Latest Today News in English - PLAY A LAWYER: RICHA CHADHA … · 2019-03-15 · in Uttar Pradesh, party chief Rahul Gandhi has decided to ... Rahul will hold 13 rallies in 13 zones

CAPSULE

SC GIVES CENTRE 6 WEEKSTO REPLY ON ‘SNOOPING'New Delhi: The Supreme Courton Monday issued notice to theCentre on a plea challenging thenotification authorising 10Central agencies to intercept,monitor and decrypt anycomputer system and sought aresponse within six weeks.

CHILD KILLED AS HOUSECOLLAPSES IN NOIDANoida (UP): A 10-year-old childdied and three others wereinjured when the porch of athree-storey building underrenovation collapsed here onMonday, officials said. Theincident occurred at around 4pm when the portion of thehouse in sector 31 of Nitharivillage fell down on the victimsapparently due to the impact ofthe demolition work going oninside, said officials, adding thatrescue operation was held.

JUSTICE SIKRI WANTSCONTROVERSY TO ‘DIE'New Delhi: Justice AK Sikri ofthe Supreme Court wants thecontroversy, over his proposedpost-retirement assignment and nomination on the PM-ledcommittee which removed AlokVerma as CBI chief, to “die” evenas some senior advocates onMonday termed the incident mischievous and aimed attargeting him.

DEEPAK KUMAR JHA n NEW DELHI

After the Congress was leftout of the BSP-SP alliance

in Uttar Pradesh, party chiefRahul Gandhi has decided tolaunch an aggressive campaignin the politically crucial State.Rahul will hold 13 rallies in 13zones in Uttar Pradesh inFebruary to sound the bugle forthe Lok Sabha campaign tomake it a three-cornered fightin the State.

AICC sources said in eachzone, six Lok Sabha seats willbe identified and the Gandhiscion will hold one rally in eachzone. Senior Congress leaderGhulam Nabi Azad and theparty’s Uttar Pradesh in-chargeand State Congress chief RajBabbar on Monday held meet-ing with State unit leaders tochalk out the election strategyand finalise the plans.

Sources said Rahul’s sisterPriyanka Vadra may accompa-ny him and also address fourrallies in the first leg of thecampaign. There are 80 LokSabha seats in the State and inthe present Lok Sabha BJP has72 MPs and Congress only two.

Rahul’s first rally will beheld in Lucknow in the firstweek of February. Later, onerally will be held in Varanasi,which is Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s parliamen-tary constituency. The detailsfor remaining rallies will bedecided in due course beforethe party makes theannouncement.

Mayawati and AkhileshYadav have decided to contest38 seats each in Uttar Pradeshwhile alliance has left two seatsfor the Congress, the traditionalGandhi dynasty bastions of

Rae Bareli and Amethi.Terming the decision of the

SP and the BSP to keep theCongress out of their pre-pollalliance a ‘mistake’, top UPCongress functionaries believethat the party will definitelyspring a surprise in the 2019general elections. “This timethere is no Modi wave as suchand a perception has beendeveloped that Rahul is theonly saviour,” said a top AICCfunctionary.

Rahul too had stated thatSP-BSP have underestimatedthe Congress’s strength in UttarPradesh by keeping the grandold party out of their pre-pollalliance for the general elec-tions. “I could be wrong, butI think Mayawati and Akhileshmay have underestimated the

Congress. They haven’t fullyappreciated the value of theCongress. Will see what hap-pens now,” Rahul had said in aninterview.

He said above all it was apolitical decision and thatrespects for BSP chief Mayawatiand SP chief Akhilesh willever remain. “But now even theCongress will have to do itswork and we will fight with fullzeal and vigour.

The Congress won’t backdown and will fight with all itsmight,” he had said.

Even as Ghulam Nabi Azadannounced to go solo, it hasalso kept the doors of a possi-ble alliance open presumingany secular and like-mindedparty ready to take on BJPwould be welcome in the fold.

STAFF REPORTER n NEW DELHI

The Delhi Police on Mondayfiled 1,200 pages

chargesheet against formerJawaharlal Nehru UniversityStudents’ Union (JNUSU) pres-ident Kanhaiya Kumar andothers in a sedition case.

The February 2, 2016 casepertains to allegations thatanti-national slogans wereraised at an event organised byKanhaiya, Umar Khalid andAnirban Bhattacharya onJawaharlal Nehru University(JNU) campus to commemo-rate the hanging of Parliament-attack mastermind Afzal Guru.

The chargesheet has 10

main accused people —Kanhaiya, Umar Khalid,Anirban Bhattacharya andseven Kashmiri students study-ing with Aligarh MuslimUniversity (AMU), JamiaMillia Islamia (JMI) and JNUand identified as AquibHussain, Mujeeb Hussain,Muneeb Hussain, Umar Gul,Rayeea Rasool, Bashir Bhatand Basharat.

As many as 36 others,including Communist Partyof India (CPI) leader D Raja’sdaughter Aprajita, ShehlaRashid (then vice-presidentJNUSU), Rama Naga,Ashutosh Kumar andBanojyotsna Lahiri, all formerstudents of JNU, have beennamed in column 12 of thechargesheet due to insufficientevidence against them.

Continued on Page 7

PNS n BENGALURU

Amid political uncertainty inKarnataka over claims by

Congress trouble-shooter DKShivakumar that three of hisparty MLAs had been whiskedaway by the BJP to Mumbaiand are now untraceable, ChiefMinister HD Kumaraswamysaid on Monday there is noquestion of “instability” in theCongress-JD(S) dispensation.

While expressing confi-dence that no MLA of theJD(S)-Congress alliance willswitch side, Kumaraswamy,however, did confirm that threeof the Congress MLAs were inMumbai. On Water ResourceMinister DK Shivakumar’s claimthat three Congress MLAs werecamping at a hotel in Mumbaiin the “company of some BJPleaders”, Kumaraswamy said,“(The Congress) MLAs havegone to Mumbai after bringingit to my notice; they are in con-stant touch with me.”

Not revealing their names,he said, “They are my friends.

Those MLAs in Mumbai or 104BJP MLAs who are in Delhi areall my people, so there is noquestion of instability to thisGovernment. I spoke to themat 7:30 am. They have gone forpersonal reasons, and there isno need to add politics to it.”

“...If my Government isfacing instability, is it possiblefor me to be at ease?” heasked. Shivakumar had onSunday said the BJP’sOperation Lotus to topple theState’s coalition Government isfor real, alleging that threeCongress MLAs were campingin a Mumbai hotel. He said theChief Minister is being“lenient” towards the BJP, bynot exposing it.

“I have noticed reports insections of the media (aboutOperation Lotus). Today too Isaw a media report stating thaton January 17, President’s rulewill be imposed in the State. Idon’t know who is feeding suchreports to the media...I was sur-prised to see the report,”Kumaraswamy said.

“I don’t know who willbenefit from such reports, butin my opinion it will cause lossto the people of the State,” hetold reporters in Mysuru.

Operation Lotus is a refer-ence to the BJP allegedly luringseveral Opposition MLAs todefect to ensure stability of itsthen-Government headed byBS Yeddyurappa in 2008.Speculations are rife that six toeight Congress MLAs are ready

to jump ship to the BJP side.There are also reports that afew of them have gone incom-municado. In an indicationthat the move to topple theKumaraswamy-led allianceGovernment had the backingof the BJP Central leadership,the BJP is holding up all its 104MLAs, who had gone to Delhifor the party’s National Councilmeeting in the national Capital.

“BJP members have gone

for their executive meetingand to plan a strategy for LokSabha polls to win more seats.What should I do if their meet-ing is being seen as a threat tothis Government?” the ChiefMinister asked.

Kumaraswamy said heknew all about who the BJPwas contacting and what kindof offers it was using to lurethem. “When media friendsreport that 12 (MLAs) aregoing, 14 and 18 are going,without the BJP luring themwill you get the information?But none of our Congress andJD(S) MLAs will go, fallingprey to their allurements. Thereis no such situation,” he said.

Deputy Chief MinisterParameshwara also said theGovernment is stable. “There isno chance (of the Governmentbecoming unstable),” he said.Asked about the CongressMLAs camping in a Mumbaihotel, he said, “Let thembe...Why they have gone,nobody knows. They mighthave gone on holiday or to visit

temples or meet leaders.”Meanwhile, trashing

reports about the BJP attempt-ing ‘to topple the coalitionGovernment in Karnataka,State party chief BSYeddyurappa on Monday saidthere was no truth in it andalleged that the Congress-JD(S)combine was trying to lureOpposition MLAs.

He also clarified that BJPMLAs were camping in NewDelhi to discuss the strategyfor Lok Sabha polls and theparty was not indulging inany “resort politics.” “Despitehaving majority, theCongress-JD(S) combine istrying to lure our MLAs andindulging in horse-trading,the BJP is not doing it.

New agency PTI said theBJP legislators in Delhi werelikely to be shifted to Gurgaon,to keep its numbers in tact,with the Congress and JD(S)allegedly planning to poachBJP MLAs as a retaliatory mea-sure to Operation lotus.

Continued on Page 7

PTI n BULANDSHAHR

The Bulandshahr districtadministration on Monday

invoked the National SecurityAct (NSA) against seven peo-ple arrested in connection withthe alleged cow slaughteringincident in Siyana tehsil lastmonth, officials said.

Cattle carcasses were foundstrewn in the fields outside vil-lage Mahaw in Siyana onDecember 3 after which a mob went on the rampage,attacking the localChingrawathi police post.

Inspector Subodh KumarSingh, 44, and civilian Sumit Kumar, 20, ofChingrawathi village werekilled of gunshot injuries in theensuing violence.

Two separate FIRs wereregistered — one for the vio-lence in which nearly 80 peo-ple including 27 named and theother for cow slaughter — atthe Siyana police station.

“Yes,” District MagistrateAnuj Jha said on whether thestringent NSA was invokedagainst those arrested in thecow slaughter case. PTI

PNS n NEW DELHI

Amid raging protests inAssam and other parts of

North East over the Citizenship(Amendment) Bill, 2016, theCentre has decided to holdwide-ranging consultation todefuse the situation. HomeMinister Rajnath Singh willsoon call a meeting of theNorth-East Chief Ministers todiscuss safeguards required toprotect the region’s culturaland linguistic identity.

Large-scale protests havebeen witnessed in Assam andsome other parts of the NorthEast seeking withdrawal of thecontroversial Bill, which seeks togrant nationality to non-Muslims who fled religious per-secution from three neighbour-ing countries and entered Indiabefore December 31, 2014.

With the Lok Sabha elec-tion round the corner, the BJPis under tremendous pressureto douse the flames of protestin North East, which elects 25MPs. The Bill has created mas-sive anti-BJP sentiments inseveral pockets across theNorth East.

