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H eavy showers on Thursday brought the city to its knees as normal life was crippled due to waterlogged roads and traf- fic snarls on various routes. To add to the commuters’ woes, traffic signals went on the blink at many intersections even as the vehicles started piling up on all the major roads. The Southwest Monsoon has covered the entire country two days ahead of its normal date after reaching the last frontiers of Kutch and Western Rajasthan. According to India Meteorological Department’s (IMD), the country has so far received four per cent more rainfall than normal. All sub regions have been receiving good rainfall except the Northeast and east region of the country, where the defi- ciency has reached 23 per cent. Around three-kilometre- long traffic jam was reported from DND to Ashram Chowk while severe congestion slowed down traffic movement on Ring Road and Outer Ring Road. Bumper-to-bumper traffic was also reported on NH24, Vikas Marg, August Kranti Marg and Mehrauli Badarpur Road. It is interesting that most of the waterlogged areas are those which were identified by the Traffic Police and the details of which were sent to road-own- ing agencies way back in April. However, nothing seems to have changed on the ground. “I took me around one hour just to travel from DND to South Extension. And the kind of traffic I witnessed behind me, I think I was lucky that I left work in time. I am sure those who came after- wards would have taken even much longer time to reach their destinations,” said Kranti Anand, who was travelling from Noida to Safdarjung. Another commuter Nivi Shrivastava said, “Delhi rains can be really mean. Was on the road for one hour and had to come back to office again to wait till the traffic clears. Why can’t this city handle rains? God forbid but if there’s a flood-like situation here, everything will be shut for days.” According to traffic police officials, traffic was obstructed in various locations including Saket, Khanpur T-point, South Extension Part 1, Moolchand, Defence Colony underpass and Punjabi Bagh underpass due to waterlogging. The Twitter and Facebook timelines of Delhi Traffic Police reflected the state of Delhi as there were one-after- another alerts regarding traffic congestion due to waterlogging. “Waterlogging at Savitri Cinema, from Savitri to Chirag Delhi, from Savitri to Greater Kailash, Jahangirpuri metro station… Obstruction in traf- fic in the carriageways from Hamdard towards Khanpur due to water logging… Continued on Page 4 I n a move to check illegal wealth the Special Investigation Team on black money (SIT) has suggested a ban on cash transactions above 3 lakh and a cap on cash holding with an upper limit of 15 lakh. Submitting its fifth report to the Supreme Court, the SIT headed by Justice MB Shah (Retd) said, “In case any person or industry require to hold more than 15 lakh in cash they may obtain permission from the Commissioner of Income Tax.” The SIT also suggested that there should be a provision under the Income Tax Act that any transaction above 3 lakh shall be “invalid and illegal and would be a punishable offence, if amount is not paid by account payee cheque or account payee bank draft or use of electronic clearing system through a bank account.” Also, cash withdrawal of more than 3 lakh from any bank account in a day should be considered as a suspicious activ- ity and the concerned bank should report it to Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) & the Income-tax Department. “In addition, starting from next year, all banks including co-operative banks be directed to notify any income or with- drawals of more than 3 lakh to the Directorate General of Income Tax (Investigation) Authorities of the State and to the FIU,” it suggested. The SIT said limitation on cash transaction can succeed only if there is limitation for cash holding, hence the maxi- mum limit may be fixed between 10 to 15 lakh. It also recommended amending the Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015, by incorporating the pro- vision that ‘undisclosed foreign income and assets would vest in the Union of India so that the person who is holding the said property shall have to prove that it was acquired legally and/or held after obtaining necessary permission from the RBI. Citing the Panama Papers investigation, the panel said unless there is a deterrent, it would be difficult to get back money stashed outside the country. Stating that in some of the Panama cases it was contend- ed by the assessees that they had obtained the RBI’s per- mission before depositing the amount abroad, the SIT said such information is not given by the assessees to the Income Tax authority. Continued on Page 4 I ndia has slammed Pakistan for trying to fan the fire on Kashmir by making political statements both at the United Nations and other interna- tional fora, and snubbed Islamabad for trying to inter- fere in its internal matters. Responding to Pakistan’s unwanted comments on Kashmir in the wake of the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani, India said Islamabad was not only infiltrating terrorists but also fanning discontent within the Valley by providing support to terrorist outfits. India has also accused Pakistan of using ter- rorism as a State policy and extolling virtues of terrorists. “It is a self-serving exercise for narrow political ends. Let me make three very clear points. Terrorism is terrorism. No amount of justification on Pakistan’s part is going to change it. Our internal affairs are sole- ly ours to handle. Any effort by any other party, claiming it as theirs or trying to interfere and seeking to internationalize the issue, will not change it. The world today has a clear view of which country in our region covets the territory of others, uses terrorism as a matter of State policy, provides sanctuary to UN-designated terrorists and terrorist groups and violates human rights,” said Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Vikas Swarup while responding to questions on Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif conven- ing a Cabinet meeting to discuss the situation in Kashmir and Pakistani Foreign Office briefing Ambassadors of China, France, Russia, the UK and the United States. Swarup added that as far as dialogue with Pakistan is con- cerned, India has never shied away from talks. “However, it is incumbent on Pakistan to cre- ate the right atmosphere for a productive dialogue to take place. Talks and terror cannot go hand in hand,” he said. Continued on Page 4 See P12: Hafiz Saeed warns of more violence in Kashmir T he Congress on Thursday named former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit as chief ministerial candidate for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls scheduled for early next year. Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, who is in-charge of party affairs in UP, said Dikshit was chosen as party’s face for the polls considering her strong credentials as Chief Minister of Delhi for three consecutive terms. It has been widely report- ed that election strategist Prashant Kishor had recom- mended Dikshit should be pro- jected as CM face to attract Congress traditional Brahmin votebank, which has over the years shifted to its rivals. Reacting to the develop- ment, the BJP said a “retired” leader has been projected so that she can be “blamed for the certain loss” of Gandhi scions Rahul and Priyanka in the State and dubbed the party as a sinking ship. Dikshit’s elevation has also sparked fresh buzz in the saf- fron party over whether it will also name a chief ministerial candidate as all other major parties -- the SP, the BSP and the Congress-- will join the fray with their pick for the top post. Born in a Punjabi Khatri family, Dikshit, 78, is the daughter-in-law of late Congress veteran from UP Uma Shankar Dikshit, a tall Brahmin leader who had served as a Union Minister and Governor for a long time. Her 15-year tenure in Delhi as CM ended with the emergence of the AAP in 2013 polls in which the Congress lost power. Announcement of Dikshit’s name as CM nom- inee came days after the party had appointed actor- turned-politician Raj Babbar as the chief of the Congress in UP. “Her experience and good work were considered as her big credentials by the party,” Azad told a joint media briefing with party leader Janardan Dwivedi. The party also announced coordina- tion and campaign com- mittees for Uttar Pradesh, which will be headed by Sanjay Singh and Pramod Tiwari respectively. Continued on Page 4 A fter a lengthy seven-year trial, a Delhi court on Thursday held three men guilty of kidnapping and killing IT executive Jigisha Ghosh in March 2009. The three criminals, Ravi Kapoor, Amit Shukla and Baljeet Singh, who killed Jigisha were also involved in the mur- der of journalist Soumya Vishwanathan. Additional Sessions Judge Sandeep Yadav said the prose- cution had proved its case against the three. “It is abun- dantly clear from direct and cir- cumstantial evidence that the three convicts abducted Jigisha Ghosh for committing her murder,” the court said. 28-year-old Jigisha, work- ing as an operations manager in Hewitt Associate Pvt Ltd, was abducted and killed on March 18, 2009 after she was dropped by her office taxi near her house in South Delhi’s Vasant Vihar area around 4 am. The court has fixed August 20 for hearing arguments on the quantum of sentence. Jigisha’s parents who had come to court despite being unwell wept after the judge held the three accused guilty of killing their only child. It may be recalled that Jigisha’s body was recovered three days later from a place near Surajkund in Haryana. Delhi Police had also registered a case of murder against the trio after one Nadeem was killed in Mehrauli. Yadav held the three men guilty of the offences of mur- der, abduction, robbery, forgery and common intention under the IPC. While pronouncing the judgement, the judge said, “it was proved that the three convicts abducted Jigisha, robbed her of her gold chain, two mobile phones, two rings and debit and credit cards and killed her.” Continued on Page 4 S amajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav might have ditched the Grand Alliance in Bihar, but his “samdhi” Lalu Prasad has decided to respect the family bonds and bat for the SP in the forthcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. On the other hand, Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal(U) is all set to enter into some sort of electoral understanding with the Congress in the State. Sources in the RJD said that Lalu is likely to campaign aggressively for the SP with the clear aim to con- solidate the Muslim- Yadav votes. The RJD chief has no interest in joining hands with the Congress and is of the view that the Grand Alliance of Bihar was a State-specific pact, a party leader said. Continued on Page 4 W ith China threatening to a “decisive response” on any provocation in the South China Sea (SCS), India has advised it to respect the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) judgement and suggested that “no unilateral action should be taken that can further cause tension in the area”. The Indian statement came after China refused to accept the award which went against it by the Arbitral Tribunal and saying that it may now take some unilateral actions. “The authority of the Annex VII Tribunal and its award is recog- nised in Part XV of the UNC- LOS itself. India’s own record in this regard is also well known,” Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Vikas Swarup said on Thursday after media reports from Beijing suggested India has backed China on the South China Sea issue. “For us, this is not an issue of being in favour or against any particular country. It is about the use of the global commons. It is not a matter of politics, it is a matter of law. Ours is a principled position, deriving from India being a State Party to the UNCLOS. As a State Party, we believe that all Parties should show utmost respect to the UNCLOS which establishes the international legal order of the seas and oceans,” Swarup said in response to a question on whether India is with or against China on the issue of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) verdict. Meanwhile, India and Japan in a joint statement issued during the visit of Defence Minister of Japan General Nakatani for the annu- al Defence Ministerial Meeting, urged “all parties” to show utmost respect for the UNC- LOS in light of recent ruling against China’s claims over South China Sea. “The Ministers recognised that the security and stability of the Seas connecting the Indian and Pacific Oceans are indis- pensable for the peace and pros- perity of the Indo-Pacific region. Continued on Page 4 Related reports on P12 R aj Bhawan, which steers clear of media glare, had to intervene on Thursday, deny- ing a report rolled out as break- ing news over the electronic media regarding the appro- priation Bill being approved by the Governor. The media drove the Raj Bhawan in a pro-active mode, to go into a denial, say- ing through a release that the Governor had not approved the long-pending State bud- get. It said it was wrong to roll out news sans its authen- tication from the right authorities. It is learnt that the Raj Bhawan received innumerable calls from the State Government as well as from Delhi. In the Press note, Raj Bhawan denied the report outright, dubbing the news as wrong and misleading. What the release said by way of clarification is that the Governor had just signed the budget proposal sent by the State Government to be tabled in the forth- coming Budget Session as part of a constitutional pro- cedure.

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Page 1: four per cent morehave changed on the ground. Heavy showers on Thursday brought the city to its knees as normal life was crippled due to …

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Heavy showers on Thursdaybrought the city to its knees

as normal life was crippled dueto waterlogged roads and traf-fic snarls on various routes. Toadd to the commuters’ woes,traffic signals went on the blinkat many intersections even asthe vehicles started piling up onall the major roads.

The Southwest Monsoonhas covered the entire countrytwo days ahead of its normaldate after reaching the lastfrontiers of Kutch and WesternRajasthan. According to IndiaMeteorological Department’s(IMD), the country has so far

received four per cent morerainfall than normal. All subregions have been receivinggood rainfall except theNortheast and east region ofthe country, where the defi-ciency has reached 23 per cent.

Around three-kilometre-long traffic jam was reportedfrom DND to Ashram Chowkwhile severe congestion sloweddown traffic movement onRing Road and Outer Ring Road. Bumper-to-bumpertraffic was also reported onNH24, Vikas Marg, AugustKranti Marg and MehrauliBadarpur Road.

It is interesting that most ofthe waterlogged areas are those

which were identified by theTraffic Police and the details ofwhich were sent to road-own-ing agencies way back in April.However, nothing seems tohave changed on the ground.

“I took me around onehour just to travel from DNDto South Extension. And thekind of traffic I witnessedbehind me, I think I was luckythat I left work in time. I amsure those who came after-wards would have taken evenmuch longer time to reachtheir destinations,” said KrantiAnand, who was travellingfrom Noida to Safdarjung.

Another commuter NiviShrivastava said, “Delhi rainscan be really mean. Was on theroad for one hour and had tocome back to office again towait till the traffic clears. Whycan’t this city handle rains? God

forbid but if there’s a flood-likesituation here, everything willbe shut for days.”

According to traffic policeofficials, traffic was obstructedin various locations includingSaket, Khanpur T-point, SouthExtension Part 1, Moolchand,Defence Colony underpass andPunjabi Bagh underpass due towaterlogging. The Twitter andFacebook timelines of DelhiTraffic Police reflected the stateof Delhi as there were one-after-another alerts regarding trafficcongestion due to waterlogging.

“Waterlogging at SavitriCinema, from Savitri to ChiragDelhi, from Savitri to GreaterKailash, Jahangirpuri metrostation… Obstruction in traf-fic in the carriageways fromHamdard towards Khanpurdue to water logging…

Continued on Page 4

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In a move to check illegalwealth the Special

Investigation Team on blackmoney (SIT) has suggested a banon cash transactions above �3lakh and a cap on cash holdingwith an upper limit of �15 lakh.

Submitting its fifth reportto the Supreme Court, the SITheaded by Justice MB Shah(Retd) said, “In case any personor industry require to holdmore than �15 lakh in cashthey may obtain permissionfrom the Commissioner ofIncome Tax.”

The SIT also suggestedthat there should be a provisionunder the Income Tax Act thatany transaction above �3 lakhshall be “invalid and illegal andwould be a punishable offence,if amount is not paid byaccount payee cheque oraccount payee bank draft or useof electronic clearing systemthrough a bank account.”

Also, cash withdrawal ofmore than �3 lakh from anybank account in a day should beconsidered as a suspicious activ-ity and the concerned bankshould report it to FinancialIntelligence Unit (FIU) & theIncome-tax Department.

“In addition, starting fromnext year, all banks includingco-operative banks be directedto notify any income or with-drawals of more than �3 lakhto the Directorate General ofIncome Tax (Investigation)Authorities of the State and tothe FIU,” it suggested.

The SIT said limitation oncash transaction can succeedonly if there is limitation forcash holding, hence the maxi-

mum limit may be fixedbetween �10 to �15 lakh.

It also recommendedamending the UndisclosedForeign Income and Assetsand Imposition of Tax Act,2015, by incorporating the pro-vision that ‘undisclosed foreignincome and assets would vest inthe Union of India so that theperson who is holding the saidproperty shall have to prove thatit was acquired legally and/orheld after obtaining necessarypermission from the RBI.

Citing the Panama Papersinvestigation, the panel saidunless there is a deterrent, itwould be difficult to get backmoney stashed outside thecountry.

Stating that in some of thePanama cases it was contend-ed by the assessees that theyhad obtained the RBI’s per-mission before depositing theamount abroad, the SIT saidsuch information is not givenby the assessees to the IncomeTax authority.

Continued on Page 4

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India has slammed Pakistanfor trying to fan the fire on

Kashmir by making politicalstatements both at the UnitedNations and other interna-tional fora, and snubbedIslamabad for trying to inter-fere in its internal matters.

Responding to Pakistan’sunwanted comments onKashmir in the wake of thekilling of Hizbul Mujahideenmilitant Burhan Wani, Indiasaid Islamabad was not onlyinfiltrating terrorists but alsofanning discontent within theValley by providing support toterrorist outfits. India has alsoaccused Pakistan of using ter-rorism as a State policy andextolling virtues of terrorists.

“It is a self-serving exercisefor narrow political ends. Let memake three very clear points.Terrorism is terrorism. Noamount of justification onPakistan’s part is going to changeit. Our internal affairs are sole-ly ours to handle. Any effort byany other party, claiming it astheirs or trying to interfere andseeking to internationalize theissue, will not change it. Theworld today has a clear view of

which country in our regioncovets the territory of others,uses terrorism as a matter ofState policy, provides sanctuaryto UN-designated terrorists andterrorist groups and violateshuman rights,” said Ministry ofExternal Affairs spokespersonVikas Swarup while respondingto questions on Pakistani PrimeMinister Nawaz Sharif conven-ing a Cabinet meeting to discuss the situation in Kashmirand Pakistani Foreign Officebriefing Ambassadors of China,France, Russia, the UK and theUnited States.

Swarup added that as far asdialogue with Pakistan is con-cerned, India has never shiedaway from talks. “However, it isincumbent on Pakistan to cre-ate the right atmosphere for aproductive dialogue to takeplace. Talks and terror cannot gohand in hand,” he said.

Continued on Page 4See P12: Hafiz Saeed warns

of more violence in Kashmir

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The Congress on Thursdaynamed former Delhi Chief

Minister Sheila Dikshit as chiefministerial candidate for theUttar Pradesh Assembly pollsscheduled for early next year.Congress leader Ghulam NabiAzad, who is in-charge of partyaffairs in UP, said Dikshit waschosen as party’s face for the polls considering herstrong credentials as ChiefMinister of Delhi for threeconsecutive terms.

It has been widely report-ed that election strategistPrashant Kishor had recom-mended Dikshit should be pro-jected as CM face to attractCongress traditional Brahminvotebank, which has over theyears shifted to its rivals.

Reacting to the develop-ment, the BJP said a “retired”leader has been projected sothat she can be “blamed for thecertain loss” of Gandhi scionsRahul and Priyanka in theState and dubbed the party asa sinking ship.

Dikshit’s elevation has alsosparked fresh buzz in the saf-fron party over whether it willalso name a chief ministerialcandidate as all other majorparties -- the SP, the BSP andthe Congress-- will join the fraywith their pick for the top post.

Born in a Punjabi Khatrifamily, Dikshit, 78, is thedaughter-in-law of lateCongress veteran from UPUma Shankar Dikshit, a tallBrahmin leader who hadserved as a Union Minister andGovernor for a long time. Her15-year tenure in Delhi as CM

ended with the emergence ofthe AAP in 2013 polls in whichthe Congress lost power.

Announcement ofDikshit’s name as CM nom-inee came days after theparty had appointed actor-turned-politician RajBabbar as the chief of theCongress in UP. “Herexperience and goodwork were consideredas her big credentials bythe party,” Azad told ajoint media briefingwith party leaderJanardan Dwivedi.

The party alsoannounced coordina-tion and campaign com-mittees for Uttar Pradesh,which will be headed bySanjay Singh and PramodTiwari respectively.

Continued on Page 4

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After a lengthy seven-yeartrial, a Delhi court on

Thursday held three men guiltyof kidnapping and killing ITexecutive Jigisha Ghosh inMarch 2009.

The three criminals, RaviKapoor, Amit Shukla andBaljeet Singh, who killed Jigishawere also involved in the mur-der of journalist SoumyaVishwanathan.

Additional Sessions JudgeSandeep Yadav said the prose-cution had proved its caseagainst the three. “It is abun-dantly clear from direct and cir-cumstantial evidence that thethree convicts abducted JigishaGhosh for committing hermurder,” the court said.

28-year-old Jigisha, work-ing as an operations managerin Hewitt Associate Pvt Ltd,was abducted and killed onMarch 18, 2009 after she was

dropped by her office taxi nearher house in South Delhi’sVasant Vihar area around 4 am.

The court has fixed August 20for hearing arguments on thequantum of sentence.

Jigisha’s parents who hadcome to court despite beingunwell wept after the judge heldthe three accused guilty of killingtheir only child. It may berecalled that Jigisha’s body wasrecovered three days later froma place near Surajkund inHaryana. Delhi Police had alsoregistered a case of murderagainst the trio after one Nadeemwas killed in Mehrauli.

Yadav held the three menguilty of the offences of mur-der, abduction, robbery, forgeryand common intention underthe IPC. While pronouncingthe judgement, the judge said,“it was proved that the threeconvicts abducted Jigisha,robbed her of her gold chain,two mobile phones, two ringsand debit and credit cards andkilled her.”

Continued on Page 4

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Samajwadi Party chiefMulayam Singh Yadav might

have ditched the Grand Alliancein Bihar, but his “samdhi” LaluPrasad has decided to respectthe family bonds and bat for theSP in the forthcoming UttarPradesh Assembly elections.On the other hand, NitishKumar-led Janata Dal(U) is allset to enter into some sort ofelectoral understanding with theCongress in the State.

Sources in the RJD saidthat Lalu is likely to campaign

aggressively for the SPwith the clear

aim to con-solidate theMuslim-Y a d a vvotes. The

RJD chief has

no interest in joining handswith the Congress and is of theview that the Grand Alliance of

Bihar was a State-specific pact,a party leader said.

Continued on Page 4

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With China threatening toa “decisive response” on

any provocation in the SouthChina Sea (SCS), India hasadvised it to respect the UNConvention on the Law of theSea (UNCLOS) judgement andsuggested that “no unilateralaction should be taken that can further cause tensionin the area”.

The Indian statement cameafter China refused to acceptthe award which went againstit by the Arbitral Tribunal andsaying that it may now takesome unilateral actions. “Theauthority of the Annex VIITribunal and its award is recog-nised in Part XV of the UNC-

LOS itself. India’s own record inthis regard is also well known,”Ministry of External Affairsspokesperson Vikas Swarupsaid on Thursday after mediareports from Beijing suggestedIndia has backed China on theSouth China Sea issue.

“For us, this is not an issueof being in favour or againstany particular country. It isabout the use of the globalcommons. It is not a matter ofpolitics, it is a matter of law.Ours is a principled position,deriving from India being aState Party to the UNCLOS. As

a State Party, we believe that allParties should show utmostrespect to the UNCLOS whichestablishes the internationallegal order of the seas andoceans,” Swarup said inresponse to a question onwhether India is with or againstChina on the issue of thePermanent Court ofArbitration (PCA) verdict.

Meanwhile, India andJapan in a joint statementissued during the visit ofDefence Minister of JapanGeneral Nakatani for the annu-al Defence Ministerial Meeting,

urged “all parties” to showutmost respect for the UNC-LOS in light of recent rulingagainst China’s claims overSouth China Sea.

“The Ministers recognisedthat the security and stability ofthe Seas connecting the Indianand Pacific Oceans are indis-pensable for the peace and pros-perity of the Indo-Pacific region.

Continued on Page 4Related reports on P12

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Raj Bhawan, which steersclear of media glare, had to

intervene on Thursday, deny-ing a report rolled out as break-ing news over the electronicmedia regarding the appro-priation Bill being approved bythe Governor.

The media drove the RajBhawan in a pro-activemode, to go into a denial, say-ing through a release that theGovernor had not approvedthe long-pending State bud-get.

It said it was wrong toroll out news sans its authen-tication from the rightauthorities. It is learnt thatthe Raj Bhawan receivedinnumerable calls from theState Government as well asfrom Delhi.

In the Press note, RajBhawan denied the report

outright, dubbing the news aswrong and misleading.

What the release said byway of clarification is that theGovernor had just signedthe budget proposa l sent by the State Governmentto be tabled in the forth-coming Budget Session aspart of a constitutional pro-cedure.

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Page 2: four per cent morehave changed on the ground. Heavy showers on Thursday brought the city to its knees as normal life was crippled due to …

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For the people of six districtsof Kumaon division help is

now just a tap away on theirphones. After success of the‘Uttarakhand Police MobileApp’ in Garhwal division, theDirector General Police (DGP)of Uttarakhand Police M AGanapathy launched the Appfor Kumaon division at Policeheadquarters here on Thursday.

Speaking at the launch cer-emony, Ganapathy said that themobile App of Uttarakhandpolice is user friendly, hasmore features and the responseof the force is fast. Appreciatingthe success of App in Garhwaldivision, he said that one of theobjectives of the State Police isto be more tech savvy to meetthe modern challenges. TheDGP however expressed con-cern on the mental blockamong some of the SeniorInspectors of the force forusage of technology and sug-gested that a workshop of theseofficers should be conducted toovercome this hesitation.

Speaking on the occasionthe Inspector General (IG),Garhwal range, Sanjay Gunjyalsaid that after its launch inmonth of November last year,17406 people have downloadedthe App on their androidphones. He revealed that 96313applications have been receivedthrough this App. Giving anexample, Gunjyal said thatnow 180 and 260 tenant andservant verification are takingplace through the help of Appdaily in Dehradun andHaridwar districts respective-ly, which is much more thanthe physical verificationmethod done in past. He

informed that on the sugges-tion of State Chief MinisterHarish Rawat, a new feature,‘Fight Corruption’ is added inthe App. The IG Garhwal saidthat with the help of this fea-ture anyone can lodge a com-plaint against any corrupt offi-cer. The complaint is forward-ed to the Vigilance departmentand the identity of the com-plainant is not disclosed. He

also narrated some of the suc-cess stories of the App on theoccasion.

The police have disposedoff 104 crime reports out oftotal 140 received on the App.

The programe was attended byAdditional Director General(ADG) law and order AnilRaturi, IG Law and orderDeepam Seth and other seniorofficers of the department.

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Excitement grippedKalipeeth Ashram at

Jagjeetpur in Kankhal onThursday as Tejinder Kaur, a43- year- old woman discipleof Rasanand Maharaj, whodied during the Ujjain Kumbhon April 21, claimed that hernewly born son was the onlylegitimate heir to the proper-ty left by the deceased seer.

Rasanand Maharaj was theMahamandleshwar of AgniAkhara. She said she was thewidow of the seer and thusthe claim to the property forher son was right. She furthersaid that she was ready to have

her claim verified by DNAtest. She said she would movecourt to see the last of things.However, the Ashram author-ity dismissed the claim, sayingthat she was lying.

High drama ensued in theotherwise peaceful Ashram asKaur reached it to stake theclaim to the property of the seerfor her two-day-old son. She

said she had come to partic-ipate in the memorial of theseer. She also offered flowers onthe deceased’s photo. Thememorial was organized at thebehest of the newly declaredoffice bearer of the AshramSwami Kailashanand onThursday in KalipeethKankhal.

Kaur said she would fight

to the last for the legitimateright of her son. She allegedthat the new caretaker of theAshram had tried to stop herfrom entering the Ashram.

Notably, Tejinder hadannounced to the media per-sons five days ago that she hadbeen made pregnant by the lateseer. She had claimed that theyhad been married in 2014. Shefurther claimed that she hadbeen the disciple of Rasanandfor the past eight years. She hadsaid she was also presentwhen he died in Ujjain.

“I am ready to have DNAtest conducted on my child.Besides, I have proof of mymarriage. I would go to thecourt seeking justice,” she said.

She alleged that her room in theashram had been broken openwithout her permission and herbelongings had been missing.“I am being treated like a crim-inal. But I would not takethings lying down,” she said.

However, the spokesper-son of Kailashanand, AnkurShukla said, “SwamiKailashanand does not know athing about the lady.” Notably,Kailashanand was declared thehead of the Ashram to lookafter the arrangements afterRasanand passed away duringthe Kumbh Mela. “We are allpained and surprised with thewoman claiming to be seer’swidow when his memorial wasbeing arranged,” he added.

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The mobile App is developed by Dehradun based softwarecompany World Trade solutions. The Director of the com-

pany, Akash Sharma said that the App can be downloaded byvisiting Google Play store on android phones. After downloadinga very simple online registration is needed to be done in whichname, phone number and the name and number of a relativein case of emergency is registered. The App has features likeTenant verification, domestic servant verification, crimereporting, lost and found report, wanted criminal, alert policeand fight corruption. A facility of emergency broadcast is alsoavailable by the help of which a person in distress can be locat-ed instantly by the police.

