16
A mid hectic political engagements in Uttar Pradesh, Congress general sec- retary Priyanka Gandhi on Friday fuelled speculation about the possibility of her con- testing Lok Sabha polls from Varanasi from where Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seeking re-election. While addressing a gath- ering in Ayodhya, Priyanka made a scathing attack on Modi accusing him of neglect- ing his Varanasi constituency and highlighted the lack of development work done there during the last five years. Priyanka told the media, “If the party asks me, I will fight from anywhere.” When a party worker asked her to contest from Rae Bareli, she said, “Shouldn’t I fight from Varanasi?” The Congress incharge of eastern UP has asked party workers to inform the people about the alleged unfulfilled promises of the Modi Government, particularly the problems in Varanasi. While Congress sources too indicated that this could be a surprise last minute decision, party president Rahul Gandhi provided grist to the mill by telling news agency PTI in an interview that it was up to Priyanka to decide if she wants to contest election or not. Referring to her recent visit to Varanasi, Priyanka said she was told about the road from the airport to the city when she asked about “devel- opment” in the area. She claimed only 15 km of a 150- km road sanctioned by the pre- vious Congress Government has been built there, and when people drive away from the air- port it is full of potholes. Claiming Modi did not care about Varanasi, she said, “I was told that in the past five years he has not visited even a single village in his con- stituency though he has been travelling all over the country and abroad.” Priyanka visited the Hanuman Garhi temple in Ayodhya, but kept away from the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid site. She said, “The Government’s focus is only on helping the rich, making the rich, richer. They have money for the businessmen, but not for the poor.” Claiming that Modi retained the MGNREGA scheme on coming to power despite criticising it, Priyanka said, “But funds are not being given to the scheme for six months. They are giving the money to contractors... They want to close the scheme.” Priyanaka accused the Modi Government of trying to destroy democracy and con- stitutional institutions. “I have seen the truth in the leaking roofs of the weavers’ houses, in the eyes of the farmer who said that only the rich have a chowkidar (watchman),” she said in an indirect reference to Modi’s “I am a chowkidar too’ campaign. F ormer cricketer Kirti Azad, a sitting MP from Darbhanga, who recently joined the Congress does not figure in the list of grand alliance candidates from Bihar after the RJD refused to give up its claim on the contentious seat of Darbhanga in the heart of the Mithilanchal region. Following this, sulking Congress leaders kept away from the joint Press conference addressed by RJD leader Tejashwai Yadav in Patna to announce the candidate of the Mahagathbandhan. The Congress has announced the name of eight of the nine candidates who will be in the fray from Bihar. Kirti still has a chance of contesting from the State if he is nomi- nated from the Valmiki Nagar seat, which is in the Congress’ kitty and for which the party has not named its candidate. It was clear that despite being in jail, RJD chief Lalu Prasad called the shots in the distribution of seats and nom- ination of the candidates of the grand alliance. The denial of ticket to Kirti Azad is a per- sonal setback for Congress president Rahul Gandhi, who is reported to have assured Kirti Azad that he would be fielded from Darbhanga. As per the seat-sharing formula, the RJD has got 20 seats, out of which it is giving up one for the ultra-Left party; the Congress has nine, followed by five for Upendra Kushwaha’s RLSP and three each for Jitan Ram Manjhi’s HAM and Mukesh Sahni’s VIP. The announcement of the grand alliance candidates was made by Tejashwi, but absence of senior Congress leaders on the occasion showed the party’s displeasure over arm-twisting by the RJD. RLSP leader and former Union Minister Upendra Kushwaha too is reported to be sulking because the RJD wants him to accommodate at least one RJD nominee from his quota. Tejashwi, announced the candidature of his sister Misa Bharti from Pataliputra, Congress’ Meira Kumar from Sasaram and RJD leader Abdul Bari Siddiqui from Darbhanga. Siddiqui is a senior leader and has held important Ministries besides having served as Leader of Opposition in the State Assembly. Also in the con- tention for the seat was Md Ashraf Fatmi, a RJD strongman and a close associate Lalu. Fatmi, who represented Darbhanga in the past, was runner-up in 2014. Tejashwi also announced that the RJD would be fielding Tanveer Hassan in Begusarai, the party candidate who came in second in 2014, a decision that may queer the pitch for CPI’s Kanhaiya Kumar, who is taking on firebrand BJP leader Giriraj Singh. N early a month after India's air strikes on terror camps in Balakot, the Pakistan Army for the first time conducted a media tour to Balakot in an apparent attempt to refute the news of the strikes that caused substantial damage and casu- alties to Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM). The nearly five-hour tour on Thursday saw a team of eight Pakistani journalists shooting videos of the site, which was partially covered by tarpaulin sheets. Sources said the visit was delayed for nearly a month in an attempt to change the nar- rative about damage and casu- alties by repairing the infra- structure there as a cover-up. The team was flown in a special military helicopter. The media persons interacted with nearly 300 children staying in a madrasa run by JeM there. The group had claimed responsibility for carrying out a suicide attack in Pulwama in Kashmir on February 14 killing 40 CRPF personnel. Sources said here on Friday the site was heavily guarded by the troops of Frontier Corps, a paramili- tary unit of Pakistan. The Balakot camp is locat- ed at the tri-junction of Pakistan Punjab, Balochistan and North-West Frontier Province (NWFP). The IAF carried out air strikes reportedly destroying the JeM’s biggest training camp in Balakot on February 26 and Pakistan retaliated the next day by intruding into India in Rajouri sector in an attempt to target military installations there. An aerial combat ensued wherein Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman flying a MIG-21 shot down F-16 jet of Pakistan Air Force. However, his jet was also shot down by Pakistan air defence and he ejected in POK. Abhinandan was captured by Pakistan and released two days later as a “peace gesture”. I n a tragic incident, eight passengers, including a minor and two women, were killed while 30 others sus- tained injuries after a private- ly-operated bus rammed into a tanker on the Yamuna Expressway in Greater Noida on Friday around 5 am. The bus was heading to Delhi from Uttar Pradesh’s Jalaun district when the inci- dent under the jurisdiction of Rabupura police station. The deceased have been identified as bus driver Mahesh Kumar (48), helper Bandu (25), pas- sengers Vineeta (32), Arun (42), Asad (12), Suman (35) and Vishwanath Tiwari (75). The passengers were from Jalaun, while the driver and helper hailed from Dhaulpur in Rajasthan. Three women and three children were among the 30 injured who hailed from Auraiya, Jalaun, Phaphund and Noida. “Eight people were killed and 30 injured in the incident. The victims were rushed to nearby Kailash Hospital in Jewar. The speeding bus rammed into a tanker which was moving relatively slow,” said Sharat Chandra Sharma, the Circle Officer (CO) of Jewar sub-division. “The exact cause of the incident is yet to be confirmed, but prima facie it appears the driver was a bit drowsy. The tanker was moving slowly and the speeding bus could have comfortably overtaken it, but instead rammed into it,” said Sharma. Condoling the deaths, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath tweeted, “I am saddened by the demise of eight people in a bus accident in Greater Noida today. Praying for the peace of the departed souls and strength to their families. Also wishing speedy recovery to the passengers injured in the accident.” Earlier, an official spokesperson in Lucknow said the CM had taken prompt cognisance of the accident and issued directions to top officials to provide immediate relief to the victims. A n environment panel on Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) has called for a study on likely impact of the vibration of the proposed Ahmedabad- Mumbai Bullet train on the mudflats and adjoining man- groves in Thane Creek Flamingo Sanctuary, which hosts over 1 lakh flamingoes (Lesser and Greater Flamingo) every year. An Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) in its meet- ing on March 18 sought a study while giving condition- al clearance to the proposed 1,08,000-crore project of the National High Speed Rail Corporation Ltd (NHSRC). The standing committee of the National Board of Wildlife (NBWL) in January had given a go-ahead for the diversion of over 100 hectares from around and three acres from the Thane Creek Flamingo Wildlife Sanctuary, over 110 hectares (forest/non forest land) from the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, and over five hectares from the Tungareshwar Wildlife Sanctuary. The mudflats near Thane Creek Flamingos Sanctuary are a rich feeding ground for the Flamingos who arrive in droves from Kutch. There are concerns that the intense vibra- tion due to the Bullet train will disturb ecosystem of the mud- flats which also supports a large number of birds includ- ing stints, grey herons, black- headed ibis, sandpipers, plovers and egrets, who feed on a vari- ety of marine life. The panel headed by Deepak Arun Apte noted that the area is already under stress due to the construction of Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL) and Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA) and other ongoing projects. Part of the Railway Ministry’s “Indian Railway Vision 2020” that aims at mod- ernisation of the existing con- ventional lines, enhancing capacity and developing high speed railway lines, the Bullet train project involves a dedi- cated track of about 508 kilo- metres including 155.6 kms in Maharashtra, 348.2 kms in Gujarat and 4.3 kms in Dadra and Nagar Haveli. The high- speed train corridor was inau- gurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe in Ahmedabad in September, 2017. It is expect- ed to be ready by 2022. The EAC refused to give in to the NHSRC contention that “there are no studies known and is not possible to predict the impact of vibrations till the work starts.” The Committee also observed that the conservation and management plan for Thane Creek Flamingo pre- pared by Zoological Survey of India is inadequate to highlight the impact of vibration on mudflats and flamingoes. It requires major revision, it noted even as it appreciated the project proponent move to take tunnel route to avoid direct destruction of mudflat or mangrove in the Thane Creek region. However, it disagreed their view that “impacts cannot be studied”. C ongress leader Hardik Patel’s plans to contest Lok Sabha election hit a roadblock on Friday as the Gujarat High Court rejected his plea seeking a stay to his conviction in the 2015 Vispur rioting case. As the last date for filing of nominations is April 4, the Patidar leader has a little time to approach the Supreme Court to challenge the ruling. Patel had started prepara- tions to contest from Jamnagar on a Congress ticket after join- ing the party on March 12. Polling for 26 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat will be held on April 23. Detailed report on P8 Bhopal: Alleging that liquor mafia was having free run in his constituency a Congress legislator tendered his resigna- tion to Chief Minister Kamal Nath here on Friday. The MLA from Dharampuri in Dhar Panchilal Meda reached Bhopal on Friday to meet Nath and hand over his resignation personally. Interestingly, the liquor contractor from the con- stituency Phoolbadan Singh had lodged a complaint to police a few days ago that MLA’s men had abducted and took him to legislator’s office, bashed him seeking Rs 20 lakh from him and threatened to eliminate him if he did not pay the demanded sum. In response, the MLA had accused the liquor contractor of presenting fabricated story to cover his illegal transporta- tion of liquor. Meanwhile, Meda who reached the state capital on Friday claimed he was insult- ed by liquor mafia and was kept in police station for over four hours on false charges and administration hadn’t helped him. Talking to the media per- sons here on Friday, Meda claimed liquor mafia was hav- ing free run in Dhar and administration was not acting against it. “I am a devotee of river Narmada and have been fighting against liquor mafia and illegal sale of illicit liquor,” he said, alleging that liquor contractors connived against him and threatened him besides addressing him with caste specific words. The MLA claimed his pleas to remove liquor shops in Dhamnaud and Sundail fell on deaf ears and police and district admin- istration did not help him on this. The MLA however delinked his move from Lok Sabha polls saying this has nothing to the polls and he would continue to remain in Congress and serve the public even if his resignation is accept- ed. The lawmaker had also hinted that he may not resign if his demands of removing liquor shops and removing top administrative officers were accepted. The high drama ensued soon after the news of MLA’s resignation went viral and Home minister Bala Bachchan called on him in Bhopal and had close door meetings. MLA’s supporters also created ruckus. Minister Pradyumn Singh Tomar also had rushed to the spot. SR RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd. No. L-2/BPLON/41/2006-2008 C M Y K C M Y K

C M Y K - The Pioneer€¦ · Gujarat and 4.3 kms in Dadra and Nagar Haveli. The high-speed train corridor was inau-gurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart

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Page 1: C M Y K - The Pioneer€¦ · Gujarat and 4.3 kms in Dadra and Nagar Haveli. The high-speed train corridor was inau-gurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart

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Amid hectic politicalengagements in Uttar

Pradesh, Congress general sec-retary Priyanka Gandhi onFriday fuelled speculationabout the possibility of her con-testing Lok Sabha polls fromVaranasi from where PrimeMinister Narendra Modi isseeking re-election.

While addressing a gath-ering in Ayodhya, Priyankamade a scathing attack onModi accusing him of neglect-ing his Varanasi constituencyand highlighted the lack ofdevelopment work done thereduring the last five years.

Priyanka told the media, “Ifthe party asks me, I will fightfrom anywhere.”

When a party worker askedher to contest from Rae Bareli,she said, “Shouldn’t I fightfrom Varanasi?”

The Congress incharge ofeastern UP has asked partyworkers to inform the peopleabout the alleged unfulfilledpromises of the ModiGovernment, particularly theproblems in Varanasi.

While Congress sourcestoo indicated that this could bea surprise last minute decision,party president Rahul Gandhiprovided grist to the mill bytelling news agency PTI in aninterview that it was up toPriyanka to decide if she wantsto contest election or not.

Referring to her recentvisit to Varanasi, Priyanka saidshe was told about the roadfrom the airport to the city

when she asked about “devel-opment” in the area. Sheclaimed only 15 km of a 150-km road sanctioned by the pre-vious Congress Governmenthas been built there, and whenpeople drive away from the air-port it is full of potholes.

Claiming Modi did notcare about Varanasi, she said, “Iwas told that in the past fiveyears he has not visited even a

single village in his con-stituency though he has beentravelling all over the countryand abroad.”

Priyanka visited theHanuman Garhi temple inAyodhya, but kept away fromthe Ram Janmabhoomi-BabriMasjid site.

She said, “TheGovernment’s focus is only onhelping the rich, making the

rich, richer. They have moneyfor the businessmen, but notfor the poor.”

Claiming that Modiretained the MGNREGAscheme on coming to powerdespite criticising it, Priyankasaid, “But funds are not beinggiven to the scheme for sixmonths. They are giving themoney to contractors... Theywant to close the scheme.”

Priyanaka accused theModi Government of trying todestroy democracy and con-stitutional institutions. “I haveseen the truth in the leakingroofs of the weavers’ houses, inthe eyes of the farmer who saidthat only the rich have achowkidar (watchman),” shesaid in an indirect reference toModi’s “I am a chowkidar too’campaign.

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Former cricketer Kirti Azad,a sitting MP from

Darbhanga, who recentlyjoined the Congress does notfigure in the list of grandalliance candidates from Biharafter the RJD refused to give upits claim on the contentious seatof Darbhanga in the heart ofthe Mithilanchal region.

Following this, sulkingCongress leaders kept awayfrom the joint Press conferenceaddressed by RJD leaderTejashwai Yadav in Patna toannounce the candidate of theMahagathbandhan.

The Congress hasannounced the name of eightof the nine candidates who willbe in the fray from Bihar. Kirtistill has a chance of contestingfrom the State if he is nomi-nated from the Valmiki Nagarseat, which is in the Congress’kitty and for which the partyhas not named its candidate.

It was clear that despitebeing in jail, RJD chief LaluPrasad called the shots in thedistribution of seats and nom-ination of the candidates of thegrand alliance. The denial ofticket to Kirti Azad is a per-sonal setback for Congress

president Rahul Gandhi, whois reported to have assured KirtiAzad that he would be fieldedfrom Darbhanga.

As per the seat-sharingformula, the RJD has got 20seats, out of which it is givingup one for the ultra-Left party;the Congress has nine, followedby five for Upendra Kushwaha’sRLSP and three each for JitanRam Manjhi’s HAM andMukesh Sahni’s VIP.

The announcement of thegrand alliance candidates wasmade by Tejashwi, but absenceof senior Congress leaders onthe occasion showed the party’sdispleasure over arm-twistingby the RJD.

RLSP leader and formerUnion Minister UpendraKushwaha too is reported to besulking because the RJD wantshim to accommodate at leastone RJD nominee from hisquota.

Tejashwi, announced thecandidature of his sister MisaBharti from Pataliputra,Congress’ Meira Kumar fromSasaram and RJD leader AbdulBari Siddiqui from Darbhanga.Siddiqui is a senior leader andhas held important Ministriesbesides having served as Leaderof Opposition in the StateAssembly. Also in the con-tention for the seat was Md Ashraf Fatmi, a RJDstrongman and a close associate Lalu. Fatmi, who represented Darbhanga inthe past, was runner-up in2014.

Tejashwi also announcedthat the RJD would be fieldingTanveer Hassan in Begusarai,the party candidate who camein second in 2014, a decisionthat may queer the pitch forCPI’s Kanhaiya Kumar, who istaking on firebrand BJP leaderGiriraj Singh.

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Nearly a month after India'sair strikes on terror camps

in Balakot, the Pakistan Armyfor the first time conducted amedia tour to Balakot in anapparent attempt to refute thenews of the strikes that causedsubstantial damage and casu-alties to Jaish-e-Mohammad(JeM). The nearly five-hourtour on Thursday saw a teamof eight Pakistani journalistsshooting videos of the site,which was partially covered bytarpaulin sheets.

Sources said the visit wasdelayed for nearly a month inan attempt to change the nar-rative about damage and casu-alties by repairing the infra-structure there as a cover-up.

The team was flown in aspecial military helicopter. Themedia persons interacted withnearly 300 children staying ina madrasa run by JeM there.The group had claimedresponsibility for carrying outa suicide attack in Pulwama inKashmir on February 14killing 40 CRPF personnel.

Sources said here onFriday the site was heavily

guarded by the troops ofFrontier Corps, a paramili-tary unit of Pakistan.

The Balakot camp is locat-ed at the tri-junction ofPakistan Punjab, Balochistanand North-West FrontierProvince (NWFP).

The IAF carried out airstrikes reportedly destroyingthe JeM’s biggest training campin Balakot on February 26and Pakistan retaliated thenext day by intruding intoIndia in Rajouri sector in anattempt to target militaryinstallations there. An aerialcombat ensued wherein WingCommander AbhinandanVarthaman flying a MIG-21shot down F-16 jet of PakistanAir Force. However, his jet wasalso shot down by Pakistan airdefence and he ejected in POK.Abhinandan was captured byPakistan and released two dayslater as a “peace gesture”.

������!������ �&1�2&*34

In a tragic incident, eightpassengers, including a

minor and two women, werekilled while 30 others sus-tained injuries after a private-ly-operated bus rammed into atanker on the YamunaExpressway in Greater Noidaon Friday around 5 am.

The bus was heading toDelhi from Uttar Pradesh’sJalaun district when the inci-dent under the jurisdiction ofRabupura police station. Thedeceased have been identifiedas bus driver Mahesh Kumar(48), helper Bandu (25), pas-sengers Vineeta (32), Arun(42), Asad (12), Suman (35)and Vishwanath Tiwari (75).The passengers were fromJalaun, while the driver andhelper hailed from Dhaulpur inRajasthan. Three women andthree children were among the30 injured who hailed fromAuraiya, Jalaun, Phaphund andNoida.

“Eight people were killedand 30 injured in the incident.The victims were rushed tonearby Kailash Hospital inJewar. The speeding busrammed into a tanker whichwas moving relatively slow,”

said Sharat Chandra Sharma,the Circle Officer (CO) ofJewar sub-division.

“The exact cause of theincident is yet to be confirmed,but prima facie it appears thedriver was a bit drowsy. Thetanker was moving slowly andthe speeding bus could havecomfortably overtaken it, butinstead rammed into it,” saidSharma.

Condoling the deaths,Uttar Pradesh Chief MinisterYogi Adityanath tweeted, “I am

saddened by the demise ofeight people in a bus accidentin Greater Noida today. Prayingfor the peace of the departedsouls and strength to theirfamilies. Also wishing speedyrecovery to the passengersinjured in the accident.”

Earlier, an officialspokesperson in Lucknow saidthe CM had taken promptcognisance of the accident andissued directions to top officialsto provide immediate relief tothe victims.

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An environment panel onCoastal Regulation Zone

(CRZ) has called for a study onlikely impact of the vibration ofthe proposed Ahmedabad-Mumbai Bullet train on themudflats and adjoining man-groves in Thane CreekFlamingo Sanctuary, whichhosts over 1 lakh flamingoes(Lesser and Greater Flamingo)every year.

An Expert AppraisalCommittee (EAC) in its meet-ing on March 18 sought astudy while giving condition-al clearance to the proposed�1,08,000-crore project of theNational High Speed RailCorporation Ltd (NHSRC).

The standing committee ofthe National Board of Wildlife(NBWL) in January had given

a go-ahead for the diversion ofover 100 hectares from aroundand three acres from the ThaneCreek Flamingo WildlifeSanctuary, over 110 hectares(forest/non forest land) fromthe Sanjay Gandhi NationalPark, and over five hectaresfrom the TungareshwarWildlife Sanctuary.

The mudflats near ThaneCreek Flamingos Sanctuaryare a rich feeding ground forthe Flamingos who arrive indroves from Kutch. There areconcerns that the intense vibra-tion due to the Bullet train willdisturb ecosystem of the mud-flats which also supports alarge number of birds includ-ing stints, grey herons, black-headed ibis, sandpipers, ploversand egrets, who feed on a vari-ety of marine life.

The panel headed by

Deepak Arun Apte noted thatthe area is already under stressdue to the construction ofMumbai Trans Harbour Link(MTHL) and Navi MumbaiInternational Airport (NMIA)and other ongoing projects.

Part of the RailwayMinistry’s “Indian RailwayVision 2020” that aims at mod-ernisation of the existing con-ventional lines, enhancingcapacity and developing highspeed railway lines, the Bullettrain project involves a dedi-cated track of about 508 kilo-metres including 155.6 kms inMaharashtra, 348.2 kms inGujarat and 4.3 kms in Dadraand Nagar Haveli. The high-speed train corridor was inau-gurated by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and hisJapanese counterpart ShinzoAbe in Ahmedabad in

September, 2017. It is expect-ed to be ready by 2022.

The EAC refused to give into the NHSRC contention that“there are no studies knownand is not possible to predictthe impact of vibrations till thework starts.”

The Committee alsoobserved that the conservationand management plan forThane Creek Flamingo pre-pared by Zoological Survey ofIndia is inadequate to highlightthe impact of vibration onmudflats and flamingoes. Itrequires major revision, itnoted even as it appreciated theproject proponent move totake tunnel route to avoiddirect destruction of mudflat ormangrove in the Thane Creekregion. However, it disagreedtheir view that “impacts cannotbe studied”.

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Congress leader HardikPatel’s plans to contest Lok

Sabha election hit a roadblockon Friday as the Gujarat HighCourt rejected his plea seekinga stay to his conviction in the2015 Vispur rioting case.

As the last date for filing ofnominations is April 4, thePatidar leader has a little timeto approach the Supreme Courtto challenge the ruling.

Patel had started prepara-tions to contest from Jamnagaron a Congress ticket after join-ing the party on March 12.Polling for 26 Lok Sabha seatsin Gujarat will be held onApril 23.

