16
A day before the historic oath-taking by the first woman senior counsel Indu Malhotra as a judge of the Supreme Court, controversy surrounded the Government’s decision to ask the SC Collegium to reconsider the elevation of Justice KM Joseph to the apex court. A group of 100 lawyers opposing the “cherry-picking” by the Centre demanded stay on the Presidential warrant appointing Malhotra. Dismissing such a demand as “unconscionable” and “inconceivable”, a Bench head- ed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra said never before has a warrant of appointment of a judge been challenged in this manner. Mentioning on behalf of the signatory lawyers who made a joint petition, senior advocate Indira Jaising sought an urgent hearing on the matter, a little after Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told media persons that he has written to the Collegium to reconsider elevation of Justice Joseph, currently Chief Justice of Uttarakhand High Court, and ranked 42nd in the All-India seniority list. Prasad’s letter states that the decision to reconsider Justice Joseph’s name has “approval” of the President and the Prime Minister and also raises the issue of non-rep- resentation of SCs/STs in the Supreme Court Bench since long. He said, “It would also not be fair and justified to other more senior, suitable and deserving Chief Justices and senior judges of various High Courts if Joseph’s name goes through.” Even on the plank of regional representation in the top court, the letter said, “Kerala High Court (parent HC of Justice Joseph) has adequate representation in the Supreme Court (Justice Kurian Joseph) and among Chief Justices in various High Courts (Justice TB Radhakrishnan, Chief Justice of Chhattisgarh High Court; and Justice Antony Dominic, Chief Justice of Kerala High Court).” But the joint petition by lawyers requested the CJI not to misunderstand their petition to target any judge in particu- lar. Jaising said, “Don’t mistake us as we have nothing against Malhotra. The bar stands solid- ly with her. But we are worried about the pick and choose pol- icy adopted by the Government to keep one name pending while clearing the other. The two names (of Malhotra and Joseph) cannot be bifurcated and doing so amounts to exec- utive interference with inde- pendence of judiciary. Ultimately it affects the digni- ty of the Collegium and the Supreme Court which recom- mended both names.” The Bench, also compris- ing Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud, found the petition “premature” as it felt the Government was well within its rights to return a name for reconsideration. Jaising intervened to suggest that if this is the case, she had no grievance. But she high- lighted the concern that a name is being held back by the Centre because some judg- ments passed by the judge in question are “unpalatable”. Justice Chandrachud asked Jaising that if it was a case where Government does not return a name for reconsider- ation, there could be a valid constitutional question that may arise as to why a name is withheld as he loses on senior- ity if other names are cleared in the meantime. A school bus driver’s cal- lousness led to a tragic accident in which 13 school- children were killed while five others suffered critical injuries when a Tata magic vehicle in which they were heading to school was hit by a train at an unmanned railway crossing near Duddhi railway station in Kushinagar on Thursday around 6.45 am. Local villagers blamed the Railways for the tragedy claim- ing that Siwan-Gorakhpur pas- senger train (number 55075), which hit the van with the vehicle flinging several hun- dred feet away, was running late and the Gate Mitra was not present at the duty point. However, Railway officials claimed that Gate Mitra Arvind Bharti was deputed at the unmanned crossing to alert people and vehicles if a train passes through. They blamed the van dri- ver for the accident claiming that the driver was listening to the music via earphones and was unmindful of the approaching train. The Gate Mitra told police, “As the van driver approached the crossing, I alarmed him but he ignored. As the train was closing in, I rushed towards the van, frantically gesturing with hands asking the driver to look to his right as the train approached. With the ear- phones on, he could not even hear the train’s whistle. I could only watch in shock as the engine rammed into the van, flung it away several hundred feet as children shriek in fear and pain.” Senior police and district administration officials rushed to the spot to ensure rescue and treatment of the survivors. A seven-year-old schoolgirl was killed while 17 other schoolchildren injured when a private school van carrying them was hit by a rashly driven milk tanker near Kanhaiya Nagar Metro station in Northwest Delhi’s Keshavpuram area on Thursday. According to police, the deceased girl, identified as Garima Chauhan, was a resi- dent of JJ Colony area of Wazirpur. She succumbed to injuries at Mahant Gurumukh Singh Hospital in Punjabi Bagh. The driver of the milk tanker has been arrested. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Northwest) Aslam Khan said, “We got a PCR call about an accident around 6.48 am. As many as 18 school- children were injured in the accident. Out of them, one suc- cumbed to injuries and three critically injured children are undergoing treatment at the AIIMS Trauma Centre, while other children are recu- perating at Sushtra Trauma Centre, Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Hospital and Deep Chand Bandhu Hospital.” The accident took place when the school van was head- ing from Keshavpuram towards Kanhaiya Nagar area, police said. “Tanker driver Sanjeev (38) has been arrested. A case has been registered against him for violations of Motor Vehicles Act,” Khan said. “The sound of the collision drew the attention of locals who instead of waiting for police, pulled out the injured children one by one and rushed them to nearby hospitals,” said the officer. I n a bid to rejuvenate India China ties, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday left for Wuhan (China) for an “informal” summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping. In a pre-departure statement, Modi said he and Xi will review the developments in the India- China relations from a strate- gic and long-term perspective. “I will be visiting Wuhan, China, on April 27-28, 2018 for an Informal Summit with Mr Xi Jinping, President of the People’s Republic of China. President Xi and I will exchange views on a range of issues of bilateral and global importance. We will discuss our respective visions and pri- orities for national develop- ment, particularly in the con- text of current and future inter- national situation. We will also review the developments in the India-China relations from a strategic and long-term per- spective,” Modi said prior to his departure for Wuhan. Though the two leaders have met several times in the past both in bilateral and mul- tilateral settings, this is the first time Modi and Xi will hold an informal summit. L ong hours stuck in vehicles on the Delhi-Jaipur Highway also known as the Pink City Expressway are a thing of the past. The Delhi- Jaipur highway has cut journey time by half with broader lanes allowing for a modern car- riageway for vehicular traffic, and congratulations are due to all involved. “The Delhi-Jaipur Highway provides a pleasant journey and is well construct- ed. It’s never been this smooth and I’m eminently qualified to speak on this because I have spent the past 10 years in con- tinuous travel by road between the two cities,” Atul Singh, a frequent traveler to Jaipur from Delhi, told The Pioneer. Gyan Shankar Kumar, an IBM employee, said the most amazing part of the journey was there is no traffic bottle- neck or congestion on the Delhi-Jaipur highway. The Pioneer team’s trip to Jaipur and back confirmed that it is a pretty smooth ride. There are some concerns which remain to be addressed as near Patava, some 50-60 kilometres before Jaipur, where encroachment is beginning. And traffic is heavy near Bilaspur though it thankfully keeps moving. Nearly all com- muters, we spoke to, said one of the major bottlenecks used to be due to the old toll booths where long queues resulted in huge traffic jams. That too has improved. “Truck drivers need to be reined in with more CCTV and police patrols checking on their speed especially near the old toll stretch and a recently con- structed U-turn is causing some trouble. These are rela- tively minor issues but the authorities should prevent a trouble spot from emerging,” said another regular commuter. “The Delhi-Jaipur high- way is a really smooth ride. There are no traffic and con- gestion problems here. I have witnessed huge traffic jams, endless honking and road rage in the past; today, the situation is wonderful in this respect. The wide roads have made a real difference,” said Jai Krishan, a restaurant owner off the highway. It is important to mention that it took just three hours for this reporter to reach Jaipur from Delhi. T he running feud between the Congress and the BJP over impeachment of Chief Justice of India and appoint- ment of judges escalated on Thursday with the Opposition party alleging that the judicia- ry is in the danger and the BJP retorting that the Congress has no moral ground to talk about the matter. Union Law Minister and senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad sought to tear into the Congress saying the party’s record of “giving unfair and unconstitutional treatment to judiciary is well known”. “It is littered with repeated instances of superseding incon- venient judges and compro- mising independence of judi- ciary,” he said. He cited the experience of Emergency, imposed just a day after a 1975 verdict of the Allahabad High Court which pronounced then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi guilty of electoral malpractices and barred her from holding elect- ed posts. “Why was Emergency imposed... Real provocation for imposition of Emergency was the Allahabad HC judg- ment... Reflects their outlook about judiciary. Legendary judge HR Khanna was denied and superseded for the post of Chief Justice of India, that is their record,” said Prasad. D oors have not yet closed on the elevation of Uttarakhand High Court Chief Justice KM Joseph to the Supreme Court. Even though the Centre has returned the name for reconsideration to the Collegium, if the Collegium reiterates its proposal, the Centre will have no choice but to comply with the same. This was held by the nine- judge Bench while answering the Presidential Reference in 1998 after certain doubts arose over the working of the Collegium system of judicial appointments introduced by the apex court in its 1993 deci- sion in SC Advocates on Records Association case. The judges said, “If after due consideration of the rea- sons disclosed (by Centre) to the Chief Justice of India, that recommendation is reiterated by the Chief Justice of India with the unanimous agree- ment of the Judges of the Supreme Court consulted in the matter, with reasons for not withdrawing the recommen- dation, then that appointment as a matter of healthy conven- tion ought to be made.” Such a reiteration has to be unanimous and only then the appointment is to be made. New Delhi: Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday ordered a magisterial enquiry into a fatal accident involving a van carrying schoolchildren at Keshavapuram during morning hours. “It has been brought to notice that a tanker/truck col- lided with the school van car- rying a large number of school- children near Kanhaiya Nagar Metro station,” said the CM, directing the Chief Secretary to get the magisterial enquiry conducted by the concerned District Magistrate/Deputy Commissioner. SR T he bypoll to the Shahkot Assembly constituency in Punjab will be held on May 28, the Election Commission announced on Thursday. A spokesperson of office of the Chief Electoral Officer, Punjab, said polling will be held on May 28 while counting of votes and result will be declared on May 31. A notification will be issued in this regard on May 3 and the last date of submission of nom- ination papers will be May 10, the spokesperson said. He said scrutiny of papers will be done on May 11 and the last for the withdrawal of nomination papers is May 14. With the announcement of bypoll for Shahkot assembly constituency, model code of conduct is enforced in Jalandhar with immediate effect, the spokesperson added. Shahkot falls in Jalandhar district. The seat fell vacant follow- ing the death of SAD MLA Ajit Singh Kohar. Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has already announced Naib Singh Kohar, son of late ex-minister Ajit Singh Kohar, as its candidate. The Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) are also likely to contest the bypoll.

€¦ ·  · 2 days agodeceased girl, identified as Garima Chauhan, ... “We got a PCR call about an accident around 6.48 ... by the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, Punjab

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Page 1: €¦ ·  · 2 days agodeceased girl, identified as Garima Chauhan, ... “We got a PCR call about an accident around 6.48 ... by the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, Punjab

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Aday before the historicoath-taking by the first

woman senior counsel InduMalhotra as a judge of theSupreme Court, controversysurrounded the Government’sdecision to ask the SCCollegium to reconsider theelevation of Justice KM Josephto the apex court.

A group of 100 lawyersopposing the “cherry-picking”by the Centre demanded stayon the Presidential warrantappointing Malhotra.

Dismissing such a demandas “unconscionable” and“inconceivable”, a Bench head-ed by Chief Justice Dipak Misrasaid never before has a warrant

of appointment of a judge beenchallenged in this manner.Mentioning on behalf of thesignatory lawyers who made ajoint petition, senior advocateIndira Jaising sought an urgenthearing on the matter, a littleafter Union Law Minister RaviShankar Prasad told mediapersons that he has written tothe Collegium to reconsiderelevation of Justice Joseph,currently Chief Justice ofUttarakhand High Court, andranked 42nd in the All-Indiaseniority list.

Prasad’s letter states thatthe decision to reconsiderJustice Joseph’s name has“approval” of the Presidentand the Prime Minister andalso raises the issue of non-rep-resentation of SCs/STs in the

Supreme Court Bench sincelong.

He said, “It would also notbe fair and justified to othermore senior, suitable anddeserving Chief Justices andsenior judges of various HighCourts if Joseph’s name goesthrough.”

Even on the plank ofregional representation in thetop court, the letter said,“Kerala High Court (parent HCof Justice Joseph) has adequaterepresentation in the SupremeCourt (Justice Kurian Joseph)and among Chief Justices invarious High Courts (JusticeTB Radhakrishnan, ChiefJustice of Chhattisgarh HighCourt; and Justice AntonyDominic, Chief Justice ofKerala High Court).”

But the joint petition bylawyers requested the CJI notto misunderstand their petitionto target any judge in particu-lar. Jaising said, “Don’t mistakeus as we have nothing against

Malhotra. The bar stands solid-ly with her. But we are worriedabout the pick and choose pol-icy adopted by the Governmentto keep one name pendingwhile clearing the other. Thetwo names (of Malhotra andJoseph) cannot be bifurcatedand doing so amounts to exec-utive interference with inde-pendence of judiciary.Ultimately it affects the digni-ty of the Collegium and theSupreme Court which recom-mended both names.”

The Bench, also compris-ing Justices AM Khanwilkarand DY Chandrachud, foundthe petition “premature” as itfelt the Government was well

within its rights to return aname for reconsideration.Jaising intervened to suggestthat if this is the case, she hadno grievance. But she high-lighted the concern that aname is being held back by theCentre because some judg-ments passed by the judge inquestion are “unpalatable”.

Justice Chandrachud askedJaising that if it was a casewhere Government does notreturn a name for reconsider-ation, there could be a validconstitutional question thatmay arise as to why a name iswithheld as he loses on senior-ity if other names are cleared inthe meantime.

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Aschool bus driver’s cal-lousness led to a tragic

accident in which 13 school-children were killed while fiveothers suffered critical injurieswhen a Tata magic vehicle inwhich they were heading toschool was hit by a train at anunmanned railway crossingnear Duddhi railway station inKushinagar on Thursdayaround 6.45 am.

Local villagers blamed theRailways for the tragedy claim-ing that Siwan-Gorakhpur pas-senger train (number 55075),which hit the van with thevehicle flinging several hun-dred feet away, was running late and the GateMitra was not present at theduty point.

However, Railway officialsclaimed that Gate Mitra ArvindBharti was deputed at theunmanned crossing to alert

people and vehicles if a trainpasses through.

They blamed the van dri-ver for the accident claimingthat the driver was listening tothe music via earphones andwas unmindful of theapproaching train.

The Gate Mitra told police,“As the van driver approachedthe crossing, I alarmed him buthe ignored. As the train wasclosing in, I rushed towards thevan, frantically gesturing withhands asking the driver to lookto his right as the trainapproached. With the ear-phones on, he could not evenhear the train’s whistle. I couldonly watch in shock as theengine rammed into the van,flung it away several hundredfeet as children shriek in fearand pain.”

Senior police and districtadministration officials rushedto the spot to ensure rescue andtreatment of the survivors.

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Aseven-year-old schoolgirlwas killed while 17 other

schoolchildren injured when aprivate school van carryingthem was hit by a rashly drivenmilk tanker near KanhaiyaNagar Metro station inNorthwest Delhi’sKeshavpuram area onThursday.

According to police, thedeceased girl, identified asGarima Chauhan, was a resi-dent of JJ Colony area ofWazirpur. She succumbed toinjuries at Mahant GurumukhSingh Hospital in PunjabiBagh. The driver of the milktanker has been arrested.

Deputy Commissioner ofPolice (Northwest) AslamKhan said, “We got a PCR callabout an accident around 6.48am. As many as 18 school-children were injured in theaccident. Out of them, one suc-cumbed to injuries and threecritically injured children areundergoing treatment at theAIIMS Trauma Centre, while other children are recu-perating at Sushtra TraumaCentre, Lok Nayak Jai PrakashHospital and Deep Chand

Bandhu Hospital.” The accident took place

when the school van was head-ing from Keshavpuram towardsKanhaiya Nagar area, police said.

“Tanker driver Sanjeev (38)has been arrested. A case hasbeen registered against him forviolations of Motor VehiclesAct,” Khan said.

“The sound of the collisiondrew the attention of localswho instead of waiting forpolice, pulled out the injuredchildren one by one and rushedthem to nearby hospitals,” saidthe officer.

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In a bid to rejuvenate IndiaChina ties, Prime Minister

Narendra Modi on Thursdayleft for Wuhan (China) for an“informal” summit withChinese President Xi Jinping.In a pre-departure statement,Modi said he and Xi will reviewthe developments in the India-China relations from a strate-gic and long-term perspective.

“I will be visiting Wuhan,China, on April 27-28, 2018 foran Informal Summit with MrXi Jinping, President of thePeople’s Republic of China.President Xi and I willexchange views on a range ofissues of bilateral and globalimportance. We will discussour respective visions and pri-orities for national develop-ment, particularly in the con-text of current and future inter-national situation. We will alsoreview the developments in the

India-China relations from astrategic and long-term per-spective,” Modi said prior to hisdeparture for Wuhan.

Though the two leadershave met several times in thepast both in bilateral and mul-tilateral settings, this is the firsttime Modi and Xi will hold aninformal summit.

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Long hours stuck in vehicleson the Delhi-Jaipur

Highway also known as thePink City Expressway are athing of the past. The Delhi-Jaipur highway has cut journeytime by half with broader lanesallowing for a modern car-riageway for vehicular traffic,and congratulations are due toall involved.

“The Delhi-JaipurHighway provides a pleasantjourney and is well construct-ed. It’s never been this smoothand I’m eminently qualified tospeak on this because I havespent the past 10 years in con-tinuous travel by road between the two cities,” AtulSingh, a frequent traveler toJaipur from Delhi, told The Pioneer.

Gyan Shankar Kumar, anIBM employee, said the most

amazing part of the journeywas there is no traffic bottle-neck or congestion on theDelhi-Jaipur highway. ThePioneer team’s trip to Jaipurand back confirmed that it is apretty smooth ride.

There are some concernswhich remain to be addressedas near Patava, some 50-60kilometres before Jaipur, whereencroachment is beginning.And traffic is heavy nearBilaspur though it thankfullykeeps moving. Nearly all com-muters, we spoke to, said oneof the major bottlenecks usedto be due to the old toll boothswhere long queues resulted inhuge traffic jams. That too hasimproved.

“Truck drivers need to bereined in with more CCTV andpolice patrols checking on theirspeed especially near the oldtoll stretch and a recently con-structed U-turn is causing

some trouble. These are rela-tively minor issues but theauthorities should prevent atrouble spot from emerging,”said another regular commuter.

“The Delhi-Jaipur high-way is a really smooth ride.There are no traffic and con-gestion problems here. I havewitnessed huge traffic jams,endless honking and road ragein the past; today, the situationis wonderful in this respect.The wide roads have made areal difference,” said JaiKrishan, a restaurant owner offthe highway.

It is important to mentionthat it took just three hours forthis reporter to reach Jaipurfrom Delhi.

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The running feud betweenthe Congress and the BJP

over impeachment of ChiefJustice of India and appoint-ment of judges escalated onThursday with the Oppositionparty alleging that the judicia-ry is in the danger and the BJPretorting that the Congresshas no moral ground to talkabout the matter.

Union Law Minister andsenior BJP leader Ravi ShankarPrasad sought to tear into the Congress saying theparty’s record of “giving unfair and unconstitutional treatment to judiciary is wellknown”.

“It is littered with repeatedinstances of superseding incon-venient judges and compro-mising independence of judi-ciary,” he said.

He cited the experience ofEmergency, imposed just a dayafter a 1975 verdict of the

Allahabad High Court whichpronounced then PrimeMinister Indira Gandhi guiltyof electoral malpractices andbarred her from holding elect-ed posts.

“Why was Emergencyimposed... Real provocationfor imposition of Emergencywas the Allahabad HC judg-ment... Reflects their outlookabout judiciary. Legendaryjudge HR Khanna was deniedand superseded for the post ofChief Justice of India, that istheir record,” said Prasad.

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Doors have not yet closed onthe elevation of

Uttarakhand High Court ChiefJustice KM Joseph to theSupreme Court. Even thoughthe Centre has returned thename for reconsideration to theCollegium, if the Collegiumreiterates its proposal, theCentre will have no choice butto comply with the same.

This was held by the nine-judge Bench while answeringthe Presidential Reference in1998 after certain doubts aroseover the working of theCollegium system of judicialappointments introduced by

the apex court in its 1993 deci-sion in SC Advocates onRecords Association case.

The judges said, “If afterdue consideration of the rea-sons disclosed (by Centre) tothe Chief Justice of India, thatrecommendation is reiteratedby the Chief Justice of Indiawith the unanimous agree-ment of the Judges of theSupreme Court consulted inthe matter, with reasons for notwithdrawing the recommen-dation, then that appointmentas a matter of healthy conven-tion ought to be made.” Such areiteration has to be unanimousand only then the appointmentis to be made.

New Delhi: Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal on Thursdayordered a magisterial enquiryinto a fatal accident involvinga van carrying schoolchildrenat Keshavapuram duringmorning hours.

“It has been brought tonotice that a tanker/truck col-lided with the school van car-rying a large number of school-children near Kanhaiya NagarMetro station,” said the CM,directing the Chief Secretary toget the magisterial enquiryconducted by the concernedDistrict Magistrate/DeputyCommissioner. SR

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The bypoll to the ShahkotAssembly constituency in

Punjab will be held on May 28,the Election Commissionannounced on Thursday.

A spokesperson of office ofthe Chief Electoral Officer,Punjab, said polling will be heldon May 28 while counting ofvotes and result will be declaredon May 31.

A notification will be issuedin this regard on May 3 and thelast date of submission of nom-ination papers will be May 10,the spokesperson said. He saidscrutiny of papers will be doneon May 11 and the last for thewithdrawal of nominationpapers is May 14.

With the announcement ofbypoll for Shahkot assemblyconstituency, model code ofconduct is enforced in Jalandharwith immediate effect, thespokesperson added. Shahkotfalls in Jalandhar district.

The seat fell vacant follow-ing the death of SAD MLA AjitSingh Kohar. Shiromani AkaliDal (SAD) has alreadyannounced Naib Singh Kohar,son of late ex-minister Ajit SinghKohar, as its candidate. TheCongress and Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) are also likely to contestthe bypoll.

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Punjab BJP PresidentShwait Malik on

Thursday lashed at thestate government, sayingCongress should be moreworried about saving the

farmers of Punjab, ratherthan playing to thegallery and misleadingthe people by launchingcampaigns like ‘Save theConstitution’.

“The Constitutionis safe, save the farmersof Punjab”, said Malik ina statement, adding,“Congress is the partywhich has brazenlytrampled all institutionsto accomplish its nefar-ious designs. TheCongress has pointedthe finger of suspicion atthe Army, the SupremeCourt, ElectionCommission and theRBI and has disgracedthe Constitution. Insteadof saving its dynasty, theCongress should ask itsleadership in Punjab tosave the farmers here”.

Malik said, “452farmers in Punjab havecommitted suicide dur-ing the 408-day-rule ofthe Congress in the state.The government, whichcame into power underthe false premise ofwaiving off crop loans tothe tune of Rs. 90,000crore, is rubbing saltinto the wounds of thefarmers by waiving offfarm debts worth fewcrore and issuing loanwaiver certificates”.

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Punjab Health Departmentwill conduct Measles Rubella

Vaccination campaign from May1 as part of National strategy toeliminate Measles and controlRubella in the country.

State Health Minister Brahm

Mohindra said all children aged9 months to less than 15 years willbe vaccinated regardless of pre-vious vaccination with MR /MMR or history of measles /rubella like illness. An estimated75 lakh children will be vacci-nated in the campaign over a peri-od of 4-6 weeks. The vaccinationwill first be conducted in schoolsand later in community throughoutreach sessions.

Mohindra said 5200 vacci-nation teams and 1733 supervi-sors have been deployed to coverabout 29000 schools conductingnearly 59000 vaccination ses-sions across the state. Each vac-cination team will have 3 mem-bers and a volunteer. About 5200vaccinators, nearly 19000 ASHAsand 25000 AnganWadi Workershave been trained. So far, teach-ers from about 29000 schoolshave been sensitized about thecampaign. He stated that the goalof MR campaign is to acceleratepopulation immunity by reach-ing 100% target children with MRvaccine that will reduce cases anddeaths from measles and disabil-ities from Congenital RubellaSyndrome. Like Polio it is nowtargeted to make our countryMeasles and Rubella free by 2020.