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State BJP asked Chief Minister HarishRawat to quit following the State

Government’s notification issued to con-vert the newly constructed MLA hostel atGairsain into a State guest house. “TheState Government has been playing a vul-gar game with the sentiments of the peo-ple who are eagerly awaiting theGovernment’s decision to declare theplace as the permanent capital of the State.We want the CM to resign after it is clearthat his Government is backtracking itselffrom the stand it has taken earlier. TheSpeaker Govind Singh Kunjwal should fol-low suit as he kept on dishing out falsepromise on the matter,” said the State BJPchief and the leader of the Opposition. Hefurther demanded the State Governmentto clear its stance on what they intend todo with the Assembly being erected there.

“Congress Government since 2012 hasbeen playing with the collective emotionof the people. For instance, on November3, 2012, they had a Cabinet meeting heldat Gairsain. It was followed by it unveil-ing the foundation stones of the VidhanSabha and MLA hostel on January 14,2013. Again on November 9, 2013, theSpeaker presided over rituals for the con-struction of the two buildings atBharadisain. They followed it withholding a three-day session of theAssembly in the premises of an institu-tion between June 9 and 11 , 2014. Again,a two- day session was held betweenNovember 2 and 3, 2015. However, now,they have done a volte face as the stategovernment has issued a notification1541/Xxii-2-2015-4(29)/2015 datedDecember 1, 2015, saying that except dur-ing session, the MLAs hostel will be usedas state guest house with its tariff beingfixed separately,” Bhatt said.

He cited the CM as saying that he wasengaged in firming up a roadmap tomake Gairsain the capital of Uttarakhand.“It stands contrary to what they have donenow. Things are exposed. They were play-ing a cruel ball game on the emotiveissue. If the CM has any shame left heshould quit right now,” the BJP leader said.

He charged the Speaker with betray-ing the cause too, saying that he kept harp-ing on the tune of Gairsain being declaredthe capital of Uttarakhand. “However, hehas chosen to indulge in falsehood fol-lowing the publication of the notification.He is claiming that he is not aware of it.He should resign too,” the State BJP leaderaffirmed.

He said the same thing is discernibleregarding the upcoming Vidhan Sabhasession in Raipur too. “On one hand, theChief Minister is saying that he would con-vene an all- party meeting to decide thenitty gritties of the upcoming RaipurVidhan Sabha and, on the other, he hasinstructed PWD to release �60 crore to the

forest department against the land wherethe session is to be held. The question is-when he has already instructed to the offi-cials to pay land acquisition money undernet purchase value (NPV) why he isindulging in such cheap political stunt?”Bhatt asked.

He further said that the state govern-ment has made payment to the contrac-tors on the pattern of Delhi governmentwhich is five to six times higher than theprescribed rate of Uttarakhand VidhanSabha. “Such exorbitant rates have beenfollowed because the relatives of someinfluential Congress leaders have beengiven works to supply materials inGairsain,” the BJP leader alleged.

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The Director General (DG)of Indo Tibetan Border

Police (ITBP), SrikrishnaChoudhary inaugurated a hos-tel for students in the ITBPSeema Dwar campus here onThursday. Speaking on theoccasion, he said that the per-sonnel of the ITBP are workingunder most hostile environ-mental conditions. Giving anexample of such conditions hesaid that in high altitude areasthe ITBP personnel have tomelt snow for drinking water.He said that the personnel ofthe force are deployed at an alti-tude ranging from 9000 feet to18500 feet. Choudhary saidthat a plan to construct com-

posite buildings in such areasis on anvil. These buildingshave a central heating systemand the pipes of water areplaced underground to preventthem from bursting due tofreezing of water. He said thatthe in areas of heavy snowfallthe oil in the engines of thevehicles freeze due to whichmany problems are faced intransportation. Further the costof transportation in such areasis more and to minimize theseproblems the government hasdecided to induct ultramodernvehicles resistant from theseproblems into the force. TheDG disclosed that the govern-ment has also agreed to providetwo helicopters to the force forsmooth movement in areas of

tough terrain.He said that the force has

opened its first public school inDelhi. This school is runningin self finance mode for thebenefit of the children of thepersonnel. Chaudhary said thatthe ITBP is also planning tomake some amendments in theMemorandum ofUnderstanding (MOU) withthe Kendriya VidhyalayaSangathan (KVS) to make theseschools more useful for theforce.

The ceremony was alsoattended by the InspectorGeneral Northern frontier H SGoraya, Deputy InspectorGeneral (DIG) headquartersSanjay Singh, DIG Satpal Singh,Sanjeev Raina and others.

Dehradun: Dubbing the BJP’s reaction tothe State Government’s notificationissued to use the MLA hostel at Gairsainas a State guest house as ‘misleading’ and‘politically motivated’, Chief MinisterHarish Rawat’s media advisor SurendraKumar said that the notification does notamount to the State Government doinga volte face on the emotive issue ofGairsain being made the permanent cap-ital of the State. “We are sincere in our commitmentwhereas BJP is intent on trashing the issue

for its political gains. The saffron party’s stance on it is far fromclear from the beginning and they are nowintent on raising hammer and tongs ona non-issue,” he said. Spelling out thestate government’s stance, he said that asfar as Gairsain is concerned the StateGovernment is merely trying to improvethe connectivity of the place. “Things are moving fast towards the con-summation devoutly wished for. BJP knowsit. This is why they are crying wolf to derailthings,” the CM’s aide said. PNS

Dehradun: A delegation ofassociation of doctors theProvincial Medical HealthServices (PMHS) met thePrincipal Secretary Health OmPrakash on Thursday andexpressed gratitude for acrossthe board implementation ofDynamic Assured CareerProgression (DACP) scheme.

On Wednesday, the StateGovernment had released theGovernment Order (GO) forimplementation of the scheme.Earlier in the day the healthservices of the state returnedto normalcy after the doctorstook back the OPD boycottcal l and attended the patients.

On the issue of DACP the doc-tors of the state health serviceswere on two hour OPD boycottfrom July 11. The PMHS was demandingDACP for all the doctors as theState Government while imple-menting the much sought afterscheme last year had restrictedit to new joinees only. PNS

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The distribution of condom packets termed‘Asha Nirodhs’ during ongoing ‘Diarrhoea

and Vasectomy Fortnight’ by the State healthdepartment has evoked wrath of Asha workers.The State President of the Asha workers, ShivaDubey said that the distribution of condompackets mentioning the name of Asha is an insultof both the Asha workers and the women.

She said that an effigy of State healthMinister Surendra Singh Negi would be burnedon Friday to express the resentment which isbrewing among thousands of Asha Workers onthe issue. She said that thousands of such pack-ets have arrived in the health centres across the

state and they are causing embarrassment to theAsha workers who are working tirelessly andhonestly. Dubey said that the state governmentis not providing the remuneration of Asha work-ers on time and now this episode is like rubbingsalt to the injury. She said that the state gov-ernment should recall all such packets andshould seek apology from the Asha workers fail-ing which a state wide agitation would belaunched against the government.

Reacting to the protest on the issue, the stateHealth Minister Surendra Singh Negi said thatthe matter is not in his knowledge. He added thatif such kinds of condom packets are being pur-chased then their purchase and supply would beimmediately be stopped immediately.

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As part of their 2,500 kilo-metre long cycling trip

from Kathmandu in Nepal tothe Hemis Monastery inLadakh, a group of about 500male and female Buddhistmonks led by GyalwangDrukpa of the Ladakh basedDrukpa order reached theBanbasa check point inChampawat District ofUttarakand on Thursday.

The journey by cycle whichcommenced from one of themonasteries of Drukpa lin-eage at Kathmandu on July 3,is now stated to be an annualfeature of the order’s effortsaimed at raising the level ofpublic awareness on environ-mental crises in the Himalayanregion and motivate collabo-rative action for its redressal.

Gyalwang Drukpa- con-sidered to be the 12th reincar-nation of the head of theDrukpa order said that the

“Himalayas have been thehome of the Drukpa lineage forover 1000 years now”. He said,“Recently, the region has facedseveral incidence of disasterscenarios that caused loss of

lives and upset the naturalecosystem. Our aim throughthis journey is to inspire peo-ple to be one with natureinstead of being in a constantstate of war against it. The

Himalayas and the earth wereformed millions of years beforewe were and it is our duty torespect them,” he added.

According to the organis-ers, the two-month long cycling

trip will pass through some ofthe most arduous routes in theHimalayan region amidstadverse conditions. From thequake-hit regions in Nepal, tothe monsoon hit areas inUttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana,Himachal Pradesh, Pathankot,Srinagar and Kargil in Jammuand Kashmir, the cyclists willconclude their trip at the Hemismonastery located about 45kilometres from Leh in Ladakhregion. The cyclists are slatedto reach the monastery aheadof Naropa 2016 – a spiritualfestival that is held once inevery 12 years, celebrating the1000th birth anniversary ofthe Indian seer Naropam, thepatron of the Drukpa Lineage.

It should be mentionedhere that the Drukpa orderwhich has also elicited focus forits insistence on gender equal-ity and celebration of diversi-ty regularly organises suchactivities to elicit focus onissues of global significance.

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Haridwar: It was a sight to behold in the Kendriya Vidyalaya ofIDPL Rishikesh on Thursday when 30-member team of studentsplanted saplings in the school premises. Those fair hands stainedwith mud but smile on faces bore testimony that there was moreof joy in their hearts of doing good than the toil of labour.

On reaching the Kendriya Vidyalaya, the monitors of theclasses of the school welcomed the foreign fellow mates. RakeshChandra Goyal of Kendriya Vidyalaya facilitated the programme.

Speaking to The Pioneer, Ram Mahesh Mishra of ParmarthNiketan said, “This programme is in conjunction to the estab-lishment of Peace Garden in London for the spread of peace byParmarth Niketan. The students from different universities ofUnited Kingdom also distributed fruits to the students as partof mid- day fruit campaign."

The coordinator Sanjeev Sareen said that many of these stu-dents were studying business management and had come in stu-dents’ exchange programme. PNS

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����������� ���� ��������� With BJP cutting a sorry figure as the Opposition,

Congress has been acting both as the ruling as well asthe Opposition parties in the state. The recent tussle betweenthe ruling faction and the organizational faction of the Congresshas brought the matter to the fore. The state Congress presi-dent Kishore Upadhyaya brought a serious charge that the rul-ing faction is looking down upon the organization with aroundone thousand letters voicing organizational concerns beingthrown in the backburner. Chief Minister Harish Rawat tookup the matter with alacrity, saying that things were beingpromptly addressed. However, BJP is engaged in the effeteround of raising graft charges from time to time despite know-ing that the same hardly cuts ice with the common people. Thereseems to be the dearth of the edge in the saffron punches.Despite Ajay Bhatt who is the also the leader of the Oppositionbeing made the state party chief, things have not looked up abit for the saffron camp. They are flexing muscles by flaunt-ing the fact that they are running the mighty Centre. But suchbravado sans a credible leader leading the charge from the frontmight prove counter-productive with the state approaching thegreat democratic engagement 2017.

�����������������������������There is a growing refrain that the students are turning

lethargic as they are not being made to do physical workin the schools- both public and private. They come by busesor vans and leave the same way. They hardly walk. They areless hungry and eat junk food whenever hungry. They are notbeing engaged in cleaning works in the school. The much- tout-ed Swachhh Bharat Mission has been reduced to constructionof toilets in the school premises without any role being assignedto the students. Gone are the days when the students used toclean the classrooms and the schools every Saturday. The fall-out of these things is that the students are gaining weight andturning idle in body. This is affecting their mind too. It is grow-ing sloth. Observers say that the state government has a roleto play in ridding the students of the love of idleness that is eat-ing deep into their body and mind alike. They say that as thestate government has vowed to make Uttarakhand open defe-cation free state by 2018-19 the students of both private andgovernment schools should be involved in the mission. Suchkind of venture would not just help them keep physically andmentally agile but would beget a sense of emotional belong-ing to the larger family they belong to. Would the state gov-ernment heed?

������������� ����Strange though it may sound, the Chief Minister Harish

Rawat's order is being ignored by Chief Minister's Office(CMO). This despite the fact that CMO is meant to have theCM's orders executed on the ground in assistance with differ-ent departments. Take for instance the broad day light mur-der of Dr SK Singh on April 20 following which the doc-tors went on strike across the state. CM intervened to defusethings. He ordered that the deceased family would be givenRs 50 lakh as compensation. Besides, he ordered his widow beingprovided with accommodation and a government job.Accordingly, he cleared the files too. But CMO returned thefile by reducing the compensation amount to mere Rs one lakh.Ironically, the doctor used to draw a salary of over Rs one lakh.Now, his widow has been left in the lurch. The doctors are dis-heartened too by the lack of commiseration of CMO. If thesame mindset continues the doctors would opt out of the gov-ernment jobs. If this happens it would further aggravate thesuffering of the common people who throng the state-run facil-ities. Would CM intervene again?

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Touted as the highest cablecar in Asia by the State’s

tourism department, theJoshimath-Auli ropeway con-tinues to suffer due to inade-quacies and efficiency issues tothe detriment of tourism inUttarakhand.

The stark reality of pro-tracted inefficiency and irre-sponsible attitude of the offi-cials concerned is exemplifiedat tower number eight of thisropeway, where a lift installedabout two decades ago has notyet started operating much tothe inconvenience of visitors.

The Joshimath-Auli rope-way has elicited public attentionmore for the recurring prob-lems, including mechanicalissues that have prevented theropeway facility from operatingsmoothly as desired. While theState Government claims tohave undertaken various mea-sures to revive tourism activi-

ty after the June 2013 disaster,the authorities concerned havenot been able to start operationof tower number eight lift in aperiod of about 20 years sincethe ropeway was set up.

Due to the protractedinoperative state of the lift, thevisitors have to use the stairsinstead, which may be difficultfor some, especially the elder-

ly. The lift facility was installedin this tower at the time of theropeway being set up and hassince been non-functional.Earlier, in February this year,the issue concerning the pro-tracted inoperative state of thelift had also been raised duringUttarakhand Governor KrishanKant Paul’s visit to Auli.However, the departmentalofficials seem to have main-tained an apathetic attitudeand so far have not done theneedful for regular operation ofthe lift as also directed by thegovernor. Tourists arriving herehave to pay tariff of �750 eachto reach Auli are using theropeway but they are notbeing provided much in termsof facilities expected.

Observers question thereason for the lift not beingmade operational yet morethan twenty years after itsinstallation at tower numbereight of the Joshimath-Auliropeway which covers a lengthof about four kilometres.

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Uttarakhand will becomethe first State in India to

achieve the target set byGovernment of India by facil-itating completion of toiletconstruction work underSwachchh Bharat mission byAugust 15, 2016. This was stat-ed during a video conferencebetween Cabinet secretaryPradeep Kumar Sinha andUttarakhand chief secretaryShatrughna Singh for review-ing the status of works inUttarakhand under theSwachchh Bharat mission hereon Thursday.

The cabinet secretary saidthat by achieving the targetunder the mission by August 15this year, the UttarakhandGovernment will elicit appre-ciation for the same. He furtherassured Singh that monetaryencouragement will be given toUttarakhand State towardsachieving the target set by thegovernment. The authorities inthe other States through whichthe Ganga river flows afteroriginating in the state ofUttarakhand -- Uttar Pradesh,Bihar, Jharkhand and WestBengal – have sought addi-tional time period in order toachieve the Swachchh Bharatmission target set by theGovernment of India, headded.

Responding, theUttarakhand chief secretaryassured the Cabinet secretarythat Uttarakhand will also suc-ceed in timely achievement also

of the October 2, 2019 target setunder the mission by the gov-ernment of India. This willrequire a sum of �613 crore, saidthe chief secretary. Respondingto Singh, the Cabinet secretaryassured him stating that theStates which are seen perform-ing well in the Swachchh Bharatmission will not be left to faceshortage of funds.

It should be mentionedhere that according to the offi-cial communication, toiletshave to be facilitated for all thepeople under the SwachchhBharat mission. The plannedefforts will also be aimed atensuring that open defecationby the public along the banksof the Ganga river is completelyeradicated. According to offi-cial data, a total of 1,651 GramPanchayats located within 251districts in a total of 52 districtsare located along the banks ofthe national river Ganga. In the

State of Uttarakhand, where theGanga emerges as Bhagirathifrom the Gaumukh glacier inUttarkashi District, a total of132 Gram Panchayats fallingwithin 30 development blocksin seven of the State’s 13 dis-tricts are situated along thebanks of the Ganga. Accordingto outputs of the baseline sur-vey conducted here, 9987 outof the 2,9405 homes do nothave toilet facility. So far, toi-let facilities have been con-structed in 7880 homes withwork continuing on construc-tion of toilets in the remaininghomes sans toilets. The Stateauthorities aver that with con-struction of toilets in all thehomes situated in the area inquestion, by August 15 on theoccasion of independence daythis year, Uttarakhand’s vil-lages will have achieved the sta-tus of being completely free ofdefecation in the open.

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Former Bharatiya JanataParty MLA Dan Singh

Bhandari and former vice-chairperson of the State womencommission, Geeta Thakurformally joined the Congressparty at a function presidedover by the UttarakhandPradesh Congress Committeepresident Kishore Upadhyayand CM Harish Rawat here onThursday. The programmeheld at the Congress Bhawanwas mainly a ceremonial for-mality since both the BJP lead-ers miffed at party leadershiphad already left the party andexpressed allegiance to theCongress in the near past.

Expressing his views on theoccasion, the former BJP MLAfrom Bheemtal Vidhan Sabhaconstituency, Dan SinghBhandari lambasted his formerparty while expressing appre-ciation for Chief MinisterHarish Rawat and the Congressparty. The other turncoat,Geeta Thakur recalled how inthe near past she had initiallybeen fielded by the BJP as theparty candidate for Rajya Sabhaseat only to be made to with-draw her name in favour ofanother candidate put up by theparty. Thakur had been in the

BJP for about 15 years and wasalso fielded by the BJP as itsofficial candidate from theGangolihat constituency in theVidhan Sabha elections.Bhandari and Thakur also lam-basted the BJP alleging that theparty was not working in theinterests of Dalits and women.Chief minister Harish Rawatwelcomed the duo at their for-mal induction into theCongress party.

He further opined thatdespite the fact that the twopolitical leaders had their sup-port base among the electorate,they had been treated with apa-thy by the BJP. Speaking on theoccasion, the UttarakhandPradesh Congress Committee

president Kishore Upadhyaysaid that with Thakur andBhandari formally joining theCongress party along with theirsupporters, the party is alsoresponsible for taking care oftheir welfare.

It is pertinent to mentionhere that miffed at party lead-ership for purportedly negativebias towards them, Thakurand Bhandari had left the BJPearlier this year. However, theirintention to join the Congresshad elicited opposition fromwithin the Congress party withthe PCC chief and chief min-ister maintaining differentstance on the issue. Upadhyaywas at that time not in favourof letting the two BJP turncoats

officially secure membership ofthe Congress. However, withdifferences of opinion havingbeen apparently resolved forthe time being, party sourcesopine that now the Congresswill attempt to capitalise on thestrengths of Thakur andBhandari, who claim consid-erable support base in theirrespective constituencies andcommunities. On the otherhand, political analysts pointout that their formal inductioninto the Congress may onceagain cause factionalism anddifferences within the party toresurface especially on theissue of allocation of partytickets for the coming VidhanSabha elections.

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With rains the dreaded dengue hasreturned to haunt the State. In

Dehradun 20 cases of the disease have beenreported till date. However, the healthdepartment is claiming that only one caseof dengue has occurred in the district.

This discrepancy has cropped up as theState health department only considersEnzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay(ELISA) positive cases as actual numberof people suffering from the disease anddoes not consider the results of Rapid test.

The department admits that 20 sam-ples have been found positive in Rapid testthis season. The department is also notconsidering the death of the one patient,a Bhandaribagh resident by the disease asthe ELISA test of this patient was not con-ducted in the authorised labs of the healthdepartment.

The district health department onlyconsiders ELISA positive cases from thelabs of Doon hospital and HimalayanInstitute hospital Trust (HIHT). Followingthis death and large number of suspectedpeople, the health department is on stateof alert. The state health minister SurendraSingh Negi has also asked the department

to be active on the disease front.The health department of Dehradun

is on high alert on threat of Dengue. TheChief Medical Officer (CMO) of DehradunDr Y S Thapliyal told The Pioneer that nonew case of the disease was reported onThursday. He claimed that all the hospitalsof the district have adequate supplies ofTami flu medicines and the ELISA kits areavailable in required quantities.

The district Vector Borne diseases offi-cer, J P Bahuguna said that the departmenthas collected 1307 samples from the sus-pected patients and only one ELISA pos-itive case has been reported till date. OnThursday, samples of four patients werefound positive in Rapid test.

Dengue is a viral infection spread bythe mosquito Aedes Aezypti popularlyknown as Tiger Mosquito due to the char-acteristics stripes over its body. The symp-toms of the disease are persistent highfever, rashes, headache and pain in thejoints. In the acute cases the platelets num-ber decrease drastically which may provefatal for the patient. Rainy season is mostconducive for rapid growth of mosquitowhich can lay about 1200 eggs at a timeand 400 -500 larvae can emerge from theseeggs that take a week’s time to hatch. Themosquito infected with virus thus canincrease its number exponentially infect-ing large number of people in short spanof time.

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The Government schools ofUttarakhand would get

increased budget for cookingthe Mid Day Meals (MDM)from July 1. The primaryschools would now be provid-ed �4.13 per meal per studentwhile for the meal of the UpperPrimary Schools (UPS) therate is revised to �6.18. Earlierthe schools were supposed toprovide MDM at the rate of�3.76 per day per child in pri-mary schools and �5.64 in

Upper Primary schools.The Joint Director MDM,

P K Bisht told The Pioneer thatthe union government hasincreased the budget for MDMby 7 per cent. It is worth men-tioning here that budget ofmeal per student in MDM wasincreased by only 5 per cent last

year. In another importantdecision the Government hasdecided that the food grain(Rice in Uttarakhand) forMDM would be made availableat the rate at which it is pro-vided to the Below PovertyLine (BPL) families. Bishtinformed that 2000 mt tones of

rice would be procured by thedepartment from FoodCorporation of India (FCI) forMDM this year.

The teachers who are sup-posed to manage the MDM inthe schools have welcomedthe decision to increase thebudget. One of a teacherdeployed in Chakrata block ofDehradun said, “It is goodthat the MDM budget per stu-dent is increased. In schoolswith low student strength thecost of providing MDM ishigher than the amount pro-vided and the teachers are

forced to bear this burdenfrom their salaries’’.

The Government providesfood grain (rice and wheat) tothe schools while they had tomanage other food items fromthe budget provided. BhojanMatas are employed in theschools to prepare the meal forthe students. In addition toroutine diet the students arealso provided special diets likeKheer and Chole Puri on occa-sions like Independence Day,Republic Day, Teacher’s Day,Children’s Day and others to thestudents in the same budget.

Dehradun: The UttarakhandCM Harish Rawat has request-ed the Secretary of UttarPradesh Cricket Association(UPCA) and Chairman IndianPremier League (IPL) RajivShukla to organise IPL match-es in the State as adequateinfrastructure is now availablehere. He was addressing a felic-itation ceremony organised bythe Cricket Association ofUttarakhand (CAU) here onThursday in which Shukla wasalso present.

Rawat said that theUttarakhand has no dearth oftalent and players here onlyrequire a good platform toexcel. He cited the examples ofMahendra Singh Dhoni andPawan Negi as such exampleswho excelled at Internationallevel. He claimed that soon twonew International Cricket sta-diums at Raipur (Dehradun)and Haldwani would be com-pleted. The CM expressed hopethat BCCI (Board for Controlof Cricket in India) wouldsoon recognise the

Uttarakhand CricketAssociation. He said that thestate is organising the NationalGames of 2018 to promotesports.

Speaking on the occasion,Rajiv Shukla said that UPCAhas decided to organise itsthird board meeting in Stateand efforts are being made toencourage players and umpiresfrom the State. Shukla clarifiedthat the IPL matches can beorganised only when theUttarakhand cricket associationis provided recognition by theBCCI. However, he added that

the Ranji Trophy matcheswould be organised in theRaipur stadium.

On the occasion the CMhonored members of UPCA,which included S K Agarwal,Shoeb Ahmed, Yudhvir Singh,K S Tandon, Manoj Pundeer,DS Chauhan, V DPathak,Rakesh Mishra,Pradeep Gupta, P C Verma.

The programe was attend-ed by the President of CAU,Hira Singh Bisht, MLARajkumar, Hemesh Kharakwaland Vice President of CAU JotSIngh Gunsola.

Dehradun: Light to moderaterain was experienced inDehradun and other parts ofthe State prior to the start of the72-hour heavy rain warningperiod starting Thursdayevening. In view of the mete-orological department forecastof heavy to very heavy rainfalllikely to occur at isolated placesespecially in Uttarkashi,

Chamoli, Rudraprayag,Dehradun, Pithoragarh,Bageshwar, Almora, Nainitaland Champawat districts dur-ing the next 72 hours, chief sec-retary Shatrughna Singh onThursday issued an advisory toall district magistrates instruct-ing them to remain alert andobserve the necessary precau-tionary measures especiallyduring the said period.

In the State capitalDehradun, spells of light tomedium rainfall were experi-enced from the morning tillearly evening resulting in thelong standing problems of waterlogging, resulting traffic con-gestion and spread of contam-ination due to overflowing sew-ers and improperly disposedgarbage which was spreadaround in the open publicspace after being carried alongby the rainwater. However, nomajor disaster due to climaticfactors had been reported fromdifferent parts of the State tillthe time of this report beingfiled on Thursday night.Though the spells of rainbrought some relief from thelevel of humidity being experi-enced in Dehradun, no drasticchange in the ambient temper-

ature had been reported due torainfall in different parts of theState. According to the mea-surement data released by theState meteorological centre,among the various parts of theState which experienced rain-fall on Thursday, the maximumand minimum temperature wasmeasured at 31 degrees Celsiusand 24 degrees Celsius respec-tively in the State capitalDehradun. Likewise, the max-imum and minimum temper-atures measured in varioustowns of the State on Thursdaywere 34 degrees Celsius and26.5 degrees Celsius respec-tively in Pantnagar, 20.2 degreesCelsius and 15.7 degrees Celsiusin Mukteshwar and 23 degreesCelsius and 18 degrees Celsiusin New Tehri. According to theweather forecast forUttarakhand on Friday, thestate is very likely to experiencemoderate rain/thunderstormat most places though heavy tovery heavy rainfall is likely tooccur at isolated places espe-cially in Uttarkashi, Chamoli,Rudraprayag, Dehradun,Pithoragarh, Bageshwar,Almora, Nainital andChampawat districts duringthe next 72 hours fromThursday evening. The weath-er forecast for the State capitalon Friday states likelihood ofgenerally cloudy sky with pos-sibility of a few spells ofrain/thundershowers also like-ly to occur. The maximum andminimum temperatures inDehradun on Friday are likelyto be about 30ºC and 24ºCrespectively. PNS

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Page 4: four per cent morehave changed on the ground. Heavy showers on Thursday brought the city to its knees as normal life was crippled due to …

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Following the demand of anenquiry by IAS officer

Ashok Khemka into hischargesheet being leaked in themedia, Haryana Chief MinisterManohar Lal on Thursday saidthat it is a serious issue that thecharge-sheet was leaked fromthe CMO and the Governmentwill look into it.

