1 ,* 2 +!, #˛-./ - ˙ = ˜ =77’&=/> ’ 7-89-&2*/ 1 …...Refuting the report, Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said, “The update of the report of

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The Congress-Janata Dal(S)coalition Government in

Karnataka plunged into a deep-er crisis on Monday with twoMinisters — H Nagesh and RShankar, who are IndependentMLAs — submitting their res-ignation to the State Governor.Thirteen other MLAs — 10from the Congress and threefrom the JD(S) — have alreadyput in their papers and areheaded for Goa from Mumbai,where they were staying toward off overtures from theirrespective parties.

As a last-ditch effort to savethe Government, Ministersfrom both the Congress andthe JD(S) on Monday resigned“voluntarily” to induct dissi-dents in the Cabinet. However,so far there is no indication thatany of the rebel MLAs are readyto reconsider their stand.

The resignation of the twoMinisters who were inductedinto the Government lastmonth to prevent them fromgoing to the BJP camp hascome as a major blow to theefforts of the crisis managers ofthe Congress and the JD(S).

If the 13 MLAs whoresigned earlier stick to theirstand, then along with thesetwo Ministers, they will bebring the coalitionGovernment in minority,paving the way for eitherimposition of President’s rule inthe State or installation of aBJP-led Government.

The issue echoed inParliament where the

Government denied any role inthe political turmoil even asCongress accused it of hatch-ing a conspiracy.

The BJP has “nothing todo” with whatever develop-ment is taking place inKarnataka and “we never pres-surise and engineer defections”,Union Defence MinisterRajnath Singh said in the LokSabha as Congress leader AdhirRanjan Chowdhury accusedthe BJP of “buying MLAs” inKarnataka.

The Defence Minister saidthe Government is committedto protect the dignity ofParliamentary democracy.

“Whatever is happening cur-rently in Karnataka, we have norelation with that,” he said.

Chowdhury alleged theBJP-ruled Government ishatching a conspiracy to breakthe Congress-led Governmentin Karnataka and MadhyaPradesh. “This Government issecretly hatching a conspiracyagainst the State Government.They took our MLAs to a fivestar hotel in Mumbai,”Chowdhury said.

With Karnataka ChiefMinister H D Kumaraswamy’sGovernment appearing on thebrink of collapse, the BJP onMonday demanded his imme-

diate resignation. “If at all he has dignity,

honour and self-esteem or if heis aware of Karnataka’s cultureand traditions, he shouldimmediately resign... Do nottry to stick on to the chair. Youdo not have the numbers,” for-mer Deputy CM R Ashok said.

The JD(S)-Congress coali-tion’s total strength afterNagesh and Shankar with-drawing their support is 116(Congress-78, JD(S)-37 andBSP-1), besides the Speaker.

With the support of twoIndependents, the BJP has 107MLAs in the 224-memberHouse, where the half-way

mark is 113. If the resignationsof the MLAs are accepted, thecoalition’s tally will be reducedto 104.

On a hectic day of politicalactivities, the Congress took thelead to save the Government,holding the meeting at theresidence of Deputy ChiefMinister G Parameshwara,which was attended by seniorleaders, including AICC gen-eral secretary KC Venugopal.

At the end of the meeting,the party said all its 21Ministers resigned voluntarilyto enable a reshuffle of theCabinet and make way for thedisgruntled legislators. TheJD(S) followed suit with nine ofits Ministers resigning afterKumaraswamy met theCongress leaders.

“For the larger interest ofthe party, yesterday and today,

we had detailed discussionswith senior leaders andMinisters,” Venugopal toldreporters.

The meeting was attendedby Congress Legislature PartyLeader Siddaramaiah amongothers. Siddaramaiah too saidall Congress Ministers havevoluntarily resigned and havegiven “full freedom” to theparty to reshuffle the Ministry.“All ministers from #JDS havesubmitted their resignationsjust like the 21 Ministers from#Congress. Cabinet reshufflewill happen soon, the CMOffice said in a tweet.

Under the coalitionarrangement, out of the total 34ministerial positions, theCongress and the JD(S) haveshared 22 and 12 berths respec-tively.

Continued on Page 4

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Market benchmark BSESensex on Monday plum-

meted by 793 points or 2 percent, its biggest single-day lossthis year so far, due to heavyselling in financial, auto and oilstocks as investors turned edgyafter the twin impact of Budgettax proposals and a global sell-off.

The 30-share Sensextanked 907 points in the intra-day trade before settling at38,720.57 points, showing asharp loss of 792.82 points or2.01 per cent.

The broader Nifty of theNSE tanked 252.55 points, or2.14 per cent, to close at11,558.60 points.

After the Budget presenta-tion on Friday, the market cap-italisation of BSE-listed firmsdived �5,61,772.64 crore.Sensex had dropped 394.67points on Friday.

Among the Sensex scrips,Bajaj Finance fell the most by8.18 per cent, followed byONGC at 5.43 per cent.

Auto stocks HeroMotoCorp, Maruti, TataMotors and Bajaj Auto took a

beating on reports thatautomakers have resorted toproduction cuts after decliningsales.

Hero MotoCorp declined5.3 per cent, Maruti by 5.2 percent, Tata Motors by 3.4 percent and Bajaj Auto by 2 percent. “The Budget failed torevive bullish sentimentsamong the investor communi-ty. The disappointment wasaggravated as the market’sexpectations of a stimuluspackage to revive growth werenot met. Further, expectationsof weak earnings growth in thecoming quarter are dampeningsentiments,” Sunil Sharma, theChief Investment Officer ofSanctum Wealth Managementcommented.

Among financial stocks,HDFC dropped by 0.77 percent, SBI by 4.14 per cent andAxis Bank by 2.84 per cent.

ONGC dropped 5.43 percent, L&T by 4.3 per cent andReliance Industries by 0.85 percent, dragging the index intothe negative territory.

Continued on Page 4

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India on Monday slammed aUnited Nation human rights

body’s report on Jammu &Kashmir situation and called itcontinuation of the earlier“false and motivated” narrativewhich ignored the core issue ofcross-border terrorism ema-nating from Pakistan and vio-lates India’s sovereignty and ter-ritorial integrity.

Refuting the report,Ministry of External AffairsSpokesperson Raveesh Kumarsaid, “The update of the reportof the Office of the UN HighCommissioner for HumanRights (OHCHR) is merely acontinuation of the earlier falseand motivated narrative onthe situation in the IndianState of Jammu & Kashmir. Thelegitimisation of terrorism hasbeen further compounded byan unacceptable advocacy of

the dismemberment of a UNmember state.”

India’s retort came after theGeneva-based OHCHR, whichlast year released its first-everreport on Kashmir, issued an“update” of the 2018 report onMonday, claiming that “neitherIndia nor Pakistan has takenany concrete steps to addressthe numerous concerns raised”.

The MEA said theOHCHR “update” is in com-plete variance with positions ofUN Security Council, whichhad strongly condemned thedastardly Pulwama terrorattack and subsequently pro-scribed Masood Azhar, thePakistan-based terrorist.

“A situation created byyears of cross-border terroristattacks emanating fromPakistan has been ‘analysed’

without any reference to itscausality. The OHCHR updateseems to be a contrived effortto create an artificial paritybetween the world’s largestand the most vibrant democ-racy and a country that open-ly practises state-sponsoredterrorism,” Kumar said.

The OHCHR report claimsthe civilian casualties reportedin Kashmir and Pakistan-occu-pied Kashmir from May 2018to April 2019 may be the high-est in over a decade and calledon the UN Human RightsCouncil to consider “the pos-sible establishment of a com-mission of inquiry to conducta comprehensive independentinternational investigation intoallegations of human rightsviolations in Kashmir”.

“We have registered ourstrong protest regarding theupdate with the Office of theHigh Commissioner forHuman Rights. The release ofsuch an update has not onlycalled into question the seri-ousness of OHCHR but also itsalignment with the largerapproach of the UnitedNations,” Kumar said.

Continued on Page 4

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Another fatal road accidenthas been reported from

the Yamuna Expressway. OnMonday, twenty-nine peoplewere killed and 18 injuredafter a State-run bus skidded offthe expressway and fell into alarge drain in near Etmadpur inAgra, officials said.

The bus was going fromLucknow to Delhi and had atleast 50 passengers on board,they said. “As per the DistrictMagistrate (of Agra) 29 personshave died. The bus fell into a‘nallah’ (drain),” Additional

Chief Secretary Information,Awanish Awasthi, said.

The Uttar PradeshRoadways will pay ex gratia of�5 lakh to the next of kin of thedeceased, the officials said.

At least 77 people havedied this year only in accidentson the 165-km expressway,according to RTI data accessedby NGO SaveLIFE Foundation.The NGO said 703 lives werelost in 4,880 accidents betweenAugust 2012, when the express-way was opened for commer-cial operations, and January lastyear.

Continued on Page 4

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Pakistan-based terror groupJaish-e-Mohammad (JeM)

and Ansar Ghazwatul Hind,alias al-Qaeda Kashmir, onMonday released a hit list ofnine teachers, porters and for-mer Special Police Officers(SPOs) on the third anniver-sary of Hizbul Mujahideen ter-rorist Burhan Wani’s death.Wani was killed in anencounter with security forceson July 8, 2016.

The nine mentioned bythe terror groups in the hit listare Fayaz Sheikh, Rameez Raza,Khurshid Bhatt, Mudassir LoneKeegon, Abid, Aiyaaz, BilalBhatt, Aiyaaz, alias Shirmal,and Shabbir.

The hit list also callsPakistan’s bluff as Islamabadrecently hoodwinked theFinancial Action Task Force(FATF) that it is taking actionagainst the terror groups andgot a breather of over fourmonths from being blacklistedby the international anti-ter-rorist financing body.

The terror groups havereleased the photographs of thetargets in the list. The patternof the hit list is an indicationthat the terror groups not onlywant to instigate terror amongthe people but also to give amessage to the security forcesthat they will also hit their menif the forces kill their terrorcomrades, sources said.

Continued on Page 4

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At a time when many States,including Delhi, are facing

the spectre of water crisis,Central Ground Water Board(CGWB) experts have recom-mended a scientific approachto tackle the water issues, espe-cially groundwater decline anddepletion.

As per the latest study,hydrogeologists suggest riverbasin and Aquifer Storage andRecovery (ASR) techniques toovercome the crisis. Scientistsemphasised regular aquifermapping to identify sources ofunderground water. Theunderground topography ofthe Capital has to be studied.

“With ASR, storage ofdrinking water, treated surfacewater, reclaimed wastewateror groundwater from otheraquifers is possible. In thisconcept, water is stored under-ground in a suitable aquifer

through wells and is recoveredwhen needed from the same,”said a hydrogeologist.

Speaking to The Pioneer, asenior hydrogeologist said it ispivotal to understand topog-raphy to deal with groundwa-ter decline and depletion.

“As per latest findings, ASRcan be set up at Chhatarpurbasin, Palam and Rajakori,”said the scientist who is work-ing on Delhi groundwater andaquifer mapping.

On the emphasis of thistechnology, the scientistreplied, “The challenge is notjust water quantity but qualityalso. The aim should also be toprovide safe and secure wateras per the standards of WorldHealth Organisation (WHO),and if not WHO, at least thequality of water to be suppliedto homes should satisfy thelevel prescribed by Bureau ofIndian Standards (BIS).

“With ASR, storage of

drinking water, treated surfacewater, reclaimed wastewateror groundwater from otheraquifers is possible. In thisconcept, water is stored under-

ground in a suitable aquiferthrough wells and is recoveredwhen needed from the same,”the hydrogeologist explained.

Presently, Delhi Jal Board

(DJB) is supplying 828 (MillionGallons a day) of water fromcanals against the demand of1050 MGD; and there is acuteshortage of about 300 MGD of

water that has affected tens ofthousands of people.

According to the scientist,the national Capital has thepotential to fulfill waterdemands without dependenceon neighbouring States.

Delhi Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal said the AamAadmi Party (AAP)Goverment is not willing todepend on neighbouring Statesto meet water demands. TheDelhi Government has plannedto conserve water in stretchesfrom Palla till Waziarabad. TheGovernment has claimed theregular flow of Yamuna will notbe changed and small pondswill be created and these pondswill be filled with overflowingwater during monsoon.

The scientist added that atWazirabad point, amonia lev-els are high and it may becomethe reason for serious healthproblems.

Continued on Page 4

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Against the backdrop of amajor accident on Yamuna

Expressway on Monday, UnionTransport Minister NitinGadkari said the Governmentis considering making itmandatory for manufacturersto mix silicon with rubber toimprove quality of tyres and fillthem with nitrogen to help pre-vent road accidents due to tyrebursting in excessive heat.

Making this assertion inthe Rajya Sabha, Gadkaritermed the tragedy unfortunateand said the Uttar PradeshGovernment has already set upa committee to look into rea-sons behind the accident.

The Yamuna Expresswaywas built by the UPGovernment and Gadkari saidthe Central Government is notlinked with the project.

The Ministry of RoadTransport and Highways ismandated with the task of

constructing and maintainingNational Highways in thecountry and the Noida-AgraYamuna Expressway is not aNational Highway constructedand managed by the NationalHighways Authority of India(NHAI) or the Ministry, hesaid.

The Central Governmentwill ask the Uttar PadeshGovernment to implement thecommittee recommendationsand take strict action againstthose responsible for the acci-dent and the deaths of people,Gadkari assured the Eldersduring the Question Hour.

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In their bid to re-unite miss-ing children with their fam-

ilies, Delhi Police have rescuedaround 333 children in the cur-rent year.

According to Delhi Policerecords, “From 1st January totill date, Anti HumanTrafficking Unit (AHTU) ofthe Crime Branch has rescued333 children so far from busstands and railway stations inthe national Capital in its ongo-ing initiative called ‘OperationMILAP’.

“Apart from rescuing chil-dren, the AHTU has recoveredand rescued 57 kidnapped,missing persons, while inves-tigating cases registered inDelhi this year,” said theAdditional CP adding thatworking in over-drive, duringthe last week itself, the AHTUhas recovered 15 persons whohad been reported missing orkidnapped in city.

According to Rajiv Ranjan,Additional Commissioner ofPolice, Crime Branch, AHTUof Crime Branch have made itsteams which develops infor-

mation, rescues the traffickedor kidnapped person, arreststhe kidnapper(s) and takesnecessary legal action in allcases of Human Trafficking,kidnapping, abduction regis-tered in Delhi.

Operation MILAPThis scheme is run by the

AHTU of the Crime Branch.Under this scheme, AHTUcarries out special drive toperiodically check all the BusStands, Railway Stations, andother places in Delhi to look forunattended and stray children.Police said that due to thisscheme AHTU has rescued333 children so far from BusStands and Railway Stations inDelhi.

“Extensive help by NGOs istaken in the drive. The rescuedchildren are counselled andalso given requisite medicalattention where ever sorequired.

The AHTU also visitsChildren Homes across thecity and makes an effort totrack down the parents of chil-dren who may be lodged inthese Children Homes but areunable to reveal much about

their actual families or home addresses,” said theAdditional CP.

Investigation of cases andrecovery of missing personsapart from rescuing children,the AHTU in 2019 till date hasrecovered 57 kidnapped,abducted, missing persons,while investigating cases regis-tered in Delhi.

“Out of these rescued orrecovered persons, 14 personsare minors. However, 37 per-sons are women. In most casesof these cases the police teamhad to conduct numerous raidsoutside Delhi, all over thecountry, to track and recoverthe missing or kidnapped per-son,” said the Additional CP.

From January 1, 2019,around cases of kidnapping andabduction were transferred toAHTU Crime Branch fromthe local police for furtherinvestigation.

It is pertinent to mentionhere, that 19 out of these 20cases were transferred to theAHTU, pursuant to the ordersof the Delhi High Court. Inalmost all of these cases, theDelhi High Court monitors the

progress of the investigationthrough Status Reports fromtime to time.

“The success rate of recov-ery of kidnapped, abductedand missing persons by theAHTU is appreciably high anda fact that has been lauded bythe High Court in open Courtand mentioned in the Courtorders, on more than one occa-sion,” said the Additional CP.

What AHTU says!AHTU Crime Branch has

been instrumental in trackingdown a large number of kid-napped, abducted and missingpersons in Delhi, most ofwhom are minors and girls.

“A large percentage of thecity population is either float-ing or migrant, which makesthe work of AHTU more chal-lenging.

However, the AHTUCrime Branch, time and againhas shown that, it is preparedto meet all the challenges headon and that often, hard work and smiling faces, of the family members of recov-ered / rescued children, aretheir own reward,” said theAdditional CP.

� �� /3�'/042

With the arrest of threearms peddlers, including

father and a son, the sleuths ofDelhi Police have busted a syndicate allegedly involved in supplying ammunitions to criminals in national Capital, Uttar Pradesh (UP),Haryana, Madhya Pradesh(MP) and Bihar. Police havealso recovered 1,250 live car-tridges from the possession ofthe accused.

The accused have beenidentified as Praveen KumarVerma (51), his son PrateekKumar Verma (23) alias Sunny,both residents of Shikohabad,district in Firozabad, UP.

While their courier boy forillegal ammunition is identifiedas Sonu Singh (22), a native ofDholpur in Rajasthan andpresently was residing at Delhi’s

Madanpur Khadar village. Police said that the

accused Sonu has many casesof extortion, robbery, attempt to murder registeredagainst him in Rajasthan andMadhya Pradesh.

“Sonu was an importantplayer in syndicate as he used to courier pilfered car-tridges to various places inHaryana, Rajasthan, WesternUP and Delhi for a handsomecommission per trip,” saidpolice.

According to ManishiChandra, the DeputyCommissioner of Police(DCP), Special Cell, On July 7,specific inputs were receivedthat Parveen Kumar, alongwith an associate, would comenear Delhi’s Ashram MetroStation to deliver illicit car-tridges to an associate.

“Acting on the tip-off, atrap was laid and accused wereapprehended.

During interrogation, theaccused Praveen revealed that

since 2007, he has beeninvolved in this illicit trade.

He purchased two wheelers and cars for trans-porting these cartridges toRajasthan, Bihar, UP West,MP and other States,” said theDCP.

“Praveen further toldpolice that he also engaged hiselder son Prateek in this trade.He along with his son, used tovisit Etah, Etawa, Mainpuri,Firozabad and others places tocollect pilfered cartridges fromhis contacts and then to supplythem to receivers in variousStates for a handsome marginof �200 to �400 per cartridge,”said the DCP.

“Parveen has been foundsupplying over 3,500-4,000car-tridges per month to his con-tacts in Bihar, Haryana,Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, MPand NCR,” said the DCPadding that further investiga-tion is in progress to identify alllinks of this arms and ammu-nition network.

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The district administration isleaving no stone unturned in

their bid to tackle waterloggingproblem during the monsoonthis year. Around 20 mobilepump vans and 40 additionalwater pumps has been installedat multiple underpasses anddifferent stretches in the city.

The Municipal Corporationof Gurugram (MCG),Gurugram Metropolitan

Development Authority(GMDA), National HighwayAuthority of India (NHAI) andthe Police Department haveprepared a detailed action planto resolve the issue.

Last year, the city wasplagued by massive traffic con-gestion due to lack of coordina-tion between various depart-ments.

“A special team of the dis-trict administration will be onpatrol during the monsoon sea-son to deal with the water log-

ging problem across the city.Mobile pump vans andAdditional water pump havebeen installed with the operatorsat multiple underpasses andstretches,” a senior MCG official,said.

“We are making all requiredefforts during the monsoon sea-son so that the commuters onDelhi-Gurugram expresswayand residents didn’t face anyproblem related to the trafficjams. To ensure the smooth traf-fic in the city traffic personnelwill be deployed 24x7 along withrecovery vans at waterloggingprone sites in,” he added.

Further, the district admin-

istration will deploy as many as200 home guards, 50 MCGemployees and 300 Red Crosssociety members during rainydays. They will assist residentsin the event of waterlogging anda flood-like situation in the citythis monsoon.

Apart from this, around2,400 police personnel will alsobe deployed at major trafficjunctions to ensure smooth traf-fic movement in the city.

Meanwhile, the Gurugrampolice have identified 24 pointswithin the city which could bevulnerable to heavy traffic jams.These points are ShankarChowk, Atlas Chowk, Iffco

Chowk, Signature Tower under-pass, Sector-31, Jharsa Chowk,Rajiv Chowk underpass, HeroHonda Chowk underpass,Vatika Chowk, Subhash Chowk,Bata Chowk, Atul KatariaChowk, Huda City Centre,Hanuman Chowk, Ghata More,Kherki Daula toll plaza,Rampura Chowk, IMT Chowkin Manesar, Panchgaon Chowk,Bilaspur Chowk, Kapriwas,Himgiri Chowk sector-10,Ambedkar Chowk in Sohnaand Jamalpur in Pataudi. The Department has planned to deploy additional force tomanage traffic during the rainyseason.

� �� /3�'/042

ADelhi Police constable washit by a bullet in his right

leg after an encounter betweenpolice and a 20 year-old want-ed criminal at Delhi’s KhajuriKhas area on Monday after-noon. Police said in retaliationpolice also fired upon followingwhich a bullet hit the gangsteron his left toe.

The accused has been iden-tified as Arik Rehman alias RajaMewati, a resident of Delhi’sMutafabad area, who had gottwo cases of murder and armsact registered against him innational Capital. Police said

that the accused was evadinghis arrest since 2016.

According to Atul KumarThakur, the DeputyCommissioner of Police (DCP),North-East district, police hadreceived specific inputs onMonday regarding a criminalwho would be coming to meetsomeone in Khajuri Khas area.

“Acting on the tip-off a trapwas laid and at around 1:30 PM

when the police team saw thesuspect coming he was signaledto stop but he opened fire onpolice team,” said the DCP.

“Constable Manoj was hitby a bullet in his left leg whichwas fired by the accused. Inretaliation, police also openedfire and Raja Mewati was alsohit in his left toe while he wastrying to flee. Both were rushedto GTB hospital where they aregoing under treatment andtheir condition is said to be sta-ble,” said the DCP.

“A case under appropriatesections is being registered.Further investigation is goingon,” said the DCP.

� �� /3�'/042

Days after a 100-year-oldDurga temple in national

Capital’s Lal Kuan was dese-crated by a mob leading to com-munal tensions, new idols willbe placed in the temple onTuesday amidst chanting ofmantras.

According to Anil KumarPandey, the temple priest, newidols will be placed after thepurification of the temple iscompleted around 10 am onTuesday. Renovation andrestoration work is being doneand temple has been broughtback to its old glory, Pandeyadded. “The Durga MandirStreet Committee is bearing allthe expenses to renovate thetemple. Some 35 families livingin the locality and the commit-tee members are bearing all theexpenses to renovate the temple.Not even a single penny hasbeen demanded from any out-sider,” said Tara Chand Saxena(53), Secretary of DurgaMandir Street association.

“A public feast will beorganised from 12 pm to 6 pmafter the idols are placed in thesanctum sanctorum of the tem-ple on Tuesday morning,” saidSaxena.

The market of the HauzQazi area has been opened and

normalcy has returned in thehighly sensitive Walled Cityarea. According to residents, theincident has impacted the livesof daily wages labourers whohave been working since ages inLal Kuan market. “They are fac-ing financial difficulties as

they are not getting work sinceJune 30,” said a resident.

Though, the situation hasbecome conducive to businessand other activities, however,residents fear there is disquietamong people after the mobcomprising of Muslims had

attacked the temple and brokenidols. “The incident has left deepscars and will take some timebefore people are able to forgetthe dastardly attack on thenight of June 30 last”, said a res-ident on the condition ofanonymity.

According to a senior policeofficial, Police and paramilitarypersonnel are still in the area andthe deployment will be taken offafter the process of purificationand installation of new idols wasover. Earlier, Delhi Police hadarrested seven men and appre-hended eight juveniles in con-nection with the desecration ofthe much revered DurgaTemple. Arrests were madeafter Delhi Police identifiedaccused persons seen in thevideo. Senior officers of DelhiPolice said that a strict vigil isbeing maintained in and aroundthe area and all the troublemongers have been kept on tightleash. Legal action will be initi-ated if anybody tries to disturbpeace and communal harmonyin the area.

� �� /3�'/042

It was a hot and humid day inthe national Capital on

Monday with the weathermanpredicting cloudy skies andrains in the next 24 hours. “Themaximum temperature wasrecorded at 36.7 degreesCelsius, a notch above normalwhile the minimum settled at28.6 degrees Celsius, two notch-es above normal,” a MeT offi-cial said.

The humidity levels oscil-lated between 84 and 53 percent. The weatherman has pre-dicted partly cloudy day onTuesday with possibility of lightrains towards the afternoon.