More than half members ofthe Committee appointed by

the Centre to suggest ways toaccommodate key provisionof Assam Accord in view of theimplication of the Citizenship(Amendment) Bill, 2016, haveresigned from the panel.

The Bill which was passedby Lok Sabha last week is like-ly to be tabled in the RajyaSabha in the Budget Session.Several protesting leaders,including those from Assam’sregional parties, have said theState’s indigenous people willlose their linguistic and culturalidentity if the Citizenship Billis passed.

Protesters have also saidthe proposed legislation goesagainst the 1985 Assam Accord,which says anyone having

entered the State after a cut-offdate of March 24, 1971 shouldbe treated as an illegal migrantand should be deported.

Singh’s proposed meetingwith the Chief Ministersassumes significance as therehave been concerns expressedby various stakeholders overnon-functioning of a Centre-nominated committee to assessthe implementation of Clause6 of the Assam Accord andother matters related to theNorth Eastern States.

Clause 6 of the AssamAccord states “constitutional,legislative and administrativesafeguards, as may be appro-priate, shall be provided to pro-tect, preserve and promote thecultural, social, linguistic iden-tity and heritage of theAssamese people”.

“The Union HomeMinister will soon be calling ameeting of Chief Ministers ofthe concerned States. Theywill further discuss about thesafeguards that need to be pro-vided for protecting the inter-ests of these States and pro-tecting their cultural and lin-guistic identity,” the HomeMinistry said in its statement.

Continued on Page 7

PNS n ALLAHABAD

Kumbh Mela-2019 is all setfor its first Shahi Snan

(royal bathing) of MakarSankranti beginning in thewee hours on Tuesday. All the13 recognised akharas willreach the Sangam with fullgrandeur and fanfare fromtheir mela camps led by theNaga sadhus displaying skillswith their traditional weapons.

The sun entered the Makarrashi on Monday itself but aftersunset due to which the MakarSankranti bathing will take placeon Tuesday. The akharas willstart reaching the Sangam, theconfluence of the three rivers —Ganga, Yamuna, and Saraswatiat 5.15 am. The first to reach theSangam for the Shahi Snan willbe the Maha Nirvani Akhara andthe Atal Akhara followed by theNiranjani, Anand, Juna, Awahan,

Sri Panch Agni, Nirvani Ani,Digambar Ani, Nirmohi Ani,Naya Udaseen, Bada Udaseenand Nirmal Akhara.

The last akhara has beengiven the time slot of 2:40 pm.The other Shahi Snans will beMauni Amavasya on February4 and Basant Panchami onFebruary 10 besides importantbathing occasions of PoushPurnima on January 21, MaghiPurnima on February 19 andMahashivratri on March 4.

Kumbh happens to be thebiggest religious and spiritualcongregation on earth. TheKumbh-2019 has a special sig-nificance owing to the person-al interest taken by the PrimeMinister and the Chief Ministerto convert it into an unforget-table event and theGovernment had opened itscoffers to beautify Prayagrajcity and the Sangam area

besides providing better facil-ities to the devotees and saints.

Besides pumping in ̀ 2,800crore for the Kumbh and thebeautification of Prayagraj theState as well as the UnionGovernments presented someprecious gifts to this ancientSangam City.

First the Governmentrechristened Allahabad asPrayagraj to recall its existencein the Vedic period. Openingthe Akshayvat darshan for allis the gift which was longpending. Now people will gofor the darshan of the originalAkshayvat situated inside thefort after 450 years.

The construction of a civilterminal by the Ministry ofCivil Aviation is another bigachievement which hasincreased the number of flightsfrom Prayagraj.

Continued on Page 7

Cong plans UP strategy,Rahul to address 13 rallies

No threat to Cong-JD(S) Govt: HDK

Cong says 3 ‘missing’ MLAs proof that BJP trying to destabilise alliance in K’taka

NSA slapped on

seven held for

cow slaughter

in Bulandshahr

Rajnath to meet CMs of N-E to defuse Citizenship Bill flare-ups

Lucknow : RJD leaderTejashwi Yadav on Mondaypromised full support to theBSP-SP alliance in UttarPradesh for the Lok Sabhapolls, asserting that the moveby the two regional parties tocome together to fight the BJPhas gone down well through-out the country.

Stating that the alliancewill be hailed in the future,Tejashwi also said Uttar Pradeshand Bihar will decide who willcome to power at the Centreafter the general elections.

“Our organisation in UttarPradesh will lend support tothe alliance,” he told newsper-sons in Lucknow after meeting

Samajwadi Party(SP) presidentAkhilesh Yadav. The RJDleader had met Bahujan SamajParty (BSP) supremo Mayawatiin Lucknow on Sunday night.

“It is not just UP but theentire country where the mes-sage of alliance hasgone...(now) the people of UPand Bihar will decide as to who

will come to power at theCentre.”

Akhilesh responded sayingTejashwi’s offer of support willfurther cement the alliance.

Both Tejashwi andAkhilesh also targeted the BJPclaiming that people will oustthe party from power.

Continued on Page 7

Tejashwi backs BSP-SP alliance

Kanhaiya charged withsedition for anti-Indiaslogans at JNUUmar, Anirban, 7

Kashmiri students

from JNU, Jamia,

AMU also named

First Shahi Snan of biggest congregation today

An illumined view of a campsite established along the banks of River Ganga on the eve of Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj onMonday PTI

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Late City Vol. 155 Issue 14*Air Surcharge Extra if Applicable

Published From DELHI LUCKNOW BHOPAL

BHUBANESWAR RANCHI RAIPURCHANDIGARH DEHRADUN

Established 1864RNI No.2016/1957, REGD NO. SSP/LW/NP-34/2019-21

LUCKNOW, TUESDAY JANUARY 15, 2019; PAGES 16 `3

EXCITED TO

PLAY A LAWYER:

RICHA CHADHA

14 VIVACITY

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Union Minister of State for Food Processing Industries and Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) leader Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti conferred with the title Mahamandaleshwar ofNiranjani Akhara, in Allahabad on Monday PTI

city 02LUCKNOW | TUESDAY | JANUARY 15, 2019

Lucknow (PNS): The acrimony within the first family of theSamajwadi Party seems to1 be rising as party general secretaryRam Gopal Yadav said that Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia)president Shivpal Singh Yadav could face the wrath of the SP cadrefor his comments on alleged mining scam during the AkhileshYadav regime. Responding to the comment, Shivpal Yadav, thecousin of Ram Gopal Yadav, said, “Ram Gopal Yadav is my elderbrother and he has every right to thrash me or get it be done bysomeone else.”

The verbal fight ensued after Shivpal recently tried to cor-ner SP president Akhilesh Yadav on the mining scam issue.Enraged by Shivpal’s comment, the SP general secretary said thatkeeping in mind the kind of comments being made by the for-mer, the PSPL founder could be thrashed anywhere by SP sup-porters.

In an informal interaction with the media in Etawah onMonday, Shivpal Yadav said, “Although, he is my elder brother,he can thrash me or get me thrashed but it is equally true thathe has destroyed the samajwadi aandolan (socialist movement).SP had strong base in states like Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh,Uttarakhand, Rajasthan and Bihar, all that has vanished.”

PNS n LUCKNOW

Chief Minister YogiAdityanath has congratu-

lated saints, dharmacharyasand pilgrims who have come toPrayagraj to take a holy dipduring Shahi Snan, saying thatthe Uttar Pradesh governmentis committed to providingthem the best of facilities dur-ing the 55-day Kumbh Mela.

In a written statementissued here on Monday, the

Chief Minister said that direc-tives had been issued to all gov-ernment departments to bealert and perform their dutieswith dedication during theKumbh.

The Kumbh Mela beginswith the first Shahi Snan onTuesday when over 1.5 crorepeople and are expected to takea holy dip in the Sangam. TheShahi Snan will start at 5 amand will continue till evening.

The Shahi Snan, one of the

most important events ofKumbh, will witness Naga sad-hus of different sects marchingin a big procession towards theriver and taking a holy dip atthe auspicious time amidstchants of hymns and shlokas.Some of these sadhus will comeriding horses and chariots.

The Kumbh Mela is a bigreligious event and the govern-ment will maintain that reli-gious fervour during its entireperiod, the Chief Minister said.

Over 15 crore pilgrimsfrom India and abroad areexpected during this festivalwhich will start on January 15and continue for the next 55days till March 10.

The Chief Minister saidthat the sadhus had startedswarming the area and theadministration would ensurethat they take out their proces-sions during Kumbh and reachtheir destination without anyhindrance.

PNS n LUCKNOW

Bharatiya Janata Party hasdismissed the support

extended to the Bahujan SamajParty-Samajwadi Party allianceby Rashtriya Janata Dal as anon-event. The BJP ques-tioned the viability of the BSP-SP alliance and said the peoplewere tired of coalition politicsand they would wholehearted-ly vote for a stable government.

“It is like ‘begani shadimein Abdullah deewana’(uninvited person getting excit-ed over a thing not concerninghim/her). All those who hadlooted the state exchequer areuniting and coming under oneumbrella and patting the backof each other. Their agenda willnever get the support of thepeople,” said UP government

spokesman and EnergyMinister Shrikant Sharma hereon Monday.

Listing the achievementsand series of welfare schemeslaunched by the NarendraModi and Yogi Adityanathgovernments, Sharma said,“The BJP government is relent-lessly working for the uplift ofthe common man... thechowkidar is maintaining highvigil and this has unnerved theopponents of the BJP and theyare desperately trying to comeon one platform.”

Replying to a question onthe notice issued by theSupreme Court to the UP gov-ernment over the fake policeencounters, Sharma said thegovernment respected the judi-ciary and would file itsresponse in due course of time.

He, however, added thatsome publicity-hungry peoplewere in the habit of filing pub-lic interest litigation and theywere against the stern actionbeing taken by the Yogi govern-ment to eliminate criminalsand establish the rule of law.

Sharma said such PILswere being filed to malign thegovernment and there wouldbe no let up in the drive againstcrime and criminals to tone uplaw and order in the state.

The BJP leader said asmany as three crore people hadbenefited from developmentschemes being run by the Modigovernment. He said the pro-people policies of the Modigovernment had unnerved theopposition parties and theywere left with no issue to tar-get the government.

PNS n LUCKNOW

The City of Nawabs, alreadybedecked with blue ban-

ners and hoardings, will wit-ness another grand opposi-tion unity on the 63rd birthdaycelebration of Bahujan SamajParty chief Mayawati onTuesday.

Last Saturday, theSamajwadi Party and theBahujan Samaj Party hadannounced their historicalliance in the state capital andnow it is time for the secondgala show of opposition unityon Tuesday on the auspiciousoccasion of Makar Sankranti.

Mayawati, who turns 63 onJanuary 15, shares her birthdaywith SP MP from Kannauj,Dimple Yadav, wife of SP pres-ident Akhilesh Yadav, and shewill celebrate her 41st birthday.