“This should not havehappened... We will look intothe issue,” said the ChiefMinister, while talking to themediapersons here.

Amid the blame gamebetween whistleblower IASAshok Khemka and ChiefSecretary DS Dhesi aboutchargesheet being leaked,Manohar Lal said that weshould not get into blame gamefor this and ensure such thingsare not repeated.

About HaryanaGovernment ordering achargesheet against Khemka onaccount of unsold stocks ofwheat seeds, the Chief Ministersaid that this is an old case and

the chargesheet was pendingsince 2013. Thus, theGovernment decided to orderchargsheet in the case ofallegedly causing avoidablefinancial loss on account ofunsold stocks of wheat seeds,he said.

The Government wouldact accordingly after receivingthe officer’s reply, he added.

A day before, Khemka in aletter written to the ChiefMinister had complained abouthis chargesheet being leaked byChief Secretary DS Dhesi.

The IAS office, who is cur-rently posted as PrincipalSecretary to HaryanaGovernment, Science andTechnology Department hadalleged that the chargesheet wasleaked in order to defame him.

Khemka had also demand-ed inquiry into the call detailsof CS office and the journalistwho had reported about thechargesheet.

However, the ChiefSecretary has refuted Khemka’s

allegations.Expressing his displeasure

over the issue, Khemka had onWednesday tweeted saying,“Chargesheet leaked in themedia. Established proceduredefiled. Is it a public trial? If so,then why conceal my replies.”

chargesheet dated July 1,was served on him on July 8 forallegedly causing avoidablefinancial loss to Haryana SeedDevelopment Corporation(HSDC) in 2012-13 on accountof unsold stocks of wheat seeds.

The move had come eightmonths after the StateGovernment had dropped achargesheet against the 1991-batch IAS officer where he wascharged by the previousCongress Government withexceeding his jurisdiction as hehad cancelled the mutation of aland deal between a firm ownedby Congress president SoniaGandhi's son-in-law RobertVadra and realty major DLF.

As per the chargesheet ,Khemka, as Managing

Director, HSDC (October 15,2012 to April 4, 2013) did nottake much interest in liquidat-ing the stock of certified wheatseed, resulting in about 87,000quintals of certified wheat seedvaluing Rs 22.21 crore remain-ing unsold.

In response to the memo-randum containing the charges,Khemka, in a letter to HaryanaChief Secretary, had writtenthat “chargesheet to a seniorgovernment officer withouthearing is abnormal”.

Haryana Health MinisterAnil Vij had came out in sup-port of Ashok Khemka callinghim "the most honest officer"and putting a question mark onthe State Government orderinga chargesheet against the seniorIAS officer.

Haryana-cadre IAS officerKhemka, shot to fame after theprevious Congress led StateGovernment chargesheetedand hounded him for exposingRobert Vadra-DLF land deal inthe State.

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Tibetan spiritual leader and NobelLaureate Dalai Lama, who is at

Rewalsar in connection with the three-day-long celebrations of Tibetan Maha Kumbh,which falls after an interval of every 12years, spurned violence which has grippedmany parts across the world and addedthat no real religion warrants killing ofinnocent people.

Speaking at a spiritual session, heexhorted the religious leaders to usher inan era of peace, prosperity brotherhoodand happiness amongst all the nations, reli-gions, and communities. He said teachingsof Lord Buddha were as relevant today asat the time of King Ashoka.

Without naming any religion orcommunity, he made a clarion call to allreligious and spiritual leaders of theworld to join together against the vio-lence and killing of innocent people andusher in a new era of mutual love andbrotherhood.

He lamented that many countrieshad assembled weapons of self-destructionand stressed that relentless efforts shouldbe made by all right-minded persons thatthese weapons of destruction did not passon to the hands of perverted persons. Hedecried the killings of humans or animalsof all types. The lasting peace was possi-ble only if we love each other and even allliving beings.

Earlier thousands of his followersfrom home and abroad accorded a warmand tumultuous welcome to the Tibetanspiritual leader on Wednesday at Rewalsar

on his arrival there.Dalai Lama worshiped Lord Budha

along with thousands of his Indian andforeign followers and expressed hope thatgoodness will be the final goal of all evilsin the world. He exhorted that “ we allshould serve the humanity”.

He said he had been overwhelmedand blessed on reaching Rewalsar, theTapo-Bhumi of great saint Rishi PadamaSambhava and ordained that the follow-ers of Lord Buddha should go round theworld to spread the teachings of Lord

Budha for ushering in an era of peace andhappiness.

The entire area is in a festive moodwith the Budh Mahakumbh being cele-brated after 12 years. All hotels in Rewalsar,Mandi and Sundernagar are packed.

District administration and Policehas taken all necessary steps to controllaw and order situation and regulate traf-fic . Strict vigil is being kept on suspectedpersons visiting Mandi at all the entrypoints, said Thakur Prem Singh, SP,Mandi.

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The National GreenTribunal (NGT) has direct-

ed the Punjab and the HaryanaGovernments to give details oftotal municipal solid wastegenerated in Mohali andPunchkula and its mode of col-lection and disposal.

A Bench headed by NGTchairperson Justice SwatanterKumar also sought similardetails from Chandigarhauthorities and asked them toinform it about the exact quan-tum of plastic and other non-degradable waste, inert wasteand degradable waste that canbe composted.

The green panel asked theChandigarh authorities to filea comprehensive report regard-ing the Sukhna drain anddirected that it be scientifical-ly de-silted and cleaned of anymunicipal solid waste.

"The affidavit will state asto what is the total municipalsolid waste generated in theseareas; what is the mode of itscollection and how the waste issegregated, transported anddisposed of," the bench said.

"The exact quantum ofwaste would be provided, fur-ther bifurcating that into the

exact quantum of plastic andother non-degradable waste,inert waste and degradablewaste that can be composted,"it said and fixed the matter forhearing on August 8.

The tribunal also askedthe counsel appearing forMinistry of Environment andForest to take instructions ifany plastic bags includingunwoven polypropylene arerecycled so that they do notgenerate waste or pollution.

The NGT had earlier pro-hibited use of plastic carrybags in various areas of Punjaband Haryana and sought theirresponses on the imposition ofa complete ban.

The direction had comewhile hearing a plea in whichit was alleged that there was"gross failure" in waste man-agement system and delay intackling garbage disposal in theUnion Territory of Chandigarh.

It had also declared a fineof �5,000 on anyone foundusing or dealing with plasticmaterial in Chandigarh.

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Amidst roaring controversyover the Punjab Cabinet’s

recent decision for approvingsetting up of Khalsa Universityin Amritsar, the Khalsa CollegeGoverning Council (KCGC)president Satyajit SinghMajithia on Thursday appealedthe political parties to restraintfrom playing ‘petty politics’on the ambitious educationproject.

Majithia, expressing hisgratitude to the StateGovernment for approving theambitious education project ofKhalsa University, chided theselected politicians who areraking up non-issues concern-ing the new varsity in the state.He added that it would be seatof higher learning and researchand boon for border districts ofthe state.

Majithia reiterated thatKhalsa College management iscommitted to protect KhalsaCollege as autonomous Collegeand KU is coming up at a sep-arate piece of land away fromthe College, on the Ram TirathRoad while College stands talland magnificent on GT Road.

He said that certain “vest-ed interests” are against the KUand select politicians are play-ing into the hands of thesecommercial entities who do notwant a university to be set upby credible body like KCGC.

At the same time, hethanked the Chief MinisterParkash Singh Badal andDeputy Chief Minister SukhbirBadal for the decision to

approve the varsity in the lastcabinet meeting and thus madethe dreams of 1890 establishedKCGC’s founders dream tohave a University, realized.

He said that the KU will be“professional, multi-faculty,world-class university” withaim to generate employmentand human resource to com-pete at international level. “Wewill tie up with the world uni-versities for education andresearch in diverse fields ofstudies,” he said.

Taking a jibe at some polit-ical leaders for making “mis-leading and misconceived”statement for political reasons,he said that he was surprised atthe assertions by some oppo-sition leaders who he saidseems to be “misled and ill-informed” on the subject.

Majithia said that the KUwill be managed by democra-tically elected managementand would focus on job-ori-ented, futuristic courses toenable the students to earnrespectful livelihoods and turnspiritual human beings withfocus on value-based educa-tion.

He said KCGC which is acharitable body, running 18educational institutions includ-ing historic Khalsa College hasalready has vast experience inmanaging institutions of high-er learning. He said KCGCopened 10 institutions includ-ing the nine professional col-leges in last 12 years whichspeaks volumes about the aimof the charitable body to spreadhigher education.

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From Page 1Indian High

Commissioner in IslamabadGautam Bambawale was sum-moned to the Foreign Officeon July 11, and a strongdemarche was made on thesituation on Kashmir. “OurHigh Commissioner statedthat India rejects thedemarche. For the same rea-son that this is a domesticissue, internal to India, we seeno reason to involve Pakistan,which has no locus standi inthe matter,” Swarup said,making it clear that Indiahas no interest in calling HighCommissioner of PakistanAbdul Basit and discuss anyissue pertaining to Kashmirwith him.

Meanwhile, in New York,India’s PermanentRepresentative to the UnitedNations Syed Akbaruddinslammed Pakistan’s effort tointernationalize the Kashmirissue.

Participating in a high-level thematic debate on‘UN@70 Human Rights at

the centre of the global agen-da, Akbaruddin said,“Regrettably, earlier today,we have seen an attempt atmisuse of this UN platform byPakistan, a country that cov-ets the territory of others; acountry that uses terrorism asa State policy towards thatmisguided end; a countrythat extols the virtues of ter-rorists and that provides sanc-tuary to UN-designated ter-rorists; and a country thatmasquerades its efforts assupport for human rights andself-determination.”

Akbaruddin further said,“Pakistan is the same countrywhose track record has failedto convince the internationalcommunity on giving mem-bership of the Human RightsCouncil in this very Session ofthe UNGA. The internation-al community has long seenthrough such designs. Cynicalattempts, like the one thismorning, therefore, find noresonance in this forum orelsewhere in the UnitedNations.”

From Page 1On her part, Dikshit

thanked the party leadershipfor entrusting her with such a“big responsibility”, adding shewould like to have PriyankaGandhi campaign with heracross the State. “She(Priyanka) is a very popularleader. My plea would be thatshe campaign across the State,”said Dikshit, who had alsoserved as Kerala Governor.

Acknowledging that it willbe “major challenge” for her inUP, Dikshit said the Congresswill go to the polls with confi-dence and that the party willtake on the BJP, the rulingSamajwadi Party and the BSPequally.

Announcement of Dikshit’snomination came on a day theAnti-Corruption Branch(ACB) of Delhi sent a notice toher asking her to join theinvestigation in connectionwith the alleged Rs 400-crorewater tanker scam. Dikshitcalled the allegation “political-ly-motivated”.

The Congress feels makingDikshit, a Brahmin, the face ofcampaign in Uttar Pradeshwill help the party win back

support of the community.The Brahmin community, atraditional vote bank ofCongress, had shifted alle-giance to the BJP in the after-math of the Mandir-Mandalpolitics.

A large chunk of Brahminvotes had also gone toMayawati’s BSP in the pastwhen she gave tickets to manycandidates belonging to thecommunity. The community’ssupport determines the polloutcome in several seats in cen-tral and eastern UP.

BJP national secretaryShrikant Sharma said BJP’sface was development andother parties were doing adebate on the chief minister-ial nominee to dilute its plankof progress and good gover-nance. “She is almost 80 anda retired and elderly leader.There were first reports aboutRahul Gandhi being hisparty’s face in UP and thenPriyanka Gandhi Vadra wasprojected. Now they havenamed Dikshit. She has beenprojected so that she could beblamed for the certain lossRahul and Priyanka will suf-fer in the State,” he said.

From Page 1Sources said that Lalu feels

that if the SP could keep intactits hold over the MY combi-nation, then given the four-cor-nered contest in UP the rulingparty would enjoy a decisiveedge in the contest that willhave major bearing on the2019 Lok Sabha polls as well.Muslims constitute nearly 20per cent of the UP populationand Brahmins make up for 13per cent.

Sources said that Lalu, whohas maintained a low profile

after the Grand Alliancetrounced the BJP in Bihar, ispreparing to undertake whirl-wind tour of UP. He is expect-ed to focus mainly on askingMuslim voters to recognisethe threat posed by the BJP andensure that the party does notrepeat its Lok Sabha perfor-mance in the Assembly polls.

In its bid to prevent thedivision of the Muslim votes,the RJD chief is expected toremind the voters that BSPchief Mayawati could onceagain join hands with the BJP

in case of a fractured verdictwhereas the Congress is tooweak to pose any meaningfulchallenge to the BJP.

Lalu may have his own rea-sons to shun the Congress.Sources said the RJD leader isof the opinion that theBrahmin-centric campaign ofthe Congress will harm the BJP,which in turn will boost theprospect of the SP.

As part of the anti-BJPstrategy, the presence of JD(U)in the fray will cut into thevotes of extremely backward

castes and kurmis, which onceagain could harm the prospectof the BJP. The JD(U) isexpected to join hands withthe Congress and bring on oneplatform breakaway factionof the Apna Dal and PeaceParty.

With Lalu and NitishKumar all set to go all out inUP, and Prashant Kishorpreparing the fine print ofCongress electoral strategy, itis clear that warriors of Biharare set to dominate the battleof UP.

From Page 1The Ministers expressed

concern over recent develop-ments in this regard. Theyreaffirmed the importance ofrespecting international law,as reflected notably in theUNCLOS, of the peaceful set-tlement of the disputes withoutany threat or use of force, andof ensuring freedom and safe-ty of navigation and over-flightas well as unimpeded lawfulcommerce in internationalwaters. In this context, theynoted the Award of the ArbitralTribunal on the South ChinaSea under the UNCLOS on 12July 2016, and urged all partiesto show utmost respect for theUNCLOS,” the joint statementsaid.

On the other hand, Chinasaid the international arbitra-tion tribunal which quashed itsclaims over the strategic SouthChina Sea has nothing to dowith United Nations and itsverdict delivered on July 12 isnot binding.

“We have noted the state-ment of relevant organs of theUN which once again showedthat temporary arbitral tri-bunal on the South China Sea

arbitration is not an interna-tional tribunal and its compo-sition and function has nolegitimacy,” Foreign Ministryspokesman Lu Kang toldreporters in Beijing.

Replying to a question, Lusaid, “The award given by thetribunal is not authoritativewithout binding force.”

Referring to media reportswhich termed the panel as UNtribunal, Lu said that now thatthe “UN agency has clarifiedwe hope the relevant mediawould not make similar mis-take in future”.

The spokesman said, “Ifanyone challenges China’srights and interests by takingprovocative actions based onthe ruling, China will surelymake a resolute response.”

China has been question-ing the credibility of the tri-bunal and its panel who unan-imously struck down Beijing’sclaims over almost all of theSouth China Sea based on his-toric rights and upheld therights of the Philippines.

In another development,Chinese military hasannounced three-month-longexercises simulating real battle

scenarios, amid South ChinaSea tensions over internation-al tribunal’s verdict.

Army troops from the fivetheatre commands of thePeople’s Liberation Army(PLA) will take part in a drillfrom July to Septemberdesigned to “strengthen thetroops’ trans-regional opera-tional capabilities.”

It is one of the key maneu-vers after the establishment ofthe PLA’s new Army com-mand, said a statement issuedtoday by the Zhurihe trainingbase in Inner MongoliaAutonomous Region, wherethe drill will be held.

The five theater commandswill each send a mixed armybrigade that will separatelyconfront the PLA army’s firstprofessional simulation troopposing as the enemy, state-runXinhua news agency reportedon Thursday.

The PLA Air Force andStrategic Support Force willalso take part in the drill thatwill help reshape the Army’straining system and strength-en its capacity to operatethroughout the Chinese terri-tory, the statement said.

From Page 1Traffic is heavy on MB

Road at Sainik Farm gate no. 1and 2 due to waterlogging…Traffic is heavy on Outer RingRoad (Panchsheel, IIT,Munirka and Vasant Vihar)due to waterlogging,” DelhiTraffic Police tweeted one afteranother.

However, many com-muters complained that water-logging was only half the prob-lem as many traffic signalshad also malfunctioned whichadded to the already-existingchaos.

“It’s a shame that in thenational Capital, we do nothave proper drainage system toensure that roads are not water-logged due to rain. It is even abigger shame that the nation-al Capital does not even havetechnology to ensure that traf-fic lights function smoothlywhen they are needed themost. It is a common-known

fact that Delhi faces trafficchaos even during light show-ers. But the Government hasdone nothing to ensure thattraffic lights keep functioningproperly or that roads are notwaterlogged whenever it hap-pens,” said Deepak Malhotra, aresident of Pitampura.

As per estimates, almost 30to 40 per cent of the 864 sig-nalised intersections face prob-lems during the monsoons dueto cables getting damaged byrainwater or due to power fail-ure as the proposals to installinverters or solar panelsremained on paper.

According to traffic offi-cials, the number of trafficcomplaints related to civicissues sees a significant spikeduring the monsoon season.There are problems like pot-holes, uprooting of trees, cav-ing-in of roads and waterlog-ging, which lead to slowdownof traffic.

From Page 1“Hence, it is suggested that before investing any amount or

purchasing any property outside the country, the assessee mustinform the Commissioner of Income Tax Department of the Stateeven if the permission of the RBI is not required,” it said.

Meanwhile, the Government also allowed payment of tax andpenalty in installments over an extended period for black moneydisclosed under the one-time compliance scheme.

Now taxpayers can do it so in three easy installments, 25 percent by 30 November, 25 per cent by 31 March 2017 and the bal-ance amount by 30 September 2017. The 45 per cent penalty blackmoney holders need to pay includes tax, surcharge and penalty.

From Page 1The court also asked

Delhi’s Home Secretary toimmediately appoint proba-tion officers for filing reportson the background of theconvicts and their conduct injail.

The court framed chargesagainst the guilty under IPCand Arms Act, dealing withmurder, abduction, robbery,forger y and using firearms.

The recover y of theweapon used in Jigisha’s mur-der also helped the cops crackSoumya’s murder. The tele-vision journalist was shotdead on September 30, 2008while returning home fromoffice in her car late at night.Police had claimed robbery asthe motive behind both themurders.

The accused had usedJigisha’s ATM card to buyexpensive sunglasses, watchesand shoes from Sarojini Nagar market.

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Wing Commander PoojaThakur, who presented

Guard of Honour to USPresident Barack Obama dur-ing his visit to India last year,has moved the Armed ForcesTribunal here claiming she wasdenied permanent commissionby the IAF. The Service hasdenied the contention and saidthe officer had refused to go infor permanent commission andasked for it days before herretirement last month.

As per the Governmentpolicy for granting permanentcommission to Short ServiceCommission (SSC) officers,the officer concerned has togive his or her option at leastone year before the SSC tenureends. The IAF said Thakur

sought permanent commis-sion days before her retirementon June 16 this year. Therefore,her application could not beentertained, officials said. TheTribunal has admitted the mat-ter and sought IAF’s response,

Rejecting claims of genderbias, IAF officials said the Servicehas no separate manual for maleand female officers while con-sidering granting permanent

commission. Elaborating uponthis aspect, they said permanentcommission is not somethingwhich is doled out. They under-lined that an officer, man orwoman, has to first willingly seekfor permanent commission andthen has to meet the laid downcriteria.

Giving details of Thakur’scase, they said she was commis-sioned into Administration

branch of IAF in 2001. After amandatory stint of five years, herservice was extended for anoth-er six years. Following the DelhiHigh Court’s directions in 2011and change in Government pol-icy on permanent commission towomen officers, IAF sought herwillingness for it in later 2011 asshe was to retire the next year.

The woman officer, how-ever, did not opt for permanent

commission and instead wentfor extension of service foranother four years. Incidentally,10 women officers of her batchwere selected for permanentcommission, officials said.

Interestingly, in July 2015,for undisclosed reasons, Thakurput in an application for pre-mature separation from theforce and was due to retire inJanuary this year. However, inDecember last year, she changedher mind and said she wantedto continue till her retirement inJune 2016, a request which wasaccepted by the IAF.

Thakur, who is at presentundergoing pre-release courseat a private management insti-tute in Gurgaon, applied forpermanent commission 10days prior to her retirement.Officials said as of now, she hasretired from service.

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The Supreme Court onThursday criticised the

Government’s Ordinance onthe National Eligibility-cumEntrance Test (NEET) for giv-ing States the option to conducttheir own exams this year, butit refused to stay the Ordinancekeeping in mind the interest oflakhs of students who hadtaken these tests.

The Ordinance on NEETenacted on May 24, 2016 camealmost 15 days after theSupreme Court on May 9directed a single test for all-Indiamedical/dental admissions intoprivate and Government col-leges beginning this year.

Finding the Ordinance tobe “patently bad” as it nullifiedthe apex court’s order withregard to State medical colleges,the Bench of Justices AR Dave,Shiva Kirti Singh and AdarshK Goel observed, “After NEETwas made operative by us, allother examinations (by State orprivate colleges) became illegaland from that day no otherexamination could be held.”

But the Bench realised thatany attempt to stay theOrdinance would render thefuture of lakhs of students injeopardy as over 17 States hadconducted their test while somehad even closed the admissionprocess for this year.

“The action of theGovernment (to exempt States)was not warranted as the pur-pose of our order was to bringuniformity in standards ofmedical admissions across thecountry… Though prima faciewe find that the validity of theOrdinance is open to doubt butthe fact that 50 per cent ofStates have already held theexams, we do not wish to grant

any interim relief at this stage,”the Bench held.

Two petitions — one bySankalp Charitable Trust andanother by a public spirited per-son Anand Rai — challengedthe Ordinance to be illegal andviolative of court’s direction.Senior advocate AmarendraSaran appearing for Sankalpsubmitted that what theOrdinance seeks to achieve is tooverrule a judicial order bydeferring its implementationby a year. Allowing this will bol-ster States to similarly issueOrdinances to set at naughtjudicial decisions. For the otherpetitioner, senior advocateVivek Tankha said that evenState entrance tests cannot betrusted following the Vyapamscam in Madhya Pradesh.

However, the Centre repre-sented by Attorney GeneralMukul Rohatgi emphasised thatthe exemption to States was inthe interest of lakhs of studentswho appeared in the variouscommon entrance tests. It wasnot meant to be an affront to thecourt, he submitted. Moreover,he added, the exemption isonly for this year.

The court said that theexemption was bound to createdifficulties for students whoappeared only for NEET asStates will fill seats from theirown exam. “This Ordinance isprima facie not proper… but anydecision by us could result inchaos. Our difficulty is we haveto see the interest of students aswell,” the Bench observed.

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The Centre on Thursday finally appointed a seniorbureaucrat from Madhya Pradesh as the new

Chairman of Central Board of Secondary Education(CBSE), a post which remained vacant for the past oneand a half years. MP cadre IAS of 1987 batch RajeshChaturvedi was appointed as CBSE chief by the PrimeMinister-led Appointments Committee of Cabinet(ACC) for a five-year term.

The appointment comes following rejection of thename recommended by former HRD Minister SmritiIrani. The Centre had conveyed to the HRD Ministryon Wednesday that Central Staffing Scheme (CSS) willbe applied in the appointment of new CBSE chief andthus PM personally chose Chaturvedi to lead the boardwhich has been conducting the crucial board exami-nations, entrance examinations and other activities with-out a regular Chairman. HRD Joint Secretary YSK SeshuKumar was given the additional charge of CBSE till date.

In an embarrassment to Irani, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Wednesday had rejected thename of candidate forwarded by her for the post. Afterthe recent Cabinet reshuffle, Irani is now the TextilesMinister while Prakash Javadekar has joined as the newHRD minister. The appointment of Chaturvedi comesas a shot in the arm for Javadekar who has just beenappointed as the new HRD Minister.

Sources said ACC did not accept the proposal inthe name of Sarvendra Vikram Bahadur Singh whichwas forwarded by HRD Ministry when Smriti Irani wasat the helm. This was the third futile attempt by the HRDMinistry to appoint a new CBSE chief with one beingAdditional Secretary Satbir Silas Bedi and one occasionthe name could not be finalized and sent to the PMO.

Singh was Irani’s top choice for the position andthe HRD Ministry had earlier this year forwarded hisname to Department of Personnel and Training(DoPT). “The ACC has not accepted the proposal toappoint Singh as CBSE chief. In the meeting it wasdecided that the post will be filled under the CSS,” aHRD Ministry spokesperson said.

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Making use of the ceasefirebetween the two fighting

factions in South Sudan and abreak in the circle of violencethere, India rushed two militaryaircrafts to evacuate its citizensfrom the African country. Theplanes that landed on Thursdayin Juba are expected to bringback about 300 Indians whohave registered with IndianEmbassy desiring to come back.

The C-17 Globe Masteraircrafts of the Indian Air Forceleft for Juba at 5 am and 7 amfrom Delhi on Thursday morn-ing with Gen. (Retd) VK Singh,Minister of State for ExternalAffairs (MEA), Amar Sinha,Secretary (ER), Satbir Singh,Joint Secretary (WANA) andother officials on board. Soon

after landing, VK Singh met theForeign Minister of SouthSudan, Deng Alor Kuol and theVice President James Wani Igga.

“The aim is to evacuate allthe Indian nationals who haveexpressed their interest in leav-ing. The evacuation has beenmeticulously planned in coor-

dination with the local author-ities as well as the support ofthe Indian peace keeping con-tingent in UNMISS…In ourassessment this was an oppor-tune moment to arrange for theevacuation, especially since theceasefire is holding and there isa lull in hostilities,” said MEA

spokesperson Vikas Swarup.According to the official, the

first aircraft departed Juba onThursday at 1 pm local time.Both aircrafts will first travel toEntebbe in Uganda for a re-fuelling halt of approximatelythree hours and will depart forIndia, first landing in Thiruva-nanthapuram early Friday morn-ing before coming to Delhi

Swarup added this entireoperation has been under thedirect supervision of theExternal Affairs MinisterSushma Swaraj, who hadformed a high level task force tomonitor the situation in SouthSudan. “Operation SankatMochan has underscored onceagain the Government’s proac-tive approach towards helpingIndians in distress anywhere inthe world,” Swarup said.

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The HRD Ministry is working on a sub-vention scheme to help IIT students

get interest-free loans so that they can paytheir fees easily.

Officials in the Prakash Javadekar-ledMinistry said while the fee for these insti-tutes was hiked recently, the Governmentalso wants that students and their parentsdo not face any hardship. “The Ministryhas planned a subvention scheme whichwill ensure that the interest part on loansis taken care of by it. The details of thescheme are being finalised by theMinistry,” an official said.

Under the earlier HRD MinisterSmriti Irani, the fee was increased from�90,000 to �2 lakh per annum. However,SC, ST, differently-abled and economicallybackward sections were provided waivers.

Officials said that the scheme will helpthose, who don’t come under the cate-gories but still may need assistance to copewith increased fee. When the IIT fee washiked, it was mentioned that studentswould be able to get interest-free loansunder the ‘Vidyalakshmi’ scheme.

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The World HealthOrganisation (WHO) on

Thursday presented India thecertificate declaring eliminationof maternal and neonataltetanus (MTN), caused main-ly due to unclean deliveries andumbilical cord care practices.

