3 POLICEMEN GUARDINGKASHMIRI PANDITS SHOTSrinagar: Three policemen werekilled on Tuesday when Pakistan-based JeM terrorists attacked aguard post outside a KashmiriPandit pocket in Shopian.

SURJIT BHALLA QUITSAS MEMBER PMEACNew Delhi: Eminent economistSurjit Bhalla, who had raisedeyebrows over the involvementof NITI Aayog in the release ofre-stated economic growthnumbers, has resigned as amember of the Prime Minister’sEconomic Advisory Council.

SC MAY ORDER CBI PROBEINTO KALBURGI MURDERNew Delhi: The SC on Tuesdaysaid a CBI probe may be orderedinto the murder of MM Kalburgi,Govind Pansare and GauriLankesh if there is a “commonthread” in these murders.

PTI n NEW DELHI

Former bureaucratShaktikanta Das, who spear-

headed the post-demonetisa-tion normalisation of the econ-omy, was on Tuesday namedthe new Governor of theReserve Bank of India. Das, 61,replaces Urjit Patel, whoshocked the establishment andmarkets by announcing his exitfrom the central bank onMonday. Das will have a three-year term, an official ordersaid. He will be the first bureau-crat to head the central bank inalmost five years.

While it was widely expect-ed that the Government willname an interim RBI headduring its search for Patel’sreplacement, the Appointments

Committee of the Cabinetheaded by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi chose Daswithin a day.

In a tweet, FinanceMinister Arun Jaitley said theGovernment has “accepted theresignation of Dr Urijit Patelwho resigned on Monday fromthe said post.”

Continued on Page 7

ACHCHHE DIN FOR CONGRESS

CAPSULE

PTI n AIZAWL

The Mizo National Front(MNF) on Tuesday script-

ed a spectacular victory inMizoram, uprooting theCongress in its last bastion inthe North-East to return topower after 10 years.

The MNF won 26 seatsin the 40-member Assembly,a gain of 21 seats since 2013.The Congress managed to bagonly five seats compared to 34seats it won in the 2013Assembly elections. MNF pres-ident Zoramthanga accompa-nied by top party leaders metGovernor KummanamRajasekharan at the Raj Bhavanhere in the evening and stakedclaim to form a Government.

Party sources said the

Governor toldZoramthanga that he wasyet to receive the officialletter from the ElectionCommission and hoped

that he would be able toinvite the MNF to form aGovernment by Wednesdayafternoon.

“Arrangements are beingmade for the swearing-in of thenew Government by Saturday,”a source said.

Continued on Page 7

M MADHUSUDAN n NEW DELHI

KChandrasekhar Rao passedthe Assembly poll test with

flying ‘pink’ colour on Tuesdayas his much-trumpeted ‘sopsstory’ thumped the Congress-Telugu Desam Party (TDP)combine’s ‘sob story’ aboutIndia’s youngest revenue-sur-plus State having been turnedinto a major debtor by theTelangana Rashtra Samithi(TRS) chief.

The Congress-led groupingnamed itself the People’s Frontbut the masses went with KCR,as Rao is popularly known, andgave him a second term at thehelm. Not just him, theTelangana electorate evenensured victories for KCR’sson KT Rama Rao and nephewT Harish Rao, rejecting the“nepotism” and “familyrule” charges against him.

The results shouldserve as a major learningexperience for the

Congress. Working overtime tostitch up a mahagath-bandhan to take on theBJP’s might in the 2019Lok Sabha poll, itshould know the com-plexities at the region-al levels, that too,involving regionalsatraps.

In the Lok Sabha pollthat is just months away, theCongress may have torethink its strategy of join-ing hands with its foe-

turned-friend TDP,which is seen by the

people in the Stateas a party that had

opposed Telangana’s cre-

ation. In fact, TDP, which had15 MLAs in the dissolvedAssembly, could win just 2seats even as it contested 13seats in all.

KCR lost no time inannouncing his intention ofdelving into national politicsnow that he is firmly in the sad-dle in the State. Also, havingnot taken Chandrababu Naidu’s“meddling” in Telangana pol-

itics lightly, he has alreadycautioned the TDP chiefabout his plans toextract revenge.

In Telangana, itwas KCR’s sop dis-

tribution-cum-promises spreeinvolving mostsections of society that ledthe voters tocome out indroves to propelhim to power.

Continuedon Page 7

RAJESH KUMAR n NEW DELHI

Despite last minute blitzkriegby Prime Minister

Narendra Modi, the BJP lost theRajasthan Assembly election,failing to break the trend whichcontinues in the State for thepast 20 years.

As per results, theCongress is set to form theGovernment in the State as theparty has won over 99 seat ofthe 199 seat while the BJP man-aged to retain only 73 seats. TheBSP, CPI (Marxist) and othershave managed to win 27 seats.

Now the question is whowill be the Chief Minister —Ashok Gehlot or Sachin Pilot?The Congress central leadershiphas already directed its electedMLAs to assemble in Jaipur onWednesday. According tosources in the Congress, partypresident Rahul Gandhi will

take a call on the CM face byWednesday. Gehlot is seen as aclear front-runner.

The voting share analysisshows the BJP’s votes havefallen from 45.2 per cent in2013 to 38.8 per cent now. Itwas much higher at nearly 55per cent in 2014, when theparty won all 25 Lok Sabhaseats from the State.

On the other hand, theCongress has improved itsvote share from 33.1per cent in 2013 to39.2 per cent in 2018.It had managed to get

nearly 30 per cent votes despitelosing on all seats in last par-liamentary elections.

Chief Minister VasundharaRaje, Sachin Pilot and AshokGehlot have all won theirrespective seats of Jhalrapatan,Tonk and Sardarpura. TheCongress has banked on thestrong anti-incumbency factor,while the BJP relied on the Raje’sperformance and charisma ofModi and hoped to break the

State’s tradition of having ChiefMinisters of alternate par-

ties for every Assemblyelection since 1993.

Continued on Page 7

NAVIN UPADHYAY n NEW DELHI

The BJP’s moral-shatteringdefeat in the saffron bas-

tions of Rajasthan andChhattisgarh and its failure toreach the halfway mark inMadhya Pradesh has placed theCongress on a much-neededrevival path and thrown thenext year’s Lok Sabha contestwide open. The Congress’ suc-cess in the three crucial Hindiheartland States will also firm-ly establish the leadership ofRahul Gandhi and help himshed the numerous pejorativetags so often hurled on him byhis critics.

While Chhattisgarh andRajasthan were smooth sailfor the Congress, MP turnedout to be a cliffhanger. Thecounting went well over 16hours and the leads kept chang-ing. In the end, the Congressvirtually shattered ChiefMinister Shivraj SinghChouhan’s dream for a recordfourth term by pushing the BJPto second spot in a hungHouse. Even as the Congresshad either won or was leadingin 114 seats, two short ofmajority, State Congress chiefKamal Nath wrote to theGovernor at 10.30 pm, stakingclaim for forming aGovernment and claiming thebacking of newly-elected inde-pendent MLAs. GovernorAnandi Ben Patel told the

Congress leaders that they willget an invite from the RajBhavan only after the ElectionCommission had declared thefinal result.

At midnight, the Congresswas ahead on 114 seats and theBJP on 110. Results of aroundhalf-a-dozen seats were stillawaited. But the possibility ofthe Congress forming aGovernment looked brightsince the Governor was boundto invite it fist to prove itsmajority, which it could dowith the help of the indepen-dent MLAs.

When Kamal Nath wroteto the Governor, around thesame time, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi came out witha series of tweets which virtu-ally showed that he had accept-ed the defeat.

The PM tweeted, “Victoryand defeat are an integral partof life. Today’s results will fur-ther our resolve to serve peo-ple and work even harder forthe development of India.”

In another tweet, the Prime Minister said, “We accept the people’s mandatewith humility. I thank the peo-ple of Chhattisgarh, MadhyaPradesh and Rajasthan for giv-ing us the opportunity to servethese States. The BJPGovernments in these Statesworked tirelessly for the welfareof the people.”

The final tally may not

reflect the extent of theCongress gain. In both MadhyaPradesh and Rajasthan, theBJP had secured over 10 percent more vote than theCongress in the 2013 Assemblypolls. Bridging the gap andgoing ahead in such scenario isnot an easy task unless there isa massive undercurrent againstthe ruling party.

The results show that anti-incumbency — both againstthe State Governments andagainst the Centre workeddecisively in favour of theCongress and helped it demol-ish the BJP’s strongholds.

The setback will haunt theBJP like a dreadful nightmarein the run-up to the Lok Sabhapolls for more than one reason.To start with, in all the threeStates the “minorities” con-sisted of mere six to seven percent vote, far below the per-centage of the Muslim vote inBihar, Uttar Pradesh,Jharkhand, etc. The outcomeshows the success of Rahul’spursuit of “soft Hindutva” aswell the failure of the BJP inreviving the Hindu frenzy byraking up the issue of Ramtemple in a big way.

The Congress strategy wastwo-fold: Consolidate minori-ty vote bank and make sure that the BJP does not succeedin polarising the Hindu vote inits favour.

Continued on Page 7

STAFF REPORTER n BHOPAL

As the Congress almostreached near the half-way

mark in the Madhya PradeshAssembly polls, the next con-test within the party is thechoice of the Chief Minister.With 114 seats in victory orlead, the Congress is two seatsbelow the magic figure of 116in the 230-seat Assembly. TheBJP, under the leadership ofShivraj Singh Chouhan, hasgiven the spirited challenge to the Congress bywinning 110 seats, 6 short ofthe majority mark.

PCC chief Kamal Nath hasconvened a meeting of thenewly-elected Congress candi-dates at the PCC headquartersat 4 pm on Wednesday.

The Congress camp was

jubilant since Tuesday morningwhen the early trends showed anedge to the Congress. A big LEDscreen was placed at the PCCoffice and the party workers andleaders remained glued to thescreen throughout the day.

In the afternoon, KamalNath, former Chief MinisterDigvijay Singh and Congressparliamentarian JyotiradityaScindia reached the PCC andreviewed the polls results.There was no clear majority forthe Congress, but the seniorleaders discussed the possibil-ity of forming a Government.

Congress leaderJyotiraditya Scindia, who isseen as a contender for thechief ministership, was evasivewhen asked by reporters as towho would be occupying thetop post. “Let the result comefirst,” he said, adding, “We willcreate an environment of peace,justice, and development if wecome to power in MadhyaPradesh,” Scindia added.

The Congress, which hasbeen trying to dislodge thethree-term BJP Government inthe State, expressed confidencethat the party would cross themajority mark.

“As I said, the Congress iswinning. We are going to getfull majority,” Madhya PradeshCongress Committee chiefKamal Nath said.

Continued on Page 7

Shaktikanta Das

named RBI GuvDEEPAK KUMAR JHA nNEW DELHI

Ayear after Rahul Gandhiwas anointed as Congress

president, he has silenced allthose who chanted the slogans

of “Congress mukt bharat”and kept writing the obit-

uary of the grand old party ondaily basis. December 11marked the completion of“Rahul’s first year in office aspresident.

Last year same day, Rahultook over as president of theCongress and led the partywith remarkable vigour inGujarat Assembly electionsand thereafter broughtKarnataka to the party’s kitty.

Emboldened with thesewins, challenge from Rahulto Prime Minister NarendraModi appears more seriousthan ever before. The gainsfor the Congress in the Hindiheartland States assume sig-nificance though the partysuffered a severe drubbing inTelangana and Mizoram.

Addressing the media,Rahul termed the victory of

Congress as victory of farmersand the youth. “It’s now timefor change. We are going toprovide the three States with avision for overall develop-ment. There is a clear feelingin the country that PM Modihas failed to deliver what hecommitted. The Opposition isnow strongly united and willfight together in 2019 polls todefeat Modi to end the politicsof hatred. I have learnt abouta lot of things since 2014 andmost important being humil-ity,” Rahul said.

He said Modiji taught himwhat not to do in politics. “He(Modi) taught me not be to bearrogant,” Rahul quipped.

Hitting at the BJP for itsoften-stated remark ofCongress-mukt (Congress-free) Bharat, Rahul said, “The

BJP has a certain ideologyand we will fight against it. Wehave won elections, we willalso win in 2019. However, wedo not want to get rid of any-one, ‘hum kisi ko mukt nahikarna chahtein’.”

Rahul thanked people andparty workers for party’s goodperformance in three States ofRajasthan, Chhatisgarh andMadhya Pradesh while assert-ing that the poll outcome raised“questions” on the ModiGovernment’s policies. Hesaid now there is a perceptionwithin the people that the PMhimself is a corrupt man. Healso said it is a clear message toModi that people are not happywith decisions, includingdemonetisation and those per-taining to farmers and youth.

Continued on Page 7

BJP’s crushing defeat gives Rahul’sparty much-needed revival platform

Loan waiver pledge does trick

for Congress in Chhattisgarh

KCR gamble pays dividends

Cong loses last bastionin N-E at MNF hands

BJP fails to break Raj 20-yr trend

SUJEET KUMAR n RAIPUR

The Congress, which was outof power for 15 years in

mineral-rich Chhattisgarh,staged a stunning comeback onTuesday, courtesy a keypromise to waive bank loans tomillions of farmers who arereeling under steep debts.

The BJP bit the dust in itsbastion as it refused to hon-our its commitment to helpout farmers in a State whichis categorised as the ricebowl of the country.

Political analysts admit-ted that the arrogance and

deep-rooted corruption in therank and file of the BJPGovernment scripted its crush-ing defeat.

The Congress bagged atwo-third majority in the 90-member State Assembly.

Former ChiefMinister Ajit Jogi,who aligned withthe BSP and the

CPI in a bid to wina few seats to use it as

a bargaining chip in thecase of a hung Assembly,was left high and dry

because of the landslidevictory of the Congress.

Analysts say the Congress’promise to write off bank loansof farmers within 10 days ofcoming to power and give amassive hike in minimum sup-port price (MSP) and slashpower tariff up to 50 per centwere the prime reasons for theCongress win and the downfallof BJP’s longest serving ChiefMinister Raman Singh, whobegan his political career in1983 as a councillor.

Continued on Page 7

Rahul’s year at helm rejuvenates party

The election was solelycontested on State agenda and itis not related to Delhi. We willsit with the party workers andanalyse the defeat in detail. Thiswill not reflect on the Lok Sabhaelection

RAMAN SINGH

Victory and defeat are anintegral part of life. Today’sresults will further our resolveto serve people and work evenharder for the development ofIndia…Congratulations to theCongress for their victories

PRIME MINISTER NARENDRA MODI

I am proud of thedevelopment worksdone by the BJPGovernment in fiveyears and believethat the upcoming Government willcontinue the works and projects

VASUNDHARA RAJE

The semifinal proves thatBJP is nowhere in all theStates. This is a realdemocratic indication of2019 final match. Ultimately,people are always the ‘man of the match’of democracy. My congrats to the winners

MAMATA BANERJEE

PeoplerejectedMandir-Masjidpolitics,results showpoliticalawakening on rise in India

MEHBOOBA MUFTI

...Congress-muktBharat..BJP-muktBharat...That isneeded...We willunveil the whole thingin Delhi in 10 days

K CHANDRASEKHARRAO

It’s now time for change. Weare going to provide these

three States with a vision foroverall development… theBJP has a certain ideologyand we will fight against it.We have won this elections,

we will also win in 2019.However, we do not want to

get rid of anyone, ‘hum kisi ko

mukt nahi karna chahtein’

RAHUL GANDHI

CongBSP(2)

BJP

Others (4)

114 109

Cong holds fort, but Shivraj shows fighting spirit

A Congress supporter waves party flag to celebrate party’s win in the Assemblyelections, at party headquarters in New Delhi on Tuesday PTI

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Late City Vol. 154 Issue 332*Air Surcharge Extra if Applicable

Published From DELHI LUCKNOW BHOPAL

BHUBANESWAR RANCHI RAIPURCHANDIGARH DEHRADUN

Established 1864RNI No.2016/1957, REGD NO. SSP/LW/NP-34/2016-18

LUCKNOW,WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 12, 2018; PAGES 16 `3

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RISES IN TEST

RANKINGS

14 SPORT

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city 02LUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY | DECEMBER 12, 2018

Lucknow (PNS): VishwaHindu Parishad (VHP) said onTuesday that the party whichneglected Lord Ram and Ramtemple issue was forced to bitedust in three Central Indianstates where the BharatiyaJanata Party was defeated bythe Congress in the just-con-cluded assembly elections.

Reacting to the results ofMadhya Pradesh, Rajasthanand Chhattisgarh, senior VHPleader Purshottam NarainSingh said that Ram bhaktswere angry with the partywhich spoke about construc-tion of Ram temple only dur-ing elections but did little for itwhile in power.

“These Ram bhakts havevented their anger by defeatingthe BJP in these three states,”Singh said in a statement issuedin Lucknow on Tuesday.

The VHP leader said thatthe people of Madhya Pradesh,Rajasthan and Chhattisgarhhad played a pivotal role dur-ing Ram Janmabhoomi agita-tion. “Be it 1990 or December6, 1992, Ram bhakts fromthese states played a stellar rolein the campaign. Their cam-paign found reflection in gov-ernment formation as soonafter that the BJP formed gov-ernments in Madhya Pradesh,Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh andHimachal Pradesh,” Singhpointed out.

PNS n LUCKNOW

Chairman of Uttar PradeshSubordinate Services

Selection Commission(UPSSSC) Chandra BhushanPaliwal resigned from the postciting personal reasons.

The 1981 batch IAS officer

was appointed Chairman ofUPSSSC for a two-year term byChief Minister Yogi Adityanathon January 22 this year.

Sources in the UPSSSCsaid that Paliwal was not ingood terms with the state gov-ernment and was feelingignored.

His resignation put a ques-tion mark on the competitiveexaminations to be conductedby the commission in comingdays for recruitment on vacantposts in several departments.

The sources also said thatvarious steps initiated byPaliwal for reforms in the

recruitment process did notfind favours with the state gov-ernment. Before tendering hisresignation, Paliwal completedthe interview process forappointment of assistantaccountant and auditor andlater sent his resignation toGovernor Ram Naik.

PNS n LUCKNOW

Smiles finally returned to theCongress leaders and work-

ers who celebrated RahulGandhi’s completing one yearas Congress president with theelectoral victories inChhattisgarh, Rajasthan andMadhya Pradesh on Tuesday.

Uttar Pradesh Congressworkers burst crackers, dancedto dhol beats and played withgulal to celebrate the party’sstellar show in Rajasthan,Chhattisgarh and MadhyaPradesh.

Carrying the Congressflags, a large number of work-ers gathered at the party stateheadquarters at Mall Avenueand praised Rahul Gandhi’sleadership in steering the partytowards victory in the threeBharatiya Janata Party-ruledstates. They distributed sweetsand congratulated each otheron the occasion.

The jubilant workerschanted ‘Rahul Gandhi zind-abad’ and boosted with the vic-tory, some senior leaders wenton to raise slogans backingRahul as the next PrimeMinister of the country.

Senior Congress leaders,including NaseemuddinSiddiqui and MLA AradhanaMishra ‘Mona’ joined partyworkers and expressed joy asthe trends of poll results indi-cated the resurgence ofCongress in the three states.

“It was a united effortpreparing and campaigning forpolls. The leader at the top wasinspiring everybody. Rahuljihas exhibited great character incrisis, quite like a captain guid-ing a ship in choppy waters,”Mona quipped while hailing theparty’s victory.

Interestingly, UPCCspokesman Virendra Singhclaimed that besides Rahul, itwas state Congress chief RajBabbar’s hard work that turnedthe table in Congress’ favour.

The lawns at the UPCC

headquarters were teemingwith party workers carryingCongress flags and hailingRahul as a ‘great leader’.

It was after a long gap thatCongress workers were seencelebrating the party’s victory.Chants of ‘Jeet gaya bhai jeetgaya, Rahul Gandhi jeet gaya’

rent the air as the results trick-led in.

“We are very happy... weshould be winning in threestates,” Siddiqui asserted whileclaiming that the people hadnow decided to throw out theBJP and the results were justbeginning in this direction.

PNS n LUCKNOW

Avisibly surprisedSamajwadi Party wel-

comed the victory of Congressin Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthanand Chhattisgarh and is nowreadying itself to accommodatethe resurgent grand old partyin the anti-Bharatiya JanataParty truck to contest 80 LokSabha seats of UP in the 2019parliamentary elections.

SP chief Akhilesh Yadavhad skipped the mega opposi-tion meet in Delhi on Monday,where top opposition party lead-ers met to work out a mecha-nism for stitching a grandalliance to take on the BJP in the2019 polls.

After the success ofSamajwadi Party and RashtriyaLok Dal in three Lok Sabha andone assembly bypolls in UP, theSP and BSP had distanced them-selves from the Congress andhad expressed reluctance inaccommodating the grand oldparty in the alliance. During pollcampaigns in Madhya Pradesh,Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh,Akhilesh had adopted a stridentanti-Congress posture, termingthe Congress and the BJP as twosides of the same coin.

However, as the assemblypoll results trickled on Tuesday,Akhilesh took jibes at the BJP ina series of tweets saying, “Abkibar kho di sarkar (this time youlost the elections).

In another message, the SPchief said, “Jab ek aur ek milkar

Lucknow (PNS): After rounding uparmyman Jitendra Malik aka Jeetu Fauji inconnection with the Bulandshahr violence,the local police and the sleuths of SpecialTask Force and Special Investigation Teamhave launched a hunt for some men whoaccompanied the armyman to the spot onthe fateful day.

“Fauji revealed the names of some of hisaides who accompanied him to the spot afterlearning about cow slaughter,” disclosed anofficer engaged in the investigation. Heclaimed that STF’s Meerut unit andBulandshahr police were raiding places tonab Fauji’s aides but had failed to nab anyone of them so far. Sources said that somelocal leaders close to the power corridorswere harbouring prime accused Yogesh Raj,Shikhar Agarwal and Upendra Raghav andwere pulling strings to get their namescleared from the FIR. Interestingly, allaccused with right wing links who arenamed in the FIR are freely uploading videoson social sites and also giving interviews toTV channels, to plead their ‘innocence’.

PNS n LUCKNOW

Diehard supporters ofBharatiya Janata Party said

the passage of Scheduled Casteand Scheduled Tribe Act over-turning a Supreme Court orderconcerning certain safeguardsagainst arrests under it was themain reason for the party’sdefeat in Madhya Pradesh,Chhattisgarh and Rajasthanand held the Narendra Modigovernment at the Centreresponsible for the debacle.

“It is the arrogance of theBJP brass that led to the party’sdefeat in these elections. Theupper caste was angry the waythe Modi government reversedthe effects of the apex court

order concerning arrest underthe SC/ST Act. They votedagainst the party resulting inthe BJP’s defeat in these elec-tions,” said medical practition-er Dr SK Pandey.

Claiming to be a diehardsupporter of the BJP who nevervoted for any other party in hislife, Dr Pandey was, however,happy at the defeat of the BJPin these elections.

“It should be clear to theparty leadership now thatDalits did not vote for them. Ithink the party should learnsome lessons from this defeatand mend its ways,” he said.

Similar views wereexpressed by Sudhir Sehgal, agovernment employee.

The refrain was not con-fined to the common man.Even ruling party lawmakerscame out in open, speakingagainst amendments to theSC/ST Act and termed it as amajor factor for the party’spoor show. BJP MLA fromBairia (Ballia) Surendra Singhsaid: “The BJP cannot winelections by hurting the senti-ments of savarna (uppercastes). The decision to bringamendments to the SC/ST Actproved to be suicidal.”

The upper caste is the tra-ditional vote bank of the BJP.

Leaders in BJP office wereclueless about the reasons ofsuch a heartbreaking poll out-come. “We were expecting

reverses only in Rajasthan.But our performance inChhattisgarh has shocked oneand all,” a senior leader com-mented.

Meanwhile, the state gov-ernment put up a brave faceover the results of assemblypolls, claiming that the man-dates given by the people ofMadhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh,Rajasthan, Mizoram andTelangana were not a referen-dum against the BJP or theModi government at theCentre. State governmentspokes-person and HealthMinister Sidharth Nath Singhsaid that as a cadre-based party,the BJP would review theresults in the coming days.

PNS n LUCKNOW

The Uttar Pradesh govern-ment has decided to set upa medical university after

former Prime Minister AtalBihari Vajpayee that will controlall medical and dental collegesin the state. Besides, the govern-ment also decided to bring a leg-islation to regulate school vehi-cles ferrying children.

These decisions besidessome others were taken in aCabinet meeting chaired byChief Minister Yogi Adityanathin Lucknow on Tuesday.

Briefing media persons,state government spokespersonand Health Minister SidharthNath Singh said that a new statemedical university named afterAtal Bihari Vajpayee wouldregulate all medical and dentalcolleges in Uttar Pradesh.

He said a bill would bebrought in the Winter Sessionof the legislature for setting upthe new medical university.

The new university willcontrol 27 government and 22private medical colleges alongwith 17 dental colleges of UttarPradesh.

The government alsoapproved a satellite campus ofKing George’s MedicalUniversity (KGMU) inBalrampur district. In the firstphase, a hospital and campuswould be set up while in thesecond phase, a medical collegewould be established.

In another major decision,the government decided toamend the UP Motor VehiclesAct by including a new chap-ter, 9(A), to deal with vehiclesused for ferrying students.

Singh said that several con-ditions would be enforced forgranting permit to vehicles,including age limit, CCTV atschool entry points and park-ing, provision of GPS andrestriction on overloading.

In a move to provide levelplaying field for foreign compa-nies for construction of Jewar

international airport at GreaterNoida, the state governmentdeleted a clause giving weightageto Indian companies againstforeign competitors. Now glob-al players would be treated at parwith Indian companies.

In another decision, thegovernment amended the qual-ification clause of health work-ers or ANMs (auxiliary nursemidwife) and made it onlyintermediate from the presentIntermediate (Science). Nowtraining centres would be oper-ated at state medical faculty anddistrict hospitals also.

Besides, appointment ofhealth workers will be done bySubordinate SelectionCommission. Earlier it wasdone by the Health depart-ment.

The Yogi government alsodecided to go for reverse bidding

process and a central organisa-tion, MSTC, has been engagedfor bidding and e-tendering toprovide one kilogram of sugar toaround 40 lakh Antyodaya ben-eficiaries in the state.

The Centre has directedthe state to select companies fordistributing sugar toAntyodaya card holders butonly one company came for-ward for the bidding.

SOLAR ENERGY: Inorder to promote green ener-gy, the state governmentapproved solar power genera-tion and a tariff between `3.02and `3.08 per unit for proposed550 megawatt plants to be setup in UP.

The government spokes-person said that nine privatedevelopers would be selectedfor generation of 550 megawattsolar power which would be

supplied to UP PowerCorporation Limited. Of thetotal approved solar powergeneration, 120 MW would begenerated in Chitrakoot, 100MW in Budaun, 85 MW inKanpur, 70 MW in Mirzapur,50 MW in Bareilly and 25 MWin Lucknow.

In order to boost religioustourism, the government haspermitted chopper services atAgra, Mathura, Varanasi andPrayagraj where helipadswould be constructed on gov-ernment land.

The government alsoapproved the setting up of aSpecial Planning Authority(SPA) for setting up an integrat-ed industrial township onDelhi-Mumbai IndustrialCorridor at Greater Noida.The township would be set upon 747.5 acre land and the SPAwould be represented by share-holders, Greater NoidaAuthority and DistrictMagistrate of Gautam Buddha

Nagar (Noida).In another decision, the

government amended molassescontrol rule for exporting it toother countries. Now compa-nies will have to obtain permis-sion from consulates concernedwhile a certificate from the enduser would also be required forexport approval from the stategovernment.

The government also gaveits nod for giving bank guaran-tee to UP Co-operative Bank toavail loans up to Rs 1,500 crorefrom NABARD.

The government alsoapproved to give free land to setup a sericulture centre atLucknow. Around 2.01 hectareland would be provided to setup the centre at a cost ofaround `76.45 crore.

The government alsoapproved `202 crore for sewageconstruction in FirozabadNagar Nigam area and `353crore for sewage constructionin Agra western zone.

Lucknow (PNS): In a major relief to UP gov-ernment, the Lucknow bench of Allahabad HighCourt stayed the decision of a single judge onNovember 1 that directed a CBI probe into therecruitment of 68,500 assistant teachers by the stategovernment. The division bench of Chief JusticeGovind Mathur and Justice Manish Mathur passedthe order on a Special Leave Petition moved by thestate government, challenging the single judge’s order.

The court fixed December 21 for pronouncinga judgement on the appeal. Advocate GeneralRaghavendra Singh argued on behalf of the UP gov-ernment while respondents’ counsel also put hispoint forward. After hearing both sides for twohours, the court stayed the previous order of the sin-gle judge.

On November 1, a single bench of Justice Irshadhad ordered, “The Director, Central Bureau ofInvestigation(CBI) shall make investigation inregard to the entire process of selection initiated forrecruitment of assistant teachers in primary schoolsagainst 68,500 posts, which is known as assistantteacher.”

On directions of the single bench, the CBI reg-istered a case in the matter.

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NOTICE

Be it known to all that I havechanged my son's name RajMohan from Rajan Gupta for-ever for all purpose. RadheyShyam Gupta, 567/93 AnandNagar Baraha Road,Alambagh, Lucknow.

NOTICE

It is notified for the informa-tion that my original class Xcertificate unique ID- 6569574,index no.1173566/076 passedfrom ICSE board school citymontessori school Mahanagarin year 2017 has been actual-ly lost. Altaf Alam, S/o Mr. AftabAlam, Mazar Lane, SI blockreserve Police Line, Lucknow.Mob no. 7408048383

NOTICE

It is notified for the informa-tion that my original class Xcertificate unique ID- 6568457,index no.1173566/053 passedfrom ICSE board school citymontessori school Mahanagarin year 2017 has been actual-ly lost. Aliya Alam, D/o Mr. AftabAlam, Mazar Lane, SI blockreserve Police Line, Lucknow.Mob no. 7408048383

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UP to set up med varsity after Atal

Chief Minister on way to chair the Cabinet meeting at Lok Bhawan in Lucknow on Tuesday Pioneer

UP govt to table secondsupplementary budget PNS n LUCKNOW

The Yogi Adityanath gov-ernment will bring a sec-

ond supplementary budgetduring the brief four-dayWinter Session of UP legisla-ture commencing fromDecember 18.

Official sources claimed inLucknow on Tuesday that thesecond supplementary budgetwould be tabled after QuestionHour in the Assembly onDecember 19.

As per tentative agenda ofthe Assembly, on the openingday, obituary references will betaken up. The next day(December 19), the govern-ment will table several Bills for

replacing ordinances alongwith the second supplemen-tary budget.

The Assembly is likely toconsider and pass the supple-mentary budget on December20 along with the bills.

The last day of the sessionis likely to be on December 21and legislative work will betaken up for half a day and therest of the time will be for pri-vate members’ bill.

Meanwhile, the ruling BJPwill hold a joint meeting ofparty legislature on December17. As per a BJP source, themeeting of party MLAs andMLCs will be held in LokBhawan on the eve of theWinter Session at 5 pm.

UP Congressmen jubilant

UP Congress workers dance to the beats of dhol at party office in Lucknow asresults of Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh assembly elections trickle in on Tuesday Pioneer

UPSSSC chairman quits post

RLD celebrates partywin in Rajasthan

Lucknow (PNS): RashtriyaLok Dal leaders and workerswere jubiliant after theRajasthan assembly poll resultwas aired and celebrated partycandidate Subhash Garg’s vic-tory from Bharatpur seat by amargin of 1,90,000 votes.

The RLD had extendedsupport to Congress in thestate and had fielded a secondcandidate from Maalpura seatbut he lost to an Independentcandidate.

RLD vice-president JayantChaudhary expressed grati-tude to the voters of Bharatpurfor ensuring the victory of

RLD candidate. Chaudharysaid that this were not an ordi-nary election.

“The Indian Constitution,its secular and moderate char-acter was at stake and the peo-ple of Rajasthan contributed alot by dislodging the BharatiyaJanata Party from power,” hesaid, adding that the messagegiven by public in the assem-bly poll was very strident andwould reverberate across thecountry.

“We hope that it will effec-tively put a check on the BJP’santi-farmer policy and its ployto divide the society,” he said.

Neglect of Lord Ram,temple issue led todefeat: VHP leader

HC stays CBI probe

into recruitment

of asst teachers

Police looking for armyman’s aides inBulandshahr case

‘Reversal SC order on SC/ST Act led to defeat’

SP welcomes Cong wins in 3 statesbante hain gyaraha, tab badebado ki satta ho jati hai nau-do-gyaraha.” (When one plus onebecomes eleven, then powereludes the influentials). SP can-didates did not fare well in thejust concluded assembly pollsthough the party had fielded itscandidates in Madhya Pradesh,Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan.

“Power had gone to theheads of BJP leaders and madethem very arrogant. They tram-pled the aspirations of farmers,poor youths and other sectionsof society. The public wasalready reeling under the dou-ble whammy of Goods andServices Tax and demonetisa-tion. The BJP also attacked thefreedom of expression anddestroyed institutions that sus-tain democracy,” the SP chiefsaid in a statement issued inLucknow on Tuesday.

Akhilesh asserted, “The votein three states is not only against

the programmes and policies ofthe BJP but also against the anti-people policies of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi. Theresults have demonstrated thatthe BJP can not only be tamedbut also defeated in a compre-hensive manner. These resultshave also proved that the Modi‘charisma’ is on the wane.”

Later on Tuesday evening,the SP chief held consultationswith party leaders to work outa strategy for the 2019 LokSabha polls. A senior SP leadersaid, “The party is under pres-sure from the successful rallyorganised by Shivpal SinghYadav in Lucknow on Sunday.Now, the rise of the Congresslike a phoenix in these threestates has only added to the pres-sure.” “The Congress shouldnow behave in a more respon-sible and large-hearted mannerand accommodate regional par-ties which hold sway in UP.

city 03LUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY | DECEMBER 12, 2018

PNS n LUCKNOW

Aday after the arrest of fivefriends of BJYM leader

Pratyush Mani Tripathi, theMahanagar police sent theaccused to jail registering a caseof culpable homicide notamounting to murder.