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In a decision which could helppatients in the far flung and

inaccessible areas of the State,the Himachal Pradesh Cabineton Thursday decided to intro-duce free Heli-ambulance ser-vices .

The free Heli-ambulanceservices will be operated byHeli-mission Switzerland withthe assistance of LadyWillingdon Hospital, Manali inDistrict Kullu.

"This will go a long way instrengthening the health trans-port services and timely air lift-ing of the patients particular-ly of remote and tribal regionsof the State," a governmentspokesman said.

The Cabinet meeting waspresided over by Chief MinisterJai Ram Thakur.

The Cabinet also gaveapproval to set up health caretransformation project viz:TATA Digital Nerves CentrePlatform (DiNC) in Kullu dis-trict. DiNC is a service led plat-form model and facilitate toand fro communicationbetween patients, hospitals anddoctors irrespective of theirgeographical locations. It helpsscreening basic symptoms,facilitates doctor consultationsand to send alerts for follow-upand manages records of thepatients.

In addition, the Cabinet

gave its nod to fill up 1235 postsof Transport Multi-PurposeAssistants (TMPA) inHimachal Road TransportCorporation.

It accorded its approval tofill up 200 posts of Clerks inH.P. Secretariat AdministrationDepartment (SAD) on contractbasis through direct recruit-ment and 25 posts of JuniorScale Stenographer in H.P.Secretariat AdministrationDepartment (SAD) on contractbasis.

The Cabinet also decidedto fill up 100 posts of JuniorEngineer (Civil) and 20 postsof Junior Engineer(Mechanical) in Public WorksDepartment on contract basis.

Besides, the cabinetapproved to upgrade Civil

Hospital Nurpur in Kangradistrict to 200 bedded hospitalalong-with creation of addi-tional 42 posts of different cat-egories. It was decided to fillup 7 posts of different cate-gories for the establishment ofProgramme Management Unitin Ayurveda Department spon-sored by Ayush Ministry,Government of India.

The Cabinet accorded itsapproval to open new State ofArt Industrial Training Instituteat Chhatari in Tehsil Thunag ofdistrict Mandi besides creationof requisite posts of differentcategories to man the institute.It decided that the GramPanchayat VeterinaryAssistants (GPVA) who havecompleted as five years of ser-vice will be brought undercontract.

The Cabinet gave itsapproval to purchase 26 newambulances under NationalAmbulance Service-108 asreplacement to facilitate thepatients.

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The Punjab State Women'sCommission on Thursday

issued notices to all collegesacross the State for installation ofCCTV cameras on its campus-es so that the students can feelmore secure besides puttingcomplaint boxes for the facilita-tion of Girl students.

Newly appointed chairper-son of the Commission, ManishaGulati said that notices hadbeen issued to colleges in thisregard to safeguard girl stu-dents.

Listening to different issuesat commission during specialhearing, the chairperson said thata massive awareness campaignwould be started shortly and 17camps would be organized at dif-ferent locations in the state tomake the women aware abouttheir rights.

Gulati informed that theCommission had decided to setup three-member committees indifferent cities for the protectionof women rights so that theirissues could be resolved at theirdoorsteps. She said theCommission would also issuedirections to hospitals in the state

for installation of CCTVCameras.

The Chairperson said thatrecently she called on UnionMinister for Women and ChildDevelopment Maneka Gandhi atDelhi and urged her to developand launch a nationwide App toprovide one stop platform forwomen to register their griev-ances. She said that UnionMinister had assured to take pos-itive step in this regard. Sheinformed that Commission willvisit the Jails of the state to ascer-tain the problems, if any, ofwomen inmates besides takingup their issues with the JailsDepartment for early solutions.

Emphasising the need toprovide free education and coun-seling of rape victims, Gulati saidthat imparting free educationand counseling was the need ofthe hour to victims.

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The Metro Bus Project ofAmritsar city would start

operations by September thisyear and before that in June thebuses would be run on trialbasis to assess the viability ofthe project to ensure its success.

The decision was takentoday in a meeting held hereon Thursday at the Punjab

Civil Secretariat Office ofFinance Minister ManpreetSingh Badal regarding BRTSproject. The meeting waspresided over by the LocalGovernment Minister NavjotSingh Sidhu and FinanceMinister Manpreet SinghBadal. All the officers of LocalGovernment, Transport ,PIDB, Public WorksDepartment and Amritsar

District Administration werealso present.

Sidhu said that approxi-mately 1.25 lakh devotees cometo pay obeisance at Sri DarbarSahib Amritsar daily. Keepingthis aspect in mind, the pres-tigious project of the holy citywould be run at all costs.

He said after giving apatient hearing to all the view-points in the meeting, it was

decided that this project wouldbe initiated full throttle bySeptember, 2018 and all thebuses would be run. To ensurethe running of the project onfirm footing the buses wouldbe run on trial basis in Junethis year. The Public WorksDepartment revealed that allthe construction works con-cerning this project would beover by July.

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Gurugram MLA, UmeshAggarwal, known for his

rebellion against his own BJPGovernment last year, hasbeen appointed as HaryanaBJP media-incharge.

The appointment is seenas a move to pacify the rebelMLAs in the party ahead of2019 parliamentar y andassembly polls. The appoint-ment is also significant asmany party leaders fromsouth Haryana had earlieralleged of being ignored by theparty state leadership.

Haryana BJP chief SubashBarala on Thursday said thatthe Gurugram MLA has beenappointed as state partymedia-incharge. The previousstate party media-inchargeRajiv Jain was appointed asmedia advisor to ChiefMinister Manohar Lal on

April 6, vacating the post.Barala said that apart from

this, party leader AnuragBakshi from Gurugram andRenu Bhatia from Faridabadhave been appointed as partyspokesperson.

Ahead of 2019 polls, thestate party unit is likely to wit-ness organizational changes ina bid to end resentmentamong leaders and strength-en the party.

Notably, Gurugram MLAUmesh Aggarwal had last yearmade a string of veiledremarks against ChiefMinister Manohar Lal.Aggarwal was among over adozen BJP MLAs who hadbeen airing their grievancesagainst the Chief Minister onpublic platforms and had evenstated that the CM was beingmisinformed and misguidedby senior bureaucrats.

The Gurugram MLA had

also hit out at the StateGovernment for not actingtough against those “involvedin scams” and had soughtintervention of the party cen-tral leadership to resolve theissues raised by the disgrun-tled legislators.

Following the case ofSonepat police booking histwo brothers and a nephewalong with others allegedly forgrabbing land of the com-plainant last year, the partylegislator had also levelledallegations of ‘political con-spiracy’ as he had been speak-ing up against the BJP ledState Government in Haryana.

However, the ChiefMinister and UmeshAggarwal had later buriedthe hatchet after the latter’sassociates were reportedlyaccommodated in the party’sdistrict executive committeelast year.

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Haryana Water Supply andSewerage Board, which

met under the chairmanship ofChief Minister Manohar Lal onFriday approved over �1,650crore for improvement ofdrinking water supply facilities,sewerage system in rural andurban areas and storm waterdrainage facilities in the urbanareas of the stat.

Funds have also beenapproved in the meeting for the2444 ongoing schemes and1359 new schemes.

Urban Local BodiesMinister, Kavita Jain andMinister of State for PublicHealth Engineering, BanwariLal were also present in themeeting.

It was informed in themeeting that a target has beenset for the improvement ofdrinking water supply facilitiesin 272 habitations or ruralareas and in the urban areas,

construction and commis-sioning of 15 sewage treatmentplants and improvement ofwater supply, sewerage andstorm water drainage system invarious towns of the state dur-ing the year 2018-19.

The Chief Minister direct-ed the Public HealthEngineering Department tostart a pilot project in Panipatfor the treatment of contami-nated water.

Once successful, the modelwould be replicated in otherparts of the state, he said,adding that efforts should bemade to ensure that not evena single drop of contaminatedwater fall into river Yamuna.

He asked the department toimplement a technology throughwhich water could be utilised atthe same place where it would betreated and first priority shouldbe given to irrigation.

While reviewing the MahaGram Yojana, the ChiefMinister directed the Public

Health EngineeringDepartment to expedite theprocess of making availablewater for drinking as well asirrigation purposed in the 20villages taken over by theDepartment in the first phase.

Solar and micro irrigationprojects are also to be imple-mented in these villages, hesaid.

Manohar Lal asked thesenior officers of the depart-ment to personally visit these

villages and fix a timeline forthe completion of work so thatthe target to cover 116 villagesunder the scheme this yearcould be achieved.

It was informed in themeeting that out of 20 villages,

work in six villages havealready been allotted and start-ed whereas estimates are beingprepared for the remaining 11villages.

For 21 towns locatedalongwith the catchment area

of river Ghaggar in Haryana, 19STPs have already been set upwhereas the process is under-way for the setting up of twoSTPs in Ambala Sadar andThanesar towns.

Apart from this, three pro-jects have been prepared withthe assistance of CommandArea Development Authority(CADA), Haryana for the uti-lization of waste water for irri-gation. The Chief Minister wasapprized that initially the pro-ject has been implemented inthree towns namely Shahbad,Ladwa and Pehowa. On thesuccess of these projects, thesame would be replicated inother towns also.

It was also informed thatthe Public Health EngineeringDepartment on its own hasstarted the geo mapping of itsassets, habitations and sewer-age network. By the end of thisyear, the entire geo mappingwould be completed and there-after all the estimates of pro-

jects would be submitted along-with the geo mapping.

The Department has alsostarted five training pro-grammes for sewer men in thestate. Under this programme,the sewer men are providedone day training to sensitizethem and once the training iscompleted, Haryana would bethe first state to have conduct-ed this type of training.

Earlier, various projetswere approved in the meeting.These included 475 new tubewells, 22 independent canalbased water works.

Apart from this, 45 boost-ing stations in rural areas and126 renovation, repair of exist-ing water works in rural areas,546 pipelines works in ruralareas and 50 others includingaugmentation of existing waterworks, independent feeders,sustainability and raw waterarrangement in rural areaswere also approved in themeeting.

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Flat or property owners willno longer have to visit

offices of estate managers of theHaryana Housing Board as it isgoing to make seven servicesonline soon.

This will not only eliminatethe corruption but will alsomake the delivery systempaperless and hassle-free, saidchairman of the Board, JawaharYadav.

He said that services likeissue of No ObjectionCertificate or duplicate allot-ment letter, conveyance deed,No Dues Certificate, con-

veyance deed through generalpower of attorney, transfer ofproperty in case of sale ordeath and mortgage or de-mortgage of property wouldbecome online as all these ser-vices have already been certi-fied after obtaining approvalfrom the government. Theseservices were also being con-nected with SARAL portal, hesaid.

The Board had alsolaunched a new project ‘PlotProperty Management’ to facil-itate its allottees. Under this,property files of 30,000 allotteeshave been uploaded and veri-fied so far and work on remain-

ing was in progress. This facil-ity would soon be made onlineso that allottees could easily getall information pertaining totheir property by sitting attheir homes, said he.

Yadav said that Board isalso going to launch newschemes for providing afford-able houses to people belong-ing to economically weakersections.

He also congratulated theofficials of the Board for imple-menting the online system andalso for the initiatives under-taken by them to improve theservices for reaching out to allallottees.

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Hot weather conditionsprevailed in most parts of

the region, with Hisar andNarnaul registering the max-imum temperature at 42.8degrees Celsius on Thursday.

Bhiwani and Karnal expe-rienced a hot day recordingrespective above normal max-imum temperatures of 41.4degrees Celsius and 40degrees Celsius, aMeteorological Departmentreport said here.

Chandigarh, the commoncapital of Haryana and Punjab,too had a hot day at 40 degreesCelsius, up three notchesagainst normal limits.

In Punjab, Patiala bravedthe hot weather at 41.3 degreesCelsius. Amritsar andLudhiana recorded near sim-ilar above normal highs at 40.6degrees Celsius and 40.8degrees Celsius.

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The cabinet sub-committeeon mining in Punjab on

Thursday gave finishing touch-es to its report report whichwould propose that sand wouldbe provided to the people atreasonable rates and the finaldecision with regard to theprices would be taken by theChief Minister.

The report would be sub-mitted to the Chief Minister in2 days, it was decided in ameeting, Chairman of the com-mittee and the Local

Government Minister NavjotSingh Sidhu said.

The meeting saw partici-pation of committee membersFinance Minister ManpreetSingh Badal, RuralDevelopment & PanchayatMinister Tript Rajinder SinghBajwa and the newly inductedMinister for Mining andGeology Sukhbinder SinghSarkaria.

The team which visitedTelangana and Andhra Pradeshalong with Sidhu recentlythrew light on the states min-ing policy being pursued bythese. Brainstorming delibera-tions took place on the miningpolicy of the 2 States withevery aspect coming in forminute discussions. Apart fromthis, the facts received duringHoshiarpur visit pertaining tothe framing of crusher policywere also discussed.

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Haryana Government hasdecided to launch a special

recruitment drive for personswith disability (PwD) and eli-gible sports persons (ESP) incase of direct recruitment postsin group D in the state.

All the AdministrativeDepartments have been askedto send requisition of PWDand ESP in Group D (except forposts of Sweeper, Chowkidarand Sweeper-cum-Chowkidar)to Haryana Staff SelectionCommission.

In case of PWD, the 4 percent horizontal reservationwould be computed cadre wiseon basis of total number ofposts in the cadre minus exist-ing PWD strength. However, incase of ESP, the requisitionwould be prepared cadre wiseat rate of 10 per cent of totalvacancies in each cadre. Boththe requisitions i.e. for PWDand ESP vacancies could be

sent to Haryana Staff SelectionCommission by April 30, saida spokesman of GeneralAdministration Department.

The State Government hasalso issued instructions regard-ing reservation for personswith disabilities in posts andservices under the state.

Under this, four percent ofthe posts or cadre in case ofdirect recruitment to group A,B, C and D posts or serviceswould be reserved for personswith benchmark disabilities ofwhich one per-cent each wouldbe reserved for persons withbenchmark disabilities likeblindness and low vision, deafand hard of hearing and loco-motor disability including cere-

bral palsy, leprosy cured,dwarfism, acid attack victimsand muscular dystrophy andone per-cent for persons withbenchmark disabilities likeautism, intellectual disability,specific learning disability andmental illness and multiple dis-abilities from amongst per-sons including deaf-blindnessin the posts identified for eachdisabilities.

The spokesman said thatevery government departmentwould identify posts in thedepartments which could beheld by respective category ofpersons with benchmark dis-abilities in respect of the vacan-cies reserved. Besides it wouldconstitute an expert committeewith representation of personswith benchmark disabilitiesfor identification of such postsand undertake periodic reviewof the identified posts at aninterval not exceeding threeyears.

Every appointing authori-

ty or Department would sendannual report regarding repre-sentation of Persons withDisabilities, showing positionas on first of January every yearto the Social Justice andEmpowerment Departmentwho would compile the databeing the Nodal Department,said he.

While referring to therelaxation in age limit, he saidthat upper age limit for personswith disabilities would be relax-able by ten years (15 years forScheduled Castes andBackward Classes) in case ofdirect, recruitment to Group ‘C'and D' posts by 5 years (10years for SCs/BCs) in case ofdirect recruitment to Group 'A’and Group 'B' posts whererecruitment is made otherwisethan through open competitiveexamination and by ten years(15 years for SCs/BCs) in caseof direct recruitment to Group'A' and Group 'B' posts throughopen competitive examination.

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Former Haryana Ministerand Congress leader Nirmal

Singh was sent to judicial cus-tody in a case related to attemptto murder following an alter-cation with a mining contrac-tor at Yamunanagar

Nirmal Singh is accused offiring at people in Belgarh vil-lage, Yamunanagar at a sandmining zone. He has been sentto judicial custody for 14 days.

A day before, Nirmal Singhand his associates were bookedin a case of attempt to murder,Arms Act, dacoity, registered atKhizrabad police station.Yamunanagar.

He is a member ofCongress and was member ofthe legislative assemblyHaryana Legislative Assemblyfor the years 1982, 1991, 1996and 2005 from Naggal con-stituency.

The former Minister wasbooked for opening fire onpeople after an altercation witha mining contractor and work-ers over the issue of right topassage in the mining area inYamunanagar.

The police said that NirmalSingh had fired 11 bullets dur-ing the incident. Some of thebullets had hit an earthmoverwhile some were fired in air.

The former Ministerreportedly owns a farmhousein Belgarh village, which fallsin the mining zone and thevehicles pass through his farm.He had allegedly recently dugup trenches on the passage toprevent the vehicles from pass-ing through his farm.

While Nirmal Singhclaimed that the landbelonged to him, the com-plainant and mining contrac-tors said that it was the villagecommon land.

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If you are a person who lovesdogs, you probably should

ensure anti-rabies vaccination tothe street dogs instead of feed-ing them.

The stray dogs never dependon humans to get food and cantrack or hunt their food but vac-cination is a part where humanscan play a significant role andensure a rabies free country. Thiswas the opinion shared byexperts at an event co-organisedby the Chandigarh MunicipalCorporation, PunjabDepartment of LocalGovernment and Federation ofIndian Animal ProtectionOrganisations (FIAPO) to dis-cuss key issues relating to dog-bite and rabies prevention.

Setting out to make Punjab

and the union territory ofChandigarh, a model state forrabies and dog-bite manage-ment, the officers from PunjabLocal Government Department,MC Chandigarh and media-persons met at the “MediaRoundtable on Human-DogConflict in Punjab – anAssessment into Key Issues andSolutions” here on Thursday.

The workshop recognisedthat there is a need for effectivestatewide implementation of theAnimal Birth Control (ABC)programme by all local bodieswith a statewide monitoringcommittee could help ensureprogress in Punjab.

In addition to ABC, initia-tives which are in line withWHO’s One Health model, likemass Anti-Rabies Vaccination(ARV) of street dogs, education

on the prevention of dog bitesand rabies, and counselling ofdog-bite patients in hospitalswere proposed for statewideimplementation.

Speaking on the issue ofstray dog menace in the city,Chandigarh MunicipalCorporation Superintendent ofSlaughterhouses (who is incharge of the UT’s ABC-ARVprogramme), Dr MS Kambojsaid that the corporation hasstarted counselling of dog-bitepatients in its Sector 19 andSector 38 hospitals, facilitatedPEEDU’S PEOPLE which runsthe Rabies Free India pro-gramme.

“We will also be startingeducation on dog bite preventionin slums, schools and RWAs verysoon” he said.

According to the 19th live-

stock census (2012), the city hada total of 17600 dogs. It includ-ed 9800 domestic dogs and 7800stray dogs.

The number of stray dogs isestimated at more than 11000now in the city.

Every year over thousands ofcases of dog bites are reported inthe city and the problem issevere in the southern sectorsand rural areas of the city.

In past three years, the MChas sterilized 11000 stray dogs tocontrol their population andhave also started anti-rabiescampaign in the city, said DrKamboj while adding that norabies incident has been report-ed in the city after 2010.

Talking about challengesfaced during ABC-ARV pro-gramme, Dr Kamboj said thatthere are some restrictions fol-

lowed during ABC-ARV pro-grammes which excludes pup-pies and pregnant female dogs.The ABC-ARV is an ongoingprocess and needs to be imple-mented countrywide to dealwith the issue of rabies, headded.

PEEDU’s PEOPLE, Director,Inder Sandhu said that the straydogs never depend on humansto get food. So the animal loversshould ensure to get them vac-cinated instead of feeding them,he added. The officials from thePunjab, Department of LocalGovernment informed that adirective for mass vaccination in11 districts has been passed andthe government is also consid-ering the proposal for a statewidecounseling and education pro-gramme with the vision of mak-ing Punjab a rabies free state.

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Punjab Sports Minister, RanaGurmeet Singh Sodhi on

Thursday said that 4000 maleand female players have beenadmitted in the sports wings ofthe schools for year 2018-19.

He said it is the first timethat the Sports Department hasadmitted the players by com-pleting the trials of sportswings at the very outset of thesession.

The Minister said it hasalso happened for the firsttime that the selection trialswere held in every district ofthe state and the players havebeen admitted in the month ofApril itself and supplemen-tary diet started. He congratu-lated the departmental officersand the coaches for this effort.

In a statement here, RanaSodhi added that this year thetrials for sports wings in theschools for 2018-19 were con-ducted by the sports depart-

ment in January itself. Theselected players have beengiven admission in the sportswings of schools in the districts.

Director, SportsDepartment, Amrit Kaur Gillsaid admissions for sportswings in colleges would be heldin July this year when the ses-sion begins. She said trials forcollege sports wings wouldtake place in June.

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To provide financial aid andother benefits to construc-

tion workers, factory workersand labourers working in otherprofessions, Balbir Singh Sidhu,Labour Minister, Punjab onThursday instructed the officersof the Labour Department toregister all the contractors work-ing for outsourcing with thelabour department.

Chairing the first meetingof the officers of the LabourDepartment, Sidhu took a stockof various activities and schemesbeing run by the Department

for welfare of workers.He stressed upon providing

quality health check up facilitiesto the workers and instructedthe officers of ‘Building andOther Construction WelfareBoard’ to procure Mobile Lab-cum- Ambulance Vans. Heinstructed that one such Vaneach be stationed at the big citiesin Punjab, which would conductat the spot health check up ofthe workers at the constructionsites and labourers standing atthe labour chowks. He instruct-ed that in emergency conditionmedicines must also be provid-ed to the labourers by the

Board.Reviewing the existing

housing schemes, the ministerinstructed officers to providefull benefits to the workers forthe construction of houses. Heinstructed that financial aidunder housing schemes be pro-vided to those labourers, whoowned piece of land for this pur-pose.

The Labour Minister alsoasked the officers to appointthe computer operators at theBlock Level so that Labourersneed not to go the variousDistrict offices to get theirminor work done.

Sidhu expressed resentmentthat some of the MunicipalCommittees and Corporationsdo not deposit the completeamount of cess they collected onthe construction work, withthe Labour Department andasked the officers to expedite theprocess to get the dues of cessfrom these committees andcorporations.

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Congress on Thursdayalleged an RSS hand behind

a petition in the Supreme Courtpertaining to judge BH Loya’sdeath and said it was “politicallymotivated”.

Congress leaders KapilSibal and Vivek Tankha saidthey agreed with the SupremeCourt’s contention that PILs arefiled for political considerationsand with the hope of an intend-ed outcome and alleged thecurrent case was done on thedirections of RSS leaderBhayyaji Joshi.

They cited the case of SurajLolage, who filed a PIL in theNagpur Bench of the BombayHigh Court on November 27,2017 relating to the circum-stances in which judge Loyadied. The Congress has beendemanding a fair probe intoLoya's death with RahulGandhi telling the judge's fam-ily after the Supreme Courtjudgement that there is hopeand India will not allow judgeLoya to be forgotten.

The BJP has been allegingthat the petitions in the Loyacase were filed on the instiga-tion of the Congress chief inorder to defame BJP presidentAmit Shah.

Sibal alleged that Lolagewas an RSS and a BJP workerand gave records of his con-versations with the brother ofRTI activist Satish Uke. He saidLolage also sought a partyticket for contesting civic pollsand he was instigated by RSSleader Bhayyaji Joshi to file thePIL before the Supreme Court.

“What does this show?Clearly, Bhaiyyaji Joshi andthe RSS were very keen that thismatter be heard in the SupremeCourt as quickly as possiblebecause they are the ones whoinitiated the Public InterestLitigation,” Sibal said.

He told reporters that“There are two possibilities.Either Bhaiyyaji Joshi of theRSS wanted that an enquiryinto judge Loya's death be con-ducted or wanted an outcomewhich ensures that the matteris closed without an enquiry.”