Until a few decades ago,India had reported 1,50,000 to2,00,000 neo-natal tetanus casesannually. Now the maternaland neonatal tetanus has beenreduced to less than one caseper 1,000 live births in all 675districts. India completed val-idation of MTN in all 36 Statesand Union Territories in April2015, much earlier than theWHO target of December 2015.

“India’s maternal neonataltetanus elimination (MNTE)success is also a huge tribute tothe millions of health workerswho often worked under chal-lenging conditions, and unde-niably the families and com-munities who recognised andaccepted the benefits of thesehealth services.

“With India’s achievement,almost the entire WHO South-East Asia Region, barring a fewdistricts in Indonesia, has noweliminated maternal andneonatal tetanus,” Dr PoonamKhetrapal Singh, RegionalDirector, WHO South-EastAsia Region, said after pre-senting the certificate forMTNE to the Minister here.

However, our efforts can-not stop here, she added giventhat unlike smallpox and polio,tetanus cannot be eradicated astetanus spores remain stub-bornly present in the environ-ment worldwide.

As the risk of tetanus per-sists, we need to continue ourefforts to ensure that MNTE ismaintained — women and chil-dren are immunised and cleandeliveries and proper cord careactivities get a further boost.

New Delhi: India on Thursdayrejected reports that it wasbehind the political turmoil inNepal. However, ExternalAffairs Ministry spokespersonVikas Swarup said what washappening in Nepal was its“internal issue” and India wouldnot like to comment on it.

He was asked about report-ed comments by Nepal PrimeMinister KP Oli that the exer-cise to form a new Governmentis moving ahead with involve-ment of India.

According to reports, healso accused that India is bring-ing the Maoist party and theNepali Congress together for theformation of a new Government.

Opposition parties onWednesday tabled a no-confi-dence motion against Oli afterhe refused to resign despite hiscoalition Government beingreduced to a minority, plungingthe country into fresh politicalinstability. CPN (Maoist Centre),Nepali Congress and CPN-United tabled the no-confidencemotion to oust Oli a day afterPrachanda’s Maoist party with-drew support to the the nine-month-old CPN-UML-led coali-tion Government and claimedthat he will form the newGovernment with the backing ofthe Opposition.

Prachanda proposed themotion while Nepali CongressPresident Sher Bahadur Deubaseconded it. NC leader RamKrishna Yadav said the motionwas filed after 183 NC parlia-mentarians, 70 from Maoist andthree of CPN-United put theirsignatures in the 601-memberConstituent Assembly,Kathmandu Post reported. PTI

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The Defence AcquisitionCouncil (DAC) headed by

Defence Minister ManoharParrikar on Thursday reviewedthe proposed Rafalefighter jet deal withFrance and directed thecommittee handlingprice and related nego-tiations to submit itsreport “expeditiously.”

The deal is peggedat nearly £7.89 billion(�65,000 crore) in which Indiawill buy 36 Rafale jets manu-factured by Dassault of France.Prime Minister Narendra Modiannounced this decision duringhis visit to France last year. It willbe a Government toGovernment deal whereinFrench Government will standguarantee for all aspects, includ-ing delivery schedule, availabil-ity of critical spare parts besidesmaintenance and upgrade.

The contract negotiationsstarted in January this year andthe process was in the finalstages, sources said here, addingthe Rafale committee briefed theDAC about the progress made.Parrikar directed the commit-tee to submit its report expedi-tiously, they said. However, nofinal decisions were taken.

It was earlier expected thata final decision could be takenon the Rafale deal at theMinistry level in the DAC onThursday, but it seems there

would be another review by theDAC on the issue soon.

As per the normal process,once a deal is cleared by theDefence Ministry, it is scruti-nised by the Finance Ministry

and the final clearance is givenby the Cabinet Committee onSecurity(CCS) chaired by thePrime Minister.

Parrikar had hinted in Mayhe was looking at wrapping upthe deal soon and this couldmean by end of June or July.Rejecting suggestions that therewas a delay in signing the con-tract, he said any such processtakes at least 6-8 months.

The proposed deal has a 50per cent offset clause in whichthe vendor will plough backhalf of the contracted amountinto the Indian Defence indus-try. France has also offered tocollaborate with India in itsKaveri fighter jet engine projectas part of off set. Indian scien-tists are yet to make a break-through in this project after itwas given the given the go-ahead 20 years back. Theindigenously designed andmanufactured engine is meantto power Tejas fighter jet.

New Delhi: The Governmenton Thursday dismissed thesuggestion that 5,000 cadre ofNaga militant group NSCN-IMwould be inducted into BorderSecurity Force (BSF).

A Home Ministryspokesperson said there havebeen reports that interlocutorfor Naga talks RN Ravi hadassured NSCN-IM general sec-retary Thuingaleng Muivahthat about 5,000 cadres of themilitant group would be draft-ed into BSF as part of the reha-bilitation process.

“It is clarified that thesereports are false and have nobasis,” the spokesperson said.

Ravi is at present holdingpeace parleys with NSCN-IM,led by Muivah.

In August last year, theNSCN-IM signed a frameworkagreement with theGovernment which PrimeMinister Narendra Modidescribed as a “historic” step tousher in peace in the State.

The pact was signed byMuivah and Ravi in the presenceof the Prime Minister, HomeMinister Rajnath Singh andNational Security Adviser AjitDoval at Modi’s residence here.

The signing of the agree-ment came after over 80 roundsof negotiations that spanned 18years with first breakthrough in1997 when the ceasefire agree-ment was sealed. PTI

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The Southwest monsoon has covered theentire country two days ahead of its normal

date after reaching the last frontiers of Kutch andWestern Rajasthan. According to the IndiaMeteorological Department (IMD), the coun-try has so far received 4 per cent more rainfallthan average.

As per the figures from IMD, the countryhas so far received 289.9 mm of rain as againstthe normal of 280.0 mm. All the four sub-regionsare receiving good monsoon, except the easternand north-eastern parts of the country, wherethe deficiency is 23 per cent. Central India onthe other hand has received a surplus of 25 percent rains already, with 367.6 mm of downpourin place of the average 293.7 mm.

In this week alone, the country as a whole reg-istered 11 per cent of above average rainfall withCentral India hitting a record of 91 per cent abovenormal rains. However, in sharp contrast the otherthree regions indicated deficient rains during theperiod. While the eastern and north easternregion, showed a shortfall of 47 per cent, by Northwest followed, with a deficit of 39 per cent.

The weather experts from IMD predicted

above normal rains are likely over Indo-Gangeticplains and adjoining areas, till July 20 and overnortheastern states till July 30. The peninsularIndia on the other hand is expected to receivenear normal rains, till the end of the month.Monsoon will however be subdued over Central& West India from July 16 to July 30.

The country’s private weather forecasterSkymet however said that the monsoon over cer-tain parts of the country will decrease consider-ably during the next 48 hours, after the vigorousphase. This according to the experts is due to theweakening of the low pressure over NorthwestMadhya Pradesh. Such monsoon conditions arenot expected to last more than a week.

The weather experts further predictedthat with the monsoon trough showing a ten-dency to shift northwards towards the foothillsof Himalayas, there will be significant rainfallin this region. Heavy to very heavy rains areexpected along the Himalayan foothills, espe-cially East Himalayas, particularly in the statesof Sikkim and Sub-Himalayan West Bengal.Apart from this, Bihar, Jharkhand, along withother northeastern states as Assam, ArunachalPradesh etc. will also witness good rains in thedays to come.

Meanwhile, the water levels in the mainreservoirs of the country stood at 29 percent,which is 11 percent higher as compared to theprevious week. As per the data from theMinistry of Water Resources, this is howeverstill down by 6 percent, as compared to its cor-responding figure last year.

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In a first, a Bihar cadre IASofficer was sent to jail after

being caught in a case of cor-ruption. The 2013-batch offi-cial Jeetendra Gupta, wasarrested by the vigilancedepartment from Mohania inKaimur district on Wednesday.

Gupta, who was posted asSub-Divisional Officer (SDO)of Mohania, had been caughttaking bribe of �80,000 from atransporter. He had been post-ed as SDO in Mohania inDecember 2015 and it was hisfirst posting. After a high-volt-age drama throughoutWednesday at the vigilancedepartment’s office here, he wasfinally sent to jail in lateevening and remanded to 14days’ judicial custody.

Gupta, who hails fromDelhi, is likely to be suspend-ed from service. GeneralAdministration DepartmentPrincipal Secretary AmirSubhani said there is provisionof automatic suspension of thecivil servant if he spends 48hours in prison.

While being taken to the

special vigilance court, Guptarebuked reporters saying,“What the hell are you doing.Don’t you have any sense?Only allegations have beenleveled against me and thisdoes not make me a culprit.”Gupta was also holding addi-tional charge of DeputyCommissioner Land Reformsin Mohania.

The IAS Association ofBihar came in support ofGupta. Two office-bearers ofthe association, Vivek KumarSingh and Deepak KumarSingh, went to meet Gupta inthe vigilance office and someIAS officials of 2013 batchtried their best to protect theircolleague but in vain. Theassociation at a meting proter-sted Gupta’s arrest and plead-ed that he had not been caughtaccepting bribe red handed.The vigilance sleuths said therehad been irrefutable evidenceagainst Gupta and there was noother option but to send him tothe jail. The IAS officer’s wifeand his lawyers were also seenroaming in the vigilancebureau. Director General ofvigilance bureau Ravindra

Kumar had already clarifiedthat Gupta was arrested in abribery case.

Gupta is accused of accept-ing bribe of �80,000 from atransporter whose four ironrod laden trucks had beendetained by Gupta at Mohaniaon July 3. The trucks fromJamshedpur in Jharkhand weregoing to Rajasthan. Two of thetrucks were found overloadedand the SDO demanded abribe of �1.50 lakh to release allthe four trucks. Later on heagreed to release them on pay-ment of �80,000.

The transporter informedthe vigilance bureau and themoment he paid the money toGupta the vigilance sleuthspounded on him. The moneywas recovered from his driver.The driver Sanjay Tewari andhouse guard Ashok Srivastavahad also been arrested. Thepapers of the seized truckswere found in SDO’s official car.

Kaimur DM RP Singh,who disliked the way Guptawas arrested, said he wasinformed about the SDO’sarrest after the vigilance teamtook him to Patna.

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Kerala’s Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau

(VACB) on Thursday namedVellappally Natesan, generalsecretary of the SNDP Yogam,the organisation of Hindulower caste Ezhavas, as firstaccused in the FIR filed in thecase pertaining to the allegationof irregularities in the dis-bursement of loans through amicrofinance scheme. Natesanand the Yogam are the mainforces behind the party,Bharatiya Dharma Jana Sena(BDJS), a BJP ally in the State.

The others named asaccused in the FIR registered inthe Special Vigilance Court inThiruvananthapuram wereYogam’s president MN Soman,

its microfinance scheme’s Statecoordinator KK Mahesan, NNajeeb, former managing direc-tor of the State backward class-es Development Corporation,and its present MD Dileep.

All the five accused werecharged with conspiracy andfinancial embezzlement. TheFIR is based on a petition filedin the court by former ChiefMinister VS Achuthanandanseeking investigation into theallegations leveled by the SreeNarayana Dharma Vedi, anoutfit opposing Natesan,against him over the Yogam’smicrofinance scheme.

The allegation is that therehad been widespread irregu-larities relating to a �15-croreloan availed by the Yogam’smicrofinance scheme from the

Backward Classes DevelopmentCorporation for disbursing asloans to the self-help groupsunder the Yogam. It was allegedthat the money was disbursedat high interest rates in violationof the corporation’s norms.

As per the allegation, themoney to be disbursed as loanat an interest rate of five percent to the self-help groups hadbeen given at interest ratesbetween 12 percent and 18 per-cent. The Vigilance court hadearlier observed that it hadbeen proved that money wasembezzled by forging docu-ments in the names of fictitiousbeneficiaries.

When the case was con-sidered the other day, SpecialVigilance Judge A Badaruddinhad given the Vigilance two

weeks’ time to submit the reporton the preliminary probe.However, Achuthanandan’slawyer sought a detailed probeinto the alleged irregularities onthe basis of a proper FIR as suf-ficient evidences had alreadybeen collected.

The court had earlier toldthe Vigilance that it shouldkeep in mind that sevenmonths had been completedsince the start of the inquiriesand that it would have to makeits position clear when thecase came up again on July 27.The Vigilance registered theFIR against Vellappally andothers in this context as it hadbeen convinced that there wassubstance in the allegations.

Responding to theVigilance’s move, Vellappally

said he was not afraid of anyinvestigation as he was certainthat he had done nothing wrong.He said that registration of anFIR did not mean that a personhad committed a crime. “Truthwill come out,” the Yogam chiefsaid, adding that he was notintending to give up his positionbecause of the allegation.

The charge of irregularitiesin the disbursement of micro-finance funds had come up firstwhen Vellappally was leading aKerala March of the Yogamwhich was a prelude to the dec-laration of a political party ofthe majority communities inKerala. Vellappally announcedthe formation of the BDJS,which was an ally of the BJP inthe May Assembly poll, onDecember 5 last.

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The Income-Tax raid in thehouses and business estab-

lishments owned by formerUnion Minister and DMK leaderSwamikannu Jagathrakshakanwhich commenced on earlyWednesday morning continuedon Thursday also with sources inthe department revealing thatthey have seized more than �20crore of unaccounted money inthe raid. This include �5 croreseized from Jagatrakshakan’s residence.

Many incriminating docu-ments and details of tax evasionworth �200 crore too has beenseized by the sleuths of theIncome-Tax Department. Theraids are being carried out at theresidences of Jagatrakshakan atAdyar, Nungambakkam (bothin Chennai) and his farm houseat Mahabalipuram in additionto his business enterprises rang-ing from distilleries, educa-tional institutions includingBharat University (a deemedprivate university), Sree BalajiMedical College and Sri

Lakshmi Narayana Institute ofMedical Sciences (Puducherry).Elite Distilleries Pvt Ltd with aproduction capacity of �1.02crore cases per year is alsoowned by the Jagatraksakanfamily.

Though the reasons behindthe lightening inspection onJagatrakshakan’s houses andbusiness establishments havenot been made public, it is saidthat tax men have informationthat the former Minister whoserved the UPA Governmentduring 2009 to 2013 has evad-ed income tax to the tune ofmore than �200 crore. It may beremembered that his name hadfigured prominently in thecoal-gate scam which shook theManmohan SinghGovernment.

Jagatrakshakan was at hisAdyar residence when thesleuths stormed into the houseand he was prevented fromleaving the house. The DMKleader and his family memn-ers were questioned by thesleuths regarding some of thedocuments seized from thehouses.

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The CPI(M)-led LDFGovernment in Kerala has

decided that information onthe decisions taken at Cabinetmeetings cannot be disclosedunder the Right to InformationAct. The Government is likelyto approach the High Courtagainst an order issued byState’s Chief InformationCommissioner Vinson M Paulthat information on Cabinetdecisions should be made avail-able on RTI applications andupload the same on theGovernment’s website.

The Government’s positionis said to be that there are tech-nical and practical difficulties indisclosing Cabinet decisions andposting them on the website.According to the Government,it was not yet clear whether alldecisions being taken by theCabinet would come under thepurview of the RTI Act. It alsoholds that a decision adopted ata Cabinet meeting need notbecome final until it wentthrough concerned departments

and came out as an order.The LDF Government’s

decision not to disclose Cabinetdecisions has come in responseto the June 15 order of the com-missioner to issue details of thedecisions taken by the formerCongress-led UDF Cabinetbetween January 1 and April 12to those who had applied forthe same under the RTI Act.The order had come on anapplication submitted by RTIactivist DB Binu. The ChiefSecretary has reportedlyinformed the CIC of theGovernment’s decision.

Till recently, the CPI(M)and the Left as a whole had crit-icized the Congress in the nameof several decisions taken by theformer UDF Cabinet in the lastmonths of its tenure by bring-ing out-of-agenda items to theCabinet’s meetings. Many ofthese decisions had triggeredcontroversies and had thusbecome subjects of hot discus-sion in the campaign for theMay 16 Assembly election,helping the Left in a big way.

Complaints had come up

recently that details of Cabinetdecisions were not being dis-closed under the RTI Act by theGovernment since PinarayiVijayan of the CPI(M) assumedoffice as Chief Minister.Pinarayi had also said that hedid not think it necessary thatthe Chief Minister should briefthe Press on decisions of theCabinet after its meetings.

At the same time, the issueseemed to be leading to a con-frontation between theGovernment and the ChiefInformation Commissionerwith the latter sticking to hisstand that details of Cabinetdecisions should be made avail-able in response to applicationsunder the RTI Act. Vinson MPal said he would take actionif complaints were received inthis regard.

According to the CIC, theGovernment is legally respon-sible for giving replies to queriesregarding Cabinet decisions.As per the law, such informa-tion should be publishedthrough the Government’s web-site and Gazette also, he said.

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The suicide of Dy Sp MK Ganapathy hasput the Congress Government in

Karnataka led by Chief MinisterSiddaramaiah on a spot and it has dentedthe image of the party which has failed toeven file an FIR before handing over thecase to judicial probe. However many in thecorridors of power, especially in the rulingparty feel that party high command mustintervene to resolve one of the worst cri-sis facing the party keeping in view of 2018Assembly polls which is crucial for theCongress as this is the last bastion.

A senior Congress leader on the con-dition of anonymity said Chief MinisterSiddaramaiah was unnecessary protectingKJ George and making biggest politicalmistakes which will hamper the prospectsof the party in the ensuing Assembly polls.He said “Congress Government has failedto handle the issue and Chief Minister’sattitude has put all of us in trouble. It is verydifficult to face the elections. I don’t expecthim to understand this but this is the hightime, party high command has to inter-vene. Already both BJP and JDS have

joined to fight us.”In fact many political analysts

feel by joining hands with bothBJP and JDs found an issuewhich was tackled very badly bythe ruling party. The overnightDharna by the Opposition partiesin both the Houses which wasonce a weapon of Siddaramaiahwho fought against Bellary ille-gal mining and became Chief

Minister of Congress Government in theState is now been successfully used by theOpposition to counter him.

Even though Siddaramaiah, unfazedby the relentless pressure by theOpposition, refused to hand over the caseto the CBI and sack George from theCabinet, the collective Opposition led byformer CMs Shettar and HDKumaraswamy resolved to stage an indef-inite overnight dharna on the floor of theHouse till Siddaramaiah drops Georgefrom the Cabinet and orders a CBI probeinto the suicide incident.

Meanwhile, the two Houses ofKarnataka Legislature were adjourned onThursday amidst continued dharna by theBJP and JD(S) Opposition demanding theresignation of Bengaluru Development

Minister KJ George and CBI probe into thecircumstances leading to the suicide byMangaluru DySP MK Ganapathy.

With the suicide of MK Ganapathy con-tinued to rock the two Houses for the fourthday, both the Assembly and the Council didnot witness discussions and some legisla-tion that were adopted by voice voteamidst the Opposition members accusingthe Government of not providing oppor-tunity for them to discuss on the legislation.

While the Assembly adopted fiveBills, the council passed three Bills.Subsequently the two Houses wereadjourned for the day. Speaker KB Koliwadwho held Business Advisory andConsultation Committee meeting failed toconvince the Opposition parties forsmooth the conduct of the House.

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Chennai City Police, investigat-ing the June 24 murder of

Infosys software engineer Swathi(24), commenced interrogatingthe accused Ramkumar sinceWednesday night. The police hasbeen given three-day custody ofRamkumar by the MetropolitanMagistrate, Egmore, Chennai lateWednesday evening.

Swathi was hacked to death byRamkumar at NungambakkamRailway Station in front of sever-al people. After the gruesome act,he disappeared without leaving atrace as the onlookers dived forcover. Based on video grabs fromCCTVs installed in shops and res-idences near the station and fromhouse to house search carried outby the investigators, the ChennaiCity Police identified the culpritand he was held from his native vil-lage Meemakshipuram inTirunelveli district after a week ofthe gruesome act.

Ramkumar was brought to

Chennai and was remanded atPuzhal Central Prison. This weeksaw the two prime witnesses zero-ing on him in identification paradesheld in the prison. Swathi’s fatherand the manager of the lodge whereRamkumar was staying before hecommitted the murder identifiedhim easily in the parade, accordingto sources in Chennai Police.

“We are collecting details likewhy he came to Chennai, when didhe come to the city, how and whenhe got acquainted with Swathi,from where he procured the mur-der weapon etc,” said a source onthe City Police probing the case.

In another development, thepolice had requested MohammedBilal, a software engineer friend ofSwathi to be present during thegrilling. Bilal joined the investi-gating team on Thursday and wasface to face with Ramkumar fornearly two hours. It is reported thatBilal identified Ramkumar as theone who followed Swathi.

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Page 7: four per cent morehave changed on the ground. Heavy showers on Thursday brought the city to its knees as normal life was crippled due to …

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In obedience of the SupremeCourt judgment on

Wednesday, ArunachalPradesh Governor TathagataRoy has reinstated Nabam Tukias the Chief Minister of theState on and with effect fromthat date of the verdict even asthe Governor has asked Tuki tocall a session of the StateLegislative Assembly not laterthan Saturday (July 16) toprove his majority on the floorof the House.

The Governor said this ina statement issued on Thursdayand said that he has informedTuki about this and said that he

had also sent a note to thiseffect to the Secretary of theArunachal Pradesh LegislativeAssembly.

Roy has further desiredthat in order to ensure that theproceedings of the LegislativeAssembly may take place peace-fully and otherwise appropri-ately, the same shall be video-graphed throughout and themajority as aforesaid proved byDivision and not by Voice Vote.

“The Governor furtheremphasised that the conduct ofthe proceedings, including thevideography, in the House shallstrictly follow the principleslaid down by the SupremeCourt in its order dated May 6,

2016 in the matter pertainingto the matter of imposition ofPresident’s Rule in the State ofUttarakhand (SLP C11567/2016) Union of India VsHarish Chandra Singh Rawat,”the statement said.

Chief Minister NabamTuki on Wednesday arrived inState capital Itanagar from NewDelhi and said that he is con-fident of proving his majorityin the House. “However, Iwould request the Governor todefer the floor test by a day ortwo as it will be difficult for theLegislators to come from furflung areas in the landlockedState,” Tuki said on Thursday.

“The SC order yesterday

has turned the clock back toDecember 15, 2015. Althoughthe Congress deserters havebecome members of Peoples’Party of Arunachal (PPA) now,they have become Congresslegislators after the SC verdictyesterday. I am in touch with allof them and they are going tosupport me in the House,” saidTuki. Tuki, however, blamedthe BJP for trying to misleadthe Legislators in the State.

Meanwhile, former ChiefMinister Kalikho Pul onThursday lined up the 30 PPALegislators at a hotel inGuwahati during a Press con-ference and said that ‘legally’ heis the Chief Minister of the

State. “I was informed that theGovernor of the State has askedTuki to prove his majority onSaturday. I congratulate Tukifor winning the legal battle butI hope the Arunachal PradeshLegislative Assemblywill give awell reasoned verdict to Tukion Saturday,” he said.

“The party composition ofArunachal Pradesh assembly asof now is Congress 15, PPA 30,BJP 11 and Independents two.With this composition, I won-der how Tuki will be able towin a floor test? We are sure ofour numbers and are sure ofdefeating Tuki’s Governmenton the floor of the AugustHouse,” he said.

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The authorities in Kashmirhave decided to impose

curfew in five districts of theValley to thwart separatists’plans to hold protests in thebackdrop of recent spree ofkillings triggered after thedeath of Hizbul Mujahideenmilitant Burhan Wani on July 8.

The normal life remainedcrippled in the Valley for thesixth consecutive day onThursday even as another crit-ically-wounded youngster suc-cumbed to his injuries takingthe death toll to 36 includingone police personnel.

According to DistrictMagistrates of Srinagar,Anantnag, Ganderbal,Pulwama, Kulgam, Budgamand Baramulla, curfew will beimposed on July 15. “No pub-lic or vehicular movement,except medical emergencieswould be allowed, an officialspokesman said.

The decision to imposestrict curfew is taken at a high-level meeting here to review theoverall situation. The sepa-ratists have announced to holdmassive protests across the val-ley against the recent killings.Three senior separatist leadersSyed Ali Geelani, MirwaizUmar Farooq and Yasin Malik,who have been detained by theauthorities, in a joint statementappealed to the Imams of localmosques to lead funeral prayersin absentia for the civilians andmilitants killed in recent days.

The curfew-like restric-tions remained imposed in sev-eral sensitive areas in south,north and central Kashmir onthe sixth consecutive day onThursday. The shops, businessestablishments, petrol pumps,courts and markets remainedclosed in summer capitalSrinagar. The attendance ingovernment offices was large-ly affected. The public transportremained off the roads withnegligible number of privatevehicles plying in city areas.

The educational institu-tions are closed in valley onaccount of summer vacations.The scheduled examinationsduring these days have beenpostponed.

The mobile telephony insouth and north Kashmir dis-tricts continued to remain par-tially suspended. The mobileinternet and train servicesacross Kashmir are suspendedsince July 9. The strike andrestrictions have led to masscancellation of wedding func-tions and people are organis-ing simple marriages. The localnewspapers are filled with clas-sifieds on cancellation of wed-ding ceremonies.

A Police spokesman saidthat a group of youth set on firea residential house inBamdoora Kokernag in southKashmir where Burhan Waniand his two associates werekilled last week in anencounter. The house was setablaze following rumours thatthe family was involved ingetting the militants killed.

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Due to prevailing security situation across dif-ferent parts of Kashmir valley J&K Oil and

Tankers Association has decided to suspendsupplies to Valley and Leh.

At present over 150 loaded oil tankers arestranded at different locations along the high-way beyond Jawahar tunnel.

Out of these at least 70 of them have notbeen off loaded and remain stranded outside theSrinagar oil depot.

Rest of them have been parked on differentstretches between Lower Munda toll post andPampore as local police authorities have pre-vented them from moving further.

Ever since security situation worsened inKashmir valley drivers of these oil/petroltankers have been informing the owners aboutvarious hardships they are facing due to pre-vailing security situation in the absence of anyfool proof security cover.

On some occasions motor cycle borne youthbrandishing guns and sharp edged weapons havealso threatened local drivers from Jammu to fledaway from Kashmir valley and warned themagainst ferrying fresh supplies.

Speaking to The Pioneer president, Oil andTankers Association, Anan Sharma said, "ourdrivers are scared as they have been receivingthreats from local people.In view of prevailingsecurity situation we have decided to suspendthe supplies and have also requested the Stateadministration to provide us fool proof securi-ty if they wish to maintain the supply line"

Sharma alleged some of them (drivers) havebeen thrashed and wind screens of majority oftankers have been broken by stone pelters in thearea. He said we even met Inspector General ofPolice Jammu range Danesh Rana on Thursdayand apprised him about the ground situation."Though he has given us an assurance that hewould speak to his counterpart in Kashmir val-ley to make adequate security arrangements butwe have decided to suspend supplies till our gen-uine demands are honoured especially fool proofsecurity arrangement,"Sharma added.

Meanwhile, large number of drivers andowners of petrol/oil tankers also staged aprotest demonstration outside oil depot inJammu highlighting their plight and indifferentattitude of the various State Govt agenciestowards ensuring safety and security to driversalong the national highway. He said most of thedrivers and cleaners have ran out of essentialsupplies as they have been stranded in the areafor last 4-5 days. Instead of coming to their res-cue the protestors are targeting them.