“The maximum and min-imum temperatures are likely tosettle around 35 and 27 degreesCelsius,” the official added. OnSunday, the maximum tem-perature settled at 37 degreesCelsius while the minimumwas 26.5 degrees Celsius.

� �� /3�'/042

The national Capital has wit-nessed spurt in patients

suffering from malaria with atleast 123 people affected till Julythis year. Cases of dengue havealso spiked with 13 cases tracedlast week, taking the total num-ber of patients to 104 this yeartill now.

According to a datareleased by the South DelhiMunicipal Corporation(SDMC) on Monday, six newcases of Chikungunya alsoreported in the city taking thetotal number to 33.

However, out of total casesof malaria, 61 cases diagnosedbelong to the neighbouringstates while 65 patients suffer-ing from dengue traced in

Delhi belong to other States. Asper the report, hospitals did notprovide address of two patientsdiagnosed of malaria, two ofChikungunya and 13 patientsdiagnosed of dengue.

Last year, 2,798 denguecases and four deaths wererecorded by the SDMC, whichtabulates the data on vector-borne diseases in the city.

The north, south and eastcorporations have found mos-

quito-breeding in at least33,957 households and 34,221legal notices have been issuedthis year.

Doctors have advised peo-ple to use mosquito repellents,wear clothes which cover yourfull body and avoid places thatare more prone to the diseases.They also advised to take pre-cautions to ensure that there isno breeding of mosquito larvaearound them.

As the season for spread ofvector-borne diseases haskicked in, the city govern-ment’s health department andlocal bodies are gearing up tocheck any possible outbreak ofdengue, whose virus thrivesduring this period.

According to the SDMC,10 people had died due todengue in Delhi in 2017, ofwhich five were not residents ofthe national capital. Overall, thevector-borne disease hadaffected 9,271 people in the citylast year.

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The Delhi High CourtMonday dismissed the pleas

of AAP MLAs Anil Bajpai andCol Devender Sehrawat whosought recusal of the LegislativeAssembly Speaker from dis-qualification proceedingsagainst them.

Justice Vibhu Bakhru saidthere was “no infirmity” in theprocedure adopted by SpeakerRam Niwas Goel and rejectedthe MLAs’ contention that heshould have first decided theirapplication, alleging bias on hispart, before going ahead withthe proceedings.

The court said there wasno law which said that theSpeaker has to decide the issues“piecemeal” and added that hecan comprehensively decidethe entire matter.

It said however that “theSpeaker will address all the con-tentions advanced by the peti-tioners (MLAs)”.

The court also noted thesubmission made on behalf ofthe Speaker that the MLAswould be granted two moredays time to file their responseto the notice issued to them onthe petition seeking their dis-qualification under the anti-defection law.

AAP MLA SaurabhBharadwaj on June 10 filed thepetition seeking their disqual-ification under the anti-defec-tion law for allegedly joining theBJP.

The Speaker had on June17 issued notice to the twoMLAs asking them to file theirresponse by July 8 (Mondayevening).

During the proceedings in

the high court, the lawyers forBajpai and Sehrawat told thecourt that the Speaker is notsupposed to have political incli-nations, but was seen attendingevents and protests of the AamAadmi Party (AAP).

They said the Speaker washowever even seen “dancing” inthe Lok Sabha poll campaign ofAAP candidate Atishi Marlena.

They alleged that in thesecircumstances, the Speakermight not impartially adjudi-cate the disqualification pro-

ceedings and said that the issuebe sent either to the DeputySpeaker or a committee beconstituted to hear the matter.

However, the court said itwas “not going to interdict theSpeaker” and added that thepetitioners have the remedy ofappeal against his decision.

As the two MLAs’ lawyersdiscussed whether to withdrawthe petition and agree to par-ticipate in the disqualificationproceedings, Sehrawat decidedto discharge them from hismatter and got up to argue hiscase on his own.

Sehrawat told the courtthat he was one of the found-ing members of AAP and thatthe party has now “changed”.

“Everything the party hasstood for has changed,” he toldthe court and said that since theSpeaker was behaving as a

member of AAP, he should notbe hearing the disqualificationproceedings.

“It is stated that there isevery likelihood that respon-dent 1 (Speaker) won’t impar-tially adjudicate the presentmatter because he is acting asan active member of the AamAadmi Party (AAP) which hasinitiated the anti-defection pro-ceeding,” the petitions of thetwo MLAs said.

On the other hand, thelawyers appearing for theSpeaker and Bharadwaj told thecourt that the petition was notmaintainable as Sehrawat hadnot disclosed that he had ear-lier moved the Supreme Courtagainst the notice issued to himunder the anti-defection lawand had withdrawn the pleaafter the apex court declined tohear it.

�� /3�'/042

The Supreme Court onMonday sought the Delhi

Government’s response on aplea by Bajaj Auto to removethe cap on the number ofthree-wheelers permits issuedin the city.

The counsel for Bajaj con-tended before the court that thecap - restriction on registration- on the three-wheelers inDelhi should be removed, asafter installing CNG as analternate fuel, these vehicles areno longer polluting.

The cap was set by the topcourt through its order in 1997,as the three-wheeler technolo-gy then was two-stroke andheavily polluting.

The counsel argued that

this cap is no longer applicableto the current three-wheelers,which comply with BS IVnorms and are CNG-fuelled.

In February, the court hadasked the EnvironmentPollution (Prevention &Control) Authority (EPCA) toexamine the issue of increasingthe three-wheelers permits,and file a report.

The EPCA argued againstthe cap, stating that it has ledto a high transaction cost,which, in turn, pushed thisvehicle segment into the handsof financiers and auto unions.This eventually created prob-lem in managing the fleet, andas a consequence, an increasein pollution level, and deplet-ing customer service, it said.

“It is clear that 3-wheelers

are an integral part of theregions public transport sys-tem. These vehicles provideaffordable shared mobility andlast-mile connectivity. Today, itis clear that the lack of afford-able shared mobility vehiclesadds to the number of privatevehicles - cars or two-wheelers,”said the EPCA report.

A bench headed by JusticeArun Mishra, after hearingthe arguments, asked the Delhigovernment to furnish its replywithin two weeks.

According to the EPCA,there are 3,00,000 registered 3-wheelers across the NCR,including Delhi, of which84,000 3-wheelers are dieseland 54,000 are fuelled by CNGonly and the rest are petrol orduel-fuel (CNG-petrol).

� �� /3�'/042

The Additional ChiefMetropolitan Magistrate of

Delhi Court on Monday sum-moned Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal and his deputyManish Sisodia for July 16 in acriminal defamation complaintfiled by Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) leader Vijender Gupta.

Gupta, who is the Leader ofOpposition (LoP) in the DelhiAssembly, had accused theAam Aadmi Party (AAP) lead-ers of “maligning” his image byaccusing him of attempting tokill Kejriwal. Gupta has claimedin the complaint that due towidespread circulation oftweets and news reports on thestatement of the two AAPleaders, his reputation washarmed for which they have

not expressed any remorse orapologised.

“The allegations of theaccused persons were “primafacie defamatory” and referredto Gupta,” said Samar Vishal,Additional Chief MetropolitanMagistrate.

There exists sufficientground to proceed against therespondents...Accordingly,Arvind Kejriwal and ManishSisodia are summoned forcommission of offence ofdefamation under Section 500of the Indian Penal Code,” thecourt said.

Gupta has alleged that thestatements of the accused weremade with “ulterior motives” toharm his reputation, malign hisimage and gain some cheappolitical mileage in the 2019Lok Sabha election.

� �� /3�'/042�

In a major step towards clean-ing the Yamuna River, the

Delhi Government on Mondaylaid foundation stone to set upthe country’s largest SewageTreatment Plant (STP) inOkhla. This Coronation Plantwill be the first experiment inthe nation to treat the wastewater.

The Delhi Governmenthas adopted the idea ofSingapore water treatment planand under this initiative; thetreated water will be let into theYamuna at Palla and collectedat Wazirabad.

The water will get natural-ly treated due to the river flowand this experiment hastremendous potential to meetIndia’s water needs.

The foundation stone forthe STP which is expected totreat 56.4 Crore litres of wastewater per day was laid by theDelhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal and Union JalshaktiMinister Gajendra SinghShekhawat

“I want to thank theCentral government for itssupport in this project. Notonly is the Centre providing 85

percent funding for this project,it has also been a supportivepartner along the way.

This STP will treat 564 crore litres of waste water per day and will reducerelease of sewage into RiverYamuna in a big way, “ saidKejriwal who also hold theportfolio of Delhi Departmentof Water.

At present Okhla SewageTreatment complex comprisesof six existing STPs, namelyPhase-I (136 MLD), Phase-II(55 MLD), Phase-III (205MLD), Phase-IV (168 MLD),Phase-V (73 MLD) and Phase-VI (136 MLD). The existingPhase-I, II, III and IV STPswere constructed in the year1937, 1982, 1991 and 1993.

Elaborating on his pro-posal, the Chief Minister said,“Every monsoon, the riveroverflows and all that overflowwater is wasted. Several stud-ies, including an IIT Delhistudy show that if we are ableto conserve that water, it willsatisfy Delhi’s drinking waterneeds for the entire year.

This year we proposed a small pilot for this project and we needed a lot of per-missions from the Centre to go

ahead with it. The Minister andthe Central Government havebeen very supportive on thisfront as well and I am gratefulfor that. Delhi’s multiplicity ofagencies can be overcome ifthese agencies work together,”he added.

The new plant will alsohave provision of online mon-itoring of quality parameters ofeffluent, SCADA, power gen-eration from biogas and sludgemanagement.

Disposal of sludge in ascientific manner will addressenvironmental related issues.The plant is being constructedunder Yamuna Action Plan-IIIfor which 85% funds are beingprovided by Govt. of Indiafrom loan received from JapanInternational CooperationAgency (JICA) and remaining15 percent by DelhiGovernment, said the official.

“Water conservation needsto become a public movementfor every citizen of Delhi andIndia. We will have to riseabove our political and per-sonal beliefs and unite to con-serve water.

The foundation stonebeing laid today is for 500 MLDout of the 2000 MLD capacity

of water treatment plants thatthe Centre and Delhi are work-ing on together. Of the 298 pro-jects sanctioned for cleaningthe Yamuna, 14 are in Delhi,”said the Union Minister.

The event was also attend-ed by senior Government offi-

cials such as Delhi ChiefSecretary Vijay Kumar Dev,Vice-Chairperson (VC) ofDelhi Jal Board (DJB)DineshMohaniya, Chief ExecutiveOfficer (CEO), DJB NikhilKumar and other senior offi-cials of the DJB.

� �� /3�'/042

Attacks on doctors refuse tosubside, as in yet another

such attack, a resident doctorwas assaulted by the relatives ofa patient who had died owingto medical complications.

The doctor was attackedinside the ward of Lok NayakJai Prakash Narayan (LNJP)hospital which led to a flashstrike by the resident doctors.The strike was later called offafter Delhi Government movedinto undo the damage andassured doctors of security.

According to minutes ofmeeting held between ResidentDoctors of LNJP and Principalhealth Secretary, sevendemands were discussed.

The representatives ofResident Doctors’ Associationwere also assured that all theirdemand will be considered.

The demand raised byRDA including deploying marshals with immediate effect on temporary basis fol-lowed by recruitment of per-manent marshalls within thismonth, Installing alarm system and CCTV cameraswith audio installation in gen-eral and emergency wards atLNJP and associated hospitals,Social workers and councellorsshould be appointed in wardsto to address the grieving rel-atives,

“We have immediatelyagreed to their demand ofdeployment of marshalls inthe hospital, including in emer-gency ward.

Other demands like instal-lation of CCTV cameras atother places, we are lookinginto those aspects, and areas arebeing identified,” Delhi Health Secretary Sanjeev

Khirwar told PTI.As many as 48 marshalls

will be deployed eventually, 16in each of the three shiftsacross the hospital campus, he

said.Delhi Health Minister

Satyendar Jain Monday said anact of violence against doctorsis condemnable. “I have direct-

ed health secretary to consid-er demands of doctors, whetherit is deployment of marshalls orinstallation of CCTV in regu-lar wards. Both demands willbe soon taken care of,” he said.

Meanwhile, DelhiGovernment spoke persontweeted “Delhi Health Minister@SatyendarJain directs HealthSecretary to consider alldemands of Doctors, who aredemanding security while onduty,”

The RDA of the LNJPHospital had claimed the stirwas triggered by an allegedassault on a third-year post-graduate student of MaulanaAzad Medical College, whowas on duty last night in theemergency department, around11 pm.

“A patient was brought tothe ER department and laterdied of some complications. An

attendant then assaulted a per-son on duty, who is a third-yearstudent of MD at the college,”RDA president Saiket Jenaalleged.

“In the last few days, sev-eral such incidents of attack ondoctors have taken place in thehospital premises. So, we havegone on a strike,” he said in themorning.

A senior police official saidthe hospital authorities havegiven a statement to them thatthey do not want to file a policecomplaint.

Jena claimed the accusedperson has “tendered an apol-ogy” so they have decided notto pursue the case.

The protesting doctorswere demanding adequatesecurity deployment, includingmarshalls in the emergencydepartment, the medical super-intendent said.

� �� 72'&

Noida and Greater NoidaPolice’s Anti-Romeo Squad

has issued ‘red cards’ to 70 menin one week for harassingfemales in public places. Policesaid that they have also identi-fied 275 such spots in the dis-trict which are considered vul-nerable, based on feedbackpolice got from 8,600 girls andwomen.

Earlier, last month in aunique effort, the district policehad announced that it wouldissue “red cards” to such offend-ers as a warning before initiat-ing criminal proceedings againstthem if they are caughtindulging in the act again.

The initiative, hailed by theNational Commission forWomen (NCW), is aimed atmaking these squads moreeffective and preventing publicnuisance and lewd remarks thatare passed on girls or women byloiterers, the officials said.

“During the first week ofthe initiative, we reached out togirl students at 165 education-al institutes in Gautam BuddhNagar and informed them

about safety options like 1090women helpline, dial 100 ser-vices and the Anti-RomeoSquads of police that respondquickly in emergency situa-tions,” a police spokespersonsaid.

The Anti-Romeo Squads,deployed by police in Noida andGreater Noida, comprise twowomen and male constableseach in plain clothes.

“Deployment of the Anti-Romeo Squads will be steppedup. Red cards have been issuedto 70 boys and men during thefirst week of the initiative andtheir personal details like name,address, phone numbers havebeen registered so as to quick-ly track them down if theyrepeat the offence,” the officialsaid.

“We have also taken a pic-ture of them to have psycho-logical deterrence on them sothat they don’t engage in suchacts again,” he said.

The squads were constitut-ed to check stalkers and eve-teasers in Uttar Pradesh soonafter Yogi Adityanath assumedthe office of the Chief Ministerin 2017.

� �� /3�'/042

The Delhi High CourtMonday refused to stay

the AAP Government’s deci-sion to increase auto-rickshawfares. The court, however,sought response of the Delhigovernment on a petitionwhich has sought setting asideof June 12 notification revisingthe auto fares, on the groundthat it would severely impactthe general public.

A bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice C HariShankar issued notice to theCentre, Delhi Government, itsTransport Department and fare revision commission onthe PIL, and listed the matterfor further hearing onSeptember 23.

The petition filed by NGOAiding Hands Foundationchallenged the notification say-ing authorities arbitrarilyrevised the auto fares in Delhi,adversely impacting the resi-dents who are otherwise vic-timised by the unruly behav-iour of auto drivers and charg-ing of exorbitant amount.

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Aday after joining theBharatiya Janata Party

(BJP), Haryanvi dancer andsinger Sapna Choudhary onMonday said she had no inter-est in contesting elections butwill obey her party’s command.

Expressing her extremeantipathy against Delhi ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwal,Choudhary said she wouldrather quit than contest electionagainst the AAP chief as she“does not want to be near himor even see his face”.

Addressing her maidenpress conference after joiningthe saffron party, Choudharysaid,”You should respect every-one irrespective of whether heis a rickshaw puller or a min-ister. Everyone has the right tomaintain their self respect,”she said.

When asked if she wasinterested in contesting theDelhi Assembly polls earlynext year, she said, “Not at all.But, I will do exactly what theparty asks me to do.”

She said she would quit thecontest if pitted against AAPsupremo Arvind Kejriwal. “Iwill rather quit than contestelection against ArvindKejriwal. I do not want to benear him or even see his face,”she told reporters.

Delhi BJP president ManojTiwari, who was present in

Choudhary’s press conferenceon Monday, said she was notthe only person who joined theBJP at the JLN stadium event.

“It was the media thathighlighted her joining. I don’tthink anyone is unhappy.Senior leaders are pleased withthe success of the membershipevent,” he told reporters.

� �� /3�'/042

A26-year-old auto-rickshawdriver was shot dead

allegedly by some persons innortheast Delhi’s Seelampurarea. Police suspects that thepersonal enmity would be thereason behind the incident.

The deceased has beenidentified as Noor Mohammad,a resident of New Seelampur.

“The incident occurred onSunday at around 10.30 pmwhen Mohammad was sittingat DDA Market in NewSeelampur area. In the meantime, some persons camethere in car and opened fire at him,” said Atul KumarThakur, the DeputyCommissioner of Police(DCP), North-East district.

“He received six bulletinjuries and was rushed to theGTB hospital where he suc-cumbed to his injuries onMonday morning,” said theDCP.

According to a seniorpolice official, on Friday, therewas an engagement function ofMohammad’s cousin where hecaught hold a person for steal-ing and allegedly thrashed him.

“It is suspected that inorder to take revenge, theaccused had attackMohammad. Police havedetained a person and interro-gating him, they said, addingthat more persons likely to bearrested soon,” said the seniorpolice official.

Police are checking theCCTV footage of the nearbyarea to identify the accusedpersons, they said, adding thatMohammad is survived by awife and three children.

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Delhi University Mondayreleased its third cut-off list

for undergraduate courses witha marginal decline in scoresrequired for admission as seatsare still up for grabs in theNorth Campus colleges forcourses such as BA (Honours)Economics, BCom (Honours)and science stream for thegeneral category aspirants.

In many of the NorthCampus colleges, seats are stillavailable under theBA(Honours) Economicscourses in the unreserved cat-egory.

Hindu College has peggedthe cut-off for BA (Honours)Economics at 98 per cent and

is 0.25 per cent less than thescore announced in the secondlist.

Admissions to BA(Honours) English, BA (hon-ours) Hindi and BA (Honours)History are closed. In sciencestream, seats are available forBSc (Honours) Zoology andBSc (Prog.) Physical Sciencewith Chemistry courses.

While the cut-off for BSc(Honours) Zoology has comedown from 97 per cent to96.33 per cent, the cut-off forB.Sc (Programme) PhysicalScience with Chemistry hasseen a marginal dip from 96.33to 96 per cent.

At Hansraj College, seatsare still up for grabs for BSc(Honours) Botany for which

the cut-off has dropped downfrom 94.66 per cent to 93.33per cent. The cut-off forBA(Honours) Economics hasalso seen a marginal dip from98 per cent to 97.75 per cent.

Miranda House has keptthe cut-off for BA (Honours)Economics same as the previ-ous list. The cut-off remains at97.75 per cent while the cut-offfor BA (Honours)Sociologyhas dropped from 96.50 percent to 96.25 per cent. Even forBA (Honours) Geography, ithas come down from 98 percent to 97.50 per cent.

Daulat Ram College hasadmissions open for BA(Honours) English which hasseen a dip of one per cent from95.75 per cent to 94.75 per cent.

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'�� ! �2#'�/��-�'��New Delhi: The CentreMonday asked the States forfaster implementation of the�87,000 crore PM-KISANscheme to boost farmers'income and urged them tosend the list of beneficiaries atthe earliest. The Centre hasrecently launched the PradhanMantri Kisan Samman Nidhi(PM-KISAN) scheme underwhich it will provide �6,000annually to 14.5 crore farmersin three equal instalments.

Addressing StateAgriculture Ministers' confer-ence here, Union AgricultureMinister Narendra SinghTomar said,”we have launchedPM-KISAN scheme underwhich �87,000 crore will go tofarmers' pocket”.

“It is the States' responsi-bility to ensure that the benefitunder this scheme reaches to all

eligible farmers. Fund has beenkept in the budget and is readyto be transferred into farmers'bank account,” he said, empha-sising on the need of fasterimplementation of this pro-gramme. Till July 5, as many as3.56 crore farmers have got thefirst instalment, totalling �7,120crore and 3.10 crore farmershave received the second instal-ment totalling �6,215 crore, asenior agriculture ministry offi-cial said in a presentation.

The official asked States tosend beneficiary data beforeJuly-end so that farmers do notmiss their April-July instal-ment of �2,000.

West Bengal has not joinedthis scheme so far, the officialsaid, adding that only 43 percent beneficiaries have come sofar. Bihar has only given data of8.38 lakh farmers out of esti-

mated 1.63 crore eligible ben-eficiaries. Earlier, Tomar saidthe country has become self suf-ficient in foodgrain productionbecause of efforts of farmers,scientists and the government.

However, he said agricul-ture is currently facing manychallenges and farmers do notwant their next generation towork in this sector. The minis-ter that the Centre is focusing onthe farm sector and is trying toensure that farmers get respectas well as financial and techni-cal supports so that farmingbecomes a profitable business.

He highlighted that theCentre has taken a number ofsteps in last five years to boostfarmers' income such as fixingof the minimum support price(MSP) at 1.5 times of the pro-duction cost and improvedcrop insurance scheme. PTI

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From Page 1All the sectoral indices

ended in the red, with BSE cap-ital goods, realty, auto, power,industrials, finance, bankex,oil and gas, utilities and metalindex falling up to 3.78 percent.

Broader BSE midcap andsmallcap indices followed thebenchmark, cracking up to2.46 per cent.

Yes Bank, HCL Teck andTCS, however, bucked thetrend to gain up to per cent.

The Union Budget pro-posal to raise the public share-holding threshold to 35 percent from the current 25 percent and higher tax incidencefor foreign portfolio investorsand high networth individualscontinued to spook domesticinvestors, traders said.

Other tax proposals likecharge on share buyback alsopiled on the investor sentiment.A heavy selloff in global mar-kets after the positive US jobdata hit expectations of a ratecut by the Federal Reserveweighed on the investors.

Asian markets ended sig-nificantly lower with theShanghai Composite Indexending down by 2.58 per centlower, Hang Seng by 1.54 percent, Nikkei by 0.98 per centand Kospi tumbling 2.20 per cent. Equities inEurope were also trading lowerin their respective early ses-sions.

“Today’s market fall hasbeen due to a combination ofglobal and domestic factors.Globally, a positive payrollexpansion- ahead of estima-

tions, has led to a fear of antic-ipated Fed rate cut not comingthrough. Domestically, pro-posals in the Budget to increasein minimum public share-holding levels to 35 per centwas a dampener along with 20per cent tax on share buy-backs,” said Pradeep Kesavan,Senior VP, Equity Strategy,Institutional Equities, ElaraCapital.

Overall market breadthwas negative as 1,953 scripsdeclined on BSE while 571advanced. On the currencyfront, the Indian rupee depre-ciated 30 paise to 68.72 againstthe US dollar which gainedstrength after the US job data.Meanwhile, the global oilbenchmark Brent crude futureswere trading 0.12 per centhigher at 64.31 per barrel.

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From Page 1India follows the policy of

zero tolerance towards terror-ism and will take all measuresto protect its territorial integri-ty and sovereignty againstcross-border terrorism, Kumarsaid.

“Motivated attempts toweaken our national resolvewill never succeed,” the MEAsaid.

The report’s failure torecognise an independent judi-ciary, human rights institu-tions and other mechanisms inJ-K that safeguard, protect andpromote constitutionally guar-anteed fundamental rights toall citizens of India is “unpar-donable”, Kumar said.

The “prejudiced mindset”of the update has also chosento wilfully ignore the deter-mined and comprehensivesocioeconomic developmentalefforts undertaken by theIndian Government in the faceof challenges posed by terror-ists, he added.

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Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath

has asked officials to ensure noliquor shops and unauthorisedslaughterhouses function onthe route of the upcomingKanwar yatras to various Shivatemples in the State.

The month-long yatra willstart from July 17 with thebeginning of the Hindu monthof ‘Saawan’.

Officials have been direct-ed to get the roads on the yatraroute cleaned and to sprinkleflower petals on devotees fromhelicopters that will also mon-itor the progress of the yatras.

Adityanath has also saidthat DJs will not be banned butthey should only play bhajansand no film song will beallowed.

