16
T he turnout for the second phase of Lok Sabha election on Thursday was about 1.5 per cent less that that of the first phase which saw 69.43 per cent polling. According to the Election Commission, the sec- ond phase turnout at 67.84 per cent was 1.28 per cent lower than 69.12 per cent registered in 2014. Sporadic violence was reported from West Bengal, Chhattisgarh and Manipur even as EVM glitches were reported from some places. The second phase of Lok Sabha elections was held for 95 seats across 11 States and Union Territory of Puducherry. With this, the poll process has been completed in 14 States and Union Territories. In all, polling has been completed in 186 Lok Sabha constituencies. Tamil Nadu went to polls for 38 of 39 constituencies with DMK’s A Raja and Kanimozhi being the promi- nent candidates in the fray. BJP’s Hema Malini and Congress leader Raj Babbar among others were among the notables who contested on the eight seats that went to polls in Uttar Pradesh. Former Prime Minister and JD(S) patriarch HD Deve Gowda from Karnataka and National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah in Jammu & Kashmir too tested the ballot power. Union Ministers Jitendra Singh, Jual Oram, Sadananda Gowda and Pon Radhakrishnan were in the fray in the second of the seven- phased Lok Sabha poll which would conclude on May 19. Voting picked up in the second phase by afternoon which was marred by an IED blast by Naxals in Chhattisgarh, police firing in West Bengal on stone pelters and EVM glitch- es at some places. CPI(M) can- didate from Raiganj Md Salim claimed that his car was attacked by unknown persons when he went to a polling booth at Islampur in Uttar Dinajpur in West Bengal. According to EC, UP reg- istered 62.3 per cent polling, Assam 78.27 per cent, Bihar 62.52 per cent, Chhattisgarh 71 per cent , Karnataka 61.80 per cent, Maharashrra 62 per cent, Manipur 74.69 per cent, Odisha 64 per cent, Puducherry 78 per cent, Tamil Nadu 72 per cent and West Bengal 76 per cent. The first phase of polling on April 11 included 91 con- stituencies, registering 69.43 per cent of polling, three per cent more than recorded in 2014 general elections. Besides Tamil Nadu, voting took place in 14 seats in Karnataka, 10 in Maharashtra, eight in Uttar Pradesh, five each in Assam, Bihar and Odisha, three each in Chhattisgarh and West Bengal, two in Jammu & Kashmir and one seat each in Manipur and Puducherry. Elections were also held in 35 Assembly constituencies of Odisha and in 18 Assembly seats in Tamil Nadu. A total of 1,600 candidates were in the electoral battle for 95 seats which would be cru- cial for the BJP as for the Opposition to keep the tempo of the fight for the New Delhi which has still 357 Lok Sabha seats to go to poll before the final verdict is announced on May 23. The AIADMK holds the maximum of 36 seats of the 95 seats which witnessed polling in 2nd phase, followed by the BJP with 27 seats. The Congress had won 12 of these seats in 2014, the Shiv Sena and the BJD 4 each, the JD(S) and the RJD two each and the AIUDF, the NCP, the JD(U), the PDP, the AINRC, the PMK, the CPM and the TMC one seat each. Electorally key State of Uttar Pradesh with 80 LS seats has completed polling in 16 seats of western UP. Polling was conducted in Srinagar Parliamentary con- stituency of Jammu & Kashmir to decide the fate of 10 candi- dates, including NC president Farooq Abdullah who is seek- ing a re-election. Security personnel have been deployed in strength in and around polling stations in all three districts — Srinagar, Budgam and Ganderbal — of the constituency, officials said. The polling for Udhampur- Doda and Srinagar seats recorded 43.3 per cent at 5 pm. Polling in Chhattisgarh witnessed violence with an ITBP jawan suffering minor injuries after Naxals triggered an IED blast in Rajnandgaon district. Long queues were seen at polling booths in Tamil Nadu, with Chief Minister K Palaniswami and DMK chief MK Stalin among the early vot- ers. Sporadic incidents of vio- lence were reported in some areas of Bengal. A reporter and a camera person of a local news channel were allegedly man- handled when they went to cover polling at Kataphulbari in the Raiganj constituency, they said. Voters in Uttar Dinajpur district’s Chopra under the Raiganj constituency report- edly put up a road blockade, complaining about the absence of Central forces at the polling stations, the sources said. Police fired in the air and lobbed tear gas shells to control a mob, after stones were pelt- ed at them and bombs were hurled by unknown persons in Chopra, a senior EC official in the district said. At least three persons were detained by police in this connection, he said. S hares of Jet Airways contin- ued to fall for the second day in a row, plummeting over 32 per cent on Thursday, a day after the ailing airline shuttered its operations temporarily. The scrip tanked 32.23 per cent to close at 163.90 on the BSE. Intra-day, it plunged 34.62 per cent to 158.10 that is 52-week low. On the National Stock Exchange, shares sank 31 per cent to close at 165.75 apiece. With lenders deciding not to extend any emergency funds, Jet Airways on Wednesday announced temporary suspen- sion of operations. In a state- ment early on Thursday, Jet Airways’ lenders said they were reasonably hopeful of a suc- cessful bidding process for stake sale. Meanwhile the officers and employees union of the grounded Jet Airways on Thursday sought Government intervention to avert a Kingfisher-like collapse of the carrier, which could not take off after halting operations tem- porarily in October 2012. Alleging some “motives” behind the series of develop- ments at the carrier, which eventually forced it to shutter services temporarily from Wednesday night, Jet Airways Officers & Staff Association president Kiran Pawaskar also demanded a probe, preferably by the national investigation agency CBI. “The situation is very bad for employees. As many as 16,000 permanent employees don’t have work today. I told the management that efforts should be made to resume operations as early as possible,” Pawaskar, who is also an NCP lawmaker, said asking why the airline did not clear employees dues before suspending services. Continued on Page 4 A major controversy has erupted after the Election Commission (EC) ordered sus- pension of a high-ranking poll official deputed to Odisha for checking Prime Minister Narendra Modi chopper in Sambalpur. As per the EC guidelines, SPG protectees are exempted from such inspection. However, the Congress and the AAP on Thursday said what Modi was carrying in his helicopter that he did not want India to see. “The poll body’s rules ‘do not exempt’ PM’s vehicle from being checked,” the Congress said. According to the EC, a 1996 batch Karnataka cadre IAS officer Mohammed Mohsin didn’t follow protocol for checking SPG protectees. Modi had visited Sambalpur to address an election rally on April 16. Recently, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s heli- copter was inspected by EC fly- ing squad in Rourkela. Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s chop- per was checked at Sambalpur. Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel took strong objec- tion to the EC action against poll official. “SPG protectees can’t be frisked personally. Why suspend an officer for checking PM’s chopper? What message is being sent? Law is special for some,” he tweeted. The party said in a tweet that an official was suspended by ECI for doing his job of inspecting vehicles. Continued on Page 4 T he Election Commission (EC) on Thursday let off Minority Affairs Minister and BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi with a light rap for his “Modiji ki sena” remark and “warned” him against using the armed forces for political pro- paganda. It also asked him to be “careful in the future”. Addressing a rally in Rampur on April 3, Naqvi had used the phrase “Modiji ki sena”. State election authorities had issued him a showcause notice, to which Naqvi had accepted the charge. The EC reminded the BJP leader of its March 19 instruc- tion asking politicians “to desist from using any reference to defence forces in their political campaign/propaganda”. Earlier, the EC had let Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath off hook with a warning for “Modi ki Sena” remarks. B angladeshi actor Ghazi Abdul Noor, who had attended a Trinamool Congress (TMC) rally in West Bengal in the alleged contravention of visa rules, has been asked to leave India immediately. Noor is the second Bangladeshi actor after Ferdous Ahmed to be served a “Leave India” notice. Noor was staying in India despite expiry of his visa. “Appropriate action is also being taken regarding his over- stay in contravention of visa rules,” a Home Ministry official said. Reports suggest that Noor campaigned for TMC’s Dumdum candidate Saugata Roy. The Centre on Tuesday had issued a “Leave India” notice to Ahmed and can- celled the business visa given to him for campaigning for a political party against the visa norms. Ahmed had attended a rally in support of the TMC candidate in Raiganj in West Bengal. The Home Ministry action came after it received a report from the Bureau of Immigration regarding visa violations committed by Noor. The BJP on Wednesday lodged a complaint with the Election Commission after a video sur- faced showing Noor purport- edly campaigning for Roy in the Dumdum constituency in alleged violation of the election model code of conduct. “This act is in violation of the terms of visa and yet anoth- er case of a foreigner actively influencing the electoral process. This is a gross violation of the basics of democratic structure,” BJP’s West Bengal vice-president Jay Prakash Majumdar said after filing a complaint with the EC. A mid continuing “flip-flop” over the pre-poll alliance for the Lok Sabha elections, the Congress on Thursday said there is almost no prospects of any tie-up with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). However, sources said the party may wait for any fresh move by the AAP till the announcement of the list of its Lok Sabha candidates in Delhi. As the alliance talks head- ed nowhere, AAP’s candidate from West Delhi Balbir Singh Jakhar filed his nomination papers. “They (AAP) had agreed for an alliance with us in Delhi alone on Wednesday night. On Thursday morning, they raised the full Statehood issue. I told them we are ready, full Statehood was in our manifesto for 2015(Assembly) election. But, later I received Sanjay Singh’s message that Kejriwal had said the alliance was not possible unless it covers Haryana also,” said PC Chacko, the All India Congress Committee in-charge of Delhi. Singh, AAP’s Rajya Sabha MP, was authorised by Kejriwal to take the alliance talks with the Congress forward. After Singh’s message, Chacko met Congress presi- dent Rahul Gandhi and apprised him of the develop- ment. “I told him about the flip- flop of the AAP leaders. Now, we will give a final touch to the list of our candidates in Delhi. It could be announced on Friday,” he said. In the evening, Chacko met Delhi Congress president Sheila Dikshit and other lead- ers to take a final call on the list of party candidates. The Congress had pro- posed a 4-3 formula for an alliance in Delhi, offering four seats to the AAP. It had opted for the Chandni Chowk, North West Delhi and the New Delhi seats for itself. The AAP, however, said if the alliance was limited only to Delhi, the Congress would have to contest in just two seats. I ndia on Thursday decided to suspend bilateral trade across the Line of Control (LoC) with Pakistan after NIA and Intelligence agencies found the routes were being “misused” to smuggle illegal weapons, drugs and fake currency. The Union Home Ministry’s order issued on Thursday said a stricter regu- latory and enforcement mech- anism is being worked out and the issue of the reopening the trade routes will be revisited once they are implemented. The Ministry order further stated that the action was taken on the basis of reports that the trade routes were being “mis- used by the Pakistan-based elements for funnelling illegal weapons, narcotics and fake currency, among others.” The LoC trade, at present, is conducted through two trade facilitation centres located at Salamabad in Uri of Baramulla district, and Chakkan-da-Bagh in Poonch district. This trade takes place four days a week and is based on barter system and zero-duty. “Meanwhile, a stricter reg- ulatory and enforcement mechanism is being worked out and will be put in place in consultation with various agen- cies. The issue of reopening of LoC trade will be revisited thereafter,” the Home Ministry said in the statement.

 · 2019-04-18 · should be made to resume operations as early as possible,” Pawaskar, who is also an NCP lawmaker, said asking why the airline did not clear employees dues …

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Page 1:  · 2019-04-18 · should be made to resume operations as early as possible,” Pawaskar, who is also an NCP lawmaker, said asking why the airline did not clear employees dues …

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The turnout for the secondphase of Lok Sabha election

on Thursday was about 1.5 percent less that that of the firstphase which saw 69.43 per centpolling. According to theElection Commission, the sec-ond phase turnout at 67.84 percent was 1.28 per cent lowerthan 69.12 per cent registeredin 2014. Sporadic violence wasreported from West Bengal,Chhattisgarh and Manipureven as EVM glitches werereported from some places.

The second phase of LokSabha elections was held for 95seats across 11 States andUnion Territory of Puducherry.With this, the poll process hasbeen completed in 14 Statesand Union Territories. In all,polling has been completed in186 Lok Sabha constituencies.

Tamil Nadu went to pollsfor 38 of 39 constituencieswith DMK’s A Raja andKanimozhi being the promi-nent candidates in the fray.BJP’s Hema Malini andCongress leader Raj Babbaramong others were among thenotables who contested on theeight seats that went to polls inUttar Pradesh. Former PrimeMinister and JD(S) patriarchHD Deve Gowda fromKarnataka and NationalConference chief FarooqAbdullah in Jammu & Kashmirtoo tested the ballot power.

Union Ministers JitendraSingh, Jual Oram, SadanandaGowda and Pon

Radhakrishnan were in thefray in the second of the seven-phased Lok Sabha poll whichwould conclude on May 19.

Voting picked up in thesecond phase by afternoonwhich was marred by an IEDblast by Naxals in Chhattisgarh,police firing in West Bengal on

stone pelters and EVM glitch-es at some places. CPI(M) can-didate from Raiganj Md Salimclaimed that his car wasattacked by unknown personswhen he went to a pollingbooth at Islampur in UttarDinajpur in West Bengal.

According to EC, UP reg-

istered 62.3 per cent polling,Assam 78.27 per cent, Bihar62.52 per cent, Chhattisgarh 71per cent , Karnataka 61.80 percent, Maharashrra 62 per cent,Manipur 74.69 per cent,Odisha 64 per cent,Puducherry 78 per cent, TamilNadu 72 per cent and West

Bengal 76 per cent. The first phase of polling

on April 11 included 91 con-stituencies, registering 69.43per cent of polling, three percent more than recorded in2014 general elections.

Besides Tamil Nadu, votingtook place in 14 seats in

Karnataka, 10 in Maharashtra,eight in Uttar Pradesh, five eachin Assam, Bihar and Odisha,three each in Chhattisgarh andWest Bengal, two in Jammu &Kashmir and one seat each inManipur and Puducherry.Elections were also held in 35Assembly constituencies ofOdisha and in 18 Assemblyseats in Tamil Nadu.

A total of 1,600 candidateswere in the electoral battle for95 seats which would be cru-cial for the BJP as for theOpposition to keep the tempoof the fight for the New Delhiwhich has still 357 Lok Sabhaseats to go to poll before thefinal verdict is announced onMay 23.

The AIADMK holds themaximum of 36 seats of the 95seats which witnessed pollingin 2nd phase, followed by theBJP with 27 seats. TheCongress had won 12 of theseseats in 2014, the Shiv Sena andthe BJD 4 each, the JD(S) andthe RJD two each and theAIUDF, the NCP, the JD(U),the PDP, the AINRC, the PMK,the CPM and the TMC oneseat each.

Electorally key State ofUttar Pradesh with 80 LS seatshas completed polling in 16seats of western UP.

Polling was conducted inSrinagar Parliamentary con-stituency of Jammu & Kashmirto decide the fate of 10 candi-dates, including NC presidentFarooq Abdullah who is seek-ing a re-election.

Security personnel have

been deployed in strength inand around polling stations inall three districts — Srinagar,Budgam and Ganderbal — ofthe constituency, officials said.The polling for Udhampur-Doda and Srinagar seatsrecorded 43.3 per cent at 5 pm.

Polling in Chhattisgarhwitnessed violence with anITBP jawan suffering minorinjuries after Naxals triggeredan IED blast in Rajnandgaondistrict.

Long queues were seen atpolling booths in Tamil Nadu,with Chief Minister KPalaniswami and DMK chiefMK Stalin among the early vot-ers.

Sporadic incidents of vio-lence were reported in someareas of Bengal. A reporter anda camera person of a local newschannel were allegedly man-handled when they went tocover polling at Kataphulbari inthe Raiganj constituency, theysaid.

Voters in Uttar Dinajpurdistrict’s Chopra under theRaiganj constituency report-edly put up a road blockade,complaining about the absenceof Central forces at the pollingstations, the sources said.

Police fired in the air andlobbed tear gas shells to controla mob, after stones were pelt-ed at them and bombs werehurled by unknown persons inChopra, a senior EC official inthe district said. At least threepersons were detained bypolice in this connection, hesaid.

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Shares of Jet Airways contin-ued to fall for the second day

in a row, plummeting over 32per cent on Thursday, a dayafter the ailing airline shutteredits operations temporarily. Thescrip tanked 32.23 per cent toclose at �163.90 on the BSE.Intra-day, it plunged 34.62 percent to �158.10 that is 52-weeklow. On the National StockExchange, shares sank 31 percent to close at �165.75 apiece.

With lenders deciding notto extend any emergency funds,Jet Airways on Wednesdayannounced temporary suspen-sion of operations. In a state-ment early on Thursday, JetAirways’ lenders said they werereasonably hopeful of a suc-cessful bidding process forstake sale.

Meanwhile the officers andemployees union of thegrounded Jet Airways onThursday sought Governmentintervention to avert aKingfisher-like collapse of thecarrier, which could not take off

after halting operations tem-porarily in October 2012.

Alleging some “motives”behind the series of develop-ments at the carrier, whicheventually forced it to shutterservices temporarily fromWednesday night, Jet AirwaysOfficers & Staff Associationpresident Kiran Pawaskar alsodemanded a probe, preferablyby the national investigationagency CBI.

“The situation is very badfor employees. As many as16,000 permanent employeesdon’t have work today. I toldthe management that effortsshould be made to resumeoperations as early as possible,”Pawaskar, who is also an NCPlawmaker, said asking why theairline did not clear employeesdues before suspending services.

Continued on Page 4

����� �,)�",�85

Amajor controversy haserupted after the Election

Commission (EC) ordered sus-pension of a high-ranking pollofficial deputed to Odisha forchecking Prime MinisterNarendra Modi chopper inSambalpur.

As per the EC guidelines,SPG protectees are exemptedfrom such inspection.However, the Congress andthe AAP on Thursday saidwhat Modi was carrying in hishelicopter that he did not wantIndia to see. “The poll body’srules ‘do not exempt’ PM’svehicle from being checked,”the Congress said.

According to the EC, a1996 batch Karnataka cadreIAS officer MohammedMohsin didn’t follow protocol

for checking SPG protectees.Modi had visited Sambalpur toaddress an election rally onApril 16.

Recently, Odisha ChiefMinister Naveen Patnaik’s heli-copter was inspected by EC fly-ing squad in Rourkela. UnionPetroleum MinisterDharmendra Pradhan’s chop-per was checked at Sambalpur.

Senior Congress leaderAhmed Patel took strong objec-tion to the EC action againstpoll official. “SPG protecteescan’t be frisked personally.Why suspend an officer forchecking PM’s chopper? Whatmessage is being sent? Law isspecial for some,” he tweeted.

The party said in a tweetthat an official was suspendedby ECI for doing his job ofinspecting vehicles.

Continued on Page 4

����� �,)�",�85

The Election Commission(EC) on Thursday let off

Minority Affairs Minister andBJP leader Mukhtar AbbasNaqvi with a light rap for his“Modiji ki sena” remark and“warned” him against using thearmed forces for political pro-paganda. It also asked him tobe “careful in the future”.

Addressing a rally inRampur on April 3, Naqvi hadused the phrase “Modiji kisena”. State election authoritieshad issued him a showcausenotice, to which Naqvi hadaccepted the charge.

The EC reminded the BJPleader of its March 19 instruc-tion asking politicians “to desistfrom using any reference todefence forces in their politicalcampaign/propaganda”. Earlier,the EC had let Uttar PradeshChief Minister Yogi Adityanathoff hook with a warning for“Modi ki Sena” remarks.

����� �,)�",�85

Bangladeshi actor GhaziAbdul Noor, who had

attended a Trinamool Congress(TMC) rally in West Bengal inthe alleged contravention ofvisa rules, has been asked toleave India immediately. Nooris the second Bangladeshi actorafter Ferdous Ahmed to beserved a “Leave India” notice.Noor was staying in Indiadespite expiry of his visa.

“Appropriate action is alsobeing taken regarding his over-stay in contravention of visarules,” a Home Ministry officialsaid. Reports suggest that Noorcampaigned for TMC’sDumdum candidate SaugataRoy. The Centre on Tuesdayhad issued a “Leave India”notice to Ahmed and can-celled the business visa given tohim for campaigning for apolitical party against the visa

norms. Ahmed had attended arally in support of the TMCcandidate in Raiganj in WestBengal.

The Home Ministry actioncame after it received a reportfrom the Bureau ofImmigration regarding visaviolations committed by Noor.The BJP on Wednesday lodgeda complaint with the ElectionCommission after a video sur-faced showing Noor purport-edly campaigning for Roy inthe Dumdum constituency inalleged violation of the electionmodel code of conduct.

“This act is in violation ofthe terms of visa and yet anoth-er case of a foreigner activelyinfluencing the electoralprocess. This is a gross violationof the basics of democraticstructure,” BJP’s West Bengalvice-president Jay PrakashMajumdar said after filing acomplaint with the EC.

���������� ������������ ������������� ��� ������������������������������ ����� ��������������������� ����� �������

���������������� �,)�",�85

Amid continuing “flip-flop”over the pre-poll alliance

for the Lok Sabha elections, theCongress on Thursday saidthere is almost no prospects ofany tie-up with the Aam AadmiParty (AAP). However, sourcessaid the party may wait for anyfresh move by the AAP till theannouncement of the list of itsLok Sabha candidates in Delhi.

As the alliance talks head-ed nowhere, AAP’s candidatefrom West Delhi Balbir SinghJakhar filed his nominationpapers.

“They (AAP) had agreedfor an alliance with us in Delhialone on Wednesday night.On Thursday morning, theyraised the full Statehood issue.I told them we are ready, fullStatehood was in our manifestofor 2015(Assembly) election.But, later I received Sanjay

Singh’s message that Kejriwalhad said the alliance was notpossible unless it coversHaryana also,” said PC Chacko,the All India CongressCommittee in-charge of Delhi.

Singh, AAP’s Rajya SabhaMP, was authorised by Kejriwalto take the alliance talks withthe Congress forward.

After Singh’s message,Chacko met Congress presi-dent Rahul Gandhi andapprised him of the develop-ment.

“I told him about the flip-flop of the AAP leaders. Now,we will give a final touch to thelist of our candidates in Delhi.It could be announced onFriday,” he said.

In the evening, Chackomet Delhi Congress presidentSheila Dikshit and other lead-ers to take a final call on the listof party candidates.

The Congress had pro-posed a 4-3 formula for analliance in Delhi, offering fourseats to the AAP. It had optedfor the Chandni Chowk, NorthWest Delhi and the New Delhiseats for itself.

The AAP, however, said ifthe alliance was limited only toDelhi, the Congress wouldhave to contest in just two seats.

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India on Thursday decided tosuspend bilateral trade across

the Line of Control (LoC) withPakistan after NIA andIntelligence agencies found theroutes were being “misused” tosmuggle illegal weapons, drugsand fake currency.

The Union HomeMinistry’s order issued onThursday said a stricter regu-latory and enforcement mech-anism is being worked out andthe issue of the reopening thetrade routes will be revisitedonce they are implemented.

The Ministry order furtherstated that the action was takenon the basis of reports that thetrade routes were being “mis-used by the Pakistan-basedelements for funnelling illegalweapons, narcotics and fakecurrency, among others.”

The LoC trade, at present,is conducted through two tradefacilitation centres located at

Salamabad in Uri of Baramulladistrict, and Chakkan-da-Baghin Poonch district. This tradetakes place four days a weekand is based on barter systemand zero-duty.

“Meanwhile, a stricter reg-ulatory and enforcementmechanism is being workedout and will be put in place inconsultation with various agen-cies. The issue of reopening ofLoC trade will be revisitedthereafter,” the Home Ministrysaid in the statement.

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ADelhi Court on Thursdaydismissed the plea of

Christian Michel, alleged mid-dleman arrested in theAgustaWestland chopper scamwho sought 7-day interim bail tocelebrate Easter with family, not-ing that he may tamper with evi-dence and abscond if released.

Special Judge ArvindKumar refused to grant therelief to Michel and said thereare serious allegations againsthim of grave economic offence.

"As per EnforcementDirectorate, investigation oncertain crucial aspects is stillgoing on and the accused hasclose link to many influentialpersons and accused may tam-per with evidence and mayabscond.

"Thus, considering theoverall facts and circumstances,I do not find new ground foradmitting the accused to inter-im bail. The application is dis-missed," the judge said.

The court also noted the

submission of the counselappearing for

Michel who told the courtthat there is no medical emer-gency and he is seeking interimbail for general medical checkup of accused.

"There is dispensary insidethe jail which takes care of themedical condition of theinmates and they are referred todifferent hospitals by jail author-ities as and when required. It isalso noted that the jail author-ities are admittedly allowingaccused legal interview with hislawyers, as per jail rules," thecourt noted.

Special Public ProsecutorDP Singh, appearing for the CBIand the ED, opposed Michel'splea saying that India is a coun-try of many festivals and thou-sands of prisoners have faith invarious religions.

The accused, therefore, can'tbe allowed to go out of jail tocelebrate festivals.

Singh said Michel can par-ticipate in Easter in the custody.

He further argued that if

Michel comes out on interimbail and makes some statementrelating to the case, it wouldderail investigation.

Michel's lawyer argued thatsince the charge sheet has beenfiled, there is no point of tam-pering evidence. He said theaccused is cooperating in thecase.

"Being a Christian, he wasnot even allowed to offer a holymass even during Christmas...,"said the application moved bythe accused.

"It is submitted that theweek commencing form 14thApril to 21st April is a holy weekfor Christians and 21st April isEaster which will be celebrateduniversally. The petitioner wish-es to attend the holy mass onEaster day and would like tomake offerings during theEaster day," Michel said in hisplea.

The EnforcementDirectorate filed a supplemen-tary charge sheet against Micheland others on April 4. He wasarrested by ED on December 22after his extradition from Dubai.

He is among the threealleged middlemen being

probed in the chopper scam byED and Central Bureau ofInvestigation. Guido Haschkeand Carlo Gerosa are the twoothers.

The agency had told thecourt that Michel made 24.25million euros and 1,60,96,245pounds from theAgustaWestland deal.

ED has told the court thatit identified Michel's propertiespurchased with proceeds of thecrime.

CBI has alleged that the dealsigned in February 2010 tosupply VVIP choppers, worth556.262 million euros, causedan estimated loss of 398.21 mil-lion euros (about Rs 2,666crore).

On January 1, 2014, Indiascrapped the contract with Italy-based Finmeccanica's Britishsubsidiary AgustaWestland forsupplying 12 AW-101 VVIPchoppers to the IAF over allegedbreach of contractual obliga-tions and charges of payingkickbacks.

The CBI on September 1,2017, had filed a charge sheet inthe case in which Michel wasnamed as one of the accused.

���������������� �,)�",�85

In a bid to save energy andelectricity, the Delhi metro

Rail Corporation (DMRC) willrun metro trains powered bythe solar energy as the DMRChas started receiving solarpower from the Rewa SolarPower Project from Thursday.On the first day, the corpora-tion received 27 Mega Watts(MW) power from the projectbased in Madhya Pradesh andthe same will gradually increase to 99 MW. Therewould be a huge savings to theDelhi Metro due to the 99MW as per unit cost ofpower will reduce from over�4.50 to �3.30.

Marking the beginning ofthis new arrangement, ManguSingh, the Managing Directoralong with Manu Srivastava,Chairperson, Rewa Ultra MegaSolar, Upendra Tripathi,Director General, InternationalSolar Alliance and other seniorofficials took a ride on a Metropowered by solar energy fromthe Jawaharlal Nehru StadiumStation to Central Secretariaton the violet line.

“The power received from

the Rewa will be utilized for theoperational as well as auxiliaryrequirements of the DelhiMetro. Till now, the DMRC hasgenerated solar power on itsown on the roof tops byinstalling plants installed and itused it for the auxiliary require-ments such as lighting and airconditioning of stations,depots,” said a DMRC official.

In 2017, the DMRC signeda power purchase agreement

with Madhya Pradesh PowerManagement Company to get 24 per cent of the electricity generated from 750Mega Watt Rewa Ultra MegaPower Project. The prestigioussolar park will start supplyingpower to the DMRC fromOctober.

Currently, the DMRC has28 MW of solar powers that hasbeen produced by on its own bysetting up solar plants and

panels in the rooftops of thestation, buildings, residentialcolonies and depots.

“Besides, power receivedfrom Rewa, the Delhi Metrogenerates about 28 MW ofsolar power through a numberof roof top solar power projectswhich have been installed onDelhi Metro’s stations, resi-dential colonies and depots.The Delhi Metro is a pioneer interms of creating solar powergeneration infrastructure inthe country today. Also, thisstep will help reduce pollutionbecause currently we use ther-mal powers that produce pol-luting substances,” said an offi-cial.

On an average about 345Million Units (MU) of powerwill be received from Rewa ina calendar year. In 2018-19,Delhi Metro consumed about1092 million units (MU) ofpower for its operations, saidthe official.

Rewa Ultra Mega Solar is asolar power plant in the Rewadistrict of Madhya Pradesh,with a total solar plant capac-ity of 750 MW. It is one of thelargest single-site solar powerplants in India and the world.

���������������� �,)�",�85

Think twice before you dareto raise your voice against

misbehaviour of Delhi Metrostaff as you may be abused andthreatened of serious conse-quences. In a similar incidenton April 15, a guard deployedby Delhi Metro RailCorporation (DMRC) outsidegate number 1 of AIIMS MetroStation, was seen abusing andmanhandling miserablepatients who were sitting thereto have some food.

Noticing this, The Pioneercorrespondent who happenedto be there, took up the issuewith station controller but sur-prisingly three more guards,along with station controllerappeared, on the scene andstarted threatening the com-plainant for raising the issue.

Thousands of people comein the national Capital for get-ting themselves treated anddue to financial inability theyuse footpath and vacant areasaround the hospital to spendnights. But these distressedpersons including patients usu-ally face the ire of authorities.“What is my mistake? My onlychild is suffering withunknown illness and treat-ment is going on. The doctorhas instructed us to stay heretill the disease is diagnosed andtreated. I am a rickshaw puller.How can I afford to stay otherthan roads,” said RamdayalMehto, a resident of Motihariin Bihar who was thrown awayalongwith his wife and childforcefully by DMRC staff a fewdays ago.