On the other hand, thepolice failed to recover theknife used in the murderousassault and the gloves whichone of the accused, identifiedas Anil Kumar Rana was wear-ing when he had allegedlyattacked his friend Tripathi.

Vikas Pandey SHO said thepolice searched the Kukraildrain in search of the knife andthe gloves but to no avail. “Wesent the accused to jail onMonday night. A teamsearched the area where themiscreants had disclosed tohave thrown the knife andgloves. We are yet to recoverthe same,” he said. The SHOadded that the investigationinto the case was on.

Mahanagar CO SK Singhsaid the police had a clinching

evidence to corroborate thecrime against the accused. “Thepolice are mulling to imposesection 34 IPC (common inten-tion in executing a crime)against the accused. The inves-tigation is continuing and thepolice will slap the provisionwhich they deem fit,” he said.

ASP, trans-Gomti,Harendra Kumar ruled out thepossibility of political rivalry asa motive for the murderousassault and said Tripathi want-ed to frame his rivals Salmanand Adnan in a case of murder-ous assault. “To frame Salmanand Adnan, he chalked out aplan of murderous assault onhim and involved his friends inthe act. The drama, however,turned awry as Tripathi suf-fered serious injuries and diedof excessive bleeding,” he said.

The Mahanagar police onMonday arrested Tripathi’sfriends, identified as AnilKumar Rana of Sarojini Nagar,Ashish Awasthi, MahendraGupta and Prabhat Kumar akaRishi, trio of Madiaon andAmit Awasthi of Aliganj in this

connection. Victim’s wifePratima had rubbished thepolice good work and demand-ed a CBI probe into the case.She had also accused the policeof character assassination ofTripathi by propagating a fakestory on self-staged murderplot and a fake case against himat the Kaiserbgah police station.

Jail inmates

lock horns

Lucknow (PNS): Two pris-oners fought fiercely with oneanother inside the lock-up atsessions court in Kaiserbgahpolice station area on Tuesdaycausing one of them lose hisone tooth while the other wasleft with bruises. Later, bothwere taken to BalrampurHospital under Wazirganjpolice station area for treat-ment.

As per reports, the jailinmates, identified as AshishSoni and Samar Singh, had adifference over seat in the jailvan when they were beingtaken to the court. They keptabusing one another and issu-ing threat to one another butthe constables escorting themdid not intervene. When theywere coming out of the jail van,both of them attacked oneanother. “They fought so fierce-ly that the constables, whowere trying to separate them,looked hapless. Later, bothwere taken to hospital for med-ical test,” advocates presentthere said. The policespokesman said Ashish wasjailed for loot while Samarwas named in some other case.“We have no informationregarding the cases in whichthe above named miscreantswere sent to jail. In fact, thepolice stations of Kaiserbaghand Wazirganj have no infor-mation about the same,” thepolice spokesman said. Headded that the police was yet tofind out the kind of injuriesthat both the inmates suffered.

After the incident came tolight, the police tried to hush upthe case and did not informsenior officials about the inci-dent. Some advocates, howev-er, passed the information totheir friends in the media andthe incident came to light.

PNS n LUCKNOW

Governor Ram Naik felicitated eminentpersonalities with ‘Yug Purush Samman’

on the occasion of the International Men’s Dayat a programme organised by Guide SamajKalyan Sansthan.

Among those who were felicitated on theoccasion included former Lok Ayukt JusticeSC Verma, president, Jai Narain PG College,VN Mishra and Professor MR Maurya withthe “Yug Purush Samman”. He conferred the“Chairavati Samman” on the founder of theKabir Mission programme RK Mittal posthu-mously and the “Gyanda Gaurav Samman”on Dr Shambunath and SN Upadhaya.

Speaking on the occasion, Naik said thatthe infant mortality rate had decreased. Headded that as per a survey the average age ofmen was 66.4 years and an average age ofwomen was 68.6 years. The Governor saidthat young men stepped out of their homesin search of jobs and lived away from homesand as such the parents became victims ofloneliness. The Governor stressed that it wasimportant for everyone to stay together and

give respect to elders.Giving a word of advice to youngsters, he

said that apart from education they shouldalso carry out exercises which would enhancetheir personalities. He said that all of themshould keep four things in mind: always smile,always appreciate others, not to belittle oth-ers and never have an ego. He said that it wasimportant to keep moving ahead.

PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n LUCKNOW

Uttar Pradesh Bridge Corporation hasstarted the exercise for the construc-

tion of an elevated road from Shaheed Pathto the airport. The road will go a longway in decongesting the portion ofShaheed Path at the point where it joinsthe Kanpur road and will ease the trafficfor VIP and general public at the time oftaking off and landing of flights at the air-port.

Bridge Corporation managing direc-tor Uttam Kumar Gehlot said that as pera rough alignment of the project, the roadwould take off from just two kilometresbefore the end of Shaheed Path andwould be directly connected with the air-port. “We have got the clearance from theNHAI (National Highway Authority ofIndia, Delhi, and we have started collect-ing the material to begin the work,” headded.

Commenting on the advantage thisroad will serve, he said: “This will bringmuch relief for the 1.5-km stretch wherethe Shaheed Path meets the Kanpur road.

The people take a very long time here whilegoing from the airport to the Kanpur roadand vice versa as traffic snarls occur whenflights arrive or leave at the airport,” headded.

Regarding how long the project willtake to complete, he said that it was diffi-cult to predict the time it would take tocomplete. The project was sanctioned inAugust first week.

PNS n LUCKNOW

Transport MinisterSwatantra Deo Singh on

Tuesday directed officials tocarry out a drive for makingpeople, specially children,aware about road safety. TheTransport Minister gave thesedirections in a review meetingheld at Transport headquarters.The meeting was attended byregional managers.

He gave directions thatprogrammes such as competi-tions, walks, marathons, takingpledge for road safety should beorganised in schools.

He said that such pro-grammes should be carriedout for a period of one monthwith the support of the localadministration and local organ-isations. He said that hoardingsof road safety should be placed

one kilometre before all tollplazas.

The minister also gavedirections that exercise shouldbe carried out to stop overload-ing of vehicles. He told officials

to increase load factors ofbuses and gave a strict warningto officials from those districtswho had procured lesser rev-enue as compared to the tar-gets.

He informed that all cor-poration workers would remainin uniforms at the time of theKumbh Mela and they wouldbe provided with uniformssoon.

PNS n LUCKNOW

District Magistrate KaushalRaj Sharma directed the

DIOS ( District Inspector ofSchools) and the BSA (BasicShiksha Adhikari) to servenotices on 52 schools and col-leges who had refused theMeasles-Rubella vaccinationthereby hampering the cam-paign to be a complete successin the district.

He directed officials toserve a three-day notice forderecognising those schoolsand thereafter blacklistingthem and ensuring their

closure after derecognisingthem.

The list of the 52 schools asper the list provided by theHealth department are ChristConvent School, Risaldar Park,St Agnes School, Rajajipuram,SKD, Rajajipuram, MarkandeConvent School, Katra,Lucknow Collegiate, JoplingRoad, Children’s WorldAcademy, Martin Purwa, StMichael’s School, Jopling Road,Awadh Junior School,Vikramaditya Marg, St BoseSchool, Vrindavan Scheme,Red Cross, Gokhale Marg,Angel Garden School, Lal

Bagh, St Thomas School nearHaj House, Green BerrySchool, Darogakheda, CentralAcademy, Sector 8, IndiraNagar, PL Montessori School,Snehnagar, St Polly andHoliday School, Adarsh PublicSchool, Merry World School,RDSO, Maharishi VidyaMandir Telibagh, SiddharthPublic School, Adarsh Vihar,Progressive Montessori School,Ashok Vihar, Dashrath PublicCareer School, NewHaiderganj, Adarsh Bal VidyaMandir, Saripur, Sri RamPrasad Chowdhary InterCollege, New Haiderganj,

Simrock Play School, E Block,Rajajipuram, Happy FarisSchool, E Block, Rajajipuram,St James Mission School, EBlock, Rajajipuram, CPSAcademy, Rajajipuram, EleenKids College, Rajajipuram,Progressive School,Rajajipuram, New Central CareAcademy, Rajajipuram,Rajendra Prasad School,Rajajipuram, PrincetonInternational School, Kakori,DPS, Sector 6, Jankipuram,Awadh International School,Madehgunj, St Basil School,Aliganj, Rameshwari School,Sahil School, Chikmandi,

Mufed Public School,Simrock Public School, EBlock, Rajajipuram, St JamesMission School, Rajajipuram,Pre Day and Care School, CBlock, Rajajipuram, Eleen KidsInternational School,Suryanagar, CPS Academy,Vikramnagar, ProgressivePublic School, F Block,Siddharth Global School, StBosco School, Ganeshganj,Skand Public High School,Ganeshganj, St TeressaSchool, Naya Gaon, AminabadBal Inter College, Aminabad,and Sanskriti Pathshala,Sadar.

Timely police

action saves

man’s life

PNS n LUCKNOW

APratapgarh native consumedpesticide as a mark of protest

outside the main gate of Lok Bhawanin Hazratganj police on Tuesday. Hewas rushed to Civil Hospital wherehe was undergoing treatment. Policesaid the man was out of danger.

As per reports, Arun KumarUpadhyay of Aaspur Devsara policestation area reached the road oppo-site the main gate of Lok Bhawan andstarted shouting anti-governmentslogans. By the time, the policecould overpower him, he consumedthe pesticide.

As the cops saw him consumingsome substance, they immediatelyrushed Arun to Civil Hospital. Thedoctors immediately treated Arunand he was made to vomit to lessenthe effect of the pesticide. “Hisorgans are working properly and heis out of danger,” the Hazratganjpolice said. The police said a bottlecontaining pesticide was recoveredfrom Arun.

Later, Arun told the police thatsome person of his village hadusurped his land in Pratapgarh andthe police and the district adminis-tration were not helping him. Headded that he had attempted immo-lation on September 15, 2018, out-side the gate number 2 of VidhanBhawan in Hazratganj. “Even afternewspapers published my immola-tion attempt, the Pratapgarh policeand the district administration didnot solve my case. Even no one fromthe police contacted me,” he lament-ed. Arun said he had a little hopeto get justice. “Why the police savedme when I was going to end my life?I had no hope to get help from thegovernment. Better I would havedied,” he said while criticising thepolice for saving him.

Murder weapon, knife

yet to be recovered

Minister lays stress on road safety

Naik felicitates eminent persons

MEASLES-RUBELLA VACCINATION

52 schools, colleges to be served notices

NAIK CONFERRED THE‘CHAIRAVATI SAMMAN’ ONTHE FOUNDER OF THEKABIR MISSIONPROGRAMME RK MITTALPOSTHUMOUSLY AND THE“GYANDA GAURAVSAMMAN” ON DRSHAMBUNATH AND SNUPADHAYA

Lucknow (PNS): MRC has once again pre-sented an example of dutifulness and integrity.The latest incident is of Sunday where a secu-rity personnel of Lucknow Metro found a wal-let on the road near the Lekhraj metro site hav-ing around Rs 20,000 in cash and ATM cardsalong with other valuable documents.

“Taking a prompt action, the security per-sonnel immediately contacted the owner withthe help of information found on a visiting cardinside the wallet. On receiving his lost belong-ing back, the elated owner not only lauded thesecurity personnel’s integrity but also appreci-ated in writing,” said a senior official.

He added that Lucknow Metro had consis-tently earned the reputation of being the safestand most reliable means of public transport inthe city and was dedicated to ensuring a safeenvironment both inside the trains and on metropremises.

The construction of the balance section ofPhase-1 A of the North-South Corridor is in itsfinal stage and passenger service and satisfac-tion is of utmost priority for LMRC. In thisregard, the entire team of LMRC is trained toserve people of Lucknow with the best of theirabilities and assist differently-abled passengerswith a smooth and barrier-free Metro ride.

LMRC MD Kumar Keshav reiterates:“Lucknow Metro is for ‘all’, a mass rapid publictransport system is designed keeping in minddifferent riders’ needs and comfort. The appre-ciation we are receiving every day is what’s keep-

ing us marching ahead with full zeal and deter-mination.”

The Corporation regularly announces theemployees of the month award. For the monthof October, Vineet Gupta, station controller andtrain operator, Saurabh Singh, station controller,PC Bhatt, security supervisor and Rekha,housekeeper, have been chosen for the Staff ofthe Month awards.

Vineet Gupta, SCTO, is serving as the assis-tant chief controller at Operation ControlCentre and, during the testing and commission-ing phase, performed his duties with utmost ded-ication ensuring non-occurrence of any failure.PC Bhatt, security supervisor, reunited a 6-year-old boy with his parents after they were acciden-tally separated due to wrong timing coordina-tion of train de-boarding.

PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n LUCKNOW

UPSRTC (Uttar PradeshState Road Transport

Corporation) is carrying onnegotiations with the UP Dial100 for the integration of thepink buses and the 40 Innovainterceptors with the UP Dial100 services.

Chief general manager(Technical), UPSRTC, JaideepVerma said that currently thediscussions were focused onthe technical aspects of theintegration. The project hasbeen sanctioned by the CentralGovernment under theNirbhay Fund. The initiativefor the integration has beentaken by the UPSRTC so thatwith the help of the massiveback-up of the UP Dial 100 itcould get help in handling theemergency situations.

The Chief GeneralManager said that this was thefirst time that such a projectwas being implemented any-where in the country and it wastaking time because therewere no exemplary exampleswhich they could follow.Besides, he pointed out thatboth the UPSRTC and the UPDial 100 had to take forth theproject with the help of theirrespective vendors.

He admitted that there wasa delay in the project toobecause thrice they had tofloat tenders for the manufac-ture of buses where an elabo-rate IT infrastructure had to beintegrated which includedCCTV cameras and panic but-tons. “Under the project theywill be running 50 buses, hesaid. The total budget for theproject is Rs 42 crore and cur-rently there were four buseswhich are stationed with thevendor,” he said.

Regarding the choice of UPDial 100, he said: “We have

only 40 Innova interceptorsmonitoring the routes and ifthere is any emergency then theUP Dial 100 has a massive forceand can intervene immediate-ly,” he added.

The official admitted thatthere has been a delay in theproject. “We had floated thetenders thrice before finallyTata Motors was selected forthe job. The CentralGovernment had granted usthe funds because we hadalready been operating twopink buses from Delhi toLucknow,” he added.

Regarding the routes whichthese pink buses would follow,he said that this was at the pro-posal stage and would bedecided by the Board. “Thebuses will run within the stateand the maximum they will gois to Delhi,” he added. Vermaadmitted that the buses willferry female passengers only.“The females will only beallowed and also if a male isaccompanying the female orshe has a child with her,” headded. He said that these buseswould become functional with-in two months.

Elevated road for airport soon

UPSRTC holding talks with UP Dial 100

“WE SENT THEACCUSED TO JAILON MONDAYNIGHT. A TEAMSEARCHED THEAREA WHERE THEMISCREANTS HADDISCLOSED TOHAVE THROWNTHE KNIFE ANDGLOVES. WE AREYET TO RECOVERTHE SAME”

LMRC security guard gets appreciation

city 04LUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY | DECEMBER 12, 2018

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PNS nLUCKNOW

Acase under Copyright Actwas registered against four

shop owners for selling fakeaccessories of iPhone companyApple at Ashiyana on Tuesday.

As per reports, SandeepTanwar of Rajasthan lodged acomplaint against four shopowners in Ashiyana accusingthem of violating the provi-sions in the Copyright Act. Ateam later reached SriramMobile Centre and BajrangMobile Centre, both in BanglaBazaar and two other shops inSector I of Ashiyana and one atPower House crossing inAshiyana.

The team recovered hugeaccessories like charging cables,phone covers, front panel ofiPhones from these shops. Thepolice seized the goods andlodged a case.

Police said Sandeep is post-ed as investigator in GriffinIntellectual Property Services

Private Limited and Apple hadassigned the said company tokeep a tab on malpractices byunauthorised dealers and shopsowners. “Sandeep did the home-work and then he sought policeof the police,” the police said.

THEFTUnidentified miscreants

stole cash and several pouches ofshampoo from a general store inTalakatora police station area onMonday night. The police saidthe shop is owned by GauravAgrawal of Rajajipuram (underTalkatora police station area)and is located in a market in sec-tor E of the colony. Gaurav toldpolice that he was informedabout shop-lifting by some shopowners on Tuesday morningand when he reached there, hefound the shutter of the shop lift-ed and the cash and goodsmissing. The police said no FIRwas registered as Gaurav plead-ed that he did not want anypolice case.

ACTOR ALI FAZAL IN CITY

Actor Ali Fazal who belongs to Lucknow and is wellknown for his role in both Bollywood and Hollywood movieswas in the city for an awareness programme.

SEMESTER EXAMS BEGIN

The semester exams have begun at the Shakuntala MishraNational Rehabilitation University and they are being con-ducted in two shifts. On Tuesday 664 students appeared inthe exams which included 26 differently abled ones.

LOK MANGAL DIVAS

Mayor Sanyukta Bhatia heard the problems of local res-idents at the Lok Mangal Divas which was organised in zone3 and zone 4 . In zone 3 as many as 13 complaints were reg-istered.

FOREST DEPTForest Minister Dara Singh Chauhan inaugurated the

two-day-long Sports Meet at the Guru Gobind Singh Stadiumon Tuesday which will see forest officials and staff partici-pating in several events.

PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n LUCKNOW

Infantry Battalion (TerritorialArmy), Bihar, is organising a

recruitment rally for the domi-ciled Indian nationals belong-ing to Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh,Uttarakhand, MP, Odisha,Uttar Pradesh and Bihar atBhubaneswar (Campus of 120Infantry Battalion (TA), Bihar)from December 17 to 22 forfilling up the vacancies com-prising soldier (general duty),soldier clerk, soldier (chef), sol-dier washerman, soldier house-keeper, soldier tailor, soldiercarpenter, soldier dresser andsoldier equipment repair (ER)personnel in the TerritorialArmy.

Datewise recruitment ofsoldier (general duty), clerk,chef community, washerman,housekeeper, tailor, carpenter,hair dresser & ER for the can-didates of Jharkhand andChhattisgarh on December 17,for the candidates ofUttarakhand and MadhyaPradesh on December 18, forthe candidates of Odisha onDecember 19 and for the can-didates of Uttar Pradesh andBihar on December 20.

Eligible candidates ofrespective states of domicilevolunteering to join theTerritorial Army to report for

screening along with their edu-cational certificates in originalalong with two sets of photo-stat copies of the certificateduly attested by a gazettedofficer at 6 am on each date asmentioned below.

Checking of documents,selected medical test of the can-didates screened in the rallywill be held at the venue afterphysical tests. Medical test ofthe remaining candidates willbe held on December 21 & 22,2018.

Interested and desirouspersons who have passed 10+2exam from any stream withminimum 60 per cent marks inaggregate & 50 pc marks ineach subject (individual) withproficiency in computer andtyping will be given addition-al weightage for soldier clerk,passed matric with 45 pc marksaggregate & 33 pc in each sub-ject or pass/qualified in high-er class (ie XIIth or above) forgeneral duty.

For tradesman with matricpass, excluding housekeeper VIIIth pass only. Inaddition to educational quali-fications they should have therequisite physical standard i.e.a minimum height of 160 cm,weight 50 kg and chest 77 cmwith minimum 5 cms expan-sion.

PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n LUCKNOW

Well-known actress Tina Dutta ofUttaran show fame says that she

loves both the cuisine and thechikankari work of the city. In the cityfor the promotion of the show,Daayan, the young actress said that sheloved to shop here and would be gorg-ing on the food.

Speaking about her visit to the city,she said: “I have been to Lucknow sev-eral times. It’s my favourite shoppingdestination and every time I visit thecity I ensure to take some time out forthis. I am looking forward to havingthe food which includes the muttonbiryani and the kebabs,” she said.

She admitted that she had beenchoosy about her roles since the daysof ‘Uttaran.’ “I received several offerssince the time I did ‘Uttaran’ with near-ly all flavours of roles which evenincluded the negative ones. But I wassceptical and did not want to be a partof the show which was aired in theevening slot,” she said. She pointed outthat similar was the case with movieswhere things did not work for sever-al reasons. “There were several reasons.Sometimes the script was not up to themark, sometimes the timing was notcorrect,” she said.

The actress said that she took upthe show because it was different fromthe ‘saas’ and ‘bahu’ ones and was fromthe horror genre which was liked bythe people. The show, she said, was atale of a girl’s quest in revealing theidentity of the evil force hiddenamongst her close ones and defeatingits sinister plans.

“It is the tale of the narrative ofa young woman, Jahanvi, Morya, awell-educated and family-orientedgirl hailing from Ujjain. It maps herrace against time as she stumbles upon

a dangerous ploy of the evil force asmany unusual and mysterious happen-ings repeatedly occur in her home-town. With a threat to her life, it’s herjourney of unmasking the identity ofthe ‘Daayan’ who is one of her closeones. Horror-mystery as a genre hasseen great interest from viewers at largeand I’m excited to make way in thisspace. Jahanvi’s character is unlike anythat I have played before,” she said.

On being asked whether shebelieved in the supernatural, she saidthat she had no experiences of the

supernatural forces. While sharing herexperiences of the shoot, she pointedout that she was scared at one time.“When I saw the Daayan for the firsttime, I just freaked out,” she added.The actress said that the most chal-lenging part of the show was hangingin harness for long periods of time. “Ihave just begun the shooting of thescenes of the shows and there are manytimes that I have to hang in harness.This I have done in the previous real-ity show of ‘Khatron Ke Khiladi,” shesaid. When asked whether she likedplaying herself or whether she likedplaying a character, the actress said thatshe liked playing a character in fictionseries.

Playing the role of the male lead,popular actor Mohit Malhotra said:“I was more than happy to play thecharacter of Akarsh Sharma as themale protagonist. ‘Daayan’ is in themystery-horror genre which I havebeen wanting to experiment with fora while now. So this was an opportu-nity that I just couldn’t miss. This beingan interesting genre with mysteryand horror intertwined, my character,Akarsh, is key to the narrative, whois not just Jahanvi’s love interest but aconstant companion throughout thestory.”

Four booked for sellingfake iPhone accessories

I opted for ‘Daayan’ because it was different: Tina Dutta

“I have been toLucknow severaltimes. It’s myfavourite shoppingdestination and everytime I visit the city Iensure to take sometime out for this. I amlooking forward tohaving the food whichincludes the muttonbiryani and thekebabs”

Recruitment rally for TA from Dec 17

CITYBRIEFS

PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n ALLAHABAD

In a tragic incident sevenpersons, including three

women, were drowned whilesome others were still missingwhen a boat carrying 16 mem-bers of a family fromMaharashtra capsized in theYamuna while it was coming toMankameshwar Temple fromSangam on Monday evening.A search operation was on forthe missing persons, lastreports received here said.

The water police teamimmediately launched a hecticsearch operation and rescuednine persons while efforts wereon to trace the other missingones, the SeniorSuperintendent of Police (SSP),Nitin Tiwari, said. Meanwhileexpressing grief over the inci-dent the Chief Minister, YogiAdityanath, instructed theadministration to ensure treat-ment of the rescued persons.He also directed the district

officials to rope in the NDRFand SDRF teams for the rescueoperation. The ill-fated victimsbelonged to Latur, Parbhaniand Nanded districts ofMaharashtra.

Keshav Nanoba, one ofthose rescued in the mishap,said he and 13 other membersof a family had come toSangam for immersing theashes of their dead relatives.They hired a boat at Sangam toreach the Mankameshwar tem-ple in Kydganj area.

The boat was near thetemple when it capsized. Thewater police and other teamshad been engaged in the rescueoperation.

Keshav Nanoba’s wife,Radhabai (60), and their rela-tives, Bhagabai (65) andLakshmi Bai (70), and twoothers were brought dead at theSRN Hospital. However, thesearch operation was still on tofish out the bodies of the othervictims, it added.

Boat carrying 16 aboard

capsizes, 7 drowned

PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n ALLAHABAD

Allahabad Division is an important part ofthe Indian Railways. Howrah-New Delhi

trains pass through the Allahabad Divisionwhich is the most busy route. It is the top-

most priority of Allahabad Division toensure safety and security of the passengers.

In the same context the DivisionalManager of Allahabad Division, Amitabh,rewarded as many as 20 Railway employeesfor doing excellent work as far as safety andsecurity were concerned.

For example Vinod Kumar Singh, a locopilot, Kanpur, saw a rail trolley lying on thetrack during the work on Panki-Kanpur blockand immediately informed the authoritiesconcerned about it.

Similarly Praveen Kumar, a loco pilot ofAllahabad, saw a portion of the train hang-ing and informed the railway station author-ities and saved it from unnecessary delay.Similarly, other employees also caught irreg-ularities while discharging their duties andaverted a possible train accident.

All employees were honoured by theDivisional Railway Manager by beinggiven `1,000 in cash and a citation letter.

They were also encouraged to work safe-ly in future.

On the occasion the AdditionalDivisional Railway Manager, Anurag KumarGupta, the Senior Divisional Engineer, AtulGupta, the Senior Divisional Manager,Operations, Manu Prakash, Senior DivisionalEngineer, Par Jamali, and other officers andemployees were present.

DRM rewards 20 employees for ensuring security of passengers

nation 05LUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY | DECEMBER 12, 2018

INSHORTDELHI GOVT TO REIN INFAT WEDDINGNew Delhi: The Delhi Governmentinformed the Supreme Court onTuesday that it is contemplating apolicy to “limit” the number ofguests at “extravagant” weddingsand institutionalise cateringarrangements to check foodwastage at such functions. Abench headed by Justice Madan BLokur was told by Delhi ChiefSecretary Vijay Kumar Dev thatthey have discussed the issuesflagged by the court in itsDecember 6 order in which thecourt had expressed concern overwastage of food and mis-utilisationof water in marriage functions.

SC ADJOURNS HEARINGTO JANUARY 10New Delhi: The Supreme CourtTuesday deferred to January 10the hearing on the MaharashtraGovernment’s appeal challengingthe refusal of the Bombay HighCourt to extend the 90-day limitfor filing charge-sheet in theKoregaon-Bhima violence case.

SC TO HEAR STUBBLEBURNING CASE IN JANNew Delhi: The Supreme Courton Tuesday said that it will hear inJanuary second week a pleaseeking steps to curb pollution inDelhi-NCR caused by stubbleburning in neighbouring states ofPunjab and Haryana.

EXAMINE PAPERS: SC TOOFFICER, CHIEF SECYNew Delhi: The Supreme Courton Tuesday asked two seniorofficers of Haryana, including itschief secretary, to examine thedocuments of 33 house ownerswhose buildings were directed tobe demolished by the year-enddue to illegal constructions inforest area of Aravalli hills.

SC REFUSES TO SCRAP`50K FINE FOR PILNew Delhi: The Supreme Courton Tuesday refused to recall itsorder by which it had imposed afine of Rs 50,000 on a lawyer forfiling a PIL against FinanceMinister Arun Jaitley, raisingallegations relating to capitalreserve of the Reserve Bank ofIndia (RBI).

SINGLE AGENCY CAN PROBEALL MURDER CASES: SCNew Delhi: The Supreme Courtsaid on Tuesday that if there is a“common thread” among themurders of social activistsNarendra Dabholkar, GovindPansare, journalist Gauri Lankeshand rationalist MM Kalburgi, thenone agency can investigate all thefour cases. A bench of Justices U ULalit and Navin Sinha asked the CBIto inform it by January first weekas to why it should not investigateall the four cases if there appears alink among all the murders.

PIONEER NEWS SERVICE nNEW DELHI

As the winter session ofParliament commenced on

Tuesday, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi said all politicalparties who have to face the elec-torate in May next year will uti-lize the session for public inter-est and not political benefit.Both the houses were adjournedafter paying homage to formerPrime Minister Atal BihariVajpayee and some other sittingMPs. Rajya Sabha Chairman MVenkaiah Naidu became emo-tional while reading the obitu-ary reference of Union MinisterAnanth Kumar and describedhim as a “dear friend.”

At the beginning of the ses-sion, Naidu as per traditionread out the obituary referencesof leaders who had passedaway during the interveningperiod between the Monsoonand current session.

He first read out the obit-uary of Vajpayee followed bythat of former Lok SabhaSpeaker Somnath Chatterjee,and a dozen other leaders.

While reading out the obit-uary of Kumar, who had passedaway on November 12, Naidugot emotional and his voicechoked. Recalling the contri-bution of Kumar, the Chairmansaid he had lost a “dear and per-sonal friend” in the untimelydeath of the Parliamentary

Affairs Minister. Naidu apolo-gised later apparently for get-ting emotional in the House.

Meanwhile, Modi, in hisbrief address to the media out-side Parliament House on thefirst day of the session, said thegovernment has always strived todiscuss all issues. “There shouldbe an open discussion. Thereshould be a debate, there shouldbe a sharp debate. But at leastthere should be one,” he said.

Referring to the Lok Sabhaelections due next year, the

Prime Minister said he is confi-dent that all political parties“who have to face the electoraltest in May (next year), whilekeeping in mind the people, willutilise the session for publicinterest and not political interest.”

He hoped that the sessionwould be constructive andmembers would participate indebates on key issues concern-ing the public. He hoped thatmembers would sit for longerduration to resolve key issuesconcerning the common man.

The Prime Minister saidthis session is important andeveryone should participate indiscussion. The winter sessionwill end on January 8.

Lok Sabha Speaker SumitraMahajan paid tributes toVajpayee, Chatterjee, AnanthKumar and three sitting mem-bers. While reading out theobituary reference for Vajpayee,who passed away on August 16after a prolonged illness,Mahajan said he was one of themost outstanding members of

Parliament and enjoyed respectacross the political spectrum.

Modi and most of theUnion Ministers were presentin the Lok Sabha during theobituary references.

Before the lower houseassembled, the Prime Ministerwalked up to the Oppositionbenches and was seen having abrief interaction with Congressleader Sonia Gandhi, formerPrime Minister HD DeveGowda, SP leader MulayamSingh Yadav, and others.Congress President RahulGandhi was also present in theHouse during obituary refer-ences. Finance Minister ArunJaitley and BJP President AmitShah were present in the RajyaSabha. In the Lok Sabha, trib-utes were also paid to three sit-ting members including BholaSingh, MI Shanavas andMohammad Asrarul Haque.

The Upper House alsoremembered its former mem-bers who passed away recently.They included RK DorendraSingh, Karma Todpen, KuldipNayyar, NandamuriHarikrishna, Darshan SinghYadav, Ratnakar Pandey, SatyaPrakash Malaviya, Ram DevBhandary, Malti Sharma, NDTiwari, PK Maheshwari andBaishnab Parida. The RajyaSabha also remembered thosewho lost their lives in theCyclone Gaja in Odisha, AndhraPradesh and Tamil Nadu.

PNS n NEW DELHI

India has inked the ascensionagreement to the Trans

Regional Maritime Network(T-RMN) which facilitatesinformation exchange on themovement of commercial traf-fic on the high seas and willcontribute to increased mar-itime domain awareness.Commodore KMRamakrishnan signed theagreement on behalf of theIndian Navy at the ItalianNaval Headquarters in Romeon Monday, the Navy said herein a twitter here on Tuesday.

The multilateral constructcomprises of 30 countries and issteered by Italy. The informationis available primarily through theAutomatic Identification System(AIS) which are fitted on mer-chant ships with more than 300Gross Registered Tonnage asmandated by the InternationalMaritime Organisation.

The AIS information com-prises name, MMSI number,position, course, speed, last portvisited, destination and so on.This information can be pickedup through various AIS sensorsincluding coastal AIS chainsand satellite based receivers.

Indian Navy is mandatedto conclude white shippinginformation exchange agree-ments with 36 countries andthree multi-national constructs,officials said here. Till date, 19white shipping agreementshave been signed of which 12have been operationalised.

India has also set up a largenetwork of coastal chain radarswhich track the m0vement ofsea and ocean traffic. Suchmultilateral agreements arenecessitated due to the largetraffic in the Indian Oceanwhich cannot be entirely mon-itored by any one nation.

PTI n NEW DELHI

The UPSC has sought freshapplications from over

6,000 private sector specialistswho have applied for 10 postsof joint secretaries in theCentral Government through‘lateral entry’ mode, the DoPTsaid Tuesday.

In a statement, theDepartment of Personnel andTraining (DoPT) said the taskof selection of suitable candi-dates from amongst those whohad applied for the posts inselect government departmentsthrough ‘lateral entry’ modewas entrusted to the UnionPublic Service Commission(UPSC) by the competentauthority on October 29.

“All candidates who havealready submitted their appli-cations online to the DoPT arenow requested to fill up aDetailed Application Form(DAF) which seeks to obtainadditional specific informa-tion from the candidatesregarding qualifications andexperience so as to facilitate theselection process,” it said.

The term lateral entryrefers to the appointment ofspecialists, mainly those fromprivate sector, in governmentorganisations.

An email is also being issuedseparately to each of the candi-dates who have applied, throughtheir registered email ID indi-cated in their online applicationssubmitted in response to theDoPT advertisement.

The candidates may accessthe link indicated in the emailand submit online all the req-uisite information asked for inthe DAF before 6 pm onJanuary 1.

Detailed information aboutthe process is available on thewebsite of UPSC

(http://www.Upsc.Gov.In) andDoPT (https://lateral.Nic.In).All candidates are advised tovisit the website as well ascheck their registered emails fordetailed information, it said.

The DoPT had invitedapplications from talented andmotivated Indian nationals will-ing to contribute towards nationbuilding to join the governmentat the level of joint secretary oncontract basis on June 10.