The use of DJs has been apoint of discord betweenMuslims and Hindus and theprevious Akhilesh Yadav gov-ernment had banned themduring the yatra.

Adityanath asked officialsto conduct inter-departmental

meetings in every zone, districtand division to coordinate witheach other to avoid any incon-venience.

Emphasising on the impor-tance of cleanliness, geinstructed the officials to banthe usage of thermocol andplastic bags during the yatra.

Special security measuresshould be taken and the dignityof the devotees should beensured, he said, adding that allarrangements should be madeon the lines of Kumbh.

Adityanath also asked theofficials to identify Shiva tem-ples in their areas and ensurecleanliness, proper drinkingwater, electricity and security atthe shrines.

Since this year Bakrid orEid-ul-Zuha and the lastMonday of Kanwar yatra willfall on the same day - August12, the Chief Minister instruct-ed the officials to make prop-er security measures and checkthat no illegal slaughter takesplace. He stated that CCTVcameras should be installed incrowded areas during this peri-od to check mischief.

New Delhi: Veteran Congressleader Karan Singh on Mondaysaid he is “aghast” at the dis-orientation into which the partyhas fallen since Rahul Gandhi’sresignation, and urged theworking committee to meetwithout delay under the chair-manship of former PrimeMinister Manmohan Singh to take necessary deci-sions.

His strong remarks comeamid the Congress plunginginto a deep crisis after Gandhimade his decision to resign as

party president public last week.He had submitted his resigna-tion to the CWC on May 25which followed a spate of res-ignations by senior and middle-rank Congress leaders.

“I am aghast to see the con-fusion and disorientation intowhich the party has fallensince Rahul Gandhi resignedon May 25. Instead of honour-ing his bold decision a monthwas wasted pleading him totake back his resignation,”Singh said in a statement cir-culated among reporters. PTI

-�#&��" �%� �� %� ��%�*& ,&�%�#�+�$$�� ,��&!$�(! �� #& Lucknow: In a visible soften-

ing of stand, Shivpal Yadav,who heads the PragatisheelSamajwadi Party (PSP), hassaid that he is ready to forge analliance with Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party for theUttar Pradesh assembly elec-tions, which is slated to be heldin 2022.

Shivpal, who is a youngerbrother of SP patriarchMulayam Singh and uncle offormer Chief Minister andSamajwadi Party PresidentAkhilesh Yadav, indicated thathis party could form an alliancewith SP for Assembly polls, butalso underlined that

he would not rejoin theSamajwadi Party.

Talking to reporters, hesaid: “When elections around,there will be talks of an alliancebut we will not go back toSamajwadi Party. We will talkto those who want to ally withus. The PSP will also be there.We can ally with SamajwadiParty as well.”

Shivpal Yadav’s statementcomes after Samajwadi patri-arch Mulayam Singh had madeefforts to bring the estrangeduncle and nephew togetherafter the SP suffered a rout inthe Lok Sabha elections inApril-May. IANS

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The Centre is in touch withthe States to jointly tackle

any drought-like situation. AndUnion Agriculture MinisterNarendra Singh Tomar onMonday said delay in sowing ofKharif (summer-sown) cropswas a cause of concern.

“There is still time forfarmers to complete sowingoperations,” Tomar said on thesidelines of State AgricultureMinisters’ conference in Delhi.“We are in touch if there is anydrought like situation, we (cen-tre and States) will work togeth-er,” Tomar added. TheAgriculture Minister has askedstates to make efforts toincrease crop remuneration byhelping farmers in reducinginput cost, increasing produc-tion and promoting exports.

Area under Kharif crops hasdeclined by 27 per cent at 234.33lakh hectare till last week of theongoing Kharif season of 2019-20 crop year (July-June), asagainst last 319.68 lakh hectaresin the same period last year.

Asked about expectedKharif crop production, hesaid it is too early to comment.The India MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD) has pro-jected good rains in July andAugust which could boost sow-ing operations.

Sowing of kharif cropsbegin with the onset of south-west monsoon, which this yeararrived late and rainfallremained deficient by 33 percent, according to the IMDdata. Rice, the main kharif crop,was sown in 52.47 lakh hectaretill last week, down from 68.60lakh hectare last year.

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Atigress and her two cubswere found dead in

Maharashtra's Chandrapur dis-trict on Monday morning withforest officials suspecting thebig cats could have succumbedto poisoning.

Prima facie, the deathsoccurred after the tigress andthe cubs — a male and a female— devoured a dead calf thatwas apparently poisoned by afarmer, a senior officer said.

The carcasses were spottedon a farmland near a canal inMetepar village under the

Chimur forest range by somelocals, who in turn, informedthe forest department, said S VRamarao, Chief Conservator ofForest (CCF), Chandrapur circle.

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External Affairs Minister SJaishankar on Monday held

talks with his United ArabEmirates counterpart SheikhAbdullah bin Zayed and dis-cussed ways to boost coopera-tion in key sectors such as secu-rity and energy. The UAE min-ister, who arrived here late lastnight, will also call on PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andparticipate in a business round-table on Tuesday.

“Welcoming a specialfriend! EAM @Dr S Jaishankarwelcomes UAE ForeignMinister H H @ABZayedahead of the delegation–leveltalks.��%��%

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From Page 1Prior to the eventual res-

ignation of Shankar, whorecently became a Ministerunder Congress quota,Siddaramiah said he toooffered to quit, but they had nottaken it.

Congress had filled in all itsberths while there are twovacancies under JD(S) shareafter Nagesh’s resignation onMonday as he was madeMinister under the regionalparty’s quota.

Siddaramaiah said thereshuffle will be done based oneligibility, social justice andregional balance. In a messageto the disgruntled MLAs, hesaid, “I want to tell them don’tfall prey to BJPs allurements,we will listen to you and sortout your issues, don’t takehasty decision. This is myrequest to them on behalf of theparty,” he said, adding effortswere on to pacify them.

He said the Cabinet reshuf-fle will happen as soon as pos-

sible after discussion with partyhigh-command.

Responding to the politicaldevelopments, Kumaraswamyasserted he had “no fear” aboutthe happenings and was con-centrating on fulfilling hisresponsibilities.

“I have no fear about thepolitical developments, I willnot discuss about the politicaldevelopments... I have nothingdo with what BJP people aredoing and what others aredoing,” he said.

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After getting green signalfrom the Lok Sabha last

week, a Bill to do away withmandatory representation forpractising dentists not holdingqualification in the DentistCouncils at different levels was passed by the Rajya Sabhaon Monday.

Union Minister for HealthHarsh Vardhan introduced theDentists (Amendment) Bill,2019 that seeks to furtheramend the Dentists Act, 1948in Rajya Sabha.

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As discontentment brews inthe Services and amongst

veterans over a recent order towithdraw income tax exemp-tion on disability pension,Defence Minister Rajnath Singhinformed the Rajya Sabha onMonday he has asked his offi-cers to seek clarification fromthe Central Board of DirectTaxes (CBDT) over its directive.He also assured the Elders thatthe government will protect alllegitimate and justified disabil-ity pension recipients.

The Minister’s assertioncame during Question Hourwhen Rajeev Chandrasekharraised the issue terming theCBDT order “insensitive.” TheCBDT late last month issued anorder that all Services person-nel who serve their full militaryservice and then retire will not be eligible for taxexemption on disability. It ledto an uproar amongst theServices and veterans.

In his reply, Singh said thematter was brought to him andhe had asked the defence min-istry officials to seek clarifica-tions from the CBDT and thenonly he will be able to comeback to Parliament to givedetails. He, however, said thegovernment will not allow thelegitimate and justified dis-ability pension holders to suf-fer. “I want to make it clear tothe House that the justifiedbenefits to armed personnelwith disabilities would not bereduced,” the minister said.

On the issue of disinvest-ment in public sector BharatEarth Movers Limited (BEML),the minister defended the deci-sion the disinvest 26 per centand assured the Elders all pre-cautions are being taken so thatthere are no question marks onnational security.

He said it has been the pol-icy of all Governments as wellas recommendation of the Niti

Aayog on strategic sale of assetsin public sector undertakings.“If strategic disinvestment isbeing done, all precautions arebeing taken so that there is noquestion mark on our nation-al security. We are taking allprecautions and national secu-rity is foremost for our gov-ernment,” the Minister said.

Congress MP and formerDefence Minister AK Antonysaid PSUs were started after care-fully studying national securityand national interests. However,the government is privatisingdefence PSUs and “this is the lat-est one. Why is the governmentgoing below 51 per cent and thispolicy is against national secu-rity and national interests,” hesaid. Elaborating on the BEMLdisinvestment, Singh said thestrategic disinvestment processhas 16 steps and only five stepshave been accomplished so farin this case.”

On shortage of bullet proofjackets for armed forces, Singhsaid nearly 1.86 lakhs jacketswill come in by April 2020 aftera contract was signed with anIndian firm in 2018. The cost of the deal is �639crore, he added.

Replying to supplemen-tary queries, the minister saidthere was no embargo on theimport of raw material fromChina for making such bullet-

proof jackets, and any suppli-er violating the tender normswould face action and could bedisqualified.

In 2009, there was a short-age of 3,53,755 bullet proofjackets in the country, but pro-curement was not done for along time, Singh said adding atender for 1,86,138 bullet proofjackets was issued in April2016 and the tender in thisregard was allotted on April 9,2018 to an Indian buyer.

The Minister said so far theDirectorate General QualityAssurance (DGQA) qualitychecks have been completedand 10,000 bullet proof jacketshave already been procuredand a total of 37,000 suchjackets have to be procured bythis year, by October this year.

In reply to another ques-tion on the total fatalities ofarmed personnel at higher alti-tudes including Siachen glaci-er, Singh said there have beeneight such deaths in 2018, fivein 2017 and 20 in 2016.

The government under-takes several steps to preventcasualties like pre-inductionmedical examination, strin-gent acclimatization schedule,provision of specialised train-ing, special living shelters, pro-vision of specialised clothingand high quality rations, theMinister said.

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The Comptroller andAuditor General (CAG)

has found fault with theIncome Tax Department (ITD)for a loss of nearly �2,500crore to the State exchequer onaccount of committing errorsin scrutinizing tax assessmentsof the Entertainment sectorincluding films, TV, event man-agement, sports among others.And this loss, the CAG said,was detected by an audit of justhalf of the total 13,031 assess-ments made by the Income TaxDepartment involving�47,979.44 crore.

In a stringent remark, theauditor said the ITD needs topin down the reasons for suchsubstantial errors and holdthose responsible accountablefor the “act of commission”. Italso asked the ITD to audit the remaining 6,515 casesinternally.

According to CAG, whosereport was tabled in theParliament on Monday, theassessee (M2K EntertainmentPvt Ltd engaged in the businessof running two multiplex cin-emas in Delhi had offeredincome of �39.72 crore (exclu-sive of entertainment tax) in itsprofit and loss Account for theyear 2011-12 to 2014-15 fromthe sale of tickets. However,audit noticed from the infor-mation provided by theEntertainment Tax Departmentof Delhi, that the assessee haddeposited entertainment taxof �19.36 crore against the two cinema halls during theabove period.

“As such, taking into con-

sideration the applicable 20per cent entertainment tax onsale of tickets, the correspond-ing income generated by thecinema halls worked out to�96.80 crore. Thus, there wasunder reporting of income of�57.08 crore (�96.80 crore —�39.72 crore) involving taxeffect of �24.06 crore, includ-ing interest,” the CAG said.

In the case of BCCI, theCAG said audit noticed thatassessee had credited �108.02crore towards ‘Income fromMedia Rights’ which was net ofTV and other production costof �59.32 crore. However, whilecomputing the income, theassessee had again claimed theproduction cost of �59.32 croreas expenses and the same wasallowed by AO. The mistakehad resulted in under assess-ment of Income of �59.32 croreinvolving short levy of tax of�20.16 crore.

As per report, audit noticedfrom the ledger account of theassessee (K Venugopal, pro-prietor of M/s KV Films) of2012-13 that assessee hadreceived a consideration of�2.92 crore in cash againstsale of various movie rights,however, details of purchaserswere not available in therecords. Audit further noticedthat the AO had not obtainedthe details of the film rightspurchasers, from whom thecash payments were received bythe assessee, to pass on theinformation to jurisdictionalAOs of purchaser,” the CAG said.

In another audit, CAGfound that audit noticed fromassessment records of the

assessee ( Thirupathi BrothersFilm Media of Chennai) thatduring survey, the assessee hadadmitted to have received�2.45 crore in cash from M/sStudio Green during the year

2012-13. Audit cross verifiedthe assessment records of M/sStudio Green for AY 2013-14and found that AO (assessingM/s Studio Green) had notadded back the amount of

expenses for which paymentwas made in cash by the M/SStudio Green to ThirupathBrothers Film Media, violatingthe section 40A(3) of the Act,”it said.

�� /3�'/042

The debate on the UnionBudget started in Lok Sabha

on Monday with ruling partyMPs expressing optimism andtheir Opposition counterpartsdubbing it a failure to addresskey economic issues facing theeconomy, farm distress andrise in fuel price.

Initiating the debate,Congress MP Shashi Tharoorsaid the Budget has “unneces-sarily defensive strokes,dropped catches and quite afew no balls” highlighting theproblems of farmers and com-mon man in fuel hikes.Countering the charges of theCongress, BJP MP Jayant Sinhasaid that the economy wasback on track due to the effortsof the Modi Government.

“Since cricket is on ourminds these days with WorldCup semi-final tomorrow, letme say that instead of boldboundaries we expected in thisfirst budget after the elections,what we have are unnecessar-ily defensive strokes, dropcatches and quite a few no ballsand wide,” Tharoor said.

He said the budget wascharacterised by mediocre setof announcements, distinctivemisses and deafening silence onmatters of substance. “We wereleft with a sort of ‘trishanku’budget, neither here nor there,”he said. There was hardly anymention of country’s GDPgrowth rate, he said, addingthat the word ‘GDP’ came uponly once.

“Hastily and ill thoughtthrough demonetisation bearsthe large share of responsibil-ity for shutting down lakhs ofsmall and micro enterprises,throwing many more lakhs ofpeople out of work,” he alleged.Tharoor also raised the issue ofagrarian distress and farmersuicides. “Our nation’s farmerswho provide food security havein the last five years receivedstepmotherly treatment formthis government which hasresulted in record level offarmer suicides,” he alleged.

BJP leader Jayant Sinhaexpressed confidence that theCentre will not only meet its

target of USD 5-trillion econ-omy but reach the USD 10 tril-lion mark. Rejecting theCongress’ charge that theBudget was a missed opportu-nity, he said what the partycould not achieve in 60 yearswas done by the BJP in 60months.

“When our Governmentcame to power in 2014, theeconomy was in a critical stage...It was a passenger train. Wecame and brought the train ontrack... And made that passen-ger train into Rajdhani train.And due to this visionary andeffective budget we will makethis Rajdhani train into a bul-let train. And we will make theopposition member and publicsit on that bullet train andcomplete the target of (USD) 5trillion economy,” he said.

Terming the budget as his-torical and visionary, he saidthat it promotes consumptionand investment. “And I can saywith confidence that we willachieve the target of 5 trillion.Because of the foundation laidby this budget we will notonly achieve the target of(USD) 5 trillion but we are alsogoing to achieve the economyof (USD) 10 trillion,” he said.

The GDP in 2014 was �111lakh crore, he said adding thatin five years it became �188lakh crore which has been anincrement of 70 per cent.

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The Army has issued anadvisory to its personnel to

judiciously use social media toavoid the danger of gettinghoney trapped or inadvertent-ly leaking out informationabout their posting or move-ment which is exploited by theenemy. The two-page directiveissued to nearly 13 lakh troopsrecently also asks the personnelto avoid joining large groups onsocial media as the identity ofmany users is not known.

Explaining the rationale forissuing such a directive, seniorofficials said here on Mondaythe main objective is to maintainsecurity of data and personnel.Though there is no restrictionon personnel to use social mediabut given the nature of job, thepersonnel should avoid joininglarge groups on sites likeWhatsApp where the identity ofmany members is not known.The officers and men shouldonly those groups were theyknow the other members,sources said.

Officials said inimical ele-ments are always on the look-out for such follies committedinadvertently by personnelthereby posing a security threatand a major challenge. Anyinformation about movementof troops, convoys or postingsare exploited by the enemy.They introduce malware ormask their identity to access thedata from the user therebyposing a grave danger.

Asserting that it is not thefirst time such a directive wasissued, sources said personnelcannot reveal their professionor upload photographs in uni-form on sites like Facebook. Infact, the Services have regular-ly issued such directives since2014 and there is a detailed pol-icy on social media with theArmy.

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AComptroller and AuditorGeneral of India (CAG)

report tabled in Parliament onMonday pointed out that therewas still a long way to go beforethe target of public healthexpenditure was achieved andthe Central allocation forhealth for 2019-20 was farshort of target.

The report also noted thatin States, health spending as apercentage of total Statesexpenditure, ranged from 3.29to 5.32 per cent which showsthat this need considerableaugmentation.

The CAG audited pre-paredness activities of selected17 Central Ministries includ-ing, NITI Aayog, Ministry ofStatistics and ProgrammeImplementation (MoSPI),Ministry of Health and FamilyWelfare (MoHFW) and sevenStates — Assam, Chhattisgarh,Haryana, Kerala, Maharashtra,Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal— being undertaken under theSustainable DevelopmentGoals (SDGs) and specificallyfocused on ‘Good Health and

Well Being,’ targets.It found that a lot was

needed to be done to achievethe goals.

“The UN GeneralAssembly in September 2015,adopted resolution titled´Transforming our World: the2030 Agenda for SustainableDevelopment’ consisting of 17Sustainable DevelopmentGoals (SDGs) and 169 associ-ated targets. “Efforts to raisepublic awareness about SDGsand initiatives undertaken inthe selected States were notcomprehensive, focussed orsustained,” said the report.

It further said a roadmapis yet to be aligned withdefined milestones for SDGtargets to be achieved in theyear 2020, 2025 and 2030 andthat the vision document is stillunder preparation. “States areyet to prepare policy docu-ments. Mapping of goals andtargets undertaken by NITIAayog and selected States isstill ongoing. States may needto strengthen institutionalarrangements by identifyingsupport departments anddefining roles and responsi-

bilities,” it said.The CAG report pointed

out that the strategy documentdid not project the financingand budgeting requirements.“While it is recognised thatprojecting financial resourcesfor achieving the Targets by2030 is a challenging task,Ministry of Finance and State Governments are yet tointegrate SDG related financialresources in national budgeting for implementingSDGs,” it said.

Mapping in respect ofhealth goals was not compre-hensive in selected States.Though States had indicatedactions to formulate plans andpolicies in line with the goal,delays and absence of a holis-tic approach were noted. AlsoData for certain health indi-cators were not regularly oruniformly available.

The CAG report has sug-gested framing of a compre-hensive charter and actionplan with well-defined mile-stones for implementing SDGsafter due consultations andfinalisation of the vision doc-ument should be expedited.

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In Rottenseed! Cottonseed, Alzheimer’sand Your Brain, nutritionist BruceSemon traces the rise of Alzheimer’sto a toxin in cottonseed that goes tothe brain and randomly ties up

important structures there. Cottonseed, abyproduct of cotton farming, contains poi-son but is routinely fed to farm animals,poultry and fish, from where it enters theirflesh and reaches human beings when theyeat this meat. Dr Semon, the first writer totrace the link between toxic cottonseedsand human health, describes his experi-ments on feeding cottonseed to animals.

In India, some farmers are illicitlyextracting cottonseed oil and selling cheap-ly to vegetable oil dealers, who mix it withedible oils and sell to unwary consumers.In the past decade, cotton farming has risensharply under the influence of GM cotton,peddled by multinational firms, increasingchances of the even more lethal GM cot-tonseed oil entering the human and ani-mal food chain. In 2018, the Centre forScience and Environment (CSE) detectedBT cottonseed contamination in ediblesoils. The Food Safety and StandardsAuthority of India (FSSAI) has so far donelittle to contain this adulteration. TheGovernment must ban cottonseed forhuman or animal feed and warn against itsconsumption.

Cottonseed is also implicated in infer-tility. Male and female infertility has oftenbeen attributed to hormonal problems butSemon argues that cottonseed is loadedwith toxic chemicals. It killed many animalsto which it was fed, which led to studieson just how much cottonseed could be fedto animals without killing them.

A major cottonseed toxin is “gossypol.”Researchers have known this since 1950 butno one made it public. China is supposedto have examined gossypol as a possibleform of birth control for men (it interruptssperm formation). In women, gossypolcauses failure to ovulate. Other harmfuleffects cannot be ruled out.

Indeed, India faces grave dangers asunprecedented levels of GM genes havebeen found in Indian foods. CSE detect-ed unprecedented levels of geneticallymodified genes in Indian foods, bothimported and indigenous. CSE’s PollutionMonitoring Laboratory found 32 per centof 65 food products purchased randomlyfrom retail outlets in Delhi-NCR, Punjaband Gujarat, to be GM-positive. Amongimported samples, 80 per cent were GM-positive.

Scientist Amit Khurana said the CSEstudy revealed that in their biosafety sub-mission to the Genetic EngineeringAppraisal Committee, Monsanto/Bayerlied that “BT cottonseed oil is equivalentto natural cottonseed oil” and contains noGM traces. Moreover, the edible oil com-panies, that used transgenic BT cottonseedwithout regulatory approval, also endan-

gered public health. The IndianCouncil of AgriculturalResearch has often relied onMonsanto’s printed biosafetysubmissions.

Dr KR Kranthi, formerchief, Central Institute forCotton Research, warned ofedible oil contamination: “Thepossible routes of BT cottonprotein entering the food chainare through human consump-tion of un-refined cottonseedoil, in which traces of BT pro-tein may be present with par-ticulate seed residues orthrough consumption of meator milk of the animals whichare fed on BT cotton seed-cake.”

Biosafety expert DrVandana Shiva said, “IllegalGMO Roundup Ready BT cot-ton has spread in farmers’fields with no action from theGenetic Engineering AppraisalCommittee (GEAC). IllegalGMO foods are flooding India’smarkets with no action fromFSSAI. The Government issupposed to protect its citizensfrom harm and illegal actions.How long will it protect theGMO industry and allowIndians farmers and citizens tobe harmed?”

Dr Gilles-Eric Seralini,who was hounded by multina-tional companies and their

media acolytes until the Frenchcourts penalised his attackersfor defamation, explained theeffects of ingesting GM over afive-ten year period, “We havealready demonstrated on mam-mals that BT toxins attackmucosal and epithelial cells,inducing heavy long termchronic diseases.” GMOs andpesticides, he says, are a biolog-ical arsenal causing diseasesfrom cancers to farmers’ sui-cides.

The Indian Governmentdid not conduct any indepen-dent scientific study beforeadopting Monsanto/Bayer’sGMOs, as pointed out by theParliamentary StandingCommittee on science andtechnology (Report 301 onGM crops and their effects).FSSAI’s GM labelling rule hasbeen lambasted as too lenientand corporate-driven. A scien-tific study in the Journal ofI n t e r n a t i o n a lImmunopharmacology (August2018) found that the BT pro-tein, present in BT crops, caus-es immune reactions and trig-gers food allergy and intestinalinflammation in mice.

Meanwhile, several scien-tific studies, including onepublished by the Public Libraryof Science (July 2013), havefound compelling evidence

that the DNA of geneticallymodified foods can enter thehuman bloodstream and causemany health problems. Bloodsamples of over 1,000 partici-pants were collected and “theresults indicated that meal-derived DNA fragments (whichwere large enough to carrycomplete genes) can avoiddegradation and ultimatelyenter the human body’s circu-lation system.” Researchers saidthese are actually stretches ofDNA large enough to passcomplete genes of GMO plants(like soy, corn or canola oil) tohumans.

In some blood samples, therelative concentration of plantDNA was higher than humanDNA. The researchers saidthat participants with inflam-matory bowel disease and auto-immune disease had the high-est concentration of transgenicgene. Previous studies showthat GMOs can change thebeneficial bacteria in the smallintestine and trigger auto-immune diseases and inflam-mation, making it difficult toabsorb the real nutrients infood. These findings vindicatethe claims of independent sci-entists and researchers whohave long warned the regulato-ry bodies and biotech industrythat GMO genes can be trans-

ferred from dairy and animalproducts to people.

After prolonged resistance,the European Food SafetyAuthority was forced to admitthat DNA from food (GMO ornon-GMO) could end up inanimal tissues and milk andother dairy products consumedby people. The GMO compa-nies are strenuously resistingthe findings and investing mil-lions of dollars to hide theirtoxic GMOs and defeat theGMO labelling movement,even as people eating these hid-den toxins are getting sickerand sicker.

