16
A mid sporadic incidents of violence in West Bengal and a grenade attack in Pulwama, political heavyweights Rajnath Singh, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Smriti Rani on Monday tested their popularity through ballots in the fifth phase of polling for 51 constituencies in seven States. The polling per- centage was a tad dull in this round with 62.87 per cent aver- age turnout across the country in comparison to 65.56 per cent polling in the previous round. West Bengal recorded high- est 74.42 per cent polling while Jammu & Kashmir had 17.07 per cent polling. Uttar Pradesh recorded 57.06 per cent, Bihar 57.76, Rajasthan 63.69, Madhya Pradesh 64.61, and Jharkhand 64.60. Amethi and Rae Bareili recoded around 54 percentage polling. Polling was held in 14 seats in UP, 12 in Rajasthan, 7 each in West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh, 5 in Bihar and 4 in Jharkhand, leaving 158 Lok Sabha seats in the next two rounds on May 12 and May 19. After this round, 27 seats are left to be decided in the remaining two phases in UP. Prime Minister Narandra Modi’s con- stituency Varanasi will go to polls on May 19. The BJP and the SP alleged rigging and booth capturing in Amethi and Kunda seats. In J&K, polling began on a violent note with terrorists lob- bing a grenade on a polling sta- tion in Pulwama, but there were no reports of casualty. Polling was held in Pulwama and Shopian of Anantnag Lok Sabha constituency which includes Kulgam. There are 18 candidates in the fray for Anantnag con- stituency, including PDP presi- dent and former Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir, Mehbooba Mufti. Bengal reported stray inci- dents of violence in Bangaon, Hooghly and Barrackpore seats, an election official said. The BJP accused Trinamool Congress of rigging the booths and demand- ed re-polling in Barrackpore and accused the Election Commission of not being effec- tive in ensuring fair polling in the State. Incidents of clashes between TMC and BJP workers, hurling of bombs, candidate getting hurt due to lathicharge by Central forces, manhandling of a con- testant and beating up of a polling agent were reported from seven Lok Sabha constituencies which voted in the 5th round in West Bengal. Singh, who was allegedly injured during the scuffle, was later seen chasing "fake voters" in Naihati area. "Our agents were not allowed inside booths. People were not allowed to vote prop- erly and I went there to have a look. I have the right to enter booths but police stopped me and hit me," Singh told PTI. Alleging that police are not doing anything to stop rigging in some booths of Barrackpore seat, Singh demanded that polling be stopped and re-polling ordered. Maximum number of "sen- sitive" booths in Monday's elec- tions was in Barrackpore seat where TMC sitting MP Dinesh Trivedi was pitted against Singh, who switched over to the BJP recently after he was denied a ticket by party supremo Mamata Banerjee. In Howrah's Balitikuri, TMC candidate and former India footballer Prasun Bandyopdhayay was "manhan- dled" allegedly by Central forces when he tried to enter a booth there. Bandyopadhyay said, "I had gone there to see poll proceed- ings. There was nothing wrong in it. But the Central forces manhandled me for no rea- sons." An FIR was lodged in this connection, he said. Bombings were reported from outside a booth at Hingli in Bangaon constituency fol- lowing a clash between two groups allegedly owing alle- giance to the TMC and the BJP, in which two persons were injured, the official said. There is also a report that a CPI(M) agent was beaten up and driven out of a booth in Arambagh constituency. At a booth in Hooghly seat, BJP candidate Locket Chatterjee was seen threatening a polling officer. She is contesting against TMC's two-term MP Ratna De Nag. In UP Union Home Ministers Rajnath, Smiriti, Sonia, Rahul were in fray. BJP trusts Irani to give a tough fight to Rahul this time round as the winning margin of the latter had dipped from over three lakh votes in 2009 to over one lakh votes in 2014. Rajnath is contesting from Lucknow, a seat held five-times by BJP patriarch Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He is pitted against SP's Pooam Sinha, wife of Shatrughan Sinha who recently joined Congress quitting BJP. Former Union minister and Congress candidate Jitin Prasad is contesting from Dhaurahra against former Chambal brigand Malkhan Singh contesting from Pragatsheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia). In the Faizabad parliamen- tary constituency, under which the temple town of Ayodhya falls, sitting BJP MP Lallu Singh is tak- ing on Nirmal Khatri of the Congress. Khatri is a former Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee chief. Among early voters in Lucknow, included Rajnath, BSP supremo Mayawati, Deputy CM Dinesh Sharma and DGP OP Singh. Polling was completed in Dhaurahra, Sitapur, Mohanlalganj (SC), Lucknow, Banda, Fatehpur, Kaushambi (SC), Barabanki (SC), Faizabad, Bahraich (SC), Kaiserganj and Gonda constituencies where a total of 182 candidates are in the fray. Rajasthan witnessed polling in 12 Lok Sabha seats where two former Olympians, including Union Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore (Jaipur rural), are among the 124 candidates in fray. The constituencies were Ganganagar, Bikaner, Churu, Jhunjhunu, Sikar, Jaipur rural, Jaipur, Alwar, Bharatpur, Karauli- Dholpur, Dausa and Nagaur. Discus throw gold winner Krishna Poonia and Congress nominee (Jaipur Rural seat) and Union Minister & BJP leader Arjun Ram Meghwal (Bikaner) are other candidates in the fray. Poonia, a Jat, is challenging Rathore, a Rajput, who won Jaipur Rural in 2014 with a margin of 3.32 lakh. In Madhya Pradesh - Tikamgarh, Damoh, Khajuraho, Satna, Rewa, Hoshangabad and Betul - voted. "Minor issues related to EVMs were reported at some places but they were sorted out," officials said. In Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh Congress is looking to improve its tally vis-à-vis the BJP as the latter had swept both States in 2014 elections. In Jharkhand Koderma, Ranchi, Khunti (ST) and Hazaribagh constituencies wit- nessed voting since early morn- ing to elect their representatives from among 61 contestants. Bihar saw polling in five Lok Sabha seats of Sitamarhi, Madhubani, Muzaffarpur, Saran and Hajipur parliamentary seats amid tight security, with no untoward incident reported from any part of the State. Senior BJP leader Rajiv Pratap Rudy is seek- ing election from Saran Lok Sabha seat. S uper-cyclone Fani (meaning “hood of snake” in Bengali) kicked up a different sort of “storm” in West Bengal as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee engaged in a bitter slugfest on a day when the State went for the fifth phase of polling. Minutes after the Prime Minister alleged during an election rallies at Tamluk and Jhargarm that after Fani repeated phone calls from the PMO yielded no response from the Chief Minister’s office in Kolkata, Mamata hit back saying neither she was bound to respond to the calls from an “expiry Prime Minister” nor Modi as a outgoing incumbent had any right to call a review meeting. Mamata said she could not take the call as she was busy campaigning for elections. The Chief Minister who was out of town had forthwith suspended her poll campaigns and moved to Kharagpur to oversee the relief measures in the aftermath of the cyclone. The ruling Trinamool Congress had earlier attacked Modi for “playing politics with natural calamity,” saying, “the Prime Minister had under- mined the federal norms by bypassing a democratically elected Chief Minister by hold- ing discussions with the Governor over the conse- quences of Fani.” While Modi reacted on Monday saying it was “not me who had ignored the Chief Minister but she refused to take my call,” Mamata exploded, “Why should she speak to an expiry Prime Minister” who had “no right to call a review meeting.” The Chief Minister was holding another election rally at Kotulpur. Saying that Mamata would not speak to him because she was too proud to do so, Modi said, “Didi is so arrogant that she didn’t speak to me. I wait- ed for her call but she would not call back. The ‘speed break- er’ Didi was more interested in doing politics.” Mamata said, “ Today this man has come to shed tears for Bengal as this is election sea- son. Where he was when we were fighting floods. His Government gave us nothing for flood relief.” F or the first time 13 students have topped jointly the All India level in the Class X results declared by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on Monday. As per the data, institution wise, Kendriya Vidyalaya has outperformed others with a pass percentage of 99.47. According to a CBSE state- ment, 13 boys have scored 499 out of total 500 marks. The sec- ond rank has been secured by a total of 26 students who have scored 498 out of 500. The third position has been shared by 59 students who have secured 497 marks out of 500. Girl students have once again outshone the boys with pass percentage of 92.45 against 90.14 per cent for boys. Howerver, boys towered over girls in ranking. The transgen- der students have also done well in the Board exams with the pass percentage of 94.74 this year, while it was 83.33 per cent in 2017. Also, the girls pass per- centage has increased by 2.31 per cent this year. The pass percentage of boys has also registered a sharp rise of 4.82 per cent. The differently abled candidates also performed well with a pass percentage of 95.99. As per the data compiled the CBSE, there is a steep rise of 4.40 per cent in the overall pass percentage this year. The all India pass percentage this year is at 91.10, while it was 86.70 per cent last year. A nother Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA, Devinder Singh Sehrawat from Delhi’s Bijwasan, joined the BJP on Monday at the party office in the presence of BJP leaders Vijay Goel and Vijender Gupta. On Friday, AAP legis- lator from Gandhi Nagar Anil Bajpai had joined the BJP. Hitting hard at the AAP, Sehrawat said he was not even invited for party functions and was insulted. C hief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi on Monday got a clean chit from the Supreme Court’s In-House Inquiry Committee which “has found no substance” in the allegations of sexual harassment levelled against him by a former woman employee of the SC. The 3-member Committee, which completed its task in 14 days, proceeded ex-parte as the woman had opted out of the enquiry on April 30 after participating for three days. After opting out of the Committee enquiry, she had issued a press statement describing as “very frightening” the atmosphere of the panel and raised various objections including denial of her lawyer’s presence. Immediately after the office of apex court’s Secretary General came out with the findings of the committee, the woman issued a press state- ment saying that she was “high- ly disappointed and dejected”. She said “gross injustice” has been done to her as a woman citizen of India and “worst fears” have come true, and all hope of justice and redress from the highest court of the land have been shattered. She said that she will con- sult her lawyer and decide on the next steps. A notice by the office of Supreme Court Secretary General said the report of the Committee, headed by Justice S A Bobde, “is not liable to be made public”. The Committee, also com- prising two woman judges of the SC — Justices Indu Malhotra and Indira Banerjee — had on May 1 recorded the statement of the CJI. “The In-House Committee has found no sub- stance in the allegations con- tained in the complaint dated April 19, 2019 of a former employee of the Supreme Court of India. Please take note that in case of Indira Jaising vs Supreme Court of India and Anr (2003), it has been held that the report of a committee constituted as a part of the In-House Procedure is not liable to be made public,” the notice said. It further said, “The In House Committee has sub- mitted its report dated May 5, 2019 in accordance with the In House Procedure, to the next senior judge competent to receive the report and also sent a copy to the judge concerned, namely, the CJI.” T aking a jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday said the Prime Minister is a “boxer” who with his “56-inch chest” entered the ring to fight unem- ployment and corruption but instead punched his own coach and veteran BJP leader LK Advani. Campaigning for party candidate Shruti Choudhary in Haryana’s Bhiwani, which is known as India’s Boxing nursery and has produced renowned boxers like Olympic medalist Vijender Singh, Rahul said, “In the last election, India put a new boxer, Narendra Modi, in the ring. The boxer, who boasted of his 56-inch chest, entered the ring to fight unem- ployment, farm- ers’ woes, cor- ruption and other issues. But the first thing he did was to deliver a punch on his coach Advani’s face.” Continuing his tirade against Modi, the Congress chief said, “For the last five years, this boxer has hit India’s poor, weaker sections, farmers and now people are saying they do not want this boxer. He failed to understand who he is fight- ing against.” “After he punched Advani ji, he runs after his team. One by one, he punches Gadkariji, Arun Jaitley ji, dhar, dhar, dhar,” Rahul said amid loud applause from the gathering. The boxer knocked out small shopkeepers with demon- etisation and Gabbar Singh Tax, he said referring to the Goods and Services Tax (GST). Continued on Page 4 P rime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday dared the Congress to contest the next phases of the Lok Sabha polls on the Bofors scandal in which for- mer Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was an accused. “If the Congress and its ‘Raagdarbaris’ are so much con- cerned about corruption why don’t they come up with issue of Bofors scandal in last two phas- es of elections that will cover Punjab and Delhi. It is the best time for them to clear them- selves,” said Modi while address- ing a massive rally at Tata College Ground in Chaibasa in Jharkhand. Recently at a rally in Pratapgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Modi took a swipe at Congress pres- ident Rahul Gandhi’s father and Rajiv Gandhi, calling him Bhrashtachari number 1 (cor- rupt number 1). There were allegations that Swedish defence manufacturer Bofors had paid huge kick- backs to Rajiv and others for the sale of its artillery gun to India when he was the PM. Also, Modi said “mahamilavat” of the Opposition parties are keen to form a “khichdi” Government at the Centre. Modi also alleged the grand alliance of Opposition parties does not at any cost want a Government with absolute majority. He said people must vote for a strong majority-led Government and not a remote controlled-led regime. Stressing on the need to give a majority Government in Jharkhand, he said the future of the nation will be decided in these five years. He also noted that a strong Government in the State will ensure better utilisation of Central funds and pave way for better tomorrow. Modi said his Government will not allow anyone to loot and exploit coal in Jharkhand. He expressed concerns that the previous Governments were involved in exploiting natural resources. The PM also attacked the Congress for joining hands with coal scandal convict Madhu Koda and his family to fight elections.

 · 2019-05-06 · Tikamgarh, Damoh, Khajuraho, Satna, Rewa, Hoshangabad and Betul - voted. "Minor issues ... had any right to call a review meeting. ... Girl students have once

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Page 1:  · 2019-05-06 · Tikamgarh, Damoh, Khajuraho, Satna, Rewa, Hoshangabad and Betul - voted. "Minor issues ... had any right to call a review meeting. ... Girl students have once

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Amid sporadic incidents ofviolence in West Bengal and

a grenade attack in Pulwama,political heavyweights RajnathSingh, Sonia Gandhi, RahulGandhi and Smriti Rani onMonday tested their popularitythrough ballots in the fifth phaseof polling for 51 constituenciesin seven States. The polling per-centage was a tad dull in thisround with 62.87 per cent aver-age turnout across the country incomparison to 65.56 per centpolling in the previous round.

West Bengal recorded high-est 74.42 per cent polling whileJammu & Kashmir had 17.07 percent polling. Uttar Pradeshrecorded 57.06 per cent, Bihar57.76, Rajasthan 63.69, MadhyaPradesh 64.61, and Jharkhand64.60. Amethi and Rae Bareilirecoded around 54 percentagepolling.

Polling was held in 14 seatsin UP, 12 in Rajasthan, 7 each inWest Bengal and MadhyaPradesh, 5 in Bihar and 4 inJharkhand, leaving 158 LokSabha seats in the next tworounds on May 12 and May 19.After this round, 27 seats are leftto be decided in the remainingtwo phases in UP. PrimeMinister Narandra Modi’s con-stituency Varanasi will go to pollson May 19.

The BJP and the SP allegedrigging and booth capturing inAmethi and Kunda seats.

In J&K, polling began on aviolent note with terrorists lob-bing a grenade on a polling sta-tion in Pulwama, but there wereno reports of casualty. Pollingwas held in Pulwama andShopian of Anantnag Lok Sabhaconstituency which includesKulgam.

There are 18 candidates inthe fray for Anantnag con-stituency, including PDP presi-dent and former Chief Ministerof Jammu & Kashmir,Mehbooba Mufti.

Bengal reported stray inci-dents of violence in Bangaon,Hooghly and Barrackpore seats,an election official said. The BJP

accused Trinamool Congress ofrigging the booths and demand-ed re-polling in Barrackporeand accused the ElectionCommission of not being effec-tive in ensuring fair polling in theState.

Incidents of clashes betweenTMC and BJP workers, hurlingof bombs, candidate getting hurtdue to lathicharge by Centralforces, manhandling of a con-testant and beating up of apolling agent were reported fromseven Lok Sabha constituencieswhich voted in the 5th round inWest Bengal.

Singh, who was allegedlyinjured during the scuffle, was

later seen chasing "fake voters" inNaihati area.

"Our agents were notallowed inside booths. Peoplewere not allowed to vote prop-erly and I went there to have alook. I have the right to enterbooths but police stopped meand hit me," Singh told PTI.

Alleging that police are notdoing anything to stop rigging insome booths of Barrackporeseat, Singh demanded thatpolling be stopped and re-pollingordered.

Maximum number of "sen-sitive" booths in Monday's elec-

tions was in Barrackpore seatwhere TMC sitting MP DineshTrivedi was pitted against Singh,who switched over to the BJPrecently after he was denied aticket by party supremo MamataBanerjee.

In Howrah's Balitikuri,TMC candidate and formerIndia footballer PrasunBandyopdhayay was "manhan-dled" allegedly by Central forceswhen he tried to enter a booththere.

Bandyopadhyay said, "I hadgone there to see poll proceed-ings. There was nothing wrongin it. But the Central forcesmanhandled me for no rea-

sons." An FIR was lodged inthis connection, he said.

Bombings were reportedfrom outside a booth at Hingliin Bangaon constituency fol-lowing a clash between twogroups allegedly owing alle-giance to the TMC and the BJP,in which two persons wereinjured, the official said.

There is also a report that aCPI(M) agent was beaten up anddriven out of a booth inArambagh constituency.

At a booth in Hooghly seat,BJP candidate Locket Chatterjeewas seen threatening a polling

officer. She is contesting againstTMC's two-term MP Ratna DeNag.

In UP Union HomeMinisters Rajnath, Smiriti, Sonia,Rahul were in fray. BJP trustsIrani to give a tough fight toRahul this time round as thewinning margin of the latter haddipped from over three lakhvotes in 2009 to over one lakhvotes in 2014.

Rajnath is contesting fromLucknow, a seat held five-timesby BJP patriarch Atal BihariVajpayee. He is pitted against SP'sPooam Sinha, wife ofShatrughan Sinha who recentlyjoined Congress quitting BJP.

Former Union minister andCongress candidate Jitin Prasadis contesting from Dhaurahraagainst former Chambal brigandMalkhan Singh contesting fromPragatsheel Samajwadi Party(Lohia).

In the Faizabad parliamen-tary constituency, under whichthe temple town of Ayodhya falls,sitting BJP MP Lallu Singh is tak-ing on Nirmal Khatri of theCongress. Khatri is a formerUttar Pradesh CongressCommittee chief.

Among early voters inLucknow, included Rajnath, BSPsupremo Mayawati, Deputy CMDinesh Sharma and DGP OPSingh.

Polling was completed inDhaurahra, Sitapur,Mohanlalganj (SC), Lucknow,Banda, Fatehpur, Kaushambi(SC), Barabanki (SC), Faizabad,Bahraich (SC), Kaiserganj andGonda constituencies where atotal of 182 candidates are in the

fray.Rajasthan witnessed polling

in 12 Lok Sabha seats where twoformer Olympians, includingUnion Minister RajyavardhanSingh Rathore (Jaipur rural),are among the 124 candidates infray. The constituencies wereGanganagar, Bikaner, Churu,Jhunjhunu, Sikar, Jaipur rural,Jaipur, Alwar, Bharatpur, Karauli-Dholpur, Dausa and Nagaur.Discus throw gold winnerKrishna Poonia and Congressnominee (Jaipur Rural seat) andUnion Minister & BJP leaderArjun Ram Meghwal (Bikaner)are other candidates in the fray.Poonia, a Jat, is challengingRathore, a Rajput, who wonJaipur Rural in 2014 with amargin of 3.32 lakh.

In Madhya Pradesh -Tikamgarh, Damoh, Khajuraho,Satna, Rewa, Hoshangabad and

Betul - voted. "Minor issuesrelated to EVMs were reportedat some places but they weresorted out," officials said.

In Rajasthan and MadhyaPradesh Congress is looking toimprove its tally vis-à-vis the BJPas the latter had swept both Statesin 2014 elections.

In Jharkhand Koderma,Ranchi, Khunti (ST) andHazaribagh constituencies wit-nessed voting since early morn-ing to elect their representativesfrom among 61 contestants.

Bihar saw polling in five LokSabha seats of Sitamarhi,Madhubani, Muzaffarpur, Saranand Hajipur parliamentary seatsamid tight security, with nountoward incident reported fromany part of the State. Senior BJPleader Rajiv Pratap Rudy is seek-ing election from Saran LokSabha seat.

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Super-cyclone Fani (meaning“hood of snake” in Bengali)

kicked up a different sort of“storm” in West Bengal asPrime Minister NarendraModi and Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjeeengaged in a bitter slugfest ona day when the State went forthe fifth phase of polling.

Minutes after the PrimeMinister alleged during anelection rallies at Tamluk andJhargarm that after Fanirepeated phone calls from thePMO yielded no responsefrom the Chief Minister’s officein Kolkata, Mamata hit backsaying neither she was boundto respond to the calls from an“expiry Prime Minister” norModi as a outgoing incumbenthad any right to call a reviewmeeting.

Mamata said she could nottake the call as she was busycampaigning for elections.

The Chief Minister whowas out of town had forthwithsuspended her poll campaignsand moved to Kharagpur to

oversee the relief measures inthe aftermath of the cyclone.

The ruling TrinamoolCongress had earlier attackedModi for “playing politics withnatural calamity,” saying, “thePrime Minister had under-mined the federal norms bybypassing a democraticallyelected Chief Minister by hold-ing discussions with theGovernor over the conse-quences of Fani.”

While Modi reacted onMonday saying it was “not mewho had ignored the ChiefMinister but she refused to takemy call,” Mamata exploded,“Why should she speak to anexpiry Prime Minister” whohad “no right to call a reviewmeeting.” The Chief Ministerwas holding another electionrally at Kotulpur.

Saying that Mamata wouldnot speak to him because shewas too proud to do so, Modisaid, “Didi is so arrogant thatshe didn’t speak to me. I wait-ed for her call but she wouldnot call back. The ‘speed break-er’ Didi was more interested indoing politics.”

Mamata said, “ Today thisman has come to shed tears forBengal as this is election sea-son. Where he was when wewere fighting floods. HisGovernment gave us nothingfor flood relief.”

���������� +',�-'*./

For the first time 13 studentshave topped jointly the All

India level in the Class Xresults declared by the CentralBoard of Secondary Education(CBSE) on Monday.

As per the data, institutionwise, Kendriya Vidyalaya hasoutperformed others with apass percentage of 99.47.According to a CBSE state-ment, 13 boys have scored 499out of total 500 marks. The sec-ond rank has been secured bya total of 26 students whohave scored 498 out of 500. Thethird position has been sharedby 59 students who havesecured 497 marks out of 500.

Girl students have onceagain outshone the boys withpass percentage of 92.45 against

90.14 per cent for boys.Howerver, boys towered overgirls in ranking. The transgen-der students have also donewell in the Board exams withthe pass percentage of 94.74this year, while it was 83.33 percent in 2017.

Also, the girls pass per-centage has increased by 2.31per cent this year. The passpercentage of boys has alsoregistered a sharp rise of 4.82per cent. The differently abledcandidates also performedwell with a pass percentage of95.99.

As per the data compiledthe CBSE, there is a steep riseof 4.40 per cent in the overallpass percentage this year. Theall India pass percentage thisyear is at 91.10, while it was86.70 per cent last year.

������������ +',�-'*./

Another Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) MLA, Devinder

Singh Sehrawat from Delhi’sBijwasan, joined the BJP onMonday at the party office inthe presence of BJP leadersVijay Goel and VijenderGupta. On Friday, AAP legis-lator from Gandhi Nagar AnilBajpai had joined the BJP.Hitting hard at the AAP,Sehrawat said he was not eveninvited for party functions andwas insulted.

����� +',�-'*./

Chief Justice of India RanjanGogoi on Monday got a

clean chit from the SupremeCourt’s In-House InquiryCommittee which “has foundno substance” in the allegationsof sexual harassment levelledagainst him by a formerwoman employee of the SC.

The 3-memberCommittee, which completedits task in 14 days, proceededex-parte as the woman hadopted out of the enquiry onApril 30 after participating forthree days. After opting out ofthe Committee enquiry, shehad issued a press statementdescribing as “very frightening”the atmosphere of the paneland raised various objectionsincluding denial of her lawyer’spresence.

Immediately after the officeof apex court’s SecretaryGeneral came out with thefindings of the committee, thewoman issued a press state-ment saying that she was “high-ly disappointed and dejected”.