There are many like Mehtowho have experienced suchapathetic treatment by DMRCstaff from time to time but theauthorities have kept a blind

eye towards this malaise. What could be even worse

that once you take up the issuewith DMRC, you will be threat-ened of consequences? ThePioneer correspondent in hiswritten complaint to DMRCtop brass has highlighted theissue and flagged the boorishbehavior of the metro guards.

“I was standing at AIIMSmetro gate number 1 andnoticed a guard was abusingpatients. When interrupted,he (guard) said he wasdirected by Metro authoritiesto do so and justified hisbehaviour saying they under-stand abusive language only.

When the correspon-

dent approached Metro Stationpremises and brought it to thenotice of the CISF personnelsitting there, they suggestedhim to approach customer carecounter. “When I went to thecounter, a DMRC staff stoppedand directed to visit stationcontroller. Surprisingly they(guards) started misbehavingwith me saying either run awayor face consequences and thattoo in front of station controllerwith whom I reported the mat-ter,” he stated in his complaint.

The issue is never endingas patients are harassed at reg-ular intervals at AIIMS premis-es. Kamla Devi, a resident ofSampla Town in Haryana anda daily labourer who is under-going treatment at All IndiaInstitutes of Medical Science(AIIMS) was also sufferedhumiliation by metro guards. “Icame here alone and have noidea where should I go.

“I spend nights usuallyoutside AIIMS premises butthey (guards) removed us alland we came and slept at foot-path outside AIIMS but sud-denly at night staff of metrocame and started abusing usand removed us forcefully fromthere. We had no option exceptspending nights walking onroads, she said.

However, after receivingcomplaint, the DMRC scannedCCTV footage and suspendedthree guards. DMRCspokesperson said that the issue was being duly exam-ined and necessary action wasbeing taken.

���������������� �,)�",�85

Bureau of Police Researchand Development (BPR&D)

under the Ministry of HomeAffairs has conferred SunilKumar Gautam, SpecialCommissioner of Police(Operations) with “PanditGovind Ballabh Pant Award”for the year 2018-19 for his book“Samvidhan Kavya”(Constitution of India in Poeticform).

Apart from this, books offour other police officers fromacross the country who havealso written book have beenrewarded. The selection ofbooks was done in the meetingof the evaluation committeeunder the chairmanship ofSudip Lakhtakia, DirectorGeneral, BPR&D.

The book ‘SamvidhanKavya’ written by Sunil KumarGautam, presents the IndianConstitution in a very simpleand poetic form, which makesit intelligible even to the com-

mon man. EntireConstitution of India hasbeen written in 238 verses,also mentioning the numberof articles.

“This book was releasedby Dr Kiran Bedi, LieutenantGovernor, Puducherry onOctober 5, 2016 inPuducherry. At that time,Gautam was posted asDirector General of Police inPuducherry. This book isparticularly written for ordi-nary citizens and police per-sonnel as it presents the com-plex and lengthy Constitutionof India in a very simple man-ner,” said Anil Mittal,Additional Public RelationOfficer, Delhi Police.

���������������� �,)�",�85

To deal with incident relatedto “mob violence” and

“Noise Pollution” quickly DelhiPolice have launched two new24x7 helpline number 155270and 155271 in national Capital.These emergency helplines arebeing operated by Police ControlRoom.

According to Anil Mittal,Additional Public RelationOfficer (APRO), Delhi Police thefirst helpline number 155270 isavailable for receiving calls relat-ed to any incident of mob vio-lence.

“Any person aggrieved or awitness can report any such inci-dent to this 24 x 7 helpline num-ber. This helpline number isintroduced in compliance tothe directions of Apex Court

that a response system may beintroduced to deal with such actsand to curb the instances of lossof life and public as well as pri-vate properties during incidentsof mob violence,” said Mittal.

The second helpline num-ber 155271 is launched to receivecalls related to Noise Pollutionin Delhi. So that public can lodgecomplaints of sound pollutionlike DJ’s, loudspeakers, publicaddress system, sound ampli-fiers, generators of 5 KV ormore, construction equipmentslike marble cutting machineoperating between 10pm to6am,” said Mittal. “These helplines will remain operational24x7 and swift action would betaken by Police Control Room(PCR) vans and local police oncalls pertaining to Noise andmob violence,” said APRO.

�����9��� 28�@5���"

The Confederation of RWAs(CoRWA) a pan India

national apex body of RWAs andFlat Owners FederationGhaziabad, released All IndiaRWA’s Manifesto 2019. Colonel(retd) TPS Tyagi, the chairmansubmitted a copy to the munic-ipal commissioner GhaziabadDinesh Chandra on Thursdayand urged him to implementtheir demands.

CoRWA in the Manifesto

have demanded that theGovernment should give a con-stitutional recognition to RWAs.Giving a citation it states that inChina, the RWAs are calledResident Committees whichhave the power of adjudicationand maintenance of somemunicipal services, their budgetis compensated up to 30 % bythe Government. So the munic-ipal body should apply suchmodel in India. “As RWAs havebeen categorized as the BoothLevel Volunteers by the Chief

Election Commissioner, hencethey should be provided theVoter Lists at the District Leveland they should be allowed tosubmit Form 6 in bulk of theirrespective areas,” said Col Tyagi.

“The number of GazettedHolidays should be cut down toa maximum of 10 Days. Tax pay-ers should be given pension insome proportion of the tax paidby them. At least elementarymilitary training should be madecompulsory at High Schoollevel,” said Tyagi.

New Delhi: A 34-year-old manhas been arrested by DelhiPolice in connection with a2012 case in Dwarka in whichhe allegedly robbed a taxi dri-ver and fled the scene in thesame vehicle in Dwarka.

The accused, Mohit Kapoor,is a resident of Faridabad. Policesaid that he was absconding inthe robbery case registered atDwarka South police station.

According to Dr G RamGopal Naik, the DeputyCommissioner of Police (DCP),Crime Branch, in February2012, Kapoor, along with hisassociate, robbed the taxi driverof his belongings, including hismobile phone and purse con-taining driving licence and�1,500 in cash and later fled inthe same vehicle. SR

���������������� �,)�",�85

On the last day of filingnomination papers for the

post of Mayor and DeputyMayor and members ofStanding Committee, coun-cilors of all the three corpora-tions filed their nominations forthe posts.

In South Delhi MunicipalCorporation (SDMC), SunitaKangra filed papers for the postof the Mayor and Raj DuttGehlot for the post of DeputyMayor. Apart from this, threenominations filed for the mem-bership of Standing CommitteeNarendra Chawla, DrBhupendra Gupta and BKOberoi. The elections for theseposts will be held on Thursday.

The SDMC MayorNarendra Chawla leader ofhouse Kamaljeet Sehrawat,Deputy Mayor Satya Pal Malikand senior leader of BJPSubhash Arya and a number ofcouncilors were present at thetime of filing nominations.

Kangra represents wardnumber 1 Madipur (reserved)and Dutt represents Kakraula inSDMC. Kangra, a graduatefrom Delhi University, is a ded-icated worker of the saffronparty. She held senior respon-sible positions in the organisa-

tion as Secretary, Delhi BJPMahila Morcha etc.

While highlighting her pri-orities, Kangra expressed hercommitment to work withoutany discrimination for thedevelopment of all parts ofSDMC. “I will give priority toswachhata initiatives under“Rashtriya swachhata Abhiyan”promoted by Prime MinisterNarender Modi,” she said.

Meanwhile, In North DelhiMunicipal Corporation, AvtarSingh (BJP) who represent wardnumber 83 (Civil Lines) filednomination for Mayor andYogesh Verma (BJP) who rep-resent ward number 75 (AshokVihar) filed nomination for

Deputy Mayor. For the post of standing

committee nominations werealso filed by Adesh KumarGupta (BJP), Jai Prakash (BJP),Ravinder Bhardwaj (AamAadmi Party) and Prerna Singh(Congress).

A senior NMC official saidthat election for these posts willtake place on 29th April in themeeting of the civic body. Since,only one-one nomination hasbeen filed for the posts ofMayor and Deputy Mayor thereelection to these posts would beunanimous, he said.

While, in East DelhiMunicipal Corporation, nomi-nations were filed by Anju

Kamal Kant (BJP) for post ofmayor, Sanjay Goyal (BJP) forDeputy Mayor and Bipin BihariSingh (BJP), Ajay Sharma (BJP),Abdul Rahman (Aam AadmiParty) for members of standingcommittee.

Earlier, Delhi BharatiyaJanta Party (BJP) PresidentManoj Tiwari nominated thenames of three councilors - twowomen and a sikh hailing fromthe Dalit community for themayoral elections in threemunicipal corporations of thenational capital.

Expressing confidence,Delhi BJP general secretaryRajesh Bhatia said Avtar Singh,a mallah Sikh, representing theCivil Lines ward and nominated for the mayoral elec-tions will create history bybecoming mayor of the NorthDelhi Municipal Corporation(NDMC).

Bhatia said, “No Dalit Sikhhas ever become mayor ofDelhi’s civic bodies.”

The Delhi MunicipalCorporation Act provides forelection of mayor and deputymayor from among the coun-cillors of the corporations in thefirst meeting of the House everyyear.The mayors and deputymayors get a year-long term inthe cities of Union Territories.

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The office of the ChiefElectoral Officer (CEO)

has removed a total number of3,12,048 hoardings/-banners/posters installed acrossthe city since the model codeof conduct came into force onMarch 10 for the Lok SabhaElections 2019.

Out of these, 30,533 areremoved from New DelhiMunicipal Council, 43,075from East Delhi MunicipalCorporation, 2411 from DelhiCantonment Board, 1,30,699from South Delhi MunicipalCorporation, and 1,05,330from North Delhi MunicipalCorporation.

As per the informationshared by the Delhi CEO, theBharatiya Janata Party (BJP)and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP),has topped the list of violationsof the Model Code of Conductas the office of the ChiefElectoral Officer (CEO) hasfiled as many as 166 FirstInformation Reports (FIRs),out of which, 22 against BJP, 20are against AAP, eight againstCongress and one againstBhaujan Samaj Party (BSP)and one against SamajwadiParty (SP).

The remaining 84 areagainst the heads of variouspolitical and non-political par-ties.

The statistics surveillanceteam of Delhi’s chief electoraloffice constituted to keep aneye on the expenses of politi-cal parties, has seized�2,82,22850.

Till Date, 1361 bottles, 91Half, 139589 quarters of IndianMade Foreign Liquor (IMFL)and 949 bottles, 1161 Half,267806 quarters of Countryliquor and 6797 bottles beerwere seized. A total number of934 FIR’s have been registeredin Excise Act and 931 personsare arrested in Excise Act, saidthe official.

Further, a total of 337 FIR’shave been registered underArms Act, in which 379 per-sons are arrested and 1338.3431Kg. Narcotics/Drugs have beenseized .

“Till date cash of�2,82,22850/- has been seizedby SST/FST, 448 numbers ofunlicensed arms/weaponsseized and 2630 numbers ofcartridges/explosives/bombsseized. Whereas, 4582 licensedarms deposited, 72493 per-sons have been booked undervarious sections of

CRPC/Delhi Police Act, as pre-ventive action measures,”added the official.

The CEO office ahs further recorded about 28 casesagainst the violation in othercases (misuse of vehicles, violation of loudspeakers, illegal meetings and gratification ofelectors, etc).

Officials further added thatthey have received total number 1398 complaintsthrough the ‘C-Vigil’Application. “Out of the totalcomplaints received from thecitizens through the C-vigilApp, almost 90 percent i., 1006number of cases have beenfound correct,” they said.

The Lok Sabha polls inDelhi will held on May 12 andthe overall results will bedeclared on May 23.

There are over 1.4 crorevoters on Delhi’s electoral roll, out of which 2,04,420 arein the age group of 18-19,Singh had said, adding, out ofthe total electorate size of14,20,8,571, as many as 7817156 are male and6390679 are female, while 736belong to third gender. Thenumber of overseas electorsstands at 40.

���������������� �,)�",�85

Ahead of the general elec-tions, the Delhi Police have

intensified vigil to check sup-ply of illicit liquor in thenational Capital. In two sepa-rate incidents, the police haveseized a huge cache of liquor inNorth-East district and South-East district.

The police of South-EastDistrict seized a huge haul ofliquor and arrested two boot-leggers identified as, Shaktivel(42) and Annadarai (45) bothresident of Madrasi Camp, saidChinmoy Biswal, the DeputyCommissioner of Police(DCP), South-East districtadding that prior to theirarrested 413 cartons of liquorhave been recovered andseized.

“Following a tip off raidwas conducted at MadrasiCamp in Lajpat Nagar. Whenthe team reached near aban-doned railway quarters nearrailway line, four persons car-rying sacks on their back wereseen going towards MadrasiCamp. On seeing the policeparty, they all started running.However two of them werenabbed while the other twomanaged to flee away,” said theDCP.

While a 23-year-old boot-legger was arrested by thenortheast district police. The

accused has been identified as,Kailash a native of Badayun,UP and 33 Cartons containing1584 quarters of illicit liquorwas recovered from his pos-

session and seized.“On Wednesday, a patrol

team of New Usmanpur policestation received a tip off regard-ing illicit liquor following

which a raid was conducted atSharda Kuan third Pusta andKailash was nabbed, said AtulKumar Thakur, the DCP, Northeast district.

���������������� �,)�",�85

BJP National Secretary SardarRP Singh has demanded the

cancellation of mega ParentTeacher Meeting (PTM) beingcalled by the Deputy Chief Mi-nister of Delhi Manish Sisodiato be held on April 20, 2019.

Singh has filed a complaintwith Chief Electoral Officer(CEO) alleging that Sisodia willuse the PTM platform for thepublicity of Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) for general elections.

In his complaint to theCEO, Singh has written,“Deputy Chief Minister of DelhiManish Sisodia is trying toinfluence the Loksabha Elections2019 by holding the meeting ofthe parents of the childrenstudying in Delhi Governmentschools at the cost of publicmoney and it is also violation ofModel Code of Conduct.”

“The AAP leader hasformed a team to meet the par-ents whose basic work is to sug-gest the ways to improve theability of the students and theeducation system but contrary toit most of the members of teamare AAP workers who willappeal to the parents not to votefor BJP,” Singh said further.

����������������24;42;��

Former Haryana FinanceMinister and Congress

senior party leader in HaryanaCaptain (retd) Ajay Yadav onThursday filed his nomina-tion in the Gurugram con-stituency for the upcomingLok Sabha elections.

While Bharatiya JantaParty (BJP) candidate RaoInderjit Singh is expected to filehis nomination on Friday aftera rally at Vyapar Sadan on theMehrauli-Gurugram road.Indian National Lok Dal(INLD) and the Aam AadmiParty (AAP)-Jannayak JantaParty (JJP) alliance have notannounced their candidatesfrom Gurugram yet.

Randeep Singh Surjewalawas interacting with journalistsat a mini-secretariat inGurugram after the filing of the

nomination papers by theparty’s Gurugram Lok Sabhacandidate, Capt. Yadav.

He expressed the confi-dence that Capt. Yadav and therest of the Congress candidatesin Haryana will win.

He said the credit for mak-ing Gurugram the “MillenniumCity” went to the Congress. Ithad brought IT units andIndustrial hub in the district.Seeking to know the contribu-

tion of Haryana Chief MinisterManohar Lal Khattar and localMP Rao Inderjit Singh to thedevelopment of the city, he saidBJP transformed Gurugramfrom the Millennium city toworld’s most polluted city.

Despite the people ofGurugram contributing themaximum to the State exche-quer, the city lacked the basicfacilities such as roads, health,education and power supply, healleged.

Capt. Yadav said that theparty had reposed faith in him, and he would ensure thatthe Congress emerges as awinner. He claimed that he hadthe support of all the localCongress leaders and wouldemerge victorious in the elec-tion.

“BJP didn’t nothing inGurugram. On the contrary,they transformed the districtfrom the Millennium city to

world’s most polluted city. Wewill make Gurugram a trulysmart city. The city doesn’t havea good public university.Shifting of the Kherki DaulaToll Plaza is yet to be done.

The proposed AIIMS at Manethi in Rewari is only on papers. Meanwhile, Mewat doesn’t have a railwaytrack. We will change that,” saidYadav.

District election officerand Gurugram deputy com-missioner Amit Khatri saidthat the number of pollingbooths has increased from 1,113 in 2014 to 1,194 thistime. There were around 20.4lakh voters in Gurugram lastyear. After January 31, thenames of around 60,000 newvoters have been added to theelectoral roll, bringing up thetotal to around 21 lakh. Theconstituency had 18.43 lakhvoters in 2014.

���������������� �,)�",�85

Senior Delhi Bharatiya JantaParty (BJP) leader Vijender

Gupta on Thursday urged LtGovernor Anil Baijal to takecognizance of alleged changesin financial powers of the DelhiWaqf Board authorities.

Leader of Opposition,Gupta in the Delhi Assembly, charged that thechanges gave “ample” power tochairman and member of the panel in withdrawingmoney against the rules of theWaqf Act.

“The Revenue minister of

the Delhi government, KailashGahlot, has approved theappointment of any two fromamong the chairman, a mem-ber and the Chief ExecutiveOfficer (CEO), as authorisedsignatory of the Delhi WaqfBoard,” he said.

“This is unauthorized andillegal action. It bypasses theexisting practice of mandatorysignature of the CEO and givesample powers to the chairmanand member to withdraw anyamount of money,” Guptaalleged.

The minister’s reaction onthe allegation was not imme-

diately available. Gupta said thepowers and functions of thestate government are vested inLt Governor.

“He (LG) must, therefore,exercise his powers to forestallthe move as it is in violation ofDelhi Government’s order ofJune 3, 2015 which says that theCEO will be continued one ofthe mandatory signatory tooperate the bank account of theBoard,” Gupta said.

He claimed in a new order,the provision of CEO beingmandatory signatory has beendone away with in violation ofthe Waqf Board rules.

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Days after alliance betweenAam Aadmi Party (AAP)

and Jannayak Janta Party (JJP),the duo party on Thursdayannounced that AAP inHaryana will field its candidatefrom Ambala, Karnal andFaridabad. Meanwhile, onThursday JJP announcednames of its candidatesBhiwani-Mahendragarh, Sirsa,Rohtak and Hisar seats.

AAP and the JannayakJanata Party (JJP) have formedan alliance in the State and theywill fight the Lok Sabha elec-tions on three and seven seatsrespectively.

JJP founder DushyantChautala said he will seek re-election from Hisar, whilePradeep Deswala will be theparty’s candidate from Rohtak.Nirmal Singh Malhadi will con-test from Sirsa and Swati Yadavfrom Bhiwani-Mahendragarh,he said.

The AAP will field candi-dates from Ambala, Karnal andFaridabad and their nameswould be announced soon,senior leader Gopal Rai said.

The Arvind Kejriwal-led

party has said there will be noalliance with the Congress inHaryana after the grand oldparty refused to have a tie-upsin any other state apart fromDelhi.

Chautala said there is noquestion of an alliance with theCongress in Haryana as it isagainst their ideology. “Fromday one, we had clarified that wecould not join hands with theCongress whose hollow andcorrupt policies affected thecountry.

“I want to clarify that thereis no question of forming analliance with the Congress andwe have held no talks with theCongress in this matter,” he said.

The JJP was launched byformer Hrayana chief ministerOm Prakash Chautala’s grand-son Dushyant Chautala, fol-lowing a power struggle in thestate’s main opposition INLDlast year.

Dushyant, who was theyoungest MP at the age of 26, isthe great-grandson of formerdeputy prime minister late DeviLal. His grandfather OmPrakash and father AjayChautala were convicted in ateachers recruitment scam.

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With the launch of latestreport on Anti-Satellite

(ASAT), BJP think tank PublicPolicy Research (PPRC) is aim-ing to attract new age voters inurban pockets of the nation.

According to BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP) leaders, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’s ralliesare gaining momentum on“Nationalism” talks across India.Launching the monologue Thisis how BJP walks the talk, titled“Anti- Satellite Weapons andIndia’s Mission Shakti”, said aBJP leader citing how the partyhas set a target to attract 1.9 firsttime young voters this time.

“In our analysis, we have

found that people are partici-pating in PM Modi’s ralliesbecause PM speaks aboutachievements in Defence sectors, be it related to Pulwama orretaliation in Balakot or suc-cessful launch of ASAT, thenew India is different. Poeples’participation in the rallies beingaddressed by the Prime MinisterNarendra Modi has increased by2.4 times as he speaks onNationalism which has estab-lished a chord with the masses’,said a senior BJP leader who ispart of the party think tank.

Citing India’s achievementson space weaponization, BJPleader Dr Sumeet Bhasin saidthat India has more than 50operational satellites with 19

Earth Observation Satellites inLow Earth Orbit. “This mono-graph is also released withdetailed information on India’sMISSION SHAKTI - launch ofIndia’s first anti-satellite missilesystem. The report gives a lucidexplanation of the significanceof the ASAT missile in thedefence regime of India,” saidBhasin, adding, “Demonstrationof our ASAT capability, placedour nation at the high table of

space powers and also providesnew aspect to the deterrencematrix. Now India can influenceinternational cooperation ofpeaceful use of ASAT capabili-ties.” Releasing another mono-logue on economic domain, DrBhasin along with hisresearchers, mentioned that inthe economic domain, it wasfound that BJP rid the nationfrom corruption and blackmoney. “While some initiativestackled corruption, likeGovernment e Marketplaceplace which received over 24,211crore worth orders, and99.54percent of income taxreturns were processed auto-matically with zero human inter-face. Other initiatives like

demonetisation and insolvencycode worked effectively to cleanthe economy of black money,”said Dr Bhasin. Commentingon Jobs, he also said further thegovernment has been successfulin creating over 15 million jobsper annum based on data fromsources like ESIC, EPFO, NPSand Atal Pension Yojana. Inaddition game-changing mea-sures like GST, reining in infla-tion, and focus on both socialand physical infrastructure havebeen successful in boosting theeconomy, Bhasin added. “Dem-onstration of our ASAT capa-bility, placed our nation at thehigh table of space powers andalso provides new aspect to thedeterrence matrix.

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As talks about alliance withCongress yielded no results

yet, 45-year-old Balbir SinghJakhar, the Aam Aadmi Party’scandidate from the West Delhiseat, the last of seven candidatesannounced by the party forDelhi Lok Sabha elections onThursday, filed his nominationin national Capital.

Meanwhile, Jakhar’s affi-davit was found to be incom-plete by district election officerThursday, which sent himnotices. He has declared mov-able and immovable assetsworth over Rs 3.28 crore.

An advocate, Jakhar, hasshown an income of Rs9,78,458 in his last year’sincome tax return, while hiswife, Anju Jakhar, a governmentservant, has shown an incomeof Rs 15,23,293 during thesame period, according to theaffidavit. He has declared mov-able assets worth Rs1,85,25,444.05 which includedeposits and cash possessed by

him, his wife and his depen-dents. The AAP candidate hasimmovable assets worth Rs1,22,50,000, including an inher-ited agricultural land inMitraun village here worth Rsone crore, the affidavit said.

Jakhar has also filed anincome tax return of Rs2,58,243 as part of HinduUnidivided Family (HUF) ben-eficiary, it said. He has nocriminal cases pending againsthim, the affidavit said. Jakhar,who completed his LLB fromChaudhary Charan SinghUniversity in Meerut, has lia-bilities of Rs 41,61,197.85 whichinclude car loans and loansfrom private entities and indi-viduals.

His affidavit, however, wasfound to be incomplete by thedistrict election officer of westdistrict who stated that the rowon Government tax dues wasmissing. Senior AAP leadersand hundreds of supporters helda road show along with Jakharbefore filing the nomination inwest Delhi appealing to peopleto vote for the AAP to take upthe demand of full statehood forthe national Capital. Senior partyleaders Manish Sisodia andGopal Rai were present when

Balbir Singh Jakhar filed hisnomination papers at the DistrictMagistrate’s office in RajaGarden. Addressing the public,party state convener said “Wehave started campaigning onthe issue of full statehood inDelhi. The party has finishedthe first round of campaigning

and mass contact campaignhas been launched from April10 that will be ended on April20,” Rai further said that theparty candidate has started fil-ing their nomination fromtoday along with campaigning.“On April 20, three of our can-didates from Chandni Chowk,

East Delhi and North West seatwill file nominations, he said,adding that the rest of threecandidates South, North eastand New Delhi will file theirnominations on April 22nd.

“We are contesting thiselection with support of publicand believe that public will

support the party to speed upthe development work in thecity and to get the full state-hood.

“You voted for BJP in 2014but their MPs have not doneany work for development ofthe city. The BJP promisedstatehood for Delhi and did notsay even a single word inParliament about the issue,”Rai said.6 The ruling AAP hadearlier on March 2, announcedthe names of its candidates forthe six Lok Sabha seats. TheAAP had declared its seventhcandidate for West Delhi LokSabha seats on Sunday. Theparty ‘ ‘insiders said thename of Balbir Singh Jhakharwas announced after the recal-citrant attitude of the Congressleadership towards forging analliance in the National Capital.

The other six AAP candi-dates are Atishi from EastDelhi, Guggan Singh fromNorth-West Delhi, RaghavChadha from South, DilipPandey from North-East,Pankaj Gupta from ChandniChowk and Brijesh Goyal willcontest from New Delhi seats.The BJP and Congress have notyet declared their candidates forelections in Delhi.

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Two Naxals, allegedlyinvolved in the killing of a

BJP MLA and four securitypersonnel, were gunned downin a fierce encounter withpolice on Thursday inChhattisgarh’s Dantewada dis-trict, officials said.

Another rebel was injuredin the skirmish that took placearound 5.30 am at a forest inDaulikarka village when a teamof the District Reserve Guard(DRG) was out on an anti-Naxaloperation, Deputy InspectorGeneral (anti-Naxal operations)Sundarraj P told PTI.

When the patrolling teamwas advancing throughDaulikarka, located around450 km from the state capitalRaipur, an exchange of firebroke out between the twosides, he said. “After the gunsfell silent, bodies of two ultrasand a .315 bore gun wererecovered from the spot,” hesaid. A militia member ofMaoists was also found injuredat the spot and was shifted toa local hospital, he said.

The killed cadres, identifiedas Vargese and Linga, wereallegedly involved in the ambushin which Mandavi and his foursecurity personnel were killed onApril 9, Superintendent of PoliceAbhishek Pallava said. TheMLA’s convoy was headingtowards Kuwakonda fromBacheli area when the Naxalitesblew up their vehicle with anIED and opened fire at theoccupants.

Vargese, a member of the

Malangir Area Committee ofMaoists, was looking afterworking of the banned outfit’sstudents’ wing in the area, theDIG said. He was also said tobe having an expertise inassembling and planting IEDs,he said. Besides, Linga wasactive as LOS (local organisationsquad) member in theKatekalyan Area Committee ofMaoists, he said, adding a searchoperation was still underway inthe region.

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Bhopal: The ElectionCommission (EC) on Thursdaybanned the Madhya PradeshCongress Committee’s audioand video poll campaign whichuses the phrase ‘chowkidarchor hai’ following objectionsfrom the BJP. The Congresssaid it would request the EC toreview its decision, as the cam-paign did not name any person.

As per an EC spokesperson,State’s Joint Chief ElectoralOfficer Rajesh Kaul’s order saidthat the campaign, titled‘chowkidar chor hai’, was beingbanned as the EC’s media cer-tification and scrutiny commit-tee decided to revoke the per-mission granted to it on April 5.

The BJP had complained tothe poll authorities that thecampaign used objectionablelanguage against ‘chowkidar’,which referred to PrimeMinister Narendra Modi.

Congress president RahulGandhi has been using thephrase ‘chowkidar chor hai’(the watchman is thief) to tar-get Modi over the Rafale fight-er aircraft deal. Modi, earlier,had termed himself as nation’s‘chowkidar’ or watchman.

The BJP’s complaint alsostated that the Supreme Courtis hearing a petition againstGandhi in this regard.

BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhilast week filed a criminal con-tempt petition in the apexcourt against Gandhi for usingthe phrase ‘chowkidar chorhai’ against Modi, pleadingthat he misinterpreted the SC’srecent order on the Rafale row.The court asked Gandhi to givean explanation by April 22.

State BJP vice presidentVijesh Lunawat said Gandhiwas using “abusive” wordsagainst the prime minister.

“He was incorrectly citingthe SC verdict while levellingthis allegation (‘chowkidar chorhai’). We told the EC that theSupreme Court had not saidanything of this kind,” he said.

State Congress’ media cellchairperson Shobha Oza toldPTI that her party would seeka review of the order. “The ECgave approval to this cam-paign and later withdrew thepermission which is unfortu-nate. Our delegation will meetEC officials Thursday evening,”she said. PTI

Takhatpur: Taking a dig at thegrand alliance of oppositionparties, BJP president AmitShah on Thursday said therewill a new prime ministereveryday of the week if such a“mahamilawat” or “highlyadulterated” Governmentcomes to power at the Centre.

Addressing an electionrally here in Bilaspur district,Shah said Prime MinisterNarendra Modi is the onlyleader in the country who cangive a befittingreply to Pakistanfor its anti-India actions.

“There are two campsclearly visible in this election —one NDA and its allies led byPrime Minister Narendra Modiwhich is united and then thereis mahamilawat (highly adul-terated) gathbandhan of RahulBaba and company,” he said.

“When I asked them that ifby mistake their alliance getselected, who will be your PrimeMinisterial candidate...? silenceis the only answer I get.

“One of my party workerssent me a message onWhatsApp about their plan-ning if they get elected. That is,on Monday Sharad Pawar willbe the PM, while on Tuesday itwill be Mayawati. “OnWednesday it would be

Akhilesh Yadav, Deve Gowdaon Thursday, Stalin on Fridayand Mamata Didi on Saturdaywhile on Sunday the countrywill be on leave,” he said,mocking the anti-BJP alliance.

That is the reason why peo-ple shout slogans of ̀ Modi Modi’as they know only he can providea strong and stable leadership,the BJP chief added. Work doneby the Modi government in thelast five years has changed thelives of 50 crore people in thecountry, he added. Hailing the airstrike on a terror camp at Balakotin Pakistan in February, Shahsaid the government under Modihas safeguarded India’s borders

and he is the only one who cangive a befitting reply to theneighbouring country.