Many scientists andactivists now feel that the timefor labelling GMOs is over;Governments must simply banthem. This is also the time forthe Government of India toorder a scientific study of thediseases (cancer, diabetes, auto-immune, organ failure) that fol-lowed introduction of theGreen Revolution. The artificialself-sufficiency wrought by thechemical fertiliser and pesti-cide-based agriculture has long devastated the health ofanimals, humans and the verysoil.

(The writer is Senior Fellow,Nehru Memorial Museum andLibrary; the views expressedare personal))�� *��

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Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “Neither good nor bad”(July 6). Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman got thesymbolism entirely wrong.Going back to ‘bahi-khaata’ inan electronic age, when even‘aadhtiyas’ have discarded thecumbersome ‘bahis,’ did seemincongruous. A briefcase isalways handy to carry papersand small files, especially for theBudget speech.

Sitharaman ought to havestuck to it — everything our colo-nial rulers did need not be dis-carded. Just when the focus is ondigitising all facets of governmen-tal activity, Finance Minister car-rying a ‘bahi-khata’ on the mostimportant day in her annual cal-endar does seem rather odd.

As for the Budget, as always,it is a mix of good, not-so-goodand completely negative. Giventhat this was the first budget ofa Government which had justwon another five years in power,Sitharaman could have beenbolder in pushing the reformagenda, lowering corporate taxesacross the board, doing awaywith irksome exemptions which

deface the entire taxation systemand provide fillip to mid-levelbusinesses and industries togrow more. At this rate, we willcontinue to play catch-up withChina indefinitely.

J AkshobhyaMysuru

��

Sir — After scoring five fantas-tic centuries, including threeconsecutive ones, in the ongoingCricket World Cup and accumu-lating 647 runs, ‘hitman’ Rohit

Sharma has deservedly grabbedall the headlines. Captain ViratKohli, whose team has finishedat the top of the points table andcruised its way to the knockoutstage, has aptly said that Rohitis the best ODI batsman in theworld today. The opener’s bat-

ting is a blend of classic strokes,scintillating shots and lightningsixes, making him a modern-daygreat. Further, Rohit’s post-match press conferences give aglimpse of his commitment anddedication to the team. Cricketfans across the country wouldwant his consistency to fetchIndia World Cup glory.

M Pradyu Kannur

��

Sir — The Congress-JD(S)Government is tottering after afew of its MLAs sent their resig-nation letters. From the veryoutset, the Congress and theJD(S) had formed an oppor-tunistic alliance, with the onlyaim to not let the BJP form aGovernment over there.Members of both parties werefighting for survival. The alliancehad no agenda for the State’sdevelopment. It was an unholyalliance and the Lok Sabha elec-tion was the last straw.

DB SinghVia email

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Modi would be damned if taxes on themiddle class were to be raised. It wouldequally be damned for taxing the emerg-

ing category of the Highest High Net WorthIndividuals (HHNIs), comprising a minusculeuniverse of 8,000 people. The fact is that eventhe rich have not been touched by FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharaman in Budget 2019-20. Only the super rich have been asked to shellout more. This was the most inoffensive way ofconforming to Chanakya’s prescription that“taxes should be collected the way a bee collectshoney, without damaging the flower.” So, how dowe term “Sithanomics” for inconveniencingonly the poor-rich people, who comprise 0.01 percent of the population, to raise the much-need-ed resources for the 99 per cent, who have beenallocated welfare spends of �1.30 lakh crore forincreasing rural jobs and livelihood? Elitist/pro-capitalist or socialist? She is neither, veeringtowards being a pragmatist.

The actual disappointment of the Budget layin not having reduced corporate taxation acrossthe board to 25 per cent, which excluded 0.7 percent of the firms above the �400 crore turnovermark. That should make socialists happy as the6,000 largest firms will continue to be taxed at30 per cent, as compared to 17-21 per cent in thedeveloped countries. However, in the interest ofgood economics, this was a big opportunitymissed in kickstarting a virtuous cycle of invest-ments and India cannot afford to be left behindif it wants to remain the fastest growing econo-my. Because, in comparison to its Asian peers,our country has the highest corporate tax rates,cost of land, cost of capital and electricity as alsohighest pendency of 3.5 crore cases under liti-gation — all of these lower the country’s globalcompetitiveness.

To take advantage of the US-China trade warand to make India the preferred manufacturingdestination, as also to give a boost to the exportssector, which has stagnated since 2013, it madesense that potential revenue losses, which wouldaccrue by extending the 25 per cent corporatetax uniformly, would have been more than com-pensated by reviving the animal spirits of bigindustries. Because the largest corporates wouldhave been tempted to loosen their purse stringsfor capital expenditure and job creation. Thereobviously was little headroom to reduce tax ratesfor large corporates as every one per centreduction in rates means �15,000 crore loss tothe exchequer.

Modi 2.0 is obsessed with a single-mindedmantra that the Prime Minister chants fromJapan to Varanasi: To nudge India towards a $5trillion economy by 2024. At present, the goal ofdoubling the $2.8 trillion economy in the nextfive years may sound an anachronism, given thecurrent Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growthtrend of six to seven per cent annually. Achievingsustained growth rates upwards of eight per centis now an imperative, year on year, so as to raiseper capita income and transit towards the UN’sSustainable Development Goals and to becomea middle-income economy. And if we don’t setthe bar higher, we will never actualise that goal.

The Budget provides a fairly coherent roadmap for #India @$5 trillion by giving a boost tosectors that propel growth and job creation, like

infrastructure and affordable housing;lowering cash transactions and goingdigital; going for e-assessments; creat-ing a favourable ecosystem for start-upsby easing angel tax and simplifying reg-ulatory hurdles for Foreign DirectInvestment (FDI) in aviation, mediaand insurance as also easing norms forsingle-brand retail that will enhance theemployment potential.

Working backwards from thePrime Minister’s stated goal needssome “blue-sky thinking” on part ofpolicy makers, tinged with pragmatism.Blue-sky thinking is about dreaming theimpossible, yet finding a way to getthere. We know all too well that thereare compelling reasons for theGovernment to factor in expenses torevive falling consumption and addressrural distress, while sources of revenueare restricted.

So where can the additionalresources have come from? It was butnatural to pluck from the low-hangingfruit of taxing the super-rich withoutmaking the middle class bear the bur-den in order to balance the outgoing forwelfare schemes, which is at 7.5 per centof the GDP and increasing the outlaysfor health, housing and education.

Contrary to the elitist mindsetthat thinks taxing the creamiest layeris a regressive “Robin Hood” tax,extortionist, or socialist, taxing freshincome was a sounder concept than re-imposing wealth tax or estate duty thatwas done away with years back. WT orInheritance tax is tantamount to triple

taxation because when people acquireany asset from disposable income,they do so after having paid income taxat applicable levels as also other levieslike GST and stamp-duty among otherat the time of acquisition.

For those with incomes between �2crore and �5 crore, will shell outbetween 39 per cent and 42.74 per cent— the highest tax rate imposed since1992. This is absolutely in sync withchanging realities of higher incomesearned like never before. Progressivetaxation makes for sound economics.Besides, the extra revenue in absoluteterms is expected to yield �12,000 crore.When earnings are �3 crore a year, or�25 lakh a month, there is little causeto feel bad for “the poor, rich lad.” Thoseaffected make for a small percentage ofthe 1.3 billion Indians. As per data onreturns filed in 2016-17, of the 46.6 mil-lion taxpayers, only 16 per cent report-ed gross income between �1 and �5crore.

Let us also understand the behav-ioural dynamics of the super-rich:When billionaires inherit or generatewindfall profits, those one per cent ofthe privileged have a distinct edge overthe 99 per cent through the compound-ing power of money, opportunity tonetwork and influence policy makingand are empowered with highest liter-acy. The system is then conducive to a“winner takes all” to amass fortune. Sowhen fresh income is made, taxesmust be progressively imposed onthose accruals. Thus far, it has been a

predatory system of wealth concentra-tion in the hands of the few andinequality can only get bridged throughpolicy interventions, not by whimsicalgenerosity or CSR of the few.

According to a 2018 Oxfam Reportreleased at the World Economic Forum(WEF) in January 2019, “Indian billion-aires saw their fortunes swell by �2,200crore a day last year, with the top 1 percent of the country’s richest getting rich-er by 39 per cent, as against just threeper cent increase in wealth for the bot-tom-half of the population.”

Following international best prac-tices, for example of the US, the rich-est one-tenth of the most affluent oneper cent of Americans voluntarilyoffered just last week that “the next dol-lar of tax revenues should come fromthe most financially fortunate, insteadof middle income taxpayers.”

India has done well to adopt thismodel of progressive taxation by cre-ating a fourth slab of taxation toimpose on super high net worth indi-viduals. In the Finance Minister’sacknowledgement that “wealth is not abad word”, it shows a shift in mindsetfrom the socialist Nehruvian era. Butwith windfall personal gains comehigher duties on part of the super afflu-ents toward helping mainstreamingthose financially excluded: The “gaon,garib and kisan.”

(The writer is an author, columnistand Chairperson for NationalCommittee on Financial Inclusion at NitiAayog)

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The Modi 2.0 Government’smaiden Budget has peggedIndia’s finances on its villages

and farms — a visible shift from theNehruvian economic policy of pro-moting industrialisation. The ModiGovernment’s Budget was trulyfocussed on agriculture and ruraldevelopment. At the same time, theGovernment wants the private sectorto be in the driver’s seat. This toachieve the target of Indian becom-ing a $3 trillion economy in theimmediate future and $5 trillion in thecourse of time. Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman said, “In pur-chasing power parity, we are, in fact,the third largest economy already,next to China and the US.”

This sounds good to achieve thetwin objectives of growth and inclu-siveness. Sitharaman’s �27.86 lakhcrore Budget has interesting features:It is ambitious and plans to investwidely, covering almost all sectors.

So, there were plans to boost theeconomy along with the empower-ment of villagers, women and farm-ers. Schemes such as the PradhanMantri Gramin Awaas Yojana andthe Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak asalso the Bharatmala, Sagarmala andUDAN, are designed to bridge therural-urban divide and improvetransport infrastructure. The 1.25lakh km of roads across the countrythat will be upgraded entail aninvestment of �80,000 crore.

The Scheme of Fund forRegeneration of TraditionalIndustries (SFURTI), launched in2005, which envisions 100 new clus-ters in 2019-20, will facilitate 50,000artisans in making the traditionalindustries more productive. Underthe ASPIRE scheme, 100 businessincubators will be set up to enable75,000 entrepreneurs in the agro-rural industrial sector. Further, the

Government plans to form 10,000farmer producer organisations(FPOs) in the next five years, appar-ently with corporate interface, toensure economies of scale for farm-ers over the next five years. Otherslike the Pradhan Mantri GraminDigital Saksharta Abhiyan, the waterconservation campaign, ‘Jal ShaktiAbhiyan, which will focus on 256districts, will spur rural growth.

Many of these schemes will helpin the development of the rural sec-tor and mitigate rural distress, bridgeurban and rural divide, createdemand and spur the growth of theindustry and allied sectors.

All of this is fine. But the FinanceMinister has thrown a spanner, too.Additional taxes, duties and cesses onthe rich and on commodities such asfuel will have an inflationary effect.First and foremost, transport expens-es will see a rise. Already, cess dutieswere high on fuel. Tolls and taxes haveseen atrocious rates, too. This calls fora relook and withdrawal of the pro-posal to keep the economy on trackas also to fulfill the vision of Indiabecoming a $5 trillion economy.

Another decision that will havea negative impact is to raise customsduty on gold from the existing 10 percent to 12.5 per cent. Gold is mistak-enly considered an item of consump-tion by the rich. As a matter of fact,no marriage in poor or rural house-hold is complete without purchasingof gold. The NDA-I of Atal BihariVajpayee had taken the prudentdecision of having “zero duty” ongold import to keep a check onsmuggling. Higher duties bode wellfor smugglers, who have links withgun and drug leaders as also terror-ist organisations.

Though the Government’s aim isto raise revenue, it may end upincreasing surveillance at multiplesectors, thus causing revenue loss.Ideally, this needs to be rolled backas losses outweigh gains. Similarly,TDS on cash withdrawals of over �1crore, not a large sum for even smallbusinesses, to discourage businesspayments in cash, may actually leadto an economic slowdown. TheGovernment should not be in ahurry to digitise the economy. Cashis the fastest transaction method.

Linking it to black money — simplymeaning untaxed — is a misnomer.

Let the cash lubricate and speedup the economy. Digitisation shouldbe a normal and automatic process.Apprehensions for digitisation, too,have been raised as many Aadhaar-linked accounts are now beingdefrauded. The Government needsto go slow and withdraw such strangerules that make dealings and tax fil-ing cumbersome.

It was expected that the FinanceMinister would make an announce-ment regarding abolishing theincome tax. Instead, Sitharamanincreased the 15 per cent personaltax surcharge on top-end incomebrackets — for incomes between �2crore and �5 crore, the new surchargeis 25 per cent and for incomesabove �5 crore, the new surcharge is37 per cent. High taxes reduce dis-posable income and are a dampen-er for the people to consume.

The Indian economy needs sim-plicity in tax administration. Besides,full tax rebate for citizens with netannual taxable income up to �5 isarbitrary. They, too, should be taxed

as this will burden the tax office withlittle benefits in hand.

Taxing the bank deposits does notsuit the welfare nature of the NarendraModi Government. It may give smallrevenues but cause immense hardshipto those who save. Savings, the FinanceMinister says, have to be encouragedto boost the economy. TDS and lowinterest rates dampen the enthusiasmof savers. The Government’s wordsmust match its deeds. It’s a necessitynot only for the savers but for a nationthat is pining for funds.

If savings are taken care of, theGovernment will not have to look forborrowings abroad to spur growthand fiscal management. Thisswadeshi move will make easyfinance available to Governmentand save forex. The Finance Ministermay do some reworking. It will con-tain inflation, which after thisBudget, is likely to rise to 5 per cent.For a $5 trillion economy in nineyears, India requires a growth rate ofat least 11 per cent not eight per cent, as the Economic Survey indi-cated.

(The writer is a senior journalist)

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The rupee Monday declinedby 24 paise to close at

68.66 against the US dollar, cut-ting short its three winning rundue to a massive selloff inequities and weakening expec-tations of a rate cut by the USFederal Reserve in near future.

Foreign institutionalinvestors pulled out �401.99crore Monday, hitting the rupeesentiment.

Emerging market curren-cies took a hit after the US jobdata fuelled expectations thatthe Federal Reserve will not cutinterest rates quickly in nearfuture. The US dollar tradedstrong against its rivals, andAsian currencies.

Investors sentiment wassubdued on concerns thatincreased surcharge on super-rich could affect foreign fundsinvesting in India, which couldlead to flight of foreign fundsfrom the domestic markets,currency traders said.

The rupee opened lower at68.49 from the last close of68.42 at the inter-bank foreignexchange (forex) market.

The local unit lost furtherground to touch a session lowof 68.76 before closing at 68.66,marking a fall of 24 paise overits previous close. The rupee onFriday settled 8 paise higher at

68.42 against the dollar.“Rupee follows the path of

emerging-market currencies,as markets start to rethink theextent and speed of rate cuts bythe Federal Reserve. Regionalstocks also traded weaker asbudget Blues continue,” V KSharma, Head PCG & CapitalMarkets Strategy, HDFCSecurities, said.

The 30-share Sensextanked 907 points in the intra-day trade before settling at38,720.57 points, showing asharp loss of 792.82 points or2.01 per cent. The broaderNifty of the NSE tanked 252.55

points, or 2.14 per cent, to closeat 11,558.60 points.

The 10-year Governmentbond yield was at 6.60 per cent.

“...Bond market traded high-er amid lower than estimated fis-cal deficit number and propos-al of foreign currency bondissuance. Finance SecretarySubhash Chandra Garg saidthat government is targetingthe second half of the fiscal yearto raise funds through overseasbond sales,” Sharma said.

Brent crude futures, theglobal oil benchmark, slipped0.16 per cent to $64.33 per bar-rel.

� �� /3�'/042

CB D TChairman P C

Mody on Mondaysaid theGovernment willsoon issue a clari-fication on theincrease in tax rateon foreign portfo-lio investors toallay their con-cerns.

On whether the clarifica-tion will be issued soon or afterdiscussion on Budget inParliament, Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman said it isnot required at the moment.

“I don’t think clarificationat the moment is all that’srequired. Let’s see as it goes.You think it is required?” shesaid.

There were concerns thatthe increased surcharge onsuper-rich could also affectforeign funds investing in Indiasince a same tax structuresapply for individuals, HinduUndivided Family andAssociations of Persons (AoPs).

Experts said some ForeignPortfolio Investors (FPIs) fol-low trust structure and, hence,would be classified as AoPs.

“The matter has beenbrought to our notice now. Wewill issue a clarification soon,”Mody said at an Assocham

event.Markets continued to tum-

bled for the second straight ses-sion on Monday with theSensex plummeting 793 points.

According to traders, theUnion Budget’s proposals toraise public shareholdingthreshold and higher tax inci-dence for FPIs and high net-worth individuals continued tospook investors.

In the Budget 2019-20,tabled in Parliament last week,Sitharaman proposed toincrease surcharge from 15per cent to 25 per cent on tax-able income between �2 croreand �5 crore, and from 15 percent to 37 per cent for incomeabove �5 crore.

The effective income taxrate for individuals with a tax-able income of �2-5 crore willgo up from 35.88 per cent to 39per cent, and for those above �5crore, it would go up to 42.7 percent.

� �� /3�'/042

Shares of Punjab NationalBank on Monday dived over

11 per cent after the companydetected a fraud of more than�3,800 crore by Bhushan Power& Steel Ltd (BPSL).

The scrip tanked 11.19 percent to �72.60 on the BSE.

At the NSE, shares of thepublic sector lender dropped11.24 per cent to �72.60.

PNB said SaturdayBhushan Power & Steel Ltdmisappropriated bank fundsand manipulated its books ofaccounts to raise funds fromconsortium lender banks.

“On the basis of forensicaudit investigation findingsand CBI filing FIR, on suomoto basis, against the com-pany and its directors, allegingdiversion of funds from bank-ing system, a fraud of �3,805.15crore is being reported by bankto RBI (Reserve Bank of India).

“It has been observed thatthe company has misappropri-ated bank funds, manipulatedbooks of accounts to raisefunds from consortium lenderbanks. At present, the case is atNCLT which is in advancestage and the Bank expectsgood recovery in the account,”Punjab National Bank (PNB)said in a regulatory filing.

� �� /3�'/042

After delivering three back-to-back rate cuts, the

Reserve Bank on Monday saidit expects a quicker transmis-sion of the interest rate cuts bybanks to consumers by way ofcheaper home, auto and per-sonal loans.

During this year, the RBIreduced the key policy ratethrice with an aggregate reduc-tion of 0.75 percentage point inthe repo rate, the rate at whichRBI lends to banks.

“In the last MPC meeting(June 6) I had said that by thattime 50 basis points of repo ratecut had been announced, andout of this 21 basis points hadbeen transmitted. And onepositive thing that is happen-ing now is, earlier it used totake six months for transmis-sion, now the transmission istaking a much shorter periodof 2-3 months,” RBI GovernorShaktikanta Das said.

“Thereafter we announced25 basis points cut. So, it’snow entirely 75 basis point cut.We are collecting the data andalso you have to keep in mindthat right from the month of

June, in fact, June 1, the systemis more than adequately surplusin liquidity,” he said whileaddressing media after the cus-tomary post-budget meetingwith Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman.

He further said overall thesystem liquidity is hugely insurplus and if individual bankshave liquidity issue, the RBI willprovide liquidity support tothem.

The Budget has announceda 10 per cent backstop for thebanks to implement NBFCpackage as part of a series ofsteps to give relief to non-bank-ing financial companies facingcash crunch following the col-lapse of IL&FS last year.

In a bid to address the stressin the sector, the Governmentin the Budget proposed thatpublic sector banks would pur-chase high-rated pooled assetsof financially sound NBFCs,amounting to a total of �1 lakhcrore during the current finan-cial year.

For this, the Governmentwill provide one time sixmonths’ partial credit guaran-tee to public sector banks forfirst loss of up to 10 per cent.

� �� /3�'/042

RBI Governor ShaktikantaDas on Monday said the

central bank will discuss withthe Government the issuance ofoverseas sovereign bonds, ainstrument that will helpreduce dependence on thedomestic market for bridgingfiscal deficit.

The Reserve Bank of India(RBI) issues bonds on behalf ofthe government as part of theresource mobilisation exerciseto fund gap between revenueand expenditure.

Expressing his satisfactionover the Government’s move toslash fiscal deficit target, Dassaid it will help improve invest-ment by the private sector ascrowding out impact will beless.

After the customary post-budget meeting with FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharaman,he said, “The Government hasmade a budget announcementand we will interact with thegovernment. I am sure thegovernment will have a dis-cussion with the RBI. Whateverwe need to discuss with theGovernment, will be discussed

internally.”Finance Minister Nirmala

Sitharaman in Budget 2019-20announced that the govern-ment will start raising a part ofits gross borrowing programmefrom external markets in for-eign currencies.

She added that the coun-try’s sovereign external debt-to-GDP ratio level is among thelowest globally at less than 5 percent.

It is not often that the gov-ernment taps the foreign mar-kets to raise funds.

On the fiscal deficit, Dassaid the RBI will always behappy if it is maintained.

“In this case, fiscal deficithas been improved actuallyfrom 3.4 to 3.3 per cent of theGDP. The RBI will be happymainly because it limits so-called crowding out effect. So,that’s something positivebecause it gives more space formeeting the private sector bor-rowing,” he said.

Overall, there is fiscal glidepath which the Government ismaintaining in the last fiveyears, he said adding that theGovernment started with a fis-cal deficit number of 4.5 per

cent.“Now, it has gone down to

3.3. There is a glide path whichis being maintained. I think,overall, it will be good formicroeconomic situation,” headded.

The Centre has committedto reduce the fiscal deficit, thegap between total expenditureand revenue, to 3 per cent of thegross domestic product (GDP)by 2020-21, and eliminate theprimary deficit as per the FiscalResponsibility and BudgetManagement (FRBM) Act.

Primary deficit refers to thedeficit left after subtractinginterest payments from the fis-cal deficit.

With regard to additionalresponsibility given to the cen-tral bank for regulating housingfinance companies (HFCs), hesaid it has been given after a lotof deliberation within the gov-ernment and also with the RBI.

“The RBI will do its best tolive up to expectations of theadditional responsibility whichhas been given to the RBI andI am quite confident that wewill be able to deal with thisadditional responsibility affec-tively,” he said.

� �� /3�'/042

AGovernment panel isexamining all issues relat-

ed to crypto currencies, includ-ing the pros and cons of theintroduction of an official dig-ital currency in the country.

Crypto currencies are notrecognised as legal tenders inthe country and the issue ofallowing trading in such cur-rencies is being examined bythe government, UnionMinister Anurag Thakur saidMonday.

The Minister of State forCorporate Affairs told the LokSabha that no decision onlicensing and authorising anyentity or company to dealwith Bitcoins or any othervirtual currency has beenmade yet.

The issue of permittingtrading in crypto currencies isunder examination by theGovernment which has con-stituted an Inter-MinisterialCommittee (IMC) under thechairmanship of Secretary,Department of EconomicAffairs.

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Greece’s new conservativeprime minister Kyriakos

Mitsotakis was sworn inMonday after a sweeping elec-tion victory put him in chargeof the EU’s most indebtedmember with promises to enda decade of economic crisis.

“The Greek people gave usa strong mandate to changeGreece. We will honour it to thefull,” Mitsotakis said after tak-ing his oath of office in a tele-vised ceremony.

“Hard work begins today. Iam completely confident thatwe will prove equal to thechallenge.” The cabinet will besworn in on Tuesday and willmeet on Wednesday, he said.

The 51-year-old Harvardgraduate and former McKinseyconsultant took the oath ofoffice in the presidential man-sion in the presence of his wifeand three children.

He then walked next doorto the prime minister’s office,where he had a brief discussionwith defeated leftist premierAlexis Tsipras.

The US-educated conserv-ative faces a hefty challenge ashe takes over from Tsipras, whoimposed austerity measuresrequired under a bailout tokeep Greece in the eurozone.

The country’s public debtlast year stood at 335 billioneuros (USD 376 billion), or 180per cent of the GDP.

The debt load is forecast tofall to 168 per cent of the GDPthis year, but only under belt-tightening brought in underTsipras’s Syriza party — some-thing that Mitsotakis’s NewDemocracy party says is stiflinggrowth.