Detailed report on P8

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Bhopal: Alleging that liquormafia was having free run inhis constituency a Congresslegislator tendered his resigna-tion to Chief Minister KamalNath here on Friday.

The MLA fromDharampuri in Dhar PanchilalMeda reached Bhopal on Fridayto meet Nath and hand over hisresignation personally.

Interestingly, the liquorcontractor from the con-stituency Phoolbadan Singhhad lodged a complaint topolice a few days ago thatMLA’s men had abducted andtook him to legislator’s office,bashed him seeking Rs 20 lakhfrom him and threatened toeliminate him if he did not paythe demanded sum.

In response, the MLA hadaccused the liquor contractor ofpresenting fabricated story tocover his illegal transporta-tion of liquor.

Meanwhile, Meda whoreached the state capital onFriday claimed he was insult-ed by liquor mafia and was keptin police station for over fourhours on false charges andadministration hadn’t helpedhim.

Talking to the media per-sons here on Friday, Medaclaimed liquor mafia was hav-ing free run in Dhar and

administration was not actingagainst it. “I am a devotee ofriver Narmada and have beenfighting against liquor mafiaand illegal sale of illicit liquor,”he said, alleging that liquorcontractors connived againsthim and threatened himbesides addressing him withcaste specific words. The MLAclaimed his pleas to removeliquor shops in Dhamnaudand Sundail fell on deaf earsand police and district admin-istration did not help him onthis.

The MLA howeverdelinked his move from LokSabha polls saying this hasnothing to the polls and hewould continue to remain inCongress and serve the publiceven if his resignation is accept-ed.

The lawmaker had alsohinted that he may not resignif his demands of removingliquor shops and removing topadministrative officers wereaccepted. The high dramaensued soon after the news ofMLA’s resignation went viraland Home minister BalaBachchan called on him inBhopal and had close doormeetings. MLA’s supportersalso created ruckus. MinisterPradyumn Singh Tomar alsohad rushed to the spot. SR

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In the weekly series'Abhinayan' series of drama,

a Hindi play ‘Nandu Nachaiyya’was staged. The play was per-formed at Madhya Pradeshtribal museum here on Friday.

It is to be noted that everyFriday a new production oftheatre is staged at tribal muse-um under Abhinayan series.

The play Nandu Nachaiyyawas staged in the direction ofVijay Sonawane.

The play Nandu Nachaiyyais based on the folk theatre formof Bundelkhand, which waspopular in the lower caste ofMadhya Pradesh, known asRolva. Nandu Nachaiya is influ-enced by this style.

The people of Bundelkhandlove seeing hi, (Nandu) dance.One day he gets an opportuni-ty to showcase his art in an elitecaste. She went there with hisown caste i.e. the lower caste.When he shows his art atThakur Saheb, Thakur's sister(Rupa) falls in love with Nanduand his art. When this thing isknown to Thakur, he removeshis sister from the mansion.Rupa gets married to Nanduwhen a man from ShantanSingh Thakur's mansion didnot like it because he wanted tomarry Rupa. That's why he killsNandu. Rupa, in her stomach,gives the message of Nandu's

child to make a big artist.The play was beautifully

presented on stage. Each andevery detail of the play was keptin mind while staging it. The

audience loved the presentationand the acting skills of theactors present on stage. Artistsgave the message of caste systemwonderfully.

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Amild and wonderfulevening of classical music

was enjoyed by Bhopalites. AThree-day Women MusicFestival ‘Swar Charika’ is beingorganized at Baithak The ArtHouse, that began here fromFriday.

The three-day music festi-val is being organized as a trib-ute to one of the greatestwomen musician of India MaaAnnapurna Devi the renownedSur Bahar Player.

This festival is hosting 12finest women musician fromdifferent style of Indian classi-cal music Dhrupad, Khyal,

Instruments, Percussion fromdifferent parts of India and will

be conducted in four sessions.On the first day of the

event Shobha Choudhary fromIndore presented KhyalSinging.

Besides, Surekha Kamblefrom Bhopal performedDhrupad Singing.

Shobha started takinglessons in music at a tender ageand by nine she began singing.She studied HindustaniClassical Music started underguidance of noted musician inWardha (Maharashtra). Shewas guided by MadhavraoJoshi for ten years.

She then took lessons fromPt. Vamanrao Rajurkar ofGwalior Gharana andPadmabhushan Pt. C.R. Vyas.and Pt. Balasaheb Puchhawale,

to pursue intrinsic qualities ofKhayal Gayaki and assimilateher unique ideas in her per-formance.

With her mesmerizing per-formance, she stunned theaudience. Her melodious per-formance was a memorableone.

Next performance wasgiven by Surekha Kamble. Shebegan with 'Maiya Malhar. Hertalent was clearly seen in hersolo performance. Surekha wasamazing on stage.

Her melodious voice cap-tured the hearts of the audienceand at her every performancethe hall echoed with hugeround of applauses.

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Page 3: C M Y K - The Pioneer€¦ · Gujarat and 4.3 kms in Dadra and Nagar Haveli. The high-speed train corridor was inau-gurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart

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The Bharatiya Janata Party isyet to decide its candidate

in Bhopal and there is specu-lation that former chief minis-ter Shivraj Singh Chouhanmay be pitted against DigvijayaSingh.

In 2003 too, Chouhan hadcontested assembly pollsagainst Singh from latter'shome constituency Raghogarhin Guna district and Chouhanwas defeated.

There are 14 constituenciesfrom where the Congress hadnot won during the BJP rule inthe state, while the saffronparty failed to wrest Congressstronghold of Chhindwara andGuna.

State BJP's chief spokesmanRajneesh Agrawal said thatthis time his party would try towin all the 29 seats in MadhyaPradesh and will field strong

candidates on important con-stituencies like Bhopal, Indore,Guna, Vidisha etc.

"The party will field thebest workers from the remain-ing seats of the state so that itcan win from all the con-stituencies," he said, adding thatdepending upon the oppositioncandidates, the party may also

change its strategy at the lastmoment to ensure victory ineach and every constituency.

The fourteen seats fromwhere the Congress has notwon since last 15 years areBhopal, Indore, Vidisha,Morena, Bhind, Sagar,Tikamgarh, Damoh,Khajuraho, Satna, Jabalpur,Balaghat, Betul and Rewa.

The Congress hasannounced candidature ofKiran Ahirwar fromTikamgarh, Kavita Singh fromKhajuraho, Madhu Bhagatfrom Balaghat and RamuTekam from Betul.

Except Rewa, the BJP hasbeen winning from the rest ofthe seats. In 2009, BahujanSamaj Party's (BSP) DevrajSingh Patel won from Rewawhile in 2004 and 2014, the BJPemerged victorious from thisseat in Vindhya region bor-dering Uttar Pradesh.

������!������ ,37$�*

Chief Electoral Officer(CEO) VL Kantha Rao has

said that the Lok Sabha elec-tion-2019 in the state has to beconducted in a free, fair, easy,ethical, reliable and inclusivemanner.

All arrangements shouldbe ensured so that disabled vot-ers and women do not face anydifficulty during voting.

Model Code of Conductshould be followed strictly.Effective action should be takenregarding property defacement,illegal hooters on vehicles andname plates.

Rao was addressing thetraining of district electionofficers, returning and assistantreturning officers in theAcademy of Administrationtoday.

Additional Chief ElectoralOfficer Sandeep Yadavinformed about the role ofReturning and AssistantReturning Officers in the LokSabha elections.

Yadav acquainted with thevarious provisions of Public-Representation Act 1950 and

1951. He also gave information

about complete custody andsecurity arrangements of EVMsand VV PATs, formation ofpolling teams, distribution of

machines to polling teams,getting nomination papers andscrutiny, allotment of symbols,printing of ballot paper etc.

Additional Chief ElectoralOfficer Arun Kumar Tomar

said that to ensure quick deci-sion making, DEO, RO andARO study the instructionsrelated to election. Joint ChiefElectoral Officer Rajesh Kaulimparted training of monitor-

ing of election expenditureand media. Joint ChiefElectoral Officer AbhijitAgarwal gave informationabout IT application, C-Vigil,new facility and SVEEP activ-ities. During the training ses-sion, Collector Bhopal SudamKhade gave information aboutfollowing the Model Code ofConduct, Sehore CollectorGanesh Shankar Mishra onthe use of new techniques,Vinayak Verma Superintendentof Police, Vidisha on sensitivepolling stations and deploy-ment of security forces, DeputyChief Electoral Officer PramodShukla on EVM and VV PAT,Rakesh Kushre, Deputy ChiefElectoral Officer on votingteams, training, material man-agement and master trainerSameera Naeem gave infor-mation about the counting ofvotes.

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After the candidature ofsenior leader Digvijay

Singh from Bhopal, thedemand for fielding othersenior leaders from tough seatsis being raised within the partycircles.

Minister in Kamal Nathgovernment Govind Singh hasdemanded that senior partyleader Jyotiraditya Scindiashould contest from othertough seats like Indore orVidisha. He also said that onceVidisha came under theGwalior regime of Scindia andScindia family in the beginningrepresented Vidisha parlia-mentary seat. Party sourcesclaimed that Congress ismulling fielding prominentleaders from other seats likeVidisha and Indore, which ithas not wrested for last 15 yearsor more. Bhopal is considereda tough seat for the Congressalong with Indore, Vidisha,

Bhind and Damoh as the BJPhas not lost in these con-stituencies since 1989 but theCongress is hoping to build onthe recent victory in Assemblypolls to dislodge the saffronparty here.

Apart from these five, thereare nine other seats out of the

total 29 Lok Sabha constituen-cies where the Congress has notwon during the 15-year BJPrule in the state.

Chief Minister Kamal Nathhas represented Chhindwaraten times including six times ina row while senior party leaderand Congress general secretaryfor Uttar Pradesh (West)Jyotiradiya Scindia has beenwinning from Guna since 2002.These were the only two seatsout of 29 won by the Congressin the 2014 Lok Sabha electionwhich was swept by the BJP.

The Congress' decision tofield former Madhya Pradeshchief minister Digvijay Singhfrom Bhopal has already cre-ated flutter in political circles.

Soon after Singh's candi-dature was announced, AjaySingh, former leader of oppo-sition and close confidant ofDigvijaya Singh, demandedthat the party should fieldother senior leaders from toughseats like Indore and Vidisha.

������!������ ,37$�*

Ascience fiction and fantasytale The Secret of His

Turquoise Eyes by PrachiVerma was released recently.

Praachi combines elementsof fiction, science, spiritualityand romance, transformingthem into a thrill-packed jour-ney. The Secret of HisTurquoise Eyes will appeal to abroad range of fantasy lovers.The book is also launched atAmazon for the fantasy and sci-ence fiction lovers.

Character of the bookRudra Gautam is an adoptedson of the newly elected PrimeMinister of India. He is a the-oretical physicist whose mes-merizing turquoise eyes weren’tjust his most impressive feature,but were gifted to visualize theworld of electric and magnet-ic energies around them.

He keeps his extraordi-nary capabilities hidden untilhis uniqueness was chosen tounravel an abstruse secret. The

clues to which are hidden instrangest of places; the direc-tions to which can be obtainedonly by solving complex codes,that only the most knowledge-able can figure out.

Rudra quickly realizes thathe will need the help of AznaJahe, a Glacial-Geography andLhasa expert whom he onceloved. Their quest takes themon a harrowing journey overthe world’s most unforgivingelevations where their inner-most fears comes to life. Theyskim through the layers ofincreasingly complex ciphers,

all while being pursued by apara-human assassin who willstop at nothing to obtain thatsecret. But it requires a lot morethan just knowledge to unrav-el that secret; will Rudra be ableto cross those barriers to solveit? If so, then will there be anycoming back for him? How farwill he go until he realizes thatthe answer to it lays withinhim? The adventure neverfades. Fantasy, science, para-normal characters and unpre-dictable secrets entwines tocreate a stellar masterpiece.

Bhopal: Timely action by firetenders pacified fire whichbroke in the parking at the RajaBhoj Airport during the day onFriday.

After the fire erupted inparking Raja Bhoj Airport onfire fighters were pressed intojob to pacify the fire. The air-port team swung into actionand prevented it from spread-ing to the entire parking space.In the fire vehicles were notdamage as the fire tendersmanaged to pacify the fire.

The CISF officials whorushed to the spot and con-trolled the situation said thatthe fire was pacified before itcould reach the vehicles whichmight have taken a massiveshape and could spread toother vehicles resulting inmajor mishap.

CISF director (Airport)Virendra Kumar had said thatthe immediate action by the fire

fighters to rush and pacify fireaverted a major incident. Theother thing which helped inaverting the incident was thedistance of the fire was far fromthe parked vehicles which pro-vided time for the pacifiers tocontrol fire.

Panic created at the airportarea after smoke was witnessedat the parking space but thereason of the fire remainedunknown.

At the time of the incidentno one was near the spot wherethe fire erupted. It is possiblethat someone might have leftcigarette or might have put fireintentionally which would beenquired. The team of firefighters is enquiring to find thereason which caused the fire.After the fire broke out CentralIndustrial Security Force(CISF), team from Airport firesub- station and other staffrushed the spot. SR

������!������ ,37$�*

Chunabhatti police havebooked a property dealer

who duped two persons to thetune of �2.5 crores in the nameof constructing shopping com-plex in Bairagarh area; accusedwent absconding after com-plaint was lodged by the vic-tims.

The police have bookedPrashant Singhai of SinghaiInfra Projects who duped thetwo victims Syed Parvez andVipinB Banvat of Ashta.

Investigating Officer ASIOmkar Singh said that the vic-tims were lured of partnershipin developing shopping by theaccused and told that �10crore is required for the wholeproject and the two agreedafter which they provided �2.5crore in parts from the year2015 but later they started torecognize that accused hasduped as the property was of‘merger’ and when the accused

failed to return the money theylodged complaint with thepolice.

The deal was stuck in theyear 2015 but for the next fewyears nothing in the name ofconstruction was started on theland and when victim checkedthey found that no construc-tion could be done as the landwas in the category of merger.

A complaint was filedregarding the fraud and aftercompletion of the investigationthe police have registered acase under section 420 of theIPC.

The police have startedfurther investigation and haveclaimed that there is a possi-bility of a nexus workingbehind the selling of propertyby using wrong means. Afterthe confirmation the policehave registered a case undersection 420 of the IPC andhave started further investiga-tion. The offenders are still outof police reach.

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Frustrated over frequentfights, a 25-year-old mar-

ried woman committed suicideby consuming poisonous sub-stance at Rajharsh Colonyunder Kolar police station areaon Thursday.

Police said that thedeceased Shyamlata Lohvanshiconsumed poisonous substanceat her house after having dis-pute with her husband AmitLohvanshi and was taken to JPhospital where she died duringtreatment.

In the initial investigationpolice found that the deceasedused to have frequent fightswith her husband and onThursday after having fightshe consumed poisonous sub-stance and was taken to hospi-

tal where she died during treat-ment.

During the investigationpolice found that the two mar-ried in the year 2013 and afterthe marriage relationship wasat good terms and they used tohave frequent fights on pettyissues.

Police have not found anysuicide note which could helpin the revealing the reasonbehind the suicide. The reason

behind the suicide would beinvestigated.

After the preliminaryinvestigation the body was sentfor the post mortem and a caseunder section 174 of the CrPC.Police have started furtherinvestigation. The case wouldbe investigated by CSP. Thehusband and inlaws of thedeceased would be questionedin the further investigation.

Meanwhile, a 50-year-oldman died under suspiciouscircumstances at Berasia busstand in the evening onThursday. The deceased iden-tified as Santosh Tiwari used towork as conductor and wastaken to hospital where he wasdeclared dead. The police haveregistered a case under section174 of the CrPC and havestarted further investigation.

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Extreme heatwave condi-tions were observed in the

first half of March, over manyparts of Madhya Pradesh inpast 24 hours.

On Friday, 12 placesrecorded day temperature over40 degree Celsius and trendwould be continued afterSunday as little changes arelikely to be witnessed in thenext 48 hours due to system.Light rainfall and cloudy con-ditions would be witnessedand after it would clear tem-peratures would start to risemaking the weather condi-tions hot and humid.

The highest day tempera-ture was recorded at 45 degreeCelsius in Khargone whileShajapur recorded day tem-perature at 42 degree Celsiusamong other regions Ujjain,Khajuraho, Hoshangabad,Betul, Nowgong, Sagar andDamoh recorded 41 degree

Celsius on Friday.With the increasing tem-

peratures changes would bewitnessed in the weather con-ditions and warning of heatwave conditions has beenissued for South-West MadhyaPradesh region which is likelyto witness in the next 24 hours.

Some bit of rain will beseen in Madhya Pradesh,northern plains including Delhilater in the day on Saturday, butby the time these rains are seen,temperatures will already haveincreased.

Rains will be patchy innature due to which Sunday

will again see rise in tempera-tures resulting in hot weatherconditions.

On Friday, heatwavegripped parts of MadhyaPradesh also with Khargonerecording maximum at 44.5degrees.

The only pockets whichwere spared from these condi-tions were Odisha,Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Haryana,Uttar Pradesh, Bihar,Jharkhand and West Bengal.

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Page 4: C M Y K - The Pioneer€¦ · Gujarat and 4.3 kms in Dadra and Nagar Haveli. The high-speed train corridor was inau-gurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart

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Nishatpura police havenabbed a 21-year-old drug

peddler at Karond and recov-ered Poppy Husk weighing10.5 kg worth Rs 55000 fromhis possession on Sunday.

Police said that acting on atip-off regarding a man carry-ing drugs was nabbed nearMotilal Culvert and when hewas searched 10.50 kg of PoppyHusk was recovered from hispossession.

The accused was identifiedas Ammu alias Amir ShaikhSadhuram Bhanua a resident ofGas Rahat Colony who failed toprovide details of the drugsrecovered from his possession.

Police said that the detailsof procurement and delivery ofthe drugs would be searched inthe further investigation. Afterthe initial investigation policehave registered a case under sec-tions 8 and 20 of the NDPS Act.

The source of the drugsand their scheduled delivery to

the customer in the city andnearby areas would be probed.

Meanwhile a 45-year-oldman was nabbed from NehruNagar under Piplani policestation area and recovered sixcartons of liquor worth Rs18000 on Thursday.

Police recovered illegally

collected six boxes of liquorworth Rs 18000 accused col-lected liquor for selling withoutproper license.

According to the policeacting of a tip off regarding aperson having liquor illegallywas searched and nabbed fromNehru Nagar and recovered sixboxes of liquor collected andhidden in his house at NehruNagar.

The accused was identifiedas Guddu alias Irfan of NehruNagar. A case under section34(2) of the Excise Act was reg-istered and further investiga-tion has been started. Thecrime record of the two wouldbe investigated in the furtherinvestigation.

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Appreciating the trans-parency of literature and

the contributions of writers inliterature, an event ‘SpandanSamman Samaroh 2019’ wasorganised here on Friday atState Museum.

The event was organised bySpandan Sanstha Bhopal, toappreciate the literature art.The story writers and play-wrights of the city were felici-tated with awards for theirimmense contribution in theworld of literature.

The event featured thepoets as well as story tellersreciting their creations. Writerslike Rajesh Joshi, MaheshKatare, Harish Pathak and

Satyanarayan Patel were pre-sent at the programme andrecited their creations beforethe audience grabbing muchapplause. The writers left theaudience mesmerized withtheir recitation of stories.

The literature lovers of thecity appreciated the creations ofsome of the poets for theirtremendous contribution inmounting up the literatureamong people.

During the event, few play-

wrights and writers were felic-itated. Among all AlokChatterjee was felicitated withSpandan Kala Samaroh, AsgarWajahat was felicitated withSpandan Katha ShikharSamman, Udayan Vajpayee wasfelicitated with Spandan KritiSamman, Prem Janmajaye wasfelicitated with SpandanSamajik Patrakarita Samman,Mahesh Drpan was felicitatedwith Spandan AlochnaSamman, Pankaj Subeer was

felicitated with Spandan KritiSamman and Thavayi Thiyamwas felicitated with SpandanYuva Samman.

During the programme,each writer recited two or threeof his creations before theaudience and received muchappreciation. Further, the otherparticipant poets also gaveoverwhelming performancesbefore the audience as theyread out their creations in var-ious languages adding variousemotions, and expressions intheir poetry.

The audience took thepleasure of programme andenjoyed the show whole-heart-edly. The audiences wereawestruck as the writers recit-ed their creations.

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Chhattisgarh senior BJP leaderand former minister Brijmohan

Agrawal on Friday alleged thatnoted economist and social activist,working in Jharkhand, Jean Drezewas a conduit of Naxal urban net-work.

He, however, did not mentionwhat was the basis of his allegationagainst a world renowned econo-mist who had been working amongthe downtrodden people in Indiasince the 1970s.

Agrawal also lambasted thestate government over the bailgranted to an alleged Naxal urbanwing leader Nakka Rao, claimingthat Maoists have infiltrated in thegovernment.

He was addressing a press con-ference at party’s state headquartershere on Friday.

“It seems Chhattisgarh gov-ernment has jeopardised the secu-rity of the state. Bail secured by NVenkat Rao alias Nakka Rao due tonon-submission of challan by thepolice brings the state governmentunder suspicion,” he said.

Rao alias Murty was arrested by

police in Rajnandgaon district inDecember 2018 while he was on hisway to Rajnandgaon from Deori inMaharashtra. Police had claimedthat Rao an employee of theNational Geophysical Research

Institute (NGRI) was a major linkof Maoist urban network.

However, he got bail from courtas police failed to present challan inthe case.

On Chief Minister Bhupesh

Baghel reaction over the arrest ofDreze, the BJP leader said it onlycreated doubt about the govern-ment’s intention.

“Comment of chief ministerover an action taken by Jharkhand

government against an importantlinks of urban Naxals in JharkhandJean Dreze and the way he (chiefminister’s) has gone back on his ear-lier stand that talks would be heldonly with Naxal-affected people toinvite Naxals for talks has createddoubt over the intention of the cur-rent regime in dealing with thesecurity of the state,” Agrawal said.

It appears that Naxals infiltrat-ed the government and were affect-ing state government’s policies, heclaimed. Agrawal demanded thatelection commission should checkwhether the Congress governmentwas covertly getting assistance fromNaxals.

He also demanded of the EC tomake elaborate security arrange-ments for elections in the Naxal-hitBastar region.

Agrawal further added that inthe current political scenario in thewhole country, people were collec-tively standing with the PrimeMinister Narendra Modi to bolstercountry’s internal and externalsecurity, for development.

The people want him to beelected as Prime Minister again, hesaid.

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With the state’s Congress gov-ernment deciding not to

provide subsidised food grains to‘Annapurna Dal Bhat Centres’,around 135 such centers run-ning in the state are on the vergeof closure.

The centres are providingmeals at a modest price and its cus-tomers are mainly poor people.

Sources said the centres couldclose down from April 1.

