.60CUB 189.00 189.00 185.45 185.95TIINDIA 378.75 384.90 378.75 382.70FINOLEXIND 541.50 543.00 528.10 536.25DBCORP 198.90 203.80 198.70 202.30NILKAMAL 1403.05 1413.45 1386.50 1390.30ITDC 285.05 290.35 284.00 285.45PGHH 10456.05 10456.05 10250.00 10287.00ORIENTCEM 88.00 89.45 86.10 87.20UNITEDBNK 11.05 11.14 10.85 10.95SHREECEM 18000.00 18000.00 17568.90 17687.90TVSSRICHAK 2261.00 2290.00 2255.00 2271.55GALAXYSURF 1139.75 1145.95 1094.05 1097.60GLAXO 1307.15 1312.35 1300.00 1310.20MRF 57800.00 57800.00 57098.60 57205.35TEAMLEASE 3000.00 3000.00 2831.05 2874.80FORBESCO 2295.00 2295.00 2235.00 2240.50ELGIEQUIP 250.80 250.80 242.05 244.55MINDACORP 145.20 147.00 143.20 144.85APLLTD 553.00 554.00 547.05 548.80SOMANYCERA 385.60 386.85 380.00 384.45JAGRAN 111.55 113.80 111.05 112.85MAHSCOOTER 3406.90 3406.90 3315.00 3322.60CRISIL 1476.20 1476.20 1463.00 1467.30KIOCL 143.15 146.50 142.50 144.90SHOPERSTOP 477.50 478.50 469.45 473.20WABCOINDIA 6485.00 6492.65 6390.00 6415.85MONSANTO 2644.35 2658.00 2602.00 2635.60SUDARSCHEM 343.75 345.95 341.20 345.15APARINDS 652.00 654.25 635.05 643.85CARBORUNIV 384.20 384.95 375.10 377.30GHCL 246.30 246.30 243.25 245.10LAXMIMACH 6057.00 6262.10 6057.00 6171.35TRITURBINE 119.90 120.30 115.50 116.20LALPATHLAB 1043.70 1057.25 1030.10 1039.25TVTODAY 335.00 338.30 330.80 332.50CERA 2611.20 2645.70 2611.20 2622.75TIMKEN 581.05 585.95 574.05 575.25ASAHIINDIA 262.10 270.55 262.00 265.80AKZOINDIA 1791.05 1792.90 1749.65 1765.15FDC 180.40 182.00 178.40 180.50VTL 1070.40 1091.65 1058.70 1077.85BLUEDART 3241.45 3270.00 3213.60 3239.00ABBOTINDIA 7370.00 7373.05 7270.00 7340.80SKFINDIA 1959.00 1969.00 1940.25 1948.75SIS 852.20 863.80 841.60 857.35LAOPALA 210.25 217.20 210.25 214.55NESCO 461.00 465.15 450.20 453.30SCHAEFFLER 5600.00 5600.00 5435.00 5469.30GULFOILLUB 849.95 849.95 831.00 838.10SOLARINDS 1031.65 1035.00 1019.20 1032.35ZYDUSWELL 1296.55 1309.75 1285.00 1293.15GILLETTE 6495.20 6501.10 6461.40 6481.50SUNCLAYLTD 3190.50 3190.50 3074.00 3189.00GEPIL 840.00 840.00 826.00 828.85GAYAPROJ 166.60 166.60 164.00 164.80DHANUKA 427.20 433.90 422.85 433.05GSKCONS 7192.10 7199.00 7175.00 7183.75GRINDWELL 589.40 589.40 580.60 584.55ERIS 648.10 656.80 648.05 655.35SFL 1340.00 1340.00 1296.05 1318.00SHILPAMED 370.00 370.00 366.00 366.25HONAUT 22300.00 22384.80 22188.00 22231.00TIFHL 503.00 507.80 492.00 493.50RATNAMANI 886.05 890.00 875.00 886.05SHRIRAMCIT 1730.10 1749.25 1730.05 1749.20

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY 50 11382.50 11383.45 11313.75 11343.25 1.55NTPC 148.90 154.90 148.10 153.50 5.30INDUSINDBK 1649.00 1701.00 1635.00 1681.85 45.50BHARTIARTL 337.00 345.95 334.55 345.95 8.20YESBANK 248.00 254.00 246.15 250.15 5.85SUNPHARMA 456.90 468.50 456.00 466.40 9.90COALINDIA 240.90 244.10 238.50 243.80 5.15GRASIM 823.15 837.40 808.50 837.40 14.25IOC 149.50 152.15 149.15 151.15 2.40ONGC 150.00 152.50 149.50 152.00 2.25GAIL 352.55 357.00 346.95 356.55 4.95VEDL 171.70 174.70 171.40 173.50 1.90ASIANPAINT 1437.60 1446.95 1420.00 1440.00 11.70TATASTEEL 513.95 521.80 513.50 517.15 3.40KOTAKBANK 1263.00 1277.45 1257.00 1269.55 8.30TITAN 1078.90 1089.00 1063.15 1085.25 6.95HDFC 1971.80 1975.10 1949.30 1961.10 10.45BAJAJFINSV 6900.00 6955.00 6857.65 6935.00 36.80BPCL 388.95 391.35 382.65 390.90 1.85AXISBANK 740.00 749.70 737.40 741.30 3.30INFRATEL 314.00 318.00 312.00 314.15 1.00ITC 295.40 296.00 290.45 295.50 0.60M&M 683.00 688.00 677.15 685.50 1.30LT 1384.70 1396.00 1377.00 1379.95 1.35HINDPETRO 265.95 269.00 263.05 268.00 0.15TECHM 792.10 795.00 775.00 790.20 0.25ZEEL 455.00 463.00 447.95 448.90 0.10IBULHSGFIN 707.25 728.00 700.00 701.90 0.05MARUTI 7103.00 7148.00 7047.25 7091.00 -0.05INFY 714.00 714.90 706.20 708.45 0.00JSWSTEEL 286.35 289.80 284.00 286.15 -0.10CIPLA 532.05 534.10 530.50 532.55 -0.25BAJAJ-AUTO 3012.00 3025.00 2970.00 3007.40 -2.60ADANIPORTS 367.00 369.20 360.20 366.70 -0.45HDFCBANK 2244.85 2247.50 2210.60 2223.05 -3.50DRREDDY 2655.85 2670.90 2616.00 2647.95 -7.90WIPRO 259.35 259.70 255.00 257.10 -0.80SBIN 294.50 294.70 290.75 292.10 -1.05BAJFINANCE 2832.00 2835.00 2787.10 2814.90 -13.25TCS 2004.95 2007.80 1981.00 1990.40 -10.10HINDUNILVR 1750.75 1751.70 1730.20 1738.00 -9.60RELIANCE 1349.75 1362.00 1336.10 1339.50 -7.80POWERGRID 188.95 189.75 187.25 187.70 -1.25EICHERMOT 22800.00 22986.95 22501.00 22620.00 -157.25HINDALCO 202.35 204.60 199.75 200.50 -1.80UPL 911.20 916.25 900.30 902.80 -8.40ICICIBANK 392.00 393.00 386.80 388.00 -3.90TATAMOTORS 181.50 182.45 177.65 179.40 -2.30ULTRACEMCO 4036.90 4061.15 3932.00 3961.00 -64.65HEROMOTOCO 2813.00 2818.00 2744.10 2753.00 -50.65HCLTECH 1035.00 1040.55 1004.10 1006.00 -22.35