The tricky job of keepingGreece’s international credi-tors onside while easing thehardship on Greeks — by low-ering taxes and renegotiatingfiscal targets — could result ina short honeymoon phase forMitsotakis.

The former banker haspledged to create jobs and“steamroller” obstacles to busi-ness.

Those pledges wooedGreek voters, who handed him40 per cent of the votes inSunday’s election, well ahead ofthe 31.5 per cent given toTsipras.

“It’s a strong message forchange in Greece,” Mitsotakistold reporters on Sunday.

Last week he told AFPthat he saw it as his mission “tomake sure we restart the econ-omy” with “ambitious growthdriven by private investments,exports and innovation”.

He predicted that he couldpersuade Greece’s creditors toaccept the easing of tight fiscaltargets if “a comprehensivereforms package” was presented.

Tsipras, for his part,warned that Mitsotakis woulddo away with the social spend-ing he brought in to helpGreece’s vulnerable groups.

He portrayed theMitsotakis family — one ofGreece’s leading political dynas-ties — as part of a failed systemthat bankrupted the country in2010, which he blamed for thehumiliating bailout.

Mitsotakis is the son of for-mer prime minister ConstantineMitsotakis, one of the country’slongest-serving parliamentari-ans. His sister Dora Bakoyannisis a former minister and Athens’sfirst female mayor.

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Fearing for their jobs, theover a dozen employees

and officers unions of AirIndia Monday came out strong-ly against the Government’ssecond bid to sell the finan-cially-crippled national carrier,union sources said after ameeting with the management.

Acting quickly on the bud-get announcement, Air Indiachairman Ashwani Lohani hadcalled on Friday itself called ameeting of all the 13 RPT 13unions of the airline Monday todiscuss the privatisation plan.

Showing its keenness to getout of the aviation business,

which for many decades havebeen a big drain on publicmoney, the budget for FY20 hasset aside just a paltry �1 lakh.

Media reports Mondaysaid, the government has set anOctober deadline to completethe process.

“The forum of 13 unionshave decided to oppose the pri-vatisation move,” a union func-tionary told PTI over phonefrom New Delhi after the meet-ing with the management.

During the meeting, whichlasted for about 2 hrs, variousunion representatives told themanagement that they areready to do anything to turn-around the carrier but will not

“accept” privatisation at anycost, the source said.

The Modi Government inits first term had also tried toexit from the airline businessbut failed to get a buyer, forc-ing it to defer the plans.

Presenting the budget,Sitaharaman had said, “in viewof the current macroeconom-ic parameters, the Governmentwould not only re-initiate theprocess of strategic disinvest-ment of Air India, but wouldalso offer more central enter-prises for strategic participationby the private sector.”

The 13 AI unions are AirCorporation Employees Union,Air India Employees Union,

Indian Airlines TechniciansAssociation, All-India AircraftEngineers Association, IndianCommercial Pilots Association,Indian Pilots Guild, Air IndiaAircraft Engineers Association,Air India Cabin CrewAssociation, Air IndiaEngineers Association, AviationIndustry Employees Guild, All-India Service EngineersAssociation and United AirIndia Officers Association.

The AI unions have con-sistently been opposing any bidto sell the Maharaja claimingthat privatization is not a rem-edy pointing to the wayKingfisher and Jet Airwayswent belly up.

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The Government has a tar-get to achieve 6-7 million

sales of hybrid and electricvehicles by 2020 under theNational Electric MobilityMission Plan (NEMMP),Parliament was informedMonday.

The plan has beendesigned to enhance nation-al fuel security, to provideaffordable and environment-friendly transportation and toenable the Indian automotiveindustry achieve global man-ufacturing leadership.

“Under the NEMMP

2020, there is an ambitioustarget to achieve 6-7 millionsales of hybrid and electricvehicles by the year 2020,”Union Heavy Industries andPublic Enterprises MinisterArvind Sawant said in awritten reply in the RajyaSabha.

Based on the experiencefrom Phase-I of FAME IndiaScheme, it has been observedthat sufficient number ofcharging infrastructure isrequired to achieve expectedoutcome of the plan, beingaddressed presently in Phase-II of FAME Scheme, headded.

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Jammu & Kashmir was onhigh alert Monday in view of

the third death anniversary ofBurhan Wani, once a posterboy of terrorist group HizbulMujahideen, as authorities sus-pended movement ofAmarnath pilgrims and secu-rity forces convoys on thenational highway for the day asa precautionary measure.

The Amarnath Yatra wasput on hold following a strikecalled by separatist in theKashmir valley to mark Wani’sdeath anniversary, officials said,adding the annual pilgrimageto the cave shrine, situated at analtitude of 3,880 metre, in thesouth Kashmir Himalayas willresume on Tuesday.

The officials said theAmarnath-bound convoy,which usually leaves theBhagwati Nagar base camp herefor Kashmir in the early hoursof the day, was not allowed tohead for the cave shrine to avoid

any untoward incident.“The Yatra is suspended

from Jammu for the day andwill resume on Tuesday,” apolice official said. The author-ities also suspended movement

of security forces convoys for theday without assigning any rea-son. “No security forces convoyshall be allowed from bothsides (Jammu and Srinagar) ofthe highway on Monday,” a

police spokesman said Sunday.The Government had to

impose restrictions in parts ofSrinagar as normal life came toa standstill in Kashmir due to theshutdown call by the separatists.

Restrictions were imposedin four police station areas ofNowhatta, Khanyar, Safakadaland Maharajgunj in Srinagar,they said. Curbs were imposedas a precautionary measure tomaintain law and order andavoid any untoward incident,the officials added.

Wani, once a poster boy ofmilitancy in the Valley, waskilled in an encounter withsecurity forces on 8 July, 2016,in Kokernag area of southKashmir’s Anantnag district.His killing triggered massiveprotests and a prolonged peri-od of curfews and shutdownsacross the valley.

Over a period of morethan four months, 85 peoplewere killed and thousand oth-ers injured in clashes betweensecurity forces and protestors.The separatists, under the ban-ner of the Joint ResistanceLeadership (JRL), appealedpeople to observe a completeshutdown on Monday, andasked those living in Tral and

adjoining areas to “pay tributesto every martyr in their vicin-ity” and take a pledge to carrythe mission of the “martyrs” toits logical end.

Shops, fuel stations andother business establishmentswere shut across Srinagar, theofficials said. While publictransport remained off theroads, a few private cars andauto-rickshaws were seen plyingin some parts of the city. Theofficials said similar reportswere received from other districtheadquarters of the valley.

Mobile internet serviceswere suspended in the foursouth Kashmir districts —Anantnag, Kulgam, Shopianand Pulwama — while internetspeed was throttled in otherareas of the valley, they added.

Security forces weredeployed in strength at sensitiveplaces across the Valley to avoidany untoward incident, while nomovement of convoys of thearmed forces was allowed on theSrinagar-Jammu NationalHighway, the officials said.

On Sunday, DirectorGeneral of Police Dilbag Singhsaid every step had been takento ensure that the day passes offpeacefully.

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Already juggling with intra-party rebellions post gen-

eral elections — which saw theBengal ruling outfit conceding12 Lok Sabha seats to a surgingBJP — another TrinamoolCongress leader has unfurledthe banner of revolt question-ing the propriety of using “pub-lic money” to purchase advicefrom professional electionstrategist Prashant Kishore.

Though Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee would notmince words, rebellious MLAand Salt Lake-Rajarhat MayorSabyasachi Dutta has beenasked by the top TMC leader-ship to quit the party and hisMayoral chair for doing anti-party activities.

Hitting back Dutta knownfor his close chemistry withsenior BJP leader Mukul Royhas said a number of TMCleaders including ministers are

in touch with him and are sup-porting his stance.

Dutta a leader with largesupport base in the north-eastern fringes of Kolkata onMonday questioned the pro-priety of “spending publicmoney to purchase the adviceof Prashant Kishore who hasnot contested even a Panchayatelection.” Paying from the partyfund means paying from thepocket of the public, reasoned.

Things came to a flashpoint when Dutta led hundredsof State electricity boardemployees to gherao the VidyutBhavan demanding upwardrevision of wages leading theruling party to interpret the actas an anti-party activity.

Reacting to the cluster ofdevelopments involving Duttasince the past several days,Kolkata Mayor and State UrbanDevelopment Minister FirhadHakim said “he is behaving likea Mirzafar and should imme-

diately quit the party.”What added fuel to fire was

a sudden meeting between Royand Dutta inside an up marketclub on Sunday night. Even asthe TMC disciplinary com-mittee led by senior MinisterPartho Chatterjee met to dis-cuss the issue on Mondayinside sources said Dutta hadalready been asked to quit theMayoral chair. When askedwhether he would quit he said,“I have not received any com-munication from the leader-ship” adding he was ready toface the no trust motion in SaltLake Corporation.

Meanwhile, taking theleadership by surprise Duttasaid a number of ministerswere sympathizing with him.When asked to name suchministers he said “RajibBanerjee (Irrigation Minister)is one of those who has spokento me.” Banerjee however dis-missed his claims.

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There was more problem forthe ruling Trinamool

Congress as the EnforcementDirectorate probing Rose Valleyand Sharada chit fund cases onMonday grilled senior leaderand former Minister MadanMitra for more than four hours.

Mitra was questioned forthe first time for his allegedinvolvement in the Rs 27,000crore Rose Valley case, sourcessaid adding he was asked aboutthe nature of his dealings withthe RV chief Gautam Kunduwho was currently in jail.

Mitra was in jail for hisalleged involvement in theSharada chit fund case formore than two years and was

currently on bail. Mitra had afew days ago expressed hisdispleasure with the party lead-ership which he claimed had“made me a scapegoat.”

The ED has also issuedsummons to TMC’s BirbhumMP Shatabdi Roy, insiders saidadding she has been asked toappear before the investingagency on July 12. Roy had ear-lier been questioned on herdealings with the Sharada com-pany. ED sources said they hadfound cash transactionsbetween RV accounts and theMPs accounts. “She will beasked questions as to whymoney was transferred from RVaccount to her account,” sourcessaid. The MP could not be con-tacted for her comments.

�� /3�'/042�

The BJP has “nothing to do”with whatever development

taking place in Karnataka and“we never pressurise and engi-neer defections”, Union defenceMinister Rajnath Singh said onMonday in Lok Sabha asCongress leader Adhir RanjanChowdhury accused BJP of“buying MLAs” in the state.

The Defence Minister saidthe government is committedto protect the dignity ofParliamentary democracy .

“Whatever is happeningcurrently in Karnataka, wehave no relation with that,” hesaid, replying to the issue raisedby Chowdhury.

Chowdhury alleged theBJP-ruled government is hatch-ing a conspiracy to break theCongress-led government inKarnataka and MadhyaPradesh.

“This government is secret-ly hatching a conspiracy againstthe state government. Theytook our MLAs to a five starhotel in Mumbai,” Chowdhurysaid during Zero Hour.

He also said that immedi-ately after the MLAs met theGovernor, vehicles, Aeroplaneand hotel facilities were alreadythere.

The Congress leader inthe Lok Sabha said if one has10 silver and gold coins eachbut not facility to secure them,it does not mean that an out-sider will steal them. He saiddespite collecting 303 LokSabha seats, greed the BJP wasincreasing. He accusing BJP of“ buying MLAs”.

The Congress-JD (S) gov-ernment has plunged into a cri-sis with 13 MLAs of the alliancesubmitting their resignationto the Speaker. 12 of them didit on Saturday. Karnatakaassembly Speaker RameshKumar who is yet to accept theresignation has said “Whetherthe government will fall or sur-vive” would be decided “in theassembly” which is to begin itssession on July 12.

In an apparent swipe, thedefence minister said “ we didnot trigger resignations and thedrive was started by Congressleader Rahul Gandhi. “Bigleaders of Congress are resign-ing,” said Rajnath.

Immediately after the min-ister’s reply, Congress memberswere displaying ‘Save democ-racy’ paper slogans and beganshouting slogans with Congressleaders Sonia and RahulGandhi present in the houselooking on.

�� /3�'/042

Maharashtra NavnirmanSena (MNS) president

Raj Thackeray on Monday metUPA chairperson Sonia Gandhiin the national Capital in hisfirst visit here in 14 years. TheAssembly election inMaharashtra is likely to beheld at the year-end andThackeray-Sonia meeting isbeing considered as an attemptto build a reliable front againstthe ruling Devendra Fadnavis-led BJP-Shiv Sena Government.Earlier in the day, Thackeraymet Chief ElectionCommissioner Sunil Arora anddemanded that the Assemblypolls be conducted throughpaper ballots instead of EVMs.

Sources said the two lead-ers discussed various politicaldevelopments along with theissue of EVMs. During the LokSabha polls, MNS was willingto be the part of the Congress-NCP alliance in the State butthe Congress was reportedlyaverse to such a proposal.

Thackeray was quite vocalagainst the BJP Government and

especially Prime MinisterNarendra Modi during the 2019Lok Sabha elections despite notcontesting on even a single LokSabha seat in Maharashtra. TheMNS-Congress alliance willhelp the division of Marathasvotes in the State. NCP and theCongress may join hand inMaharashtra ahead of theAssembly polls.

During the meeting withCEC, Thackeray submitted aletter to the ElectionCommission, demanding it toswitch back to the traditionalpaper ballot. He termed themeeting “mere formality”.

“There are doubts in theminds of voters that the votesthey cast do not go to their cho-sen candidates. In such a sce-nario, the EC should switchback to paper ballots and con-duct the Maharashtra pollsthrough it. We strongly feel thatthe EVMs can be tamperedwith,” Thackeray said after themeeting.

Thackeray also cited mediareports which stated that therewas a difference in the tallybetween the votes cast andvotes counted in nearly 220 LokSabha constituencies. “This gaverise to suspicion in our minds.The doubts over credibility ofthe EVMs further increasedwhen the Election Commissionremoved this data from its web-site,” he said in the letter.

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Two aspiring army men anda few brave villagers, out for

morning ablutions, wereamong the daredevils whorisked their lives to save around20 people after their bus fellinto a gorge on the Agra-Lucknow Expressway early onMonday.

The double-decker buswith 53 passengers on boardwas on its way to Delhi fromLucknow when it hit a dividerand fell into the 40-feet-deepgap between two flyovers onthe Yamuna Expressway nearmilestone 161 (Jharna nallah)under Etmadpur police juris-diction of Agra district ataround 4.15 a.m.

At least 29 people werekilled in the accident. Policereports said that 20 passengershad been rescued and effortswere on to rescue the rest.

Villagers from Chaugan,near the ‘deadly’ YamunaExpressway entry point, saidthey rushed to the accident siteafter hearing shrill wails andcries for help.

Nihal Singh jumped intothe nallah, broke open thewindow panes of the bus andextricated several bodies in

the dark, while some rushed toinform the police and the grampradhan, who immediatelyrushed two JCB machines. Twoboys, practising for armyrecruitment, also joined therescue work.

While the injured wererushed to nearby KrishnaHospital and the seriouslyinjured ones to SN MedicalCollege, the bodies were sentfor post-mortem.

“Those of us who saw theinjured or the dead, couldn’tbelieve life could be so uncer-tain. Most were asleep, unawareof what had transpired, as it was still dark,” said an eye-witness.

Prime Minister NarendraModi expressed grief over thetragedy. Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath too

condoled the deaths andannounced an ex-gratia of Rs5 lakh each for the victims’ kin.

He also instructed officialsto expedite rescue and reliefwork at the spot, adding thatproper treatment should be pro-vided to the injured. A specialhelpline number — 1800102877— was also announced to giveinformation about the victims.A list of the injured and thedeceased has also been circu-lated by the police.

Onlookers blamed theaccident on the YamunaExpressway, which has taken aheavy toll of lives since itsopening in 2012. “Earlier wehad only Yamuna Expresswaybut now the Agra LucknowExpressway is competing in thekilling spree,” said social activistShravan Kumar Singh.

New Delhi: Stalemate betweenthe Centre and the DelhiGovernment over financialaspects of Delhi Metro’s 104-km phase-IV came under thescanner of the Supreme Courtwhich said Monday it wouldpass order in the matter as the“project cannot wait”.

A Bench comprisingJustices Arun Mishra andDeepak Gupta was told bysenior advocate Aparajita Singh,who is assisting the top court asan amicus curiae in pollutionmatter, that the project is “crit-ical” and the pending issueshould be resolved soon.

Singh referred to a recentreport of EnvironmentPollution Control Authority(EPCA) which said that theapproval for “103.94 km phaseIV of the Delhi metro hasbeen held up since 2014, whenthe project was submitted tothe Union Government for itsapproval”.

The report said: “There is astalemate in the discussionsbetween the UnionGovernment and the Delhi gov-ernment on different financialaspects of the project.” PTI

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More than 2,000 peopledied in India in the last

one year due to extreme weath-er events, the EnvironmentMinistry informed Rajya SabhaMonday but denied any directconnection to the global issueof climate change.

In a written reply to aquery, MoS in EnvironmentMinistry Babul Supriyo said,“As per the informationreceived from the Ministry ofHome Affairs, 2,405 lives havebeen reported to be lost duringthe financial year 2018-19 inthe country due to cyclonicstorm/flash f lood/land-slides/cloudburst etc.”

He said global warmingmay lead to increase in fre-quency or intensity of weath-er events.

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The Yamuna Expressway,which witnessed the death

of 29 people on Monday, seemsto have become a highway ofaccidents. At least 77 peoplehave died this year only in acci-dents on the 165-kmexpressway, accordingto RTI data accessedby NGO SaveLIFEFoundation. TheNGO said 703 liveswere lost in 4,880 accidentsbetween August 2012, whenthe expressway was opened forcommercial operations, andJanuary last year.

Built at a cost of Rs 12,839crore, the expressway in west-ern Uttar Pradesh is managedby Yamuna ExpresswayIndustrial DevelopmentAuthority (YEIDA). However,the six-lane high-speed corridorhas been severely criticised forits poor safety parameters andalso because of the high num-ber of accidents and deaths.

Another set of dataaccessed by Agra-based activistand lawyer Krishna Chand Jainfrom YEIDA via RTI had infor-mation until March last year. Itshowed 4,956 accidents werereported on the expresswaysince its inception until Marchlast year, in which 718 peopledied and 7,671 were injured.The RTI response Jain receiveddetailed that 1,161 (almost 24per cent) of the accidents werecaused due to over-speeding,while 595 (12 per cent) were due

to bursting of tyres and 235(4.74 per cent) due to fog.“There were no detail on causeof the remaining 2,965 accidents(59.82 per cent cases), neither byYEIDA nor Jaypee Infratech,which has constructed theexpressway,” Jain, Secretary of

NGO AgraD e v e l o p m e n tFoundation, claimed.

YEDIA hasidentified three“black spots” on the

stretch between Greater Noidaand Agra where rumble stripshave been created to keep thedriver awake in case they getdrowsy. “There’s an urgentneed to improve enforcementon our highways. This is not aone-off incident. In 2017, over9,000 people have lost theirlives in preventable bus crash-es,” SaveLIFE Foundation CEOPiyush Tewari said.

“The other urgent actionrequired is on engineeringissues. Most of our highwaysare missing crash barriers andother infrastructure measuresthat can prevent a crash frombecoming fatal,” Tewari said.

Tewari said the missingsafety infrastructure on high-ways is a pandemic thatrequires urgent attention. “Wehope the UP Government aswell as the Union Governmentwill take urgent policy and on-ground measures to control it.”Separately, a media report stat-ed that 110 people were killedin 659 accidents in 2018 on theexpressway.

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Securing 97 per cent in theClass XII board examina-tion, Anusha (name changed)

was one of the school-toppers. Shewas eagerly waiting for DelhiUniversity to release its cut-off list,hoping that she might get admis-sion in English literature at a topcollege under the very first list.Finally, when the first list was outon June 27, she was shattered tosee that the marking criteria toalmost every course started at awhopping 98 per cent.

With the DU cut-offs rising ashigh as 99 per cent this year, thequestion about our flawed educa-tion system comes to the fore,where even the bright studentswould find it hard to get admis-sions. As the cut-offs keep increas-ing each year, one can’t help butwonder how students can scorehigh in subjects like Social Scienceand English, which are dependenton relative understanding andinterpretation. The increasingmarks slab requirement for theuniversity means that a growingnumber of students is compelledto opt for private universities.

There are over 2.58 lakh appli-cants competing for around63,000 seats this year and out ofthis, 23,000 seats were filled afterthe first cut-off itself. On July 3,when the second list was released,most of the seats were filled andadmission to top colleges had

been closed. While Hindu Collegehad the highest cut-off for PoliticalScience starting at 99 per cent,Lady Shri Ram, on the otherhand, for the same subject start-ed the list at 98 per cent and 98.75per cent for Psychology. Jesus andMary College’s cut-off forPsychology started at 99 per cent.

For Anusha, there wasn’t anyway that she could qualify for anyof her dream colleges. She man-aged to secure a seat in HansrajCollege. “Despite getting 97 percent, it was a struggle getting intocolleges of the university. It mademe feel below average,” she says.

A parent, whose son is cur-rently studying in a private univer-sity, questions, “How does onemanage to score 99 per cent insubjects like English, SocialScience or even Sociology?Despite my son getting a decent

percentage, he can’t even dream ofgetting into DU after one look atthe cut-off list this year. Goingabroad is too expensive. So theonly option that is left is to applyat private colleges and universities,which is again not a very econom-ically viable option.”

Nandita Narain, professor atSt Stephen’s College and formerpresident of Delhi UniversityTeachers’ Association (DUTA),feels that students from across thecountry are attracted to DUbecause it is “a combination of alot of things — for instance, thefees are within affordable limitsand lecture timings are very flex-ible and workable. It also providesa good extra-curricular exposurethrough its various cultural soci-eties.” She says, “Over the years, Ihave seen students always prefer-ring DU over private universities.

The prime reason being the qual-ity of education. Despite manyproblems such as the govern-ment cutting down funds forinfrastructure, we haven’t gonebelow a certain level of expecta-tions.”

However, talking about howthe system of marking needs to belooked upon again, she says thatthe solution is not in changing theway we mark the students for theirboards. “We need more govern-ment-funded universities to offeradmissions for deserving stu-dents. Good quality and affordablegovernment universities should bemade and promoted. Thereshould be more of investment ineducational institutions as educa-tion is the most important thingto invest in right now.”

Narain thinks that there is nouniformity and proper system

that the CBSE is following, “whichis why students are scoring high-er marks in even Humanities andScience. The absurd marking sys-tem of CBSE has forced us tointroduce entrance examinationsand prepare such high cut-off lists.I agree that it isn’t fair for the stu-dents. But there’s only much wecan do.”

“The marks required eachyear and for every course at DelhiUniversity are getting higher,”feels Sana Singh, a student ofInternational Affairs at OP JindalGlobal University, Sonepat. Herinitial plan was to get into DU butthat seemed to be the stuff ofdreams. Not surprisingly, sheopted for a private university at aphenomenally higher fee as com-pared to DU. Sana tells us that thecut-off for Psychology at LSRwas around 98 per cent last year.She says, “I was getting a betteroffer at a private university whereI could even choose elective sub-jects offered by various othercourses such as English literatureor Designing.” She feels that tak-ing up an elective subject helps astudent broaden his/her hori-zons. “I am not bound to a strin-gent curriculum,” Sana adds.

She says, “Another advantageis that the student also gets anopportunity to study at a well-reputed university abroad for onesemester.”

If we talk about drawbacks,studying at a private university,beyond the expense, is seen asmore of a comfort pad than acredible thinkpad as it comeswith air-conditioned classrooms,world-class infrastructure, hostelfor students, a low student toteacher ratio and many interna-tional tie-ups to prestigious for-eign universities. Anusha feels thata central university’s degree is ofmore worth as compared to a pri-vate university’s. “A lot of exposureis involved as well,” says she.

The admission procedure forDU is said to be very cumbersomeand includes waiting in queues forlong hours in the heat, whichsometimes ends up in being askedto go home and come back thenext day. Whereas the private uni-versity’s admission proceduresare said to be much easier andsmoother, one of the disadvan-tages of having a higher fee, ofcourse.

Both private and central uni-versities come with their pros andcons. Private universities seem tobe more promising in the futurebut the hefty price that comes withthem will always be an issue.Although these universities claimthat most of their students are onsome scholarship or have takenloans, many students prefer DelhiUniversity due to the low fees andmost importantly, the name.

American author Jeannette Wallsonce said that life is a drama full of

tragedy and comedy. Comedians KennySebastian, Zakir Hussain and NeetiPalta couldn’t agree less but could add arider: You should learn to enjoy thecomic episodes a little more.