The state government cited acircular from the Centre to justifyits decision. The circular issued byMinistry of Consumer Affairs,Food and Public Distribution saidthat only government or govern-ment-owned institutes could getsubsidised food grains.

Meanwhile, former PWD min-ister and senior BJP leader RajeshMunat in a statement flayed the

decision of the state government.Congress general secretary

Shailesh Nitin Trivedi, however,blamed the Narendra Modi gov-ernment at the Center for “com-pelling” the state government totake such a decision.

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The Amity Law School, AmityUniversity Chhattisgarh,

organised a two-day nationalconference on “Cyber crimeand women: Precautions andstrategies” from March 28-29 inassociation with the NationalCommission for Women, NewDelhi.

The prime objective oforganising the conference was todetermine the unpredictabilityof cyber space and the threatscaused by the same to its users,the law school said in a pressrelease.

On the second day of theconference, a panel discussiontitled, “Techno-social – under-standing the technical and socialgive-and-take in the virtualcyberspace” was held whereeminent panelists shared theirviews on the same.

In the panel discussion, pro-fessor Prosenjit Gupta, member,Academic Council, AmityUniversity, explained the variousmeasures that could be taken toprotect privacy in the cyberspace.

He talked about under-standing the privacy settingsover various social media plat-forms and simple measures thatcould be employed to protectprivacy and the flow of person-al information shared online.

While addressing the ses-sion, Anand Shankar Jha, aSupreme Court advocate, talkedabout the finer nuances of thecyber law and the challengesfaced while dealing with the leg-islative violations in cyber space.

He further added that, a lotof work needs to be done to sub-

sume the neglected aspects ofthe cyber security violations sothat the existing laws could bemade more effective in protect-ing women against cyber-crime.

Dr Atul Pandey, chairper-son, Rajiv Gandhi Centre forCyber Law, NLIU, Bhopalexplained the various aspects of

cyber forensics and its employ-ment in ensuring online safety.

Addressing the gatheringDr. S.C. Mukhopadhyay, regis-trar, Amity UniversityChhattisgarh stressed on theimportance of being selectiveabout sharing information overthe internet and the misuse of

personal information availableonline by various sources.

Two technical sessions wereheld followed by the panel dis-cussion on the topics-“Sociological and psychologicalaspect” and “Technological mea-sures” where numerous partic-ipants from across the countrypresented their research papers.In the valedictory session, pro-fessor Prosenjit Gupta and advo-cate Anand Shankar Jha madeconcluding remarks and con-gratulated the law school fororganizing the successful con-ference.

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To keep a tab on the mental health ofcops, the Chhattisgarh police is going

to set up a special grievance cell called‘Anugrah’.

The step comes close on the heels ofa police constable shot dead a car dealerin busy Pachpedhi Naka locality of Raipurafter the two had some dispute over aused-car deal.

Chhattisgarh, Director General ofPolice (DGP) DM Awasthi on Fridayannounced the formation of the state level‘Monitoring Cell’ under the chairmanshipof Additional Director General of Police(Admin) Ashok Juneja.

Inspector General (IG) of all fourpolice range- Raipur, Durg, Bilaspur,Surguja and Bastar will be the members ofthis cell. This cell will work towardsimproving the discipline, and welfare ofpolice staff, police sources said.

In the ‘Anugrah cell’ cops could discussall their family, personal or departmentalissues apart from transfer, promotion andappointment related issues.

Addressing the first meeting of the‘monitoring cell’, DGP Awasthi asked offi-cers to form the cell at district as well asrange level where the lower police staff

would personally meet the unit heads.The unit head after interacting with

cops would create their profile based ondiscipline, problems and mental condition.

During the discussion, unit head woldtry to resolve the valid problems while theycould also take disciplinary actions againstundisciplined cops.

The Anugrah cell for female cops willbe headed by Deputy Inspector General ofPolice (DIG) Neha Champawat while, DIGSushil Chandra Dwivedi will head theAnugarh cell for male cops.

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Apolling team in Koreadistrict of the State was

up for a surprise when italmost ran over a tiger nearGuru Ghasidas NationalPark.

The sighting at Sonhat-Ramgarh road of the districtsparked the demand forinclusion of the park under“Project Tiger, a govern-ment’s initiative for conser-vation of big cats in thecountry.

This was for the firsttime in recent years that atiger was actually seen in thevicinity of the park.

The polling team pre-pared a video of the tigermajestically roaming in thearea and it went viral on

Friday. “Though it was acaptivating sight, it was a bitsurprising as it was for thefirst time a tiger’s image wascaptured in the region,” saidchief executive officer ofSonhat Zanpad PanchayatSanjay Rai. He was amongthe polling team that sight-ed the tiger.

“ Though there wereunconfirmed reports aboutthe presence of tigers in thepark, for the first time a bigcat was actually seen onThursday night in the area,”Rai pointed out.

He further added that“he was fortunate enough tosee the tiger roaming natu-rally in the jungles”. “I amspellbound seeing the animalin its natural habitat.”

The polling team wasreturning after inspecting

polling booths in Ramgarhregion late Thursday nightwhen the tiger crossed theirpath.

It walked around hun-dred meters without any feareven as the vehicle of thepolling team followed it, amember of the team said.

Later, it went inside thejungle and disappeared in thedarkness. Forest officials saidthe tiger might came fromthe Sanjay National Park inneighbouring MadhyaPradesh. It might haveentered the Guru GhasidasNational Park in search ofwater on the onset of scorch-ing heat, the officials said.“There are ample numbers ofwater bodies in our areawhich lead the wild animalsto enter here,” a forest officialadded.

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Page 5: C M Y K - The Pioneer€¦ · Gujarat and 4.3 kms in Dadra and Nagar Haveli. The high-speed train corridor was inau-gurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart

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Congress presi-dent Rahul

Gandhi has notruled out contest-ing the Lok Sabhae l e c t i o nfrom acon-

stituency other than Amethi,saying many party leadershave fought elections frommore than one seat in the pastand a decision on the issue willbe taken by the party soon.

Referring to demands fromparty leaders that his sisterPriyanka Gandhi Vadra shouldcontest, Rahul told PTI in aninterview that she will have totake a call on whether to fightthe polls or not.

Speculation about thenewly appointed Congressgeneral secretary contest-ing grew after she askedpeople in Varanasi onThursday whether sheshould fight the polls fromthe temple town, the con-stituency from wherePrime Minister NarendraModi will seek a re-elec-tion.

Amethi is his “karmab-hoomi” (place where you are

destined to work) and willremain so, Rahul Gandhi said,keeping his options open on

fighting the election from asecond seat amid demandsfrom party units in Kerala andKarnataka that he should befielded from their States.

“Amethi is my ‘karmab-hoomi’ and shall alwaysremain so. I am deeply grate-ful for the love, affection andthe sentiments expressed byour party workers inKarnataka, Tamil Nadu andKerala who have asked me tocontest a second seat fromtheir States,” the Congresschief told PTI in response to aquestion on the speculationover him contesting fromWayanad in Kerala.

“In the past, too, manyleaders from the Congress andother parties, including MrModi himself, have contestedelections from more than oneseat. The Congress party willtake a decision on this issue atthe earliest,” he said.

In 2014, Rahul Gandhidefeated BJP’s Smriti Irani bya margin of over one lakhvotes. Both are pitted againsteach other again from Amethi.Asked about Priyanka Gandhicontesting the election, theCongress chief said candidateselection is an ongoing processand the party has announced

over 300 candidates so far.“As far as Priyanka is con-

cerned, it is up to her to decideif she wants to contest the elec-tion or not,” he said. Onwhether party veterans will befielded by the Congress to putup a strong fight, Gandhi saidthe party has a system of iden-tifying candidates and it goesthrough various processes.

“I have looked at young aswell as experienced candidatesequally because I have believedthat Congress party needsboth. Seniors are fighting elec-tions. We also have many newfaces who will be fighting theirfirst election,” he said.

There has been a clamouramong Congress leaders fromthe south for Rahul Gandhi tocontest from Kerala as well asKarnataka and the State unitshave already passed resolutionson the issue. His mother, for-mer Congress president SoniaGandhi, earlier contested fromthe Bellary seat in Karnatakawhile his grandmother, formerPrime Minister Indira Gandhi,had contested fromChikamangalur in Karnataka.Process of nominations inKerala, which goes to polls onApril 23, started on Thursdayand will end on April 4.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Friday expressed

confidence that the BJP willreturn to power with “absolutemajority” after the April-MayLok Sabha election, saying thepeople have made up theirmind to ensure victory of theNational Democratic Alliancein 300-plus seats.

He also said people havealready decided in favour of theBJP and are, therefore, notsearching for a “competingface”. In an interview to‘Republic Bharat’ news channel,he also said the timing of thelaunch of the anti-satellite mis-sile was based on “open space”available to carry out the test.

“Call it an adventure or aninitiative, they don’t happensuddenly. You need to tell theglobal community that youwant space at a particulartime in (outer) space to ensurethere is no space traffic or col-lision, you need to ask for anopen space, you need to fixthat space. It is a long process,”he explained.

Modi rejected sugges-tions that the index of oppo-sition unity is high as com-pared to 2014. “If you go

granular, you will find theopposition more scattered nowthan in 2014. Tell me, has therebeen any agreement in Andhra(Pradesh), (West) Bengal? Hasthere been any (agreement)with Communist parties? Hasit happened in Kerala, Odisha,”he said.

He also rejected possibil-ity of opposition joining handsafter elections, saying, “Todaythey are leaving no stoneunturned to put each otherdown. You look at all theirstatements.” He also said thatopposition joining hands postpolls can happen only if peo-ple give fewer seats to him.

“When the people of thiscountry have made up theirmind to give highest numberof seats to Narendra Modi,then what can happen? Theresults are certain. There is nodoubt about that. The peopleof the country have decided tobring in a Government thatenjoys absolute majority. Theyhave made up their mind togive NDA a mandate for a 300-plus Government,” he asserted.

Responding to a questionon ‘Modi Vs who’ in the LokSabha polls, he said the questionmight arise in 2024. “But thereis no such chance in 2019. The

people of this country havemade up their mind about oneside. That is why the people ofthe country are not in search fora competing face. Not at all.”

He said for TRP, newschannels rake up such questions.“It is important for youbecause...See in 2014 you hadManmohan Singh ji. You couldnot have gained TRP by pittinghim against me. So you had toget (Arvind) Kejriwal who didnot have a single MLA, a singlecorporator. But you had to pitchhim as a future Prime Ministerto run your shops,” hequipped.

To a question onunemployment and theopposition’s attack on thegovernment, the PMsaid he is trying tomake new institutionsso that there is a “per-fect system”.

He pointed out thatwhen Atal Bihari Vajpayeewas the Prime Minister, theOpposition had also raised theissue of unemployment.

“After Atal ji’s tenure, therewere statistics that proved thatthere were 6 crore jobs in Atalji’s tenure. And during UPA,there were only 1.5 crore jobsand yet they maligned Atalji’s

Government. The Lutyens’(Delhi) ecosystem kept beatingthe drums,” he said. Referringto efforts by his government togenerate employment, he saidfour crore people have takenmoney from banks via theMudra scheme.

“Four crore people havetaken money for the first time.They must have started someemployment, they must haveemployed somebody. Whatdo I tell you? The registrationsat EPFO, more than 1 crorepeople have registered. Money

has to be givenfor this, it isnot for free,”he said.

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The Election Commission(EC) on Friday rejected the

plea by 21 Opposition partiesseeking 50 per cent samplematching of the EVMs with thecorresponding Voter VerifiablePaper Audit Trails (VVPATs),and said it should be allowed tocontinue with the present system.

Seeking the dismissal of theplea by the 21 Opposition par-ties, the Election Commissionin its response said the plea“does not raise any ground orbase for altering” the existingsystem of sample checking andurged the court that the “pre-sent system ... for the imminentelections be continued ...”

The EC said this inresponse to a notice by the topcourt on the Opposition partiesplea for increasing the sample

matching of the EVMs with thecorresponding VVPATs.

The top court had soughtthe EC’s response on March 25when it had slammed the pollpanel for insisting that there wasno need for increasing the sam-ple matching of the EVMs withthe corresponding VVPATs.

Referring to the grievancesraised by the opposition partiesand the relief sought, the pollpanel has said that “after duestudies and tests it has arrived atthe conclusion that the methodas presently adopted has beenfound to be most suitable”.

The EC has said that it wasopen to any other suggestionthat it might not have consid-ered for the future elections asthe conduct of free and fairelections was the ultimate goal.

Finding nothing new inthe plea by the 21 oppositionparties, the poll panel in itsresponse has said: “...issuesraised in the instant petitions arematters that have already beenconsidered, studied and deter-mined by the ElectionCommission and have since cul-minated in adopting the courseof conduct of the imminentelections in the present manner.”

Pointing to the advantage ofusing EVMs, the EC has said that“EVMs have completely elimi-nated the problem of invalidvotes, which were in many casesmore than the winning marginin the constituency.”

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Endemic to the Himalayas,Kutki (Picrorhiza kurrooa

Royle ex. Benth), a perennialIndian wild medicinal herbcommonly used for treatment ofliver diseases including jaundice,is facing threat from a fungal dis-ease, powdery mildew. The plantis already on the endangered listbecause of over-exploitation forcommercial usage.

“If fungus is not containedin time, this might have adverseimpact on its medicinal prop-erties,” scientists from HNBUniversity have raised red-flags. They noted that this is forthe first time such ever reportof powdery mildew caused byPodosphaera fuliginea on theendemic medicinal plantPicrorhiza kurroa has beenrecorded from India.

The study is published inthe latest edition of reputed sci-ence journal, Current Science.

“A powdery mildew diseasewas observed by the scientistson its aerial parts under poly-house conditions in alpine fieldresearch station at Tungnathand under cultivated condi-tions at Pothivasa, Rudraprayagdistrict, Uttarakhand during

May-September 2016-2018,”said the study.

The disease symptomswere observed on the adaxialsurface as white powdery masswhich later turned brown, andthe plants withered and ulti-mately died. Poor floweringand low seed setting wereobserved in the infected plantsand most of them also with-ered, noted the team of scien-tists, including Ankit Singhand MC Nautiyal from

Uttarakhand’s HNB GarwalUniversity and AK Gautamfrom Abhilashi University,Mandi in Himachal Pradesh.

Increasing demand formedicinal herbs in India as inthe world has prompted theGovernment organisations andNGOs in high-altitude villagesin Uttarakhand and farmers toreap benefit from its cultivationand conservation.

“Although the crop is in theinitial stage of commercial cul-

tivation in the high-altitude vil-lages of Uttarakhand, appear-ance of powdery mildew caus-es damage to the crop and dueto this, farmers are getting dis-couraged,” said the study.

The disease needs to becontrolled by fungicides ofbiological origin so that themedicinal properties of theplant are not affected. Researchcan also be initiated to devel-op disease-resistant varieties ofthis plant in near future for theconservation of this valuablespecies for sustainable use, theresearchers suggested.

Grown naturally on rocksand moist slopes in the alpineand subalpine regions between3,000 and 4,500 metres, Kutkihas been used for many cen-turies in various medicinalcultures across India, Greeceand Arabia as a febrifuge,coolant, blood purifier andhepato-protective.

According to ayurvedaexperts, Kutki is most widelyrecognised for its protectiveand regenerative effects uponthe liver, protecting againstlong-term damage and bacte-rial infection that can be influ-enced by chronic drug con-sumption or abuse.

!� �� �&1�2&*34

The main investigating offi-cer (IO), Satyabrata Kumar,

of Enforcement Directorate(ED) probing the fugitive bil-lionaries Nirav Modi and VijayMallya cases was re-instated asJoint Director soon after he wasrelieved of his charges while hewas in London.

Sources said realising thegoof-up, the Mumbai zone ED,revoked its orders. Kumar is inLondon to attend the NiravModi extradition case pro-ceedings and simultaneouslyprobing the Mallya case.

According to ED order,Satyabrata Kumar shall con-tinue to look after the charge ofMumbai zonal office-I, untilfurther orders of the Directorof Enforcement. The order wassigned by Deputy Director(establishment) Rohit Anand.The order was marked to EDdirector; Joint Secretary ofDepartment of Personnel andTraining, Joint Secretary ofDepartment of Revenue andother senior officials of direc-torate.

The order divesting JointDirector Satyabrat Kumar ofthe charge of Mumbai zonalunit-I of the ED was issued byits top officer in the westernzone, Special Director VineetAgarwal, on Friday. As soon asthe news came out, sourcessaid, ED Director SanjayKumar Mishra cancelled theorder in Delhi and restored thecharge to Kumar.

Kumar, an Indian RevenueService officer of the Customsand Indirect Taxes service, wasdivested of his charge byAgarwal on the technicalground and rule that no IO cancontinue at one post beyondfive years and no order for hiscontinuation was issued by theED headquarters.

Special Director Agarwal,in his signed order, relievedKumar from all the investiga-tions, including the USD 2-bil-lion PNB Bank fraud caseagainst Nirav Modi, and hand-ed over the additional charge ofKumar to his immediate supe-rior authority of AdditionalDirector (western region), whoalso sits in Mumbai.

The order, however,allowed Kumar to continueprobing coal blocks allocationcases as he was appointed IO inthis case by the Supreme Courtand no officer can be changedwithout the apex court’s per-mission.

Sensing the controversybeing generated over the abruptremoval of the IO in this cru-cial case being monitored at thetop level of the government, theED headquarters cancelled theorder immediately.

This cancellation will befollowed by an approval ofextension of tenure of Kumarwhich has already been sent forclearance to the Department ofRevenue under the UnionFinance Ministry and theDepartment of Personnel andTraining (DoPT), the sourcessaid. The ED also issued a clar-ification through its Twitterhandle. “Certain media reportshave been appearing that JointDirector supervising investi-gation in the case of NiravModi has been relieved. Thisreport is not correct anddenied,” it said.

!� �� �&1�2&*34

The Amma MakkalMunnetra Kazhagam

(AMMK)-led by TTVDhinakaran has been allottedthe ‘Gift Box’ as the symbolfor its candidates in fray for atotal of 40 parliamentary and19 Assembly seats in theforthcoming by-polls and LokSabha elections of Tamil Naduand Puducherry.

This comes after theSupreme Court on Tuesdayrefused to direct the ElectionCommission (EC) to issue‘pressure cooker’ as a com-mon symbol to candidates

contesting under the AMMKbanner for the upcoming elec-tions. A Bench headed byChief Justice Ranjan Gogoihad instead asked the EC togive them a common electionsymbol from among the freesymbols available.

Post J Jayalathilaa’s death inDecember 2016, the AIADMKhad split with the group led byPalaniswami and Panneerse-lvam joining hands againstDhinakaran and VK Sasikala.Palaniswami and his trusteddeputy O Panneerselvam wereallocated the ‘two leaves’ sym-bol to the faction headed by theEC in November 2017.

New Delhi: Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s address tothe nation on the successfultest-firing of an anti-satellitemissile did not violate themodel code of conduct, theElection Commission said onFriday night.

The EC took the decisionbased on the report of a com-mittee of officers which found that the Prime Ministerdid not violate the provisionof ‘party in power’ in the poll code.

“The committee has,therefore, reached the con-clusion that the MCC provi-sion regarding misuse of offi-cial mass media...Is not attract-ed in the instant case,” thecommission said, citing thereport of the committee con-

stituted to look into the case. Model code of conduct is

in place for the April-May par-liamentary election and someState polls. India shot downone of its satellites in space onWednesday with an anti-satel-lite missile to demonstratethis complex capability, PrimeMinister Narendra Modiannounced, making it only thefourth country to have usedsuch a weapon.

Declaring India has estab-lished itself as a global spacepower after the success of theoperation ‘Mission Shakti’,Modi said the missile hit a livesatellite flying in a Low EarthOrbit after it traversed a dis-tance of almost 300 km fromearth within three minutes ofits launch. PTI

!� �� �&1�2&*34

BJP’s Etawah MP AshokKumar Dohrey joined the

Congress on Friday aftermeeting party president RahulGandhi and within hours hewas fielded by the Oppositionparty from the constituency.Dohrey joined the Congressfold days after he was denieda BJP ticket from the EtawahLok Sabha constituency, fromwhere the ruling party hasdeclared former Union min-ister Ram Shankar Katheria.

The 48-year-old Dalitleader met Rahul Gandhi atthe latter’s residence here andwas welcomed in the party.Within hours of joining,Dohrey was nominated bythe opposition party as a can-didate from his constituencyHe had won the Etawah seaton a BJP ticket in 2014.

He was earlier in theBahujan Samaj Party and was

an MLA between 2007 to2012. He also served as aCabinet minister in theMayawati Government. BJP’s

MP from Uttar Pradesh’sBharaich Sadhvi Savitri BaiPhule had also joined theCongress a few days ago.

New Delhi: The SupremeCourt on Friday issued noticeto the Centre and the ElectionCommission on a plea seekinginitiation of contempt pro-ceedings for alleged violation ofthe apex court’s judgmentdirecting all candidates todeclare their criminalantecedents to the poll panelbefore contesting elections.

A Bench comprisingJustices RF Nariman andVineet Saran also soughtresponse from the three deputyelection commissioners, lawsecretary and the cabinet sec-retary for not complying with

its judgment dated September25, 2018. The court was hear-ing a plea filed by lawyerAshwini Kumar Upadhyay.

In September last year, afive-judge Constitution benchunanimously held all candi-dates will have to declare theircriminal antecedents to theEC before contesting polls andhad called for wider publicity,through print and electronicmedia about the antecedents ofcandidates.

On October 10 last year, theEC had issued notificationregarding the amended Form-26, and directions to political

parties and candidates for pub-lication of criminal antecedents.

However, the plea filed byUpadhyay had alleged that theEC neither amended theElection Symbol Order, 1968nor the model code of conduct(MCC) so the said notificationhas no legal sanction.

“On October 10, 2018, theECI issued direction to politi-cal parties and candidates forpublication of criminalantecedents without amendingthe Election Symbol Order &Model Code of Conduct so thedirection has no legal sanction,”the plea had said. PTI

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Page 6: C M Y K - The Pioneer€¦ · Gujarat and 4.3 kms in Dadra and Nagar Haveli. The high-speed train corridor was inau-gurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart

One of the main features of thecampaign for the forthcomingLok Sabha elections is thedeafening silence of all politi-cal parties on the issues of ani-

mal rights and justice. And this despite thefact that a vast array of non-human livingbeings, ranging from neighbourhood dogsand cats and stray cattle roaming thestreets, to the birds seen on nearby trees, areregularly visible to us. Though less frequent-ly seen directly, wildlife in forest and wastelands and the fish in streams and ponds,have become familiar through films, videos,print and electronic media, folklore and dis-cursive, and fictional writings. And, ofcourse, many consume animals as food.