“The Narendra Modi gov-ernment has done the biggestwork of securing our borders.During the 10 years of SoniaGandhi and Manmohan Singh-led UPA rule, Aliya, Maliya,Jamaliya anybody (terrorists)entered our borders andchopped off heads of ourjawans and insulted them.“When the Pulwama terrorattack occurred, there wasanger among people in thecountry. Pakistan had deployedtanks on its border fearinganother surgical strike. PTI

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The BJP on Thursday accused theRJD of promoting dynasty and

using politics for personal “enjoyment”after Tejashwi Yadav questioned PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’s OBC cre-dentials. BJP general secretaryBhupendra Yadav accused TejashwiYadav, son of Rashtriya Janata Dal pres-ident Lalu Prasad, of posting “arrogant,graceless and childish” tweets on the“advice” of Congress president

Rahul Gandhi, whom he dubbed asthe Bihar leader’s “friend, philosopherand guide”. The sharp attack from theBJP leader, who is also the party’s in-charge for Bihar affairs, came after thestate’s former deputy chief ministerposted tweets, alleging that Modi’sOBC’s credentials are “fake” and he haddone nothing for backward castes.

Modi’s caste is categorised under theOther Backward Class (OBC) category.Attacking the RJD, which draws its sup-port from sections of OBC, especiallyYadavs, Bhupendra Yadav said it had“betrayed” the cause of social justice ide-ologue Ram Manohar Lohia and chal-lenged Tejashwi Yadav for a debate.

People of Bihar have rejected theRJD during the ongoing Lok Sabha elec-tion and will put a full stop to its poli-tics when votes are counted on May 23,he said. Taking a swipe at Tejashwi Yadavand his elder brother Tej Pratap Yadav,who has often voiced his anger at hisparty’s decisions, the BJP leader said theyhave been doing a drama. There is rebel-lion within the RJD against its candidatesat every seat, he said.

Tejaswi had earlier tweeted:“Narendra Modi ji is a fake backward.From birth till 55 years of age, he wasupper class, suddenly one day hebecame backward. The true and realbackwards are not liars, artificial, adul-terated, decorative and ornamental. Doyou consider backwards as stupid,Gujarati sir? What have you done forbackwards, upper-class sir?”

From Page 1“The rule cited governs the

use of official vehicles for cam-paigning. It does not exemptPM’s vehicle from beingsearched,” the party said in atweet. “What is Modi carryingin the helicopter that he doesn’twant India to see,” it asked. TheAam Aadmi Party (AAP) alsotook a jibe at Modi in a tweet.

“Suspension of the officerwho checked PM’s helicopter.The chowkidar lives in his ownprotected shell! Is the Chowkidartrying to hide something,” itasked. As per reports, the pollpanel had asked for a report fromthe District Collector and theDeputy Inspector General ofPolice after the incident.

The EC took the actionagainst Mohsin, the generalobserver of Sambalpur, on thebasis of a report submitted by theDistrict Collector and theDeputy Inspector General ofpolice. Modi was learnt to havebeen held up at Sambalpur fornearly 15 minutes because ofMohsin’s “actions”. “Checking ofthe Prime Minister’s chopper,undertaken at Sambalpur, wasnot in accordance with the ECguidelines as SPG protectees areexempt from such checking,” saidan EC official.

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Two-time Olympic medalist wrestlerSushil Kumar on Thursday launched the

Central Secretariat Services Officers Society’sCSSOS Officers Club.

The launch of Officers’ Club is likely toconsolidate demands of the officers’ societyfrom its housing partner. Accompanied withthe promise of high-end Hospitality serviceswith state of the art facilities, the club isbound to attract a renewed interest from thecivil society members.

CSSOS was founded by the members ofcivil society as a non-profit Welfare Societymanaged by working Central/ State GovtOfficers towards the construction anddevelopment of affordable housing, clubs,

and schools for working and retired officialsof Central/State Government, PSUs andBanks. It has, of late, been trying to expandits appeal among the youth and elders alike.And their recent association has beenexplicitly indicative.

After signing Sushil Kumar as theirbrand ambassador last month, CSSOS hasalso brought on well-known singer andmusician Guru Randhawa on board as brandambassador and Face of Officers Club.

The move was aimed at spreading theorganisation’s reach among the millennials.The move to associate young faces can beseen as an effort to make the organisationyounger and expand its reach. Not to men-tion that both the Brand Ambassadors areCSSOS’s esteemed members.

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From Page 1The bank consortium had

rejected the airline’s appeal for�983 crore lifeline, of which�240 alone were to be used todisburse the pending salaries,Pawaskar added.

Some loaders of the airlinehave pledged ornaments oftheir wives, some engineers

have sold vehicles and manyhave defaulted on their month-ly payments. They are among

the 22,000-odd employees ofthe now wingless Jet Airways.

As hundreds of employees,

highly-skilled as well as semi-skilled, assembled for a “silentappeal” in the national capitalon Thursday afternoon, hopewas in the air despite an uncer-tain tomorrow.

From being clueless onhow to find money for theirchildren’s school and collegefees, to paying rent for theiraccommodations, staff arelooking for answers and formost, the answers lie in imme-diate funding from lenders.

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An estimated 61.84 per centvoter turnout was report-

ed for 14 Lok Sabha seats ofKarnataka for which polls wereheld in the first phase onThursday with a direct contestbetween the Congress-JD(S)alliance and the BJP.

Dakshina Kannada record-ed the highest turnout of about72.97 per cent, while the lowestwas reported in BangaloreCentral with 45.34 per cent, pollofficials said. In other con-stituencies of city that has thehistory of low voter turnout,Bangalore North recorded 48.19per cent, Bengaluru South 49.36per cent and Bangalore Rural58.39 per cent.

In Mandya where ChiefMinister HD Kumaraswamy’sson Nikhil is pitted against

multi-lingual actress SumalathaAmbareesh in what is per-ceived to be a cliff-hanger con-test, the voter turnout was70.23 per cent.

In Tumkur where formerPrime Minister HD DeveGowda is locked in a toughcontest with GS Basavaraj ofthe BJP, 70.28 per cent turn outwas reported. Hassan whereGowda’s other grandsonPrajwal Revanna is contestingagainst A Manju of the BJP,reported 71.20 per cent.

Udupi-Chikmagalur hasrecorded 69.83 per cent,Chitradurga 61.75 per cent,Chamarajnagar 66.51 per cent,Chikkaballapur 69.33 per centand Kolar 69.99 per cent. Atotal of 2,67,51,893 voters wereeligible to exercise their fran-chise in the first phase with 241candidates in the fray.

Bengaluru: A large section ofthe Marwadi trader commu-nity of the city was in for a rudeshock as many found theirnames missing from the elec-toral roll when they turned upfor voting in the Lok Sabhaelections on Thursday andalleged it was a ‘conspircy’.

Upset over not being ableto vote in the first phase of LokSabha elections held for 14 con-stituencies, including three inthe city, several members of thecommunity said those whosenames were missing had exer-cised their franchise in theKarnataka Assembly electionsin May last year.

BJP alleged large scale ‘ille-gal’ deletion of voters namesfrom the electoral roll anddemanded a repoll after recti-fying it. In a complaint lodgedwith the state Chief ElectoralOfficer, the head of state legalhead of BJP M Vinod Kumarand senior counsel Vivek Reddyclaimed there was mass indis-criminate deletion of voters’names. The officials have pur-posefully and deliberately delet-ed without any reason just torender undue official favour tothe ruling coalition (Congress-JDS). Though the voters residedin the same address, purpose-fully their names had beendeleted,” it alleged. Sources in theCEO office said the complainthad been forwarded to theDistrict Electoral Officer ofBengaluru for necessary action.

“I am living in Nagarathpetfor the past 20 years and castmy vote in the 2018 assemblyelection but today when I wenttovote, I found my name miss-ing,” Jogaram, who belongs tothe traders community, toldPTI. PTI

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As many as 90 pollingbooths, mostly in down-

town city, saw no voting inThursday’s elections to theSrinagar Parliamentary seat,sources said.

The Srinagar constituencycomprising eight assembly seg-ments recorded zero turnout inas many as 50 polling booths.

The majority of thesebooths were located in Eidgah,Khanyar, Habba Kadal andBatmaloo, sources said.

Barring the Sonawar

assembly segment, where for-mer Chief Ministers FarooqAbdullah and Omar cast theirvotes, all other seven assemblyseats recorded a single digitvoting percentage with Eidgahat 3.3 per cent by the end of thepolling.

Sonawar recorded 12 percent polling. In the neigh-bouring Ganderbal district,which is a part of the Srinagarparliamentary seat, as many as27 polling booths recorded novotes at the end of the polling.

The same was the casewith 13 booths of Budgam,

which witnessed large scaleviolence in 2017 by-elections tothe Lok Sabha seat.

In Budgam area, Chadoorasaw the lowest turnout at 9.2per cent among the five assem-bly segments, while Chrar-e-Sharief recorded the highest at31.1 per cent.

The Srinagar constituencyhas 12,95,304 registered votersand 1,716 polling stations.

The National Conferencepatron Farooq Abdullah, whois the sitting MP from this constituency, is seekingreelection.

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Ahmedabad: No Pakistani sol-dier or civilian died in the airstrike on a terror camp atBalakot in Pakistan in February,External Affairs MinisterSushma Swaraj said onThursday. Addressing womenBJP workers here, she saidIndian military was given a “freehand” in the operation but wasclearly told that no Pakistanicivilian should be killed and alsothere be “not even a scratch” onthe Pakistani Army.

“Our armed forces weretold to target only Jaish-e-Mohammed which was behindthe Pulwama terror attack andthey did just that — destroyedtheir camp and returned,” thesenior BJP leader said.

The IAF had struck a Jaish-e-Mohammad terror trainingcamp in Pakistan on February26, in response to the February14 Pulwama attack in which 44CRPF personnel were killed.

Sushma said the air strikewas carried out in self- defence.“When we carried out the airstrike, we had told the inter-

national community that wetook the step only in self-defence,” she said.

She said the entire inter-national community support-ed India over the air strike.

Lauding Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, Sushma saidhe has emerged as a top inter-national leader who sets theagenda for the world.

On the 2008 Mumbai terrorattacks, Sushma said the thenUPA Government failed to takealong other countries to isolatePakistan despite the fact that 40persons belonging to 14 coun-tries were also killed in thestrike. Pakistan had objected tothe invitation extended to Indiafor a meet of the Organisation ofIslamic Cooperation (OIC) inAbu Dhabi last month, but thehost county UAE snubbedIslamabad, she said. PTI

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Soon, outlets selling medi-cines will be called as

“Pharmacy” instead of“Chemists and Druggist.” TheUnion Health Ministry ismulling such a proposal whichis in keeping with the interna-tional practice and provides asense of identity to the prac-ticing pharmacists in theseoutlets.

In contrast, the term‘Chemists and Druggists’ wascoined in 1945 and is quite oldand has lost relevance andalso, at present the word ‘drug’is looked upon as more clan-destine and as addiction forchemicals, hence does not suitto refer a professional phar-macist, said a senior officialfrom the Ministry.

“In order to give retailtrade a better professionalrecognition, the Union healthministry will soon amend Rule65(15)(b) and Rule 65(15)(c) ofDrugs and Cosmetics (D&C)Rules, to replace ‘Chemists &Druggists’ with ‘Pharmacy’.Once the amendment is done,all the medical shops in thecountry will be called asPharmacy,” said a senior officialfrom the Ministry.

The issue was deliberatedin the 55th Drug ConsultativeCommittee (DCC) meeting

held in February 2019 and itwas recommended to replacethe words ‘Chemists andDruggists’ with ‘Pharmacy’ inRule 65(15)(b) of the D&CRules, 1945, he added.

Accordingly, the proposalwas placed before the DrugTechnical Advisory Board(DTAB), a highest decisionmaking body on technicalissues related to drugs fordeliberation. “The DTAB dis-cussed the matter and agreed toamend Rule 65(15) of the D&CRules, 1945 to provide that alllicensees in Form 20 and Form21, they should display theword “Pharmacy”, explainedthe official.

As per Rule 65(15)(b) ofthe D&C Rules, the description“Chemists and Druggists” shallbe displayed by those licenseeswho employ the services of aregistered pharmacist but whodo not maintain a “Pharmacy”for compounding against pre-scriptions.

Similarly in Rule 65(15)(c)of the D&C Rules, the descrip-tion “Pharmacy”, “Pharmacist”,“Dispensing Chemist” or“Pharmaceutical Chemist” shallbe displayed by such licenseeswho employ the services of aregistered pharmacist andmaintain a “Pharmacy” forcompounding against pre-scription.

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Even as India is lookingtowards e-health as one of

the health solutions for thepeople in the remote areaswhere medical care is yet toreach, the World HealthOrganisation (WHO) has cau-tioned that in such healthsetups, consultations shouldbe conducted by qualifiedhealth workers and that the pri-vacy of an individual’s healthinformation is maintained.

In its newly released ‘firstguideline on digital healthinterventions’, the WHO has,nevertheless, recommendeddigital health technology, acces-sible via mobile phones, tabletsand computers, to improvepeople’s health and essentialservices, as an essential medi-um for achieving universalhealth coverage.

“Harnessing the power ofdigital technologies is essentialfor achieving universal healthcoverage,” said WHO Director-General Dr Tedros AdhanomGhebreyesus. “Ultimately, dig-ital technologies are not ends inthemselves; they are vital toolsto promote health, keep theworld safe, and serve the vul-nerable.”

Over the past two years,WHO systematically reviewedevidence on digital technolo-gies and consulted with expertsfrom around the world to pro-

duce recommendations onsome key ways such tools maybe used for maximum impacton health systems and people’shealth.

The WHO noted that onedigital intervention alreadyhaving positive effects in someareas is sending reminders topregnant women to attendantenatal care appointmentsand having children return forvaccinations. Other digitalapproaches reviewed includedecision-support tools to guidehealth workers as they providecare; and enabling individualsand health workers to com-municate and consult on healthissues from across differentlocations.

“The use of digital tech-nologies offers new opportu-nities to improve people’shealth,” added Dr SoumyaSwaminathan, Chief Scientist atWHO. However, there is aword of caution. “But the evi-dence also highlights chal-

lenges in the impact of someinterventions,” she said whileDr Garrett Mehl, WHO scien-tist in digital innovations andresearch warned that digitalinterventions, depend heavilyon the context and ensuringappropriate design.

The WHO also said thatpeople also must be assuredthat they are not being put atrisk because they have accessedinformation on sensitive healthtopics, such as sexual andreproductive health issues.

The guideline also recom-mends telemedicine, whichallows people living in remotelocations to obtain health ser-vices by using mobile phones,web portals, or other digitaltools. WHO also pointed outthat this is a valuable comple-ment to face-to-face-interac-tions, but it cannot replacethem entirely. It is also impor-tant that consultations are con-ducted by qualified healthworkers and that the privacy of

individuals’ health informa-tion is maintained.

The WHO guideline alsoemphasized on the importanceof reaching vulnerable popu-lations, and ensuring that dig-ital health does not endangerthem in any way.

India, on its part has comewith a draft legislation, theDigital Information Security inHealthcare Act (DISHA) whichintends to ensure the confi-dentiality and reliability of dig-ital health data by regulatinghow they are collected, stored,transmitted, and used.

Rohit MA, co-founderand Managing Director,Cloudnine Group of Hospitalstoo have a word of caution. Asper a report, he opined thatwhile Data protection andpatient privacy have been spo-ken and been disused at sever-al forums, India’s bloominghealthcare sector could becomea victim of its own success, ifit fails to ensure Data protec-tion to its patients.

Despite all challenges, thetechnology is all set to grow inhealthcare sector. “With Indiaas a market demanding betterhealthcare facilities, thetelemedicine industry, consid-ered to be a niche, is expectedto grow over 20 per cent andcross $32 million by 2020,” saysthe Associated Chambers ofCommerce and Industry ofIndia (ASSOCHAM).

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Father of a victim inMalegaon blast case and

Congress leader TehseenPoonawala wrote to the pollbody seeking to debar the can-didature of Sadhvi PragyaSingh Thakur from contestingthe Lok Sabha polls as she wasfacing terror charges. SadhviPragya is contesting againstCongress leader Digvijay Singhfrom Bhopal on BJP ticket.

Sadhvi Pragya facescharges in the 2008 Malegaonblast case, but charges againsther under Maharashtra Controlof Organised Crime Act(MCOCA) have been droppedby the National InvestigationAgency (NIA). She was grant-ed bail in 2017 on healthgrounds. She spent nearly nineyears in jail and is currently outon bail. Malegaon blast accusedSadhvi Pragya Singh Thakurjoined the BJP on April 18,2019.

The Opposition leaders arecriticising the saffron partyfor giving ticket to SadhviPragya. Meanwhile taking astrong exception to the BJPfielding her from Bhopal,National Conference (NC)’sOmar Abdullah on Thursdaysaid the BJP has given ticket toa candidate who is not only anaccused in a terror case but is

also out on bail on healthgrounds. Dubbing Thakur asan innocent person, BJPspokesperson GVL NarasimhaRao said she was tortured andits fight against the Congressconspiracy to defame Hindureligion by linking it to the ter-rorism. He alleged thatCongress president RahulGandhi had “masterminded”this conspiracy, claiming that itwas meant to appease a minor-ity community.

In a letter to the poll body,Poonawalla said theMaharashtra Anti-TerrorismSquad (ATS) had foundThakur to be the “principalconspirator” in the 2008Malegaon blast in which sixpeople were killed. Her namehas also cropped up in theAjmer Dargah blast case, hesaid.

“I would humbly requestthe Election Commission ofIndia to take further necessarysteps to uphold the ModelCode of Conduct 2019 and takeappropriate action againstSadhvi Pragya Singh Thakurand debar her from contestingelections,” the letter read.

Poonawalla further wrotein the letter, “Thakur is cur-rently facing charges underthe Unlawful Activities(Prevention) Act and alsostands accused of murder,

attempt to murder, criminalconspiracy, and of promotingenmity between differentgroups on ground of religion.That the court had observedthat Sadhvi Pragya SinghThakur had planned the con-spiracy with the aim to spread

terror and cause communalcrack in the society. The BJP isfielding a terror accused as acandidate in Bhopal.”

Her (Pragya’s) medicalreports which were submittedin Court exhibited said that sheis suffering from breast cancer

and is infirm, that she cannotwalk without support.Nonetheless, she is now con-testing elections.

This is clearly indicatedmisrepresentation and forgedground of her bail, (sic)” hiscomplaint reads.

Poonawala said on Twitterthat Pragya should not beallowed to contest polls on thesame grounds applicable toHardik Patel, who is an accusedin a rioting and arson case dur-ing the 2015 Patidar agitation.“ “If Hardik Patel can bebarred, even Sadhvi Pragyamust be prevented from con-testing. This is the duty of theElection Commission. We can-not have two rules. Moreover,by stating this is a dharamyudh, Sadhvi Pragya has vio-lated the MCC. She was grant-ed bail because she was unwell,”Poonawalla tweeted.

Another applicationagainst the Lok Sabha ticketgiven to Pragya was filed by thefather of a Malegaon blast vic-tim. In the application filed bythe victim’s father, he has ques-tioned Sadhvi Pragya’s candi-dature before the NIA court asshe was given bail on healthgrounds. Sadhvi Pragya facescharges in the Malegaon blastcase although charges underMCOCA have been droppedby NIA.

Saffron-clad Thakur (48),with her trademark short hairand sporting a rudraksh mala,became the face of right wingextremism after being arrestedby the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) in the2008 Malegaon blast case.

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Kerala Chief ElectoralOfficer has recommended

“appropriate action” againstBJP State chief PS SreedharanPillai for allegedly makinganti-Islam remarks during anelection campaign meeting inAttingal Lok Sabha con-stituency on April 14.

In his report to theElection Commission, KeralaChief Electoral Officer (CEO)Teeka Ram Meena said Pillaimade the remarks while coun-tering the comments ofCongress president RahulGandhi, CPI(M) general sec-retary Sitaram Yechury andChief Minister PinarayiVijayan on the number ofpeople killed during theBalakot air strike.

“Our Rahul Gandhi,Yechury, Pinarayi and all aresaying that, after getting there...The dead bodies... Whichcaste, which religion... If theyare Islam then there will be afew signs... If only you removethe dresses only then it can befound out... So after doing allthat, we should come back iswhat they say,” Pillai had said,according to Meena’s report tothe poll body.

Pillai made these remarksduring the poll campaignmeeting organised for BJPcandidate Sobha Surendran.

The CEO, in his reportdated April 16, said no per-mission was taken for the BJPmeeting and a complaint hasbeen registered in the Attingalpolice station inThiruvananthapuram district.

“It appears prima facie acase of violation of Section123(3A) and Section 125 of the

Representations of People Act,1951. Accordingly, appropriateaction may be taken in thematter,” Meena said in hisreport sent to Deputy ElectionCommissioner Sudeep Jain.

On Wednesday, the CEOhad informed the High Courtthat strong action would betaken against Pillai in the case.

A petition seeking a direc-tive to the ElectionCommission to take actionagainst Pillai was filed byCPI(M) leader V Sivankutty.

The court disposed of thepetition in the light of the sub-missions made by the ElectionCommission.

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Aman flung a shoe at BJPleaders addressing a Press

conference at the party’s head-quarters here on Thursdaywith Rajya Sabha member GVLNarasimha Rao narrowly miss-ing the hit.

The intention of the manfor throwing the shoe could notbe ascertained initially but thepolice, which let him go later inthe evening after sustainedinterrogation, said it was togain media attention. Theattacker was identified as a doc-

tor from Kanpur.The man was immediate-

ly bundled out by securityguards at the party office andhanded over to police.

At the time of the incident,BJP leaders Bhupendra Yadavand GVL Narsimha Rao wereaddressing the media with Raoattacking the Congress fordefaming Hindus by foisting“false cases” on Hindutvaactivists, including Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakurwho has been nominated asparty Lok Sabha candidatefrom Bhopal.

Several important politicalleaders domestically and inter-nationally have been targetedwith the shoe like formerFinance Minister PChidambaram who wasattacked by a journalist JarnailSingh who accused theCongress of playing a biased role in Sikh riot cases.

US President George Bushtoo was attacked with a shoewhen he was in Iraq. In fact, theattacker threw two shoes onBush but both missed theirmarks.

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The EnforcementDirectorate (ED) on

Thursday seized 145.89 kg ofgold jewellery worth �82.11crore after searches conduct-ed at multiple locations includ-ing office-cum-residence ofKailash Gupta, promoters ofMusaddilal Jewellers Pvt Ltd(MJPL) at Hyderabad, thefirm’s showroom at Vijaywadaand other locations.

Besides MJPL , the agencyalso searched the residentialand business premises ofPavan Agarwal (Partner BalajiGold), residence of Neel sun-der Tharad (Proprietor ofAshta Lakshmi Gold), office ofChartered Accountant, SanjaySarda in ongoing investigationunder the provisions of

Prevention of MoneyLaundering Act, 2002 (PMLA)in a demonetisation case.

ED initiated investigationunder PMLA on the basis ofFIR registered by TelanganaPolice on the basis of com-plaint filed by Income TaxDepartment against KailashGupta, his sons and their com-panies MJPL and VaishnaviBullion Ltd. for conspiringwith certain bullion dealers,chartered accountants andclose relatives by blatantlymisusing the scheme ofdemonetisation by illegallydepositing huge amounts ofunaccounted demonetisedcash in their accounts, the EDsaid.

For this purpose theyfraudulently created around5,200 back dated fabricated

advance sale receipts datedNovember, 2016, each for anamount less than �2 lakh toavoid furnishing PAN details.

During the course ofinvestigation, it was revealedthat immediately afterannouncement of demoneti-sation scheme, the accusedhad illegally deposited �110.85crores in their bank accountsfalsely claiming that within afew hours they had receivedadvances of less than �2 lakheach from more than 5,200customers, on the night ofNovember 8, 2016, for pur-chase of gold/jewellery fromtheir firms.

All these invoices werefound to be bogus. Further,analysis of CCTV footages oftheir offices and that of theneighbourhood revealed that

no such activity of purchase ofgold was carried out duringthat period.

It is further revealed thatthose more than 5,200 invoic-es dated November 8, 2016were fraudulently raised on alater date.

Investigation under PMLArevealed that illegally deposit-ed unaccounted cash to thetune of �110.85 crores in thebank accounts of the accusedand their companies and sub-sequently � 80 crores (approx)was transferred to the bankaccounts of various GoldBullion dealers like AshtaLakshmi Gold, Shri BalajiGold among others in theguise of purchase of gold. Theaccused have admitted thatthey had created fake saleinvoices.

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In a historic verdict, theSupreme Court has given a

ray of hope to people on deathrow who develop “severe men-tal illness” post-conviction,saying their health conditionwould now be a “mitigating”factor for appellate courts forsparing them from the gallows.

An accused could till nowtake the plea of “legal insanity”under the Indian Penal Code(IPC) to avoid criminal pros-ecution and the defence was“made relatable to the momentwhen the crime is committed”.

A three-judge Bench head-ed by Justice NV Ramanaspared a condemned prisoner,who has not been identified in

the verdict owing to his men-tal condition.

He was given death penal-ty in a barbaric rape and mur-der of two minor cousins inMaharashtra in 1999.

It, however, took note of“barbaric and brutal manner ofcommission of the crime” andawarded the jail term to theconvict for “remainder of hislife” with the direction to thegovernment to ensure propermental health care to him.

The Bench, also compris-ing Justices MMShantanagoudar and IndiraBanerjee, was faced with “com-plex questions” concerningrelationship between mental ill-ness and crime and as to how“culpability” of a convict can be

assessed if he develops mentalcondition after the court findshim guilty.

Delineating directions tobe followed by appellate courtson sentencing mentally-illaccused, the bench said: “Thepost-conviction severe mentalillness will be a mitigating fac-tor that the appellate Court, inappropriate cases, needs toconsider while sentencing anaccused to death penalty.

“The assessment of suchdisability should be conductedby a multi-disciplinary team ofqualified professionals (expe-rienced medical practitioners,criminologists etc), includingprofessional with expertise inaccused person’s particularmental illness.”

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Apetition in the SupremeCourt has sought a direc-

tion that misquoting judicialorders for electoral gains bycandidates and political officebearers be declared a corruptpractice under theRepresentation of the PeopleAct. It has also sought a direc-tion that the ElectionCommission of \India (ECI)should have power to refercomplaints against them forseeking vote on the basis of reli-gion, race, caste, community orlanguage to appropriate inves-tigation agencies.

“Direct and declare theElection Commission of Indiahas the power to reject thenomination of contesting can-didates and de-register thepolitical parties for seekingvote on the basis of religion,race, caste, community or lan-guage,” said the plea, filed byBJP leader and advocateAshwini Kumar Upadhyay.

Besides the Centre, thepetition has arrayed the ECI asa party.

Upadhyay has referred to arecent statement given byCongress President RahulGandhi on apex court’s order inthe Rafale fighter jets case.

He has also referred to

another recent statement givenby BSP supremo Mayawati inwhich she had allegedly askedMuslim voters to vote for can-didates of alliance partners —SP, BSP and RLD — in UttarPradesh.

The plea said that underthe Representation of thePeople Act, appeal made ongrounds of religion, race, caste,community or language andpromoting feelings of enmitybetween different classes con-stitute corrupt practice but itcan be questioned only by wayof election petition and the ECIcannot order investigation evenwhen the Model Code ofConduct is in force.

“Ironically, these provi-sions will have application onlyduring period of election.Moreover, there is no provisionto challenge the corrupt prac-tice of candidate, who has lostthe election,” it said.

It said that in January 2010,the ECI had proposed that theAct should be amended tocurtail misuse of caste andreligion for electoral gain butthe government has done noth-ing in this regard till date.

The plea said the govern-ment has not taken steps toimplement recommendationsof the Law Commission’s 267threport on hate speech.

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Jammu: Several migrantKashmiri Pandits could notexercise their franchise as theirnames were found missingfrom the electoral roll at thespecial polling stations set upfor Srinagar constituency inJammu during the secondphase of Lok Sabha elections.

Miffed at it, they raised slo-gans against the administrationand the EC at several polling sta-tions. “We came to the pollingstation to cast our vote butfound our names missing fromthe electoral roll. It is a denial ofour right to vote,” said RadhaKrishen Bhat, a migrantKashmiri Pandit from theChadoora segment of SrinagarLok Sabha constituency.

Bhat said four members ofhis family could not vote andalleged that there was a con-spiracy to deny the migrantstheir right. Similarly, MintooMawa and four of his familymembers, who hail fromAmira Kadal segment, had toreturn without exercising theirfranchise. PTI

Imphal: Voting was stalled intwo polling booths of InnerManipur Lok Sabha constituen-cy. In one of the booths atKiyamgei Muslim Makha local-ity in Imphal East, unidentifiedmen stormed into a polling sta-tion around 11.30 am and brokeEVMs and VVPATs, claiming“proxy voting” was being carriedout. In another booth in samearea, scuffle broke out for derail-ing the voting process.

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Jammu & Kashmir onThursday saw 43.4 per cent

turnout — lowest in the secondphase of Lok Sabha polls.

Despite witnessing peace-ful electioneering in the run upto the second phase of pollingacross Srinagar Parliamentaryseat, from where NationalConference Chief, FarooqAbdullah, was seeking reelec-tion, less than 15 per cent vot-ers turned up at the pollingbooths amid tight securityarrangements on Thursday.

Former Chief MinisterOmar Abdullah accompaniedhis father Farooq to the pollingbooth in Srinagar and appealedto the voters to come out inlarge numbers to exercise theirright to franchise.

Out of three districts, falling

with in the high profile LokSabha constituency, Srinagarrecorded the lowest voter turnout of 7.9 per cent till 6.00 pmwhile Budgam recorded 17. 5per cent polling and Ganderbalrecorded highest voter turn outof 21.6 per cent voters.