The ten department/min-istries of the government are:Department of Revenue,Department of FinancialServices, Department ofAgriculture, Ministry of RoadTransport and Highways,Ministry of Shipping, Ministryof Environment and Forest,Ministry of New andRenewable Energy, Ministry ofCivil Aviation, Department ofEconomic Affairs andDepartment of Commerce.

A total of 6,077 applicationswere received by the DoPT forthe 10 joint secretary posts.

Usually, the posts of jointsecretaries are manned by IAS,

IPS, IFS, IRS officers recruitedthrough civil services exami-nation conducted by the UPSC.

Citing the names of formerprime minister ManmohanSingh, who was also a bureau-crat, and the then deputy chair-man of planning commissionMontek Singh Ahluwalia, whowas appointed through lateralrecruitment route, the govern-ment had said there was noadverse effect on the morale ofthe civil servants due to suchappointments.

In a written reply to LokSabha in July, Minister of Statefor Personnel Jitendra Singhhad said the government haddecided to undertake lateralrecruitment of 10 joint secre-taries on contractual basis inorder to achieve the twin objec-tives of bringing in fresh talentas well as augmenting the avail-ability of manpower.

Government think tankNiti Ayog, in its three-yearaction agenda 2017-18 to 2019-20, highlighted it was essentialthat specialists be inductedinto the system through later-al entry on fixed-term contract,the minister said.

The Sectoral Group ofSecretaries (SGoS) submitted areport in February, 2017 inwhich it has inter alia beenobserved that there was a short-age of officers at the joint sec-retary, director, deputy secre-tary levels, due to reduction inrecruitment in the service dur-ing 1995-2002.

“Based on the recommen-dation of SGoS, the govern-ment has decided to undertakelateral recruitment of 10 jointsecretaries on contract basis inorder to achieve the twin objec-tives of bringing in fresh talentas well as augment the avail-ability of manpower,” the min-ister had said.

PTI n NEW DELHI

The Supreme Court Tuesdaydirected the Centre to

declare “at the earliest” 10 kmarea around 21 National Parksand Wildlife Sanctuaries in thecountry as Eco-Sensitive Zone(ESZ) to protect wild birds andanimals.

The Union Ministry ofEnvironment, Forests andClimate Change (MoEFCC)notifies areas close to NationalParks and Wildlife Sanctuariesas ESZ, aimed at creating “shockabsorbers” for protected animalsand birds by regulating andmanaging activities there.

It can direct that certainindustries and operations arenot carried out, or subjected tosafeguards, in ESZs.

A bench comprisingJustices Madan B Lokur, DeepakGupta and Hemant Gupta wasinformed that there were 662National Parks and WildlifeSanctuaries in the country, andstate governments and UnionTerritories’ administrations havenot even moved any proposal tothe Centre for declaring ESZs in21 such areas.

“Under the circumstances,we direct that an area of 10 Kmsaround these 21 National Parksand Wildlife Sanctuaries bedeclared as Eco-Sensitive Zoneby the MoEF. The declaration bemade by the MoEF at the ear-liest.

“Liberty is granted to thestate governments to move anapplication for modification ofthis order along with proposalonly two weeks after submissionof the proposals to the MoEF,”the bench noted in its order.

The 21 National Parks andWildlife Sanctuaries, withoutESZ are in Assam, Jammu andKashmir, Karnataka,Maharashtra, Manipur,Meghalaya, Nagaland, Uttar

Pradesh and West Bengal. Additional Solicitor General

A N S Nadkarni, appearing forthe Centre, told the apex courtthat there are 662 national parksand wildlife sanctuaries in thecountry.

“The proposals for declar-ing areas around these NationalParks and Wildlife Sanctuariesas Eco Sensitive Zone havebeen received from state gov-ernments/UT Administrationsfor 641 National Parks andWildlife Sanctuaries,” he said,adding that “no proposals havebeen received in respect of 21National Parks and WildlifeSanctuaries”.

The law officer also said theCentre has accepted and noti-fied ESZs for 289 NationalParks and Wildlife Sanctuariesas on November 26 this year,and draft notifications for 206were ready.

“We expect the Ministry ofEnvironment, Forests andClimate Change to actively pur-sue the preparation of the draftNotification and to issue a finalNotification at the earliest,” thebench ordered.

On the issue of 21 suchparks and sanctuaries, the apexcourt asked the Centre to goahead and declare ESZs at theearliest.

Some prominent nationalParks and wildlife sanctuarieswithout operational ESZsinclude Pobitora Sanctuary ofAssam, Hemis High AltitudeNational Park and KishtewarNational Park of Jammu andKashmir, Jogimatti Sanctuary ofKarnataka, Deolgaon RehekuriSanctuary of Maharashtra, SiroiNational Park of Manipur,Baghmara Pitcher PlantSanctuary

of Meghalaya, FakimSanctuary of Nagaland andPilibhit Sanctuary of UttarPradesh.

PTI n NEW DELHI

Name and identity of victimsof rape and sexual assault,

including those who have died,cannot be disclosed ‘even in aremote manner’, the SupremeCourt said on Tuesday whileterming as unfortunate thatinstead of empathising withthe victims, society treats themas “untouchable”.

The court also said thatnobody can have any objectionto the victim disclosing her nameas long as she is a major and hastaken a decision regarding thisvoluntarily. The apex court saidthat media should be cautious notto ‘sensationalise’ such cases and

though they have an obligationto report such matters, they arealso “duty bound” not to disclosethe identity of such victims,including minors.

A bench of justices MadanB Lokur and Deepak Guptadirected that FIRs lodged for theoffence of rape under the IndianPenal Code (IPC) and offencesunder the Protection ofChildren from Sexual Offences(POCSO) Act shall not be putin public domain.

“No person can print orpublish in print, electronic,social media, etc the name of thevictim or even in a remote man-ner disclose any facts which canlead to the victim being identi-fied and which should make heridentity known to the public atlarge,” the bench said.

The court said that in thesociety, an “innocent” victim ofsexual offence, especially rape,

was unfortunately treated worsethan the perpetrator of crimeand “for no fault of the victim,society instead of empathisingwith the victim, starts treatingher as an ‘untouchable’”.

“A victim of rape is treatedlike a ‘pariah’ and ostracisedfrom society. Many times, evenher family refuses to accept herback into their fold. The harshreality is that many times casesof rape do not even get report-ed because of the false notionsof so called ‘honour’ which thefamily of the victim wants touphold,” the bench said.

It said in cases where thevictim is dead or of unsoundmind, her name and identityshould not be disclosed evenunder authorisation of next ofthe kin unless circumstancesjustifying the disclosure of heridentity exist, which shall bedecided by competent authori-

ty, that is the sessions judge. “The police officials should

keep all the documents in whichthe name of the victim is dis-closed, as far as possible, in asealed cover and replace thesedocuments by identical docu-ments in which the name of thevictim is removed in all recordswhich may be scrutinised in thepublic domain,” it said.

Regarding media, the courtsaid they should refrain fromtalking to such victim becauseevery time the victim repeats thetale of misery, she again under-goes the trauma.

“Reportage of such casesshould be done sensitively keep-ing the best interest of the vic-tims, both adult and children, inmind. Sensationalising suchcases may garner TelevisionRating Points (TRPs) but doesno credit to the credibility of themedia,” it said.

PTI n NEW DELHI

The Supreme Court Tuesdaysaid the Centre might

frame guidelines or standardoperating procedure (SoP) toeliminate online videos andimages of child pornographyand rape.

A bench of Justices MadanB Lokur and UU Lalit said theguidelines or SoP in this regardmight be implemented withintwo weeks.

“The Government of Indiamay frame the necessary guide-lines/SoP and implement themwithin two weeks so as toeliminate child pornography,rape and gang rape imageries,videos and sites in contenthosting platforms and otherapplications,” the bench said inits order.

The court has posted thematter for further hearing inFebruary next year.

The top court had onDecember 6 said that theCentre and internet giants,including Google, Microsoft

and Facebook, were in agree-ment that videos of rape, childpornography and objection-able material were needed to be“stamped out”.

The Centre had last monthsuggested to the court that theintermediaries should deploytrusted flaggers for identifyingand deletion of unlawful con-tent and also set up of 24X7mechanism for dealing withrequisitions of law enforce-ment agencies.

It had also suggested thatthere should be prompt dis-posal of requisitions of lawenforcement agencies toremove unlawful contents.

The court was hearing amatter following a letter sent in2015 to then Chief Justice ofIndia H L Dattu by Hyderabad-based NGO Prajwala, alongwith two rape videos in a pen-drive.

The court had on its owntaken cognisance of the letterand asked the CBI to launch aprobe to apprehend the cul-prits.

The NGO’s letter had alsomooted the idea of maintain-ing a national sex offenders’register which should containdetails of persons convicted foroffences like eve-teasing, stalk-ing, molestation and other sex-ual assaults.

ARCHANA JYOTI n NEW DELHI

Dismantle all overheadpower lines and place them

safely underground on priori-ty in and around the habitat ofthe endangered Great IndianBustard (GIB), a group ofNGOs working for conserva-tion of the wildlife has demand-ed. The group jointly launcheda campaign seeking communi-ty support to save the wingedbeauties from getting hit by thetransmission lines.

Listed as critically endan-gered species by theInternational Union forConservation of Nature, theGIB is found only in India.Majority of the surviving birdsare found in the fragmentedgrasslands of Rajasthan andGujarat, along with a few indi-viduals in Maharashtra, AndhraPradesh and Karnataka. In1969, over 1,000 GIB roamedthe country’s grasslands, buttheir numbers have plummet-ed owing to habitat loss as wellas power lines. Most mortalitieshappen in low-light conditionssuch as twilight, when birds flybetween foraging and roostinggrounds.

“Though many of thethreats to the Great IndianBustard, such as habitat loss,are being addressed there is oneswinging axe that could seal thebird’s fate. The overhead powertransmission lines that criss-cross GIB habitat are killingthese low-flying, ground-dwelling birds,” said the cam-paign launched by The GreatIndian Bustard Campaign hasbeen launched by theSanctuary Nature Foundation,The Corbett Foundation andConservation India.

To corroborate theirclaims, they have cited a studyby the Dehradun-based

Wildlife Institute of India (WII)that says that 10 GIBs have losttheir lives in power line colli-sions in the last decade (2007-2017). The study also notedthat while undergrounding ofcables eliminates bird mortal-ity, marking power line canreduce mortality by 10 percent to 78 per cent, dependingon area and species, but noteliminate mortality.

The organisations alsoexpressed concern that whilethe erection of power lines inand around GIB habitat isagainst the 2013 guidelines forthe recovery of the speciesgiven by the UnionEnvironment Ministry, unfor-tunately, vital grasslands are notgiven the strict environmentalscrutiny they deserve beforedevelopmental projects aresanctioned.

“India’s push towardsrenewable energy is laudable,but power transmission strate-gies need to be in line with thisgreen vision and BustardRecovery Guidelines. Whileprivate companies generateclean energy, it is up to India’sPower and New and RenewableMinistries to ensure that thisenergy reaches its destinationwithout causing extinction ofany species,” said the organi-sations in their letter written toMarked to Raj Kumar Singh,Minister of State for Power andNew and Renewable EnergyMinistry.

“Fortunately, we have asolution. Overhead transmis-sion lines can be placed under-ground. Yes, this is moreexpensive, but experts con-firm that such an interventionhas reduced mortality of anoth-er bustard species, the GreatBustard, in West Pannonia.This can work in India too,”they asserted.

WINTER SESSION OF PARLIAMENT BEGINS

Take issues of public interest, urges PM

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses the media on the first day of the Winter Session of Parliament in New Delhi onTuesday. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Narendra Singh Tomar (L), MoS Arjun Ram Meghwal, MoS Parliamentary Affairs VijayGoel and Minister of State at Prime Minister’s Office Jitendra Singh are also seen PTI

Congress party President Rahul Gandhi addresses a press conference as results are counted in five States that recently went tothe polls in New Delhi on Tuesday. AP

NGOs demand removal of

all overhead power lines

India signsascension pactto the thirtymember T-RMN

SC to Centre: Declare 10km

adjacent area of national

parks as Eco-Sensitive Zone

SUPREME COURT ON RAPE CASES

‘Media should be cautious in sensationalisation’Name, identity ofrape victims cannotbe disclosed even inremote manner:Apex Court Bench

UPSC seeks applicationsfor Central Govt’s JS posts

Centre may frame normsto eliminate online childporn, rape videos: SC

DoPT said the taskof selection of

suitablecandidates fromamongst those

who had appliedfor the posts in

select governmentdepartments

through ‘lateralentry’ mode wasentrusted to the

UPSC by thecompetent

authority onOctober 29

Internet giants

were in agreement

that objectionable

contents should be

removed

INDIAN BUSTARDS’ SAFETY

LUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY | DECEMBER 12, 2018 nation 06

KUMAR CHELLAPPAN n

CHENNAI

Caste and community differenceswhich marred many marriages have

been hit for a six in Tamil Nadu. Thenew norm for a successful marriage isthe political affiliation of the bride, thebridegroom and their families. If whathappened at Arni in Thiruvannamalaidistrict is any indication, matchmakershave to be careful in future before final-ising any prospective alliance.

Santhi and Shanmugham were to tiethe nuptial knot on Saturday night, theculmination of a marriage arrangedpurely by the consent of both the fam-ilies. The pre-marriage ceremonies took

off smoothly by early evening with thetraditional nagaswaram recital while theguests were anxiously waiting for theGeet programme to be presented by thelocal music band as part of the recep-tion.

While the nagaswaram concert wason, P Padmanabhan, the bridegroom’sfather , noted that the road and the wed-ding hall were decorated with flags andfestoons of the DMK to welcome the dis-trict secretary of the party. It is manda-tory on Tamil Nadu that the hostsshould decorate the entire locality withparty flags and festoons of the party ofthe guest list include any leaders fromthe Dravidian outfits.

Rajagopal, father of Shanthi, was a

DMK activist and had invited theparty’s district secretary to bless the cou-ple. It was only after the hosts informedthe district secretary that the locality andmarriage hall has been decorated withthe posters of M Karunanidhi, M KStalin and himself, the secretary left hisresidence for the marriage ceremony.

But Padmanabhan too had a guest,a VIP guest indeed. Sevoor SRamachandran, minister for HinduReligious and Charitable EndowmentDepartment had assured Padmanabhanthat he would attend the marriage andbless the couple. Hence Padmanabhan,a district level leader of the AIADMKasked Rajagopal to remove the DMKflags and festoons which definitely

would have embarrassed the AIADMKminister.

Rajagopal stood his ground andbluntly refused to remove the DMK flagsand pictures of Kalaignar (asKarunanidhi was known) and Stalin.This annoyed the bridegroom and hisfather who told the girl’s side that themarriage would not take place until theDMK flags were removed. The brideShanthi, who too is a camp follower ofthe DMK, told her father that the mar-riage need to be called off because itwould be difficult to get along with peo-ple who are hardcore AIADMK activists!

By early Sunday morning, Rajagopaltook his daughter to the village templeand got her marriage solemnised with

Ezhumalai, a close relation of the fam-ily. Padmanabhan and Shanmughamhave filed a case with the Arni police sta-tion complaining about the ill-treatmentmeted out to them by the Rajagopals andhas asked the police to make Rajagopalcompensate for the money they spent onwedding arrangements.

In future, marriages in Tamil Naduwould be fixed after matching not onlythe horoscopes of the boy and the girlbut the political affiliation of the fami-lies.

DMK and the AIADMK can nevercoexist under any circumstances,according to TTV Dinakaran, leader ofthe AMMK, a breakaway faction of theAIADMK.

KHURSHEED WANI n SRINAGAR

Four policemen guarding aminority habitation were

killed in an attack by Jaish-e-Muhammad terrorists inZainapora village of southKashmir’s Shopian district onTuesday. The terroristssnatched rifles of the slaincops before fleeing from the siteof the attack.

Official sources said that anunknown number of militantsattacked a police picket inZainapora village, around 50kilometres from here. Theyopened indiscriminate firingon policemen, killing three ofthem on the spot and leavinganother in a pool of blood. Theinjured policeman was shiftedto hospital where he suc-cumbed to his injuries.

Jaish-e-Muhammad outfitclaimed responsibility for theattack. Hours after the attack,a picture purportedly circulat-ed by the outfit through socialmedia sites went viral showingthe four snatching assault rifles.

The cops were guarding acluster of homes where mem-bers of minority communityare living.

Zainpora, that is part ofShopian district, is a tehsilheadquarter.

The slain cops have beenidentified as Anees Ahmad,Abdul Majid, Merajuddin andHamidullah.

“The area was cordoned offand a search operation hasbeen started,” a policespokesman said.

“Civil & Police Officersincluding Additional DirectorGeneral (Law and Order) MunirAhmed Khanand InspectorGeneral of Police (Kashmirrange) Soyam Prakash Pani laidfloral wreaths on the mortalremains and paid rich tributes tothe martyrs who made supremesacrifice in the line of duty,”spokesman said adding thewreath laying ceremony washeld at Zainapora village.

Zainapora is the native vil-lage of former People’sDemocratic Party (PDP) legis-lator Ajaz Mir whose SpecialPolice Officer (SPO) AadilBashir Sheikh looted 7 riflesfrom his Jawahirnagar resi-dence on September 29. Aweek later Sheikh circulated hispictures with local HizbulMujahideen commanderZeenatul Islam brandishingthese rifles. Islam has report-edly joined Al Badr outfit.

Governor Satya Pal Malikexpressed grief over the loss oflives of policemen. In a messageGovernor has prayed for eter-nal peace to the departed soulsand conveyed his sympathies tothe bereaved families.

Former Chief Minister

Omar Abdullah also con-demned the attack. “We havelost three of our brave copswhile delivering their duties. Ipay my heartfelt tributes to thepolicemen,” he said.

Expressing his heartfeltcondolence with the bereavedfamilies, the NC vice presidentsaid the State has been at thereceiving end with deaths,whether of a civilian, a police-man or a militant, becomingorder of the day over the pastthree decades.

Omar while expressingconcern said that a minoritycommunity which is putting upthere should not feel appre-hensive of their security.

Meanwhile, a civilian whowas abducted by suspected mil-itants in Kulgam district ofsouth Kashmir 46 days ago waskilled by his captors. SheerazAhmad Bhat was abducted onOctober 27, a few days afterthree militants hiding in hishouse were killed by securityforces in an encounter inLarnoo village. Seven civilianswere killed on the encountersites on the same day when theywent closer to the damagedhouse where explosives went off.

4 cops guarding Kashmiri

Pandit hamlet shot dead

Policemen carry the mortal remains of four policemen who were killed by terroristsin an attack at Zainapora in Shopian on Tuesday PTI

JeM claimsresponsibility

TN RAGHUNATHA n MUMBAI

The ruling Shiv Sena onTuesday joined the

Opposition in hailing the ver-dict in the State Assembly pollswhich saw the Congress deliv-er a body blow to the BJP andcapture power in the States ofRajasthan, Chhattisgarh andMadhya Pradesh.

Describing the outcome inthe Assembly poll as a majorsetback to the BJP, Shiv Senapresident Uddhav Thackeraycongratulated the voters forshowing courage in bringingout change in Government infour States, three of them ruledby the BJP. He said the courageshown by the voters would givea “new direction” to the coun-try.

“Victories and defeats arecommon in elections. But, I

would like to congratulate thevoters in four States who havebrought about change in theirrespective State. Without both-ering to go into ‘alternatives’ (tothe BJP) and not also thinkingabout what will follow, thevoters have shown the courageof showing the door to theexisting Government. Thecourage shown by the votersshould give a new direction tothe country,” Uddhav said.

Uddhav, who reacted to thepoll results before the final out-come of the Madhya PradeshAssembly polls, said: “TheCongress has succeeded

snatching power from the BJPin the states of Rajasthan andChhatisgarh. A stiff battle is onbetween the Congress and BJPin Madhya Pradesh. KChandrashekar Rao has suc-ceeded in retaining power inTelangana. In Mizoram, theCongress has lost power to theMizoram National Front(MNF)”.

The Sena president saidthat best part of the Assemblypolls, the voters had exer-cised their rights withoutbothering much about theapprehensions about themanipulation of ElectronicVoting Machines, use ofmoney-power, muscle powerand the oft-repeated ‘there isno alternative’ factor.

Maharashtra NavnirmanSena (MNS) president RajThackeray described the out-come in the State Assemblypolls in Rajasthan, MadhyaPradesh and Chhatisgarh as aslap on the “jumla” gover-nance provided by the BJP inthe three states.

“ I would like to congratu-late the voters in the five Statesfor the outcome in theAssembly polls, The outcomeis big slap handed by the peo-ple in the States of Rajasethan,MP and Chhatisgarh to the rul-ing BJP in the three states andNarendra Modi dispensation atthe Centre,” Raj said.

The MNS chief also con-gratulated the people of Gujaratwho had nearly defeated theBJP in the Assembly polls heldearlier. “The BJP used to callRahul Gandhi a Pappu earlier.He has now earned respectabil-ity. We don’t need Ram Mandirin the country. But we needRam rajya in the country.Having not done anything dur-ing the last four and a halfyears, the Modi Governmenthas nothing to show to the peo-ple. That’s why Modi tried tofool the people through emo-tional issues,” Raj said.

Heaping praise onCongress president RahulGandhi for his effective lead-ership, Maharashtra Pradesh

Congress Committee (MPCC)president Ashok Chavan saidthat his party had defeated the“Dhan Shakti” ( money power)of the BJP with “Jan Shakti”(people’s power).

Addressing the partyworkers gathered at the party’ssouth Mumbai office “GandhiBhavan” to celebrate the party’svictory in the Assembly pollsin the states of Rajasthan,Madhya Pradesh andChhattisgarh, Chavan said:“Under the leadership RahulGandhi, the Congress hasdefeated the Dhan Shakti(money power) of the BJPwith Jan Shakti (people power)in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthanand Chhattisgarh. Now, wewill win the upcoming LokSabha elections under RahulGandhi’s leadership”.

“Modi, Machine, Moneyhave not worked in this elec-tion. The people have respond-ed to Modi’s dictatorial politicswith one slogan: Modiji jaanewale hai, Rahulji aane waalehai,” Chavan said.

Marriage set to get political colour in Tamil Nadu

Sena happy with BJP losing 3 StatesUddhav Thackereycongratulates votersfor showing courage

Mizo National Front (MNF) workers hold their party flag as they celebrate the party's victory in the States Assembly elections, atparty head office in Aizawl on Tuesday PTI

Jammu: Jammu & Kashmirrecorded an overall polling of74 per cent in the nine phas-es of Panchayat elections,with the last phase onTuesday witnessing 38.8 percent voting, election officialssaid.

In the nine phases,Jammu recorded 83.5 percent voter turn out, Ladakh67.8 per cent and Kashmir41.3 per cent, they said.

The polls passed offpeacefully amid tight securi-ty with no untoward incidentdespite a boycott call given byseparatists and the lurkingthreat of violence by terror-ists, they said.

Voting for the final phasewas held Tuesday at 452polling stations spread acrossseven districts of Kashmirdivision and it ended peace-fully at 2 pm, the officialssaid. North Kashmir'sKupwara district registeredthe highest polling at 53.6 percent and the lowest was inSouth Kashmir's Pulwamadistrict at 1.4 per cent.

Bandipora recorded 46per cent polling, Baramulla38.9 per cent, Budgam 38.8per cent, Anantnag 24.8 percent and Ganderbal wit-nessed 20.9 per cent voting,the officials said.

In the ninth phase, 430

candidates were contestingfor 55 sarpanch and 138panch posts. Sixty-eightsarpanchs and 433 panchshad already been electedunopposed in this phase.

An electorate of 68,745was eligible to vote forsarpanch constituencies and20,688 for panch constituen-cies in the ninth phase.

"With the completion ofvoting, overall 74 per centpolling was recorded in allthe phases of panchayat elec-tions in the state. Jammu wit-nessed an impressive 83.5 percent voting, Ladakh 67.8 percent and Kashmir 41.3 percent in all the phases," an offi-cial said.

The official said the firstphase on November 17recorded 74.1 per cent votingoverall, followed by 71.1 percent in the second phase onNovember 20, 75.2 per centin the third phase onNovember 24 and 71.3 percent polling in the fourthphase on November 27.

In the fifth phase, 71.1per cent voting was wit-nessed on November 29,76.9 per cent on December 1,75.3 per cent on December 4 nd 79.9 percent voter turnout wasrecorded in the eighth phaseon December 8. PTI

74% polling in ninephases of J&KPanchayat polls,38.8% in final phase

Muzaffarpur: The shelterhome here which wasembroiled in a sex scandalwas vacated by theMuzaffarpur MunicipalCorporation (MMC) onTuesday ahead of its demo-lition, an MMC official said.

There is no specificinformation about the demo-lition date of the shelterhome building which wasfound to have been con-structed in violation of themap design passed by MMC,he said.

The civic body orderedthe demolition of the build-ing on November 12.

The scandal at the shel-ter home called 'Balika Grih',run by Brajesh Thakur'sNGO 'Seva Sankalp EvamVikas Samiti', came to lightearlier this year in a socialaudit by the Mumbai-basedTata Institute of SocialSciences, which said thatover 30 girls living in it were

sexually abused.An MMC official issuing

the demolition order said theviolation of the map designpassed for constructing theshelter home building hasbeen detected.

"We (corporation) gotthe Muzaffarpur shelterhome vacated to demolish itsbuilding. A seizure list ofarticles belonging to the shel-ter home was prepared underthe supervision of the mag-istrate. The videography ofthe entire building has alsobeen carried out," MMC citymanager Om Prakash toldreporters here.

Asked when the buildingwould be demolished, OmPrakash said, "We don't haveany specific information as towhen the building will bedemolished. We have beenassigned to get the buildingvacated besides preparingthe seizure list and gettingthe videography done."PTI

Muzaffarpur shelterhome vacated

World class rly station soonnear Statue of Unity site Mumbai: Railways Ministry will develop a world class stationat Kevadiya near the site of the Statue of Unity in Gujarat'sNarmada district, an official said here on Tuesday.

The world's tallest statue dedicated to India's first HomeMinister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was unveiled by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi in October this year.

President Ram Nath Kovind will lay the foundation stonefor the Kevadiya railway station, which will be located at a dis-tance of five kms from the imposing structure, on December15, the Western Railway (WR) official told PTI.

Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and Railway MinisterPiyush Goyal will attend the event. PTI

nation 07LUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY | DECEMBER 12, 2018

PTI n NAY PYI TAW

Acknowledging thatMyanmar is going through

a “challenging time”, India onTuesday pledged full support toits national peace process andthe country's quest for betterconnectivity during PresidentRam Nath Kovind's wide rang-ing talks with his counterpartU Win Myint and StateCounsellor Aung San Suu Kyi.

Kovind, who arrived hereon Monday on a five-day visit,received a military guard ofhonour at the PresidentialPalace.

He held wide ranging dis-cussions with his counterpart.

“President Kovind led del-egation-level talks withPresident U Win Myint ofMyanmar. The President saidthat India attaches special pri-ority to its relations withMyanmar. Myanmar is a keypartner for India's 'Act East' and'Neighbourhood First' policies,”the president's office tweeted.

The two leaders witnessed

signing of twoMoU/Programme ofCooperation between twocountries in the area of judicialtraining and science and tech-nology.

India also handed over 50housing units to Myanmar.

India is building 250 hous-es in Myanmar's Rakhineprovince as part of a develop-mental project. The first batchof 50 houses was formallyhanded over to the Myanmar

authorities on Tuesday.India signed a develop-

ment programme for RakhineState in Myanmar late last yearwhich was designed to assistthe Myanmar government inRakhine State to build housinginfrastructure for return ofdisplaced persons.

More than 700,000 minor-ity Rohingya Muslims havefled Myanmar's Rakhine statesince August 2017 after a mil-itary crackdown.

Kovind also held talks withMyanmar's State CounsellorSuu Kyi.

“President Kovind metMyanmar's State CounsellorDaw Aung San Suu Kyi andappreciated her role in themodern history of Myanmarand assured India's commit-ment to common prosperityand better connectivity,”External Affairs Ministryspokesperson Raveesh Kumartweeted.

PRESIDENT KOVIND’S MYANMAR VISIT

India pledges support to peace process

Myanmar's leader Aung San Suu Kyi, right, speaks with Indian President Ram NathKovind during their meeting at the Presidential Palace in Naypyitaw in Myanmar AP

INDIA HANDS OVER FIRST50 HOUSES BUILT FORROHINGYA REFUGEES

Nay Pyi Taw: India on Tuesdayhanded over to Myanmar the first50 houses built by the country forthe displaced minority RohingyaMuslims in the restive Rakhineprovince.The housing units were handedover after President Ram NathKovind and his Myanmarcounterpart U Win Myint helddelegation-level talks and decidedto step up bilateral ties. PTI

From Page 1Meanwhile, Finance

Secretary AN Jha said Das haswide experience in StateGovernment as well as theUnion Government. Das, a1980-batch Tamil Nadu cadreIAS officer, who retired asEconomic Affairs Secretary inMay 2017, oversaw the re-monetisation of the economyafter the shock decision towithdraw 86 per cent of thecurrency in circulation inNovember 2016. After hisretirement, he was namedIndia’s G-20 sherpa and alsoappointed as a member of the

15th Finance Commission.Das, a history graduate fromthe prestigious St Stephen’sCollege in Delhi, was broughtto the Finance Ministry soonafter the BJP-led NDAGovernment came to powerin mid-2014 and given chargeof the crucial revenue depart-ment. He was later moved tothe economic affairs depart-ment, which essentially dealswith monetary policy andthe RBI. While the BJPGovernment chose an econ-omist in Patel to head the RBIafter it had denied extensionto former IMF ChiefEconomist Raghuram Rajanfor a second term in 2016, theposition has once again goneto a bureaucrat. Bureaucratshave occupied the position forthe most number of years.

The last IAS officer to

head the RBI was D Subbarao,who demitted office inSeptember 2013. Urjit Patel,who initially appeared to havetoed the Government line onissues like demonetisation,had in the recent weeksclashed with the FinanceMinistry over issues of liq-uidity, reserves of the centralbank and lending norms.

The face-off led to theGovernment invoking anever-used-before provisionof the RBI Act to bring theGovernor to the negotiatingtable on these issues. Patelchose to resign four daysahead of the crucial meetingof the RBI Board whereGovernment nominee direc-tors were expected to push thecentral bank on governanceissues. Das will be the 25thGovernor of the RBI.

From Page 1From distributing sheep to the shepherds tosarees to the poor on Bathukamma festival;from acreage-wise financial assistance to thefarmers to pension to the elderly; frommopeds to fishermen to allowances topujaris - KCR had been doling out sops atregular intervals.Going into the polls, KCR chose to wait tillthe fag end of the electoral process to kick-off to open his bounty bag. And out came thepromises that ranged from doubling of thepension amounts to unemploymentallowance to double bedroom houses toreservations to the minorities and ScheduledTribes to increasing retirement age ofGovernment employees. And in election rallyafter rally, he trumpeted his sop story toconvince the voters there was no betterSanta than him.KCR’s reading of the ground realities hasbeen bang on. Riding on his populist policies,his gamble to dissolve the Assembly eightmonths before its term ended and go forelections paid off as the TRS’ pink (party’straditional colour) wave swept the urban and

rural divide alike cornering nearly 47 per centof the popular votes. That KCR remains themost popular leader with a standingunmatched in the State needs no furtherproof. No wonder then that the TRS’ ranksunder him regularly swelled during the lastfour years. The TRS won 63 seats in 2014but by the time it went to polls its numbersstood at 82, with Chandrababu Naidu’s TDPbeing the biggest victim as it saw a dozen ofits MLAs switching allegiance over time. TheTRS bettered even that tally now as it bagged88 of the total Assembly 119 seats, with theCongress at a distant second with 19 seats,three less than it got in 2014. The verdict also made it clear that TRS wouldneed neither the support of AsaduddinOwaisi’s AMIM nor the BJP, both of whomhad offered their support to KCR in case of afractured verdict. While the AMIM couldsomehow retain its tally of seven seats, theBJP saw a fall in its numbers, from five tojust one seat, despite the party giving it all inthe State. Whether KCR will live up to histhreat and try to inflict losses on Naidu inAndhra Pradesh will be keenly watched, justas his bid to outshine his arch-rival to cobbleup an anti-BJP anti-Congress front at thenational level.

From Page 1Raje won her constituency

in Jhalrapatan defeatingCongress candidate ManvendraSingh by a margin of 34,980votes. Singh, who recentlyjoined the Congress, is son ofBJP stalwart Jaswant Singh.Congress Rajasthan unit chiefPilot won from Tonk seat,defeating BJP’s Yoonus Khanonly Muslim face in the BJPState unit by 54,179 votes.

It was the first Assemblyelections for 41-year-old Pilot,a two-time Member ofParliament, and he won fromthe Muslim dominated seatcomfortably. Two- time CM,Gehlot won the Sardarpuraseat by a margin of over 40,000votes. He defeated ShambhuSingh Khetasar of BJP.

Political experts saidVasundhara Raje’s personaltraits are believed to be one ofthe main reasons behind theBJP’s defeat in RajasthanAssembly election. Her imageof behaving likes a Maharani’and being inaccessible did notgo along well with the voters.The slogan doing the roundsis”Modi Tujh Se Bair Nahin,

Rani Teri Khair Nahin” ( Modi,we don’t dislike you, but Queen(Raje) we will not spare you.)

Caste groups having a smallvoting percentage are likely togo with new alliances for elec-toral benefits, as they had donein the past. Communities suchas Rajputs and Gujjars, whoconstitute 9 per cent each of theState’s population, have wit-nessed a major churning.

Besides, the Rajputs wentagainst the BJP particularlyafter the killing of gangsterAnandpal Singh by police in anencounter. He was popularamong a large section of hiscaste people.

Anger against the film,Padmaavat, turned the Rajputsagainst Vasundhara and theBJP. On the issue of SC/ST act,the upper caste (Rajputs andBrahmin) went against the rul-ing BJP in the state.