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY NEXT 50 28104.40 28143.85 27848.25 27942.10 -105.75DLF 192.80 203.15 190.05 201.75 9.60MCDOWELL-N 573.40 591.00 567.00 591.00 14.60PEL 2601.00 2675.00 2568.75 2651.55 50.30OIL 175.65 179.10 175.30 178.65 3.20AUROPHARMA 767.00 786.00 764.00 778.85 12.60LICHSGFIN 507.40 519.00 505.05 511.50 6.90MARICO 342.90 348.50 339.65 346.50 3.60COLPAL 1276.25 1294.00 1273.95 1288.90 12.65BANKBARODA 116.00 117.90 114.40 116.60 1.05ABB 1306.10 1325.00 1291.05 1308.10 11.15ICICIPRULI 336.00 344.95 334.30 336.45 2.65BRITANNIA 3135.00 3170.00 3116.00 3151.00 24.05BOSCHLTD 18730.00 18745.00 18265.00 18745.00 136.10HDFCLIFE 369.50 369.50 366.05 366.25 1.70NMDC 114.20 114.80 112.80 114.30 0.45SAIL 52.80 53.75 51.60 52.85 0.20LUPIN 757.60 782.00 755.50 765.95 2.65SUNTV 614.00 623.65 603.05 614.40 1.85ASHOKLEY 94.10 94.50 92.85 93.90 0.10BIOCON 618.00 624.00 611.60 618.40 -0.15INDIGO 1302.70 1327.95 1290.55 1300.00 -1.70CADILAHC 332.45 335.70 328.50 330.00 -0.65ABCAPITAL 96.55 98.50 94.80 96.05 -0.20MRF 57990.00 57990.00 57001.00 57220.00 -194.60SBILIFE 619.00 620.95 611.00 613.10 -2.25DABUR 440.00 440.80 435.15 438.60 -1.70BANDHANBNK 518.00 524.70 511.55 514.50 -2.50PIDILITIND 1190.00 1190.00 1162.10 1170.20 -6.20IDEA 34.00 34.40 33.50 33.75 -0.20NHPC 24.95 25.15 24.50 24.70 -0.15GICRE 256.10 260.00 255.15 255.70 -1.80BEL 94.50 94.70 91.15 92.85 -0.75GODREJCP 728.05 728.05 705.05 717.00 -6.55PGHH 10496.50 10496.50 10250.05 10290.00 -105.40OFSS 3439.75 3440.00 3350.55 3384.90 -35.10L&TFH 145.10 146.65 142.80 143.50 -1.60HINDZINC 277.00 277.95 272.55 273.60 -3.15BHEL 67.75 68.65 66.60 67.15 -0.85SHREECEM 17851.20 17979.00 17601.40 17670.00 -259.00MOTHERSUMI 165.10 167.25 162.45 163.10 -2.45ICICIGI 975.00 980.00 941.85 955.35 -14.55PETRONET 242.45 242.85 236.30 238.75 -3.75SIEMENS 1057.00 1062.10 1034.00 1037.05 -16.70ACC 1573.00 1585.80 1535.00 1540.00 -31.40NIACL 199.50 202.60 195.00 196.00 -4.15DMART 1504.40 1514.90 1460.50 1467.00 -34.40AMBUJACEM 230.00 232.95 223.65 224.20 -5.60HAVELLS 769.85 772.00 745.10 746.20 -20.40CONCOR 517.85 522.55 505.80 507.00 -15.55SRTRANSFIN 1293.50 1293.50 1235.15 1240.00 -40.30

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The United States no longerrefers to the Golan Heights

as an “Israeli-occupied” terri-tory in its latest annual humanrights report, published onWednesday, though the StateDepartment insists the word-ing change doesn’t mean apolicy change.

The report now calls thearea the “Israeli-controlledGolan Heights”.

When asked about thechange on such a sensitiveMiddle East subject, a seniorUS official told reporters inWashington, “There’s nochange in our outlook or ourpolicy vis-a-vis these territoriesand the need for a negotiatedsettlement there.”

“This, by the way, is not ahuman rights issue, it’s a legalstatus issue,” said MichaelKozak of the State Department’s

Bureau of Democracy, HumanRights and Labor.

“What we try to do is toreport on the human rights sit-uation in those territories, andso you’re just trying to find theway of describing the place thatyou’re reporting on,” he said.“And ‘occupied territory’ has alegal meaning to it; I think whatthey tried to do is to shift more to just a geograph-ic description.”

Another semantic changethat appeared in last year’sreport showed up again thisyear, with a section titled “Israel,Golan Heights, West Bank andGaza,” instead of its previous“Israel and the Occupied

Territories” heading.Nabil Abu Rudeineh,

spokesperson for PalestinianAuthority President MahmoudAbbas, said that the US drop-ping the term “occupation”from the Occupied PalestinianTerritories and the SyrianGolan Heights is “a continua-tion of the hostile approach ofthe American administrationtoward our Palestinian people and is contrary to allUN resolutions.”

He stressed, “TheseAmerican titles will not changethe fact that the Palestinian ter-ritory occupied since 1967 andthe occupied Arab Golan areterritories under Israeli occu-pation in accordance with UNresolutions and internationallaw,” Abu Rudeinah said.

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London: In yet another day ofhyper activity in the House ofCommons, British MPs willreturn on Thursday to debateand then vote on delaying theMarch 29 Brexit Day deadlinethat was set in motion after theUK voted to leave the EU in areferendum in June 2016.

The latest vote follows adecisive rejection by Parliamenton Wednesday night to rule outleaving the EU without any deal,in two separate votes. British PMTheresa May soldiered on amida further blow to her leadershipand told the Commons thatleaving the 28-member eco-nomic bloc without any deal inplace by March 29 remains thedefault option unless a new votecalls for a delay and then the EUaccepts such an extension.

Meanwhile, May will also

make a third attempt to get herwithdrawal agreement passedthrough, after it was rejected byhuge margins in two previousvotes — in January and thenagain earlier this week.

“If the House finds a wayin the coming days to supporta deal, it would allow the gov-ernment to seek a short limit-ed technical extension toArticle 50 to provide time to

pass the necessary legislationand ratify the agreement wehave reached with the EU,” Maysaid in her Commons state-ment on Wednesday night.

“But let me be clear, such ashort technical extension is onlylikely to be on offer if we have adeal in place,” she said, in a kindof ultimatum to MPs to recon-sider their stance on voting forher Brexit deal with the “legal-ly binding” changes to the con-troversial Irish backstop clause.

She warned thatParliament will have to acceptthat, if it is not willing to sup-port a deal in the coming days,and as it is not willing to sup-port leaving without a deal onMarch 29, then it is suggestingthat there will need to be amuch longer extension toArticle 50. PTI

Paris: The black box flightrecorders from the Boeing 737MAX aircraft that crashed inEthiopia were flown to Franceon Thursday for analysis as theban on the model went world-wide after President DonaldTrump added the US to coun-tries that have grounded theaircraft.

France’s BEA air safetyagency confirmed it hasreceived the recorders from theplane that crashed shortly aftertakeoff from Addis Ababa onSunday, killing all 157 peopleaboard. BEA investigators willtry to remove informationfrom the cockpit voice andflight data recorders, whichwere damaged in the disaster.

The information that blackboxes contain about what thepilots and plane were doinghelp explain 90 per cent of allcrashes, according to aviation

experts.On Wednesday, US author-

ities said new evidence showedsimilarities between theEthiopia crash and that of aLion Air flight in Indonesia inOctober that claimed the livesof 189 people.

The Federal AviationAdministration said findingsfrom the crash site near AddisAbaba and “newly refined satel-lite data” warranted “furtherinvestigation of the possibilityof a shared cause for the twoincidents”.

An FAA emergency ordergrounded 737 MAX 8 andMAX 9 aircraft until furthernotice, effectively taking theaircraft out of the skies global-ly after a growing number ofairlines and countries haddecided not to fly the planesuntil it was ascertained thereare no safety issues. AFP

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Responsible member-statesof the Security Council

may be forced to take “otheractions” if China continues toblock moves to designatePakistan-based JeM chiefMasood Azhar as a global ter-rorist, diplomats at the UN’sprincipal organ have warned.