The BSP chief will celebrateher birthday in the presence ofsenior party and oppositionleaders. She will address apress conference in Lucknow at11 am on Tuesday, an officialBSP release said here onMonday.

The BSP supremo isexpected to spell out her party’sviews on the political situation

and the tie-up with SamajwadiParty on this occasion.

Following the announce-ment of gathbandhan, hoardingshave come up in the state capi-tal carrying pictures of BSPpresident Mayawati and SP chiefAkhilesh Yadav, reading ‘Satyapareshan ho sakta hai, parajitnahin’ (Honesty can face prob-lem, but cannot be defeated).

It also has a slogan ofAkhilesh saying ‘Hamare passgathbandhan hai, BJP ke passCBI (We have the alliance,BJP has CBI)”.

Top Congress leaders,including Sonia Gandhi andRahul Gandhi would greetMayawati in Delhi whileAkhilesh Rashtriya Janata Dalleader and former deputy chiefminister of Bihar, TejashwiYadav, will present her a bou-quet here.

Rahul Gandhi, who is on atour of UAE, is likely to wishMayawati after his return fromDubai. Leaders from SP, RLD,INLD, Janata Dal (Secular),Janata Congress Chhattisgarh(JCC) and other regional and

smaller parties would be invit-ed for the birthday celebrations.

Former Chhattisgarh CMAjit Jogi, along with party leg-islators from Karnataka,Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh andMadhya Pradesh would alsojoin the celebrations either inLucknow or New Delhi.

Mayawati is expected tocelebrate her birthday here onTuesday morning and laterleave for the national capital.

Sources here on Mondaysaid that after the alliance,both SP and BSP cadres mayjointly celebrate Behenji’s birth-day at the district level and thecelebrations would witnesspresence of top leaders fromthe opposition camp.

After losing the 2007assembly election, BSP hasbeen celebrating Mayawati’sbirthday as JankalyankariDiwas. “The party leaders helpthe needy, poor and handi-capped. They also visit Dalitvillages and hospitals to distrib-ute fruits and blankets,” said asenior BSP leader. Mayawatiwould also release a party cal-endar and a new edition of ‘Atravelogue of my struggle-rid-den life and BSP movement -Volume 14’, penned by her.

PNS n LUCKNOW

With the aim to tackle theBahujan Samaj Party-

Samajwadi Party alliance inUttar Pradesh, the BharatiyaJanata Party has chalked out astrategy that will revolvearound Most Backward Classeswho are in sizeable number inalmost all parliamentary con-stituencies.

“We have our strategyready to counter the BSP-SPalliance. The BJP was workingon it for the last many months.This strategy revolves aroundMBCs. It is expected that thereare 2-3 lakh MBC voters inalmost all constituencies. Theycan be the key to BJP’s successin Uttar Pradesh,” a senior BJPleader told this reporters hereon Monday.

He said that what was pos-itive for BJP in this Lok Sabhaelection was that there was nowave in favour of anyone.“Anti-incumbency can be thereagainst the BJP government butit is not that sharp that peoplemay have made up their mindin favour of one party oralliance that can replace PrimeMinister Narendra Modi.

“If you analyse the BSP-SPalliance, one thing is commonin it— the Muslim vote bank.The BSP’s support base is Dalitsand Muslims while SamajwadiParty is getting its power fromYadav (backward) and Muslimcombination. This can be awinning combination only ifthe upper caste throws itsweight behind the BSP-SPalliance,” the leader said.

“Everyone has ignored theMBC factor. We are workingwith this section of society. Thesupport of MBCs will catapultthe BJP to power once again,”he said.

The senior leaders whoreturned from the BJP nation-al convention said that the

party had set a target to get 51per cent votes this time. Theysaid the party workers hadbeen asked to strengthen a thebooth level and ensure peoplecame out and voted in favourof the BJP.

Even the opposition law-makers agree that there is no

perceptible wave in favour ofanyone at this point of time.

“The BJP is in power. Weneed to watch every step theBJP leadership, particularlyNarendra Modi, takes in viewof BSP-SP alliance. He willdefinitely try to weaken thisalliance,” they say.

Lucknow (PNS): In an attempt to win backthe Other Backward Classes (OBCs) that havedeserted it, the Congress has decided to strength-en its OBC cell in Uttar Pradesh by constitutingcommittees UP TO the block level by the end ofthis month. To kick-start the plan as the Congresshas decided to go it alone and contest all the 80Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh, the UPCC willhold a state-level OBC convention here onWednesday. “Over 4,000 delegates from across UPwill come to Lucknow and attend the state levelOBC convention on Wednesday, to be chaired upUP Congress president Raj Babbar,” confirmed

Anil Saini, national coordinator of AICC OBCdepartment. Talking to media persons along withDistrict Congress president Gaurav Chowdhary,also a OBC leader from UP, Saini on Monday saidhe had travelled the entire state and held districtlevel meetings and had sorted out names andwould form state, district and lower level commit-tees of the OBC cell by the end of this month.

He said the main agenda of the state-level con-vention on Wednesday was to chalk out a strat-egy to show their full strength by ensuring max-imum attendance of OBCs in party presidentRahul Gandhi’s public meetings.

Lucknow (PNS): Bickering within the Samajwadi Party havesurfaced over the party’s alliance with Bahujan Samaj Party as asenior party MLA has questioned the wisdom of the party lead-ership in going for the tie-up.

“The SP stands to gain nothing by this alliance as we havealready conceded the status of senior partner to the BSP,” said SPMLA MLA from Sirsaganj seat in Firozabad, Hariom Yadav, adding,“What is the guarantee of longevity of the alliance as Mayawati hasditched Bharatiya Janata Party thrice in the past’.

The MLA said, “The BSP-SP alliance will not work in Firozabad.It won’t be successful there. This alliance will not last long and canwork only as long as our national president Akhilesh Yadav keepsobeying Mayawati and bows in front of her.” He said ‘Pol Kholo’sammelan had been convened in Shikohabad on January 22 wherean account of the anti-worker policies of the SP would be present-ed. The SP, however, dismissed the opposition by the party MLA,saying Hariom Yadav was opposing the alliance because of his dif-ferences with the senior party leader Ram Gopal Yadav.

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CM: Govt to provide best facilities during KumbhMaya likely to speak on political

situation on her birthday today

BJP to focus on MBCs

Holding back non-Jatavs communities to be crucialPNS n LUCKNOW

With the veneer of invin-cibility gone after losing

assembly elections in three keyHindi states of MadhyaPradesh, Rajasthan andChhattisgarh, the pre-pollalliance of Bahujan SamajParty and Samajwadi Party isall set to be challenging for theBharatiya Janata Party in thecoming Lok Sabha elections.

Even as the BJP, during itsnational executive meeting inDelhi, chose to disdain thealliance with Prime MinisterNarendra Modi saying “thenext Lok Sabha elections willbe choice between majboor(helpless) and majboot (strong)government”, the BJP would nolonger get the benefit of divi-sion of votes and reap richpolitical dividends as it had gotin the 2014 Lok Sabha electionsand later the UP assemblypolls in March 2017.

The coming together ofthe SP and BSP also poseschallenge before the BJP toprevent the arithmetic fromturning into chemistry andpreventing the non-Jatav com-munities from returning to theBSP fold.

The non-Jatavs had over-whelmingly voted for the BJPin 2014 and 2017 elections.

The BJP will also makeattempts to widen the socialand political faultlines betweenthe SP and BSP. “Mayawatireferred to the infamous stateGuest House incident of June2, 1995 at Lucknow butstopped short of saying that theBSP had either forgotten it orthe incident was unfortunate,”said a BJP leader, not seeming-ly perturbed by the alliance.

“We will go to the peopleon the basis of achievements ofour governments at the Centreand UP to achieve the target of73 plus seats in UP. The peo-ple of UP in 2017 saw the teamof ‘do ladke’ (Akhilesh Yadavand Rahul Gandhi) pledging tocontinue the alliance in 2019Lok Sabha election. History isbeing repeated and now the SPand BSP are saying the samething, that their alliance will lastlong and they will fight the2022 UP assembly electionstogether,” said BJP general sec-retary Vijay Bahadur Pathak.

Professor and head ofSchool of Social Sciences JNU,Vivek Kumar, said, “The peo-ple of UP have seen such tie-ups and they will reject theBSP-SP alliance which is bank-ing on the sole negative agen-da of preventing NarendraModi from becoming thePrime Minister in May 2019.”

SP MLA questions

alliance with BSP

Shrikant: People tired of coalition politics

Acrimony on rise

in SP first family

UP Cong to strengthen its OBC cell


PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n LUCKNOW

The condition of the artificial pair of lungsinstalled by Climate Agenda outside the

Lucknow Municipal Corporation building onJanuary 10 deteriorated further on the fifth dayon Monday. Experts said that on the fifth day, theair quality indicated that everyone in Lucknow wasexposed to 15 cigarettes per day. On Monday, thePM 10 and PM 2.5 particles were absorbed by theHEPA filters of the lungs and as a result theyturned black.

Giving an update on the fifth day of the instal-lation, the senior campaigner of 100% UPCampaign, Ekta Shekhar said: “As per the CPCBdata, Lucknow is continuously reeling under badair for the past 120 days. There was no good airday in Lucknow since September last year. The fig-ure itself says that Lucknow needs proper imple-mentation of NCAP and Graded Response Systemimmediately. Our campaign has decided to reachout to all political parties to invite them to see thedeterioration in the condition of lungs and toappeal to them to take proper action to resolve thepresent crisis of pollution.” Convener of PollutionFree Lucknow Campaign and a respiratory med-icine expert, Dr Surya Kant said: “Like these arti-ficial lungs, most of us are also living with the samedeteriorated lungs due to pollution in ambient air.Even today’s air quality indicates that everyone inLucknow is exposed to 15 cigarettes today. Hence,if we want to reduce the number of patients in hos-pitals, it is important that people from all sectionsand classes of the city come together in this fightto bring back clean air,” he said.

Air quality ofcity worsens


Ameeting of the academic council of LucknowUniversity was held at its Malviya Hall on

Monday. It was decided at the meeting that theunfilled seats after admission from the SC, ST, OBC,non-creamy layer and differently-abled categorieswould be transferred to next year for admission inthe same respective categories.

LU media spokesperson NK Pandey said as perthe ‘Gazette of India : Extraordinary Notificationfrom Ministry of Human Resource Development(University Grants Commission)’ dated August 27,2018, regarding Minimum Standards andProcedure for Award of M Phil, PhD degrees (1stamendment) Regulations, 2018, the followingprovision was adopted by the academic council.“That a relaxation of 5 per cent marks from 50 percent to 45 per cent in the written test will be allowedfor SC,ST,OBC, non-creamy layer and differently-abled candidates. That the unfilled seats after admis-sion from these SC, ST, OBC, non- creamy layerand differently-abled categories will be trans-ferred to next year for admission in the same respec-tive categories,” he said. He said that these resolu-tions were also passed at the Executive Councilmeeting held on Monday. “The University ofLucknow has become the first state one to adoptthis gazette notification in the interest of the soci-ety,” he said. He also said that the marks obtainedby the candidates in the written examination wouldnot be made available to the interview board so asto remove any bias or value judgement.