One reason for this silence is that we seenon-human living beings without integratingthem into our moral, emotional and intellec-tual consciousness. We view them like thelamp post, hydrants, two-wheelers, cars andbuses we encounter on the roads, avoidingrunning into — or being run over by — themas we go our own ways. The nature of our livesis partly to blame for this. The rat races werun by choice or under compulsion, the con-sumption dreams and ideals we pursue andthe amusements and pleasures we seek tocompensate for the emotional void within us,leave little time for, and interest in, with any-thing that does not directly concern us.

Also to blame is the nature of the hap-piness we seek. As Erich Fromm points outin The Art of Loving, “Our whole culture isbased on the appetite for buying. Modernman’s happiness consists in the thrill of look-ing at the shop windows, and in buying allthat he can afford to buy, on the idea ofmutually favourable exchange. He (or she)looks at people in a similar way. For the manan attractive girl — and for the woman anattractive man — are the prizes they are after.‘Attractive’ usually means a nice package ofqualities which are popular and sought afteron the personality market.”

Fromm was perhaps over-generalising.There are in our time people who do notbehave like the “modern man” he mentioned,but a majority — if not an overwhelmingmajority — do, and the culture to which theybelong is increasingly defined by the market.To a very great extent, the happiness of a per-son steeped in this culture consists of shop-window voyeurism, possessing, consuming,and fair exchange in romantic relationshipsin terms of desirable attributes. There is noelement of giving and emotional connect.

This is seen in a major way in the sphereof people’s attitude to “man’s best friend”, thedog. The majority — if not the overwhelm-ing majority — of those, who claim to be doglovers, prefer to keep as pets pedigreed dogsagainst Indian street mongrels who, accord-ing to many who know, perhaps constitute themost intelligent, loving and brave breed ofcanines in the world. Anyone, who has hadthem as friends or family members, wouldvouch for this.

Things are changing. InDecember 2008, four stray dogsgraduated from a nine-monthImprovised Explosive Devices(IED) detection course from theCounter Terrorism and JungleWarfare College (CTJWC) inKanker district, Chhattisgarh.These were found capable ofdetecting explosives up to sixinches below the surface and tobe tougher, harder, sharper andmore active than pedigreed dogs— generally Labradors andAlsatians — during the trainingperiod.

In Barrackpore, near Kolkatain West Bengal, Asha, rescued bythe staff of the West BengalPolice Training Academy whenshe was a three-month-old,harassed and ill-treated by localresidents, began to be trained asa sniffer dog. She, too, turned outto be as good, if not better, thanthe foreign pedigreed breeds,including Dobermanns, invari-ably chosen for training. Turningout to be an expert sniffer, shewas far faster and more agile thanthe other canines under trainingand capable of clearing hurdlesabout six feet high, that mostother groupmates could not.

They, however, are excep-tions that may or may notbecome the rule. Besides, theireminence has not preventedother animals, including straydogs, from being ignored. Thisis not just because of our self-absorbed, consumption-orientedlife but also of our conscious andsub-conscious awareness that

our entire existence rests on thekind of exploitation and abuse ofanimals that has no parallel evenin the history of perhaps the mostinhuman colonisers.

Besides consuming them,we subject them to incrediblepain and suffering for medical— and even cosmetics — test-ing. This is an utter shame, par-ticularly since alternatives areavailable. Computer models areused in Britain in physical sci-ences education to show thebiophysical properties of normaland diseased mammalian cells.They use these single-cell mod-els to manufacture anatomical-ly-precise three-dimensionalorgan models, which can accu-rately predict the effect of drugtherapies for a variety of dis-eases. The United States hasbanned the use of live animalsfor medical training. More thanhalf of the medical schools inthat country, including those atHarvard, Stanford, Columbia,Yale and Duke, have adoptedmore humane and superiormethods. Harvard MedicalSchool, for example, brings stu-dents directly into human oper-ation theatres to learn by watch-ing surgeons, anaesthetists andothers performing actual car-dio-vascular bypass surgeries.Devices have been found thatenable students to navigatethrough respiratory cardio-vas-cular and renal physiology andexperiments into differentmajor parameters in a trulyinteractive programme. Medical

education in the West usesmany alternatives like interac-tive videos and computer sim-ulations, in-vitro cell cultures,slaughter-house material anddead animals fromhumane/ethical sources.

Things have improved inIndia but not sufficiently. Theshocking use of animals inunnecessary experiments con-tinues. People often treat ani-mals with horrendous savagery.Jallikattu, which causes intensesuffering to bulls and leads toinjury, and even deaths, amonganimals and people, continuesto be staged. Draught animalsare poorly fed and looked afterand made to carry uncon-scionably heavy loads. Theconstant encroachment intowildlife habitats by roads andother infrastructural projectsand illegal human settlementshas led to rapidly-growingman-animal conflicts that canonly lead to the exterminationof most species of the latter.

Those, who do not want thisto happen, must remember thatelections are, in the last analysis,about numbers. Animals have novotes; animal lovers are not suf-ficiently numerous to matter.To be heard, they must ensure arapid growth in their numbers,which can only be done bylaunching and sustaining a pow-erful movement for animal rightsand justice.

(The writer is ConsultantEditor, The Pioneer, and anauthor)

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Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “US move on Azhar” (March29). The problem with China isthat it wants to have its cake andeat it too. On the one hand,Beijing wants to contain Indiaand, thus, stand with Pakistanfor the sake of hegemony in theAsian region. On the other, it hasto also withstand the onslaughtof Islamic expansionism in itsown country — an area where itis not on the same page asPakistan.

It is interesting that at leastfor once, a country like China isin the line of fire of human rights’organisations. With the UnitedStates drafting a resolution toblacklist Masood Azhar, it looksalmost certain that it will getthrough with an overwhelmingsupport from other countries,even on the face of veto by oneof the five permanent membersof the Security Council. On thewhole, the development is amoral victory for India.

While it may blowing off thepresent crisis created by theChinese embargo, the worldbody will have to take stock ofthe matter so that such situations

do not occur in the future,where a single country is able tonullify any well-meaning com-bined effort of a large number ofnations. It is in this directionthat it appears essential for theworld body to review its struc-ture in view of the changedworld scenario where somecountries, other than the perma-nent f ive members of theSecurity Council, have also

emerged as world power. Thesooner it is done, the better itwill be for world peace.

BP SrivastavaNoida

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Sir — This refers to the report,“Opp berates PM for Sarab anal-ogy” (March 29). Coming close

on the heels of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s abuse on thenational television channel toappropriate the stupendous sci-entific achievement of theDefence Research andDevelopment Organisation, aninstitution formed and nurturedby his bete noire , PanditJawaharlal Nehru, the new lowin wordplay is disturbing to saythe least. A change in the nature

of political discourse is urgent-ly needed before election cam-paigns get further reduced tocalling opponents cats, dogsand rats.

Appearing at a conferencerecently in Salt Lake City,Kolkata, former US PresidentBarack Obama remarked:“Things like rule of law, democ-racy and, you know, competenceand facts; those things are notpartisan but they also don’t hap-pen automatically”.

He added, “There has to becitizens who insist on it and par-ticipate to make sure it happens”.One can’t help but agree withObama, “Democracy is a gardenthat has to be tended”.

Haridasan Rajan Kozhikode

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Sir — In an article titled,“Contextualising terror” (March29), the name of the writer wasinadvertently credited to PrafullGoradia. Actually, it was writtenby Bhopinder Singh. The erroris deeply regretted.

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Perceived as the league of like-mindeddemocracies converging across theIndian and Pacific Oceans, the Quad,comprising the US, Japan, India andAustralia, is symbiotically linked with

the geopolitically ascending region — theIndo-Pacific. However, there are more questionsthan answers regarding the Quad’s structure,intentions and goals, making it difficult for eachmember to align their combined vision of thegrouping with that of their individual vision ofthe Indo-Pacific. This has led to a debate aboutthe need to re-purpose the Quad. In fact, stop-gap, sub-unions and disengagements at variouslevels in the group have raised questions as towhether it can transcend into a productive mini-lateral arrangement from a forum of inhibition.The other issue is whether the Quad is capa-ble of creating a potent security framework inthe region and if so, then what would such astructure look like?

These questions have primarily cropped upbecause of two reasons. First, while the nationshave committed themselves to the idea of a “Freeand Open Indo-Pacific", the cohesion is stillloosely arranged and has not yet been formalisedat the Ministerial level. One way of looking atit would be that even though the states have aconceptual consensus on the primary ideabehind the Quad, their individual politico-secu-rity considerations in the region vis-a-vis otherplayers subtly vary. Second, while all memberstates in the Quad have a robust strengtheningnetwork of ties with implications in the maritimedomain, including security dialogues and mil-itary exercises, as a unit, the Quad has failed todeliver substantively in terms of achievementsand commitments towards laying a bedrock ofa strong security arrangement in the Indo-Pacificregion. As such, informal promises, somemembers’ increasing apprehension aproposChina and dithering regional resolve fromWashington under President Donald Trumphave not produced the required joint resolve forconcrete deliverables.

India has distinctively carved a space withan emphasis on the principle of freedom of nav-igation and respect for the laws of sea, findingresonance with the central ideas of the Quad.However, India’s increasing tangible cooperationwith the Quad nations, its reservations about amore formalised security structure in the region,while still balancing at home, and its desire toavoid being identified with any particular groupwith regional security implications at the inter-national stage, are compounding complicationsin its vision of the Indo-Pacific and of the Quad.India’s de-hyphenation of the Indo-Pacific andthe Quad not only eclipses clarity but underscoresthe need for a regional security architecture thatemphasises on a strategic continuum rather thangeopolitical fragmentation.

Decoupling the Quad and the Indo-Pacific: While India has engaged with the Quadstates actively in the past couple of years sincethe organisation’s resurrection in 2017 after adecade, it has also subtly emphasised on decou-pling of the purpose of the group with its visionof the Indo-Pacific. New Delhi has drawn con-

ceptual and structural policy demarcationsbetween the Quad and the Indo-Pacific throughactions, inhibitors and statements, that were out-lined in some ways by Ambassador Pankaj Saran.

In the aftermath of two important informalsummits at Wuhan and Sochi with China andRussia respectively, India’s enthusiasm towardsthe Quad appeared to have faded. As such, NewDelhi seeks to place the Quad as one of the manymultilateral frameworks operating in the Indo-Pacific region, not as the regionally consequen-tial one. Enumerating its Indo-Pacific strategyin largely “plurilateral formats”, India not onlyseeks to avoid restricting its Indo-Pacific strat-egy to the Quad at its helm, but also to main-tain its long-cherished principle of strategicautonomy by keeping its options open toengage with Russia in the region, as also by mak-ing conscious decisions to not provoke China.

New Delhi seeks to ensure a nimble-foot-ed balance in the Indo-Pacific between align-ment and autonomy. While it separates the Quadwith the Indo-Pacific in its emerging dis-course, it risks the loss of an opportunity to cre-ate a strategic continuum, in favour of a region-ally fragmented vision. A positive rationale toIndia’s purpose in the Quad is the need to viewthe Indo-Pacific region as a strategic continu-um rather than an assemblage of sub-regional-ly divided goals, partnerships and alignments.The Quad provides India the opportunity to useits geographic centrality in the region to con-nect with the strategic ends on either side of thepeninsula, to enhance its security vision in theIndo-Pacific region, extending from the Gulf tothe other side of the Strait of Malacca.

Inclusivity and minilateralism: At theShangri-La Dialogue in 2018, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi clarified India’s position on theIndo-Pacific by saying that, “India does not seethe Indo-Pacific region as a strategy or as a clubof limited members. Nor as a grouping that seeksto dominate. And by no means do we consid-er it as directed against any country.” While the

Prime Minister made it clear that India’s Indo-Pacific strategy is not about cornering or side-lining China in the region, it also stands for apositive vision of the Indo-Pacific that harps onAsean centrality and emphasises inclusivity withSouth-East Asia as a core area in the region. InIndia’s definition of the Indo-Pacific, it “standsfor a free, open, inclusive region, whichembraces us all in a common pursuit ofprogress and prosperity. It includes all nationsin this geography as also others beyond who havea stake in it.” India has deliberatively marked adefinitive and conceptual distinction in defin-ing the regional scope of the Indo-Pacific, pri-marily through a semantic spin in the word“inclusive.” India’s definitive of “all” stakehold-ers in its Indo-Pacific purpose somewhat dilutesthe Quad’s anti-China purpose. This is, perhaps,both intended and desired by New Delhi as ithelps create comfortable navigating space in theregion to hedge against major powers while stillavoid antagonism.

The Quad is essentially rejuvenated againstthe backdrop of an emerging narrative for a freeand open Indo-Pacific and not much for a pan-regional inclusiveness. This narrative is presum-ably aimed against China as its heavy militari-sation and territorial claims in the South ChinaSea along with its strategic naval outposts in theIndian Ocean region are being primarily heldas the main disrupting force in the region. Whileas a unit, the Quad seeks to balance China insome ways, India has not drawn a clear line vis-à-vis China in the Indo-Pacific. Presently, it ispart of the Quad, which emphasises on balanc-ing Chinese aggression in the region by seek-ing a rules-based order, and at the same time,it is talking of an inclusive region which is notaimed against any particular country.

As such, the limits of “inclusivity” are leftundefined in India’s Indo-Pacific discourse.This narrative establishes the notion that India’svision of the Indo-Pacific isn’t about balanc-ing or restricting China. Rather, the tilt

towards the Quad is only a commitment undershared principles and values. The other issuein India’s Indo-Pacific discourse is an inher-ent dichotomy. India’s vision of the Indo-Pacificand its distinctive inclusiveness in the regionis against the premise of minilateralism thatthe Quad presupposes. Then, the puzzlingquestion is whether a certain degree of inclu-sivity, as sought by India, would make theQuad’s minilateralism powerless? In effect,India’s Indo-Pacific vision has added furtheruncertainty in the regional discourse aroundgrouping and partnerships. And it is the lackof clarity which is largely rendering the Quadunproductive.

Need for a security architecture vision:New Delhi should visualise the Indo-Pacific asa springboard to connect the ends of the twooceans across the maritime expanse of theIndo-Pacific. As New Delhi gradually seeks tobolster its presence in the region and take upthe role of a net security provider, it needs toshed its reluctance to move up to the strait ofHormuz and beyond the Strait of Malacca.While the Quad can be converted into a vehi-cle to provide the much-needed security archi-tecture in the region, its effectiveness woulddepend upon how much clarity India adds vis-a-vis its own regional minilateral engagementsin the Indo-Pacific. India needs to outline aclear stance with respect to its engagements oneither side of the spectrum; the rest of the Quadmembers as well as China. As such, answers toa few questions that could bring clarity to India’soperational strategy in the Indo-Pacific aremuch-needed and in order. Should India con-tinue its strategy of perceiving the Quad andthe Indo-Pacific as decoupled or see the twoas symbiotic? And, to what extent is India’sIndo-Pacific strategy “inclusive”?

(Vivek Mishra is Assistant Professor ofInternational Relations, Netaji Institute for AsianStudies and Udayan Das is Doctoral Candidatein International Relations at Jadavpur University)

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The meteoric rise of China andits assertive influence in theIndo-Pacific region have meant

that India is strengthening its nego-tiating space by forging economic andstrategic ties with the Association ofSoutheast Asian Nations (ASEAN).This has been particularly necessitat-ed by the gradual decline in the USposturing in the region while Chinahas been multiplying its dominancewith the creation of an artificialisland in the South China Sea, theunilateral establishment of AirDefence Identification Zone (ADIZ)in the East China Sea and the Belt andRoad Initiative (BRI) connectingAsia to Africa to name a few. This,therefore, makes it imperative upon

the Indian military establishment topitch for the expansion of Quad —the quadrilateral regional alliance ofIndia, Australia, Japan and the UnitedStates — with the objective of coun-tering Chinese supremacy and ensur-ing autonomy over territorial waters.

Why is the Indo-Pacific regionemerging as the new strategic hub?Several trade routes criss-cross thechoppy waters. Experts say morethan 40 per cent of the global sea-borne trade pass through the vitalStraits of Malacca. Moreover, 15.5million barrels of global oil trade passthrough the Gulf of Hormuz; and 11million barrels of oil pass throughMalacca and the Singapore Straits. Sothe tussle is over freedom of naviga-tion, territorial rights, explorationand use of marine resources anddeployment of military forces in theregion by each country to protect itsinterests and resource base.

As top Navy officials of India,US, Japan, Australia and Franceassembled at the Raisina Dialogue inNew Delhi, Indian Navy chief SunilLanba argued for greater coopera-tion by citing the rapid expansion of

the Chinese naval presence in recentyears, particularly in the IndianOcean Region (IOR). Lanba said noNavy had grown so rapidly in the last200 years as the Chinese one and thatat any given time, there are aroundeight Chinese Navy ships in thenorthern part of the Indian Ocean.

Keeping the best interests of allcountries in mind as per the UnitedNations Convention on the Law ofthe Sea (UNCLOS), the Quad’sresponsibility is building a rule-based order to keep an eye onChina’s increasing footprint in theSouth China Sea. The Quad allianceemphasises on improving inter-operability and evolving a commonmaritime awareness template collec-tively with timely Naval exercises.Malabar is seen as a counter toChina’s expansion in this respect. ButChina cleverly cancelled Australia’sbid to join the Malabar naval exer-cise in 2017-18, confining it to anobserver status only.

While the Malabar naval exercisebetween India and the US has beenan annual exercise since 1992, Quadbecame a reality in 2007. However,

it began evolving since 2004, whenthe “tsunami” in the Indian Oceanregion brought together Australia,Japan and the US to launchHumanitarian Assistance andDisaster Relief (HADR)operationswith us.

Over time, navies of the Quadcountries have primed themselves tofight different maritime challengeslike boat terrorism, piracy, drugtrafficking and weapons smugglingand is now moving together tocheck China’s territorial ambitions onwaters by simply developing portsand islands belonging to smallercountries as part of its Belt and RoadInitiative. The Australian ForeignMinister, Marise Payne, too, hasechoed these concerns as she stressedon the expansion of the Quadalliance and called for a strategicpartnership with India, supporting itsrole as a strategic anchor in theregion. She quoted Indian PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’s Shangri Ladialogue about India’s Act East pol-icy of stepped-up activity with Aseanand bridging south and SoutheastAsia, highlighting bilateral ties with

Australia. Underlining the need for the cre-

ation of an Indian Ocean RegionalArchitecture (IORA), Payne assuredthat Australia would also supportmulti-lateral mechanisms to safe-guard peace in the Indo-Pacificregion. During his keynote addressat the 2018 Shangri La Dialogue,Modi underscored the global impor-tance of the Indo-Pacific region as acollaborative space when he empha-sised that “India does not see theIndo-Pacific region as a strategy oras a club of limited members. Nor asa grouping that seeks to dominate.And by no means do we consider itas directed against any country.”

Pertinently, in September 2018,India and United States released ajoint statement as part of their 2+2dialogue: “Indo-Pacific is a free, openand inclusive concept, with Aseancentrality at the core and defined bya common rules-based order.”

Given that China is heavingover this concept, the Quad’s chal-lenges with regard to China are tomaintain international law, ensurepeaceful settlement of disputes and

freedom of navigation and allowcommerce in the region, includingthe South China sea, according toglobal practices.

Chinese Foreign Minister WangYi has derided the idea of Quad asnothing but sea foam but Chinashould not underestimate the emerg-ing power equation with the US’ new-found determination to restore a bal-ance of power in the Indo-Pacificregion and further isolate China fol-lowing their trade wars. The US isnow even compelling China todeclare why it is averse to taking astand on global terrorist MasoodAzhar at the UN Security Council. Itis pulling out the worst of China’shuman rights records. In this context,Quad is being viewed as the 21st cen-tury’s security alliance against anaggressive China which now sees theUS as spearheading a new version ofthe Cold War. However, as per topnaval officials, the main objective ofQuad is to maintain a free and openIndo-Pacific region which serves thebest interest of all countries.

(The writer is PrincipalCorrespondent, The Pioneer)

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In a second major offensiveagainst the ‘active’ terrorists

in the last one week, the jointteams of security forces haveagain eliminated six terroristsin the last 24 hours in differ-ent encounters acrossKashmir valley.

After eliminating four ter-rorists in two separate encoun-ters in Shopian and Handwaraon Thursday, two more terror-ists were gunned down by thesecurity forces in Nowgam areaon the outskirts of Srinagar onFriday.

At least five soldiers werealso injured in the gunfight.

According to policespokesman," both the terroristskilled in the operation havebeen identified as Pakistaninationals Ali and Idrees (codenames)". From the incriminat-ing material recovered it isunderstood that they were affil-iated with proscribed terroroutfit Jaish-e-Mohammad(JeM). Police had also recoveredarms and ammunition from thesite of gunfight.

Earlier, eight terrorists wereeliminated by the security forcesin four different encounters inBandipora, Baramulla, Shopianand Sopore gun battles betweenMarch 21-22. The securityforces achieved major success-es in the recent days on the basis

of pin pointed informationabout the presence of terroristsin the civilian areas. The mainobjective behind these sus-tained operations is eliminationof maximum number of ter-rorists active in North andSouth Kashmir districts to cre-ate conducive atmosphere forpeaceful polls in the State.

At present the poll cam-paign for the first phase ofpolling is going on smoothly inSrinagar and Baramulla areaswith political rallies of differentpolitical parties attractinghealthy turn out of supporters.

On its part the State policehas also issued a separate advi-sory to the leaders of differentpolitical parties to refrain fromtaking out road shows andorganising public meetingswithout proper sanitisation ofvenues by the security forces.

Meanwhile, in Jammu, Lt

Gen. Ranbir Singh, NorthernArmy Commander, metGovernor Satya Pal Malik at RajBhavan and briefed him aboutthe present security situation inthe State.

Governor and the ArmyCommander discussed certainimportant issues relating toeffective internal security man-agement. In another relateddevelopment, Pakistan Armyviolated ceasefire agreementalong the line of control inMankote and Krishna Ghatisectors of Poonch.

According to Defencespokesman in Jammu, "Pakistanarmy initiated unprovokedceasefire violation by shellingwith mortars and small arms fir-ing from 7.30 a.m". In responseto the fresh provocation, Indianarmy also retaliated strongly andeffectively, Defence spokesmanadded.

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Ahmedabad: Congress leaderHardik Patel's plans to contestLok Sabha election hit a road-block on Friday as the GujaratHigh Court rejected his pleaseeking a stay to his convictionin the 2015 Vispur rioting case.

As the last date for filing ofnominations is April 4, thePatidar leader has little time toapproach the Supreme Court tochallenge the ruling.

Patel had started prepara-tions to contest from Jamnagaron a Congress ticket after join-ing the party on March 12.Polling for 26 Lok Sabha seatsin Gujarat will be held on April

23.Under the Representation

of the People Act and a relatedSupreme Court ruling, a convictfacing a jail term of two years ormore cannot stand for electionunless the conviction is stayed.

Opposing Patel's plea beforeJustice A G Uraizee, the stategovernment had pointed out

that Patel is facing 17 FIRs,including two sedition com-plaints.