After making the audience roll in theaisle, Comicstaan season 1 is on to its sec-ond version. The contestants had to per-form seven different genres of comedyand were shaped into their better versionsthrough each episode. Kenny, the con-sistent judge of both the seasons, says,“Season 1 was like a teenager, having funand being silly. It was more of learningand exploring. We had no idea aboutwhat will happen in the next episode. Thesecond one is an adult version of it, whichsays let us not waste time and focus. Ithas got the groove.”

Bunched together with the newjudges of this season, Neeti and Zakir,Kenny throws a punch saying, “I feel likea school boy, who has failed and is nowrepeating classes,” to which everybodylaughs out loud.

The show became a cult because ofits first mover advantage of being a com-edy reality show on the web. Kenny tellsus that the whole point of stand-up com-edy is to be authentic and commentative.“In other reality shows, the outcome isimportant, while here every episode isimportant. No added drama, content isdistinctively the king. We are happy toshow little about us and more of the con-testants.”

On the evolution from a performerto a judge, Zakir guffaws and says,“Aapne suna hoga ghar wale kehte hai,chaar log kya kahenge, usme se mai teesrahu (You must have heard people say, whatwill four people of our society say, I amthe third person out of them). Judgingis an extension of my journey. I likeobserving people and try to accessthem. Many times their jokes don’twork in front of the audience but I canunderstand. I relate to them because backwhen I started, people use to say ‘you area good writer but a bad performer.’ As ajudge, my focus is on the writing,whether there is thought-provokingideas in it or not, performance is sec-ondary. The responsibility as a judge isgreater, kisi aur ki zindagi ka faisla hai.

(It is about the decision of someone else’slife).”

Sitting next to Zakir, Neeti is observ-ing him keenly as she agrees. She says,“I can laugh easily but sitting andanalysing contestants as a judge is hard.As a performer, you are responsible foryourself but as a judge you are respon-sible for the other person as well. The bet-ter the competition, the harder it is tojudge.”

Last season’s host turned judgeSumukhi Suresh giggles and tells us thatthe only differences this season are thejudges and the set, which are better andgrand. Diving through the memorylane of season 1, she shares her overrid-ing journey. Sumukhi says, “In the firsthour of the episode, I was a little nervous,ho payega ya nahi mujhse? (will I be ableto do it or not?) This self-doubt grew tosuch an extent that at a point of time, Ilooked at my production people and toldthem that I am leaving. I don’t know howto mentor.”

Talking about the challenges furthershe tells us, “It is unpaid live audience.There are technical dips and glitches inbetween, the audience might leave theshow meanwhile. It was hard to keep thatenergy intact but after I got the grip I washappy about it.

Extending the talk on challenges, thehost this season, Uroof Ashfaq, sittingright next to Sumukhi in a black dressand denim jacket, says, “During cuts, theaudience might get irritated, you have tokeep the energy up. In that sense, it ishelpful to have eight funny people sitting

there as judges and two as hosts. We arethere to entertain them during breaks.”

There is a very thin line betweenbeing vulgar and cracking dirty, sexualjokes. So how does one maintain the bal-ance between them? Sumukhi has ananswer: “What is joke to me might bevulgar to you. It is very unfair for one toask an artist ‘Ki agar mujhe nahi pasandto mat karo.’ (If I don’t like it, don’t it).As artists, we have to bring the truestform of the joke. If I am making a jokeabout body parts, it has to be extra-ordi-nary to such an extent that you pass thevulgarity of it and actually laugh. It is myjob as a comedian to creatively presentsuch jokes, if I don’t do it, then I shouldbe shameful for it. Over the years, I haveexperienced, whenever I do sexual com-edy and the audience is more women,

they enjoy it and laugh out loud.” Extending the conversation, Uroof

says, “We don’t question our governmentas much as we question our artistsbecause it’s easier.”

With the advent of digital platforms,Comicstaan has paved way for neweropportunities. As Sumukhi says, “Webhas given more visibility to the show. Ithas created avenues for disparate genresof comedy. Even if you are not a standup comic, you can be a sketch comic orcan be an improviser.”

Bouncing back to the overridingjourney of Zakir, he apprises us, “Humsab apni apni gati se chal rahe hai jeevanmei (we all are moving at our own pacein life). When I tried to do a solo showfor 40-50 minutes, only 19 people turnedup in a hall with seating capacity of 300-350. From such a situation to the personI have become today, I have put in a lotof effort. ‘Jigar ka lahu nichod ke kahaniyomei rang bhara hai syah, aur log puch liyakarte hai ye sab asliyat mei hua hai kya.’When I step on stage, I carry all my inse-curities so that I can portray my real selfin the purest form.”

Excited about including people fromall walks of life, Zakir says, “I realised late-ly that older people have started comingfor my show. Initially I only got attentionfor sakht launda from youngsters.” He iscurrently writing the script of his famousshow Chacha Vidhayak Hai Hamare sea-son 2.

Giving an insight on the future ofcomedy, Kenny says, “Comedy willgrow, the audience wants ‘brutal honestyin your face’ kind of writing. It was sim-pler initially but now the audience wantour take as well on any matter. They ques-tion, ‘Why should I listen to you whenI have 400 other choices. Make my timeworthwhile.’ That pushes us to constant-ly up our game. It is only going to get bet-ter in the coming years.”

Extending this line of conversation,Zakir says, “Comedy is an art form thatwill fade away.” To end the conversationon a lighter tone, he concludes with ajoke, “bell bottom jeans ka trend thodi haiki khatam ho jaaye.” (Comedy is not afashion trend like bell bottom jeans thatit will end).

(The show airs from July 12 onAmazon Prime)

Actress Kangana Ranaut has said that thefundamental quality of any religion was

to empower and not disempower an indi-vidual. She was reacting on Zaira Wasim’sdecision to quit acting.

Kangana was interacting with themedia at the launch of the song Wakhraswag from her forthcoming f i lmJudgeMentall Hai Kya. Her co-starRajkummar Rao, producer Ekta Kapoor,writer Kanika Dhillon, choreographerBosco Martis and director PrakashKovelamudi were also present at the event.

Zaira of Dangal fame, last month tookto the social media to announce her “dis-association from the field of acting” as it“consistently interfered with her imaan andher relationship with her religion wasthreatened”.

Asked about her views on the Kashmiriactress’ decision to quit art because of herreligion, Kangana said, “I think any religionshould empower you and it should makeyou independent and confident. It shouldmake your life fulfilling and if you thinkthat your life is already fulfilling, then thereis plenty of work to do around you.

“People should try and help their fam-ily and friends. There are so many thingsto do, so we should try and fulfill the envi-ronment around us. Essentially, the funda-mental requirement of any religion is toempower and not to disempower you.”

About her film JudgeMentall Hai Kya,she said, “I think we have made this filmvery sensibly without compromising on theart quotient, so I think people who cryabout being an artiste and being insensi-tive are just people who do not know howto handle their craft. I feel you can be con-siderate yet you can give artistically sophis-ticated films.”

The film is releasing on July 26.D#�/'

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Radical, revolutionaryand filled with a natur-al resonance, Joel

Rendon’s engravings at theIIC Annexe are about primalinspirations. He combines thelong-standing Mexican tradi-tion of relief print, contempo-rary techniques and motifslinked to the cultural her-itage of the country but hemoves beyond definitions. Infact, he defies them becauseyou instantly know that hisunderstanding of the power ofthe human form is what formsthe depth of his subjects.

Considered one of themost outstanding engravers inMexico, Joel Rendon (1967 —Puebla, México) creates a tran-scendental dialogue betweenart and people.

�'��'��Rendon has devoted his

life in generating a movementto revalue engraving in Mexicoand abroad by opening spacesto promote print-makingamong younger generations

through audio-visual media,graphic design, murals andtelevision programmes. In hisrevaluation, he weaves in theuse of materials and left overideas to create masterpiecesthat brim with vitality andvivaciousness. One of hisgreatest discussions has beenthe creation of art from dis-posable plates. He says, “Aftera party what is left are dispos-able plates. We can recyclethem by engraving art. We justneed a pen, scissors, a rollerwith ink, a tortillero and ofcourse washed dishes.”

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A quick look at these riv-eting engravings show thatRendon believes in raisingengraving from a minor craftto a major art form with com-pelling works like his in thissuite at the IIC Annexe. TheMexican aura, the ethos, theessence, each image is so per-fectly rendered and each workworthy of scrutiny and study,

you know that his deeplyengraved lines create a vividlinear pattern against thewhite background. But thereis very little white to see; it’smostly in slivers and tinyspaces. Rendon is a perfec-tionist when it comes to cre-ating texture. He uses aplethora of strokes — fine,long and sinuous lines thatcreate the clothes and theattire to the short flecks of thecoarsely woven hair or shortjackets; he also uses cross-hatching in the deepest shad-ows to model the forms with

an impeccable naturality thatis not often seen. Interestinglyin some images he is alsointerested in achieving thetone that would give his fig-ures a three-dimensionalpresence. He evolves a tech-nique of shading his engrav-ings with short lines of vary-ing width — a method that heseems to have derived fromthe drawing practice of earlymasters.

This show is about picto-rial directness and fervour.You witness how Rendon car-ries a basic technique to a

degree of richness and detailthat has never been surpassed.His Mexican work at the way-side bar wanting perhaps ashot of tequila contains analmost unimaginable densityof fine distinct lines and it ishis felicity with strong varietythat creates form, texture andshades simultaneously.Rendon has a very deepunderstanding of engravingand his unparallel finesse ischaracterised by long, flow-ing, gently curved strokesthat impart grace to hisdraped figures.

The Indian art world that isgaining global viewership

will feature in yet anotheravenue in October — the fourthedition of the JerusalemBiennale, which seeks to shiftthe euro-centric focus of theglobal contemporary art.

Drawing upon a thememuch-explored this year — the150th birth anniversary ofMahatma Gandhi — the coun-try pavilion promises to be anode to man’s “experiments withtruth” and striving for God, saidpavilion curator Gargi Seth.

The precursor exhibition,that opens to the public on July12 here, is titled ‘Experimentswith Truth’ after Gandhi’s auto-biography The Story of MyExperiments with Truth.

On the world stage, it is anexploration not just of Gandhibut also of his tenet of truth.

“The works are either adirect or indirect statements ofspiritual beliefs or human tribu-lations and hopes or depictionsof man’s reflections on the ulti-mate truth, imbued with won-der and now with irony.

“Some works will depict thepersona of Gandhi. Each workis true to man’s experimentswith truth and in the larger con-text of the Biennale, his eternalstriving for God,” Seth, whoheads the Indian Art Circle,said.

A selection of accomplished

Indian artists’ works is curatedfor the Biennale. These artistshave “actively explored andexpressed their creativity in thefield of religion, spirituality andphilosophy,” the art curatorsaid.

After the Biennale invitedproposals from curators, Seth’s

curation was selected as a “tan-gential, thought provoking con-cept.”

“This Biennale is an insightinto a different part of theworld and I believe it givesIndian art an audience outsideIndia. Europe has enjoyed along hegemony and for far toolong art from other parts of theworld have been considered apoor cousin. Why not think ofthis as an opportunity to set anew agenda on new stage?”

Participating artists includeSatish Gujral, Anjolie ElaMenon, Asit Patnaik, ArpanaCaur, Saba Hasan, Biman BDas, Rini Dhumal, Niren

Sengupta, Siddharth, SeemaKohli, Ambalika Chitkara,Neeraj Gupta, Kota Neelima,Avijit Roy, Shruti Chandra,Vasundhara Tewari and ShiloShiv Suleman.

The Jerusalem biennalepavilion, however, is “not somuch about seeking to depictGandhi’s ideals, it is rather atake-off point for the artists’ cre-ativity here.”

Since the theme for the2019 Jerusalem Biennale isLeShem Shamayim (ForHeaven’s Sake), the India pavil-ion will interweave Gandhi,truth and search for God. “Inmy opinion, religion is man’smost elemental and eternalsearch for, and relationshipwith the ultimate truth.”

When the country is cele-brating Gandhi, Seth also findsit appropriate that we rediscov-er his inspirational approach tothe pursuit of truth, especiallywithin the context of religionand religiosity.

“Over the leap of genera-tions, Gandhi’s ideals with-stand the testimony of time,becoming even more relevantfor the truth seekers of today, asthey seek to reinvent a globalsociety into one that coura-geously acknowledges our var-ied pasts.”

For India to participate asone of the 30 projects featuringin the Jewish art event, Seth’scuratorial approach had been to“create a deliberate diversity of

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exhibited in Mexico, Cuba,Spain, Argentina, Colombia,the United States, Puerto Rico,India and the African continent.He won the José GuadalupePosada National EngravingContest in 1995. On two occa-sions, he received a grant fromyoung creators of the FONCA.He has been an illustrator inFondo de Cultura Económica,in the magazine Artes deMéxico, Letras Libres, in news-papers such as La Jornada andReforma. He recently illustrat-ed Erótica Nahuatl by MiguelLeón Portilla, as before he didthe same with Pedro Páramo byJuan Rulfo. Born in Izúcar deMatamoros, Puebla, an inhab-itant of the last frontier ofMexico City, he travels toCoyoacán frequently. Most ofthe time he smiles.

In an interview he has said,“The success of the artist is notto sell more expensive works inNew York, not to laundermoney of the English but to doa work that favours Mexicans

with a visual stimulus ofencounter, of identity.”

He has a fierce patriotismwithin. His observations of themadness of the world are suc-cinct. “In these 30 years youhave seen the ravages of neolib-eralism, the loss of identity forthe sake of globalisation.”

He was dismayed at artpedagogy which did not teachstudents how to paint. “Theysaid that experimentation wasthe course and the moreabstract, essential and spiritualyou were, the better you wouldbe. I was looking for social artand they told me that that isover. When I left the academy,I realised the social need thatthere was and the kind of artthat I was going to do to coverthat need. I gave myself to thetask of the archaeological rescueof things like the prehispanicaesthetics: Totonac, Mexica andMaya to be able to integrate itinto my current thinking. Fromthem I learnt how to be exper-imental but not to haphazard-ly throw the painting on a can-vas.”

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approaches in the selection of art-works”.

“India is a land of soliciteddebate, shastrarth. The experi-ments are as much on a spiritu-al-philosophical level as they arewith identity, gender conformi-ty, man’s interface with otherhuman beings, nature, mytholo-gy, and society.”

The precursor show is sched-uled to be inaugurated by CultureMinister Prahlad Singh Pateland will run till July 21.

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Iran’s uranium enrichmentlevel passed 4.5 per cent on

Monday, exceeding the 2015nuclear deal cap, Iranian atom-ic energy organisationspokesman BehrouzKamalvandi said.

“This morning Iran passed the 4.5 per cent level inuranium enrichment,”Kamalvandi said according tothe semi-official ISNA NewsAgency.

“This level of purity com-pletely satisfies the power plantfuel requirements of the coun-try,” he added in a hint that theIslamic republic might stick tothis level of enrichment for thetime being.

Iran announced on Sundayit would no longer adhere tothe enrichment cap in what itbilled as its second step todecrease commitments to thedeal in a bid to press other par-

ties into keeping their side ofthe bargain.

US President DonaldTrump withdrew from the deal between Iran and six world powers in May 2018 and has since reimposed sanctions on many sectors including thecrucial oil and financial indus-tries.

Iran demanded the otherparties — France, Germany,Britain, China and Russia —take steps to guarantee theeconomic benefits Iran waspromised for the drastic limi-tations imposed on its nuclearprogramme.

However after one year of what it called “strategic patience”, Tehran hasgrown increasingly frustrated about a perceivedlack of action by the Europeanside to help it economically inthe face of crippling US sanc-tions.

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A5.7-magnitude earthquakestruck southwest Iran near

the border with Iraq onMonday, causing one deathdue to a heart attack anddozens of injuries, the country’srelief and rescue organisationsaid.

The quake, whose epicen-tre was in the Masjed Soleimanarea of Khuzestan province, hitat 11:30 am (0700 GMT) at adepth of 17 kilometres, thenational seismological centrereported.

The region was rattled byseven aftershocks, the strongestof which measured 4.7 magni-tude, it said.

At least 45 people wereinjured, the head of Iran’s reliefand rescue organisation,Morteza Salimi, told state TV.

“One citizen at MasjedSoleiman also passed away dueto a heart-attack after the earth-quake,” Salimi said.

In nearby cities and villagesaffected by the quake, therewere “only minor cracks inbuildings” and roads to somevillages were cut off.

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Britain’s ambassador to the US“has not served the UK

well” Donald Trump has saidafter the envoy called thePresident’s administration“clumsy” and “inept” in leakeddiplomatic cables, promptingLondon to launch damage con-trol measures to repair its spe-cial relationship withWashington.

In secret cables and briefingnotes, the UK’s Ambassador toUS Kim Darroch warned theBritish government thatPresident Trump’s “career couldend in disgrace,” and describedconflicts within the WhiteHouse as “knife fights,” accord-ing to reports in the Mail onSunday newspaper.

“We don’t really believe thisadministration is going tobecome substantially more nor-mal; less dysfunctional; lessunpredictable; less faction riven;less diplomatically clumsy andinept,” Darroch allegedly wrotein one dispatch.

Darroch also said thatPresident Trump and his team

had been “dazzled” by theirrecent state visit to the UK butthat while “we might be flavourof the month, but this is still theland of ‘America First’.”

When asked for his reactionto Darroch’s uncharitable com-ments, Trump told reporters onSunday, “No I haven’t seen it,but, you know, we’ve had our lit-tle ins and outs with a couple ofcountries and I would say thatthe UK, and the ambassador hasnot served the UK well, I can tellyou that.”

“We’re not big fans of thatman and he has not served theUK well, so I can understand it,”Trump, who was received byQueen Elizabeth II during astate visit to Britain in June, said.

“And I can say things abouthim but I won’t bother,” the USPresident added.

CNN, quoting a UK gov-ernment source, reported thatthe memos described in theDaily Mail story, which span theperiod between 2017 to presentday, are genuine.

UK Foreign SecretaryJeremy Hunt, trying to salvagethe situation, said the memos

reflected a “personal view”, notthat of the UK government.

Hunt - who is seeking tobecome the next Conservativeleader and prime minister - saidit was the ambassador’s job togive “frank opinions” but theydid not reflect the government’sview.

The leaked cables come ata sensitive time in UK politicswith Conservative Party mem-bers currently electing a newprime minister to succeedTheresa May, who was toppledby her own lawmakers for fail-ing to deliver on her country’s2016 vote to leave the EuropeanUnion.

The favourite for the job,Boris Johnson, is seen as likelyto seek to forge a much closerrelationship to Trump thanMay, who made strenuousefforts to court the Presidentand developed a respectful rela-tionship but never really bond-ed with him politically.

If the UK leaves theEuropean Union, Britain will beseeking to seal a bilateral tradedeal with the US and Trump isexpected to drive a hard bargain.

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Migrants are human beingswho symbolise all those

rejected by globalisation, PopeFrancis told a special mass onMonday, saying “the weakestand most vulnerable must behelped”.

“These least ones are aban-doned and cheated into dyingin the desert,” the pope told themass to mark the sixth anniver-sary of the pope’s visit toLampedusa, where many asy-lum seekers arrive after a per-ilous sea journey from Libya.

“These least ones are tor-tured, abused and violated in

detention camps, these leastones face the waves of anunforgiving sea,” the pope toldthe mass, attended by 250 peo-ple including migrants, asylumseekers and rescue workers.

Italy has in recent weeksbeen trying to keep its portsclosed to charity ships whichhave rescued migrants from theMediterranean, usually ship-wrecked after leaving war-tornand lawless Libya.

“They are persons, theseare not mere social or migrantissues!” the pope said.

Italy’s far-right InteriorMinister Matteo Salvini hasregularly used social media to

attack migrants and the NGOsthat help them.

“Migrants are first of allhuman persons, and... They arethe symbol of all those reject-ed by today’s globalised society,”the pope said.

Francis travelled toLampedusa in July 2013, fourmonths after he was elected butbefore the 2013-2017 wave ofmigrant arrivals and ship-wrecks, condemning “the glob-alisation of indifference”towards migrants.

Since then, the pope hasrepeatedly called for the wel-coming of migrants fleeingwar or poverty.

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Dozens of powerful Afghansresumed talks with the

Taliban on Monday in Doha,where a possible ceasefire is onthe table along with key issuessuch as women’s rights.

Stakes are high for thetalks which follow a week ofUS-Taliban negotiations withboth sides eyeing a resolutionto the bloody 18-year conflict.

US Secretary of State MikePompeo tweeted that theAfghan gathering “has been along time coming” and praised the country’s“Government, civil society,women, and Taliban” for com-ing together.

Washington has said itwants to seal a political dealwith the Taliban ahead ofAfghan presidential polls duein September to allow foreignforces to begin to withdraw.

Around 70 delegates areattending the two-day gather-ing which has been organisedby Germany and Qatar.

“History will rememberthose who were able to set theirdifferences aside for the sake ofthe country” said Germanyenvoy Markus Potzel as heopened the gathering Sunday.

A German source con-firmed the second day of talksgot underway just before 0600GMT.

Delegate Asila Wardak, amember of the High PeaceCouncil established by formerpresident Hamid Karzai toengage with Taliban elements,said “everybody is emphasisingon a ceasefire” during Sunday’ssession.

The Taliban spoke about“women’s role, economic devel-opment, (and) the role ofminorities” in a future settle-ment, she added.

Qatari Foreign MinisterMohammed bin AbdulrahmanAl-Thani said on Twitter thathe looked “forward to a con-structive dialogue”.

The so-called intra-Afghanmeetings follow six days ofdirect US-Taliban talks thathave been put on hold for thetwo day Afghan conferenceand are set to resume Tuesday,according to both sides.

US lead negotiator ZalmayKhalilzad said Saturday that thelatest round of US-Talibantalks “have been the most pro-ductive of the rounds we’ve hadwith the Talibs”.

The Taliban said they were“happy with progress”.

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Maryam Nawaz, the daugh-ter of former Pakistan

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif,has severely criticised PrimeMinister Imran Khan anddemanded his resignation, themedia reported on Monday.

In a post-midnight rally onSunday in Mandi Bahauddin,the 45-year-old oppositionPakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) VicePresident, raised slogansagainst Khan and said that the66-year-old cricketer-turned-politician does not have anylegitimate right to rulePakistan.

Addressing Khan in herspeech, she said: “Give yourresignation! Go home!” andurged the crowds to chantalong with her, Dawn newsreported.

Maryam also said thatkeeping her 69-year-old ailingfather Sharif in jail will be acrime now, following Saturday’s“evidence” alleging that hissentencing had been givenunder “immense pressure fromhidden hands”, a claim reject-ed on Sunday by the presiding

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Five people were arrestedduring overnight clashes in

Hong Kong between riot offi-cers and anti-government pro-testers, police said Monday, asthe political violence rockingthe international hub shows nosign of abating.

The city has been plungedinto its worst crisis in recenthistory following a month ofhuge marches as well as sepa-rate violent confrontations withpolice involving a minority ofhardcore protesters.

The rallies were sparked bya now-suspended law thatwould have allowed extradi-tions to mainland China, buthave since morphed into awider movement calling for

democratic reforms and a haltto sliding freedoms in thesemi-autonomous territory.

Sunday night saw freshpolitical violence break out inthe district of Mongkok aspolice baton-charged smallgroups of masked, largelyyoung protesters who werewalking along roads andrefused to disperse followinganother massive, peaceful rallyearlier in the day.

In a statement issued earlyMonday morning, police saidthe group were taking part inan “unlawful assembly” andhad been warned that officerswould take action.

“Some protesters resistedand police arrested five personsfor assaulting a police officerand obstructing a police officer

in the execution of duties,” thestatement said.

Activists hit out at thepolice tactics, saying the pro-testers in Mongkok hadremained peaceful as theymade their way home and thatviolence was started by a shieldwall of riot officers that hadblocked the crowd’s path.

“HKers joined rally peace-fully... Against extradition billresult in being beaten andassaulted by HK Police,”democracy activist JoshuaWong wrote in a tweet accom-panying pictures of at least twoprotesters with bleeding headwounds.

“Just another example ofexcessive force used by thepolice,” he added in anothertweet.

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California’s powerful Indian-origin Democratic Senator

Kamala Harris has raised morethan USD 23 million since sheannounced her presidential bidin January.

Among over 20 Democraticpresidential aspirants, Harris, 54,whose mother had migrated tothe US from Chennai, is runningneck and neck with former USvice president Joe Biden, par-ticularly after her impressiveshow at the first Democraticdebate held recently.

Harris’s presidential cam-paign raised nearly $12 millionfrom more than 279,000 peoplein the second quarter of 2019.Almost 150,000 new donorscontributed to her campaignduring the second quarter. In

total, she has raised more than$23 million since she announcedher presidential bid in January.