LU to transfer unfilled

seats to next year


Reckless driving by an SUVdriver claimed the lives of

a man and his cousin while hissister suffered critical injuriesin Madiaon on Monday morn-ing. In the tragic incident, thevictims died due to excessivebleeding and lack of medicalcare. The public protested at thescene against the police apathy.Police took the SUV in its cus-tody and a hunt for the errantdriver was on.

As per reports, the man,identified as Anshu (30) ofBarabanki, along with his sis-ter Sarita (23) and maternaluncle’s daughter Shalini (27),was going to IIM Road toattend a khichdi bhoj functionat their relative’s house. Around11 am, Anshu mistakenly for-got to take a turn at Bithauli tri-section to take the IIM Roadand he later slowed down thebike to take a U turn. In themeantime, an SUV whizzedpast and hit the bike frombehind, critically injuring thetrio. After the accident, com-muters flocked to the scene

while the SUV driver fledabandoning it at the crimescene. All the three were bleed-ing profusely and commuterslooked desperately for policehelp. Some state government-run ambulances passed nearthe scene but none of themstopped there even thoughcommuters waved hands ask-ing them to stop. A little later,a police team reached the scenebut it looked hapless to rush thevictims to a hospital as ambu-lance was available there.

Meanwhile, LucknowUniversity girl Meghna who,along with his classmate Kuhu,was passing by, stopped after

she saw commuters flockingaround the crime scene. Sherushed the victims to a privatehospital where from they werereferred to Trauma Centre ofKGMU. However, the TraumaCentre doctors declared Anshuand Shalini dead when theywere brought there.

A police spokesman said acase was being registered inthat connection and the policewere hunting for the driver. Hesaid sub-inspector AkhileshYadav had been assigned thetask to probe of the case. Theeyewitnesses said the cops ofthe Public Response Vehicle,which reached the place oninformation, refused to trans-port the victims to hospital andthey called the ambulance. “Itdid not reach in time at theplace and during this periodthe victims remained moaningin pain. They were bleedingprofusely and they died prob-ably due to that,” the comment-ed. They said the impact was sointense that those on the bikewere flung several feet awayfrom the place where the col-lision occurred.


The lack of approach tracks (line) atCharbagh railway station has forced a

number of trains to remain stranded at theouter signals (at both ends of the station) thuscausing trains to reach late by around 15 to20 minutes on their assigned platform. It alsoaffected the timely departure of such trainsfrom Charbagh railway station. “On an aver-age, 25-30 trains remain stranded at the outersignals of the Charbagh railway station (Upand Down line) every day. These trains areaccommodated only after a train stationed ona platform chugs out and the platform isvacated,” divisional railway manager,Lucknow division of Northern Railway,Satish Kumar said.

The DRM added there were plans toextend the existing length of platforms andalso to increase the number of platforms.“The work for this project needs time. Thethings will be addressed in the time to come,”he said. Sources in railways said there arearound 100 trains which were being operat-ed during the winter. “During winter, thetrain operation remains affected due to fog.In summer, around 300 trains are operated(originates/ terminates/pass by) at the station.The number of trains stranded at the stationduring summer remains high,” they said.

The sources said the passengers are fac-ing the problem for a long time and littleefforts were done to solve the problem. “Therailway officials opt to quick healing approachwhen passengers create scene in protest by

regulating that particular train. This, howev-er, causes other train to remain stranded atthe outer signal,” they pointed out.

They said the train traffic remainedclogged usually between 6 am and 8 am and6 pm and 12 midnight every day. “Presently,there are seven platforms and two side plat-forms at Charbagh railway station. Themaximum traffic load is on platform num-ber 3,4,5 and 6. As the length of existing plat-forms is adequate enough to accommodatemore than one train, the train reachingLucknow are halted at the outer signal on theup and down line. These trains usually takea halt in Sadar, Dilkusha, on the one side, andManak Nagar and Alamnagar, on the otherside,” they said. The most affected trains arethose which come from Gorakhpur, Faizabad,Allahabad, Varanasi and Sultanpur districts.“Nearly 40 per cent of the trains usuallyremain stranded at the outer signals on bothUP and Down line,” sources said. Thesources revealed that the railway had a planto lay four lanes between Dilkusha andCharbagh in the time to come. “There areplans to lay some tracks in the Charbagh sta-tion yard too,” they said.

Two mowed down by

reckless SUV driverPIONEER NEWS SERVICE n LUCKNOW

Unidentified miscreants madea murderous attempt by

opening fire on the car of aHazratganj-based garment shop-owner in Hasanganj police stationarea on Sunday night. Police reg-istered a case of attempt to mur-der but suspected claims made bythe victim. A forensic team exam-ined the crime scene and collect-ed samples for forensic test. Thepolice recovered a bullet shellfrom inside the car.

Tabish Qureshi of Aminabadhad gone to the house of his sis-ter, who lives in Khadra, as hertelevision set had developed somesnag. He loaded the TV in his carand went to Hazratganj. Later,Tabish, along with his friendDilip, went to his sister’s houseagain for dinner. “On the way, westopped the car to relieve our-selves alongside the road nearPucca Pul. It would be around11.45 pm when the bike-bornemiscreants approached the car.The pillion rider whipped out apistol and opened fire on the win-dow screen of the front seat andsped off. They probably mistookthat I was sitting inside the sta-tionary car,” Tabish stated in the

complaint. Tabish suspected therole of one of his relatives and alsothe role of some businessmen whoowed money to him. InspectorAmber Singh said the claims ofthe victim seemed incoherent.“Tabish is changing his state-ment. On Sunday, he suspectedthe role of his relative, while onMonday, he talked about somerivals in the business. Tabishowns shops in Hazratganj andAminabad. Police are investigat-ing the case.

MINISTER THREATENEDBJP minister Mohsin Raza got

life threat from some unidentifiedmiscreants on Monday for his loy-alty to the party. He lodged a casewith the Hazratganj police in thisconnection. Police are investigat-ing the case. “Tum BJP ke bahutkhas bante ho tumhari vyavasthakar di jayegi,” the caller threatenedthe BJP minister. Hazratganj SHORadharaman Singh said a case ofthreat under section 504/506 IPCwas registered. “The cell numberof the caller is being located by thesurveillance cell. We are yet to getany lead,” he said. The SHO saidthe miscreant called the minister thrice and used abusivelanguage too.

Trader escapes

murder attempt

Passengers distressed as

trains remain stranded


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ARMED FORCESVETERANS DAY

To commemorate ArmedForces Veterans Day, variousevents were organised atLucknow under the aegis ofCentral CommandHeadquarters. The celebrationscommenced with a wreath-laying ceremony at ‘Smritika’war memorial to pay tribute tothe martyrs. Major GeneralPravesh Puri, General OfficerCommanding, Madhya UttarPradesh Sub Area, paid tributeson behalf of all the serving sol-diers. The veterans were repre-sented by Lieutenant GeneralAM Verma (Retired),Lieutenant General LV Pandey(Retired), Vice Admiral Sujan

Singh (Retired) and Air ViceMarshal RK Dixit (Retired).The ceremony was attended by

approximately 400 veteransand all serving personnel post-ed in Lucknow station.


Terming Congress chiefRahul Gandhi’s comments

about ‘intolerance’ and ‘mob-lynching’ in Dubai as ‘unfortu-nate’, Bharatiya Janata Partyspokesperson and formerUnion minister ShahnawazHussain said that such state-ments showed that Congressnational president lackedvision.

Addressing a MakarSankranti programme in Ballia,the BJP leader said that one ortwo such incidents had hap-pened which were beingprobed and projecting theseincidents at international plat-form showed that RahulGandhi does not know how toaddress international audience.

“The fact is there is no bet-ter country than India in theworld where people of differ-ent religions and castes cohab-it peacefully,” Hussain said.

Taking a jibe at the newly-

formed Bahujan Samaj Party-Samajwadi Party alliance forthe upcoming Lok Sabha polls,Hussain said SP presidentAkhilesh Yadav was in thehabit of sharing his politicalspace with one or the other.

“When he had offeredspace to the Congress presidentduring Vidhan Sabha elec-tions, the cycle got punctured.Now that he has welcomed an‘elephant’, everyone knows whatwill happen to the rim of thecycle,” he said. Commentingabout the Lok Sabha polls, hesaid the BJP would win an extraseat this time compared to the

earlier general elections. “We had formed the gov-

ernment after securing 42 percent votes in the last generalelections. This time, the partyis eyeing 51 per cent votes,” theformer Union Minister said.

The BJP spokesperson saidthat the nation wanted to seeNarendra Modi as PrimeMinister of India once again.

Discussing the 10 per centreservation which has recent-ly been extended to poor peo-ple from upper castes, he saidthis showed PM’s vision of‘sabka saath and sabka vikaas.’

Responding to a question,he said that the upcomingpolls would be fought on theissue of development, ratherthan the Ram temple. He saidthe decision about constructionof temple was pending in thecountry’s top court. “The factis the issue relates to faith notpolls. Therefore, Ram templeissue is not poll issue for us,” hesaid.


There are a lot of culturalsimilarities between Uttar

Pradesh and Uttarakhand.‘Uttarayani Kauthig Mela-2019’has made special place foritself in Lucknow, known for itscultural heritage.

These views wereexpressed by Union HomeMinister Rajnath Singh, whoinaugurated the fair at GovindVallabh Pant Sanskritik Upvanon Monday. Singh said therewas no programme in the cityand he had come specially toattend ‘Uttarayani Mela’.

The minister said effortswere being made to makeLucknow a city of internation-al standard and rid it of trafficsnarls. Giving details of thework started being carried outfor Lucknow, Singh said thatwork on the 104-km RingRoad would be started soonand five flyovers were beingconstructed. “The airport willbe changed with an amount ofRs 1,300 crore and the GomtiNagar station will be made ofinternational level, and workon Kukrail bridge will be start-ed in two months’ time,” he

said. Earlier in the morning, ashobha yatra was taken outfrom Mahanagar Ramlilaground which witnessed thepresence of cultural groupsthat had come from variousparts of the city. The group ofCholiya dancers had theonlookers mesmerised. Theshobha yatra included women

from the hill area dressed intraditional gear.

When the shobha yatrareached Govind Vallabh PantSanskritik Upvan, it was wel-comed by mayor SanyuktaBhatia. The fair showcases allthe famous goods from thehills, including bal mithai andrai ki dal among other stuff.