Chief Electoral Officer,J&K Shailendra Kumar inSrinagar said, “The entirepolling process passed offpeacefully on two Lok Sabhaseats with the participation ofover 44 per cent electorate” . Hesaid, no major incident of vio-lence was reported during theentire polling day in the state.

Over 70 per cent voterscame out to cast their votes inUdhampur-Doda constituencyin a peaceful manner. Out offive Assembly seats in Kathuadistrict, Kathua Assembly seatrecorded 80 per cent turnout

while Billawar and HiranagarAssembly constituenciesrecorded over 73 and 76 percent voter turnout respectively.Udhampur district also record-ed over 72 per cent polling.

BJP’s sitting MP, DrJitendra Singh is locked in a

close contest withVikramaditya Singh, the jointcandidate of Congress andNational Conference from theseat. The three landlocked dis-tricts of Doda, Kishtwar andRamban too recorded over 60 per cent polling.

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Heads turned when 105-year-old Kabaibai Ganpati

Kamble on Thursday reacheda polling station to cast her votein the Lok Sabha elections inMaharashtra.

Seated on a wheelchair,Kabaibai was accompanied byher grown up children andother fourth-generation rela-tives to the polling station inHarangul New Colony in Latur.She was cheered by other voters who clapped for her.

Udhampur: A newly married couple, inwedding attire, reached a polling booth ofUdhampur parliamentary constituency hereon Thursday, underlining the importance ofexercising one’s franchise.

The couple reached the polling booth ina flower-decked sedan with groom SouravSharma sporting a headgear and a cream‘achkan’ over red churidars with his brideManisha, attired in a red ‘salwar-kameez’ anddonning gold jewellery.

Accompanied by friends and familymembers, the couple stepped into the boothhand-in-hand, surprising many standing inthe queue and exercised their franchise. Theyinstantly became a hit at the polling boothwith dozens of people and visiting journal-ists clicking their pictures. PTI

Chennai: They lined uppatiently to cast their votes inthe blazing sun, 156 inmates ofa mental health centre here,eager to participate in the elec-toral process as polling washeld in 38 Lok Sabha seats inTamil Nadu on Thursday.

The inmates, including 56women, exercised their fran-chise in a booth exclusively setup for them at the Institute ofMental Hospital (IMH),Kilpauk, probably the first timesuch patients are voting in thecountry.

The area comes underCentral Chennai constituencywhere the main fight is betweenformer Union Minister andDMK leader Dayanidhi Maran,Sam Paul of PMK under theAIADMK-BJP-PMK combine,

Kameela Nasser from MakkalNeedhi Maiam floated by actorKamal Haasan.

After casting his vote, a 37-year-old man, battling schizo-phrenia for the last seven years,said when he stood near theelectronic voting machine, hereminisced about the 2001assembly elections, the lasttime he voted.

“I felt special. I am veryhappy to vote,” he said. He wasall praise for students of a localcity college (Loyola College) andElection Commission officialsfor conducting awareness pro-grammes and mock polls on thehospital premises ahead of elec-tions. IMH Director P PoornaChandrika was elated over theexercise being conducted inthe hospital. PTI

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In an ominous sign a Statethat traditionally witnesses

80-plus percentage polling sawlittle above 70 per cent votersexercising their voting rightsindicating the remaining vastmajority of the electorate musthave stayed back home onaccount of pre-electoral threatsor simply out of disgust,pesphologists said.

Otherwise the polling onThursday was less violent com-pared to what it happens onnormal times in Bengal withonly one MP candidate beingattacked and his car shatteredby miscreants and “only in afew places” voters were stopped

from voting in the initial hoursleading to skirmishes leading several persons includ-ing a Bangla television jour-nalist injured.

Chopra a place in Raiganjconstituency adjoining Biharwitnessed sporadic violencebombing by alleged TrinamoolCongress miscreants whoreportedly stopped voters fromgoing to the booth.

Subsequent it needed aroad blockade by them for theElection Commission to wakeup and rush central forces tothe spot — after four longhours — by which time several persons including atele journalist was badlyclubbed.

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Nearly two years ago, whenSrinagar voted in a Lok

Sabha bypoll, Farooq AhmedDar was used as a ‘humanshield’ to ensure safe passagefor Army jawans as they cameunder intense stone-pelting,but now he finds himself post-ed on election duty.

“Farooq Ahmad Dar isworking on consolidated termsas sweeper in the HealthDepartment. He has been post-ed on election duty,” saidBudgam Chief Medical OfficerNazir Ahmad.

In 2017, a picture of Dartied to the bonnet of an armyjeep splashed across the front

pages of newspaper, invokingsharp but divided reactions.

Investigations later foundhe was on his way to his sister’splace for a condolence meetafter casting his vote in thebypoll on April 9, 2017, whenthe army picked him up andtied him with ropes, paradinghim through nearly 28 villages.

“What was my mistake?Going to the polling booth andcasting my ballot?” Dar hadtold PTI in a video interviewlast year. At this village, near-ly 40 kms from the Srinagarcity, where Dar was tied to thearmy jeep, the incident is stillfresh in the minds of the locals.

After the polls opened atthe Utligam polling station,

only two of the registered 1,016voters had cast the ballots in thefirst 100 minutes. The residentsallege the stone-pelting was inresponse to the “unprovokedharassment” of the locals by theArmy officer and the “vandal-ism” by the troops.

“It was the Army personnelwho went berserk and started

beating up people and brokewindow panes of many housesthat day. The youngsters wereinfuriated and retaliated by pelt-ing them with stones,” NazirAhmad, a local resident said.

Ahmad admits the stone-pelting was very intense, whichprobably forced Major LeetulGogoi to catch hold of Dar anduse him as a human shield.

“He is not even from ourvillage. He is from Cheill-Brassvillage, 15 kilometres fromhere. That incident has broughtonly unwanted attention fromall sides to our village. If wevote, it is a problem and if wedo not vote, it is a problem,” hesaid. Mohammad Aslam,another villager, said the police

picked up 22 youths from thevillage over the past couple ofdays without any charge.

“Most of them are labour-ers and students. We are leastbothered about if any onecomes to vote or not. We haveformed a committee to ensurethere is law and order problemin our village this time becausewe are concerned about ourboys,” he said.

There is a sense of deja vuamong some residents here. Ayoung woman died onThursday morning due to brainhemorrhage. “You would nothave been able to come herehad it not been for the death ofthe woman this morning. Thescenes here would have been

different,” said a youth, whowished not to be named, indi-cating that disturbance in thearea was planned.

As this PTI reporter trav-elled to Cheill-Brass, a remotevillage just at the foot of themighty mountain, Dar was notat his home. “He has gone forelection duty,” his mother FaziBegum told PTI.

She said Dar was appoint-ed as a daily wage employee inthe State Health Departmentand has been on election dutysince Wednesday. Asked if theeligible members of her familyhad cast their votes, Fazi Begumsaid, “I almost lost my son dueto voting two years ago. Do youthink we will go to vote again?”

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Chennai: While GPS-fittedvehicles are deployed to trans-port poll materials like EVMs in the State, such tech-nology or vehicles do notalways help; especially when itcomes to hilly terrains of TamilNadu to send across electionparaphernalia.

Particularly, where thereare no roads to reach hamletson hill tops — leave alonemotorable ones — the chal-lenge is more pronounced and

carrying EVMs, and controlunits within the stipulated timeframe is no mean task.

A slew of such remote vil-lages are spread across TamilNadu including those atop hillsin the districts of Dharmapuri,Dindigul, Erode, Namakkal,and Theni with voters rangingbetween 300 and 1,100 in agiven polling station.

Several booths in remotelocations like Kottur in thePennagaram region of

Dharmapuri and hamlets onBothamalai in Namakkal posethe challenge of rocky terrain too.

To surmount the challenge,poll officials loaded electionmaterials — neatly packed ingunny bags — on donkeysand ponies and they carriedsome of the luggage on theirheads to reach the designatedpolling stations and the ardousjourney was in the range of 9to 11 kilometers on the hills.

Vellakkevi and

Pallathukadu in the Kodaikanalhill ranges (Dindigul),Kathiripatti (Erode) andKedamalai (Namakkal) wereamong the hilly villages officialsreached overcoming the chal-lenges with the help of donkeysand ponies.

Also, some villages likeVellakkevi are located amiddense forests and poll officialswere assisted by the anti-naxalpolice personnel to reach thehamlets. PTI

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Close to 400 of the 30,164polling stations in the 14

Lok Sabha seats in Karnatakawhere voting was held onThursday were staffed exclu-sively by women, an officialsaid on Thursday.

“The 393 ‘sakhi’ (women’s)booths were staffed by 10women, including 4 pollingpersonnel, 3 assistants and 3constables, with two outsideand one inside the booth,”Karnataka Chief ElectoralOfficer Sanjiv Kumar toldIANS here.

The maximum number ofsakhi booths — 130 — werein Bangalore’s 3 parliamen-tary seats, followed by 46 inBangalore Rural , 45 in Udupi-Chikamagalur, 34 inMysore, 30 inChikkaballapur,28 in Mandya, 22 in Tumkur,20 in Dakshina Kannada, 14in Hassan and 12 each inChitradurga and Kolar.

“The objective of all-women’s booths is to empow-er them and demonstrate theircapability to conduct free andfair polling as in the case ofmen,” said Kumar.

Akola: A voter on Thursdaysmashed the electronic votingmachine (EVM) while castinghis vote in Akola Lok Sabhaconstituency in Maharashtra.

The incident occurred ataround 1 p.m. at the Balapurpolling station no. 29 wherepolling was underway for thesecond phase of elections in 10Lok Sabha seats in the state,said an Election Commissionofficial.

The voter, ShrikrishnaGhyare, was taken into custody.The motive behind the actionwas not immediately known,police said.

On the fate of the votesalready cast, the EC officialexplained that the Ghyare hadonly broken the ballotting unit(BU). The control unit (CU) orthe VVPAT which were sta-tioned a feet away with the elec-tion officials were safe.

“We have the completerecord of the votes cast earlierin that EVM. There is no prob-lem on that count,” an ECofficial explained. The author-ities arranged for an alternativeBU which was attached to theexisting CU and VVPAT, andthe voting was resumed short-ly thereafter. IANS

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In his first leg of election tourto northern Karnataka

(which will go to polls in thesecond leg on April 23) PrimeMinister Modi mocked theCongress-JD(S) coalitionGovernment in Karnataka. Inhis election rallies at Bagalakoteand Chikkodi on ThursdayModi blasted Congress andsaid vote for majbhoot sarkaarnot for majboor sarkaar .Fourteen North Karnatakaconstituencies will go to pollson April 23 and the BJP isanticipating Modi wave willincrease their seats taking headon the coalition partners.

Hitting out at the Congressover its promise to “remove”Armed Forces Special PowersAct (AFSPA), he said, it wantsthose pelting stones to filefalse cases on soldiers and theyroam in courts.

“The Congress also wants

to give free hand to thoseindulging in desh droh (anti-national activities). Byannouncing it will end seditionlaw. The Congress has made itclear what its intentions are.Will you support such danger-ous intentions? Will you sup-port those committing suchsins? Will you teach a lesson tothe Congress?

“These mahamilavati’s areneither for jawans nor kisans(farmers),” he said. During theCongress and mahamilavatGovernment, three types ofdevelopment can take place –development (vikas) of a fewfamilies, development of middle men and and devel-opment of price hike, Modi said.

He asked the crowd, “Areyou happy with the firmness Ihave worked? Are you happy?We entered inside Pakistanand hit (terrorists) are youhappy? Do we have to takerevenge for the killing of ourjawans or not? Do you trustArmy on their bravery? TheCongress don’t believe ourbrave and believe in Pakistan’sevidences.

Modi mocked the “neverending drama” marked byrevenge and emotion that char-acterised the Congress-JD(S)coalition Government headedby HD Kumaraswamy.

“If you want to see majbootsarkaar look towards Delhi,and if you want to see majboor

sarkaar look towardsBengaluru,” Modi said.

“After every few days,weeks, at any rally or press con-ference emotion is flowing.Do you think of Karnataka likethis?,” Modi asked the crowd,apparently taking a dig atKumaraswamy who has shedtears publicly quite often —once about being helpless ashead of the Congress-JDScoalition.

He said Congress hadclaimed in its manifesto thatmaking Pakistan agree that its

citizens were involved in theMumbai terror attack was amajor achievement. ButPakistan despite agreeing thatthe perpetrators were its citi-zens still carried out bombexplosions and even threatenedIndia about nuclear bomb.

Modi took onKumaraswamy for saying thatthe matter of airstrike on ter-ror camps in Pakistan inBalakot should not be overpublicised “fearing thatthe vote bank bank would getangry.”

Mumbai: Industrialist MukeshAmbani and billionaire bankerUday Kotak have endorsed thecandidature of Congress leaderMilind Deora from theMumbai South Lok Saba con-stituency, where polling is slat-ed on April 29.

The backing of Ambani,Reliance Industries Limitedchairman, to the Congressleader comes at a time whenthe party has been unrelentingin attack on his industrialist-brother Anil Ambani over theRafale deal.

In a video shared by Deora,former Union Minister, on hisTwitter page, Ambani says“Milind is the man for SouthMumbai”, while Kotak eulo-gises the Mumbai Congresschief for “truly representing theMumbai connection”.

Deora said he was “hum-bled” by the support fromAmbani, Kotak and also othersmall businessmen and traders.

“I’m very proud. I’m equal-ly proud that I’m beingendorsed by paanwalas, smalltraders, Deora said. “Milind isthe man for southMumbai...Having represented

South Bombay for 10 years, Ibelieve Milind has in depthknowledge of social, econom-ic and cultural eco-system ofthe south Bombay constituen-cy,” says Ambani in the video.

Kotak said he “genuinely”felt that Deora is able to relateto Mumbaikars. “And his fam-ily has been associated withMumbai for a long time...Milindtruly represents Mumbai kaconnection,” Kotak says.

The video also featuressmall entrepreneurs andtraders, who are seen praisingand backing Deora. A state-ment issued by Deora’s officesaid he is being supported by“all quarters” of trade and busi-ness in Mumbai South con-stituency. Deora thanked theindustrialists and traders’ bod-ies for their “overwhelming”support to him.

“In the last five years,industry and trade, an integralpart of the spirit of Mumbai,lost its voice in the Parliament.I am humbled by the supportgiven by stalwarts like ShriAmbani and Shri Kotak,” thestatement quoted Deora assaying. PTI

Badaun: In a veiled attack onthe BJP, Congress presidentRahul Gandhi on Thursdaysaid if his party is voted topower, indebted farmers willnot be sent to jails.

Addressing an electionrally at Dataganj under Aonlaparliamentary constituencyhere, he said, “Businessmenwho took loans amounting tothousands of crores wereallowed to flee the countryinstead of sending them to jail.While the farmers who tookloans of Rs 20,000 and were

unable to pay, were sent to jail. “Now, this will not happen,

until and unless the big default-ers are sent to jail, not a singlefarmer will be sent to jail. Assoon as our Government isformed, the farmers will not besent to jail for non-payment ofloans,” Rahul asserted.

He said the Congress afterforming Government inMadhya Pradesh and Rajasthanfulfilled its promise of farmloan waivers. “We will notallow two ‘Hindustans’ to comeup in the country,” he said.

Attacking the SP and theBSP, the Congress leader said,“Did the SP and BSP ever saychowkidar chor hai? No, becausetheir keys are with Modi.” Rahulalso hit out at the Modi-ledCentral Government for itspoor showing in generatingemployment in the country.

He claimed that unem-ployment ratio, under the Modidispensation, was the highest inthe last 45 years.

“By demonetisation, Moditook away people’s money. Now,Congress will snatch the samemoney and deposit it in theaccounts of poor people,” hesaid. Referring to the minimumincome guarantee scheme‘NYAY’ proposed by theCongress, Gandhi said, “Oncethe Congress government isformed, it will ensure an annu-al income of Rs 72,000. PTI

Azamgarh: Samajwadi Partypresident Akhilesh Yadav ownsassets worth over �37 croretogether with his wife Dimple,according to his poll affidavitfiled on Thursday.

The former Uttar PradeshChief Minister has declaredmoveable property worth �7.9crore and immovable assetsworth �16.90 crore, in the affi-davit submitted with the nom-ination paper.

His wife Dimple hasdeclared �3.68 crore worth mov-able properties and immovableassets of �9.30 crore. Akhilesh’sincome has decreased to �84.83lakh in financial year 2017-2018, when compared to �1.25crore in 2013-14. His wifeDimple Yadav’s income, how-ever, has increased. While in the2013-14 financial year, her annu-al income was �28,31,838, in2017-18 it increased to

�61,16,108.As per the affidavit,

Akhliesh has �3.91 lakh cash inhand while Dimple has�4,03,743 cash in hand.Akhilesh owns a cellular phoneworth �76,000, furniture of�17,085 and exercise equip-ment worth over �5.34 lakh,while wife Dimple has jewelleryitems including gold, diamond,pearl worth �59.76 lakh andcomputer of �1.25 lakh. PTI

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Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee on

Thursday asked the votersnotto vote for the CPI(M) orthe Congress as neither ofthem would beable to formGovernment in the Centre.

“Don’t waste your votes bygiving them to the CPI(M)which is almostinvisible inBengal and the Congress whichwill not be able to formtheGovernment on its own in theCentre,” Banerjee told a crowdat Samsi in North Malda con-stituency.

She said the Congressshould not be the natural choiceof the secular Bengalis because

“this party is now being backedby the RSS. They are taking thehelp from the RSS to win elec-tions in Bengal. So they shouldbe rejected by you.”

Besides, “Congress will notbe able to form Government inCentre. It is the regional partiesthat will form the Governmentin Delhi and if you want Bengaland the Trinamool Congress totake the lead in the nationalscene then I will ask you not tovote for the TMC so that we cansend 42 MPs from this State toform the Government with otherregional parties,” Banerjee said.

Attacking the NarendraModi Government for ped-dling lies Banerjee said “thisChowkidar (Modi) used to call

himself Chaiwalla (tea ven-dor) earlier on. Then hepromised Rs 15 lakh in everybank account and 10 crorejobs in five years. But now hav-ing failed to do so he haschanged his garb and has reap-peared as Chowkidar (watch-man),” Banerjee said adding“many people call him a thief(Chor) but I call him a liar wholies to the people to win votes.”

On National Register forCitizens (NRC), Banerjee said,“they are invoking NRC inAssam to drive away 22 lakhHindu Bengalis and 23 lakhMuslims but now we willinvoke NBC or ‘national bidaye(farewell) certificate for theBJP after this election.”

Vanthli: Congress presidentRahul Gandhi on Thursdaysaid Minimum Support Prices(MSP) would also beannounced in the separatefarmers’ budget which hisparty’s manifesto has promised.

Addressing a campaignrally at Vanthli in Junagadh dis-trict, he also accused PrimeMinister Narendra Modi ofapplying different rules to therich and the poor.

“If the Congress comes topower, the country will havetwo budgets. One will benational budget and anotherfarmers’ budget. “In the farm-

ers’ budget we will announceMSP for various crops inadvance so that farmers knowwhat they will get. We will(also) announce the amount ofinsurance (premium) payable(by farmers) and what thewould farmers get,” he said.

The Modi Governmentwas ready to waive loans of richindustrialists but not those offarmers, he said. “We will notallow formation of two Indias.If we have one flag, then weshould have one nation. IfAmbani gets justice, farmersshould also get justice,” Rahulsaid. PTI

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Thursday claimed

that the NDA Government hasrestricted terrorist activities toonly “two-and-a-half ” dis-tricts in Jammu & Kashmir while not a single bomb blastwas reported from anywhereelse in the country in the lastfive years.

Addressing an electionrally in farmer-stressed Amreliin Saurashtra region inGujarat, the Prime Ministersaid: “No bomb blast tookplace anywhere in India in thelast five years. We have beenable to contain terrorism tojust two-and-a-half districts inJammu & Kashmir.”

Referring to PakistanPrime Minister Imran Khan’srecent statement thatIslamabad had tried to reachout to India after the Balakotair strike, Modi taunted himthat he “had to make a publicrequest to us to pick up thephone”.

Modi said he had notcome to Gujarat for an elec-tion rally but to thank the peo-ple of the state from whom hetrained to take on the largerrole of the Prime Minister.“My grooming in Gujarathelped me to deal with thelong Doklam standoff withChina” in 2017, the PrimeMinister said.

He said the previousCongress Governments haddeliberately delayed the SardarSarovar Project, and led to thesuffering of the people in theperennially drought-proneregions of Gujarat. If the pro-ject had completed 40 yearsago, the things would havebeen much better.

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In 1989, there was a huge anticipationand excitement about a new way toplay video games. All this excitementand anticipation was the result of themarketing campaign behind the

“Power Glove”, a wearable glove that wouldserve as a controller in video game consoles.The “Power Glove” was featured andreferred to in feature films, found on bill-boards and plastered almost everywhere.Ask about it today though and you are like-ly to get blank, confused stares. Thisbecause, while the marketing campaign wasadmirable, the product was completely dis-connected from what the consumers want-ed. Overall, it was just not a great product.

Fast forward to 2019 and you have thePrime Minister of the world’s largest democ-racy encouraging his followers to buy T-shirts with the slogan “Main Bhi Chowkidar.”Not just that, this election season has seenPrime Minister Modi repeatedly post, com-ment, retweet and actively promote the saleof products with either his name written onthem or with the latest consumer-friendlyslogan of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).How did we get here?

In an era of social media, more atten-tion is being given to the cover of the bookthan the book itself and there is greater focuson selling; nowhere is this more exemplifiedthan in the case of the BJP. Today, we havePrime Minister Modi’s name on T-shirts,mugs and even notebooks. Even in the BJP’sown manifesto, the Prime Minister’s face canbe seen with HD clarity while the everydaypeople whom he is meant to serve are mere-ly a low-quality backdrop. It will be apt togive a summary of the past five years, wherethe Prime Minister and the BJP’s machin-ery spent all the time managing the imageof a single man and forgot about the mil-lions of people who elected him to servethem.

Now, we have a channel with no licencethat is focussed on him and a movie wherethe actor, who plays the Prime Minister, willalso, unsurprisingly, be one of the chief cam-paigners of the BJP. Currently, the movie isnot allowed to be released in theatres dueto a directive by the Election Commission.However, there is no denying that we haveall been handed a ticket to this theatre of theabsurd.

It’s hard to get around without havingseen a photo of Modi staring back at you.While it is important for India to maintainthe right of every person, including thePrime Minister, to engage in marketing tothe extent permitted under the law and tonot restrict the freedom of expression of anyindividual, this megalomaniacal approachtowards any personality is worrisome. EvenNorth Korea, whose obsession with its lead-ers is often a subject of parody, doesn’t havea dedicated channel for its supreme leader.The reason why this trend should bechecked is because a large amount ofmoney is spent by the BJP on advertising and

promoting the Prime Minister.The practice of asking for votesin the name of Modi rather thanthe BJP undermines our parlia-mentary system.

In 2014, for example, whenthis tactic was initiallyemployed, most voters did noteven know the individuals whowere contesting the Lok Sabhaelections in their constituency.Instead, all that the voters weresold was the image of one manwho would solve all their prob-lems. Unfortunately, this storyunravelled dramatically overthe past five years.

India is a parliamentarydemocracy, which means that inthe Centre and States, the partywith the greatest representationin India’s Parliament forms theGovernment and picks one per-son as the Prime Minister or theChief Minister. The reason thissystem particularly makes sensefor India is that we are a vibrantcountry. This vibrancy is notonly in terms of all that is goodin our country like the differentcuisines, cultures and the peo-ple but also vibrant in the sensethat each region has differentneeds and different require-ments, depending on the con-stituents of a particular con-stituency.

I have heard certain peoplesay that they want Modi at theCentre even if they don’t believetheir MP is capable of represent-

ing their constituency effec-tively. Such an approach goesagainst the entire ethos of par-liamentary democracy. PrimeMinister Modi may promise themoon and the stars (and heoften does). However, at the endof the day, it is the local parlia-mentarian who is required toraise local issues that can be dis-cussed and debated inParliament.

Take the example of gettinga new hospital built or theopening of a new Central uni-versity. It is not as if the PrimeMinister will help get your hos-pital built. As the PrimeMinister, Modiji is required toensure that the parliamentarianswhom he leads, serve their con-stituents by raising the issues ofeach constituency in Parliament.

Ideally, he should also givecredit to such parliamentariansfor any work done so that theycontinue to serve their con-stituents and, therefore, as awhole, the nation moves for-ward. However, we hardly hearPrime Minister Modi talkingabout anyone other than him-self. In fact, do you even remem-ber a time when he compli-mented a particular parliamen-tarian during his speeches? Youwould be hard pressed to findan example.

Instead, Prime MinisterModi has ensured that hedeflects blame for everything

that goes wrong — corruption,unemployment, demonetisa-tion, loss of lives due to terrorattacks. And at the same time,he is the quickest to take cred-it when there’s a whiff of success.

The mugs, the T-shirts, themovie and the radio showsamong others — they are all thehallmarks of a man who hasmade it quite clear that the onlything he has on his mind is him-self. Therefore, if India wants totruly progress and move for-ward, it needs to reject this ideathat any one man can be apanacea for all that ails ourcountry.

We must remember that theparliamentary form ofGovernment works for Indiabecause it helps highlight thevarying nature of issues our verydiverse country faces. Whilethere is no denying that a PrimeMinister fulfills a crucial role inthis system, he must alsoremember that he is the firstamong equals. If Prime MinisterModi does not grasp this fun-damental rule of democracy, itis likely his tenure, too, like the“Power Glove”, will serve as alesson for future generations:Even the best marketing cam-paigns can’t fix a flawed prod-uct.

(The writer is JharkhandPCC president, former MP andIPS officer. Views are personal) $��������������������� ��)�����

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Sir — The cancellation of theVellore Lok Sabha election afterhuge amounts of cash were recov-ered from a godown in the parlia-mentary constituency is not a newpoll time malfunction. Nor is it thefirst time that the ElectionCommission (EC) has counter-manded polls in Tamil Nadu.The RK Nagar bypoll was post-poned not long ago for the samereason. Looks like politics hasbecome a channel to mint money.A culture of corruption andbribery has taken deep roots in theState. This is not fair for a democ-racy. Perhaps the EC could havetaken a decision earlier in themonth when the first evidence oframpant cash distribution sur-faced. It can’t be leaden-footed.

Sravana RamachandranChennai

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Sir — After being pulled up by theSupreme Court for not takingaction against politicians spread-ing communal and hate speech-es during the Lok Sabha cam-paigning, the Election

Commission (EC) has regainedits teeth. For now, it has barredUttar Pradesh Chief MinisterYogi Adityanath, Bahujan SamajParty leader Mayawati from cam-paigning because of their remarkswith a decidedly communal con-notation. Specifically, it wasAdityanath’s “Ali and Bajrangbali”remark at a Meerut rally andMayawati’s appeal to Muslim vot-ers, asking them to vote for the

SP-BSP alliance and not theCongress in Saharanpur andBareilly, that irked the top court.

In the aftermath of the apexcourt’s warning, the EC invoked itsextraordinary powers to temporar-ily ban four political leaders fromcampaigning — Adityanath, SPleader Azam Khan, (both barredfor 72 hours) Union MinisterManeka Gandhi and Mayawati(both barred for 48 hours). The top

court rightly observed: “Seemslike the Election Commission haswoken up and found its powers.”

Citizens have generally wel-comed the decision but will a banfor two to three days stop otherleaders from making provocativespeeches? Already, Congressleader Navjot Singh Sidhu hasstoked controversy by urgingMuslim voters of a Lok Sabhaconstituency in Bihar to vote en

bloc and defeat (Prime Minister)Narendra Modi.

Further, even after the ban,Adityanath iterated the “greenvirus” comment, which is a refer-ence to the Muslims.Unmistakable is the communalpolarisation, the wider phenom-enon that transcends the unchar-itable remarks.

Bidyut Kumar ChatterjeeFaridabad

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“A winning team?” (April 17).Howsoever strong a team is, it alldepends upon how it performs onthe D-day. Since one-day cricketis such an unpredictable game thatanything can happen at the lastfew overs, one cannot indulge inguessing. A favourite team canturn otherwise in a matter of fewovers. While one can hope that theIndian team will perform better,victory or defeat depends on theway the game turns out on the dayof the play.

VS JayaramanChennai

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Amid the surge of demagogues and rab-ble-rousers of far-right across the globein the recent past, the coming of SenorAndres Manuel Lopez Obrador as thenewly-elected President of Mexico has

broken new ground in the Western hemisphere.Elected as the leader of the National RegenerationMovement (MORENA), which was founded byLopez Obrador following two failed attempts in 2006and 2012 elections as a candidate of broad Left coali-tions, he had earlier headed the federal districtGovernment of Mexico city. Like the US presiden-tial election, Mexico, too, elects its President in Julyevery six years and the President-elect assumes officeon the first of December. Obrador was sworn in asMexican President in December 2018.

Having taken charge of the Government andin pursuance of his campaign promises, Obradorhas not moved to the presidential palace, has halvedhis own salary in the proposed Budget and alsodeclared that he won’t allow anyone else to get morethan him. Change can be brought about — duringhis campaigns, he promised to “combat corruption”and maintain an “austere Government.” Other assur-ances include more students’ scholarship and pen-sion to senior citizens, which can be financed by “cut-ting grafts.” He flies in commercial airlines and putthe presidential plane on sale. As the districtGovernment head earlier, he had adopted severalpolicies that benefitted vulnerable sections, infirm,poor women and aged population.

Instead of occupying luxurious presidentialpalace, he has started working from nearly a cen-tury-old national palace — the official seat of power— and has continued living at his private home. Hestrongly believes that neo-liberal policies have ben-efitted a “minority of the population” while “impov-erishing a great majority.” Significantly, a century afterthe 1910 revolution — the first landmark in the polit-ical history of Mexico after it gained independencefrom Spanish colonial rule in 1822 — Obrador hasbecome the first one who had begun as a protestleader but within the folds of the InstitutionalRevolutionary Party (PRI), Spanish PartidoRevolucionario Institucional, which had controlledall levers of power for seven long decades since itsformation in 1929.