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The 23-year-old pro-quotaleader and convener of

Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti(PAAS), Hardik Patel will comeout of the jail on Friday as legalprocedures following bails in allcases against him by GujaratHigh Court over the period ofpast two weeks.

As per court order, Patelcan only spend couple of daysin Gujarat and after that he willhave to stay awayfrom Gujarat for nextsix months. However,Hardik’s supportersmake sure to utilisehis couple of days’stay in Gujarat andmake his release fromjail that too after ninelong months memorable byorganising plethora of events.

Already posters havepopped up in the Patidar dom-inated areas of Surat and parts ofSaurashtra region to ensurehero’s welcome for the PAASconvener. Spokesperson of PAASBrijesh Patel said that Hardikwould travel over 2,000 km in 48hours after he would release fromLajpore Jail in Surat.

“Hardik will address 12public meetings and stageseven road shows apart fromtwo mega-rallies in the State onFriday and Saturday. For thepurpose he would travel over2,100 km within Gujarat andexpected to meet 1.5 millionpeople. He will travel fromSurat to Rajkot, Botad andViramgam,” he informed.

If sources in the PAAS to bebelieved, flowers would beshowered from a helicopter as

Hardik would enter inhis hometownViramgam inAhmedabad district.He has been given per-mission to visitViramgam to collecthis belonging beforehe leaves Gujarat. He

will also visit Ahmedabad onSaturday in order to submitfresh affidavit as per the direc-tion of Gujarat High Court.

Hardik’s parents and hisfiancee will go to Lajpore Jail inSurat to receive him on Fridaymorning. A procession hasalso been planned to cheer hisrelease after the PAAS leaderwould be welcomed by girlsfrom Patidar community.

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Page 8: four per cent morehave changed on the ground. Heavy showers on Thursday brought the city to its knees as normal life was crippled due to …

The Prime Minister’s tourto some countries inAfrica has more thansymbolic importance.Much is written in the

media about China’s vigorous effortsto woo African Governments andthe people of that continent essen-tially by investing in infrastructureand mineral industries, the outputof which is of great economicinterest to China. It is time thatIndia stops trying to follow theapproach of keeping up with theJoneses as far as China is concerned,but rather carve out unique diplo-matic and economic relationshipswhich best suit our current situa-tion, and most importantly suitAfrica best in its own efforts to reachstandards of living that lift peopleout of poverty on that continent.Thus far the approach followed byIndia, which clearly emphasisestechnical assistance, training and thebuilding up of human capital inAfrica is an appropriate approachas far as India-Africa relations areconcerned. The Government’sIndian Technical & EconomicCooperation Programme (ITEC)has been largely successful, and theExternal Affairs Ministry haslearned from experience andbrought about some changes in theright direction.

What are Africa’s challenges, inmeeting which India could becomea valuable partner? Populationgrowth in Africa is very rapid andas the United Nations PopulationDivision mentions, “More thanhalf of global population growthbetween now and 2050 is expect-ed to occur in Africa. Of the addi-tional 2.4 billion people projectedto be added to the global popula-tion between 2015 and 2050, 1.3 bil-lion will be added in Africa.” It alsostates that after 2050 Africa is pro-jected to be the only major area withcontinuously growing population,meaning that while it housed 25 percent of the global population in2010 it would account for 39 percent in 2100. Africa’s populationgrowth would be taking place at atime when many parts of the worldactually see a decline in their ownpopulations. Europe, for instance,will have a smaller population in2050 than in 2015.

Africa’s phenomenal popula-tion growth clearly highlights theimportance of a very different pat-tern of growth from what has beenpursued in the developed world. Ifa conventional approach was fol-lowed in the aggregate, expectinga large scale trickle-down effect tohelp eliminate poverty, then thecapital inflows, energy productionand infrastructure creation thatwould be required would clearlyexceed any reasonable chance ofAfrica being able to achieve theseconditions. With the large numberof youth that would populate theAfrican continent, there would bea substantial need for education,and creation of entrepreneurial tal-ent and leadership skills by whichgrowth takes place at the grassrootslevel. The level of malnutrition inAfrica is likely to go up unless thereare significant advances in agricul-tural production techniques andexpansion of agriculture as an

activity. The term “land grabbing”has been used by the media glob-ally to describe countries deficientin agriculture buying up land inAfrica to ensure their own foodsecurity. In some sense, while thedesire of countries which havelarge desert areas and expandingpopulations, say in the MiddleEast, to buy land on the Africancontinent is quite understandable,this reflects an approach somewhatsimilar to foreign investors buyingup mining rights and investing inmining activities with high returnsto the investor, but very little ben-efit to the population around thesemining centres. Agriculture byforeign land holders is likely to beof the capital-intensive variety.The future of African agriculturelies in upgradation of techniquesand practices that the small farmercan benefit from. In this contextIndia with its vast experience inagricultural development muststep up its engagement in that sec-tor in Africa. India can set up alarge-scale technical assistanceprogramme to help farmers acrossthe African continent by which thethreat of massive malnutritionand hunger can be avoided.

Essentially, India’s approach toAfrica should be based on the exer-cise of soft power. There are alreadya number of teachers in schools, col-leges and universities from India,who have earned a very goodname for themselves and for thiscountry. In general, there is a highlevel of respect among the Africanpopulation on the ability of Indiansto provide education on a vast rangeof subjects. In the case of colleges

and universities, no doubt, Indianteachers could be provided as partof a development assistance pro-gramme, but at the school level anextensive teachers training pro-gramme would be of considerablevalue to the African continent.

Economic growth in someparts of Africa is taking place at avery healthy level, but the benefitsare unevenly distributed, provid-ing a role for poverty removal andemployment generation schemes.A recent publication pointed to thefact that during the past 10 years,the gross domestic product of the11 sub-Saharan countriesincreased 51 per cent, more thantwice the world’s 23 per cent, andalmost four times the 13 per centexpansion of the US. This has beenaccompanied by stabilising infla-tion across the continent, with theConsumer Price Index decliningto 7.8 per cent from a level greaterthan 13 per cent in 2008.Bloomberg’s data shows that thecontinent’s Consumer Price Indexhas remained less than eight percent since 2013. High rates ofgrowth and low inflation levels areundoubtedly attractive to foreigninvestors, and countries such asKenya and Nigeria have beensuccessful in attracting foreigninvestments on a significant scale.As the economy develops, therewill be a gradual transition frombasic industries and mining tolarger production of consumergoods and services. This is whereIndian investors would find itattractive to set up manufacturingfacilities at least in some parts ofAfrica to take advantage of low

wages and surplus manpower,and an expanding market.

Overall, therefore, while diplo-matic forays to African countries areimportant to ensure that India’spresence on that continent and adesire for economic partnershipgainsvisibility, more importantlythere has to be a serious level ofengagement at the sectoral level bywhich partnerships can be estab-lished involving Government andbusiness organisations as well asacademic institutions, so that Indiais able to contribute effectively tohuman resource development, thegeneration of entrepreneurial skillsand policies that ensure equitablegrowth. One area in which Africafaces a serious challenge is inrespect of energy scarcity on thecontinent. The United Nations ini-tiative entitled “Sustainable Energyfor All” has a major opportunity inAfrica for a totally different form ofenergy production and supply.

The largest number of thisdeprived community lives in Africaand South Asia. Jean-Louis Borloo,former Minister in PresidentSarkozy’s Cabinet has launched amajor programme “Energies pourl’Afrique”, which has the endorse-ment of all the leaders of Africa andrightly emphasises large scale spreadof renewable energy solutions acrossthe continent. A similar approachhas been enunciated in the AfricaProgress Report, an annual publi-cation, the compilation of which isoverseen by a distinguished set ofleaders drawn from across theglobe. The African energy challengecan be interpreted as a challenge toprovide energy access on a decen-tralised basis to the vast populationof the continent which lives outsidethe towns and cities or on thefringes of urban locations.

It was in 2007 that The Energyand Resources Institute (TERI)launched the “Lighting a MillionLives” campaign at the ClintonGlobal Summit in New York whichinitially focused on providingrenewable energy access to a mil-lion people. This was then raised in2008, when in the presence of thePrime Minister of India TERIlaunched its campaign on “Lightinga Billion Lives”, which was imple-mented in recognition of the factthat 1.3 billion people in the worldeven today have no access to elec-tricity. India and institutions likeTERI can play an important role inadvancing relevant renewable ener-gy programmes in Africa.

It would be particularly usefulif a group of enlightened citizenswith the blessings of theGovernment of India were to ini-tiate an effort and convene a set ofmeetings in which a clear andenlightened mapping of India’spartnership with Africa can beachieved, which then becomes theroadmap for all stakeholders includ-ing the Government. Establishinga forward looking approach andcreating multiple partnerships willhave benefits for both sides, and asAfrica develops economically,tradebetween India and Africawould grow with mutual benefitsfor all concerned.

(The writer is former chairman, TERI)

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Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “Nanny’s frivolous food tax”(July 13). It is encouraging thatthe Kerala Government hasdecided to tackle the growingproblem of obesity and otherhealth related issues by impos-ing a 14.5 per cent fat tax onjunk food items like pizza, burg-er, pasta etc.

However, there are otherIndian food items like samosa,pakoda and other oily itemswhich are equally harmful for us.The Government must alsoinclude these items in its list.Otherwise, it will look as if theit is targeting only Western food items.

Bal Govind Noida

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Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “Nanny’s frivolous food tax”(July 13). Eating habits of peo-ple cannot be changed overnightby imposing a fat tax. The KeralaGovernment’s proposed 14.5per cent fat tax on junk fooditems will benefit only the StateGovernment. It will help gener-ate huge taxes and revenue.

To really change the foodhabits of the people, theGovernment must try othermeasures. It must focus to cul-tivate a healthy lifestyle. It mustincrease awareness throughadvertisements and or refresh-ing courses/seminars/publicmeetings on such subjects.

Mahesh KapasiVia email

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Nanny’s frivolous food tax”(July 13). Obesity is fast becom-ing a global health problem.India’s public health system is inno shape to handle this onslaught.A long-term strategy has to bedevised to change eating habits.By imposing a fat tax, the KeralaGovernment must not restrictpeople’s choices, rather, it mustmake the people aware of therisks and hazards involved inmaking different choices. A mod-erate price increase will not hin-der the cravings of taste-buds.

Gaurav SinghalRewari

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Page 9: four per cent morehave changed on the ground. Heavy showers on Thursday brought the city to its knees as normal life was crippled due to …

There are obviously twoMehbooba Muftis. The mil-itant mainstream politician

practising soft separatism whowept and consoled at slain terror-ists’ homes showing solidarity withthe cause and then suddenly trans-formed; into a mature mindedpolitician statesman espousing thecause of hyper-nationalism, appro-priating the legacy of SheikhAbdullah, recognising how he wasright in siding with India and ful-minating against separatists whoare hijacking the brutalised psychesof the youth by handing themstones and guns. An anachronismbut a recent reality.

Is this mainstreaming ofMehbooba Mufti driven by politicsand the fact that she is now theChief Minister of a troubled Stateor is there a hint of double speak?Of course, one will get to know indue course. What is interesting isthat she helms the State at a diffi-cult time and she probably didn’tbargain for this degree of com-plexity. Last year when her father,Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, withouta doubt a nationalist and a states-man, released the dreaded MasratAlam Bhat, all hell broke loosebecause it merely confirmed thatPeoples Democratic Party (PDP)was soft on separatists. In the echochamber of the PDP where softseparatism reverberates as amantra, distancing herself from theerstwhile self-rule agenda andarticulating a pre-1953 status forJammu & Kashmir; MehboobaMufti’s speech in the Assembly thisJune was a virtual jack knife. Shesurprised everyone, throwing theplaybook out of kilter.

Her speech was remarkable forits nationalist tone and tenor: “TheMufti always used to say thatSheikh Saheb despite being a pop-ular leader of Muslim majorityJammu & Kashmir decided tojoin hands with India in 1947 at atime when religious affiliationsmattered. But Sheikh Saheb tookthe difficult step which was rightand is evident from the fact thatother Muslim majority places arefacing plethora of problems. Thisproves that this decision was rightfor Jammu & Kashmir”.

Her ideological leanings havealways been the worst kept secret

in Kashmir and she never approvedof the idea, ideal and idiom of Indialike her father did. For MehboobaMufti to trash ‘vested interests’ afterthe calamitous happenings in thewake of militant Burhan Wani’skilling was even more momentous.By appealing to parents and tellingthem not allow anybody to playwith the future of their children, shewas advocating a new postulate forKashmiri youth.

Saying that, “While certainquarters are only interested inplaying politics over the deadbodies of the youth, it is the fam-ily members of these slain youthwho have to live with this pain for-ever.” These are strong wordsfrom Mehbooba Mufti and they’reacquiring a nationalist hue. Takea gander at this excerpt from hertelevised address after the clashesbetween arsonists and paramilitia:“Unfortunately some elementsare hell bent upon fomentingtrouble, mayhem and bloodshedin Kashmir for their vested inter-ests and are playing with the livesof innocent youth by instigatingthem to to indulge in extreme vio-lence resulting in a vicious cycleof frenzy.”

Ever rising Kashmir recentlydwelled on her transformationafter coming to power. From herAssembly speech, here are a fewmore lines indicative of her ‘meta-morphosis’: “To sit on this chair isdifficult. It is not easy. It is a strangemoment for me. Before me, a tow-ering political personality of SheikhMohammad Abdullah’s stature sathere. And my father MuftiMohammad Sayeed, too. I am theleast experienced of all. My expe-rience is zero. It is a difficult job,difficult moment, but I have tomaintain the dignity of the ChiefMinister’s chair”. It is her strongdefence of Sheikh Abdullah’s con-troversial decision to accede withIndia under the Maharaja in 1947by saying that “Sheikh was a pop-ular leader and the decision wasnot accepted unless it wasapproved by Sheikh who went onto become the Prime Minister ofJammu & Kashmir” that has con-founded one and all, for it hasmeant that she has taken a leap offaith. The piece de resistance —The roots of our ideology are sostrong that they can’t be dislodgedby any other ideology followed bythe coup de grace.

Now this pro-India talk is notlost on anyone for it comes witha sense of unease. State BJPspokesperson Virender Gupta asrecently as June 8 was vitriolicwhen he argued that the “soft pol-icy” towards separatists has on onehand encouraged anti-India forcesand anti-social elements and onthe other, demoralised securityforces and the masses. “Soft pol-icy towards separatists is demor-alising security forces who arefighting to curb militancy and sac-rificing their lives. These sepa-ratists are continuously disturbingthe peace by holding the valley toransom thereby affecting businessand tourism industry,” he averred.Remember that when the alliancewas constructed, the Mufti him-self stated grandiosely that it wasa meeting of north and southpoles. Nor have people forgottenone of the Mufti’s most contro-versial statements that “militantsdon’t need guns anymore becausetheir representatives are now inthe Assembly” still resonates in thevalley. The Mufti’s own advisers inthe past have told this writer thatany solution of the Kashmir prob-lem requires participation of both

the separatists and Pakistan, alongwith India. Somewhere this nar-rative has been altered decisivelywith Mehbooba Muft’s recent utterances.

Is this pro-India nationalisticrhetoric permanent or tempo-rary? Has the narrative changedinside her mind because she seesthe separatists for what they real-ly are? Green and saffron don’t nec-essarily conform or converge forthey represent the divergent rightof Indian and Kashmiri polity. PDPemerged out of the ashes of histo-ry when in 1998-1999 heightenedsecurity excesses saw alienationand disenchantment of the popu-lace. Kashmir itself has an inter-esting history of how the Sher andBakra never converged and itdates back to April 1933 when theSheikh Abdullah’s (Sher-e-Kashmir) followers duked it outviolently with Mirwaiz Yusuf Shah’sgoatee wearing Bakra followersduring Id uz Zuha prayers. But thatwas a different eon and a differentage. Of course NC and the presentdiscredited Mirwaiz have never got along.

Television journalist NazirMasoodi has captured the rise ofPDP as a strong Kashmiri jingoistpolitical formation: The party flagis borrowed from the erstwhileMuslim United Front or MUF, anamalgam of Kashmiri groups thatlost the 1987 elections to theAbdullah-Congress alliance in awidely-believed rigged poll that isbelieved to be a trigger for the sub-sequent outbreak of militancy.The MUF became the HurriyatConference later. The PDP didn’tmiss a single chance to accuse theNational Conference of pushingMUF candidate MohammadYousuf Shah into militancy becausehe lost hope in the democraticprocess. Shah is now SyedSalahudin and the Pakistan-basedchief of the Hizbul Mujahideen, theHurriyat’s underground militia.

This is the journey of PDP asit seeks a more accommodativepro-India stance with its leader inthe vanguard trying to evolvewhen faced with the vicissitudes ofcontemporary Kashmiri politics,wedged between the partisan andpatrioteer groups that have rivenKashmir for their own benefit.

Kashmir is burning once again.The immediate provocationcame after security forces shot

dead Hizbul Mujahideen’s 21-year-old poster boy Burhan Wani, alongwithtwo of his accomplices in Kokernag.The incident provoked mass mourn-ing across the valley even as each newdeath is only fuelling further anger.Protesters, mostly young men, (morethan 30) are reported dead and 1,400injured. Whether the police intendedto kill him or not, damage has beendone, and the valley is simmering.

The situation reminds one of the2010 unrest when 120 people werekilled by security forces tryingto suppress the youth. Most ofthem born after 1990, andhundreds of thousands ofmourners who joined Wani’sfuneral procession proved it.

The incident has broughtout several facets. There is alocal angle, there is a nationalangle, there is an internationalangle and also there is an India-Pakistan angle. Echo was heardin Pakistan as Wani’s photoswere posted on social media.Pakistan Prime Minister NawazSharif called for a plebiscite inwhat he called “occupied”Jammu & Kashmir to let itspeople decide if they want to bewith India or align withPakistan. Radio Pakistan quoted Sharifas saying that the “massacre of citizensby Indian forces and use of brutal forceagainst Kashmir is regrettable.”

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, called on all parties to exercise“maximum restraint” to avoid furtherviolence and hoped that all concernswould be addressed through peacefulmeans. Last September, Sharif had methim and jim urged for a plebiscite inKashmir, stressing the need for imple-mentation of the UN Security Councilresolution in this regard.

As for local politics, former Jammu& Kashmir Chief Minister OmarAbdullah has warned that Burhan

dead is more deadly than Burhan alive.“Mark my words — Burhan’s ability torecruit into militancy from the gravewill far outstrip anything he could havedone on social media,” he tweeted.

Who is Burhan Wani, and whyshould his death invoke so much vio-lence? He represents a dangeroushome-grown militancy. The son of aheadmaster, he took to guns reported-ly to avenge the death of his brother.Wani joined the Hizbul Mujahideenand rose to become a commander. Hewas the first militant from Kashmir inrecent years to reveal his identity. Theeruption has been coming for long and

it is not clear why the authorities didnothing to prevent it.

There is no cohesion between theruling coalition partners — the PeoplesDemocratic Party and the BJP. Also,Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti hasfallen between the two stools. In 2010,she supported the youth uprising. AsChief Minister, she has arrested theHurriyat leaders and now is appealingto them to come to her rescue. On theother hand, the Centre does not havethe same confidence in her as it had inher father Mufti Mohammed Sayeed.

Second, the Centre seems to thinkthat violence in the State can be tack-led by deploying the Army to crush mil-

itancy. This has not paid dividend, aspolitical commentator DilipPadgaonkar has observed the face of themilitancy itself has changed in the State.Home-grown militancy has overtakenforeign militancy from across the bor-der. It is now the local youth, well-edu-cated, well-versed in the social mediaand well indoctrinated who is now theface of the new militancy.

Third, is a lack of strategy on thepart of the Centre and the State. Eversince former Prime MinisterManmohan Singh held a roundtable conference with the stake-holders, no fresh effort had been

made to address their concerns.So, while home-grown militan-cy is growing, the moderates arebecoming irrelevant.

Fourth, Kashmir needs is apolitical solution. The ball is in thecourt of the BJP, as it is not onlyruling at the Centre, but is also acoalition partner in the State. It wasa welcome step that the ModiGovernment reached out to theCongress and other Oppositionparties. Union Home MinisterRajnath Singh’s telephone calls toCongress president Sonia Gandhiwas indeed part of that effort.

Fifth, as retired Army ChiefGen Ved Prakash Malik observed,whenever the dialogue process issuspended, infiltration and mili-

tancy raises its head. The two PrimeMinisters must take forward the diplo-macy that Prime Minister NarendraModi practiced by dropping in atSharif ’s residence last December, andresume the dialogue process.

The road ahead is clear. The pri-ority is to restore law and order andreach out to the people. MehboobaMufti should be given all support as herauthority is getting weak day by day.There should be a healing touch, andall MLAs should fan out to their con-stituencies. The Centre too shouldaddress the concerns of the Kashmirisand build consensus by involving allstakeholders including the Hurriyat.

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Every nation, race,society or communi-ty has some core val-

ues and beliefs — theyhave a way of life. They alsohave a large base of so-called traditionalists whoseek to protect this way oflife. Neo-capitalists andneo-liberals have their owninherited culture of com-petition, free flow of labourand goods, a keen pursuitof globalisation, absolutefreedom of speech, supportfor promotion of products,a mistrust for any form ofauthority or control(except, perhaps, when alarge corporation or insti-tution needs to be bailedout by).

The modernists arelargely ful l throatedreformists who staunchlyoppose anything associat-ed with the tradition.

Interestingly, Leftistintellectuals have nowlargely moved away fromMarxism to neo-liberalismand they are now aligningthemselves with the mod-ernists and capitalists,except in call for labourreforms and abolition ofthe public sector. They areopposed to this.

There is, therefore,inevitably a conflict betweenthese neo-liberals and thelarge groups of indigenouspeoples or locals or tradi-tionalists. The latter opposethe rough ride of globalisa-tion. A very recent and star-tling instance of this oppo-sition manifesting itself canbe seen in Brexit.

Brexit is a warning ofhow the Western liberalorder is threatened by thethe alienation of people

who feel they have been leftbehind by market forces.

In Brexit, one impor-tant factor, apart from theeconomic factors, was theutter disregard of indige-nous public opinion inBritain by the unelectedauthorities in Brussels.

A similar example isbrewing in the US.Protectionism is raising itsugly head there too. USRepublican presidentialcandidate Donald Trump,riding on the waves of suchpopulist anger, is likely towin the race to the White House.

In India too, regional-ism and demand for rightsof self-determination aregetting more pronouncedday by day.

In this connection, itmay be worthwhile to recallthat the World TradeOrganisation’s attempts toexpand free trade havebeen stalled for quite some-time and other regionaltrade blocks too are moving slowly.

The fault really lieswith the no holds barredaggression of neo-capital-ists, neo-liberals and mod-ernists. Globalisationprocesses have caused ageneral sense of hankeringfor immediate results.

Therefore, they havecome to possess a need tosee immediate results. But,at the same time, theynever consider the oppos-ing views or needs.

Take the example ofApple Inc. The technologycompany has been locked ina major legal battle againstlaw enforcement officialsover privacy and national

security. There is no moveto compromise, and thematter is yet to be resolved.

Yet another example isof the issue of film censor-ship in India. PriyankaDasgupta, a journalist,pointed out in the Bengalidaily Ei Samay that aggriev-ed film-makers are actual-ly taking the position that iferotic scenes and slangs arecensored, the film inevitablyloses its artistic value. Yet,much worse censorship ispresent in many othercountries, though manyquality films are made there.This is an example ofextreme self-righteousnessand of crying wolf, whenthe actuality is a lack of cre-ativity/critical thinking anda sterile rootlessness.

Even on major socialissues like capital punish-ment or homosexuality oruniform civil code etc,there has been no attemptsat convergence. Instead,there is a stiffening ofrespective positions. Youcannot impose your viewsparticularly when theopposing views are deep-rooted and draw their sapfrom tradition.

There is no absoluteright or absolute wrong inthese matters. But whatmakes it worse is thatthere’s no attempt even atappreciating each other.Without mutual respectand understanding therecannot be any progress. Ithas to be a positive sum-game. There is, therefore, aneed for a balanced andopen approach to suchmajor unresolved issuesfor the sake of peace, har-mony and progress.

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Government on Thursdayallowed payment of tax and

penalty in instalments over anextended period for the blackmoney disclosed under the one-time compliance scheme,debunking certain assumptionsthat the effective tax rate couldwork out to be 31 per cent, muchlower than mooted.

The Income DeclarationScheme (IDS), which gives hold-ers of undeclared wealth achance to come clean by payingtax, surcharge and penalty of 45per cent and escape punish-ment, had earlier provided twomonth’s time after the close ofdeclaration window onSeptember 30 this year for pay-ment of dues.

Now, the Government hasallowed payment of dues inthree instalments by September30, 2017.

The first instalment of 25 percent of the total tax, surchargeand penalty due will have to bepaid by November 30, 2016, fol-lowed by a second tranche of anequivalent amount by March 31,2017. The remaining 50 percent will have to be paid bySeptember 30, 2017, a financeministry statement said.

In a separate statement, theGovernment set to rest the the-ory of 31 per cent being the effec-

tive tax rate under IDS.Addressing queries received

from stakeholders on whetherthe payment under IDS can bemade out of undisclosed income,without including it in theincome declared -- thereby whit-tling down the effective tax rateto 31 per cent -- it has clarifiedthat there is no intent to “mod-ify or alter the rate of tax, sur-charge and penalty payableunder the Scheme”.

The clarification in the formof frequently asked questions(FAQs) stated that “Sections 184& 185 of the Finance Act, 2016unambiguously provide for pay-ment of tax, surcharge andpenalty at the rate of 45 per centof undisclosed income”.

It offered an example: If aperson declares �100 lakh asundisclosed income, being thefair market value of undisclosedimmovable property as on June1, 2016 and pays tax, surchargeand penalty of �45 lakh (30 lakh+ 7.5 lakh + 7.5 lakh) on it outof his other undisclosed income,he won’t get any immunity.

“In this case the declarantwill not get any immunity underthe Scheme in respect of undis-closed income of 45 lakh utilizedfor payment of tax, surchargeand penalty but not included inthe declaration filed under theScheme,” according to the clar-ification.

To get immunity under theScheme in respect of the entireundisclosed income of �145lakh (�100 lakh being immov-able property and �45 lakh beingthe payment made from undis-closed income), a person must

pay tax, surcharge and penaltyunder the Scheme amounting to�65.25 lakh i.E, 45 per cent of�145 lakh.

The tax department said arevision in the declaration beforethe close of the four-month

window on September 30 will beallowed subject to the conditionthat the reported amount is notreduced. On the provisionunder which the informationdeclared will not be shared with-in the income-tax departmentfor investigation, the FAQ saidthe Government on July 6through a notification directedthat “no public servant shallproduce before any person orauthority any such document orrecord or any information orcomputerized data or part there-of as comes into his possessionduring the discharge of officialduties in respect of a valid dec-laration made under theScheme”.

Also, immunity to the direc-tors or the partners, as the casemay be, shall be available inrespect of the undisclosedincome declared under theScheme by the company or part-nership firm, it said.

On the issue of the declarantsbeing selected for scrutiny underthe CASS after IDS declarations inrespect of cash and investmentresulting in increase in capital inthe Balance Sheet in extra ordinarymanner, it said such cases “shallnot be selected for scrutiny underthe CASS only on the ground thatthere is increase in capital in thebalance sheet as a result of the dec-laration made under the Scheme”.