She said “gross injustice”has been done to her as awoman citizen of India and“worst fears” have come true,and all hope of justice andredress from the highest courtof the land have been shattered.

She said that she will con-sult her lawyer and decide onthe next steps.

A notice by the office ofSupreme Court Secretary

General said the report of theCommittee, headed by JusticeS A Bobde, “is not liable to bemade public”.

The Committee, also com-prising two woman judges ofthe SC — Justices InduMalhotra and Indira Banerjee— had on May 1 recorded thestatement of the CJI.

“The In-HouseCommittee has found no sub-stance in the allegations con-tained in the complaint datedApril 19, 2019 of a formeremployee of the SupremeCourt of India. Please takenote that in case of IndiraJaising vs Supreme Court ofIndia and Anr (2003), it hasbeen held that the report of acommittee constituted as apart of the In-HouseProcedure is not liable to bemade public,” the notice said.

It further said, “The InHouse Committee has sub-mitted its report dated May 5,2019 in accordance with the InHouse Procedure, to the nextsenior judge competent toreceive the report and also senta copy to the judge concerned,namely, the CJI.”

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Taking a jibe at PrimeMinister Narendra Modi,

Congress president RahulGandhi on Monday saidthe Prime Minister is a“boxer” who with his“56-inch chest” enteredthe ring to fight unem-ployment and corruptionbut instead punched hisown coach and veteranBJP leader LK Advani.

Campaigning forparty candidate ShrutiChoudhary in Haryana’sBhiwani, which is known asIndia’s Boxing nursery and has

produced renowned boxers likeOlympic medalist VijenderSingh, Rahul said, “In the lastelection, India put a new boxer,Narendra Modi, in the ring. The

boxer, whoboasted of his56-inch chest,entered the ringto fight unem-ployment, farm-ers’ woes, cor-ruption andother issues. Butthe first thing he

did was to deliver a punch onhis coach Advani’s face.”

Continuing his tiradeagainst Modi, the Congress

chief said, “For the last fiveyears, this boxer has hit India’spoor, weaker sections, farmersand now people are saying theydo not want this boxer. He failedto understand who he is fight-ing against.”

“After he punched Advaniji, he runs after his team. Oneby one, he punches Gadkariji,Arun Jaitley ji, dhar, dhar, dhar,”Rahul said amid loud applausefrom the gathering.

The boxer knocked outsmall shopkeepers with demon-etisation and Gabbar Singh Tax,he said referring to the Goodsand Services Tax (GST).

Continued on Page 4

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Monday dared the

Congress to contest the nextphases of the Lok Sabha polls onthe Bofors scandal in which for-mer Prime Minister RajivGandhi was an accused.

“If the Congress and its‘Raagdarbaris’ are so much con-cerned about corruption whydon’t they come up with issue ofBofors scandal in last two phas-es of elections that will coverPunjab and Delhi. It is the best

time for them to clear them-selves,” said Modi while address-ing a massive rally at TataCollege Ground in Chaibasa inJharkhand.

Recently at a rally inPratapgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Moditook a swipe at Congress pres-ident Rahul Gandhi’s father andRajiv Gandhi, calling himBhrashtachari number 1 (cor-rupt number 1).

There were allegations thatSwedish defence manufacturerBofors had paid huge kick-backs to Rajiv and others for thesale of its artillery gun to India

when he was the PM. Also,Modi said “mahamilavat” of theOpposition parties are keen toform a “khichdi” Governmentat the Centre.

Modi also alleged the grandalliance of Opposition partiesdoes not at any cost want aGovernment with absolutemajority. He said people mustvote for a strong majority-ledGovernment and not a remotecontrolled-led regime.

Stressing on the need togive a majority Government inJharkhand, he said the future ofthe nation will be decided in

these five years. He also noted that a strong

Government in the State willensure better utilisation ofCentral funds and pave way forbetter tomorrow.

Modi said his Governmentwill not allow anyone to lootand exploit coal in Jharkhand.He expressed concerns that theprevious Governments wereinvolved in exploiting naturalresources. The PM also attackedthe Congress for joining handswith coal scandal convictMadhu Koda and his family tofight elections.

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Taking Prime MinisterNarendra Modi head-on

over his “atrocious” and “abom-inable” remarks on the lateCongress leader Rajiv Gandhi,Punjab Chief Minister CaptAmarinder Singh on Monday

unleashed a tirade against theBJP leader who had “hit thenadir of pettiness in his des-peration to stay in power”.

“Faced with imminentouster from the seat of power,the power-hungry Modi hadlost all sense of decency andproportion in his election cam-

paign, reducing it to a shame-less mockery of public norms,”said Capt Amarinder, whenasked by the media-persons tocomment on the Modi’s con-troversial remarks.

He said that Modi’sremarks were outright despi-cable and reflective of his loath-

some mindset. “The universalcriticism the Prime Ministerhas faced over his commentsshowed that no sane individualor political institution thatlooked at elections as a seriousdemocratic process could con-done such malicious and base-less propaganda. The entireOpposition has flayed Modiover his disgusting remarks —a clear indication that nobodywanted the election process ofthe country to be vilified insuch a manner,” he said.

Capt Amarinder, who wasRajiv’s senior in the school,described the former PrimeMinister as one of the mostdecent, humble and honestmen he had ever known. “Rajivhad nothing but unwaveringlove for India and would never,in his wildest imagination,have even thought of cheatingthe country or its people,” headded.

“But a thief thinks every-body else is also a thief, and aliar cannot envisage any person

to be truthful,” the ChiefMinister quipped, lashing outat Modi for lying about a per-son who could no longerdefend himself.

He said: “Rajiv sacrificed

his life for the country, and ourcurrent Prime Minister,unmindful of the dignity of thechair he has been ensconced infor the past five years, deems itfit to drag the former PM’s

name into what he has reducedto a shameful saga of low-levelelectioneering.”

Even Modi’s own partyleader, former Prime MinisterAtal Behari Vajpayee, always

had good things to say aboutRajiv, the Chief Minister noted,pointing to Vajpayee’s state-ment on how Rajiv had savedhis life by including him in adelegation to the UN so hecould get his kidney problemtreated in New York.

That was the kind of manRajiv was, said CaptAmarinder, adding that Modiand his BJP were indulging inall kinds of falsehoods andcheap allegations against theGandhi family out of sheerfrustration as they had no pos-itive agenda to fight the pollbattle with.

Rajiv’s name was original-ly dragged into the Boforscase out of political motivationbut he was exonerated by theDelhi High Court in February2004, even before the UPAcame to power, the ChiefMinister said, adding that thethen BJP Government hadfailed to build a case againstthe former Prime Ministerfrom 1998 to 2004.

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Punjab Chief Minister CaptAmarinder Singh on

Monday announced to advancethe date of paddy sowing toJune 13 — a week ahead againstthe scheduled date of June 20.

“The farmers will beallowed to sow paddy fromJune 13,” the Chief Ministerannounced at a rally in supportof Congress candidate from SriAnandpur Sahib ManishTewari.

Capt Amarinder alsoannounced that the ElectricityBoard will pay compensation tothose farmers whose crop hadbeen damaged due to electricalsparking from the main linesduring the recent unseasonal

rains.Pointing out that a special

girdawari was already underway to assess crop damage dueto rains, he said that the loss-es, due to fires caused by anyother reasons, will be com-pensated from his own relieffund. “We will compensateeach and every farmer,” hepromised.

At the same time, CaptAmarinder reiterated that hisgovernment would build amemorial for all Punjabis whohad laid down their lives dur-ing the independence struggle,many of whom still remainedunknown.

On the farners’ issues, hemade it clear that his govern-ment would not allow any

value cut on MSP by theCentral Government, and hehad already written to thePrime Minister on this issueand would pursue it personal-ly.

Even as he came downheavily on the Centre for fail-ing to support the StateGovernment’s farm debt waiv-er scheme, the Chief Ministerlashed out at the Modi gov-ernment for diverting fourlakh gunny bags (16,000 bales)to Haryana to create problemsfor Punjab, which was expect-ing a bumper wheat crop thisseason.

“They should be ashamedof themselves for penalizing thepoor farmers for their politicalends,” he declared.

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Sixtyfive companies of Central Armed Policeforces (CAPF) comprising 4,680 personnel

will monitor the electoral process in Haryana.“Out of these, five companies have already

arrived and conducting flag marches along withstate police in the districts to build a sense ofsecurity and confidence among the voters.Remaining 60 companies will be coming fromRajasthan on May 7 after the fifth phase ofpolling there. We are also requesting theMinistry of Home Affairs and ElectionCommission to allocate us more CAPF com-panies which are likely to be allotted,” AdditionalDirector General of Police, Navdeep Singh Virk

said.He said Haryana Police will be deploying

close to 64,000 personnel of the state policeforce and from central forces on election dutyto ensure polling in a free, fair and peacefulmanner on May 12 when people go out to casttheir vote for the 10 Lok Sabha seats in the state.

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Rohtak Lok Sabha con-stituency, known as a polit-

ical capital of Jatland –Haryana,is witnessing an “electoral battleof prestige” with three-time MPDeepender Singh Hooda, lockedin a direct contest with BJP’snominee Arvind Sharma toretain the parliamentary seat thathas remained Hooda family’scitadel.

Strong caste polarization islikely to dominate the outcomein this keenly watched poll bat-tle between Congress’Deepender Singh Hooda, son offormer Chief MinisterBhupinder Singh Hooda, aprominent Jat leader and BJP’scandidate, former MP ArvindSharma, a prominent Brahminleader.

Among other 18 candidatesin the fray from Jat-dominatedRohtak seat include JannayakJanta Party-Aam Aadmi Party’salliance candidate PradeepDeshwal, a Jat, INLD’s nomineeDharmveer Foji and LoktantraSuraksha Party-Bahujan SamajParty’s joint candidate KishanLal Panchal, who comes fromthe Vishwakarma community, abackward class.

Rohtak, a major hub of theJat electorate, was the lone par-liamentary seat that had with-stood the Modi wave and waswon by the Congress out of 10Lok Sabha seats in Haryana in2014 elections.

Deepender, who has had animpressive run on the politicalpitch with three consecutivepoll victories in Jat heartland ofRohtak in Haryana since hiselectoral debut in 2005, is seek-ing mandate for the fourth termwith challenges of anti-incum-bency factor coupled with saf-fron surge in the state.

The political analysts are ofthe view that Rohtak seat is adirect contest between Congressand BJP with other political par-ties unlikely to make any majorimpact on voters.

Interestingly, the Rohtakseat, which exemplifies dynastypolitics, was won by late RanbirSingh Hooda in 1952 and 1957.Later, his son two-time formerCM Bhupinder Singh Hoodawon the seat four times andsince 2005, Deepender has car-ried forward the family legacy.

The Congress candidate,however, is facing a tough con-test this time in his family’scitadel with ruling BJP, primar-ily focusing on consolidation ofnon-Jat vote in its favor after the

Jat quota agitation 2016 that haswidened the divide between theJat and non-Jat communities inthe state.

The saffron party’s pick of aprominent Brahmin leader,Arvind Sharma in Jat-dominat-ed Rohtak constituency clearlyindicates towards party’s strate-gy to win over the non-Jat votesto wrest the Rohtak seat. A for-mer Congressman, three-timeMP Arvind Sharma had earlierthis year joined the BJP and hadin the past won the Jat domi-nated Sonepat Lok Sabha seat in1996 as an independent candi-date and later, won Karnal LokSabha seat in 2004 and 2009 onCongress’ ticket.

The BJP, which has beengoing full throttle to win Rohtak,is also banking on brand “Modi”and has also been reaching outto the leaders of caste-basedorganizations in the con-stituency besides holding anaggressive campaign led byChief Minister Manohar Lalthere. BJP’s support base large-ly comprises urban non-Jat vot-

ers and traders in Rohtak con-stituency.

Amid the concerns of polar-ization of votes on caste lines, theCongress’ candidate, Deependeris banking on the developmentworks undertaken in last 15years and the support that hisfather Bhupinder Singh Hooda,a prominent Jat leader enjoys inthe community.

In 2014 general elections,Deepender was pitted againstBJP’s nominee OP Dhankar(Cabinet Minister), a Jat candi-date and had managed to regis-ter a hat-trick by a margin ofmore than 1.7 lakh votes in theconstituency.

Later that year, the BJP hadmanaged to win four out of nineassembly seats that form Rohtakparliamentary constituency inthe State Assembly election,making inroads in the Jat strong-hold of Rohtak.

In the past elections, thenon-Jat polarization has workedin favour of the BJP in bypoll toJind assembly segment and evenin Rohtak assembly seat, which

the party had won in HaryanaAssembly polls 2014.

Noted sociologist, JitenderPrasad, a former professor ofSociology at MaharshiDayanand University (MDU),Rohtak, while talking to ThePioneer, said, “As per the pastelectoral trends, the Jat votershave always polarized behind afavored Jat leader in elections. InRohtak, Deepender willundoubtedly get the support ofJat community and is also like-ly to get voters from non-Jats,due to his good image andassociation with the con-stituency for a long time, he said.

The Jat candidates fielded byother political parties like JJP-AAP candidate PradeepDeshwal are unlikely to divideJat vote bank in the constituen-cy as people seem to have thisgeneral perception of not divid-ing or infact, wasting their votebetween two sides, JJP andINLD candidates after the splitin Jat-centric party, INLD lastyear, he added.

Notably, Rohtak district wasthe epicenter of violent Jat reser-vation stir 2016, which is likelyto caste shadow on the poll out-come in the constituency.

The quota agitation thatkilled over 30 people in the statehad upset the Jat community,whose major demands includ-ing reservation still remainunfulfilled. Upset with the rul-ing BJP, the Jat outfits havealready announced to boycottthe BJP and vote in favor of

other political parties in thepolls.

Kulwant Singh Nehra,Assistant Professor, RBI chair atChandigarh-based Centre forResearch in Rural and IndustrialDevelopment (CRRID) said, “Avery strong caste based polar-ization is in play in Haryana thiselection. But, Deepender still hasa fair chance to emerge as a win-ner from Rohtak, probably witha very less margin this time,”

“In this direct contestbetween BJP and Congress,major share of non-Jat voteincluding Punjabis, Brahmins,Baniyas, Rajputs, Ahirs amongothers will go in favor of BJP.However, a section of Punjabivote bank is also likely to favorDeepender due to his good rep-utation among all communitiesin Rohtak,” he added.

The Rohtak constituencyhas remained the focus of rul-ing BJP in the past five yearswith Prime Minister NarendraModi and party chief AmitShah visiting the constituencyon various occasions. The stateBJP unit has also opened itsfully-equipped war room-cumcentral office in Rohtak forelections.

To boost party’s campaignin the high-stakes poll battle,Prime Minister Narendra Modihas chosen May 10, the last dayof campaigning of sixth phaseto address a rally there whileCongress general secretaryPriyanka Gandhi will hold aroadshow in Rohtak on May 7.

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Haryana Chief MinisterManohar Lal Khattar may

not be in the fray but his pop-ularity and performance will beput to test as the state goes topolling on 10 Lok Sabha seatson May 12.

Although the state is wit-nessing a multi-cornered con-test but the real battle for bal-lots would be mostly confinedto the ruling BJP led byManohar Lal and Congress,where former Chief MinisterBhupinder Singh Hooda isspearheading the campaign.

The Lok Sabha poll out-come on May 23 in Haryana,where Khattar is heading themaiden BJP Government,would eventually indicate thesentiments among the voters ofthe state, which is also sched-uled to go to Assembly pollslater this year. There is a real-ization among all political par-ties that the result of parlia-mentary elections will set thetone for Haryana Assemblypolls.

After making his politicaldebut about four-and -a-half-years ago in assembly electionsfrom Karnal, Khattar is nowshouldering the responsibilityof leading the party’s charge in

Haryana.To boost the party’ poll

prospects, the star campaign-er of saffron party, Manohar Lalis engaged in a hectic cam-paigning, addressing atleasttwo election rallies every day,besides holding a roadshowand meeting party workersand people of the state ondaily basis. Not only Haryana,the former RSS PracharakManohar Lal is also holdingpoll rallies in neighboringPunjab, Delhi, HimachalPradesh, union territory ofChandigarh and other states.

On his birthday a daybefore on May 5, the ChiefMinister held two election ral-lies and meetings with party

workers while on Monday,after addressing two rallies, hewent to Delhi for canvassing.

Interestingly, the first-timeMLA, Manohar Lal is the mostfollowed Haryana politicianon Twitter with 1.46 millionfollowers and has also beenactively connecting with thevoters through this micro-blogging site in the electionseason.

Notably, the saffron party,while riding the NarendraModi wave in 2014 Lok Sabhaelections, had emerged as amajor gainer in Haryana whereit had managed to win 7 seatsand later that year, created ahistory by attaining absolutemajority on its own in the StateAssembly polls. The Congresscould win only one seat whilethe undivided Indian NationalLok Dal had won two seats inlast general elections.

Political observers say,“Like, former Chief MinisterBhupinder Singh Hooda, whofaces a must-win situation inSonepat Lok Sabha con-stituency to prove his popu-larity among the Jats, it wouldan acid test for Manohar Lal’spopularity as well among thenon-Jat vote bank in Haryana.”

They feel that any gain inBJP’s tally in Haryana in 2019polls would strengthen

Manohar al’s standing in theparty at national level while anyloss would put him underattack by his rivals within andoutside the party.

While the politicalobservers feel that the 2019election may not be a repeat of2014 where Modi wave haddecimated the Congress inHaryana, Manohar Lal exudesconfidence of winning all 10Lok Sabha seats in the state.

At his election rallies androadshows, he is focusing onlisting out BJP government’sachievements at the Centraland State level besides stickingto the issue of national securi-ty and nationalism.

“The BJP government haseliminated the culture of mid-dlemen and agents by bringingin transparency in the workingof the government and itsdepartments,” he told people atan election rally in Rohtak onMonday.

“The ongoing Lok Sabhaelections are different fromthe past elections as it is a con-test between the BJP which hasensured all round develop-ment in last five years besidesensuring nation’s security andthe opposition Congress whichmisled the people through itspromises including the GaribiHatao slogan in the last sever-

al decades,” Manohar Laladded.

A non-Jat and PunjabiChief Minister, who is underattack by opposition over hisgovernment’s failure duringviolent Jat quota stir 2016,dera followers’ violence atPanchkula in 2017, violenceduring Baba Rampal’s arrest isalso hitting back at the oppo-sition on the issues of corrup-tion, dynasty politics andnational security during can-vassing.

He has also faced sharpcriticism from his own party-men over issues including slowpace of implementation ofCM’s announcements and biasattitude towards some con-stituencies in Haryana.

Even as Manohar Lal hasmanaged to put his house inorder and sharing dais duringelection campaigning with thelikes of Rao Inderjit Singh,Birender Singh, known as hisdetractors, a poor show in LokSabha may again see dissentingvoices rising against him in thestate.

“Manohar Lal has beentermed as an inexperiencedadministrator after his failureto handle the situation duringJat quota stir and dera follow-ers’ violence at Panchkula.However, he also has to his

credit the BJP’s maiden victo-ry in Jind bypoll and party’s winin direct mayoral polls in fivemajor cities of Haryana besidessuccess of major schemes likeBeti Bachao, Beti Padhao inHaryana,” political experts say.

Apart from his hometurf -Karnal, where Manohar Lalhad managed to get party tick-et for his confidant SanjayBhatia, the Chief Minister facesa challenging task to ensureBJP’s victory on three moreseats including Rohtak, Sonipatand Hisar, which are witness-ing high-stakes poll battle.

While former CMBhupinder Singh Hooda iscandidate from Sonipat, his sonDeependra Hooda is contestingfrom Rohtak and two dynastsfrom Chautala and Bhajan Lalfamilies are in the fray fromHisar seat against the BJPnominee.

Before the poll schedulewas announced, the ChiefMinister strove hard to get anumber of development pro-grammes and projectslaunched in the state. To woothe voters, he had alsoannounced a new scheme toprovide financial and socialsecurity cover to small farmersand workers in unorganizedsector and rebate to artisans inpower bill in the state.

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Haryana Chief MinisterManohar Lal on Monday

said that the ongoing Lok Sabhaelections are different from thepast elections as it is a contestbetween the BJP which hasensured all round developmentand the opposition Congresswhich misled the peoplethrough its promises includingthe Garibi Hatao slogan.

Manohar Lal addressed twoVijay Sankalp rallies at Kalanaurin Rohtak district and BhawaniKhera in adjoining Bhiwani dis-trict on Monday.

Speaking at Kalanaur,Manohar Lal said that the BJPhad five years back madepromises which have been ful-filled resulting in upliftment ofthe poor and the other sectionsof the society.

He said that the PrimeMinister Narendra Modi

understood the pain of thepoor and started various devel-opment programmes includingAyushman Bharat Yojna, pro-viding cooking gas cylindersfree to the poor, ensuring elec-tricity to all the homes and pro-vision of toilet facilities in thehouses of the poor.

Manohar Lal said that theBJP government has eliminat-ed the culture of middlemenand agents by bringing in trans-parency in the working of thegovernment and its depart-ments.

The government is collect-ing data of all households.Soon time will come whengovernment officials will visityour home and tell you aboutvarious schemes from whicheach individual can benefit, headded.

Without referring to theduo of former Chief MinisterBhupinder Singh Hooda and

his son Deepender, ManoharLal said that the father-sondynastic politics has to beended.

The Chief Minister saidthat former PM JawaharlalNehru announced eradicationof poverty, but it remains assuch and now the fourth gen-eration Gandhi family member,Rahul Gandhi has again giventhe Garibi Hatao slogan.

He said that Rahul Gandhishould not be addressed as‘Pappu’ as he is national presi-dent of Congress – the mainopposition party of the country.

Taking a dig at theCongress leaders and workers,he said that they has no faith inthe supremo (Rahul Gandhi) oftheir party. Rahul Gandhi andNarendra Modi cannot be com-pared, he said adding that theyare poles apart.

Later addressing the VijaySankalp Rally at Bhawani

Khera, Manohar Lal said thatthe BJP will give a strong andstable government after thecounting of votes on May 23.

Manohar Lal said that thevoice of the Congress, which ishelping the enemies, has to beended. Opposition cast asper-sions on the actions of thedefence forces, he said claimingthat the Congress is trying toweaken the defence personnel’smorale.

Speaking at the rally, UnionSteel Minister Birendar Singhsaid that he first contested theelection in 1972. Previouslyelections were fought on casteconsideration, but in this elec-tion the scenario is totally different.

In this election neithercaste, nor religion, nor area northe family lineage is beingconsidered. There is only oneagenda of development, heclaimed.

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Congress general secre-tary and party’s star cam-

paigner Priyanka Gandhiwill visit Ambala, Hisar andRohtak on Tuesday for cam-paigning.

Priyanka willhold public meet-ings in Ambalaand Hisar to seekvotes for partyc a n d i d a t e sKumari Selja andBhavya Bishnoirespectively onMay 7. Later in the evening,she will hold a roadshow inRohtak in support of partycandidate, three-time MPDeepender Singh Hooda.

This would be Priyanka

Gandhi’s first visit to the stateafter her entry into activepolitics.

Former Chief MinisterBhupinder Singh Hooda saidthat campaigning byPriyanka Gandhi will boost

party’s campaign inthe state. Congress’Rajya Sabha MPKumari Selja is pit-ted against BJP’s MPRattan Lal Kataria inAmbala whileBhavya Bishnoi islocked in a three-cornered electoral

battle in Hisar with JJP’sDushyant Chautala and BJP’sBrijendra Singh in the fray.Deepender Hooda is facingBJP’s Arvind Sharma inRohtak.

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Page 4:  · 2019-05-06 · Tikamgarh, Damoh, Khajuraho, Satna, Rewa, Hoshangabad and Betul - voted. "Minor issues ... had any right to call a review meeting. ... Girl students have once

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The law enforcement agen-cies have seized drugs,

liquor and unaccounted cashworth Rs 275 crore in Punjab,where elections will be held onMay 19.

"The value of total seizedmaterial made between March10 and May 5 is Rs 275 croreof which drugs is valued at Rs212 crore," Punjab ChiefElectoral Officer S KarunaRaju said on Monday.

He said that the agenciesseized 7.60 tonne of drugs

including opium, poppy huskand habit forming drugs alongwith 12.28 lakh litres of liquorin the state.

The cash seizure was to thetune of Rs 30.99 crore whilevalue of seized gold and otherprecious material was Rs 21.95crore, said Raju.