He was known for makinginflammatory speeches, the BJPgovernment told the court.

Hardik's lawyers had said ifthe conviction was not stayed,it will cause "irreparable dam-age" as he intended to contestthe Lok Sabha election.

No one had seen Patel beingon the spot of rioting and thetrial court did not examine anyindependent witnesses, theysaid.

After Friday's ruling, Patel'slawyers said they would study itand decide whether to approachthe Apex Court.

In the order, the high courtnoted that a conviction can bestayed only in rare andexcep-

tional cases, and Patel's case didnot fall into that category.

The court noted the gov-ernment's submission that hewas facing 17 FIRs, and said thatlooking at this criminal back-ground, no relief can be grant-ed.

The sessions court atVisnagar in Mehsana districtsentenced Patel to two years'imprisonment last July for riot-ing and arson in Visnagar townin 2015 during the Patidarquota stir which he led.

The high court in August2018 suspended the sentencebut not the conviction.

Patel, expected to be a starcampaigner for the Congress,said in a statement that he wel-comed the judgement.

"I welcome Gujarat High

Court's decision. Elections comeand go. But the BJP is workingagainst Constitutional princi-ples. Why a 25-year-oldCongress leader is beingstopped from contesting polls?

"Many BJP leaders werealso convicted. But it seems thatall the laws are meant only forus (opposition)," he said.

He said he will campaignfor Congress across the countryincluding Gujarat. "My onlyfault is that I did not bow downto the BJP. This is the result offighting against the power," headded.

Gujarat Congressspokesperson Manish Doshialleged the ruling party wasdoing everything to stop theyoung leader from contestingpolls as it was afraid of him. PTI

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Srinagar: An Army jawan waskilled in a landslide when he waspatrolling along the Line ofControl (LoC) in Jammu &Kashmir’s Baramulla district,Army officials said on Friday.

Naik Parvej was leading anoperational patrolling team inBaramulla when a landslidestruck on Thursday, the officialssaid.

They said the soldier fellinto a deep stream flowingalong the route and sustainedgrievous injuries. Parvej wasevacuated to 92 Base Hospitalhere for medical treatmentwhere he died later.

The Army Friday paid trib-ute to Naik Parvej, with CorpsCommander KJS Dhillon lead-ing all ranks in paying homageto him.

"In a show of solidarity,representatives from other secu-rity agencies also paid their lastrespects to the martyr," an Armyspokesman said.

The 29-year-old hailed fromShekhawas village of Rajasthanand he had joined the Army in2009. He is survived by his wife,a son and a daughter, he said.

"The mortal remains of themartyr were flown for last ritesto his native place, where hewould be laid to rest with fullmilitary honours. In this hour ofgrief, the Army stands in soli-darity with the bereaved familyand remains committed to theirdignity and well being," headded. PTI

Bengaluru: In a big relief toJD(S) patriarch and formerPrime Minister HD DeveGowda, Congress sitting MPfrom Tumkur SPMuddahanumegowda on Fridaypulled out of the contest as therebel candidate against him.

Gowda is the joint nomineeof Karnataka's Congress-JD(S)ruling alliance, which was wor-ried over his electoral prospectsafter Muddahanumegowdajumped into the fray defying theunderstanding under which theseat was allotted to the JD(S).

"Angry" at being denied theticket, Muddahanumegowdahad filed his papers both as partycandidate and as an independentbut finally yielded to persuasionfrom the party leadership.

The leadership made sever-al attempts to pacifyMuddahanumegowda, withCongress president RahulGandhi and AICC general sec-retary KC Venugopal interven-ing finally.

Muddahanumegowda toldPTI that he has withdrawn hisnomination, respecting the "per-suasion" made by the Congresshigh command.

"Rahul Gandhi himselfspoke to me (Thursday morn-ing), K C Venugopal spoke tome several times, also our KPCCpresident, deputy chief minister

and also CLP leaderSiddaramaiah started persuad-ing me and said the coalition isat stakebecause of my nomina-tion as rebel," he said.

"Though my people did notagree for withdrawing nomina-tion, somehow I had to, as I did-n't want to become reasonforanything going wrong betweentwo parties," he added.

Muddahanumegowda saidhe was "angry" and "furious" forthereason that the sitting MPwas deprived of contesting elec-tion.

He said he had filed thenomination as constituencyleaders and workers insisted onhis contesting, after his requestto coalition leaders to reconsid-er the decision and field him, didnot yield result.

The Congress leader said hehad gone through "agony andmental torture" after beingdenied ticket despite being"active and performing mem-ber."

Asked about campaigningfor Gowda, he said, "I'm a sen-sitive politician..I will thinkover..I will need some time."

Muddahanumegowda, whohad worked as a judicial officerin the past is the only memberamong ten sitting Congress MPsfrom the State denied ticket, cit-ing coalition compulsions. PTI

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After considerable dilly-dal-lying, the BJP on Friday

nominated former Congressleader, Ranjeetsinh Naik-Nimbalkar, as its candidate forMadha Lok Sabha constituency,after ignoring the claims for aparty ticket made by newentrant to the party from theNCP, Ranjitsinh Mohite-Patil.

Five days after Naik-Nimbalkar joined its fold, theBJP preferred him overRanjitsinh Mohite-Patil as itscandidate from Madha con-stituency in westernMaharashtra.

Ranjitsinh Mohite-Patil –son of Nationalist CongressParty (NCP) MP and formerDeputy Chief MinisterVijaysinh Mohite-Patil – hadquit the NCP and joined the BJPon March 20 in the hope that hewould be nominated as a can-didate from Madha constituen-cy.

However, after Naik-Nimbalkar joined its fold onMarch 25, the BJP began recon-sidering its earlier decision tonominate Ranjitsinh Mohite-Patil as its candidate fromMadha.

What prompted the BJP toweigh its options betweenRanjitsinh Mohite-Patil and

Naik-Nimbalkar was the NCP’sdecision to field Sanjay Shinde,who is the president of SolapurZilla Parishad and brother ofMLA Baban Shinde, as its can-didate. Under the circum-stances, Shinde is really morepolitically influential than sittingNCP MP Vijaysinh Mohite-Patil, whom the NCP wanted tore-nominate in the initial stages.

Shinde had recently quit theNCP to contest against BJPcandidate Ranjitsinh Mohite-Patil, as he had no hopes of get-ting nominated as a candidateby the Sharad Pawar-led party.Till recently, he was beingwooed by the BJP into its fold.However, Shinde returned to theNCP after persuasion by partychief Sharad Pawar himself.

After considerable deliber-ations, the BJP nominatedNaik-Nimbalkar as its candidatefrom Madha. Miffed with hisparty leadership for its failure tonominate his son Rajeetsinh,sitting NCP MP VijaysinhMohite-Patil has declared thathe would work for whoever theBJP nominates as its candidate.

It may be recalled that on March 11, NCP chief Sharad Pawar had backed out of the contest, setting thestage of the entry of his grandnephew Parth Pawar into elec-toral politics.

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It may not be possible for thecandidates contesting the Lok

Sabha election to visit all thehouseholds in their con-stituencies to solicit votes. Butthe Ettppalli village in Hossurtown that falls underKrishnagiri parliamentary con-stituency in Tamil Nadu is anexception. The candidates inthe fray for the Assembly as wellas Lok Sabha elections havemade the remote villageEttppalli their first port of callduring the campaign.

There are 80 families in thevillage and 270 registered vot-ers. But more than the village,what is important for the can-didates is the residence ofGunde Gowde, the head of ajoint family in Ettppalli whichhas 40 registered voters. This isan address which no politiciansworth his/her salt could ignore.

“There are 60 members inthis family and 40 voters.Twenty members of the familyare of below the age of 18 andare not in the voting age,” saidGowde, (65), a farmer whoheads the family which own 150acres of farming land.

He said six members of thefamily are outside the village.“But all of us take part in theelection and cast our votes

without fail. The members whoare working at places likeBangalore, Mysore andChennai reach here two days inadvance and we make it a realfestival of democracy,” saidGowde.

The single house couldaccommodate all the familymembers that include Gowde’sfive brothers, their childrenand grandchildren, according to

Krishnamma, Gowde’s wife.“When all the family membersare here, I need 10 kg rice and5 kg flour per day,” said the ladyof the house.

The Gowdes do not haveany specific political leanings.“Kindness , compassion andconcern for the welfare of thesociety are r priorities,” saidGowde who disclosed that thefamily members would take a

decision on whom to elect dur-ing the dinner served on April17. “Hossur goes to the poll onApril 18,” said Gunde Gowde.

Munusamy (39), youngerbrother, who accompanies hisbrother like a shadow, saidfarming was no more profitable.“ We cultivate paddy, vegetablesand fruits. Prices of crops liketomato are always crashingwhich cause considerable finan-cial loss. The Government hasbeen not helpful,” saidMunusamy.

“What makes the Gowdefamily unique is the concept ofthe joint family system whichworks on the principle ‘one forall and all for one’. No wonder,even KP Munusamy, theAIADMK strongman who con-tests from the Krishnagiri LokSabha constituency maintainscordial ties with Gowde and hisfamily members,” said Jesuraj,a journalist-cum-social activistin Hossur.

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2������������������������'�����������������Thodupuzha (Ker): A seven-year-old boy was left with acracked skull and is on venti-lator support after allegedlybeing assaulted by his mother'spartner here, police said onFriday.

The accused, Arun Anand,36, who was arrested, has atleast four cases against him,they said.

Various IPC sections,including 303 (attempt to mur-der), and Juvenile Justice Acthave been slapped against him,a police official said.

The boy, who suffered crit-ical head injuries and bruises allover, is battling for life.

A doctor treating him at aprivate medical college hospi-tal in Ernakulam district, saidthe boy was on ventilator sup-port and there was no responsefrom him.

Doctors are monitoringhis situation and he is underobservation for 48 hours,according to hospital sources.

The boy has a youngerbrother who is four years old.

Police have registered thestatement of the child's moth-er, whose husband died 10months ago after which theaccused began staying withthem.

On Wednesday, theaccused, woke up the boy at 3am, and started kicking andbeating him as a punishmentfor bed wetting by the youngersibling.

The accused allegedlyhurled the child on the groundsmashing his head on an almi-rah and used a walking stick tobeat him up.

Though an emergencysurgery was performed at aprivate medical college hospi-tal at Kolenchery inErnakulam district, his con-dition continues to be criticial,hospital sources said. "His lifeis sustained completely onventilator support now. Thenext 48 hours is critical... As

per the latest scan report, theblood circulation to the brainseems to have stopped," a doc-tor said.

The boy has suffered skullfracture, internal bleeding andlung injury, besides cuts andbruises all over his body.

The incident came to lightafter police and Child Helplineauthorities here received infor-mation about the child's wors-ening health condition from ahospital here, where he was ini-tially taken.

The boy was later shifted tothe hospital in Ernakulam foremergency surgery.

Police said besides the vic-tim, a second standard student,his 4-year-old brother also sus-tained injuries all over hisbody. The younger sibling'sstatement has been recorded.

Meanwhile, Chief MinisterPinarayi Vijayan Friday soughtan immediate report from theIdukki district authorities onthe incident. PTI

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Bengaluru: Karnataka PWDMinister and JD(S) leader H DRevanna besides local Congressleaders were left red-faced onFriday when Congress workersstraightaway refused to supporthis son Prajwal Revanna in theLok Sabha polls at an event inHassan.

Prajwal, grandson of JDSpatriarch and former primeminister H D Deve Gowda, isthe candidate of the rulingalliance for Hassan, whichGowda was representing.

The embarrassing incidentoccurred in front of Revannawho had come to seek supportfrom Congress workers at a

public event.An ardent believer in astrol-

ogy, Revanna had arrived at thevenue holding seven to eightlemons in his hand to ward offbad omen that could eclipse hisson's political prospects.

Usually Revanna carries atleast one lemon with him.

As soon as he took his seaton the dais holding lemons, theCongress workers created a dinshouting that they would prefervoting for the BJP rather thansupporting the JD(S).

The compere's repeatedpleas to stay silent were in vainas the rebel Congress workerscreated a noisy scene. PTI

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Gorakhpur/Lucknow: In a joltto the SP-BSP-RLD'Mahagathbandhan' in UttarPradesh, the Nishad Party onFriday parted ways with thefledgling anti-BJP alliance andsaid it could "look for otheroptions".

"The Nishad Party is nomore in alliance with theSamajwadi Party," NikkyNishad alias Riteash Nishad,media in-charge, Nishad Party,told PTI in Gorakhpur.

"There was conflictbetween the two parties onMaharajganj seat as NishadParty wanted to contest with itsown party symbol where asSamajwadi Party was not readyfor it," he added.

The party workers were notwilling to contest on the SP

symbol and many of thembegan quitting, he said.

"So, our national presidentSanjay Nishad ji went toLucknow and on late Thursdayit was confirmed that theNishad Party is no more a partof the alliance," he added.

When asked whetherPravin Nishad, MP, will alsoquit Samajwadi Party, he said,"I don't know about it."

The Nishad Party is head-ed by Sanjay Nishad, the fatherof Pravin Nishad who hadwon the Gorakhpur parlia-mentary seat on an SP ticket inthe 2018 by-polls.

The win had been remark-able, as Gorakhpur was con-sidered a bastion of UP CMYogi Adityanath, who had rep-resented the parliamentary

constituency several timesbefore.

A Nishad Party insidersaid that though SP chiefAkhilesh Yadav had said he willmake announcement on seatsfor the party, "They did not putour name on poster/letter oranything. Our party workers,authorities, core committeewere upset."

"So, the Nishad Party hastaken a decision today that weare not with the 'gathbandhan',we are free, can fight electionsindependently and can look forother options as well. Theparty is free now," he said.

When contacted, SPnational spokesman RajendraChowdhury told PTI that hehas no information of any suchdecision of the Nishad Party.

It was just three days backthat the Nishad (Nirbal IndianShoshit Hamara Aam Dal)Party in a press conference inLucknow on Tuesday hadannounced that it will be join-ing the grand Oppositionalliance in the State.

The day the Nishad Partyannounced its decision to jointhe alliance, Sanjay Nishad hadsaid at a press conference that,“Our constitution, youth andfarmers' futures are in gravedanger. People voted for a'jumlebaz' party cause of theirfalse promises. Modi and Yogipromised many things forNishad community but noth-ing was done. The Nishad

community will now givefull support to the SP-BSPalliance in all the State.” PTI

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Chennai: The ElectionCommission has allotted 'giftpack' as symbol for candidatesof the TTV Dhinakaran-ledAmma Makkal MunnetraKazagham for the coming LokSabha elections and assemblybypolls, the AMMK said onFriday.

In a tweet, the party leaderTTV Dhinakaran thanked thepoll panel and termed the sym-bol "wonderful". "Thanks tothe Election Commission ofIndia for allocating the won-derful symbol "gift pack" for all

the 59 candidates as per theorder of the Hon'ble SupremeCourt of India," he tweeted.

While campaigning inArakkonam constituency,Dhinakaran said "Till yes-terday we were sitting at SC'sdoorstep for symbol. Only afterthe SC instructed, EC sent a listof 36 symbols. In that, all the 35were not worth picking,"Dhinakaran said addressing thecrowd. Only one— 'gift pack'—was impressive, and immedi-ately I picked it so as to ensurenot to lose it, he added. PTI

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Page 9: C M Y K - The Pioneer€¦ · Gujarat and 4.3 kms in Dadra and Nagar Haveli. The high-speed train corridor was inau-gurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart

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With the first round ofelections just about two

weeks away, BJP presidentAmit Shah on Friday wentback on the “infiltrators-get-out” plank, telling a huge crowdat Alipurduar in North Bengalthat his party would invoke the‘Citizenship Bill’ if it came topower in Bengal and throw outall the illegal immigrants fromthe State.

Addressing his first elec-tion rally after the polls wereannounced early this month,Shah said his party wouldbring National Register of

Citizens, like in Assam, tothrow out the infiltrators sothat they cannot influence elec-tions in this country.

Like in Assam, “we willintroduce NRC in Bengal oncewe come to power in thisState,” Shah said adding hisparty was determined to get theCitizens’ Bill passed inParliament to settle the infil-trators issue once and for all.

A large section ofAlipurduar electorate comesfrom santhali and Nepali pop-ulation who work in the teagardens. Traditionally theyvoted for the Left but thingsstarted changing after 2011with most TMC making aforced entry into these areasbreaking the traditional votingpattern.

Subsequently the Leftistvoters beaten by an aggressiveTMC shifted rightwards to

swell the BJP which currentlyenjoys a sizeable voting per-centage in this Terrain con-stituency bordering Bangladeshand Assam.

The BJP has fielded triballeader John Burla fromAlipurduar seat.

Shah who was promptlyattacked by the seniorTrinamool Congress leadersfor trying to create a commu-nal divide among the localpopulation without knowingthe secular Bengali culture,however said his statementswere not directed at the “gen-uine (read Hindu) refugees.”

He said that his partywould ensure that the “genuinerefugees who had been forcedto leave other countries to takeshelter in India are not harassedin the process. These people arevery much a part of our pop-ulation.”

Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee has for longbeen fighting against the intro-duction of NRC in Assam that

according to her put the secu-rity and citizenship of morethan 40 lakh of Bengali popu-lation in jeopardy.

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Come April 2, Bengal ChiefMinister will embark on a

long campaign addressing, atleast, 80 rallies in about 40 days.

The Trinamool Congressleaders said the number ofrallies might even cross 100 ifshe decided to concentrate onconstituencies where the BJPwas likely to do well.

Incidentally, April 2 is the

day before Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s twin rallies:one in Siliguri and the other atBrigade Parade Grounds inCalcutta are expected to takeplace.

“She will address abouttwo or three rallies a day in thecoming about one and a halfmonth,” a senior party leadersaid adding the TMC chief willconcentrate more on the newlyemerging saffron belts.

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Aurangabad (Bihar): BJPpresident Amit Shah on Fridaylambasted Lalu Prasads RJDfor giving a ticket to the wifeof mafia don-turned-politi-cian Mohd Shahabuddin,claiming that it showed thepartys intention to bring backthe era of jungle raj to Bihar.

Shah’s hard-hitting com-ment against the RJD camewhile addressing an electionrally here.

Sitting BJP MP SushilKumar Singh is pitted againstMahagathbandhan candidatefrom Hindustani AwamMorcha party Upendra Prasadat Aurangabad seat popularlycalled “Chittorgarh of Bihar”due to overwhelming popula-tion of the Rajputs.

“What did Lalu give toBihar during his long political

career. He gives a ticket to thewife of Shahabuddin, who hasoppressed so many peoplebefore finally going behindbars.

“The development hasmade clear the RJDs inten-tionwhich is to bring back theera of jungle raj. In the eventof the Mahagathbandhancoming to power”, Shah said athis maiden rally in the stateupon announcement of theLok Sabha polls.

The 15 year rule of RJDfrom 1990 to 2005 in Biharhad drawn the moniker “jun-gle raj” on account of large-scale incidents of crime.

A several-term MP fromSiwan from where the candi-dature of his wife HeenaShahab was announced earli-er in the day, Mohd

Shahabuddin has beenaccused of involvement inseveral criminal cases includ-ing the killing of former JNUstudents union presidentChandrashekhar and journal-ist Rajdeo Ranjan.

He is at present serving lifesentence awarded for the mur-der of two Siwan residentsboth of them brothers whowere killed by being dousedwith acid. Another brother ofthe duo, who was an eyewit-ness in the case, was bumpedoff later.

Notably, the BJP candidateOm Prakash Yadav had defeat-ed Heena Shahab in the 2014Lok Sabha polls, which herhusband could not contestsince he had been disqualifiedon account of conviction in themurder case. PTI

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Lucknow: In a major relief tothousands of ‘siksha mitras’ whoappeared for the AssistantTeacher Recruitment Exam 2019,the Lucknow bench of AllahabadHigh court on Friday quashed aGovernment notification fixing65 and 60 per cent as qualifyingmarks for general and reservedcategory candidates respectively.

The order paves the way forthe selection of more ‘siksha

mitras’ due to a 2017 SupremeCourt direction, asking to givethem 25 per cent weightage in thenext two consecutive selectionprocesses. Passing the order, thecourt directed the ExaminationRegulatory Authority (ERA) sec-retary to declare the result of the2019 exam in terms of theGovernment Order of December1, 2018 and an advertisement ofDecember 5, 2018. PTI

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If the country has to be dis-ruptor to occupy its place

among other developed coun-tries, it has to follow a cultureof ensuring debtors honourcontracts with banks and finan-cial institutions, chief eco-nomic adviser DrKrishnamurthy Subramaniansaid Friday.

“It is extremely importantto respect the moral dimen-sions of the debt contract,” hesaid while delivering hisaddress at the annual regionalmeeting and summit on‘Industry Future Forward’organised here by the tradebody CII.

The debt contract in itselfhas moral essence with theequity holder and the busi-nessman keeps all the goodsand repays the obligations tothe banks. But if things go bad,it is beholden to that contrac-tual obligation, he said.

So far, the country hasbeen having a situation inwhich private profits and loss-es were getting socialisedthrough banks, he said.

This was because whatappears in the deposits are thetax payers’ money, he said.

“So this important changein culture is absolutely para-mount if the nation has to bea disruptor,” he said.

He said the country hastaken an unprecedented step byintroducing bankruptcy there-by ensuring smaller and larg-er borrowers were broughtunder it.

“By ensuring rather thanlooking at who is that man onwhom the rule is being applied,the bankruptcy rule is appliedequally well. But, there is stillsome progress we have to makehere”, he said.

Subramanian, whoassumed office three monthsago, said though the 7.5 percent average GDP growthrecorded in the last five years,it happened primarily becauseof the increase in consumptionin domestic economy.

“Our growth has happenedbased on domestic consump-tion and it makes us moreimmune to sort of some of theshocks that we may experienceand that is a good aspect wemust definitely keep in mind,”

he said.Pointing to the inflation

rates which were in excess of 10per cent between 2014-15,Subramanian said, “Over the lastfive years, the average rate ofinflation has been about 4.5 percent which is a significant changecompared to 10 per cent- plusinflations that prevailed.”

He said the change in infla-tion can be attributed to thestructural change by makingthe Reserve Bank of India aninflation targeter and ensuringthat the rate of inflation is inthe band of four per cent plus-minus two per cent.

“As we continue to debateabout inflation etc, to my mind,at least monetary frameworkhas been an important frame-work in lowering the inflation”,he said.

On the implementation ofGoods and Services Tax whichcame into effect in July 2017, hesaid based on research no path-breaking change achieves per-fection “immediately”.

“In a country like ours,which is large and diverse, it ismore important for us to be tol-erant to the fact that we will notbe able to hit perfection withpolicy changes immediately.But, let’s recognise that GST isan important change which atleast creates India as one mar-ket and not 30- odd markets”,he said.

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The Finance Ministry onFriday said the

Government will borrow �4.42lakh crore in the first half of thefiscal 2019-20.