In the FAQs, the Income Tax

Department said it was expect-ed that the declarations madeunder the Scheme are filed cor-rectly but a revision will beallowed within before September30 subject to certain conditions.

“A revised declaration can befiled on or before the date of clo-sure of the Scheme provided theundisclosed income in therevised declaration is not lessthan the undisclosed incomedeclared in the declarationalready filed,” it said.

In a case where the declar-ant gets the benami asset trans-ferred in his name without pay-ment of any monetary consid-eration to the benamidar, no cap-ital gains would be chargeable.

“In this case the considera-tion for acquisition of benamiproperty has already been paidby the beneficial owner and thefair market value of the proper-ty has been declared by the ben-eficial owner under the Scheme.

“Since, the transfer ofproperty from benamidar tobeneficial owner is only toregularize and there will be noinvolvement of monetary con-sideration for transfer ofimmovable property by thebenamidar in the name of thedeclarant, the question of cap-ital gains in the hands ofbenamidar and deduction oftax at source thereon shall notarise,” the FAQs said.

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� � ������� Asking domesticblack money holders to takeadvantage of the ongoingscheme to come clean, FinanceMinister Arun Jaitley onThursday said those who havenot yet declared their undis-closed foreign assets will facethe consequences.

“One of the objectivesbehind 2015 black money lawwas (providing) an opportunityto assessees to comply...Somepeople made use of that oppor-tunity and I can tell you withalmost certainty that thosewho did not, have taken a bigrisk because this is one areawhere world is opening outnow with G-20 initiative, USdomestic law,” FinanceMinister Arun Jaitley said at anevent organised by Ficci here.

Finding out details is notdifficult once there is a real-

time sharing of information, hesaid, adding, “those who havemissed the bus certainly havemissed a lot”.

Speaking on the occasion,Revenue Secretary HasmukhAdhia said there will not besecond window for the disclo-sure of foreign black money.

"I don't think the intensionof the Government ever was toreopen that. Having closed thedate, one should not reopenthe window. That I thinkwould be FM's view also,"Adhia said when asked if theGovernment is considering toprovide another window fordeclaration of foreign blackmoney.

With regard to IncomeDisclosure Scheme (IDS),Jaitley said the Governmentwants more and more peopleto use this. ���

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Country’s largest softwareexporter company TCS on

Thursday announced 9.9 percent jump in net profit at�6,317 crore for the April-June period on the back ofmulti-billion dollar deals inEurope and North Americanmarkets.

In dollar terms, net incomestood at $944 million for thequarter under the IndianAccounting standards, or Rs32.06 per share. Consolidatedgross revenue on constant cur-rency terms jumped 14.2 percent to �29,305 crore or $4.36billion, Chief Executive andManaging Director NChandrasekaran said.

The numbers, however,are not so robust on a sequen-tial basis. While net profitslipped 0.4 per cent due toforex volatilities and otherexternalities like 8-12 per centsalary hike impacting mar-gins, revenue rose just 3.1 percent.

However, Chandrasekarandescribed net profit as “the bestin six quarters as the key num-bers driving growth has beenall-round.”

“The very strong growthwas driven by multiple factorswith all our key vertical andmarkets, especially continentalEurope, doing extremely well.

“Europe, excludingEngland, clipped at 2.8 percent, against 2.5 per centgrowth that North Americasaw. For Europe, this was thebest quarter in over a year.Also, we had the best year inIndia at a growth of 8.5 percent,” he said.

While net income slipped0.4 per cent from the fourthquarter of last fiscal, revenueinched up a paltry 3 per cent,the company said.

Gross margins declinedsteeply to the tune of 98 basispoints to 25.1 per cent. On anannual basis, the dip in mar-gins was steeper at 122 bps,Chief Financial Officer RajeshGopinathan said.

Net profit margin alsodeclined both sequentially aswell as annually by 73 bps and69 bps, respectively to 21.6 percent, Gopinathan said.

He attributed the fall tocurrency fluctuations and the8-12 percentage points salaryhike announced in the begin-ning of the fiscal year.

“The salary hike aloneshaved off almost 200 bpsfrom margins,” he said, andparried a question on marginoutlook, citing company poli-cy.

Chandrasekaran attributedthe good set of numbers tostrong execution and acceler-ating customer adoption ofcloud, big data and analyticswhich led to a broad-basedgrowth across key marketsand industries.

Revenue from its largestmarket North America inchedup 2.5 per cent to $2.33 billion,while that from England bet-tered at 3.8 per cent to $650million.

Continental Europe fared

even better at 4.6 per cent at$500 million.

But India was the star per-former among the emerging-markets, clipping at 8.5 percent or $270 million, whichChandrasekaran attributed toincreased adoption of tech-nology by corporates.

Chandrasekaran dis-counted the impact of Brexiton the firm’s operations inEngland, saying Diligenta, itsBritish arm, offers an essentialservice which will not beimpacted.

Brexit has nothing to dowith TCS’ British operations aswe offer an essential servicethere, he added.

On the overall impact of theBrexit, he said, “So far I have notheard any of my existing clientsasking for a price revision or hint-ing at lower IT spends. And this,I say after spending close to 10days in Europe after the Brexit voteand I did not get any negativefeedback and so I have nothing tobe cautioned against too much.But we are watching out.”

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Japanese auto major Hondaon Thursday it is recalling

1,90,578 units of the previousgeneration of Accord, CR-V,Civic, City and Jazz models inIndia as part of its global exer-cise to rectify faulty airbagsmade by Takata.

The company, which ispresent in India through awholly-owned arm HondaCars India Ltd (HCIL),announced that it will volun-tarily replace Takata passengerfront airbag inflators in thesemodels, which are manufac-tured between 2003 and 2011.

“The replacement will becarried out free of cost at HCILdealerships across India in aphased manner. While the cam-paign for CR-V and Civic willbegin immediately, the replace-ment of inflators for otheraffected models would beginfrom September 2016, and thecompany will communicatewith customers directly,” HCILsaid in a statement.

According to the company,the recall will affect 22,483units of the premium sedanAccord manufactured betwen2003-2011.

As many as 1,37,270 unitsof the company’s best sellingsedan City manufacturedbetween 2008-2011 will be cov-ered, while 15,706 units of pre-mium hatchback Jazz producedbetween 2009-2011 are alsoaffected.

HCIL further said 13,605units of the now discontinuedsedan Civic manufacturedbetween 2007-2011 are alsoaffected by the exercise.

The recall will also impact1,514 units of SUV CR-V pro-duced between 2009-2011, itadded.

Millions of vehicles havebeen recalled across the globedue to defective safety airbagmanufactured by Japan’s TakataCorp. It has affected vehiclesmanufacturers across brands,including BMW, Chrysler,Daimler Trucks, Ford, GeneralMotors, Honda, Mazda,Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru andToyota.

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Hero Motocorp, the country’slargest two-wheeler manu-

facturer on Thursday unveiledits first in-house designedmotorcycle the Splendor i-Smart110. This is the first time Herohas installed their own engine ona motorcycle, more than sixyears after the split with theirerstwhile partner Honda MotorCompany. Speaking to themedia at the launch, PawanMunjal, Chairman andManaging Director, HeroMotocorp said that he expectsthis new motorcycle to be thefirst of several that the compa-ny will launch over the comingmonths that have been devel-oped at Hero’s Centre forInnovation and Technology(CIT) near Jaipur.

While Munjal soundedoptimistic about the domesticmarket, noting that the mon-soons have been better this yearthan the past two years, he didmention that due to global eco-nomic upheaval Hero’s globalplans have been hit. However,exports continue to be a bigthrust for Hero and he men-tioned that the company expect-

ed to start sales in Nigeria laterthis month. Nigeria is Africa’slargest two-wheeler market. Healso mentioned that sales inArgentina and Mexico are tostart soon. “There are similari-ties between the Indian marketand these markets, this is why weentered the African and LatinAmerican markets first”, hepointed out. “Recent incidents inBangladesh have been a setback”,he noted though, although workon the plant at Jessore is con-tinuing and he expressed thepossibility that this new plant

could also service the north-eastern part of India.

“The last two-three yearshave not gone to plan”, Munjalsaid about Hero’s internationalambitions. However, he felt thatthe establishment of CIT willhelp Hero. “CIT is developingproducts for the world, we arebuilding the LEAP Hybrid scoot-er, which might be expensive butwill showcase our technology”, hesaid. As for the domestic market,he said that Hero’s developmentplans have gone into overdrive.As per the terms of the settle-ment with Honda, Hero wasallowed to produce certain mod-els and four models - theMaestro, Impulse, Passion X-Proand Ignitor have to be replacedby or before 2017.

“We have shown our intentwith this motorcycle”, MarkusBrawnspeiger, Hero’s Germantechnical head said. “We haveused advanced materials andtechnologies in developing thisengine”, he added and said thatengine development work wascarrying on aggressively at CITwith more in-house motorcy-cles to come including the pos-sibility of higher capacityengines.

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Costlier vegetables, pulses and sugar pushed WPI infla-tion for the third straight month in June to 1.62 per cent,

queering the pitch for the Reserve Bank to reduce rates inits August policy meet.

The wholesale price-based inflation, reflecting theannual rate of price rise, during June was also substantiallyhigher than 0.79 per cent in May and (-)2.13 per cent in June2015.

Wholesale price index (WPI) inflation in vegetables shotup by 16.91 per cent last month. While, inflation print forcereals stood at 6.32 per cent. Potato, a daily consumableamong Indian households, turned pretty expensive duringthe month as buyers had to shell out 64.48 per cent more thana year ago. Among others, the rate of price rise in pulses wasat 26.61 per cent, sugar 26.09 per cent and that for fruits theinflation during the month rose by 5.97 per cent.

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Tata Advanced Systems andUS-based Bell Helicopter

ton Thursday announced anagreement for working togeth-er to manufacture helicoptersunder ‘Make in India’ initiativeto meet civil and militaryrequirements. The pact looks totap the multi-billion dollarpotential rotary wing market inIndia in light utility and recon-naissance segments.

The scope is intended toinclude potential productionand assembly capabilities, train-ing and maintenance, repairand overhaul needs, researchand development and technol-ogy sharing that will grow indus-trial capabilities and result ininnovative ‘Make in India’ solu-tions, a statement by Tata said.

“TASL’s alliance with BellHelicopter is significant becauseof our shared synergies. Ourdefence manufacturing capabil-ities and focus on innovation arewell aligned with BellHelicopter’s core competence,” SRamadorai, Chairman of TataAdvanced Systems, said. Headded that this will build on thepartnerships that TASL already

has in the rotorcraft market,allowing it to offer a full range ofproducts to potential customers.

“The collaboration, which isin line with the Government’s‘Make in India’ initiative, holdspotential not only in the domes-tic market, but will strengthenIndia’s position in the interna-tional market,” he said. TASL,which is focused on providingintegrated solutions for aero-space, defence and homelandsecurity, has become a significantplayer in the global aerospacemarket.

“We are honoured to buildon our relationship with TASL toleverage its experience andknowledge to customise, integrateand manufacture specific localBell Helicopter solutions forIndia,” said Mitch Snyder,President and CEO of BellHelicopter.

Bell Helicopter has been sup-plying helicopters to India formore than six decades -- the firstBell Helicopter was delivered tothe country in 1953. Today, thereare more than 90 Bell aircraftoperating throughout India inseveral sectors, including com-mercial, civil and Government,and military operations.

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Delayed tax reforms continueto pose operational bottle-

necks to streamlined movementof goods and services across Indiaand the shadow of bad assets con-tinue to haunt the Indian finan-cial sector, according to Tatagroup Chairman Cyrus Mistry.

In his address to sharehold-ers in the Annual Report of TataMotors, Mistry, who is also theChairman of the homegrownautomobile major, however, saidthere is a positive sign of a moremature and responsible economy.

“The continued delay of someof the tax reforms continue to poseoperational bottlenecks in a morestreamlined movement of goodsand services across the country,”he said. Despite repeated attemptsby the BJP-led NDA Governmentto pass it in Parliament, the GSThas been hanging fire with oppo-

sition Congress yet to come onboard. The Government is hop-ing to pass the GST bill in theupcoming monsoon session ofParliament. Mistry further said:“The shadow of NPAs continue tohaunt the Indian financial sectoreven as the sector is all set to growwith new financial institutions.”

The banking sector non-per-forming loans (NPL) rose sharplyin 2015-16 to over 13 per cent, orover Rs 8 trillion, as of March asa result of stricter NPL recognitionstandards. Mistry, however, saiddespite 2015-16 being one ofcontinued global volatility acrossdifferent markets, the news wasmore positive for India withrobust GDP growth, making thecountry one of the fastest grow-ing economies worldwide.

The sustained start-up envi-ronment has also played animportant role in bringing inglobal and domestic investment,

opening up new opportunities andalso helping to carry economicdevelopment beyond just the tierone cities, he said.

“Moreover, there is, rightly so,a greater thoughtfulness towardsinvesting in new or emergingcompanies with a greater attentionto the right business models. Thisis a positive sign of a more matureand responsible economy,” headded. On Tata Motors group, hesaid 2015-16 was a year of mixedresults but it was important to notethe return to profitability.

“It was therefore a turn-

around year, backed by strongJaguar Land Rover growth despitechallenges, as well as the start ofthe turnaround for Tata Motorsstandalone,” he said. Jaguar LandRover continued to show strongglobal sales, despite the Chinaslowdown. It showed a stronggrowth in the key markets ofNorth America and Europe,Mistry said.

The British arm's solid finan-cial performance through lastyear was clearly showcased by itsselling more than half a millioncars in one year for the first time.“Last year, it thus produced andsold more cars than at any timein its history. Its vehicles havereceived more than 140 awardsfor design, technology, safety andenvironmental sustainability,” hesaid, adding JLR is one of theUK's largest exporters, withmore than 80 per cent of its rev-enue coming from exports.

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ONGC Videsh Ltd is lookingto raise $500 million to $1.1

billion through a US dollar bondsissue to funds its acquisition of 15per cent stake in Russia’s Vankoroilfield. Global rating agenciesMoody’s and S&P have assignedlong-term issue rating to thebond issuance. While Moody'sInvestors Service assigned a Baa2rating representing a relativelylow-risk, S&P assigned ‘BBB-’long-term investment grade rat-ing reflecting opinion that issuerhas the current capacity to meetits debt obligations.

Both ratings allow banks toinvest in such rated bonds. Anofficial claimed neither Moody’snor S&P has given OVL’s bondsa ‘low investment grade rating’ asreported by some sections onWednesday. He added there is no

change in OVL’s issuer ratingsand it is the same as previouslyassigned.

According to Moody’s, ituses nine rating symbols -- Aaa,Aa, A, Baa, Ba, B, Caa, Ca, C --the first showing least credit riskand the last denoting greatestcredit risk. Among these, the firstfour are classified as ‘investmentgrade’ and the last five as ‘spec-ulative grade’ ratings by Moody’s.In case of S&P, the investmentgrade ratings are BBB- or high-er, while it is Baa3 or higher forratings by Moody’s.

In a statement, Moody’s hadsaid yesterday it “has assigned aBaa2 rating to the proposed for-eign currency senior unsecuredbonds to be issued by ONGCVidesh Vankorneft Pte Ltd(OVVPL), a wholly owned sub-sidiary of Oil and Natural GasCorporation (ONGC).” PTI

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MUMBAI: Mindful of the grow-ing importance of financial tech-nology innovations, the ReserveBank has set up a working groupto work out a regulatory frame-work to bolster financial tech-nology and digital banking.

“RBI has set up an inter-regula-tory working group to study the entiregamut of regulatory issues relating tofinancial technology and digitalbanking in India,” RBI said in a release.The sub-committee of the FinancialStability and Development Councilat its meeting held on April 26 haddecided to set up such a group to lookinto the issue and report the finer

aspects. The mandate is to gaugeimplications, review and appropri-ately reorient the regulatory frame-work and respond to the dynamicsof the rapidly-evolving financialtechnology scenario.

Among the terms of referenceof the working group is “to chalkout appropriate regulatory responsewith a view to re-aligning/re-ori-enting regulatory guidelines andstatutory provisions for enhancingfinancial technology/digitalbanking associated opportunitieswhile simultaneously manag-ing the evolving challenges andrisk dimensions,” RBI said. PTI

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LONDON: Steel giantArcelorMittal said it has boughtback in cash securities worth$583.19 million of the $600 millionbonds, which are due to mature in2020 and 2021. The Luxembourg-based firm in a late regulatory fil-ing on Wednesday announced thefinal results of its Offers to Purchasefor cash up to $600 million aggre-

gate principal amount of its out-standing notes. Last month, theworld’s largest steelmaker hadannounced the launch of its ten-der offers. The offers were to pur-chase for cash up to maximum ten-der amount in aggregate of its out-standing 5.125 per cent Notesdue June 1, 2020, 5.250 per centNotes due August 5, 2020 . PTI

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NEW DELHI: As many as241 infrastructure projectsincluding those delayeddue to land acquisition,forest clearances and otherreasons, have led to costoverrun of �1.55 lakhcrore, as per official data.

The Statistics Ministrymonitored 1,076 infra-structure projects, eachworth �150 crore or moreacross sectors such aspower, railways and roadsin March, 2016. PTI

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After having conducted anelaborate scouting exer-

cise, Donald Trump is all set toannounce his vice-presidentialrunning mate on Friday. By allaccounts, the pick will be fromamong three Republican big-wigs — former House SpeakerNewt Gingrich, IndianaGovernor Mike Pence and NewJersey Governor Chris Christie.

“I’m narrowing it down. Imean I’m — I’m at potentiallyfour. But in my own mind, Iprobably am thinking abouttwo,” Trump told Fox News onWednesday. Later in the day, hetweeted that he would be mak-ing the announcement inManhattan at 11 am on Friday.

The presumptiveRepublican presidential nom-inee, who wants to be donewith his V-P pick before theparty convention gets under-way in Cleveland on Monday,held another round of inter-views in Indianapolis onWednesday. Assisting him inthe process are not only keystaffers, but his children aswell.

“I just want to pick some-

body that’s solid, who’s smart.I’m not looking for an attackdog. Frankly, I’m looking forsomebody that really under-stands what we’re talkingabout,” Trump said, clarifyinghis earlier remarks to The WallStreet Journal.

Trump, who held a break-fast meeting with GovernorPence on Wednesday, laterdescribed him as a “high qual-ity person”, a “wonderful guy”.Later in the day, he met withGingrich, who was speciallyflown in a private jet, financedby Fox News host SeanHannity.

As for Christie, a friend ofthe Trumps for years and onewho was the first to endorsehim after ending his own pres-idential bid, Trump dismissedassumptions that he is off thelist. He called Christie “a goodguy” and “a total professional”,saying he’s “somebody I’veliked a long time”.

Gingrich, speaking to FoxNews on Wednesday night,said he believes it’s down to twocontenders: him and Pence. “Isuspect sometime tomorrowthat Mike and I will both getphone calls and one of us willbe packing our bags to go toNew York and the other onewill be going to watch it on TV,”Gingrich remarked, withoutmaking any mention aboutChristie.

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Chinese military hasannounced three-month-

long exercises simulating realbattle scenarios, amid SouthChina Sea tensions over inter-national tribunal's verdict thatdismissed Beijing's claims.

Army troops from the fivetheatre commands of thePeople's Liberation Army(PLA) will take part in a drillfrom July to Septemberdesigned to "strengthen thetroops' trans-regional opera-tional capabilities."

It is one of the key maneu-vers after the establishment ofthe PLA's new Army com-mand, said a statement issuedtoday by the Zhurihe trainingbase in Inner MongoliaAutonomous Region, where

the drill will be held.The five theater commands

will each send a mixed armybrigade that will separatelyconfront the PLA army's firstprofessional simulation troopposing as the enemy, state-runXinhua news agency reportedon Thursday.

The PLA Air Force andStrategic Support Force willalso take part in the drill thatwill help reshape the Army'straining system and strength-en its capacity to operatethroughout the Chinese terri-tory, the statement said.

The drills were announcedas the tribunal of thePermanent Court ofArbitration has struck downChina's historic claims over theSCS and upheld the Philippinessovereignty over the area.

Hanoi: Vietnam on Thursday protested China's recent activ-ities in the disputed South China Sea, saying they seriously vio-late Vietnamese sovereignty.

Chinese state media reported that two Chinese civilian air-craft yesterday landed successfully on two newly built airstripson Mischief and Subi reefs. China also said it had completedfour lighthouses on disputed reefs and was launching a fifth.

The latest developments came as a UN arbitration tribunalthis week ruled that China's vast territorial claims are violat-ing international maritime law.

The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration ruledin favor of the Philippines, which challenged Beijing's expan-sive claims to virtually the entire South China Sea. Beijing saysit does not recognise the decision.

Vietnam Foreign Ministry spokesman Le Hai Binhdemanded Beijing cease actions that complicate the situation.

"Despite the opposition of Vietnam and concerns by the inter-national community, those actions conducted by China have seri-ously violated Vietnam's sovereignty and are unlawful and can-not change the fact about Vietnam's sovereignty over the HoangSa and Truong Sa archipelagoes," Binh told reporters, referringto the Paracel and Spratly islands in the South China Sea. AP

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Manila: The Philippinesasked Beijing on Thursday torespect an international tri-bunal's ruling that rejectedChinese claims to most of theSouth China Sea, escalating arow that has raised theprospect of conflict.

China reacted furiouslyto the verdict by a UN-backtribunal on Tuesday, insistingit will ignore the decisionwhile warning its rivals toomuch pressure on the issuecould turn the resource-richand strategically vital water-way into a "cradle of war".

The Philippines, whichlaunched the legal challenge,had initially refrained fromasking China to abide by theruling. This followed PresidentRodrigo Duterte's directiveto achieve a "soft landing" withthe Philippines' much morepowerful Asian neighbour.

But Manila hardened itsstance today with a statementdetailing Foreign SecretaryPerfecto Yasay's prioritieswhen he attends an Asia-Europe summit, known asASEM, in Mongolia this weekalong with Chinese PremierLi Keqiang. AFP

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Hafiz Saeed, the founder ofPakistani militant group

Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), onThursday warned that violencein Indian-ruled Kashmir willescalate.

Saeed, designated a terror-ist by the United States with aUSD 10 million bounty on hishead, also told AP that he willlead nationwide demonstra-tions in Pakistan to force itsgovernment to sever ties withthe US if it cannot convinceWashington to intervene in thedecades old Kashmir dispute.

The US-declared terroristgroup LeT is suspected of car-rying out the 2008 Mumbai ter-ror attack and was banned inPakistan in 2015 but Saeedtravels freely and gives speech-es inciting people to attackWestern and Indian interests.

Indian government haslong demanded Islamabadarrest Saeed.

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Branding the US and Japan as "paper tigers" and "eunuchs,"China's state media on Thursday said that the military should

remain ready for "counter attack" if American warships hold exer-cises near islands claimed by Beijing in the South China Sea toenforce the UN-backed tribunal's verdict.

An editorial titled 'Blustering US a paper tiger in S ChinaSea' in the state-run Global Times said that the US has voicedthe strongest support for the verdict against China on Tuesdayby The Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague.

US has said that the award was legally binding."More politicians and congressmen from the House and

Senate have also made fiercer remarks, demanding regular chal-lenges to China's excessive maritime claims through naval andair patrols. Japan's stance is precisely the same as that of the US,as if they have discussed their lines," it said.

The tabloid daily said that on the contrary the attitude of thePhilippines - which filed the petition against China at the tri-bunal - is relatively mild as it called for restraint.

Part of the ruling Communist Party publications, the dailyis known of its nationalistic rhetoric.

"An old Chinese saying goes 'the emperor doesn't worry buthis eunuch does,' meaning the outsider is more anxious than theplayer. In this case, Washington and Tokyo are the worryingeunuchs," it said.

"The calls for the use of force have only been heard when theUS clamoured to safeguard the freedom of navigation in the SouthChina Sea, which mirrors that the US hasn't made the determi-nation to use the arbitration for a showdown with China in thewaters."

"The People's Liberation Army should enhance its militarydeployment in the waters of the Nansha Islands (Spratlyislands) and be fully prepared to counterattack if the US makesfurther provocations," it said.

"We do not wish for any direct confrontation or frictionbetween the military powers... But if Washington insists on doingso, we will never flinch," the editorial said.

It said many Chinese scholars believe that after the finalaward, the issue will gradually cool down. If there are no big movesfrom Manila, Washington and Tokyo, the case will "literallybecome nothing but a piece of paper," it said.

The strongly-worded editorial came as China asserted thatit would not abide by the verdict, which quashed its claims onparts of the South China Sea on the basis of historic rights.

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Islamabad: Upping the ante, Pakistan on Thursday describedslain Hizbul commander Burhan Wani and other militants as peo-ple "fighting for freedom" and accused Indian security forces ofcommitting "state-terrorism" in Kashmir.

"The Indian security forces are involved in state- terrorismin Kashmir and the international community should take noticeof it," Foreign Office spokesman Nafees Zakaria said at his week-ly briefing here.

In response to a question, Zakaria described slain Hizbul com-mander Wani and other militants as people "fighting for freedom."

He said Pakistan has informed the international communi-ty including the OIC, P-5 and EU about alleged atrocities by theIndian forces and human rights violations in Kashmir.

Zakaria said Pakistan's ambassadors have been tasked to briefthe host governments and human rights organisations on theissue.

He also asked the UN to get its resolutions on Kashmirimplemented as it was UN's responsibility to solve internation-al disputes including Kashmir.

"We want resolution of Kashmir in accordance of UN res-olutions. If you (UN) want to intervene in helping resolution ofKashmir then it is your obligation," he said.

He said Pakistan wants to resolve all outstanding issuesincluding Kashmir with India through talks, as war is not a solu-tion to any issue. PTI

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British Prime MinisterTheresa May asked

European leaders for "time" toprepare for negotiations onBritain's exit from theEuropean Union (EU), accord-ing to a Downing Streetspokesperson on Thursday.

May spoke via telephoneon Wednesday evening withGerman Chancellor AngelaMerkel, French PresidentFrancois Hollande and IrishPrime Minister Enda Kenny,Efe news reported.

"On all the phone calls, thePrime Minister emphasisedher commitment to deliveringthe will of the British people toleave the European Union,"said the spokesperson.

"The Prime Ministerexplained that we would needsome time to prepare for thesenegotiations and spoke abouther hopes that these could be

conducted in a constructiveand positive spirit," added thespokesperson.

In conversation with Merkel,the two leaders agreed that theyare in favour of establishing a"constructive relationship" whilerecognising the importance of"close co-operation betweenBritain and Germany".

The premier underlinedto Hollande the importance ofbilateral relations in security,

defence and border control."The Prime Minister

offered her best wishes to thePresident and the people ofFrance for Bastille Day and thePresident invited the PrimeMinister to visit Paris," thespokesperson explained.

In her conversation withthe Irish Prime Minister thetwo officials agreed to maintain"strong collaboration" betweenthe two countries.

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Paris: French President Francois Hollande congratulatedBritain's new Prime Minister Theresa May on her appointmentand urged her to quickly begin talks on the country's divorcefrom the EU, the Elysee Palace said.

Hollande "reiterated his wish for the negotiations on Britain'sdeparture from the European Union to be undertaken as soonas possible", the president's office said on Wednesday in a state-ment after the two leaders spoke by phone.

Both also expressed their commitment to the further devel-opment of the amicable ties between their countries, it added.

AFP

/ ���������*�$� ����'�������#�Baghdad: A top ISIS terror-ist Omar al-Shishani, hasbeen killed in Iraq, thejihadist-linked Amaq agencyhas said.