The Punjab CEO assertedthat the Election Commissionwas keeping a watch on the dis-tribution of liquor and thecash movement during theelections. The office of PunjabCEO has also formed a specialteam which is keeping a tab on

the supply of habit formingdrugs in the state.

"So far, licenses of four suchshops selling tramadol havebeen suspended and showcause notice to 17 shops hasbeen issued," he further said. Ina new initiative, the CEO saidthat nodal officers have beenappointed in Punjab to checknoise pollution during politicalspeeches and action will betaken if any one is found vio-lating the parameters.

The Punjab CEO remind-ed candidates contesting thepolls that they would have toadvertise their criminalantecedents on TV and inprint media for at least threetimes during electioneering."If any candidate is convicted orany criminal case is pendingagainst him, he will have toadvertise in the media," saidRaju.

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Punjab Congress vice-pres-ident Himanshu Pathak

on Monday sought from thepoll panel to “cancel” thenomination of SAD-BJPcombine candidate SunnyDeol for allegedly giving “falseinformation” in his affidavitregarding his social mediaaccount.

“I have given complaint tothe Election Commission ofIndia as well as Punjab’s elec-tion commission requestingto cancel the nomination forgiving false information inaffidavit,” he said.

Pathak claimed that an“unauthorized unaccountedpaid campaign is being runon the social media’s majorplatform — Facebook — fromthe page ‘Fans of Sunny Deol’which was created April 30,and lakhs of money has beenspent within five days toreach out to seven to eightlakh voters on the Facebookin the constituency and lakhsin Punjab. This is a clear vio-lation of election code ofconduct because promotionon social media can be doneonly from official socialmedia accounts which aregiven in nomination papers”.

He added that the pro-motion on social mediashould be approved by theElection Commission’s mediacertification and monitoringcommittee which is also vio-lated. “Sunny Deol’s electioncampaign may even exceedthe election expenditure limitgiven by the Commissionwhich is Rs 70 lakh,” he said.

Pathak also claimed thatSunnny Deol has also violat-ed the rules set by theFacebook in India which saysthat during election period,anyone who runs politicaladvertisements will give adisclaimer that this ad is runby whom, following which theFacebook has taken down itsfew advertisements.

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Going green in more thanone way for 2019 Lok

Sabha elections, the ElectionCommission has decided toexercise its franchise in favourof bio-degradable publicitymaterial, besides checking thesound pollution during therallies in run up to May 19 elec-tions.

While repeatedly persuad-ing the political parties andcandidates to go for environ-ment-friendly publicity mate-rial, the poll panel has alsoappointed the nodal officers —especially to measure the soundpollution levels during the ral-lies.

Besides, the poll panel hasalso requested the oil compa-nies to use the eco-friendlymaterial for putting up theadvertisements in the premis-es of their petrol pumps.

That was not all! The elec-tion panel would also shin theuse of disposable glasses to beused for the purpose of drink-ing water on the voting day atover 23,000 polling boothsacross the State.

“We have held at least fivemeetings with the representa-tives of the political parties par-ticularly to sensitise themregarding using the eco-friend-ly publicity materials. Besides,the Punjab Pollution ControlBoard (PPCB) is also doing itsbit by doing the same,” saidPunjab Chief Electoral Officer(CEO) Dr S Karuna Raju.

Dr Raju told The Pioneer

that as many as 15 nodal offi-cers, of the level of SDO (Sub-Divisional Officers), have beenappointed who are measuringthe levels of sound pollutionduring the events.

“Two cases have come tolight, one each in Amritsar andLudhiana, where the prescribedlimit for the sound pollutionlevels have been violated. Wehave informed the concernedDeputy Commissioners toissue notice to the organisers,”said Dr Raju adding, pointingthat further details wouldreveal regarding which partiesor the candidates the eventswere related to.

Dr Raju further informedthat he was also holding meet-ings with the oil companiesrequesting them to use eco-friendly material for the “hugeads they out on display intheir petrol pump premises.Just image how much damagethis large quantity of plasticused for banners and posterswould do to the environment”.

“We have taken anotherhuge initiative towards theenvironment. For more than23,000 polling booths in theState, we would avoid the useof disposable plastic glassesfor the purpose of drinkingwater,” he said adding that hehad a video-conferencingregarding the same with theassistant returning officersrecently.

The state electoral officerhad recently appealed to all thepolitical parties to use eco-friendly material for cam-

paigning during the Lok Sabhaelection asking the parties notto use single-use plastic mate-rial as it causes adverse impacton human health and envi-ronment.

He said that the UnionMinistry of Environment,Forest and Climate Changehad approached theCommission with the requestto direct political parties to useeco-friendly material.

“A lot of the campaigningmaterial, including posters,cut-outs, hoardings, banners,political advertisements andothers, are made of plasticand, after the elections, theseelectioneering materialbecomes waste,” Dr Raju saidwhile adding that a number ofalternatives like compostablebags, natural fabrics, recycledpaper and other material couldbe used during the campaign.

In fact, the Punjab andHaryana High Court has alsotaken a serious note of theimpact of usage of PVC flexboards and other harmfulmaterial being used by thecandidates during the elec-tions after a public interest lit-igation was filed by a city-basedRTI activist Rohit Sabharwal.

The High Court has issuednotice of motion to the UnionEnvironment Ministry, theElection Commission of India,Punjab Chief Election Officer,the Central Pollution ControlBoard and the Punjab PollutionControl Board, while fixingSeptember 10 as the next dateof hearing.

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From Page 1From Bhiwani-

Mahendergarh Lok Sabha con-

stituency, the Congress hasfielded its former member ofParliament Shruti Choudhry,

grand daughter of formerHaryana Chief Minister lateBansi Lal, and daughter of sit-

ting MLA Kiran Choudhry.Shruti is pitted against BJP’s sit-ting MP Dharambir Singh.

In 2014, Shruti had fin-ished third, losing out toDharambir Singh by a margin

of 1.3 lakh votes.At the rally, the Congress

chief also reiterated the allegedwrongdoings in the Rafale jetdeal claiming that Modi gave�30,000 crore to an industrial-

ist’s company.He said NYAY will help

generate jobs as it will spur eco-nomic activity. If the Congressforms the Government, nofarmer will be arrested if he

fails to repay his loan, headded.

Taking a veiled dig atModi’s ‘Mann Ki Baat’ radioprogramme, Rahul Gandhisaid that the Congress listens to

the voice of the people. “I havenot come here to say my ‘MannKi Baat’, but I am here to listento yours. For the Congress, thepeople’s order is supreme,” hesaid.

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The Centre on Mondayannounced the release of an

additional �1,000 crore to thecyclone-hit Odisha asannounced by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi. This amountwould be in addition to the�341 crore that had been pro-vided to the Odisha’s StateDisaster Response Force inadvance.

As announced by PrimeMinister after his aerial surveyand review of relief effortswith the Odisha Government,the Home Ministry hasannounced a further release of�1,000 crore for assistance tothe state, the statement said.

In the National CrisisManagement Committee(NCMC), headed by CabinetSecretary PK Sinha, OdishaGovernment informed thatrestoration of Power andTelecommunication infra-structure continue to remainthe major priority in theCyclone affected areas of theState.

Around 50% powerrestoration has been reportedwhile more works need to bedone in Bhubaneswar and Puri.The NEET examination, whichwas postponed, will now beheld on 20th May. Medicinesdispatched by the Centre have

been received and all measureswere being taken to prevent anyoutbreak of diseases.

Reviewing the relief mea-sures, Cabinet Secretarystressed that power connectiv-ity need to be restored on pri-ority basis as drinking watersupply, telephone connectivityand banking operations needelectricity.

The option of deployingvehicle-mounted mobile tow-ers, as requested by Odisha, is

being explored to provide con-nectivity in Puri and Khurda.

More than 2,500 gang menare working in Odisha torestore power lines, substa-tions and Steel Ministry hasdispatched about 5,500 steelelectric poles and another15,000 will be supplied by 14thMay.

Cabinet Secretary directedthat more manpower should bemobilized to restore power.He also suggested that mobileservice operators need to oper-ationalize their towers in coor-dination with the StateGovernment.

Ministry of Petroleuminformed that majority ofpetrol and diesel retail outletsare functional and sufficientstocks of diesel and other fuelsare available in Odisha.

Three mobile dispensers ofDiesel of 6000 liters capacityeach are being pressed into ser-vice.

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Sacked BSF jawan TejBahadur Yadav on Monday

moved the Supreme Courtchallenging the ElectionCommission’s decision to can-cel his candidature from theVaranasi Lok Sabha con-stituency from where PrimeMinister Narendra Modi iscontesting.

Yadav, who was dismissedin 2017 after he posted a videoonline complaining about thefood served to the troops, wasfielded by the Samajwadi Partyas its candidate from theVaranasi seat.

Yadav, in his plea, termedthe decision of the poll paneldiscriminatory and unreason-able and said it should be setaside.

The SP had initially field-ed Shalini Yadav as its candi-date to contest against Modiand later nominated the sackedBSF jawan. The poll panel haddismissed Yadav’s nominationWednesday.

He was served notices bythe Varanasi returning officerover “discrepancies” in the twosets of nomination papers sub-mitted by him.

In the first set of papers onApril 24, he had mentionedthat he was dismissed from theBorder Security Force.

On April 29 he submitteda second set of papers as the SPnominee, but did not give outthis information.

He was also required tosubmit a no-objection certifi-cate from the BSF, giving rea-sons for his dismissal.

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The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a pleachallenging the Jammu and Kashmir

Government’s order restricting civilian traffic for aday in a week on a stretch of the national highwayfrom Udhampur to Baramulla for the movement ofsecurity forces.

Counsel for the State Government told the benchcomprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and JusticeDeepak Gupta that the order restricting traffic onthe national highway was taken due to theongoing election and will remain in force till May

31.The bench, after hearing the submissions, said,

“We are not inclined to keep this petition pending.”The State Government had issued an order on April3 in which it said that keeping in view the Pulwamaterror attack, another car bomb attack on securityforces’ convoy at Banihal and movement of forces dur-ing the Lok Sabha elections, no civilian traffic move-ment will be allowed on the NH stretch from 4 AMto 5 PM once a week.

The order had said there would be one “dedicatedday every week” for movement of security forces’ con-voy when there would be no civilian traffic on thenational highway from Baramulla to Udhampur from4 AM to 5 PM.

The regulation of the vehicular movement on theNH would remain in force till May 31, it had said.

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The Supreme Court onMonday asked Congress

MP Sushmita Dev to bring onrecord the ElectionCommission’s orders givingclean chit to Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and BJPPresident Amit Shah on com-plaints of Model Code viola-tions. A bench comprising ChiefJustice Ranjan Gogoi and JusticeDeepak Gupta has now listedthe plea of Dev, a Congress MPfrom Silchar Lok Sabha seat inAssam, for hearing on May 8.

Senior advocate A M Sighvi,appearing for Dev, alleged thatthe poll panel has passedunreasoned orders dismissingthe complaints of the Congressparty on violations of MCC

(Model Code of Conduct) bythe prime minister and Shahwho are accused of using armedforces in their campaign.

The bench asked the law-maker to file an additional affi-davit bringing on records theorders passed by EC on thecomplaints of MCC violations by the top two BJPleaders.

The EC has given clean chitto Modi for two of his speech-es — one in Latur last monthurging first time voters to ded-icate their votes in the name ofBalakot air strike heroes and sol-diers killed in the Pulwamaattack, and the other in Wardhaon April 1, where he indicatedthat Wayanad constituency hadmore voters from the minoritycommunity.

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The Supreme Court onMonday said it would hear

together on May 10 the pleasseeking review of its verdict onthe Rafale fighter jet case andthe contempt petition againstCongress President RahulGandhi for wrongly attributingto the apex court the “chokidarchor hai” remark against PrimeMinister Narendra Modi.

A special bench headed byChief Justice Ranjan Gogoisaid the petitions seekingreview of its December 14 ver-dict of last year will come up forhearing on May 10.

The bench, also compris-ing Justices S K Kaul and K MJoseph, expressed surprise as tohow the review pleas and thecontempt petition againstGandhi were listed on differentdates when it had earlierordered that both the cases willbe heard together.

“We are little perplexedthat the two cases are listed ontwo different dates when theorder was that these matterswill be heard together,” thebench said.

Gandhi had made the con-temptuous remark, “chowkidarchor hai”, against Modi, whichthe apex court had said waswrongly attributed to it.

The top court had on April30 given another opportunityto Gandhi for filing one moreaffidavit for his remark.

Though Gandhi, throughhis counsel, admitted that hemade a mistake by wronglyattributing the remark to theSupreme Court, it observedthat in the affidavit filed earli-er, at one point the CongressPresident admitted the mistakeand at one point denied mak-ing contemptuous remarks.

During Monday’s briefhearing, advocate Prashant

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The Supreme Court on Mondaydirected the CBI to complete its

probe by June 3 into the alleged mur-der of 11 girls at a shelter home inBihar’s Muzaffarpur and asked theagency to file a status report.

A bench comprising Chief JusticeRanjan Gogoi and Justice DeepakGupta said that since the matter was“urgent”, it would be heard by a vaca-tion bench on June 3.

“Office to list the matter on June3 before the vacation bench of thiscourt. In the meantime, the ongoinginvestigation, as stated in the reply ofthe Central Bureau of Investigation(CBI), be completed and all necessaryactions in accordance with law,including filing of status reportbefore this court, be also completed,”the bench said in its order.

The bench initially asked the CBIto complete the probe related toalleged 11 murders within two weeks

keeping in view the urgency of thematter, but later asked it to do so byJune 3.

Attorney General K KVenugopal, appearing for CBI, toldthe court that completion of probe onthis aspect “will not be possible” with-in two weeks.

He said that 11 girls were sup-posed to have been murdered and asper CBI’s recent affidavit filed in theapex court, it was found that therewere a total of 35 girls with identicalnames who at one time or the otherhad stayed there.

“11 girls are supposed to havebeen murdered. In one case, wehave recovered bones also,” he toldthe bench.

In the affidavit, the CBI had toldthe court that 11 girls were alleged-ly murdered by key accused BrajeshThakur and his accomplices and a“bundle of bones” was recoveredfrom a burial ground in Muzaffarpurshelter home sexual abuse case.

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The Congress on Mondaycame out with its own

report card on the ModiGovernment’s flagship schemesand alleged that none has metits target. It said the PrimeMinister “will sink in his ownwave of lies”.

Addressing a Press confer-ence at the Congress head-quarters, party leader NavjotSingh Sidhu shared detailsabout various schemes of theBJP Government.

Talking first about the“�20,000-crore” NamamiGange scheme launched in2015, Sidhu said that WaterResources Minister NitinGadkari had claimed that 80per cent of Ganga cleaningwork will be completed by2019.

“Out of �20,000 crore ear-marked for the scheme, only�6,000 crore has been spent.Only 10 per cent of the sewagetreatment plants have beenmade. The Ganga is mostunclean in Varanasi,” Sidhuclaimed. Modi representsVaranasi in the Lok Sabha andis contesting again.

“The National GangesCouncil was supposed to meetonce a year. The PM is its chair-man and the CMs of the fivestates that have Ganga basin areits members. This Council hasnot met even once in last fiveyears,” he said.

On the much publicisedDigital India scheme, Sidhusaid, “Digital India was sup-posed to connect 2.5 lakh vil-lages with broadband connec-tions by February 2019. Only1.1 lakh villages have got theoptic fibre cable as yet...Theinternet has not worked ineven two per cent of villages,”he said. “Now this work isbeing outsourced to companiessuch as Reliance andVodafone,” he alleged.

Under the ‘Skill India’ pro-

gramme, the ModiGovernment promised skillenhancement for 40 crore peo-ple, according to Sidhu but“only 41 lakh people have beentrained”. “Out of 41 lakh, only6 lakh people have got place-ment,” he claimed.

Sidhu also talked aboutthe progress in the Atal Missionfor Rejuvenation and UrbanTransformation (AMRUT)scheme, which was launched in2015.

“AMRUT scheme has 500cities under it where sewagefacilities and water connectiv-ity has to be provided. Its pro-ject utilisation is just 3 per cent.Can you imagine? In BJP-ruledstates of Assam and Bihar, nota single project has been com-pleted,” he said.

On the Mudra scheme,Sidhu said the average sanc-tioned loan under it comes to�46,000. “The person, who hasan annual income of �1.11lakh, you are giving him a loanof �46,000 and asking him tostart a business. What a jokethis is?” he asked.

“Just one per cent of theloans given under the Mudrascheme were above �5 lakhs,”he added.

About Saansad AdarshGram Yojana, Sidhu said, “Inphase 3, 78 per cent of the 786MPs (Lok Sabha and RajyaSabha) have not adopted anyvillage...46 per cent of theUnion Ministers have not iden-tified any village. The schemedoes not have any budgetaryallocation.”

He also talked aboutJayapur and Nagepur - two vil-

lages which have been adopt-ed by the PM in Varanasi.“Under Swachh BharatAbhiyan, 400 toilets were madein these two villages. In 80 percent of the toilets, cow dungand firewood are beingstored...The PM installed solarstreet lights. It does not havemotor or batteries,” said theformer BJP MP.

Sidhu alleged that out of�684 crore allocated under the“Beti Padhao, Beti Bachao”scheme, 56 per cent of themoney has been used in adver-tisements featuring the PM.“Can you imagine? These arethe flagship programs of thePM Modi...Liar-in-Chief is hisname.

Then he (PM) complainsthat Sidhu has called me a liar.Only the weak complain. Thebrave ones defeat their oppo-nents. Should I call you Raja Harischandra?” heasked.

About Fasal Bima Yojana,Sidhu said it is “even a biggerscam than Rafale scam”. “I amsaying it categorically.” “Underthe UPA Government, 4.85crore farmers were insured.Under the Modi Government,4.87 crores were insured. Thepremium taken under the UPAregime was just �10,560 crore.All of these are Governmentcompanies such as LIC,” hesaid.

“Under the ModiGovernment, while the numberof people insured are the sameas UPA, the premium taken is�47,408 crore...The premiumhas increased by five times,” headded.

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The Khadi and VillageIndustries Commission

(KVIC) has distributed morethan one lakh bee boxes amongthe farmers and unemployedyouths across the nation in lessthan two year under a pro-gramme named ‘HoneyMission’ launched in August2017 from the PresidentialEdifice at RashtrapatiBhawan.

During this process, KVICachieved many landmarks.First, on 21st May 2018 onWorld Honey Bee Day, KVICmade a World Record of dis-tributing maximum number ofbee-boxes in a single day bydistributing 1,000 bee-boxesamong 100 Mishing Asamesetribe in the Kaziranga forestarea, beating previous best of841 in Israel in 2016.

KVIC also made a newWorld Record of distributingmaximum number of 2330bee-boxes in a single day in theZangalee Army area atKupwara in Jammu & Kashmiramong 233 beneficiaries, inassociation with Indian Army’sSadbhawna Programme.

KVIC Chairman VinaiKumar Saxena said that fol-lowing the Prime Minister’s callof ‘Sweet Revolution’, the KVICimmediately made an actionplan on this line named ‘HoneyMission’.

“We have so far distributed1,01,000 bee-boxes, across thecountry, which had happenedfor the very first time in India.We have not only distributedbee-boxes, rather under ‘HoneyMission’, we have also created

more than 10,000 new employ-ment, besides creating around25,000 additional man daysthrough the fabrication of Beeboxes and Honey Extractors,”he said, adding, “The KVIC hasalso provided the bee-keeperspractical training about exam-ination of honeybee colonies,acquaintance with apiculturalequipments, identification andmanagement of bee enemiesand diseases, honey extrac-tion and wax purification, andmanagement of bee colonies inspring, summer, monsoon,autumn and winter seasons.

Saxena, who himself mon-itors the progress of ‘HoneyMission’ round-the-clock, fur-ther said that besides produc-tion of healthy honey and wax,bee-keeping would open manyjob avenues for the unem-ployed youths and aspiringyoung entrepreneurs.

“Being the nodal agency ofPrime Minister EmploymentGeneration Programme(PMEGP), the KVIC wouldprovide loans for setting upunits of processing, packagingand labelling units for thehoney,” he added.

It may be noted thatthrough ‘Honey Mission’, so far246 metric tonnes of honey hasbeen extracted through theseBee-Boxes only, valuing over Rs4 crore.

Besides, if the farmers areto be believed their crops yieldhas increased up to 30 percentafter the implementation of‘Honey Mission’.

However, assessment ofgains in crops’ yield in terms ofmoney, has not been ascer-tained as yet.

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Two non-BJP States — WestBengal and Karnataka —

have agreed to ‘gift’ their twogrey wolves and colourful KalijPheasants each respectively tothe upcoming Gorakhpur Zooin BJP Chief Minister AdityaNath Yogi’s hometown in UttarPradesh.

While the Padmaja NaiduHimalayan Zoological Park (alsocalled the Darjeeling Zoo) inWest Bengal has agreed to partaway with a pair of grey wolves,Sri Chamarajendra ZoologicalGardens, popularly known as‘Mysuru Zoo’, which is one of theoldest zoos of the country, willhand over two bright malepheasants to the ShaheedAshfaqullah Khan Prani Udyanalso known as Gorakhpur Zoobeing constructed in the samenamesake district.

A distinctive pheasant withbare red facial skin, the KalijPheasant has a backward-point-ing crest with a vertically com-pressed tail. Males are iridescentblack and silver while femalesare grayish-brown. Thesewinged beauties are found inforested areas, usually in themountains.

Although the Indian graywolf is distributed in a vast areaof peninsular India, the actualestimates of wolf populations areavailable only from

Gujarat and Rajasthan(Jhala & Giles, 1991). Only a fewreports on the occurrence ofwolf are available from Karna-taka The Indian Grey Wolves aresocial animals, i.e. they live inpacks and generally with onepair amongst them which givesbirth to a litter of pups duringthe colder months. After shift-ing the pair of wolves whichhave been given name as Ajay

and Kumda, the Mysuru Zoowill be left with nine pairs.

Not keen to lose on the time,the UP Government wants thatthe Central Zoo Authority(CZA), under the UnionEnvironment Ministry, shouldgive permission to keep the‘gifted’ animals at Lucknow Zoofor transit period till the con-struction work of the enclosuresis completed. A total 33 enclo-sures are being constructed tohouse the animals in the zoo tobe sprawled in the area of 121acres of land.

The cost for transportationof the gifted animals will beborne by the Gorakhpur Zoothat will have state-of-the artfacilities such as amphitheatre,snake park, avian enclosures andbutter fly park among otherbasic facilities.

Sources in the Ministry,which oversees the functioningof the CZA, said that the pro-posal is being studied as keep-ing the ‘gifted’ animals for a tran-sit period in a zoo, other thanwhere they will be permanent-ly housed is usually not in theinterest of the animals trans-ported from their original enclo-sures.

In fact, the proposal to con-struct the Gorakhpur Zoo hadbeen pending for quite a longtime during the SP governmentwhich was approved by theCentral Zoo Authority andSupreme Court in Mayawati’stenure, in 2010. However, itgained momentum after theBJP Government took over theregime in the State. It will be thefirst in the eastern UP and big-ger than the Lucknow zoo.

Initially, it was called asGorakhpur zoo which wasrechristened by the SPGovernment after revolutionaryAshfaqullah Khan, in May 2012.

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Atwo-year-old controversialclip featuring sacked BSF

jawan Tej Bahadur Yadav pur-portedly claiming to kill PrimeMinister Narendra Modi for asum �50 crore surfaced on thesocial media on Monday“shocking” the BJP which high-lighted how mainstream polit-ical parties were embracingsuch a person.

Yadav was fielded by theSamajwadi Party as a Lok Sabha

candidate from Varanasi con-stituency against Modi.However, his candidature wascancelled as he was dismissedfrom service.

Reacting to the develop-ment, BJP leader GVLNarasimha Rao said, “It is veryshocking that yet another con-spiracy to assassinate the PrimeMinister has come to light bysomeone who was drafted as aLok Sabha candidate against thePM in Varanasi by theSamajwadi Party. In a stunning

video, Tej Bahadur Yadav isheard asking for Rs 50 crore toassassinate Modi.”