Paradoxically, the Mexican political system wasbizarre as it didn’t permit the incumbent to have asecond term, but he was empowered to select hissuccessor who would be the ruling party’s nomi-nee in the ensuing election. Once in power, the newPresident would nominate his candidates for the nextgubernatorial election and likewise, new Mayorswould be hand-picked nominees of incumbentGovernors. Everything was fine-tuned with groundsupport of consensus manufactured through localbranches of cross-sectional wings of the ruling PRI.

The first crack in this electoral machineappeared during the 1988 election whenCuauhtémoc Cárdenas challenged this nominationprocess. Echoing the feelings of the growing mid-dle class, Cárdenas — a former Governor and alsothe son of a former but revered President who hadnationalised petroleum sector way back in 1934 andredistributed land to the poor peasants — assert-ed that the PRI-managed system was no longer insync with a modern country of urban profession-als. Although PRI-sponsored candidates won theelection, the then President Carlos Salinas de Gortari

read the writing on the wall and initiat-ed measures to cleanse the system, includ-ing setting up of an autonomous ElectionCommission and ensuring proportionalrepresentation of parties in Parliament.Measures were also taken to withdraw dis-cretionary powers of bureaucracy, medi-ated by the party, which resulted in the rul-ing party’s loosening grip over the patron-age network.

The beneficiary of these reforms wasthe main Opposition party, NationalAction Party (PAN), which had startedgaining foothold in the northern Statesbordering the US. For quite long, peo-ple from these States would enter theAmerican market as illegal immigrantsto work and upon their return, wouldstart grumbling over the dysfunctionaldrainage, primary health care, schoolsand broken roads among others. Nowonder, simmering discontentment ledto the defeat of PRI in these States. Theinfluence of PAN gradually spread fromwinning a few seats in the lower houseof Parliament to capturing seven of total31 States by the late 1990s. The disen-chantment with the PRI was also deep-ened with the coming of the NorthAmerican Free Trade Treaty (NAFTA)between Mexico, the US and Canada in1991, which saw the coming of a largenumber of maquiladora (assemblingplants owned mostly by Americanswhere goods are assembled and export-ed back to the US) in the borderMexican States. It was a win-win situa-tion for both: US manufacturers wouldgain by cheap Mexican labour and laterwould be happy with the availability ofjobs nearer home and it would furtherexpand the volume of Mexican exportsto the US. In the bargain, however, morethan a million formal jobs were lost

under the new economic policies thatculminated in a near financial collapsein the mid-1990s.

Eventually, all this led to the defeat ofthe longest ruling party in the 2000 pres-idential election. Incidentally, the year2000 also turned out to be watershed forPresident Obrador Manuel when hebroke away from the PRI. He was earlierthe head of PRI in his home State ofTabasco. First, he, along with Cárdenas,the rebel hero of 1988, joined the Left-ori-ented democratic revolutionary party(PRD) but subsequently switched over toa protest movement MRM, which hefounded to mobilise students and youthsagainst “political corruption” and “electoralfraud” and won the district election.MORENA became a political party in2014 only and is now in control of boththe Houses.

Vicente Fox, a former boss of Coco-Cola empire in Mexico, was the biggestbeneficiary of the changing contours ofeconomics and social matrix triggered byNAFTA. During his six-year rule, herealised that reforming the system was notstraight as was winning the 2000 presiden-tial election. Most of his reform-orient-ed legislations couldn’t pass throughboth the Houses of Parliament thatremained under control of the old guardsof PRI and the PAN; though Fox won withits support but remained at loggerheadswith this party. In a country where thePresident has always been seen as the mostpowerful force, people got frustratedwith a perforce lameduck incumbent, whosought to follow procedural nicetiesaimed at bringing durable change. As aresult, Fox lost and the main Opposition,PAN, won the next election in 2006. ButPRI returned to power again in 2012.

During the last six years, the linger-

ing crises over dealings with drug,endemic violence and pervasive corrup-tion, where the last PRI PresidentEnrique Peña Nieto himself was seeninvolved thoroughly, disillusioned thevoters. Above all, President Pena could-n’t manage Central American refugeecrises. Interestingly, erecting a huge bor-der wall and that, too, financed by theMexican Government to prevent theinflux of Mexican and CentralAmerican immigrants to the US was apersistent campaign theme of DonaldTrump. Prospects of deportation of 10-12 million Mexican illegal immigrantsare already looming large. The total pop-ulation of Mexico is 140 million.

Perforce decades of civil war and left-ist insurgency in Guatemala (Mexico’ssouthern neighbour), El Salvador andHonduras and its disastrous economic fall-outs mismanaged by marauder regimesin these Central American countries, acaravan of refugees has recently marchedthrough Mexico and is now lodged intents at the US border. Paradoxically, itspowerful northern neighbour has alwaysremained a factor for Mexican patriciansand plebeians alike as goes an oldMexican maxim: “We may be far fromGod but not from the US.”

Meanwhile, Obrador has signedagreements with these countries to chalkout a long term “development plan”, cre-ating jobs and has also allocated $2 bil-lion in his first budget for this purpose.The outcome of any long term plan takesyears, so it would mean nothing to theimpatient American President.Nevertheless, it does indicate a lot to bothMexicans and its impoverished southernneighbours.

(The writer is former faculty memberof Indian Institute of Public Administration)

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Paedophilia is a psychiatric dis-order where an adult experi-ences an exclusive sexual attrac-

tion to pre-pubescent children. Beinga mental disorder, those sufferingfrom paedophilia need mental healthsupport. The brains of paedophilesaren’t ‘wired’ correctly, causing themto get sexually attracted towards chil-dren. They have a brain malfunctionthat can hardly be corrected, thoughthere are therapies that can reducethe recurrence of a sick person com-mitting child sexual abuse.

Recently, two minor Hindu girlsfrom Sindh were abducted andtransported to Rahim Yar Khanfrom Ghotki in south-east Pakistan.The two minors were then forceful-

ly converted to (their version of)Islam before being married toMuslim men.

In the videos circulating onsocial media, the father and broth-er of the girls can be seen cryinghoarse, saying that the girls wereabducted and forced to change theirreligion. However, in another clip,the minor girls appeared to give theirstatements that they accepted Islamon their own free will. The Pakistanimedia, too, tried to defend the cul-prits, saying that the minor girls hadembraced Islam out of free will andthat they consented to their marriagewith willingness and choice.

Due to the Indian Government’sprotests, the matter was referred tothe court on April 2. The IslamabadHigh Court formed a five-memberCommission to probe the allegedabduction, forced conversion andmarriage of the girls. Its membersincluded Pakistani Human RightsMinister Shireen Mazari andChairperson of the NationalCommission on the Status ofWomen, Khawar Mumtaz.

It was reported that the girls and

their alleged spouses sought courtprotection. The girls also allegedlysaid that they belonged to a Hindufamily of Ghotki, a small town inSindh and converted willfully asthey were impressed by Islamicteachings.

It is amply clear that the state-ment of the girls has been givenunder duress and no sane personcan buy the theory that the minorgirls, aged 13 and 15, have sufficientmaturity and decision-makingcapacity to understand, comprehendor judge the teaching and traditionsof the two religions. Can they makea comparative view of the twodiverse religions without experienc-ing and studying the tenets andprinciples of the two faiths?

Moreover, according to Muslimpractice, at the time of nikah, thefather of the girl, minor or major,being the ‘wali’ (protector) isrequired to give his consent andstand witness to the ceremony,which was not the case here. On thecontrary, the father and brother ofthe girls openly leveled allegationsof abduction, forced conversion

and marriage of the minors.The High Court miserably failed

to understand that before Partition,during the British rule, the IndianMajority Act, 1875, was applicableon the whole of India, and the sameis currently prevalent in India andPakistan both. Legally and philo-sophically speaking, the forced mar-riage of the two girls below 15 yearsof age, amounts to rape. A personbelow the age of 18 years is a minorand is not mature enough to com-prehend what is good or bad forhim/her. The consent given by thegirls, even if willingly, is meaning-less, irrelevant and illegal. The courtshould have restored the girls to theirparents. Whereas, the Islamabadcourt on April 11, vide its impugnedorder, directed the girls to stay withtheir husbands. The court’s orderwas based on the five-memberCommission’s report, which statedthat it held a meeting with the girlsand their spouses and found nocompulsion, though the statement ofthe minor girls, expressing consentfor the entire episode, was not onlyirrelevant but null and void from the

principle of reasonableness. The(mock) Commission did not incor-porate the statements of the girls’father, brother, neighbours and otherrespondents.

It is well-known that Pakistan isdriven by the extremist ideology ofWahhabism/Salafism. The civilianGovernment over there is a puppetof its Army. As such, all Muslim andnon-Muslim minorities such asShia Muslims, Hazaras, Ahmedias,Sufis, Barelvies and non-Muslimssuch as Hindus, Sikhs andChristians are targetted. TheWahabi/Salafi ideology justifies therape and abduction of all non-Wahhabi women, especially of thosebelonging to the Shia Muslims andHindu minorities.

Dozens of terror groups areoperating from Pakistan’s soil, inter-nally and externally both. Accordingto Human Rights Watch, during thepast one decade, thousands of inno-cent people — Hindus, Shias, Sufis,Sikhs and Christians — have beenkilled mercilessly in Pakistan itselfby these extremists under thepatronage of the Inter-Services

Intelligence and the Army, whichuse them as a bargaining chip in theregion. Again, on April 12, as manyas 20 people, including two children,were killed and 70 injured in an (un)Islamic State blast, targeting HazaraShia minority community inBaluchistan.

Pakistan’s former Ambassadorto the US recently admitted inWashington that Imran Khan’s state-ments, promising the end of supportto terrorist groups, are motivated bythe fear of getting blacklisted by theFinancial Action Task Force and thatthere is no evidence that theGovernment or the military are dis-mantling terrorist support infra-structure.

One can imagine the nightmareof surviving persecuted minorities ofPakistan, who even after survivingcriminal assaults, remain affected byPost Traumatic Stress Disorder, with-out any remedy. This agony is mostlikely to stay, unless Muslim clericsacross the globe come forward andbring an end to the pseudo-IslamicWahhabi/Salafi ideology.

(The author is a legal journalist)

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Page 10:  · 2019-04-18 · should be made to resume operations as early as possible,” Pawaskar, who is also an NCP lawmaker, said asking why the airline did not clear employees dues …

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Jet Airways was groundedfor the time being after fly-

ing for almost 26 years when itslast flight, a Boeing 737,touched down at the Mumbaiairport early on Thursday afterdeparting from Amritsar.

The country’s oldest privateairline took off nearly 26 yearsago from the airport here toAhmedabad as an air taxi oper-ator.

The aircraft VT-SJI (flightno. S2 3502), belonging to theerstwhile Sahara Airlines,departed from Amritsar at10.24 pm on Wednesday andtouched down at ChhatrapatiShivaji International Airporthere at 12.22 am on Thursday,ending the “Joy of Flying” forits millions of customers.

Sahara Airlines wasacquired by Jet in 2007 to killcompetition triggered by theemergence of low-cost airlineslike IndiGo, SpiceJet andGoAir, and the competition issaid to have contributed in itsdownfall.

“I generally fly Jet Airways.But when I boarded it fromAmritsar on Wednesday night,we were told this is the lastflight the airline is operating asit is shutting down for the time

being,” said AmarjitSingh, who hails fromLudhiana.

Singh, a transporterby profession who fre-quently visits Mumbaifor business, said he ishopeful of the airline“resuming” operationssoon.

Set up by NareshGoyal on April 1, 1992,Jet Airways’ first flight took offfrom Mumbai for Ahmedabadon May 5, 1993, as an air-char-ter operator, which does notrequire a published schedule.

However, more than a yearlater, it was granted the sched-uled operator permit onJanuary 14, 1995.

Another passenger, ShareefAbdullah, who runs a hotelchain and is a frequent flyerwith the carrier, said it waspainful to know that the airlineis shutting down.

“They announced it bothon departure from Amritsarand after landing here thatthis was the last flight. It is real-ly painful,” he said.

The abrupt cancellation ofthe airline’s services for the timebeing have left thousands ofpassengers stranded.

“I, along with my wife andchildren, had to travel toAhmedabad early this morn-ing. I had booked five tickets amonth in advance. But when Ireached the airport here, I wasinformed they have cancelledthe operations,” said Madan Lal

Imali, who was travelling to hisnative place Pali Killa inRajasthan for a family function.

He said his wife and chil-dren were very disappointed asit was to be their maiden flight.

“I had also booked traintickets in an AC coach and paid�2,500 each for five seats totravel to Pali from Ahmedabad.Now, I have been forced to can-cel that journey as well, besideslosing money,” said Imali, whowas to board the airline’s flight9W2929 for Ahmedabad fromhere post-mid night.

Struggling for months, JetAirways chief executive VinayDube last evening announcedthe carrier was shuttering oper-ations as his last-ditch attemptto get �400 crore was rejectedby lenders.

The decision leaves 20,000jobs at stake and over �8,500crore of public funds, that thebanks lent to the once-leadingairline, at the risk of goingdown the drain.

The airline also owes lakhsof rupees to passengers and itsvendors.

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The country’s telecom sub-scriber base grew margin-

ally to 120.5 crore on accountof a net addition of customersby Reliance Jio and state-ownedBSNL, according to data pub-lished by telecom regulatorTrai on Thursday.

Both Reliance Jio andBSNL jointly added a net of86.39 lakh mobi le sub-scribers but the rest of thetelecom operators jointly losta net of 69.93 lakh wirelesscustomers with VodafoneIdea losing the biggest chunkof mobile connections, as perthe data.

The number of telecomsubscribers in India increasedto 120.54 crore at the end ofFebruary from 120.37 crore inJanuary, according to theTelecom Monthly SubscriberReport released by the TelecomRegulatory Authority of India(Trai).

The sector, dominated bywireless connection, recordedan increase in the mobile ser-vices subscriber base to 118.36crore in February from 118.19crore in January.

Reliance Jio alone added77.93 lakh customers, taking itstotal subscriber base to 29.7crore at the end of February.According to a television com-mercial of the company, it hascrossed 30 crore customer basenow.

BSNL added around 9 lakhnew mobile customers, takingits total subscriber base to

11.62 crore in February.“BSNL is the only operator

other than Jio that has gainedcustomers. Our performanceshows that customers havefaith in BSNL. We are able tocompete and gain customerswith our much-improved 3Gnetwork. In our endeavour toprovide service, all our officersand employees are together,”BSNL Chairman andManaging Director AnupamShrivastava said.

The state-run firm is com-peting in the market with 3Gnetwork, while all other oper-ators are loaded with spectrumfor 4G services. It has request-ed the government for theallocation of spectrum for 4Gservices through an equityinfusion in 2017. The govern-ment is yet to take final deci-sion.

The country’s biggest tele-com operator Vodafone Idealost 57.87 lakh mobile sub-scribers, reducing its total cus-tomer base to 40.93 crore inFebruary. It was followed byTata Teleservices that lost 11.47lakh mobile customers, Airtellost 49,896 subscribers, MTNL4,652 and RelianceCommunication 3,611 sub-scribers.

Fixed-line connections inthe country declined mar-ginally with BSNL losingabout one lakh connections.Private operators Bharti Airteland Vodafone gained 42,456and 17,563 fixed-line cus-tomers, respectively, inFebruary.

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Japanese auto major HondaThursday said it is recalling

3,669 units of its Accord sedanin India as part of a global exer-cise to rectify faulty airbags.

The company, which ispresent in India through awholly-owned arm Honda CarsIndia Ltd (HCIL), is voluntar-ily recalling the units manu-factured between 2003-2006to fix faulty front airbag infla-tors supplied by Takata Corp.

The replacement will becarried out free of cost atHonda dealerships across Indiafrom Thursday, HCIL said in astatement.

As part of the Takata airbaginflator recalls which haveimpacted several car makersglobally, the company said itcontinues to urge owners ofvehicles affected by the recall toget their vehicles repaired atauthorised dealers as soon aspossible.

“HCIL reiterates the impor-tance of replacing the affectedTakata front airbag inflatorsurgently as they may deploywith excessive internal pressurewhen activated,” it said

The airbag inflator casingmight rupture which may resultin injury or safety risk to thevehicle occupants, it added.

Millions of vehicles global-ly have been recalled due todefective safety airbag manu-factured by Japan’s Takata Corp.

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SpiceJet stock trimmed most ofits sharp early gains and

ended nearly 3 per cent higherThursday on profit-booking afterrising for five consecutive days.

The scrip had climbed14.99 per cent to �152.60 — its52-week high — on the BSEduring the day. Later, it closedat �136.25, up 2.68 per cent.

On the traded volume front,211.25 lakh shares were tradedon the BSE during the day.SpiceJet Thursday said it willinduct six more Boeing 737-800NG aircraft on dry lease.

“These six aircraft are inaddition to the 16 B737s and 5Q400s that the airline willsoon induct. The total numberof planes to be inducted in theimmediate future now stands at27,” the company said in a BSEfiling Thursday.

The airline has applied tothe Directorate General of CivilAviation for a No ObjectionCertificate (NOC) to import theplanes. Subject to regulatoryapprovals, the aircraft would

begin joining SpiceJet’s fleet inthe next ten days, it added.

“We are taking all possibleproactive measures to deal withthe sudden reduction of aviationcapacity in the Indian market.SpiceJet continues to work close-ly with the government and reg-ulatory authorities to help min-imise passenger inconvenience,”Ajay Singh, Chairman andManaging Director, SpiceJet said.

The airline will induct asmany as 27 planes in a recordtime of less than two weeks andis hopeful that these inductionswill help considerably ease thepressure situation, he added.

The shares had climbed 8.5per cent Friday after the airlineannounced it will induct 16Boeing 737-800 NG aircraft, amove that will help in bringingdown flight cancellations.

On Monday, the stockzoomed nearly 9 per cent as thecompany announced launch ofdirect flights from Mumbai toseven international destina-tions, including Colombo,Jeddah, Dhaka, Riyadh andHong Kong.

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Ja p a n e s esmall car

manufacturerS u z u k ia n n o u n c e dThursday itwas recallingtwo millionv e h i c l e ss h i p p e ddomestically,c i t i n gi m p r o p e rinspectionsand a series of other faultsincluding false fuel efficiencydata.

The recall affects vehiclesrunning for four years or lessthat have not yet received aroutine check-up.

Last week, Suzuki admittedthat an internal review haduncovered a host of problemsat its factories, including faultybrake checks, falsified fuel-efficiency data, and uncertifiedstaff carrying out final inspec-tions.

The recall is expected tocost the firm around 80 billionyen ($715 million) and alsoaffects parts made by Suzuki forvehicles produced for Nissan,Mazda and Mitsubishi.Transport minister Keiichi Ishiihas said the company needssome “serious soul-searching”over the scandal.

The problem “raises doubtsabout the firm’s regards forcompliance and it is extreme-ly regrettable,” Ishii toldreporters on Tuesday.

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Google on Thursday saidusers of its hugely popular

Android devices would beoffered a choice of fivebrowsers and search engines aspart of the company’s effort tomeet EU competition con-cerns.

The EuropeanCommission last July hitGoogle with its biggest-everfine, imposing a 4.34 billioneuro ($5 billion) penalty, one ofthree major EU decisionsagainst the company.

Brussels accused Google ofusing the Android system’sdominance of smartphonesand tablets to promote the useof its own Google search engineand Chrome browser and shutout rivals.

Google has appealed thedecision, arguing that theEU’s accusat ions wereunfounded, but Thursday’s

changes were part of the firm’seffort to avoid further fines.Users of Android devices inEurope who open the GooglePlay app store will now beshown screens with options todownload different searchapps and browsers, PaulGennai, Google productmanagement director, said ina blog.

“These new screens willbe displayed the first time auser opens Google Playafter receiving an upcomingup d at e ,” t h e e xe c ut ivewrote.

With the change, “twoscreens will surface: one forsearch apps and another forbrowsers, each containing atotal of five apps, including anythat are already installed,” he said.

Apps not already installedon the device will be chosenbased on their popularity andshown in a random order,

Google said.Crucially, when a user

downloads a search engineother than Google, he or shewill be asked whether thatoption — such as Qwant orDuckDuckGo — should bebecome the default search appon the phone.

Illegal promotion ofGoogle’s hugely profitablesearch engine was the heart ofthe case against the SilliconValley giant.

Android, which is usedon around 80 percent ofmobi le devices both inEurope and worldwide, wasaccused of shutting out rivalsby forcing major phone mak-ers to pre-install the Googlesearch engine and Chromebrowser.

They were also made toset Google Search as thedefault, as a condition oflicensing other Google apps,the EU said.

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The national capital to expe-rience the pure Rajasthani

folk music and its traditionaldances are woven like fabricinto every aspect of people’slives in our country. ShowCaseevents bring to you the mostunforgettable and lifetimeexperience by taking youthrough a journey of the truesoul of Rajasthani Folk music.

After an astounding suc-cess in Mumbai, ShowCaseevents brings the second edi-tion of the “Sounds From theDesert” to Delhi on April 26th,2019 at the Sirifort Auditorium.

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Coming to the rescue of thestranded international pas-

sengers hit by the abruptgrounding of Jet Airways,Government-run Air IndiaThursday offered special faresto such passengers.

The “special stranded” fareshave been offered to passengersat overseas airports such asParis, London Heathrow,Singapore, Dubai, Hong Kong,Abu Dhabi, Jeddah, Dammam,and Muscat, among others, AirIndia said in a statement.

“As a gesture of goodwill andto mitigate the hardship of the9W (Jet Airways flight code) atinternational stations, Air Indiawill be offering special fares tosuch passengers,” it said.

Passengers holding con-firmed RT tickets on Jet Airwayswill be allowed to avail specialstranded passenger fares fromthe destinations common withAir India, it said.

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BharatPe, an Indian compa-ny providing merchants

with interoperable launchedQR code for all UPI Apps.Merchants can receive UPIpayments from any app usingone QR code, and receive dig-ital money directly in theirbank at 0% fee.

“We are offering a basket ofmore than 100 UPI enabledapps that merchants can acceptthe payment from for free”BharatPe’s Chief ExecutiveOfficer and Co-founder,Ashneer Grover said.

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Markets regulator SebiThursday slapped a

penalty of over �1 crore on 11entities for fraudulent andmanipulative trading in theshares of Emed.ComTechnologies.

The regulator had con-ducted investigation fromAugust 2013 to June 2014regarding the trading in thescrips of Emed.ComTechnologies.

During the probe, Sebifound that the entities were

connected to each other andhad executed circular tradeswherein they transferred sharesin off-market to certain entitiesand then purchased back thoseshares in on-market, therebygiving misleading appearanceof trading.

Besides, they contributedto positive last traded price(LTP) and establishing of newhigh price (NHP) in the scrip,the Securities and ExchangeBoard of India (Sebi) said.

“The group entities havecontributed to the creation ofartificial volumes and inflated/

manipulated the price of thescrip and thusviolated...PFUTP (Prohibitionof Fraudulent and Unfair TradePractices) Regulations,” theregulator noted.

Accordingly, Sebi imposeda fine of �10 lakh each on nine

entities, including PummyGarments Pvt Ltd, SurePortfolio Services, SteadyCapital Advisory Services, andSupreme Multitrade Pvt Ltd.

While a fine of �7.5 lakheach was imposed on OlympiaSales Agency and ClarineteRealtor, totalling �1.05 crore.

Besides, in a separate order,Sebi levied fine of �14 lakh onSure Portfolio Services andSteady Capital AdvisoryServices for failing to disclosethe change in shareholdings inthe Emed.Com Technologies toexchanges and the firm.

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Boeing was making “steadyprogress” on the path to

certifying of a crucial softwareupdate for the 737 MAX air-craft, CEO Dennis Muilenburghas said after two fatal crashesin recent months forced thegrounding of the model,including by Indian carriers.

He assured global airlineindustry that Boeing has alsomade the final engineeringtest flight before certificationfor the 737 MAX aircraft.

The ManeuveringCharacteristics AugmentationSystem (MCAS) system of the737 MAX aircraft has comeunder scrutiny from investiga-

tors reviewing two fatal crash-es — the Lion Air crash onOctober 29 and the EthiopianAirlines crash on March 10.

Boeing has been developingand testing a software change tothe system that will now factorin input from a second sensor.

“We’re making steadyprogress on the path to certi-fication for our 737 MAX soft-ware update thanks to thework of our Boeing pilots,engineers and technicalexperts,” Muilenburg said in avideo on his Twitter account.

“Yesterday we completedthe official engineering flight testwith the updated software withour technical and engineeringleaders on board the airplane.

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Page 11:  · 2019-04-18 · should be made to resume operations as early as possible,” Pawaskar, who is also an NCP lawmaker, said asking why the airline did not clear employees dues …

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Equity benchmarks retreat-ed from lifetime highs onThursday as investors

took money off the table aheadof an extended weekend, whilethe grounding of Jet Airwaysstoked fears among banks andother lenders.

After rallying to an intra-dayrecord of 39,487.45 points, the30-share BSE Sensex turnednegative to settle 135.36 points,or 0.34%, lower at 39,140.28.

The broader NSE Niftyslipped 34.35 points, or 0.29%,to 11,752.80 after setting anintra-day record of 11,856.

The benchmark indices hadclosed at record highs onTuesday on earnings optimismand forecast of a near-normalmonsoon.

Markets will be closedFriday on account of GoodFriday.

During the holiday-trun-cated week, the Sensex rose373.17 points, or 0.96%, whilethe Nifty gained 109.35 points,or 0.93%.

“After a period of significantmomentum ahead of the generalelections, the market may takea pause in some kind of an inter-im profit-booking,” said JosephThomas, head of research atEmkay Wealth Management.

“The accelerating scenarioof a slowdown in global growthas also the definitive prospectsof higher fuel prices and aweaker currency may also beworking on the minds of themarket participants at this junc-ture,” he added.

Shares of Jet Airways con-tinued to fall for the second dayin a row, plummeting over 32per cent on Thursday, a day afterthe ailing airline shuttered itsoperations temporarily.

“The hunt for new bid-

ders/suitors is getting tough.This event led to cascading neg-ative effect on lenders to Jet andother banks,” said Deepak Jasani,head of retail research at HDFCSecurities.

Top losers in the Sensexpack included Yes Bank,Vedanta, IndusInd Bank, TataSteel, L&T, SBI, NTPC, KotakBank, HDFC, PowerGrid,Infosys and ITC, falling up to4.18%. On the other hand, RILwas the biggest gainer on theindex, spurting 2.79% ahead ofits Q4 results.

Tata Motors, Asian Paints,TCS, Coal India, HeroMotoCorp, Axis Bank and HULalso ended in the green, risingup to 2.32%.

Apart from energy and oiland gas, all BSE sectoral indicesclosed in the red, led by realty,power, metal, telecom, capitalgoods and banking, shedding upto 2.33%.

The broader markets fell intandem with the benchmarks.The BSE smallcap index lost0.99%, while the midcap gaugetripped 0.89%.

Foreign institutionalinvestors (FIIs) purchased equi-ty worth a net �1,038.58 crore onTuesday, and domestic institu-tional investors (DIIs) boughtshares to the tune of �37.22crore, provisional data avail-able with stock exchangesshowed.

Elsewhere in Asia, marketsin Japan, China and Koreaended in the red.In Europe,bourses in Germany, Franceand the UK were trading on amixed note in early deals. Globalcrude oil benchmark Brentfutures fell 0.17% to USD 71.50per barrel.

Meanwhile, the Indianrupee appreciated 5 paise to69.55 against the US dollarintra-day.

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Aday after Jet Airways suspended all itsflights after running out of money,

lenders to the carrier on Thursday said theywere “reasonably hopeful” that biddingprocess for the airline would end successfully.Lenders led by the State Bank of India haddeclined to extend more funds to Jet, forc-ing it to suspend all its flights.

“The lenders after due deliberationsdecided that the best way forward for the sur-vival of Jet Airways is to get the binding bidsfrom potential investors who have expressedEOI (Expression of Interest) and have beenissued bid documents on April 16,” a state-ment by lenders said.

A consortium of 26 lenders led by theSBI, with 51 per cent stake in the debt-trapped airline, has invited bids from poten-tial suitors.

“Lenders are reasonably hopeful that thebid process is likely to be successful indetermining the fair value of the enterprisein a transparent manner,” it said.

Banks on Wednesday rejected an imme-diate �400 crore demand of Jet Airways,compelling it to ground operations. Jet hadbeen, over the last few months, on a declineas competition from budget airlines hurt itsprofitability and led to a debt pile. It report-ed losses for four straight quarters despitesales holding up.

At its peak, Jet operated 123 planes andover 600 daily flights. It was flying just sevenplanes on Tuesday. Its chief executive offi-cer Vinay Dube on Wednesday wrote anemail to airlines’ passengers saying “withdeep sadness and with a heavy heart that wewould like to share with you that, effectiveimmediately, Jet Airways will be suspend-ing all its domestic and international oper-

ations”.“Tuesday night, we were informed by

SBI, on behalf of the consortium of Indianlenders, that they are unable to consider ourrequest for interim funding. Since no emer-gency funding from the lenders or any othersource of funding was forthcoming, itwould therefore not have been possible forus to pay for fuel or other critical servicesto keep the operations going,” he wrote.

He said the airline had over the last sev-eral weeks and months tried “every meanspossible” to seek funding, both interim aswell as long term funding, to keep our oper-ations going. “Unfortunately, despite the verybest of our efforts, we have been left with noother choice today”.

“A decision like this is never easy tomake, but without the interim funding,which we have been repeatedly requestingfor, we are simply unable to conduct flightoperations in a manner that delivers to thevery reasonable expectations of our guests,employees, partners and service providers,”he wrote.

“After 25 years of sharing the Joy ofFlying with Indian and international guests,Jet Airways and its Board of Directors havebeen forced to take this extreme measure,as prolonged and sustained efforts withlenders and authorities to ensure the sus-tainability of the airline did not yield thedesired results.”

He, however, said the future providesnew hope and opportunity as India is bet-ter off with a flying Jet Airways. “We will nowawait the bid finalisation process by SBI andthe consortium of Indian lenders and willcontinue to support the bid process initiat-ed by the lenders,” he added.