Rahul’s promise of farmloan waiver within 10 days ofthe Congress Governmentcoming to power has been oneof the most important factorsfor the BJP’s defeat. The farm-ers, suffering from distress,seem to have lapped up Rahul’s

promise. The VasundharaGovernment seems to havefailed to dispel the notion thatthe farmers were under severestress in her State. TheBhamashah Health InsuranceScheme in the health sector,undertaken by the Governmentalso failed to woo voterstowards it.

As many as 13 of 19Ministers in the outgoingVasundhara Government havelost the Assembly elections inRajasthan as results and trendsbrought electoral reverses forthe ruling BJP.

Raje (Jhalrapatan), HomeMinister Gulab Chand Kataria(Udaipur), Education MinisterVasundev Devnani (AjmerNorth), Women and ChildDevelopment Minister AnitaBhadel (Ajmer South),Parliamentary Affairs MinisterRajendra Rathore (Churu) andHigher Education MinisterKiran Maheshwari(Rajsamand) have retainedtheir respective seats.

Among the Ministers wholost the elections are:Agriculture Minister PrabhuLal Saini (Anta), Food & CivilSupply Minister Baboo LalVerma (Baran-Atru), RevenueMinister Amra Ram(Pachpadra), Tourism Minister

Krishnendra Kaur (Nadbai),Housing and UrbanDevelopment MinisterSrichand Kriplani (Nimahera).

Also among those wholost are Water ResourcesMinister Rampratap(Hanumangarh), Social JusticeMinister Arun Chaturvedi(Civil Lines), IndustriesMinister Rajpal Singh(Jhotwara), CooperativeMinister Ajay Singh (Degana),Gaupalan Minister OtaramDevasi (Sirohi) and TransportMinister Yoonus Khan (Tonk).

Congress candidates JohriLal Meena (Rajgarh-Laxmangarh), MadanPrajapapat (Pachpadra), ZahidaKhan (Kaman), Ramlal Jat(Mandal) and Prashant Bairwa(Niwai) won. BSP’s SandeepKumar (Tijara) and Wajib Ali(Nagar) have also won. CPI(Marxist) also won two seats.

Rajasthan has a 200-mem-ber Assembly but polling onAlwar’s Ramgarh constituencywas postponed following thedeath of the BSP candidatethere. A party now needs towin 100 seats to formGovernment in the State.

Independents haveimproved their tally from 8.2per cent to 9.5 per cent, whilebagging larger number of seats.

From Page 1No party in the state has so far been

able to form a Government thrice in a rowsince 1987 when Mizoram became a full-fledged State.

Outgoing chief minister LalThanhawla suffered defeats from both theseats he contested, including his home turfSerchip. He also lost from Champai Southconstituency.

The MNF, previously an under-ground outfit, had signed the MizoAccord in 1986 with the CentralGovernment renouncing secession andviolence and its leader Laldenga becamethe Chief Minister.

The MNF led by Zoramthanga, a for-mer underground, had won the assem-bly elections in 1998 and 2003.

It is now a constituent of the NorthEast Democratic Alliance (NEDA),formed by the BJP.

The MNF bagged 37.6 per centvotes as against 30.2 per cent secured bythe Congress. The BJP opened its accountin the Christian-dominated state as theparty candidate and former MinisterBuddha Dhan Chakma won from theChakma-dominated Tuichawng seat insouth Mizoram’s Lawngtlai district.

Chakma had resigned from the

Congress. The BJP, which fielded 39 can-didates, secured eight per cent votes. LalThanhawla met Governor KRajasekharan and submitted his resig-nation, official sources said.

The MNF at a meeting of its newly-elected legislators unanimously electedZoramthanga as the leader of the MNFlegislature party. The Zoram People’sMovement (ZPM), a conglomerate of twopolitical parties — the Zoram NationalistParty (ZNP) and Mizoram People’sConference (MPC) captured eight seats.

The ZPM’s performance was com-mendable as they bagged 22.9 per centvotes. Former Mizoram Assembly speak-er Hiphei who resigned from theCongress and contested as a BJP nomi-nee lost from Palak constituency. FormerMizoram home minister R Lalzirlianawho defected from the Congress to theMNF won from Tawi seat.

Another former Congress leaderand Health minister Lalrinliana Sailo wonChalfith seat as a MNF candidate. FLalnunmawia of the MNF defeated agri-culture minister K S Thanga by a mar-gin of 2,037 votes in Aizawl South-III seat.

Another former Assembly speaker,Lalchamliana of the MNF, defeated theCooperation Minister VanlalawmpuiiChawngthu in Hrangturzo seat, whileLalrinawma of the MNF retained theTuikum seat by defeating Sangzela Tlauof the Lalruatkima of the MNF alsoretained their seats, Siaha and AizawlWest-II, respectively.

From Page 1Bhupesh Baghel, the Congress prime face

for chief ministerial candidate and incumbentPradesh Congress Committee chief, told ThePioneer: “It’s a decisive mandate for theCongress to restore quality governance inChhattisgarh. People wanted change as the BJP

fooled everyone.”He credited the win to the leadership

quality of Rahul Gandhi. He remarked thatCongress did not believe in politics ofvendetta but added ‘a few corrupt BJPMinisters and bureaucrats would be takenhead-on’.

From Page 1On naming the Chief

Ministers in Rajasthan, MadhyaPradesh and Chhattisgarh,Rahul said this will be donesmoothly.

Attacking Modi, theCongress chief said Modi got amassive mandate but refused tolisten to heartbeat of the people.“Under the BJP big misman-agement of economy, unneces-sary damage to sections of econ-omy that were doing well wasdone. The ruling dispensationfailed to provide a vision for thecountry going forward,” Rahulmentioned.

On the issue of party man-ifesto on loan waiver, Rahul saidthis will be done definitely andpointed that loan waiver is ameasure and not a solution tofarmers’ distress.

The Tuesday’s Assemblyresults will certainly strengthenRahul’s position within the partyand will give him a strong voicein the national politics andleverage in unifying theOpposition parties to stop the

Modi juggernaut in six months. Before the Assembly elec-

tions, the rivals of Uttar PradeshBSP and SP snubbed Congressand went alone in MadhyaPradesh and Rajasthan. Theclean sweep by Congress inChhatisgarh and a comfortablewin in Rajasthan and satisfac-tory performance in MP willnow keep the “political bar-gainers” in check.

In his first year Rahulfocused on farmer’s distress,unemployment and constantlyattacked the Modi Governmentover Rafale deal. Rahul as headof the grand old party focusedon strengthening the organisa-tion.

Keeping in the mind theneed of political circumstances,Rahul created several newdepartments right from farmerswing to unorganised labourwing to NRI wing. He system-atically divided the work amongnew leaders and also created asystem where daily to weeklyreports are directly sent to him.Even in ticket distribution,

Rahul went by the internal sur-vey and insisted on giving tick-ets to the winnable leaders.

As compared to the highvoltage political campaigns byModi and BJP chief Amit Shah,Rahul campaigned in a lowpitched manner focusing moreon the farmers and the unem-ployed sections of society.

The Congress president,once dubbed by critics as a“reluctant politician”, addressed82 public rallies and seven roadshows since October 6, criss-crossing Madhya Pradesh,Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh,Telanagana and Mizoram on analmost daily basis.

The result will also help theCongress re-energise partyworkers, who have been demor-alised by a string of electoraldefeats. Several Congress lead-ers from the Hindi heartlandsuch as Sachin Pilot, AshokGehlot and Bhupesh Baghelcredited Rahul’s dynamic cam-paign as the reason for party’sgood showing.

From Page 1It is speculated that on Wednesday, the Congress would chalk out strat-

egy to woo independents to support the Congress.The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has two seats, the Samajwadi Party (SP)

bagged one, and four Independents were elected to the Assembly. Out of theseIndependents, most of them are Congress rebels.

From Page 1No surprise that while

Congress leaders like Kamal Nathwere caught in video tapes makingdownright “communal;” overture tothe Muslims in Madhya Pradesh,the same party was also promising“gaushala” in every districts and“temple run” became the hallmarkof Rahul’s election campaign.

On its part, the BJP kept tellingthe voters that it was the only partycommitted to building grand RamTemple at Ayodhya while its oppo-nents were trying to scuttle thesame. Prime Minister NarendraModi bowled a googly when hereferred as “fatwah” Rahul Gandhi’sinnocuous remarks that the PMshould think of the poor, the help-less, the unemployed youth, thefarmers, etc, while invoking BharatMata Ki Jai in his rallies. The choiceof word “fatwah” in a Rajasthanrally by the PM was clear sign ofdesperation to polarise the voters.

Alas, it didn’t work!It was obvious that the issues

of unemployment, the tragic lega-cy of demonetisation and GST, theplight of farmers, the anger amongthe upper caste voters, the disen-chantment of the Dalits were suchoverwhelming “negatives” for theBJP that “Hinutava” chant failed tosave the saffron outfit from thewrath of the disillusioned voters.

With just five months to go forthe Lok Sabha polls, the setback inthese three crucial States will makethe BJP’s task to return to the powerat the Centre much more difficult.Together, the three States elect 65MPs to the Lok Sabha. The BJP hadwon 61 of these seats by capturingall the 25 seats from Rajasthan,bagging 26 out of 29 seats fromMadhya Pradesh, and 10 out of 11seats from Chhattisgarh.

Now that the party has beenvoted out of power in these threestates, the BJP will face serious chal-

lenge in retaining its number,which could seriously jeopardise itschances of returning to power atthe Centre. On the other hand, theCongress will be well-placed tocapitalise on the momentum andtry to increase its tally in a bid tomeet its stated goal of winningnearly 125 seats in the Lok Sabha.

The BJP leadership possessesno magical wand to address theanger of millions of unemployedyouth in the remaining fivemonths, but it will be expected totake serious steps to reach out toDalits, tribals, upper castes, farm-ers, and business community, thelast two were hit hard by note-bandi and GST.

The outcome shows that bothin tribal and Dalit belts theCongress has done far better thanthe BJP in all the three States. Thesame trend has been witnessed incase of the upper caste vote. A size-able section of the upper caste vot-

ers in Madhya Pradesh shiftedaway from the BJP, according topreliminary analysis of the result.The upper caste voters were unhap-py over the amendment to theschedule caste atrocity act andlaunched major Statewide move-ment against the BJP on this count.Nearly two lakhs NOTA votes arebelieved to have come from theupper caste voters.

The setback will make BJP’ssulking Maharashtra ally Shiv Senaall the more emboldened when thetwo parties negotiate seat-sharingfor the Lok Sabha polls. Evensomeone like Lok Jan Shakti partychief Ramvilas Paswan will now gofor hard bargaining with the BJP toget at least six-seven seats in Bihar.

The BJP has to worry onanother major count. The fact thatboth Shivraj Singh Chauhan andRaman Singh had excellent trackrecord in governance and yet theylost shows that they might have

become victim of anti-incumben-cy against the Central Government.It’s obvious the Modi magic did notwork in the three key States. Thisshould give serious food forthought to the BJP, which heavilycounts on the PM for its electoralsuccesses.

The semi-final of theChowkidar vs Namdar contest hasdecisively gone in favour of the for-mer, who among other weapons,aggressively used the Rafale ammu-nition to successfully attack hisnemesis.

Rahul and the Opposition willrelax at their own peril after thesevictories. The Modi-Shah duo iscapable of striking back.

The month ahead is going tosee the Modi Government unveil-ing a series of populist measuresand the Congress-led Oppositiontaking steps to ensure one on onecontest against the BJP in the LokSabha polls.

BJP’s crushing defeat gives Rahul’s party much-needed...

Loan waiver pledge does...

ShaktikantaDas namedRBI Guv

Cong loses lastbastion in...

BJP fails to break Raj...

Rahul’s a year at helmrejuvenates party

CONG HOLDS FORT, BUT SHIVRAJ SHOWS ...

KCR gamble...

Didi: Countdown for BJP begins SAUGAR SENGUPTA n KOLKATA

BJP’s arrogance and dictatorialsabotage of the central

autonomous agencies like the CBIand RBI coupled with its anti-peo-ple policies like the demonetisa-tion let the saffron outfit down,Bengal Chief Minister MamataBaner jee on Tuesday said,announcing “countdown for theend of BJP has begun.”

Banerjee who was speaking to asection of the Bengali media in Delhisaid the Assembly election results in(Hindi heartland) show that the“beginning of BJP’s end has begun.It is just a matter of time. They havelost the semi-finals. Now they willlose the finals in 2019.”

The Bengal Chief Minister whohas no love lost for the saffron lead-ership, particularly Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and BJP presidentAmit Shah said “if you ask me why… I will say arrogance took themdown in the elections.”

The BJP’s anti-people policiestoo had a huge impact on its pollprospects in the five States, Banerjeesaid. “It seemed like India was run-ning through a political emergency,economic emergency, institutionalemergency (leading to near destruc-tion of autonomous agencies) withthe youth losing jobs in hordes, andfarmers committing suicide. All theinstitutions were attacked. Even theConstitution was not was notspared,” Banerjee said adding how“farmers, workers, youth, Scheduledcastes, minorities and other sectionsof the society were unhappy with theBJP.”

For the past several years Indiahas been passing through a phase offear the Chief Minister said addinghow “those who dared to speak upagainst the BJP Government werebrowbeaten to silence. People, eventhe journalists who spoke againstthem had to lose their jobs, such wasthe atmosphere of fear in the coun-try..”

The latest rock on the pyramidof reservations is the Marathaswhose demands for 16 per centquota have been approved bythe Maharashtra Government

along the lines of Tamil Nadu, where thereservation totals up to 69 percent. Butit matters little. Both States have exceed-ed the Supreme Court’s earlier ordersstipulating 50 per cent as the ceiling limitfor reservations. The balance 50 per centshould be left free for open competition.The apex court had ruled in 1969 thatreservations cannot exceed 50 per cent.However, there are State laws that exceedthis limit and these are under litigationin the top court. For example, caste-basedreservation fraction stands at 69 per centand is applicable to about 87 per cent ofthe population in Tamil Nadu.

Reservation has been an enticingpolitical fruit which is not as sweet as itwas believed to be. And it has beenbecoming blander by the years — with theliberalisation of the economy in 1991,Government jobs have been reducingeven as new public sector corporations arenot being set up. Yet, politically, the colourof the fruit has grown more and moreattractive. Years ago, the Gujjars agitat-ed to get a percentage. Much later, the Jats.Then came the Patidars in Gujarat.Thereafter was an intense follow up by theMarathas. All the abovementioned casteshave a substantial say in their respectiveState Governments. Marathas hold anelectoral de facto veto in Maharashtra, likethe Jats in Haryana, the Gujjars inRajasthan and the Patels in Gujarat.Moreover, distinguished sociologist MNSrinivas and his theory of casteSanskritisation among Hindus wouldnot accept anyone demoting his commu-nity’s status. Every Hindu ideally desiresto go up the ladder and likes some othercaste below him. No caste or a section ofit wishes to go down the ladder. Whatthen is the secret motivation behind thesefour upper castes demanding to be OtherBackward Classes (OBCs)?

Uncannily, reservations were firstintroduced neither by politicians nor bythe Constitution but in his State by theMaharaja of Kolhapur as early as in 1902.Reportedly, the princely States of Barodaand Mysore were already practisingreservations; although Kolhapur wasthe first to issue a written Governmentorder. A British seal was first put on theconcept of reservation when, as part ofthe Morley-Minto reforms, theGovernment of India Act, 1909, waspassed by the Westminster Parliament.BR Ambedkar, who headed the draftingcommittee for the Constitution, favoureda 10-year reservation for the depressedcastes as well as tribals. This proposalfound support from generally everyone.As far as the other castes are concerned,

it all began with the appoint-ment of the MandalCommission in 1979 for find-ing out which were the OBCs.This term OBC was first usedin the Census of 1931 whichrecorded a total of 1,257 suchcastes across India.

Could there be a possibil-ity that non-OBC sons anddaughters would not alwaysget a job on merit? On theother hand, OBC youngsterswalk away with the same jobsbecause of their caste. The lat-est attempt to join the OBCclub may be their response tothe challenge. Could the thirdpossibility be a homoeopath-ic treatment to remove or ren-der redundant somethingthey have grown up to disap-prove of? Homoeopathicmeans sympathetic treatmentor aggravating the symptomsuntil they get ejected from thebody. The normal approach isan antagonistic treatment orto attack the symptoms of thedisease, which is the allopath-ic, the ayurvedic or the Unanimethod.

The homoeopathic strat-egy, if at all, could be to pro-voke yet other castes to alsodemand reservation until thepercentage becomes so largeas to become farcical. Thatwould leave so little or noscope for the general or non-reserved category that thesystem of reservation couldexpire. It is widely recog-

nised that no Government islikely to have the courage toabolish reservations. This wasillustrated by the scheduledcaste and scheduled tribe cat-egories which were to enjoyreservation for 10 years onlyand expire by say 1960. Andyet they are still carrying on.A Jat and a Patel leader eachhas mentioned in this writer’spresence that he and his col-leagues are embarrassed toask for a reservation. Butwhat else to do, was theirquestion.

Several other questionscan arise as one thinks fur-ther. Nehruvian socialismwas the picnic period or thehalcyon era of reservations.The bureaucracy was expand-ing at both the Centre and theState levels. At the same time,one PSU after another wasbeing established. In otherwords, jobs, where the reser-vation was available, werevirtually an expanding tor-rent. In the same decades,banks were nationalised, aswere the general insurancecompanies and the entirecoal industry.

Liberalisation-cum-glob-alisation introduced in1991overturned this applecart. Parallel to this wasrealised by the StateGovernments that most oftheir public sector corpora-tions were also losing moneyby the day. Since then

reserved seats or vacancieshave been shrinking. Untilnow, the official spokesmenuse the Indian sayingwhichever countr y’sGovernment is a trader itspeople are going to be beg-gars. Or there is the other slo-gan: Maximum governancewith minimal Government.On top of all this is not onlythe computer-reducing rou-tine jobs in industry but alsothe Sword of Damocles of therobot hanging over themachine.

Yet another questionwould be an upper castebacklash. How that mayshape up, if at all, needs to beseen. But a political examplewas the fal l of theMadhavsinh Solanki Ministryin 1986. He had gone flat outon backing the OBCs in hischoice of candidates for theAssembly elections of 1985.He won hands down andsecured 146 MLAs out of thetotal of 182. The upper castereaction was so severe that by1986, he was thrown out ofpower and replaced by anAdivasi Amarsinh Chaudhryas the head of GujaratGovernment. Finally, in thelong run, excessive reserva-tions could lead to a braindrain of the country, as hashappened in Tamil Nadu.Many a Brahmin has migrat-ed either overseas or to otherparts of the country.

All the disadvantagesapart, the question arises:What are the benefits of reser-vations? True, they are excel-lent for political positioning.But the actual boons of thescheme need to be surveyed.Do the beneficiaries passaround the gains to theircommunities? Or do theymerely look after their fami-lies only? If that be so, is thisadvantage sufficient to offsetthe demoralisation they causeamongst the castes which areleft out? And often there is adecline in the quality of theservice the several candidatesgive to the society generallyor to the concerned individ-uals particularly. In the bar-gain, society does not makethe progress at the speed it iscapable of. A nation-widedebate on the pros and consof reservation is called for.This discussion should notexclude the Muslims andChristians, on behalf ofwhom reservations have beenasked for by some politicalparties. These religions haveforeign origins and they neverhad any system of caste. Mostof the Hindus, who convert-ed to these religions, did so toescape the oppression ofcasteism. The question oftheir sharing the reservationsdoes not, therefore, arise.

(The writer is a well-known columnist and an author)

Urjit Patel’s final act as Reserve

Bank of India Governor was to

write the template of a terse yet

seemingly grateful resignation letter.

Such a letter should be remembered by

all professional employees when draft-

ing their letters. Now that has been done,

Patel will retire to a life as a tenured pro-

fessor in some noteworthy Indian or

Western University, get a book deal that

should keep him comfortable in old age

and likely become a speaker at major

summits. Of course, being a man of

integrity that he has portrayed himself

one expects that he will impose a cool-

down period before he starts narrating the sequence of events that led to

the collapse of his relationship with Narendra Modi and Arun Jaitley.

However, what must not be forgotten is the fact that under Urjit Patel

the Reserve Bank of India became more insular and reticent. Its actions curb-

ing liquidity which was forced upon it by the precarious state of Indian pub-

lic sector banks went a tad too far and shut off the tap crushing the small

and medium sector enterprises in India and companies were forced to lit-

erally beg for working capital requirements. The appointment of S Gurumurthy

to the Board of the Reserve Bank was seen by many as the final nail in the

coffin for Patel but the fact is that most Central Banks across the world oper-

ate under a board process. And even though some of Gurumurthy’s ideas

and philosophies are questionable, the Board would have been able to keep

him in check. What really did Patel in was the push by Modi and Jaitley to

release more liquidity into the market, and while any Government would appre-

ciate more liquidity ahead of an election they did have a point that the Reserve

Bank was being unduly conservative in holding heavy reserves. In the after-

math of demonetisation and a confused Goods and Services Tax, the liq-

uidity crunch has made life extremely tough, evident in company results

over the past few quarters with demand collapsing in some industries.

And while Patel’s future is sorted, the future of the Reserve Bank of India

remains under a cloud. By removing himself from the equation, Patel has

given the Government a chance to appoint a man who will serve deep into

the next Government’s tenure. By appointing Finance Secretary Shaktikanta

Das as Patel’s successor, the Government has opted for continuity and

experience instead of experimenting with somebody untested. The Reserve

Bank of India remains one of the country’s key institutions and its future

must be protected.

The Kaalchakra (wheel of time),

philosophers tell us, never stays

stationary. But this time, the elec-

toral Kaalchakra stopped short of a com-

plete revolution, although its direction

was quite clear. The other significant

trend emerging from the results of five

State elections is that after a long time

voters have given a less than decisive

verdict in at least two States, in fact the

two big States of the Hindi heartland

which went to the polls. The so-called

Hindi heartland States — Madhya

Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan —

have traditionally been the BJP’s pow-

erhouse, along with Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. These are the States that gave

Prime Minister Narendra Modi the thunderous mandate to lead his party to

an absolute majority in the Lok Sabha for the first time in 2014. The BJP’s

crushing triumphs in the States also contributed to party president Amit Shah’s

ascendancy as the Superman of poll battles and a modern-day Chanakya,

whose election-winning strategies were deemed infallible. Whatever the final

outcome the aura of the Modi-Shah combine’s electoral invincibility has been

dented, perhaps, beyond repair.

Although the Congress is in a cheerful mood, it’s not yet time for par-

tymen to proclaim “Three cheers for Rahul Gandhi”. The Grand Old Party

has wrested Rajasthan, but just about. The trends are see-sawing in Madhya

Pradesh with the Congress enjoying a slender lead and the feisty Shivraj Singh

Chouhan almost negating anti-incumbency. The party can however congrat-

ulate itself for its sweep in Chhattisgarh where popular Chief Minister Raman

Singh had to finally bite the dust. Since all the three major Hindi-speaking

States were under the BJP’s control for 15 long years, it was widely expect-

ed that Narendra Modi’s apparently diminishing charisma and the adverse

effects of demonetisation and hasty GST implementation, will open the gates

for the Congress’s resounding triumph. But notwithstanding its remarkable

revival, the Congress victory stopped short of being outstanding.

Nevertheless, these results mark the emergence of Rahul Gandhi as a

leader of stature. He has shrugged off the badge of being a sorry failure

— an image which has dogged him for many years. He is now poised to

lead a rejuvenated Congress into the Kurukshetra of 2019 in the hope of

coming to power in New Delhi after a longish gap. This time he led from

the front, muddying his hands in the heat and dust of a grueling poll cam-

paign and proved his leadership skills. The Congress will still need allies in

most States and much will therefore depend on Rahul’s acceptability as leader

of a grand alliance of non-BJP parties, something that has not been forth-

coming so far. But his task is much easier now that his party has finally

risen from the ashes showing capability to emerge as a spirited fighting force.

A review of the results will not be complete without complimenting the

resilient leadership of Telangana Chief Minister and TRS chief, K

Chandrasekhar Rao, who bucked anti-incumbency to spectacularly win his

first election since the formation of separate Telangana for which he had

relentlessly struggled. His pro-poor, populist schemes helped him ward off

the challenge from the Mahakutami, led by the Congress and Chadrababu

Naidu’s TDP. In Mizoram too, the Congress had to face rout at the hands

of the powerful regional force, the MNF. In other words, it’s a real case of

“you win some, you lose some”. Only that the BJP has not won any.

Rahul’s day dawns

Turmoil in Central bank

Urjit Patel’s tenure will be remembered for his fight with theGovernment but his squeeze on liquidity will remain a legacy

Miles to go

Sir — The Indian cricket team’svictory in the first Test match atAdelaide can provide stimulus tothe team to perform even betterin the remaining three Tests. Thesecond Test match beginning atPerth this Friday is going for afast-paced pitch, but that issomething that Indian bowlerswon’t mind. Indian bowlers arelikely to do well in the series. Butit is Indian batting that needs todo better than what they havedone on overseas tours.Cheteshwar Pujara’s batting formwas extremely encouraging in thefirst Test while Virat Kohli couldnot score big. Indian batsmenneed to put their heads togetherin order to make a significantcontribution to the team’s total.

Devendra Khurana Bhopal

Unwanted controversy

Sir — This refers to the report,“Urjit quits amid RBI-Govtfeud” (December 11). UrjitPatel’s resignation as the ReserveBank of India Governor is quiteunfortunate at a time when the

Indian economy just startedlimping back to normalcy. TheGovernment’s interference withthe working of the Central bankis unwanted. Autonomous bod-ies must be allowed to functionfreely without any politicalintrusion.

At the same time, the Centralbank, too, has a responsibility. Itshould toe with the Governmentat the helm while implementing

its policies. It should play aprominent role in arresting infla-tion and at the same time bringdown the non-performing assetsof regional banks. Both theGovernment and the Centralbank should work in tandem forthe welfare of the nation. Any riftbetween them does not bode wellfor democracy.

NR RamachandranChennai

Black day

Sir — This refers to the report,“Urjit quits amid RBI-Govtfeud” (December 11). The res-ignation of Reserve Bank ofIndia Governor Urjit Patelspeaks volumes about the bla-tant interference of the rulingBJP Government in the internalmatters of constitutional bodies.

By putting in his papers, Patelhas made it evident that the rul-ing dispensation does notdeserve the services of learnedeconomists, scholars and profes-sionals. It is now an open secretthat RSS protege, S Gurumurthy,was imposed on the board of theRBI only to needle the Governorand his team. Patel’s resignationis a black letter day for the RBI.

Tharcius S FernandoChennai

United or not?

Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “No quick fixes” (December11). Earlier too, the Oppositionhas met on several occasions todiscuss ways to take on the BJPin the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.Hopes raised earlier too but,ultimately, there were no results.Success depends on the selflessand common approach ofOpposition leaders. Only timewill tell whether the move willsucceed or not without a hitch.

SanjayVia email

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op nionLUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY | DECEMBER 12, 2018

08

High cost of reservations

PRAFULL GORADIA

States have been more than eager to grant reservations at the expense of flouting apex court’s

orders. True, they are excellent for political positioning but the actual boons need to be surveyed

The Government isalways receptive to theissues raised by politicalparties. Our efforts arethat discussions are heldon all issues.

Prime Minister—Narendra Modi

It bothers me when big films fail because top stars get all the good scripts so one expects them to choose better.

Actor—Arshad Warsi

There is a stark differencein India’s relationship withthe US since the 1998nuclear tests. Bilateral tiesare now very good.

India’s Ambassador to the US—Navtej Singh Sarna

S O U N D B I T E

L E T T E R S T O T H E E D I T O R

Cheteshwar Pujara is here to stay

Cheteshwar Pujara is a low-profile cricketer. Early inhis career, he was branded as a Test player, and Pujaraseems to have no qualms about this. The Adelaide Test

against Australia has proved his mettle beyond doubt. Eversince debuting in 2010 at Bengaluru, against a differentAustralian team, the right-handed Saurashtra stylist has hada very good career. Sixteen Test centuries in 63 matchesis not the Kohli-type of statistics, but the team and crick-et fans had little doubt in mind about the Right-hander’sunique ability to handle tough situations and maraudingbowlers. The second fastest Indian to score 1,000 runs afterSunil Gavaskar had stints in English county which appearsto have worked wonders for his morale.

Not all batsmen possess the immaculate technique tofoil the Opposition bowlers’ ranks in foreign conditions.Rahul Dravid was one rare cricketer, in the Gavaskar mould,who toiled with the bowling to prove why he was regard-ed as the best Indian batsman on foreign conditions in recenttimes not to speak about his domestic record. Pujara, when

selected for the Indian team, was described as the “sec-ond Dravid” for his resemblance to Dravid-type of cricketand for the fact that he played at number three — the posi-tion Dravid had made his own for a long time. There can-not be another Dravid but Pujara’s display at Adelaidereminded cricket connoisseurs of a vintage Dravid. Threeis a crucial number for a test side — greats like DilipVengsarkar and Rahul Dravid have adorned the slot for India.

Ganapathi BhatAkola

RBI is such a profes-sional institution thatbusiness will continue.It’s not dependent onany individual be it aGovernor.

NITI Aayog chairman—Rajiv Kumar

The Modi-Shah juggernaut of the BJP has beenfinally halted in its tracks, signaling the emergence

of the Congress as a fighting force again

Traditionally, gold has been animportant investment avenuefor almost every Indian

household. In fact, we Indians lovegold and hold it in high regard. Wekeep it safe for our future genera-tions. In fact, the custom of giftinggold to brides was to provide herwith a financial back up and secureher future. It is estimated thatabout a large part, around 700-800tonnes of India’s gold imports gointo the making of jewellery.

Women and families often thinkof gold jewellery as an economic sub-stitute to money. Even now, gold hasnot lost its glitter amongst differentinvestment options, like stocks,bonds, mutual funds and real estate,just to name a few. Historically,

gold offers a perfect hedge and sta-bility whereas the markets do notsince it has an inverse relationship toequity investments.

Take for example, if the equitymarkets start performing poorly,gold normally performs well.Considering gold as an investmentoption in your investment portfoliowill act as a buffer for the overallvolatility of one’s portfolio.Additionally, gold investment isworthwhile because it is an inflation-beating investment. Over a period oftime, the return on gold investmentis in line with the rate of inflation.

The world has become moreinter-connected now and whetherthere are tensions in the MiddleEast, Africa or elsewhere, it isincreasingly becoming obvious thatpolitical and economic uncertain-ty is another reality of our moderneconomic environment. Gold, too,is considered as a safe-haven dur-ing ambiguous circumstances.

In fact, history is full of collaps-ing empires, political coups, andcollapse of currencies. During such

times, investors, who have heldgold, were able to successfully pro-tect their wealth. In some cases,people even use gold to escape fromturmoil. Consequently, wheneverthere is any news event that hintsat some type of global economicuncertainty, investors often buygold as a safe-haven.

Any rational investor shouldinclude gold into his/her portfolioto provide stability and diversifyoptions against sharp movement inequity and bond prices. One caninvest in gold in several ways.

n Gold exchange traded funds(ETF) are simple investment prod-ucts that actually combine flexibil-ity of stock as an investment andsimplicity of gold as an investment.ETFs trade on the cash market ofthe stock bourses, like any othercompany stock, can be bought andsold continuously at market prices.Gold ETFs are excellent passiveinvestment instruments that arebased on gold prices. They invest ingold bullion. ETFs, because they arebacked by gold, have complete

transparency. Due to their uniquestructure and creation mechanism,ETFs have much lower expenses ascompared to physical gold holding.Gold ETFs are ideal for investorswho would like to invest in gold butdo not want to suffer the hassles andbear costs of storing and safe-guarding physical gold.

n Gold equity funds invest inshares of firms that are involved ingold mining. These are pure equi-ty funds and are often internation-al in nature since there are notmany listed gold mining firms inIndia. Like any other stock fund,these funds can deliver much high-er returns than pure gold.

But when gold prices are low,mining companies shut mines asthe cost of production is higherthan realisation costs. Stocks of suchgold mining companies were bat-tered for many years.

Investors have to deal withthree risks in these funds. First,returns from these funds are depen-dent on gold price movement.Second, these gold funds invest in

stocks, which mean they carry therisk associated with shares. Third,there also exists the currencyexchange risk. This means if therupee appreciates, returns can getaffected. Gold equity funds arebest suited for sophisticatedinvestors and are not ideal for aretail investor.

n With the advent of theSovereign Gold Bond (SGB)scheme, investing in gold hasbecome much easier and conve-nient now. With the UnionGovernment’s SGB scheme, aninvestor can earn an assured inter-est rate, thereby eliminating riskand cost of storage.

The Sovereign Gold Bond2018-19 Series has a subscriptionprice of `3,114 per gram and oneindividual can buy a maximum offour kg. SGBs provide attractiveinterest rate with an asset appreci-ation opportunity. The annual inter-est rate offered is 2.5 per cent andinterest is tax free.

The redemption is linked togold prices. There is 100 per cent

elimination of risk and cost ofstorage. Also, SGBs are exemptfrom capital gains tax, if held tillmaturity. The bonds carry a tenureof eight years with an option to exitfrom the fifth year. SGBs are themost efficient way of investing ingold from an investment point ofview if one can stay invested for fiveyears or more. Importantly, index-ation benefit is available if thebond is transferred before maturi-ty. Gold bonds score high on liquid-ity as they are tradable on theexchanges. Also, they can be collat-eral against a loan, an aspect that ismissing in gold ETFs.

Like every investment, invest-ment in gold also has its pros andcons. However, including gold in theinvestment portfolio is very impor-tant to hedge against volatility andinflation. Depending upon the eco-nomic, financial and political situ-ation, the level of diversificationshould range anywhere betweenfive per cent and 30 per cent .

(The writer is Assistant Professor,Amity University)

Accession of J&K: Breaking myths

LUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY | DECEMBER 12, 2018

THERE IS A STRONG SUSPICION THAT EVM MACHINES

WERE MANIPULATED. WE DEMAND THAT 100

PERCENT COUNTING OF VVPAT MUST BE TAKEN UP.