“With the facts now beingplaced before you, it is for thepeople of India to decide whatthe motive of RSS was,” he said.The Congress leader and for-mer Law Minister said there isone other aspect of PIL, whichsuggests that this process mayalso be used for serving polit-ical ends.

Incidentally, Lolage wasalso present along with Sibaland Congress leader SalmanKhurshid, at a party press con-ference on January 30 and wasseen sitting besides them andRTI activist Uke.

Lolage filed the first PIL inthe Bombay High Court onNovember 27, 2017, while allother petitions relating to thedeath of judge Loya were filedin 2018, more than a monthlater. The Congress alsoreleased a number of picturesshowing his proximity to theBJP, including one with ChiefMinister Devendra Fadnavis.

In a purported telephoneconversation that is in Marathi,Lolage tells Uke that he was intouch with Bhaiyyaji Joshi

���� ��������

Union Housing and UrbanAffiars (HUA)Minister

Hardeep Singh Puri onThursday claimed theGovernment would meet thetarget of construction of 72lakh household and public toi-lets in urban areas under theSwachchh Bharat Mission ayear ahead of the schedule ofOctober 2, 2019, and stressedthat behavioural change amongpeople was at the “heart” ofcleanliness mission whichwould ensure its success.

The HUA Minister saidthat the success of SustainableDevelopment Goals (SDGs)would hugely depend on thesuccess of India just as the suc-cess of China in taking peopleout of poverty led to the suc-cess of the MillenniumDevelopment Goals (MDGs).

The Minister said theGovernment has set a target ofbuilding 67 lakh householdtoilets and five lakh communityor public toilets in urban areasby October 2019.

“As on March 31, we havealready built 52 lakh individualhousehold toilets and 3.2 lakhpublic toilets...Well one year inadvance of October 2019, wellbefore October 2018, we wouldbuild the required amount oftoilets in the urban areas of the

country,” he said while address-ing 'India Sanitation Conclave2018', organised by industrybody FICCI.

The Swachh BharatMission (Clean India Mission)aims to achieve 100 per centopen defecation free (ODF)and scientific solid wastemanagement in India byOctober 2, 2019, the 150thbirthday anniversar y ofMahatma Gandhi. Thescheme is implemented bythe Housing and UrbanAffairs Ministry in urbanareas and the Drinking Waterand Sanitation Ministry isresponsible for rural areas.

Stressing that the missionstarted as the government pro-ject and later turned into a 'janandolan' (people's movement),Puri said the “heart of the issue”

is the behavioural changewhich is necessary for the suc-cess of the mission.

He also asked the privatesector to play an active role atgrassroots level in effectingbehavioural change in peoplesuch as maintaining and usingtoilets.

Speaking about the man-agement of solid waste --another component of thecleanliness mission, Puri said,“I am afraid that the capacityaugmentation which isrequired is taking place at avery fast rate but I would liketo see that (waste manage-ment projects') completion andthat give me sometimes a littlecause for anxiety. Land is a statesubject and the only way to dealwith it is through participationof stakeholders.”

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The high-level meetingchaired by Union Home

Secretary Rajiv Gauba onThursday decided to imple-ment a multiple-tier securityarrangement comprising theArmy, paramilitary forces andthe Jammu and Kashmir Policefor the Amarnath pilgrimagestarting June 28. The meetingattended by top security brasstalked about the various aspectsof the security set-up duringthe nearly 40-day pilgrimage tothe cave shrine dedicated toLord Shiva in the Himalayas inJammu and Kashmir.

A multi-tier security will beput in place for the smoothconduct of the pilgrimagewhich attracts a few lakh pil-grims every year, an officialprivy to the meeting said.Tracking of pilgrims' move-ment through satellites, instal-lation of jammers, CCTV cam-eras and bulletproof bunkers,deployment of dog squads,quick reaction teams and thou-sands of security personnelwill be a part of the securitydrill along the pilgrimageroutes as the situation in

Kashmir Valley continues to bevolatile, said Home Ministryofficials.

Director General of Jammuand Kashmir SP Vaid, chief ofCRPF RR Bhatnagar, repre-sentatives of other paramilitaryforces, the Army and intelli-gence agencies were also pre-sent in the meeting. Around35,000 to 40,000 troops weredeployed during the Amarnathpilgrimage in 2017. A total of2.60 lakh pilgrims offeredprayers at the revered site thatyear.

Situated in a narrow gorgeat the farther end of LidderValley, Amarnath shrine standsat 3,888 metres, 46 km fromPahalgam and 14 km fromBaltal in Jammu and Kashmir.

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In the wake of the death of 13children in train-school van

accident in Uttar Pradesh, theCentre on Thursday said it willeliminate all unmanned levelcrossings (UMLCs) by March31, 2020.

Chairman Railway BoardAshwani Lohani said till theUMLCs are eliminated, peopleneed to be careful while cross-ing tracks. “There is no substi-tute to that. The railways can-not take any step that is com-pletely foolproof against negli-gence,” he said. He added thatno step the national carriertakes could be completely fool-proof against negligence ofpeople and urged them to becareful while crossing tracks.

“While crossing UMLCs,the primary responsibility lieswith the road user, and notwith the railways. The rulewhile crossing such railwaylines is to look both ways, stopand then proceed. In this case,according to reports, the driverdid not stop. However, becausethe accidents happened in ourterritory, it remains our con-cern. That's why we are tryingto eliminate all unmanned levelcrossings. In the meantime, Iurge people to be careful. Also,please do not use earphoneswhen walking near the railwaytracks,” Lohani said.

Lohani also said thenational transporter has beenaggressively removing UMLCs-- 1,565 of them were elimi-nated in 2017-18 and the tar-get is to remove 1,600 in 2018-

19. There are currently 3,479unmanned level crossings onbroad gauge of IndianRailways.

He said that the elimina-tion has resulted in the decreasein the number of accidents atsuch crossings over the years -in 2014-2015, 50 such acci-dents took place at UMLCs, 29in 2015-2016, 20 in 2016-2017,10 in 2017-2018 and one thisfinancial year.

Accidents also took place atmanned railway crossings - in2014-15 and 2015-16, therewere six accidents each, in 2016-

17 there were no such accidents.In 2017-18, there were threeaccidents and only one report-ed this year, according to dataprovided by the railways.

Presently, there are 5,792such unmanned and 19,507manned crossings across therailway network. Lohani alsosaid that while till March 31this year, the railways hadcompleted the work of elimi-nating most of the unmannedlevel crossings at the busy sta-tions, work on 44 such stationsis going on and will be finishedby June.

Sharing prima facie detailsabout the Thursday accident,Lohani said there was a railmitra (rail volunteer) at thespot, who tried to stop theschool van, but the driver didnot stop, adding that this is thefirst accident at an unmannedlevel crossing this year.

The chairman also saidthat a total of 109 accidentshave taken place at unmannedlevel crossings in the countrysince 2014-15 and assertedthat railways aim to eliminateunmanned level crossings byMarch 2020.

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The Supreme Court onThursday upheld the

acquittal of Jharkhand MuktiMorcha (JMM) supremo ShibuSoren in connection with themurder of his private secretaryShashi Nath Jha in 1994.

A bench of Justices AdarshK Goel and RF Narimanrefused to interfere with theAugust 22, 2007 verdict of theDelhi High Court which had setaside the trial court judgmentholding Soren, former UnionMinister, guilty in the case.

The CBI and Jha's familymembers had challenged thehigh court verdict which hadheld that the probe agency hasmiserably failed in getting evi-dence against the veteran trib-al leader. The high court hadalso acquitted four others —Nand Kishore Mehta,Shailendra Bhattacharya,Pashupati Nath Mehta andAjay Kumar Mehta — of all thecharges on the same grounds.

A Delhi trial court had onNovember 28, 2006 convictedSoren and four others forabduction and murder of Jha.The order on sentencing waspronounced on December 5,2006. Jha had gone missingfrom Dhaula Kuan area ofsouth Delhi on May 22, 1994.He was last seen in Ranchiallegedly in the company ofSoren's loyalists the next day.

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The Election Commissionon Thursday announced

that bypolls to four Lok Sabhaseats, including Uttar Pradesh'sKairana, that will take place onMay 28 while the counting willbe held on May 31. The bypollswill be held for Bhandara-Gondiya and Palghar inMaharashtra, Kairana, andNagaland Lok Sabha seats.

The bypoll to the Kairanaseat was necessitated after BJPveteran Hukum Singh passedaway in February. Jats andGujjars are the two of thelargest chunks of voters inKairana. While BJP leaders areconfident that Gujjar voters willstick with the BJP out of sym-pathy for deceased MP HukumSingh, a Gujjar, the Jat votercould prove to be the king-makers. After losses in theGorakhpur and Phulpur LokSabha bypolls, BJP leadersdon't want to leave any stoneunturned this time.

Kairana parliamentaryconstituency comprises fiveassembly segments, three inShamli and two in Saharanpurdistrict. Communal tensions inKairana have been high eversince 2016, after Hukum Singhalleged that 250 Hindu familieshad fled Kairana in a “massexodus” over the last few yearsdue to “pressure from another

community”. Singh went as faras to claim that Kairana wasbecoming “another Kashmir”with Hindu families fleeing.While the BJP leadershipendorsed his claims, the districtadministration and the rulingSamajwadi Party had vehe-mently denied them. The rul-ing BJP lost to Phurpur andGorakhpur seats due to overconfidence to BJP and its seniorleaders.The defeat of BJP hasgiven oxygen to the oppositionSamajawadi Party and BahujanSamaj Party in the state.

In 2017, the cumulativevote count of the SP, BSP andCongress in the five assemblyseats stood at 4.98 lakh. TheBJP bagged 4.32 lakh votes.

Nana Patole of the BJP hadresigned from the Bhandara-Gondiya seat last year andjoined the Congress. The

Palghar seat fell vacant after thedemise of BJP MP ChintamanWangaya.

The Nagaland seat fellvacant when Neiphiu Rioresigned as a Lok Sabha mem-ber to become the chief min-ister of the state.

The bypoll to to theNoorpur Legislative Assemblyseat will also be held on thesame dates. It had fallen vacantin February when sitting BJPMLA Lokendra Singh died ina car accident.

The bypolls to the assem-bly seats Jokihat (Bihar);Gomia, Silli (Jharkhand);Chengannur (Kerala); PlausKadegaon (Maharashtra);Ampati (Meghalaya); Shahkot(Punjab); Thralai(Uttarakhand); and Maheshtala(West Bengal) will also be heldon May 28.

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At a time when theGovernment and banks

are focusing on flushing outeconomic offenders, theCentral Bureau of Investigation(CBI) seems to have taken thecurtains off another scam.

The CBI has booked 15former officials of the IDBIBank and 24 others, includingAircel founder C Sivasankaran,11 companies including AxcelSunshine Ltd and Finland-based Win Wind Oy and theirdirectors for allegedly cheatingthe bank to the tune of �600crore.

CBI officials said thatSivasankaran allegedly took aloan of �530 crore in February2014. This swelled to �600crore after becoming NPA.

The agency has carriedout searches at 50 locations,including the residences offormer senior IDBI bank offi-cials. The searches are spreadacross Delhi, Mumbai,Faridabad, Gandhinagar,Chennai, Bangalore, Belgaum,Hyderabad, Jaipur and Pune.

It was alleged that Finlandbased Company was sanc-

tioned loan by ICG, Chennai,IDBI in October, 2010 to theextent of USD equivalent ofEUR 52 million {INR equiva-lent �322.40 crore (approx)}.The performance of said com-pany showed stress and it waseventually granted voluntarybankruptcy by a Court inFinland in October 2013. It wasfurther alleged that in February/ March 2014 a loan amount-ing to US $ 83 million {�523crore (approx)} was sanctionedby IDBI to the company basedin the British Virgin Islands, anassociate company of the saidGroup of Companies. This wasallegedly used for repayingother loans of other associatecompanies of this Group in fla-grant violation of the regulatoryguidelines of RBI on ForeignInvestments in India.

The holding company ofthe WWO is Siva Investmentsand Holdings Limited based inthe Seychelles which is againcontrolled by Siva Group ofCompanies chaired by CSivasankaran, the agencyalleged. When WWO wentinto liquidation, IDBI Banksanctioned another loan of Rs523 crore to Axcel Sunshine

Limited based in British VirginIslands, a tax haven, inFebruary 2014 which is also acompany associated with SivaGroup of Companies, it alleged.

“This (�523 crore loan)was allegedly used for repayingother loans of other associatecompanies of this group(including WWO) in flagrantviolation of the regulatoryguidelines of RBI on foreigninvestments in India. This loanalso turned into NPA in 2015”,CBI said. The loan has beenfully provided for and it has ini-tiated actions to recover duesfrom the borrower in August,2016, IDBI Bank said in astatement.

The case has been regis-tered under sections relating tocriminal conspiracy, cheatingand corruption against BritishVirgin Islands based AxcelSunshine Limited on allega-tions of perpetrating fraudthrough the loan accounts ofWin Wind Oy, Finland andAxcel Sunshine Limited.Planet Pickles Private Limited(Bengaluru); and Win WindPower Energy Private Limited(Thiruvallur); and SivaIndustries have also been

named. The FIR alleges therole of Axcel SunshineLimited, British VirginIslands-based BroadcourtInvestments and LotusVentures Investment; IndianTelecom Holdings Limited(Mauritius); Siva Palm Corp(Singapore); and Chennai-based Siva Industries andHoldings Limited and SterlingAgro Product and ProcessingPrivate Limited.

The CBI has stated 15senior officers of IDBI bank,including retired officials, and24 private officials, includingdirectors and chairmen, andtheir companies have beenbooked. Then IDBI indepen-dent Directors P.S. Shenoy,S.Ravi and Ninad Karpe; K.Biju George, then GeneralManager; Manoj Alex, thenRegional Manager; VenkataKrishnan, then GeneralManager; Subroto Gupta, thenChief General and currentExecutive Director ; thenExecutive Directors VinayKumar and B. Rabindra Nath;and GM Yadwadkar, thenExecutive Director and currentDMD of IDBI Bank, have alsobeen arraigned.

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ACommittee of the BarCouncil of India (BCI)

sent to probe the role of lawyersin the Kathua rape and murdercase created a stir in theSupreme Court on Thursday bybacking the demand of thelocal lawyers to transfer thecase probe to the CentralBureau of Investigation (CBI)and justified their protest inthis regard.

Steering clear of the con-troversy, the Bench headed byChief Justice Dipak Misra saidthat the report is not bindingon them. While deferring con-sideration on the BCI report toJuly 26, the Bench, also com-prising Justices AMKhanwilkar and DYChandrachud chose not to getdigressed from the core issue offair trial and focused on the realissue raised by the victim thatof shifting the trial outside thestate. The hearing on thisaspect will be taken up onFriday.

The BCI report was pro-duced before the apex court in

a sealed cover. The report wasbased on a visit conducted bya five-member team headed byretired judge Tarun Agarwal. Itdenied the allegation placedbefore the court by a set oflawyers practising in SupremeCourt complaining of strike bylawyers of Jammu BarAssociation of J&K HighCourt. It was further assertedbefore the apex court that locallawyers of Kathua BarAssociation obstructed policefrom filing charge sheet in theunfortunate rape and murderof a tribal girl aged 8.

Denying all allegationsthat police or victim's lawyerDeepika Singh Rajawat wasobstructed in any manner, theBCI report went a step furtherto state that the strike call wasjustified and backed thedemand by local lawyers forCBI probe.

Seeing this, lawyers of SCwho initially complained toCourt were left aghast. LawyerPV DInesh said that BCI hasgone overboard and the reportappears to be a complete“whitewash”. The state govern-

ment's lawyer Shoeb Alam saidthat in preparing the report, nopolice officer was interviewed.He said that a District Judge'sreport prepared following theobstruction caused to policewas scathing against lawyers.Dinesh added that the reportmentions all reporting of theincident by media to be falsewithout recording whether anymerdiapersons was interviewedbefore making such a blanketclaim.

These comments worriedthe victim's family who felt thiscould weigh with the HighCourt to transfer the case toCBI. CJI assured the victimsthat while transferring probe toanother agency, courts are cir-cumspect and will only do so ifthere is delay in filing chargesheet or any manifest error inthe conduct of probe, bothwhich have not been made outin the case so far. The benchsaid that any fault by lawyerswill be dealt separately.However, on shifting trial, itmaintained that such a decisionwill be taken if there is slight-est possibility of lack of fair trial.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed hisanguish over the incident in which 13 chil-

dren were killed and eight others injured whena train rammed into their school van at anunmanned railway crossing in Uttar Pradesh'sKushinagar district. Railway Minister PiyushGoyal has ordered an inquiry into the train-school van accident and announced a compen-sation of �2 lakh for the kin of the deceased.

Modi said he was “deeply pained” over theincident and added the Uttar Pradesh govern-ment and the Railways would take necessaryaction.

The Prime Minister expressed his feelingswhile interacting with the BJP leaders, includ-ing the party's candidates, elected members andoffice-bearers in poll-bound Karnataka,through his mobile application.

“As I was coming to you, I got the sad newsfrom Uttar Pradesh's Kushinagar about the train

ramming into a school bus in which childrenwere travelling (and that) many children havebeen killed. It's a very sad news that I got as Icame here,” he said.

“The Uttar Pradesh government will takenecessary action, the Railway department willtake necessary action,” the Prime Ministeradded.

Goyal has ordered an inquiry into the train-school van accident and announced a com-pensation of �2 lakh for the kin of thedeceased. The Minister also said that theRailways will provide an ex gratia amount of�1 lakh for those with serious injuries and�50,000 for those simple injuries.

“My thoughts are with families of thedeceased and I pray for the early recovery of theinjured. Ministry of Railways will provide an exgratia amount of �2 lakh for kin of the deceased,�1 lakh for those with serious injuries and�50,000 for those with simple injuries,” the rail-way minister said in the statement.

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Page 6: €¦ ·  · 2 days agodeceased girl, identified as Garima Chauhan, ... “We got a PCR call about an accident around 6.48 ... by the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, Punjab

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Prime Minister NarendraModi in his interactive ses-

sion with the Karnataka partyleaders through his mobile appon Thursday gave a call tocleanse the mainstream polit-ical system by liberating fromCongress culture. He said, "Themainstream of India's politicalculture is associated withCongress' misdeeds. Unless weliberate this mainstream fromCongress culture, we cannotcleanse Indian politics.”

Prime Minister accused theCongress of spreading "lies andfalse"propaganda and dividingsociety along caste lines, as hesounded the bugle for the bit-terly contested KarnatakaAssembly polls. Claiming thatelectors have resolved to usherin a change of Government inthe Congress-ruled state, hesaid those who wished thatparty well had started a debateabout a hung Assembly.

Modi who spoke few wordsin Kannada said his party’smain agenda was only devel-opment, development anddevelopment. "BJP has a three-pronged agenda for Karnataka--development, fast paced devel-opment, all round develop-ment, “ he told party leaders,office bearers and elected rep-resentatives through his inter-active mobile app."Our agen-da is vikas, vikas, vikas (devel-

opment,development anddevelopment)," he added.

Modi’s interaction is seen ascrucial for the saffron partywhich is waging a fierce battlein the ensuing assembly polls inthe state. The party is fullydepending on the charisma ofModi and strategies of Partypresident Amit Shah. Eventhough Modi has frequentedmany poll campaigns earlieralso, this interaction and pollcampaign has given impetus toparty’s popularity to take on theruling congress led by chiefminister Siddaramaiah and hisappeasement politics to the hilt.

He said such "false" pro-paganda was spread evenbefore the last Lok Sabha pollwhich the BJP won with an

absolute majority. "AGovernment with absolutemajority is needed to changeKarnataka's destiny. India isshining in the world todayonly because we have aGovernment which has a com-plete majority at the Centreafter 30 years," he said, andasked BJP workers to endeav-or to achieve that goal in theonly big state the Congress stillrules apart from Punjab.

On the contentious issue ofLingayat split and giving sep-arate religion status bySiddaramaiah governmentModi accused the ruling con-gress government of playingcaste politics. He said “Whenelections come, these cleverpeople (the Congress) offer

lollipops to a caste group sothey get busy with it and voteon emotion”. "When the nextelection comes, they leave thatcommunity and get hold ofanother caste group or com-munity and give them a newlollipop. They keep changingand giving new lollipops everytime and run their politicswithout any accountability," headded. Siddaramaiah govern-ment in a clever move dividedLingayats by giving minoritystatus to them. Lingayats andVeerashaivas a dominant com-munity in Karnataka will con-stitute over 17 per cent of thepopulation and were the votebank of the BJP.

"Like you, I am also akaryakarta (worker) fromKarnataka. Believe this andmove ahead. I am also aKannadiga. Believe this and

move ahead. I will work withyou shoulder to shoulder," hetold BJP workers.

On the poll surveys andfracture mandate theory PrimeMinister has said it was a con-spiracy. He said "false propa-ganda" about a fractured man-date, with BJP as the singlelargest party, was being spreadas part of a "conspiracy". Mostof the pre-poll surveys have pro-jected a cliffhanger of a contestin the only southern state wherethe BJP had its governmentonce. They said the JD(S) of for-mer prime minister H D DeveGowda would play the role of akingmaker after the polls.

"So, you will have to fightagainst lies, false propaganda.As part of a conspiracy, effortswill be made to mislead you byhiring foreign agencies.Karyakartas (party workers)should not be shaken, theirtrust should not be shaken," hetold party workers to decimatethe congress.

"The Congress, afterrepeated defeat in elections, isspreading lies. Earlier, out of 50things they said there were 5-10 lies. Now, out of the 50things they say, 40-45 are liesand the rest five would also lackclarity," he said. PM was refer-ring to Cambridge Analyticaover alleged attempts by theCongress to use the data firmto influence the outcome ofelections in India.

6����������� � ��

The Kerala Police are stillgroping in the dark in their

investigation into the death ofLatvian woman Liga Skromane(33), whose decapitated anddecomposed body was foundin a deserted marshy placenear Kovalam inThiruvananthapuram on April20 even as the StateGovernment began efforts toensure that the incident doesnot mar God’s Own Country’stourism prospects.

A preliminary forensicreport has hinted at the possi-bility of murder with the find-ing that she could have died ofasphyxiation but this is yet tobe confirmed. Though thepolice had initially claimedthat Liga might have died ofpoisoning, they are not firmabout that theory anymoreeven as the DNA analysis con-firmed that the body recoveredwas of Liga.

The police investigation ispresently progressing also onthe basis of the assumption thatLiga could have been murderedand the investigators are focus-ing their attention for the timebeing on gangs specializing indrugs and gambling on thebasis of the statements given bylocal people. “We are examin-

ing all angles (including possi-bility of murder),” said a probeteam member.

According to local people,the area where the body wasfound has literally been a play-ground of gangs for quite sometime and the police havelearned that some members ofa particular gang have beenmissing from the place for thepast one month. The police’sassumption is that Liga’s death– be it a case of murder or sui-cide – could have occurred onMarch 15 or 16.

The contradictions in thestatements received from localpeople are also baffling thepolice. While two women havetold them that Liga was alonewhen they saw her going to themangrove forest where thebody was found, they havealso received indications thatLiga had gone to the placealong with an unidentifiedyouth.

That the body was inextremely decomposed statewhen it was found is anotherfactor that is causing problemsfor the investigators.

According to forensicexperts, the decomposed stateof the body would make find-ing out whether the womanhad been sexually assaulted orhad suffered any injuries diffi-

cult.However, the entire hope of

the police is presently anchoredon the postmortem reportwhich they are yet to receive.Sources in the police said thefinalization of the postmortemreport was being delayedbecause of the decomposedstate of the body. “However, webelieve that the report willcome soon and will containsome clear leads,” said a toppolice official.

Liga, who was sufferingfrom severe depression, hadcome to Kerala on February 2for Ayurveda treatment alongwith her sister Ilze Skromane.She had started taking thetreatment at an Ayurveda cen-tre at Pothencode nearThiruvananthapuram onFebruary 14. Though the treat-ment was for six weeks, she hadgone missing on March 14.