As per the Union Budget,the gross borrowing waspegged at �7.1 lakh crore for2019-20, higher than �5.71lakh crore estimated for theongoing fiscal.

Briefing reporters on theborrowing programme for2019-20, Economic AffairsSecretary Subhash ChandraGarg said gross borrowing willbe �4.42 lakh crore duringApril-September 2019-20.

Net borrowing would be Rs3.4 lakh crore in the first halfof the next fiscal.

Gross borrowing includesrepayments of past loans.Garg also said the Governmentwill stick to the fiscal deficit tar-get of 3.4 per cent of the GDPfor the current fiscal.

The Government raisesfunds from the market to fundits fiscal deficit through datedsecurities and treasury bills.

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GAIL (India) Limited andBharat Heavy Electricals

Limited (BHEL) have inkeda Memorandum ofUnderstanding (MoU) inNew Delhi for cooperationin development of solarbased p ower projec ts .Santanu Roy, Execut iveDirec tor (Bus inessDevelopment), GAIL and SS eetharaman, Genera lManager (Renewable Energy& Water Business), BHELsigned the MoU in presenceof Manoj Jain, Director(Business Development)GAIL and S BalakrishnanDirector (IS&P) BHEL

GAIL shall be the projectdeveloper and BHEL shallac t as an Engineer ing ,Procurement, Constructionand Project ManagementContractor. BHEL shall alsoprovide Op erat ion &Maintenance services duringthe init ia l per iod uponbecoming successful bidder.

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The Reserve Bank on Fridayset the average base rate to

be charged from borrowers bynon-banking financial com-panies (NBFCs) and micro-finance institutions (MFIs) at9.21 per cent for the first quar-ter of the next fiscal.

The applicable average baserate to be charged by Non-Banking Financial Company –Micro Finance Institutions(NBFC-MFIs) to their bor-

rowers for the quarter begin-ning April 01, 2019 will be 9.21per cent, the RBI said in a noti-fication. The regulator inFebruary 2014 had issueddirections to NBFC-MFIsregarding pricing of credit.

The RBI, on the last workingday of every quarter, comes outwith the average of the base ratesof the five largest commercialbanks for the purpose of arrivingat the interest rates to be chargedby NBFC-MFIs to its borrowersin the ensuing quarter.

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More Hypermarket waslaunched in the Omaxe

Connaught Place, GreaterNoida, a property of OmaxeLtd on Friday.

The newly opened MoreMegastore at will offer grocery,fresh food, home and apparel.More Hypermarket comes witha retail space of around 45,824square foot.

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The country’s currentaccount deficit widened to

2.5 per cent of GDP in the thirdquarter of the current fiscalfrom 2.1 per cent a year ago,primarily on account of a high-er trade deficit though the for-eign exchange reserves con-tinued to soar.

Meanwhile, the datareleased by the ControllerGeneral of Accounts (CGA)revealed that the centralGovernment’s fiscal deficit —gap between expenditure andrevenue receipts — had crossed134 per cent of the whole yearof the revised budget estimates(RE) at February-end.

Releasing the data on bal-ance of payments, the ReserveBank said that in absoluteterms, the CAD or the gapbetween inflow and outflow offoreign exchange in the currentaccount was USD 16.9 billionin October-December 2018,up from USD 13.7 billion in theyear-ago period.

The deficit, however, hadmoderated to USD 19.1 billionor 2.9 per cent of GDP in thepreceding quarter (July-September).

“The widening of the CAD(current account deficit) on ayear-on-year basis was pri-marily on account of a highertrade deficit at USD 49.5 billionas compared with USD 44.0billion a year ago,” the RBI saidin a statement.

CAD increased to 2.6 percent of GDP during the April-December 2018 period, from1.8 per cent in April-December2017 on the back of widening

of the trade deficit. Portfolio investment

recorded net outflow of USD2.1 billion in third quarter of2018-19 – as compared with aninflow of USD 5.3 billion incorresponding period of lastyear – on account of net sale inthe equity market, the RBIsaid.

Another set of RBI datashowed India’s foreignexchange reserves continued tosurge for the third week in arow, adding USD 1.029 billionat USD 406.667 billion in theweek to March 22.

Forex reserves hadincreased by USD 3.6 billion toUSD 405.6 billion in the pre-vious reporting week driven byan increase in foreign curren-cy assets.

For the reporting week,foreign currency assets — amajor component of the over-all reserves — increased byUSD 1.031 billion to USD378.805 billion, the RBI saidFriday.

Expressed in the green-backs, foreign currency assetsinclude the effect of apprecia-tion/depreciation of non-US

units like the euro, pound andthe yen held in the reserves.

The reserves had toucheda life-time high of USD 426.028billion in the week to April 13,2018. Since then, the reservekitty has been sliding as therupee came under pressure.

But since March this yearit has been increasing on theback of rising foreign investors’play in domestic equities.

As regards the fiscal deficitdata for April-February 2018-19, the CGA said it stood at Rs8.51 lakh crore as against therevised estimate (RE) of Rs 6.34lakh crore for the entire year.

In percentage terms, thedeficit was 134.2 per cent of thefull-year RE. Revenue receiptsof the central government were�12.65 lakh crore or 73.2 percent of the revised budgetaryestimate (BE) at February end.In the same period last fiscal,the revenue collection was 78.2per cent of the estimates.

The government’s tax rev-enue stood at �10.94 lakh croreand non-tax revenue was Rs 1.7lakh crore.

Total expenditure incurredby the Government during

April-February 2018-19 wasRs 21.88 lakh crore (89.08 percent of RE), of which �19.15lakh crore was on revenueaccount and �2.73 lakh croreon capital account.

While there are apprehen-sions that the government maybreach the fiscal deficit target,Economic Affairs SecretarySubhash Chandra Garg exud-ed confidence that target of 3.4per cent of the GDP for thecurrent fiscal would be met.

Commenting on the CGAdata, Devendra Kumar Pant,Chief Economist, India Ratingsand Research said slow pace oftax collection would keep pres-sure on fiscal deficit.

A higher GDP numberthan the one used in budgetwill help government movecloser to FY19 fiscal deficit at3.4 per cent of GDP, he added.

The finance ministry alsoannounced the government’smarket borrowing programmethrough dated securities andtreasury bills for the first halfof the next fiscal beginningApril 1.

Gross borrowing in thefirst half of the 2019-20 fiscalhas been pegged at �4.42 lakhcrore.

The remaining �2.68 lakhcrore or 37.7 per cent of thetotal gross borrowing would beraised from the markets byfloating government bonds andtreasury bills during October-March period.

The net borrowing in thefirst half (April-September)would be �3.40 lakh crore.The second half net borrowingwould �1.33 lakh crore due toa buyback of �50,000 crore.

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The National Company LawAppellate Tribunal

(NCLAT) on Friday asked thegovernment and the debt-rid-den IL&FS to submit details ofassets and liabilities of 13 enti-ties of the group.

A two-member benchheaded by Chairman Justice SJ Mukhopadhaya asked theIL&FS group to submit thedetails of four ‘amber’ entities— Hazribagh RanchiExpressway Ltd, JharkhandRoad Project ImplementationCompany Ltd, MoradabadBareily Expressway Ltd andWest Gujarat Expressway Ltd.

It also asked IL&FS to pre-pare a similar list for the restnine ‘amber’ entities of thegroup.

Under its resolution plan,the government has categorisedIL&FS group companies intogreen, amber and red categoriesbased on their respective finan-cial positions.

Companies classified as

‘green’ would continue to meettheir payment obligations,while ‘amber’ category firmscan meet only operationalpayment obligations to seniorsecured financial creditors.

Red category entities arethose which cannot meet theirpayment obligations towardseven senior secured financialcreditors.

In its order Friday, theNCLAT bench said, “Union ofIndia and ILFS Ltd are allowedto submit details of assets andliabilities of each of aforesaidfour entities, including theamount payable to one or otherfinancial creditor and opera-tional creditor.”

The matter with regard tothese four amber entities will betaken up on the next date ofhearing, which is April 8.

“However, in the mean-time, with regard to rest of thenine Amber entities, similarstatus report be prepared andkept ready for taking up theirmatter subsequently,” the ordersaid.

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The Commerce Ministry onFriday underlined the need

for realising huge untappedtrade potential with Europeanand Oceania countries thathave emerged as the majorsources of investment.

India has made efforts inthe recent past to take eco-nomic ties to the next level andthere is a need to take theseefforts to a logical conclusion,it said in a statement.

Quoting CommerceSecretary Anup Wadhawan, itsaid that like most trade nego-tiations between developingand developed countries, tradetalks with the European Unionand Oceania have been pro-tracted.

“India is a developingcountry and EU and Oceaniacountries are predominantlydeveloped and because of this,our ambitions, aspirations andsensitivities are at divergence insome specific areas,” he said.

India and the EU are nego-

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tiating a comprehensive free-trade agreement but no majormovement as happened sinceMay 2013.

He also emphasised on theneed to appreciate each other’sconstraints and try to find away forward which is doablefor all stakeholders.

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Page 11: C M Y K - The Pioneer€¦ · Gujarat and 4.3 kms in Dadra and Nagar Haveli. The high-speed train corridor was inau-gurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart

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Pope Francis on Fridayissued sweeping new sex

abuse legislation for Vaticanpersonnel and Holy See diplo-mats that requires the imme-diate reporting of abuse alle-gations to Vatican prosecu-tors, a policy shift aimed atbeing a model for the CatholicChurch worldwide.

The mandatory reportingprovision of the legislationmarks the first time the Vaticanhas put into law requirementsfor Catholic officials to reportallegations of sex crimes topolice or face fines.

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Turkey’s Foreign Ministersaid on Friday his country

is committed to a deal to pur-chase advanced Russian sur-face-to-air missile defence sys-tem, despite warnings fromWashington that the deal couldput the NATO member coun-try’s participation in the US F-35 fighter aircraft program atrisk.

Turkey’s decision to pur-chase the S-400 air defence sys-tems from Russia has increasedalready tense ties between thetwo NATO allies, includingover the war in Syria.

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British lawmakers on Fridayrejected the Brexit deal pro-

posed by embattled PrimeMinister Theresa May inParliament for the third time,throwing the UK’s divorceplans with the EU into furtherdisarray.

MPs voted in the House ofCommons against the terms ofBritain’s so-called divorce fromthe European Union (EU) by344 to 286.

An approval would havegiven the British parliamenttime until May 22 to get all theaccompanying legislationpassed. The key vote took placeon the day Britain was earlierscheduled to exit the bloc,until the EU leaders grantedmore time.

According to the EU, theUK must present an alternativeproposal to leave the bloc byApril 12.

As the MPs rejected herdeal again, the prime minister,who had offered to resign if herBrexit plan was passed, mustset out a new plan by April 12.

Commenting on the out-come, May told MPs: “Theimplications of the house’sdecision are grave. I fear we arereaching the limits of thisprocess in this house. Thisgovernment will continue topress for the orderly Brexit thatthe result of the referendumdemands”.

She said that MPs woulddebate alternatives next week.

Meanwhile responding tothe vote outcome, European

Council President Donald Tusktweeted: “In view of the rejec-tion of the WithdrawalAgreement by the House ofCommons, I have decided tocall a European Council on 10April.”

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Defending its repeatedattempts to block the list-

ing of Pakistan-based JeM chiefMasood Azhar as a ‘global ter-rorist’ by the UN, China onFriday refuted the US allegationthat Beijing’s action amountedto protecting violent Islamicgroups from sanctions.

US Secretary of State MikePompeo on Wednesdaydenounced China of its“shameful hypocrisy” towardMuslims, saying China abusesmore than a million Muslims athome, but on the other it pro-tects violent Islamic terroristgroups from sanctions at theUN.” Pompeo said it in anapparent reference to China’sfourth move to block India’sproposal at the United Nationsto designate Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Azharas a global terrorist.

Reacting to this, ChineseForeign Ministry spokesmanGeng Shuang told a mediabriefing here that if that is the

case, the country that had putmost holds in the 1267 AlQaeda Sanctions Committee ofthe Security Council shouldhave been sheltering more ter-rorists. At the UN SanctionsCommittee, the practice ofputting technical hold is in linewith the rules of theCommittee, he asserted.

Without directly referringto the US, Geng said, “If a cer-tain country accuses China ofsheltering terrorists by puttingtechnical hold, does that meanall the countries that put suchholds are sheltering terrorists?If this makes sense then shallwe say the country that putmost hold is the biggest shelterof terrorists?”

China has so far blockedthe move four times in recentyears. It recently blocked aUS, UK and France resolutionin the counter terrorism 1267committee with “technicalhold” saying that it providestime and space for the relevantparties to hold talks after thePulwama terrorist attack.

�������������'����������)�������'�����������&���������������"�����Washington: Chinese projectsaround the world, including itsOne-Belt-One-Road (OBOR)initiative, have an element of“national security” and are less

of an economic offer, accord-ing to US Secretary of StateMike Pompeo.

OBOR, also called the Beltand Road Initiative (BRI), is a

multi-billion dollar projectfocused on improving con-nectivity and cooperationamong Asian countries, Africa,China and Europe. PTI

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He swore on primetime tele-vision. He boasted. He

told jokes. He made promises.And the crowd loved him.

President Donald Trumpwas back.

In his first rally since theend of special prosecutorRobert Mueller’s two-yearRussia collusion probe, Trumptook off the gloves to attackopponents, while pushing analmost mythical picture of hisown achievements in office.

The packed arena in GrandRapids, Michigan, where manywore red Trump campaign

baseball caps, responded withchants of “Trump, Trump,”and “four more years!” Trumpbeamed and gave them more.

Over about an hour and ahalf, he questioned whetheropposition Democrats wouldcontinue with “ridiculous bull-shit.”

He claimed that his sur-prise 2016 election win waspossibly the most extraordinaryevent in human experience:“They’ve never seen anythinglike it and nobody has in thiscountry’s history and in mostcountries’ histories.” He citedGod. He warned against social-ists.

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Abipartisan group of fivepowerful US Senators have

introduced a legislation tostrengthen the country’s lead-ership in space, arguing it wasessential in view of the aggres-sive and dangerous Chinesedesigns.

The Space Frontier Act,that was introduced onThursday, would secure fund-ing to continue operations forthe International Space Station(ISS) through 2030, eliminateoverreaching regulations tosupport further development ofthe commercial space sector.

Brussels: The European Unionon Friday, summoned leadersto an extraordinary summit,warning that Britain is now“likely” to crash out of the blocon April 12 without a Brexitdeal.

“In view of the rejection ofthe Withdrawal Agreement bythe House of Commons, I havedecided to call a EuropeanCouncil on 10 April,” tweetedDonald Tusk, the head of theEuropean Council. AFP

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C M Y K

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Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma feelspace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah and flamboy-

ant all-rounder Hardik Pandya keep raising thebar for excellence with every game they play.

Sharma was lavish in his praise for Bumrah,who picked up three wickets, and Pandya, whoscored 32 off 14 deliveries to help Mumbai securefirst win in this year’s tournament.

"I think Bumrah is more than mature now.Yes, his performance keeps growing everyday. Heis a very dedicated individual and takes his gamevery seriously. He is quite regular with his workethics," he toldreporters in thepost-match pressconference here.

B u m r a h ' sthree wicketscame off 20 runswhich provedcucial in restrict-ing RCB six shortof the 187 runsput up byMumbai Indians.

Sharma saidBumrah gave acrucial break-through by send-ing back RCBcaptain Virat Kohli, who was going great gunsalong with AB De Villiers at one point of thematch.

"Bumrah is very smart. We know the class ofVirat and AB (De Villiers) and hence we wantedto break the partnership when they were goingstrong. It (De Villiers) was a crucial wicket at thatpoint of time of the game," he said.

On Hardik Pandya's unbeaten knock towardsthe end of Mumbai innings, Sharma said thoseruns made the difference and such an innings wasneeded from him as he didn't do well in the lastgame against Delhi Capitals.

"...Obviously there was a hunger out there togo and do well. He came out and got those cru-cial runs in the end. He also bowled well in themiddle even though he went for few runs. It wasa much improved performance from last game.He is also stepping up that ladder," he said.

Sharma also said Pandya's form is veryimportant for the team.

"He (Pandya) was out for a bit and didn't playa lot of games. So, he needs time to get into thegroove. He is a crucial member of the team andvery flexible. His form is very important to us,which will do good for us," he said.

Asked about Lasith Malinga, Sharma said hisrole is to cramp batsmen by bowling bouncers andyorkers, besides taking wickets in the middle.

“We expect him to come up here and deliv-er the goods and take wickets, bowl fast, bowlbouncers and yorkers," he added.

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Afurious India and RoyalChallengers Bangalore cap-

tain Virat Kohli asked umpiresofficiating in the IPL to keeptheir "eyes open" after a "ridicu-lous" no-ball howler cost hisside dearly, something whichwas also acknowledged by rivalMumbai Indians captain RohitSharma.

Both Kohli and Rohit crit-icised the umpiring standardduring the match which waswon by Mumbai Indians by sixruns on Thursday.

RCB needed seven to winthe match and Lasith Malinga'sdelivery to Shivam Dube — afull toss- was a no-ball whichwas missed by the on-field

umpire S Ravi.The TV replay showed that

the bowler had overstepped anda free hit should have beenawarded. Had it been a free-hit,AB de Villiers, batting on 70,would have faced it and the

RCB could have won the match."We are playing at the IPL

level. It's not club level, theumpires should have their eyesopen. That was a big no-ball.That is a ridiculous call (lastball). If it is a game of margins,I don't know what is happening.They should have been moresharp and careful out there," alivid Kohli said at the post-match presentation ceremony.

Incidentally, Ravi is theonly Indian umpire in ICC'sElite Panel for a number ofyears now as none of the oth-ers have been good enough tobe elevated.

Rohit was also critical ofthe umpiring standard duringthe match.

"Honestly, I just go to

know after crossing the ropethat it was a no-ball. Thesekind of mistakes aren't goodfor the game. Wining andlosing does not matter. It(mistake) is not good for thegame of cricket, as simple asthat," the MI captain said.

"Those sort of mistakeshave to be avoided. If we(players) make mistakes, wepay for it. So, it is not good forthe game. Eventually, thegame will start moving indifferent direction if thesethings (umpiring mistakes)keep happening," he said atthe post-match press confer-ence.

He urged the umpires tobe more careful about thesekind of decisions in future.

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Royal ChallengersBangalore spinner

Yuzvendra Chahal said hefelt like Stuart Broad whenMumbai Indians' veteranswashbuckler Yuvraj Singhsmashed three sixes in one ofhis overs.

Yuvraj struck Chahal forconsecutive sixes in the 14thover of the match whichMumbai won by six runs.

"When he (Yuvraj) hitthree sixes, I felt like StuartBroad," Chahal said referringto the six consecutive max-imums in the 2007 T20World Cup that Yuvraj hadhit off Englishman Broad.

However, Chahal man-aged to get Yuvraj off thefourth delivery of his over,caught by Mohammad Sirajin the deep after he hadscored a quick-fire 23 off 12balls.

"You know he is a legendbatsman and I backedmyself. I had to bowl a bit up,might be a chance to get himout because it is a smallerground. So that time, I

thought of bowling my bestdelivery and he got sixes.That you cannot help andhence I bowled a wider goo-gly," he told reporters inpost-match session.

On September 19, 2007,in a World T20 match inDurban, Yuvraj had scripteda carnage by walloping sixsixes off Broad in an overduring a 16-ball 58.

Speaking about thewicket, Chahal said since itwas good for batting, hevaried his pace, especially forthe big-hitting KieronPollard.

"The wicket was notturning. It was good for bat-ting. So, the plan was to varymy pace, like bowling slow-er ones and sometimes slid-ers too," he said.

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Acontroversy-laden firsttwo games at their back,

Kings XI Punjab will look toexploit familiar conditions intheir first home match of theIPL when they take onMumbai Indians here onSaturday.

It has been a roller-coast-er ride for KXIP, having toendure a controversy involvingtheir captain RavichandranAshwin who 'Mankaded'Rajasthan Royals batsman JosButtler in their first match.

In their second gameagainst Kolkata Knight Riders,Ashwin's team was penalisedfor not keeping four men inthe 30-yard circle and AndreRussell made full use of thereprieve to take the gameaway from KXIP.

Ashwin and Co will nowlook to forget al l theseunsavoury happenings of thefirst two games and startafresh in their first match atthe PCA Stadium on Saturday.

With the tournament stillin its early stages and the twoteams having won a gameeach, the balance is not tiltedin anyone's favour and theSaturday's tie is expected to bea keenly fought one.

The two rival sides boastof some star players in theirline-up and each team willhope to its best when it mat-ters.

KXIP, who are yet to winan IPL title, opened their cam-paign this season on a winningnote against Rajasthan Royals.But, the match caught theheadlines more for Ashwin's'Mankading' of Buttler thattriggered a dramatic collapsefor the Royals.

Against KKR, the KXIPlost by 28 runs after chasing amammoth 219 for victoryeven though MayankAggarwal and David Millerimpressed with their batting.

Andre Russell's sensation-al 17-ball 48 and Robin

Uthappa's 67 not out andNitish Rana's 63 left KXIPbowlers in a daze. Even thelikes of Ashwin and speedsterMohammed Shami did nothave an answer to KKR'sblitzkrieg.

For KXIP, opener LokeshRahul is yet to hit his top form,managing just five runs fromprevious two outings, and hewill be hoping to get back tohis best in Mohali.

On the other hand,Mumbai Indians have comeinto this match, havingnotched up a 6-run win overRoyal Challengers Bangalore,with India pace spearheadJasprit Bumrah stamping hisclass.

For Mumbai, RohitSharma (48 of 33) and HardikPandya's 14-ball 32 stood outas they set up a target of 188for RCB to chase.

Bumrah impressed in thegame against RCB, returningwith figures of 4-0-20-3, some-thing most bowlers will envyin this format of the game.

Yuvraj Singh, who startedthe season on a classy note byhitting a sublime half-centuryagainst Delhi Capitals andmanaging 23 against RCB,will be eager to make a markin Mohali, which happens tobe his 'home ground'.

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Sanju Samson smashed the first cen-tury of the ongoing Indian Premier

League and together with skipperAjinkya Rahane stitched a century

stand to guide Rajasthan Royals to amammoth 198 for two againstSunrisers Hyderabad here on Friday.

Samson didn't spare a singleSunrisers' bowler and remainedunbeaten on 102 that came off just 55

balls with the help of 10 fours and fourhits over the fence.

It was Samson's second IPL ton.His first century in the T20 tourna-ment came in 2017.

Opening the batting after winningthe toss, Rahane led from the frontwith 49-ball 70 and together withSamson shared 119 runs for the sec-ond wicket to set the base for the totalafter the early dismissal of Jos Buttler.

Introduced into the attack in thefourth over, Rashid Khan (1/24) struckwith only his second ball, cleaning updangerman Buttler around his legs.