The senior diplomatsspoke on condition ofanonymity to give a sense of thefrustration of the other mem-bers of the Security Councilafter China on Wednesday puta technical hold on the pro-posal to designate Azhar as aglobal terrorist.

China has blocked fourbids in 10 years to get Azhar, ablue-eyed boy of Pakistan’s spyagency ISI, listed as a UN-des-ignated global terrorist.

Azhar mastermindedmany audacious attacks onIndia, including the 2001Parliament strike and therecent Pulwama carnage inFebruary that pushed bothIndia and Pakistan to the brinkof war.

The proposal to designateAzhar under the 1267 AlQaeda Sanctions Committee ofthe UN Security Council wasmoved by France, the UK andthe US on February 27, daysafter a suicide bomber of theJaish-e-Mohammed (JeM)killed 44 CRPF soldiers inPulwama, leading to a flare-upin tensions between India andPakistan.

“If China continues to

block this designation, respon-sible member-states may beforced to pursue other actionsat the Security Council. Itshouldn’t have to come to that,”a Security Council diplomattold PTI in an unusual toughwarning to China, a close allyof Pakistan.

India has expressed disap-pointment over China’s deci-sion but said it will “pursue allavailable avenues” to bring tojustice terrorist leaders involvedin attack on Indians.

“This is the fourth timethat China has placed a hold onthis listing. China should notprevent the Committee fromdoing the job the SecurityCouncil has entrusted it to do,”another Security Councildiplomat told PTI.

The second diplomat alsoslammed Pakistan for depend-ing on China to protect ter-rorist groups and leaders thatoperate from its soil.

Beijing: China on Thursdaydefended its fourth “technicalhold” on the designation ofPakistan-based JeM chiefMasood Azhar as a global ter-rorist, saying the move wouldgive it time for a “thoroughand in-depth assessment” ofthe case and help the partiesconcerned to engage in moretalks to find a “lasting solution”acceptable to all.

The proposal to designateAzhar under the 1267 AlQaeda Sanctions Committeeof the UN Security Councilwas moved by France, the UKand the US on February 27,days after a suicide bomber ofthe Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM)killed 44 CRPF soldiers inPulwama, leading to a flare-upin tensions between India andPakistan.

The al-Qaeda SanctionsCommittee members had 10working days to raise anyobjections to the proposal.Just before the deadline ended,China put a “technical hold”on the proposal seeking “moretime to examine” it.

The proposal was thefourth such bid at the UN in thelast 10 years to list Azhar as aglobal terrorist. Asked why

China once again resorted toblock the move, ForeignMinistry spokesman Lu Kangtold a media briefing here thatBeijing’s decision is in line withthe rules of the committee.

China “sincerely hopesthat relevant action taken bythis committee will help rele-vant countries to engage indialogue and consultation andprevent adding more compli-cated factors into regionalpeace and stability,” he said.

“As to the technical hold atthe 1267 Committee ouraction is to make sure that thecommittee will have enoughtime to study the matter so thatthe relevant sides will havetime for dialogue and consul-tation,” Lu said.

“Only a solution that isacceptable to all sides couldfundamentally provide achance for a lasting solution tothe issue. China is ready tocommunicate and coordinatewith all sides including Indiato properly handle this issue,”he said. The Security Council1267 Committee has clearstandards on the procedures ofdesignating terrorist organi-sations and individuals, Lusaid. PTI

Caracas: A “terrorist attack”ruptured storage tanks at aheavy oil processing plant ineastern Venezuela, Oil MinisterManuel Quevedo said onThursday, blaming the UnitedStates and opposition chiefJuan Guaido.

No casualties were report-ed in the incident that occurredlate on Wednesday at the PetroSan Felix facility located on theoutskirts of the Venezuelancity of Barcelona in whichthree tanks caught fire.

Quevedo blamed Guaido,the head of Venezuela’s oppo-sition-ruled legislature and self-proclaimed interim presidentbacked by 50 countries, accus-ing him of collusion with theUnited States. “There was a ter-rorist act that we denounce atan international level,”Quevedo told state televisionnetwork VTV. AFP

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The head of Saudi Arabia’s Human Rights

Commission says judicialauthorities in the kingdomhave held three court sessions over the killing ofWashington Postjournalist JamalKhashoggi, calling itan “unfortunate acci-dent” and a “heinouscrime.”

Bandar binMohammed Al-Aiban replied sim-ply that the case was“in the courts” in Saudi Arabiawhen asked by a reporter to

respond to calls that the kingdom accept interna-tional support in investigatingthe killing.

Al-Aiban spoke as the 47-member Human RightsCouncil conducted Thursday aregular review of Saudi Arabia’s

human rights record, aperiodic process facedby all UN Memberstates.

He said his coun-try “refutes complete-ly” calls for parts of thelegal process to be“internationalised,”saying such demands

cast doubt on the integrity ofthe Saudi judicial system.

Washington: US PresidentDonald Trump on Wednesdayannounced a plan to ground allBoeing 737 MAX aircraft amidintense international and polit-ical pressure following the sec-ond deadly crash in less thanfive months. “We’re going to beissuing an emergency order ofprohibition regarding all flightsof the 737 MAX 8 and 737MAX 9,” Trump told reportersthe White House. AFP

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After being banned for eightmonths by the censor board, No

Fathers in Kashmir will finally bereleased across the country.

The film made headlines earli-er this week when it finally got jus-tice and the U/A certificate that ithad been fighting for all thesemonths.

The film is directed by AshvinKumar, who has previously beennominated for an Oscar for hisshort film, Little Terrorist, and haswon two National awards for his eyeopening films on Kashmir —Inshallah Football and InshallahKashmir. No Fathers in Kashmir isthe third in his Kashmir trilogy. Thefilm runs on themes of hope, peaceand humanity, with a bold tagline,Everybody thinks they knowKashmir.

Besides being its writer anddirector, Ashvin also stars as one oflead characters of the film, besidesSoni Razdan, KulbhushanKharbanda, Anshuman Jha andMaya Sarao.

The film is slated to release onApril 5.

Embroidery hold instinctive appealfor internationally-acclaimeddesigner Rahul Mishra. The physi-

cist-turned-artist grew up in the sleepyvillage of Malhausi, 83 km from Kanpur

city. What was simply a delightful recre-ational activity in childhood, became a pre-cious treasure trove of inspiration to dealwith existential philosophies of adulthoodfor him. The artistic genesis of life, the spir-ituality in its pre-ordained symphony, therole of change in igniting its versatility, theyall began to captivate him.

He feels that his collection for LotusMake-up India Fashion Week (LMIFW)looks back on a decade long journey, whichbegan with the exploration of an impor-tant fact of life — metamorphosis. He says,“I didn’t consciously intend to make theconcept a brand signature, when Ilaunched ‘The Butterfly Effect’ back in2010. Maybe, it has become one now,because that first exploration was hon-est, straight from my heart, steeped inthe metamorphosis of the artist fromthe physicist.” Since he’s learningsomething new with each day, thismetamorphosis is continuous, bothwithin him and his brand.

“The celebratory collectionwould be incomplete without atribute to embroidery,” he says.They have come alive throughintelligent separates. They

have a strong aura ofdynamism in them

because of the interplaybetween architectural

silhouettes, vibrantcolours, as well as

prints and motifsinspired by the

unapologetic,u n b r i d l e d

beauty ofnature.

R a h u lhas tried his

best to progressively build a craft-based lin-eage that empowers the artisan. This lin-eage, at the heart of his brand DNA, is inturn a tribute to the universal DNA thathas created a kaleidoscopic lineage of thriv-ing life on this planet. In elevating the arti-sanal spirit and honouring the creativespark that gives it shape and form he hopesto pay his dues to the beautiful life.