At the same time, Ilze,who is in Kerala, said she wassatisfied with the investiga-tion being held by a 25-mem-ber special investigation team.

On Thursday, Ilze saidDirector General of PoliceLoknath Behera had told herthat the postmortem reportwould be available in a day ortwo. “Actually, they are doingthe very best in their powers,”she said.

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The Jammu and Kashmir police onThursday claimed that one of the four

terrorists killed in Tral forests of southKashmir two days ago was ‘operationalcommander’ of Jaish-e-Muhammad(JeM) outfit and close aide of its founderMasood Azhar.

“Operational commander of JeMMufti Yasir was among those killed injoint operation in upper reaches of Tral,”Shesh Paul Vaid, Director General ofPolice announced on twitter. Vaid alsotweeted a picture with gun-wieldingYasir walking alongside Masood Azharsomewhere in Pakistan. Yasir has beenencircled in the undated picture in whichboth Jaish leaders are seen with securitypersonnel.

Yasir was among four militantskilled in a fierce gun-battle in Laam-Gotingoo forests of south Kashmir’s Tralsub-district on April 24. A RashtriyaRifles soldier and a counterinsurgencypoliceman were killed in the daylong gun-battle. The army called paratroopers tofight the militants who had escaped afterinflicting casualties on the security forcesin the first contact. Two of the slain mil-itants were local cadres.

The area has observed shutdown forthe past two days even as thousands ofpeople took part in the funeral prayers ofthe slain local militants. The foreigners aregiven a silent burial in a remote graveyardin north Kashmir’s Baramulla district.

Meanwhile, suspected militants onWednesday night attacked a police postin Goripora area near sanat Nagar inuptown Srinagar and decamped with fourrifles. The police picket was in thepremises of Gori Shankar temple in thearea.

Official sources said that a group of

militants believed to be seven in numberbarged inside the police post manned byfour personnel and decamped with fourrifles and ammunition. The policemenbelonged to the 13th battalion of J&KArmed Police. A cordon and searchoperation was launched in the area afterthe incident but no arrests were made.

Sources said that ultras overpoweredthe policemen and before confiningthem to a room decamoed with oneINSAS, one carbine and two self-loadingrifles.

The rifles were snatched a few hoursafter a police check-post interceptedthree youngsters riding a motor bike inPampore area of south Kashmir. On frisk-ing a pistol was recovered from their pos-session and further quizzing revealed thatthey were looking for a soft target tosnatch a rifle from a security personnel.

In another incident, a civilian waskilled after militants opened fire on

security forces in Anantnag townof south Kashmir.

Reports said that militantstargeted Road Opening Party ofCRPF on Pahalgam-Anantnagroad near Lazibal. The gunshotscreated panic in the busy town.Witnesses said that CRPF retali-ated and the exchange of fire con-tinued for some time. A civilianidentified as Shakeeb Shabir fromShopian district suffered injurieswho was shifted to hospital wherehe succumbed to his injuries. Hewas an undergraduate student.

Panic also gripped the IslamicUniversity of Science and tech-nology (IUST) campus inAwantipora after security forcesresorted to aerial firing after somestudents allegedly pelted stones ontroopers. Vice chancellor of the

University Prof Mushtaq Siddiquidescribed the firing as ‘unprovoked’.

Reports said that students wereprotesting inside the campus when theyobserved the movement of army from thehilly side of the campus repairing somecables. Some students pelted stones onthem, who retaliated with aerial firing.

“There was no provocation from thestudents as normal class work was on inthe Varsity, and protests started onlyafter firing incident led to tear gasshelling in the campus,”Siddiqui said ina statement.

A police official meanwhile issued astatement stating that Army personnelwere laying /repairing the cable nearIslamic University Road. They cameunder unprovoked heavy stone peltingfrom the miscreants and also from insidethe campus of IUST. The Army person-nel f ired in air to chase the miscreants away

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Under intense pressure fromthe Mamata Banerjee

Government to complete ruralpoll process before the onset ofRamadan, the Bengal StateElection Commission onThursday announced single-phased Panchayat elections onMay 14, opening up yet anoth-er possibility of judicial inter-vention.

Though Opposition BJP,CPI(M) and the Congress wereyet to disclose their next stepprivately their leaders won-dered how the sameCommission which had earli-er announced a three-phasedpoll could shrink the electoralexercise into a one-phasednotwithstanding the massiveviolence during nominationstage that saw opposition par-ties taking judicial recourse.

According to theThursday’s circular the polls forthree-tier Panchayat wouldnow be held on May 14. Re-polling would be held on May16 and counting would be heldon May 17.

Earlier the elections werescheduled for May 1, 3 and 5and counting was to be held onMay 8. Things got delayedafter the opposition partiesmoved the Supreme Court andthen High Court following aforward roll by theCommission which grantedan additional one day windowfor filing nomination consid-ering large-scale violence dur-ing the 7-day nominationprocess leaving hundreds ofpeople injured.

Even as the SEC withdrewthe order hours after circulat-ing it the High Court directed

it to give an additional day forfiling nomination on= May23. The High Court also direct-ed the SEC to take all the stake-holders including the politicalparties into confidence andkeep the Bench of Chief Justiceinformed about the security

arrangements soas to ensure apeaceful, free andfare election.

With theC o m m i s s i o ncoming out with afresh day for one-phase poll theopposition partiesnow haveexpressed concernabout the securitya r r a n g e m e n t s

“particularly when the State hasassured a total 58,000 policepersonnel to be posted at58,446 booths.”

“The total of 58,000 policepersonnel is broken into 46,000riflemen and 12,000 men withlathi. In the given circum-

stances where the miscreantsare raining bombs and bulletsfrom all directions is one policeman for a booth enough?”asked Congress leader PradipBhattacharya. The electionswere being rendered into afarce said BJP’s Raju Banerjee.

Meanwhile, Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee appealed toall the political parties to allowthe democratic process to befollowed in a peaceful manner.“I will request all the parties notto spread disinformation andallow the elections to takeplace in a peaceful manner. Letdemocracy thrive in Bengal.”

In a related developmentformer Lok Sabha SpeakerSomnath Chatterjee earlier saidthat Bengal was an ideal casefor President’s Rule.

Talking to newsmen theveteran parliamentarian won-dered on Wednesday, “whythe Chief Minister is trying tograb all the power. Why is thereso much of lust for sticking topower at any cost. Her partywould have won even withoutresorting to violence. So whatis the need for doing all this?”

Claiming that the currentsituation in Bengal could inviteimposition of Article 356,Chatterjee said “elections arelike festivals in Bengal whereeven the hungry people goand exercise their rights. Buthere even that right is takenaway forcibly. I don’t knowthere may be a demand forArticle 356 in coming days.”

Reacting to Chatterjee’sstatements senior BengalMinister Partho Chatterjee said“Somnath Babu should havealso spoken about the wayelections were conducted dur-ing the Left era.”

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� According to Thursday’s circular the polls for three-tierPanchayat would now be held on May 14. Re-polling wouldbe held on May 16 and counting would be held on May 17

� Earlier the elections were scheduled for May 1, 3 and 5 andcounting was to be held on May 8. Things got delayed afterthe opposition parties moved the Supreme Court and thenHigh Court

� The High Court also directed the SEC to take all the stake-holders including the political parties into confidence andkeep the Bench of Chief Justice informed about the secu-rity arrangements so as to ensure a peaceful, free and fareelection

� Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee appealed to all the polit-ical parties to allow the democratic process to be followedin a peaceful manner

� In a related development former Lok Sabha SpeakerSomnath Chatterjee earlier said that Bengal was an idealcase for President’s Rule

���Claiming that the current situation in Bengal could inviteimposition of Article 356, Chatterjee said

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This year's newly-publishedSSC textbooks in

Maharashtra have depicted alarge portion Jammu andKashmir out of the country,besides carrying a faulty pictureof the national tricolour, Leaderof Opposition RadhakrishnaVikhe-Patil said here onThursday.

In a letter to Chief MinisterDevendra Fadnavis, hedemanded a probe and imme-diate arrest of those foundguilty of this grave faux pas inthe Class 10 Geography text-book.

Vikhe-Patil pointed outthat these serious errors havecome up in the textbooksrecently published by theMaharashtra State Bureau ofTextbook Production &Curriculum Research for theacademic year starting 2018.

"In chapter 3, page 24, amap of India is published butit is very erroneous as a largepart of Jammu & Kashmir is

not shown within the bordersof the country," he said in theletter.

Similarly, in chapter 2, page9, the national flag has beenpublished in which the colourof the Ashoka Chakra is wrong.

He said the textbook hadbeen kept for review in a sem-inar in Pune sometime agowhen former school PrincipalK.U. Sonawane and othersraised serious objections, bothoral and written, to make thenecessary corrections.

"However, the requiredchanges were not made and thetextbooks carry the wrongimages of India and the nation-al tricolour, besides many othermistakes which have crept intothe book," Vikhe-Patil said.

Seeking complaints againstthe persons concerned andtheir immediate arrest, hedemanded that after consultingexperts, all the mistakes mustbe corrected and a revised ver-sion should be made availablefor the students from the nextacademic year.

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Aplane carrying Congresspresident Rahul Gandhi on

Thursday developed a technicalsnag with the party demandinga probe into the "suspicious andfaulty performance" of the air-craft before landing at theHubballi airport in northKarnataka.

The Directorate General ofCivil Aviation said in New Delhithat it would examine the issue,while the police said they haveregistered a complaint.

The plane suddenly tiltedheavily on the left side and thealtitude dipped steeply with vio-lent shuddering of the aircraftbody at 10.45 am, Gandhi'sclose aide Kaushal Vidyarthiwrote in a letter to state DGPNeelmani N Raju.

The letter said the weatherwas normal and not windyaccording to the passengers.

"It was apparent from thesuspicious and faulty perfor-mance of the aircraft that theincidents of shuddering andaltitude dipping were not natur-al or weather-related, but weredue to some technical snag...," it

said."Serious questions related to

intentional tampering with theaircraft cannot also be brushedaside and are requested to beaddressed and investigated," theletter read.

Gandhi is on a two-day visitto poll-bound Karnataka fromtoday to campaign for the partycandidates in the districts ofUttara Kannada, DahskinaKannada, Kodagu and Mysuru.

"Yes, we have received acomplaint about some unex-plained turbulence of the air-craft," Renuka Sukumar, DCP(Law and Order), Hubbali-Dharwad Police told PTI.

She said, "We have registereda complaint under Section 287(negligent conduct with respectto machinery) and 336 (actendangering life or personalsafety of others) of the IPC."

The complaint that namesthe two pilots was filed by KPCCGeneral Secretary Shakir Sanadi,she said. The letter said multiple"unexplained" technical snagscoupled with the failure of theauto pilot system raised seriousissues of aviation safety andpossible and intentional tam-

pering with aircraft whichendangered the life of its occu-pants.

"A thorough examination ofthe structural and mechanicalelements of the aircraft, the sur-rounding circumstances of theflight and the persons attachedwith maintenance of the aircraftis required in order to assess theincident," it said.

The letter said a "clankishnoise" was clearly audible fromone side of the plane throughoutthe shuddering of the aircraftbody.

"It was learnt that the autopi-lot of the aircraft was not func-tioning," it said.

The plane landed at theHubbali airport around 11.25 amin the third attempt., accordingto the letter. "The crew was alsoapparently petrified and admit-ted that the flight was particularlyfrightening and uncommon," itsaid.A senior DGCA officialsaid, "The operator has report-ed the incident to us (DGCA).According to the operator'sreport, it was a snag of auto pilotmode and the pilot shifted to themanual (mode) and landed (theaircraft) safely.

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Page 7: €¦ ·  · 2 days agodeceased girl, identified as Garima Chauhan, ... “We got a PCR call about an accident around 6.48 ... by the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, Punjab

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Days ahead of the secondyear anniversary of the

BJP-led North EastDemocratic Alliance (NEDA)Government in Assam, ChiefMinister Sarbananda Sonowalon Thursday effected the firstever Cabinet expansion,inducting seven Ministers—five from the BJP and oneeach from alliance partners,Asom Gana Parishad (AGP)and Bodoland Peoples’ Front(BPF).

Assam GovernorProfessor Jagdish Mukhi gavethe oath of office secrecy tothe seven Ministers whichincludes, SiddharthaBhattacharyya (BJP), BhabeshKalita (BJP), Sum Ronghang(BJP) Tapan Gogoi (BJP),Piyush Hazarika (BJP), PhaniBhushan Choudhury (AGP)and Chandan Brahma (BPF).

While AGP’s PhaniBhushan Choudhury was aformer Minister in the AGPGovernment in the State,

Chandan Brahma was also aMinister in the formerCongress Government in theState.

The rest five were howev-er, new faces sans anyMinisterial experience. WhileSiddhartha Bhattacharyya,Sum Ranghang, PhaniBhushan Choudhury andChandan Brahma wereinducted as cabinet Ministers,the other three were inductedas Minister of State.

It may be mentioned herethat Chief MinisterSarbananda Sonowal was

sworn in on May 24, 2016 andinducted 11 ministers intohis cabinet—eight CabinetMinisters and two Ministersin the rank of ministers ofState with independentcharge. With the induction ofseven Ministers on Thursday,the strength of the Minister inAssam has rose up to 18.

“I am happy that the ChiefMinister has chosen me fortaking up responsibility. Ihope to fulfill all my respon-sibility with cooperation frommy other colleagues.Whatever department is givento me, I shall try to bringtransparency and worktowards development of thewhole of the state,” said TapanGogoi after swearing in.

Meanwhile, the swearingin of the new Ministers haveled to unhappiness amongthe party and many havealleged that the Chief Ministerhad not taken everyone intoconfidence while selecting thenew Ministers.

Immediately after the

swearing in, senior BJP leaderPrashanta Phukan tenderedhis resignation from the posi-tion of Chairman of the BJP’ssteering Committee onPanchayat polls and the posi-tion of Chairman of theGoverning body of the AssamMedical College.

Although Phukan citedpersonal reasons for resigna-tion, he said, “If I am not fitto be a Minister how can I befit for the position of chair-man of the BJP’s steeringcommittee on panchayat pollsand chairman of the AMC’sgoverning body,” said Phukan.

Similarly, BJP legislatorfrom Sonai constituency inBarak Valley, Aminul HaqueLaskar expressed his displea-sure and said that there is norepresentation from religiousminority community in thecabinet. “This is perhaps thef irst cabinet sinceIndependence where there isno representation from thereligious minority communi-ty,” Laskar said.

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The Madras High Court onThursday ordered a CBI

probe into illegal gutka businessin Tamil Nadu involving aMinister and senior police offi-cers. The First Division Benchof Chief Justice Indira Banerjeeand Justice Abdul Quddhosewhile passing orders on twoPublic Interest Litigations filedby J Anbazhagan, a DMK MLAand a social activist said theunderground gutka businesswas a crime against society andtherefore this is a fit case for aCBI probe.

The case shot into itsprominence when MadhavaRao, one of the gutka manu-facturers, in his sworn affidavitto the Income Tax departmentstated that he had paid nearly�40 crore to Vijaya Bhaskar,

health Minister of Tamil Naduand senior IPS officers for facil-itating the manufacture and saleof gutkha which was banned inthe State. Despite its official ban,gutkha was freely availableacross the counter all overTamil Nadu as law enforcingagencies had turned a blind eyeto the business.

Though Vijay Narayan,Tamil Nadu’s advocate generaltold the court that theDirectorate of Vigilance andAnti-Corruption was probingthe case and was in the finalphase of the investigation, thepetitioner’s advocate P Wilsonpointed out that the DVAC hasno powers to file cases againstcentral government officials.“Since the allegation is of amulti-State scam, the CBI is theonly appropriate agency whichcould carry out this investiga-tion,” said Wilson.

The questionnaire sent bythe DVAC to the then addi-tional secretary JayasreeMuralidharan regarding themissing classified documentsconnected to the gutkha scamhas not yielded any response.But last week saw the head ofDVAC Manjunatha and inves-tigating officer MBalasubramaniam beingremoved from their positions.

The Income Tax depart-ment had conducted searches inthe residences and businesspremises of gutka manufactur-ers in July 2016 and had seizedmany incriminating docu-ments. The Principal Directorof Income Tax had writtensecret letters to the then chiefsecretary and director generalof police with details of thestatements made by Rao. B RBalakrishnan, the thenPrincipal Director of Income

Tax (Investigation) had metthe then chief secretary in theSecretariat on August 12, 2016and handed over the details ofthe pay-off made to theMinister and the police officers.

No action was taken by theTamil Nadu government on theletter submitted by the ITdepartment. On November 17,2017, the Income Tax officialssearched Veda Nilayam, the res-idence of former Chief MinisterJayalalithaa and seized the let-ters sent by the department offi-cials to the chief secretary andthe DGP. These letters wereseized from the rooms used byVK Sasikala, the close aide ofJayalalithaa.

Though the DVAC and theVigilance Commission wereentrusted with the probe by theTN Government, the frequenttransfers of the heads of theseinstitutions raised eyebrows.

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The 23rd meeting of theWestern Zonal Council was

held at Gandhinagar onThursday under the chair-manship of the Union HomeMinister Rajnath Singh.

Singh reiterated theCentre’s resolve to promotecooperative federalism withthe States. The meeting wasattended by the Chief Ministersof Maharashtra and Gujarat,Ministers of Gujarat,Maharashtra, Goa andAdministrator of the UnionTerritories of Daman & Diuand Dadra & Nagar Haveli, andsenior officers from Centraland State Governments.

The CM of Gujarat, VijayRupani, in his welcome address,emphasised the need for coor-dination and cooperation ofthe Western Zonal States on theissue of marine security.

He stated about the intro-duction of the virtual teachingin about 8,000 classes, provid-ing 5,000 policemen with smartphones having record of crim-inals, appointment of 33%Women in Police Force andestablishment of the state-of-the art Forensic University inthe State.

The Union Home Ministerstated that the Zonal Councilswere established under the

States Reorganisation Act, 1956with the objective to developthe habit of cooperative work-ing among the States andbetween the Centre and theStates. The Zonal Councils aremandated to discuss and makerecommendations on any mat-ter of common interest in thefield of economic and socialplanning.

He further stated thatduring the last 3 years or twoCouncil meetings and 3Standing Committee meetingsof the Western Zonal Councilwere held. In these Councilmeetings, 41 items had beendiscussed and 31 resolved.

During this period includ-ing other Zones (Eastern,Central, Northern andSouthern) 10 Council meetingsand 15 Standing Committeemeetings were held. In thesemeetings including today’smeeting about 653 items hadbeen discussed and approxi-mately 411 issues had beenresolved.

The Council reviewed theprogress of the implementationof the recommendations madeat the last meeting relating tosurplus lands of variousOrganisations of CentralGovernment to be made avail-able for achieving objectives of“Housing for All: 2022” andissues relating to Aadhaar.

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In a sharp response to PrimeMinister Modi’s charges on

corruption against the rulingCongress Government-led byChief Minister Siddaramaiah,Congress president RahulGandhi attacked Modi andsaid BJP had given tickets to 8tainted candidates who are inthe fray. Rahul, who is on anelection campaign in Karnatakaon Thursday blasted PM Modiand said he has no moral rightto talk on corruption.

Addressing a road show inpoll bound Karnataka, his sev-enth leg of campaign at Ankolain Uttara Kannada district hesaid "Modiji comes here andspeaks about corruption. When(fugitive diamantaire) NiravModi, whom Narendra Modiknows very well knows by thefirst name, runs away with�30,000 crore, he does notutter a word.”

"When he (Modi) standson a stage, on his one side isYeddyurappa, who has spenttime in jail, on the other sidethere are four others, who havebeen to jail, and Modiji speaksabout corruption," he added.

Prime Minister Modi in hisfirst poll rally in Bengaluru hadcalled SiddaramaiahGovernment as 10 percentsarkar.

"They have given tickets toeight corrupt persons. This isthe truth," he said and referredto the controversial and influ-ential Reddy brothers of Ballari,linked to the alleged iron oremining scam. Even thoughrecently Amit Shah had said inMysuru that BJP has nothing

do with Gali Janardhana Reddy,the tainted Reddy is back in toaction and actively campaign-ing for his close associate BSriramulu and other candi-dates in Hyderabad Karnataka.He was seen campaigningalong with Yeddyurappa forSriramulu and it is an opensecret that he is in the party.Apart from Sriramulu BJP hasgiven tickets to two Reddybrothers.

"When in power,Yeddyurappa and ReddyBrothers looted Karnataka.Our Govt. brought them to jus-tice. Now Mr Modi is trying totake 8 of them from jail, intothe Vidhan Sabha. This is aninsult to every honest citizen,to Karnataka and to the spiritof Basavanna (sic)," theCongress chief had tweeted.

"Support the Congress andwe will work for the poor andneedy. They feel that the moneyshould go to the pockets of thefive to 10 rich industrialists.This is the difference in ideol-ogy. We say the poor, the farm-ers, the marginalised and thepeople of Karnataka should getthe benefits. They say the ben-efits should go to five to 10 richbusinessmen," he said.

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Political parties in Kerala onThursday resumed intense

campaigning in ChengannurAssembly constituency withthe Election Commissionannouncing the schedule forthe bypolls there by whichpolling will be held on May 28,just three days before theexpected date of southwesternmonsoon’s touchdown on theState’s coast.

Counting of votes will beheld on May 31 and May 10 will

be the last day for filing nomi-nations for the by-polls forwhich the notification will beissued on May 3. Scrutiny ofnominations will take place onMay 11 and the last date for with-drawal of papers will be May 14.With the announcement of theby-poll schedule, model code ofconduct has come into force.

“The delay in the announce-ment of schedule had causedsome confusion but intensecampaigning has alreadyresumed. Everything is in place.At least that is how it is with us,”

said a poll manager of theCPI(M)-led LDF in the con-stituency. Top State and Centralleaders of the three main frontsare expected to descend onChengannur in the coming days.

The fronts had started theirpreparations for the by-poll andannounced their candidates sev-eral weeks ago. However, theenthusiasm behind the cam-paigning had come down laterwith the Election Commissionfailing to announce the schedulefor the by-poll along with that forthe Karnataka Assembly election.

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Hyderabad will soon have agold refinery, south India’s

first and India’s second such facil-ity to process the unrefined goldto be imported form Africa,Telangana Government officialssaid.

The State Government hasreceived a proposal for setting upthe gold refinery from a privatesector company which spe-cialises in refining of gold and sil-ver.

A second proposal for a sim-ilar project was also submitted byanother unnamed company andboth of them were being con-sidered.

If the proposal gets the nodfrom the Board of Approvals ofthe Central Government, it willcome up at Kongar Kalan villagenear Ibrahimpatnam in the out-skirts of Hyderabad on 30 acresof land belonging to theTelangana State IndustrialInfrastructure Corporation.Officials expect that the refinerywill give a boost to the gems andjewelry manufacturing sectorin the State as the Governmentwas also considering proposalsto set up ten jewellery process-ing units.

State Principal Secretary,Industries, Jayesh Ranjan saidthat these units will be set up bydifferent companies and willgive a boost to the gems and jew-elry exports from the present�6000 crore a year.

India’s only gold refinery atpresent was situated at Nadaunin Himachal Pradesh.

The proposals have come ata time when the recent massivebank scam resulted in shuttingdown of Gitanjali Gems park andother units of Nirav Modi andMehul Choksi in Hyderabad.This resulted in the lost ofemployment for nearly 1000people. Officials hope that thesedisplaced workers will be reha-bilitated in the new units.

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Another intense battle ofballots is expected between

the BJP and the united oppo-sition with the ElectionCommission declaring thedates for by-election to KairanaLok Sabha seat and NoorpurAssembly seat on Thursday.

Polling for the by-pollswill be held on May 28 and theresults will be declared onMay 31.