Most of the flats in Kalptaruand Greenwood

Apartments located in GomtiNagar Extension are in a badshape and on the verge of col-lapse. However, LucknowDevelopment Authority (LDA)administration admitted theslow maintenance work butclaimed it was being carried outon a regular basis.

Over 100 residents havesubmitted individual memo-randum to Vice-Chairman PNSingh urging the LDA admin-istration to cancel their allot-ment and also expressed theirdesire to surrender the shelters.The residents charged LDAadministration with cheatingthem by not following theagreement signed at the time ofpossession. Chief engineer ISSingh said the maintenancework was not as prompt as itshould be due to limited fundswhich had be to be distributedto each housing scheme equal-ly. The LDA Vice-Chairmanwas dissatisfied with the qual-ity of the work done in the twoapartments and sought adetailed report from the chief

engineer. There are 500 flats inKalptaru Apartments built inseven towers while 180 sheltersare there in GreenwoodApartments. This is not theonly single case of poor main-tenance but there are othershousing schemes which are ina bad shape. The LDA admin-istration will suffer a greatfinancial loss in case peoplequit their shelters by takingaway their money after thededuction. Residents’ WelfareAssociation president UmaShanker Dubey claimed thatelectricity gadgets meant forthe public utility were seenhanging from walls and ceilingswere leaking even after a lightshower. Dubey claimed theresidents were paying the ser-vice fee meant for the mainte-nance on regular basis.


It is important to bridge thetraditional with the modern

in education and ensure thatthere is growth both in theactual intelligence and artifi-cial intelligence while teachingchildren, said industrialistYash Birla at a talk show ses-sion, ‘Talk of the Town,’ whichwas organised at a city hotel onMonday. The session broughtfor the first time Yash Birlaand his son, Nirvan Birla, onthe same platform. The talkshow was hosted by GauravPrakash, Co-chairperson ofthe PHD Chambers ofCommerce. This was the firstvisit of Yash and Nirvan to thestate capital. The father- sonduo talked on a wide range ofsubjects which included edu-cation, bonding, spiritualityand their success mantras.

Speaking about the educa-tion scene, Yash Birla admit-ted that there had been sever-al changes in the field of edu-cation with the world evenwitnessing the concept ofonline schooling. “Today achild carries out his researchon the mobile phone with theworld progressing forward.However, we still need values

and connect with the teachersand the students in the school.If we really want to see a dif-ference then we have to carrythe traditional past forward.This is a challenge because onehas to keep reminding oneselfthat there is so much richnesswe have in the past,” he said.

Talking about his procliv-ity towards spirituality, he said

that he was spiritual since theage of 13. “When other boyswere reading the novels suchas the Hardy Boys, I was intoUpanishads and religioustexts. I think there is a purposeto everything and this hap-pened because God waspreparing me to deal with theevents which were going tohappen later in my life,” hesaid. Recalling the tragedy oflosing his family in an aircraftcrash, he admitted that thevacuum still persists but thelove and affection of the mem-bers of his family who had lefthim will always be there. “Icould deal with the traumabecause I was spiritual.However, faith in oneself andgetting children of my ownhelped me and I also felt thatthey had the blessings of theirgrandparents whom theynever saw,” he added.

LESA STARTS REGULARISATION OF LOW-TENSION LINES

The Lucknow Electricity SupplyAdministration (LESA) on Monday startedregularisation and the strengthening of low-tension lines in Faizullahganj. The pro-gramme witnessed the presence of PowerMinister Srikant Sharma and BJP MLANeeraj Bora. LESA chief engineer PramodKakkar said the work was being carried outwith the help of MLA fund and an amountof Rs 25 lakh would be utilised in the firstphase. “We have identified 23 spots where thework will be carried out in the area and willmake electricity lines more organised andaccident-free,” he said.

NAZRANA-E-AVADHAvadh Girls’ PG College organised its four-

day cultural fest, ‘Nazrana-e-Avadh’, whichkick-started on Monday. The inter-college festbegan with a two-day ‘Sports Meet’, inaugu-rated by Group Commander, NCC (Lucknow),Brigadier Vikram Raina. Students marched tothe band of 39th Police Battalion under thementorship of Kulbeer Singh and Rakesh fromthe 19 UP Girls’ Battalion of NCC. The stu-dents vowed to play with a healthy team spir-it and sportsmanship. Brig Raina and princi-pal met the coaches of various teams and wel-comed them to the fest. The events on day one

included basketball, kho-kho, table tennis andchess.

MEETINGDivisional Commissioner Anil Garg on

Monday presided over a meeting to discusstemporary shelters for stray cattle. He direct-ed the officials to identify stray cattle and con-duct a review of kanji houses and animal con-servation centres. Garg said it should also bereviewed as to how many shelters were regis-tered and how many were not.

STATE BANK OF INDIA State Bank of India (SBI), the largest com-

mercial bank in terms of assets, deposits,branches, customers and employees, is also thelargest mortgage lender in the country. As onSeptember 30, 2018, the bank has a depositbase of Rs 28.07 lakh crore with CASA ratioof 45.27% and advances of Rs 20.69 lakh crore.SBI commands a 34.28% market share in homeloans and a 34.27% market share in auto loans.The bank has the largest network of nearly22,300 branches in India and an ATM networkof nearly 59,500. The number of SBI customersusing internet banking facility is 5.5 crore whilethe number of customers engaged with themobile banking services of SBI stands at 1.25crore. On social media platforms, SBI has thehighest number of followers.


Ameeting was conductedby NABARD (UP) in the

regional office to promote thefinancial inclusion agenda ofthe Central governmentamong SHG members cov-ered under e-Shakti. The meet-ing was presided over by chiefgeneral manger of NABARDAK Singh. A strategy was pre-pared to cover the SHG mem-bers registered at e-Shakti por-tal under Pradhan MantriJandhan Yojana, PradhanMantri Jeevan Jyoti BimaYojana , Pradhan MantriSuraksha Bima Yojana andAtal Pension Yojana.

NABARD is implementinga pilot project titled e-Shakti,in line with the Digital Indiamission launched by theCentral government for digiti-sation of SHGs in select dis-tricts across the country. InUttar Pradesh, the project isbeing implemented inBarabanki, Bahraich, Etawah,

Hardoi, Jaunpur, Lalitpur,Mirzapur and Varanasi.

All historical data of theseSHGs, including financial trans-actions and particulars as wellas social profile of members, hasbeen uploaded on the secureweb portal. Monthly updates ofeach meeting of these SHGs arenow being captured through aspecifically designed ‘e-Shakti’Android application with theuse of hand-held tablets,mobiles provided to animators,and field staff of the implement-ing agencies. The portal hasresulted in sanitisation of theSHG data. The portal also cap-tures the monthly transactionupdates of the group in order toprovide accurate and real-timeinformation so that banks cantake informed credit decisions.Speaking on the occasion, theNABARD CGM requestedbankers to take the SHG financeas a business proposition anddispose of all the applicationsreceived by them under e-Shakti.


Cyber thugs duped the sonof an administrative office

at CMO office in Jankipuramon Monday of Rs 1.35 lakh. DrAyush of sector D, SecretariatColony, had completed MBBSand is looking for a job. Hisfather CJ Yadav is posted atCMO office in Lucknow. Ayushtold police that he had appliedonline for a job at a hospital viaa popular website for jobs.“On January 8, I got a call andwas asked to deposit Rs 2,000as a registration fee. Later, I gotanother call and was asked todeposit Rs 1.35 lakh in a bankaccount for the job,” he said.

Ayush said he was issued aletter and was asked to contactthe HR section of the hospitalafter he had deposited the cashas per instruction of the fraud-ster. “But when I reached thehospital, I came to know that Ihave been defrauded as thehospital never opened anyrecruitment for the post I hadapplied for,” he said. Police registered a case in this connection.

SCHOOLSCAN

CITYBRIEFS

CANTTWATCH

DANCE COMPETITIONSaumya Sonkar, a class VI

student of City MontessoriSchool, Aliganj Campus II,bagged the first prize in an inter-school solo and classical dancecompetition, organised underthe aegis of Hari Om Mandir SriSatya Sai Seva Organisation,

Lucknow. Through her danceperformance and gestures,Saumya highlighted women’srole in the social uplift. She putup her wonderful dancing skillsin the contest, leaving the judgesimpressed. Organisers present-ed a certificate and prizes toSaumya.

‘Lot of cultural similarities

between UP, U’Khand’

Home Minister Rajnath Singh at Uttarayani Mela in Lucknow Pioneer

LDA housing schemes

in a sordid state

Over 100 residents

have requested the

LDA administration

for cancellation of

their allotment and

also expressed their

desire to surrender

the shelters

Bridging traditional with modern in

education vital for growth: Yash Birla

Khichdi being distributed among people on the occasion of Makar Sankranti in Lucknow on Monday Pioneer

Rahul lacks vision: Shahnawaz

Officer’s son

duped by

cyber thugs

NABARD bid topromote financialinclusion agenda

‘Sports Meet’ at Avadh Girls’ PG College

Divisional Commissioner Anil Garg presiding over a meeting on Monday Pioneer

LUCKNOW | TUESDAY | JANUARY 15, 2019 nation 05

IN SHORT

SC EXTENDS TIME TILLJULY 31 TO VACATE HOUSES New Delhi: The Supreme Court onMonday extended till July 31 thedeadline for house owners, whosebuildings were ordered to bedemolished due to illegalconstructions in the forest area ofAravalli hills, to vacate theirpremises subject to furnishing ofundertaking in this regard.

SC TAGS PLEA OF ARTICLE370 WITH ANOTHER PLEANew Delhi: The Supreme Court onMonday ordered tagging of a PILchallenging the validity of Article 370of the Constitution, which grants aspecial status to Jammu andKashmir and limits Parliament’s power to make laws concerning theState, with another pending plea onthe issue.

TOP COURT NOTICE TOCBI ON SAJJAN’S PLEA New Delhi: The Supreme Court onMonday issued notice to the CBI onformer Congress leader SajjanKumar’s appeal against hisconviction in an 1984 anti-Sikh riotscase. A bench comprising ChiefJustice Ranjan Gogoi and JusticesAshok Bhushan and SK Kaul alsoissued notice on Kumar’s bail plea.

SANJAY MOVES SC SEEKINGREVIEW OF RAFALENew Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)lawmaker Sanjay Singh Mondaymoved the Supreme Court, seekingreview of the verdict by whichseveral pleas challenging the deal forprocurement of Rafale fighter jetswere dismissed.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Centre has sought nom-inations from different

ministries to expeditiously fillthe vacant post of the Directorof Prosecution in the CBI,which is presently workingwithout a regular chief follow-ing the ouster of Alok Verma.

OP Verma, who served asthe Director of Prosecution,completed his term onDecember 23 and the post hassince been vacant.