The designer says that his sacredrelationship with metamorphic memoriesfuelled the shape-shiftinglevel of embroidery thatdefined his debut collec-tion. Inspired by thetessellated prints of MCEscher’s woodcuts, thesechanging embroiderypatterns seem to givethe garment a life of itsown. The depiction oflife in motion remainsto tell the tale of thehands that made them.

He says, “As timepassed, I found that thephysicist within meawoke from his deepslumber and producedthe 2018 Spectral ForestDoppler dress. I meta-morphosed into aFather. Growing up, Iknew little of the worldI saw and more of theworld I imagined. I want my daughter,Aarna to develop a fertile imagination too.I want to teach her how spending time innature is the only way out.”

Rahul narrates how once he andAarna sat for sketching in a village nearNainital. Bold blue hydrangeas of varyingsizes and distinctive tints inspired him tocreate life-like renditions for the 2019Spring/Summer collection.

He says, “It took months of arduousresearch and development to achieve arefined surface. But, the hand-embroidered

organza petals in shades of blue, appliquédonto light fabrics and embellished withSwarovski crystals, form a story in them-selves of how the flawed perfection of thehuman hand can imitate and imbibedivine perfection.”

A private tour of Musee d’Orsay in2016 brought him closer to the surrealistmagic of Van Gogh. His ‘sunflowers’series reminded him of the flowers grow-ing wild and free in Malhausi.

He says, “The sweet nostalgiamanifests itself in thediaphanous silk gown fromFall 2017-18, which graced therunway yesterday at LMIFW.”

Many of the looks in thiscollection have never beenshowcased in India.

Rahul says, “They are rem-iniscent of the 10 Paris FashionWeek collections, that havegiven me the privilege of pre-senting the best of Indian hand-icrafts on an international plat-form. The collection includes arange of fabrics and techniques,from gossamer tulle and organ-za to plush velvets; and tradi-tional aari work with reshamthreads, to French knotsinspired by pointillism art. Theidea is to combine Easternmysticism with Western metic-

ulousness and highlight the over-lap, so as to demonstrate that the worldshares common ideas of timeless intrica-cy and elegance in fashion.”

With the ‘Rahul Mishra in Retrospect’essence of this collection, he wishes toshare a message which is close to his heart— completing a full circle and thenreturning to the source is a celebration ofour roots and a testament to our ever-evolving aesthetic. As Rumi once said, “Letthe beauty of what you love be what youdo.”

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Single-screen theatres todayhave become as outdated as

pinball games and tamagotchis.With the advent of plush multi-plexes, their era has long died.And today’s cinema houses aretweaked to cater different kinds ofaudience at the same time.

Making headway with theadvancement of technology anddigitisation, it suddenly wentmissing and could hardly evencome into people’s notice. ActorAli Fazal’s forthcoming film,Milan Talkies is one such filmwhich he feels is a great tribute toall those old classics, iconic actorsand single-screen cinema houses.

Ambition, passion, love andpolitics is what dominates thetrailer of the film, he explains. Aliis from Uttar Pradesh in the filmand aspires to be the greatest film-maker in the country. The trailermakes it eveident that he will beseen paying tribute to legends likePrithviraj Kapoor and DilipKumar from Mughal-e-Azam, andAmitabh Bachchan from Deewar,while the film itself is a specialhonour to Tigmanshu’s (Dhulia)passion for filmmaking.

It took nearly four years forAli to grab the lead role of the

film. He explains why, “I had goneto congratulate Tigmanshu forPaan Singh Tomar (2012) and atthat time Milan Talkies wasalready the talk of the town.Then four years later, he called mefor the same film. It was my fatethat it came to me. I just couldn’tput it down. It was right afterMirzapur. It’s very special to mebecause I am really fond ofTigmanshu’s style of working. Heteaches you to make a mark as anindividual in the industry. Heknows Bollywood like nobodyelse.”

Ali smilingly tells us, “Thisfilm is a simple story, also quirkyin its own way but the romance ofcinema has its own novelty.”

Ali has experienced workingin both the industries, Bollywoodas well as Hollywood. The Victoriaand Abdul actor says that there’sa huge difference of culturesbetween both. “When I am doinga film like Victoria... I am differ-ent in my approach, but here, inBollywood, our celebrations areloud. We express emotions in away that no one can. But if we talkabout the similarity, I think boththe industries are working on par-ticular themes. For them, it is

heavier on super hero films, and forus, it is the theme of realism which ismaking a good amount.”

Ali feels that it’s the need of thehour to work on more good contentwhen it comes to evolution of cinema.He says, “With digital platforms likeNetflix and Amazon, you are alreadycompeting on a global level. You can-not send in garbage, it won’t work. Sowe have to strengthen the quality — interms of content.”

He feels that we have had great cin-ema in the 1960s and 70s, but some-where post that, “we went down. Thenwe tried to come up again and here weare now. Because of the competitionlevel, in the idea of cinema, realism hasto be the spine. The reception of webshows is growing larger than films now.This must make one wonder why notfilms at the same level? We have thepotential, the writers, directors, and sto-ries — the major reason that the talesare coming from our own heartland.”

Ali will soon be working withactors Sanjay Dutt and ManishaKoirala in a remake of a Telugupolitical thriller, Prasthanam. Hesays, “Sometimes a story hits you andthis is the reason of remaking the film.We are all in the same country andsometimes a regional film mighthave a really good story that mightconnect well with someone else-where. So why not remake a region-al film? There’s a justification foreverything.”

(The film is slated to release onMarch 15.)

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It’s rightly said, ‘Chefs canserve as an importantbridge to other cultures.’As French chef Julien

Royer, co-owner of Odette, atwo Michelin-starred Frenchrestaurant at the NationalGallery, Singapore, comes toMasters of Marriott, he talksabout how experimenting withthe Indian cuisine, he is all setto present a five-course mod-ern French meal to the city.

What made you take up theMasters of the Marriott initia-tive?What I truly love about it isthat it’s an initiative that cele-brates the pursuit of consistentinnovation and excellence aswell as global talent. It hasemerged as a front-runner inthe world of hospitality andwhat better than to join forceswith those who are leaders inthe industry. Through this,chefs and mixologists fromacross the globe have theopportunity to showcase theircraft, learn about a variety ofglobal cuisines and engagewith culinary enthusiasts fromacross India. I chose to associ-ate with them because I res-onate with Marriott’s food phi-losophy that chefs are artistswho are skilled at creatingawe-inspiring gastronomic

experiences.

How does it add to yourlearning curve? Since thiswill also be your first visit tothe capital, what are youanticipating?Travelling to new cities andcountries with different foodcultures is always a learningexperience. I look forward tovisiting Delhi’s hidden gemsand discovering the NorthIndian cuisine more closely. Ilook forward to interactingwith our guests at the dinner.

How have you experimentedwith Indian flavours in your

kitchen?For the dinner in Delhi, we aregoing to use a lot of Indianflavours and techniques. I’mthinking of making a tandoorilamb, and using ingredientssuch as Indian saffron, roseand lychee for the other dish-es.

French chef Michel Bras inLaguiole is known for instill-ing in himself a respect forthe integrity of each ingredi-ent and a commitment toshowcasing its bri l liantflavours. How did you incor-porate this in your cooking?I believe that the fundamental

pleasures of enjoying a mealare delivered in the mostthoughtful, welcoming andhospitable manner. We havetaken time to forge lastingrelationships with some of thefinest boutique producers fromacross the globe — includingsuppliers from Japan, Franceand Australia. I take pride inoffering guests a unique oppor-tunity to taste these exception-al ingredients at their peak. Wecelebrate and respect seasonal-ity, terroir as well as the skillsof some of the world’s top bou-tique producers.

In Singapore, which are some

of the Indian restaurants thatyou’ve eaten at? What arethe flavours that you exploredand liked the most?

I particularly love thebiryani from BismillahBiryani in Singapore. It’s theonly dish they serve and inlimited quantities every day.