The by-election in KairanaLok sabha seat was necessitat-ed by the death of sitting BJPMP Hukum Singh whileNurpur Assembly seat wasvacated after two-time BJPMLA, Lokendra Singh died ina car accident on the Lucknow-Agra expressway while he wason way to Lucknow to attendInvestor’s Summit on February21. The bypolls will be anoth-er test of opposition unity afterGorakhpur and Phulpur wherethe BJP candidates werepumelled by united oppositioncandidates.

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Page 8: €¦ ·  · 2 days agodeceased girl, identified as Garima Chauhan, ... “We got a PCR call about an accident around 6.48 ... by the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, Punjab

As a concerned citizen of India,the past few weeks andmonths have been some ofthe most heart-wrenchingmoments of my life. The bru-

tal rape and murder of a minor inKathua and other horrific incidents ofrape and sexual assault against younggirls over the past weeks and months hasshocked most of us to our core. Theseincidents display man’s lowest, darkestand most heinous nature. It is a matterof great shame and sorrow that we havefailed these children and in order to makesome amends for our failure, we mustlook at how we can help ensure that theseacts are not repeated.

The manner in which the presentGovernment has decided to tackle thisissue is through an ordinance promulgat-ed by President Ram Nath Kovind which,inter alia, provides for (i) a minimum jailterm being 20 years which may go up tolife in prison or death sentence in case ofrape of girls below the age of 12 (ii) a min-imum punishment of 20 years which isextendable to imprisonment for rest of lifein case of rape of a girl under 16 years (iii)punishment of jail term for the rest of lifeor death for gang-rape of a girl under 12years of age. The ordinance also providesthat investigation into such cases is to becompleted within two months and com-pletion of the trial within two months.

This ordinance is essentially takingthe easy way out since it is extremelyunlikely that such a move will help bringabout any tangible benefits.

Understanding contextIndia in 2012 witnessed a similarly

horrific case of murder and rape. TheNirbhaya case shocked the consciousnessof an entire nation and the governmentenacted the Criminal Law (Amendment)Act, 2013, which provided for stringentpunishments (including death penalty forrepeat offenders) in cases of violenceagainst women and young girls. Therewere also amendments made to theProtection of Children against Sexualoffenses Act, 2012 which put in placeguidelines for the police and the courtssetup child courts and deal with victimssensitively. While some of these moves,not least the requirement to deal with vic-tims sensitively, were needed and wel-come, it is important to see the impactof these steps.

Unfortunately, the fact is that thenumber of cases of rape reported in 2016increased by 56 per cent over 2012. Whileone view to take is that the amendmentsin 2013 encouraged greater reporting ofcases, it does lend credence to the argu-ment that harsher penalties do not nec-essarily reduce the incidence of rape andsexual assault. Ultimately, the reduction

of crimes against women should be ouraim while examining this matter and thatmay not necessarily mean imposing thehighest possible penalty for such offences.Sure, such moves are often celebratedpublicly but that does not necessarilymean that it is the best way to tackle theproblem.

Quick to the triggerThis brings me to my next point on

whether the ordinance has been careful-ly thought out — a question that was alsoraised by the High Court of Delhi,directed to the government. In my view,it has not. On the issue of institution ofthe death penalty, it is pertinent to notethat the latest figures available with theNational Crime Records Bureau (NCRB)show that out of the 64,138 child rapecases that came up before the courtsunder the amended laws, less than threeper cent ended in convictions. Studiesand reports like the Justice Verma com-mittee report too indicate the deathpenalty is not an inhibitor against suchactions of sexual assault and rape. Indeed,in light of the mandatory minimum sen-tences that have been proposed under theordinance, there is a genuine fear that theaggressors of rape will be more inclinedto murder their victim and take theirchances with the justice system since thepunishment for rape and murder will bethe same. This is an eventuality that noone in the country wants. We mustremember, the aim is to ensure that the

lives of our fellow citizens are protectedand such a move may put them atgreater risk.

Another crucial point to note is thataccording to NCRB data, out of the casesof rape reported by children and women,the accused was known to the victim in94.6 per cent cases. This is a damning sta-tistic. In such cases, will a harsher penal-ty or even the victim encourage familymembers to report such these assaults?The answer is likely to be: No. Again, wemust recognize that our laws cannot bedivorced from the reality that the peoplewho these laws seek to protect livethrough.

A further issue I have with the ordi-nance is the time-limit for investigationsthat have been put in place. As statedabove, the ordinance provides that inves-tigation into such cases is to be complet-ed within two months and completion ofthe trial within two months. While we alladmit speedy justice is the need of thehour, this cannot be at the cost of the vic-tims and such stringent time-limitsthreaten just that. This is because whileworking within such timelines, the inves-tigations are quite likely to be rushed andnot carried out properly. This in turncould lead to a situation where duringtrial, the evidence gathered during theinvestigation does not hold up in acourt of law or is unable to stand scruti-ny. In such situations, the judge is facedwith possibly shoddy evidence and the

prospect of sentencing the accused todeath due to the mandatory minimumsentences that have been prescribedunder the ordinance. Therefore, a situa-tion may arise where the judge isinclined to acquit the accused rather thanpass the mandatory minimum sentence— an outcome that is less than desirable

We must therefore realize that Indiaas a country in certain aspects, and espe-cially this one, is ‘over lawed’ but ‘undergoverned’. What I mean by this is that weshould start examining the problem at amore foundational and structural levelrather than taking the easy way out. Inorder to truly do justice to the Kathua vic-tim and the thousands of young womenand girls who came before her, we mustensure that these incidents do not recurand the ordinance that has been promul-gated, unfortunately, does not get us anycloser to that goal.

In my next column, I will attempt toexamine what policies and steps shouldbe taken to help protect our young chil-dren and improve the deplorable state ofwomen in our country. These steps maynot be eye-catching and will be time andeffort intensive, but I believe that we needto knuckle down and actually improvethe situation on the ground rather thanpatting ourselves on the back for takingthe easy way out.

(The writer, Jharkhand PCC president,is a former MP and IPS officer. Viewsexpressed are personal)

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Justice is done” (April 26). The con-viction of Asaram Bapu is a triumphof justice. The self-styled godmanhas been sentenced to life imprison-ment for rape despite his wealth,political clout and mass following.This establishes one fact that the sta-tus of being a godman offers noinoculation against punishment fora capital crime as rape.

It is one of our country’stragedies that fake godmen com-mand huge mass following. Thishappens because the illiterate turnto them in the hope of getting solace.The crux of the matter is that self-styled god men project themselvesas flamboyant personalities andexploit social and economic vulner-abilities of their followers to the hilt.The convergence of the politician’slust for power and the fake godman’slust for sex explains the kind of sex-ual crimes committed by the likes ofAsaram and Gurmeet Ram Rahim.It is baffling that bhakti or devotionremains intact among the followerseven after a godman’s conviction asa rapist.

G David MiltonMaruthancode

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Justice is done” (April 26). India hashad a great tradition of spiritualthinkers such as RamakrishnaParamahamsa, Swami Vivekananda,Sai Baba, Swami Chinmayanandaand Ramana Maharshi, just toname a few who led simple and hon-est lives. They never sought poweror wealth but served humanity till

the time of their death. However, present-day gurus

(godmen/godwomen) are businesssavvy and have huge spiritualempires. They are surrounded bydoting devotees who have implicitfaith in them and are not fazed bytheir weird behaviour. The nexus ofthese gurus with political leaders andbureaucrats is also well-known.

Jubel D’CruzMumbai

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Sir — This refers to the article, “Ajudicial conundrum” by VKBahuguna (April 24). Vice PresidentVenkaiah Naidu rightly rejectedthe notice submitted by oppositionparties for a motion for the impeach-ment of the Chief Justice of India.No wonder, eminent jurist SoliSorabjee made a scathing attack onits decision, saying, “This is the worstthat could happen to the indepen-dence of judiciary.” The impeach-ment motion led by the Congressmarks a new low in politics.

A competitive race for 2019 LokSabha election has contributed to theerosion of the Parliament as well asthe judiciary. The judgments of theSupreme Court are sometimesunpopular. Each time the SupremeCourt has stood up to the executive,history has judged it highly. Eachtime it crawled, like duringEmergency, history hasn’t forgivenor forgotten. But if one looks close-ly, ever since that Press conferenceby four top judges, it’s only the polit-ical class which has benefitted.

J S AcharyaHyderabad

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Page 9: €¦ ·  · 2 days agodeceased girl, identified as Garima Chauhan, ... “We got a PCR call about an accident around 6.48 ... by the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, Punjab

Over the past few years, Indiahas taken great strides toaddress deaths among chil-

dren under five years of age due tovaccine-preventable diseases likePolio, Pneumonia, Diarrhoea,Measles, Rubella and JapaneseEncephalitis.

The introduction of vaccineshave had their share of appreciationand brickbats. It is important tounderstand that when science haslargely established the efficacy ofvaccines, rumours can have a detrimental effect on public healthprogrammes, forcing Governmentsto divert resources to rectify thedamage.

A recent example of such vac-

cine is the Measles-Rubella (MR)campaign, one of the biggest cam-paign under the ‘UniversalImmunisation Programme’ under-taken by the Ministry of Health andFamily Welfare. Prior to theannouncement of this campaign,critical reports started pouring infrom Bengaluru through localmedia in January 2017.

Reports highlighted concernsrelated to the safety and efficacy ofMR vaccine raised by parents andschools on closed groups onFacebook. On January 11, 2017, aleding national daily filed a storytitled, ‘Parents still worried aboutMR vaccine, even as health officialsallay fears’, which mentioned thatseveral parents in Bengaluru hadstarted an online petition on groups,like ‘vaccines: Your right to question’and ‘Bangalore schools’, questioningthe rationale behind making the MRvaccine mandatory.

The situation further worsenedwhen unknown sources startedcirculating anti-vaccine images andmessages on social media, primar-

ily on WhatsApp and Facebook,amplifying the overall crisis.

Whenever such myths sur-rounding vaccinations start circu-lating through different channels,they prompt some parents to with-hold immunisation from their chil-dren, and often lead to a markedincrease in vaccine preventabledisease, as well as public expendi-ture on research and public infor-mation campaigns aimed at recti-fying the situation.

Today, India has an efficientmonitoring and surveillance systemto closely track events followingimmunisation. In order to assurethe highest safety of the immunisa-tion programme, authorities regu-larly collect reports of suspectedadverse events following immuni-sation from across the country andsystematically assess their clinicalimportance.

Experts are of the opinion thatvaccines for both children andadults have mostly demonstratedthe benefits which are always high-er than the risks when it comes to

the benefits of vaccines versus theproblems that they cause.

The fact remains that post vac-cination, children do develop minorcomplaints like fever, local swelling,and pain. But this should not infusefear amongst parents against vacci-nation. The message is loud andclear: That vaccination is safe andan effective way to save children.

In fact, vaccines are like healthinsurance for our children.Researchers have been talking abouthow to debunk myths against vac-cines and vaccination for manyyears and have found a scientificapproach to do the same.

The most common way tocounter these myths and reduce itsinfluence on the beneficiaries is bypacking in more information aboutvaccination and vaccines into peo-ple’s consciousness. Experience hasshown that public misperceptionsare due to lack of knowledge orawareness about vaccines and itsbenefits.

But information has to be deliv-ered in a socio-culturally acceptable

manner to avoid confusion amongthe target audience.

Misinformation is not easy toremove and efforts to remove itshould be done in an easy, under-standable and succinct manner toprevent any possibility of strength-ening the myth in people’s mind —commonly known as the ‘BackfireEffect’. It is important to understandthe worldview and sense of cultur-al identity of the beneficiaries.

Messages have to be crafted inways that can reduce the usual psy-chological resistance in people.The components for effectivelydebunking the myths around vac-cination will be to work on the corefacts around vaccination in India —a refutation should emphasise thefacts, not the myth.

These facts have to be madeeasily accessible to the beneficiaries/parents/guardians. One shouldalways have an alternative explana-tion of a myth in order to fill in thegaps in information.

Harping on the benefits of vac-cination in different forms of media

like television/Radio/Web can alsohelp debunk the myths.

It is imperative to ingrain thebenefits into the beneficiaries andbuild their trust on vaccines. Whiledoing this, one should stick to keyfacts to avoid an overkill backfireeffect. Graphical or animatic repre-sentation of core fact also helps.

Deflating any myth against vac-cination a visual graphical/animat-ic representation can be an effectiveway to influence the audiencebehaviour. There is enough evi-dence of vaccines saving lives ofmillions of children from the fataldiseases.

The success of vaccines andimmunisation can be measuredthrough the recent success ofMission Indradhanush which suc-cessfully vaccinated 3.14 crore 2children and 80.64 lakhs pregnantwomen across the countr y.Immunisation in true sense has tobecome a people’s movement.

(The writer is Executive Director,International Clinical EpidemiologyNetwork, India)

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Veda Vyasa had laid down in theMahabharata that “a king shouldcollect taxes like a bee collects

nectar from flowers, painlessly.” In amodern and evolving economy, it is timewe start to treat the taxpayer as a nation-builder, and one who deserves respect.According to the Central Board ofDirect Taxes (CBDT) data, only 2.05crore Indians, or 1.7 per cent of 120crore Indians paid taxes in 2015-16. Thatis because India is a ‘low- income’ coun-try and 90 per cent of Indians don’t fallin the tax bracket as they earn less than�2.5 lakh a year. Hence, they are exempted from paying taxes.

Consequently, both the salariedand business classes, despite paying theirfair share of taxes, continue to be target-ed by tax officials. Before the GeneralElection, the Government surely needssome big private sector catches to affirmits anti-corruption credentials, but goingafter the salaried class is not the solution.If the IT department continues to main-tain its archaic and adversarial stance,neither will the ease of living improve,nor will the ease of doing business.

An area of concern during the BJP-led NDA rule is that tax-terrorism hasperpetuated since the Congress regime,one that Prime Minister NarendraModi and Union Finance Minister ArunJaitley both promised to undo. In tax-speak, ‘terrorism’ is unleashed throughIT department’s arbitrariness, un-certainty of policies, prolonged litigationand ineffective redressal and dispute res-olution measures. A useful antidote toterrorism of any kind is a corrective andremedial action which assuages both theaggressor and the aggrieved, the taxpay-er and tax collector.

There are two types of crooks thatthe Government must nail: The citizencrooks and the Government crooks.While the Government has gone afterthe former and succeeded in enhancingthe taxpayer base; the latter continues toenjoy a level of immunity with no Lokpalombudsman yet in sight. The thirdanomaly is that electoral reforms con-tinue to favour anonymity in India evenas advanced democracies move towardsgreater transparency. How else does oneexplain the amendments to the FinanceBill 2018, which exempts scrutiny of for-eign funds to political parties with ret-rospective effect from 1976, grantingthem virtual immunity? The retrospec-tive concession awarded to political par-ties makes the Foreign ContributionRegulation Act (FCRA), a threat to theelectoral system as foreign donors willcontinue to have powers in influencingGovernment policy as it legitimisesdonations from Indian subsidiaries offoreign companies, despite theGovernment’s claims to the contrary.

What’s good for the goose is goodfor the gander. So, if the Governmentwants to eradicate black money, thework and fiscal ethics of citizens,

bankers, bureaucracy and political par-ties must simultaneously be elevated.Policy-makers cannot be selectivelypro-reform in some avenues and sta-tus quoists in other areas.

Capitalist societies are dominated bya clique of elites who work in a cliquecircle to preserve and perpetuate theirprivileges. While Modi has broken thatsphere of influence of industry lobbiesand ‘caucuses’ prevalent since the Indira-Rajiv Gandhi era, “he has also madeIndia’s rich powerless and fearful” — astance attributed to his shifting policiesand social posturing to where the votesare, curbing the power business lobbiesonce held on influencing Governments.“Never in our economic history since1991, has big business been so power-less”, as entrepreneurial “fear of doingbusiness overtakes ease of doing busi-ness”, just when good corporates are see-ing a partial revival in the demand cycle.So, should sinners and saints be met thesame treatment?

Another reason why tax-terrorismhas persisted into the NDA regime is thathistorically, whenever the Governmentwas faced with revenue shortfalls, the ITdepartment set unrealistic targets for itsofficials to raise demands. By incentivis-ing IT babus, it makes them take anadversarial stance bordering on officialextortion. A report by the ParthasarathiShome Committee had recommendedthat such illogical tax collection targetsshould not be laid down. For instance,it is futile to expect tax revenue to growat 20 per cent when the economy isgrowing at about seven per cent.Lowering tax rates, a non-adversarial andbenign stance by Governments holds thekey to greater compliance world over.

The issues that have vexed taxpay-ers revolve around imposition of retro-

spective legislation of UPA times, mind-less revisions and reopening of cases,coercive actions during search and sur-vey and creating inflated or artificialdemands to meet ‘targets’. As per theEconomic Survey 2017-18, pendingtax disputes before the Supreme Courtare 9,300 cases, the High Courts in excessof 52,000 cases and the AppellateTribunal stands at 1,75,000 cases. Onlybig corporates can afford to go to theHigh Court in appeal.

Smaller assessee is at the mercy oftax officials, whose mindset must changefrom tax collection to a provider or facil-itator of a service to honest citizens.Ideally, the taxpayer should be consid-ered as a customer by the Income TaxDepartment and assigned a RelationshipOfficer, as we have in banks, whowould be responsible to sort out griev-ances by interacting with various officerson behalf of the tax payer.

A report by the World Bank andPwC, ‘Paying Taxes 2018’, rankedIndia 119 out of 190 nations in ease ofpaying taxes. The report allows taxauthorities to compare and adapt to themost efficient practices of advancedeconomies. While a task force has beenconstituted to review the Income TaxAct, 1961, and draft a new Direct TaxLaw in consonance with an evolvingeconomy, which will be a lengthyprocess, an accountability provisioncan be mandated where an assessingofficer is made accountable for raisingirrational demands.

Also, the Government must chalkout a plan to reduce pendency of litiga-tion. An ideal tax reform committeeshould be headed by a retired SupremeCourt judge, along with eminent tax pro-fessionals, economists and constitu-tional experts — a panel who can

envisage the needs of a growing econ-omy over the next 50 years to make thenew Income Tax Act taxpayer-friendlybefore the draft is approved and finalised.

While the CBDT has notified a newcentralised communication scheme forserving e-notices to taxpayers as part ofthe Government’s ambitious plan tousher in a country-wide paperless sys-tem of interface between the taxman andthe assessee, little will be achievedthough the Government assumes its afaceless assessment. Adopting anonymi-sation techniques which leave searchoperations to big data analysis to iden-tify scrutiny cases through algorithmsmay be objective and computer-gener-ated. However, while the assessee maynot know who the IT official is and viceversa, the babus will find a way to meetout of the office to ‘fix’ the problem.

To end on a humorous note,there are, of course, unusual ways toeffect a crackdown on illicit wealth ifwe follow the Saudi Arabian example.A video clip went viral last year, as itriveted, seeing powerful princes andleaders in Riyadh held captive with-in the opulent confines of the RitzCarlton where “the world’s most pam-pered prisoners had every comfortexcept freedom”. Those suspected ofsiphoning illegal commissions frommultibillion-dollar Saudi Governmentcontracts, were holed up in a one-of-its-kind gilded prison, as 1,700 indi-vidual bank accounts were nailed andfrozen. Possibly, such a luxuriousprison could be the resort for our big-ticket loan defaulters and fugitives likeNirav Modi and Vijay Mallya.Welcome to the world of benign taxterrorism in the 21st century.

(The writer is an author and columnist)

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Aday before Essar Steellenders' meeting, Russia's

VTB Capital-backed NuMetalLtd on Thursday approachedthe National Company LawAppellate Tribunal (NCLAT)against a possible move by theEssar Steel lenders to giveArcelorMittal 30 days torework its bid. Both Numetaland ArcelorMittal have put inbids for Essar Steel.

The move comes at a timewhen the Committee ofCreditors (CoC) is expected toconvene either on Friday orSaturday to decide the nextcourse of action. The CoC,consisting of Essar Steel'slenders, had met on Tuesday,but the meeting proved to beinconclusive.

Sources, however, said thatNCLAT here is likely to hearthe petition on Friday, a daywhen a panel of lenders toEssar Steel is also slated to meetto decide if fresh bids are to becalled.

In the petition, NuMetalsaid the Ahmedabad-bench ofNational Company Law

Tribunal had disqualifiedArcelor Mittal India Ltd frombidding to acquire Essar Steelon grounds that it was a pro-moter company of firms thathad defaulted on payment ofbank loans.

The NCLT had, however,'erred' in permittingArcelorMittal India Ltd to curethe ineligibility by making pay-ment of the overdue amountsof Uttam Galva and KSSPetron" within 30 days, it said.

Allowing ArcelorMittal toclear dues after theGovernment frame legislation,barring promoters who haddefaulted on bank loans frombidding for companies thatwere being auctioned to recov-

er unpaid loans, was not inaccordance with the law, itcontends.

NuMetal sought settingaside and quashing of theNCLT order that directed theresolution professional (RP)conducting the auction and thecommittee of creditors of EssarSteel India Ltd to "reconsiderthe resolution plan submittedby Arcelor Mittal India Pvt Ltdand afford Arcelor Mittal IndiaLtd an opportunity to makepayment of the over duesamount of Uttam Galva SteelsLtd and KSS Petron Pvt Ltdafter the submission of theresolution plan for Essar Steeland cure the ineligibility".

Essar Steel had a debt of Rs

49,000 crore and was referredto NCLT in June last year. Acommittee of Essar Steel cred-itors had earlier this weekfailed to reach a decision if thefirst round of bids put in byArcelorMittal and NuMetalshould be considered or freshbids sought.

Last week, the Ahmedabadbench of the NCLT had askedthe lenders to reconsider thefirst bids submitted by Numetaland ArcelorMittal on February12. It rejected a second roundof bids submitted as well asmining baron Anil Agarwal'sVedanta on April 2.

It had also asked the RPand the lenders to give 30 days'time to these bidders to cleartheir defaulted accounts.ArcelorMittal's eligibility wasquestioned because it had helda stake in Uttam Galva SteelsLtd, which is classified as adelinquent borrower. NuMetalwas also considered ineligiblebecause its backers include acompany controlled by theson of a billionaire Essar Steelfounder.

Aurora Enterprises hassince been bought out of the

bidding group by JSW SteelLtd while ArcelorMittal hasgot its name removed as a pro-moter of Uttam Galva afterselling its stake in the firm.L u x e m b o u r g - b a s e dArcelorMittal is partneringwith Nippon Steel &Sumitomo Metal Corp, Japan'stop mill, to bid for Essar Steel.

Reacting to the develop-ment a source close toArcelorMittal said, "Thereseems to be no end to thelengths Numetal will go to pre-vent ArcelorMittal beingselected as the new owner forEssar Steel. Media reports sug-gest ArcelorMittal has made asuperior offer and they havealways maintained they are eli-gible."

"Furthermore, they are theworld's leading steel companyand in partnership withNippon clearly have all theindustrial knowledge andexperience to provide Essarwith a strong future. It is dis-appointing for the stakehold-ers of Essar that there will befurther attempts to delay aswift resolution," the sourceadded. (With Agencies)

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In a move to get relief from oilprice hike, India has proposed

a grand alliance with top Asianoil buyers like China, SouthKorea and Japan to negotiate bet-ter terms with sellers. PetroleumMinister Dharmendra Pradhanon Thursday said India wouldtry to create a network withChina, Japan and South Korea totake up issues like premiumbeing charged from Asian buy-ers. "I see bigger cooperationbetween four big economies ofAsia, ie; India, China, Japan andSouth Korea. India will try to cre-ate a network between these foureconomies," he told reporters atan industry event here.

India is the world's thirdlargest oil importer after Chinaand the US. Japan is the fourthlargest importer and South Koreais right behind it. The fournations account for over a thirdof the oil imports in the world.

"Why should biggest con-sumers pay more. Why shouldthese countries pay more inname of Asian premium," heasked. "All the four major Asian

economies should come togeth-er. And India will try to create anetwork for that within the fourcountries."