Rao alleged that TejBahadur is also seen acceptingthat he has links with terror out-fits like Hizbul Mujahiddenand Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). Hesaid the BJP requested alldemocratically spirited indi-viduals, institutions and polit-ical parties to condemn suchviolent plans in an unequivocalmanner. “We condemn it, weexpect all agencies to take note

of this threat,” Rao said. The EC rejected Yadav’s

nomination as he was unable tosubmit a certificate to affirmthat he had not been sacked foreither corruption or disloyaltyduring the last five years. Yadavhas now approached theSupreme Court terming the pollpanel’s decision as discrimina-tory and unreasonable andsought reversal of the pollpanel’s decision in order toaallow him to contest the elec-tions.

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The HRD Ministry onMonday assured the

Karnataka Government it wouldsoon decide on their request toallow over 500 students from theState, who missed the NEETexam on Sunday due to a traindelay. HRD Minister PrakashJavadekar announced that theNational Testing Agency willconduct NEET exam again forthose students of Karnatakawho missed their exam as theirtrain was delayed which hascome as a major relief to the can-didates.

NEET for these studentswill be conducted on May 20.Nearly 365 students from northKarnataka had missed appear-ing for the National Eligibilitycum Entrance Test (NEET) on

May 5, as the train in whichthey were travelling reachedBengaluru over seven hourslate.

“Happy to announce thatKarnataka Students whomissed NEET exam due to rail-way delay will get anotherchance,” HRD MinisterPrakash Javadekar tweeted.

Chief Minister H DKumaraswamy held a meetingwith Chief Secretary T MVijaya Bhaskar and HigherEducation Department offi-cials on the issue. The studentsmissed the National Eligibilityand Entrance Test (NEET) onSunday as their train reachedBengaluru an hour after thescheduled reporting time andalso due to a change in an examcentre, reportedly without anyprior information.

Kumaraswamy had also

urged Javadekar and RailwayMinister Piyush Goyal toensure that the students whomissed the test get anotherchance to write the NEET.

Union Minister D VSadananda Gowda also wroteto HRD Minister PrakashJavadekar, seeking an earlysolution to the issue. He saidthe situation could easily havebeen averted had the NationalTesting Authority given widepublicity on the change inexam centre and intimatedstudents well in advance.

“I shall be grateful if youcould kindly look into thematter and do the needful to

provide one more opportuni-ty to the missing students towrite the exam,” Gowda said inhis letter.

According to reports, over500 students from variousplaces in North Karnataka dis-tricts failed to make it to theexam venue due to a five-hourdelay in Hampi Express whilethe others missed the oppor-tunity due to a change in anexam centre. One of the can-didates tweeted to Javadekarthat the train was runningbehind schedule by seven hoursand that they would miss thetest for no fault of theirs.Former Karnataka ChiefMinister Siddaramaiah hadtweeted on Sunday highlight-ing the issue. Candidates hadstaged a protest outside the rail-way station for missing the testfor no fault of theirs

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Nobody from the village ofBurhan Wani, the poster

boy of terror group HizbulMujahideen, voted on Monday,while just 15 from the nativeplace of Pulwama suicidebomber, who nearly broughtIndia and Pakistan to a war,cast the ballots, officials said.

Also, zero polling was wit-nessed from the villages ofother top militant commandersin south Kashmir, the hotbedof militancy in the Valley, offi-cials added.

Wani’s Shareefabad villagein the Tral area decided to givea miss to the elections as no onefrom the village went to exer-cise their franchise.

Just 15 votes (of the total350) were polled In Gundibagh,a village that hit the interna-tional headlines on February 14

after one of its residents AdilDar became a suicide bomberfor Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorgroup and triggered a blast inan explosive-laden car near aCRPF convoy killing 44 per-sonnel, the officials said.

Also, zero voting wasrecorded from Noorabad, thevillage of Zakir Musa, the so-called chief of Ansar-Gazawat-ul-Hind terror group;Beighpora, the village of theincumbent Hizbul Mujahideencommander Riyaz Naikoo; andSheikhpora, the village ofMudassir Khan, the master-mind of February 14 terrorstrike, said the officials.

Wani’s killing in anencounter with security forcesin 2016 had triggered a massiveunrest in the valley that leftnearly 100 people dead andthousand others, includingsecurity forces, injured.

����� 32!�/��2� �H32��4I

Living miles away from theirnative place for the past

three decades, displacedKashmiri Pandits on Mondayvoted with the hope for an endto terrorism and peacefulreturn to their homeland.

“We want that SouthKashmir should be freed fromthe twin grave threats (terror-ism and radicalisation) to thecomposite culture ofKashmiriyat,” 65-year-old PyaraLal Pandita, who hailed fromPulwama district of theAnantnag Lok Sabha con-stituency, said after casting voteat a special polling station here.

Kashmiri Pandits, whohave been voting in exile for thepast three decades in Jammu,

Delhi and Udhampur for theirnative Assembly and parlia-mentary constituencies, saythe situation in Kashmir isgetting worse due to rampantradicalisation and terrorism,weakening the possibility oftheir return to and rehabilita-tion in Kashmir Valley.

Arvind Koul, who hailsfrom Shopian, says his com-munity members cannot returnto their homeland unless anduntil there is restoration of“composite culture(Kashmiriyat) and humanity(insaniyat) as existed before theemergence of terrorism in thevalley” in 1989-1990.

For 21-year-old SunitaBhat from Tral of southKashmir, “Peace and securityare first and foremost condi-

tions for settlement of a minor-ity community.” “TheGovernment should considerthese before formulating arehabilitation policy,” she said.

Meanwhile, some KashmiriPandits staged demonstrationsoutside a special polling stationhere on Monday after theyfound their names missingfrom the voter list.

Anantnag district went topolls on 23 April, while votingin Kulgam district took placeon 29 April, while Shopian andPulwama districts voted onMonday. The ElectionCommission set up 21 specialpolling stations for KashmiriPandits in Jammu, one inUdhampur and four in Delhi toensure their participation in thedemocratic process.

����� 32/ 4�

Notwithstanding the soaringmercury, several centenarians

cast their vote in Rajasthan duringpolling for 12 Lok Sabha con-stituencies in the desert state onMonday, setting an example for theyounger generation.

Veera Singh, a 114-year-oldresident of Raisinghnagar inSriganganagar district, reached thepolling station to vote this morn-ing. 104-year-old Gangaram and102-year-old Gurdayal Kaur exer-cised their franchise in Jaipur andSuratgarh town of Sriganganagardistrict respectively.

“It shows their dedicationtowards fulfilling their responsibil-ity towards democracy and they arean inspiration for young generation,”chief electoral officer Anand Kumarsaid.

Apart from the centenarians, a

couple of grooms in Jaipur andNagaur too reached the pollingbooths to exercise their franchiseas the national duty took prece-dence over their marriage.

In Lalana village of Parbatsar inNagaur, a groom riding a marereached the polling station to casthis vote whereas in Malviya Nagarof Jaipur, another groom chose toget his finger inked before exchang-ing his wedding vows.

Deputy Chief Minister SachinPilot voted at a polling station inJalupura area here whereasRajasthan Chief Electoral OfficerAnand Kumar and his deputy DrJogaram and state chief secretary DB Gupta and his wife also voted.

In the second phase, ElectionCommission has set up 133 pollingstations where women are handlingelection process and security.

A total of 2.30 crore people,including seven lakh first-timers,are eligible to vote in 12 Lok Sabhaseats. The State has 13.82 lakh vot-ers in 18-19 years of age group. Asmany as 134 candidates are in frayin the second phase of election.

����� !1�20. 4��

Chief Minister YogiAdityanath alleged on

Monday that during earliergovernments in Uttar Pradesh,people got electricity onMuharram and Eid, but not onHoli and Diwali.

Addressing a public meet-ing in Domariaganj con-stituency in Siddharth Nagardistrict, Adityanath said the sit-uation was different now, say-ing Prime Minister NarendraModi believed in ‘sabka saath,sabka vikas’ (support for all,development for all).

“Earlier, power connec-tions were given on caste linesand people didn’t get electric-ity on Holi and Diwali, but onMuharram and Eid,” theBharatiya Janata Party (BJP)leader said.

Adityanath’s remarks isreminiscent of Modi’s com-ments at a rally before the 2017assembly election in the state.

The PM had said if people getelectricity on Ramzan, theyshould also get electricity dur-ing Diwali.

Adityanath also mockedat the SP-BSP-RLD alliance.“Shivpal Yadav (Akhilesh’suncle) says that he has no sis-ter. So, where did the ‘bua’(aunt) came from?” he asked,referring to Bahujan SamajParty chief Mayawati.

“Everyone knows that thenew relationship is built to hideeach other’s sins and the rela-tionship will eventually break

on May 23,” the CM said.He said the people would

give a befitting reply toCongress general secretaryPriyanka Gandhi Vadra forher remarks that wherever herparty was weak in the state, ithas fielded such candidateswho would cut into the BJPvote share.

“People will give a befittingreply like a ‘muhnochwa’ to thevote-cutter remarks of the ‘she-hzadi’ (princess’),” Adityanathsaid, in an apparent referenceto Vadra. In 2002, villagersinsisted that a light-emittingflying object, or the ‘muh-nochwa’ (face scratcher), cametowards them in the dead of thenight and scratched their face,and even gave them mild elec-tric shocks.

The ‘muhnochwa’ wasreportedly seen in about 30 dis-tricts and hundreds of peoplewere said to have suffered seri-ous scratches and bruises onthe face and arms.

����� 2�+2

Bihar Opposition leaderTejashwi Yadav on Monday

predicted a political earth-quake when the results of theongoing Lok Sabha polls aredeclared on May 23.

“Wait for May 23, there willbe a political earthquake,”Tejashwi Yadav told the mediahere.

The Rashtriya Janata Dal(RJD) leader claimed that ChiefMinister Nitish Kumar willresign either on May 23 orshortly after that.

Tejashwi Yadav also saidthat differences between theruling Janata Dal-United andthe Bharatiya Janata Party weregrowing and will soon lead toa conflict.

He made the remarks asvoting for Bihar’s five parlia-mentary seats of Sitamarhi,Madhubani, Muzaffarpur,Hajipur and Saran was on.

����� 2�+2

Launching an electoralblitzkrieg in Bihar, BJP pres-

ident Amit Shah on Mondayurged the people to vote forPrime Minister Narendra Modi“for only one reason, he hasmade the country secure.”

Addressing five rallies inthe State, Shah said “here arethe names of more than 100welfare schemes launched bythe Modi Government. Youneed not, however, vote foryour NDA candidate becauseof the improvement in yourlives these measures mighthave brought. Simply vote forone reason, Modi has made thecountry secure”.

Shah, who arrived herelate Sunday night, addressedduring the course of the dayfive back-to-back rallies in asmany Lok Sabha constituencies— Sheohar, PashchimChamparan, PurviChamparan, Siwan andMaharajgang. At present, theBJP holds all the five con-stituencies and except for

Siwan, which has been given upin favour of Chief MinisterNitish Kumar’s JD(U), its MPsare seeking re- election fromtheir respective seats.

“Recall the 10 years of UPArule when Aliyas, Maliyas andJamaliyas from Pakistan used toattack our armed forces at willand the government headed byMauni Baba (former PMManmohan Singh) and leaderslike Rahul Baba could not utter

a word. Contrast the situationwith now when every bullet firedfrom across the border is retal-iated with a mortar shell (golikaa jawaab gola se)”, Shah said.

“When 44 CRPF personnelwere killed in Pulwama,Pakistan massed its troops alongthe borders fearing yet anothersurgical strike. But our NarendraModi is the man with a 56-inch-chest. He commissioned theAir Force to do the needful and

the terror hideout in Balakot wasbombed and the militants wereblown to smithereens(aatankwadiyon ke purze purzeuda diye)”, said Shah evokingwild applause from the crowds.

Lambasting the Congressfor promising abrogation ofArticle 370 and its ally OmarAbdullah of the NationalConference for demandingrestoration of the post of PrimeMinister in Jammu & Kashmir,the BJP chief asserted “at presentwe are in power. But in futureeven if we cease to be in powerwe will fight tendencies whichare sympathetic to Kashmir’ssecession, till our last breath”.

In Siwan, Shah came downheavily on Lalu Prasad’s RJDwhich has fielded Hina Shahab,the wife of jailed mafia don-turned-politician MohdShahabuddin, and said “thename of this land of first pres-ident Dr Rajendra Prasad bythe reign of terror unleashed byShahabuddin. The RJD, withthe help of the Congress, isworking towards bringing backthe bad old days”.

������������� 32��4

Amid palpable tension in theair, a little over 14,000

‘brave’ voters stepped out oftheir houses in ‘disturbed’ dis-tricts of Shopian and Pulwamain the third and final phase ofpolling in the Anantnag LokSabha constituency, sealing thefate of PDP Chief MehboobaMufti, on Monday.

However, in the cold desertregion of Ladakh, an estimat-ed 64 per cent electorate exer-cised their right to vote in amulti cornered contest.

According to ChiefElectoral Officer, J&KShailendra Kumar, “the fifthand final phase of polling in theState passed off peacefully onMonday”.

He said, the twin districtsof Shopian and Pulwamarecorded around 2.81 per centvoting while LadakhParliamentary constituencyrecorded 64 per cent pollingduring the day. He said, Kargildistrict recorded little over 73

per cent polling while Leh dis-trict recorded around 55 percent polling.

Overall poll percentage inall five phases touched 44.15per cent in the State, he added.

Since morning majority of

polling booths in Shopian andPulwama districts wore adeserted look amid tight secu-rity arrangements. Hardly anyvoters approached the pollingstations in Shopian, Wachi,Rajpora, Pulwama and Tral

segments of Anantnag. To scare away voters,

unidentified militants lobbed agrenade at a polling station inPulwama while a petrol bombwas hurled at another pollingstation in Shopian. No loss of

life was reported in both theincidents.

Reports of clashes betweenprotesters and the securityforces were received from var-ious areas of both Pulwama andShopian. Separatists have also

given a separate election boy-cott and a shutdown call in Shopian and Pulwamadistricts.

In Ladakh, the contest wasfour-cornered betweenJamyang Tsering Namgyal ofthe Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP), Rigzin Spalbar of theCongress and two indepen-dents, Haji Asgar Ali Karbalaiand Sajjad Hussain.

In Anantnag, the maincontest is between MehboobaMufti of the PeoplesDemocratic Party (PDP),Ghulam Ahmad Mir ofCongress and Justice (retired)Hasnain Masoodi of theNational Conference.

Till late evening, all thepolling parties returned safelyfrom Shopian and Pulwamadistrict. Barring few reports ofclashes the deinduction processwas completed peacefully.

Local reports claimed atleast four locals receivedinjuries when security forcesused tear smoke shells to dis-burse them.

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Ahelpless ElectionCommission of India

watched Bengal’s poll percent-age drop by notches even assporadic violence, bombingand booth-capturing marredthe fifth phase of elections toowith both the Opposition BJPand Left Front and the rulingTrinamool Congress accusingeach other of “rampant rigging.”

Amid news of sporadicviolence coming in fromBongaon, Howrah, Hooghly,Arambagh and Barrackporethe State witnessed 73.97 percent polling till 5 pm, ECIsources said not expecting theoverall poll percentage to cross78-79 per cent mark a well 4-5 per cent short of the normalpolling rate in an otherwisepolitically sensitive State.

Reports of violence andbooth jamming came in fromBarrackpore where the turn-coat TMC strongman and for-mer MLA Arjun Singh wasfighting against former UnionMinister Dinesh Trivedi.

While a suave and com-posed Trivedi was seen playingcricket with children amid over-seeing polling, Singh ran frombooth to booth alleging massiverigging by TMC workers. Hereportedly exchanged fisticuffswith police officials before com-plaining that “the police werehelping the TMC rig elections.He fell down and injured him-self while chasing away ‘outsiders’.

Bombs were hurled at HimliSaolapara in Gaighata Assemblysegment of Bongaon parlia-

mentary constituency whereone TMC supporter receivedhead injuries. Later the CAPFresorted to massive lathi-charge.

At Howrah outgoing TMCMP and former India footballerPrasun Banerjee was physical-ly assaulted allegedly by the BJPsupporters and the centralforces when he “went to abooth to check rigging.”

Sporadic violence wasreported from parts of Hooghlyconstituency where BJP’sLocket Chatterjee said “90 per-cent polling was rigged inDhaniakhali Assembly seg-ment,” demanding repolling. A

BJP supporter accompanyingChatterjee allegedly smashedan EVM alleging rampant rig-ging. Reports of violence alsocame in from Chandannagar inHooghly, Arambagh, Bhatparain Barrackpore.

At Arambagh CPI(M)polling agents were literallykicked out of the polling boothsby armed TMC goons theyalleged adding “all the while the CAPF jawans lookedthe other way.

However, Special Police Observer Vivek Dubeysaid the poling was by and largepeaceful.

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Even as the Supreme Courtstayed the Tamil Nadu

Speaker’s move to initiate stepsto disqualify the threeAIADMK legislators owingallegiance to TTV Dhinakaran,one of the former MLAs whowas disqualified earlier blamedthe AMMK leader for his greedto become the CM of the State.

V Senthil Balaji, formerminister and one of the 18 for-mer MLAs who were disqual-ified under the provision of theanti-defection law by theSpeaker, said at Aravakurichithat it was Dhinakaran’s greedto become the chief ministerwhich resulted in the politicalimpasse in the AIADMK.Balaji was in the AIADMK andhad won the 2016 assemblyelection from Aravakurichionly to switch over to theSasikala-Dhinakaran campafter the demise of the thenchief minister J Jayalalithaa inDecember 2016.

After his disqualification,Balaji crossed over to the DMKand is the party candidate for

the by-election to be held onMau 19. This is the first time aformer associate ofDhinakaran is blaming the lat-ter for his ambition to becomethe Chief Minister.

The trouble in theAUADMK began in early 2017with Dhinakaran declaring hisplan to contest the RK Nagarassembly by-election causedby the death of Jayalalithaa,who was representing theconstituency. Chief MinisterEdappady Palaniswamy wasquick the writing on the wallabout the danger posed byDhinakaran’s election as MLA.

Dhinakaran who was easedout of the AIADMK alongwith Sasikala launched AmmaMakkal Munnetra Kazhakamand has been claiming that hewas the rightful heir ofJayalalithaa.

Though he had declaredthat he would seize the partyand the government with thehelp of his sleeper cells, noth-ing has happened since then.Dhinakaran failed to get theparty symbol of Two Leaves allocated to the AMMKby the EC.

������������� 32��4�

Ahead of the beginning ofholy month of Ramzan, the

Pakistan Army has deliberate-ly scaled up tensions along theLine of Control in frontierPoonch district.

On Monday, the PakistanArmy violated ceasefireagreement for the fifth time ina row since Thursday.

Local villagers living inthe direct line of fire alsopressed panic buttons onMonday as several shells land-ed in the civilian areas.

Following intense shellingin the forward areas some ofthe thickly forested areas alsocaught fire.

According to preliminaryreports, a BSF officer alongwith two civilians receivedsplinter injuries during ‘unpro-voked’ ceasefire violation alongthe line of control in Krishna Ghati sector of Poonchon Monday.

The civilians, injured in theshelling, were identified asAshiq Hussain and MasoodAhmad, both residents ofMankote area in Poonch.

BSF spokesman in Jammusaid, “Ceasefire violation wasreported along LoC inMendhar, during retaliatory firea Sub Inspector Gokul AnandOjha of 168 BN received splin-ter injuries on his left thigh. BSFspokesman said, “injured offi-cer was evacuated to a near byhospital and his condition isstated to be normal”.

Ministry of Defence PROin Jammu, Lt-Col DevenderAnand said, the unprovoked

ceasefire violation was report-ed in KG sector around 2.45p.m. He said, Pakistan armyinitiated ceasefire violation byshelling with mortars and fir-ing of small arms. The firingwas going on till 6.30 p.m inthe forward areas of KG sec-tor, local reports said.

In response to heavyartillery firing from across theline of control, Indian armyjawans too retaliated ‘effec-tively’ and ‘strongly’ using sim-ilar calibre of weapons.

Ground reports suggestedPakistan army has been con-stantly using artillery guns totarget civilian areas.

At present, the Indian armyauthorities are closely studyingthe pattern of cross LoC firingas they fear Pakistan armymay have been providing coverfire to a large group of infil-trators to sneak inside theIndian territory. However, theIndian army has not confirmedany reports of infiltration bid inthe area from across the line ofcontrol.

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In a move thatwill further

boost the IndianNavy’s capabili-ties, Vela — thefourth Scorpeneclass submarineconstructed byMazagon DockS h i p b u i l d e r sLimited (MDSL)for the Navy —was launched atthe KanhojiAngre Wet Basinof the MDSLhere on Monday.

Veena AjayKumar, wife ofDr Ajay Kumar,Secretary, Def-ence Production,who was the chief guest on theoccasion, launched the subma-rine, in the presence of ViceAdmiral AK Saxena.

The submarine was towedto Mumbai Port Trust (MBT)for separation from the pon-toon, after which she willundergo rigorous trials andtests, both in harbour and at sea before delivery to theIndian Navy.

‘Vela’ is one of the sixScorpene-class submarines arebeing built by the MDSL in col-laboration with M/s NavalGroup (formerly DCNS) ofFrance Messrs DCNS ofFrance. These submarines, postinduction, would form the coreof Navy’s conventionalSubmarine Arm.

The state-of-art features ofthe Scorpene-class submarinesinclude superior stealth and theability to launch a cripplingattack on the enemy using pre-cision guided weapons. Theattack can be launched withtorpedoes, as well as tubelaunched anti-ship missiles,whilst underwater or on sur-face. The Stealth features willgive it invulnerability,unmatched by many sub-marines.

They are designed to oper-ate in all theatres including theTropics. All means and com-munications are provided toensure interoperability withother components of a NavalTask Force.

Cmde Rakesh Anand,Chairman and ManagingDirector, MDSL said on theoccasion that the launch of theP15 B Destroyer ‘Imphal’ onApril 20, and the subsequentlaunch of `Vela’ were indeedsome of the major events hisorganisation so far this year.

Monday’s event reaffirmedthe steps taken by MDSL in theongoing ‘Make In India’ pro-gramme, which is being active-ly implemented by theDepartment of DefenceProduction (MoD).

Currently, eight warshipsand five submarines are underconstruction at MDSL whichwas one of the India’s leadingshipyards with a capacity tomeet requirements of theIndian Navy.

The Scorpene class of sub-marines can undertake multi-farious tasks typically under-taken by any modern subma-rine which include anti-surfaceas well as anti-submarine war-

fare. The transfer of technolo-gy involves appropriate tech-nical support by Naval Groupto MDSL in the field of con-struction, integration and testsof the submarines in Indiawhich is achieved throughtransfer of technical data pack-age to MDSL through infor-mation system as well as on jobtraining to MDSL’s personnelon critical technologies.

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The Election Commission ofIndia has relaxed the Model

Code of Conduct to facilitateeffective implementation ofrelief works in 151 drought-affected villages in Maharashtrain view of public interest.

Responding to a letter writ-ten by Maharashtra chief min-ister Devendra Fadnavis after thecompletion of the four-phasedLok Sabha polls on April 30, theECI — in a letter written to theState Chief Electoral Officer(CEO) — said that it had noobjection to the state govern-ment undertaking drought reliefworks in the affected areas “inview of public interest involved”

The ECA — in its letter tothe CEO — stated that thestaffers involved in the countingwould not accompany the min-isters on any tour during theperiod. In its April 30 letter,Fadnavis had urged the ChiefElection Commissioner to relaxthe Model Code of Conduct asthe elections for all 48 LokSabha seats in the state were overon April 29.

“Maharashtra is reelingfrom severe drought and heat-wave. The code of conduct,which was enforced during elec-tions, should be relaxed. Theelections for all 48 Lok Sabhaseats have been concluded in thefour phases,” Fadnavis had saidin his letter. Fadnavis said theState Government needed totake a re-look at drought reliefmeasures and expedite projects.

The CM said the Gover-nment needed to fast-track pro-jects such as digging of wells,repairs in water supply projects,repairs of water canals for dis-tribution of water from dams andother reservoirs to villages.

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Page 8:  · 2019-05-06 · Tikamgarh, Damoh, Khajuraho, Satna, Rewa, Hoshangabad and Betul - voted. "Minor issues ... had any right to call a review meeting. ... Girl students have once

Although the Congress was inthe vanguard of the freedommovement, many of its mem-bers are still not comfortablewith the core values in our

Constitution and the democratic way of life.A case in point is the recent statement ofa dyed-in-the-wool Congressman PCChacko that the Nehru-Gandhi family is“the first family in the country.”