Passengers who had booked on Jet fortravel on future dates will get a refund.

New Delhi (PTI): Himachali KalaZeera, Jeeraphool from Chhattisgarh andKandhamal Haldi from Odisha are amongthe 14 products that have receivedGeographical Indication (GI) tag from thegovernment so far this year.

According to the Department forPromotion of Industry and Internal Trade(DPIIT), the other products which received

this tag include Coorg Arabica coffee fromKarnataka, Wayanad Robusta coffee fromKerala, Araku Valley Arabica from AndhraPradesh, Sirisi Supari from Karnataka andHimachali Chulli oil.

Darjeeling Tea, Tirupathi Laddu,Kangra Paintings, Nagpur Orange andKashmir Pashmina are among the regis-tered GIs in India.

The tag helps growers of these prod-ucts get premium price as no other pro-ducer can misuse the name to market sim-ilar goods

A geographical indication tag is usedfor an agricultural, natural or a manufac-tured product (handicraft and industrialgoods) originating from a definite geo-graphical territory.

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Reliance Communications promot-ers’ stake has come down to 22 per

cent in January-March 2019 quarter,with family and group firms jointly los-ing more than half of the equities, thetelecom firm said on Thursday.

In the October-December 2018quarter, the promoters and promotergroup of debt-ridden RCom had53.08% stake in the company.

In the third quarter of 2018-19,Ambani family members jointly held145.48 crore equity shares, which camedown to 59.79 crore in last quarter ofthe same fiscal, according to share-holding pattern disclosure made by thefirm.

Shares held by promoter groupfirm Reliance CommunicationsEnterprises Private Limited dropped byalmost half to 36.56 crore from 72.31crore.

The disclosure shows that equityholding of Reliance Ornatus Enterpriseand Ventures and Reliance WindTurbine Installators Industries camedown to 9.2 crore and 85 lakh, respec-tively, from 30 crore shares held byeach of them in the third quarter.

According to records, most of thepledged shares were sold by lenders inJanuary-March 2019 quarter.

The company, which is reelingunder debt burden of around �45,000crore, has approached the NationalCompany Law Tribunal to invokeinsolvency against it as the firm hasbeen unable to sell assets and pay backto lenders.

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Script Open High Low LTPRPOWER 9.60 9.60 8.05 8.20SPICEJET 144.00 152.60 135.00 136.25PCJEWELLER 149.40 167.60 134.30 145.20JETAIRWAYS 217.70 217.70 158.10 163.90SUZLON 7.40 7.53 7.02 7.09DHFL 172.50 172.95 156.00 157.20RELCAPITAL 173.40 173.40 149.50 151.75WIPRO 289.40 289.65 281.00 284.80RELIANCE 1365.45 1387.00 1365.00 1382.90YESBANK 266.90 268.00 253.95 255.30TATAMOTORS 232.00 239.30 230.45 235.90JPASSOCIAT 5.60 5.72 5.38 5.53RELINFRA 133.80 133.80 120.35 121.75INDIGO 1600.00 1650.00 1544.10 1554.70INFY* 724.85 724.85 713.00 716.40IBULHSGFIN 839.00 839.00 789.00 800.25ICICIBANK 408.60 410.65 402.55 404.90ADANIGREEN 44.70 48.00 41.40 45.05DLF 184.00 185.70 179.35 183.15RAIN 134.00 138.55 120.75 125.60BHARTIARTL 350.95 350.95 333.00 346.75IBREALEST 109.50 110.85 103.20 103.75WESTLIFE 433.30 440.30 401.05 405.60SBIN 315.90 315.90 308.10 310.90MARUTI 7475.00 7542.00 7435.00 7441.10HDFCLIFE 409.00 413.40 395.90 405.95HDFCBANK 2306.00 2315.00 2284.60 2290.15MOTHERSUMI 159.00 162.95 156.20 157.15PNBHOUSING 800.15 825.00 779.00 791.85JINDALSTEL 189.50 190.45 179.25 183.40MFSL 445.90 473.00 437.55 442.65PNB 92.90 92.90 89.55 90.10JAMNAAUTO 62.00 62.40 59.05 59.75ASHOKLEY 97.00 97.05 94.15 95.70JUSTDIAL 597.05 598.20 571.95 574.50JAICORPLTD 128.70 132.65 127.50 128.15INFIBEAM 51.90 53.55 49.65 50.05VEDL 185.90 186.80 178.00 178.70TATAMTRDVR 112.90 116.35 111.50 113.65DEEPAKFERT 159.60 169.00 157.95 159.15DCBBANK 203.00 205.00 196.80 202.45DMART 1413.00 1423.00 1356.00 1362.90TATASTEEL 553.00 555.00 537.15 542.85TCS 2141.00 2150.05 2116.30 2145.50IDEA 18.15 18.15 17.00 17.25RBLBANK 685.00 686.30 669.55 676.10BOMDYEING 135.50 135.90 124.15 129.95ZEEL 418.00 418.00 401.25 402.45LT 1382.50 1387.00 1359.00 1360.75BANKBARODA 131.40 131.40 125.85 126.35SAIL 59.60 59.60 56.15 57.35CGPOWER 38.70 38.85 36.50 36.90GRAPHITE 470.00 473.20 450.55 451.60TECHM 797.20 808.00 797.20 799.35EXIDEIND 228.05 228.40 216.80 220.95RECLTD 151.70 154.25 151.70 152.70RADICO 353.15 354.00 333.40 335.05ADANIPOWER 54.30 55.80 52.80 54.15SOUTHBANK 17.70 17.70 17.00 17.20MINDTREE 977.00 986.45 961.55 969.10STRTECH 195.00 199.90 194.30 196.75HINDPETRO 264.50 269.40 258.30 266.60DBL 642.00 667.95 633.75 643.35AXISBANK 777.35 779.00 769.00 771.20JSWSTEEL 291.00 301.00 286.50 298.95ITC 307.30 308.00 303.40 304.35SUNPHARMA 462.50 466.00 456.80 462.10KOTAKBANK 1387.00 1392.30 1361.00 1376.70HEG 2087.00 2087.00 2009.20 2019.95INDUSINDBK 1815.85 1822.15 1755.40 1764.00IDFCFIRSTB 53.70 54.00 52.70 52.85IBVENTURES 326.70 327.00 307.95 310.45AMBUJACEM 231.55 235.25 230.00 234.00BAJFINANCE 3059.95 3059.95 2995.50 3013.80BANDHANBNK 562.50 577.90 562.50 566.35ICICIGI 1080.00 1098.00 1070.60 1092.20LTTS 1690.00 1727.00 1673.20 1679.85KTKBANK 137.40 137.90 133.60 134.55COALINDIA 251.15 252.70 249.60 251.75HDFC 2031.00 2048.25 1999.15 2003.90ONGC 161.25 162.15 159.10 160.20OBEROIRLTY 576.15 577.90 545.80 549.10BANKINDIA 99.00 99.70 96.10 96.60NCC 106.35 106.40 103.00 103.70FEDERALBNK 98.10 98.20 95.40 96.95HINDALCO 215.50 215.95 206.35 207.25HEXAWARE 346.55 346.60 334.25 337.20M&M 690.00 691.15 682.00 683.40WOCKPHARMA 455.40 456.00 436.80 439.10IOC 157.00 157.90 154.15 156.15BPCL 357.90 364.60 353.65 362.15TATAELXSI 981.10 985.55 952.50 956.25L&TFH 149.05 150.75 145.05 146.15MEGH 68.05 68.25 65.00 65.50NTPC 137.35 137.70 135.05 135.40HEROMOTOCO 2740.00 2759.90 2731.20 2739.30BHEL 77.65 77.95 75.65 75.90RCOM 2.20 2.20 2.20 2.20ASIANPAINT 1462.00 1478.80 1460.30 1465.35PIDILITIND 1294.00 1296.40 1250.00 1253.10EDELWEISS 180.30 182.85 173.80 179.45JUBLFOOD 1390.00 1390.70 1341.25 1344.60TITAN 1125.25 1129.00 1113.60 1125.75UNIONBANK 92.20 92.95 90.00 90.70DISHTV 40.40 40.40 37.55 37.90ANDHRABANK 28.80 28.90 28.05 28.20NATIONALUM 56.00 56.00 54.10 54.35INDIACEM 113.20 113.30 108.60 109.75

ABCAPITAL 101.30 101.40 98.85 99.85PVR 1719.00 1722.05 1665.00 1714.10HCLTECH 1109.30 1122.60 1091.00 1100.35CIPLA 568.00 568.00 553.80 562.00DABUR 409.05 412.20 403.00 404.80HINDUNILVR 1744.90 1744.90 1728.00 1737.45PFC 120.85 120.85 118.00 118.55DELTACORP 255.90 256.25 248.05 248.85SUVEN 270.55 280.35 260.35 272.20CANBK 278.30 280.95 273.40 277.30FSL 51.50 51.50 49.65 50.45KANSAINER 455.00 456.60 443.20 450.50GLENMARK 647.50 648.10 634.05 639.60NBCC 62.40 63.05 60.85 61.55AUBANK 603.95 623.35 598.00 616.10UPL 938.95 938.95 926.70 934.35TATACHEM 615.00 615.00 592.20 596.05ESCORTS 799.90 799.90 768.40 770.65TATAPOWER 71.35 71.60 70.00 70.55BEL 94.45 94.55 92.10 92.45UJJIVAN 351.40 351.40 340.10 342.30JUBILANT 695.45 707.75 682.00 701.80TVSMOTOR 520.05 524.80 514.60 518.20IFCI 13.10 13.29 12.35 12.50AUROPHARMA 783.80 792.70 778.10 786.85WELSPUNIND 58.35 58.35 54.40 56.20MCX 810.00 812.95 776.60 779.75GRUH 287.90 295.40 285.75 286.90BEML 966.00 969.00 948.85 953.40LTI 1635.20 1659.85 1633.35 1650.55ADANIPORTS 397.00 397.00 388.00 390.05PERSISTENT* 617.50 631.15 617.50 628.40IPCALAB 948.85 984.05 947.95 968.95LUPIN 838.00 839.90 821.60 834.10VIPIND 476.25 487.00 466.05 472.35GREAVESCOT 146.00 147.80 142.50 143.05FORCEMOT 1792.00 1798.00 1752.00 1761.85MINDAIND 377.50 392.45 372.00 388.80ICICIPRULI 365.00 367.45 358.55 365.45EQUITAS 135.40 137.40 134.15 135.75MERCK 3924.65 3924.65 3755.00 3781.85CONCOR 514.75 522.85 508.75 521.80

NATCOPHARM* 564.00 564.00 540.00 541.75GICRE 250.95 261.40 245.05 260.35MANAPPURAM 126.00 128.50 123.60 124.45BAJAJ-AUTO 3070.00 3085.00 3042.95 3063.00CADILAHC 342.30 342.30 334.85 336.85TV18BRDCST 35.80 36.30 34.30 34.50IGL 323.00 327.70 319.40 325.05CANFINHOME 343.25 346.75 335.65 337.55CENTURYTEX 934.00 944.75 915.00 940.15IRB 142.65 142.65 135.50 136.85DRREDDY 2819.95 2826.00 2792.70 2800.90PETRONET 241.50 242.30 239.00 239.55CROMPTON 236.40 237.95 230.45 236.10EICHERMOT 21477.00 21477.00 20929.00 21029.20HFCL 23.05 23.70 22.55 22.65LICHSGFIN 523.50 528.60 515.45 517.55PHILIPCARB 171.20 171.20 166.25 166.70INDIANB 269.10 271.60 262.90 265.40SRF 2489.00 2507.95 2438.15 2448.60BHARATFORG 510.00 512.50 498.00 499.75GNFC 325.00 327.60 317.80 321.25SUNTECK 502.10 509.90 485.55 488.45ACC 1697.50 1707.15 1679.25 1697.45APOLLOTYRE 218.00 221.15 214.35 218.85SHILPAMED 375.20 414.75 360.90 398.70M&MFIN 422.00 423.50 415.45 417.85HAVELLS 755.50 767.00 755.45 757.00MUTHOOTFIN 613.15 623.25 610.30 614.80GODREJPROP 940.00 940.00 912.20 916.30GRASIM 883.25 888.30 861.25 865.40STARCEMENT 106.50 109.90 104.00 107.85APOLLOHOSP 1275.10 1278.90 1256.85 1269.95ALBK 52.80 52.80 50.55 51.05SUNTV 604.50 604.50 586.00 588.30BHARATFIN 1139.00 1139.00 1106.00 1109.00VENKYS 2230.55 2230.55 2145.00 2156.10WELCORP 141.00 142.70 136.20 136.70BRITANNIA 3019.30 3026.00 2990.05 2999.75JISLJALEQS 59.75 60.45 58.50 58.85BIOCON 624.00 624.00 612.70 615.30TATAGLOBAL 215.20 216.45 207.15 208.35BAJAJFINSV 7551.05 7590.00 7465.00 7565.85MANPASAND 124.90 125.00 117.90 118.45INFRATEL 313.85 313.85 303.35 307.60STAR 496.70 497.45 484.00 488.25ORIENTBANK 108.00 108.30 104.10 105.15IDBI 44.30 44.30 43.20 43.40ISEC 226.00 232.00 222.95 225.70POWERGRID 197.95 197.95 193.40 194.20ABB 1410.05 1443.05 1410.05 1432.30

RELAXO 875.10 922.05 856.85 905.65PEL 2673.00 2693.25 2616.00 2653.95RAYMOND 797.95 802.00 776.85 779.90VOLTAS 626.00 626.95 610.00 615.45CASTROLIND 167.45 167.65 161.25 163.15BAJAJELEC 577.10 578.00 563.20 566.80INTELLECT 229.80 230.05 219.45 220.95ITI 100.00 100.00 96.65 97.05GMRINFRA 18.55 18.60 18.10 18.25J&KBANK 63.60 64.40 61.20 61.75TAKE 151.40 152.00 145.20 148.55ASHOKA 134.85 135.00 130.50 131.80GRANULES 114.95 116.25 112.40 114.10SPARC 184.60 184.70 178.45 179.60SOBHA 522.00 522.75 505.00 507.00WABAG 303.45 305.80 293.85 296.45SRTRANSFIN 1230.00 1240.00 1204.00 1213.10ISGEC 552.80 570.00 552.80 565.00LEMONTREE 84.50 84.50 76.75 77.55CEATLTD 1126.35 1132.30 1101.00 1107.60AMARAJABAT 709.40 710.70 692.00 693.75SHANKARA 533.90 536.80 520.00 521.95HINDCOPPER 50.20 50.60 48.60 48.85SBILIFE 620.00 621.90 612.80 615.60NHPC 24.05 24.10 23.60 23.65BATAINDIA 1431.00 1439.05 1419.75 1422.15CUMMINSIND 736.50 749.30 725.00 737.75KEI 421.40 433.85 416.00 421.70AVANTI 408.55 411.15 396.45 397.30UBL 1446.00 1446.00 1412.25 1414.30VINATIORGA 1740.00 1785.00 1735.50 1761.90MOTILALOFS 744.90 747.00 721.75 727.95OMAXE 212.90 212.90 211.20 211.35SYNDIBANK 41.60 41.75 40.05 40.40MPHASIS 980.05 986.40 971.20 977.45PAGEIND 23998.55 24131.65 23496.50 23765.80ABFRL 220.90 222.95 216.20 221.55JMFINANCIL 92.00 92.60 89.65 90.00LAKSHVILAS 87.25 87.65 82.90 83.35RCF 61.30 61.30 59.65 60.05NIITTECH 1298.70 1319.35 1293.30 1311.70GUJGAS 161.00 162.00 156.95 160.35NOCIL 143.60 144.00 140.65 141.45PRESTIGE 274.65 274.65 259.00 261.90KEC 303.40 306.70 291.00 292.25PRSMJOHNSN 101.10 102.50 98.10 100.15HEIDELBERG 180.45 181.35 177.35 178.80ULTRACEMCO 4255.90 4273.45 4220.95 4250.55CRISIL 1600.00 1600.00 1481.00 1498.55GAIL 355.00 355.00 348.65 351.95ADANITRANS 228.95 229.85 221.50 223.80MAXINDIA 69.55 69.80 67.00 69.50NMDC 104.00 104.85 102.95 104.30INDHOTEL 155.00 155.50 150.65 153.65RAMCOCEM 787.95 791.70 774.55 778.75TATAMETALI 681.10 684.05 655.20 662.80MARICO 366.00 368.00 363.10 364.55PTC 72.60 72.90 70.60 70.85HSCL 117.50 119.00 115.00 115.60GODREJCP 669.90 672.80 665.10 668.40GODREJIND 527.90 527.90 514.00 516.85SUNDRMFAST 555.60 556.20 544.60 550.55APLAPOLLO 1569.65 1578.90 1533.20 1567.45HIMATSEIDE 232.85 241.00 226.55 228.50GET&D 269.60 271.10 258.05 263.25COLPAL 1223.55 1227.65 1213.95 1217.95BBTC 1349.75 1350.00 1306.20 1315.20ENGINERSIN 119.30 120.00 117.00 117.75GESHIP 301.40 303.40 288.20 290.30TORNTPOWER 263.90 263.95 257.15 258.35DIVISLAB 1718.80 1728.95 1714.05 1725.40GSFC 106.65 107.25 103.45 103.85RALLIS 159.85 159.85 155.65 156.40JSWENERGY 73.05 74.30 71.65 72.40CENTRALBK 35.00 35.00 33.85 33.95BALKRISIND 968.35 972.50 956.00 960.45JINDALSAW 88.95 88.95 85.65 86.25REPCOHOME 438.85 446.00 425.80 430.75ITDCEM 125.00 131.15 123.40 128.45FCONSUMER 44.90 45.00 43.85 44.00IDFC 46.50 46.85 45.05 45.35OIL 179.00 180.50 178.55 179.20GODREJAGRO 532.65 532.65 518.05 522.95HERITGFOOD 500.00 500.00 491.40 495.25KAJARIACER 619.35 627.00 614.30 623.90WABCOINDIA 6300.00 6315.00 6271.90 6294.40BLISSGVS 178.40 179.60 174.00 174.60GSPL 189.75 189.95 184.80 189.45RAJESHEXPO 668.95 669.65 662.70 665.10CHOLAFIN 1489.95 1489.95 1462.85 1472.30HINDZINC 284.00 284.95 281.60 283.70MGL 1024.00 1028.60 1010.00 1017.10NESTLEIND 11203.95 11229.10 10852.65 10952.70GODFRYPHLP 1185.00 1192.50 1154.35 1163.60GMDCLTD 77.65 78.00 75.55 75.90BERGEPAINT 335.00 336.60 326.85 329.25CHENNPETRO 265.00 268.20 261.05 261.75DCAL 228.00 233.90 227.50 229.05SHREECEM 19528.15 19825.00 19282.95 19656.35SIEMENS 1188.50 1194.45 1172.70 1183.45RNAM 200.50 202.00 187.50 190.50FRETAIL 427.00 434.00 425.00 430.05JKTYRE 93.50 93.70 91.55 91.70QUESS 730.85 732.70 711.80 715.35ALLCARGO 116.00 119.00 115.35 116.15JBCHEPHARM 353.80 354.20 343.00 347.75THERMAX 986.00 987.00 969.00 980.30SHK 156.00 156.00 151.70 153.10NAVKARCORP 39.55 39.55 38.10 38.55

NAUKRI 1935.00 1936.25 1897.00 1910.55COCHINSHIP 393.00 393.00 387.00 390.10AJANTPHARM 1040.15 1040.15 1019.60 1024.25SWANENERGY 110.20 112.00 108.75 110.25GICHSGFIN 260.05 260.60 254.10 255.90KALPATPOWR 494.30 495.15 477.00 484.20MAHABANK 16.40 16.40 15.51 15.84MAGMA 124.00 126.45 120.80 124.40PIIND 1028.00 1031.55 1010.00 1026.70TRENT 354.70 364.00 350.00 359.50TATACOMM 582.25 582.25 569.00 572.75JSLHISAR 90.75 91.40 87.75 88.25GILLETTE 7761.00 7875.35 7482.00 7644.85MRPL 72.00 72.20 70.00 70.40TORNTPHARM 1833.00 1834.10 1815.10 1829.15IBULISL 341.95 356.95 332.50 335.05ESSELPRO 131.60 132.00 130.80 131.45EVEREADY 184.70 185.45 175.05 176.80MRF 58555.00 58600.00 57513.45 57742.45BALMLAWRIE 182.80 183.00 178.10 178.55TRIDENT 67.40 68.20 66.25 66.45MMTC 28.10 28.15 27.50 27.60SCI 35.20 35.25 34.75 35.05MOIL 162.00 162.00 159.10 159.80BAJAJCON 339.00 339.00 334.65 335.40UFLEX 247.50 247.50 238.00 240.45VGUARD 226.00 227.95 224.60 225.75MAHINDCIE 230.00 230.00 223.10 225.00NESCO 493.95 520.00 489.10 511.95OFSS 3551.25 3565.00 3481.00 3514.70CARBORUNIV 373.80 375.20 368.00 374.10SONATSOFTW 339.00 339.00 331.50 333.00EMAMILTD 397.85 398.00 392.35 394.55SYMPHONY 1386.55 1397.30 1360.00 1374.95CENTURYPLY 189.00 190.20 183.50 186.25ASTRAL 1237.85 1254.00 1217.70 1247.60MAHSCOOTER 3802.05 3872.00 3764.40 3827.65INOXWIND 68.75 69.10 67.45 68.75ZENSARTECH 243.25 243.25 235.00 238.30MAHLOG 544.00 544.00 532.45 536.45ADVENZYMES 192.00 193.00 188.85 191.50JYOTHYLAB 189.35 189.35 181.70 184.10GUJFLUORO 1058.30 1064.20 1050.35 1060.15INOXLEISUR 321.55 323.40 315.00 315.80DBCORP 193.40 193.40 188.70 191.05MAHLIFE 368.50 370.70 362.25 363.60NIACL 189.55 191.60 184.00 189.60COFFEEDAY 271.25 273.90 262.30 264.45BDL 297.05 297.15 287.90 288.15CHAMBLFERT 167.45 167.90 165.00 165.75SREINFRA 28.70 28.70 27.95 28.15KNRCON 237.05 247.80 235.15 242.55FORBESCO 2500.00 2520.00 2425.50 2484.30LAURUSLABS 400.25 400.25 389.20 395.50NH 219.00 219.75 214.60 219.50THOMASCOOK 248.25 251.85 241.30 248.40GRINDWELL 590.05 606.00 585.00 605.05GUJALKALI 506.90 523.35 496.40 497.30SUDARSCHEM 361.00 361.00 342.15 344.05NBVENTURES 108.15 108.15 105.05 105.90HAL 709.65 709.65 699.00 700.80ASTRAZEN 2282.00 2284.10 2208.65 2265.10LALPATHLAB 1054.00 1070.00 1045.35 1064.05FINCABLES 486.05 486.05 473.15 479.40INDOSTAR 418.00 419.00 400.60 408.20NAVINFLUOR 718.50 718.50 701.00 709.80CUB 202.00 203.00 200.95 202.20PFIZER 3240.00 3247.85 3200.00 3211.30VBL 840.00 845.20 826.15 831.80SYNGENE 586.00 588.65 578.00 581.30SJVN 24.95 24.95 24.20 24.35HUDCO 44.80 44.90 44.00 44.15ASTERDM 152.00 153.40 150.00 152.05DEEPAKNI 268.00 271.55 266.30 267.30DCMSHRIRAM 399.70 404.00 397.00 398.30SUPPETRO 227.00 228.55 220.00 222.60TIMETECHNO 100.50 100.50 97.00 97.20HSIL 271.00 273.30 267.25 269.25NILKAMAL 1432.75 1432.75 1386.00 1400.35CYIENT 587.00 593.75 586.00 587.75BOSCHLTD 18350.00 18350.00 18050.00 18175.85EIHOTEL 194.95 195.70 190.50 193.05KSCL 486.25 488.70 472.00 477.50

SUPREMEIND 1143.85 1143.85 1128.65 1134.80GPPL 98.20 98.20 94.50 95.40BIRLACORPN 524.95 526.45 515.05 519.40UCOBANK 18.80 18.85 18.25 18.55COROMANDEL 427.00 442.65 427.00 439.15TEJASNET 189.05 191.45 187.10 189.85ECLERX 1134.95 1141.95 1125.05 1131.35WHIRLPOOL 1449.95 1452.50 1428.00 1431.10TATACOFFEE 92.65 93.00 91.40 92.15TVTODAY 317.15 318.75 307.00 317.25BAJAJHLDNG 3325.00 3325.00 3280.00 3285.65PGHH 10675.00 10788.75 10631.40 10720.90ENDURANCE 1173.95 1174.95 1156.30 1161.00TEAMLEASE 3016.35 3016.35 2895.05 2969.65LUXIND 1392.95 1415.00 1362.95 1376.15FORTIS 140.15 141.00 139.00 140.70LINDEINDIA 488.55 488.70 475.90 478.65CERA 2789.90 2809.90 2788.20 2804.65ALKEM 1789.95 1789.95 1710.55 1721.40AARTIIND 1641.00 1641.00 1620.00 1624.70ATUL 3550.00 3562.45 3485.00 3545.45GHCL 239.65 239.65 234.65 235.25PARAGMILK 248.65 248.65 243.25 244.30SKFINDIA 2058.00 2068.95 2008.05 2029.95GEPIL 865.05 865.05 850.05 857.30BAYERCROP 4224.00 4295.00 4179.00 4234.75GLAXO 1308.00 1308.00 1290.00 1298.10JKCEMENT 886.00 889.60 879.00 888.95PNCINFRA 158.15 158.15 153.30 154.50GDL 145.75 145.85 140.55 144.05FINOLEXIND 488.00 490.90 478.25 481.60CORPBANK 28.00 28.40 27.80 27.95MINDACORP 140.00 140.00 133.15 135.10VTL 1126.05 1147.30 1110.00 1142.25NLCINDIA 68.35 68.45 68.20 68.25REDINGTON 96.20 99.00 96.20 97.85MHRIL 240.00 245.00 238.60 240.95ABBOTINDIA 8054.10 8054.10 7777.05 7810.95SCHNEIDER 105.25 105.55 103.50 104.15IOB 14.85 14.85 14.62 14.65SANOFI 5770.05 5803.15 5751.15 5770.20SADBHAV 240.00 240.30 237.70 239.30NETWORK18 36.35 36.35 35.00 35.15GREENPLY 172.75 172.75 168.80 169.20JAGRAN 118.00 119.00 117.20 117.40TIINDIA 372.00 376.55 370.00 374.45BLUESTARCO 674.00 674.00 660.80 661.85AIAENG 1770.00 1822.30 1770.00 1806.25THYROCARE 516.00 519.95 509.40 511.20LAOPALA 202.70 212.55 202.70 209.40KRBL 350.00 352.00 344.15 345.20SHOPERSTOP 454.20 456.80 449.90 451.95JKLAKSHMI 374.65 381.30 371.00 371.70APLLTD 535.00 540.00 530.20 534.40IEX 158.20 161.00 157.40 158.35SFL 1371.00 1410.00 1360.00 1399.50EIDPARRY 203.60 204.20 201.55 203.15UNITEDBNK 11.85 11.85 10.95 10.98JSL 39.95 39.95 39.00 39.10CAPPL 390.05 391.70 383.20 384.95TNPL 206.80 209.00 204.85 207.05TTKPRESTIG 8400.10 8407.45 8306.10 8326.55SCHAEFFLER 5490.00 5530.00 5430.00 5477.40ITDC 277.35 278.55 272.30 273.05TATAINVEST 862.45 862.45 855.00 857.90MONSANTO 2555.00 2610.00 2555.00 2588.10GSKCONS 7212.40 7234.00 7168.90 7217.45VMART 2740.00 2740.00 2615.05 2659.30FLFL 476.05 482.45 473.55 481.50PHOENIXLTD 622.00 622.00 607.80 613.40NAVNETEDUL 114.15 114.75 113.00 113.45CHOLAHLDNG 509.95 511.30 491.50 499.85CCL 269.25 270.00 264.65 267.40BASF 1381.05 1384.60 1374.50 1378.00LAXMIMACH 6038.00 6038.00 5950.00 6004.30AEGISLOG 209.40 210.75 207.50 208.35AKZOINDIA 1774.40 1775.00 1758.20 1766.20BLUEDART 3225.05 3289.90 3207.00 3223.85ZYDUSWELL 1319.30 1324.30 1296.95 1300.80ELGIEQUIP 260.25 260.25 255.35 256.75TIMKEN 591.30 592.40 581.15 583.60SHARDACROP 396.30 396.30 385.00 389.55CARERATING 992.75 992.75 986.45 988.50ORIENTCEM 96.35 96.60 92.85 93.90SUNCLAYLTD 2949.00 2949.00 2828.00 2856.50SOMANYCERA 420.00 420.00 412.35 415.50HATSUN 732.00 735.75 718.90 733.75ASAHIINDIA 257.00 258.40 252.05 255.10CENTRUM 33.05 33.40 32.80 32.80SOLARINDS 1074.80 1075.00 1055.00 1069.25JCHAC 1941.25 1974.95 1915.00 1922.20ERIS 637.20 637.20 623.00 627.903MINDIA 24950.05 25114.85 24800.00 24848.85FDC 165.75 165.75 163.70 164.90HONAUT 23750.00 23947.50 23400.00 23807.80KIOCL 138.15 138.60 135.00 135.20SIS 840.50 845.75 837.00 844.45DHANUKA 403.00 405.00 394.00 397.00GALAXYSURF 1074.00 1096.00 1000.00 1006.65TRITURBINE 109.00 109.00 107.10 108.20SUPRAJIT 228.20 230.00 221.00 223.95GAYAPROJ 173.05 176.95 173.05 176.30TVSSRICHAK 2200.00 2233.85 2200.00 2214.40APARINDS 696.85 698.65 693.00 695.00IFBIND 860.00 871.10 852.00 863.50GULFOILLUB 877.50 880.00 870.00 875.00KPRMILL 575.85 575.85 572.00 572.45SHRIRAMCIT 1784.00 1806.00 1784.00 1792.70RATNAMANI 886.00 886.00 886.00 886.00