The Pentagon announcedin March that Shishani, knownas Omar the Chechen, wasbelieved to have died of injuriesreceived in an air raid targetinghis convoy in northeasternSyria — details at odds withAmaq's account.

Citing a "military source,"Amaq said on WednesdayShishani was killed "in thetown of Sharqat as he took partin repelling the military cam-paign on the city of Mosul",referring to the last ISIS-heldcity in Iraq.

Iraqi forces are conductingoperations to set the stage fora final push to Mosul, thecountry's second city that fell toIS in June 2014. AFP

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Kathmandu: Nepal Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli onThursday said he cannot compromise national security in thename of maintaining cordial relations with neighbours, with-out naming any specific country.

"Maintaining good relation with neighbouring countries isan important aspect of national security but we cannot jeop-ardise national security for the sake of maintaining good neigh-bourly relations," Oli said without elaborating on the issue.

"Neither we think against anyone nor we have spoken againstanyone. We won't let this country be used against others.Competition should be for various other issues but not on nation-al security," he said while addressing a National Security Seminarhere. The issue of national security was not related to any par-ticular person or party but the country as a whole, Oli said, hint-ing towards the absence of key leaders including Nepali CongressPresident Sher Bahadur Deuba and CPN (Maoist Centre)Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal "Prachanda" in the meeting.PTI

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Bangladesh has banned con-troversial Indian Islamic

preacher Zakir Naik's Peacemobile phone, days after block-ing his Peace TV from airwavesand online, according to amedia report on Thursday.

"These phones cannot beallowed anymore because thereis a clear instruction from thegovernment to stop all kinds ofpublicity of Zakir Naik," tele-coms regulator BTRC ChairmanShahjahan Mahmood was quot-ed as saying by Bdnews24.

Beximco Group importsNayek's Peace mobile. Marketedas "Islamic mobile handsets",the website of the brand saysthat the phone comes loadedwith options to access Nayek'sPeace TV sermons in English,Hindi and Urdu.

They also come packedwith Islamic wallpapers, accessto the Quran and remindersabout prayer timings etc. Thewebsite also mentions the nameof Beximo Group as the soleBangladesh importer and theaddress of the group office inDhaka.

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(Broadcasting Corporation of India)DIRECTORATE GENERAL: DOORDARSHAN

DOORDARSHAN BHAWAN, COPERNICUS MARG,NEW DELHI - 110001

BID EXTENSION NOTICE.In continuation to already advertised revised Notice Inviting Global

Tender (NIT-01)/2016-17 dated 05.04.2015 bearing tender no. 1(1)2016-17 El (P) TV for Supply, Testing and Commissioning of 20 KWVHF Band III Superturnstile Anteena System to be installed at HPTJabalpur (M.P.).. The last date of submission & opening of bid hasbeen extended due to administrative reasons. Now the tender willbe opened on 20.07.2016 at 12:00 Hrs. The tender submission timewill be upto 12:00 Hrs. on 19.07.2016. The other terms and condi-tions remain the same.Extension notice may also be seen at websites: www.ddindia.gov.in,https://www.tenderwizard.com/PB & CPP Portal.

Assistant Engineerdavp 22501/11/0014/1617 For Director General, Doordarshan

PRASAR BHARATI(Broadcasting Corporation of India)

DIRECTORATE GENERAL: DOORDARSHAN BHAWAN, DOORDAR-SHAN COPERNICUS MARG,

NEW DELHI -110001

BID EXTENSION NOTICE.

In continuation to already advertised revised Notice Inviting GlobalTender (NIT- (01)/2016-17 dated 05.04.2015 bearing tender no. 1(2) 2016-17 El (P) TV for Supply of 10KW (1+1) DVB-T2 & T2 lite ready UHF AnalogTV Transmitters along with station items to be installed in Jammu Region,Srinagar Region & Leh Region. The last date of submission & openingof bid has been extended due to administrative reasons .Now the tenderwill be opened on 02.08.2016 at 12:00 Hrs. The tender submission timewill be upto 12:00 Hrs. on 01.08.2016. The other terms and conditionsremain the same.

Extension notice may also be seen at websites: www.ddindia.gov.in,https://www.tenderwizard.com/PB & CPP Portal.

davp 22501/11/0013/1617

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He is a passionate Dilliwalawho loves to talk about his

city dime a dozen, conduct her-itage walks, make documentariesand write stories about the knownand unknown. Sohail Hashmi, aman who is actually a book full oftales about the evolution of thiscity, believes that languagesencode culture and have to beinclusive. The heterogeneity oflanguage is primarily an urbanprocess, he believes.

Hashmi was one of the pan-ellists of the curtain raiser of thesixth Indian Language Festival,

Samanvay. It is aimed at gen-erating dialogue acrossIndian languages at variouslevels and has emerged asthe only literature festivaldedicated exclusively toIndian languages. This year

the theme is “Language asa public action.” The cur-

tain-raiser dealt with therise of Hindustani in Indiaand its various forms ofexpression in public. “Itengages with the country’s

pluralistic culture,” saidRizio Yohannan Raj, cre-

ative director, ILF Samanvay.Explaining the origins of

Hindustani, Hashmi said Jatsand Gujjars were the native

people of Delhi, the rest beingoutsiders. Migrants contributedto the mix of different languagesand cultures over centuries thatgave birth to Hindustani. Askedabout the effect of nationalist pol-itics on Hindustani, Hashmi said,“In India, language is associatedwith a religious identity, which wedon’t see anywhere else in theworld. If someone is speaking inUrdu, people perceive him/her as

a Muslim and if one talks in Hindihe/she is perceived as a Hindu. Inthe 19th century, the same lan-guage which everyone spoke inthe city began to be written in twodifferent scripts. This started atFort Williams College in Calcutta.They picked up some scholars ofHindustani who happened to beHindus and asked them to writein Devnagri script, and theybegan calling it Hindi. The samelanguage, when written in Persianscript, they called it Urdu.”

Hashmi exclaimed thatGhalib wrote letters and phenom-enal prose known as ud-ae-hindi,meaning fragrance of Hindi, andthey were all in the Persian script.“By the 1830s, a cleavage hadbeen created. Urdu became thelanguage of Muslims and Hindibecame the language of Hindus.You will not find this kind of divi-sion anywhere in the world. Doonly Christians speak English?Religion and language have noconnection. The first history ofUrdu literature was written by aHindu. The first epic novel inUrdu was written by a Hindu. Oneof the earliest epic poems,Masnavi, was written by a Hindu.It is politics that has started divid-ing culture in terms of religion,”said the heritage activist.

He also doesn’t like the con-finement of the idea of being

Indian to speaking Hindi. “Youcannot define Indianness by speak-ing Hindi. By that definition, all ofnortheast is not India. Neither areTamil Nadu and Kerala if we go bythat logic. Only Uttar Pradeshremains in India and everythingelse lies outside it.... how can a lan-guage be the benchmark of beingIndian? That is the politics that oneneeds to question,” said Hashmithoughtfully.

Commenting on the intoler-ance of Indians, he argued, “Youcannot simultaneously say that we

are a tolerant nation but every-body has to speak and knowHindi. Where is the tolerance?We, north Indians, make fun ofevery other language. Tamil has amuch older written literaturethan Hindi. Hindi as a languagewas born in the 19 th century. Stillwe make fun of Tamil. We makefun of people from the northeast.And we make fun of Jats whospeak Haryanvi and are the orig-inal inhabitants. How can you callyourself tolerant and intrusive andkeep making fun of others’ culture

and language? That is the problemwith this whole nationalist dis-course that we have developed.When we say we celebrate the lan-guages of Delhi, we celebrate thediversity of the city. And by cele-brating the diversity of Delhi, youare celebrating the diversity of thecountry.”

Talking about history as adiscipline, he said the way historyis taught, especially in schools,makes the subject boring for stu-dents. It is just taught as a series ofevents and dates. He believed that

history, if looked in terms ofdevelopment of civilisations andculture, becomes more interesting.“The other problem is that todayeverybody is only studying busi-ness management and commerce.But try to think what will happenten years later. It is not only a ques-tion of history, also pure sciences.Ten years later we won’t have sci-entists in the country. You can’tbecome a nation of shopkeepersand accountants, but nobody isbothered. History is crucial, ifyou don’t study history you won’tunderstand what your country isall about and where you are going.Everyone is getting trained to geta job and earn money. That’s noteducation,” he said.

Asked about the treatmentthat liberal arts are given in Indiahe sighed, “Very bad!” Same forsciences too. “People are studyingapplied sciences. They are gettingtraining to become only engi-neers. But basic sciences are whereyou begin to unravel the secrets ofscience. And to understand whatthis country is all about, you haveto study the history of this coun-try. The young generation is learn-ing how to do business. But one-and-a-half-crore people can’t sur-vive on commerce. You have toproduce and to produce, you haveto learn pure science,” he said,rounding off.

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The huge 4951cc engine under that massive,long hood gurgles as your right foot touch-

es the accelerator pedal. There is no menaceto the noise, it sounds oddly gentle, reassur-ing even. Because 400 horsepower is no joke.No matter how many powerful cars you havedriven in your life, that shove you get whenyou do the proverbial “pedal to the metal”move and your peripheral vision becomes ablur, is still exhilarating.

The Mustang is an American icon, intro-duced for the first time in April 1964. It enteredthe market just as thousands of Americanteenagers, the so-called “baby-boomer” gen-eration, were old enough to buy cars. In an agewhere oil was cheap, the big engine and low-sticker price of the Mustang made it an instanthit and in the first 18 months of productionover a million Mustangs were made.

However, what we have here is the newsixth-generation Mustang which was intro-duced last year. The first Mustang to be madeas a right-hand drive option straight out of thefactory, this car was built with internationalmarkets in mind. But is it still as good as theoriginal was when it was launched?

Well, from the outside the short answeris yes. Despite the weight of expectations onthis car given its pedigree, the designers havemoulded a combination of historical “ponycar” looks with modern features. The “ponycar” look is the long, sleek hood coupled witha short rear. Yet in the headlights and taillightsas well as the body panels you see glimpses ofmodern-day Ford design. But even with mod-ern LED lights, Ford has retained the three-stripe tail light feature. One thing to notethough is that the reversing light on theMustang is now below the numberplate.

Inside, this is a modern car. If you haveever driven an early Mustang, its simplicity wasits greatest feature. Of course, simplicity hastaken a backseat here, I counted 18, yes 18 but-tons on the steering wheel. But in most mod-ern cars that is par for the course. As is the dig-ital display between the double-barrel rev-counter and speedo dials. By the way, I lovedthe way the speedometer said “GroundSpeed.” A major reason simplicity has takena back-seat is safety. The Mustang GT as dri-ven comes with eight-airbags and the latestgeneration of Ford’s SYNC software.

The buttons don’t end on the steeringwheel. Much like starting a modern day fight-er-jet, you need to press a couple of toggles,shift the car into Track mode. While this is apatently stupid idea on the open road becauseit reduces the amount of traction control andstability available, we were driving the Mustangat the Buddh International Circuit (BIC), soyeah, what the heck.

Back to the driving experience, as men-tioned at the start of this piece the MustangGT is not as violent as say an Italian or Germancar with a similar amount of power. Take theBMW M3/M4 for example, it has only 20more horsepower (in India) but it almost ramsit into you. You have to clench your hands andother parts of your body when you drive theM3. The Mustang does feel easier down thestraight, the power builds up slowly and youenjoy it. And while the Mustang is a modern

car, Ford has not succumbed to the Europeanconcept of using super-light materials, so theMustang GT weighs a 100 kg more. But theMustang reaches the limit earlier and it doesnot scare you when you get close to the limit— top speed is a manageable 240 km per hourand easily achieved on the main straight of theBIC.

And you feel that additional weightwhen you take a turn. In “Track” settings, therear does slip a bit and the steering does feela tad heavier than on a competing piece ofmachinery. But that is when you are going fora hot lap, when you are pushing the Mustangto the absolute maximum. Through thetwisty midfield section of the BIC — turns 4through 8 — the Mustang feels un-Americanin the way it grips on to the road. And the big,hulking V8 under the hood? Wee, you thankthe American God that such lumps of metal— well now lighter aluminium — are stillmade. And big, naturally-aspirated V8s havea lovely low-pitched rumble, which sounds farless scary than the high-pitched squeal of aturbo-charged six-cylinder.

This is a fun car, it is fun to drive, butwould you want to own one?

It does look good on the road, especiallyin Black. But the Mustang GT, which FordIndia has launched, comes with a very largeengine and that means that fuel-economy ishorrible. In road tests abroad, reviewers gotunder 10 km a litre. The rear seats while there,have not been made with adult humanbeings in mind. The rear seats are only slight-ly better on M3/M4 of the Mercedes CLA andGLA AMG variants.

But the big problem with the FordMustang is not the rear seats but its price. Itcosts Rs 65 lakh, which might make itappealing but the Mustang GT retails for$32,645 and while it is a full import — proud-ly ‘Made in America’ one is told— a 3x mul-tiple on the US price is a bit ridiculous despiteIndia’s equally ridiculous duties on importedcars. Take the Mercedes-Benz CLA AMG andGLA AMG, both these cars cost close to$50,000 in the US, but cost Rs 71-73 lakh inIndia, the price difference between the cars isless in India than in the US. Sure they are downfifty horsepower on the Mustang but the rearseats are usable and the smaller engine givesbetter economy. If you want a performance carunder Rs 75 lakh, the Mercs are oddlyenough the better proposition, let alone thefact that body panels are the same as those onthe regular cars. However, if you want to benoticed, well on that front the Mustang clear-ly wins.At Rs 50-55 lakh, which honestlyshould be the Mustang’s price, it is a brilliantproposition, but at the price it has beenlaunched, it is too expensive. And this is notjust my opinion but much more universal.Maybe Ford India might bring in the moreaffordable 2.3 litre EcoBoost powered Mustanginto India and if they price it sensibly, underRs 50 lakh for example, they could create anall-new market. But as such the Mustang GTis a car for fan boys with money to burn.

The Northeast is looking to weavea new story with its traditionallooms much like the khadi rev-

olution in the mainstream fashionspace. Weavers from North East Indiashared the platform with designersyesterday at Arunachal House inDelhi. This was a promo for theNorth East India Fashion Week whichis going which is going to take placein Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh from19th August to 21st August. OpangJamir, Mr. Earth India 2011 and Mr.India International 2012, will be theshowstopper at the launch fashionshow. When asked about the hand-loom collection, Opang Jamir, whowas seen wearing a traditional outfitby a participant designer and weaverRohila Engtipi, who was representingKabri weavers, said that though theywere still learning about intricacies,they had learnt that it takes a lot oftime to pull off the strings and threadto make a fabulous work of art.“Dress well all the time, be positive,”he giggled. “Though the Northeast hasa rich weaving tradition, there isvery little coverage of media in North-East states,” he sighed. “We are reallytrying to globalise it. We are doing thispromo in order to let people knowmore of our north eastern fashionweek and it’s on its second edition. Wewant to reach out to more people, themore the merrier. We have travelledto Itanagar, Dimapur, Shillong, Assamand finally Delhi for the promo-tions,” he told.

“Yana Ngoba Chapku and AritaKashyap are the two designers who aretrying to showcase the efforts of peo-ple who are working on the ground.Weavers are the people who are actu-ally doing the hard work to make thefabric, but are not getting enough rep-resentation. To make one inch of fab-ric, it takes weeks. It is a really hardwork and you need extreme patienceto do that,” said Adil Hussain, brandambassador, NEIFW. He continued,“Yana took me to a one week tour ofArunachal to meet the weavers. Afterthe visit I understood her vision.”

Yana is the chief operating officerof NEIFW. Her vision is to make surethat the weavers also get enough rep-resentation. “There is still no substi-tute to intricate handloom designs.There are only a few active weavers orshould we say artists of this dying artform left. Central and the state gov-ernments are trying to fund therevival but the benefits are not reach-ing the designers and weavers. Fashionshows are organised by people who donot belong to the domain, only tousurp the Government funds for theNorth East, and these end up becom-ing more of skin-show events, earn-ing North East a bad name. Not a sin-gle dress showcased at such events gets

sold.” She further added, “Buyersfrom across UK, US, Africa and othercountries have expressed immenseinterest in the North East tribalweaves and handicrafts. However,what gets represented from Indiainternationally are the mainlandIndian designs only. A lot many buy-ers abroad, and even in India, still donot know of our existence even. Ourtraditional art and culture - handloom,clothes etc --- is very different fromthe mainland Indian style.” She wantsto bridge this divide.

Arita Kashyap, describing hercollection, told us that her designs areincorporated with khadi and have amodern touch that can be worn forany day outings. “It is a non violentsilk, we don’t kill any insect whilemaking the silk”. Arita’s collection isvery much international and ibased ona very old technique. “Weavers' chil-dren should again be weavers, notdoctors and engineers and shouldlearn the culture of weaving. As adesigner it is my effort to get every-body together. Promote us and ourweavers, join hands with them, wearorganic clothes, organic designs andstick to reality,” she said.

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Page 14: four per cent morehave changed on the ground. Heavy showers on Thursday brought the city to its knees as normal life was crippled due to …

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With the way technology has made smart-gadgets an important part of ourlife, it feels unthinkable to spend our days leaving behind our phones at

home to save them from Doon's monsoon. But the current showery days meana much-increased risk of our phones, cameras and tablets getting damaged inwater. Here are handy tips to help make your gadgets waterproof and also, onwhat to do in case you end up dampening your favourite device!

Water is one of the biggest threats to electronic gadgets.Invest in a reputed, branded touch-enabled waterproof pouch or case for

your expensive smartphones. There are countless chinese and generic covers andpouches being sold in Dehradun for prices as little as Rs. 100 on false claims ofoffering water-protection. Keep them at bay.Know that a genuine waterproof cover willalways come at a price premium and stick toa well-known brand. You can also order oneonline but buying from a local brick-and-mortar retail store sure has its advantages likechecking if the cover is the right fit for yoursmartphone and access to personal assistancein the buying process. Especially if you arenot very familiar with gadget accessories, itmay be a good idea to see and feel the prod-uct it in person before buying it.If you haveexpensive phones and tablets and are readyto fork out extra bucks to make them solidwaterproof, DryCase is one brand we vouchfor. DryCase is a prominent American com-pany famous for its vacuum- sealed water-proofing cases for gadgets that claims thatevery single DryCASE is hand tested by oneof their employees for 8 hours to ensure thecase is 100 percent waterproof. There aremany other good brands to go for too.

Tablets can be tricky to save fromrain, as mostly, as we often carry them in ourhands, as they are too big to be slid intopockets and purses like phones. It thusmakes sense to get a waterproof case fortablets too instead of taking a chance with your dear tabs. Local mobile retailstores are stocking water-resistant covers for popular tablet models like differentgenerations of Ipad and Ipad mini and Samsung Galaxy Tabs. Targus andSamsonite are trusted brands for waterproof laptop bags. You can expect tospend anywhere between Rs. 1500 to Rs. 3,500 for one of these.

For shutterbugs, capturing the heightened natural beauty of Dehradunand Mussoorie during monsoons is an exhilarating experience. But carryingaround those expensive SLR cameras poses a challenge. Aquapac, Quapack andDipacpac are good brands to buy waterproof camera pouches in India and if notavailable in local retail stores, these can easily be found online on sites like ama-zon.in.

Doon Valley is among the finest places in India for nature and wildlifephotography. If you have a thing for clicking photos in rain, waterproof camerakits on the market are just the accessory for you this monsoon. Get one of theseand hit the trail! As they say taking pictures is savoring life intensely every hun-dredth of a second. So while others just get wet, get going and feel the rain!Rescue A Wet Phone With These 10 Do-It-Yourself Steps

Oops! Dropped your phone in water? Wet you phone in the rain? "It isrecommended that you do not try to repair it yourself. Just remove the batteryimmediately or for phones like iPhone in which you cannot remove the batteryyourself, switch off the phone and take it to the nearest service center.Smartphones these days have very complex circuitry and one minute error canmake the phone dead," said Taran J Singh who runs a popular retail store ofmobiles and gadgets at Clock Tower.

And if you cannot take the phone to a service center or are taken over bya DIY urge to get it back to functioning on your own, you can try and save yourphone by following these simple steps-

After removing the phone from water, grabsome paper towels or a soft water- absorbing cloth and place the phone on it.Remove the battery cover and battery without pressing any button on the

phone.Remove the SIM card if your phone has one to save your important contacts

and other data. Pat it dry and set it aside to dry out.Remove all other add-ons like memory cards, screen guards and cases.

Dry your phone as much as you can with a paper-towel or a soft cloth-towel. Use a desiccant i.e. a drying agent that will suck out moisture from your

phone.Do not use a hair dryer to dry out a phone. It can damage the components of

your phone beyond repair. One of the most effective and easily available dry-ing agents is uncooked rice. Place your phone in a bowl or a bag of raw rice for24 hours. Do not try to switch on your phone until you have placed it in a dessi-cant for at least a day as you will end up ruining its circuitry.

Keep your phone in a mildly sunny spot as that final step to make sure that anyleftover water or moisture also dries up, before you put the battery back on.Check your phone to see if every area of your cell phone, the ports, the gaps

and the nooks look dry and dirt-free. Wipe away any residue or dirt that youfind and insert the battery in the phone.

If your phone does not function, remove the battery and plug the phonedirectly into the charger without the battery. If it works now, voila! All you will

need is a new battery.

Himgiri Zee UniversityThe community radio centreof Himgiri Zee University,107.8 FM 'Himgiri Ki Awaaz'has taken up a new initiative tomake paper bags. In this pro-gram, ithas joined hands withan N.G.O called TalentEnablersto distribute paperbags made of recycled newspa-

per to residents of Dehradun.Youth Wing Epic, a branch ofTalent Enablers, has made bagsfrom recycled newspapers.The people who have madethese bags under the supervi-sion of Richa Johri of TalentEnablers include Neha, Robin,Khushita, Muskan, Gulal andShraddha.The community

radio station Himgiri KiAwaaz will distribute thesepaper bags in Dehradunthrough their special program"Go Green".

Kasiga School Recently, Kasiga School organ-ized its 10th Founder's Day.The occasion commenced with

the ceremonial lighting of thelamp by Kasiga's founder-chairman Ramesh Batta; Headof the school Neeta Bali andthe Chief Guest, NikhilChowdhary, IRS officer. Apresentation titled 'Life atKasiga' was followed by musi-cal performances by the stu-dents. The school staff and

students also released theAcademic Journal for 2016.During his speech Batta sharedhis experiences of the decadelong journey andthe celebra-tions concluded with a SaplingPlantation Ceremony.

Wynberg Allen Divya Thalwal, who has gotexcellent marks in Class XIIexams this year, has received ascholarship of Rs 4 lakh forhigher education from theCouncil for the Indian SchoolCertificate Examinations(CISCE). She will get Rs 80,000annually for the next five years.

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Valley Vivacity sketches out a listing ofinteresting events happening inDehradun and around to help youplan a vibrant week ahead. Have awhale of a time!!!

WHAT: Socializing In Chakrata :Backpacking TripDATE : July 15TIME : 9 pmVENUE : Delhi-Chakrata-Delhi CONTACT : 8826915266

WHAT: Param The UltimateDATE : July 18 TIME : 11 amVENUE : Rishikesh, Uttarakhand CONTACT : Ashutosh Garg-9045001500

WHAT: Beginners Ashtanga YogaWith Yogi Mahesh DATE: July 15

TIME : 7 amVENUE: AYM Yoga TeachersTraining School, Rishikesh,

Uttarakhand CONTACT : +91 - 7500277709, +91- 135 - 2442655

WHAT: Booknerds Hangout 25.0 DATE : July 17 TIME : 5.30 pmVENUE : The Park: Sports Bistro,Vasant Vihar, Dehradun CONTACT : 9759360927,8958260927

WHAT : D.S.N By Art Of Living DATE : July 14 - 17TIME : 6.30 am VENUE : Kanya Gurukul, Opp.Hotel Madhuban, Rajpur RoadDehradun CONTACT : 9761422712,8126795308, 7895904902WHAT : Camping In Dhanulti DATE : July 22TIME : 10 pm VENUE : Delhi CONTACT :9599052426 &9818806289.

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For most owners, pet dogs arefamily. It thus becomes impor-tant that like for human mem-

bers, we remain aware and carefulabout the special health needs of ourcanine kin during the monsoons.For this is a season when heat andhumidity make it a breeding groundfor pathogens and our pets becomesusceptible to a host of infections,allergies and health issues. Evensome knowledge can go a long wayin keeping our pets happy andhealthy in rains. In an exclusiveinterview with The Pioneer, Dr. RSNegi, Chief Veterinary Officer forDehradun district informed, "In thisweather all livestock species are sus-ceptible to infections. Talkingspecifically of dogs, due to high tem-perature and increase in humidity,stress levels of canines increase thatleads to a compromise in theirimmune system. At the same time,this is a season when heat andhumidity are conducive to thebreeding of pathogens. The result ishigher health risk to animals.InUttarakhand, monsoons cause aspate of tick-borne diseases likeBabesia and Anaplasmosis; bacterialdiseases; skin infections and thedangerous viral disease of canineparvovirus."

The canine parvovirus(CPV) infection is a highly conta-gious viral illness that affects dogs.The virus manifests itself in two dif-ferent forms. The more common

form is the intestinal form charac-terized by vomiting, diarrhea,weight loss, and lack of appetite. Itcan be prevented by effective vacci-nation.

"Many people do not knowthat the skin is a very importantindicator of an animal's health. Evensomething common like itching canbe a sign of a serious systemic dis-ease. The skin is the first barrierbetween the animal and the disease-causing organism. This tough outerprotective layer of an animal iscalled integument. Any skin prob-lem in a dog is thus often a symptomof an underlying infection or diseasethat needs immediate medical diag-nosis and treatment. Thus, skinissues in dogs should not beignored." Throwing light on themost widespread of these Dr. Negistated that monsoons cause anincrease in cases of Demodectic

mange (also known as red mange)and of chorioptic mange in dogs."Demodectic mange in dogs is relat-ed to a suppressed immune system.While Demodex canis, the mitesthat cause this disease can be foundon the bodies of adult dogs verycommonly when a dog has a sup-pressed immune system, these mitescause harm."

Dogs that are sensitive to thedemodectic mites may develop a fewisolated lesions or they may havegeneralized mange involving theentire body or region of the body.

Common symptoms of demodecticmange include hair loss; crusty, redskin; and at times, a greasy or moistappearance. The lesions may or maynot itch.

Dehradun's Chief VeterinaryOfficer shared important tips to helpkeep pet dogs healthy during mon-soons. "Whenever you get the dogback from a walk, keep a towelhandy and dry the dog's paws andany other wet parts and comb thedog. Brush or comb the dog 2-3times daily to reduce chances ofinfection. It is a good practice toapply medicated foot powder toyour pet's paws daily. Keep the ani-mal well fed and hydrated. Watch forurine output and water intake, asthese are cues about an animal'soverall health condition. There arealso chances of heatstroke and renalfailure so make sure your dog hasadequate water depending upon his

activity level. Take the dog to a pet ifit appears that the animal is experi-encing discomfort in passing urineor its urine's colour is atypical," headvised.