How and why did you choosecooking as a profession?My grandmother Odette hasbeen one of the greatest influ-ences in my life. Watching mygrandmother cook, I realisedthe kind of joy and love onecan demonstrate through food.The kind of emotions that canbe passed through food wasthe impetus for me to startcooking. I wanted to tell storiesthrough my food.

Moreover, people wantcomfort and good food isalways the best way to put asmile back on someone’s face.

You were also cooking in theFrench West Indies. Whatwere the learnings along theway?The diversity of cuisines andthe power of food.

What are the essentials ofyour cooking?Honesty, terroir, produce andpeople.

Whatis signa-ture of theOdette experience?Odette signifies a celebration ofthe people who grow and nur-ture our produce; those whocook; the people who serve;and the ones who entrust uswith the honour of servingthem.

Do you also like to cook athome? What would a meal athome cooked by you look like?Yes I do. And when I cook, Ireally cook.

An example of a mealcooked by me at home would bestarting off with a cold seafooddish — maybe a nice tartare ora ceviche, followed by a roast-ed lamb leg on a bed of potatoes,punctuated with a big cheeseboard and finished with some-thing fresh and sweet. Andmaybe a fruit salad.

The nation relieved a sigh ofrelief the moment the news ofWing CommanderAbhinandan Varthaman’shomecoming broke on nation-

al television. While artists made sketch-es and paintings paying a tribute to him,Twitterati filled the internet with varioushashtags that went viral throughout thenight. He became the toast and hero ofthe country overnight.

Well, the celebration of this brave-heart’s return from the face of death does-n’t seem to be over yet. As part of the 14thedition of the Culinary Art India 2019,Jitender Singh, chef at The Ashok Hotel,pays tribute to the commander by creat-ing yet another masterpiece.

The chef carved out Abhinandan’s“iconic” moustache on the watermelon,along with Jai Hind in Devanagari script,a couple of army men, Amar Jawan Jyotion Pumpkin, MIG 21 on Yam and high-est honour of bravery, the Ashok Chakraon Honeydew Melon. He was awardedwith a silver medal, scoring the highest

at the competition. As the carving has become the talk

of the town, we question him that howdid he come up with such an idea. Well,for him, the idea behind this creation wasvery “simple.” “Whatever happened at theborders in the last few weeks was veryfresh in our minds. What commanderAbhinandan did for the country isbeyond courage and bravery. Being ahotelier and a chef, it’s not possible forme to go to the frontline but I can alwayscontribute and pay regards with the tal-ent I have. Hence, through this fruit carv-ing, I wanted to pay tribute to the bravepilot, our Army men and other defenceforces. The carving is a mark of respectto our soldiers and their sacrifice andbravery. I wanted to beautifully depictAbhinandan’s heroism through the skillI have developed so far. The image wasin my mind and I just wanted to give ita shape. Nothing could have been betterthan this — to pay homage through myart to our armed forces,” says he.

Winning the competition was neverthe motive behind car ving theCommander’s face for Jitender. He says,“For me, as a chef, my medium ofexpression is food. Through food, we re-ignite all the five senses of our body. Ichose his face as my medium of expres-sion as I wanted to pay tribute to his val-our and at the same time present some-thing that is one of its kind.” For him, thiswas a perfect blend and his recipe for suc-cess.

The chef apprises us that he has

always had a passion and an inclinationtowards creative arts like painting andsketching. And as he entered the culinaryworld, fruit and vegetable carving, hesays, “re-ignited my passion for arts andI started doing it for plating techniquesat state banquets.”

Even back in my hotel managementdays, I used to experiment with variousfruits and vegetables, it has been a longtime but that hasn’t settled the fire in mybelly to learn newer techniques in foodcraving and grow in the space.

Fruit carving is one of the oldest tra-ditions followed in Oriental countries likeChina, Japan, Thailand and some otherAsian countries in particular. Whilefruit carving can also be done on otherfruits such as carrots, papaya, pumpkins,etc., the chef explain why he chose onlywatermelon to carve, “Watermelon carv-ings appear to be highly attractive onaccount of its varied colours and sizes. Iprefer the fruit as my carving centerpiecebecause it adds a vibrant colour effect onthe display. The contrasting colours ofmelons (three layers) lend a striking effectto the finished product, making them allthe more appealing.”

He believes that watermelon carvingcan be great fun with the kids too. “Infact, being an excellent source of vitaminand a tasty fruit, kids can have a greattime learning this art and absorbing thebenefits of it. Lastly, it also provides whatwe call in culinary terminology — HSP(Hard, Soft and Plum) textures thatmakes the carving more efficient.”

The chef feels that a culinary carverturns fruits and vegetables into magnif-icent shapes and decorative master-pieces. Carved vegetables and fruitsenhance the buffet table, which was ini-tially a Thai art but today has becomeglobally popular.

This intricate art of fruit carving hasgained a lot of popularity over recentyears, he says, “People are giving greatimportance to aesthetics as this paves theway to a man’s stomach. Sculpturedpieces of fruits simply attract and anyvegetable or fruit can be turned into astunning piece of art with imagination.”

He says that the future of culinarycarving is bright as people are becomingmore aware of the “importance of foodpresentation. These skills are built for themasses.” He asks the masses to “Pick upyour knife. It is not important what theend result is, what matters is that youtried.”

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Even though the idea of exper-imenting with options avail-able for the United Kingdom

bound flight for the ICC World Cupwhich starts from May 30th incricket's birthplace didn't reallyclicked out for India in the recent-ly concluded five-match One Dayseries against Australia. Indianskipper Virat Kohli feels that thelost series has helped him to jerk offall the confusions about the teamcombination by giving him a clearpicture of India's playing eleven atthe marquee event.

Speaking after India's defeat inthe final game on Wednesday at hishome ground Feroz Shah Kotla,which cost India's its first homeseries defeat since October 2015local lad Kohli said, "As a side com-bination wise we are very sorted forthe World Cup. Depending on theconditions there (in England) onecan see max only one change in theWorld Cup side. But we are veryclear about the eleven that we aregoing to play with," he said.

In the course of the series, Indiatried various combinations,whether it was the hit and trialmethod to choose between AmbatiRayudu, KL Rahul and RishabhPant for the still to figure numberfour spot in the playing eleven orexperimenting with the successfulwrist spin duo of Yuzvendra Chahaland Kuldeep Yadav with Jadeja asthe other preferable option becauseof his ability to go handy with thebat too. None of it really worked outfor India as the moves backfiredand India paid its price by losingseries against a depleted Australianside that was touring with some oftheir premier names.

However, the Indian skippersaid he won't excuse experimentsfor the harsh result in home turfand believes that the side is well bal-anced and good to go and competeat the World Cup.

"We definitely will not look ourexperiments as an excuse for theseries defeat. Anyone who plays forIndia is expected to come anddeliver that performance. Even if wego with the same eleven (the WorldCup playing 11) and don't performaccordingly then one can't say thatwe picked the wrong players. So Ithink what we need to breakdownis the decisions what we didn't takeright."

"As a side, we are very balanced.Hardik will also get back into themix. With his inclusion in theside, we get more bowling options

along with the fact that he addsdepth to our batting unit. So weknow where we have to go as acombination. Our eleven is veryclear in our mind; it's just that weneed to take good decisions in pres-sure situations to go far in theWorld Cup. So this is the thing thatwe want to focus on and now thereis no confusion about combinationor team. We are very clear," headded.

Quizzed about the idea behindopting for changes in the last seriesbefore World Cup, Indian captainsaid that he wanted to test his sidein pressure situations and see howthe players respond but there wasno noticeable resistance both byIndian batsmen and bowlers.

While the bowlers failed torestrict run flow in the slog oversin Mohali, it was a combined bat-ting failure in the series decider atDelhi where India could neverreally recovered after the earlydeparture of 'King Kohli'.