In the mid-1970s, the then Congresspresident, Dev Kant Barooah, had pro-claimed that “Indira is India and India isIndira.” What followed was terrible conse-quences for the country’s citizens. Taken inby such sycophancy, Prime Minister IndiraGandhi displayed fascist tendencies andturned our democracy into a dictatorship.While the assertion of the Congress leader,Mr Chacko, that the Nehru-Gandhi fami-ly is the “first family of the country” goesagainst the very grain of our democracy andConstitutional dharma, we must admit thatthe family has many firsts to its credit.

Here are some of them:In 1946, when the All-India Congress

Committee (AICC) asked its State units topropose the name of the person who, in theirview, should become party president and thefirst Prime Minister of India, not one PradeshCongress Committee (PCC) voted forJawaharlal Nehru. A dozen of them wantedSardar Vallabhbhai Patel to become theparty president and Prime Minister. Threeother State units proposed no candidate. Yet,though he did not secure a single vote,Jawaharlal Nehru, backed by MahatmaGandhi, became the first Prime Minister ofIndia. The Congress and historians close tothis family have written tomes, describingNehru as a “great democrat” but have hiddenthis dreadful truth from the Indian public.Nehru, therefore, has the unique distinctionof getting the top job without a single vote inhis favour!

Nehru was also the only Prime Ministerunder whom India suffered a humiliatingdefeat in a war with China, thanks to his wool-ly-headed approach to international relationsand gross misreading of China’s real inten-tions. He was also the Prime Minister whopreferred to beseech the United Nations onJanuary 1, 1948, and internationalise theKashmir issue, rather than allow the IndianArmy to throw out the infiltrators.

Yet another first for Nehru was the man-ner in which he initiated dynastic politics inthe country. He manipulated the party boss-es and ensured the appointment of hisdaughter Indira Gandhi as the Congress pres-ident in 1959.

Indira Gandhi, too, has many firsts to hercredit. She was the only Prime Minister tosupersede four judges of the Supreme Court(three of them in April 1973, and one inJanuary 1977) and propound the theory of a“committed judiciary”— that is, committedto the Congress. She was the only Indianleader to crush democracy and replace it with

dictatorship during the dreadedEmergency, which she imposedin 1975. She was the first nation-al leader to abolish the need forquorum in Parliament so that afew Congress MPs could makelaws for the entire country. Shewas also the first and only PrimeMinister to empower thePresident to amend theConstitution through an execu-tive order. She was also the firstleader of the Congress to giveparty tickets to two people, whohad hijacked an aircraft in 1978.Soon after she returned to power,she ensured the withdrawal ofcases against the hijackers, gavethem party tickets in the UttarPradesh Assembly elections in1981 and ensured their victories.

Thus, she made sure that thehijackers became honourablemembers of the Uttar Pradeshlegislature. Thereafter, her succes-sors in the family — RajivGandhi and Sonia Gandhi —have repeatedly honoured one ofthe hijackers with a party ticketto contest the Lok Sabha electionsfrom Uttar Pradesh. Such is therespect that the Nehru-Gandhisaccord to this individual that theyhave given him the party ticketfive times and made desperateattempts to ensure the presenceof this man in the House of thePeople.

Rajiv Gandhi is anothermember of the family to achieve

many firsts. He was the onlyPrime Minister to be directlyaccused of taking kickbacks inan international arms deal. Hewas also the second PrimeMinister after Indira Gandhi tobring a law to crush press free-dom. A united media forcedhim to eventually back off.

Two members of this fam-ily — Jawaharlal Nehru andIndira Gandhi — have theunique distinction of conferringthe Bharat Ratna upon them-selves. Later, Rajiv Gandhi, too,was awarded the Bharat Ratnaposthumously. All the threemembers of this family, whobecame Prime Ministers, havea special attribute — complete-ly ignoring national leaders likeSardar Vallabhbhai Patel and DrBR Ambedkar. It was left toother party Governments toconfer the Bharat Ratna onthese great national leaders.

Yet another first, which isnow etched in stone, is that thisis the only political family in thecountry to name all majorGovernment schemes, nation-al projects and institutions andmost of the sports trophiesafter its own members to thecomplete exclusion of every-body else.

Sonia Gandhi is probablythe only foreigner to get herselfincluded illegally in the voters’list in our country. This hap-

pened in 1980, when she wasstill a citizen of Italy. Someonelodged a complaint with theChief Election Officer, Delhi,and he removed her namefrom the voters’ list because shewas not a citizen of India.

Sonia Gandhi and RahulGandhi are two members ofthe Nehru-Gandhi family whoare members of the Lok Sabhaand who consider it infra digto ask questions in the House.Obviously, they take theChacko principle seriously. Alook at the parliamentaryrecord of the two Gandhisshows that they have neverasked a single question in theirparliamentary careers.According to a study conduct-ed by PRS India, on an average,MPs asked 300 questions in the15th Lok Sabha and 293 ques-tions in the 16th Lok Sabha.Compare their record with thehighest number of questionsasked by an MP in the 16th LokSabha — 1,181 — and you getan idea of what an active MPcan do during question time.This is the record of the “Firstfamily.” Mr Chacko, please stopusing expressions that militateagainst our democratic ethos.India is the biggest democracyin the world, not a monarchy.

(The writer is an author spe-cialising in democracy studies.Views expressed are personal)

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���� ����� ����� ������(������!0 �������3������ ��/��� ,5������ �������� ���$������$�� ������ �$�� 6

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Preventive measures” (May 6).The cyclonic storm named Fani,the worst witnessed by India in 20years, crossed the Odisha coastnear Puri with wind speeds ofabout 200-220 kmph but couldnot inflict as much damage as wasexpected. Odisha’s managementof the natural disaster has becomea template for the world to followgiven our population. It seemedlike the State had learnt lessonsfrom past. All its arms performedto perfection — there were weath-er alerts, preparedness andinformed public participation.

Post the disaster, the Centre aswell as the State Government arefaced with a hefty task of rebuild-ing infrastructure. Fani has left atrail of destruction across theState with considerable structur-al damage being inflicted to pri-vate and public properties. To thisend, the Union Government hastaken timely action. It has releasedemergency funds and deployedNational Disaster Response Forceteams. The State Governmentpressed into action even before thecyclone was about to hit Odisha.More than 12 lakh people were

shifted to safe places and 26 lakhwere alerted through SMS. TheState has shown commendableperformance and was rightlyapplauded by the UN as well.Going further, the rehabilitationexercise is not just the responsibil-ity of the Union or the StateGovernment. It must become anational mission.

MC JoshiLucknow

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Genuine scores?” (May 4).The high percentage of markssecured by students in the CentralBoard of Secondary Educationclass XII examination is a clearrevelation that our academic sys-tem places too much emphasis onmarks. The result is that our stu-

dents are negatively impactedand miss the rank by a whisker.

Objective questions neithercorrectly reflect a student’s intel-ligence nor should they be a yard-stick for assessing their capabili-ty. Students who come fromsmaller towns and rural areas areat a great disadvantage as they areunable to get admission in reput-ed colleges. Time has come for arevamp of our education system.

Greater emphasis must be laid oncreative education by focussingon greater flexibility and chang-ing patterns of examinationbecause marks are not everythingto test a students’ capability.

KR SrinivasanSecundèrabad

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Preventive measures” (May 6).The lower number of humancasualties reported from Odishawhen a gigantic storm, Fani,crossed its landmass is in itselfproof that the State has learntfrom the 1999 experience.Certainly, advancements inweather forecasting aided theauthorities in minimising theloss. But the focus now should beon creating infrastructure that isresilient enough to withstand theonslaught of nature’s fury. This isall the more important as climatechange-induced extreme weath-er has become the norm ratherthan the exception.

SrikantVia email

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Despite all the confusion, carnage and hor-ror of the Sri Lankan suicide bombattacks, that killed at least 359 people and

left hundreds more injured, one thing that isabundantly clear is the utter futility of suchattempts by religious bigots to change the worldto their likeness. Of course, there is also a starkreality that Governments around the world areforced to confront and for which politicians paya heavy price: That despite the strictest of con-trols imposed, little can actually be done to con-trol the turn of such events. In the case of SriLanka, the security and intelligence establish-ment appeared to have become complacent ifnot comatose after it defeated the LiberationTigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 2009.

Politicians try and make a living by tryingto convince the citizens that they have the nec-essary expertise and required abilities if givena free hand to make their lives safe, secure andcomfortable. Nothing can be further from thetruth as at the end of the day, howsoever sophis-ticated and technology-dependent the data col-lection, analysis and dissemination process maybe, they are all finally subject to the frailties andfollies of human beings.

It has emerged that in the case of Sri Lanka,actionable intelligence provided by Indianagencies was not acted upon because of the on-going factional fight between PresidentMaithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister RanilWickremesinghe. This apart, there’s also the per-ception that these agencies were keen on cre-ating a rift between Sri Lanka and Pakistan overthe issue. Also, there may well have been a senseof complacency, not least given the commonperception that Indian agencies rarely get it right— the Pulwama tragedy being the latest one ina long line of such disasters.

Fortunately, the Sri Lankan Government didmove rapidly after the attacks. Once it had over-come the initial shock, it was able to identifythe perpetrators and put in place a series of mea-sures that have till now prevented a repeat ofsuch attacks from being executed. Also, exceptfor a couple of minor incidents, they have beenable to prevent reprisals against the Muslimcommunity, the overwhelming majority ofwhose members are upright and loyal citizens,who were equally shocked and incensed by thesenseless atrocities perpetrated in the name oftheir religion. This ensured that much of thesubsequent intelligence that enabled the policeand security forces to stop further attacks wasprovided from within the community.

Finally, one could not help but appreciatePrime Minister Wickremesinghe’s promptaction to publicly apologise for the inability ofhis Government to forestall the tragedy. He fur-ther ensured accountability by sacking thedefence secretary and police chief for inactionon their part and for deliberately withholdingintelligence about possible terrorist attacks. Ourpolitical leadership will do well to learn fromthis. They must keep their egos under controland focus on accountability every time theycome short instead of clinging on to their chairsas they all do.

Interestingly, while the Islamic State (IS) lostno time in claiming responsibility for the attacks,

its ability to actually coordinate andexecute such a sophisticated and com-plex attack, involving seven suicidebombers, seems quite doubtful. Thefact that it is on the run obviouslymakes organising such an attackextremely challenging, though it maywell have been able to radicalise theperpetrators online.

On the other hand, dismissingtheir involvement as out of handwould also be quite foolish, given thatits ideology has attracted a large num-ber of followers in recent years. Wehave already seen some pointerstowards this in our neighbourhood aswell as in Jammu & Kashmir.Moreover, we must also remember thata vast number of our population emi-grates to the Middle East in search ofjobs and it is not inconceivable thatsome among these workers may wellhave fallen prey to this radical ideol-ogy and returned to South Asia tocarry forward the Islamic State’s waragainst non-believers. It will indeed beinteresting to learn what interrogationsof suspects — captured before theywere able to act — brings out.

Then there is, of course, the alter-native narrative that suggests theinvolvement of Pakistan’s Inter ServiceIntelligence (ISI) along with Chineseintelligence to create an environmentwithin the country that can enable for-mer President Mahendra Rajapaksa toonce again win the presidential hus-tings due in the near future. That hewas rabidly anti-Indian in his past twotenures as President is not underdoubt as also his wholehearted supportfor Pakistan and China.

This perception is supported by

the belief that Indian agencies wereable to provide such detailed action-able intelligence only because they hadcaught and interrogated some mem-bers of a module, connected to the per-petrators at Coimbatore.

It has been a long-standing beliefwithin our security and intelligencecommunity that after the withdrawalof the Indian Peace Keeping Forcefrom Sri Lanka and the subsequentrefusal of the Indian Government tosupply the Sri Lankan armed forceswith weapons, the Sri LankanGovernment turned to Pakistan forassistance. It is at this time thatPakistan’s ISI established a foothold in that island nation, which was used to radicalise, train, arm andemploy Islamists for operations inSouth India.

Let us not forget that Sri LankanMuslims have sided with Pakistansince the Partition. And have beenunited by the “big” presence of Indiain the neighbourhood to coalescetheir mutual interests. Let us also notforget that during the 1971 LiberationWar of Bangladesh, when India with-drew landing and overflight rights toPakistan, Sri Lanka extended landingand refuelling facilities to PakistanInternational Airlines. As the PakistanArmy launched operations againstthe Mukti Bahini, Pakistani militaryaircraft landed and took off from theKatunayake international airport.While Sri Lanka insisted these aircraftwere civilian, there were reports thatthey actually carried armed troops.And as the Tamil separatists also keptthe island Muslims at bay, Pakistan’s ISIgot actively involved in the local gov-

ernment’s counter-offensive strate-gies.

In this particular case, while thereis the possibility that these elementsmay well have acted independently, itcould just as well have been a “falseflag” operation to push the blame oncadres of the Islamic State, who in theirpresent condition, would have beenmore than happy to accept responsi-bility for obvious reasons.

One way or the other, the NationalThowheeth Jama’ath, the local militantIslamist group involved in the attacks,neither had the sophistication nor theability to carry out such attacks andclearly unknown foreign organisa-tions provided them with the neces-sary technical and logistic support.

Finally, in our context, there havebeen credible reports that Islamistshave been successful in establishing afairly strong presence in States such asWest Bengal and Kerala, where theynow seem to be becoming increasing-ly assertive. They have got away withthis primarily because localGovernments have been reluctant toact against them in the foolish hopethat by doing so, they would gain thesupport of the Muslim community toconsolidate power. This bodes ill forthe country in the long run andrequires the Union Government toundertake necessary measures, someof which may well make them unpop-ular, if we are to avoid a turbulent andextremely violent future.

(The writer, a military veteran, aconsultant with the Observer ResearchFoundation and a Senior Visiting Fellowwith The Peninsula Foundation,Chennai)

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Access, retention and success,which mean bringing childrento school, retaining them for at

least eight years (up to 14 years of age)till they pass grade VIII or ideally for12 years till they pass the senior sec-ondary level, have been the mantra ofthe education sector since the JomtienConference was held in 1990.

Ever since, our educational plan-ners as well as the Governmenthave done a stupendous job inimproving the quality of educationin schools. Today, India can boast ofgreat achievements for havingexpanded school access to childrenin outlying areas. Several policies andinitiative have been launched andthey have only grown sharper and

tighter in details with the passage oftime. But a closer look will reveal thatat the grassroot level, little haschanged. Students from low-incomefamilies and first generation school-goers continue to face complex chal-lenges. While for the first time Indiawas able to bring the school dropoutrate to less than three per cent, a largemajority of the children still remainsout of school. We can claim advance-ments in school infrastructure andthe provision of mid-day meals toour students but why is it that learn-ing levels among the severely disad-vantaged and first generation chil-dren have not changed? Why is it thata majority of drop-outs continue tobelong to the poor and less-privilegedfamilies?

A major reason for childrendropping out of school is unpre-paredness. Children who do not livewith their immediate families find itdifficult to adjust to the school envi-ronment. They also do not under-stand the importance of schoolingand there is no one back home toconvince the child why he/she mustattend classes. It is not that our edu-

cationists or policy-makers are notaware of this fact. It was, perhaps, thisrealisation that prompted them tolaunch programmes like theIntegrated Child DevelopmentScheme (ICDS) and Anganwadicentres. But clearly they have notbeen able to reap desired results. Theschemes were expected to supportthe mother by way of providing cru-cial information and medicine dur-ing pregnancy and prepare her childfor school. Instead, centres provid-ing such services have remained low-quality child minding centres.

The need of the hour is to bifur-cate the lower primary from the ele-mentary school and conjoin it withthe pre-school so as to provide qual-ity language and life skills training toall children aged between three andeight. Many children, who sufferfrom various types of disabilities, donot receive the attention ofAnganwadi teachers as also prima-ry teachers as they lack the requiredtraining to detect disabilities.Detection should be an essentialcomponent of the teachers’ trainingprocess so that they know how to

deal with such situations and referthem to the appropriate agencies.

Further, it is often said that chil-dren have the capacity to learn manylanguages between ages three andeight. So, it is essential that teachers areproficient in at least three languages.

The absence of a professionalagency for the design, developmentand implementation of a well-concep-tualised scheme is also one major rea-son why programmes are arbitrary innature. Pre-school to lower primaryeducation ie, institutions for childrenaged between three and eight years,should be seen as a continuum. Lifeskills training as well as literacy andnumeracy skills should be providedin the mother tongue and within theinstitutions. Any national body, ide-ally the National Council forEducational Research and Training(NCERT), should be designated as thenodal agency for designing a plan forcomplete development of the child.

Adequately, for the teachers, theNational Council for TeacherEducation (NCTE) must design anddevelop training norms and decideon the standards required to be

appointed a shikshak at these centres.And this, without much formalintervention.

It goes without saying that theRight to Education Act, 2009, did notdo much good to this age group ofstudents. In fact, it worked againsttheir interest. By giving scant atten-tion to early childhood education, thenation has deprived the poor and theless-privileged children of their rightto education. The non-formalschools, which were run by voluntaryorganisations like the Ekal Vidyalaya,and who have been doing great ser-vice to children in far-flung areas,have been declared illegal/unlawful.Perhaps, we need to re-examine ifthis sector can be covered under theRTE or be made free for NGOs, thephilanthropists and others to con-tribute.

Traditionally, education of thisage group has always been seen as adharm and the society contributedtowards making it possible. Weshould rely more on the local com-munity for running these schools.Mothers of children studying inthese centres and other volunteers

should be roped in to run themsmoothly and ensure a check andbalance system born of participation,not of imposition. They should notbe seen as a Government establish-ment but as a community centre ofthe society.

So where did we go wrong andwhat needs to change? We have toemphasise that mother and child carecentres are not just about health butalso about literacy/education of both.The major reason behind the poorperformance of these centres andschemes is the involvement of inap-propriately trained personnel to man-age them. The nodal Ministry forthese centres should be the Ministryof Human Resources Developmentalone with experts from areas of med-icine, nutrition, psychiatry and so on.If the quality of pre-primary educa-tion determines the “success” of thechild, then, should not all childrenhave the right to access a uniform pre-school education?

(The writer is professor of educa-tion at the Indira Gandhi OpenUniversity. Views expressed are per-sonal)

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Page 10:  · 2019-05-06 · Tikamgarh, Damoh, Khajuraho, Satna, Rewa, Hoshangabad and Betul - voted. "Minor issues ... had any right to call a review meeting. ... Girl students have once

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The NTPC School of Business(NSB), one of India’s premier

management institutes for thepower sector has achieved 100%summer placement for its firstPGDM (Energy Management)batch. Under the institute’sSummer Internship Program(SIP), a host of renowned com-panies including the IndianEnergy Exchange, PowerTrading Corporation, PowerFinance Corporation, AMPSolar, ACME Solar, GMRTrading, participated in theprocess, offering internships tothe students.

Gireesh C Tripathi, DeputyDirector General (NSB) andSunil Maheshwari (ProfessorIIM-A), Chairman ofGovernance Committee ofNSB congratulated the stu-dents and the placement cell forthis remarkable feat shortlyafter the process for the insti-tute’s first batch concluded.

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The US on Monday said itcannot ensure the sale of its

crude oil to India at conces-sional rates to make up for thecheaper Iranian oil going out ofthe market.

“Oil is owned by privatepeople, so the government can-not force people to make con-cessionary price,” USCommerce Secretary WilburRoss, who is here to participatein a trade forum, told reporters.

India this month stoppedimporting crude oil from Iranfollowing the US move to endsanction waivers.

Iranian oil was a lucrativebuy for Indian refiners as thePersian Gulf nation provides 60days of credit for purchases,terms not available from sup-pliers of substitute crudes —Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq,Nigeria, and the US.

Also, Iran made arrange-ments to ship the oil to Indiaincluding providing insurancecover during transit. In the caseof most other suppliers includ-ing the US, refiners have makeshipping arrangements andpay for insurance.

“Iran is a problem, if youhave seen recent terrorismincidents, and we should bedoing whatever we can againstterrorism,” Ross told reportersafter meeting Finance MinisterArun Jaitley.

US Ambassador to India

Kenneth Juster said, “The USworking with other countries,including Saudi Arabia, toensure an adequate supply of oil”.

New Delhi has lined upsupplies from alternate sourcessuch as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait,UAE and Mexico to make upfor the lost volumes from Iran.

India was the second-biggest buyer of Iranian crudeoil after China. It bought some24 million tonne of crude oilfrom Iran in the fiscal endedMarch 31. Iran supplied morethan a tenth of its oil needs.

US President DonaldTrump last year withdrew fromthe 2015 nuclear deal betweenIran and world powers and

revived a range of sanctionsagainst the Persian Gulf nation.It, however, granted a six-month waiver from sanctionsto eight countries — China,India, Japan, South Korea,Taiwan, Turkey, Italy, andGreece — but with a conditionthat they would reduce theirpurchases of Iranian oil.

The waiver began inNovember 2018 and expired onMay 2. India, the world’s third-biggest oil consumer, meetsmore than 80 per cent of its oilneeds through imports. Iran in2018-19 was its third-largestsupplier after Iraq and SaudiArabia, meeting over 10 percent of total needs.

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Investorwealth

e r o d e dby �1.24l a k hc r o r eMondaya m i dhuge sell-ing pres-sure inthe equi-ty marketwhere the Sensex plunged 363points.

Tracking weak global sen-timent amid fresh trouble forthe world economy after the USvowed to further raise tariffs onChinese goods, the BSE keyindex closed at 38,600.34,plunging 362.92 points or 0.93per cent.

Led by the sell-off in thebroader market, the marketcapitalisation of BSE-listedcompanies dropped�1,24,380.06 crore to�1,50,37,633.14 crore.

“Global indices bled todayas the US-China trade warcondition further intensified.The worsening situation hasput the entire world in a stateof flux where even a tiny esca-lation can cause big damage,”

said Umesh Mehta, head ofresearch, Samco Securities Ltd.

From the 30-share pack, 25scrips witnessed sell-off led byYes Bank, Tata Motors, BajajFinance, Tata Steel and HDFC.

On the BSE, 1,634 scripsdeclined, while 831 advancedand 200 remained unchanged.

Sectorally, BSE consumerdurables, metals, realty, capitalgoods and auto indices fell upto 2.82 per cent.

In the broader market, theBSE mid-cap and small-capindices also ended lower by upto 0.85 per cent.

Chinese bourses sank ledby Shanghai Composite Indexthat plunged 5.58 per cent.Benchmark indices of Japan,Hong Kong and South Koreaalso witnessed sharp declines.

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Shares of Yes Bank onMonday dropped by over 5

per cent, wiping out �2,135.29crore from its market valua-tion, after ratings downgrade.

The scrip tumbled 5.30per cent to close at �166.30 onthe BSE. During the day, ittanked 5.75 per cent to�165.50. It was the worst hitamong the 30-front-line shares.

On the NSE, sharesdropped 5 per cent to close at�167.

In terms of volume, 43.12lakh shares of the companywere traded on the BSE duringthe day, while over 4 crore unitschanged hands on the NSE.

The company’s market val-uation fell by �2,135.29 crore to�38,515.71 crore on the BSE.

The private sector lenderhad a double whammySaturday after domestic ratingagency ICRA downgraded itslong-term ratings along with anegative outlook, citing a spikein its lower-rated advancesand falling core capital buffers.

The agency downgradedratings on instrumentstotalling borrowings over�33,000 crore by the lender,ICRA said.

The bank had also report-ed its maiden loss of over�1,506 crore in the Marchquarter, driven by a near ten-fold spike in provisions.

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The country’s services sec-tor activity fell to a seven-

month low in April owing tosofter rise in new businessand disruptions arising fromthe elections, a monthly sur-vey showed Monday.

However, predictions thateconomic conditions willnormalise after the electionsunderpinned opt imismregarding the outlook andsupported a stronger upturnin employment.

The seasonally adjustedNikkei India Ser vicesBusiness Activity Index, fellfrom 52 in March to 51 at thestart of the 2019 financialyear, pointing to the weakestupturn in output since last

September.Despite the moderation,

the services PMI was in theexpansion territory for the11th straight month. In PMIparlance, a print above 50means expansion, while a scorebelow that denotes contraction.

“Although the Indian pri-vate sector economy looks tobe settling into a weakergrowth phase, much of theslowdown was linked to dis-ruptions arising from theelections and companies gen-erally foresee improvementsonce a government isformed,” said Pollyanna DeLima, Principal Economistat IHS Markit, and author ofthe report.