According to a campaignstatement, Harris brought inmore than $7 million throughher digital programme alone.The campaign’s average contribution was $39, and theaverage online contribution was just $24. Harris launchedher campaign on January 21with a promise to reject money from corporate politicalaction committees and federallobbyists.

So far, Harris’ campaignhas brought in nearly half a mil-lion dollars this quarter from itsonline store, which has alreadysold 1,400 ‘That Little Girl WasMe’ t-shirts that feature a now-viral photo of Harris as a younggirl.

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Khartoum: Sudan’s top gener-al says the military council thatassumed power after the over-throw of President Omar al-Bashir in April will be dissolvedwith the implementation of apower-sharing deal reachedwith protesters last week.

The military and a pro-democracy coalition agreed lastweek on a joint sovereign coun-cil that will rule for a little overthree years while elections areorganized. Both sides say adiplomatic push by the U.S. Andits Arab allies was key to end-ing a weekslong standoff thatraised fears of all-out civil war.

Gen Abdel-Fattah Burhan,head of the military council, saidin televised comments late

Sunday that the army wouldreturn to its barracks after 21months, when leadership ofthe council passes from a mili-tary representative to a civilian.

The council will include fivecivilians representing the protestmovement and five militarymembers. An 11th seat will goto a civilian chosen by bothsides. The protesters will selecta Cabinet of technocrats, and alegislative council is to beformed after three months.

Burhan also insisted thatthe military council did not order the violent dispersalof the main protest camp lastmonth, which killed scores ofpeople and led to the collapse oftalks. AFP

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The United Arab Emiratessaid on Monday it

was reducing the number oftroops in war-torn Yemen and moving from a “military-first” strategy to a “peace-first”plan.

“We do have troop levels that are down for reasonsthat are strategic in (the RedSea city of ) Hodeida and reasons that are tactical” inother parts of the country, asenior UAE official toldreporters.

“It is very much to do with moving from what Iwould call a military-first strat-egy to a peace-first strategy, andthis is I think what we aredoing.”

UAE troops fighting aspart of a Saudi-led militarycoalition against the Iran-aligned Huthi rebels have“totally vacated” the militarybase in Khokha, about 130kilometres south of Hodeida, aYemeni government officialtold AFP on Monday.

He added that the UAEwithdrew part of its heavyartillery from Khokha but was— along with the Saudi-ledcoalition and the government— still overseeing the militarysituation in Yemen’s westerncoast. The Yemeni official, whospoke on condition ofanonymity, also said UAEtroops vacated a military postin Sarwah, west of Maribprovince, and pulled back thePatriot missile system fromthe area.

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Ukraine’s recently electedPresident Volodymyr

Zelensky on Monday offered tomeet his Russian counterpartVladimir Putin for their firsttalks, calling for Western lead-ers to mediate.

“Now I want to address theRussian President VladimirPutin. We need to talk? We do.Let’s do it,” Zelensky said in avideo address.

The former comic actorwho was elected with a land-slide in April’s presidential pollscalled for a meeting with theRussian strongman that would

involve US President DonaldTrump and other Western lead-ers.

He proposed discussingRussian-annexed Crimea andthe conflict in eastern Ukrainewhere Ukrainian forces arebattling Russian-backed sepa-ratists.

Zelensky said on his inau-guration in May that ending thewar in the east and returningthe annexed territory toUkraine were his priority.

So far Zelensky has not metPutin and the Russian leaderhas commented that Zelensky’sacting talent does not make upfor lack of political experience.

“Let’s discuss who Crimeabelongs to and who isn’t in theDonbass region,” Zelensky said,referring to the eastern conflictzone.

Some 13,000 people havebeen killed in the conflict ineastern Ukraine that erupted in2014 after a popular uprisingousted pro-Kremlin presidentViktor Yanukovych and Russiaresponded by annexing Crimea.

Kiev and its Western back-ers accuse Russia of funnellingtroops and arms across theborder to fan the flames of theconflict. Moscow has deniedany military involvementdespite evidence to the contrary.

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Avignon (France): FormerFrench president FrancoisHollande made the first tentativestep into what may or may notbe a second career this weekendwhen he trod the boards at oneof the world’s biggest theatre fes-

tivals. The Socialist leader —who was forced from politicalstage by his one-time acolyteEmmanuel Macron in 2017 —appeared for 15 minutes in aplay at the Avignon theatre fes-tival in the South of France. AFP

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What happenswhen MountCook meets

K a n g c h e n j u n g a ?Obviously, it looks

up — up above itsown high perchand wondershow that daddyof mountains

would be scaled.That’s what New

Zealand will bethinking when they

meet India in the firstsemi-final of the ICC

Cricket World Cup 2019today.

On a downward spiral,openers not firing, the skip-per being burdened with aprolonged lone warriorresponsibility, spinners turn-

ing everything except theball, marauders not being

able to even walk.That’s the Kiwis foryou, in the second

half of the tournament.Striding ahead, bat

held high, arm doing thepower round and self-belief being the mostticked box in an armouryof youth, confidence,excellence and capabil-ity. That’s India for you.The highest run getter,the most impactfulwicket-taker, the maxi-mum number of wins, atop of the table existence— you name it andVirat Kohli’s men havedone it this Englishsummer.

But then, this iscricket. Uncertain,levelling, cruel,unpredictable, fick-le and demanding.It choses its daywith impunity. Itprides in slayingthe Goliaths. Itplays games withthe minds of thesorted. It keepsvictory awaymuch likeCalpol, fever. So,form, run-up,belief and all theother tickedboxes areabsolute essen-tials whiche v e n t u a l l ybecome hand-maidens of “onthat day” moodof the game-master himself.

W h i c hmeans, predict-

ing a semi-final isas futile as tryingto escape a tsunamion a beach walk. Itis in these difficultcircumstances thatIndia and NewZealand will meet

at the Old Traffordon an overcast morn-

ing to launch their bid

for the journey to the mecca ofcricket and the final frontier of thisWorld Cup, the Lord’s CricketGround.

As Kohli does, Kane Williamsontoo knows the strengths and weak-nesses of his squad, more weakness-es than strengths if one were to seethe run-up of these “yet to be men”in this edition. After a brilliant start,the Kiwis nosedived into doubtand trouble with three back-to-backdefeats making them breathe heavyto stave off Pakistan on the net runrate criterion.

India, on the other hand, have

Rohit Sharma’s celestial run in thistournament to boast of. They havean enigma in Jasprit Bumrah to foxoppositions with. They have youngplayers whom they no longer needto hide in the field. They have thechess moves of a Chahal and a con-tainment mores of Kuldeep Yadav.They have a fire spewing HardikPandya who has come full circle asan all-rounder. They have the solid-ity and liquidity of a KL Rahul to fillthe gaping hole left behind by aninjured Shikhar Dhawan. “It is ateam of athletes,” strengtheningcoach Shanker Basu says with pride,

talking about the fitness quotientgetting more muscle than everbefore. So, you may not be blamedfor feeling sorted.

But then this is cricket, mate. Ittakes one ball, one dropped catch,one missed run, one wrong move,one big miss — and just one splitmoment to make an extraordinaryteam look ordinary. One day, itmakes Team India look perfectagainst the massive Australians; onanother day, it makes the 11 looksuper-bombed against the min-nows Afghanistan!

Extraordinary, Rohit Sharma;Extraordinary, Jasprit Bumrah;Extraordinary, collective self-belief;Extraordinary, spin masters;Extraordinary, job discipline. “Notless, not more,” Kohli says aboutwho does what in the team andwhen. It’s been an extraordinarysingularity of intent where theMen in Blue are concerned.

Ordinary? On that given day, itcould be the middle order that did-n’t or a Dhoni who won’t or a longtail that can’t. Cricket can be amoody gentleman himself, butcome ifs and buts by others in thegame, and it will do what ChrisGayle can do to bowlers once hegets going, what Adam Gilchristoften did to oppositions as anopener, what Yuvraj Singh did toStuart Broad on South Africansoil and what one Mr MartinGuptill has the capability to do toa Chahal or a Shami, in equal mea-sure.

So where do you think thismatch between the tournamentfavourites and the X-factor men atthe Old Trafford taking you today?It could be to the wire, or to the dire,depending on who gets the ticket togo to the game without wearingpressure on their sleeve, well, as MrCricket says, “on that given day”!

So, let the bowling begin —from wits’ end and then swing,seam, reverse swing or turn to san-ity, excitement and the better teamwinning — on that day!

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MS Dhoni, the man the world loves,the team respects sky high, the cam-

eras run after, the journalists bait anddebate — Dhoni the ultimate thinker, thecaptain who originally brought mindgames and strategies as a prime tool toIndian cricket, the wicket-keeper whowould engineer wickets by directing thebowlers from behind the stumps, theskipper who earned the respect of allother captains of the world, the finisherin victories, the opener in thinkingcricket — the man who loved his crick-et but not its coverage, the father, thebiker, the para military badge holder —this man of many faces and phases willbe resting his World Cup cap after fourWorld Cups, one of which he won onhome ground, the other he lost in thesemi-final.

For his team and skipper Virat Kohli,there wouldn’t be a better send-off for thisman than to take him to Lord’s to playhis Final in more ways and one. Butbefore that, he has been the centre ofmedia unsavouries for his lack of fire inthe middle and late middle overs whenhis strike rate of 100 plus looked slim andthe need was for a 300 per cent flourishto up the scores on sticky wickets.

Not seemingly bothered about thedisdain, but knowing it all along, Dhoniwas practising away at the nets at OldTrafford, polishing his bat to bring in

some aggression. Full throated shotsturn the cameras to him as hedeals with Kuldeep Yadav’scontainment tactics at thenets. He then walks over inhis customary style to theother end of the optionalnets to take some throwsfrom assistant coachSanjay Bangar.

More importantly,between knocks, he getsinto several mid-pitchhuddles with Bangar andbowling coach BharatArun, possibly to discussthe chinks as well as thestrategies that will takeIndia to the Final of anEnglish World Cup after1983.

Dhoni, who has notaddressed the Press even oncethrough the nine matches that he hasplayed in this World Cup, has been aconstant consulting figure at nets fromthe Aegis Bowl in Southampton, to theOval to now Old Trafford. Thinking,alone and with mates, joking aroundwith journalists from players’ bal-conies, talking to the playersmid field when the oppositionshave been kissing bound-aries, Dhoni in his ownmanner has been shapingthe journey without

intruding on the captain.His skipper Kohli applauds him for

being a “mentor without being assertive”,knowing fully well how

difficult it is to be just aplayer in a team he hasfor so long captained, a

transition that has earnedhim “sky-highrespect”.

“From therespect point ofview for MS, it’salways going tobe sky high,especially in myeyes, because Iknow how diffi-cult it can be tomake a transi-tion from cap-taining also,”Kohli said. “It’snot easy to beanother player

in the side aftercaptaining it for decades and therein

lies Dhoni’s greatness. Being a mentor butwithout being assertive, which the teamacknowledges,” he added at his Press con-ference.

After inheriting Test captaincy fromDhoni in 2014 and ODIs in 2017, Kohlihas no hesitation in admitting that he willalways consider him his captain. “Withinthe same team, just playing as a player

after being captain for so many years andstill not being too assertive or too pushyin anything. He gives you space to makeyour own decisions and to actually dis-cover yourself, so I think that’s been hisbiggest quality,” Kohli says, adding quick-ly: “At the same time, I go ask him any-thing, he’s there giving me advice and he’snever shying away from that. So yeah, he’sbeen outstanding and I’m delighted thatI have been able to play for so many yearsalongside him.”

This undying respect is universal inthe team for the man who cut his 39thbirthday cake with the team on July 7. Hehas mentored many in this team, giventhem direction, taken them throughrough patches in the middle, given themspace with opportunities and investedfaith it them while shaping the team formany futures. “And now we are the oneswho are taking Indian cricket forward,”Kohli said with obvious gratitude for hisNo 5 man who has been in a spot over hisperceived sluggishness with the bat in thezone of fire.

Bangar explains that this sluggishnesswas actually his acumen to build up netrun rate on a sticky wicket, and also pro-tect the tail from being exposed with less-er runs on board, something that is asdivorced from public perception as thesun is likely to be from the skies today.

No wonder Kohli says thank you tothe journalist who takes the questioningon Dhoni from the question marks

around him to “MS the personality”.“We understand the importance of

that process (of transition). So I’m gladyou asked about MS, the personality,because a lot has been in focus otherwise.When a person has done so much for theteam you have to appreciate and acknowl-edge how he’s handled and taken therespect for Indian cricket so high all overthe world. We are all very grateful forwhat he’s done for Indian cricket and forus,” says Kohli, a day after he tweeted hisrespect, love, trust and emotion for hisformer skipper on his birthday: “Happybirthday mahi bhai @msdhoni. Very fewpeople understand the meaning of trustand respect and I’m glad to have had thefriendship I have with you for so manyyears. You’ve been a big brother to all ofus and as I said before, you will always bemy captain,” Kohli tweeted.

At the formal Press conference, how-ever, his respect was no less: “... And he’salways been in a very happy, jovial moodall the time whenever we see him.Yesterday again was a very happy momentfor him, for the whole team, to see a smileon his face and he's in a very comfortable,very happy space at the moment,” Kohlisaid.

Dhoni, meanwhile, walked with hiskit after nets at Old Trafford on match eve,not refusing autographs but saying a gen-tle no for pictures. “Not today,” he says.You can see he is saving the clicks forLord’s and the Cup in his hands.

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How do you turn momen-tum and confidence

around for a team on a three-match losing run?

New Zealand arrive in thesemi-finals as the outsiders, butmake no mistake about it, theywill still have high hopes.

When you get on a bad runas team, you have to return tothe individual.

If one man can find a per-formance, then that can perme-ate its way through to the wholeteam very quickly and buildconfidence, often within a game.

A three-match losing streakcan evaporate pretty quicklywith a great ten overs at the start.

Just look at South Africaagainst Australia this past week-end. The Proteas have been inall sorts of strife this World Cupbut the way they started thatgame gave them huge confi-dence to go on and get over theline.

That is why the start of thesemi-final between India andNew Zealand is going to be soimportant.

If New Zealand get off to agreat start, with bat or ball, thestreak will soon be forgotten.

Let’s look at the battingfirst of all.

Martin Guptill is a guy whohas so much support and faitharound him, the whole of theNew Zealand public, let alonehis teammates, will be backinghim.

He has done it before somany times, and knowing himas I do, I am sure he can turn itaround again and very quicklyit will become a different story.

Don’t forget he actuallystarted this tournament prettywell with an unbeaten half cen-tury against Sri Lanka, so he

doesn’t have to look back all thatfar for proof of what he can stilldo at this level.

England against India atEdgbaston probably showedNew Zealand the way toapproach setting a big total.

Jasprit Bumrah is basicallyunplayable at this stage, andagainst England he was hisusual economical self.

But despite that, Englandtargeted everyone else. Theywere aggressive from the offagainst the spinners, againstHardik Pandya and they evengot to Mohammed Shami at thedeath as well.

I am fairly confident Shamiwill come back into the side to

face New Zealand, he had a verygood series down there at thestart of the year.

But New Zealand have gotall the ingredients in place to puton a big total. I know theyhaven’t done it yet.

But let’s be optimistic andlook at it like this: KaneWilliamson always scores runs,and you more often than notyou can say the same about RossTaylor.

The two all-rounders JimmyNeesham and Colin deGrandhomme have bothimpressed at different timeswith the bat this World Cup andTom Latham also got someruns at last against England.

Judging by that South Africavs Australia game on the week-end, the Old Trafford pitch isgoing to be a good one.

The Black Caps have theplan in place to post somethingbig, it just all needs to cometogether at the right time.

Then with the ball, they willhave to be aggressive right fromthe outset and bowl to takewickets.

If you take early wickets andcan get at that Indian middleorder then you have a chance.

But it is all very well sayingthat, the hard part is actuallygoing out and doing it.

Some people might haveperceived the way India start

slowly as cautious, but in factwhat is actually happening isIndia are the best in the businessat assessing conditions, workingout what a good score is andthen batting accordingly.

Yes they have started slow-ly, but they always make it up atthe back end and post bigscores. And if you don’t get toRohit Sharma and Virat Kohliearly you are going to be in trou-ble.

They know who they wantto attack and when they want toattack.

That is a real credit to themas a batting unit because plen-ty of other teams go out thereand just go hard regardless ofthe conditions. India like toassess it and build what theythink is an appropriate scorefrom that.

The key will be Trent Boult,he knows these Indian batsmenextremely well at this point.They have played each othermany times in internationalcricket and the IPL and he, alongwith Kane and the coachingstaff, will have plans in place.

They have to stay aggressive,bowl to get wickets and letTrent work his magic at the start,in the middle and at the deathwhere his reverse swing, yorkersand now a knuckle ball as well,mark him out as one of theworld’s premier white-ballbowlers.

The only problem is Indiahave one of them too in Bumrah— keep a close eye on their bat-tle because whoever comes outon top will go a long way toputting their team in the ICCMen’s Cricket World Cup Final2019.

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New Zealand coach GaryStead hopes Lockie

Ferguson can make the dif-ference against India afterrevealing the pace bowlershould be fit for their semi-final clash.

The Black Caps werewithout their leading wicket-taker for their final group-stage game — a 119-rundefeat to England at Chester-le-Street.

Ferguson has been astandout performer for NewZealand in the tournament asthey finished fourth in thestandings, taking 17 wickets tosit joint-third in the table forthe most wickets taken.

And after the 28-year-oldwas rested as a precaution fol-lowing a hamstring strain,Stead expects him to be backfit and firing for the show-down with India at OldTrafford.

“I absolutely expectLockie to play. If the lastgame was a semi-final orfinal, we probably would haveplayed him, so it was more aprecautionary measure not toplay him,” he said.

“He definitely had somehamstring tightness and heneeded 48 hours for that tosettle down. He’s in goodshape and barring gettingthrough the next couple ofdays, then I expect him toplay.

“Lockie has been enor-mous for us. It is his firstWorld Cup as well and I’vejust been delighted that everytime he’s come on to bowl, he’slooked like he’s going to makea difference out there.

“Whether that’s throughpace, whether that’s throughcreating pressure for the otherperson at the other end - healways has been looking like-ly and hopefully he can dothat again against India.”

Stead was also keen tostress his faith in openingbatsman Martin Guptill, whohas struggled for form afteropening the tournament withan unbeaten knock of 73against Sri Lanka.

“Martin’s got a lot of ODIhundreds and he has been akey player for us in the past.Our job as support staff is toget him in the right frame ofmind,” said Stead.

“He’ll go out and expresshimself and who knows, if hemakes 150 in the next game,then we probably won’t betalking about this anymore.

“People go through formslumps and heights all thetime. He’s had a tough tourna-ment but there’s nothing from

my point of view that suggeststhat’s going to continue for along period of time.”

Having lost their last threegames of the round-robinstage, New Zealand have beendescribed by some as theweakest of the teams to qual-ify for the semi-final stage.

But Stead is more thanhappy to let the Black Caps beconsidered the underdogs asthey attempt to reach their sec-ond World Cup final, follow-ing their defeat to Australia inthe 2015 showpiece.

“We’ve got a couple ofafternoons to be ready forIndia now,” he said.

“I’m just excited about it asIndia are a quality team andthere’s no doubt they’ve gotmatch-winners throughouttheir line-up.

“I said from the very start,whoever we play, we’re goingto have to be somewhere nearour very best to beat them butthat’s the excitement, that’sthe challenge in front of us.

“Hopefully, you’ll see whatKiwis are made of out thereand our never-say-die atti-tude; we will stand up whenwe need to. There are no sec-ond chances now, are there?

“People aren’t expecting usto win and from my point ofview, I think that’s a good placeto be because if that’s the case,we can go out there and playwith some real freedom.”

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New Zealand arrive inthe semi-finals as theunfancied outsiders of

the quartet, but skipper KaneWilliamson insists the slate hasbeen wiped clean.

The Black Caps lost theirlast three game in the groupstage, to Pakistan, Australiaand England, but qualified forthe final four on net run rateregardless.

But that indifferent WorldCup form has already beenforgotten by the Black Caps —according to the skipper.

And today’s semi-final withIndia at Old Trafford will seeNew Zealand, runners-up fouryears ago, fully confident oftoppling the pre-matchfavourites and returning to thebiggest stage in world cricket.

“It’s one of those occasionswhere every team has workedso hard to end up in the lastfour where, to a certain extent,it all starts again where the daycomes and anything can hap-pen,” he said.

“All sides have beaten oneanother on a number of occa-sions throughout the last fewyears, so it is a really excitingopportunity for all teams.

“I think for everybody itsort of starts fresh tomorrowafter what was a very toughround-robin stage, and we werecertainly expecting that itwould be tough.

“It’s just a great occasion tobe a part of. I know the guys arereally excited by the opportuni-ty to go out and try and try andplay with that freedom thatwhen we do gives us the bestchance.”

For Williamson and oppo-site man Virat Kohli, today’sclash sees history repeatingitself.

Back in 2008, these twosides met in the ICC Under-19World Cup semis withWilliamson and Kohli bothskippering their sides.

India emerged victoriousthat day, with Kohli actuallydismissing his opposite man.

Not that Wil l iamsonremembers it all that well: “Iactually hadn't thought aboutthat at all so I guess that's kindof cool, isn't it, that a few yearslater, we're here again, perhapson a slightly different stage, butpretty special and a lot ofrespects to being able to leadyour country out in a semifinalon the biggest stage.

“He (Kohli) used to be anall-rounder I think back in theday, but hasn't bowled as muchrecently.

“He was a formidable play-er, growing up -- that seemsodd to say because we were at

the same age playing againsteach other on a number ofoccasions and then to go intointernational cricket at ayoungish age, then IPL andthese different sorts of things.

“It’s obviously been a plea-sure watching Virat play andevolve into the superstar that heis.”

If the Black Caps are todown India on Tuesday, the keywill be getting to their toporder.

Rohit Sharma has madehistory already this tourna-ment, becoming the first manto make five centuries in a sin-gle World Cup.

Kohli also made five halfcenturies on the spin during thetournament – but Williamson

knows the importance ofSharma to India’s success.

He added: “There’s a lot ofparts to (dismissing him) andas a bowling unit, first and fore-most, it's assessing conditions.Rohit has been clearly thestand-out batter in this tourna-ment so far and been battingbeautifully.

“But, as we know, we comeinto a semi-final. It is anotherday where both sides will betrying to adjust to the condi-tions as quickly as possible andboth teams will be looking forearly wickets regardless of whattheir name may be, but, with-out a doubt, he’s been superbthroughout the tournament.”

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DOWN THE MEMORY LANE

In seven World Cup meetings between these twosides, it is the Black Caps who have the better record.

They have won four clashes to India’s three in matchesdominated by the chasing side. Six of the sevenencounters have been won by the team batting second,but as we have seen in England this summer, that hasnot always been the best option. And despite theirseven previous encounters, 2019 will be the first timethe two sides have met in the semi-finals.

MANCHESTER MATCH-UP (1975)

Coincidentally, it was also at Old Trafford that Indiaand New Zealand first locked horns in a World

Cup. In a Group A meeting that India had to win tomake the knockout rounds, they could only manage atotal of 230 from their 60 overs, Syed Abid Ali club-bing a late-order 70 to get them there. And whenGlenn Turner anchored the Black Caps’ chase with anunbeaten 114, victory and a semi-final spot was theirswith four wickets and seven balls remaining.

LEEDS LOCKDOWN (1979)

Four years later and once again the Black Capsemerged on top, dominating the early years of this

burgeoning rivalry. India again batted first but SunilGavaskar’s stubborn half century was the best theycould manage in a total of 182 all out. In response,Bruce Edgar accrued a unbeaten knock of 84 in aneight-wicket win, although it took the Black Caps 57overs to get over the line as India were again sentpacking at the group stages while the Kiwis advancedonce more to the final four.

DOUBLE DELIGHT (1987)

Four years after becomingworld champions for the

first time, India hosted the1987 World Cup and metNew Zealand twice in thegroup stage. And both timesthey emerged on top, first ina 16-run in Bangalore thatowed much to Kapil Dev’sunbeaten later order fire-works. And then in Nagpurtwo weeks later, it wasChetan Sharma’s hat-trickthat caught the eye along

with a Gavaskar hundred in anine-wicket win.

DUNEDIN DELIGHT(1992)

Fast forward to NewZealand hosting in

1992, and in the onlygame of the tournamentheld in Carisbrook, itwas the home side whoagain dominated. SachinTendulkar made 84 outof India’s total of 230/6but the Black Capschase was smooth andserene. Mark Greatbatchwas the star man with73 as New Zealandended up topping thepoints table while Indiawere out before theknockout rounds.