The DoP is the senior mostprosecutor in the agency ren-dering legal opinion in all thecases probed by the agency. TheDoP reports to the CBI,Director. In a communicationto all the government depart-ments, the Personnel Ministryhas asked for names of eligibleand willing officers, not belowthe rank of Joint Secretary andeligible for appointment asSpecial Public Prosecutor, offi-cials said.

The Personnel Ministryhas asked the departments tosend the names by January 25so that “an expeditious decisioncan be taken for filling the post

of Director of Prosecution inCBI”. The selection of theDirector of Prosecution ismade on the recommendationof the Central VigilanceCommission. It is a rare coin-cidence that the CBI is work-ing without a regular chiefand the DoP.

A Parliamentary panel hadrecently expressed concernsover vacant posts in the CBIand asked the Government totake proactive steps to ensurethat it does not remain under-staffed.

“Shortage of personnel atvarious levels in CBI is a peren-nial problem. The committeehas expressed its concern onthis on several occasions.

Vacancy in any organisation, toa large extent, can be antici-pated well in advance andproactive efforts should be ini-tiated to complete necessaryprocedure to fill up the vacan-cies on time.

The CBI seems to havefailed in anticipating such a sit-uation,” the panel had said inits report tabled in Parliamentearlier this month.

The CBI is working underan interim Director MNageswar Rao, AdditionalDirector, after the agency’sboss Alok Verma was removedby a panel led by the PrimeMinister Narendra based on areport alleging dereliction ofduty and graft.

New Delhi: Young diplomatsfrom 27 countries are partici-pating in a fellowship pro-gramme here that aims atequipping them with theknowledge and perspectiveson various contemporary dis-armament, non-proliferation,arms control and internation-al security affairs.

United Nations UnderSecretary General and HighRepresentative forDisarmament IzumiNakamitsu and ForeignSecretary Vijay KeshavGokhale on Monday inaugu-rated the First AnnualDisarmament andInternational Security AffairsFellowship Programme organ-ised by the MEA.

The programme is beingheld at the Foreign ServicesInstitute from January 14-February 1. It covers a range ofissues relevant to disarmamentand international security suchas global security environment,weapons of mass destruction.

PTI

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Housing and UrbanAffairs (HUA) Ministry is

using 14 housing technologiesto make affordable housingcost effective and quality con-struction in a sustainable man-ner and environment friendlyunder Pradhan Mantri AwasYojana-Urban (PMAY-U).

The Ministry on Mondaylaunched the ‘Global HousingTechnology Challenge’ toaddress issues related to hous-ing shortage in a time-boundmanner and focus on the needfor emerging, cost effectiveand speedy construction tech-nologies. Under the initiativelaunched by the PMAY(Urban), the Government willhold ‘grand expo-cum-confer-ence’ in March where stake-holders will showcase theirbest technologies to build hous-es. Builders can opt for identi-fied technologies for timelydelivery of their projects.

According to HUA offi-cials, the Ministry is usinghousing technologies thatinclude monolithic concreteconstruction system using plas-tic and aluminum framework,monolithic concrete construc-tion system using aluminumframework, using cellular lightweight concrete slab and pre-

cast column, expanded poly-styrene core panel system, lightgauge sheet framed structure,speed floor system, Glass fibrereinforced gypsum panel build-ing system, factory made fasttrack modular building systemthat are approved and beingused for PMAY (Urban).

Against the validateddemand of about one crorehousing units to be construct-ed by the year 2022, MoHUAhas so far sanctioned around 70lakh houses, out of whicharound 37 lakh have beengrounded and around 15 lakhcompleted and allotted to ben-eficiaries.

Speaking on the occasion,HUA minister Hardeep Singh

Puri said that GHT seeks todemonstrate and deliver readyto live-in houses in a shortertime, with lower cost and qual-ity construction in a sustainablemanner. It also seeks to pro-mote future technologies, tofoster an environment ofresearch and development inthe country. At the event, NITIAayog CEO Amitabh Kantsaid that the time frame forconstruction of houses in thecountry must be reduced tofour to five months.

“Global firms will be invit-ed to India to demonstrateconstruction techniques forhousing that are affordableand take minimum time - asless as three months instead ofthe conventional three years forconstruction,” HUA SecretaryDurga Shankar Mishra hastweeted.”Global HousingTechnology Challenge-Indiawill enable a paradigm shift inthe country’s construction sec-tor,” Mishra has tweeted.

The PMAY-U mission hasfour verticals — In-situ SlumRedevelopment (ISSR),Affordable Housing inPartnership (AHP),Beneficiary-led Individualhouse construction orEnhancement (BLC), andCredit-Linked Subsidy Scheme(CLSS).

PTI n NEW DELHI

The constitutional provisionto provide 10 per cent

reservation in Governmentjobs and education to eco-nomically backward section in the general catego-ry has come into force onMonday, a Government notifi-cation said.

The Constitution (103Amendment) Act, 2019received the assent of thePresident on Saturday.

“In exercise of the powersconferred by sub-section (2) ofsection 1 of the Constitution(One Hundred and ThirdAmendment) Act, 2019, theCentral Government herebyappoints January 14 as thedate on which the provision ofthe said Act shall come intoforce,” a gazette notification bythe Ministry of Social Justiceand Empowerment read.

The Act amends Articles15 and 16 of the Constitution,by adding a clause which allowsstates to make “special provi-sion for the advancement ofany economically weaker sec-tions of citizens”.

PTI n NEW DELHI

Aplea was filed in theSupreme Court on

Monday seeking a direction toquash the January 10 order ofthe Government appointingIPS officer M Nageswara Raoas an interim director of theCBI.

CBI’s Additional DirectorRao was given the charge ofCBI interim chief on Januarytill the appointment of a newdirector after a high-poweredcommittee headed by PrimeMinister Narendra Modiremoved Alok Kumar Verma asthe chief of the probe agency oncharges of corruption and dere-liction of duty.

The petition, filed by NGOCommon Cause and RTIactivist Anjali Bhardwaj, hassought laying down of specif-ic mechanisms to ensure trans-parency in the process ofappointment of CBI director.

It alleged that Rao’sappointment was not made onthe basis of recommendationsof the high-powered selection

committee, comprising theprime minister, the leader ofthe single largest oppositionparty and the chief justice ofIndia or a judge of the apexcourt nominated by him.

“In fact, it appears that thecommittee was completelybypassed and had no role in theappointment of NageswaraRao, thereby rendering theappointment illegal as it is inviolation of the procedure forappointment of Director, CBIlaid down in the DSPE (Delhi

Special Police Establishment)Act,” the plea, filed throughadvocate Prashant Bhushan,said.

It stated that the order ofOctober 23 last year appointingRao as the interim CBI direc-tor was quashed by the topcourt on January 8 but the gov-ernment has “acted in a com-pletely mala fide, arbitrary andillegal manner” to appoint himagain in “complete contraven-tion” of the DSPE Act.

The plea also sought adirection to the Centre toappoint a regular CBI directorforthwith by following the pro-cedure laid down in accordancewith the provision of DSPE Act,as amended by the Lokpal andLokayuktas Act, 2013.

Besides this, the petitionhas sought a direction to thegovernment to ensure that “allrecords of deliberations andrational criteria related toshort-listing and selection ofthe director, CBI, be properlyrecorded and made available tocitizens in consonance with theprovisions of the RTI Act”.

New Delhi: The SupremeCourt on Monday agreed toexamine in detail a plea seek-ing a court-monitored CBI orSIT probe into incidents ofalleged police encounters andkillings in Uttar Pradesh.

A bench headed by ChiefJustice Ranjan Gogoi andJustices Ashok Bhushan and SK Kaul perused the material onrecord and said issues raised inthe petition by the People’sUnion for Civil Liberties(PUCL) required “serious con-sideration” and fixed the hear-ing on February 12.

Senior advocate MukulRohatgi, appearing for theUttar Pradesh government,however, claimed all normsand procedures were followedby the state administration.

Earlier, the apex court hadsought response from the stategovernment on the PIL filed bythe NGO, alleging that therewere about 1,100 encounters in2017 in which 49 people werekilled and 370 injured. PTI

PNS n NEW DELHI

Four automatic weather sta-tions and special weather

services app will work roundthe clock giving real timedetails on the prevailing weath-er conditions and forecasts fornext three days for the benefitof the people visiting the cityduring the much-toutedKumbh Mela in Prayagraj.

Union Earth SciencesMinister Dr Harsh Vardhan onMonday launched the specialweather service for the megaevent, which includes settingup of four automatic weather

stations (AWS) and a mobileapp.

The purpose of this serviceis to provide information of theprevailing weather and fore-casts for the next three days, DrHarsh Vardhan told reportershere after the launch of the appto be available on androidmobile phones.

“The real-time locationspecific weather informationwill not only be very helpful forthe local and state authoritiesin the efficient management ofthe entire event but also bene-fit the pilgrims by keepingthem abreast of the latest

weather information. It will dis-seminate the live weather infor-mation (temperature, humidi-ty, rainfall and winds) asobserved in all the above foursites,” said Dr. Harsh Vardhan.

The observation sites aredistributed in all four directionswithin the radius of 5-10 kilo-metres and are located at theAllahabad University, DelhiPublic School, GB PanthInstitute of Social Science andSam Higginbottom Universityof Agriculture, Technology andSciences (SHUATS).

The mobile app named‘KumbhMela Weather Service’

has also been developed to dis-seminate the live weather infor-mation on temperature,humidity, rainfall and winds. Inaddition, the app will also pro-vide weather forecasts andwarnings for Allahabad for thenext three days.

“The real time locationspecific weather informationwill be very helpful for the localand state authorities in theefficient management of theentire event,” the minister said.

The Kumbh starts fromTuesday and will continue untilMarch. The congregation isattended by lakhs of pilgrims.

ARCHANA JYOTI n NEW DELHI

Citing Constitutional com-plexity, the Ministry of

Environment and Forests(MoEF) has rejected theDepartment of PersonnelTraining’s (DoPT) proposal torechristen the Indian ForestServices (IFS) as Indian Forestand Tribal Services (IFST).

The cadre controllingauthority of IFS, the MoEF’smove follows inter-ministerialconsultation note moved by theDoPT seeking renaming of theservice and also train its cadreto be more receptive towardstribals and forest dwellers. Therenaming of the IFS to IFTSwas suggested by the NationalCommission for ScheduledTribes (NCST) which seems tohave believed that including ‘T’in IFS acronym would ensurecordial relations between theIFS officials and tribals as bothwere in close contact witheachother.

However, turning downthe proposal, RK Singh, JointSecretary on behalf of theMoEF in a letter shot off recent-ly to the DoPT argued that“rechristening of IFS at thisjuncture would be a long drawnand complex process as it is anAll India Service constitutedunder article 321 of theConstitution of India and maynecessitate amendments of theConstitution and consultationwith the States.