One should inspect the petregularly by rubbing a hand all overthe pet's body against the directionof hair growth to check for any visi-ble signs of infection on its body,recommended vet Dr.V.K.Sharma.Also, due to increased riskof infections and compromisedcanine immunity, it is importantthat dogs have been vaccinatedeffectively at the onset of rains.Vetssuggest that pets should be adminis-tered booster dose so that they donot get any kind of infection. Specialcare should be taken to preventzoonotic infectionand Leptospirosis.Vaccine to protect against forKennel Cough, Leptospirosis, com-bination doses of 9 in 1 and 7 in 1,anti-rabies and against corona wererecommended by Dr. V.K Sharma. Some more Dos and Don'ts

Take them for a walk on asolid surface if possible. Avoid grassand soil.

Dry them completely andimmediately if they get wet.

Bathe the pet with anti- fun-gal shampoos only if he has one.

If going for grooming andspas, consult a doctor first. A check-up will make you know which treat-ment is best for the pet

De-worming should be donefor pups at 90 days and repeatedevery month till the age of 6 months.After the dog attains the age of 6months, de-worming should bedone every 3 months. rovide yourpet with clean drinking water.Replace the pet's drinking water atleast every 8 hours in this rainy sea-son.

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Monsoon along withbeing one of the best

seasons to grow plants isalso equally hazardous.Planting any plant or treein this season bears fruitvery fast in comparisonwith all the other season.Water is in abundance inthis season and along withit humidity and moistureis also in abundance. Wellas they say, excess ofeverything is bad, evenabundance of water,humidity and moisturealso leads to a death anddecaying of plants.

"The problems ofweeds increase during thisseason. Weeds areunwanted grass whichgrows out. People whogrow Mexican grass intheir homes face this prob-lem," informsSachin DevKothari, owner of DevBhoomi Nursery.

Another avid plantlover told The Pioneer thathe loses around 2-3 plantsevery year this season. Hefurther mentioned moreproblems like termite."Termite is also a big anddangerous problem. Whiteants through ground reachthe trees and make it hol-low from inside. And onedoesn't even come toknow about this type of

problems. A lot of plantsstart to rot in this season."

It is a climate forbreeding of insects andworms. Stagnant waterand worms increase thechallenges of maintainingthe garden and can makethe plant die.

Though the season isconsidered apt for grow-ing plants there are someplants which are difficultto grow and maintain.Cactus and other indoorplants which require lesswater can't survive in thisseason. It is important toensure that they are dryand because there isenough moisture in theair, people should notwater them.

"A lot of flies andinsects roam around in thegarden. They are not onlyirritating but also eat up

our plants," said JitendraChauhan, who looks to abig garden in old Nehrucolony.

Snails, for example,get easily attracted tomarigold and marigold isone of the plants, whichbloom, perfectly in thisclimatic condition. "Thesnail eats the plant up andcuts it resulting in thedeath of the plant,"informed Kothari.

Anil Joshi, presidentof HESCO, HimalayanEnvironmental Studiesand ConservationOrganization informedwhat type of plants can begrown in this season. "Weare in an era where weshould encourage plantinga multipurpose tree/plant.Here in Doon, we have alarge choice of plantsspecies to select for grow-

ing in our area. All speciesof sub tropical zones canbe grown here. If onewants to go for tree, thenblackberry tree is some-thing Iwould recommend.Even bamboo is good.They both have good sur-vival rate and grow veryfast," he told.

" B o u g a i n v i l l e a ,musanda , ponsita andfireball are some of theplants which no matterhow much you protect willhave some or the otherbad effect of this season,"said Sunny who works inKamal Nursery at RajpurRoad. Tusk, Flume,Gainthus Petunia are someof the plants to grow inthis season, he tells.

One can grow peren-nial flowering plants likeMarigold, Torenia in thisseason. Vegetables likeBrinjal, Ladyfinger,Ginger, Bitter Gourd andCucumber grow in largequantities.

"To save and protectyour plants from this sea-son's atrocities, it isimportant to ensure thatno water is being logged inand around the gardenand plants. Keep them dryas much as possible as overflooding of water causesthe root to weaken, rot,decay and ultimately leads

to death. Proper amountof sunlight is also essen-tial," he added.

"Top- soil erosion iswhat people and naturelovers should watch outfor. Erosion of top soilwith water leads to nutri-tional deficiency. To pre-vent the top- soil fromeroding, dig a small roundshape hole around theplant," said ManuBhardwaj, who maintainsa large collection of vari-ous plants and trees inDalanwala and lovesplants.

Dos and Dont's

Maintain ample distancebetween plants if grow-

ing or planting new ones. Go for deep rooted

plants rather than shal-low rooted plants. Shallowroots plants might getuprooted in the storm andin this season.

Pour some organic pureneem (Azadirachta indi-

ca) oil to keep away insectsand flies from damagingthe plant

If the plant is standingtall and still looks alive,

treat it immediately byeither changing its place orchanging the soil. Consultyour gardener for more.

Do not keep the waterclogged. Drain the water

as soon as possible andkeep the plants dry ofexcess moisture andhumidity.

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Page 15: four per cent morehave changed on the ground. Heavy showers on Thursday brought the city to its knees as normal life was crippled due to …

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Former India Test batsmanPraveen Amre and ex-Karnataka left-arm spinner

Raghuram Bhat have been found tobe in Conflict of Interest by theCricket Board's Ombudsman whohas cleared former India skipper DilipVengsarkar from a similar charge.

Also cleared by the Board'sOmbudsman, Justice (Retd.) A PShah, after his attention was drawnto a similar Conflict of Interest issueis IPL Governing Council's chair-man Rajeev Shukla, as per detailsavailable on the BCCI's websitebcci.Tv.

Amre, a member of the MumbaiCricket Association's managingcommittee as well as the coachingstaff of IPL team Delhi Deredevils,was deemed to have potentialConflict of Interest by a complaintlodged with the Ombudsaman.

The Ombudsman rejectedAmre's contention that there was noconflict as he had joined theDaredevils coaching staff beforethe 2015 edition of IPL and onlysubsequently became a managingcommittee member in MCA beforerenewing his contract with the IPLfranchise this year.

Justice Shah found that thereexisted a conflict of interest in thiscase as per the BCCI rules which

stipulated that an administrator,which includes members of themanaging committee of the affiliat-ed units of BCCI, or his near rela-tive shall not be on the pay roll ofan IPL franchise.

"Mr Amre should not havetaken any position in the coachingstaff of an IPL franchise, while beingan administrator," he has stated inhis order.

He has also directed the Board

to take appropriate action againstAmre as the IPL edition has alreadyconcluded and has declared that "forthe next edition of the IPL, Mr Amrecannot continue to be a part of theMCA Managing Committee and theDelhi Daredevils (or any other IPLteam) coaching staff."

"The BCCI is also directed towrite to all the IPL franchises to clar-ify Rule 1 (A)(B) of the Rules onConflict of Interest that the franchis-

es cannot employ any Administrator(as defined in the Rules) as part ofits support staff," the Ombudsmanhas said in his July 6 Order.

Vengsarkar, a former chief selec-tor who is currently the vice presi-dent of the Mumbai CricketAssociation and director of theNational Cricket Academy (bothhonorary positions), was alleged tobe running a cricket academy forjunior cricketers in Pune and may

favour them, leading to conflict ofinterest.

Vengsarkar had replied that asNCA director in an honorary capac-ity it was routine for the Board tobear the travel and accommodationexpenses and his appointmentshould be viewed in the light of hisposition as a former India captain.

The 116-Test veteran had alsostated in his reply that he had beenrunning academies for last 21 years.

After receving another rejoinderfrom the applicant, the Ombudsmandecided that this was not a case fortaking any action as there was noconflict of interest in accordancewith the BCCI's rules.

The Ombudsman also upheldthe complaint of Conflict of Interestagainst former Ranji Trophy crick-eter Bhat that while he's a manag-ing committee member ofKarnataka State Cricket Associationas well as chairman/selector forunder 16 and under 14 he alsoworks in the Brijesh Patel CricketAcademy and the IDBI Academy.

Bhat, in his reply, had said hedid not draw any salary from boththe academies and was only reum-bursed his TA and DA.

However, the Ombudsman haspointed out relevant Rule 2 (C) that"Cricketers appointed as coaches ofIndian teams or national selectorsshall not be associated with any pri-vate coaching academies duringtheir tenure", and has directed KSCAto ask Bhat to forthwith dissassoci-ate with both the academies.

"In the event that Mr Bhatdecides to continue his associationwith either academy, or any othercricket academy, then he cannot con-tinue in his position as aChairman/Selector of the U-16team," said Justice Shah in his Orderwhile disposing off the application.

The Ombudsman, however,held that six others connected withKSCA — B K Ravi, L Prashanth,Mansoor Ali Khan, SomashekarSiriguppi, Rajesh Kamath and YereGowda — did not have any conflictof interest.

A complaint has also beenreceived against former Karnatakaand India pace bowler DoddaGanesh and N Girish but theOmbudsman has not received anyreply from the duo.

The duo have been directed tosend a reply to the charges by July16, failing which the applicationagainst them would be decided exparte, Ombudsman has declared.

The complaint lodged againstShukla is over his wife's ownershipof a news TV channel whose ad slotsare sold by Star India which alsoholds the broadcast rights of match-es conducted by BCCI since 2012.

But IPL GC chairman Shuklahad replied that Star was not the offi-cial broadcaster of the T20 League.

He had also stated that the salesagreement between Star and the TVnetwork his wife owned was enteredinto on a purely commercial busi-ness consideration since the twoentities have been working togeth-er for the last 20 years and was alsosimilar in nature to the sportsbroadcaster's arrangement withother media houses.

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India's athletics team for RioOlympics will be reduced by two

from 38 announced earlier to 36 nowas the world body IAAF has told thenational federation to include boththe men's and women's 400m individ-ual runners in the 4x400m relay teamsif they are to run at the Games.

Mohammad Anas and NirmalaSheoran qualified for Rio in men'sand women's individual 400m raceswhile India also made the Olympicscut in the men's and women's4x400m relay races.

Athletics Federation of Indiahad named six-member squads for

the men's and women's 4x400mrelay races, excluding Anas andSheoran under the impression thatboth of them can actually run evenif they are not included in the relayteams as they have qualified in indi-vidual events.

But the IAAF has now intimat-ed to AFI that under the new rules,the athlete who has qualified in theindividual 400m race will also haveto be included in the relay team if heis to actually run. Otherwise, he willnot be able to run in the relay.

The AFI will naturally want bothAnas and Sheoran to run and so thefederation has now decided to nameboth of them plus five others each in

the men's and women's 4x400mrelay teams. This will bring down theathletics for Rio from 38 to 36.

"We have got intimation fromIAAF, saying that under newIOC/IAAF rules, the athlete whoqualified in individual event will haveto be included in the team of the cor-responding relay race if he/she has toactually run (in the relay also)," anAFI source said.

Some AFI officials expressed sur-prise at the change of rules all of a sud-den, saying that earlier it was allowedin all international competitions toname a sixth athlete and then bring inthe one who qualified in the individ-ual event later on to actually run.

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England's Chris Woakes took two wick-ets in quick succession as Pakistan's

Mohammad Amir waited to make hisreturn to Test cricket at Lord's — the sceneof his spot-fixing crime.

Pakistan were 76 for two at two atlunch on the first day of the first Test today,with Woakes having taken two wickets for18 runs in six overs.

Azhar Ali was seven not out andYounis Khan, looking in good touch, 18not out after Woakes had removed open-ers Shan Masood and Mohammad Hafeez.

Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq wonthe toss on a sunny day, with the pitch atLord's a good surface for batsmen.

Stuart Broad started the match with amaiden that saw him beat Hafeez on theoutside edge.

Broad's Nottinghamshire colleagueJake Ball, given a debut in place of JamesAnderson after the selectors decidedagainst risking England's all-time leadingwicket-taker following a shoulder injury,opened the bowling from the Pavilion End.

Ball's second delivery saw him appealfor leg before against Masood.

Umpire Kumar Dharmasena said notout and and an unsuccessful England

review confirmed the ball had pitched out-side leg stump.

Hafeez struck two fours off Ball but hewas lucky on 11 when an edge off Broadwas dropped by third slip James Vince,who couldn't hold a low chance to his left.

But first-change Woakes made thebreakthrough with just his seventh ball.

Hafeez's 59-ball innings, includingeight fours, ended when he tried to workto leg a short ball from the Warwickshireall-rounder that swung away a touchonly to get a top edge, with Bairstow hold-ing the skyed chance.

Chris Woakes had taken two wicketsfor five runs in 16 balls and Pakistan were51 for two.

But Younis showed his class with twowell-struck straight driven fours off fastbowler Steven Finn, playing on hisMiddlesex home ground.

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India off-spinner R Ashwin feels headcoach Anil Kumble is someone who

understands bowling psyche and can pro-vide the right impetus to the bowlers dur-ing match situations.

"Understanding a bowler's psyche is achallenge and it is difficult for a batter tounderstand that. Someone like him heunderstands how the situation is and con-ditions are, he might give you the right

impetus that you need," Ashwin said."For example, if you are going well but

wickets haven't fallen, he might be that onehand around your shoulder saying this isexactly what we want you to keep doing."

The 29-year-old from Tamil Nadu,who has grown up watching Kumble saidhe was happy to find the iconic cricketerjust as he had imagined over the years.

"There is a saying that whenever youcome too close to a celebrity, you get dis-appointed but with respect to Anil bhai

whatever I have mea-sured of him from adistance have cometrue," he said.

"He is the sameman, same disci-pline, same intensity,it has been wonder-ful. He brought a lot

of energy and meticulousness among thegroup. You know there is a lot of planningwhen he is around. These are the thingswhich I had expected from him and thisis exactly what he has done."

Ashwin said that Kumble has givenhim the freedom to express himself andhe is looking to take a cue out of the leg-end's bowling.

"So far he has provided me with a lotof confidence and responsibility. It has beenmore of giving me the license to expressmyself which I really relish but both of usneed time to start knowing each other. Ithas been 10-12 days since Bangalore camp.He had an open chat and he has already toldme what he is going to look forward fromme and I have told him what I look forwardto him teaching me. He has already start-ed bowling at the nets and I can pick outsome notes from it." he signed off.

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India's Grand Master HarikaDronavalli held on to her

nerves to capture the FideWomen's Grand Prix trophyhere on Thursday.

Harika, playing withwhite against Russia's OlgaGirya, had to dig deep into

her reservoir to pull off themuch-needed draw to winthe title, her maiden careerGP title.

Harika finished on 7points in the round robintournament featuring theworld's top 12 players to becrowned the champion. OtherIndia Grand Master Koneru

Humpy too rounded off hercampaign with a victory toalso f inish on 7 points.Harika, however, was declaredwinner for finishing with abetter tie-break record.

It was a nerve-rackingday for Harika though as thepressure got to her and sheended up making mistakes.

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Ballet- Ballet is an artistic western classical dance style andisvery technical. All formations and gestures are formalizedand they have to be performed in a specific way only. The useof pointed shoes with reinforced toes is what it is famous forin India. Though ballet is a dance difficult to master in ashort period of time, there are a few trainers in Doon to getyour first experience of this graceful dance form. "You haveto get the basics right in this dance form," says Harshit whoworks with Vibrations Dance Studio.In Doon, ballet is beingtaught only in very few institutes like Indian School Of Talentand Vibrations DanceStudio. Hip Hop- Hip-Hopdance is more ofanattitude statement. Itrequires tremendousenergy and it isimportant to be flexi-ble in your move-ments and in yourbody.Hip-hopis nottechnical like classicaldance forms butabout making yourown style statement.Thus, it is an exten-sion of the self forthose who love it. Youhave be yourself inthis dance. Being easyand in-vogue, it is themost popular dancestyle among Doonitesand is being taughtcommonly in manyinstitutes in the city.C o n t e m p o r a r y -Contemporary dance form is on the rise as it serves as a basefor other dance forms. It's more like gymnastics. Someonewith a lot of dedication must go for it as it involves techniquedancing and you have to move in a particular direction only.Vibrations, Naach and ISOT are some of the dance institutesin Doon where you can learn this art form. Salsa- Salsa is another dance form that is all the rage in thecity. It is more difficult than free forms like hip-hop. Thecharm of this dance form is dancing in pairs. It is a side-to-side dance movement. Balance, pose and formation are of theutmost importance and it requires patience, time, energy andmost importantly a partner! Naach Music and Dance Academy is one of the oldest insti-tutes in Doon forlearning western dance styles.It has beenteaching Tango, Cha Cha Cha, Jive and Paso Doublefor thelast ten years. And the number of people wanting to learnthese has increased greatly in the last five years, GayatriSingh, founder of Naach, told The Pioneer.Manu Panwar, the director of ISOT highlighted the reasonsfor western dance forms gaining popularity in town, "Dance-based reality TV shows in India and movies impact big time.But even parents want their children to learn western danceas a social need. They want their kids to be outgoing. Socialfunctions like birthday parties, marriages, kitty parties andget together are becoming a crucial part of the social life ofpeople in Doon unlike earlier.Parent wantstheir child to be ready to dance and perform. "Most of the demand of learning western dance is amongschool and college students.Western classical dance formslike jazz and ballet involve techniques and set steps. Noteveryone is proficient in following techniques. Thus, morepeople like hip- hop as they are free to do what they feel like,"commented Abhinav Bhattacharya, co-Director ofVibrations Studio.

Yoga has been around for centuriesnow and it has been hailed as one ofthe most effective practices for holis-

tic health. Among theseare sportspersons inUttarakhand who vouch that they have beenbenefitting hugely from adding yoga to theirfitness and training regimen. Yoga is of par-ticular significance for players in high-alti-tude places like Uttarakhand and the neigh-bouring Himalayan states. The ancient prac-tice of Yoga is powerful in strengtheningconcentration, mental-agility and motiva-tion- qualities quintessential to success insports, said players.

The Pioneer spoke to a wide cross-section of athletes and players of variousgames and in what emerged clearly; Yoga isa bit hit cutting across the type of sport.

Arun Malhotra, former internationalfootballer and now a coach, pointed out thatYoga is the mantra to play at high altitude."When we go to play a tournament at a highaltitude, players face breathing issues thatcan be overcome only by Yoga. Players whopractice yoga are able to sustain good per-formance for a longer period of time at highaltitudes without being lethargic and tired,"he observed. The coach endorses Yoga insports, "We have a weekly program whereinwe make our players practice selected yogaposes before and after the game. The regimeincludes dynamic and static exercises. Ittones the muscles so that players have lesserinjuries and also builds resilience to injury.Yoga can help a player extend his career byfive years and this makes a huge differenceto the player!"

According to Dr. Rita Khanna of YogaShaastra Studio, sport is not purely a physi-ological phenomenon but a complex inter-play of the mind and body. "It is nowbecoming more and more competitive andhas also become a career with an emphasison monetary gains and the desire to win atany cost. Therefore, it is important to findsolutions to the changing sports scene oftoday.Yoga is a holistic system teachingskills which many sports persons seek, suchas control over the mind, control over the

body, good breathing habits, relaxationunder pressure, highly developed concen-tration skills and the ability to focus on thepresent," she stated.

Kunal Chandela,a young cricket play-er from Delhi, has been practising yoga reg-ularly for 6 the last years and he feelsincomplete if on someday he misses it.Pointing out why he liked Yoga more thansweating it out in a gym, "Gym and runningwork only on our body- our muscles, where-as yoga is provides exercise to the soul,mind and muscles together."

He went on to share, "Idedicate halfan hour to forty-five minutes daily only toYoga and if sometimes I am running shortof time,I make it a point to giveit at least 20minutes. It is transformational.Yoga has avery important role to play in sports as itmakes us mentally tough.After incorporat-ing yoga in my training regime, not onlyhaveIbecomephysically stronger but mental-ly too. I am able to make quick decisions, Ihavemore flexibility and improved concen-

tration."Another under-16 cricketer from

Haldwani, Aryan Juyal,who brought laurelsto the state recently by playing in the centralzonal tournament,stated how practisingYoga has helped him get an edge over oth-ers, "I have been devoted to Yoga for fouryears now. Cricket matches are long andvery tiring but with the help of yoga,Ido notget tired easily and have increasedendurance. Yoga has improved my staminasotiredness and fatigue hit me much laterthan to my fellow-players. This has beengiving me and my team an edge over othersand has been a factor in our wins."Hisregime includes surya namaskar, asanas liketaadasan, makarasan, chakrasan and a hostof standing and sitting poses. This he fol-lows up with breathing exercises.

Asked if it was difficult to becomeregimental about Yoga, Juyal said, "Oneneeds to stick to it for around two months,thereafter it sticks to you. For many people,it is difficult initially to get disciplinedabout doing Yoga but it grows on you and

becomes a part of life. I used to shy awayfrom it but my trainer insisted that I do itand I thank him now for his assertion. Icannot live without Yoga now."

Doon's Priyanshu Khanduri whoplays nationalstoo swore by Yoga."I am abatsman and concentration is an extremelyimportant skill for me to be a good player.Batting is all about concentration. You needto see and judge the balls within secondsand with poor concentration you end uplosing the game. My coach introduced meto Yoga3 years ago and since then Ihavemade it a regular practice. The results aretremendous. My concentration levels haveincreased, flexibility has increased, Ihaveattained better mental and physical aware-ness, strength, energy has increased, and myweight is constant with better immunity.It isan awesome stress- reliever. Cricket serieslast over days.I turn to meditation and Yogafor instant relaxation after matches. It hasbeen absolutely amazing and has been avery big factor in my becoming a good play-er."

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Members of ParalympicAssociation of Uttarakhandhave held a meeting with

Prashant Arya, Joint Sports Director,to organize district and state levelgames for players with disabilities.The meeting was organized recently-at Pavilion Ground and it is expectedthat the games would be held withthe Chief Minister's support.

"We have got a positiveresponse from the sports directorand it has been decided that the tour-nament will be organized in some-where around September or Octoberwith the Chief Minister's support,"said Prem Kumar, Secretary of theAssociation.

Deputy Director of SportsDharmendra Bhatt, District Sports

Officer S.K Sarki, Kumarand otherrepresentatives of the associations ofdifferent districts Harish Chaudhary,Umesh Grover, Pawan Bhatt, P.CPanday, Basant Kumar Thapliyal,Virendra Singh Rawat were amongstthose present in the meeting.

Kumar informed that thegames are being organized toencourage people with disabili-ties to participate in sports andcreate awareness among Para-sportsmen about the availableopportunities in the state."Para-players and people who havedis-abilities are totally unaware aboutthe number of opportunitiesavailable to them in this field.Not only that, as an associationwe should keep encouraging theexisting players and keep onscouting for new fresh talent." He

went on to say thatUttarakhandhas more than 200differently-abled sportspersonswho do not even know that theycan play and build a career insports. The proposed event willhave tournaments in athletics,sitting volleyball, power liftingand badminton.

"The dates will be finalizedsoon and we might also holdtraining camps in every districtahead of the tournament in orderto select and motivate players.Anobjective of this tournament isalso to empower Para- athletes,motivate them and connect themwith the mainstream world.There are inhibitions amongpara-players so we shall try ourbest to rope in as many people aswe can," Kumar informed.

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The State Sports Minister, DineshAggarwal, felicitated Uttarakhand'sice skaters that excelled in the

National Ice Skating Championship,Gulmarg 2016.But their repeated pleas ofproviding them access to the only ice-skatingrink in the State situated at Maharana PratapSports College were brushed aside withapparently hollow promises and shelving.

Four ice-skaters from Uttarakhandnamely Nishtha Painuli, Snehsheesh Tiwari,Samridhh Tiwari and Yuvraj Gulati havebeen honored by the State Sports Minister,Dinesh Aggarwal for excelling in NationalIce Skating Championship, Gulmarg 2016.These skaters were presentedceremoniously,the medals and certificates that theywon atthe winter games this year.

As it is an expensive sport and the rinkneeds proper mechanism, infrastructure andelectricity. The government has deferred thediscussions and related proceedings to theend of this year. "We have only 30 rinks inIndia as compared to 300 rinks in China.Most of them are private and cost around Rs

300 for half an hour. It becomes very expen-sive in this case and government rinks, theone in Doon that would be feasible forskaters is not becoming operational. It is dueto the unavailability of a rink that we are stillnot able to organize the state level selectionprocess that was to happen thismonth,"informed Shiv Painuli, president ofIce Skating Association of Uttarakhand in anexclusive conversation with The Pioneer.

The reason being the rink. "The gov-ernment has assured us that it will makesure that the work pending in the rink willbe completed soon and it will be providedto us as soon as possible. But similar prom-ises were done before too and it was saidthat the rink will be ready by July. Thus wedeclared the selection process to happen inJuly. Since the month started, we have beengetting calls about the event and we have toturn them down saying it has been post-poned," he rued.

"As the government is running shortof funds, they did not award any cash prizeto the players or the association but that isall right. The only concern thatskaters and Iput forward was about lack of accessibilityto the only international level ice rink in thestate at Maharana Pratap Sports College,Dehradun.Of course honoring players andcoaches always brings enthusiasm to theskaters as well as to the association.But weneed more than a pat on the back; we needa place to practice. There is immense talentfor ice-skating in Uttarakhand but govern-ment apathy is killing the exquisite sportand this is regrettable," he lamented.

For the sake of skaters with loftydreams, one hopes the ice on this issuethaws soon.

Asoul who is not close to nature is faraway from what is called spirituality. Inorder to be spiritual one must commu-

nicate, and especially one must communicatewith nature; one must feel nature, it is said. It isbeing increasingly recognized around theworld that one of the most effective ways tosave the environment is by making it a part ofthe spiritual ethos of communities. In keepingwith this vision, Shanti Kunj- the Haridwar sit-uatedfountain-head of the global movement ofYug Nirman Yojna (Movement for theReconstruction of the Era) for moral-spiritualregeneration has urged its over 10 milliondevotees across the world to celebrate this GuruPurnima by planting a sapling wherever theyare on July 19. An instruction to this effect hasbeen sent to all branches of the organizationacross the world, informed Pranav Pandya,head of the movement.

The idea is to encourage masses throughmembers of All World Gayatri Pariwar to plantat least one tree and take its entire responsibili-

ty just like it were their child. This is the firsttime that the center with a huge global follow-ing is organizing such a mass tree-plantationdrive and it is a part of their large-scale andmulti-staged ecological preservation programcalled 'Vriksha Ganga Abhiyaan'. Since the year2011, Vriksha Ganga Abhiyan has been instru-mental in the plantation of nearly 10 milliontrees in various states like Uttarakhand,Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, WestBengal and Uttar Pradesh. The program isbeing led by Dr. Pranav Pandya and Dr.Chinmay Pandya.

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VEG CHOP SUEYINGREDIENTSBoiled Hakka noodles - 1 packetChopped garlic - 2 tspChopped ginger - 2 tsp Vegetable oil - 2 tbspChopped capsicum - 1 medium

sizedChopped onion - 2 pieces Carrot - ½ cupChopped cauliflower/cabbage - 1 cupSalt- to tasteAjinomoto - ¼ tspWhite pepper - a pinch Soy sauce - ½ tspVinegar - 2 tbspTomato ketchup - 3tspCorn flour - 2 tbsp

METHODBoil the noodles, drain the water and fry them. Heat theoil in another pan and add onions garlic and ginger. Sautétill they become a little soft. Add carrots, cabbage and cap-sicum and stir-fry over high heat for a minute or two untilthey start leaving oil. Mix together the vinegar, soya sauce,salt, white pep-per, ajinomoto,ketchup and cornflour in a sepa-rate pan and addenough water tomake a cup.Transfer it to thepan with vegeta-bles and addnoodles. Cookfor a while till itstarts becomingthick. Serve withred schezwansauce.

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