SUPERB DRAMA (1999)

It was in 1999, thelast time the World

Cup was in England,that India and NewZealand first metbeyond the groupstages. This time it wasin the Super Sixes andonce again the BlackCaps were moving onwhile India were given

their marching orders.Ajay Jadeja hit a half

century for India as they made 251/6 but Matt Horneand Roger Twose’s half centuries claimed New Zealanda five-wicket win with ten balls remaining.

CENTURION AUTHORITY (2003)

New Zealand might have the wood on India inWorld Cups overall. But the most recent clash 16

years ago at Centurion saw India turn the tide in theSuper Sixes. Zaheer Khan knocked over New Zealandfor only 146, the left-armer at the peak of his powersin taking 4/42. And India rattled of the chase for theloss of only three wickets, Mohammad Kaif and RahulDravid to the fore to help India into the semi-finalsand send Kiwis home.

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It is a strange coincidence thatVirat Kohli and Kane Williamsoncaptained their respective sides in

the Under 19 World Cup and met inthe semi-finals, with India going onto win the Cup back then.

Since then both the greats havegone places on the popularity charts,as also deserving cricketers andthis time they would be meeting asskippers in the bigger Cup with allthose years, runs, milestones andjourneys that have brought both tothe top of the ladder.

Incidentally, Kohli had backthen rolled his arm and takenWilliamson’s wicket though he does-n’t remember that on the eve of hismost crucial game which will trans-port one of them to Lord’s, and theother home.

“It’s a really nice memory andwe’ll both feel good about knowingthat this is happening and no-one,neither me nor him, could have everanticipated that one day this willhappen, but yeah it is a really nicething,” he said with a smile whenreminded of it in his pre-match Pressconference.

Kohli does not remember bowl-ing Kane out on the earlier occasion.“I got Kane’s wicket? Did I?,” he asksto laughter. “I can bowl anytime, Iam lethal,” the skipper jokes. But hedoes say with a laugh that “I don’tknow if that can happen again now.”That, however, will not stop himfrom reminding Kane about it.

“I’m sure he remembers, whenwe meet tomorrow (today) I’mgoing to remind him. It is quite anice thing to realise that 11 yearsafter, we are captaining our respec-tive nations again in a senior WorldCup from U19. We have spokenabout it before. A lot of players fromthat World Cup, from our batch,from their batch, from other teamsas well, made it to the national teamsand are still playing, which is a greatthing to see,” Kohli says.

Later in the day, Williamson,too, is indulgent to similar memo-ries. “I actually hadn’t thought aboutthat at all so I guess that’s kind ofcool, isn’t it, that a few years later,we’re here again, perhaps on aslightly different stage, but pretty

special and a lot of respect to beingable to lead your country out in asemi-final on the biggest stage,” hesays. As for Kohli getting him on thatday, Kane exclaims: “Oh dear! Tellme how (laughter). He used to be anall-rounder I think back in the day,but hasn’t bowled as much recent-ly,” he said amid laughter.

The two skippers had clashed inthe semis at the 2008 U-19 semi-finals in Malaysia. The others whowere and are in both the teams thenand now are Ravindra Jadeja, TrentBoult and Tim Southee. Kohli, whowas Man of the Match then, had ledhis team to a three-wicket victory

against the Black Caps. RohitSharma, who is now in the purplepatch of his batting career, was notpart of that team as he was on anassignment to represent India in the2008 Commonwealth Bank ODI tri-series.

From that day to now, the twohave launched different journeys.Kohli grew from being brash andaggressive in person to correct anddelightful with the bat. Kane, on theother hand, shaped himself more asthe non-violent kinds, showing offa quiet consistency in his build-ups.Kohli has the pleasure of captainingthe best ODI team in the world,

ranked No 1, with a batting-line-upthat has been taking the burden ofjust scoring off from the Indian skip-per’s shoulders. Kane, on the otherhand, has been battling his runenforcer Martin Guptill’s bad formand has emerged as the lone warriorsaving face and matches for his teamin this World Cup. Kohli has had theprivilege to delve more deeply intothe ticklish aspects of captaining, notbothering to be fixated on his per-sonal scoring milestones, whileWilliamson has been the whistle onthe pressure cooker all through thebusiness end of the tournament,scoring centuries Kohli says he is notmissing his first that is yet to comedespite six 50 plus scores in eightmatches.

Kohli has been part of a teamthat has long had greats to look upto, from Sachin Tendulkar to MSDhoni to Rohit Sharma to YuvrajSingh and many others while grow-

ing up the ranks and now leads allforms of the cricket his team plays.Williamson has had not the sameprivilege and has performed almostunnoticed through these 11 yearsthat have given him captaincy of amuch lesser team on the charts ascompared to India.

This World Cup, the chirp isall around Rohit Sharma’s centuri-on run rather than Kohli’s yet tocome three figure mark. ButWilliamson has shown his quietaggression with the bat, pacing hiscentury innings to the sole focus ofwinning the match, alone andunsupported many a time.

Kohli knows his opponent “anice guy” is Kane and able. Kohlisaid he knew Williamson, also NewZealand’s batting mainstay, was aspecial talent when he first saw himplay in 2007. “In an Under-19 Testmatch, he played a shot off one ofour fast bowlers off the back foot. I

remember fielding in the slips andtelling someone that I have neverseen someone playing a shot likethat. We always knew he had thespecial ability to go all the way. Nowhe’s controlling the tempo of thegame for NZ in every game heplays.” The skipper expects a centralrole from Williamson today too. Hisand Ross Taylor will be his key wick-ets. “He is always been the main guyfor them, along with Ross (Taylor),”Kohli said. “From our point ofview, getting them early will be cru-cial because we know how strongthey can be together in a partner-ship.”

Williamson too remembersUnder 19 Malaysia 2008 with fondmemories, much like Kohli thoughthe latter was the ultimate winner.As they meet today, after the cus-tomary handshake, there will be twomen with different teams but withthe same intent: To win.

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Indias limited-overs deputyRohit Sharma has been on a roll

with 647 runs from 8 innings thatincludes 5 centuries. As the teamheads into the semi-final againstNew Zealand, skipper Virat Kohlionce again acknowledged therole Rohit has played at the top ofthe order for India. In fact, Kohliwent on to add that he was notdisappointed at missing out afterscoring five fifties as his role hasbeen different.

"It's been a different kind ofrole that I've had to play in thisWorld Cup and, as the captain ofthe team, I have been open toplaying any kind of role that theteam wants me to, so it's great thatRohit is scoring so consistentlywhich means that coming in thelater half of the innings you haveto play a different role which iscontrolling the middle overs andletting guys like Hardik (Pandya),Kedar (Jadhav), MS (Dhoni) inthe past few games, and nowRishabh (Pant), come out andexpress themselves.

"Personal milestones honest-ly is something that no-one everfocuses on. Rohit said the samething the other day. He is only try-ing to do the best for the team andin that process special thingshappen which is something that

I have always believed in mycareer so far. I could never imag-ine that I could get the number ofhundreds I have and the onlyfocus has always been the team,"he smiled.

But Kohli wants Rohit tocontinue the good show and hittwo more centuries to help Indialift the trophy at Lord's on July 14.

"So, I think playing a teamsport you need to adapt and I'mvery happy doing that role and Ihope he gets two more so we canwin two more games (smiling).It's an outstanding achievement.I have never seen anyone get fivehundreds in a World Cup, be anytournament, so World Cup is allthe more pressure and he hasbeen outstanding and he deservesall the credit. According to me, heis at the moment the top ODIplayer in the world," he said.

Asked to elaborate further onhis own role, Kohli said: "So I haveunderstood that roles can vary alot in one-day cricket, dependingon the time you step into bat, andI have been very happy withholding one end and letting guysexpress themselves striking at150, 160 or 200 if the team needsand I can accelerate in the end."

But Kohli also realises that itwill not be easy against the NewZealand bowlers, especially if theoverhead conditions help them.

"The New Zealand attack hasalways been a very balancedbowling attack. Their pacers arevery consistent. Mitchell Santnerbrings in a lot of control with hisskills in the middle overs. So theyare a team which has alwaysbeen a very consistent team, so weknow that against them we'llhave to be very, very disciplined,at the same time we will have toplay very correct cricket to scoreruns against them because theyare bowling good lines andlengths and they know what theyare doing.

"So, we have to be sure ofwhat we are doing and that's thekind of challenge that the teambrings. They put the ball in theright areas and then make youplay good shots. So, it's going tobe a nice battle. We have playedagainst them a lot. But they are aquality side with very, very potentbowling attack," the captain point-ed.

Asked about the Indian bowl-ing attack, Kohli said: "Well,according to me, our bowlingattack has been up there with thebest, if not the best bowlingattack in the competition. I thinkthe way we have bowled in low-scoring games, even coming backinto the match when the guyshave been hit, I think they haveshown a lot of character."

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Pundits have spoken abouthow playing New Zealand

in the semi-final of the WorldCup could be an easier chal-lenge for Virat Kohli andboys, but the India skipperbelieves that every time histeam walks onto the field, thepressure of expectations is thesame irrespective of the teamthey are facing or the seriesthey are playing.

For the Indian team,every game is full of pressure,so we have never felt like anygame has been easy for us atall.

"I can't remember the lasttime I stepped on to the fieldand felt like 'It doesn't matterwhat happens in this game'.For the Indian team there arealways full stadia and peopleexpect you to do well, andthere is always pressure, aswell as opportunity. So as Isaid, we are well-equipped tohandle those kind of situa-tions.

"But I think a World Cupknockout game brings thatmuch more attention andexcitement on the outsideand the atmosphere is goingto be very different from abilateral series. So just to beable to soak that in and focuson what we need to do isgoing to be probably the onlychallenge that we face interms of it being different.

"But otherwise you haveto play good cricket to win agame of cricket and that'sbeen our focus this WorldCup and I don't think wewould change that because it'sa knockout game, it is veryimportant to treat it as agame of cricket and do whatwe are known to do," he said.

With the expectationscome the pressure to win andKohli said that his team is bet-ter equipped to handle thatpressure as they are now usedto it. He went on to add thatit was no secret that not goingforward from here would bea huge disappointment.

"Everyone feels disap-pointed when you come to astage of a tournament like thisand you don't make itthrough. But look, yeah, theIndian team always carries alot of pressure and expecta-tion wherever we play and weare quite used to that over theyears to be honest.

"Yeah, we are better off -

- I think we are betterequipped to react well inthese situations because weknow what these kind ofgames and our fan-base andthe expectations brings, so Ithink disappointment is equalon either side. I wouldn'tagree if you said New Zealandwon't be disappointed if theylose. Our aim and our focusis obviously on winning and,

as I said, whichever teamplays better will win," hepointed out.

India have been in thesemis in both the previousoccasions and while theresults have been contrasting-- India won in 2011 and lostin 2015 -- Kohli said the firstgoal coming into this editionwas to work towards qualify-ing for the semi-final.

"Very obviously, verycontrasting. The win inMohali was my first WorldCup and we make it to thefinals and playing at homeand the whole atmospherewas brilliant so getting toexperience that for me as ayoungster was somethingmagnificent. 2015, I was moreof an established player andnot being able to get the

team across the line was obvi-ously very disappointing forall of us.

"This time around,because the format has beendifferent, and we understandthe tournament has beenlong, guys have put in a lot ofeffort day in day out and torealise we have achieved thefirst goal that we wanted towhich was to qualify for thesemis, that gives you an extraboost of energy.

"Now we can focus total-ly on the remaining twogames that we have in thetournament and try to bringour A-game and take up theintensity even more.

I think those -- thatincentive is very important torealise as a team that you havedone what you wanted to doas a first goal. And now youcan be even more intense andenergetic when you step on tothe field. It gives you moreenergy knowing we are enter-ing the last phase of the tour-nament. Bodies are not goingto be as fresh but these kindof things motivate you evenfurther to put in more ener-gy so we are quite happy afterqualifying," he explained.

Asked about the lastminute change in travel plans,after India finished on top fol-lowing Australia losing theirlast group game against SouthAfrica on Saturday, Kohlisaid: "We are very happybecause it was only one hourcompared to three hours onthe bus."

Had India come second,they would have played inBirmingham.

"So the boys are veryhappy with the change intravel and Manchester is agreat city to be in also, so allthe guys were very happy. Themood is great. Everyone isvery relaxed, very confident.

"And look, all the teamsworked hard to get to thesemoments and now whoeverplays better on the day weknow that things are as sim-ple or as complicated as that.So, we are all looking forwardto it.

"It's been a long tourna-ment, it's been a lot of hardwork, a lot of intense games,so yeah, we are really, reallyhappy that we have made it tothe semis and now there'sonly opportunity that lies infront of us and everyone isvery excited for it," he said.

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Ten-man Brazil held on to win theCopa America on home soil

despite Gabriel Jesus’s dismissal witha 3-1 victory over Peru on Sunday.

Jesus scored the decisive goalafter a penalty from Peru captainPaolo Guerrero canceled outEverton’s opener for hosts Brazil atRio de Janeiro’s Maracana stadium.

A last minute penalty from sub-stitute Richarlison sealed a win forBrazil which handed the SouthAmerican giants their ninth Copa tri-umph and first since 2007.

Jesus’s evening went sour 20minutes from time as he was sent offfor a second booking.

The Manchester City striker wasin tears as he left the field, makingobscene hand gestures, angrily kick-ing a water bottle and almost knock-ing over the trophy plinth.

Brazil’s players rallied after thedismissal however to claim a battlingvictory. Earlier, underdogs Perumade a confident start and didn’t

appear overawed by either theiropponents or the occasion.

But it quickly became apparentthat they were up against moreaccomplished players.

Brazil’s opening goal came froma piece of individual brilliance byJesus, whose drag back fooled twodefenders, creating space for him tocross for the unmarked Everton todrill home at the back post on thequarter hour.

Just as it looked as if Brazil wouldstroll to victory, Peru went on theattack and a Christian Cueva cross hitthe arm of a sliding Thiago Silva, giv-ing Peru a penalty that was confirmedafter a VAR review. Guerrero sentgoalkeeper Alisson the wrong wayfrom 12 yards and Peru were back init just before half-time.

But they paid for their lack ofguile and experience with almost thelast kick of the half as Arthur wasallowed to drive at the defence frommidfield following a slip from RenatoTapia that left him space to attack.

Center-back Carlos Zambano

also slipped, allowing Arthur to feedJesus in the middle of the area andthe Manchester City striker made nomistake, finding the bottom corner.

Brazil were in complete controlin second half as Peru could hardlystring two passes together.

But the dynamic changed 20minutes from time as Jesus wasgiven his marching orders for a sec-ond yellow card after a late challengeon Cueva.

The onus was now on Peru toattack and Miguel Trauco brought anear post save out of Alisson whileEdison Flores fizzed a volley fromoutside the area just wide.

But amidst a flurry of substitu-tions, fouls and injury stoppages, thesteam went out of Peru’s efforts andthey were unable to exert any sus-tained pressure on the hosts.

Any hopes they had were extin-guished when Zambrano wasadjudged to have barged over Evertonin the penalty area and substituteRicharlison drilled home the spot-kick into the bottom corner.

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Injury-hit Australia could see somenew faces play in the World Cup

semifinals against arch-rivals Englandbut coach Justin Langer is optimisticof the reinforcements filling in thevoid.

Top-order batsman UsmanKhawaja and Shaun Marsh were ruledout of the World Cup after sufferinga hamstring injury and a fractured armrespectively. Mathew Wade and PeterHandscomb have been called asreplacements for the duo.

All-rounder Marcus Stoinis wasalso hampered by a side complaint, anissue which had sidelined him for twogroup stage matches. Mitch Marsh hasbeen called up as stand by.

Australia, who were sitting com-fortably on the top of the points table,slipped in their last group game andwill face England in the semifinal andwith key players suffering injury thereigning champion will be feeling thepressure.

“It is pressure for anyone, but thereis pressure for all 22 guys on the park,”Langer was quoted as saying byCricket.Com.Au.

“Matthew Wade has played a lot ofinternational cricket if he comes in.There’s a real upside to him and he isin no doubt career-best form.

“Peter Handscomb a few monthsago helped us beat India 3-2 in Indiain their conditions and then 5-0against Pakistan in the UAE. Histemperament is excellent for it. MitchMarsh has also played a lot of one dayinternational cricket. We’re reallylucky,” Langer said.

Australia has maintained that theside is open to shuffling the battingorder according to the situation andLanger reiterated that they are a veryadaptable team.

“We’ve got so many options, andthat’s the positive thing. Whether it’sSteve Smith batting at No 3, whetherit’s Alex Carey coming up, we’ve gotso many options — it’s a very adapt-able team,” Langer said.

Australia’s batting strategy is heav-ily based on their top order firing con-sistently and their middle and lower-order finishing the game.

David Warner (638 runs at 79.75)and Finch (507 at 56.33) have struckfive centuries between them andLanger stressed they need top-orderplayers who can follow their lead.

“We’ll keep sticking to the way we

have picked over (recent) times — thetop four guys who can score hundreds.

“We’ll weigh it all up. Potentiallywith Mitch Marsh coming in giving us

some medium pace. He’s been bowl-ing as well, played four Australia Agames in pretty good form with batand ball,” he said.

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World number one AshleighBarty’s hopes of becoming

the first Australian women’s cham-pion in nearly four decades weredashed on Monday, opening the wayfor Serena Williams to potentiallyequal the all-time Grand Slam haul.

At the opposite end of the agescale to 37-year-old Williams, 15-year-old Coco Gauff could not sum-mon up yet another magical perfor-mance as the crowd-pleasingAmerican went down 6-3, 6-3, tobattle-hardened Romanian SimonaHalep.

Having looked assured last week,while Williams was not altogetherconvincing, it was 23-year-oldAustralian Barty who cracked andwent down in three sets to unseed-ed American Alison Riske 3-6, 6-2,6-2.

There was one consolation forBarty as Karolina Pliskova couldhave taken her number one spot butthe Czech third seed went out as wellin a marathon duel beaten by com-patriot Karolina Muchova 4-6, 7-5,13-11

Williams, bidding for a 24thGrand Slam title to tie withAustralian Margaret Court, will playRiske next after trouncing CarlaSuzarez Navarro 6-2, 6-2.

“It is a tough one to swallowbut I lost to a better player,” saidBarty, who had been hoping tobecome the first Australianchampion since EvonneGoolagong Cawley won hersecond title in 1980.

For Riske it was perhapsan unexpected early weddingpresent — she gets marriedafter Wimbledon StephenAmritraj, the son of for-mer Indian Davis Cupplayer Anand — butextremely well-earned.

It will be the 29-

year-old’s first appearance in aGrand Slam quarter-final.

“I had to play aggressive. I hadto take it to Ash,” said Riske

“The grass definitely brings outthe best in me. Hopefully it will ruboff and happen in other places too.”

The prospect of playingWilliams did not have her kneesknocking together in fear either:“Bring it on!”

Halep unlike Gauff 's previousopponents did not let a partisancrowd nor some audacious stroke-play by the Americanunnerve her and alwayshad the upper hand.

Gauff did save threematch points but in theend former world numberone Halep had little trouble inclosing out the match.

The American, though,leaves having given the women’s

game a much-needed shot in

the arm and announced herself asa future Grand Slam contender.

Williams, whose clay court sea-son was affected by a knee injury,said the hunger for the game and forvictory is as strong as ever.

“I always get excited,” saidWilliams after her victory which puther into a 14th Wimbledon quarter-final.

“I’m a really pumped player.That’s my personality. Of courseI still I want it or else I would-n't be here.”

Williams has teamed upwith another former world

number one Andy Murray in themixed doubles said she will not betaking Riske for granted.

“Last time I faced a fellowAmerican, I lost,” she said in refer-ence to her loss to Sofia Kenin at

Roland Garros“She’s great on the grass and

took out the number one player inthe world who’s just won a grasscourt tournament (Barty won inBirmingham).”

Zhang Shuai became the firstChinese woman since Li Na in 2013to reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals.

World number 50 Zhang defeat-ed Ukraine teenager DayanaYastremska 6-4, 1-6, 6-2 — a resultfar from her mind when she wastalked out of retiring at her lowestpoint in 2015.

The 30-year-old, who facesHalep for a place in the semi-finals, thanked her close friend anddoubles partner Australia's SamStosur for convincing her to stickwith it.

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Opener Jason Roy hasset the scene forEngland’s Ashes-

flavoured World Cup semi-final, suggesting Australiamight be suffering fromfragile confidence after theirdefeat to South Africa andsetting up a mouth-wateringknockout clash inBirmingham.

“It should be a greatgame. I think them losing toSouth Africa might haveknocked their confidence abit,” said Roy, beforeacknowledging thatEngland’s loss to Australia inthe group stage might helpbalance the books.

“When you get to thesemi-final stage any teamyou come up against isgoing to be a tough ask,mentally and physically.They hammered us at Lord’sbut who knows what it isgoing to bring?

“As exciting as it is,we’ve got to stay as relaxedas we can, understanding

that it is a World Cupsemi-final that doesn’tcome around very oftenand that we’ve been work-ing towards this for years.”

Fit-again Roy admit-ted that he feared for hisown part in the tourna-ment after tearing a ham-string while fielding againstthe West Indies, eventual-ly missing three games.

“I’ll be honest, therewas a bit of a fear I mightbe out, there was a bit of ascare there initially but Ineeded to stay positivearound the group,” he said.“I was staying around thelads and travelling withthem so I had to keep giv-ing out positive vibes andtry to help where I can.”

Australia are wellaware they will requireearly wickets on Thursday,with Roy and JonnyBairstow averaging 84.80for the opening standwhen batting together.

Roy didn’t faceAustralia in England’s lossa fortnight ago, but has

averaged 68.20 in this year’sWorld Cup, striking at arate of 114.04.

Bairstow has mean-while hit back-to-back cen-turies since that loss toAustralia, after coming outswinging against criticismfrom the likes of formerEnglish captain MichaelVaughan.

There is a belief theopener thrives on beingfired up by a verbal chal-lenge, but Australian coachJustin Langer said his teamwon’t get into a war ofwords with the hosts.

“We wont get into thatsort of rubbish,” Langersaid. “We’ve played themtwice, we’ve played them ina practice game, we beatthem twice.

“We’ve got the playersand the camaraderie andthe character and the feel-ing in the group to do itagain.

“A World Cup semifinal against England atEdgbaston — it’s going tobe great.”

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Australia downedEngland in the group

stages of this World Cup, butJoe Root is confident thatboth recent and distant his-tory have the tournamenthosts ready for revenge inthe rematch.

“If you look at the past11 games against them wehave won nine,” he said.

“These guys and thisgroup over the last fouryears, their experienceagainst Australia have beenvery positive and they havegot a lot of success in thebank.

“I don’t see that as a bigworry for this group, we willbe drawing on that confi-dence that over a long peri-od of time now we have beensuccessful against Australiaand we should take thatinto Thursday.”

Add to that the fact thatEngland have found theirbest form — with Jason Royback firing fit at the top ofthe order — and the moodis clearly buoyant.

Root added: “I feel weare in a good place cominginto it, I feel like the last twodays have almost been likeknockout cricket for us.

“We have been playingin a high-pressure environ-ment for a while now andhopefully that will hold usin good stead going into thisgame.

“It doesn’t matter (whoare the favourites). It comesdown to who plays theirbest cricket on the day. If weplay in the manner we havethe last two games, we willbe a very difficult side toplay against.

“You can look at form,statistically who is stronger,but it all comes down towho handles the day better,who plays the strongercricket for the longest peri-od and who will stand upand be victorious at the endof it.”

The left-arm attack ofMitchell Starc and JasonBehrendorff, who took afive-for at Lord’s, haveproved England’s undoingin the last two encounters.

But Root is confidentlessons have been learnedahead of that encounter.

“They bowled extreme-ly well with the new ball,and those early wicketsbasically dictated the waythe game went,” he added.

“It is about understand-ing that will be the mainthreat early on, that ballswinging and if we cancombat that and make agood start then we giveourselves a better chance.

“It is something thatseems to have been veryeffective throughout thetournament, that left-armangle and throughout oneday cricket for a while nowand they have exploitedthat nicely.

But we have also seenthat we can score quitenicely if they don’t get itright. Trying to be veryobjective about it, and clearon how you approach it willbe very important.

“The guys have faced alot of left arm stuff overtheir careers and in build upto last game. There will bea lot talked about it and withthat comes pressure forthem as well to deliver. Itworks both ways.”

Documents

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