The general election, thatbegan on April 11, is cur-

rently underway. Votes will becounted on May 23.

However, poll was notthe only reason cited for theslowdown. In the service sec-tor, competitive conditionsand a shift towards onlinebookings among customersreportedly restricted newbusiness gains and in turngrowth of activity, Lima said.

On the employmentfront, buoyed by ongoingimprovements in new workand optimistic growth pro-jections, service providersplaced more people in jobsduring April.

Meanwhile, the seasonal-ly adjusted Nikkei IndiaComposite PMI OutputIndex, that maps both themanufacturing and services

industry, fell from 52.7 in to51.7 in April, indicative of aslight pace of expansion inaggregate activity that wasweaker than seen on averageover the series history.

On the prices front, thereport said that rates of infla-tion for input costs and out-put charges remained weakby historical standards.

“Another key takeawayfrom the latest results is thelack of inflationary pressuresin both the manufacturingand service sectors, whichcoupled with slower economygrowth offers room for a fur-ther cut to the benchmarkrepurchase rate,” Lima said.

The next meeting of RBI’sMonetary Policy Committeeis scheduled on June 3-6.

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Bridgestone India Private Ltd’stwo plants in India have opted

for using solar power to reduce1,50,000 tons of CO2 emisssion.The Pune Plant in Chakan hasinstalled 1 MW of Solar capaci-ty and another 4 MW of capac-ity is being set up. The Indoreplant in Kheda, in MadhyaPradesh has 1 MW solar energycapacity that is being enhanced byanother 1 MW capacity slated tobe operational by the third quar-ter of 2019.

��� ��������������������!���-G�-��������������/��������� New Delhi: Thomas Cook

(India) Ltd., integrated traveland related financial servicescompany, has signed an agree-ment with SentosaDevelopment Corporation(SDC), Singapore to bring moretourists from India to Sentosa,a holiday island-in-the-city thatis home to a diverse array ofnovel leisure experiences. MoUwas signed between MaheshIyer - Executive Director andChief Executive Officer,Thomas Cook (India) Ltd., andQuek Swee Kuan, ChiefExecutive Officer, SDC. PNS

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Ride hailing major OlaMonday said Ratan Tata,

Chairman Emeritus of TataSons, has invested in its EVbusiness — Ola ElectricMobility (OEM).

This investment, which ispart of OEM’s series A roundof funding, is in Tata’s person-al capacity, Ola said in a state-ment.

Details of the funding werenot disclosed.

“His investment in OlaElectric will bring his deepexperience and mentorship tothe company’s ambitions tomake electric mobility viable atscale,” it added.

Tata is also an earlyinvestor in ANI Technologies,Ola’s parent company. He hadinvested in ANI Technologiesin July 2015.

In March this year, OEMhad announced raising �400crore in a funding round led byTiger Global and Matrix India.

“The electric vehicleecosystem is evolving dramat-

ically every day, and I believeOla Electric will play a key rolein its growth and develop-ment,” Tata said.

Ola Electric is currentlyrunning several pilots involvingcharging solutions, batteryswapping stations, and deploy-ing vehicles across two, threeand four-wheeler segments.

Bhavish Aggarwal, co-founder and CEO of Ola saidTata has been a mentor to himpersonally, and an inspirationin shaping Ola’s journey overthe years.

“I’m very excited to wel-come him on board Ola Electricas an investor and a mentor....We are privileged to have hisguidance and support onceagain, as we work towards ourgoal of a million electric vehi-cles in India by 2021,” he added.

OEM was initially estab-lished to enable Ola’s electricmobility pilot programme inNagpur.

In 2018, Ola subsequentlyannounced ‘Mission: Electric’to bring 1 million electric vehi-cles on Indian roads by 2021.

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China’s top trade envoy ispreparing to travel to

Washington for crucial talks, aChinese official said Mondaydespite US President DonaldTrump threatening to imposemore punishing taxes on $200billion worth of Chinese prod-ucts, citing slow progress innegotiations.

The brief statement fromChinese Foreign MinistrySpokesman Geng Shuang cameas media reports said Beijingmay cancel the high-level tradetalks with the US, leading totumbling of shares prices acrossthe world amid worries that thetwo major economic giantswere once again on the path ofconfrontation.

Asked whether the topChinese envoy Vice PremierLiu He would visit Washingtonas planned, Geng said, “aChinese team is preparing totravel to the United States fortrade talks.”

Reacting to the reports,Geng told journalists, “What Ican tell you is that the Chineseteam is preparing to travel tothe US for the trade talks.”

He parried a spate of ques-tions whether the talks wouldbe resumed on Wednesdayand declined say when thetrade team would go toWashington.

About Trump’s threat toimpose punishing tariffs on$200 billion worth of additionalChinese products, Geng played

it down saying that such a sit-uation prevailed earlier.

“As to the US threat onChinese tariffs, I think such sit-uation appeared many timesbefore. China’s position isalways clear cut and the USknows that clearly. Regardingthe trade talks between Chinaand the US those consultationshave been held for the 10thround and made positiveprogress.”

President Trump’s surpriseremarks came on Sunday as thetwo countries locked in a long-standing trade war seemednear to striking a trade deal.

A high-level Chinese del-egation led by Vice Premier Liuwas scheduled to be inWashington to resume talksaimed at resolving the tradewar that has cast gloom overthe world economy.

“China is considering can-celling trade talks that are toresume in Washington startingWednesday,” The Wall StreetJournal reported Sunday quot-ing unnamed sources.

“There has been wide-spread expectations in recentdays that an accord could bereached by Friday,” it said.

Quoting an unnamedsource, CNBC News said theChinese Vice Premier will like-ly cancel the trip he hadplanned for himself and a 100-person delegation for the finalround of talks.

The US officials had pre-viously said that a deal could bereached by Friday.

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India and the US onMonday agreed to engage

regularly at various level toresolve outstanding tradeissues by exploring mutuallybeneficial suitable solutions,an official statement said.

“Both sides agreed todeepen economic coopera-tion and bilateral trade byensuring greater cooperationamongst stakeholders ,including Government, busi-nesses and entrepreneurs,”said a statement after meet-ing between visiting USCommerce Secretary Wilbur

Ross and Commerce MinisterSuresh Prabhu.

Ross is visiting India toattend the 11th Trade WindsBusiness Forum and Missionhosted by the US Departmentof Commerce.

Without giving details,the statement said the bothsides also discussed various“outstanding trade issues”and agreed to engage regu-larly at various levels toresolve them by exploring“suitable solutions, which aremutually beneficial and pro-mote economic developmentand prosper ity in both countries”.

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The 15th FinanceCommission will meet RBI

Governor Shaktikanta Dasand representatives of banksand financial institutions dur-ing its two-day visit toMumbai beginning May 8,according to an off icial statement.

The commission, chairedby NK Singh, will discussissues concerning macro-eco-nomics, financial stability andcost of borrowing of theCentre and states with the Reserve Bank.

The commission will alsodiscuss the issues concerningrecapitalisation of banks, andpossible scenarios of the BimalJalan committee report on sur-plus capital available with theRBI for transfer to theGovernment, the statement said.

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����������������-��According to World Health organisation (WHO) estimates, 10

per cent of worldwide population is affected by kidney diseases.Each year, about 17 out of 100 urban Indians suffer from kidneydiseases. Importantly, many of these are young children, posing amajor public health crisis.

To add to it, kidney diseases in children are often silent, thusmaking it difficult to diagnose especially in the earlier stages. Inthe later stages, symptoms, if present, are often nonspecific, fur-ther complicating the issue. Poor growth is the single most com-mon feature in all children. Undiagnosed, the condition can leadto life-threatening long-term effects, mainly related to heart andbrain. In the absence of appropriate preventive and corrective mea-sures, patients may eventually develop advanced kidney failure andneed renal replacement therapy (RRT) in the form of dialysis ora kidney transplant.

However, early detection can help prevent kidney diseases fromoccurring or progressing into more advanced kidney failure. Sinceearly chronic kidney diseases usually have no signs or symptoms,it is important for those with high risk to get tested regularly. Thereare simple urine or blood tests to determine the kidney health.

The common causes of kidney diseases in children in India,acute kidney injury (AKI), which is secondary to infections or diar-rheal illness, is something very important to keep in mind.Althoughpotentially reversible in most cases, AKI in children may have long-term problems that could later in life lead to chronic kidney dis-ease (CKD) which is permanent and progressive damage to thekidneys. Children often die, not from the infection, but because

of AKI caused by dehydration andlow blood pressure. Equallyimportant is the risk of glomeru-lar diseases in children affectingthe filtering units of the kidneysand there is a clear evidence thatkidney diseases first detected inadults with symptoms such ashigh blood pressure, protein andblood in urine actually begin inchildhood. Then there are somecongenital disorder and heredi-tary diseases of the kidneys whichpresent from the birth of the childand which may manifest later inlife. These include entities likevesicoureteric reflux (VUR)which results in backflow ofurine from the urinary bladder

back into the kidneys at the time of urine voiding by the child result-ing in damage to kidneys and possible urine infection. Therefore,it is very important to identify and understand childhood-relatedkidney diseases and intervene early to prevent future complications.

It is important to identify the presence of kidney disease in chil-dren. It can be done with regular antenatal checkups and fetal ultra-sounds. This can potentially help many children with kidney abnor-malities to be diagnosed even before birth. Some children devel-op facial swelling or leg swelling which can be due to abnormali-ty in kidneys causing protein leakage in the urine. Simple and rel-atively inexpensive urine and blood tests are enough to identifykidney diseases. Ultrasound scan or CT scan and other special testsmay also be required depending upon the problem.

Once a child gets a kidney disease, it can cause high blood pres-sure, enlargement of heart, low haemoglobin; affect child’s growth,make bones brittle and affect overall well being and scholastic per-formance of the child. If it enters a more advanced stage, it can resultin life threatening repercussions often requiring renal replacementtherapy to sustain life. However, with vast improvement in the reachand quality of dialysis services, the long term results of the proce-dure have significantly improved. Transplant centers are now accept-ing young patients and children for successful kidney transplants.Since early detection and treatment of kidney diseases in childrencan make a huge difference, the whole family should understandthe importance of recognising and treating kidney diseases earlyto prevent permanent and irreversible kidney damage.

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������ The tomato is theedible, often red, berry of

the tomato plant. Tomatoescontain lycopene, which isalso used for facial cleansers.Apart from eating them assalad, one can also peel thetomatoes, and use the skin as amask on your face. It cleanses andrefreshes the skin. The lycopene in tomatoes is also reportedto control the growth of cancer cells, especially prostate,stomach, and colorectal cancer.

Tomatoes are loaded with Vitamin A, Vitamin B and potas-sium which help to decrease the cholesterol levels. In the longrun, it can prevent heart related diseases.

They also help to improve the digestive system, and the liver.They are loaded with fibre which helps prevents constipationtoo.

Loaded with vitamin C, fresh tomato juice is brilliant whenit comes to boosting the immunity levels. The Vitamin C in italso controls the increase of stress hormones, and helps your bodyto remain energised in the scorching summer, and keeps youhealthy.

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Staying physicallyactive in midlifedepends a lot on

your overall satisfactionwith life or mental wellbe-ing a decade earlier, not just your physi-cal health, suggests new research.

Men and women with high mentalwell-being at the age of 42 were morephysically active at the age of 50 comparedto those who got lower scores in mentalwell-being at age 42, said the study pub-lished in the journal Applied Research inQuality of Life.

The researchers investigated mentalwell-being through three dimensions:emotional, psychological and social well-being.

Emotional well-being indicates over-all satisfaction with life and a tendency tohave positive feelings. Psychological well-being refers to experiences of personalgrowth and the purpose of life. Social well-being tells about relationships with otherpeople and the community.

The researchers found that leisuretime physical activity did not predict latermental well-being or subjective health, butmental well-being predicted physicalactivity.

It seems that mental well-being is animportant resource for maintaining aphysically active lifestyle in midlife, saidTiia Kekalainen from University ofJyvaskyla, Finland. Walking was related toemotional well-being, rambling in natureto social well-being and endurance train-ing to subjective health, the study said.

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Summer is your skin’s worstenemy. Among all theproblems that occur

because of the scorching sunincluding heatstrokes, dehy-dration and tan, heat pimplesare the worst. They spread fastand can make you look unpleas-ing.

But worry not.Following thesesimple tips canhelp you get ridof these uninvit-ed guests.

Take fourto five icecubes. Place it ina cloth and press it against thepimples until you feel numb.Continue this manner a coupleof times. Once done, pat drywith a clean towel.

Take one tablespoon ofextra virgin oil and one table-spoon of turmeric powder. Mix

the two. Apply it over the affect-ed area. Leave it for 20 to 30minutes. Rinse off and pat drywith clean towel.

Aloe vera gel works won-ders. Take two tablespoons of

aloe veragel/extract.Apply it onthe affected

areas andleave it

overnight. Rinseoff the next morning.

Repeat the process everynight before going to bed

until it’s completely gone.Cucumber can also help in

fighting these pimples. Take halfcucumber. Blend it in a foodprocessor and apply the paste tothe pimples. Leave it on for 30minutes. Rinse off with coldwater. Repeat this step three tofour times a week until you getcomplete relief.

Come summertime and allthe skin woes begin. One

of the side effects of theheat can be heat pimples.ROSHANI DEVI shareshome remedies to treat

them

In a recent directive issued by thePrincipal Secretary of Health and Family

Welfare, Government of NCT of Delhi,HODs of hospitals or medical institutionswill file FIR against any incidents ofabuse or violence by patients ortheir attendants. As per thedirective, no individuals, be ithospital staff or doctors canfile the FIR. It will be incum-bent on the MS/Director ofthe institution to ensure thatFIR is registered immediate-ly in such cases and any non-compliance will be dealt withseriously.

Speaking about this, Dr Girish TyagiPresident Delhi Medical Association saidthat the prompt action by Chief SecretaryDelhi Vijay Dev is an important step tocombat the rising violence in the hospi-tals.

The same process should also be

adopted by the private hospitals. TheDMA also has requested the DelhiGovernment to exempt individual pre-scription only clinics from bio medical

waste registration and single windowregistration for most nursing

home setups.Padma Shri Awardee, Dr

KK Aggarwal, President,HCFI, said, that there arethree types of doctors —those who expect patients to

accept what they say withoutquestions; those who give choic-

es to patients; and those who taketime and help the patients in taking

a decision. This is the discord and thenumber one cause of miscommunicationand disputes. While the types of patientshave changed very rapidly from ignorantto enlightened, doctors are still in the firstphase, where they feel that they don’t needto spend time with the patient.”

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Has your skin gotten overly dark or darkerthan normal from just a few areas especial-

ly on the face? You may have pigmentation.Pigmentation is the excess and uneven darken-ing of the skin leaving skin looking dirty andunhealthy. Dark spots, blemishes, acne marks,Dark Patches and even tanning that’s hard toget rid of are all different kinds of pigmenta-tion.

Pigmentation can be very hard to get rid of.Skin whitening, lightening or fairness productsdon’t work for pigmentation. There are sever-al new products out there for dark spots, blem-ishes, de-tanning and others, but they also oftenend up not working because they usually lackthe scientific technology to address pigmenta-tion at the root.

Even doctors are scratching their headsbecause steroids and hormones that they pre-scribe are not perfect solutions and haveunhealthy side effects. So, they often end up per-forming expensive treatments like lasers andchemical peels to temporarily make the skinlook brighter while prescribing sunscreens toprevent pigmentation flare ups. But lasers andchemical peels also have side effects like red-ness and sensitivity. If not done correctly theycan even cause more pigmentation.�How to avoid skin pigmentation?

Best is to not get damaging treatments donelike lasers and peeling, bleaching, scrubbing,facials or others, that can damage skin and causepigmentation. Excessive sun exposure can alsocause and make pigmentation worse. But howto get rid of it if you already have it? Fortunately,there are some newage brands that are embrac-ing powerful scientific formulas to work at theroot of the skin where pigmentation begins.

Of the few available around the world, onesuch brand is Melblok. Melblok has a patent-ed technology that works on the over activemelanin cells to help control their pigmentationfor long terms results. The formulas of the dayand night creams help to dislodge pigmentationfrom deep in the skin which then clears out asthe deeper pigmented layers come up to the sur-face and shed out. Initial results are visible in28 days (around one month) eventually help-ing make the skin clearer, brighter and moreeven toned. �What is pigmentation prone skin?

Have you ever felt like your skin gets tannedeasily? Or get dark from some areas more thanothers? You may have pigmentation prone skin.Don’t worry, according to scientific research,over 85 per cent of the Indian population isprone to pigmentation regardless of gender.Living in a hot and humid country like Indiawith newage problems like pollution, stress, hor-monal changes, diabetes and others, make iteven more easy for anyone to get pigmentation.If your parents or grandparents had pigmen-tation like spots, dark circles or skin darkeningyou may also have a genetic tendency to get pig-mentation easily.

If you feel you have pigmentation prone skinthen try investing in a good skin care systemor brand that reduces and prevents pigmenta-tion. Paying a slight premium for a good brandcan go a long way in helping you get rid of pig-mentation safely.

Regular products may not be made for yourskin’s specific needs. Certain brands are show-ing the way by coming up with products thatmay help in the long run. This also leads toincreased understanding and awareness aboutpigmentation prone skin among the public.&��� �������� �����"��-���*�B��������"���-E�C������*� �B

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L I S T E N T OSKIN CALL

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Asthma is a chronic diseasewith many stigmas related toit. The disease is considered

no less than a taboo where manypeople and especially parents try todisregard the fact that their child hasasthma.

According to the WHO factsheet, 100 to 150 million peopleacross the globe suffer from the dis-ease. In India, the soaring numbershave reached 15-20 million and thenumbers will continue to grow untiladequate measures will be taken tomanage the disease.

Dr Anant Mohan, HOD, Chest(Pulmonary Medicine), AIIMS saysthat asthma is a disease which isthere from time immemorial andthere ar lot of factors that can causeit. “Asthma is persistent since timememorial. It is a growing disease andthe number of patients keep ongrowing. Fortunately, the aware-ness about the disease is also increas-ing but there should certainly bemore awareness especially from thegrassroot level. There are a lot of fac-tors that cater to the disease — genet-ic, if the parents have the disease,chances are more that their child willalso have the disease, environmentalso plays a great role, increasing pol-lution, smoking are some of the caus-es of the disease,” he tells you.

Dr Gaurav Sethi, Pediatrician, InGood Hands Clinic says that earli-er it was thought that asthma isa disease of elderly. "Earlierpeople thought that asthmais a disease of the elderlybut it is not the case.Almost 50 per cent peo-ple start having thesymptoms below the ageof five years and five to 10per cent children have asth-ma. The prevalence of the dis-ease has increased and fortunatelyawareness has also increased but westill have miles to go,” he tells you andadds that there is no confirmatorytest for asthma.

“Unfortunately there is no con-firmatory test to diagnose asthmawhich makes it challenging to diag-nose the disease. Whenever a child

comes to us, we have to study the his-tory of the patient thoroughly. Wehave to examine each and everydetail and then only we confirm thatthe patient has asthma or not. Somepeople feel that since there is no con-firmatory test the disease can be mis-

diagnosed but the fact is thatthe disease is more under-

diagnosed rather thanmisdiagnosed,” DrSethi tells you.

There are a lot ofmyths prevalentamong the people

when it comes to asth-ma. “There are a lot of

myths related to the disease.First, parents are not ready to

believe that their child has asthma.They say bachcha hi toh hai, asthmakaisey ho sakta hai. This stigma hasto be removed. Second, people tendto believe that inhalers are strong andaddictive, which again is a miscon-ception. Inhalers are the best and thesafest medication. If medicine is

given through inhalers then it ismore effective without any sideeffects. Because the medicine isgiven directly to the affected area(lungs) and not through blood, sothere are no chances of infections.The dose given is also ten times lessin inhalers. Therefore, it makesthem the safest option to go for,” DrSethi explains.

However, many people feel wor-ried that how their child will takeinhaler infront of everyone. “We getacross a lot of patients who feel anx-ious and worried that how their childwill take inhaler in school. Butthere is nothing to feel worriedabout. It is just a form of taking med-icine and there is nothing to beashamed of. Awareness should bemore among the teachers also.Because when the teachers see thatthe child in taking inhaler they oftensuggest the parents to keep thechild at home. But, this is not thesolution. So, there should be prop-er awareness among the teachers as

well so they don't treat the child anydifferently,” Dr Mohan tells you.

Many patients just use inhalersto relieve the pain and not to con-trol the disease. “There are two typesof inhalers -- Controllers and reliev-ers. Controllers are meant to perma-nently control the disease. It has tobe taken on a regular basis withoutany gaps. Whereas, relievers areused to give a temporary relief. Manypatients opt relievers instead of con-trollers, which does not help much.Proper treatment and early diagno-sis is key,” Dr Sethi explains.

Using inhalers empowers you totake care of yourself. “There aremany cases in which the patient diedbecause of they were not rushed tothe hospital at the right time. It is sadbecause asthma is not a lethal dis-ease. Using inhalers empowers youto take care of yourself. You don’thave to rush to the hospital everytime you get a asthma attack. Thereis nothing to fear about usinginhalers,” he adds.

Along with proper treatment, ahealthy lifestyle is a must to preventand control the disease. Regular exer-cise and yoga along with the treat-ment also helps in curing the disease.If the disease develops at an early agethen the chances of complete reliefare more.

“If the disease is developed at anearly age then there are more chancesof complete relief from the disease,but is the disease is developed after10 to 12 years of age then chances ofcomplete relief are very less,” Dr Sethisays.

The doctor says that onset of thedisease can happen anytime. It is aperiodic disease and can show symp-toms for some time and then canremain suppressed for months oreven years. Patients should consulta doctor if they suffer from period-ic coughs , cough during running orlaughing or if they have a persistentrunning nose and sore throat. It oftenoccur during changing weather. So,the symptoms should not be ignoredand early treatment should be takenin order to prevent the disease fromgetting worse.

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� � � � � � � � � ; � �Not just asthma but every dis-

order brings with it a bunchof troubles that interfere in lead-ing a normal life. Eating the rightfood is one such problem that iscommon for all diseases.Although there is no particulardiet for an asthmatic, but thereare certain foods that they areadvised against, as these maylead to aggravation or lead to aresurfacing of symptoms likewheezing, coughing and difficul-ty in breathing.In addition tothat, in some exceptional cases,food allergies may act as a trig-ger for asthma. Food allergy isdefined as an over-reaction bythe body's immune system toproteins in foods that are usual-ly safe or harmless. The mostcommon symptoms of foodallergy are hives, rash, nausea,vomiting, and diarrhoea. Themost common foods associated

with food allergies are eggs,milk, peanuts, tree nuts(cashews, almonds, filberts),soy, wheat, fish, shellfish, andshrimp.Coming in contact witha food allergen can trigger yourimmune system to over-reactand release a chemical known ashistamine. This release of hist-amine can be responsible for thesymptoms of an allergic reactionin an asthma patient, leading toan asthma attack.

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Sri Lankan authorities onMonday discovered a facili-

ty believed to be used as a train-ing centre by the suicidebombers prior to the terrorattacks on churches and luxuryhotels on the Easter Sunday thatkilled more than 250 people.

Nine suicide bombers car-ried out a series of devastatingblasts that tore through threechurches and three luxuryhotels on the Easter Sunday.The Islamic State claimed theattacks, but the governmentblamed local Islamist extrem-ist group National ThawheedJammath (NTJ) for the attacks.

The two-storey buildingwas discovered in theBlackpool area in NuwaraEliya. Details of this facility hadsurfaced during questioningof some suspects who werearrested in connection with the

NTJ in Sainthamaruthu,Kalmunai, the Times Onlinereported.

“It is believed that 38 mem-bers of the NTJ group includ-ing suicide bomber Zahranhad received training at thisfacility prior to the recent ter-ror attacks,” it said.

According to the prelimi-nary investigations, the finaltraining session which wasattended by Zahran took placeon April 17 - four days prior tothe deadly Easter attacks.

Zahran, the mastermindbehind the Easter blasts, led theattack on the Shangri-La hoteland was accompanied by a sec-ond bomber identified as IlhamAhmed Ibrahim. He was killedinside the hotel where he blewhimself up.

The training centre hadbeen set-up in the building thathad been on rent.