Earlier this month, India andChina agreed to join hands tohave a collective bargainingpower against cartelisation of oilproducers. So far, India has notbeen able to bargain better ratesfrom the Gulf-based producersof the oil cartel, OPEC. Insteadof getting a discount for bulkpurchases, West Asian produc-ers, such as Saudi Arabia, chargea so-called 'Asian Premium' forshipments to Asian buyers,including India and Japan, asopposed to Europe.

However, Prof YoshikiOgawa of Japan, the AsianPremium annually costs some-where around $5-10 billion forAsian importers. Pradhan saidlike producers have a say in pric-ing and supply, consumersshould also get a say.

This is India's third attemptto unite major Asian energyimporters to beat the producers'cartel. The then oil ministerAiyar had in 2005 hosted twoministerial roundtables to

impress upon the need for a rea-sonable oil pricing and gettingrid of discriminatory AsianPremium — the first involvedmajor Asian consumers such asChina, Japan and South Koreaand the other roped in alterna-tive oil producers of North andCentral Asia.

Aiyar proposed a commonfront on oil to China's NationalDevelopment and ReformsCommission vice-chairmanZhang Xiaoqing. That proposalresulted in a memorandum ofunderstanding in 2006 but it waslost in the complexities of bilat-eral ties. Another attempt forjoint energy sourcing with Japanwas made towards the end of theUPA Govt when M VeerappaMoily was the oil minister. It, too,failed to see the light of day. Atthe 16th International EnergyForum (IEF) ministerial meetearlier this month, India andChina which together account-ed for 17 per cent of world oilconsumption last year, agreed tolook for ways to leverage thecombined size of their importsfor a better bargain from WestAsian crude producers.

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Union Minister NitinGadkari on Thursday

asked automakers to worktowards having safer designsand explore possibility of use ofsilicon in tyres as part of effortsto reduce road accidents.

India Inc should encourageits members to adopt safe dri-ving practices, the Ministersaid.

Gadkari also called forconcerted efforts to minimiseaccidents on the pattern ofSouth Korea, which has suc-cessfully reduced the numberof accidents to 213 from 13,000(annually) five years back.

"Automobile makersshould come forward in the ini-tiative for reducing road crash-es. There should be researchand innovation," he said.

"They can also explore thepossibility of using silicon, iffeasible, in tyres to minimiseincidents like tyre bursts onhighways like YamunaExpressway due to increase intemperature," Gadkari saidaddressing an event on road

safety. The Road Minister saidvehicles should be designed ina way to prevent accidents, andtruck bodies should have ade-quate safety features.

He was addressing'Conclave with Corporates onRoad Safety' organised by hisministry in partnership withInternational RoadFederation,(IRF) Ficci, CII,Siam and Assocham.

"Indian Corporate sectorshould encourage its membersto adopt safe driving practicesto minimise road accidents," hesaid.

He urged India Inc to teachtheir employees and their fam-ilies to imbibe a culture on road

safety and use their logisticsand carriers to propagate themessage of road safety.

The minister enumeratedthe myriad steps taken by the

government to reduce roadfatalities.

Health Minister JP Naddasaid there is an urgent need forbehaviourial and culturalchange to imbibe a culture onroad safety.

Ministry of health hasalready trained one lakh peo-ple to provide first aid to acci-dent victims and intends totrain 10 lakh more by next cou-ple of years, he said.

Pradeep Parameswaran,head of operations, Uber India& South Asia said: "We believeimproving driver wellness andhealth is critical to makingroads safer as well as ensuringa comfortable driving experi-ence. By rolling out free med-ical check-ups, for driver part-ners, we hope to strengthenexisting efforts towardsimproving driver well-being.”

KK Kapila, Chairman IRF,was of the view that strictenforcement with appropriatepenalties, accompanied by

public awareness of laws willbe a critical factor in reducingroad traffic injuries anddeaths.

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Realty major LodhaDevelopers will soon file

draft prospectus with marketsregulator Sebi to launch its IPOto raise about �5,500 croremainly for repaying its debt,sources said.

Mumbai-based LodhaDevelopers has revived its plansto launch an initial public offer(IPO) and will soon file draftred herring prospectus(DRHP) with Sebi.

The company had filed itsDRHP in September 2009 toraise about �2,800 crore. Itreceived Sebi's nod in January2010, but later shelved its planto launch the IPO due to badmarket conditions post theglobal financial crisis.

A Lodha spokespersondeclined to comment on theIPO plan. In July last year,Lodha Developers MDAbhishek Lodha had said thecompany is reviving IPO plans.

"We are aiming for listingin calendar year 2018 and shallapproach Sebi in the next 6-9

months," he had said, butrefused to share the amount thecompany wanted to raise.

According to sources, thecompany is looking to raiseabout �5,500 crore through itsIPO, including pre-placementof shares. The group achievedsales bookings of about �8,500crore during 2016-17 fiscalfrom both domestic marketand London despite slowdownin the real estate market.

In July, Abhishek Lodhahad said its Indian debt stood at�14,500 crore, while the debt ofthe London business was about300 million pounds.Privately-held Lodha Group is currentlydeveloping around 40 million sqft area and has 31 ongoing pro-jects in London, MumbaiMetropolitan Region, Pune,Bengaluru and Hyderabad. Ithas a land bank of 350 millionsq ft for future development.

The group had forayed intothe London realty market in 2013 and acquired two primesites in central London for an investment of about 400million pounds.

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India's economic growth willaccelerate to 7.2 per cent in

the current fiscal buoyed bymanufacturing activity evenas rising oil prices and highGovernment debt remain achallenge, Deloitte said onThursday.

The agriculture sector isexpected to grow higher thanthe estimated 2.1 per cent in thecurrent fiscal year on accountof positive prospects on Rabiharvest and a normal mon-soon, contributing significant-ly to the national GDP, said theIndia Economic OutlookReport 2018.

"India's growth prospectsremain promising and the econ-omy will continue to grow at 7.2per cent in 2018-19. The grad-ual recovery in industrial pro-duction (IIP) bodes well for theeconomy, reflecting a possiblestrengthening of domesticdemand and a further build-upin global trade activity," it said.

The Indian economy grew6.6 per cent in the last fiscal asit battled the lingering effects ofdemonetisation in 2016.

Deloitte's growth forecast for

this fiscal is conservative com-pared to that of the ReserveBank and the InternationalMonetary Fund (IMF) whichprojected India to grow 7.4 percent, and Asian DevelopmentBank and Fitch which estimat-ed growth at 7.3 per cent.

However, the report cau-tions that the increasing infla-tionary pressures, widening fis-cal deficit and the rising debtburden could pose challenges to

the economy."With the indicators of

industrial production, invest-ment demand, auto sales andexports showing recovery,India's growth outlook remainspromising and is expected tostrengthen further in the nextfew quarters," Deloitte ToucheTohmatsu India Lead Economistand Partner Anis Chakravartysaid. Also reviving consumerdemand and attracting more pri-

vate investment remains thekey to maintaining India'sgrowth momentum and accel-erate it further, he added.

The report further saidthat while current data oninflation has been reassuring,risks remain tilted to the upsidegiven expectations of highercrude oil prices in addition tofurther hardening of domesticconsumption, and risks of ahigher fiscal deficit.

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Civil Aviation Minister SureshPrabhu on Thursday chaired

a meeting of airlines and airportoperators during which hestressed the need for makingIndia the next cargo hub.

Prabhu emphasised onmanufacturing of aircraft hard-ware in India, developing arobust chopper service and car-rying out a demand survey fordevelopment of routes.

Talking to reporters later, theminister said suggestions havebeen invited from all stakehold-ers on the proposed cargo poli-cy as the aim was to make"India the next cargo hub".

SpiceJet CMD Ajay Singh,who attended the meeting, saidthere is a great potential for aircargo in India, which is set tobecome a $5 trillion industry by2025, and the minister stressedthat the opportunity should notbe missed in achieving the stat-ed objectives.

"We also told the airlines andairports that service delivery isextremely important," Prabhusaid.

The Minister said that asaviation is a service driven indus-try, customer feedback was cru-cial for better service delivery.

The suggestions of membersof Parliament should also betaken note of "in a proper man-ner" for bettering services, hesaid.

Prabhu said theGovernment is undertaking pro-grammes for skill developmentin cooperation with airlines asthere was a huge job requirementin the civil aviation sector andrelated sectors also.

The meeting today wasdescribed as an introductoryone where the Minister soughtto take suggestions from thestakeholders in the aviation sec-tor. During the deliberations, hepraised the efforts of all stake-holders in achieving close to 30per cent growth during the lastcouple of months.

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Lending major Axis Bank onThursday reported its first

net loss since 1998 due to a risein NPA provisioning.

According to the lender, itsnet loss stood at �2,189 croreduring the fourth quarter (Q4)of 2017-18 from a net profit of�1,225 crore reported for thecorresponding period of lastfiscal.

"One area where we havebeen disappointed with ourperformance has been creditrisk. We made some significantbets on the infrastructure sec-tor, which have turned outpoorly in this credit cycle,"Axis Bank's Managing Directorand CEO Shikha Sharma said.

"Consequently, our NPAratios have risen materiallyover the last two years. Wehave been course correctingsince as early as 2013, balanc-ing our portfolio mix, strength-ening risk management frame-works, focusing on higherrated corporates, and re-ori-enting the corporate lendingbusiness towards working cap-ital loans."

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Innovative technologies andmodels which are corrup-

tion-free will help fulfil thePrime Minister's New Indiavision, Road TransportMinister Nitin Gadkari said onThursday.

At the launch of the AtalInnovation Mission (AIM)'sAtal New India Challenge, healso said that his Ministry isready to sponsor dedicatedresearch into transport infra-structure and bring innovationinto this sector.

Under the Atal New IndiaChallenge, in collaborationwith five ministries, AIM willinvite innovators to designmarket-ready products, usingcutting edge technologiesacross 17 areas such as SmartMobility, PredictiveMaintenance of Rolling Stockand Waste Management.

Under the challenge, grantsof up to �1 crore and mentor-

ship will be given to the win-ning ideas.

NITI Aayog vice chair-man Rajiv Kumar said thatAIM, which under by the gov-ernment think tank, is based ona completely unique and inno-vative model within the gov-ernment system.

NITI Aayog CEO AmitabhKant said the challenges havebeen chosen after rigourousconsultations and discussionswith partner ministries such asroad transport, railways, agri-culture and water & sanitation.

"The Atal New IndiaChallenge is an innovative pro-gramme, facilitated by dynam-ic ministries, which will helpsolve problems pertinent toIndia," Kant added.

The grant will be furthersupplemented by mentoring,handholding, incubating andother support as needed atvarious stages of commercial-isation, while generating widerdeployment for the product.

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The Government is likely torelease the draft of new

National Telecom Policy (NTP)on May 1 to seek public com-ments, Telecom SecretaryAruna Sundararajan said onThursday.

"The direction of the newpolicy, that we hope you willsee as early as on May 1, will bereform-oriented. It will beinvestor friendly and bringdown the cost of compliances,"she said at the Annual GeneralMeeting of US industry bodyAmcham.

She mentioned that theproposed NTP 2018 will beplaced for public comments for15-20 days.

"It (NTP) will hopefullytrigger innovation, will focuson Make in India and provideopportunities for partnering

with lot ofcompanies,"Sundararjan said.

After the public comments,the Department of Telecom(DoT) will start inter-ministe-rial consultation on the policyand thereafter approach theCabinet for final approval, shesaid.

The NTP 2018 is expectedto present a growth road mapof the Indian telecom sector,which is reeling under debt ofaround Rs 7.8 lakh crore, for aperiod of next five years.

Telecom operators havedemanded that the govern-ment lower spectrum usagecharges, licence fees and otherlevies on the sector to makebusiness viable.

The Economic Survey2017-18 had mentioned thatthe telecom sector is goingthrough stress due to a hugedebt pile, tariff war and irra-

tional spectrum costs andcalled for policy measures tominimise over-bidding ofassets during auctions.

The survey said auctions incase of spectrum as also coaland renewables led to trans-parency and avoided rent-seek-ing, although they “may haveled to a winners' curse, where-by firms overbid for assets,leading to adverse conse-quences in each of the sector”.

It suggested that the “pol-icy design must minimise thesecosts wherever possible. Morespecifically, there should begreater reliance on using incen-tives and carrots than on sticks”.

Sundararajan had said ear-lier that the government willlook at positioning the telecomsector primarily as an enablerto boost the economy ratherthan a revenue earner underthe new NTP.

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Benchmark Sensex vaultedover 212 points on

Thursday, riding on a stellarshow by Yes Bank, as investorspiled into consumption, ITand banking counters amidencouraging earnings.

Yes Bank was the top per-former in the 30-share Sensexpack, surging 8.26 per cent,after the private lender report-ed a 29 per cent jump in its netprofit (standalone) at �1,179.40crore for the March quarter.

Covering up of pendingshort positions by speculatorson expiry of the April deriva-tives contracts added to themomentum, brokers said.

The BSE Sensex took off ona positive note at 34,532.95 andadvanced to the day's high of34,747.97 before ending at34,713.60, up 212.33 points, or0.62 per cent. This is its high-est closing since February 5,when it had finished at34,757.16.The 50-issue NSENifty ended at 10,617.80, up47.25 points, or 0.45 per cent,after shuttling between10,628.40 and 10,559.65.

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Automaker Ford Indiaon Thursday launched

a compact utility vehicleFreestyle, priced between�5.09 lakh and �7.89 lakh(ex-showroom), as it looksto strengthen presence inthe growing utility vehicle(UV) space.

The company, whichalready sells UV models likeEcoSport and Endevour, expectsthe new model to bring inadditinal volumes by cashing inon the demand for small SUVs,crossovers in the domestic mar-ket.

"When we launched theEcoSport in 2013 the mini SUVsegment was barely 3 per centof the total industry. today it isaround 12 per cent and by

2022 we know it will be around24 per cent of the market. Sothis segment has just burst at theseams," Ford India Presidentand Managing Director AnuragMehrotra told reporters here.

With more products com-ing, the segment is going toevolve even further, he added.

Mehrotra said that popu-larity of the segment can begauged by the fact that one infour customers in the countrycurrently want to buy an UV.

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Rating agency Crisil onThursday said that the

wholesale credit book of non-banking finance companies(NBFCs) and housing financecompanies (HFCs), includingreal estate and infrastructurelending, is likely to grow at 21per cent annually till 2020.

Asset quality in the seg-ment has largely been stablebecause of robust controls, anddespite an increase in infra-structure loan delinquencies,according to the report by rat-ing agency Crisil. "The whole-sale credit book of non-bankscomprising real estate lending,infrastructure finance andstructured credit is seen grow-

ing at a pace of 21 per centannually till 2020, or 350-400basis points faster than theretail and MSME (micro, smalland medium enterprises) seg-ments," it said.

Non-banks include NBFCsand HFCs, but excludes gov-ernment-owned non-banks.With this, the share of whole-sale credit in non-banks' over-all credit pie would surge tonearly 20 per cent from just 12per cent in 2014, according tothe Crisil report.

The report said growth inreal estate financing, whichconstitutes a tad over half of thewholesale credit book, wouldbe driven by pent-up demandin affordable housing and ris-ing ticket sizes stemming fromfunding consolidation.

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Securities Appellate Tribunalon Thursday allowed Sahara

group to withdraw the pleaagainst Sebi order that direct-ed Sahara Mutual Fund towind up its schemes.

Earlier this month, Sebihad asked Sahara Mutual Fundto wind up all its schemes.Against this order, Saharagroup had moved the tribunal.

"Appellants are permittedto withdraw the appeal withliberty to file fresh appeal," SATsaid in an order.

Sahara Asset ManagementCo, Sahara Mutual Fund andSahara India FinancialCorporation were the appel-lants.

The tribunal also said that"fresh appeal, if any, be filed byMay 2, 2018 and if filed, thesaid appeal be placed foradmission on May 3, 2018".

Sahara group has beenengaged in a long-running reg-ulatory and legal battle withSebi ever since it orderedrefund of a massive over Rs

24,000 crore by two Saharaentities.

In July 2015, Sebi had can-celled Sahara MF's registrationsaying it was no longer "fit andproper" to carry out the busi-ness and ordered transfer of itsoperations to another fundhouse. It had also directedcancellation of Sahara MF'sregistration on expiry of a six-month period.

Earlier, Sebi had also can-celled the portfolio manage-ment licence of a Sahara firm.

Following the Sebi order,Sahara MF had approached thetribunal which granted sixweeks to the appellants toapproach the Supreme Court.Subsequently, Sahara MF hadfiled an appeal in the SupremeCourt.

The appeal was dismissedby the apex court in October2017. Thereafter, Sebi hadinstructed Sahara MF to strict-ly comply with the timelinesspecified in its July 2015 order.

In its order, earlier thismonth, Sebi had modified itsearlier directive.

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National insurer LifeInsurance Corporation

has registered a 13.46 per centrise in first-year premium(FYP) income, collecting anall-time high income of�1,34,551.68 crore in FY18,and ending the year with amarket share of 69.40 percent, the company said onThursday.

"The Corporation collect-ed an all-time high first-yearpremium income of�1,34,551.68 crore in FY18, agrowth of 13.46 per cent from�1,24,451.42 crore in FY17," itsaid in a statement.

"LIC continues to retain itsmarket leadership with a mar-ket share of 69.40 per cent interms of first-year premiumincome and 75.67 per centwhen it comes to number ofnew policies sold," theCorporation added.

The insurer also did wellon group and pension scheme,notching up �82,807.83 crorein new-business premiumincome, securing 81.38 percent market share.

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PRASAR BHARATIINDIA’S PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTER

CIVIL CONSTRUCTON WING,ALL INDIA RADIO

NOTICE INVITING E-TENDERThe Executive Engineer (E), Division-I, CCW, AIR,

8th Floor Soochna Bhawan, New Delhi invites onbehalf of President of India, online item rate/bids forfollowing work:-

1. NIT NO. 07/2018-19/EE(E)-I/CCW-AIR/Delhi.Name of work:- XII Plan Scheme “InfrastructureDevelopment Programme relating to Film Sector”- Upgradation of Sirifort Complex. (SH: SITC of8 Passenger lift with metalic shaft for persons withdisabilities at Auditorium - III), (i) Estimatedcost Rs. 2475000/- (ii) Earnest Money Rs.49500/- Period of completion:- 03 months, Lastdate & Time of submission of bid 3.00 P.M on07/05/18.

Note:- The bid forms and other details can beobtained from the website:-www.tenderwizard.com/AIR.

Sd/-davp 22433/11/0003/1819 Executive Engineer (E)

OFFICE OF THE SUPERINTENDING ENGINEER CHHATTISGARH RURAL ROAD DEVELOPMENT AGENCY

PROJECT CIRCLE, RAIPUR (C.G.)NIT No 162/1343/Tech-1/CGRRDA/2018 Raipur Dated 23/04/2018

Superintending Engineer, CGRRDA Project Circle Raipur invites on behalf of Chhattisgarh Rural Road Development Agency, Vikas Bhawan, CivilLines, Raipur (C.G.). Online percentage rate tenders Of Annual Maintenance work for MMGSVY Roads on PMGSY SOR enforced from 1st November,2014 from approved and eligible Contractors signal window registration under E-In-C PWD C.G. for following works under : -

Detailed N.I.T. and .other Details can be viewed on our website https://eproc.cgstate.gov.in. on or after 27/04/2018.

Sd/-

Superintending Engineer

Chhattisgarh Rural Road Development Agency

Project Circle, Raipur, (C.G.)

R.O.No.: 86385/5 E-mail: [email protected]

R.O. Date: 25/04/2018 Ph: 0771-4030164, 0771-2438020

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There will be plenty to gawkat Friday when North

Korean leader Kim Jong Unwalks south across the world’smost heavily armed borderand stands face-to-face withSouth Korean President MoonJae-in. Two men who seemedon the verge of war months agowill take a pleasant walk, planta commemorative tree, inspectan honor guard and belly-up toa lavish banquet.

What’s less clear is whetherthe rivals can make anyprogress on the only thing theworld really cares about: NorthKorea’s growing arsenal ofnuclear weapons.

The North likely still haswork to do before it perfects thefiner technological points on itslong-range nukes, but there’s lit-tle question that it stands on thethreshold of becoming whatKim says his nation already is:A nuclear weapons power.

Friday’s summit will bethe clearest sign yet of whetherit’s possible to peacefully nego-tiate those weapons away froma country that has spentdecades doggedly building itsbombs despite crippling sanc-tions and near-constant inter-national opprobrium.

Expectations are generallylow, given that past so-called

breakthroughs on North Korea’sweapons have collapsed amidacrimonious charges of cheat-ing and bad faith. Skeptics ofengagement have long said thatthe North often turns to inter-minable rounds of diplomacymeant to ease the pain of sanc-tions, give it time to perfect itsweapons, and win aid for unful-filled nuclear promises.

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German ChancellorAngela Merkel is heading

to Washington with the samemessage French PresidentEmmanuel Macron deliveredonly days earlier : thatAmerica and Europe need tobury the hatchet on keyissues, from global trade tointernational security.

Yet despite Macron’s andMerkel’s efforts to portray aunited European front, theoptics of their visits couldn’t bemore different.

While US President Donald

Trump received Macron and hiswife for a glitzy three-day statevisit this week, Merkel gets a 20-minute private chat Friday in theOval Office followed by a work-ing lunch.

And unlike the bonhomieon display during Macron visit,

past encounters suggestMerkel and Trumpwon’t be putting on ashow of mutual affec-tion for the WhiteHouse cameras.

That should be finewith Merkel, who haslittle to gain back homeby being overly friend-

ly with Trump, according toGerman political analyst JanTechau.

“For Merkel, it’s quiteimportant domestically not tobe seen to be getting too closeto Trump,” said Techau, asenior fellow at think tank The

German Marshall Fund of theUnited States.

Anti-American sentimenthas been growing again inGermany since Trump’s elec-tion, with mainstream mediaregularly portraying the U.S.president as a threat to theworld. But Merkel, whoresponded to Trump’s “AmericaFirst” message by saying that“we in Europe have to take ourfate into our own hands,” knowsshe needs to find a way to winover the US President or risk afurther decline in relationsbetween Berlin andWashington, said Techau.

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Emmanuel Macron has usedhis speech to a joint session

of Congress to urge the United States to reject nation-alism and preserve the Irannuclear deal.

The French Presidentreceived a three-minute stand-ing ovation as he arrived in thechamber in Washington, DCon Wednesday, yet his speechwas critical of President DonaldTrump’s America First agenda.

He expressed doubt thatTrump would stay in thenuclear deal and warned theWest not to “repeat past mis-takes” in the Middle East.

Saving the Iran deal hasbeen high on the agenda ofMacron’s visit, and he has pre-sented Trump with a supple-mentary pact that would fur-ther limit Iran’s development ofballistic missiles and curb itsmilitary role in the region.

France, the US as well asRussia, Germany, China, theUK and the European Unionare signatories to the agreementwith Iran.

“My view — I don’t knowwhat your President will decide— is that he will get rid of thisdeal on his own, for domesticreasons,” Macron said.

In an address to the USCongress earlier in the day,Macron said while the 2015nuclear agreement “may notaddress all concerns”, the partiesto the deal “should not abandonit without having somethingmore substantial instead”.

“We signed it at the initia-tive of the United States. Wesigned it — both the UnitedStates and France. That is whywe cannot say we should get ridof it like that.”

Macron added, “What wedecided, together with yourPresident, is that we can workon a more comprehensive deal

addressing all these concerns.”While declaring France’s

position to stay with the Irandeal, Macron sought to allay theconcerns of Trump and his con-servative allies, declaring, “Iranshall never possess any nuclearweapon. Not now, not in fiveyears, not in 10 years, never.”

Macron said France willnot leave the 2015 Iran nucleardeal and pushed for a compre-hensive agreement with Tehranto address the US concerns.

In his speech, Macron alsomade a pointed criticism of“isolationism, withdrawal andisolationism”, adding that theUS “invented multilateralism”.