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY 50 11856.15 11856.15 11738.50 11752.80 -34.35RELIANCE 1375.00 1389.75 1365.00 1386.05 42.30JSWSTEEL 291.20 301.30 286.50 299.60 8.40TATAMOTORS 231.90 239.30 230.60 235.80 5.30BPCL 358.00 365.00 353.80 362.95 5.45WIPRO 289.00 289.55 280.20 284.55 3.65TCS 2149.90 2155.00 2114.20 2149.25 17.45ASIANPAINT 1464.00 1479.90 1460.30 1469.00 10.00BAJAJ-AUTO 3069.00 3089.90 3041.20 3080.00 11.55TITAN 1125.95 1129.50 1113.50 1123.90 3.85IOC 157.45 157.45 154.15 156.20 0.50CIPLA 562.00 566.65 553.20 561.00 1.65TECHM 804.00 809.00 798.10 800.00 1.90HINDUNILVR 1738.55 1744.10 1729.25 1742.00 3.45BAJAJFINSV 7593.00 7595.00 7465.00 7591.55 12.60SUNPHARMA 463.90 466.00 456.70 463.20 0.65ULTRACEMCO 4279.70 4279.70 4220.00 4260.55 5.50GAIL 354.40 354.40 348.50 352.00 0.40HEROMOTOCO 2742.90 2759.90 2732.55 2742.40 2.75ONGC 160.85 162.20 159.05 160.50 0.05COALINDIA 251.75 252.90 249.60 251.55 -0.05AXISBANK 778.40 779.00 769.00 770.05 -1.05UPL 935.05 938.95 926.10 932.50 -1.40MARUTI 7533.10 7539.35 7434.05 7440.00 -18.55HDFCBANK 2313.00 2315.05 2288.00 2293.00 -12.05HCLTECH 1108.00 1123.90 1090.50 1101.00 -6.05BAJFINANCE 3038.70 3046.00 2995.00 3015.00 -17.50ITC 308.25 308.25 303.55 305.00 -2.20DRREDDY 2827.95 2827.95 2791.35 2802.50 -22.60BRITANNIA 3029.85 3029.85 2988.15 2995.00 -25.50M&M 689.60 691.95 681.25 682.05 -6.05ICICIBANK 411.00 411.00 402.60 403.35 -3.65POWERGRID 197.35 197.85 193.50 194.90 -1.95HDFC 2040.00 2047.90 1998.15 2005.00 -21.70BHARTIARTL 349.50 350.45 332.65 344.90 -3.85INFY 722.50 722.50 712.75 715.70 -8.40KOTAKBANK 1386.40 1392.00 1362.85 1369.90 -16.50EICHERMOT 21378.00 21469.95 20949.55 21000.00 -270.55LT 1387.00 1387.60 1357.40 1362.50 -18.90ADANIPORTS 395.00 395.50 388.90 389.50 -6.15NTPC 137.50 137.85 135.05 135.35 -2.20SBIN 315.80 315.80 308.05 310.20 -5.55TATASTEEL 553.50 554.50 536.70 542.60 -10.65GRASIM 887.40 887.90 861.60 865.00 -18.55INFRATEL 312.95 314.45 303.25 306.00 -6.95ZEEL 418.00 418.00 401.00 402.50 -13.05INDUSINDBK 1816.00 1823.75 1752.30 1757.60 -57.55VEDL 185.30 186.90 178.00 178.40 -6.55HINDALCO 216.15 216.15 206.25 207.00 -7.95YESBANK 266.40 267.95 254.05 255.55 -10.90IBULHSGFIN 833.00 833.95 788.65 795.50 -36.95

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY NEXT 50 28593.75 28639.70 28304.10 28419.55 -122.90GICRE 255.40 261.80 245.25 261.50 10.75BANDHANBNK 563.00 577.40 562.00 569.90 12.15ABB 1414.10 1449.00 1414.10 1436.00 24.35CONCOR 515.90 523.00 508.10 520.30 8.10ICICIGI 1089.00 1100.00 1070.40 1099.80 16.65AUROPHARMA 785.00 794.00 779.00 789.15 6.75NMDC 104.10 105.15 102.90 104.60 0.60HINDPETRO 265.00 269.50 258.15 266.00 1.35HDFCAMC 1571.10 1589.00 1531.50 1586.20 5.90DIVISLAB 1716.00 1731.75 1713.00 1721.00 6.40LUPIN 833.00 837.60 820.95 835.80 2.85SHREECEM 19598.10 19819.90 19333.20 19661.00 65.50ICICIPRULI 364.05 367.90 358.40 365.75 1.05MARICO 362.25 368.40 362.25 365.00 1.00AMBUJACEM 232.00 235.25 230.00 232.40 0.40HINDZINC 282.30 284.95 281.55 282.80 0.20PGHH 10660.00 10750.00 10625.15 10699.90 1.25GODREJCP 669.85 673.00 664.75 667.50 -0.70NIACL 187.25 192.00 186.20 189.00 -0.20PETRONET 239.10 242.85 238.85 240.30 -0.30HAVELLS 751.15 767.60 751.15 756.05 -2.10SBILIFE 621.00 621.40 611.75 616.00 -1.70COLPAL 1226.00 1227.90 1214.00 1218.40 -3.50CADILAHC 339.65 340.40 334.25 336.90 -1.00MCDOWELL-N 558.90 558.90 545.10 554.20 -1.85ACC 1705.80 1709.75 1680.00 1697.35 -5.65MRF 58203.00 58400.10 57526.10 57848.50 -207.60SIEMENS 1185.00 1194.60 1171.50 1185.80 -4.35MOTHERSUMI 159.75 162.90 156.20 157.45 -0.75ASHOKLEY 97.00 97.20 94.05 95.85 -0.50HDFCLIFE 409.35 413.70 395.90 406.40 -2.15BAJAJHLDNG 3307.00 3324.95 3280.00 3285.55 -18.55DABUR 409.90 412.00 403.55 405.50 -3.50DLF 183.85 185.70 179.25 181.75 -1.60PEL 2681.60 2694.75 2613.55 2647.00 -25.95NHPC 24.05 24.10 23.55 23.75 -0.25BHEL 78.00 78.00 75.75 75.90 -0.80BOSCHLTD 18444.95 18444.95 18071.55 18071.55 -201.90BIOCON 624.00 624.90 612.40 615.35 -7.15PAGEIND 23711.20 24123.00 23460.05 23535.95 -300.65SRTRANSFIN 1237.00 1242.00 1202.65 1213.20 -16.40OFSS 3550.00 3569.40 3507.15 3514.00 -49.05UBL 1435.00 1439.95 1417.00 1420.00 -22.50INDIGO 1597.00 1650.00 1542.25 1555.10 -26.80L&TFH 149.65 150.95 145.75 146.35 -3.20PIDILITIND 1284.95 1302.70 1252.10 1259.70 -32.05SAIL 59.00 59.10 56.15 57.15 -1.55IDEA 18.10 18.15 16.95 17.45 -0.50DMART 1415.00 1424.00 1353.00 1362.00 -48.65BANKBARODA 130.85 131.05 125.75 126.05 -4.85

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The nearly two-year investi-gation by special counsel

Robert Mueller found "no evi-dence" of a "collusion" betweenthe Trump campaign and theRussian government duringthe 2016 US elections, AttorneyGeneral William BarrThursday announcedThursday, in a major relief toPresident Donald Trump.

Addressing the media atthe Department of Justice hereon the release of Mueller'sredacted report on the investi-gation into Russian interferencein the 2016 presidential elec-tion.

Mueller was chosen tohead the investigation in 2017following concerns from USintelligence agencies that Russiahad tried to tip the election inTrump's favour. The business-man-turned-politician defeat-ed former secretary of stateHillary Clinton in the 2016

presidential election.Barr said Mueller investi-

gated a number of links or con-tacts between TrumpCampaign officials and indi-viduals connected with theRussian government.

"After reviewing those con-tacts, the special counsel didnot find any conspiracy to vio-late US law involving Russia-linked persons and any personsassociated with the Trumpcampaign," Barr said on the400-page report.

He, however, said theRussian government sought tointerfere in US election process.

Barr emphasised that theprimary purposes of the SpecialCounsel's investigation was todetermine whether members ofthe presidential campaign ofTrump, or any individuals asso-ciated with that campaign,conspired or coordinated withthe Russian government tointerfere in the 2016 election.

The Special Counsel's

report states that his "investi-gation did not establish thatmembers of the TrumpCampaign conspired or coor-dinated with the Russian gov-ernment in its election inter-ference activities."

"I am sure that allAmericans share my concernsabout the efforts of the Russiangovernment to interfere in ourpresidential election.

As the Special Counsel'sreport makes clear, the Russiangovernment sought to interferein our election.

"But thanks to the SpecialCounsel's thorough investiga-tion, we now know that theRussian operatives who perpe-trated these schemes did nothave the cooperation of PresidentTrump or the Trump campaign— or the knowing assistance ofany other Americans for thatmatter," he said."That is some-thing that all Americans can andshould be grateful to have con-firmed," Barr said.

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North Korea said onThursday that it had test-

fired a new type of "tacticalguided weapon," its first suchtest in nearly half a year, anddemanded that Washingtonremove Secretary of State MikePompeo from nuclear negotia-tions.

The test, which didn'tappear to be of a banned mid-or long-range ballistic missilethat could scuttle negotiations,allows North Korea to show itspeople it is pushing ahead withweapons development whilealso reassuring domestic mili-tary officials worried that diplo-macy with Washington signalsweakness.

Separately, the NorthKorean Foreign Ministryaccused Pompeo of playingdown the significance of com-ments by leader Kim Jong Un,who said last week thatWashington has until the end ofthe year to offer mutuallyacceptable terms for an agree-

ment to salvage the high-stakesnuclear diplomacy.

Both the demand forPompeo's removal from thetalks and the weapon test pointto North Korea's displeasurewith the deadlocked negotia-tions. In a statement issuedunder the name of Kwon JongGun, director general of theAmerican Affairs Departmentat the Foreign Ministry, NorthKorea accused Pompeo of "talk-ing nonsense" and misrepre-senting Kim's comments.

During a speech at TexasA&M on Monday, Pompeosaid Kim promised to denu-clearize during his first summitwith President Donald Trumpand that U.S. Officials wereworking with the NorthKoreans to "chart a path for-ward so we can get there."

"He (Kim) said he wantedit done by the end of the year,"Pompeo said. "I'd love to seethat done sooner." The NorthKorean statement said Pompeowas "misrepresenting the mean-ing of our requirement" for the

negotiations to be finalized bythe year's end, and referred tohis "talented skill of fabricatingstories."

It said Pompeo's continuedparticipation in the negotiationswould ensure that the talksbecome "entangled" and calledfor a different counterpart whois "more careful and mature incommunicating with us." In aspeech at his rubber-stampparliament last week, Kim saidhe is open to a third summitwith Trump, but only if theUnited States changes its stance on sanctions enforce-ment and pressure by the endof the year.

Kim observed the unspec-ified weapon being firedWednesday by the Academy ofDefense Science, the North'sstate-run Korean Central NewsAgency said. Kim was report-ed to have said "the develop-ment of the weapon systemserves as an event of veryweighty significance in increas-ing the combat power of thePeople's Army."

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North Korean leader KimJong Un will visit Russia

later this month, the Kremlinsaid Thursday, in a meetingthat offers President VladimirPutin an opportunity to emergeas a broker in the long-runningnuclear standoff and raiseRussia’s profile in regionalaffairs.

The Kremlin said in a briefstatement Thursday that Kimwill visit Russia "in the secondhalf of April" on Putin's invi-tation, but gave no furtherdetails. Russian media havebeen abuzz in recent days withrumors about the rare meetingbetween the leaders.

Putin is set to visit Chinalater this month, and somemedia speculated that he couldmeet with Kim in Vladivostok,the far eastern port city nearthe border with North Korea.

Kim said last week that he

is open to a third summit withUS President Donald Trump,but set the year's end as a dead-line for Washington to offermutually acceptable terms fora deal. The North Koreanleader blamed the collapse ofhis February summit withTrump on what he described asunilateral demands by the US.

For Kim, the meeting mayallow him to expand hisoptions in talks with Trumpand also balance the influenceof China, the main ally andsponsor of the communistNorth.

Moscow maintained closeties with Pyongyang during theSoviet era, building dozens offactories and key infrastructure,sending supplies and providingweapons for the North Koreanmilitary. Those ties witheredafter the 1991 Soviet collapse,when Moscow cold-shoulderedformer Soviet allies amid thenation's economic meltdown.

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Pakistan's Finance MinisterAsad Umar, who was

involved in extensive discus-sions with the IMF to finalisea bailout package for the cash-strapped country, quit theCabinet on Thursday afterPrime Minister Imran Khanexpressed his desire to shift himto the energy ministry.

Umar, who recentlyreturned from a trip to the USin which the details ofPakistan's next InternationalMonetary Fund bailout werefinalised, said he has obtainedthe prime minister's consent "tonot take any cabinet position".

"As part of a cabinetreshuffle, prime ministerdesired that I take the energyminister portfolio instead offinance," Umar said. "However,I have obtained his consent to

not take any cabinet position."Prime Minister Khan-led

government and FinanceMinister Umar in particularhave faced mounting criticismby opposition parties, membersof the business communityand citizens over the handlingof the economic crisis. OnMonday, the Pakistani mediareported that a major reshufflewas on the cards in the FinanceMinistry.

However, InformationMinister Fawad Chaudhrydenied the reports of the

reshuffle. "There is no truth inreports regarding changes inposts of federal ministers. Theprime minister has the powerto change ministers and themedia should play a responsi-ble role on this subject," hetweeted.

Cash-strapped Pakistan isseeking USD 8 billion from theIMF to bail itself out from asevere balance-of-paymentscrisis that threatens to cripplethe country's economy.Pakistan has so far received atotal of USD 9.1 billion infinancial aid packages fromfriendly countries like China,Saudi Arabia and the UAEduring the current fiscal year.

Finance Minister Umarsaid earlier this month that amission of the IMF would visitIslamabad soon after the springmeetings of the World BankGroup, which includes theIMF, and an agreement shouldbe signed by the end of thismonth.

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Nepal Thursday successful-ly launched its first satel-

lite into space from the US togather detailed geographicalinformation of the Himalayannation, evoking unbridledexcitement among the peopleand scientists.

Developed by the Nepalesescientists, NepaliSat-1 satellitewas launched at 2.31 am (Nepaltime) from Virginia in UnitedStates, according to NepalAcademy of Science andTechnology (NAST).

Two Nepali scientists,Aabhas Maskey and HariramShrestha who are currentlystudying at Japanese KyushuInstitute of Technology, devel-oped the satellite under theBIRDS project of their institute.

Prime Minister KP SharmaOli congratulated all the sci-entists and institutions involvedin the development of the satel-lite. He said it was a matter ofprestige for the country tohave its own satellite.

"Though a humble begin-ning, with the launching ofNepaliSat-1 Nepal has entered

the Space-Era. I wish to con-gratulate all those scientistsand institutions that wereinvolved right from the devel-opment to its launching there-by enhancing the prestige ofour country," he said in atweet.

Spokesperson for NASTSuresh Kumar Dhungel saidthey invested in the satellite ina bid to open new paths forspace engineering in the coun-try.

He said with the help ofNepaliSat-1, ground stationlocated at NAST office willcommunicate and gatherimages of the geographicalarea of the country.

NepaliSat-1 is a low orbitsatellite which will be in the400-km distance from the

Earth's surface. It will be sta-tioned at the InternationalSpace Station for a month andthen it will be sent to orbit theearth, according to NAST.

The satellite will take pho-tographs on a regular basis togather geographical informa-tion of the country.

The satellite has a Nepaliflag and the NAST logo. It alsohas the name of the scientistsinvolved in the making of thesatellite.

Nepal Academy of Scienceand Technology has investednearly Rs 20 million for thesatellite that weighs 1.3 kilo-grams, a small satellite withlimited capability.

Nepal's first entry intospace has brought huge excite-ment among people and sci-entists.

NAST initiated the launchof the country's own satelliteunder the BIRDS project of theJapanese Kyushu Institute ofTechnology.

The BIRDS project hasbeen designed in associationwith the United Nations andaims at helping countrieslaunch their first satellite.

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Twenty-nine Germantourists were killed on

Wednesday when a bus crashedon the Portuguese island ofMadeira.

Televised images showedthe bus had spun off the road,apparently having flipped sev-eral times, before crashing intoa house at the bottom of aslope.

"Horrible news comes to usfrom Madeira," a German gov-ernment spokesman tweetedafter the deadly crash.

"Our deep sorrow goes to all those who lost their livesin the bus accident, ourthoughts are with the injured,"he added.

Filipe Sousa, mayor ofSanta Cruz where the accidenthappened, said 17 women and11 men were killed in the crash, with another 21injured.

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Haman-hai-ishq — love is all thereis — words evocative of India’s rich

pluralistic tradition represented thequintessence of what Haku Shah, a cel-ebrated Gandhian artist and socialanthropologist of exceptional vision,stood for. His death at the age of 84,after a long illness on March 21, didn’tgo unnoticed. The National Gallery ofModern Art celebrated his extraordi-nary life by hosting an evening of musicand intimate reminiscences.

An avant-garde in more ways thanone, Shah mainstreamed rural, tribal,folk art and craft by bridging thechasm between elitism and art that hasoften been relegated to the eponymouscategory of folk or subaltern tribalexpressions. His love for folk artists andartisans evolved as part of a burgeon-ing movement in the 50s for the creativeintersection of craft and design. One ofhis first assignments was at the Weavers’Service Centre established by PupulJayakar near the Opera House inMumbai. An astonishing number of

artists with different terms ofengagement gravitated to thecentres and elsewhere —

Prabhakar Barwe, Jeram Patel,Jogen Chowdhury, Himmat Shah,

Gautam Vaghela, Bhasker Kulkarni,Amrut Patel and Manu Parekh to name

but just a few. Also budding scenogra-phers like Rajeev Sethi and MartandSingh. KG Subramanyan came occa-sionally and created stunning stand-alone sculptures from the fibres ofhandspun wool. Haku Shah thrived inthis hothouse of creativity. His nextassignment, a long stint with theNational Institute of Design, was alsonot an act of artistic hubris, but was dri-ven by the need to research tribal artand crafts, rituals and belief systemsthat had intrigued him for a long time.In 1978 he was appointed advisor to theMingei International Museum at SanDiego in California .

Shah’s exquisite personal collectionof terracotta objects picked up from vil-lages near Valod, Mandvi, Buhari,Poshina and Chhota Udaipur in Gujarat

and the tribal areas of Tamil Nadu andKarnataka was the seedbed of a seriesof revelatory and beautifully curatedexhibitions, beginning with a modestdisplay in Sevagram in 1955. His trav-elling terracotta exhibition, Forms ofMother Clay, was first curated for theCrafts Museum in Delhi. It pioneeredsome of the best curatorial practices.Another precious exhibition, UnknownIndia, on tribal ritual art, curated withart historian Dr Stella Kramrisch for thePhiladelphia Museum of Art in 1968,took the art world by storm. He alsocontributed to the richness of theFestival of India exhibitions in UK, USAand Japan, challenging rigid binaries bydrawing attention to powerful artisticimaginations at work.

Several interesting stories unrav-elled at Haku Shah’s remembrancemeet at NGMA. His son Parthiv’s storyof a Vaghri woman hawker who wouldvisit their home in Paldi, Ahmedabadwith a basket full of clay toys day afterday, encouraged by his father to createnew art forms. Some of her work arepart of the permanent exhibits at thePhiladelphia Museum. Professor ParulDave’s story of Saroja, the impoverishedwife of a locked out textile mill work-er who was encouraged to make figu-rative appliqué that was later celebrat-ed worldwide, was an eye-opener.Manu Parekh’s story of Gopal Jogi, anitinerant ballad singer from a drought-hit area in Rajasthan, who was work-ing as a stone breaker at a constructionsite when Shah spotted him andencouraged him to draw, uncovered hispotential as an artist. Shah’s visceralengagement with rural, tribal art formore than half a century and his cru-

sade-like zeal in promoting artisans wasremembered with great affection byRajeev Sethi.

As a teacher, Shah mentored gen-erations of students at the NationalInstitute of Design, taught at the Schoolof Architecture and joined theUniversity of California in the spring of1991 to teach a studio course in Textilesand Design as a distinguished Regents’professor. He was a conscientiousresearcher and authored several booksand monographs on folk and tribal art,deconstructing the semiotics of ritesand rituals embedded in nature andearth with eminent scholars likeEberhard Fischer, Stella Kramrisch,Joan Erikson and Charles and RayEames. His book on Votive Terracottasof Gujarat has acquired a cult status.Jyotindra Jain, who partnered withhim to research on Temple Tents for theMother Goddesses in Gujarat, a 225-page monograph with 460 plates, spokeabout their shared passion for researchthat would often keep them awake till2 at night as they roamed the streets ofthe old city of Ahmedabad to study thenocturnal rituals of Matani Pachediartisans.

One of Shah’s most seminal contri-butions was establishing an ethno-graphic Tribal Museum at the GujaratVidyapith and a crafts village inUdaipur. His own body of work res-onates at many levels, from the tender,visual rendering of nirguna poetry andimagery derived from folklore to potentexpressions of Gandhi’s satyagraha ina 2015 exhibition evocatively titledNitya Gandhi. Glimpses of his work onthe beautiful memory wall created bythe NGMA team, Vidya Shah’s exquis-ite rendering of Kabir’s songs, JhiniChadariya and Naiharwa Humka NaBhave, Antara’s luminous weavers’ songtaught by her grandfather and Anant’spoignant tribute to his dada who wouldnot have liked all this fuss was whatmade the evening at NGMA so special.

(The author is a former civil ser-vant and currently the adviser to the

Crafts Museum).

This year, many streets andtowns in Germany are cel-ebrating Bauhaus’ centenni-

al, an arthouse movement thatgave us clean, minimalist lines inarchitecture, the kind that definesthe look of new-age buildingsacross the world. The movementrepresented a break from ceremo-nial grandeur and opulence. Itradically simplified forms, com-bined rationality with functional-ity and lent credence to the ideathat mass production was recon-cilable with the individual artis-tic spirit. It also used basic mate-rials.

From Weimar to Berlin andDessau, it would be a celebrationacross the nation through exhibi-tions, awareness programmes,performances and workshops.However, if Romit Theophilus,director for India, the GermanNational Tourist Office, is to bebelieved then its accents havealso percolated to India, particu-larly in Kolkata, whereRabindranath Tagore internalisedit in 1922. The Indian Society ofOriental Art introduced the con-cept.

The movement didn’t initial-ly include other cultures and wasnot prevalent worldwide except inGermany and a few Europeannations. However, Theophilussays that it is prevalent everywherenow. “It’s just that we don’t noticehow it is deeply embedded in ourvery cultures and everydaylifestyles.” He believes that thegenerations after the movementdissipated never learnt muchabout it to understand its valueand presence in our lives. “When

Bauhaus started, it was a move-ment that was changing Europeanideologies at that time. And by thetime, the movement ended, due tocertain issues like funding, man-agement, war, and more, its mas-ters travelled across the world andwent to places like the US andLondon. They continued themovement in traces. They took italong with themselves,” he says,which is how it manifested itselffrom the biggest structures to thesmallest things.

From 1919 to 1933, it was onlyin 14 years that the Bauhausmovement brought in a surge of

transformation in the modernthinking about arts and culture,fashion, urban trends and thepublic realm. However, why is itthat it holds so much importanceeven today? Theophilus explainsthat there are things we have forour everyday utilities which werebirthed from the revolution.However, we do not realise theirorigin. “This is the unique thingabout their products. What wasmade 100 years ago could also beused today. For instance, its defin-itive lamp shades have a very sim-plistic design and are used eventoday. Also, the baby cradle is stillrelevant.”

He explains that the wholeidea of Bauhaus is “simplicity, notjust in architecture but goes intovarious fields. Sometimes we don’teven know where it is comingfrom but we see it everyday.”

And though people maybelieve that the movement died, itactually kept evolving constantly.“We might not even realise whatall aspects have changed everyday.Even about the German Embassyin India, we were told by theDeputy Ambassador that he couldsee Bauhaus everytime he drivesacross the city. So, it did survivewell actually. Even today it hasbeen embracing new things tosurvive and change,” he says.

India recently witnessed 100years of the Jallianwala Bagh mas-sacre of 1919. The event was awatershed in the history of Indiannationalism and continues toreverberate even today. Well, thereare always certain events in histo-ry which stay important evenafter years of their occurrence but

need to be revived with time.Bauhaus is one such. Theophilussays, “To bring such things backinto focus, we need to rememberthe old masters. Because even ifwe are using it everyday in refer-ences and common day examples,we might not know that it was firstinspired by the school. And hence,on its 100th anniversary, all acrossGermany, institutions and Gothicschools, Max Mueller Bhawanshere, and even the tourism indus-try, we are focussing on revivingideas of Bauhaus. With this, weaim to bring it to India on a largescale as well. We also invite cul-turally-minded travellers toexplore this birthplace of mod-ernism.”

It was seen on the screensfrom China to the US recently,how the massive fire at the NotreDame Cathedral became a horri-fying scene against the Parisiansky. He says, “It’s important to pre-serve such monuments as they area symbol of ancient heritage.They need to be revived andreminded of with time. The sameis the case with the Bauhausmovement. We need to be verycareful and mindful. And notjust from fire or other man-madedisasters, but even from pollu-tion.”

He tells us that history hasalways been the primaryfocus of German tourism.“The previous year, we hadculinary revolution inGermany, this year is theBauhaus and the next year,it would be the 150thanniversary of Beethoven,”he says.

As the Angriya cruise boatheaded out to sea from

Mumbai, past the Gateway ofIndia, Hyundai India used theopportunity to unveil its newcompact SUV, the Venue. Whilethe standing joke among auto-motive journalists was about theunique ‘venue’, the car was itselfquite interesting. This segmentwas birthed by the Indian gov-ernment’s ridiculous excise rulesthat gave concessions to carsbelow four metres in length andwith smaller engines, instead ofa progressive level of taxationbased on emissions. The FordEcoSport was the first SUV totake advantage of this rule, butnow carmakers are developingproducts specifically targetingthis segment, and makingadjustments for this market.You had the Maruti-SuzukiVitara Brezza, developed forIndia by an Indian team andMahindra’s engineers recentlyre-engineered the SsangyongTivoli, reducing length to adhereto Indian norms as the XUV300.And now the Hyundai Venuedoes that too. This model is aglobal product as India hasbeen on the top of the mind forthe Korean carmaker. Indeed,the Indian unveil took place anhour before the car was show-cased at the New York autoshow.

There is a global market forcompact Sports Utility Vehicles,and the Indian market is no dif-ferent. But Hyundai had noproduct in this segment otherthan the hastily put together i20Active, which was an i20 that hasa bit of extra plastic cladding anda raised suspension. And if

you’re thinking that the Venueis similar to the i20, far from it.It looks unique and the head-lights and front indicators looksimilar to those on the TataHarrier, although both cars weredeveloped concurrently. It is avery unique looking productand with stand-out front designand a very nice rear-end, it ispossibly one of the smartestvehicles to enter the market now.

And all of this has beendone without compromisingon interior space. In fact, theinteriors are where the Venuereally shines. Hyundai India isactually launching its connectiv-ity suite, Blue Link, with theVenue when it goes on sale fromMay 21. Connectivity and info-tainment are huge selling points,or that is what carmakers thinkand the Venue has a Vodafone-Idea eSIM car that allows you touse Hyundai’s concierge servicesand Here Maps with live trafficdata sources from Ola.Personally, I’m happy if a car hasan Apple CarPlay system whichgives me all that minus aconcierge service. Or AndroidAuto, both of which offer memusic-streaming services. ButHyundai is ensuring that bothservices will still work on theVenue.

The Venue’s unveiling wasalso an opportunity to meetHyundai India’s new ManagingDirector, SS Kim, and hisunderstanding of the Indianmarket. While he is still new toIndia, Kim did mention thatHyundai will be going all gunsout with the Venue. However,with Hyundai about to launchthe electric Kona in India in acouple of months, he did saythat we still have to work onimproving electric vehicle infra-

structure as well as increas-ing Indian consumer

acceptance of thehigher prices ofelectric cars.Well onA n g r i y a ,things werepretty electricalready.

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��How different do you findthe Kayastha cuisine fromothers?

Kayastha cuisine is anadapted cuisine, not a region-al one. Kayasthas brought theroyal Mughal cuisine to thelocals, hence creating theirown adapted version of thesedishes. It doesn’t belong to anyparticular region of India asthe Kayasthas are spread allover the country. These factorsprobably make it one of themost unique cuisines of thecountry.

�� How do you think suchtraditional cuisines should beencouraged to bring them tothe level of other globalcuisines?

India being the countrywhich is vast in culture, alwayshas space for all. I do believea global exposure throughsocial media showcasingthe beauty of this cuisinewill be helpful.Whether throughfood enthusiastswriting moreabout this orfood critics giv-ing their valu-able feedback onthese dishes.Through cheftables that Io r g a n -ise, myp r i m egoal is tobring forththis cuisine to asmany as I can, making sure thelegacy of my ancestors is car-ried forward respectfully.

��How have you customisedyour dishes to suit otherpreferences which are notfamiliar with the Kayasthacuisine?

Since it’s an adapted cui-sine from Mughals, people

are already familiar with theflavours and spices and so itdoesn’t need too much cus-tomisation. However, I alwaysinclude a touch of garammasala. For instance, the mainingredient for Murgi Gulaabiis rose petal powder, washeddried and crushed. I use itsince roses were the Mughalfavourite and so are mine.

�� What are someof the most successful

food experiments that youhave mastered?

I have worked mostlyupon meaty dishes andIndian desserts, with a bit of

Western fusion as wellas tradition-

al. I havee x p e r i -

m e n t e dwith Sabudana

Kheer giving it theflavour of blueberries andlavender.

�� How do you think theIndian foodie is acceptingglobal food trends?

Indians are very open tonew concepts lately and areready when it comes to exper-imenting with their taste buds.For instance, modern Indian

cuisine has taken a great stepforward and is being appreci-ated by a number of people.