Police have arrested theowner of the house and twoother individuals who hadallegedly provided accommo-dation facilities at the building.

The NTJ has no history oflarge-scale attacks. The groupcame to prominence last year

when it was blamed for dam-aging Buddhist statues.

All suicide bombersinvolved in the blasts arebelieved to be Sri Lankannationals.

In a statement issuedthrough its propaganda ‘Amaq’news agency two days after theattacks, the ISIS identified theattackers as Abu Ubayda, Abual-Mukhtar, Abu Khalil, AbuHamza, Abu al-Bara’a, AbuMuhammad and AbuAbdullah.

President MaithripalaSirisena last week used emer-gency powers to ban the NTJand a splinter group identifiedas Jamathei Millathu Ibraheem(JMI).

The move to ban the out-fits came after the LankanParliament adopted a newly-enforced emergency regula-tion on Wednesday following aseries of eight coordinatedblasts, which ripped throughthree churches and three high-end hotels frequented bytourists on April 19 in thecountry’s deadliest violencesince the devastating civil warended in 2009.

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Sri Lankan security forcesshould avoid the incidents

that caused some people facesocial stigma during the searchoperations after the EasterSunday blasts carried out by a“cult” within the community, asit may lead to radicalisation ofmoderate Muslims in the coun-try, a Minister has warned.

Minister of City Planning,Water Management andHigher Education RauffHakeem said Muslims wel-come and support the securi-ty forces and police to carry outsearch operations followingthe April 21 carnage in whichover 250 people were killed.

There have been few inci-dents of concern during theseoperations, which should beavoided as these could lead toradicalisation of moderateMuslims in the country, he wasquoted as saying by the DailyMirror on Monday.

“Some people have suf-fered social stigma as a resultof some minor happeningsduring search operations beingsensationalised. One must not

get carried away if Islamic lit-erature written in Arabic or inTamil is found in a house. Itmay not be terrorist literature.

“There may be anti-(Osama) Bin Laden or anti-extremist literature with somepeople. The security forcescould get help from theDepartment of Muslim Affairsto interpret such literature,” theMinister told reporters.

Hakeem also said that thebombings had been carriedout by a cult living among theMuslims which earlier attackedthe “mainstream mosques incertain Middle Eastern coun-tries”.

“We as Muslims hadwarned the authorities of cer-tain activities such as speech-es made by certain people pro-moting extremism, which isagainst Islam, by certain groupsfrom time to time,” he said.

When asked about theweapons being found in somemosques, during the searches,Hakeem said places of worshipshould not be used to keeparms, adding that “terroristactivities and ordinary crimesshould not be mixed up”.

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The US supports Israel “100per cent” in its defence

against a barrage of deadlyrocket attacks by militantgroups in Gaza, US PresidentDonald Trump has said, warn-ing Palestinians that suchactions would bring them“nothing but more misery”.

Tensions flared up onSaturday between Israel andPalestine with massive rocketfire from Gaza, drawing wavesof Israeli retaliatory strikes whichcontinued throughout Sunday.

At least 23 Palestinians,including at least nine militants,were killed.

Four civilians in Israel werekilled, at least three of themIsraeli citizens.

“Once again, Israel faces abarrage of deadly rocket attacksby terrorist groups Hamas andIslamic Jihad. We support Israel100 per cent in its defense of itscitizens,” “Trump said in atweet on Sunday.

“To the Gazan people —these terrorist acts against Israelwill bring you nothing butmore misery. End the violenceand work towards peace - it canhappen!” Trump said in a

tweet.According to media

reports, the militant groupshave fired about 600 rocketstowards Israel. In response,Israel has launched about 250air strikes against terroristgroups in the region.

The flare-up comes despitea truce brokered by Egypt lastmonth. It is one of the mostsurges in violence since theconflict of July and August2014.

In that year, Israel launcheda ground offensive on Gaza fol-lowing the kidnapping andkilling of three Israeli teenagers.

The conflict killed 67Israeli soldiers. Hamas and itsallies launched more than 4,500rocket strikes that killed sixcivilians in Israel.

On the Palestinian side,2,251 people, including 1,462civilians, were killed in theseven-week conflict, accordingto the UN.

Palestinian leaders in Gazaagreed to a ceasefire with Israelon Monday to end a two-dayescalation in violence.

Israel also lifted restrictionson civilian movements incommunities around the Gazaborder.

Kathmandu: Ruling NepalCommunist Party presidentPushpa Kamal Dahal‘Prachanda’ on Monday saidarmed revolutions “have notbeen able to change any system”and that that is why Maoistshave chosen the peaceful anddemocratic path in the country.

Prachanda, who was oncea strong proponent of armedstruggle in the Himalayankingdom to overthrow themonarchy and establish arepublic country, said there isa need for serious discussion onMarxist ideology and its exper-iment in Nepal.

Addressing a programmeorganised here to mark the201st birth anniversary of KarlMarx, a German philosopherwho is considered the father of

‘communism’, he said severalarmed revolutions have “failedin the world context”.

“Such revolutions have notbeen able to change any sys-tem...That is why we have cho-sen the peaceful and democ-ratic way out,” Prachanda, whois a former Moaist leader, said.

He said socialism will notcome through the develop-ment of capitalism, and neitherit can be brought without dis-mantling the feudal system.

“We need to developnationalist capital and need tobring movement in ideologyand organisation if we are toestablish a system based onsocialist ideology...A consciousjolt is needed to bring a social-ist revolution in the country,” theformer prime minister said.PTI

Beijing: China on Mondayprotested over two US warshipssailing near islands claimed byit in the disputed South ChinaSea, saying it violates its sov-ereignty and also denounced aPentagon report on Chinesemilitary’s modernisation as anattempt to spread the “Chinathreat theory”.

The US guided-missiledestroyers ‘Preble’ and ‘ChungHoon’ travelled within 12 nau-tical miles of Gaven and JohnsonReefs in the Spratly Islands,which Beijing calls Nansha.

The latest US challenge toBeijing’s territorial claims in theregion comes amid trade ten-sions as President Donald Trumpsaid Sunday he would raise tar-iffs on USD 200 billion inChinese goods on Friday because

talks were moving “too slowly”.“On May 6 two US war-

ships without the permission ofthe Chinese government haveentered the adjacent waters ofthe Johnson reef in China’sNansha island in the SouthChina Sea, (SCS),” ChineseForeign Ministry spokesmanGeng Shuang told a mediabriefing here on Monday.

He said the Chinese navyidentified the US vessels andasked them to leave as perChinese law.

“The relevant move theUS warships infringed uponChina’s sovereignty and under-mined peace and security in therelevant waters. We deplorethat and firmly oppose that,” hesaid and asked Washington tostop such “provocations”. PTI

Washington: The US is deploy-ing an aircraft carrier strikegroup and a bomber task forcein the Middle East to send a“clear and unmistakable” mes-sage to Iran that any attack onAmerican interests or its allieswill be met with “unrelentingforce”, National SecurityAdvisor John Bolton haswarned.

Bolton said on Sunday thedecision to deploy the USSAbraham Lincoln CarrierStrike Group and a bombertask force to the US CentralCommand region in theMiddle East was in response toa number of “troubling andescalatory indications andwarnings” from Iran.

The deployment of thestrike group and bomber task

force comes after US PresidentDonald Trump last monthrefused to give waivers to coun-tries like India from buying oilfrom Iran, in an attempt toreduce Iran’s oil exports to zero.

After coming to power,Trump withdrew from theIranian nuclear deal last yearand has imposed stringentsanctions against what hedescribes as the “authoritarian”Iranian regime.

“In response to a numberof troubling and escalatoryindications and warnings, theUnited States is deploying theUSS Abraham Lincoln CarrierStrike Group and a bombertask force to the US Central

Command region to send aclear and unmistakable mes-sage to the Iranian regime thatany attack on United Statesinterests or on those of ourallies will be met with unre-lenting force,” Bolton said.

“The United States is notseeking war with the Iranianregime, but we are fully pre-pared to respond to any attack,whether by proxy, the IslamicRevolutionary Guard Corps, orregular Iranian forces,” he saidin a statement.

The US is seeking to rampup pressure on Iran to counterwhat the White House perceives to be a potential threat. PTI

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Meghan Markle, Britain’sDuchess of Sussex, gave

birth to a healthy baby boy onMonday.

Meghan, 37, went intolabour “in the early hours” ofMonday morning, and herhusband Prince Harry was byher side, the BuckinghamPalace said.

“It’s a boy,” the palace said.“The Duchess and baby

are both healthy and well, andthe couple thank members ofthe public for their sharedexcitement and support dur-ing this very special time intheir lives,” BuckinghamPalace said in the Instagramstatement.

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Utter the word nepotism andpictures of star childrenimmediately float in front ofyour eyes. Tiger Shroff, ofcourse, can’t deny his genes

but the talk about options drying outquickly for outsiders and insiders beinggiven unlimited chances is not a new one.Tiger does believe that having a back-ground makes it easier to bag big roles andget noticed. However, “when the lights gooff at the theatre and the film starts, theaudience only sees the actor. Nepotismexists, especially because there are sonsand daughters of established andrenowned names in the industry, but italso has its own pros and cons. Gettingeasily noticed doesn’t always mean thatyou are accepted by the audience.Moreover the level of expectations isimmediately upped as the audience looksat our family backgrounds and we havethe burden of living up to our fathers andmothers. If we don’t we won’t get a sec-ond chance.”

It was not his family background thatswung it for him in his latest outing. It wason the sets of Baaghi 2 that Tiger Shroffbumped into Karan Johar and bagged therole of Rohan in Student of the Year 2,opposite newbies Ananya Panday andTara Sutaria. Talking about how differentthe film looks as compared to its previ-ous edition, he says, “Except for the school,that is Saint Teresa’s, nothing is same. Itis an all new take on the protagonists,friendship and love between them as wellas their battle to win the ‘student of theyear’ trophy. Here, more emphasis is onextra-curriculars and sports rather thanjust studies (laughs).”

The glitz and glam in the film wouldmake one question where does such aschool, which does not reflect a real worldexist? Why does the film showcase sucha thing which is not even relevant to anIndian student’s life? Tiger explains, “Iagree (laughs). It gives out the messagethat the focus shouldn’t be just on acad-emics but on other activities as well whichare important for personal growth anddevelopment. Also, we are not trying topreach anything, but there are many facetsin the film,” he says. The other messagethat it gives is that “while one should livefor others and their loved ones, at the sametime one should also follow one’s dreamswhole-heartedly. We are trying to have funand say this as an under-current in thefilm.”

Well, shooting for this film, Tiger says,was no less than “partying” since his pre-vious films have mostly been packed withaction and stunts. “As compared to Baaghiand Baaghi 2, I would say that this one wasvery light-hearted, easy-going and chilledout. A lot of physical work went into myprevious films. The scenes and my rolewere more candid and conversational. I

had to practise many things before to per-form. And it’s been a while since I havedone any such project. When you watchit, you’ll realise that every scene is so fullof fun,” he explains. It wasn’t at all diffi-cult, he says. “The role in Baaghis washeavy and I had to put in my everything.Here, I didn’t have to use my powers or‘superpowers.’”

When an actor picks up a certain kindof role in every film back to back, theindustry and even the audience, to anextent, start stereotyping him/her undera particular genre. Even Tiger, who hasdone a series of action films has beenthrough the same. He says, “Yes, you dowant to get out of a particular space andtry out more things. However, doing thesame kind of drill doesn’t confine you toa box. It takes time to get into other thingsand certainly even I will.”

However, he believes that his actionhero image gives him an edge in a com-petitive industry. “When people talkabout action heroes of the present time,one of the names could be Tiger Shroff.Yes, I am typecast but this whole thing hasgiven me an identity and made me standout. It makes me feel good.”

Besides, his appeal his inspira-tional. Tiger says, “Youngsters want tobe like heroes. They put their poster onthe wall and admire them. As an actionhero, I want to have some meaning inmy life, and I want to touch manyhearts.” For Tiger, the best part ofbeing an actor is that he can“touch and stir some emotionsin thousands of people andthen return the love thatthey give you for your work.However, the worst is thatyou don’t get enough timefor your loved ones.”

Talking about his evolu-tion since the time of Heropanti(2014), the actor says, “I havegrown more aware since thattime. The more you do some-thing, the more tricks you haveup your sleeve. At that time, Iwas very raw, naive, fresh,simply unaware, and alsovery sheltered from theworld. There was this entirebaggage of being my father’sson. I had so many insecu-rities. I would constantlythink about how will I look infront of the camera confident-ly. How will I say a certainline? How will people think ofme? How will I perform theaction? What if I hurt some-one? There were a plethora ofthoughts. I think today I canchannelise those thoughts, putthem into a framework andwork accordingly.”

The Kings, a hip-hop dancecrew from Mumbai, are thenew rulers of the

American reality television showWorld of Dance. Their choreog-rapher Suresh Mukund says afterthis victory, the 15-member crewis done with dance competi-tions.

Talking about the group’slast performance at the compe-tition, Mukund said, “We did aBaahubali act in India two yearsago that went viral, so I knew theconcept of cinematic feel andslow motion will work for sure.I kept that for the finale round.Coincidently, they asked us to doa performance with a cinematictheme in the finale round. I knewthey wouldn’t understand it(Baahubali) as it’s not aHollywood film. Then I plannedto do it in Spartan style.”

The show’s judge Ne-Yocalled it the “greatest actionfilm” he has ever seen, whileDerek Hough thought they“altered reality”. Jennifer Lopezwas happy to be surprised bytheir act.

This isn’t Mukund’s first stintat a dance show. He and VernonMonteiro were part of theFictitious Dance Group which

participated in dance realityshows like Boogie Woogie,Entertainment Ke liye Kuch BhiKarega and India’s Got Talent.Later his crew, Kings UnitedIndia, bagged the bronze at theWorld Hip Hop DanceChampionship. Asked about

competitions, he said, “I feel thatin order to grow in any talent-based field, you need to competeso that you can improvise your-self. When we won bronze, Ithought that we would stop com-peting as that was a really bigachievement. But then I started

following other dancers. I noticedthat their level was going up. Theywere coming close to us, so thatwas the time when I thought thatwe have to do something to showthat we are the best.”

World of Dance providedthem the platform to prove that

they are the real “kings” ofdance.

“It was about all the danceforms coming together on oneplatform. I thought that if we winthis, we will be the best in theworld. We also had the opportu-nity to go for America’s Got

Talent, but then we got World ofDance first,” he said. “The Kings(managed by Qyuki) will nolonger compete at dance compe-titions now. We have alreadyachieved the world’s best dancegroup title. My team is pretty set-tled right now and is doingshows worldwide,” addedMukund, who was one of theinspirations for the Bollywoodfilm ABCD 2.

The crew, consisting ofRitesh Vishwakarma, KarthikPriyadarshan, Shijin Ramesh,Chandan Achar ya, SunnyChatterjee, Mohan Pandey,Charles Edward, Pratik Gojare,Prem Bhawar, Pavan Rao, RajaDas, Hardik Rawat, AkshayVaravdekar, Hritik Gupta andNaidu Vishwakarma, has takenhome a cash prize of $1 million.The choreographer is floodedwith offers from channels tojudge dance-based reality shows.

“That’s on my bucket list. Iwant to enter Bollywood as achoreographer and ultimately, afilm director,” said the 31-year-old, who had served as an assis-tant director on ABCD 2. I wantto work with Ranveer Singh. It’sa dream,” added Mukund.

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,+2��There seems to be no end to the

nepotism debate sparked off byactress Kangana Ranaut who had

called Karan Johar “a flag-bearer” of it.However, actress Tara Sutaria defends hermentor and says he doesn’t favour starkids in the industry. She says, “If you lookat Sidharth (Malhotra) and me, we arenot from the industry. That’s reasonenough to dismiss the claim.”

She feels that it’s a bit unfair. “Theviewers these days are incredibly smart.They certainly decide whether someonedeserves to be in a film or not. Whetheryou look at Sara or Janhvi or even

Ananya, they are constantly work-ing hard. They really deserve tobe where they are not becausethey are from the industry butinstead they have earned it.”

Actress Ananya Panday,Chunky Panday’s daughter, fur-

ther elaborates and explainsthat it’s a simple conceptone needs to understand,that people won’t investmoney and their time insomebody they don’tbelieve in. “At the end ofthe day we are represent-ing Karan and Dharmaproductions. Unless anduntil you are not goodenough, you don’t givethem a reason to believein you, no one would dothat,” says Ananya. The

newest kids on the blockfrom the KJo stables arein town to promoteStudent Of The Year 2

along with their co star, TigerShroff.

Ananya apprises us thateven though she is a productof this film industry she stillauditioned for the role. Andthis makes her feel proudthat she was tested andlanded the role on herown steam. She feels,“Being a part of the indus-try gives you access andcan get you into thoserooms where you canmeet big personalitiesbut then what you do in

those rooms is solely on your shoulders.”Ananya says that she wanted to be

an actor since her childhood. “I havedreamt of it. But I don’t think Karan wasaware of that. He always thought that Iam this kid who is passionate about act-ing but not of an age where I could pur-sue this as a career. I wanted to reallyaudition for this film. So I went to meethim and asked him whether I should joincollege or audition? He told me to try myhand at it and I did,” she adds.

Talking about the film Ananya tellsus that there’s a strong message in the filmabout following your dreams. She says,“It’s not about living for anyone but foryourself. Go confidently in thedirection of your passion andlive the life you have imagined.This is a bubble gum film butit also has a message which isso important for youth. Itteaches you in a fun mannerrather than by preaching.”

Tara apprises us thatthe film has many dis-parate facets to it. Thereis an emphasis on kab-badi. Then there areTiger’s dance andaction moves forwhich he is loved.About her character,she says that Mia ismuch like the youth oftoday. “She is verystrong, independentand knows what shewants and when shewants. I don’t com-pletely relate to herbecause we are oppositesin certain ways and that’swhere the exciting partcomes in as you get to play ver-satile roles. She does make mis-takes in the film but then shetries to redeem herself, which allof us do as the youth. So I havelearned that it’s okay to make mis-takes.”

Ananya completely relates toher character. She says, “Shreya isextremely loud, expressive andconfident. She doesn’t take ‘no’for an answer, is super passion-ate and a fighter as well. These

qualities match perfectly with the onesI had since school. Now that I am grow-ing up, they are even more visible. I couldalso relate so much with Poo’s characterin Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham andShanaya in Student of The Year. SoShreya’s character is a lot like how girlsare today. They can look up to her.”

Ask Ananya and Tara about whatdoes it mean to be a modern Indianwoman? They both strongly feel thatwomen are more fierce and independentthan before. Ananya says, “It is obviousfrom the fact that there are two girls inthe film with strong roles and differentcharacters. It’s so lovely to see that twowomen are given so much importanceand it’s high time. I feel empowered. Thefreedom women have these days is laud-able. No one is scared to be herself.”

Tara agrees with her and adds, “It’sactually a very exciting time as a youngwoman. The fact that we are produc-

ing, directing, writing, acting,doing everything in everysphere of life is something

which has changed over theyears. There’s hasn’t beena better time for womenin general. And it’s show-ing in our films. There’sno stopping us.”

There is always a flipside to being an actor

and talking about actors’private lives being under

constant watch. Link-up rumoursare a part and parcel of beingunder the spotlight. It has beenno different for Tara, who is

rumoured to be dating actorSidharth Malhotra. Tara said,“We were completely expectingthis to be a part of our journey.

We have just begun. But I think some-times it is fun to read these things. It’sflattering in a way that people care andwant to know about us.”

Tara ventured into showbiz in2010 with Big Bada Boom and was seenin shows like The Suite Life of Karan &

Kabir, Best of Luck Nikki and OyeJassie.

(The film directed by PunitMalhotra, will hit the theatres onMay 10.)

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Belonging to a large family innorthern, rural Bangladesh,Tayeba Begum Lipi,Bangladesh’s most avant gardeartist has an early memory of

secretly witnessing her sister-in-law giv-ing birth at home. Done under the careof a midwife, who cut the umbilical cordwith a razor blade sterilised in boilingwater. The 11th among the 12 childrenin her home, she says that she could stillhear the water boiling. The blade is Lipi’smetaphor. It is her message and a medi-um in the art of provenance.

The artist has taken over the artworld with her sculptures that are creat-ed out of stainless steel blades. She saysshe loves places that have living memo-ries and histories. Lipi’s exhibition justopened at the Sundaram Tagore Galleryin New York to rave reviews and a hostof curious gallery-goers.

Feminine everyday objectsBest known for her use of razor

blades, Lipi employs them in sculpturesof feminine everyday objects: handbags,dresses, bras, bathtubs, baby strollers,shoes and even a sewing machine.

The birthing event remains embla-soned on Lipi’s mind. Reminiscent ofFreud’s ‘primal scene,’ the razor bladesymbolises her recognition of her ownentry into the world, entanglements oflove, domesticity and physical pain. Hersculptures with glimmering chains ofblades, expose matrimonial paradoxes inrural Bangladesh: pathos-filled stories ofpatriarchy in the world of Muslimwomen and also bring upon us imagesof all that is beautiful and inviting, butspeak of pain and death and danger.

Bangladeshi MuslimsLipi’s work has been profoundly

influenced by the September 11 attacksin New York in 2001 and the July 7,London bombings in 2005. Her country-men’s responses to these events and how

the world subsequently treatsBangladeshi Muslims. She recalls expe-riencing racial discrimination duringtravels in Europe prior to 2001 — whereshe participated in residencies, exhibi-tions and workshops — and it noticeablyintensified afterward. As an artist, shealso observed Bangladeshis at homeand abroad suddenly questioning theirown identity and felt compelled toannounce their allegiance to their faith.“People felt that they had to stick to onlyone identity,” Lipi noted and added, “So,they turned to religion.”

Dissent and protestI distinctly recall seeing the bikinis

at the India Art Fair. There is a strikingway in which these undergarments

appear to be animated, despite the factthat no bodies inhabit them. The appar-ent fragility of Comfy Bikinis (2013) isbelied by the realisation that the inter-locking safety pins, which are used to cre-ate the piece, actually form a shield forthe wearer. Upon realising that theobjects we normally wear or sit on areforged from hazardous materials, Lipi’ssculptures become sites of dissent andprotest.

She wields razor blades to addressviolence against women — and this iswhat sets her apart as an artist. To drawattention to the excesses of violenceagainst women is one of Lipi’s primarygoals. In doing so, she gives voice to theanonymous, often invisible, women ofBangladesh.

Fear and oppression She crafts the likeness of common-

place items like handbags, bathtubs andstrollers from the small, menacing stripsof metal, mainly to address the cultureof fear and oppression that defines dailylives in Bangladesh. “I did not even thinkabout why I was choosing it. I was onlylooking for a sharp, violent readymadeobject that could express my reaction tothe vulnerable political situation in bothBangladesh and Pakistan,” the artistsaid. “At some point, I questioned why Iwas attracted to this object, and then Ifound my answer in a childhood mem-ory,” added she.

Perils of a society Lipi fuses intimate subject matter

with aggressive materiality, reflecting onthe personal and political perils of a sti-fling society. “My work always express-es a paradoxical human condition that ahuman being experiences in a countrylike Bangladesh,” she explains. “Being insuch a society, a woman’s experience iscompletely different than the experienceof a man.”

She identifies a duality in her envi-ronment and translates it viscerally intothe personal experiences of her work.When you glance at her sculptures, theymake a statement — they are luminousyet delicate in a surreal way. They lookuncanny from afar, but terribly pain-inducing from up close.

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Not much is known aboutthe Dard Aryans, one ofthe ancient peoples who

are known to still live by age-oldcultural practices and beliefsdespite facing many odds. Theyare considered to be ever-vigilantsoldiers defending our frontiersalong with our Army. It is theirspirit of deep valour and couragethat needs to be saluted by com-mon mortals like us.

Their life is captured in pho-tographs by Virendra Bangroo atthe India International Centre(IIC). The images combine his-tory and the call for attention toa dwindling tribe that needs sus-tenance.

RICH CULTURAL LEGACYThe Aryan Valley of Ladakh

boasts a colourful and rich lega-cy of the Dard Aryans inhabitingthe area. According to Bangroo,the Dardic languages are a sub-group of the Indo-Aryan lan-guages natively spoken in north-ern Pakistan’s Gilgit Baltistanand Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,Jammu and Kashmir and easternAfghanistan. They speak a dis-tinct dialect of Dard-Shina,which is also known among thepeople of Ladakh as Brokskat.Interestingly, they have a dialectbut no script.