Rajasthan's decision to bat firstdidn't go according to plan, at least, inthe powerplay as the visitors struggledagainst Sunrisers' disciplined bowlingto garner just 35 runs in the first sixovers.

After Buttler's dismissal, skipperRahane was joined at the crease bySamson and the duo played cautious-ly without taking any undue risk totake Rajasthan forward.

While Rahane played the anchor'srole, Samson opened up his arms soonand smashed two sixes in consecutiveovers of Shabaz Nadeem and SiddharthKaul to give some momentum toRajasthan's innings.

Rahane soon joined his junior col-league and clobbered Nadeem straight

over his head as Rajasthan reached 75for one at the halfway stage.

After a slow start, Rahane steppedon the accelerator and welcomed VijayShankar with six over deep square legboundary.

Both Rahane and Samson pacedtheir innings to perfection, as afterplaying cautiously initially, they broketheir shackles when needed andnotched up the team's 100 in 11.5overs.

Rahane registered his first fifty ofthe ongoing IPL in 38 balls whileSamson brought up his half-century in34 deliveries as the duo raised 100-runstand for the second wicket in 65 balls.

Rahane finally departed in the 16thover bowled by Nadeem, holed out byManish Pandey at long-on as he wentfor a big shot. He struck four bound-aries and three sixes during his knock.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar's torrid timeat the death overs continued. If it wasAndre Russell in the last match, it wasSamson Friday as the young Keralabatsman too the senior pacer to clean-ers, hitting him for four boundariesand one six to pick up 24 runs from the18th over.

As if that was not enough,Bhuvneshwar witnessed yet anotherforgettable day as he leaked 21 runs inthe last over.

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Delhi Capitals will be playing on theirhome turf but there is a possibility

that the conditions may turn out to befavourable for the visiting KolkataKnight Riders when the two teams clashin an IPL match here on Saturday.

In the last match too, it was Chennaiwho exploited the slow conditions atKotla better than the home side withtheir spinners taking full advantage ofthe track on which batting became chal-lenging as the game wore on.

KKR also have a world-class spinbowling attack led by India's premierbowler Kuldeep Yadav. The wily SunilNarine, along with Piyush Chawla,makes it a very potent attack.

Both Shikhar Dhawan and RishabhPant have been in good form but itremains to be seen if the Feroz ShahKotla track and the KKR spin trio allowthem to free their arms.

Pant has made aninspiring start this seasonwith blistering knocks (78and 25) in the first twogames and Dhawan too hasbeen in good nick. Both ofthem know the conditionswell and would require touse their knowledge insuitably planning their batting.

But more than anything, the Delhispinners — Axar Patel, Rahul Tewatiyaand Amit Mishra — will have to be ontop form while dealing with the in-formKKR batsmen.

Nitish Rana, Andre Russell, RobinUthappa and Shubhman Gill are allamong runs. Russell, with his incredi-ble power-hitting ability, is the most dan-gerous batsman.

KKR owe both their wins to the

burly West Indian, whohas smacked the bowlersaround. Taming him willbe the key and that is thechallenge for Patel andMishra.

Rana has beenimpressive as an opener

and in the middle order too in the firsttwo games. The performance of youngGill will be watched keenly since he istipped to be a future India star.

Apart from Delhi's spinners, youngSouth African pacer Kagiso Rabada willalso have to take the load of stoppingruns in the beginning.

It will be interesting to see what kindof track Delhi opts for in the remainderof the home matches with the BCCIcurator said to have been withdrawn.

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�#�� ���Delhi Capitals (DC) all-rounder Chris Morris is expected totake on his Kolkata Knight Riders(KKR) counterpart Andre Russell intheir Indian Premier League (IPL)game at the Feroz Shah Kotla onSaturday and the South African saidthat he is up for the challenge.

"He (Russell) is an absolute genius.It will be a case of 'if he misses, I hit'.I won't give away too many secrets. Imight look like a duck, but my brainis working overtime and I will look totrust my train-ing.

"We havegot similarroles. He bats alittle higher.Our job is tohit sixes andpick up wick-ets. But maybehe has a littlemore responsi-bility as a batsman than me," Morrissaid on the eve of the match.

Asked if he would take the new ballor bowl at the death, Morris said: "Ihaven't spoken about my role, but I willtake up the all-rounder's role. I don'tthink I will take the new ball, and willprobably bowl at the death. I like tobring a little energy to the squad. I'mreally looking forward to get onto thepark." IANS

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The first step to cleanliness is per-sonal hygiene. This will startvery early because if you havekept your child clean from thetime he was an infant, he will

automatically develop this habit. However,you can teach him wash hands beforemeals, brush teeth regularly, have a nicebath and wear clean clothes.

Besides personal hygiene, you canteach him to keep his surroundings clean.Start from his room. Make sure he keepseverything in place, his books and toysarranged from a very early age. Make himset his bed neatly and this should be thefirst thing that he does in the morning.

Once he has learned and developed thehabit of personal hygiene and keeping hisroom clean, now it is the time to make himkeep his bathroom clean. You can teachhim how to use the bathroom, flush everytime he uses it, turns off the tap after useand keeps the soaps and brush at assignedplaces.

Cleanliness is important for healthymind, body and spirit. Our first duty is tobe clean. Every morning, as soon as youget up, you must clean your teeth, andwash your face, and your hands and feet.

If possible, you may bathe and washyour whole body. If you cannot bathe assoon as you get up, you ought to do so atleast later and always before you take yourfood.

You know how our elderly peoplenever eat without bathing and doing their

worship. If you are a good boy or girl, youwill follow the same rule. If you allow dirtto accumulate on your body, you very soonget itch or other diseases of the skin.

After your body, you must look intoyour clothes. You should always wear cleanclothes. Now, do not mistake rich clothesfor clean clothes. You may have a very cost-ly coat of flannel or tweed, and it may bevery dirty. Another boy may wear only athin shirt, and it may be clean. In India,we do not want too much woolen cloth-ing. We use mostly cotton clothes; andthese can be washed easily.

We should get into the habit of beingclean. Many boys and girls when they writewith ink and pen soil their fingers. Witha little care and effort they can avoid it.

Cleanliness is one of the most impor-tant practices for a clean and healthy envi-ronment. It may be related to publichygiene or personal hygiene. It is essentialfor everyone to learn about cleanliness,hygiene, sanitation and the various diseasesthat are caused due to poor maintenanceof hygienic conditions.

The habits which are learnt or followedat a young age, get embedded into one'spersonality. One should start to follow cer-tain habits like washing hands beforemeals, regular brushing of teeth, andbathing from the young age.

It is essential to follow certain goodpractices like keeping our surroundingsclean, avoiding littering in public places,refraining from spitting on the road, and

many more good habits.Awareness of the Cleanliness and

Personal Hygiene is the need of the hourDiseases like Dengu fever,swine flu ,malaria, chicken fox and jaundice are fastspreading . People should realise theimportance of cleanliness and personalhygiene to prevent themselves from thesediseases.

Cleanliness is very important forkeeping most of the diseases at bay.Therefore, it is essential to inculcatehygienic habits in children right from earlychildhood. Find tips for teaching childrenthe importance of cleanliness right here.

Anything you want to teach your child,teach him at an early age. This will go along way, probably throughout his life. Thehabit of cleanliness should be definitelytaught at an early age because it has directconnection to the child’s own health andhygiene. Besides, cleanliness creates goodimpression on others too. Recently thespread of swine flu reminded us howimportant it is to keep ourselves clean espe-cially our hands.

Do not assume that it is a very earlyage and children are not in a position tomaintain cleanliness all around. If you wantyour child to learn cleanliness and stay dis-ciplined in life, you should make him learnthese things as early as possible.

Teach him how to eat neatly. Let himexperiment and waste some food becauseinitially children will spill food and drinks.They will learn to eat and drink properly

if you pay attention that the spilling getsreduced gradually. Teach him good tablemanners. Teach him to eat with spoonneatly and also serve others properly.Cultivate the habit of leaving the plate inthe kitchen sink after finishing their food.Make sure they gargle after every meal sothat the food particles in the mouth getwashed away.

We live in a society and we need tokeep the surrounding of our homes clean.For this you will have to implementbefore you teach. Keep in mind that chil-dren follow their parents and if he sees youtaking care of the cleanliness aroundyour house, he will certainly consider anddevelop this habit.

Just remember one thing when you areteaching your kid about cleanliness.Children imitate others, especially theirparents.

So, if you teach them and do the oppo-site when it comes to you, they will not beable to catch it. Teach only what you areable to practice. Your child will learn anddevelop the habit of cleanliness onlywhen you will apply it perfectly.

Try to become their role model.Always bear in mind that building up ahabit in your child will take time. Reviseeverything on regular basis. If you take careof revising the daily chores daily, it will getimplanted in his personality. Rewards mayalso work well but that should not form ahabit.

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We all have pictured orassociated a certain ani-mal with a particularnation. These animals arelike a trademark that rep-

resents the country. For instance, kanga-roos and Australia, bears and Russia,eagles and Germany, bulls and Spain,tigers and India, and the list goes on. Well,for director Chuck Russell, elephants havealways been associated with India. Hischildhood has been full of elephant sto-ries and fantasies. His house was full ofartefacts and photographs from India,

most of which had elements of elephantsas his mother was a travel agent whoadored the country.

The American director, who is knownfor his several genre films like The Mask, TheScorpion King, Girls Just Want to Have Fun,Arabian Nights, and many more, has grownup reading Tarzan stories and fantasising

about jungles. He watched films like Flaherty’sElephant Boy, and read Rudyar Kipling’s Toomai

of the Elephants. He recalled that such films andbooks made him fantasize about “a child having anelephant as his best friend.”

Russell’s Junglee is the director’s first stint at cre-ating a Hindi, Bollywood film, which not onlyattempts to highlight an important issue, but alsocompletes the director’s childhood fantasies. He wassurprised when he first received the call to create anIndian film. However, he said, “I am always look-ing forward to making something for the globalaudience which is not just restricted to the nation-al viewers. And with India, came only one aspectto my mind — elephants and immense culturalbeauty,” he said (laughs).

For him, it was also about defending thenature, rather than “saving it.” It was opportuni-ty for him to “represent both man and naturetogether. Hence, it is a 100 per cent true Indianstory, with very inspiring and irresistible charac-ters.”

After working with legends like DwayneJohnson and Arnold Schwarzenegger, he realisedthat the audience loves watching valiance, vulner-ability and humour in the hero. “And Vidyut

(Jammwal) was a perfect actor to show that. I justhad to keep his character’s fun part intact. He, Ifelt, is a kind of performer whom I can bring to

the global level. He is very charismat-ic and a brilliant marshal artist. Hereally inspired the characters wespecifically we developed the screen-play for,” he said.

While this was his first stint atmaking a Bollywood film, were therecertain things that challenged himduring the process? He said, “Notmuch.” Well, not even the languagebarriers? He replied, “I had to under-stand the language but I love explor-ing accents and different languages.With my travel, the one thing Iexplore the most are the linguistic dif-ferences and how they shape the eth-nicity of people. It’s fun for me. I justhear them and they somehow makesense to me, no matter how differentthey are. This was opportunity tolearn Hindi as well. We wrote thescript in English, and got them trans-lated to take the script to the nextlevel. Well, this was the most excitingpart about the whole experience ofmaking the film.”

However, he explained that in away, he never really had to learn thelanguage completely to make thefilm. He said, “Since I knew all thedialogues in English, so whenever aparticular scene was being shot, Iknew what was going on (laughs).And the crew was bilingual, so I neverfelt one-sided in terms of the lan-guage.”

Talking about the differencesbetween Hollywood and Bollywoodfilms that he spot during the shoot, helaughingly said, “If this were aHollywood film, there would be CGI(Clinton Global Initiative) elephants,or some Western actor saving them inIndia. If it would have been in English,it wouldn’t have been as entertaining.”

He explained that a film, shot withanimals, seems to convey to peoplethat they have been brought from acertain circus or conservation organ-isation. However, here, they usedreal elephants from a natural habitat

of elephants in Thailand, “and notthose trained elephants from somecircus. We didn’t get any Hollywoodelephant trainers, but just the care tak-ers animal behaviourists. We actual-ly learned the animal behaviour. Weslept and woke according to their tim-ings and observed them.And shotaccording to their moods, didn’tmake them change their schedules atall.”

Well, this was also one of Russell’spersonal accomplishments — captur-ing elephants in their natural habitats,and giving the people a story that theycould take home. “It conveys a mes-sage. People hardly pay attention towhat the nature has to offer. Whenyou go on a holiday, listen to thewhistling trees, adore the fallen,

colourful leaves, look at how differ-ent kinds of species communicatewith each other. Sit and observe. Thisfilm will make them want to relooknature, and as well highlight animportant issue of conservation ofsuch a beautiful creature in India.Why poach elephants for ivory? I amproud that I’m best friends with anelephant rather than being proud ofkilling it and getting its tusk hung onmy wall,” he said.

This film, he said, is much beyondthe ones in which elephants are usedas mere props or for some funny ele-ment. “I wanted to capture personalmoments with them rather than justusing them as objects to pose with,”he said.

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One of the most popularshows, Game of Thronesreturns for its final sea-

son, stoking flames of excite-ment to new heights. This isnot just the time when fans ofthe show are ecstatic, but alsowhen non-fans are surround-ed with Game of Thrones con-versation — at office, home, onsocial media, among friendsand just about everywhere.

If you are already a GOTfan or are a new addition to thatlist, catch-up spree before theseason 8 premieres.

Here is a list of some of themost notable plot twists that leftthe audience baffled: Viserion along with Drogon and

Rhaegal was among the three dragonsthat came to life after Daenerys burnsDrogo’s body along with herself and thethree dragon eggs. Born inthe wastelands and com-manded by QueenDaenerys Targaryen, hewas named after herbrother – ViserysTargaryen. In season 7,Viserion accompanies hismother and brothers asthey embark on a journeyto rescue Jon Snow fromthe White Walkers and thearmy of the dead at theWight Hunt beyond theWall.

While Viserion and his brothersburnt down many of the wights, it was-n’t long before the Night King hurled

an ice spear at him. The helpless drag-on crashed into the frozen lake andsank in water. The spear that hadpierced through his neck did not only

cause a lot of blood andfire to rupture from it butalso became the death ofhim! Or so did the view-ers thought.

Later, his corpse washeaved up from the lakefor the Night King to res-urrect Viserion as an IceDragon with glowing,tinted blue eyes as that ofthe White Walkers –changing everything!

The season endedwith Viserion blasting the

Wall with blue fire, allowing the Armyof the dead and make way into theSeven Kingdoms.

The Red Wedding was a mas-sacre orchestrated by WalderFrey during the War of theFive Kings in season 3. Hefirst skillfully provided RobbStark with a false sense ofsecurity by formally eating outof the same bowl as his guestonly to eventually avenge theviolation of the marriage pactbetween House Stark andHouse Frey. The Starks wereaware of Walder’s intentionsbut to break guest right andstoop so low seemed to be toosacred a pact to be broken,even for him!

During the massacre,Robb, his wife — Talisa, his

mother — Catelyn and most oftheir men were brutally mur-dered. Walder then proudlyrestored the marriage pact bymarrying Edmure Tully andRoslin Frey followed by a feast.

“The Lannisters sendtheir regards.” — RooseBolton to Robb Stark, as hedrove a dagger right throughhis heart.

The fact that TywinLannister was the real master-mind behind the RedWedding who conspired withFrey for him to betray theNorthern Army, while break-ing of the marriage pact wasmerely a cover.

Even though not as infamousas the Red Wedding, thePurple Wedding was one ofthe major plot twists of season4 that the series has to offer.The Lion and the Rose was aceremonial celebration ofKing Joffrey Baratheon’s wed-ding feast to his new queenMargaery Tyrell. The longawaited royal wedding tragi-cally ended with Joffrey’sdeath after drinking poisonedwine at the reception, orches-trated by the Tyrells and PetyrBaelish. The color of Joffrey’sface turned to purple after hisdemise, after which the cere-mony takes its name.

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Melisandre is regarded as a beautifulwoman by many – copper hair, paleunblemished skin and graceful. She isalways dressed in long robes of red fab-ric making her famous as a Redpriestess. Melisandre with the use ofmagic craft preserved her youth andbeauty while the gold choker necklacecontaining a ruby, fitting tightlyaround her neck channeled it. Due toher ability to see visions in the flamesthat she even served Jon Snow as anadviser until she was later banished.

It was only in season 6 thatMelisandre undresses herself, removes

her necklace and reveals her trueidentity of an elderly, fragile woman –many centuries old! While everyoneknew, the role magic played in her pre-serving her vanity but up to such anextent was unforeseen.

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How does Ivar’s disability con-tribute to both the good and badof his character?

Andersen: Ivar has been livinga life with no boundaries, except hisphysical ones. His Mom suffocatedhim with too much love when hewas little since his dad, who ends upbeing the most famous Viking toever live, was not there in his life. He’scrippled in a society and in a timewhere no one really comprehendedwhat was wrong with him or had anytime to help him regardless of hisfamous family name. He wasbrought up by Floki, who was hismentor, which doesn’t add to the“good”, but he’s still figuring out whatmorality means to him. At the endof season four, he goes out on theroad with the boys and with his dad,which is a very valuable experiencefor him. He fights with the brothersabout taking over the army becausehe is always trying to prove himself,which is something that makes hischaracter stand out. Floki also raisedhim to believe in the gods, so he triesto prove himself to them, as well.Ivar’s goal is getting into Valhalla. Hisdisability sets him back physicallyand is a challenge in any goal he setsso he is constantly trying to over-come it.

How long do you think Ivar willsurvive on the show?

Andersen: That’s up to MichaelHirst, our sole writer of the series.We try to stick to history as muchas possible, but we also have to keepin mind that this is a TV show andMichael must keep the drama highto captivate the audience. There area lot of theories about “Ivar theBoneless” and how he got his lastname. Some say it has nothingto do with his brittle bonedisease and some say it isbecause he is super flex-ible, which I favour. Inreality, Ivar would havestruggled to survive, soI try to keep that mind-set in every scene. He’sgetting stronger, butI have to keepthe ele-

ments of the disease front and cen-ter so the audience doesn’t lose sightof his daily struggle. I think Ivar’s dis-ability keeps him balanced in a waybecause without it, he becomesaverage and not as likeable as a char-acter.

During your audition, can yourecall how you showed the painwith your eyes without doing any-thing else?

Andersen: I originally had beenauditioning for Ubbe, Sigurd andHvitserk. All of a sudden they want-ed me to read for Ivar, so I was sit-ting there, trying to learn the linesfor Ivar’s scene, sweating. I remem-ber screwing everything up the firsttwo or three times I read. And theneventually I got it and was offered thepart. I remember asking Michaelabout Ivar and who he was as a char-acter. Michael explained, “Well, he’sin a lot of pain.” And I said, “has hebeen living with this pain for hisentire life?” And Michael said “Ithink so. I think that’s at least whatthe disease is like, you’re born withit.” So in my mind I thought I shoulduse the pain to show the character’sdepth and I did that through myfacial expressions, which was unlikeother actors auditioning for theparty.

In the beginning of seasonfive, you both team up andform an alliance. Can youtalk about how that pro-gresses through the rest ofthe season?

Franzén: They bothknow and understand thatthey lie to one another. But,

they try to balance this out byplotting to kill and scheme

against each other. Andersen: It’s a game

that they both love andagree to play. There’s

a mutual respect forone another inthis madness. It’sa great pleasure

to get to work with Peter. He’s a verytalented performer. Franzén: Whenever we work togeth-er it’s always fun.

Now that Floki is gone, is Haraldgoing to become a mentor to Ivar?

Andersen: I think they’re on thesame team, but in different ways. Ivarwould never accept Harald as a men-tor. Ivar has already proven himselfto everyone and strongly believesthat he is the leader of the GreatHeathen army once he took it overfrom Ubbe. Peter, do you thinkHarald would be my mentor?

Franzén: No. They’re just tryingto make good of each other’s com-pany, and whatever fame Ivar bringsto Harald is welcomed.

How is Rollo coming back going toaffect the dynamic between Ivarand Harald?

Andersen: Rollo’s coming back,that’s the only thing Ivar knows atthis stage. Harald and Ivar made a

deal with Rollo. Rollo leant out hisFrench warriors so they could win.Ivar knows that Rollo needs some-thing in return for this favour, soRollo’s return was to be expected.That will be a tough pill for Ivar toswallow since he is currently sittingon the throne now. It’ll definitely beinteresting to see their dynamicplay out.

How much did you know about theViking period before coming onthe show? What are some goodthings that you see in the Vikingculture?

Andersen: What I’m experienc-ing is that people are changing theirviews of Vikings as more of a progres-sive group. Women were more equalthan a lot of other cultures of thattime. They were also really phenom-enal farmers who expanded andeventually created massive tradingstations around Denmark andScandinavia.

Franzén: I think the Vikings are

about the birth of our tribe. Therewere a lot of kings that took refugefrom Finland because of the skir-mishes in Sweden and Norway, so alot of Viking kings established theirkingdoms in Finland. They musthave mixed blood, and of course it’spart of our nature and heritage aswell. When I see the series, I can real-ly identify with what is going onright now in the world. Historyrepeats itself and we find ourselvesas human beings never learningfrom our mistakes. People disappearand emerge with other cultures, andso forth, so we tend to forget the pastlessons that have been told.

How did this show change you asa person in your real lives?

Franzén: I haven’t been home inthree years so it does change thingswith my family. My son has grown.But as an artist, and as a person whowants to do this as a career, it’s anhonor to be a part of one of thebiggest shows in the world.

Andersen: It’s more about whoI’ve become as a person and how Iput myself into my character. WhatI’m experiencing verses the charac-ter’s experiences. It depends on howyou show up to work and how youwork. It’s difficult because I think it’sultimately about being able to por-tray and become the character. Andonce you go home for the day, hope-fully you can remove yourself fromyour character and go back to beingyourself. We have creative bound-aries in a different way because weare on a tight schedule, and I thinkthat really helps with you walking upto set and being able to just do yourthing. I’m doing my thing verytechnically, and I look at my work asa carpenter. I show up and the moreI know about the cameras and allthese technical things, the better atit I will be. Your true self is alwaysgoing to be a little bit more or lessin the character you portray.

Franzén: I’ve been in the busi-ness for twenty five years and donea lot of different kinds of charactersin movies, and on stage, and ofcourse you bring something withyou all the time. After doing thesecharacters for three years, theyevolve and they go through a vari-ety of emotions. I think at somepoint this begins to affect you as aperson and you get the idea of whatthe character is actually goingthrough. It becomes easy to portraythose real feelings. If you make a

movie, and you have six months ormaybe less time to prepare, that willrapidly affect you and can scar you.Sometimes it hurts to remove your-self from that because it’s so abruptin the effect that it leaves on you.

Have you thought about movingyour families closer to set? Do theycome and visit?