"We expect the guys to takeresponsibility and pressure andhence we expose guys to these kindsof pressure situations where a seriesis on the line. We expected some-one to step up. It happens some-

times and sometimes not but unlessyou try you wouldn't know. Sothat's exactly what we wanted to doin these games, he answered.

However, on being asked aboutthe readiness of Pant and Rayuduto come and play responsible knockat pressure situation during WorldCup, the world number one bats-man said that he cannot commentabout who should take pressure tillthe time squad is announced.

"I can't comment on that in theWorld Cup who is going to takepressure or they should be or theyshouldn't be. One has to wait untilthe side is announced. You can't lit-erally speak about any of the com-binations of the team that is goingto go to the World Cup unless theside is announced."

"But having said that beingany International game, whoeverplays, whoever gets the chance toplay, we expect that guy to takeresponsibility and pressure."

The skipper also creditedAustralia for the historic comebackin the hard-fought series win andreferred it as the better unit in thedue course of series.

"The fact that they came andwin here reflects that they played

better than us. They deserve to winthe last three games. In the first twogames, we showed composure. Butthen we lost three, against theteam that has been more passion-ate and more energetic than us inpressure moments. And they havegrabbed the crucial moments in thegame better than us and theydeserve to win."

"The moment they sensed thatthey had a foot in the door theymade sure that they let us close thedoor in the series. They deservecredit because they are a veryyoung and inexperienced side com-pared to us they showed more heartand confidence in the precioussituations and they believed thatthey can play better cricket incrunch moments. "

"The win is good for Australianside as well. They have won a bigseries like this against India athome. It's good for their confi-dence."

Dismissing the talks about theon-field conditions going againstIndia in the last three games espe-cially in Mohali. The skipper said,"We can't get a breakdown by ourown conditions. It's just that they(Australia) were more composed in

pressure moments and more posi-tive and brave in precious situa-tions. And hence they won thoseimportant moments in the game."

"And when you capitalize onprobably every important momentthat comes in the game as a side itgets very difficult to go past thatside. The way they batted in Mohaliafter Maxwell got out chasing 130odd in 13 overs was an outstand-ing effort and even here (in Delhi)and in Ranchi as well that constantpressure on us throughout and theareas that they bowl really made usplay those shots that we played. Sothe credit has to be given where itis due and we certainly were not upto the mark and they were andhence as I said the deserving win-ners."

He also shrugged off thethought that it affected India'smindset in any which way, "Noneof the guys in the changing roomare panicking or not feeling downafter this defeat because we knowthe things that we were wanting todo in these last three games."

"Us as a side we feel pretty bal-anced and it's just in the pressuremoments, they showed more com-posure than us," he said.

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With the cricket's biggestshowpiece event less than

three months away, Indian skip-per refused to term any side asfavorites to lift the upcoming ICCWorld Cup in England startingfrom May 30.

After the shocking defeat byhands of defending WorldChampions at home in the lastinternational assign-ment before the galaevent, talismanicbatsman who willlead India as theprime contender forthe glor y inEngland said thatthe tournament willbe an evenly poisedcontest terming allthe ten participatingside as a threat andcapable enough oflifting the trophy.

"Well, honestly every team inthe World Cup is a threat. Anyonewho gets on a roll in the tourna-ment like this is difficult to stopthat team and having said that ateam having said that a team ona roll can be knocked out in thesemis or even in the final they canbe defeated immediately by aside that is more brave on thatparticular day. And who wants itmore and is more expressive as aside."

"I don't think that any team inmy eyes starts at the World Cupas favorites."

"You have to play good crick-et to win a World Cup."

He also reflected upon theidea of making smart decisions onthe field in order to make themost of any opportunity availablesaying a skipper is as good as hisside is.

"You are as good as a side youare in, if you don't make gooddecisions there's no guaranteethat the other team is just goingto come and hand you victory ona plate. So any team is dangerous."

Citing the exam-ple of the WestIndies, who couldturn out to be a darkhorse in the tourna-ment after holdingWorld Cup hostsEngland for seriesdraw recently, hesaid that as the tour-nament is gettingclose, everything isgetting exciting and

the mindset will playa big part.

"You see how the West Indieshave come along. They are goingto be a serious threat in theWorld Cup as well because of thebalance they have been able tocrack. England has been a verystrong side. Australia is now look-ing balanced. We are a strong side.New Zealand is good. Pakistancan defeat anyone on their day."

"It's very important to under-stand what mindset you are tak-ing into the World Cup. And I amsure every team would want totake the best mindset they possi-bly can. And according to me, noone starts as favorites for WorldCup," he said.

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Kolkata Knight Riders assistant coach SimonKatich is confident that their captain Dinesh

Karthik will once again excel in his designatedfinisher's role, making a case for his selection inIndia's World Cup squad.

Karthik, who didn't play the one-dayersagainst Australia, is back in the mix afterRishabh Pant's failure to grab the chance.

Asked about his batting position, Katichdropped a hint that the KKR skipper would usethe Indian Premier League to showcase his skillset in pressure games.

"I think what Dinesh brings in his experience(in crunch situations). He has played that role verywell for India and for us. You know what you willget from him down the innings. He is hard tobowl to," Katich told reporters on Thursday.

"So he will be in the mix for the World Cup.It will give the Indian selectors a tough job to pickwith so much talent around," he added.

He was all praise for young Shubman Gill,who, he though, will play across formats for India.

"I am sure pretty soon he will be permanent-ly in the Indian setup. He obviously has got tal-ent and had a fantastic IPL last year."

The former Australia left-handed batsmanwas happy that the team had a great limited overs

series in India."Losing to India in Australia was tough for

Australians to take. Full credit for the way theyplayed. They deserved to win," said Katich.

He was all praise for the top order."The top order was outstanding especially

Khawaja, Ashton Turner was great too. Ahead ofWorld Cup, important decisions are there for theselectors to take. Having Smith and Warner backbefore World Cup gives us more confidence."

The Australian team is peaking at the righttime, felt Katich.

"Their form hasn't been brilliant in the lastfew months but World Cup cricket is all aboutplaying six weeks brilliantly," said Katich, who wasan integral part of both Tests and ODI side dur-ing his playing days.

����� 1/2��/'3+�

Former Australian captainMichael Clarke on Thursday

warned critics to "never underes-timate" the importance of veteranMahendra Singh Dhoni in theIndian limited overs teams.

Clarke tweeted after theAustralian team beat fancied Indiain the fifth and final ODI for astunning come-from-behind 3-2series win.

"Never underestimate theimportance of MSD — experiencein the middle order is so impor-tant," Clarke, a World Cup-win-ning captain, wrote on his twitterhandle about the seasoned playerwho has also led his country to twoWorld Cup triumphs in 2007 and2015.

����� +1��/�

Opener Mayank Agarwal smashed anunbeaten 85 off 57 balls as Karnataka

dished out a clinical all-round performanceto beat Maharashtra by eight wickets andlift the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy onThursday.

Karnataka bowlers, led by experiencedAbhimanyu Mithun (2-24), put up a spir-ited show to restrict Maharashtra to 155/4despite an unbeaten 69 by all-rounderNaushad Shaikh.

Later, they overhauled the target withAgarwal and Rohan Kadam (60 off 39balls) striking half-centuries.

Karnataka chased the target with nineballs to spare and ended their otherwiseordinary season on a high.

Chasing 156, the duo kept on scoringat a brisk pace and took a listlessMaharashtra attack to cleaners in their 92-run stand for the second wicket, which laidfoundation of the eight-wicket win.

Karnataka were cruising at 106/1 in 12overs and needed 50 runs. But thenKadam threw his wicket away. However,

Kadam's departure did not deter Agarwalfrom playing his natural game as he andKarun Nair (8 not out) then took the side

home.Put into bat, Maharashtra posted a

respectable 155/4 on the board courtesyShaikh's unbeaten 69 off 41 balls.