HILLSIDE PEOPLEBangroo, an assistant profes-

sor at the Indira Gandhi NationalCentre for the Arts (IGNCA),says “The word Dard itself comesfrom Daradas, which roughlytranslates into people who live onthe hillsides.” Bangroo, who hasspent years studying this commu-nity, states that the people of thisethnic community are also lin-guistically and culturally differ-ent from those living in otherparts of Ladakh. His images havea poignancy that we cannot miss.

The photographer gives uscluster of images that speak of theethnicity and rich symbolism inclothes, jewellery and distinctiveand colourful head gears. “ABrokpa tribal is identified by acolourful head gear called Tepithat has various colourful propsattached, embellished with berryflowers,” says Bangroo. The Tepi,they believe, wards off the evileye. The women wear heavymetal, gold and silver jewelleryalong with full-length sheep skincapes and sheep wool pherans.While it might look heavy, it alsolooks exotic and vintage in termsof design and allure. What enticesare the old metal coins which area compulsory part of the acces-sories.

METAL TO PREVENT SICKNESS

The men too have their own

unique customs in costume, theymostly wear maroon gowns withcummerbunds. There is a beliefthat metal worn on the body pre-vents sickness.

With absolutely no medicalfacilities in the past being farremoved from urban settlements,it seems that their head gears areworn for intrinsic meaning —each prop on the head gear hasa significant medicinal purpose.

The seven-coloured ribbons wardoff any ailments caused by thesun or sudden kinds of sicknessthat are related to the eclipses.The silver brooches ward offplanetary influences and the pea-cock feathers ward off paralyses.

BUDDHIST LEANINGSMany of them converted to

Buddhism nearly two centuriesago, the Dards as a group are fol-lowers of the Drigung Kagyu lin-eage of Mahayana Buddhism.Bangroo’s research also statesthat some members of the com-munity, particularly those onthe other side of the Line ofControl (LOC), are primarilyShia Muslims. What is deeplystirring is their belief in living inharmony with nature. Also, thefact that they still follow age-old,traditional customs of worship-ping rivers, trees and mountainsand also practice a form of ani-mism, a tradition which, accord-ing to some, hails from as far as5,000 years ago.

Bangroo belongs to the groupof scholars at the IGNCA, whichhas has had an immensely vitalcontribution in the mapping ofintangible cultural heritage of ourcountry. Bangroo, has in hisresearch, traversed the lengthand breadth of the Himalayas andworked for the preservation ofethnic cultural pockets which hasseen leaps and bounds in connec-tivity.

His work for this communi-ty in creating awareness about therich cultural diversity of theregion becomes a boon and a life-line of sorts. Through his works,we see two community museumsin the Aryan Valley, which havebecome role model institutionsfor safeguarding the cultural her-itage and sustainable develop-ment in the region.

(The show runs till 13 May.)

An exhibition of photographs byJuhi Saklani showcases thedemolished houses of Delhi’s

Sarojini Nagar and Netaji Nagar, juxta-posed with the banyan, peepul, neemand semal trees of these areas. It is cur-rently open at the Delhi PhotoCompany’s new gallery here.

The show, titled Human/Nature,focusses on the loss of Delhi’s trees as thecity’s old housing colonies undergoredevelopment. It was previously onpublic view at the Photosphere at theIndia Habitat Centre (IHC) here. “In myphotographs, these threatened treesand demolished houses are still tryingto co-exist,” said the artist, for whomDelhi’s redevelopment means loss of aquality of life that was full of trees, birds,cleaner air, and a gentler pace of living.

“In our cities, faced with critical lev-els of air pollution and severe depletionof groundwater, the only smart city plan-ning is to integrate old standing trees intoour project designs. To cut trees andcompensate by planting saplings else-where, or to transplant the trees intoalien soil where they slowly die, is nosolution,” she added.

There are no people in the pho-tographs to mirror the absence of peo-ple from the planning processes anddecision making, said Saklani. The

ruined houses and trees glowing inevening light create a surreal effect,framed in old, broken window framesof the kind used in government hous-ing. The exhibition will run till June 2at Janpath’s DPC Gallery. F0+��

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Liverpool emerged victorious from abruising battle against Newcastle toremain in the hunt for the Premier

League title, but may have sustained toomany wounds to summon a ChampionsLeague semi-final comeback againstBarcelona on Tuesday.

A late double from Lionel Messi inthe Camp Nou on Wednesday has leftJurgen Klopp's men with a mountain toclimb to overturn a 3-0 first leg defeat ifthey are to reach a second consecutiveChampions League final.

Liverpool have overcome suchdeficits before in the Champions League,most famously in the 2005 final againstAC Milan.

But hopes of another famousEuropean comeback at fortress Anfieldwere dealt a blow when Mohamed Salahwas stretchered off with a head knock asLiverpool edged out Newcastle 3-2 onSaturday to move two points ahead ofManchester City at the top of the PremierLeague.

Salah watched a thrilling end to thematch at St James' Park in the dressingroom as his replacement Divock Origiheaded home fellow substitute XherdanShaqiri's free-kick four minutes fromtime.

Origi, who also scored a 96th-minute winner to beat Everton in theMerseyside derby in December, Shaqiriand Daniel Sturridge have made impor-

tant contributions in a supporting role toa club record points tally for Liverpoolthis season.

However, with Roberto Firminoalready ruled out due to a groin injury,few would give Liverpool any hope ofoverhauling a three-goal deficit withouttwo of their prolific front three.

Klopp therefore has a difficult balanc-ing act deciding whether it is worth emp-tying the tank of his injury-hit squad oncemore on Tuesday or to save their legs forWolves' visit to Anfield on the final dayof the Premier League season.

Despite a sensational season,Liverpool's chances of winning either tro-phy are fading.

To have any hope of a first league titlein 29 years, Klopp's men must hope thatManchester City's relentless run of 12straight league wins comes to an endeither at home to Leicester in their gamein hand on Monday, or at Brighton comeSunday.

Barcelona will also not be complacentheading to Anfield a year on from lettinga 4-1 first leg lead against Roma slip awayin the quarter-finals.

Messi made it clear from before theseason began that the Champions Leaguewas his and Barca's primary target in hisfirst campaign as club captain.

Moreover, while Liverpool toiledon Tyneside, Barca coach ErnestoValverde had the luxury of making 11changes for an inconsequential 2-0 defeatto Celta Vigo having already wrapped up

the Spanish title.Yet, Origi's winner at Newcastle

personified Liverpool's persistence andrefusal to give up.

Four times in their last seven leagueoutings Liverpool have won the game inthe final 10 minutes.

Now they must harness the samebelief if Barca are to be given a fright atAnfield.

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Pep Guardiola has suggested remaining incontrol of this season's relentless Premier

League title race is his most satisfying achieve-ment as a manager.

The Manchester City boss says the Englishtop division is the toughest domestic compe-tition he has faced during a 10-season coach-ing career that has brought him 25 trophies.

City have won 12 Premier League match-es in a row, and are on course to finish just twoshort of matching last season's competitionrecord of 100 points, yet they are beingpushed all the way by Liverpool, who have setextraordinary standards of their own.

Jurgen Klopp's side have lost just once inthe league all season, against City in January,and recorded their eighth successive top-flightvictory on Saturday, beating Newcastle 3-2 toreturn to the top of the table.

City have a game in hand, at home toLeicester on Monday, but are likely to have towin both that and their final league match atBrighton on Sunday to retain their title.

"Yeah, it's the toughest league I've everplayed as a manager, because of the quality ofthe rivals," said Guardiola, a former managerof both Barcelona and Bayern Munich.

"No doubts. That's why being there isincredible. But, of course, only one will takethe prize and the other one will be at home sad."

�� ������5���HGuardiola is thrilled his City players have

maintained their standards following last sea-son's record-breaking points total, with the clubthree wins away from completing an unprece-dented domestic treble of Premier League, FACup and League Cup.

"Arriving at this stage, two games left with92 points, after 100 points last season, beingthere, that is the most satisfaction I've had as

a manager,” the Catalan manager said."It's not easy, honestly. And they did it

again. Now, we try to win against Leicester andthen go to the final league game at Brightonwith it in our hands, with a chance to be cham-pions." The standard of this season's title racehas rarely been equalled at the highest level ofEnglish football.

Since the rules were changed in 1981 tomake a win worth three points, only once has

a top-flight team finished with more than 95points, and that was City last season.

Yet both City and Liverpool are on courseto pass that total this time around; Klopp'steam have 94 points with one match left, athome to Wolves on Sunday.

Guardiola suggested Liverpool are one ofthe two best sides he has ever faced as a man-ager, with the other being the Barcelona teamthat thrashed City 4-0 in a 2016 ChampionsLeague meeting.

"The difference is Liverpool. We did thesame job (as last season), he said.

"In my career as a manager, I playedagainst incredible sides. There are two thatwere 'wow'. One is Barcelona with LuisEnrique, with Neymar, Lionel Messi and LuisSuarez in front. The other is this Liverpool. Ithink they're the best two sides I've faced asa manager.

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Dries Mertens on Sunday over-took club legend Diego

Maradona in Napoli's all-time SerieA scorers list after bagging his 82stgoal in a 2-1 win over Cagliari whichsealed second place in this season.

The Belgian striker headed inthe equaliser after 85 minutes in

Naples to surpass formerArgentinian ace Maradona, who hit81 league goals between 1984 and1991.

Mertens is now the third bestSerie A scorer in the club's history,behind Antonio Vojak, who hit arecord 102 league goals between1929 and 1935 and SlovakianMarek Hamsik, who achieved 100before leaving to play in China thisseason.

"I'm very happy to have over-taken Maradona and to be a part ofNapoli's history," said Mertens, 31,who arrived in southern Italy in

2013 from PSV Eindhoven."We must be proud of the our

second place.""The future? If I want to score

goals in Italy I have to stay. I havealways said that I feel good here, Ihave a contract for next year and Iam very happy to stay here."

Hamsik has scored the mostgoals in all competitions for Napoli

with 121, followedby Maradona on115 with Mertensnow joint third on107 with AttilaSallustro.

Mertens saidhe is enjoying play-ing under CarloAncelotti who

took over from Maurizio Sarri thisseason.

"With Ancelotti my role haschanged. The place behind thestriker is mine. I have more free-dom and it shows."

Mertens has scored 14 goalsthis season including the last threegames.

Both of Napoli's Serie A titleswere won under Maradona in 1987and 1990.

The club are 16 points behindchampions Juventus but 10 aheadof third-placed Inter Milan withthree games to play.

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Playing against a world class team likeAustralia will provide good exposure

to youngsters and will boost the confi-dence of the team ahead of next month'sFIH men's Hockey Series Final, feelsIndia captain Manpreet Singh.

The India team travel Down Under forfive matches starting on Wednesday. Thetour, marked as a preparation for nextmonth's Hockey Series Final inBhubaneswar, will be newly-appointedchief coach Graham Reid's maiden assign-ment with the team.

The men's side will play two match-es each against the Australian nationalteam and Australia A and a lone gameagainst the Western AustraliaThundersticks club.

"Playing a world class team likeAustralia ahead of the important Series inJune will only help build our confidence.We had a good tournament in Malaysia inMarch and some of the youngsters did wellthere," Manpreet said.

"While Jaskaran Singh will make hisinternational debut, it will be Gursahibjit'ssecond tournament with the Indian teamand Armaan Qureshi is also returning to

the team after a long gap. I am confidentthese players will live up to the expecta-tions. It will be good exposure for themagainst the world No 2 side," he added.

The team boasts of an interesting mixof experienced players and newcomers.And Reid will look to test all combina-tions ahead of the Hockey Series Final,where India needs to finish on top toensure a place in the final round of theOlympic qualifier scheduled in Octoberthis year.

India began its season with a Silvermedal at the 28th Sultan Azlan Shah Cupin Ipoh, Malaysia and will hope to keepup the good show.

Talking about the ideology of the newcoach, Manpreet said Reid emphasises onhaving team players rather than relyingon individual performances.

"The new coach constantly remindsus why a team player holds more value tohim than an individual player with excel-lent skill set.

"He also instills winning mentality inevery player and confident body languagehas also been an area of focus apart fromgame-specific tactics over the past threeweeks of training under Graham Reid,"Manpreet said.

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�� ������ Liverpool will be with-out top scorer Mohamed Salah forTuesday's semi-final, second legafter manager Jurgen Klopp revealedhe was concussed in a 3-2 win atNewcastle.

The Egyptian was stretcheredoff at St James' Park on Saturday dueto a head knock sustained as hechallenged Newcastle goalkeeperMartin Dubravka for a high ball.

"It's a concussion so that meanshe would not even be allowed toplay. So that's it," said Klopp at hispre-match press conference onMonday.

"He feels OK but it is not goodenough from a medical point ofview that is all. He's desperate (toplay) everything but we cannot doit."

Klopp will also be withoutBrazilian striker Roberto Firminodue to a groin injury.

"Two of the world's best strikersare not available tomorrow nightand we have to score four goalsagainst Barcelona to go throughafter 90 minutes," added Klopp.

"It doesn't make life easier, butas long as we have 11 players on thepitch, we will try it." AFP

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David Warner hit a quickfire39 and Steve Smith 22 on

Monday in their first appearancefor Australia since a major ball-tampering scandal as the hometeam edged a second-stringNew Zealand by one wicket ina practice match.

The Australians were set atarget of 216 at Allan BorderField in Brisbane as they warmup for their World Cup defence,and scraped home with 10 ballsto spare thanks to a tail-end res-cue act.

They have now won nineone-dayers in a row, althoughthis was an unofficial game andnot counted as a full internation-al.

Skipper Aaron Finch con-tinued his rich vein of formwith a measured 52, but fellowopener Usman Khawaja fellcheaply — bringing Warner tothe crease, to warm applausefrom the crowd.

He survived a droppedcatch on nought before clickinginto gear and turning on theform that saw him average69.20 in 12 innings in theIndian Premier League.

Warner hammered 39 off43 balls before falling to leg-spinner Todd Astle attempting

a reverse sweep.That brought out Smith

who started nervously beforehitting a pair of boundaries. Hespent 43 balls in the middlebefore being caught behind offMatt Henry.

It was the pair's first gamein Australian colours sinceserving year-long bans for theirpart in the "Sandpaper-gate"ball-tampering scandal.

After Smith departed,Australia lost five for 42 beforean impressive 34 from NathanCoulter-Nile helped steer themhome.

Earlier, Pat Cumminsgrabbed two wickets in hisfirst over before New Zealand,missing Kane Williamson,Martin Guptill and Trent Boult,recovered to post respectable215 off 46.1 overs

Tom Blundell led the fight-back and top scored with 77.Cummins ended with 3-36 offeight overs, with NathanCoulter-Nile and JasonBehrendorff also grabbing threeapiece.

Australia play another twogames against New Zealand thisweek before heading to Englandwhere they open their WorldCup campaign againstAfghanistan on June 1 inBristol.

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Former India skipper Dilip Vengsarkarbelieves that the Virat-Kohli led team has

a "fantastic chance" to lift the upcomingWorld Cup, which begins on May 30 in UnitedKingdom.

"India has got a fantastic chance to win theWorld Cup. At-least last four they will go def-initely. But the final, I can't predict to be hon-est. But we have got extreme potential and allthe players are (in) good form," Vengsarkartold reporters here on Monday.

Vengsarkar, who is the mentor of the T20Mumbai League, was speaking after the organ-isers Mumbai Cricket Association announcedits second season which will begin from May14. League's ambassador Sachin Tendulkar andmentor Sunil Gavaskar were also present.

Tendulkar too praised the League."T20 Mumbai League is soon going to be

a league that most of the players from acrossthe nation will want to participate in. For somany years, the (way) Ranji Trophy team hasplayed, if given a choice a number of playerswould have wanted to be part of Mumbai RanjiTrophy because the brand of cricket was dif-ferent and everyone wanted to be part of it,"said Tendulkar.

Tendulkar also said Mumbai still has

enough talent."I don't think we are down in the dumps

at all. There have been occasions where wehave gone to the semis and final (in the RanjiTrophy). I feel with this T20 League's perfor-mance, as (Sunil) Gavaskar put it correctly, anumber of careers started.

Gavaskar urged the MCA authorities toschedule the league before the IPL auction.

"Shivam Dube got an IPL contract after(playing in T20 Mumbai League), SuryakumarYadav also got a big contract and I am prettycertain that there will be many more comingfrom this league, who will be wanted by theIPL franchises for the next season," saidGavaskar.

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Handed a reality check intheir last league fixture,defending champions

Chennai Super Kings wouldbank on home advantage to sealtheir place in the summit clashwhen they take on a confidentMumbai Indians in theQualifier 1 of the IPL here atChepauk Stadium on Tuesday.

After the gruelling leaguephase of the ongoing IPL, thestage is set for the play-offs withCSK and MI clashing againsteach other for a place in May 12final.

There is hardly anything todifferentiate between the twosides as both CSK and MI havewon the title three times earli-er.

The Mahendra SinghDhoni-led CSK has been patchyafter a strong start and finishedits league engagements with asix-wicket defeat to Kings XI

Punjab at Mohali on Sunday.But CSK will be happy to

return to their den to take ontable-topper MI, probably itsbiggest IPL rival, to decidewhich team seals a spot in theMay 12 final.

CSK boasts of a tremen-dous record at home this sea-son, winning six of its sevengames at the M AChidambaram Stadium hereand come on Tuesday, it willact as a big advantage for thehosts.

A defeat, however, will pro-vide both the teams a secondchance in Qualifier 2 on May10.

The CSK top-order hasfired in fits and starts in theleague phase and will need tocome out all guns blazingagainst a formidable MI bowl-ing attack that includes JaspritBumrah (17 wickets), LasithMalinga (15 wickets), thePandya brothers (Hardik 14

wickets and Krunal 10 wick-ets), leggie Rahul Chahar (10wickets) and possibly MitchellMcClenaghan.

Skipper Dhoni (CSK'shighest run-getter with 368runs from 12 matches, 3 fifties)has been the mainstay of arather inconsistent CSK battingunit and along with openersShane Watson and Faf duPlessis and Suresh Raina holdsthe key in Saturday's game asthe usually fluent AmbatiRayudu has struggled to getgoing.

CSK, however, will miss theservices of the Kedar Jadhav,who sustained a freak shoulder

injury in the match againstKings XI.

But Jadhav wasn't in thebest of form and his absencewould open up a spot for eitherMurali Vijay or Dhruv Shorey.

Bowling has been CSK'sstrong point so far this seasonand becomes even more potenton M A Chidambaram stadi-um's sluggish wicket.

Imran Tahir (21 scalps), thesecond highest-wicket takerthis season after Kagiso Rabada(25), has been at the forefrontof an effective CSK spin trio,also including veteranHarbhajan Singh and RavindraJadeja (both with 13 wicketseach).

And the success of Tahir &Co against the powerful MIbatting line-up could very welldetermine the course of thematch.

MI captain Rohit Sharma(386 runs), the impressiveQuinton De Kock (492, third

leading run-scorer), HardikPandya (380) and KieronPollard will be hard to stoponce they get going and CSK'sbowlers have a tough task athand.

The onus would also be onthe ever-improving DeepakChahar, who has taken 16scalps so far, to pick up earlywickets for CSK and stifle therival batting line-up.

Going by the head-to-headrecord this year, MI holds theupperhand having won both itsencounters against CSK in thepreliminary phase.

MI head coach MahelaJayawardene would be aware ofthe job at hand and won't takeCSK lightly despite the Lions'recent wobbly form.

CSK will certainly receivea boost by playing the Qualifier1 at home with the crowd fullybacking the team in whatpromises to be a cracker of acontest.

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Kedar Jadhav’s tryst with injuriesjust don’t seem to end. After a

few rounds of hamstring injuries inthe past season, the vital cog in theIndian middle-order has now pickedup a shoulder injury with the 2019World Cup less than a month away.The injury happened during theChennai Super Kings match withKings XI Punjab on Sunday.

While Kedar walked off anddidn't take the field anymore, sourcesin the know of developments saidthat it looks more like an impactinjury and the player should be finein two weeks.

However, further participation in

the Indian Premier League is out ofquestion as the World Cup is justround the corner.

"He has an impact injury and itis always better to be safe thansorry. More than dislocation it lookslike a grade one trauma injury. Youcannot rule out a mild subluxationeither. But he should be fine in twoweeks.

"He will not be playing in theplayoffs as he needs to be fit whenthe Indian team leaves for the WorldCup," the source said.

Speaking after the game onSunday, CSK coach Stephen Fleminghad said that Kedar's focus wouldnow shift to the World Cup as hewouldn't be playing any more games

in the IPL."Kedar is getting an X-ray and a

scan tomorrow. We're hopeful forhim. I don't think we'll see him againin this tournament for us. So now hisattention will turn to what it lookslike for the World Cup. He's in somediscomfort but we just need to beaccurate with our assessmentstomorrow. Fingers crossed that it'snothing too serious," Fleming hadsaid.

The incident took place in the14th over of the KXIP innings whenKedar dived to his left to stop anoverthrow from Ravindra Jadeja.Having hurt his shoulder in theprocess, Kedar immediately left thefield with physio Tommy Simsek.

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Speedster Navdeep Saini wasimpressive in the ongoing

edition of the IPL and hasrightly caught the attention offormer England medium pacerDominic Cork, who says Indiawill have a "massive" future withhim.

Saini picked up 11 wicketsfor the Royal ChallengersBangalore (RCB) from 13matches and was their secondbest bowler after spinnerYuzvendra Chahal.

Though the Viral Kohli-ledteam failed to qualify for theplayoffs, the 26-year-old pacerwas impressive.

"For me when you look atNavdeep Saini, I think India willhave a massive future with. If weactually clip on him here and weplay.

"We need to see the deliv-eries with his pegs," Cork, a StarSports Select Dugout expert,

was quoted as saying in a mediarelease on Monday.

"The one thing I want to tellthese young bowlers is that it'sabout the head position. He(Saini) can be a little taller.

"It looks like he is just goingto fall away so he might put hisweight forward. So that is Saini,someone who is already verysuccessful in this game," added

Cork, who played 37 Tests forEngland.

Saini is one of the four pac-ers who will assist Team Indiain their ODI World Cup prepa-rations in England.

He will be a net bowler andhelp Team India during theWorld Cup along with threeothers, the BCCI hadannounced earlier.

Live on Star Sports 1& 2

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Explosive opener Smriti Mandhana lit up the open-ing game of the Women's T20 Challenge with an

entertaining 90 off 67 balls, guiding Trailblazers to2 runs thrilling win against Harmanpreet Kaur ledSupernovas.

Chasing 141 runs to win, Harmanpreet (46 notout) smashed four boundaries in the final over bowledby experienced Jhulan Goswami to help Supernovasreach close to win but needing 3 runs in the final ball,Lea Tahuhu got run out which lead to Mandhana sidesecure narrow 2 runs win.

Earlier batting first, Mandhana’s 90 runs helpTrailblazers pot 140 for five against Supernovas hereat Sawai Man Singh stadium on Monday.

After the early fall of New Zealand veteran SuzieBates, captain Mandhana anchored a 119-run standwith Harleen Deol (36 off 44), who struggled tochange gears on a slow surface at the Sawai MansinghStadium.

In fact, both Mandhana and Deol struggled to getgoing as Trailblazers crawled to 25 for one in six oversafter Harmanpreet Kaur-led Supernovas opted to field.

The BCCI is organising a bigger tournament forthe women in comparison to the inaugural editionlast year when only a one-off game was played. Fourout of the three games will be broadcast live on primetime unlike last year with an aim to attract a biggerTV audience.

At the venue, the stadium was far from full butthat did not affect Mandhana's batting. After gettingused to the slowness of the wicket, the southpaw wentfor her strokes and even smashed three sixes to gowith 10 fours.

Australians are not taking part in the event thistime owing to a scheduling dispute between the BCCIand Cricket Australia over men's ODI series.

Twelve foreigners from five countries are takingpart in the tournament and are distributed equallybetween the three teams.

Brief scores: Trailblazers: 140/5 in 20 overs(Smriti Mandhana 90, Harleen Deol 36; Radha Yadav2/28) beat Supernovas: 138/6 in 20 overs(Harmanpreet Kaur 46 not out, Sophie Devine 32;Sophie Ecclestone 2/11, Rajeshwari Gayakwad 2/17)by 2 runs.

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