�� What is it that could bethe greatest cause of failure ina chef ’s dish?

Unbalanced flavours, intu-itive cooking and compro-mising with the quality ofingredients. I recently did anevent in Kolkata where unfor-tunately due to some reasonsI had to compromise the qual-ity of the ingredient whichmade my dish zero in terms offlavours. One has to make surethe availability of the quality ofingredients wherever andwhenever one is cooking.

�� How has your cookingevolved over the years interms of keeping track ofthe latest trends?

In the world of fusion andlatest gastronomical style ofcooking, I believe one stilllooks back to that bygone erawhich used to fill our heartsand not just the tummy. Withtraditional cuisines one can’texperiment much with ingre-dients and style, but can onlymaster the old techniques andpresent it to the new world intheir own signature style.However, I don’t follow the lat-est trend but I make sure I givethe customer a complete expe-rience of not just the food butthe journey along with it.

��Food is subjective. Somemay like a dish and somewon’t. How do you deal withnegative criticism to yourfood?

With all due respect, peo-ple will always have opinions.No one can ever deny that fact.And food is very subjective.The sooner one understandsthat, the sooner negative crit-icism won’t seem like censureanymore.

I could hear the laughtermuch before I reached theplace. And it seemed to be

drifting out wave upon fre-quent wave. It was a Sundayafternoon and I was standingoutside Plum by Bent Chair,Aerocity, which I had beenhearing about frequently in thepast few months. Describedvariously as the most“Instagrammable restaurant”and “one where you can buyeverything that you see includ-ing the furniture,” it was indeeda surprise that no one had spo-ken about the happy, infectiousvibe that seems to pervade theplace. And if one was to mis-takenly think that it was a placefor the young to hang out at, Icould see several tables wherethree generations of a familywere happily congregating overwhat seemed to be an extend-ed lunch.

Now, coming back to whatthe restaurant has been mak-ing waves for. A joint effort byrestaurateur Priyank Sukhijaalong with partner NatashaJain (the lady behind BentChair), it started with a uniqueconcept of combining retailwith eating out. So while youeat, if you happen to admireanything from the comfortablefurniture that you are sitting onor the plates that you areserved in or even the lampsthat light up the place or anyof the paintings, vases or walldécor and wish to cart themback home, all you have to do

is order. Not surprisingly, theidea has caught the fancy ofDelhiites.

The place is a splash ofcolour with an abundance ofbright pinks and magentas,vivid greens, happy yellows,exuberant purples and more.They feature as paint on thewalls, upholstery on the furni-ture and the various acces-sories that dot the place. Kitschis the word that can describethe ambience but then, thatcannot fully convey the smor-gasbord that it offers.

Whether a restaurantworks or not boils down to notjust the way it looks but theway its food tastes. Here too, itdoes not disappoint. Mostly.We had a range of dimsumsstarting with Fern Verdure,which had mock duck meat. Itsfilling, which was combinedwith fresh corn, carrots, garlic

flakes and spicy chilli Plum oil,made me look forward to whatwas to follow. While you couldtaste each element separately,at the same time, they cametogether beautifully as a whole,which made for a dish that wassatisfying and at the sametime left me craving for more.

The Crystal Dumplings,which had a filling of chest-nuts, carrots and mushroom,were elevated by the taste ofsea salt that stood out for thecrunch of its vegetables. Thespices were not overpoweringand the flavours that camethrough were clean and those

of various vegetables.We also had the Hanging

Globe Vegetation Bao and I cansay, without much of a doubt,that it was the best that I havetasted, ever. The covering wassoft, so much so that the onlyequivalent I could think of asI bit into it was that of a cloud.The insides, stuffed with freshtofu and spinach, were deli-cately flavoured with fivespices. My mouth watered atits very thought even a fewdays after I ate it.

Next up was Flying Cupid,which is listed as ‘Plum-azing’or rather the must-have at the

restaurant. This consists ofturnip cut into cubes andflavoured with Cantonesespice pepper, scallions andgolden garlic. I guess, my ver-sion of the vegetable got thebetter of me and while I did eatit, I would not really order itif I go back to the place.

We also ordered thePlanter Broccoli Bird Eye,which Chef Sagar Bajaj told us,was made by reducing milkthat gave it a slightly sweettaste. The tempura broccoliwas crunchy and the bird-eyechilli gave it a slight heat. Thechef told us that as comparedto Mumbai, where theyopened the first outlet, thechilli quotient was 30 per centhigher as Delhi loves it hot.

Another favourite amongthe clientele is the Dried Chillichicken, where the meat isrubbed with Szechuan pep-per-infused oil and keptovernight before being cooked.Served with finely-choppedred chilli, which is de-seeded,boiled and then lightly tossedin a wok to give it a crunch, thedish is a hot favourite eventhough it is poles apart fromthe image that the mind con-jures up when we say “chillichicken.”

We ended the meal withPlum tropical fruit citruscheesecake, which was again asurprise, served as it was witha cocktail of diced apple andpomegranate. A fresh end to asoul-satisfying meal.

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Manchester City manager PepGuardiola insisted VAR does pro-duce "fair football" despite a cruel

Champions League quarter-final exit on awaygoals to Tottenham after a pulsating tie ended4-4 on aggregate.

City were 4-3 victors in Wednesday's sec-ond leg, but for the third straight season failedto reach the last four under Guardiola as twobig VAR reviews went in Spurs' favour.

Firstly, Fernando Llorente's decisivegoal 17 minutes from time stood despite theball appearing to clip the Spaniard's hand onits way into the net.

Then deep into stoppage time, RaheemSterling had the strike that would have sealedhis hat-trick and seen City through ruled outafter Sergio Aguero was shown to be offsidein the build-up.

Elimination ended City's quest for aquadruple and Guardiola lamented a seriesof costly errors across both games, afterAguero also missed a penalty in the first leg,that saw his side bow out to a side 16 pointsbehind them in the Premier League.

"It's tough. We were close to go through,it's cruel, but we have to accept it," addedGuardiola.

"The mistakes in this competition pun-ish you a lot. Unfortunately it was a bad endfor us."

Unlike Guardiola, Tottenham bossMauricio Pochettino has previously been acritic of VAR, but believes the decisions toaward City a penalty in the first leg and notpunish Fernandinho for a clash with HarryKane balanced themselves out over the tie.

"You have to trust the VAR when it isagainst or for you," said Pochettino. "Thedeicision to include VAR in football is goingto change the game."

And the Argentine labelled his playersas "heroes" for reaching the semi-finals of theEuropean Cup for just the second time intheir history after a season in which they havenot signed a single player and played themajority of the campaign at a temporaryhome in Wembley.

"On this type of night, this type of vic-tory, only I can feel proud. I feel they areheroes. With all the circumstances to be inthe semi-finals of the Champions Leaguethey deserve a lot of praise."

���������� � Guardiola's decision to not start Kevin

de Bruyne in the first leg will be further ques-tioned as the Belgian bagged a hat-trick ofassists to take City to the brink of the last four.

The first set up the first of four goals in11 minutes as Sterling opened the scoring.

However, Spurs struck back twice inthree minutes as Son Heung-min's doubletook his tally for the season to 20.

Yet, with Kane expected to be sidelinedfor the rest of the season, Pochettino hasanother selection headache with Son sus-pended for the first leg of Spurs' semi-finalagainst Ajax.

A kamikaze opening had another twistas Bernardo Silva's effort deflected off

Danny Rose and wrong-footed Hugo Llorisat his near post to bring City level on thenight.

By the midway point of the first-half, thehosts were back in front as Bernardo and DeBruyne played creators once more and

Sterling finished off a low cross at the backpost.

Spurs' hopes of holding on to theiradvantage on away goals suffered anotherblow when Moussa Sissoko was forced offwith an injury.

Pochettino chose attack as the best formof defence by replacing the midfielder withLlorente in what proved to be a decisivechange.

De Bruyne had his third assist on thehour mark as he surged through midfieldbefore timing his pass for Aguero to perfec-tion and the Argentine rifled past Lloris.

Having gone ahead for the first time inthe tie, Guardiola soon sent on Fernandinhoto restore some sense of control, but Citywere pegged back again as an incredible tieswung back in Tottenham's favour.

Kieran Trippier's corner was bundled inby Llorente, but there was controversy as theball seemed to hit the striker's arm on its wayin.

After a VAR check, though, Turkish ref-eree Cuneyt Cakir stood by his original deci-sion and the goal stood.

And VAR went against City again deepinto stoppage time as delirium soon turnedto disbelief inside the Etihad when whatwould have been a hat-trick for Sterling wasruled out.

����� �-;�-

Jurgen Klopp admitted he cannot waitto lead Liverpool into a Champions

League semi-final against Barcelona afterwatching his side crush Porto 4-1 inPortugal on Wednesday to complete a 6-1 aggregate victory in their last-eight tie.

On a wet night at the Estadio doDragao, Liverpool weathered an earlystorm against Porto before scoring fromtheir first attempt just before the half-hour, Sadio Mane prodding homefor a goal given after a lengthy VARreview.

Already in control of this tieafter a 2-0 win at Anfield in thefirst leg, Liverpool had effec-tively killed off Porto thereand then, but MohamedSalah, substitute RobertoFirmino and Virgil van Dijkadded further goals afterthe break.

Eder Militaoscored a consolationfor the hosts 21 min-utes from time, but thiswas another miserable night forthem after they lost 5-0 to the sameopponents on this ground a year ago.

Liverpool now march on to aclash with Lionel Messi's Barca, thefirst meeting of the clubs since a last-16 encounter in 2006/07 that the Redswon on away goals.

"I'm looking forward to it. The newsthat there is a proper football gamebetween Barcelona and Liverpool isgreat," said Klopp as his side move a stepcloser to matching their run to the finala year ago.

"To be in the semi-finals for thesecond year running is a big state-ment. I am really proud of theboys for what they did."

On the night ManchesterCity's quadruple bid died, thedream of a Champions Leagueand Premier League doubleremains alive for Liverpool andtheir supporters, whose spirits were notdampened by the dreary weather by thebanks of the River Douro.

This was their 17th game withoutdefeat and their eighth straight victory,although Barcelona will offer a far

tougher test than Porto.With the matches coming thick and

fast, he made three changes to his teamhere following Sunday's 2-0 win overChelsea. Firmino and Naby Keita, whoboth scored in the first leg, dropped outalong with Jordan Henderson.

They were replaced by GeorginioWijnaldum, James Milner and DivockOrigi, with the latter making his firstChampions League start for the club.However, the Belgian only played the

first half before making way forFirmino.

����&�������9��Porto had 13 attempts on goal in

the first 25 minutes, but would regret notscoring while on top.

Porto needed an early goal tonightand didn't score it. I'm completely

happy. It's only important to gothrough, and we went through,"Klopp said.

Their opening goal camewhen Salah — his every touchjeered by the Porto support who

felt he should have been sentoff in the first leg —rolled the ball into thesix-yard area forMane to get his 22ndof the campaign.

The offside flag came upbut Dutch referee DannyMakkelie conferred with hisvideo assistants before award-ing the goal.

Porto knew their chancewas gone, with their fans curs-ing Mane again — he scored ahat-trick in Liverpool's winhere in the last 16 last season.

Trent Alexander-Arnoldreleased Salah to run through

and beat Iker Casillas on65 minutes to make it2-0, before Porto got

their consolation shortlyafter when Militao headed in from anAlex Telles corner.

However, Mane missed the targetafter rounding Casillas, before Hendersonset up fellow substitute Firmino to headin Liverpool's third on 77 minutes andVan Dijk nodded in from a corner tocomplete the scoring."

����� ��;56

Paris Saint-Germain failedto the seal the Ligue 1 title

for the third match running onWednesday after a second-string line-up without droppedKylian Mbappe took the cham-pions to their second defeat ina matter of days, 3-2 at Nantes.

A Diego Carlos brace andMajeed Waris' tap-in inflicted athird league loss on ThomasTuchel's side, who were ham-mered 5-1 at second-placedLille on Sunday and drew withStrasbourg the previous week,despite Dani Alves' stunningopener and substitute MetehanGuclu pulling one back late on.

However PSG, who werealso missing a host of otherfirst-team players throughinjuries and suspension, remain17 points clear with six gamesleft.

The runaway leaders willwin their sixth title in sevenyears on Sunday if Lille fail towin at Toulouse and they thenbeat struggling Monaco.

"It's very easy to analyse, itwas a very bad performance, wedeserved to lose," said Tuchel.

"We controlled the game atLille but today there was no per-formance for 90 minutes.

"You can lose and you canmake mistakes, and we willalways defend the players if wefeel that they've played with agreat attitude and hunger. Buttoday it is not possible."

������������9�Depleted PSG had to thank

Gianluigi Buffon 12 minutes inwhen he managed to pushaway Kalifa Coulibaly's headerfrom point-blank range, andseven minutes later Alvesappeared to have calmedParisian nerves with his won-

der strike.There looked to be little on

when the Brazilian collectedLeandro Paredes' simple pass,but he quickly lashed anunstoppable dipping drive pastMaxime Dupe to score his firstLigue 1 goal this season.

However just three minutesafter the opener Diego Carloswas allowed too much space tonod home Valentin Ronger inswinging corner.

PSG continued to struggle

despite the odd flash fromMoussa Diaby, and the hostsgrabbed a deserved second justbefore the break.

Nantes turned the screwseven minutes after the breakfrom another corner, this onemet by a Nicolas Pallois flick-on that crept through a sea oflegs to Carlos, who unwitting-ly knocked in the third.

Without Mbappe to pres-sure them, Nantes kept comingforward, and were almost gift-ed a fourth in the 68th minutewhen Paredes passed the ballstraight to Coulibaly withBuffon way out of his goal, onlyfor the Malian to hit his shoottoo hard and over the bar.

Guclu crashed home hisfirst ever PSG goal on his debutin the final minute to give theaway side hope that they couldstill clinch the title with sixmatches to spare, but despitepressing forward they couldn'tfind the breakthrough.

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Top seed Novak Djokovic continuedhis win streak against US players as

he reached the quarter-finals of theMonte Carlo Masters with a 6-3, 6-0 vic-tory over Taylor Fritz on Thursday.

Two-time tournament championDjokovic has now won nine in a row overUS players since losing at Wimbledon2016 to Sam Querrey.

The world number one will be play-ing his ninth quarter-final here from 13appearances at his home event; the wincame a round after he claimed his 850thcareer victory against PhilippKohlschreiber this week.

Fritz came to the court after defeat-ing Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and DiegoSchwartzman.

Djokovic turned in a steady perfor-mance with a dozen each of winners andunforced errors, while his opponentcommitted nearly 30 unforced errors in68 minutes.

Defending champion Rafael Nadalwas to play his second match of the pre-Roland Garros campaign when he facedGrigot Dimitrov in a third-roundencounter.

Sixth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas earlierlost 6-2, 1-6, 6-4 as Daniil Medvedev con-tinued his run of form.

The Russian winner will next line upagainst Djokovic after losing to the seedin January in the Australian Open fourthround.

Tsitsipas was caught on the back footfacing three match points as he trailed 0-40 on his serve late in the second set.

After saving the first two, the Greekmismanaged the third to seal his exit afteran hour and three-quarters.

Medvedev increased his leadingtotal of ATP season match wins to 20 asa result of his success as he beat Tsitsipasfor the fourth time without a defeat in the

series."This was a great achievement for

me," Medvedev said. "Everything wasperfect today.

"Some wind came up in the secondset and I could not get used to it. But inthe third, I just worked to put every ballin the court.

The player who stands a career-high14th credits his rising form to a renewed

dedication to the sport.The Russia reached his first quarter-

final at the Masters 1000 level after win-ning his second match against a Top 10opponent.

Tsitsipas, runner-up last season toNadal in Toronto, suffered his eighthdefeat of the season against 18 wins andwill try and lift his game next week onthe clay of Barcelona.

����� �,;�5�

Bayern Munich wingerKingsley Coman has said

that he hopes to step out ofFranck Ribery's shadow whenhis veteran compatriot leavesBayern.

Coman, 22, has long beentouted as the natural successorto Ribery, who is expected toend a glistening 12-year spell

at Bayern this summer.Yet in an interview with

Kicker magazine on Thursday,Coman insisted that he is nota carbon copy of his fellowFrench winger.

"Franck has his career andI have mine. I am not the newRibery, I am myself," he said.

Having missed the firsthalf of the season with injury,Coman has established himself

as a regular starter under coachNiko Kovac.

A key part of Bayern'sgenerational shift under Kovac,the 22-year-old has been first-choice left-winger in recentweeks.

He scored twice inBayern's 4-1 win overDuesseldorf last Sunday, buttold Kicker that he still needsto improve.

"As a winger I should bescoring more goals," he said.

"I bring a lot of good qual-ities, but I am still a long wayaway from being world class."

Coman, whose contractruns until 2023, said that hecould match Ribery's longevi-ty in a Bayern shirt.

"I can really imagine stay-ing here for a long time," hesaid.

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Their house in complete dis-order after seven defeats

from eight outings, the ViratKohli-led Royal ChallengersBangalore will be desperate fora win to stay afloat in the IPLwhen they take on KolkataKnight Riders here on Friday.

It would be a great opportu-nity for the Bangalore outfit topost a win against an opponentwho are low on confidence hav-ing slipped from second to sixthposition in the points table aftersuffering three straight defeats.

In fact, to make mattersworse, Kolkata's dangermanAndre Russell has suffered aninjury scare after being hit on hisleft shoulder by a bouncer dur-ing their practice.

Russell was already sufferingfrom niggles ahead of their lastmatch against Chennai SuperKings and had failed to fire forthe first time, exposing KKR'sover-reliance on the West Indiesbig hitter.

Russell had left the RoyalChallengers in shambles in theirfirst leg exchange, smashingseven sixes en route to his 13-ball48 not out as KKR had chaseddown a huge 206.

It remains to be seen if theJamaican recovers in time. Hisabsence would be a big void forKKR, who are looking to returnto winning ways and reignitetheir campaign.

To make the playoffs, KKRneed to win at least four of theirremaining six matches, of whichthree are at home. However,even KKR will fancy theirchances and seek to get back ontrack against a lowly RCB facinga do-or-die situation.

RCB's star duo of Kohliand AB de Villiers have been insublime form but the team hasnot clicked as a whole with theirpace bowling being a major let-down. While youngster NavdeepSaini has been impressive, seniorpro Umesh Yadav has turned outto be a big flop, bagging twowickets at an expensive econo-my of 9.26.

With South African veteranpacer Dale Steyn ready to takecharge as an injury replace-ment for Nathan Coulter-Nilemidway into the IPL, the pacedepartment will hope to get theirsting back. Kohli and de Villierswill look to fire in unison againsta team whose bowling has failedto click collectively.

The KKR pace departmenthas looked mediocre, while theirfamed spinners have struggled toget wickets on the batting-friendly Eden conditions here.

Meanwhile, all eyes will alsobe on KKR skipper DineshKarthik who has grabbed a sur-prise World Cup berth ahead ofyoung wicketkeeper RishabhPant. Karthik has only one half-century and an average of 18.50so far this season.

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Nepalese sensationS a n d e e p

Lamichhane has calledfor the World Cup to beexpanded to up to 16teams, saying limiting itto 10 hurts players fromemerging cricketnations.

The 18-year-oldleg-spinner, who lastyear became the firstNepalese player to landan Indian PremierLeague contract, saidhe was frustrated to bemissing out on the tour-nament in England andWales starting in May.

"Sorry to say but a10-team World Cup willhurt a lot of players likeme who will not be apart of it," the DelhiCapitals player said.

"I think thereshould be 14-16 teams in the World Cup."

Lamichhane added: "World Cup comes afterevery four years and teams can achieve theirbiggest dreams there. We are an emerging nationand this is something we would love to play forour country.

"Even in 2023 there are (again) only 10 teamsso it will be a while before we can even think ofplaying in the 50-over event."

Cricket's showpiece tournament had 16teams in 2007, but the field was reduced to 14 in2011 and 2015 as the International CricketCouncil sought to avoid one-sided matches.

It has been slashed to just 10 teams for 2019and 2023, featuring the top eight sides in the one-day rankings and another two coming throughqualifying.

Lamichhane, who will be watching theWorld Cup from afar, said he was hoping for someupsets by the smaller teams, who includeAfghanistan.

"I am going to watch the World Cup on TVand love to see any team that is under-rated per-form well against the big nations," saidLamichhane.

"It will be an inspiration for us who are justbeginning their journey right now."

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Virat Kohli hasn't forgotten thetimes when Mahendra Singh

Dhoni firmly stood by him as a cap-tain and now that the roles havereversed, he is not going to back downfrom supporting the veteran despitethe "unfortunate criticism" that the for-mer skipper is coping.

The Indian captain also expressedhis happiness with the composition ofthe 15-strong Indian squad for theWorld Cup in an interview to IndiaToday.

"It's unfortunate to see so manypeople going after him. For me, loy-alty matters the most," Kohli's wordsshowed his reverence for his first inter-national captain.

"When I walked into the team hehad the option of trying someone elseafter few games, although I grabbedmy chances but for me to get that kindof backing, it was very crucial for me.

"Also, he gave me an opportuni-ty to bat at No 3 because not manyyoungsters get to play at No 3," theskipper recalled his formative days ininternational cricket.

When an astute brain meets a

superlative performer, there is boundto be lot of mutual admiration and theKohli-Dhoni relationship is no differ-ent. "It's just about the field placementsand bowling changes and we say youknow the angles, you know the paceof the pitch and that's why there is somuch of trust and respect between thetwo of us," he said.

As he has said earlier, Kohli againreiterated that there are no peers toDhoni when it comes to readingmatch situations.

"He is one person, who literallyknows the game inside out. He under-stands the game from 'Ball 1 to Ball 300

(50 overs) on the field. I won't say itsa luxury to have him but I am fortu-nate to have a mind like that frombehind the stumps," Kohli said.

It is Dhoni's presence behindstumps that has ensured that Kohliwith one of the strongest arms canafford to field in the deep.

"At the end of the day, I want tobe involved in strategy with the teammanagement with Mahi bhai andRohit. "In the death overs, I know thatI have to be on the outfield to try andmake something work for the teambecause that's my nature that I wantto do something for the team ratherthan just be there.

"After 30-35 overs, he knows thatI will be in the outfield and its on theauto mode," he explained.

While he didn't elaborate about histake on the debate on the World Cupsquad, he didn't forget to give it hisstamp of approval. "We are veryhappy with 15 that we have. This is themost balanced side we could havethought of because everyone is in agood space," the skipper said withoutgetting into the debate about themuch talked about omissions ofRishabh Pant and Ambati Rayudu.

���� =�;�(85�

Pakistan on Thursday left out experiencedbut out-of-form pacer Muhammad Amir

from its 15-member World Cup squad whileincluding batsman Abid Ali in the line-up.

Chief Selector Inzamam-ul-Haq, announc-ing the World Cup squad and two reserve play-ers, said the 11 from the 2017 ChampionsTrophy had been retained in the selectionprocess.

"We are hopeful and confident thatPakistan will give a good account of itself inthe World Cup," Inzamam said.

The selectors, while not showing faith withleft-armer Aamir who has taken just five wick-ets in his last 14 ODIs since the ChampionsTrophy two years back, reposed confidence inseniors Shoaib Malik and Muhammad Hafeez.

Inzamam said that Hafeez's final inclusionin World Cup was subject to him being 100 percent fit before the tournament as he is stillrecovering from a thumb injury.

"Doctors have advised him not to bowl orbat now but when his rehab is over he will beback in action in two weeks time," he added.

Inzamam said hard-hitting batsman AsifAli and Amir were in the reserves for the one-day series against England and the side match-es before the World Cup.

He said that if both performed exception-ally well in the ODI series and T20 they willbe considered as cover for the World Cupincase of injuries to any of the selected play-ers.

"If they are not needed they will returnhome after the ODI series," he said.

Pakistan's World Cup squad is a combina-tion of three openers, four middle-order bats-men, wicketkeeper/batsman in SarfarazAhmed, two spinners and five fast bowlers.

The chief selector said the side had beenpicked according to the conditions and includ-ed reliable batters, trusted wicket-takingbowlers and dynamic fielders.

���� (-�-��-

Milinda Siriwardana, JeffreyVandersay and Jeevan

Mendis made comebacks as SriLanka on Thursday announcedtheir 15-man squad for the WorldCup starting May 30 in Englandand Wales.

Siriwardana and Vandersaylast played an ODI for Sri Lankain October 2017, against Pakistanin Sharjah, while Mendis' previ-ous appearance in the formatcame in the 2015 World Cup tieagainst Afghanistan.

However, many of the regu-lars, including NiroshanDickwella, DanushkaGunathilaka, Dinesh Chandimal,Upul Tharanga and AkilaDananjaya, were excluded from

the squad while OshadaFernando, Angelo Perera, KasunRajitha and Wanindu Hasarangahave been placed on the stand-by list.

Veteran Angelo Matthewsalso made a comeback to thesquad after being dropped fromthe ODI team last year over fit-ness concerns. Thisara Perera,

Isuru Udana, Dhananjaya deSilva, Jeewan Mendis andSiriwardana complete the all-rounder contingent alongsideMatthews.

Sri Lanka also namedDimuth Karunaratne as skipperrelacing Lasith Malinga whowould spearhead their bowlingattack in the tournament.

Nuwan Pradeep and SurangaLakmal have been slot into theseam department, whileVandersay comes in as the onlyspecialist spinner.

Squad: D Karunaratne, AFernando, L Thirimanne, KusalPerera, Kusal Mendis, Mathews,Dhananjaya de Silva, J Vandersay,T Perera, I Udana, Malinga, SLakmal, N Pradeep, JeevanMendis, Milinda Siriwardana.

���� ���2=-=

Two-time continental medallistPooja Rani confirmed India's

first medal in the women's 81 kg cat-egory after making it to the semi-finals in a field of five as the AsianElite Boxing Championship's drawwas released on Thursday.

Asian Games Gold medallistAmit Panghal, set to make hisdebut in the 52 kg category in alllikelihood will face the reigningOlympic champion HasanboyDusmatov of Uzbekistan in thequarter-finals.

Former world junior championNikhat Zareen (51kg) will start hercampaign against Srey Pov Nao ofCambodia but she will run into two-

time world champion NazymKyzaibay in the quarter-finals.Lovlina Borgohain (64kg) couldhave a possible face-off with China'sworld champion Chen Nien-Chinin the quarters.

Amit, who started the seasonwith a Gold medal will fight his firstbout on April 21 after a first-roundbye. Shiva Thapa, who will begoing for a record-breaking fourthsuccessive medal from this presti-gious tournament meets Korea'sKim Wonho in the first round.

"Four of our boys will be inaction tomorrow. We are quite con-fident about our prospects. Thetricky journey will begin fromquarters," said CA Kuttappa, headcoach men's team.

������������� �,)�",�85�

Pandya siblings’ explosivebatting in the slog overswhich yielded 50 runs in

last 18 balls followed by RahulChahar getting rid of hosts ‘3S’(Shikhar, Shaw and Shreyas)early in the run chase helpMumbai Indians beat DelhiCapitals by 40 runs in IndianPremier League clash here atFeroz Shah Kotla stadium onThursday.

Batting first after winningtoss, Mumbai Indians ride onHardik and Krunal’s hard hit-ting in the last three overs ofthe innings to post 168 for 5against hosts Delhi, who wascoming into this game on theback of three successive win inaway games.

But the Delhi side failed tomake the most of home con-ditions once again and sufferfourth defeat of this year’scampaign, its third in thehome turf.

Chasing 169 to win, Delhithough started well withShikhar Dhawan 35 off 22balls (5 fours and 1 six) andPrithvi Shaw 20 (24balls, 2fours) adding 49 runs for thefirst wicket.

But after Shikhar’s dis-missal in the third ball of sev-enth over by Rahul Chahar (4-0-19-3), Capitals suffer a bat-ting collapse as its middleorder once failed to spendtime on crease and keep onlosing wickets in regular inter-val.

Prithvi was second to getdismissed after the 19-year oldlocal Mumbaikar tried to hitRahul for a big hit down theground but was caught byHardik Pandya.

And then in the next over,Krunal got rid of big hittingexplosive Kiwi batsman ColinMunro. He was bowled for just3 runs in nine balls.

Rahul then shatteredDelhi’s skipper Shreyas Iyer’sbails in the last over of hisspell, leaving Delhi shellshocked at 61 for 4 in 11 overs.

Rishabh Pant who was leftout of India’s squad for theupcoming ICC World Cupwas the next one to make way

back to the dugout.He failed to understand

Jasprit Bumrah’s perfect Yorkerand was bowled by the worldnumber one ODI bowler forjust 7 runs in 11 balls.

At that moment, Delhineeded 84 runs in 31 balls towin.

But since there was nospecialist batsmen left at thecrease who could make a dif-ference by playing match win-ning innings, Mumbai tookthe sweet revenge of the firstleg defeat.

For Mumbai, Rahulemerged as the most success-ful bowler grabbing three for19, while Jasprit Bumrahended with two wickets in hisspell of four overs. AlsoKrunal Pandya, HardikPandya and Lasith Malingapicked a wicket each.

Hardik was once againthe star of Mumbai’s dominat-ing win in Delhi as the Baroda

allrounder not just con-tributed with the bat and ballbut also took two stunningcatches that made the differ-ence in due course of the

game.Earlier after winning toss

and opting to bat f irst ,Mumbai scored 57 runs with-out loss in the first powerplay.But lose rhythm as spinnerscome in play.

Rohit Sharma (30 runs in22 balls) was the first to getdismissed in the very first ballafter end of powerplay. AmitMishra bowled him for thesixth time in this cash-richleague and also completing his150th wicket.

Ben Cutting (2) andQuinton de Kock (35) soonfollowed Rohit back to thepavilion. But in the end, it wasPandya brothers brilliant bat-ting in the death that helpedMumbai post 168 runs inKotla.

While Hardik smashed 3sixes and 2 fours in his 15 balls32 run innings before gettingdismissed to Rabada in thelast over, his elder siblingKrunal made unbeaten 37 off26 balls which include 5 fours.

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