“Moreover, the objective

flagged by the Commission(NCST) can be achieved byincorporating tribal welfare inthe mandate of the IFS. Perhapsthere is a need for strengthen-ing the linkages between theMoEF and the Ministry ofTribal Affairs (MoTA) to facil-itate discharge of functions asenvisaged by the commissionfor overall tribal welfare.”

However, the MoEFrefused to buy this argumentand instead suggested induct-ing IFS officials at senior levelin the Tribal Welfare Ministryfor better managementbetween tribal and forest relat-ed activities.

It said that officers (IFS)were entrusted with responsi-bilities towards not only man-agement of wildlife and forest,tribal welfare as well as sever-al fields such as RuralDevelopment, Pollution controlboth by the Central and StateGovernments.

Thus, in this regard, theMoEF suggested that “insteadof changing the name of thecadre, it will be worthwhile toinduct India Forest Serviceofficers in the Tribal Ministryas well as in the StateGovernments to look after theworks of the tribal depart-ment.”

“Moreover, it may be agood idea to have a post of DG(tribal affairs) in the tribalministry to be headed by a verysenior IFS officer,” said Singhin the letter.

DoPT proposal

to rechristen

IFS rejected

Centre seeks nominationsfrom Ministries to fill post

CBI WITHOUT DIRECTOR OF PROSECUTION

Special weather services for Kumbh Mela

10% quota for

Gen category

poor comes

into forcePNS n NEW DELHI

In an effort to give a fillip tocreate indigenous defence

industrial ecosystem in thecountry, Defence MinisterNirmala Sitharaman will for-mally launch the Tamil Nadudefence corridor atTiruchirappalli on January 20.It will be second such corridorafter the first one in UttarPradesh was inaugurated inAligarh in August last year.

Apart from major industryinteraction there will be threemain things. Announcement ofnew investments both byDefence Public SectorUndertakings (DPSU) and pri-vate sector, launch of some newdefence products and launch ofa defence innovation hub inCoimbatore, Secretary DefenceProduction Ajay Kumar toldthe media here on Monday.Two defence corridors -- one inTamil Nadu and the other inUttar Pradesh - was announcedin this year’s budget.

On the reasons for TamilNadu being chosen for thecorridor, Kumar said it isalready a major manufacturingstare in the country and has amajor auto component hub.Tamil Nadu will be very goodfor aero components due to itsauto expertise and proximity toBangalore, he said talking of thefuture scope of the corridorsand stating that there is a fairmomentum for export of aerocomponents from India andhas a huge scope for furthergrowth. Multinational consul-tancy firm Ernst & Young(E&Y) has been appointed as aconsultant to draw a roadmapon how the cluster is envisionedto grow.

The corridor like the one inUP will have six nodes aroundwhich investments are expect-ed to grow. They includeHosur, Salem, Coimbatore,Tiruchirappalli, Madurai andChennai. The nodes stand outas key areas growing industri-alisation, Kumar added.

Tamil Nadu defencecorridor to be launchedon Jan 20 by Nirmala

PTI n NEW DELHI

The Indian HighCommission in Islamabad

has strongly raised withPakistan alleged attempts tohack the social media accountof one of its diplomats and inci-dents of close tailing of theIndian envoy and his deputy,official sources said.

The Indian mission, in anote verbale, raised withPakistan Foreign Office theincident of the Indian High

Commissioner and his deputybeing put under an aggressivewatch by a Pakistani securityofficial during a weddingreception on December 4 inSerena Hotel in Islamabad.

The sources said attemptswere made to hack the socialmedia account of the secondsecretary and that the officialreceived an email fromFacebook administration thatrepeated attempts were madeby unknown people to log intohis Facebook account.

‘Indian mission in Islamabad raises

issue of tailing of envoy with Pak’

Govt launches tech challengeto address housing shortage

Prime Minister Narendra Modi receives the first-ever Philip Kotler Presidential award in New Delhi on Monday PTI

Diplomats from 27nations participate infellowship programmeon disarmament

Appointment of Rao as interimCBI director challenged in SC

PTI n NEW DELHI

The Supreme Court onMonday issued notice to

the Centre on a plea challeng-ing the notification authorising10 central agencies to intercept,monitor and decrypt any com-puter system and sought aresponse within six weeks.

The PIL challenging thegovernment’s December 20notification came up before abench headed by Chief JusticeRanjan Gogoi.

According to the notifica-tion, 10 central probe andsnoop agencies are empoweredunder the InformationTechnology (IT) Act for com-puter interception and analysis,Home Ministry officials said.

The 10 agencies notifiedunder the new order are theIntelligence Bureau, NarcoticsControl Bureau, EnforcementDirectorate, the Central Boardof Direct Taxes (for Income TaxDepartment), Directorate of

Revenue Intelligence, CentralBureau of Investigation,National Investigation Agency,the Research and AnalysisWing, Directorate of SignalIntelligence (in service areas ofJ-K, North East and Assam)and Delhi Police commission-er.

The plea, filed by advocateManohar Lal Sharma, termedthe notification “illegal, uncon-stitutional and ultra vires to thelaw”.

He also sought to prohib-it the agencies from initiatingany criminal proceedings,enquiry or investigation againstanybody under the provisionsof the IT Act based on the noti-fication.

The petition alleged thatthe notification gives the statethe right to access every com-munication, computer andmobile and “to use it to protectpolitical interest and object ofthe present executive politicalparty”.

New Delhi: The SupremeCourt on Monday refused toquash the Pune police’s FIRagainst civil rights activistAnand Teltumbde in connec-tion with the Elgar Parishad-Koregaon Bhima violence andfor his alleged Maoist links.

The apex court also refusedto interfere with the ongoinginvestigation in the case.

However, a Bench com-prising Chief Justice RanjanGogoi and justices AshokBhushan and SK Kaul extend-ed the interim protection fromarrest granted to Teltumbde bythe Bombay High Court byfour weeks. The apex court saidTeltumbde could seek regularbail from the competent trialcourt in the meantime.

“We do not think it is a fitcase for the grant of the reliefsought,” the bench said, addingthat it was not inclined to giveany further relief other thanextending the interim protec-tion from arrest as the investi-gation in the case was at anadvanced stage. PTI

SC gives Govt 6 weeks

to reply to notice on

PIL against ‘snooping’

SC to examine

plea alleging

encounter

killings in UP

SC refuses to quashFIR againstTeltumbde in BhimaKoregaon case

The Ministry onMonday launched the

‘Global HousingTechnology Challenge’

to address issuesrelated to housingshortage in a time-bound manner and

focus on the need foremerging, cost

effective and speedyconstructiontechnologies

CBI’s Additional DirectorRao was given the charge

of CBI interim chief onJanuary till the

appointment of a newdirector after a high-powered committee

headed by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi removedAlok Kumar Verma as thechief of the probe agencyon charges of corruptionand dereliction of duty


SAUGAR SENGUPTA n KOLKATA

Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee has vehe-

mently criticised the NarendraModi Government’s “vendettapolitics” after the Income TaxDepartment started issuingsummons to the organisers ofvarious Durga Puja committeesof Kolkata.

A fuming Banerjee saidthat the people from all seg-ments and all walks of life irre-spective of their caste andcreed take part in Durga Pujamaking it a mass event. Butnow “they (CentralGovernment) is sendingnotices to the Durga Puja com-mittees seeking report on theirexpenditure. The Puja com-

mittees are being asked to payincome tax and show TDScertificates. But these are non-profit organisations. Why willthey have to pay income tax?”

Banerjee personally goeson to inaugurate most of theimportant Durga Pujas inKolkata for a number of daysapparently making them bigtourist attractions. In fact herGovernment gives a yearlygrant of Rs 10,000 to all the bigbudget Durga Puja committeesto enable them perform in abetter manner.

Notices were served by theIT Department under Section133(6) of the IT Act to theDurga Puja committees askingthem to explain their incomeand expenditure.

A livid Chief Minister whohas taken personal initiative topromote the festivities as aworld class carnival wonderedwhether the Modi Governmentwas “trying to stop Durga Pujain Bengal? I urge the DurgaPuja committees to unite andrefrain from going to the IT

Department because BJP istrying to stop the most impor-tant cultural activity of Bengaland we will not allow them todo that.”

The Centre was allowingthe champion fraudsters todecamp with thousands ofcrores of people’s money butwas harassing the small DurgaPuja committees of Bengal,Banerjee said.

The Chief Minister whoalso criticised the transfer ofCBI Director Alok Verma as an“act of vendetta” and an “unfor-tunate moment for the coun-try” said all the institutions andpolitical parties that were ques-tioning the acts done by theBJP were being attacked andvictimised by the Government.

KUMAR CHELLAPPAN n CHENNAI

The political skyline of Tamil Nadu is getting readyfor the battle of ballots which may happen any-

time in the months of April or May. Tuesday marksthe beginning of the Tamil month of Thai which ush-ers in the season of harvesting, Pongal festivities andrural sporting events. Thai is rated as the most aus-picious month and even rationalist Dravidian politi-cians go by the proverb “Thai Piranthal VazhiPirakkum” (Tamil for Thai will show the way).

O Panneerselvam, Deputy CM, who also headsthe coordination committee of the AIADMK, gaveenough hints on Monday about the developments thatare going to take place in Tamil Nadu politics in thecoming days. Speaking to reporters at Madurai wherehe has come to inaugurate the traditional rural sportof Jallikkattu (bull taming), Panneerselvam said hisparty would forge a mega alliance with like-mindedparties to face the upcoming Lok Sabha election. Hedid not disclose the names of the parties which wouldbe the constituents of the mega alliance.

This was followed by a disclosure by TamilisaiSounderarajan, president, State BJP, who said thatunion minister for power Piyush Goyal wouldreach Chennai on January 18 for discussions with var-ious friendly parties as part of the BJP’s attempt tofinalise a winnable alliance for the parliament elec-tion. “There are many political parties in Tamil Naduwhich have expressed their desire to join hands withthe BJP,” said Sounderarajan. She did not disclose thenames of the parties.

But sources in Tamil Nadu BJP told The Pioneerthat Goyal would definitely meet leaders of theAIADMK, PMK, Puthiya Tamizhagam led by DrKrishnasamy and the DMDK of Vijayakant. “Goyalhas fine rapport with AIADMK leaders as he wasinteracting with them on a one-to-one basis to sortout the issues faced by Tamil Nadu, whether it bemaking available coal for the thermal power stationsin the State and to address the shortfall in power,”said the BJP leader.

Port Blair: Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman onMonday watched a joint amphibious exercise, par-ticipated by the three armed forces, off the CampbellBay coast, the southernmost island of the nation.

Andaman and Nicobar is an Integrated ServicesCommand. Sitharaman also reviewed the operationalreadiness of the command. The exercise, conduct-ed near Campbell Bay, included 10 ships, six aircraftand 700 troops of the Command, a defence ministrystatement said.