Shaikh along with 'ever reliable' AnkitBawne (29 off 25 balls) rallied theMaharashtra innings with their 81-runstand for the fourth wicket after theSurendra Bhave coached team was in a spotof bother at 55-3.

Then Shaikh and Bawne not only tookthe opposition bowlers to task, but also inthe process pulled the team out of trouble.Shaikh struck five fours and three sixes,while Bawne hammered four boundaries.

The loss Meant that Maharashtra willhave to wait longer for a major Domestictitle.BRIEF SCORES: Maharashtra 155/4 (Naushad Shaikh 69 not out, Rahul Tripathi30, Ankit Bawne 29; Abhimanyu Mithun2-24) lost to Karnataka 159/2 (MayankAgarwal 85 not out, Rohan Kadam 60; DM Hinganekar 1-21) by 8 wickets.

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With the 12th edition ofIndian Premier League

about to start in less than tendays time, Indian skipper ViratKohli urges his players to smart-ly manage their workload in theupcoming season since it will betheir responsibility to stay fit andfresh for the ICC World Cup.

With the popular T20 tour-nament ending just a few daysbefore the World Cup, the crick-et boards have been cautiousabout their top player's partici-pation in the league, puttingnational duty above league com-mitments.

Kohli said it's not that he isasking the Indian players not tobe committed to their IPL teamsbut to be smart and aware dur-ing the course of the tournament.

"All the workload will bemonitored and given a window,the guys can afford to rest. TheWorld Cup comes every fouryears and we play IPL every year,"

the Royal Challengers Bangaloreskipper said.

"Not to say we won't becommitted to the IPL but we'vegot to be smart. We have to workin balance and make smart deci-sions.

"The responsibility and theonus is on the player. No one willbe forced to do something.Eventually, no one wants to missthe World Cup and cost the

team good balance," added Kohli.The modern-day batting leg-

end added that he is proud ofIndia's achievements in the "hec-tic" season and would like hisplayers to enjoy the IPL now.

"From that point of view, Ithink all of us just deserve to goto the IPL and just enjoy thesetwo months and not think of per-formance pressure that I have todo this or that," he said.

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Former champions RogerFederer and Rafael Nadal

edged closer to a blockbustersemi-final showdown at theATP Indian Wells Masters onWednesday with brisk fourth-round wins.

World number two Nadaloverpowered Serbian qualifi-er Filip Krajinovic 6-3, 6-4 tobook his quarter-final berth inone hour and 26 minutes.

Federer, seeking a recordsixth title in the Californiadesert, needed just 64 minutesto get past Britain's KyleEdmund 6-1, 6-4.

Nadal said his perfor-mance on a windy stadiumcourt wasn't as good as his 6-3, 6-1 third-round win overArgentine DiegoSchwartzman.

But he was more than amatch for 113th-rankedKrajinovic, breaking him earlyin each set and saving the onlybreak point he faced.

Nadal, who lifted theIndian Wells trophy in 2007,2008 and 2013, is in the lasteight for the first time inthree years after missing lastyear's edition, skipping bothIndian Wells and the MiamiMasters with a hip injury.

He next will take on 13th-ranked Russian KarenKhachanov, who beat world

number nine John Isner 6-4,7-6 (7/1).

Khachanov produced justone ace to the big-servingAmerican's 12 but stretchedhis record over Isner to 4-0.

Fourth-seeded Federer,fresh off his 100th career title,looked poised to finish offEdmund in less than an hour.

But the Swiss great had tofight off three break points ashe served for the match, justa small speed bump in amatch that he took charge ofearly.

"He didn't have the beststart, so that cost him the firstset," Federer said. "Secondset, it was definitely better. Ithink he probably struggledthroughout a little bit. Henever really got going.

"Conditions are toughwith the glare, and the jumpof the ball it's sometimes hardto find the rhythm and tim-ing."

Federer will fight for asemi-final berth against 22-year-old Pole Hubert Hurkacz.

Hurkacz, ranked 67th in

the world, sent 25th-rankedCanadian Denis Shapovalovpacking 7-6 (7/3), 2-6, 6-3.

Although he'll be an over-whelming favorite againstHurkacz, Federer said hewouldn't take a semi-finalmeeting with Nadal for grant-ed.

"I hope I can get there,"Federer said, "but I'm notgoing to underestimateHubert."

�� �����������E��A day after world number

one Novak Djokovic tumbledout of the third round, 19-year-old Miomir Kecmanovickept the Serbian flag flying.

Kecmanovic became thefirst lucky loser to reach thelast eight at Indian Wells sincethe ATP's Masters 1000 serieslaunched in 1990.

Kecmanovic, ranked130th in the world, had takenthe first set against YoshihitoNishioka 6-4 when the 74th-ranked Japanese retiredbecause of injury.

Kecmanovic, who gained

entry to the second roundwhen fifth-seeded KevinAnderson withdrew with anelbow injury, is in his firstATP quarter-final.

Kecmanovic is thelast teen left in themen's draw, after thedeparture of 19-year-old Shapovalov.

At the other end ofthe age spectrum, 40-year-old Croatian IvoKarlovic's run came to anend with a 6-4, 6-3 loss to 25-year-old seventh seedDominic Thiem.

Thiem needed less thanan hour to subdue the 89th-ranked Karlovic, surrenderingjust seven points on his ownserve and punishing Karlovic'ssecond serve.

Thiem said putting 87percent of his first serves inplay was key in his first meet-ing with Karlovic.

"I felt pretty confident onmy own service games. That'swhat I transferred also to thereturn games," he said. "Imade two breaks in the rightmoment I would say."

Thiem booked a meetingwith 18th-seeded GaelMonfils of France, who defeat-ed Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-0,6-2 in 57 minutes a day afterthe German stunned worldnumber one Novak Djokovicin the third round.

����� +1�+�1�2/''%

Bianca Andreescu's breakout season continued onWednesday as the Canadian teenager swept past two-time

Grand Slam champion Garbine Muguruza and into theIndian Wells WTA semi-finals.

Andreescu, 18 and ranked 60th in the world, won thefirst nine games on the way to a 6-0, 6-1 victory thattook just 52 minutes.

She reached her third semi-final of the seasonafter a run to the final in Auckland and the last fourin Acapulco.

"I just went out there, went for it," Andreescu said."I didn't focus on who was on the other side.

"It really helped me. I used my serve to my advantage.She didn't serve so well today, so I took advantage that aswell."

Andreescu, who began 2019 ranked 152nd in the world,is now headed for the top 40.

The win over Muguruza, now ranked 20th, followed avictory over 18th-ranked Wang Qiang of China in the fourthround and took her win-loss record to a remarkable 26-3in 2019, including qualifying matches.

Andreescu could get a shot at a top-10 player in the semi-finals, or she could find herself up against another fast-ris-ing teen.

She'll take on the winner of Wednesday's match betweenseventh-ranked Ukrainian Elina Svitolina and 19-year-oldCzech Marketa Vondrousova.

Vondrousova, who reached her second WTA final inBudapest in February, arrived in California ranked 61 in theworld and is also projected to crack the top 40 by reachingthe semis.

The remaining quarter-finals will be played on Thursday,with Belinda Bencic taking on Karolina Pliskova and VenusWilliams facing Angelique Kerber in a battle of former worldnumber ones.

Bencic, 22, stunned world number one Naomi Osaka 6-3, 6-1 in the fourth round, bringing the Japanese star's firstWTA title defense to an abrupt end.

The Swiss player is on the rise after a spate of injuriesslowed her career and is ranked 23rd in the world after claim-ing her first title in four years at Dubai last month.

����� �)1+03

Sadio Mane scored twice to steerLiverpool into the quarter-finals onWednesday after a superb 3-1 win at

Bayern Munich dumped out the Germangiants.