—CONGRESS TELANGANA PARTY PRESIDENT

N UTTAM KUMAR REDDY

LOSING PARTY ALWAYS SAYS THE EVMS HAVE BEEN

TAMPERED WITH. PEOPLE HAVE GIVEN VICTORY TO

TRS, WHAT CONGRESS IS CLAIMING IS FALSE.

—TELANGANA RASHTRA SAMITHI MP

K KAVITHA

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

At the time ofIndependence, whileBritish India was dividedon the basis of religion, thePrincely States were not.

They were to go, each State as a whole,to either India or Pakistan. The deci-sion of where to go was to be made bythe erstwhile ruler. In the case ofJammu & Kashmir, the then ruler,Maharaja Hari Singh, took the decisionto accede to India. But to the contrary,most leaders in Kashmir built a falsenarrative — to mislead the nation andstrengthen their credential as nation-alists — that the decision of accessionwith India was taken by former ChiefMinister of Jammu & Kashmir SheikhAbdullah and other Kashmiri leaders.They have also maintained that theaccession was conditional.

It is an established fact today thatthe sole authority to decide on theaccession was that of the ruler and incase of princely State of Jammu &Kashmir, it was the Dogra rulerMaharaja Hari Singh. Before taking theultimate decision, the Maharaja wasfaced with a dilemma due to non-cooperation by Sheikh Abdullah. Inthe words of the Maharaja, “Muslimsof Kashmir and some from Jammu,who were led by Sheikh Abdullah andleaders of the National Conference(NC), did not want the question ofaccession to be decided at that stage.They wanted me to part with powerin their favour so that they coulddecide the question independently ofme. They made no secret of their viewsand obstructed me in deciding thequestion of accession instead of help-ing me to accede to India; Hindus ofJammu and people of Ladakh were foraffiliation with or accession of India.”

That NC or its leadership had norole to play in the decision-makingprocess as far as the accession of the Stateis concerned is also an empiricallyproven fact. In fact, as stated by theMaharaja, they were acting as a hin-drance to India’s accession. Thus, the oft-repeated statements by NC leaders that“we decided to accede to India or ouraccession to India is conditional or thatthe merger with India has not takenplace” are all motivated and misleadingwith the deliberate intent of sowing theseeds of ‘exclusivity’ among the Kashmiripopulation. The same was confirmed byparty ideologue Sheikh Nazir Ahmad,who said, “Sheikh Mohammad Abdullahhad no role in the accession as he wasin prison at the time of accession.”

It is a known that Sheikh Abdullahhad set his eyes on the throne of Jammu& Kashmir with blessings from his friendand mentor Jawaharlal Nehru. He want-ed to be the sole representative of thepeople of Jammu & Kashmir. He want-ed to rule the State as the undisputedleader of a ‘single-party State’. Heabhorred opposition within and outside

the party and behaved more like an auto-crat than a democrat. However, manypopular Muslim leaders who were non-Kashmiris posed a challenge to SheikhAbdullah’s ambition. He ensured thatthey remain marginalised by managingthe ceasefire in 1949 immediately afterthe Valley was liberated. But large partsof Jammu and frontier areas of Gilgit-Baltistan continued to be under theoccupation of Pakistan.

This way, Sheikh Abdullah elimi-nated the threat posed to his suprema-cy by Pahari, Punjabi and DograMuslim leaders of the State. He also iso-lated the Shia leadership by allowing thefrontier areas to remain under Pakistan’soccupation. Sheikh Abdullah killed twobirds with one stone. He not onlyensured his singular dominance in thepolitics of Kashmir but also ensured thatthe pro-Pakistan leadership remainedisolated. It became evident that theSheikh harboured political ambitionsand wanted to use the issue of acces-sion as a bargaining tool with the IndianGovernment so that he could rule anautonomous State under the patronageof Nehru-ruled India.

The interim Government was insti-tuted by a proclamation made by theMaharaja on March 5, 1948. A Councilof Ministers with Sheikh Abdullah as thePrime Minister was constituted to con-duct the administration of the State. TheCouncil was to function on the princi-ple of joint responsibility. The dualGovernment did not take much time torun into trouble due to divergent viewswhich followed diametrically differentdirections. The NC soon got engulfedwith internal politics, forgetting the inter-est of the people. At last, the dualGovernment came to a tragic end.

Sheikh Abdullah, with the activesupport from New Delhi, succeeded inmarginalising the Maharaja who final-ly relinquished his office on June 9, 1949.

On June 20, 1949, through a proclama-tion, the Maharaja announced his deci-sion to abdicate the State on grounds ofhealth and invested all his power to hisson, Yuvraj Karan Singh. Had Singhrefused the regentship and decided tostand with his father, Sheikh Abdullah’smove would have failed pre-maturelysince Jammu & Kashmir was still ruledunder the Jammu-Kashmir ConstitutionAct 1939 and all constitutional powerswere vested with the Maharaja only.

The people of Jammu region wereapprehensive of the pro-KashmiriMuslim and anti-Jammu mindset ofSheikh Abdullah. An agitation againstthe Sheikh was launched in Jammuunder the banner of Praja Parishad, anOpposition party formed in Jammu inNovember 1947. The main objective ofthe Praja Parishad was to achieve fullintegration of Jammu & Kashmir withthe Indian Union, like other States andsafeguard the legitimate democraticrights of the people of Jammu.

Sheikh Abdullah dubbed theOpposition from Jammu as “communal”.He started believing that Kashmir’saspirations could not be met within theIndian Union. On the other hand,Jammu and Ladakh clamoured for acomplete merger with India. The emer-gence of Kashmiri identity led SheikhAbdullah to start differentiating between‘Muslims and non-Muslims of the State’.It became imminent that his agendaevolved around ‘Independent Kashmir’.After initial bonhomie, Sheikh Abdullahstarted showing his true colours whichforced Nehru to order his arrest in 1953.

Similarly, the narrative regardingArticle 370 that it is not temporary, butpermanent provision of the Constitutionof India and acts as a bridge between theState and rest of India, is also a concoc-tion based on twisting of facts. The factis that Sheikh Abdullah manipulated itsinclusion in the Constitution due to

Pandit Nehru’s blind love for him. It is a well-established fact that

when the rulers of the princely Statessigned the Instrument of Accession andjoined the Dominion of India, they sur-rendered legislative, judicial and exec-utive control of three subjects —defence, communication, externalaffairs and ancillaries. The same is truewith respect to the Maharaja of Jammu& Kashmir as well. This implied thatthe Princely States would have the rightto decide upon policies, implementa-tion and administration with regard toother issues, through such arrange-ments as Royal Proclamations or a sep-arate Constitution for their respectivekingdoms/states. Instead of doing sothey expressed their faith in the underdraft Constitution of India through itsfull applicability to their respectiveStates, except Jammu & Kashmir dueto manipulations of Sheikh Abdullah.

Thus, when the rest of the nationwas readying to adopt the Constitutionof India, there was a Constitutionalvacuum in this State. To fill this vac-uum, Article 370 was inserted in theIndian Constitution, with hopes thatJammu & Kashmir would, once the sit-uation normalises, integrate likeother States of the Union (hence theuse of the term ‘temporary provisions’in the title of the Article).

Another myth created by a fewKashmiri leaders is about mergeragainst accession. While the IndianConstitution was being drafted to paveway for the nation to become a Republicfrom a Dominion, all other princelyStates individually or collectively decid-ed to accept the paramountcy of thenew Constitution of India, SheikhAbdullah harboured different ideas.These States sent their representativesto the Constituent Assembly and werethus actively involved in the drafting ofthe new Constitution, which implied

that they willingly joined the Republicof India and the Instrument ofAccession signed by them (a uniformdocument signed by all 565 princelyStates) became redundant. This alsosorted the issue of merger and no sep-arate ‘Instrument of Merger’, as claimedby a few, was signed by them.

The fact is that Karan Singh exer-cising his powers as the Regent of theState did send a four-member teamcomprising Sheikh Abdullah, MirzaAfzal Beg, Moti Lal Baigra andMaulana Masoodi to represent the Statein Indian Constituent Assembly. Thiswas in tune with other princely Statesand signalled the will of being the partof the Republic of India surrenderingthe Instrument of Accession, whichalso meant the ‘merger’. It is a differ-ent story that the four taking advantageof the prevailing security and politicalinstability in the State decided to sit outand not join the Constituent Assemblyof India. Sheikh Abdullah, thus, clev-erly gave shape to his ambition of cap-turing the throne of Jammu & Kashmirmuch against the wishes of two-thirdsof the State’s population comprising theJammu and Ladakh regions and non-Kashmiri speaking Muslims ofKashmir and the Shias of Kargil. Inthis, he enjoyed the full support andconfidence of Pandit Nehru.

Though Jammu & Kashmir hasbeen declared an integral part of Indiaboth by the State and the IndianConstitution, Kashmir-based politicalleadership continues to question theaccession/merger on the pretext ofKashmiri identity, ignoring the senti-ments and aspirations of the people ofJammu and Ladakh and encourage‘separatism’.

(The author is a Jammu-basedpolitical commentator and strategicanalyst. The views expressed areentirely personal)

Invest in gold: Diversify your portfolio

Though Jammu & Kashmir has been declared an integral part of India, Kashmiri leaders keep raisingquestions about its accession/merger, ignoring the sentiments of the people of Jammu and Ladakh

Buying gold is the oldest kind of investing activity that is important to hedge against volatility and inflation. While it may

provide a safe haven during ambiguous circumstances, its pros and cons must be taken into account

What does the crystal ball say about 2019? The Lok Sabha

poll and electoral fortunes of many political parties, includ-

ing the ruling BJP and the main Opposition Congress, will

dominate the year. Fortunes of some regional satraps, like Biju Janata

Dal supremo Naveen Patnaik, Telugu Desam Party president N

Chandrababu Naidu and Sikkim Democratic Front founder Pawan

Kumar Chamling will also be decided as some States, like Odisha,

Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Sikkim and Arunachal

Pradesh will go to polls in the same year. Patnaik will bid for power

for the fifth time; Naidu for the second time since the bifurcation

of the State; and Chamling for the sixth time. At the national level,

while Prime Minister Modi will be seeking a second consecutive

term, Congress president Rahul Gandhi will test his fortunes for

the first time since he took over the reins of the party. If Modi secures

another term, the country will move closer to becoming a majori-

tarian state. It is clear that 2019 will not be a cake-walk for Modi

and the coming months will be most crucial for Opposition unity.

Political parties are getting ready as poll dates are likely to be

announced in late February or March. The Election Commission

of India is also preparing for the event. About 900 million voters,

including 100 million first-time voters, will exercise their franchise.

Many opinion polls have suggested that anti-incumbency senti-

ment is on the rise. This can dash Modi’s hopes for a second term.

Registering a landslide victory, the BJP and its allies had won 73

of the 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh, all 25 seats in Rajasthan, 27 of

29 seats in Madhya Pradesh, all 26 seats in Gujarat, all seven

seats in Delhi, all five seats in Uttarakhand and all four seats in

Himachal Pradesh in the 2014 Lok Sabha poll. This peak perfor-

mance may not be repeated in 2019 as the BJP might just lose

at least 100 of all Lok Sabha seats. This, however, must be com-

pensated from the North-East and the southern region.

According to India Today-Karvy Insights opinion poll released

in August, the BJP is likely to win 30 per cent votes in the 2019

election, which means it will secure 245 seats, 27 short of the

272 needed for a majority. Pre-election surveys conducted by Lokniti,

Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, also suggest that the

BJP’s popularity is on the decline; although the Prime Minister’s

personal popularity continues. First, the BJP has lost popularity due

to two economic measures — demonetisation and the Goods and

Services Tax. Both measures have hurt the small and medium

businesses that were its core voters. It is not clear whether the

winner will be a BJP-led or a Congress-led or a Third Front coali-

tion. The fight will be between the ruling NDA and the Congress-

anchored UPA. The Opposition needs an astute strategy to defeat

the NDA. The new narrative is likely to be Modi versus the rest.

Second, while Modi will be the BJP’s face for the 2019 poll,

the UPA is most unlikely to project anyone. Its prime ministerial

candidate will be decided only in a post-poll scenario. Therefore,

though the Congress is trying to unite the Opposition, party pres-

ident Rahul Gandhi will not be projected as the prime ministerial

face of the UPA as they have been talking of collective leadership.

Third, both UPA and NDA are in the process of strengthening

their coalitions. The NDA has been weakened by the exit of two

major allies — Telugu Desam Party and Peoples Democratic Party.

The Shiv Sena, too, has threatened to quit. Besides, the party faces

a tough challenge in the south. Meanwhile, Congress has already

reached an understanding with some regional parties to build State-

specific coalitions, including in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh,

Karnataka, Maharashtra, Kerala, Jharkhand, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

Fourth, economy and jobs are some major issues that will

play a huge role in the election. There are also other issues, too,

like corruption, non-delivery of poll promises, demonetisation, GST,

Rafale, cow vigilantism, Ram Mandir issue, rising fuel prices, the

agrarian crisis that will remain dominant. All of the above factors

give potential threats to the BJP ahead of the 2019 poll. The BJP’s

strategy is to attack the Congress for its failure to accomplish any-

thing in the past 70 years and consolidation of Hindu votes. It has

been vociferous about the achievements of the Modi Government.

Fifth, the economy is reviving. This may bring some relief to

the Modi Government. Multilateral organisations, like the World Bank

and the International Monetary Fund, have predicted a sound revival

of the economy for 2019. Sixth, both the Congress and the BJP

will play the Hindutva card with the Congress adopting a soft

Hindutva line. Last, both Modi and Rahul will need a new narra-

tive to win. Whatever it be, the BJP is likely to emerge as the num-

ber one party whether it gets a majority or not. It will be invited to

form the Government first, as is the convention.

(The writer is a senior political commentator)

analysis 09F I R S T C O L U M N

The rocky road

to 2019

KALYANI SHANKAR

HIMA KOTA

In a new narrative between Modi versus therest, the BJP could form the Government next year despite the loss of a few seats

ANIL GUPTA

FOREIGNEYE

Theresa May might claimthat she lives to fightanother day. But giventhat the leadership is onthe run from the hardBrexiters, she lives ononly as a politicalzombie. Ensnared by herown convictions, she hasresorted to dilatorytactics because she hasbelatedly realised the fullweight of their burden. (The Guardian Editorial)

THERESA MAY IS ON THE RUN

www.dailypioneer.com

LUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY | DECEMBER 12, 2018 avenues 10

QUOTE OF THE DAY

There was a time when bright

people had few prospects for

higher education and good jobs

here. But that is changing. India

is no longer seen as an

undesirable place to work or

pursue research

— Shashi Tharoor

HOTEL MANAGEMENT

The Delhi Paramedical andmanagement Institute (DPMI)announces the commencementof admissions for its one-yearfull-time Diploma in FrontOffice Operations (DFO); Foodand Beverage (DFB), and HouseKeeping (DHK).

Hotel management cateringtechnology & tourism is thefastest growing industry in theworld, with a potential that islimitless. Larger hotels oftenhave management teams,instead of individual managers,where each member of thegroup specialises in a certainarea. Hotel industry is an idealfield for students having a likingfor Interacting with people.

Eligibility: Those, who haverecently passed 10+2 from anyrecognised board and want towork in hotel managementindustry, can enroll for thesecourses.

How to Apply: The appli-cation forms & brochure may beobtained from admission officeof Delhi Paramedical &Management Institute, NewAshok Nagar, Delhi.

Deadline: December 25,2018. For more details, log on towww.dpmiindia.com.

SUMMER PROGRAMME

The Knowledge@WhartonHigh School (KWHS), a part ofthe Wharton School of theUniversity of Pennsylvania,invites application for its upcom-ing summer programme—KWHS Global Young LeadersAcademy (GYLA) for highschool students to experienceintroductory business andfinance education.

This programme will con-duct five sessions in 2019. GYLAprovides a deeper understand-ing of entrepreneurship, busi-ness and personal finance andequips students with the skills toexcel in the global marketplace.It will include a session on UScollege admissions to help stu-dents understand the experienceof applying to American collegesand universities. The partici-pants also get a chance to be apart of a community-serviceproject and receive a certificatethat recognises their volunteerhours; visit cultural centers;participate in social activities;and much more.

Eligibility: High school stu-dents aged 15-18 years are eli-gible to apply throughBrainGain Magazine, a leadingstudy-abroad online portal thatis collaborating with KWHSon this programme.

Students will be receiving acertificate fromKnowledge@Wharton HighSchool upon successful com-pletion of the programme.

Fee: The two-week pro-gram costs $5115 per student,including tuition, ground trans-portation, medical-insurancecoverage during the program,lodging and boarding. The pro-gramme fee does not includeinternational travel costs, inter-national travel insurance andvisa costs.

MECHATRONIC & ROBOTIC

The University of Sheffield,UK, is inviting applications forMechatronic and RoboticEngineering with a year inindustry BEng course starting inSeptember 2019. This coursewill give students a firm under-standing of the principles ofmechatronics and robotics.

Students will learn how todesign, analyse and test trans-forming robots, autonomousvehicles and other complex elec-tro-mechanical systems andboost their career prospects byspending a year in industry.Students pay reduced fees to theuniversity for that year andthey can earn a salary.

Students will also be shownhow to control robotic systemsusing modern microprocessortechnology. They can alsoexplore advanced conceptsincluding manufacturing sys-tems, noise and vibration con-trol, spacecraft systems androbot technology.

The work placement willput their learning into context.At the end of the second year,students may choose to transferto the four-year MEng course

Eligibility: Eighty per centmarks in Class XII. Internationalstudents need overall IELTSgrade of 6.0 with a minimum of5.5 in each component, or anequivalent English languagequalification.

Fee: £22600 per year.Scholarships: The univer-

sity offers 50 InternationalUndergraduate MeritScholarships in 2019. The schol-arships are competitive awardsworth 50 per cent of the tuitionfee for an undergraduate degreeprogramme starting inSeptember 2019 for new inter-national (non-EU) students whomeet the eligibility criteria.

Deadline: The UCAS dead-line for the course is 30th of June2019. For more information,email at adacse@sheffield.ac.ukand log on tohttp://www.sheffield.ac.uk/acse/undergraduates

China and India are two of thefastest growing largeeconomies in the world. The

fact that in the next couple ofdecades, India will have a large por-tion of its population joining theworking age group, the ‘demograph-ic dividend’, is often touted as a hugefillip to economic growth particularlyrelative to China, which has thefastest aging population.

One million Indians enter theworkforce every month, but withinsufficient jobs to channel their tal-ent toward productive activity, thepredicted economic growth will fail tomaterialise. Although India’s infra-structure has struggled to keep upwith the heightened pace of econom-ic activity post-market liberalisation,which has exacerbated India’s socio-economic and environmental prob-lems, social entrepreneurship canchannel the energy of India’s youth tosolve her complex challenges.

Over the last decade, theGovernment of India has had severalnew initiatives to support entrepre-neurship. The Start-up India initiative(January 2016) provides mentoring,access to funds, knowledge support, andhas set up research centres and incu-bation centres across India. There havebeen large efforts to build an ecosystemto support entrepreneurs like provid-ing legal support, fast-tracking IP

applications, thousands of crores infunding earmarked for start-ups, cred-it guarantees, tax exemptions, hundredsof incubators and start-up competitions.

Before the Start-up India initia-tive, there were only four states withstart-up policies, while now withManipur and Meghalaya in August,and most recently Goa in September,there are over 18 states with start-uppolicies and initiatives. Maharashtralaunched one of the largest initiativesin May with the aim to open 15 incu-bators, attract `5,000 crore in invest-ments, and create 500,000 jobs via10,000 start-ups over five years.

In terms of the GlobalEntrepreneurship Development Index(GEDI), although India’s score hasincreased from 23 in 2010, to 24.9,25.8 and 28.4 in 2016 to 2018, we rankright in the middle at 68 out of 137countries. There are also large gainsto be had in technology absorptionbecause for the past two years, tech-nology absorption has been our low-est component of the index.Therefore, deep science and technol-ogy-based entrepreneurship remainsa critically unused tool to addressIndia’s complex problems.

Innovation is critical for a solutionto be scalable and achieve impact. Youmay be able to mobilise thousands toclean the trash in one particular local-ity over a weekend. But trash will build

up again without building a solutionwhich makes it easier to segregate wasteat source, incentivises compliance,penalises non-compliance through abusiness model built around a solutionthat can implemented at scale.

The type of scale required to makea dent in any of the complex chal-lenges facing India will necessarilyrequire a technological intervention.Across our much vaunted science andtechnology-focused academic insti-tutions like the IISc, IITs, NITs, andAIIMS, and our lauded research insti-tutes under Department of AtomicEnergy (DAE), Department of Scienceand Technology (DST), Departmentof Biotechnology (DBT), Council ofScientific & Industrial Research(CSIR), and others, innovative tech-nologies are constantly developedthat could potentially help solveIndia’s complex problems.

However, many of these innova-tions remain in the lab as prototypesand don’t even reach pilot stage,much less commercialisation. This isbecause, apart from the few outliers/unique cases, the innovators behindthe R&D may not have the inclinationor risk appetite to turn into an entre-preneur and take these technologiesto market.

Lack of risk capital and otherenablers makes it difficult for anyoneto take the business and career risk.

In the commercial world, corporationsdo have an interest in licensingpromising technologies and patentsand use their own internal R&D andproduct management competence toensure a lab to market transition.

However, lack of business entre-preneurship in the social/developmentsector creates a huge gap between thelab and market as the deep science andtechnology innovations remaintrapped in the labs, despite theirtremendous potential.

Programmes like Entrepreneursfor Impact (E4i) helps to unlock thispotential and support early-stagestart-ups to solve India’s complexsocio-economic and environmentalchallenges through the power ofentrepreneurship and innovation.The E4i programme, which is a 12-month immersive fellowship fundedby Tata Trusts, equips passionateentrepreneurs-in-the-making to lever-age India’s deep science, innovationand entrepreneurship environment tobuild social enterprises. Entrepreneursand innovators are encouraged to cre-ate co-founding teams and are pro-vided appropriate resources to buildstart-ups that solve some of India’smost critical social, economic andenvironmental challenges.

The writer is lead, Entrepreneurs For ImpactProgramme, Social Alpha

Annual Sports Day

Primary school students of Father Agnel School (FAS), Noida, presenting Guard ofHonour to FAS Director from JA Carvalho during the march past conducted beforethe Junior Annual School Sports Day on Tuesday. The young children put up aspectacular show which included feather drill by Class IV students. Boysshowcased their strength and discipline through the Karate drill — PNS

ENTREPRENEURS OF IMPACT

Business & social entrepreneurship can channel the energy of the Indian youth to solve

complex challenges, says NIKHIL JOHN

LACK OF BUSINESSENTREPRENEURSHIP

IN THE SOCIAL &DEVELOPMENT

SECTOR CREATES AGAP BETWEEN THELAB & THE MARKET

AS THEINNOVATIONS

REMAIN TRAPPED INTHE LABS DESPITE

THEIR TREMENDOUSPOTENTIAL

EnvironmentexpositionPNS n NEW DELHI

The Mad About Series bringsto you Mad About

Environment Exposition(MAE) which is scheduled to beheld on December 14 from9.30 am to 4 pm at the Shri RamSchool, Vasant Vihar. The MadAbout Series is an annual eventthat showcases learningsthrough the year on a particu-lar theme.

This event is the joint effortsof the Shri community — thePTA and the school. Scheduledover the course of a day, theMad About Environment eventaims to create awareness, pro-vide alternatives and pave wayfor sustainable living which isthe need of the hour.

The event promises a takeaway for anyone attending it,through speakers pavilion fea-turing eminent speakers, inno-vations platform and fun filledhands-on workshops for all. Acaptivating photo exhibit space,dazzling performances by stu-dents, stalls by NGOs andorganisations working in thefields of conscientious envi-ronmentalism, an organicfarmer’s market and food stallsserving lip-smacking organicfood items promise a lively andenriching day for one and all.

Conference onalternate educationPNS n NEW DELHI

The Centre for Civil Society (CCS) isorganising 10th School Choice National

Conference (SCNC), a day-long conferencededicated to Alternative Education(s):Philosophy, Practice & Policy. Scheduled to beheld on December 14, 2018 from 10 am to 6pm at India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, theconference will conclude with the screeningand award ceremony of EduDoc—International Short Film Competition.

Dr Sugata Mitra, professor at NewcastleUniversity, UK & Ted Prize winner will deliv-er the keynote speech at the conference fol-lowed by three sessions focusing on a specif-ic aspect of the larger theme. The conferencewill be attended by 200 participants andinclude thematic sessions on the philosophyand practice of alternate education in India,as well as the policy framework for such mod-els of learning.

Other prominent speakers include AnilSwarup, former secretary, Department ofSchool Education and Literacy, Governmentof India; Padma Shri Geeta Dharmarajan,founder, Katha; Gitanjali JB co-founder,Himalayan Institute of Alternatives, Ladakh;Geeta Gandhi Kingdon, professor, Education& International Development at the Instituteof Education, London University; Vidhi Jain,co-founder, Shikshantar; Anju Musafir,founder, Mahatma Gandhi InternationalSchool; Supriya Joshi, founder member,Swashikshan: Indian Association ofHomeschoolers; Ajay Kumar Singh, associateprofessor, Centre for Education, Innovation &Action Research, TISS and Neeraja Raghavan,founder-director, Thinking Teacher.

Meet on power safetyAnational conference on Quality

Guidelines and Power Safety washeld recently at Vellore Institute ofTechnology campus. This two-weekconference was a part of ElectricalSafety Weeks inaugurated by APDwivedi, chairman, south zoneQuality Estimation Centre, Chennai.

While addressing the conference,Dwivedi, who is also a renowned sci-entist in the areas of quality estimationand safety, pointed out that con-sumption of water and food wasincreasing among the people and it isimportant to know their quality andsafety levels. The guidelines weregiven to laboratories to ascertain thequality of products made in industries.It would be possible to learn about thenew technologies likely to be knownthrough the proceedings of the con-ference towards ensuring qualitynorms are adhered to.

Organised by the School ofAdvanced Sciences and School ofElectrical Engineering of VIT,Professor S Sivabalan, dean, School ofElectrical Engineering welcomed thegathering. Professor Anand A Samuel,VC of VIT, presided over the function.

SR Venkatapathy of ISI, Bengaluruand Srikanth Chandrasekaran, seniordirector, quality and technology atInstitute for Electrical and ElectronicsEngineering, Bengaluru, were guestsof honour on the occasion. Dr A MarySaral, dean, School of AdvancedSciences, and professorsVivekanandan, S Venkatesh, SaiSaraswathi and others took part.

PNS n NEW DELHI

As a part of the reunion cele-bration of IIMA’s batch of 1989,

Padma Bhushan P Gopichand wasinvited to speak at IIM-Ahmedabadon sports, nutrition, health and therequirement of a comprehensiveemphasis on developing coachingfacilities for various sports in India.As a famed badminton player andsubsequently a coach for severalplayers like Saina Nehwal, PVSindhu and Parupalli Kashyap,Gopichand has a host of awards tohis name, including the PadmaBhushan which was awarded to himin 2014.

He began his talk by reminisc-ing about the manner in which hetook up badminton, and the dif-

ference in the sociocultural atmos-phere from then to now. Inspired bythe exploits of Kapil’s Devils in1983, Gopichand, like a millions ofother inspired children of that gen-eration, wanted to play cricket too.Luck and a small logistical issue

ensured that he picked up bad-minton instead. He also remi-nisced about the days in which hewas coached as a player, and thepaucity of proper sporting resourcesand facilities during the time of hiscareer, which improved his game inits own way.

He described the advent of hiscoaching career and the obstaclesthat he faced while building thePullela Gopichand BadmintonAcademy. “Make a good coachand he’ll serve you for 40 years ina sport. Develop a player, and youwill have five-10 years,” he said.

The seasoned coach reflectedon the philosophy of sport itself,

and emphasised that medals,though are significant achieve-ments in each sport, aren’t inher-ently equitable measures.Olympics, though a combinationof their origins and history, havealways incorporated multiple vari-ants of sports that Europeans orig-inally excelled at. While pittingourselves against them is a reflec-tion of sportsmanship, the numberof medals that we win is not areflection of the country’s great-ness. However, he emphasizedthat while the hunger to win isdesirable, every person who tookthe decision to stay fit by is a win-ner in oneself.

Gopi regales IIM-A students

PNS n NEW DELHI

PlanetSpark, a Gurugram-baseded-tech start-up on a mission to

make traditional tuitions obsoletethrough powerful and gamifiedlearn-tech products and certifiedteachers in K8 segment, has beeninfused with funds worth `1.6 croreby FIIT-JEE. The start-up will use thefunds to rapidly grow its existing200-plus home based tuition centersby close to 350 per cent to 750-plushome-based tuition centers acrossDelhi-NCR and beyond. The fundswill also be used to develop power-ful, heuristic, gamified learn-techproducts for an integrated instruc-

tional learning experience.With a blended learning

approach to teaching school subjectsto preteens, the startup combines faceto face classroom learning and tech-based learning. The company devel-

ops gamified learning content suchas mobile based learning games, edu-cational cartoons, learning activityboxes, workbooks and board gamesand partners with qualified home-makers and helps them start theirhome based tech enabled tuition cen-tres using the start-ups gamifiedteaching content, technology andtraining.

The team is also gearing-up forthe release of its learning tabletwhich has been developed as aseries of story-based learning adven-tures designed by Russian gamedesign experts. The company plansto scale-up to five more cities in thenext academic year.

Ed-tech start-up receives seed funding

L: Kunal Malik; Maneesh Dooper, PlanetSparkteam with teachers

Dignitaries present on the dais at the National Conference at VIT

BADMINTON TOURNAMENT

The annual All India Women’sBadminton Tournament is all set

to take place on December 13 atVellore Institute of Technology(VIT). The south zone Inter-University Women's Badmintontournament witnessed players from82 universities from AndhraPradesh, Karnataka, Telengana,Kerala, Puducherry and Tamil Nadu,representing the South zone.

The top four teams — JainUniversity, Kozhikode; KozhikodeUniversity; Andhra University andSRM University — were selected totake part in the All India Women’sBadminton Tournament. Similarly,the other teams also competed fromEast, West and North zones.

Veer Bahadur Singh PurvanchalUniversity, Jaunpur; RanchiUniversity; Guwahati University

and Dibrugarh University, Assamparticipated from East zone where-as Mumbai University, Savitri BhaiPhule University, Pune; DeviAhalyabai University, Indore andMaharashtra University Nashik rep-resented the West zone. The Northzone universities participating in theall India tournament include DelhiUniversity, Punjab University,Chandigarh, Punjabi University,Patiala and MD University, Rohtak,Haryana.

India has been moving on the road todevelopment at a rapid speed, maintainingits growth rate on every front — economy,

trade and international relations. Themakeover has not only nurtured but alsoempowered many socio-economic groups,including women, and improved their lot, toa degree. Women emancipation is intrinsic tonation building.

The push for women emancipation maynot be at the expected pace but it hascertainly stepped beyond the shadow of thesubtle. Women have started to play a pivotalrole in India’s growth story at a time whenother countries are looking at India for itscontribution to world economic development.

Seen in this light, little

doubt remains that women empowermentrequires further impetus.

The World Bank, in its IndiaDevelopment Report released last year, saidthe country had one of the lowest womenparticipations in the workforce. This reporthad ranked India 120 out of 131 countries.Even a minuscule increase in women`sparticipation in the overall workforce means ajump in India’s GDP of billions of dollars.

Today, we can say convincingly thatGovernments, corporates and ordinarypeople are working for the upliftment ofwomen. The Government is also doing whatis needed to empower women. On thesidelines of a United Nations conference, theIndian delegation revealed that there were 24

Government programmes presently runningfor the welfare of women.

Women empowerment can’t be done in apiecemeal manner, though. A recent reportsaid that a total of only nine per cent ofwomen candidates got admission in our IITsthis year. I am sure that the ratio of boy togirl students will be almost the same in theother engineering institutes as well. In thecontext of gender diversity, this does notpaint a good picture.

Higher education is one area where all ofus owe it to the nation to make the existing

ecosystems more women-positive by way ofincreasing their numbers in the technicalinstitutes and other related education fields.

Corporate India, as part of the overallIndian milieu, is lending a shoulder to thiseffort. It’s making a conscious and sustainedattempt to induct more women into theworkforce and boardrooms, though the rateis still low compared to the global numbers.

More women employees are found inservices or IT. Understandably, the numberstarts to dwindle when it comes to the moretraditional world of manufacturing.

Conventional companies have started tochange this. Initiatives include reaching outwith job offers to graduating women oncampus. But in the journey of scaling upwomen's economic empowerment, let us notforget the urban-rural divide that thwarts theimplementation of many a scheme, and stopsits benefits from reaching rural women. Inthis respect, I would call for an added focuson the rural woman because she faces evenmore hurdles than her urban counterpart.

For example, their denial to even basiceducation means rural Indian women haveno idea of their rights. In addition toeducation, what is also required is access tobasic healthcare for her family and her, andownership of a productive resource so that

rural women are truly empowered. When thatreally happens, India will find itself on a pathof true transformation.

In this, the private sector can play acrucial role in catalysing change. Corporates,with pan-India operations havingmanufacturing and other businessinfrastructure across the country, touch thelives of millions in semi-urban and ruralareas. Building on this interface, we cancollectively help to enhance the ruralwomen's lot, increase its knowledge capital,provide required training skills and promotethe fund management through designedcooperative and federations.

The writer is Ajay Kapur, MD & CEO,Ambuja Cement

LUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY | DECEMBER 12, 2018 avenues 11

M I N D I T

The US HolocaustMemorial Museum is delight-ed to offer its summer gradu-ate student research fellow-ship. The fellowship is exclu-sively open for both US andinternational applicants, thoseaccepted to or currentlyenrolled in a master’s degreeprogramme or in their firstyear of a PhD programme.