“It can be tempting to us asa temporary to remedy to ourfears,” he said.

“But closing the door to theworld will not stop the evolu-tion of the world. It will onlyinflame the fears of our citizens.We have to keep our eyes wideopen to the new risks right in

front of us,” he added.Since Trump came to office

in January 2017, he has takenseveral steps to block thenuclear deal.

In October, he refused tocertify that Iran is living up tothe accord.

He also targeted severalIranian businesses and indi-viduals with new sanctions. OnJanuary 12, Trump announcedhe was waiving the US sanc-tions for the “last time”.

He said if his demands arenot met within 120 days, theUS would withdraw from thedeal. The deadline is on May12, although he has hintedthat the US could cut loosebefore that date.

Trump also appointed sev-eral members of his cabinetwho oppose the nuclear deal,including Mike Pompeo, theincoming secretary of state, andJohn Bolton, the national secu-rity adviser.

Washington: US PresidentDonald Trump said onThursday that three or fourpossible dates were being con-sidered for his landmark sum-mit with North Korean leaderKim Jong Un.

“We have a decision to bemade. We have three and fourdates. That includes five loca-tions. That will be narroweddown,” Trump said on FoxNews. Trump had previouslysaid his much-anticipatedmeeting with Kim would takeplace in May or early June,within weeks of Friday’s his-toric inter-Korean summit.

Meanwhile, the USIntelligence experts are tryingto build a profile of Kim JongUn to give President DonaldTrump a competitive edge inone of the most consequentialsummits since the Cold War,but they face a huge challenge— figuring out a secretiveNorth Korean ruler few peopleknow much about.

Agencies

Beijing: China on Thursdaysaid it has commissioned a newnuclear- capable intermediate-range ballistic missile that cancarry out precision strikesagainst land- and sea-based tar-gets into the People’s LiberationArmy (PLA) Rocket Force.

The Dongfeng-26 has beencommissioned into the PLARocket Force, China’s DefenceMinistry spokesman Wu Qiansaid at a media briefing here.

The missile was complete-ly developed by the Chineseand will serve for nuclear strikesin short notice and conven-tional precision strikes againsttargets on land and large- andmedium-sized warships, Wusaid. “China has not changed itsdefensive nuclear strategy northe policy of no-first-use ofnuclear weapons,” he said.

While there is no officialannouncement about the rangeof the missile, defence expertssay it is capable of hitting USmilitary installations on Guam,the largest and southernmost ofthe Mariana Islands. PTI

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Pakistan’s Foreign MinisterKhawaja Asif was on

Thursday disqualified fromholding public office for life bythe high Court for concealingdetails of his UAE work permitwhile contesting polls in 2013,in another major blow to theruling PML-N party ahead ofthe general elections.

In an unanimous verdict, athree-member special bench ofthe Islamabad High Courtruled that Asif was not “truth-ful” and “honest” and disqual-ified him under Article 62 (1)(f) of the Constitution.

“We declare that therespondent (Asif) was not qual-ified to contest the GeneralElection of 2013 from NA-110as he did not fulfill the condi-tions described under Article62(1)(f) of the Constitution,”

the Bench ruled.Article 62, which sets the

precondition for a member ofParliament to be “sadiq andameen” (honest and righteous),is the same provision underwhich former Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif was disqualifiedon July 28, 2017, in the PanamaPapers case.

The petition against 68-year-old Asif was filed byPakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)leader Usman Dar, seeking hisdisqualification for holding anIqama (work permit) of theUAE. Dar who lost electionagainst Asif in 2013 had chal-lenged the qualification of Asifas the member of parliamentfor not declaring his job andsalary in the UAE while con-testing the polls.

Asif will be unable to holdpublic or party office for lifeafter the verdict.

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The last time we saw Nebula, shewas trying to stop her father

Thanos from completing the Infinitygauntlet in Guardians of the Galaxy.We still have no idea if she got revengeagainst her father but she is return-ing to the big screen with Avengers :Infinity War. Actress Karen Gillanportrays the role of a bald, blue-skinned and surly space warrior. Shefeels that directors Anthony andJoseph Russo are miracle workerswho provide a smooth transitionfor the actors to get into theirrespective characters. For Gillan,Mantis is one superhero whosepower she would borrow for theworld to be a better place.

�Have you watched anyBollywood movies?

I have and I think they lookspectacular and colourful with allthe dancing. I love Indian cuisinea bit too much and it is pretty pop-ular in the UK.

�If you have to form your ownlist of Avengers but not from theoriginal five, who would youpick?

Nebula, of course, and Mantisbecause she has emphatic powerswhich are very crucial for helpingwith solving things. Spidermanand Black Panther as they will begreat and maybe Valkyrie fromThor since she’s cool.

�Could you describe the movie inthree words?

Epic ultimate war.

�What can fans expect from thismovie?

If you are a Marvel fan who hasbeen following the movies for the lastten years, it’s all been leading to thismoment. A culmination to thisincredible fight of their lives —every single character will never facea greater challenge than the onethey are going to face in this movie.It’s going to be epic and nobody issafe, so there are going to be a lot ofunexpected twists.

�Let’s go back to the time when youwere first cast for this movie andwalk us through your emotionalexperience when you learnt thatyou will be playing this role in oneof the biggest movie franchises...

It completely blew my mindthat I even had an audition fora new Marvel movie. I did-n’t know the movieGuardians of the Galaxy wascoming as it is not one of thewell-known films. All the char-acters kind of set the tone and I wasalways excited to join the Marveluniverse because the movies arebrilliant and popular, I just could-n’t believe it.

�At the end of Guardians of theGalaxy, we see that Nebula is head-ing off to take on Thanos by herself.What can you tell us about thethoughts running in her head whenshe is coming down to InfinityWars?

In the last Guardians of the

Galaxy movie, we learnt a lot abouther backstory, her upbringing withher father and how terrible it wassince he sort of abused her. She hasa very clear mission to hunt Thaneand kill him. That definitely comesinto play in this film as she sharesthat agenda with everybody else inthe movie but she has her own per-sonal motivations and we aregoing to learn more about them.

�What do you like the mostabout your character?

I am over obsessed with her.I am her lawyer and I am hereto explain to every individualwhy she does some of the thingsand that she is not a bad girl. Ibelieve I love playing this char-acter who on one hand is amassive sadist but on the otherhand is a broken victim of anabusive relationship with herfather.

�Considering that you had tospend quite a lot of time inthe make-up room, how doesit feel when you are finally on

set? Can you describe theexperience?

It feels like we are finally herewhere I get to do my part of the job.That’s when I forget all about themake-up on my face and I get to bean actor. It is the only reason why Iam into this profession. Yes, it’s a bigordeal in the morning but it helps meget into the character completely andit’s part of my ritual now.

�India loves superheroes. Do youhave a message for the fans inIndia?

Hello India, thank you so muchfor loving super hero movies. Watchthis one because it’s going to be oneof the best that you have ever seen.

�We have a quick rapid-fire roundand you have three seconds toanswer each question. Who has

the coolest suit between BlackPanther and Ironman?

Black Panther.

�Who has the coolest suitbetween Spiderman andAntman?

Spiderman.

�Who has the better beard,Ironman or Doctor Strange?

Ironman.

�Your weapon of choice betweenCaptain America’s shield or Thor’sMjolnir?

I’m going to say Thor’s Mjolnir.(Movies Now got exclusive access

to the cast of Avengers: Infinity Warwho opened up about their experiencewhile shooting the film)

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All thanks to streamingmusic and people pluggedinto download mode, 2017

was a big year for the music indus-try. While there is plenty that cer-tainly isn’t perfect, the numbersprove that things are getting bet-ter. The industry has now beenenjoying double-digit overallgrowth for two years in a row andthere’s no sign that the success willslow down anytime soon.

The total industry revenuesgrew from �570.7 crore in 2016 to�725.6 crore in 2017. Thisincrease in revenue by �154.9crore is the largest since 2011,according to IFPI data. The rev-enues from music streaming grewat a rate of 37.26 per cent andthose from digital music nowamounts to over 91 per cent of theIndian recorded music industry.

There were two primary fac-tors driving this positive growthin digital music consumption,i.e. increased data consumption inthe advent of cheaper data ratesand greater smartphone penetra-tion.

The digital revenue alone in2017 was �665.6 crore which isgreater than the combined indus-try revenue of �570.7 crore in2016 by almost �95 crore.Shridhar Subramaniam, presi-dent, Sony Music and chairman,IMI, is optimistic about the stateof the industry and said, “Lastyear’s figures were phenomenaland we were expecting the mar-ket to do well this year as well, buta 27 per cent growth in 2017 hasexceeded our forecasts. Going

into 2018, our aim is to makemusic even more accessible,affordable and unlimited. To sus-tain this growth, the industry willstart laying the groundwork for asubscription eco-system .”

The upward trend in adop-tion of music streaming serviceshas certainly helped digitalise therecording industry but is not yetsteering consumers away fromconsuming music from piratedwebsites. Stream-ripping remainsa major threat to the music indus-try in India.

According to a 2017 study byIPSOS for IMI, 94 per cent of the900 surveyed music consumers in

India admitted to using someform of piracy to access music.Blaise Fernandes, president andCEO, IMI, said, “Our story in thepast two years has been one ofsuccess as evident from an expo-nential growth in revenue. We’reglad that digital music is claiminga larger part of the pie in line withthe global trends. Various initia-tives undertaken by the govern-ment like Digital India, BharatNet, Cipam’s #lettalkIP pro-gramme will enable the Indianmusic industry to out-performmost evolved recorded musicindustries in the digital domainand climb up in rankings in the

coming years. But it has to belegitimate.”

The global music industrygrew eight per cent in 2017 asstreaming subscription sales grew45 per cent to become the singlebiggest revenue source for theindustry. That growth has inject-ed confidence into the sectorafter 15 straight years of declinepreviously although the overallmarket is still worth only 68 percent of its peak value in 1999when compact discs were thedominant format for listening to

music.There has also been a small

shift from ownership to accessand downloads to subscription inthe last two years. With interna-tional players like Amazon Musicentering the market this year, theindustry stakeholders plan tosteer consumers towards afford-able subscription plans to deliv-er unlimited high-quality content.

“While the 2017 figures maypaint a pretty picture, Indianmusic industry is still greatlyimpacted by digital piracy and

value gap.” Said Vikram Mehra,managing director of Saregama,“We must work together in curb-ing piracy through a multi-pronged approach involving var-ious stakeholders at the state andcentral level. We must alsoempower the right holders toallow them control of the usage oftheir works in the digital domainand protect their right to fairremuneration. That’s the onlyway for us to ensure continueddouble digital growth in the com-ing years.”

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When it comes to mid-life refreshes, Iquite often decline the opportunity to

travel to drive the vehicles, but when the goodpeople at MINI India asked if I wanted to trav-el to the island of Mallorca to drive the mid-life refresh of the third-generation MINI, Iagreed. With not much of an agenda, it meantwe could drive just about anywhere on thisbeautiful island. And we arrived to a bright,sunshine-y day at the Hotel Sa Cabana pret-ty much in the middle of the island overlook-ing the Serra de Tramuntana mountains.Covering the entire western coast of the coun-try, these are recognised as a World HeritageSite because of their astounding naturalbeauty, and as I would discover, they shouldalso be considered a World Motoring Sitebecause of the utterly stunning mountainroads.

But back to the MINI, this is the mid-liferefresh of the third-generation MINI, whichBMW internally refers to as the F56 — youknow you are a car nut when you start refer-ring to German cars by their internal modeldesignations. The third-generation vehiclewas introduced globally in 2014 and theConvertible, which we were also driving, wasintroduced in 2016. On the face of it theredoesn’t seem to be too many changes to thecar, but then you get closer. There are a lotmore customisation options available and youcan emblazon your name on hard-plasticsnap-on parts above the glove compartmentand next to the side indicators, you can evencustomise the door sills and the puddle lightson the outside mirrors.

And then there are the most visiblechanges to the MINI, that is to the headlightswhich now acquire long-range auto-adjust-ing LED-Matrix lights and then there is theuber-cool taillight design, the “British UnionJack.” The British are quite cool about theirflag being used everywhere from underwearto uniforms, but the very German-basedMINI takes the use of the Union Jack anoth-er step. As a customer, you can choose to haveBritain all over your car, the headrests, the roof(full-colour on the hardtop and black andwhite on the convertibles fabric roof). You canhave the Union Jack on the side mirrors andeven on the dashboard. But then again, theBritish love German things with the Britishflag emblazoned across them; take the BritishRoyal family for example. Make no mistakes,no matter how many Union Jacks the MINImight have and even if it is built at Oxford,it is a BMW at its mechanical heart. But thereally nice touch is that if you own a third-

generation MINI already you can actuallyswap your existing lights for the new ones. Bythe way, these will most likely be only avail-able as an option on the cars.

On the inside, there are subtle changes aswell; the infotainment screen is now a touch-screen, and the gear lever gets a change as wellalong with some other minor touches hereand there. Luckily, the MINI retains the love-ly metal switches. The Convertible roofoperates through the push of a button as italways did and when the sun is out and 25degrees the roof never went up while I droveit. The next day I drove the facelifted three-door hatchback which had the same exteri-or changes and with the racing stripes lookedwonderful.

On the roads of eastern Mallorca towardsPorte Cristo, albeit full of cyclists, the hatch-back was a sheer joy to drive. The cars thatI drove were the Cooper S versions whichhave the two-litre four-cylinder petrol engineswhich produce 192 horsepower, enough to getthe cars to 100 in 6.8 seconds for the hatch-back and 7.1 seconds for the convertible.Luckily even the rural roads in Mallorca,which are of a fabulous quality, have a speedlimit of 90 km an hour, so we really had fun.Highways in Spain and most of Europe havea limit of 120 so you really do get to playaround with the car without breaking the law.And some other changes to the Cooper S atleast is that in sports mode, it does feel a wholelot sharper with very quick steering. Despitethe front wheel drive system, the MINI hasalways been a fun car to drive and this oneremains the same.

Mechanically the MINI One has thesmaller three-cylinder 1.5 litre engine, whichstarts at 75 horsepower but engines can betuned all the way up to 120+ horsepower andit remains to be seen what specification MINIbrings the One version to India. However,many of the options of the car are availableacross the range. However, things like the real-ly useful heads-up display, particularly onEuropean highways in a place where you haveno idea of the route, can be quite expensive.Let alone the fancy lights.

The MINI is quite expensive in the eyesof some people, the refresh even with the newfeatures will cost upwards of 35 lakhs for theCooper models, as much as a BMW X1,which is a more practical car in everyrespect. But this is what I have to say on theMINI, it is a head-turner and short ofspending a crore plus on a sportscar, the MINIis a lot cheaper than that. And if you want afun little car to drive, this ticks all boxesbecause it has something that most cars don’t— character. Sure, it overdoes the Britishnessat times but dial it down on the options list,other than the taillights and go for it. And also,do visit Mallorca! What an island! Despitethe cyclists.

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Outside, the temperatures were sizzlingand threatening to go through the ver-itable roof. And it reminded me of the

sizzling sands of Rajasthan. Inside the Danielle’sTavern at the Imperial Hotel, it was cool andthe all-white decor further brought down thetemperature some notches.

I was here to explore the cuisine of the state(and hence the comparisons above) with a fes-tival called Royal Rajasthan. And it took meon a journey which offered more than the obvi-ous like Dal bati churma or Gatte ki subzi. Inkeeping with the famed Rajasthani hospitali-ty, the servers plied us with an array of starters.Maas ke sule, tender lamb pieces cooked withhome-ground spices on a cast iron griddle, wasthe first of the many that followed. It was suc-culent but the two vegetarian dishes — Ker san-gri ki tikki and the Makki ki seekh were the clearwinners for me. Ker sangri (made of dried kerberry and sangri beans) was both — intensein flavour and melt-in-the-mouth soft. In thenon-vegetarian section, it was theDhaurasi taffri, which are freshwater prawns marinated in hungcurd, garlic and chillies, cookedin a clay oven to perfection,which won a roundof apprecia-tion. ChefPrem KP o g a k u l a ,e x e c u t i v echef, TheImperial, NewDelhi, said,“While most peoplewould be surprised atthe use of prawns inRajasthani cooking as theplace is a desert, it would dowell to remember that there areseveral lakes in the state. And thatis where the prawns were sourcedfrom.”

The assortment of dishes in the maincourse was placed on a thali and katoris madeof German silver, which added the right

amount of regal touch to the fare. In the maincourse, it was the Laal maans, the most famousof the Rajasthani dishes that lived up to itsname. The fiery red colour of the dish comesfrom chillies from Mathania which are epony-mously named. However, Pogakula used a mixof these chillies along with the ones fromKashmir in the dish. In the vegetarian dishes,it was the Paneer Sweta, a melange of cottagecheese with sweet corn, which scored with theperfect balance of sweet and savoury flavours.The spicy hot Aloo mangodi ki subji, crispylentil dumplings cooked with potato andGovind gatte, stuffed gram flour dumplingssimmered in yoghurt, onion and cumin gravy,when eaten with Jowar ki roti (made withsorghum, a gluten-free grain) were the otherstunners on the plate. The slightly crispy gatteon a bed of smooth curry offered a perfect mix.

In the dessert, an entire smorgasbord waslaid out. And with my sweet tooth, I admit, that

I sampled more than one. There was Laapsi,a sweet dish made of broken wheat

and ghee, Ghevar, a disc-shapedsweet cake made of flour,

Nookti, small pearls ofgram flour dipped in

sugar syrup,Balushahi, made of

refined flour, but-ter and sugarsyrup andsweet Kachori.I love Ghevarand I hadnever tastedLaapsi, sothose werethe two I

decided totake a helping

of. And it wasthe newer flavour

that didn’t disap-point. I went for a

second helping ofLaapsi to round off the

royal feast.

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Come Mother’s Day and we can recall a zillion mem-ories in mom’s kitchens over the years, civilisations

and trends. Award-winning senior executive chef ManishaBhasin of ITC Maurya says it is the nostalgia and warmthof those days that shaped her as she is today. “I had a pen-chant for cooking from a very young age, says ChefManisha. “I started cooking at the age of 12 and have notlooked back since then. For me, the biggest inspirationand the world’s greatest chef is my mother. My maternalgrandmother too nursed a kitchen that fed the entire jointfamily. Those were the good old times where meal timemeant each family member’s presence at the table. Mymother and grandmoth-er’s recipes of typicalPunjabi household had agreat impact on my forma-tive years.”

Manisha maintains thatthe aroma of ajwainparathas (flaky Indianbread with carom seeds),Basmati rice peas pulaoand halwa takes her back toher summer holidays inher grandma’s house whereshe would be pamperedendlessly.

In an age of ordering inand eating out, Manishareminisces that food was apassion. “Those days peo-ple hardly went out to eat,”affirms Manisha.“Spending time withfriends or relatives meanteating together at home. For most womenfolk the con-versation centered around food and its expertise, be it thekind of cooking pots or its method of preparation. I wasvery much aware as an observer and as a participant whileall this happened. While there has been an enormouslearning through books and conferences, I fully confessthat it was my mother’s kitchen that gave me my first infor-mal induction into the larger world of pots and pans.”

It was from Manisha’s mother’s kitchen that her pas-sion towards finer nuances of Indian food gained fire. “AsI look back, I realise that my grandfather too had a size-able contribution in my interest,” she adds with nostal-gia. “I was quite clearly an apprentice under him as ateacher for choosing the best recipe ingredients while frommy mother I learnt the virtues of patience and love forcooking. No matter how few the ingredients you may have,the liberal dose of passion for cooking goes into the prepa-ration. This I call ‘soul cooking’ now when I cook for myguests.”

The weekly Sunday trek to the market with her grand-father to buy fresh vegetables and lamb perhaps subcon-sciously instilled in her the importance of finest fresh ingre-dients for a great meal. “Little did I realise at that timethat these excursions at such a tender age would later helpme in my research of Dehlnavi food which is the first sig-nature banqueting cuisine in India,” says Manisha as sheshares a special recipe for cuisine lovers who want to trysomething different for the occasion.

Dehlnavi (Delhi) cuisine is an amalgamation ofPunjabi, Vaish, Muslim and Kayasth communities of Delhi.In one way, these various communities reflected the largeimprint of food preference in the city. What is visible isa very interesting confluence of taste. Hence one sees thecuisine influence of Punjabi settlers after Partition, to thebusiness communities of northern India.

������������������ ���������������������� 1 cup sweet peas

1/4 cup pan broiled amaranth seeds 1 bunch chopped amaranth leaves (if not availablereplace with spinach or kale)1 chopped onion1/2 tsp cumin4 tbsp gram floursalt to taste1/4 tsp yellow chilli powder 1/4 cup toasted walnuts 2 tbsp ghee (clarified butter)

���� � Heat ghee in a heavy bottom pan, sauté onion and

add the sieved gram flour, cook till the raw flavourof gram flour disappears.

� Add the peas puree, walnuts and toasted amaranthseeds.

� Cook it over slow flame for five minutes till it leavesthe sides of the pan.

� Check for salt and add rest of the seasoning.� Spread the mixture on a flat surface and cool for

half an hour. � Divide the mixture to 10-12 small balls.� Shape it flat round and dust in rest of the toasted

amaranth seeds.� Pan grill till golden brown and serve with walnut

ride dipping��� ������

Use amaranth to thicken the soups, or broil and pow-der to be used as a flour for cake.

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Page 15: €¦ ·  · 2 days agodeceased girl, identified as Garima Chauhan, ... “We got a PCR call about an accident around 6.48 ... by the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, Punjab

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Real Madrid moved a stepcloser to a third straight

Champions League title aftersubstitute Marco Asensio hitthe winner in a 2-1 semi-final,first-leg victory at BayernMunich.

The 22-year-old came offthe bench to finish a counter-attack and complete the hold-ers' comeback win, giving Realthe advantage for the returngame in Madrid next Tuesday.

"We knew what to expect,we did well and put in a goodperformance," said Real captainSergio Ramos.

"There is still the return tocome, but we'll be very focusedand we defended well, that wasthe main thing."

Bayern took the lead at thesold-out Allianz Arena throughJoshua Kimmich, but Marceloequalised just before the breakand Asensio put Real ahead.

"In the middle of the firsthalf, we were playing well, butwe lacked the killer instinct,"said Bayern skipper ThomasMueller.

"Everything is still possible,but we did ourselves no favourstoday."

Despite Bayern dominatingpossession and creating twice asmany chances as Real, Madridclaimed a sixth straight win,dating back to 2012, over theBavarians in the ChampionsLeague knockout stage.

"We didn't put our chancesaway, while Real took theirtwo chances," said Kimmich.

"We were naive in front ofgoal, they are favourites now togo through, but we will give itour all in the return." Realcoach Zinedine Zidane pulleda surprise before kick-off byleaving both Gareth Bale andKarim Benzema out of thestarting line-up.

Isco, who was replaced byAsensio at half-time, and LucasVazquez played either side ofCristiano Ronaldo, who had asubdued night up front inMunich.

The Portuguese failed toadd to his tal ly of 15Champions League goals thisseason, being denied a sec-ond-half strike by an offsideflag, which would have made it3-1.

James Rodriguez, who is ona two-year loan deal from Real,shone in Bayern's midfield and

found plenty of cracks in theMadrid defence.

���������������������However, this just was not

Bayern's night.Both Mueller and Robert

Lewandowski went agonisinglyclose with a string of chances.

The hosts suffered a blowwith barely five minutes gonewhen Arjen Robben limped offto be replaced by ThiagoAlcantara.

Bayern changed their systemwith right-back Joshua Kimmichmoving up to plug the space onthe right wing, which sparkedthe opening goal.

Bayern suffered their secondearly injury blow when JeromeBoateng was replaced by NiklasSuele on 34 minutes -- which isalso bad news for Germany withthe World Cup looming.

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The Oval will host the 2019 WorldCup opener between England andSouth Africa on 30th May as the ICC

announced the schedule on Thursday forthe 50-over tournament which will bestaged in England and Wales from 30 Mayto 14 July.