Franzén: Well I’m in a good spotbecause I live in Europe. But a lotof our actors and their families, theylive in Canada, or the United States,and of course it’s a bit harder forthem to visit their loved ones. I canat least go home for a weekend, butwe’re not allowed to go home unlesswe have three days off.

Andersen: I haven’t been homesince the middle of July. Sometimesyou get maybe a week off, and you’reallowed to go home for five days orso. It’s definitely a sacrifice. But itcomes with a price to do what youlove. Luckily friends and family areable to come visit and I have had alot of lovely visits here.

What is your favorite thing aboutcoming on set?

Franzén: Getting to work withthese wonderful people every day. It’san amazing family environment.

Andersen: We have to work inrough conditions sometimes and Ithink that just brings people closertogether naturally. We go throughthe trenches together. Also workinglong hours and memorising lines canbe hard, so you spend a lot of timewith these phenomenal people andcolleagues. That’s the one thing I loveabout being on this show. Getting towork with people inspire me.

As an actor, how does it feel por-traying a great character likeHarald?

Franzén: Harald is a terribleperson in a lot of ways. He’s por-trayed as a ruthless and brutal guy.But, he also has a sensitive side thathe wants to present to the love of hislife, one day. Harald’s character hasbecome this person of release forme. Through him, I am able toshowcase a variety of strong emo-tions. Playing Harald, it’s oftenhorrible to be reminded of some ofthe events that happened duringthis time in history. But as actors,it is our duty to remain true to thecharacter even if it’s not always apleasant outcome.

(The series airs on AXN.)

Actor Ranveer Singh, whoearned plaudits for his

rapping skills with Gully Boy,has come out with his inde-pendent music record label —IncInk.

The actor has teamed upwith filmmaker Navzar Eraneeto launch the label.

“We are first starting withlaunching some really raw,immensely talented, new rapand hip-hop artists who webelieve they will be the nextsuperstars of the scene. Rapand hip-hop are the biggestthing happening in Indianmusic today,” he said.

“We at IncInk want tobring out the real poets of ourgeneration. It literally meanswriting your own story andI’m inspired and thrilled to bestarting this passion projectwhich aims to affect a socialchange. I hope that we canpresent some of the strongest,boldest voices of Indian youthto the world,” added Ranveer,who has become a globalentrepreneur with his musicventure.

Ranveer also took to socialmedia to share the news. Hehas collaborated with rappersKaam Bhaari, Slow Cheetaand Spitfire for the musicventure.

Calling the label as his“passion project”, the 33-year-old wrote, “My passion pro-ject. A manifestation of a cer-

tain vibe. It is an independentrecord label formed by artistesfor artistes to discover, nurtureand promote exciting talentsfrom across India.

“Presenting Kaam Bhaari,Spitfire and Slow Cheeta fromthe different hoods of ourcountry. Let’s show these boyssome love.”

Along with the post, heshared two photographs. Inone of the photographs,Ranveer can be seen posingwith the other rappers and inthe second one, he introducedthe label’s logo to his follow-ers.

“Inclusive. Independent.This is the soul of IncInk,”Ranveer wrote.

His wife and actressDeepika Padukone is “proud”of him. “The sleepless nights...the hours of debate to witnessyour dream become a reality.You have no idea how proudI am of the both of you. Sorry,I cannot be with you all todaybut know that I am with youwith all my heart and in spir-it today and forever,” she said.

Ranveer’s Gully Boy co-star Alia Bhatt also comment-ed on the post, saying “Tutu,epic this is.”

On the acting front,Ranveer will next be seen inKabir Khan’s 83, which isbased on India’s iconic win atthe 1983 Cricket World Cup.

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Is it possible to fall in love withsomeone you have never met?Someone you’ve only knownthrough words but neverheard them in person? Well, actress Pranutan Bahl,

who makes her debut in Bollywoodwith the film, Notebook, feels thatlove is a powerful emotion forwhich there is no wrong definitionas it suits each person differently.

“Kabir (played by Zaheer Iqbal)and Firdaus (played by Pranutan)fall in love through words, withoutmeeting each other, and just througha notebook,” says the grand-daugh-ter of the legendary actress Nutan.

As Notebook tells a story thatdares to be pure and sublime,Pranutan apprises us on her take on

modern relationships and their por-trayal in Bollywood. She says, “Everylove story is amazing in its own way.I don’t want to categorise it asmodern or how it used to be inolden times. Love is an emotion thathas to be felt. It doesn’t matterwhether we say it on whatsapp orthrough letters.”

Ask her about the pressure thatshe might be feeling as the film isproduced under Salman KhanFilms, she responds by saying a bold“no.” She says, “There’s no pressurefrom him but as you know, it’s obvi-ous if such a huge superstar islaunching you in the industry, youfeel like giving your best so that youdon’t let him down in any manner.And because you have got every-

thing working in your favour, youought to give your 100 per cent toit. You cannot afford to fall short atany cost.”

Pranutan, a double-graduate inlaw, has always wanted to be anactor. It has been a part of her child-hood. However, she says, “I didn’tbelieve in not completing my edu-cation. I didn’t want to just finish mygraduation quickly. Instead, I want-ed to be a very educated personbefore starting to act. I thought I canstart my acting career even at the ageof 22 or may be at 25? Why to giveup on your education for that?There’s no need to hurry. I did lawbecause I think it is something thatshapes you inside-out. It makesone confident and know certain

things which are must for every ini-dividual to learn about.”

Pranutan says that she used tospend a lot of time on film sets afterher school. It was like her co-curric-ular activity. “Subconsciously, some-things always influence you. Theydraw you towards themselves. Itmight be because of spending somuch time on film sets that Iaspired to be an actor. Well, actingis in my genes,” she laughs as shesays.

Pranutan tells us that she fellinto the lake from a shikara whileshooting for the film. She says, “Idon’t even know how to swim andIt was two degrees out there.Shikara’s are very dama dol. I was inthe narrowest portion and was get-ting down, the whole shikara tiltedand I fell in the lake. It was damntraumatic.”

The actress says that it was hergrandfather who kept her name asPranutan. “He actually wanted tokeep my name as Nutan but my dad(Monish Bahl) said it’s very awkwardfor me to call out my mom’s namelike that. So he kind of made thisname — Pranutan, which meansnew life.”

Pranutan is a firm believerwhen it comes to destiny and luck.She says, “Everybody has got talentbut somewhere I strongly feel thateverything has been pre written andit’s all destined.”

She feels no competition withother debutantes as she believes incelebrating individuality. She says,“Every one of us, whether its Sara (AliKhan), Janhvi (Kapoor) or Ananya(Pandey), we are so unique in eachand every manner. What you bringto the table, I can’t. So it’s not just thatbecause Deepika (Padukone) is a tallbeautiful girl she suited for Padmavat.She has got inherently those Deepikaqualities in her which the directorneeded for Padmavat. If a filmmak-er wants to cast me for a role, he’ll dothat because I bring somethingunique to the character that he envi-sions. And if anybody can be cast forthat particular role then that’s not thework I want to do anyway. It wouldsimply not excite me.”

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Argentina striker Gonzalo Higuainannounced his retirement from inter-

national football telling critics "I gaveeverything" for the Albiceleste.

He says he can devote more time to hisfamily and more focus on his PremierLeague club Chelsea.

The 31-year-old French-born forwardstands down from national duty with 75caps, the first coming in 2009 when hemarked his debut in a 2010 World Cup qual-ifier against Peru with a goal.

Last year's 2-1 win over Nigeria at the2018 World Cup was to be his last appear-ance for his country. He leaves with a 35-goal haul.

Higuain exits the international stagehaving lost out on World Cup glory in 2014when Argentina fell to Germany in the finaland defeats in the finals of the 2015 and 2016Copa America.

Despite coming so close to a major tro-phy he bows out his head held high.

"To play in three finals and lose themis not a failure," he told TV Fox Sports

Argentina on Thursday.And he had a message for critics of his

performances playing for Argentina."People remember your mistakes, not

what you've accomplished."Those who attacked will have almost

certainly cried for joy when I scored againstBelgium to put us thought to the semi-finals(at the 2014 "World Cup).

"That's football."

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Australia's all-time top goalscorer TimCahill announced his retirement on

Friday, bringing an end to one of thecountry's greatest football careers.

The 39-year-old — who scored 50goals in 108 appearances for the Socceroosand played in four World Cups — said hewill not be looking for another contractfollowing the end of his Indian SuperLeague stint with Jamshedpur.

The former Everton and Millwallattacker, who retired from internationalfootball in November, said he is planninga move into coaching.

"No, I'm an old man now in footballyears," he told Optus Sport television.

"I'd love to keep playing, you know 39,had a great stint for six months in India.

"But I'm interested in TV, going tostart my A (coaching) licence and spendquality time with my family and chill outfor a bit.

"I'll take my time in learning more andgetting coaching hours in." Cahill spent14 years in England with Millwall andEverton, scoring more than 100 goals,before stints in the United States, Chinaand India.

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Roger Federer will make DenisShapovalov's dream come true on

Friday after the Swiss booked a MiamiOpen semi-final against the Canadianstarlet with a ruthless 6-0, 6-4 destruc-tion of Kevin Anderson.

Shapovalov, who beat fellow younggun Frances Tiafoe 6-7 (5/7), 6-4, 6-2 toreach his third ATP Masters semi-final,grew up idolising and studying the 20time Slam-winning Swiss legend whoonce again rolled back the years with asublime show at Hard Rock Stadium.

This will be their first meeting andone the Canadian, who will break into thetop 20 when the rankings are releasednext week, cannot wait for.

"It's a match up I have been lookingforward to my whole life, a high stakesmatch against your idol. It's just a dreamcome true," said Shapovalov.

"I will try and approach it like anyother game, try and enjoy it, give it myall. It will be a difficult match but I amjust happy to have a chance to play him."

Federer may have been the 19-year-old's hero but he's attempted to learnfrom Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovictoo.

"With Roger, I was always looking athis backhand and tried to copy him andbuild my game like his — aggressive,always coming in," said the number 20seed.

With Shapovalov taking on Federerand long time friend and compatriot FelixAuger-Aliassime, 18, facing defendingchampion John Isner in the semis, thetennis stars of tomorrow are beginningto prove their worth on the biggest ofstages.

"It's crazy for me and Felix to bothhave reached the semi-finals," Shapovalovsaid, while Federer called the clash ofgenerations "exciting".

"It's an exciting draw, for John and formyself here, playing these young guys,"Federer said. "They are not just young,but they are very good, as well.

"I practiced with Denis way back, hemight have been 16, 17. He was just hit-ting big. I was, like, 'Wow, it's unbeliev-able. How old is he? How good is hegoing to get? It's going to be tough againsthim."

The Swiss came into the match withAnderson knowing the world numberseven's huge serve could be the differ-ence, just as it was in a dramatic five set,last eight encounter at Wimbledon wonby the South African last summer.

Yet after a whirlwind first set, Federerhad broken the Anderson serve threetimes and "bageled" his opponent, muchto the delight of a packed house on cen-ter court who came to show their appre-ciation for the evergreen 37 year-old ashe chases a fourth Miami title whichwould take his career tally to 101.

It was the first time Anderson, 32, hasever lost a first set at ATP level to loveand although the second was far tighter,Federer was always in control.

Shapovalov, meanwhile, crashedhome 40 winners in an entertaining tus-sle with American Tiafoe on a rain inter-rupted day in South Florida.

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Simona Halep missedthe chance to return to

world number one as adevastating display fromKarolina Pliskova sealedthe Czech's passage intothe Miami Open WTAfinal 7-5, 6-1.

Romania's Halepwould have reclaimed thetop spot in women's ten-nis if she had reachedSaturday's showpiece fol-lowing current numberone Naomi Osaka's earlyexit and Petra Kvitovafalling to Ashleigh Bartyin the last eight.

But Pliskova, theworld number seven, hadother ideas, rattling off anincredible nine games ina row to blitz Halep andset up an intriguing bat-tle with Australian Barty— a 6-3, 6-3 winner overEstonian Anett Kontaveit.

"It wasn't easy waitingfor so long but I managedto stay aggressive," saidPliskova, who hit 29 win-ners to Halep's 18 in thematch that finished after1 am thanks to a series ofrain delays. "Ashleigh is agood player, but I amexcited for the final.

The South Floridaweather played havocwith Thursday's scheduleat Hard Rock Stadium, nomore so than when therains returned withPliskova on the brink ofa brilliant win.

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Young pistol shooters Manu Bhaker and SaurabhChaudhary on Friday clinched a Gold medal

each, their second in the competition, as India con-tinued their domination at the 12th Asian AirgunChampionships in Taoyuan, Chinese Taipei. Manuwon the women's 10m Air Pistol on day three ofcompetitions while Saurabh bagged a team Gold inthe men's event.

Abhishek Verma also won individual Silver inthe men's 10m Air Pistol, rounding off a profitableday for himself after the disappointments in themixed events.

The women's pistol team also won a Bronze tofurther bolster India's tally to five Gold, three Silverand one Bronze medals with half the competitionstill to go.

Manu shot 575 out of 600 to qualify in secondplace and then was involved in a pitched battle withShing Ho Ching of Hong Kong for most parts ofthe 24-shot final, before finishing stronger in theend stages. She shot a score of 239 against Shing's237.9 while UAE's Wafa Alali bagged the Bronze.

In the men's event, all three Indians made thefinals.

Saurabh topped with 587, while Ravinder wasfourth to qualify with 578. Abhishek in fact was thelowest ranked Indian among the eight qualifiers,fifth with 577, but was the only one to land a medal.

Abhishek shot 240.7 and lost out to Korea'sMose Kim by 0.2 points to settle for Silver. Saurabh(198.8) went down to Bronze medalist Taehwan Leeof Korea in a shoot-off to finish fourth whileRavinder was seventh with 136.3 points.

The trio though picked up the team Gold overthe Koreans with a total of 1742, a clear 12 pointsahead of their nearest rival.

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Decorated former Australiahockey player Kieran Govers

will be in India next month to con-duct a short camp exclusively forthe strikers.

Govers, an Olympic Bronzewinner and two World Cup Goldmedallist, will conduct a shortseven-to-eight days camp for theIndian strikers from among the coreprobables at the SAI South Centrein Bengaluru.

The camp is a part of HockeyIndia's ongoing developmental pro-

gramme."Kieran Govers will be here

next month for a short camp withthe strikers. The camp is exclusive-ly for the strikers. After the strik-ers' camp, we will also have exclu-sive camps for defenders and goal-keepers," a source privy to thedevelopment said.

"These camps are part of prepa-rations for the Olympic Qualifiers."

A similar camp for strikers ofthe women's team was held underformer Australia player GlennTurner in Bengaluru in Decemberlast year.

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Aconstant presence at thecoach's chair during wife

Saina Nehwal's matches, Indianshuttler Parupalli Kashyap sayshe is eager to take up full timecoaching once he retires fromthe game.

But, he said retirement is thelast thing he is thinking rightnow.

A former world number 6,Kashyap has set a target ofqualifying for the TokyoOlympics, though many wouldfeel a tough task for him.

Currently ranked 55,Kashyap on Friday reached asemifinal of a top-tier tourna-ment (Super series or Super 500)

for the first time in close to fouryears by claiming a 21-16, 21-11win over Chinese Taipei's WangTzu Wei.

"I enjoy coaching and wouldlove to take it forward in future,"Kashyap said after recording hisfourth win, a sublime 21-11, 21-13 triumph, over Thailand'sTanongsak Saensomboonsuk toenter the quarterfinals of IndiaOpen.

"But I am not done yet (asa player). I want to perform thisyear and make it to theOlympics again. So, don't countme out of Olympics. I want tobe in contention of a medal andnot just participate," said theHyderabadi, who had reachedthe London Olympics last 8.

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Former champions P V Sindhu andKidambi Srikanth stayed on courseto reclaim titles while a vintage

Parupalli Kashyap too regained someform, sealing his place in the men's sin-gles semifinals of the $350,000 IndiaOpen here on Friday.

Sindhu, a 2017 champion and 2016finalist, edged out Denmark's eighthseed Mia Blichfeldt 21-19, 22-20 in aclosely-fought contest to set up a clashwith China's He Bingjiao on Saturday.

"I should have finished it earlier. Imade too many errors. He Bingjiao andshe is a tricky player. I have to be morepatient," Sindhu said.

Srikanth finally snapped his seriesof quarterfinal finishes, outwittingcompatriot B Sai Praneeth 21-23, 21-11,21-19 in a 62 minute pulsating contest,while Kashyap entered his first semifi-nals of a top-tier event (World TourSuper 500 or Superseries) in almost fouryears, beating Chinese Taipei's WangTzu Wei 21-16, 21-11.

Srikanth will face China's HuangYuxiang, while Kashyap takes on formerworld champion and former world No1 Viktor Axelsen.

H S Prannoy couldn't match upwith the second seeded Axelsen, goingdown 10-21, 16-21 in a match that hadsome tight fights in the second game.

Srikanth had made eight quarter-final finishes in last nine tournamentsand the Indian didn't look to make thelast 8 after he lost the opening game nar-rowly and lagged 1-7 in the second.

But a gritty Srikanth saved fivegame points, fighting back from 16-20down before Praneeth staved off thechallenge to take the opening game.

Praneeth managed to grab a 7-1lead to raise hopes of an upset butSrikanth came back strongly and tookthe match to the decider.

In the third game, the GopichandAcademy colleagues split the initial 14points before Praneeth edged ahead to11-8 lead. But a fighting Srikanth againdrew parity at 13-13 and eventuallymanaged to produce those two pointsat 19-19 to seal a semifinal place.

"The turning point of the match wasin the second game when I was 1-7down and I fought back. From there,things changed. At 19-19 in the decider

it could have gone either way. ButI played well in the crucial points.So happy with my performance,"Srikanth said.

On the adjacent court,Kashyap made a confident start,leading 6-3 early on but three suc-cessive returns at the forehandcorner of Wang going out allowedhis opponent to keep pace withthe Indian who enjoyed an 11-8lead at the break.

Wang made it 16-16 withKashyap committing a few mis-takes at the net but hit flat jabs andpunches to the back of the court,pocketing the opening game.

Kashyap took control of thenet and retrieved everything,while Wang looked erratic withhis smashes. Kashyap led 6-3again in the second game.

Wang again clawed back at 8-8 but Kashyap managed to keephis nose ahead at 11-9 at interval.

The Indian marched ahead,varying the pace with his strokes,using angles and measuredreturns, cramming his opponentfor space.

He led 18-11. A smash anddrop took Kashyap closer to sealthe match and he celebrated after

Wang hit one long."I feel good. I didn't think

about semifinal. I had a gooddraw and a good run and I am justhappy. I have fitness issues but Idon't know why my body is feel-ing at ease," said Kashyap, whohad reached the finals at 2017 USOpen and won the 2018 AustrianOpen.

"He is a tricky player. He hasgood skills at the net. He takesrisks and hits some good halfsmashes. I kept retrieving theshuttle and could attack andcounter his strokes."

Men's doubles sixth seedsManu Attri and Sumeeth Reddyeffortlessly won an all-Indianquarter-final clash with PranaavJerry Chopra and Shivam Sharma21-10, 21-12.

They are the last Indian pairstanding at this prestigious tour-nament after the 10-21, 18-21defeat of Ashwini Ponnappa andSikki Reddy to top seeds GreysiaPolii and Apriyani Rahayu.

India's Aparna Balan andSruthi KP too lost 8-21, 11-21 tosecond seeds JongkolphanKititharakul and RawindaPrajongjai.

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Striker Mandeep Singh continuedhis rich form and scored a brace to

help India thrash minnows Poland 10-0 in their last league match of theSultan Azlan Shah Cup hockey tour-nament here on Friday.

Already assured of a place inSaturday's summit clash against Korea,the Indians scored goals almost at will,leaving the Polish players in daze.

Besides Mandeep (50th, 51stminutes), dragflciker Varun Kumar(18th, 25th) also struck twice whileVivek Sagar Prasad (1st), SumitKumar (7th), Surender Kumar (19th),Simranjeet Singh (29th), NilankantaSharma (36th) and Amit Rohitdas(55th) were the other goal-scorers forIndia.

Five-time champions India, thus,maintained their unbeaten streak inthe tournament, collecting 13 pointsfrom five league matches with the helpof four wins and a draw.

With two strikes on Friday,Mandeep became the highest goal-scorer in the tournament with a totalof seven goals while Varun took hispersonal tally to five goals so far.

It was expected to be a one-sidedcontest and it turned out to be so asIndia raced to a 2-0 lead by the sev-enth minute through Vivek and

Sumit's goals.The second quarter saw India

strengthen their attack as they madespace inside the striking circle. In goodform, Sumit earned a penalty cornerfor India which was perfectly convert-ed by Varun.

A minute later, Surender regis-tered his name in the score sheet byscoring from a penalty corner creat-ed by Rohidas.

Though India lost forwardShilanand Lakra to a green card in the24th minute, they secured anotherpenalty corner and Varun was bangon target with a powerful flick to handhis side a commanding 5-0 lead.

Simranjeet then added to theteam's tally when he worked withMandeep after receiving a beautifulassist from Nilakanta Sharma to putthe ball past Polish goalkeeperMateusz Popiolkowski.

With a formidable 6-0 lead at half-time, India continued to dominateafter the change of ends.

India's eighth and ninth goalcame off skilful displays by Mandeep.His first goal was scored after he inter-cepted Michal Raciniewski to take adirect shot on goal, while his secondwas well-assisted by Gurinder Singh.

India's 10th goal was scored afterSurender earned a penalty corner withAmit making a good conversion.

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Ican't afford my coach trav-elling with me," says India

Open defending championZhang Beiwen, who had toswitch her nationality twice topursue her badmintondreams.

Zhang originally hailsfrom Liaoning, China butchanged nationality to becomea Singaporean at the age of 13and went on to win a teamBronze at the 2009 SoutheastAsian Games.

After a fallout withSingapore authorities, sheadopted US nationality in2013 and has been playing forthat country in international

circuit ever since.However, she said she has

not got any help from the USnational badminton federation

and has to rely on self-fund-ing and prize money fromcompetitions.

"I have just one sponsorfrom Hong Kong who pays formy coach's salary," said Zhangwho is currently ranked 12 inthe world. She was in top-10last year.

The 28-year-old, who hadto crowd-fund her trip toWorld Championship lastyear, said she does not getenough training in US wherebadminton is not a big sport.

"The best choice for me istraining in Singapore butsometimes I am out of choice.I don't get time to train much,may be I train for one and halfhour every day when I am in

Singapore and sometimeseven less."

Despite all the constrains,Zhang has done reasonablywell last year by winning theIndia Open, which is a WorldTour Super 500 event, reach-ing the finals at the KoreaOpen and US Open. She alsoqualified for the World TourFinals.

So what is her expectationfrom the tournament.

"Last year I was in samesituation. When I came to thistournament, I didn't expectmuch from myself. I don'tthink I can go to the final anddefend the title as women'ssingles is so competitive,"Zhang signed off.

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