Eligibility: In addition toEnglish, applicants areencouraged, but not required,to have fluency in one ormore of the following lan-guages: German, Russian,Polish, Romanian, Hebrew,Yiddish, French, Dutch,Hungarian, Slovakian, Italian,and/orBosnian/Croatian/Serbian.English language require-ments: Applicants must haveexcellent written and verbalEnglish skills.

How to apply: Mustinclude: An online applica-tion form, A resume, A per-sonal statement of no morethan two single-spaced pagesin length. The statementshould explain the applicant’sinterest in the Holocaust andWorld War II and how thejunior fellowship might fur-ther encourage his or herstudies in this area. A projectproposal of no more thanthree single-spaced pages inlength. Each proposal shouldaddress a research topic devel-

opedwith a faculty mem-

ber at the student’s homeinstitution.

One letter of recommen-dation that speaks to theapplicant’s qualifications.Letters of recommendationshould be sent from the rec-ommender, not the applicant,as attachments to SGRA-at-ushmm.org.

Application deadline:January 1, 2019.

The Graduate School ispleased to announce scholar-ships for 2019-2020 academicyear. Scholarships are open tointernational students whoplan to undertake a PGresearch degree (MPhil/PhD)at King’s College London.

Eligibility: Be classified asoverseas fee status; Have sub-mitted all the required appli-cation materials by the fund-ing deadline (as instructed inthe ‘Application Process’ sec-tion below).

Students who will paytuition fees at the Home/EUrate are not eligible. Existingresearch degree students arenot eligible to apply. Thescholarship can’t be held on apart-time basis. English lan-guage requirements:Required to demonstratedepending on the programmeapplied for.

How to apply: Apply to(https://apply.kcl.ac.uk/);Ensure you tick the box andenter the code 1920-PGR-INT.

Application deadline:The last date to apply isJanuary 11, 2019.

Prevention is better than cure. Oflate, there has been a lot of talkon the importance of Ayurveda

is treating a number of ailments.Patients too are looking for goodAyurveda doctors because it com-bines the best knowledge and devel-opments taking place globally. To bea successful Ayurveda practitioner,one must have strong concentration,self-confidence, responsibility, car-ing nature and good communicationskills. A few more colleges to study:nAmrita School of Ayurveda,Kollam. Course: Bachelor ofAyurvedic Medicine and SurgerynMahatma Gandhi AyurvedCollege, Hospital and ResearchCentre, Wardha. Course: Bachelor ofAyurvedic Medicine and SurgerynBharati Vidyapeeth College ofAyurved, Pune. Course: Bachelor ofAyurvedic Medicine and SurgerynMSM Institute of Ayurveda,Sonipat. Course: Bachelor ofAyurvedic Medicine and SurgerynAmrita Institute of MedicalSciences: Schools and ResearchCenters, Kochi. Course: Bachelor ofAyurvedic Medicine and SurgerynGovernment Ayurvedic College,Guwahati. Course: Bachelor ofAyurvedic Medicine and SurgerynBanaras Hindu University:Institute of Medical Sciences,Varanasi. Course: Bachelor of

AyurvedicMedicine and

Surgery

STUDY CENTRES MARKETING AT YATRA ONLINELocation: Delhi, GurgaonStipend: `10,000 per monthLink - internshala.com/i/16621Application deadline: December 22, 2018

CONTENT WRITING AT PEARSONLocation: NoidaStipend: `25,000 per monthLink: internshala.com/i/16622Application deadline:December 20, 2018

UAV PILOT ATSTERLITE POWERLocation: DelhiStipend: `15,500 permonthLink:internshala.com/i/16623Application deadline: December,18, 2018

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETINGAT WYNK LIMITEDLocation: GurugramStipend: `10,000 per monthLink: internshala.com/i/16624Application deadline: December 17, 2018

SOFTWARE TESTING AT CERTESNETWORKSLocation: BengaluruStipend: `10,000 per monthLink: internshala.com/i/16625Application deadline: December 20, 2018

GRAPHIC DESIGN AT FOODROBINLocation: DelhiStipend: `5,000-`10,000 per monthLink: internshala.com/i/16626Application deadline: December 22, 2018

FINANCE AT STUDIO SOCIALLocation: Work From HomeStipend: `9,500 per monthLink: internshala.com/i/16627Application deadline: December 20, 2018

Centum WorkSkills India Limitedhas announced theinauguration of a skill training

centre under Delhi Police’s ‘YUVA’programme. The training-cum-skilldevelopment centre aims to benefitthe juvenile delinquents byimparting them with relevant skillsand help get jobs under PradhanMantri Kaushal Vikas Yojna.

The initiative provides job-linked skill training to the youth whoare school dropouts, juvenilesinvolved in crime, or those fromfamilies in a dire state due to theincarceration of the bread earner ofthe family. The centres provide job-linked training through its sectorskill councils which are connectedto industry and thereby provide jobopportunities.

Sanjay Bahl, CEO and MD,Centum Learning said: “We aredelighted to partner with DelhiPolice and implement their initiativeunique community upliftinginitiative — Yuva.”

Olympic medallist and WBOOriental Super Middle Weighttitle holder, boxer Vijender

Singh graced the Annual SportsDay of Rabindranath World Schoolat Tau Devi Lal Sports Complex.

Vijender who was the guest ofhonour said: “I have never

participated in any activityin my school days and it'samazing to see so manystudents actively takingpart in the event.”

He handed out medalsand trophies to the

students of the school for theiroutstanding sporting achievements.

He also addressed the parentswith the importance of physicalactivities and diets for youngchildren. “It is very important to letchildren do what they like to dothan forcing them to pursue acareer in a particular field. I wouldhave never been a boxer if myparents hadn't supported me. It isalso important to take care of ourchildren's diets these days as it willshape the way he will grow up inthe future,” he said.

The Institute of CharteredAccountants of India (ICAI) hasrecently signed an

Memorandum of Understanding(MoU) with Indian Institute ofManagement, Ahmedabad.

The objective is to establishmutual co-operation between bothInstitutes for offering and co-hosting open-enrollment andcustomized training programsexclusively for CharteredAccountants. The MoU will benefitthe Chartered Accountants inacquiring number of skills required

in today's digitized and fastchanging business environment.Participants will be exposed toemerging concepts, technology andbusiness practices in achievingoperational excellence.

CA. Naveen ND Gupta,President, ICAI said: “Thecollaboration will bring a newdimension to the area of accountingand management education.Courses conducted under the MoUwill provide opportunity for CAs toenhance management skill setsrequired for key positions.”

The Texila AmericanUniversity (TAU)and Yashoda

Hospital have tied upto offer non-invasivecardiologyprogramme.

Speaking aboutthe strategic tie-up,founder-president ofTAU, Saju Bhaskar

said: “We are happy toassociate with thehospital to introducethis programme. Thereis a need to createspecialists in non-invasive cardiology.People have becomeconscious andwatchful about theirhealth, especially their

heart which isvulnerable diseasesowing to sedentarylife- style and hecticwork hours.

Non- invasivecardiology is indemand across theglobe as heart relatedailment have increasedmany- folds.

Shine.com, the online job searchplatform has revealed its intentto expand its technology team

by 40-50% in the coming months.The decision to expand the teamfurther to achieve new heights andstrengthen its technology backboneis an offshoot of the newly-appointedCTO’s larger vision for the company.

Speaking on the development,Zairus Master, CEO, Shine.com said:“This year, we are focusing all ourenergies on enhancing userexperience through better technologydeployment. Our goal is tosignificantly improve search resultsand candidate matching functions toachieve a higher conversion rates.”

SKILL TRAINING CENTREVIJENDER: PHYSICAL FITNESS IMPORTANT

ICAI SIGNS MOU WITH IIM-A

NON-INVASIVE CARDIOLOGY PROGRAMME

EXPANSION PLANS

IN BRIEF

ACXO’s (corporate executives)search for a new role is usuallyunlike the job search of a manag-

er or even a VP. C-level candidates havesignificant expertise and many are wellknown professionally. There are a num-ber of reasons why a CXO’s search for ajob is unlike that of those who don’t carrythe haloed C-level tag.

A senior candidate searching for a jobis judged on his or her achievementsrather than potential. Yet despite havingsignificant professional experience, suchcandidates tend to make some mistakeswhen searching for a job. A few thingsthat they should keep in mind.

Become Better Listeners: When acompany is hiring for the C-suite, it doesnot necessarily pamper a CXO’s ego.What matters is what you bring to thetable and how useful you can be to thecompany based on your experience.While certainly, most people at C-levelpositions have accomplished much intheir career, yet recruiters need to ascer-tain whether a candidate is a goodmatch for their company. It’s a good ideato leave one’s ego during interviews andto listen rather than to inform.

Bring Your Own Thoughts: It’scommon for such candidates to ask theinterviewer about the company wherethey are interviewing for a CXO positionrather than allowing the company tojudge whether the candidate would be agood fit for the company. This means thatin the early stages of an interview processa C-suite candidate should try to sellthemselves instead of turning their ini-tial interviews into fact-finding missions.A simple goal a CXO candidate shouldhave during his or her initial interviewsis being called back for further interviewsand this can be made possible by bring-ing their own thoughts to the interviewand by not asking questions excessively.

Talk About the Success of TheirTeam: They should be open to coachingand be accepting when shown that theirexperience does not make them asunique as they believe they are. Whilemany such candidates have skills thatmake them stand apart, a significantnumber do not and such candidates must

acknowledge this when needed if theywant to grow professionally. They shouldbe willing to work on the skills they lackand make themselves more marketableif needed. An ideal CXO candidate is onewho talks about the success of their teamand not only of personal success.

Connect With LeadershipConsultants: One of the biggest mistakesa CXO candidate can make is not culti-vating relationships with recruiters.Many C-level candidates don't respondto emails or calls made by recruitersbecause for the moment they don't needthe recruiter's services. C-suite candidatesshould realize that everyone will needanother job at some point in their life anddeveloping relationships with recruitersis a way to ensure they get the right infor-mation and support when they search fora new job. Hence CXO candidates shouldremain in regular touch with leadershipconsultants.

Every candidate must realise thatthey must allow a company to judgewhether they would be a good fit for acompany. Also, knowing that everyone,including themselves will need to searchfor a job should make CXO candidateswant to cultivate relationships and bemore accepting of coaching.

‘Don’t let ego get

in the way’

Job search for CXOs is different fromthose who don’t have this haloed C-leveltag. SHANTI THAKUR shares dos anddon’ts that such candidates shouldfollow during an interview

Shanti ThakurAssociate Partner, Sapphire Human Solutions

Are you in Class X and look-ing for a platform to identi-fy your hidden talent and

evaluate your preparedness forfurther studies? The answer lies inNational Talent SearchExamination (NTSE). The aim ofthis exam is to identify and recog-nise students with high intellect andacademic talent at the high-schoollevel. It is a national-level scholar-ship programme one of the oldestand most prestigious examina-tions in India conducted by theNational Council of EducationalResearch and Training (NCERT) atthe secondary school level. It is atwo-tier exam — Stage I (Statelevel) is conducted by theStates/Union Territories and Stage-II (national level) is conducted byNCERT. The objective of the two-tier exam is to identify the talent-ed students who have a special apti-tude for Sciences, Mathematics,Social Sciences and questions basedon Analytical Reasoning.

The exam acts as a unique plat-form for the students to check theircapabilities and potential. It alsopoints out the weaknesses andshortcomings in the domains cov-ered by the exam. Every year,lakhs of students appear for thisscholarship exam, out of which1,000 scholarships are awarded. Thescholarship is open only to the stu-dents of Indian nationality, whetherthey are studying in India orabroad in Class X or equivalent.

First Level-Stage I: The firstlevel test takes place every year in

the month of November. TheScholastic Aptitude Test (SAT)comprises of 100 MCQs, where onealternative is correct. There are 40questions from Science, 40 fromSocial Science and 20 fromMathematics. The idea is to assessthe subject knowledge, reasoningability and logical thinking of thecandidates.

The Mental Ability Test (MAT)also comprises of 100 MCQs withonly one out of four options cor-rect. Each question carries 1 mark.There is no negative marking. It hasa variety of questions about analo-gies, classification, series, patternperception, hidden figures, coding-decoding, block assembly, problem-solving, etc. Here, the goal is togauge the power of reasoning,ability to judge, evaluate, visualisein space and spatial orientation ofthe candidates.

Second Level-Stage II: Thesecond level test takes place everyyear in the month of May. Patternof papers of MAT and SAT aresame as in Stage I. As per the newpattern of Stage II announced byNCERT, each correctly answeredquestion earns the candidate onemark with no negative marks.This level of exam tests the students'potential concerning their mentalability and scholastic aptitude.

Students who clear the stage IIare eligible for the NTSE scholar-ship. There are no restrictions likeparental income, Governmentschool and domicile. However, noscholarships shall be available for

studies abroad for any course.

HOW TO CRACK ITKnow your strengths and

weaknesses: For example, if you arestrong in Mathematics and Sciencebut average in MAT and weak insocial sciences, then you can workon your weaknesses and turn them

into strengths for an overall verygood or excellent score. Once youknow your weak points, draft aplan. Study and revise the subjectmatter if needed. Allocate time fordifferent sections of the exam.

Follow NCERT books: Followbooks of Classes IX and X. Forsome concepts in Biology, refer

NCERT Class XI Biology textbook(only portions that are relevant toClass IX and X curriculum). It isimperative to study the SocialStudies NCERT book for NTSEthoroughly.

Strengthen your MAT sec-tion: The MAT and SAT carryequal weight. Therefore, it is criti-cal to give due time to both thepapers while preparing. Some of ustend to overdo preparation of threesubjects but in the process tend toignore MAT. However, it is impor-tant to realise that MAT carriesmore weight than any of the sub-jects. This section tests mentalability. You must give enough timefor the preparation of this part.

Work on your SAT section:Follow NCERT. You must alsoread a good general knowledgebook for miscellaneous questions.

Solve sample papers: If you areaspiring excellence, it is importantthat you solve a lot of sample papersand mock tests at least thrice aweek. There are a lot of NTSE mockpapers available on the internet.You should aim to solve thesepapers within the stipulated time sothat you can improve your speedand know the sections that con-sume more time.

Analyse performance: Makesure you minutely assess what youcould do and what you had a hardtime with. Was it the subject under-standing you lacked? Or did youmiss out on the scores because ofsilly mistakes? Whatever it is, justanalyse your performance critical-

ly.Proper guidance: Find a good

mentor. There are times when inquest of achieving something, youtend to go off the track. To ensureyou are on the right track, it isimportant to have a mentor toguide you and show you the rightpath in your success journey.Always interact with the mentorand seniors for do’s and don’ts.

Early preparation: Startpreparing at the earliest will lay theright foundation for further stud-ies. Success is a result of practiceand preparation with determina-tion.

Value the time: Utilise yourevery minute properly. Devoteyour quality time to those areaswhere you are lacking. Once youhave mended your loopholes,divide your time equally with all thesubjects and areas.

Self-study: For clearing anyexam, self-study is important. It isone of the most basic and impor-tant of all the tips to become anNTSE scholar. One should devoteat least three-four hours to self-learning to crack this competitiveexam.

Keep practicing: Regular prac-tice is what will get you through.Solve as many questions of mentalability as possible so that you arenot shocked on the exam day. Takethe help of your school seniors andteachers. With practice, you’ll alsoget more confident about yourspeed, accuracy and subjectknowledge.

Be an NTSE scholarFIIT-JEE director RL TRIKHA tells students how they can evaluate their hiddentalent and prepare themselves for further studies

THE NTSE EXAMACTS AS A UNIQUE

PLATFORM FORTHE STUDENTS TO

CHECK THEIRCAPABILITY &POTENTIAL. IT

ALSO POINTS OUTTHE WEAKNESSESIN THE DOMAINSCOVERED BY THE

EXAM

money 12LUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY | DECEMBER 12, 2018

PTI n MUMBAI

Benchmark indices pared allearly losses to end withrobust gains on Tuesday as

investors shrugged off UrjitPatel’s shock exit from the RBIamid better-than-expected seattally of the BJP in state elections.

The 30-share Sensexclimbed 190.29 points, or 0.54%,to end at 35,150.01, after fallingover 500 points intra-day.Similarly, the broader NSE Niftyrose 60.70 points, or 0.58%, to10,549.15.

The Sensex had plunged714 points on Monday in itsworst session in two months onpre-poll jitters.

The opposition Congresswas leading in the BJP-ruledstates of Rajasthan, Chhattisgarhand Madhya Pradesh while theTRS forged ahead in Telanganaand the MNF in Mizoram,trends indicated on Tuesday.

The BJP, battling incum-bency in the three Hindi heart-land states, did not fare as poor-

ly as anticipated, analysts said.The markets had already

priced in the exit poll results,which were on similar lines, theyadded.

The benchmark indicesopened lower on Tuesday whilethe rupee plunged followingUrjit Patel’s unexpected resig-nation as RBI governor aftermarket hours on Monday.

However, buying gatheredmomentum in afternoon tradeas investors accumulated beat-en down counters. Barring oiland gas, all BSE sectoral indicesfinished in the green.

Yes Bank was the top gain-er in the Sensex pack, spurting7.29% ahead of its board meeton Thursday to discuss MD andCEO Rana Kapoor’s successor.

Other winners included SunPharma, Asian Paints, SBI, AxisBank, ITC, M&M, Kotak Bank,Coal India, TCS and ONGC, ris-ing up to 5.75%.

Top losers were HeroMotoCorp, Bharti Airtel, HDFCBank, L&T and HUL, falling up

to 1.58%.“With regards the election

results, the data is clear. Pricestrack earnings and fundamen-tals, and the impact of the polit-ical regime is related to theimpact policies enforce on fun-damentals and earnings,” saidSunil Sharma, chief investmentofficer, Sanctum WealthManagement.

“One of the most criticaldecisions investors must makeover their investing journey is tostay the course in the wake ofseemingly negative and worri-some news. Today’s reaction bythe markets is surprising, but it’sa classic ‘buy the rumor, sell thenews’ reaction. The news wasalready in the market price,” hepointed out.

On RBI Governor’s exit,Sharma said: “From an invest-ment perspective, there’s beenmuch selling already this year.Markets are possibly enthusedby the possibility of a pro-growth appointment, one thatprefers a nuanced approach

over a hard line in dealing withfinancial institutions.”

The rupee pared some earlylosses after Finance SecretaryAN Jha said the government waslikely to make an announce-ment regarding Urjit Patel’s suc-cessor at the central bank.

Meanwhile, on a net basis,foreign portfolio investors (FPIs)bought shares worth `116.22crore on Monday, while domes-tic institutional investors (DIIs)were net sellers to the tune of`145.80 crore, provisional dataavailable with BSE showed.

Brent crude oil futuresslipped below USD 60 per bar-rel mark, slipping 0.32% to59.78 per barrel.

Elsewhere in Asia, Korea’sKospi fell 0.04%, Japan’s Nikkeidropped 0.34% while HongKong’s Hang Seng rose 0.07%and Shanghai Composite Indexgained 0.37%. In Europe,Frankfurt’s DAX jumped 0.86%and Paris’ CAC 40 rose 0.84% inearly deals. London’s FTSE toogained 0.37%.

PTI n NEW DELHI

Aday after Urjit Patelresigned as RBI Governor,

NITI Aayog Vice ChairmanRajiv Kumar on Tuesday saidthe central bank’s institutionalcapabilities were ‘very strong’and it would do whatever wasrequired for the markets andeconomy. Kumar further saidalthough Patel had done anamazing work in the last twoyears as the RBI Governor, thefunctioning of the central bankwas not dependent on any par-ticular individual.

“RBI’s institutional capabil-ities are very strong and they willdo whatever is required for themarkets and economy. The factis that RBI itself is such a pro-fessional institution, and such along-standing institution thatyou know, the business willcontinue,” Kumar said on thesidelines of ‘Inclusive FinanceIndia Summit’ here.

Patel, who had a run-in withthe government over autonomyof the central bank, resignedfrom his job on Monday, citingpersonal reasons.

The NITI Aayog ViceChairman also assured that thegovernment will do whatever isrequired to continue its businessas usual. “Patel has done anamazing work in the last twoyears... But RBI is not dependenton any one particular individ-

ual,” Kumar said. Commentingof weakening of the rupee afterPatel’s resignation, Kumar said:“The government also, I amsure, is seized of the matter andwill take care whichever way it’spossible”. The rupee on Tuesdayplunged by a significant 110paise in early trade as domesticequities saw heavy sell-off amidcrucial state election results andthe unexpected resignation ofRBI Governor Urjit Patel.

Addressing the delegate,Kumar said that the financialinclusion must be about employ-ment, job creation and growth.He also stressed on need to pro-vide greater access to credit inthe North East region. Notingthat mobile banking is thestrongest method for increasingfinancial inclusion in the coun-try, Kumar said, “In my view, thefuture is digital finance and theera of brick and mortar bankingis over”.

Markets regain footing as investors

look beyond Patel exit, poll outcome

Wipro takes overSyfte designconsulting team

PTI n NEW DELHI

IT firm Wipro on Tuesdaysaid it had taken over the

strategic design consultingteam at Syfte, an Australianagency that uses design think-ing to solve client challenges.

Syfte’s team of designerswill be absorbed withinDesignit — one of Wipro’sstrategic arms — furtherstrengthening its design andinnovation capabilities, Wiprosaid in a statement.

The company, however,did not disclose the team sizeand financial details of thetakeover.

The move will also helpWipro further expand its reachin Australia and Asia Pacificand enhance the transforma-tion services offered by WiproDigital, the statement said.

“Increasingly, global enter-prise clients in Australia recog-nise that strategic design is acritical part of any digital orbusiness transformation. Byadding Syfte’s skills and exper-tise to Designit, Wipro will bebetter positioned to support itsclients’ digital agenda,” it said.

Wipro Digital presidentRajan Kohli said design think-ing was now a part of every dig-ital conversation that the com-pany has with its clients. Thestatement said Wipro Digitaland Designit serve clients from18 global digital pods.

RBI’s institutional capabilitiesvery strong; not dependent onany particular individual: NITI

JLR drives in updated Discovery Sport in India at `44.68 lakh

New Delhi (PTI): DrReddy’s Laboratories on Tuesdaysaid it had launched Omeprazoledelayed-release tablets, used totreat frequent heartburn, in theUS market. “Dr Reddy’sLaboratories has launchedOmeprazole delayed-releasetablets in the strength of 20 mg,an over-the-counter (OTC)store-brand equivalent ofPrilosec tablets, in the US,” thecompany said in a BSE filing.Milan Kalawadia, Dr Reddy’sLaboratories vice president andhead, US OTC and Speciality Rxbusinesses, said this launch illus-trated the company’s continuedcommitment to the OTC busi-ness as well as the depth andbreadth of its OTC portfolio.

CADILA ARM GETS USFDANOD FOR ULCERTREATMENT INJECTION

Drug firm CadilaHealthcare on Tuesday said itssubsidiary had received approvalfrom the US health regulator tomarket Ranitidine injection,used to treat stomach and duo-denal ulcers. Liva Pharmaceu-ticals, a wholly-owned sub-sidiary of Cadila Healthcare, hasreceived approval from theUSFDA for its supplementalabbreviated new drug applica-tion, Ranitidine Injection USP,25 mg/mL, 2 mL single dosevials and 6 mL multi-dose vials,Cadila Healthcare said.

New Delhi (PTI): Jaguar Land RoverIndia on Tuesday said it had launched thelatest version of its SUV Discovery Sportpriced at ̀ 44.68 lakh (ex-showroom). Eachderivative of the 2019 Discovery Sport is nowfurnished with fresh features that furtherenhance the vehicle’s capability to offer the

true spirit of adventure, the company saidin a statement. “With the Model Year 2019Discovery Sport, we now offer our cus-tomers an extensive range of derivatives andenhanced powertrain options that provideefficiency and an improved driving experi-ence,” Jaguar Land Rover India president &

managing director Rohit Suri said. The SEand HSE derivatives of the model which arepowered by 2.0-litre Ingenium diesel enginenow get more powerful 132 kW output,while the Pure variant continues to be pow-ered by the 110 kW output powertrain, thecompany said.

Dr Reddy’s

launches

heartburn drug

in US market

Script Last Abs ChangeTraded Price Change %3MINDIA 21100 132.75 0.638KMILES 155.15 -8.15 -4.99AARTIIND 1414 25.2 1.81ABB 1400 3 0.21ABBOTINDIA 7349.15 -47.5 -0.64ABCAPITAL 98.15 3.05 3.21ABFRL 183.75 3.5 1.94ACC 1435 24.5 1.74ADANIPORTS 355.8 -3.55 -0.99ADANIPOWER 50.95 1.95 3.98ADANITRANS 209.9 -0.2 -0.1ADVENZYMES 173.05 6.5 3.9AEGISLOG 204.1 -1.7 -0.83AIAENG 1611.25 -34.8 -2.11AJANTPHARM 1074.4 55.7 5.47AKZOINDIA 1535.25 27.1 1.8ALBK 44.1 0 0ALKEM 1925.05 14.25 0.75ALLCARGO 104.5 1.25 1.21AMARAJABAT 715.9 19.2 2.76AMBUJACEM 211.85 6.75 3.29ANDHRABANK 26.8 0.45 1.71APARINDS 614.1 -2.5 -0.41APLAPOLLO 1275 -28 -2.15APLLTD 616.2 1.75 0.28APOLLOHOSP 1180.35 7.15 0.61APOLLOTYRE 233.9 9.4 4.19ASAHIINDIA 257 11.65 4.75ASHOKA 127.85 2.3 1.83ASHOKLEY 102.9 2.7 2.69ASIANPAINT 1323.95 51.25 4.03ASTERDM 151 2.7 1.82ASTRAL 1034.95 -13.15 -1.25ATUL 3274.35 -49.15 -1.48AUBANK 595 3.9 0.66AUROPHARMA 737 3.85 0.53AVANTI 347 1.05 0.3AXISBANK 604.25 14.25 2.42BAJAJ-AUTO 2745.8 23.8 0.87BAJAJCORP 342.1 -1.9 -0.55BAJAJELEC 471.05 6.8 1.46BAJAJFINSV 5840.4 164.45 2.9BAJAJHLDNG 2935 6.4 0.22BAJFINANCE 2431.35 33.6 1.4BALKRISIND 898 17.1 1.94BALMLAWRIE 181.05 1.75 0.98BALRAMCHIN 99.95 0.9 0.91BANDHANBNK 468.9 -2.3 -0.49BANKBARODA 108.75 2.9 2.74BANKINDIA 79.75 1.95 2.51BASF 1565.9 34.3 2.24BATAINDIA 1069.15 52.4 5.15BAYERCROP 4313.65 8.05 0.19BBTC 1238.05 6.4 0.52BEL 79.05 1.5 1.93BEML 727.55 9.45 1.32BERGEPAINT 311.5 6.1 2BHARATFIN 985.1 3.95 0.4BHARATFORG 498.3 -8.3 -1.64BHARTIARTL 290.1 -4.2 -1.43BHEL 64.65 1.6 2.54BIOCON 629.3 19.55 3.21BIRLACORPN 587 3.4 0.58BLISSGVS 143.4 0.85 0.6BLUEDART 3064.5 50.65 1.68BLUESTARCO 642.1 8.65 1.37BOMDYEING 90.4 4.3 4.99BOSCHLTD 19150 660.7 3.57BPCL 326 -4.25 -1.29BRITANNIA 3000.6 19.25 0.65CADILAHC 346.7 5.65 1.66CANBK 249 8.15 3.38CANFINHOME 235.85 0.8 0.34CAPF 503.3 11.2 2.28CAPPL 389.5 1.3 0.33CARBORUNIV 340.55 -2.05 -0.6CARERATING 993.8 7.7 0.78CASTROLIND 145.5 1.8 1.25CCL 276.15 8.9 3.33CEATLTD 1263.5 26.75 2.16CENTRALBK 28.65 0.5 1.78CENTRUM 34.9 -0.4 -1.13CENTURYPLY 183.9 3.75 2.08CENTURYTEX 882 34.05 4.02CERA 2301.45 1 0.04CGPOWER 37.95 0.95 2.57CHAMBLFERT 140.8 -0.2 -0.14CHENNPETRO 265 1.6 0.61CHOLAFIN 1188.1 -12.9 -1.07CIPLA 519.75 6.75 1.32COALINDIA 242.2 3.6 1.51COCHINSHIP 374.05 2.3 0.62COFFEEDAY 258 2.5 0.98

COLPAL 1241 39 3.24CONCOR 660 -2.85 -0.43COROMANDEL 406.05 0.05 0.01CORPBANK 27.45 2.45 9.8CRISIL 1510 15.05 1.01CROMPTON 221 5.05 2.34CUB 176 4.8 2.8CUMMINSIND 781.2 9.05 1.17CYIENT 617 -0.55 -0.09DABUR 412.1 7.5 1.85DBCORP 175.9 5 2.93DBL 439.3 5.6 1.29DCBBANK 152.7 2.45 1.63DCMSHRIRAM 355.2 -3.7 -1.03DEEPAKFERT 142 3.9 2.82DEEPAKNI 230.1 6.15 2.75DELTACORP 234.2 4.9 2.14DENABANK 16.15 0.5 3.19DHANUKA 428.4 6.05 1.43DHFL 207.3 10.55 5.36DISHTV 35.1 0.9 2.63DIVISLAB 1485 13 0.88DLF 171.8 5.05 3.03DMART 1541.8 36.8 2.45DRREDDY 2710 20.5 0.76ECLERX 1071.2 3.25 0.3EDELWEISS 172.15 -7.75 -4.31EICHERMOT 22749.4 317.75 1.42EIDPARRY 196.25 0.8 0.41EIHOTEL 198.5 18.4 10.22ELGIEQUIP 232 3.4 1.49EMAMILTD 418 12.2 3.01ENDURANCE 1142.75 9.85 0.87ENGINERSIN 112.5 2.5 2.27EQUITAS 110.5 4.2 3.95ERIS 631.5 5.95 0.95ESCORTS 629 25.15 4.16ESSELPRO 99.05 1.25 1.28EVEREADY 189.7 -2.6 -1.35EXIDEIND 249.9 3.9 1.59FCONSUMER 43.85 1.25 2.93FDC 180.35 5.05 2.88FEDERALBNK 84.15 1.75 2.12FINCABLES 450 -2.65 -0.59FINOLEXIND 515.9 10.65 2.11FLFL 400 -0.1 -0.02FORBESCO 2461 36.45 1.5FORCEMOT 1602.6 0.25 0.02FORTIS 150.2 0.15 0.1FRETAIL 505 -2.15 -0.42FSL 49.8 0.35 0.71GAIL 333.2 0.95 0.29GDL 135.55 0.05 0.04GEPIL 827 11.35 1.39GESHIP 310.7 6.2 2.04GET&D 239.1 12.35 5.45GHCL 220 1.9 0.87GICHSGFIN 229.4 5.45 2.43GICRE 276.15 4.2 1.54GILLETTE 6380 84.1 1.34GLAXO 1372.2 16.75 1.24GLENMARK 664.95 29.2 4.59GMDCLTD 85.2 0.2 0.24GMRINFRA 14.75 -0.15 -1.01GNFC 334.2 0.35 0.1GODFRYPHLP 897 30.3 3.5GODREJAGRO 486 -2.9 -0.59GODREJCP 753 15.85 2.15GODREJIND 551.5 18.75 3.52GODREJPROP 628.85 -8.35 -1.31GPPL 93.95 -0.45 -0.48GRANULES 82.75 1.55 1.91GRAPHITE 887.85 -8.5 -0.95GRASIM 802 10.55 1.33GREAVESCOT 118.5 4.5 3.95GREENPLY 131.6 -2.95 -2.19GRINDWELL 489.35 0.35 0.07GRUH 285.1 3.4 1.21GSFC 105.95 3.2 3.11GSKCONS 7593.5 97.6 1.3GSPL 177.9 1.35 0.76GUJALKALI 524.4 1.4 0.27GUJFLUORO 896 4.7 0.53GUJGAS 639 11.55 1.84GULFOILLUB 786.2 8.35 1.07HAL 755.25 6.45 0.86HATSUN 622 0.95 0.15HAVELLS 690.6 22.85 3.42HCC 10.8 -0.05 -0.46HCLTECH 958.9 17.35 1.84HDFC 1905.45 -3.75 -0.2HDFCBANK 2060.8 -28.35 -1.36HDFCLIFE 384.05 -1.05 -0.27HDIL 20.85 0.7 3.47HEG 3902.05 -47.1 -1.19

HEIDELBERG 152.4 5.05 3.43HERITGFOOD 499.95 14.35 2.96HEROMOTOCO 2994 -48.1 -1.58HEXAWARE 331.15 13.2 4.15HFCL 18.7 0.3 1.63HIMATSEIDE 207 -0.85 -0.41HINDALCO 216.25 -1.35 -0.62HINDCOPPER 46.2 0.7 1.54HINDPETRO 220.35 -6.2 -2.74HINDUNILVR 1795.2 -1.9 -0.11HINDZINC 273.7 4 1.48HONAUT 22755 105.1 0.46HSCL 132 3.75 2.92HSIL 195 -2.2 -1.12HUDCO 41.1 0.85 2.11IBREALEST 71.55 1 1.42IBULHSGFIN 694.6 8.75 1.28IBVENTURES 335 -11.15 -3.22ICICIBANK 342.75 -3.6 -1.04ICICIGI 886 31.4 3.67ICICIPRULI 307.6 0.15 0.05ICIL 56.55 -0.2 -0.35IDBI 61 0.85 1.41IDEA 34.25 1.3 3.95IDFC 37.3 0.35 0.95IDFCBANK 36.35 0.5 1.39IEX 155 -1.25 -0.8IFBIND 814.2 31.8 4.06IFCI 12.67 0.21 1.69IGL 249 0.45 0.18IL&FSTRANS 11.1 -0.55 -4.72INDHOTEL 145 5 3.57INDIACEM 87.8 3.5 4.15