Old Trafford and Edgbaston to stagethe two semi-finals on 9 and 11 July respec-tively; Lord's to host the final on 14 July.

ICC Chief Executive DavidRichardson: "Next summer fans around theworld will be treated to compelling andcompetitive cricket as the best teams in theworld go head to head in this round robinformat for the right to be crowned WorldChampions"

Steve Elworthy: "Today's announce-ment of the schedule is another importantmoment in the build-up to the ICC WorldCup 2019 - the moment that the tourna-ment comes to life for teams and cricketlovers across the world."

England will open the tournament atThe Oval on 30 May when they will takeon South Africa, while Australia willlaunch their title defence on 1 June againstthe World Cup Qualifier championsAfghanistan in a day/night match inBristol.

Reigning Champions Trophy win-ners and former champions Pakistan willstart their campaign against the WorldTwenty20 winners and two-time formerchampions the Windies at Trent Bridge inNottingham on 31 May.

India, the 1983 and 2011 world cham-pions who also won the ChampionsTrophy in 2013 in England and Wales, willplay their first match on 5 June againstSouth Africa at the Hampshire Bowl inSouthampton. Their feature match againsttraditional rivals Pakistan will be at OldTrafford in Manchester on 16 June.

Old Trafford in Manchester andEdgbaston in Birmingham will stage the

two semi-finals on 9 and 11 July, whileLord's will play host to a World Cup finalfor the fifth time, on 14 July. All these threematches will have reserve days.

Eleven world-class venues will beused in the 46-day tournament in whicheach side will play the other once in a sin-gle-league format with the top four sidesafter 45 matches progressing to the semi-finals.

Old Trafford in Manchester will hostmaximum six matches, while Edgbaston inBirmingham, Hampshire Bowlin

Southampton, Lord's and The Oval (bothin London), Trent Bridge in Nottinghamwill stage five matches each. Cardiff WalesStadium in Cardiff and Headingley inLeeds have been allocated four matcheseach andCounty Ground Bristol in Bristol,County Ground Taunton in Taunton andThe Riverside in Chester-le-Street have gotthree matches each.

ICC Chief Executive David Richardsonsaid: "It's always an exciting momentahead of any major event to announce theschedule and for the ICC World Cup, it's

that extra special. Next summer fansaround the world will be treated to com-pelling and competitive cricket as the bestteams in the world go head to head in thisround robin format for the right to becrowned World Champions.

"This schedule also gives fans acrossEngland and Wales the opportunity towatch world class cricket on their doorstepwith all teams moving around the coun-try. We know from previous ICC eventsthat every country will be proudly sup-ported at each of the venues creating an

exceptional atmosphere and a real cele-bration of the game."

World Cup 2019 Managing DirectorSteve Elworthy said: "Today's announce-ment of the schedule is another importantmoment in the build-up to the ICC WorldCup 2019 - the moment that the tourna-ment comes to life for teams and cricketlovers across the world. This is the flagshipevent in one day cricket.

"There are some fantastic head to headfixtures - England v Australia at Lord's andIndia v Pakistan at Old Trafford as well asEngland v India at Edgbaston spring tomind. As organisers we can promise theteams and fans we will work hard to pro-vide the perfect stage for this event.

"Because of the UK's diverse popula-tion, every competing team will also beguaranteed a 'home crowd' every time theyplay at some of the most iconic cricketgrounds in the world.

"The World Cup is the third mostwatched global event and has huge inter-est and appeal amongst cricket fans. Ourambition is to grow the game and deliverthe greatest ever cricket celebration."

����� � ��A)A

The ICC on Thursday decidedto convert the 2021

Champions Trophy scheduled inIndia into a World T20 event,finally scrapping the eight-teamODI tournament, the context andrelevance of which has been ques-tioned repeatedly.

At the end of its five-dayboard meeting, ICC ChiefExecutive Dave Richardson saidthe global body has "unanimous-ly agreed" that the 2021 meet inIndia would now be a 16-teamevent in the shortest format.

Richardson's announcementmeant that BCCI representativeAmitabh Chaudhary also voted infavour of the change after the ini-tial opposition to the move.

This means that only for thesecond time ever, two ICC WorldT20 events will take place in twoyears --- the 2020 edition inAustralia and the 2021 edition inIndia. The first time it happenedwas 2009 (England) and 2010(West Indies).

"The 2021 Champions Trophyin India will now change to WorldT20. It fits into our strategy ofgrowing the game," Richardsonsaid on Thursday at a media con-ference at the end of the meeting.

There will be a 2019 and2023 ODI World Cup, effectivelyscrapping the very concept ofChampions Trophy, a tourna-ment which was described asirrelevant by several critics giventhe presence of a full-fledgedquadrennial World Cup.

"Well the BCCI representativeattended the board meeting andthe vote was passed unanimous-ly. So I don't think that's anissue," said Richardson.

��<��������������The ICC has decided to grant

T20 International status to all itsexisting 104 members in a bid topopularize the game across theglobe.

The move will effectively meanthat a T20 match betweenArgentina and Papua New Guineawill have international status from

now on.The ICC Board at its quarter-

ly meeting decided that, "Newminimum standards will be intro-duced making it as easy as possi-ble for members to play interna-tional cricket in a sustainable andaffordable way."

All member women's teamswill be awarded T20I status on July

1, 2018 whilst all member men'steams will be awarded T20I statuson January 1, 2019 following thecut-off point for qualification to theICC World T20 2020.

������ ������ ���In the wake of the ball-tam-

pering scandal involving theAustralian team, the International

Cricket Council on Thursdaypromised stricter and heavier pun-ishments, which, the apex bodyhoped, will act as proper deterrent.

ICC chief executive DaveRichardson said fines are not prov-ing to be the answer and thecricket committee, headed by AnilKumble, will review the currentpenalties and come forward withrecommendations for it to be rat-ified at the ICC annual conferencein Dublin from June 27-July 3.

"There were clear directionreceived that we want to movetowards stricter and heavier sanc-tions for ball-tampering and allother offences that are indicative oflack of respect for your opponent,for the game, the umpires, fans,media etc," Richardson said afterthe conclusion of the five-day ICCmeeting here.

Richardson said they had gooddiscussions in both the forums ofICC chief executive committeeand board meetings which alsoagreed to include offences likesledging, send-offs, and showingdissent within umpire's control.

"We want penalties in placewhich act as a proper deterrent.Fines are not proving to be theanswer. We will ask the cricketcommittee to do is to review."

The ICC's cricket committee ischaired by Kumble with the assis-tance of Allan Border, ShaunPollock and Courtney Walsh as itwill be bolstered by the addition ofRichie Richardson.

"They will help us make somerecommendations that wouldprove a much more effective deter-rent against poor players' behav-iour."

The ball-tampering episodelast month generated huge publicoutcry which Richardsondescribed as an "eye-opener".

"We also want to encouragebehaviour that epitomises the spir-it of cricket. The biggest eye-opener for people in cricket was thereaction to the recent incidents inthe series between South Africaand Australia."

Upholding the MCC's Spiritof Cricket will be the main aim,he said.

�������A��+���A,

Commonwealth Games Gold medallistSaina Nehwal and Olympic Silver medal-

list PV Sindhu produced dominating perfor-mance to progress to the women's singles quar-terfinals of Asia Badminton Championshiphere on Thursday.

Top seed Kidambi Srikanth and worldnumber 10 H S Prannoy also advanced to thelast eight stage in men's singles in contrastingfashion.

Saina, a London Olympics Bronze medal-list, continued her impressive run as she kepta tight leash on China's Gao Fangjie, outwit-ting her 21-18, 21-8 in a 40-minute clash. Theformer world number one will now face

unseeded KoreanLee Jang Mi, whosaw offThailand's for-mer world champion Ratchanok Intanon.

Third seed Sindhu, who won a Silver atthe Commonwealth Games, too notched upa commanding 21-12, 21-15 win over anoth-er Chinese Chen Xiaoxin in another pre-quar-terfinal match. She will take on either seventhseed Korean Sung Ji Hyun or Thailand'sBusanan Ongbamrungphan next.

Srikanth, however, did not have to breakany sweat as his opponent Hong Kong's WongWing Ki Vincent retired at 2-7 in the first gameto hand over the quarterfinal spot to theIndian, who had held the world number onespot for a week this month.

The 25-year-old from Guntur will facethree-time Olympic Silver medallist LeeChong Wei on Friday.

Srikanth had beaten Lee en route India'sGold medal at the mixed team championshipof the Commonwealth Games but the leg-endary Malaysian was quick to exact revengewhen he beat the Indian for the individualGold at Gold Coast.

Prannoy, who had reached the quarterfi-nals at All England Championship, meanwhile,bounced back from a game down to eke outa difficult 16-21, 21-14, 21-12 win overChinese Taipei's Wang Tzu Wei.

Prannoy, who missed out of a medal at theCommonwealth Games, will meet second seedSon Wan Ho of Korea.

Singapore Open champion B Sai Praneeth,however, went down 12-21, 12-21 to Olympicchampion Chen Long, seeded third.

Young men's doubles pair of Arjun MRand R Shlok too found the going tough againstthe top seeded Chinese combination of LiJunhui and Liu Yuchen, losing 11-21, 19-21.

Women's doubles pair of MeghanaJakkapudi and PS Ram also was no match forseventh seeded Thai pair of J Kititharakul andR Prajong and were outdone 9-21, 9-21 in just23 minutes.

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Sunrisers Hyderabad failed to recover from theearly blows from medium pacer Ankit Rajpoot(5/14) as Kings XI Punjab restricted the hosts

to a paltry 132/6 in an Indian Premier League (IPL)match at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium hereon Thursday.

Ankit ran through the home batting line-up bag-ging the key wickets of skipper Kane Williamson (0),Shikhar Dhawan (11) and Wriddhiman Saha (6)off his first three overs before returningto pick Manish Pandey (54) andMohammad Nabi (4) in the finalover of the innings.

Put in to bat, the hostswere saved from the blushesby Pandey's fighting 51-ballknock, laced with threefours and a six after Rajpootreduced them to 27/3 in thefirst five overs.

Rajpoot had almost jolt-ed the hosts with the wicketof Shakib Al Hasan (28 off 29balls; 4x3) on the very next ballonly if Andrew Tye hadn't misseda dolly at mid-wicket.

Shakib once again got a reprieve in thenext over from left-armer Barinder Sran, whoinduced a thick edge off to third man, only for theumpires to call it a front foot no-ball.

With the hosts finding themselves at a precari-

ous 27/3, Shakib and Manish Pandey survived a fewclose calls, including a run-out attempt, to take theSunrisers' to 57/3 midway into the innings.

Ravichandran Ashwin's ploy to employ part-timer Manoj Tiwary misfired as the leg-spinnerleaked 10 runs from his only over, forcing the Punjabskipper to bring his 17-year-old mystery spinnerMujeeb Ur Rahman into the attack.

Mujeeb responded in style by ending the 52-runfourth wicket stand, when he induced the Bangladeshiskipper with a wrong 'un to be comfortably caught

by Mayank Agarwal at the mid-wicketfence.

Shakib's dismissal brought in theexperienced Yusuf Pathan (21

not out off 19; 4x1, 6x1) who wasforced to curb his naturallyaggressive approach by thePunjab bowlers, even as thehome side managed to reachthe three figures in 16.3 overs.

Sensing emergency,Manish tried to change gears

and got a life on 46 when hewas dropped at deep mid-wick-

et by Mayank off Tye.Manish managed to take

advantage of the life by sendingTye's slower one to the extra cover

boundary and raise the second joint slowest 50for the Sunrisers but the joy was short-lived asthe right-hander fell prey to Rajpoot in the finalover of the innings.

����� 2��0A�*

Royal Challengers Bangaloreskipper Virat Kohli called his

bowlers' profligacy "criminal"after Chennai Super Kingschased down a steep target of206 in their Indian PremierLeague clash here.

CSK were reduced to 74-4but Mahendra Singh Dhoniblazed his way to an unbeaten70 off 34, while opener AmbatiRayudu slammed a 53-ball 82 tooverhaul the target in the lastover with two balls to spare.

Dhoni blasted seven sixes,including one to seal the win-ning runs , while Rayuducracked eight sixes.

It rained a record 33 sixes onWednesday night at the MChinnaswamy Stadium.

"The way we bowled is justnot acceptable. Just not goodenough on the day, 72/4 and giv-ing away runs like that for just1 wicket is criminal. Somethingthat we need to address goingforward because we haven'tbowled well. If we cannot defendeven 200, it's a problem some-where," Kohli said after thematch.

"We have to back the guysand have enough confidence inthem and they need to be clearin their head to execute things.The pitch played really well, spinplayed a massive factor. Somequality batting with both sidesgetting 200. Great game forpeople to see but as a team, weare disappointed to not getacross the line," added Kohli.

Kohli heaped praise onRayudu and Dhoni for theirblazing knocks.

"Rayudu has been aroundfor 15 years now. He's a qualityplayer and he's done well forIndia. You never know who getsa chance somewhere and I'mhappy for him," he said.

"Dhoni is looking in reallygood touch, he's hitting the ball

really well this IPL but notgreat to see it against us."

Dhoni, who was adjudgedthe Man of the Match, said it wasa difficult chase.

"I thought it was a difficultchase when I saw AB batting tosee them over 200, I thought itwas 15-20 beyond par. We alsolost some key batsmen early butit's a small ground, the ball trav-els a lot here, there was somedew, not a lot. Overall, it wentaccording to the script, notaccording to how we would havethought but went well," he said.

"This was a slightly slowishwicket, AB's innings was veryspecial, it seemed as if he tookthem at a really good pace, espe-cially against good quality spin-ners.

"Credit goes to the spinnersand it's good to be on the win-ning side, everyone is chippingin, we're chasing totals andThakur is bowling well, he wasunder the pump earlier."

Describing the chase as"unbelievable", Rayudu said theywanted to play out Chahal, whoscalped two wickets in animpressive spell.

"Unbelievable... We lost afew wickets early, but on thisground anything is possible.I'm not really bothered (aboutwhere I'm batting) because I'mhitting the ball really well. Wehad the belief and we were cal-culating which bowler had howmany bowlers, we just wanted toplay out Chahal," he said.

'���� ��� �RCB captain Virat Kohli has

been fined � 12 lakh for main-taining slow over-rate duringtheir IPL match against CSKhere on Wednesday night.

"As it was his team's firstoffence of the season under theIPL's Code of Conduct relatingto minimum over-rate offences,Mr. Kohli was fined � 12 lakh,"an IPL press release said.

����� 2��0A�*

Head coach Stephen Fleming saidMahendra Singh Dhoni's unbeat-

en 70 might hog the headlines but itwas opener Ambati Rayudu's 53-ball82-run innings which set things up forChennai Super Kings as they secureda five-wicket win over RoyalChallengers Bangalore.

"Dhoni is going to get a lot of head-lines but the innings from Rayudu wasoutstanding as well. He has been theform player for us in all conditions andhas followed on from the Hyderabadgame with another instrumentalknock," he told reporters at post-match press conference on Wednesdaylate night here in Bengaluru.

He said Rayudu has been instru-mental in winning games for ChennaiSuper Kings with his ability to bataggressively.

"The power game he has got hasgone unnoticed but we certainly valuethe performances that he has put in thisyear so far. He has been instrumentalin us winning games and staying in thegames. I couldn't be more happy withhim," Fleming said.

Fleming said the security andsupport of the team has given confi-dence to Rayudu.

"Opportunity. Having the confi-dence that he is a part of this team. And

also the backing of the team to playaggressively. He has batted at a coupleof different positions but has got theconfidence and the security of a reg-ular position. He is now experiencinghow good he can be with some goodform and confidence," he said.

Fleming also lauded AB de Villiersfor putting RCB in a strong positionwith his 68 off 30 balls.

"De Villiers, I thought, had wonthe game for Bangalore," he said.

"We thought it was going to beslow and difficult wicket and I thinkit was. It's just the fact that de Villierscountered us so well. We had our spin-ners ready to go but his onslaught justtook them out of play. So from a tac-tical point of view, that really putBangalore in a strong position," for-mer New Zealand skipper said.

�������2A

Gautam Gambhir had to step downfrom the helm after the failure of

Delhi Daredevils' batting unit in thisIndian Premier League season, but hisleadership was not an issue, feels for-mer India batsman Sanjay Manjrekar.

Daredevils, yet to win an IPLcrown, are in the last spot in the pointstable after losing five of the six gamesthey figured in, their sole win comingagainst MI here.

"I don't think Gambhir's leadershipwas a problem, it was just about thebatsmen not getting runs, notable fail-ure like Maxwell hurting them.Gambhir, the batsman, thereby had toget runs because the others were fail-ing around him. Gambhir was pickedmore for his captaincy than his batting,but because the batting group was notclicking, Gambhir the batsman cameunder scrutiny," Manjrekar said.

"I don't think the leadership was anissue but (they needed to) do somethingto reboot. You expected something likethis after their last result and being atthe bottom of the table. This was the

time to change something," added theformer cricketer.

Manjrekar cautioned there cannotbe a dramatic change in DD's fortunesunder new captain Shreyas Iyer, unlesstheir batsmen deliver and their bowl-ing unit does not remain too dependenton Trent Boult.

"Shreyas Iyer as captain can changenothing if batting continues to be aproblem and their bowling just cannotbe dependent on Trent Boult," he said.

As to Mumbai Indians, who toohave had a dismal run winning just oneout of their first six games, Manjrekarsaid he could not understand their bat-ting order and insisted that HardikPandya should bat higher up.

"Hardik has to bat up the order.There is too much obsession of havingleft and right hand combination, there-by Hardik is batting at number seven.He could be your number 4-5, so therecould be more onus on Hardik as abatsman," Manjrekar said.

"They have got Evin Lewis who isopening and they have tried a few otheroptions, but I have not understood theirbatting order. There is no harm at all

in having Rohit Sharma (to open) - Ithought he would open in the lastmatch (against SRH) as it makes a lotof sense. But he is somebody who hasdelivered at various positions for MI,it is not that he only succeeds at the top,

so yes that is something they could try."The former batsman also feels

that wrist-spinners are successful in theT20 league because they are able todeceive the big-hitters with their vari-ations and deceptions even though they

don't turn it big."These wrist-spinners have leg-

spin, top spin, quicker delivery and goo-gly which are very similar to each other.They just sort of have different anglesafter the ball pitches.

"You can't say that it turned sharply,but the deception is a problem," he said,adding that a lot of batsmen who aredesperate to hit the ball out of theground are not able to pick up thedeception.

"A little change of angle of line helpsthem. Their deception with variationsis creating the problems (for batsmen),"Manjrekar explained.

Manjrekar was most impressedwith the bowling attack of SRH.

"Delhi certainly does not have agreat bowling side. KXIP have got twoexcellent spinners in Ashwin andMujeeb Ur Rahman and one seamer inAndrew Tye. Sunrisers have RashidKhan who is making match-changingcontributions.

"There are quite a few good bowl-ing attacks but on actual performancesyou have got to say Sunrisers is the pickof all," he concluded.

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All eyes on Friday at the Feroz ShahKotla stadium will be on new skipper

Shreyas Iyer's stewardship as DelhiDaredevils head into a new era under the23-year-old batsman.

Shock waves were flying onWednesday, following Gautam Gambhir's resignation as captain. If thatwas a shock, then surprising thing was seeing Iyer given the mantle tolead the side.

Unlike Gambhir, who led Kolkata Knight Riders for two IPL titlesin the past, Iyer doesn't have any experience of captaining a major team.

It will be interesting to see how he approaches the game. "Shreyas loves it, he does really enjoy being in senior position. He

speaks really well. He is really clear on what he wants to do, same withGG (Gautam Gambhir). He has got his own ideas on tactics which isgreat," said Delhi's bowling coach James Hopes.

The first task would be to install the winning mentality among theplayers to help them put a winning run.

Having won just one of the six matches in IPL this season, Delhi mighthave to win seven of their remaining eight matches to cement a top fourplace.

Normally, 16 points is the magic number to seal the play-off status,but sometimes 14 can also be enough, depending on how other teamsalso fare in the remaining fixtures.

Batting has been the biggest problem for the hosts and it was evi-dent in the last match, when they failed to chase down a modest 144-target against Kings XI Punjab in their maiden match of the season atKotla.

Injuries to Jason Roy (side strain) and Chris Morris (back problem)did not help their cause either.

The explosive Australian Glenn Maxwell has had a torrid time sofar. Barring the 47 against Kolkata, Maxwell has struggled badly for runs.In five matches he managed just 93 in total and will be looking to gethis act together.

Infact their former skipper Gambhir will be another who will be des-perate to improve his form. He was KKR's run machine during his time

in West Bengal capital city. He is yet to reach those heightsat Delhi. Having relinquished captaincy, he might bat freelyfrom now on without any pressure.

The new skipper Iyer has been in good form, havingnotched two fifties. He took Delhi agonizingly close to vic-tory against Punjab, but was unable to help them cross overthe finish line, owing to his compatriot's poor batting dis-

play.Rishabh Pant has been another consistent per-

former and might look to continue that form fol-lowing a minor blip in form against Punjab in lastmatch.

The bowlers came good in the last match pre-venting Punjab from scoring big. Avesh Khanpicked up couple of wickets and Ternt Boult wasat his usual best.

The pick of the lot was Liam Plunkett.Making his IPL debut, the English pacer wasunplayable and end with 3/17. He will be anautomatic pick for Friday's match.

Amit Mishra could also retain is place inthe starting line-up, having

bowled decently in thelast game.

The biggest con-cern would be thatof MohammadShami's poorform. He did notplay the last match

and it will be inter-esting to see

whether he will berecalled from Friday's

game.However, their bowling coach

Hopes sounded positive about Shami regaining his place back in the team."I think he has got some personal stuff going on. And it's tough to

concentrate on the job sometimes. Players try to use cricket as a release.Everywhere you have to sort out your off-field stuffs before you start per-forming on the field. He is in the process of doing that and it obvious-ly is going to take some time. This season is not yet over for him," Hopessaid on Thursday.

On the other hand, Kolkata are enduring a mixed campaign. Theywon three matches and lost as many games this season.

Under new leader Dinesh Karthik, they are currently lying at fourthposition. With Rajasthan Royals and Royal Challengers Bangalore arenot far behind, they would be desperate to win the match to consoli-date the position.

Bowling has been their biggest strength. Spinners such as Sunil Narine,Kuldeep Yadav and Piyush Chawla have been performing consistently.

With pacers like Mitchell Johnson, youngster Shivam Mavi andEngland's Tom Curran in their ranks, it will be difficult for Delhi to scorefreely against them.

In batting, Andre Russell has been a revelation and the team wouldbe eager for him to maintain the momentum.

The likes of Chris Lynn, Nitish Rana, Dinesh Karthik and RobinUthappa complete a solid batting unit for the visitors.

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Former India batsman Lalchand Rajutbelieves that Mumbai Indians skipper

Rohit Sharma should open the innings forthe defending champions as it can give theteam a good start.

"Rohit is a prolific opening batsman,who has done exceptionally well for Indiaas an opener. So opening and playing freeis important for him. If you start well, thenyou can pile up a big score. You have toopen with Rohit, as simple as that," Rajputsaid.

"When you bat at number four afterlosing two wickets that is a different ball-game rather than opening. It (Rohit open-ing the innings) will help Mumbai, becausethey will get a good start, as the start isimportant," the former Mumbai openeradded.

Three times champion MI, who havelost five of the six games, have opted to openwith West Indian Evin Lewis andSuryakumar Yadav, with Rohit has beencoming to bat at number four.

"But Rohit is such a player, once he gets30s, he makes it big," Rajput, a domestic bul-wark, said.

Rajput also said that West Indian all-rounder Kieron Pollard has been "strug-gling" and MI can look at J P Duminy asan option.

"If a certain player is not doing well, youhave to look at it. Pollard is not in goodform. It is time that MI look for anotheroptions" added Rajput.

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