Having missed the goalless first leg atAnfield three weeks ago through suspen-sion, Virgil van Dijk's long pass led toMane's excellent first-half goal at theAllianz Arena.

"His first goal was ridiculous, the calm-ness with how he's finished it off,"Liverpool midfielder JamesMilner told BT Sport.

"He's on fire at the minuteand let's hope it continues forthe rest of the season."

Dutch centre-backVan Dijk then headed lastseason's runners-up Liverpoolinto a 2-1 lead from aMilner corner on 69minutes after JoelMatip's own goal hadhanded Bayern afirst-half equaliser.

Mane madeabsolutely sure ofLiverpool's place inthe quarter-finaldraw by nodding insix minutes from time.

Liverpool's 3-1 aggre-gate victory means they joinTottenham Hotspur, ManchesterCity and Manchester United in the quar-ter-finals, completing a clean sweep ofEnglish sides reaching the last eight for thefirst time since 2008/09.

It is a bleaker picture in Germany asBayern's exit leaves no Bundesliga club inthe quarters for the first time since2005/06, as Borussia Dortmund andSchalke also bowed out in the last 16 —to Tottenham and Man City respectively.

This is the first time since 2011 thatBayern have failed to make the quarter-finals.

"Both teams were very cautious for along period, but the second goal took the

belief out of us," said Bayern defender MatsHummels.

"Jurgen Klopp is good at neutralisingthe opponents' strengths and he did thatonce again.

"We didn't play well enough to createenough clear chances at this level."

Milner was preferred to Fabinho inLiverpool's midfield, but Jurgen Klopp wasforced into an early change when captain

Jordan Henderson hobbled off on 12 min-utes.

Brazilian Fabinho made an earlyentrance and Milner took the skipper'sarmband.

Klopp had urged his side to "be braveon the ball" and it was that, combined withan amazing piece of skill by Mane, whichgave them the lead.

Van Dijk's pin-point pass over 40metres found Mane in the Bayern box withgoalkeeper Manuel Neuer off his line.

Mane spun away and looped his shotinside the far post to give the visitors avaluable away goal in the 26th minute.

However, the hosts drew level six min-utes before the break when Serge Gnabryslipped his marker Andrew Robertson andhit a cross intended for RobertLewandowski.

The ball went in off Matip, who wasfocused on marking the Polish striker, tothe despair of the Liverpool centre-backand the delight of the home crowd.

The tempo of the game droppedsharply after the restart, but Bayern wast-ed a chance on the hour mark whenGnabry fired in a cross, only forLewandowski to mistime his slide.

Liverpool were heading for the quar-ter-finals when Milner swung in the sec-ond of two corners in quick succession andVan Dijk powered a header past Neuer.

Mane scored his second whenMohamed Salah's chip found him at thefar post to head home his sixth goal in fourmatches, as Liverpool's travelling fans start-ed singing "You'll Never Walk Alone",while the Bayern supporters began to slipaway.

����� �/'&�)1/�

Four-time world champion SebastianVettel on Thursday vowed to shrug off

a "disaster" 2018 and topple arch-rivalLewis Hamilton, with his refreshed teampassionate about returning Ferrari to thetop.

The German won the opening race ofthe season in Melbourne last year andbacked it up with victory at the next inBahrain. But Hamilton roared back tosweep 11 of the remaining 19 Grand Prixand the 31-year-old is desperate to turn thetables.

"There is a lot of passion inside thisteam willing to get out and to express our-selves through winning I think is the bestwe can do," he said.

"So that's the target. So far the atmos-phere is good, the spirit is right within theteam and we will try to carry that into the

season."Vettel is a winner and having to settle

for second in the drivers and constructorschampionship last year was tough to take.

He said it was normal for Ferrari fansto consider finishing runner-up a "disas-ter".

"You know the winner takes it all. Lewishas been in that position the last couple ofyears and we will try to turn it around," hesaid.

"In the end we are racing for Ferrariand we will try to get Ferrari back to wherewe've been trying to get it back to for thepast few years."

Ferrari haven't won the constructors'title since 2008 and their last drivers' crowncame in 2007 through Kimi Raikkonen.

The Italian team have a new look head-ing into the season, with tech chief MattiaBinotto replacing Maurizio Arrivabene asteam principal and young gun Charles

Leclerc in for the experienced Raikkonen.Asked if Ferrari were in a better situ-

ation now than 12 months ago, the 31-year-old replied: "Yeah quite frankly because lastyear's winter testing didn't go well for us.

"We had some issues with the car tofix. We got a bit lucky during the raceweekend (in Melbourne) with the safetycar to grab the win.

"In this regard we are more prepared.Our car seems to work fine, there are noproblems at this stage."

But he added: "It's a tough weekendahead of us." Despite his huge experience,Vettel admitted to being "a bit nervous"ahead of the 2019 campaign.

"You don't know exactly where youare, you don't know what's going to hap-pen," he said.

"At this point we are all hunters andwe are all the hunted. We have zeropoints."

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Manchester City midfielderBernardo Silva's stunning form

this season was rewarded with a newsix-year deal on Wednesday.

The Portuguese playmaker hasarguably been the English champi-ons' player of the year so far, scor-ing nine goals in 40 appearances.

"It's an honour to extend my dealwith Manchester City," Silva said ina club statement. "This club offerseverything a player needs to fulfiltheir ambitions and there's nowhereelse I want to be.

"As soon as I heard City want-ed me to stay longer, my mind wasmade up. I love the club, the man-ager, the players and the fans.

"The style of football we playhere excites me, and I am deter-mined to win more trophies. Citygives me the best chance of doingthat."

Silva has already won a PremierLeague title and two League Cupssince joining from Monaco for areported £43 million ($56 million)in 2017.

"Under the guidance of Pep andthe backroom staff we have here, weexpect to see him develop into oneof the world's best players over thecoming years," said City's director offootball Txiki Begiristain.

"Bernardo is an exceptional tal-ent, so offering him a new deal andensuring he spends the best years ofhis career with us was a very easydecision.

"We are constructing a side thatwill provide a platform for sustainedsuccess. Bernardo fits neatly into ourplan."

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Lionel Messi came up justshort of matching Cristiano

Ronaldo's hat-trick a day earli-er but still scored twice and setup two more as Barcelona beatLyon 5-1 on Wednesday to reachthe quarter-finals.

After Ronaldo's treble onTuesday for Juventus sentAtletico Madrid packing inTurin, Messi delivered his ownsymphony at the Camp Nou,where Lyon were outplayed savefor a very brief period in the sec-ond half when they threatened acomeback in this last-16 tie.

"Cristiano yesterday (onTuesday) was impressive," Messisaid afterwards. "It was a big sur-prise because I thought Atleticowould be stronger but Cristianohad a magical night."

A 0-0 draw in France in thefirst leg last month meant Lyonalways had a chance to makeBarca nervous, but Messi's sump-tuously chipped penalty and asimple finish from PhilippeCoutinho looked to have fin-ished them off before half-time.

Yet Lucas Tousart's volley leftLyon one goal away from puttingBarcelona out, only for Messi totake charge again. He scoredonce more, before teeing upGerard Pique and OusmaneDembele to complete the victo-ry.

Messi now has 108 goals inthe Champions League, behind

Ronaldo's imperious 124, but hislatest double takes his team onestep closer to the trophy theycrave the most.

Barcelona go into Friday'sdraw for the last eight as the soleSpanish representative, alongwith Juventus, ManchesterUnited, Manchester City,Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur,Porto and Ajax.

The last time Spain only hadone team left at this stage was2010 and after defeats forAtletico and Real Madrid, itwas up to Barca to avert a firstSpanish blackout since 2005.

Coutinho had been whistledoff by his own fans last weekendbut was picked to start, preferredto Dembele who had just recov-ered from a hamstring strain.The Brazilian was bright, enjoy-ing one of his best performancesin weeks.

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