INDIANB 221.4 4.5 2.07INDIGO 1019 18.1 1.81INDUSINDBK 1557 2.1 0.14INFIBEAM 41.55 1.65 4.14INFRATEL 251 1.4 0.56INFY 674.25 6.45 0.97INOXLEISUR 220.9 4.9 2.27INOXWIND 72.3 -0.3 -0.41INTELLECT 225.7 11.45 5.34IOB 14.18 0.1 0.71IOC 132.3 -1.7 -1.27IPCALAB 779.25 -17.1 -2.15IRB 144.4 6.8 4.94ISEC 265.6 5.85 2.25ISGEC 5220 30.1 0.58ITC 274.65 4.95 1.84ITDC 289.5 3.6 1.26ITDCEM 105.95 4.85 4.8ITI 91.4 0.1 0.11J&KBANK 36.65 0.1 0.27JAGRAN 114 2.25 2.01JAICORPLTD 95.8 2.3 2.46JAMNAAUTO 64 1.6 2.56JBCHEPHARM 294.9 -4.25 -1.42JCHAC 1757.15 -17.5 -0.99JETAIRWAYS 251.5 -6 -2.33JINDALSAW 78.7 2.55 3.35JINDALSTEL 146.85 1.4 0.96JISLJALEQS 60.7 0.15 0.25JKCEMENT 710.25 5.2 0.74JKIL 122.55 0.2 0.16JKLAKSHMI 276.95 12 4.53JKTYRE 90.55 2.3 2.61JMFINANCIL 82.4 -0.55 -0.66JPASSOCIAT 6.79 0.34 5.27JSL 32.15 0.4 1.26JSLHISAR 83.35 -0.55 -0.66JSWENERGY 66.4 0.85 1.3JSWSTEEL 301.1 6.85 2.33

JUBILANT 753.85 19.7 2.68JUBLFOOD 1256.2 56.2 4.68JUSTDIAL 469.25 0.8 0.17JYOTHYLAB 182.15 0.15 0.08KAJARIACER 443.6 18.55 4.36KALPATPOWR 350.05 11.75 3.47KANSAINER 458.1 24.8 5.72KEC 280.5 8.25 3.03KEI 360 -6.3 -1.72KIOCL 148.8 10.75 7.79KNRCON 190.2 0.9 0.48KOTAKBANK 1218.5 20.35 1.7KPIT 212.05 2.75 1.31KPRMILL 561 -8.65 -1.52KRBL 292 6.55 2.29KSCL 534.2 5.7 1.08KTKBANK 103.15 1.5 1.48KWALITY 8.77 -0.16 -1.79L&TFH 137.7 3.9 2.91LAKSHVILAS 86.35 -0.6 -0.69LALPATHLAB 943.85 -8.6 -0.9LAOPALA 221 -4.9 -2.17LAURUSLABS 386.4 11.7 3.12LAXMIMACH* 5621.6 6.1 0.11LICHSGFIN 436.2 15.6 3.71LINDEINDIA 687.2 9.5 1.4LT 1364.7 -1.75 -0.13LTI 1531 53.65 3.63LTTS 1551 0.25 0.02LUPIN 835.35 20.3 2.49LUXIND 1452 20.45 1.43M&M 723.4 12.6 1.77M&MFIN 413.55 13.1 3.27

MAGMA 102.6 1.2 1.18MAHABANK 12.65 0.45 3.69MAHINDCIE 254.8 5.55 2.23MAHLIFE 379.85 -0.45 -0.12MANAPPURAM 84.95 2.4 2.91MANPASAND 81.7 0.05 0.06MARICO 359.45 13.35 3.86MARUTI 7309.85 -40.25 -0.55MAXINDIA 62 0.5 0.81MCX 695.95 0.8 0.12MEGH 56.05 1.75 3.22MFSL 435.55 27.8 6.82MGL 845.7 -5 -0.59MHRIL 197.15 -4.3 -2.13MINDACORP 138.5 4.9 3.67MINDAIND 321.85 6.5 2.06MINDTREE 860 2.15 0.25MMTC 26.65 0.45 1.72MOIL 171 -1.7 -0.98MONSANTO 2626.45 -71.1 -2.64MOTHERSUMI 150.5 0.75 0.5MOTILALOFS 592.1 -9.45 -1.57MPHASIS 973 23.3 2.45MRF 66000 1686.95 2.62MRPL 72 1.05 1.48MUTHOOTFIN 473.1 8.9 1.92NATCOPHARM* 703 11.9 1.72NATIONALUM 62.1 0.4 0.65NAUKRI 1545.9 109.45 7.62NAVINFLUOR 700 19.65 2.89NAVKARCORP 43.85 -1.05 -2.34NAVNETEDUL 105 2.1 2.04NBCC 50.15 1.3 2.66NBVENTURES 118.55 2.55 2.2NCC 80.6 2.95 3.8NESTLEIND 10650 269.95 2.6NETWORK18 37.05 0.5 1.37NH 208.6 0.15 0.07NHPC 26.05 0 0

NIACL 196 0.85 0.44NIITTECH 1107.5 50.65 4.79NILKAMAL 1460 -4.8 -0.33NLCINDIA 68.2 -1.55 -2.22NMDC 91.2 -0.1 -0.11NOCIL 165.8 6.05 3.79NTPC 137.6 1.3 0.95OBEROIRLTY 449.95 -10.25 -2.23OFSS 3540 62.1 1.79OIL 174 0.45 0.26OMAXE 212 0.55 0.26ONGC 139.05 1.8 1.31ORIENTBANK 83.75 1.6 1.95ORIENTCEM 76.75 0.75 0.99PAGEIND 24141.7 62.6 0.26PARAGMILK 238.4 1.75 0.74PCJEWELLER 64.2 1.4 2.23PEL 2088.35 42.65 2.08PERSISTENT 613.5 17.45 2.93PETRONET 207.1 -1.3 -0.62PFC 87.85 3.35 3.96PFIZER 2821 65.05 2.36PFS 15.85 0 0PGHH 9650 188.1 1.99PHILIPCARB 198.9 5.2 2.68PHOENIXLTD 602.2 9.3 1.57PIDILITIND 1120.95 0.1 0.01PIIND 821.9 7.55 0.93PNB 68.6 3.7 5.7PNBHOUSING 899.5 4.5 0.5PNCINFRA 127.65 -1.55 -1.2POWERGRID 180.4 0.75 0.42PRESTIGE 199 1.1 0.56PRSMJOHNSN 79.05 0.6 0.76PTC 82.85 1.55 1.91PVR 1499.7 25.75 1.75QUESS 676.85 71.05 11.73RADICO 380.75 12.95 3.52RAIN 128.2 6.1 5RAJESHEXPO 570.75 -0.15 -0.03RALLIS 172.1 2.6 1.53RAMCOCEM 600.5 20.15 3.47RATNAMANI 874 4 0.46RAYMOND 788.95 25.65 3.36RBLBANK 558.4 10.4 1.9RCF 58.95 1.35 2.34RCOM 15.36 0.64 4.35RECLTD 102.65 2.15 2.14REDINGTON 87.3 0.3 0.34RELAXO 735 -9.5 -1.28RELCAPITAL 205.25 4.45 2.22RELIANCE 1096.2 7.7 0.71RELINFRA 292.05 -5.7 -1.91REPCOHOME 328.4 2.9 0.89RNAM 170.95 1.75 1.03RNAVAL 12.78 0.92 7.76RPOWER 27 0.25 0.93SADBHAV 197 0.25 0.13SAIL 50.6 0.55 1.1SANOFI 6190 115.2 1.9SBILIFE 564.5 3.5 0.62SBIN 281.2 7.8 2.85SCHAEFFLER 5409.95 101.9 1.92SCHNEIDER 102.1 0.4 0.39SCI 43 1.25 2.99SFL 1495 52.65 3.65SHANKARA 495.5 -16.8 -3.28SHARDACROP 265.15 3.95 1.51SHILPAMED 379.3 5.95 1.59SHK 175 0.4 0.23SHOPERSTOP 500.45 7.5 1.52SHREECEM 15875 -143.25 -0.89SHRIRAMCIT 1550 -0.05 0SIEMENS 939.7 12.45 1.34SIS 788 14.85 1.92SJVN 25 -0.1 -0.4SKFINDIA 1850 -2.95 -0.16SOBHA 449.25 16.85 3.9SOLARINDS 1010 1.8 0.18SOMANYCERA 284 9.9 3.61SONATSOFTW 316 11 3.61SOUTHBANK 15.75 0.6 3.96SPARC 205 4.15 2.07SPICEJET 75 0.25 0.33SREINFRA 30.05 0.65 2.21SRF 2135.65 77.45 3.76SRTRANSFIN 1142.35 50.8 4.65STARCEMENT 99.7 1.95 1.99STRTECH 284.6 0.3 0.11SUDARSCHEM 338 13.2 4.06SUNCLAYLTD 3411 -25.3 -0.74SUNDRMFAST 518.15 0.95 0.18SUNPHARMA 421.8 22.95 5.75SUNTECK 338 -5.55 -1.62SUNTV 566 -9.25 -1.61

SUPPETRO 205.8 6.25 3.13SUPRAJIT 207 5.05 2.5SUPREMEIND 975.1 9.6 0.99SUVEN 231 7.85 3.52SUZLON 5.28 0.17 3.33SWANENERGY 104.8 3.25 3.2SYMPHONY 1045.5 61.95 6.3SYNDIBANK 31.35 0.45 1.46SYNGENE 529.05 1.65 0.31TAKE 132.55 0.35 0.26TATACHEM 671 12.05 1.83TATACOFFEE 91.15 0.25 0.28TATACOMM 516.85 6.45 1.26TATAELXSI 1003.35 24.6 2.51TATAGLOBAL 202.65 4.1 2.06TATAINVEST 850.1 2.85 0.34TATAMETALI 634 28.4 4.69TATAMOTORS 158.2 1.35 0.86TATAMTRDVR 86.1 -0.15 -0.17TATAPOWER 79 1.55 2TATASTEEL 501.6 -0.45 -0.09TCS 1998.35 23.45 1.19TEAMLEASE 2840.1 -41 -1.42TECHM 695.5 9.1 1.33TEJASNET 200.45 -9.35 -4.46TEXRAIL 55 -0.25 -0.45THERMAX 1124.05 12.65 1.14THOMASCOOK 222.5 5.15 2.37THYROCARE 537 -4.6 -0.85TIFHL 512.8 16.45 3.31TIMETECHNO 98.8 -0.6 -0.6TIMKEN 525 17.85 3.52TITAN 931.85 25.1 2.77TNPL 251.95 3.05 1.23TORNTPHARM 1688.35 -5.05 -0.3TORNTPOWER 246.75 1.5 0.61TRENT 336.05 15.1 4.7TRIDENT 63.75 0.6 0.95TRITURBINE 116.15 1.2 1.04TTKPRESTIG 7428.3 378.95 5.38TV18BRDCST 34.2 0.9 2.7TVSMOTOR 551.6 4.55 0.83TVSSRICHAK 2386 0.95 0.04TVTODAY 369.05 -1.1 -0.3UBL 1244.8 40.95 3.4UCOBANK 18.7 1.2 6.86UFLEX 267.8 6.2 2.37UJJIVAN 217.8 4.1 1.92ULTRACEMCO 3883.55 105.05 2.78UNICHEMLAB 190.95 -0.6 -0.31UNIONBANK 73.45 1.85 2.58UPL 749.6 2.8 0.37VBL 742 3.6 0.49VEDL 193.6 0.9 0.47VENKYS 2256.65 65.05 2.97VGUARD 210.15 1 0.48VIJAYABANK 41.3 0.35 0.85VINATIORGA 1437 33.05 2.35VIPIND 520.1 24.85 5.02VMART 2533 -95.85 -3.65VOLTAS 554.05 19.2 3.59VTL 1054.9 -3.45 -0.33WABAG 250.45 2.5 1.01WABCOINDIA 6602.05 292.3 4.63WELCORP 149.7 3.7 2.53WELSPUNIND 59.8 -0.05 -0.08WHIRLPOOL 1297 6.95 0.54WIPRO 328.95 1.65 0.5WOCKPHARMA 493.2 12.35 2.57YESBANK 177.4 12.05 7.29ZEEL 478.5 12.4 2.66ZENSARTECH 239 12.25 5.4ZYDUSWELL 1306.95 35.45 2.79

NIFTY 50

SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGEYESBANK 164.5 179.85 163.8 179.05 13.4SUNPHARMA 390.6 424.8 390.6 423.8 24.8ASIANPAINT 1,268.00 1,336.45 1,252.15 1,322.85 48.65KOTAKBANK 1,189.00 1,239.00 1,171.00 1,239.00 40.65BAJAJFINSV 5,643.00 5,870.00 5,623.10 5,870.00 176.05SBIN 268.35 283.25 268.35 281.75 7.55TITAN 899 936.95 894.15 931.6 24.5ZEEL 463.7 482.5 463.35 478.5 12.35JSWSTEEL 287.9 303.15 286.3 301.7 7.6ULTRACEMCO 3,749.00 3,896.00 3,725.05 3,873.70 97.15AXISBANK 581 616.65 580.5 603.9 13.6HCLTECH 941 965.15 930.7 960 18M&M 699.9 729.9 694 722.35 11.8CIPLA 503 523.95 503 521.05 8.5ITC 268.4 276.05 268.2 274.9 4.45BAJFINANCE 2,360.00 2,446.50 2,332.10 2,432.00 36.45COALINDIA 233.75 244.05 233.75 241.3 3.15ONGC 136 138.95 134.75 138.9 1.8DRREDDY 2,668.50 2,749.95 2,666.10 2,725.00 34.55GRASIM 784 804.95 775 800.15 9.75TECHM 690 708.9 685 696 8.1NTPC 134.05 138.05 134.05 137.7 1.5TCS 1,970.00 2,010.00 1,961.00 1,997.05 21.25IBULHSGFIN 669.2 711.4 665.05 693.85 7.25EICHERMOT 22,011.00 22,766.05 21,800.00 22,600.00 195.15VEDL 191.9 195 190.05 194 1.45TATAMOTORS 155 159.5 154.65 158.25 1.15RELIANCE 1,066.00 1,102.10 1,055.00 1,098.00 7.75WIPRO 325.4 333.8 324.8 328.85 2.25INFRATEL 247.7 257.25 246 252 1.65INFY 669.2 681.9 660.6 673.25 4.05UPL 740 751 731.2 750 3.45BAJAJ-AUTO 2,710.00 2,760.00 2,685.00 2,737.75 12.65POWERGRID 177.8 181.3 177.15 180 0.7GAIL 330.2 335.45 329.7 332.85 0.8INDUSINDBK 1,476.75 1,564.75 1,475.00 1,556.75 2.3HEROMOTOCO 3,010.00 3,062.50 2,982.00 3,049.70 3.2TATASTEEL 495.6 503.7 486.15 503 0.15HINDUNILVR 1,781.00 1,819.90 1,770.10 1,795.70 -0.1HDFC 1,878.00 1,912.65 1,855.25 1,904.00 -2.5LT 1,358.00 1,369.85 1,343.65 1,363.25 -4.5MARUTI 7,240.50 7,346.00 7,215.55 7,305.00 -45.5HINDALCO 215 218.45 214 216.4 -1.5ADANIPORTS 347 363.55 347 355.5 -3.65ICICIBANK 337.4 345 336 342.6 -3.75BPCL 326 330 321.6 326 -4.25HDFCBANK 2,056.00 2,071.30 2,032.00 2,056.15-32.6BHAR-TIARTL 288 294.4 282 290.2 -4.75IOC 134 134 129.55 132 -2.35HINDPETRO 225.8 226.4 217.2 219.9 -6.8

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world 13LUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY | DECEMBER 12, 2018

Indian, China begin military drills PTI n BEIJING

India and China on Tuesdaybegan the 7th round of their

‘Hand-in-Hand’ military drillsin the Chinese city of Chengduas part of the focussed efforts bythe two militaries to improveties after last year’s standoff atDoklam.

Both sides have fielded 100personnel to take part in theseventh edition of the exercis-es focussing on tactical leveloperations in an InternationalCounter Insurgency/CounterTerrorist environment as perUN mandate.

The drills are being heldafter a gap of one year as theycould not be held last yearbecause both armies werelocked in a 73-day standoff atDoklam in the Sikkim sector.The drills would conclude onDecember 23.

The Indian military con-tingent headed by Col. PuneetTomar arrived in Chengdu cityMonday to take part in theexercises to foster closer tiesbetween the two militarieswhich guard the 3488-km longLine of Actual Control (LAC).

China has fielded its troopsfrom the Tibetan militarycommand. “OpeningCeremony of the 7th India-

China joint Hand-in-Handjoint training exercises washeld in Chengdu. Indian Armycontingent and Tibetan Militarycommand of People’s LiberationArmy (PLA) are participatingin the exercises,” the IndianEmbassy here tweeted onTuesday.

“The aim of the Hand-in-Hand exercises is to build clos-er relations between the mili-taries of India and China. Theexercises involve tactical leveloperations in an InternationalCounter Insurgency/ Counter

Terrorist environment as perUN mandate,” it said in anoth-er tweet.

China on Mondayexpressed hope that theresumption of military exercis-es between the Indian andChinese armies would injectimpetus and yield good resultsfor the improvement of bilateralties.

“We wish to see good out-comes,” Chinese ForeignMinistry spokesman Lu Kangtold media here. He referred tothe informal summit between

Prime Minster Narendra Modiand Chinese President XiJinping at Wuhan in China inApril this year and the “impor-tant consensus” reachedbetween the two leaders toimprove relations.

“Departments on the twosides in charge of various fieldsare making positive efforts tomore effectively implement theconsensus reached between thetwo state leaders. Contactsbetween the two militaries andborder troops are part of theseefforts,” he said.

“We believe that under theguidance of the consensusbetween the two leaders, thetwo sides will make joint effortsto ensure that bilateralexchanges and cooperation,including those in the defencefield, will achieve positive out-comes and offer more drivingforce for the development ofbilateral relations,” he said.

After the Doklam standoff,the two militaries made effortsto improve relations followingthe Wuhan summit.

Besides resuming thedefence dialogue after thestandoff, the two countries alsoheld the 21st round of bordertalks to resolve the boundaryissue.

India pledges support toMyanmar’s peace process

Nay Pyi Taw: President Ram Nath Kovind being welcomed by Myanmar's PresidentU. Win Myint at Presidential Palace, Nay Pyi Taw on Tuesday. AP

U.S. Border Patrol agents make arrests during a pro-migration protest by members of various faith groups showing support forCentral American asylum-seekers who arrived in recent caravans and calling for an end to migrant detentions and deportations,in San Diego as seen through the border fence from Tijuana, Mexico . Dozens of protestors were arrested for trespassing as theytried to approach the border wall, and one person for assaulting an officer. AP

Teenager inSydney jailedfor planningattackSydney (AP): An Australiancourt sentenced a Sydney teenag-er to at least 12 years in prison onTuesday for planning an attackinspired by the Islamic Stategroup for which he bought knivesand bayonets from a gun shoptwo years ago. The now 18-year-old male, who cannot be namedfor legal reasons, was arrested out-side a Muslim prayer hall in thewestern Sydney suburb ofBankstown in October 2016, andfound guilty of plotting an attackby a jury in September. Handingdown his sentence at theParramatta Supreme Court inwestern Sydney, Judge GeoffreyBellew rejected the man’s claimthat he had purchased theweapons for hunting animals.

“At the time of his arrest, theoffender was ready, willing andable to carry out a terroristattack,” the judge said. “It reflectsa deep and unstinting motivationto act upon and put into specif-ic effect the irrational, immoraland heinous advice propoundedin extremist propaganda issued byIslamic State,” the judge added.

The teenager acknowledgedto the court that he sympathizedwith the Islamic State groupwhen he bought the weapons, butdenied any plan to use them in aterror attack, saying he wantedthem for camping and hunting.Bellew said there was over-whelming evidence against theteenager, and sentenced him to 16years in prison with a non-paroleperiod of 12 years. The judge saidit was significant that the teenag-er’s arrest came little more than amonth after he had downloadedan IS magazine which men-tioned Bankstown in an articleurging readers to “alleviate thepain afflicting the hearts of theMuslims by striking the kuffar intheir homelands.”

James Bond has severe drinking disorderPTI n MELBOURNE

British secret service agentJames Bond may be licensed

to kill, but scientists say that hissevere alcohol use disordermay prove to be fatal for thepopular fictional character.Researchers from Universityof Otago in Australia analysed24 Bond movies producedbetween 1962 and 2015, andfound the secret agent has beendrinking heavily and consis-tently over six decades.

Despite his preference formartinis (shaken, not stirred),the researchers found Bondwas ready to drink any alcoholicbeverage that was available,from neat vodka to champagne— even occasionally beer.Bond frequently engaged inhazardous activities whileunder the influence, accordingto the study published in theMedical Journal of Australia.

“Chronic risks include fre-quently drinking prior to fights,driving vehicles (including inchases), high stakes gambling,operating complex machineryor devices, contact with dan-gerous animals, extreme athleticperformance and sex with ene-mies, sometimes with guns orknives in the bed,” said NickWilson of the University of

Otago. Dangerous animals hehas dealt with after drinkinginclude a snake, a scorpion anda komodo dragon. Neither does007 shy away from performingcomplex tasks after indulging.

This was illustrated graph-ically in the 1962 movie Dr. Noin which Bond operates nuclearpower plant machinery,destroys Dr. No’s nuclear/spacecomplex, kills Dr. No, rescuesHoney Ryder and escapes theisland.

Wilson said that there aremany problematic aspects toBond’s drinking behaviour, withone binge drinking episodeinvolving six ‘Vespers,” a ginand vodka-based cocktail.

This equates to 24 units ofalcohol that would produce ablood alcohol level that is wellinto the known fatal range.

However, this was lowcompared to his drinking in

one of the James Bond books at50 units of alcohol in one day,“a level of consumption whichwould kill nearly everyone.” AVesper cocktail differs fromBond’s usual ‘shaken, notstirred’ vodka martini, in thatit has a base of both gin andvodka, and substitutes KinaLillet for vermouth and lemonpeel for an olive.

The recipe was given byBond to a barman in the 2006movie Casino Royale.

“Other notable featuresinclude a medical scan thatshowed his liver was ‘not toogood’ and a MI6 report onBond that stated, ‘alcohol andsubstance addiction indicat-ed’,” Wilson said. While ideal-ly, Bond should seek profes-sional help for his drinking, theauthors suggest a few strategieswhich may minimise his risksin the short term.

Indian-origin man jailed for 7 years in S’pore for stabbing his pregnant wifePTI n SINGAPORE

A30-year-old Indian-originman in Singapore was

Tuesday sentenced to sevenyears in prison and ordered tobe given six strokes of the canefor stabbing his pregnant wifewith a 10-cm long knife,according to a media report.Jayselan N Chandrasegarstabbed his 27-year-old wifeMayuri Krishnakumar twicein her abdomen and twice onher lower back, causing her tosuffer puncture wounds onDecember 30 last year.

He also slashed her backbefore fleeing the scene. Mayuriwas taken to hospital and dis-charged after a few days. “Thecourt heard that the unbornbaby was not harmed in theattack. Chandrasegar was sen-tenced to seven years’ jail with

six strokes of the cane,” ‘TheStraits Times’ reported.

He pleaded guilty to onecount of causing grievous hurtto the woman with a weapon,and one count of failing to pro-vide his urine sample after hewas caught for suspected drug-related offence, it said.

According to the report,Chandrasegar flew into a rageafter he spotted his pregnantwife, who used to be a sexworker, talking to a man heassumed was a pimp.

Deputy Public ProsecutorHouston Johannus said thecouple were married in 2013.However, their marriage souredin October last year because offrequent quarrels over moneyand their three-year old child.“The accused was also madeaware that the victim’s ex-

boyfriend was trying to recon-nect with her,” Johannus toldDistrict Judge Ng Peng Hong.“This caused the accused tobecome overly possessive anddistrustful of the victim. Hethen banned the victim fromgoing out of the house,”Johannus said. When Mayuritold Chandrasegar that she waspregnant, he refused to believethat the child was his andaccused her of infidelity, thereport said. Unable to toleratehis aggression and verbal abuse,she ran away from their homein Decemeber last year andsought refuge with her oldfriends, who were mainly sexworkers, it said.

Before this incident, policeofficers caught Chandrasegarfor suspected drug-relatedoffences, the court heard.

India’s role crucial for

Af peace process: Pak

PTI n ISLAMABAD

Probably for the first time,Pakistan has acknowledged

that India has stakes inAfghanistan and its cooperationis necessary for the peace processin the war-torn country.Speaking in the NationalAssembly on Monday, ForeignMinister Shah MehmoodQureshi said Pakistan alonecould not bring peace inAfghanistan as it was a “sharedresponsibility” of regional coun-tries.

“Prime Minister ImranKhan had said that peace couldnot be established inAfghanistan through militarypower. Today the US, Pakistan,Afghanistan and Taliban alsowanted a solution through dia-logue,” The Express Tribunequoted Qureshi as saying.

“Some meetings have takenplace [among key stakeholders]for establishment of peace inAfghanistan. India also hasstakes in Afghanistan and itscooperation will also be needed,”Qureshi said. The US has indi-

cated that it plans to give a roleto India in Afghanistan, where-as Pakistan’s stance over the yearswas quite clear that India had norole to play in Afghanistan.

Pakistan perceives India’sdevelopment contributions inAfghanistan as part of NewDelhi’s strategic encirclementpolicy that Islamabad feelswould leave it vulnerable inany potential conflict.

He said US presidentDonald Trump in a letter toPrime Minister Khan had askedPakistan to help and facilitate thepeace process in Afghanistanwhich Qureshi said Pakistan was

already doing. Speaking about relations

with India, Qureshi expressedthe hope that New Delhi willreciprocate Pakistan’s goodwillgesture of taking the initiative toopen the Kartarpur corridorfor Indian Sikh pilgrims.

The Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) government of India“unwillingly” had to accept thePakistani offer to open the cor-ridor and they later approved itthrough a resolution in aCabinet meeting, he said.Pakistan hopes that India willreview its policy in Kashmir, hesaid.

PTI n NAY PYI TAW

Acknowledging thatMyanmar is going through

a “challenging time”, India onTuesday pledged full support toits national peace process andthe country’s quest for betterconnectivity during PresidentRam Nath Kovind’s wide rang-ing talks with his counterpart UWin Myint and StateCounsellor Aung San Suu Kyi.Kovind, who arrived here onMonday on a five-day visit,received a military guard ofhonour at the PresidentialPalace. He held wide rangingdiscussions with his counter-part.

“President Kovind led del-egation-level talks withPresident U Win Myint ofMyanmar.

The President said thatIndia attaches special priority toits relations with Myanmar.Myanmar is a key partner forIndia’s ‘Act East’ and‘Neighbourhood First’ policies,”the president’s office tweeted.

The two leaders witnessedsigning of two MoU/Programme of Cooperationbetween two countries in thearea of judicial training and sci-

ence and technology. India alsohanded over 50 housing unitsto Myanmar. India is building250 houses in Myanmar’sRakhine province as part of adevelopmental project. The firstbatch of 50 houses was formal-ly handed over to the Myanmarauthorities on Tuesday.

India signed a develop-ment programme for RakhineState in Myanmar late last yearwhich was designed to assist theMyanmar government inRakhine State to build housinginfrastructure for return of dis-placed persons.

More than 700,000 minor-ity Rohingya Muslims havefled Myanmar’s Rakhine statesince August 2017 after a mil-itary crackdown. Kovind alsoheld talks with Myanmar’s StateCounsellor Suu Kyi.

“President Kovind metMyanmar’s State CounsellorDaw Aung San Suu Kyi andappreciated her role in themodern history of Myanmarand assured India’s commit-ment to common prosperityand better connectivity,”External Affairs Ministryspokesperson Raveesh Kumartweeted.

Iran confirmsmissile testamid WesterncriticismAFP n TEHRAN

Iran confirmed on Tuesdaythat it had carried out a

recent test of a medium-rangeballistic missile after Westernpowers sharply criticised aDecember 1 launch. “We arecontinuing our missile testsand this recent one was a sig-nificant test,” the Fars newsagency reported, citingRevolutionary Guards aero-space commander BrigadierGeneral Amirali Hajizadeh.

“The US reaction showedthat it was a big thing for themand that it upset them,” the con-servative news agency said,adding that Iran carried outbetween 40 and 50 missile testsa year. Iran has pressed on withits ballistic missile programmeafter reining in much of itsnuclear programme under alandmark 2015 deal with majorpowers. A UN Security Councilresolution adopted after theagreement calls on Iran torefrain from testing missilescapable of carrying a nuclearweapon, but does not specifi-cally bar Tehran from missilelaunches.

The UN Security Councilconvened at the request ofBritain and France onDecember 4 to discuss the lat-est test which both govern-ments described as “provoca-tive” and “inconsistent” withResolution 2231.

Britain said that the typesof missiles fired had capabilitiesthat “go way beyond legitimatedefensive needs”. Iran has devel-oped several types of ballisticmissiles with a range of up to3,000 kilometres (1,875 miles)- sufficient to reach Israel andWestern bases across the region.

In its report, Fars did notspecify the date of the latest testor say which types of missilewere fired. Washington, whichquit the nuclear deal in May,described the test as an outright“violation” of Resolution 2231and called on the SecurityCouncil to condemn it. Butveto-wielding Moscow hasdefended Tehran’s right to carryout the missile tests, and theDecember 4 meeting endedwith no joint statement or anyplan for follow-up action.

The council is due to meetagain on December 19 for a reg-ular review of the resolution’simplementation.Iran hasreceived regular certifications ofcompliance with the provisionsof the nuclear deal from the UNatomic watchdog.

Thai junta lifts ban on political campaigning AFP n BANGKOK

Thailand’s junta on Tuesdaylifted a four-year ban on

political campaigning ahead of2019 elections, promptingThaksin Shinawatra — the exiledbillionaire who sits at the heartof the kingdom’s political rupture— to hail a “new hope” for thenation. One of the military’s firstacts after seizing power in May2014 was to outlaw politicalactivity of all kind, as it muzzledopposition in a country notori-ous for its rowdy — and oftendeadly — street politics. But theban was officially lifted onTuesday, prompting the ElectionCommission to confirm anexpected poll date of February24.

“Political parties should beable to campaign to presenttheir policies,” according to anorder signed by junta leaderPrayut Chan-O-Cha and pub-

lished by palace mouthpiece theRoyal Gazette.

The junta “has decided toamend or abolish the laws”which could inhibit campaignsbefore elections, it said.

Thailand’s rulers began eas-ing restrictions in September,allowing political parties torecruit new members and electleaders. But campaigns and streetrallies remained banned.Tuesday’s order raises the

prospect of a return to Thailand’srambunctious politics and thepotential for street rallies thathave defined much of the tur-bulent last decade of Thai poli-tics. In that time, Thai politics hasbeen sharply polarised betweensupporters of the powerfulShinawatra clan — popular inthe poor, populous north andnortheast — and the royalist,conservative Bangkok-centricelite backed by the army.

The military loathesThaksin, the former cop turnedtelecoms tycoon who won alandslide election in 2001, and ishellbent on blocking theShinawatra clan from returningto power.

A new charter embeds gov-ernment policy for the next 20years, dilutes the number ofelected parliamentary seats avail-able and introduces a hand-picked upper house and thepossibility of an appointed primeminister.

“I’d like to congratulate theThai people as today is the startof a new hope we’ll get freedomand equality back,” Thaksin saidin a rare Facebook post respond-ing to the lifting of the cam-paigning ban.He also called forthe constitution to be changed ina post accompanied by a photoof him making the three-fin-gered salute from “The HungerGames” movie franchise, an

AFP n BERLIN

Embattled British PrimeMinister Theresa May

embarked on a tour of Europeancapitals on Tuesday in a desper-ate bid to salvage her Brexit deal,a day after delaying a parlia-mentary vote on the text to avoida crushing defeat. May hadbreakfast with Dutch PrimeMinister Mark Rutte in TheHague before heading to Berlinfor lunch with Chancellor AngelaMerkel, and was then to travel onto Brussels. She is seeking “reas-surances” over provisions in theEU withdrawal agreement con-cerning Northern Ireland, whichshe hopes could persuade herrebellious Conservative party tosupport it.

European Commissionchief Jean-Claude Juncker saidahead of meeting May that hewas “surprised” at being askedfor more talks.

“I’m surprised because wehad reached an agreement onNovember 25” at the last EUsummit, he told the EuropeanParliament in Strasbourg. “Thedeal we have achieved is the bestdeal possible, it’s the only dealpossible. “There is no roomwhatsoever for renegotiation

but of course there is room, ifused intelligently, to give furtherclarification and further inter-pretations.” MPs in the House ofCommons were due to vote onthe deal on Tuesday night, butMay deferred it on Monday,admitting she expected to lose bya “significant margin”. Herspokesman said Tuesday thevote would be rescheduled beforeJanuary 21 — just months beforeBritain leaves the EU on March29. EU President Donald Tusk,who was also to meet May inBrussels, has called a meeting of

the other 27 EU leaders onThursday to discuss the latestBrexit developments.

They and May were alreadydue to attend a EuropeanCouncil summit on Thursdayand Friday, which the Britishprime minister is expected to useto further press her case. IrishForeign Minister SimonCoveney said his governmentruled out changes to the word-ing of the withdrawal agreement,but said there could be “a polit-ical declaration coming from aEuropean Council”.

PM May tours Europe in bid to save Brexit deal

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, right, welcomes British Prime Minister TheresaMay prior to a meeting in the chancellery in Berlin, Germany on Tuesday. AP

LUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY | DECEMBER 12, 2018 sport 14

PTI n ADELAIDE

Australia Test skipper Tim Paine hasquestioned the decision review sys-tem, saying it has been "frustrating"

to deal with the technology that is "not a per-fect system".

Australia endured some frustratingmoments during their 31-run loss to Indiain first Test when a few decisions wentagainst the hosts after reviewing the umpirescalls.

Umpire Nigel Llong had given AjinkyaRahane out caught at bat-pad for 17 earlyon Sunday but the decision was over-turned on review when replays indicatedthat the ball had hit the batsman's front padoutside the line of off stump and missed hisbat and gloves.

Similarly, Cheteshwar Pujara, who hadscored a gritty 123 in the first innings, wasadjudged out on eight and 17 to Lyon onSaturday but the dismissals were overturned.

Replays found no contact with bat orgloves in his first dismissal and the secondone was overruled as ball tracking suggest-ed that the ball would have gone over thebails.

"Look, it's (DRS) not a perfect systemand I haven't got the answers. It's just frus-trating; I'd imagine it's frustrating for every-one. But it is what it is," Paine was quotedas saying in the 'Sydney Morning Herald'.

The Australian skipper initially said thecalls had been "interesting," then when laterasked why DRS was interesting, he said: "Ithink everything. I don't want to talk aboutDRS. It's just — it is what it is.

"A lot of balls seem to be going over thetop of the stumps, I know that, that live don'tlook like they are. So yeah, it is what it is."

In Australia's second innings, AaronFinch was caught in close to off-spinner RAshwin but he didn't use the DRS after con-sulting partner Marcus Harris.

Reviews suggested that the ball had nottouched the gloves and later third umpireChris Gaffaney informed Nathan Lyonthere was not enough evidence to overturnthe decision.

Paine said: "It's one of those things. Youcan't do much about it. We've been toldAaron's for instance would still not havebeen overturned. Yeah, the DRS is inter-esting.

"It's a bit different when the batters are

out there, it's up to thosetwo, isn't it? Aaron felt some-thing on his glove, it endedup being his pad, that canhappen.

"From a bowling and in-the-field perspective, we'vegot a process we go throughwith myself and the bowler.Nathan Lyon's at point a lot,he gives us the indication ofheight. You have to takeeveryone's piece of infor-mation and make good deci-sions. We got a couple wrongbut that can happen."

Former skipperMahendra Singh Dhoni was

against the usage of DRS in Tests and Indiaavoided the technology for eight years afterits introduction in Test cricket in 2008.

But after Virat Kohli became the captain,India agreed to the use of DRS in 2016.

Paine also backed pacer Mitchell Starcto rediscover his best in the bouncy tracksof Perth in the second Test after the open-ing Test where he didn't look menacingdespite taking five wickets.

"When Starcy's on song, there is no bet-ter bowler in the world, particularly with thenew ball," Paine told told cricket.Com.Au.

"In Perth, the conditions will suit himdown to the ground ... From what I am hear-ing, the wicket is going to be really fast sohe'll be a handful."

Paine admitted Starc was not at his bestat Adelaide but acknowledged his role in theteam.

"He didn't set the world on fire but Ithink, for a long time, there's been a reallybig gap between Starcy's best and hisworst," Paine said.

"And from what I'm seeing, that is get-ting closer and closer every day. Was he athis best? Probably not. But I still thought heplayed his role."

PTI n MUMBAI

Former Test pacer Karsan Ghavri expects beat-en Australia to fight back in the remainder of

the four-match rubber starting with the secondTest at Perth, but backed the Virat Kohli-led Indiato hold fort.

He also hailed Cheteshwar Pujara, whopulled the chestnuts out of the fire with a battlingcentury in the Indian first innings of the open-ing skirmish at Adelaide and followed it up withanother half century to help the visitors consol-idate, as the "Indian Wall".

"We are up 1-0 in Australia right now andthere are three more Tests to go. But I will not besurprised (if) there will be a big fight on the fieldfrom the Australian team. They (Australia) willfight back. But I can tell you we (India) have anupper hand. We have an advantage of being a greatteam," the former left-arm pacer said on Tuesday.

India gave wings to their quest for a maidenseries win in Australia with a 31-run victory inthe opening Test in Adelaide, their first in thecountry since 2008 on Monday.

On the contribution of Pujara, declared theman of the match at Adelaide, Ghavri said,"Cheteshwar Pujara is the wall (of Indian crick-et) after Rahul Dravid. He is the Indian wall likethe China Wall (referring to the Great Wall ofChina). For Indian cricket, in Tests, CheteshwarPujara is the wall of India."

"His (Pujara's) wicket is a very prized wick-et one in Test cricket. Like when Rahul Dravidused to play, his wicket was a prized wicket (for

the opposition). Today Indian cricket can dependon him (Pujara) and as long as he delivers thegoods, it's great for Indian cricket," said the 67-year-old Ghavri who also hails from Saurashtralike Pujara.

Ghavri, who switched over to Mumbai fromSaurashtra early in his career, had also helpedPujara during the latter's fledging days.

"Personally I feel we have won this Test inAustralia in Adelaide because of Pujara, his greatperformance. He gave Indian bowlers (something)to bowl at as you require runs on the board. Hiscontribution was sizable," said Ghavri, who wasthe senior in his new ball partnership with the leg-endary Kapil Dev.

Ghavri also felt the Australian team was miss-ing the banned duo of Steve Smith and DavidWarner. "I am sure they are missing them, as theywere the main run-getters for Australia in the lastcouple of years," the former speedster remarked.

PTI n PERTH

India's new record-holder wicketkeeper Rishabh Panthas described Mahendra Singh Dhoni as "the hero of

the country" and said the former skipper taught him tobe patient and handle pressure situations.

Pant, on Monday, equalled the world record of mostcatches in a Test by a wicketkeeper, snaring 11 in India's31-run win in the first Test against Australia.

"He's (Dhoni) thehero of the country,"Pant, who took sixcatches in Australia'sfirst innings to equalDhoni on that mark,told cricket.Com.Au.

"I've learnt a lotfrom him as a personand as a cricketer aswell. Whenever he'saround, I feel moreconfident as a person.If I've got any prob-lems I can share itwith him and get asolution right away.

"As a wicketkeeper and a player (he's taught me) tobe patient in pressure situations like this (in Adelaide).You have to keep calm and keep composed and try togive 100 per cent."

Talking about the record, Pant said: "I neverthought of the record but it's good to take some catch-es and put it inside my kitty. It's good to have milestones,but I'm not thinking about that too much."

PTI n DUBAI

India captain Virat Kohli hasmaintained his top spot,

Cheteshwar Pujara returned totop five while Jasprit Bumrahachieved a career-high ranking of33 in the latest ICC Test rankingsfor batsmen and bowlers.

Pujara's knocks of 123 and 71were the cornerstone of India'svictory in the opening Test againstAustralia at the Adelaide Oval.Pujara has now moved ahead ofJoe Root and David Warner infourth position. He trails third-ranked Smith by 55 points, andleads Root by 39 points.

India fast bowler Bumrahhas achieved a career-high rank-ing of 33rd, after his three for 47and three for 68 at Adelaidehelped him to rise five places.

Kane Williamson hasbecome the first New Zealandbatsman and 32nd overall tobreak the 900-point barrier in theICC Player Rankings for TestBatsmen following a stellar per-formance in the third Test againstPakistan, which helped his side towin their first away series in 49years.

Williamson scored 89 and139 in Abu Dhabi last week,which set up New Zealand's con-vincing 123-run victory overPakistan.

This performance not onlyhelped Williamson to win thePlayer of the Match award, butalso earn 37 points in the latestplayer rankings, which, in turn,has allowed him to leapfrogAustralia's Steve Smith into sec-ond position on a career-high 913points.

As a result, Kohli has con-ceded 15 points to slip to 920

points, just seven points ahead ofWilliamson.

With Williamson breathingdown Kohli's neck, the India cap-tain will be under pressure to per-form strongly with the bat in thesecond Test starting in Perthfrom Friday otherwise he willpotentially lose his number-oneranking he has been holdingsince the Edgbaston Test againstEngland in August.

While Williamson shonewith the bat in Abu Dhabi andwas richly rewarded, number-oneranked Kohli managed only threeand 34 in his side's impressive 31-run victory over Australia at theAdelaide Oval.

The other two notablemovers from the Adelaide Testare Ajinkya Rahane in 17th (upby two places) and Mitchell Starcin 16th (up by two places).

Amongst the newcomers,Australia's Marcus Harris hasentered in 116th batting position,while amongst the bowlers, off-spinner William Somerville ofNew Zealand has emerged in63rd spot and Pakistan fastbowler Shaheen Afridi haspopped up in 111th place.

IANS n NEW DELHI

The BCCI on Tuesday confirmed the forma-tion of an ad-hoc committee, comprising

India's first World Cup-winning captain KapilDev, former opener Anshuman Gaekwad and ex-Indian women cricketer Shantha Rangaswamy,to pick the head coach of the Indian women'steam.

The interviews will be conducted onDecember 20 at the BCCI headquarters inMumbai.

"The Board of Control for Cricket in India(BCCI) on Tuesday announced the ad-hoc com-mittee to conduct the interviews of the eligiblecandidates for the selection of head coach forTeam India (Senior Women)," the boardannounced in a statement.

The Indian women's team was recentlyembroiled in a controversy after the World T20semi-final exit.

The Harmanpreet Kaur-led side failed to enterthe final after going down meekly to England inthe semis, post which veteran batswoman MithaliRaj lashed out at the current coach RameshPowar's behaviour towards her, describing it as"unfair and discriminatory".

The deadline for applying for the women'steam head coach expires December 14 and tillnow the names of former India all-rounder ManojPrabhakar and ex-South African batsmanHerschelle Gibbs have been doing the rounds.

PTI n MUMBAI

Diana Edulji on Tuesday said if ViratKohli can have a say in appointment

of the men's team coach, COA chiefVinod Rai should also respect the viewsof the women's T20 captain HarmanpreetKaur, who wants Romesh Powar to con-tinue as their coach.

The women's team is without acoach at the moment following the con-troversial exit of Powar.

In a letter written to Rai, COAmember Edulji accused the chairman andBCCI CEO Rahul Johri of breaking ruleswhile appointing Ravi Shastri as the men'steam coach in July last year.

"I see nothing wrong in women crick-eters writing e-mails regarding the coach.They were truthful in expressing theirviews unlike Virat who frequently sentsms' to the CEO (Johri) on which youacted and there was a change in thecoach," wrote Edulji.

"There also I had objected and mydissent is recorded when the timelineswere extended for someone to apply ashe (Ravi Shastri) didn't apply in time. Mr(Anil) Kumble a legend in his own rightwas subjected to loss of face and made tolook like a villain. He was graciousenough to move on for which I respecthim. There also, rules were broken and

I had raised objections back then."Edulji said Harmanpreet and Vice

Captain Smriti Mandhana's views on thecoach must be considered.

"The captain and vice captain haverequested their choice so why can't werespect their choice for New Zealand tourtill we get clarity on the committee. Wecan go ahead and continue with the samecoach. The views of the two senior play-ers must not be ignored."

"Virat did not accede to Kumble con-tinuing inspite of Cricket AdvisoryCommittee (CAC) saying, so then whynot these two players get what they feelis best for the team."

The BCCI on Tuesday formed an ad-

hoc panel to find Powar's replacement butEdulji said the decision was made by Raiwithout consulting her.

According to Edulji the CAC com-prising Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxmanand Sourav Ganguly should have beenallowed more time to decide on the wayforward in finding the next women'scoach.

The BCCI instead named a three-member ad-hoc committee comprisingKapil Dev, Anshuman Gaekwad andShantha Rangaswamy to pick Powar'ssuccessor.

"The CAC has to select the HeadCoach but before their availability waschecked, Saba Karim (BCCI GM) hadalready spoken to Kapil, Anshuman andShubhangi Kukarni. I enquired for clar-ity on their conflict (of interest) roles ashow an ad-hoc committee was beingformed without proper authority.

"But legal (department of BCCI) asusual gave an contrary opinion - 2 dif-ferent versions on 2 issues. On one handCOA has no powers to look into the COI(Conflict of Interest) issue and on otherhand COA has powers to appoint an Adhoc committee.

"I still maintain that the CAC shouldhave been given time like requested andtheir roles should be defined. There isenough time till the next tour."

PTI n MUMBAI

Ramesh Powar, whose controversialtenure as women's coach ended on

November 30, on Tuesday reapplied for thejob after receiving strong support from T20captain Harmanpreet Kaur and her deputySmriti Mandhana.

The 40-year-old former India spinnerconfirmed that he has applied.

"Yes, I have applied this eveningbecause Smriti (Mandhana), Harmanpreet(Kaur) have supported me and I can't letthem (the girls) down by not applying," saidPowar.

Powar's stint after the Indian women'steam lost to England in the semifinals ofthe World T20 last month. The team man-agement including Powar andHarmanpreet dropped senior playerMithali Raj for the knock-out game, trig-gering a massive controversy.

After returning home from the WestIndies, Mithali went on to accuse Powarand COA member Diana Edulji of tryingto destroy her and being biased against her.

Powar, on his part, accused Mithali ofthreatening to retire midway into theWorld T20 after being denied the openingslot and creating chaos in the team.

Following the controversy, the BCCIdecided to invite fresh applications for thepost and set the application deadline forDecember 14.

Harmanpreet and Smriti have alreadysaid that they want Powar to continue whileMithali is against his return.

The women's team is a divided lot atthe moment and so is COA running theBCCI. The COA comprising Vinod Rai andEdulji at loggerheads over the women'scoach appointment.

The BCCI invited fresh applications forthe vacancy after Rai's approval while Eduljisaid that the decision was taken withoutconsulting her and the board could havecontinued with Powar till the New Zealandtour which starts next month.

‘DRS isn’t perfect system’

Australian skipper questions DRS saying it’s frustrating to deal with imperfect technology

Indian players celebrate the dismissal of Australia's Aaron Finch, second left, on day four during the first Test between Australia and India in Adelaide AP

PTI n PERTH

Australia might have been out-witted in the opening Test but

former skipper Ricky Pontingbelieves the hosts will hold an edgeover India in the second Test at thePerth beginning on Friday.

India defeated Australia by 31runs in the first match to take a 1-0 lead in the four-Test series for thefirst time in 70 years.

Ponting believes the nature ofthe new-look Perth pitch will suitthe Australians.

"I think Perth will definitelysuit our guys a lot more than theIndian players, but the Aussiesneed to bounce back pretty quick-ly," Ponting told toldcricket.Com.Au.

Ponting said Australia need tofind out their shortcomings quick-ly and learn from them afterputting a poor show in the firstTest.

"They played pretty poorly thisweek and got within 30 runs. Andthat's not saying India played attheir absolute best either, butthey're absolutely capable," he said.

"There's some positives to takefrom it but they've also got to takea good hard look at what they'vedone through this game and makesure they do it a lot better."

Ponting said Australia shouldavoid any knee-jerk reaction andretain the batting order and fieldthe same playing XI in the secondTest, despite Aaron Finch's failureas an opener.

The selectors, coach JustinLanger and skipper Tim Paine hadbacked Finch to open theAustralian innings in Adelaide andPonting feels they shouldn't changetheir opinion after just one Test.

"Why wouldn't they do that forthis game if that's their best line-up?" Ponting asked if Finch shouldbat down the order.

"I just think that would be real-ly reactionary. The selectors havemade a decision, or whoever is set-ting the batting order, that theythink Aaron Finch is the right guyto be opening the batting forAustralia.

"When you start moving guysaround, it just creates more uncer-tainty. Finch would potentiallytrain differently next week than hehad this week because he's notopening (and) Usman has to traindifferently because he is opening.

"Little things like that wouldcome into their minds. If I wasthem, I'd be tempted to keep it thesame way."

Finch got out for nought and 11in the two innings of the first Test.

Perth will suit Aus morethan India: Ponting

‘Aussies will fight back,but India has upper hand’

Edulji bats for Powar’s selectionPowar re-applies for Eves job

Pujara moves to 4th spot,

Bumrah reaches career-best

Pant pays rich

tribute to Dhoni

Kapil, Anshuman to

pick Eves coach

Jasprit Bumrah celebrates after dismissingAustralian batsman AP

LOOK, IT'S(DRS) NOT APERFECTSYSTEM AND IHAVEN'T GOTTHE ANSWERS.IT'S JUSTFRUSTRATING;I'D IMAGINE IT'SFRUSTRATINGFOR EVERYONE. BUT ITIS WHAT IT IS

LUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY | DECEMBER 12, 2018

15

TODAY’S FIXTURES

ARG vs FRA 4:45pm

AUS vs ENG 7:00pm

LIVE ON

STAR SELECT NETWORK

PTI n BHUBANESWAR]

Pakistan's miserable campaign atthe men's hockey World Cupfinally came to an end after

Olympic Silver medallists Belgiumthrashed the four-time champions 5-0 in the third cross-over match at theKalinga Stadium here on Tuesday.

Staring the match as favourites, theRed Lions toyed with the Pakistanidefence which somehow managed tohold on in the opening 10 minutes.

But once Alexander Hendricks(10th minute) converted a penalty cor-ner, the Pakistani defence broke apartand gates opened up for Belgium.Besides, Hendricks, skipper ThomsaBriels (13th), Cedric Charlier (27th),Sebastian Dockier (35th) and TomBoon (53rd) were the other goal get-ters for Belgium.

While Pakistan will pack theirbags and return home, Belgium willtake Germany in the quarterfinals onThursday.

The Red Lions, ranked third in theworld, came into the match as outrightfavourites against the world No 13Pakistan and they played like cham-pions, dominating the proceedings formajor part of the 60 minutes.

Belgium's first scoring chancecame from the very first move in theform of a penalty corner but thePakistani defence did enough tothwart the danger.

Belgium kept up the pressure onthe fragile Pakistani defence andsecured back-to-back penalty cor-ners in the 10th minute, the second ofwhich was converted by Hendrickswith a powerful low flick to the left cor-ner of the goal.

Three minutes later, Belgiumdoubled their lead through skipperBriels, who deflected in after being setup by Nicols de Kerpel's fine work passfrom the right flank.

Pakistan improved their game inthe second quarter and made someimpressive moves but they lacked ideasonce inside the opposition circle.

The final pass was lacking fromthe Pakistanis as a result of which theirbuild-ups hardly troubled the Belgiandefence.

Pakistan earned their first penal-ty corner in the 16th minute but wast-ed the opportunity while opting for a

variation.Minutes later Ali Shan's reverse hit

from inside the box sailed over theBelgium goal.

The missed chances hurt Pakistanas Belgium extended their lead threeminutes from half time throughCharlier whose reverse hit from a tightangle found the back of the net aftera getting a slight deflection of Pakistaniskipper Ammad Butt's sticks.

Five minutes after the change ofends, Belgium made the scoreline 4-0 through Dockier, who pushed inafter a fine one-two touch play fromCharlier and Simon Gougnard.

While Belgium wasted two morepenalty corners in the third quarter,Pakistan too got a short corner but AliMubashar's attempt went wide.

Down by four goals, Pakistanknew it was the end of the road forthem. It was a one way thereafter asBelgium made all the forays andearned two more penalty corners inthe process. The last penalty cornerresulted in a penalty stroke as the ballhit the body of a Pakistani defenderand Boon made no mistake in con-verting the chance.

DUTCH SET INDIAN CLASHThree-time champions

Netherlands mauled lower-rankedCanada 5-0 in the final cross-overmatch to set up a quarterfinal clashagainst hosts India.

Dominating the proceedings,Netherlands scored five field goalsthrough Lars Balk (16th minute),Robert Kemperman (20th), Thijs vanDam (40th, 58th) and ThierryBrinkman (41st) to register the com-

fortable win at the Kalinga Stadium.Netherlands will now play India

in the last-eight round on Thursday.In the match between world No

4 Netherlands and world No11Canada, the Dutch were early aggres-sor as they made continuous forays.

The Canadians, on the otherhand, preferred to sit back and defendwhile looking for counters to surprisetheir opponents.

Canadian goalkeeper Andrew

Charter too made a number of brilliantsaves to keep his side in the hunt.

The Netherlands' first chancecame in the ninth minute but Chartercame out of his line to pull off brilliantsave and deny Bob de Voogd.

Seven seconds from the first quar-ter Netherlands earned their firstpenalty corner but Mink van derWeerden's attempt sailed over the goal.

After 15 minutes of resistance,Canada's resolute defence finally brokedown seconds into the second quar-ter when an unmarked Lars Balk slid-ing try from Glenn Schuurman's passfound the back of the net past Charter.

Seconds later Netherlands got agolden chance to double their leadwhen they were awarded a penaltystroke but Charter once again came tohis side's rescue to keep away JeroenHertzberger's try.

The Netherlands, however, dou-bled their lead in the 20th minutethrough Robert Kemperman, who slapshot from top of the circle found theCanadian net for the second time inthe game.

Canada's James Wallace feeble tryfrom close range was then easily par-ried away by Dutch goalkeeper PirminBlaak.

Chances came thick and fast forthe Netherlands as Thierry Brinkmanwas the next to be denied by Charterbefore the Canadian goalie pulled offanother fine save to keep awayHertzberger's reverse hit.

The Dutch resumed the secondhalf at the same pace and continuedto mount attacks on the oppositiongoal and in the process secured back-to-back penalty corners in the 38thminute but the chances went wasted.

The Netherlands tripled theirlead in the 40th minute Van Damscored from a rebound after Seve vanAss's initial shot was saved by Canadakeeper Charter.

A minute later, the Dutchmenextended their lead when Brinkmanpushed in an open goal after being setup by Kemperman, who beat threeCanadian defenders with his brilliantstick work.

After wasting another penaltycorner, Netherlands made the score-line 5-0 in their favour two minutesfrom full time through Van Dam's sec-ond goal of the day.

PTI n BHUBANESWAR

Expecting the Netherlands to be their quarterfinal opponents inthe World Cup, India captain Manpreet Singh on Tuesday said

they will continue to play attacking hockey in a game where therewill be no margin for error.

India's quarterfinal opponents was decided after Netherlands beatCanada 5-0 in the fourth cross-over match.

Like everyone else, Manpreet too expected the Dutch to sail intothe last-eight round earlier only.

"We are expecting Holland to come through because they are amuch better team. But whoever goes through our aim would be togive our best. It is a knockout, do-or-die match and there is no sec-ond chance. We can't afford to miss chances. At the same time, weneed to be cautious and give less chances," the midfielder said.

"We need to play attacking hockey, our strength. When we tryto play defensive, we tend to be too much defensive which providesmore chances to opponents. We need to put pressure on them (fromthe start)," Manpreet explained.

The skipper said util-ising chances would becrucial to success in thequarter-final.

"But it will be a verytough match andwhichever team utilisesits chances will win," hesaid.

"If you progress tothe semi-finals youalways have an option offinishing in the podium.You are just one matchaway from a medal. Butif you lose in the quar-terfinals, you don't get asecond option.

"In the end it all boilsdown to how we play. Ifwe get good chances andmiss them and obvious-ly the opposition teamwill take advantage ofit," he added.

Manpreet listed out a series of do's and don'ts if they are pittedagainst three-time champions Netherlands.

"In the past we had good matches against Holland. In theChampions Trophy we drew with Holland. We have also defeated themin the past.

"Our aim would be to strengthen our defence. Holland has verygood and experienced midfield. They also have good strikers. So, ouraim would be to break their moves early. We can't give them easychances and also need to convert our chances," he said.

Manpreet said the Hockey India League played a big part in theprogress of the Indian team.

"Before HIL we didn't knew these players of Holland, Australiaetc. But since HIL started we all know each other having played againstthem and shared the dressing room with them. The team has improveda lot after HIL," he said.

Manpreet didn't play the entire match against Canada in theirlast pool match because of fever but he has since recovered and willbe a key figure in India's midfield on Thursday.

"I am fine now. In the last match I had fever so I couldn't playthe full match. But I am feeling better now," he said.

PTI n GUANGZHOU

PV Sindhu's bid to end theseason with a Gold will be

a tough one while debutantSameer Verma too will need toproduce his absolute best tomake the knockout stage whenthe BWF World Tour Finalsbegins here on Wednesday.

Sindhu has been the mostimpressive among the Indianshuttlers as she claimed Silvermedals at all the major events— Commonwealth Games,Asian Games and WorldChampionship — besides fin-ishing runners-up at the IndiaOpen and Thailand Open.

On Wednesday, the 23-year-old from Hyderabad, whohad finished runners-up in thelast edition at Dubai, willbegin her quest to put a gold-en touch to her Silver-filledcabinet.

But the road to thewomen's singles title will be astiff one, considering she hasbeen clubbed in what can becalled a 'group of death', whichincludes world No 1 and hernemesis Tai Tzu Ying, Japan'sworld No 2 and defendingchampion Akane Yamaguchiand her India Open conquerorBeiwen Zhang ofUSA.

Sindhu, whowill be makingher third succes-sive appearance at the tourna-ment, have a 9-4 head-to-head record against Yamaguchibut she has lost four times tothe Japanese in five meetingsthis season.

The 23-year-old fromHyderabad also have found thegoing tough against AsianGames Champion Tai TzuYing, who has beaten her in alltheir last six encounters. Thelast time Sindhu defeated TzuYing was at the 2016 RioOlympics.

Against Zhang, Sindhuhas a 3-3 head-to-head recordbut the Indian has lost twicein the last three meetings,which included a final defeatat the India Open World Tour

Super 500 tournament in NewDelhi.

Sindhu has exuded confi-dence ahead of the tourna-ment, saying she would be intop form after getting enoughtime to put in the hard yards.

Asked if she would be inbetter form this time, Sindhuhad said: "Ya, I have enoughtime to prepare this time.

"I hope I do well in thistournament. I am confident ofgiving my best. It is one of thebiggest tournaments with allthe top players and it will betough but I really want to winit," added the Indian, who hadskipped the Syed ModiInternational to prepare forthe $ 1,500,000 event.

In men's singles, Sameer,who defended his title at the

Syed ModiInternational lastmonth to qualifyfor the year-end-ing event at the

last moment, has been putalongside Japanese worldnumber 1 Kento Momota,Indonesia's Tommy Sugiartoand Thailand's KantaphonWangcharoen.

Sameer, who is the secondIndian men's player after KSrikanth to qualify for thetournament, has a 1-1 head-to-head record against bothSugiarto and Wangcharoenbut the Indian still will have toput his best to avoid any hic-cups.

The 24-year-old's mainworry will be Momota, whomhe has defeated en route to hisSwiss Open title but theJapanese has emerged as aindomitable force ever since.

AFP n BERLIN

Resurgent Bayern Munichhead to Ajax for

Wednesday's ChampionsLeague group showdown withclear winners and losers amongthe star-studded squad afterNiko Kovac's decision to endrotation.

"We want to keep going,"said Leon Goretzka, now a firmfixture in central midfield along-side Joshua Kimmich withBayern having won their lastthree games after Saturday's 3-0 league home win overNuremberg.

"Now we travel toAmsterdam and want to finishfirst in the group — that'simportant for us."

Bayern need just a point atAjax's Johan Cruyff Arena towin Group E withthe Bavarian giantscurrently top of thetable, two pointsahead of their Dutchrivals, and both teamsalready into the last 16.

A 5-1 thrashing ofBenfica at the AllianzArena a fortnight ago,with RobertLewandowski and ArjenRobben both scoring twice, sig-nified an end to the poor resultsof October and Novemberwhich also saw Bayern slidedown the Bundesliga table.

Bayern have now clawedtheir way back up to third in theleague and coach Kovac hastaken a gamble by ditching

rotation, riskingruffled egos withstars left on thebench.

"The rhythm isthere, the boys are in theflow — that's why wedon't want to changeanything," explainedKovac.

His decision has signifi-cant winners and losers.

World Cup winners —Germany defender MatsHummels, and Spain midfield-er Javi Martinez - languished onthe bench against Nurembergalongside Euro 2016 winnerRenato Sanches.

Martinez and Sanches find

their path blocked by Kimmichand Goretzka, both 23, whoeach hit the woodwork againstNuremberg.

"Both have a very goodunderstanding of football andread the game well," said Kovac,at the helm at Bayern since July.

"They get on well off thepitch and are in the nationalteam together.

"It's an axis that's really funright now — not only for thosetwo, but the whole team in thelast three games."

However, Hummels lookedlike he was having anything but'fun', storming through themixed zone after Saturday'swin without a word as JeromeBoateng and Niklas Suele arenow established as Kovac's cen-tre-backs.

Disgruntled stars watch-ing from Bayern's bench hascaused problems for Kovac'spredecessors and Robben'simminent return from a thighinjury threatens Serge Gnabry'splace on the right wing.

Thiago Alcantara, a sec-ond-half replacement onSaturday who is returning to fit-ness after a knee injury, threat-ens to break up Kimmich andGoretzka's partnership in cen-tral midfield.

However, Kovac's decisionhas reaped dividends in attackwith striker RobertLewandowski scoring four goalsin his last three games, sup-ported by Thomas Mueller whois revelling in the attackingmidfield role.

Ajax vs Bayern Munich

Live from 1:30am IST

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Sindhu vs Yamaguchi

Live from 9:10am IST

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Belgium, Dutch secure K/O spot

Red Lions, The Netherlands reach World Cup quarters after securing five-goal victory in cross-over

Attacking is our strength &we will not deviate: Manpreet

BAYERN HEAD TOAJAX FOR SHOWDOWN

TOUGH ROAD AHEAD

FOR SINDHU

UP EMERGE CHAMPIONHost Uttar Pradesh bagged 16 gold, 10

bronze and 12 bronze medals to annexe the 6thThaiyogaart (Sport) National Championship atKD Singh ‘Babu’ Stadium on Tuesday. MadhyaPradesh finished second with 22 medals whilePunjab settled for third place with 17 medals.Deputy director (sports) SS Mishra and RSOJitendra Yadav gave away the prizes.

LUCKNOW OVERALL CHAMPION

Lucknow bagged nine gold, four silver andfive bronze medals to win the overall champi-onship in the Vovinam State-Level SchoolChampionship at Chowk Stadium. Devaria andRae Bareli finished second and third respectively.Minister Swami Prasad Maurya gave away theprizes.

SHAMBHAVI ENTERS SEMISTop seed Shambhavi Tiwari beat Abhishikta

Verma 6-3, 6-0 to enter the U-18 girl’s semi-finals in the All-India Tennis AssociationChampionship Series at La Martiniere TennisFacility on Tuesday. Chavan Paris, TanushreePandey and Chahana also made it to the lastfour.OTHER RESULTS:(Boy’s U/18 2nd round) Vaibhav Singh Bishtbt Shourya Singh 6-0, 6-0, Torus Rawat bt AdityaSaraswat 6-3, 6-3, Siddhant Bhavnani bt ArjunSharma 6-1, 6-0, Samit Kesari bt KanishkPandey 6-1, 6-2, Arnouv Majumdar bt ParthRatra 6-2, 6-1, Daksh Kumar bt Yash Verma 6-0, 6-1, Aroun Sameul bt Akshay Garg 6-1,6-2,Pranjal Tiwari bt Rahul Kumar 6-1, 6-2(Boy’s U/16 2nd round) Arnouv Majumdar btTarun Randhawa 6-2, 6-2, Shourya Singh btAnkit Kumar 6-2, 6-2, Arjun Sharma bt AaronSameul 6-4, 6-2, Kanishk Pandey bt PranjalTewari 6-1, 6-1, Daksh Kumar bt RahulKumar 6-4, 6-0, Devansh Verma bt ShikharShukla 6-0, 6-0, Shubham Jeet Lal bt ChinmayKackar 6-0, 6-1, Torus Rawat bt Mukul Lodhi6-0, 6-0(Girl’s U/16 2nd round) Chahana bt DurbaGain 6-0, 6-0 Kisha Yadav 6-2, 6-2, Eram Zaidibt Nishta Singh 6-1, 6-1, Amishi Shukla bt YatiBesain 7-6(2), 4-6, 6-4, Harsshali bt ShagunKumari 6-1, 6-0, Chavan Pari s bt Sachi

Patwardhan 6-2, 6-2, Tanushree Pandey btTanisha Pranjal 6-0, 6-1, Yashita Singh btSatakshi Tiwari 6-3, 6-4, Shambhavi Tiwari btShakti 6-3,6-4(Boy’s doubles QF) Siddhant/Mohit btSamit/Daksh 6-3, 6-2, Devansh/Torus btShubhamjeet/Veerbhadra 6-0, 6-1,Arounav/Kanishk bt Karman/Arjun 6-4, 6-1Girl’s doubles QF) Tanisha/Shambhavi btDurba Shagun 6-1, 6-0, Chahana/Harrshali btVaishnavi/Kisha 6-0, 6-0, Yati/Tanushree btAditi/Satakshi 6-3, 6-2, Pari/Sachi btEram/Yashita 6-4, 6-1

LPS BEAT AR JAIPURIALPS South City Green beat Seth AR Jaipuria

School by two wickets while Maa Shri VindvasniInter College defeated Seth MR Jaipuria Schoolby seven wickets in AICC 2nd SAJS AlambaghCampus Inter-School Cricket Tournament atSeth Anandram Jaipuria School on Tuesday.BRIEF SCORES:SAJS: 139 (Abhinav Maurya 31, Aman Ahmed21, Kunal Singh 19; Rajat Rastogi 18/4, SakshamJoshi 24/2)LPS: 140 (Rajat Rastogi 46, Aditya Singh 17;Aryan Sharma 18/3)

SMRJS: 81 (Raghav Mishra 28, Kartik Srivastava12; Atharv Sangwan 7/3, Aman Gupta 13/3)MSVIC: 83 (Natesh 42, Prashant Rai 12;Kastubh Saroj 21/2)

MILKHA TO VISIT CITYPadamshree Milkha Singh will be in the city

to inaugurate the newly-laid track and groundnamed after him at Excellia School on December16. He will also inaugurate the ‘Kala Utsav’- theart and craft exhibition of the school.

LOCAL EVENTS

Former Sri Lankan skipper Arvinda D’Silva being introducedto the players before a INter-School cricket match at CMS,Kanpur Road on Wednesday

16LUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY | DECEMBER 12, 2018the pioneer