The Marine Commando (MARCO) unit of theIndian Navy and specialist platoon (GHATAK) of theIndian Army displayed their operational capabilitiesby carrying out helocasting and beach assault.

While returning from Campbell Bay, Sitharamanvisited the southernmost part of India, the IndiraPoint, the statement added. The Defence Minister wasgiven a demonstration on jungle survival skills atMilitary Station, Birchgunj. Later, she inaugurated thephase II of Married Accommodation Project (MAP)that includes 868 dwelling units for the troops ofAndaman Nicobar Command. PTI

Lakhimpur Kheri/Bahraich:Kashmir is still a challenge due todestabilising activities by Pakistan,Union Home Minister RajnathSingh said here on Monday.

He was talking to mediaper-sons after inaugurating the admin-istrative building, residential blockand officers’ mess at the SSB sec-tor headquarters in Lakhimpur.

“Kashmir is still a challenge dueto destabilising activities by neigh-bouring Pakistan. However, theArmy, the CRPF, the J&K Police andintelligence bureau men are actingin better coordination,” he said.

Speaking about Naxal inci-dents, the Home Minister saidthey had dropped by 50 per centduring the last four years.

Extremist violence in north-

eastern areas saw a decline of 80 percent, Singh said.

Lauding improvements madeon the internal security front, hesaid, “No major terrorist incidenthad taken place in India during thelast four-and-a-half years (of theNarendra Modi Government).”Singh said the country’s economytoday was counted as the world’sfastest growing.

“By 2030, the Indian economywould rank among top threeeconomies of the world,” he said.

“The Modi Government haslaunched the world’s largest uni-versal health care schemeAyushmaan Bharat which has ben-efitted 7.5 lakh people so far,”Singh said.

The Union Minister also visit-

ed Bahraich, where he laid thefoundation stone of the State’s firstIntegrated Check Post (ICP) at theIndo-Nepal border in Rupaidehaarea. The ICP was constructed ata cost of Rs 200 crore.

Singh said the security forceswere tackling well the terroristspushed into India by Pakistan.

“Pakistan sends terrorist toseparate Jammu & Kashmir fromIndia, but the security forces aredealing well with the anti-nation-al elements and terrorists,” he said.

Responding to a questionabout the alliance between theSamajwadi Party and the BahujanSamaj Party in Uttar Pradesh,Singh said the BJP would win notless than 72 seats in the upcomingLok Sabha elections. PTI

New Delhi: An SP-BSP alliance inUttar Pradesh without the Congresswas exactly what the BJP wanted initially and the two region-al parties have fallen into the rul-ing party’s design, the Congresssaid on Monday.

Spokesperson RPN Singh saidthe BJP wanted the secular partiesto remain divided in the political-ly crucial Uttar Pradesh before the

2019 Lok Sabha election and con-test independently so that theirvotes could be split. Its attemptshave proved successful, he added.

On Sunday, the Congress saidit would contest on all 80 Lok Sabhaseats in Uttar Pradesh in the gen-eral election, expected in April-May. That the party was left out ofthe SP-BSP alliance would notaffect its prospects and the

Congress would contest with “fullforce”, it had said.

On Monday, Singh tried to raisedoubts over the longevity of thealliance, wondering whether it wouldlast till the UP Assembly election. Healso asked whether now BSP chiefMayawati and SP leader AkhileshYadav would attack Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on “corruption” inthe Rafale jet deal. PTI

Patna: No case of humans get-ting infected with the bird fluvirus has been detected inBihar so far, a senior StateGovernment official said.

“Among the reported casesof suspected or confirmed birdflu, we have not come acrosswith any such incident (ofhumans getting infected withthe virus) so far,” Health depart-ment Principal Secretary SanjayKumar told reporters here.

The first incident of sus-pected avian influenza wasreported from six villages ofAsarganj block of Munger dis-trict in December. The Statehas, so far, found samples pos-itive for bird flu from fourplaces - two places in Mungerand one each in Banka and inthe zoo in Patna.

“There are chances that theanimal husbandry departmentemployees may get affected(with bird flu) as they come incontact with dead birds, but nosuch incidents have come toour notice,” he said.

The officer said it is theresponsibility of health depart-ment to get one “affected” per-

son tested to ensure whether heor she actually infected withbird flu.

The medicine ‘Tamiflu’,used for the treatment of theperson infected with bird flu, isavailable in sufficient quantityand the Central Governmenthas also dispatched more med-icines after the incident, Kumarsaid. Asked whether thedepartment has issued anyguideline for consumption ofeggs and chickens, Kumar said,“We have asked people to takeprecautions.” Earlier onSaturday, Animal and FishResources Department hadsaid people can consume eggsand chickens after cookingthem above 70 degrees Celsiustemperature as the virus getdestroyed on this temperature.

“It is safe to consume eggsand chicken because normallythey are cooked at very hightemperature (beyond 70degrees) in our households. Sothere is no need to be panicky,”Animal and Fish ResourcesDepartment’s Secretary NVijayalakshmi had said.

PTI

PTI n CHENNAI

Upping the ante on the 2017Kodanad estate heist video

clip, DMK on Monday urgedGovernor Banwarilal Purohitto direct Chief Minister KPalaniswami to resign from hispost to ensure a free and fairprobe into the matter.

The main Opposition partydemanded probe by a SpecialInvestigation Team, comprisingofficers of the rank of InspectorGeneral of Police and furtherinvestigation into the “myste-rious death” of alleged key con-spirator Kanagaraj. The relatedcase is before the District andSessions Judge, Nilgiris.

PTI n MUMBAI

Veteran Congress leader andformer chairman of the

Maharashtra LegislativeCouncil Shivajirao Deshmukhdied on Monday in hospital here due to prolonged illness.

He was 84. Deshmukh hadbeen facing several healthissues since the last fewmonths, following which hewas admitted in BombayHospital for treatment, where

he breathed his last thisevening, the hospital authori-ties said.

He was on dialysis for thelast couple of years, a source inhis family said.

Deshmukh, who hadserved as revenue minister inthe Vasantsada PatilGovernment in 1976-85, hailedfrom Shirala tehsil in Sanglidistrict of westernMaharashtra.

His last rites will be per-formed at Shirala on Tuesday.

Jaipur: Senior BJP MLA GulabChand Kataria took oath as the protem speaker of the RajasthanAssembly on Monday. The pro temspeaker will conduct the first meet-ing of the 15th Legislative Assemblywhich is beginning Tuesday, andaccording to the state government’sproposal, election of the new speak-er will be held on January 16.

Governor Kalyan Singh admin-istered Kataria oath at a ceremony atthe Raj Bhawan here. Chief MinisterAshok Gehlot, his deputy SachinPilot, members of the council of min-isters, BJP MLA Rajendra Rathoreand others attended the event.

Outgoing speaker KailashMeghwal, however, skipped the func-

tion. Meghwal had recently accusedthe state government of not adheringto parliamentary rules and traditionsin summoning the first Session,which is beginning from Tuesday.

He had alleged that neither thechief minister nor the StateParliamentary Affairs Minister heldformal discussion with him beforerecommending to the Governor forsummoning the Session, which hesaid, is mandatory.

Once a new Speaker is elected,Kataria, who was the home ministerin the previous government, will bethe leader of opposition whileRajendra Rathore will be his Deputy (Leader of Opposition) in the Assembly. PTI

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala hasbeen at the receiving end after thefloods and lost around 18 per centof the tourists the State used toreceive earlier, Minister of State(independent charge) for TourismAlphons Kannanthanam said on Monday.

He told reporters here that asa Minister and a Keralite, he wasnot happy with ranking of the statein the tourism sector of the coun-try. Kannathanam said PrimeMinister Narendra Modi would onJanuary 15 inaugurate a tourismproject related to thePadmanabhaswami temple here,

under the spiritual circuit themeof the swadesh darshan project.

The project of the Centre wasto develop the basic facilities inand around the religious institu-tions across the country. Swadeshdarshan links at least three majortourists destinations of the coun-try. There are 77 such projects andover Rs 6,300 crore has beensanctioned, he said.

Kannathanam also said 60 percent of Indian tourists were attract-ed towards spiritual tourism. “That’swhy we are developing the regionsaround the religious institutions.Under this scheme we have sanc-

tioned 75.88 crore forPadmanabhaswami temple andover 95 per cent work has beencompleted,” the Minister said.

He also said the state was setto receive tourists and the indus-try was ready after the August del-uge. “I heard that according to pre-liminary reports, Kerala has beenreceiving 18 per cent less touristsafter the floods. This is even as weare ready to receive them after thefloods. People outside still thinkthat we are yet to get ready,” hesaid. The minister also said hisministry was concentrating onattracting tourists from large mar-

kets across the globe.“We are concentrating on cap-

turing the large markets across theglobe - like China. Last year, 144million people from China went outof that country. We got only twolakh of that crowd. We need to re-route at least 10 per cent of Chinesetourists to our country in the nextfew years,” he said. Kannathanamrubbished the earlier claim of stateministers that only Rs 18 crore wassacntioned by the Centre for thedevelopment of Sabarimala andsaid the rest would be given onlyafter receiving the utilisation reportof the first installment. PTI

PTI

Congress: SP, BSP fell into BJPpattern by announcing alliance in UP

As IT summons Puja committees, Didi raps Modi DMK asks Guv to

ease out CM for fair

Kodanad estate probe

Piyush Goyal to

finalise TN front

against DMK-led axis

A sadhu from Juna Akhara poses for a photograph at Kumbh Melavenue, in Allahabad, on Monday PTI

Sitharaman at amphibiousmilitary drill by armed forcesin Andaman and Nicobar

Kolkata: The Congress and the BSP are yet to con-firm their participation in the mega Opposition rallyproposed by the TMC on January 19 ahead of thegeneral elections. Leaders of various other Oppositionparties have already confirmed their participation,TMC sources said.

West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremoMamata Banerjee had earlier in the day said that she had a telephonic conversation with SP chiefAkhilesh Yadav and that he had assured his presenceat the rally.

“Such a major meeting of Opposition parties hasnot happened in recent times,” she told reporters atthe state secretariat. PTI

Congress, BSP yet to confirmpresence at TMC’s Jan 19 rally

Devotees gather during six-day ‘Sapthotsava’ the ‘Three-chariot Festival’ (Mooru Teru) on the Makara Sankranti day at SriKrishna Mutt in Mangaluru, on Monday PTI

Kashmir still a challenge due to Pak’s

destabilising activities: Rajnath

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh poses with artists during his visit to “Uttarayan Kauthik Mela” in Lucknow, on Monday PTI

No humansinfected with birdflu in Bihar so far

Cong veteran ShivajiraoDeshmukh dead

Kataria takes oath as RajasthanAssembly pro tem Speaker

18% dip in tourists to Kerala, says Union Minister

IANS n PANAJI

Police in Goa have prose-cuted around 7.74 lakh traf-

fic violators in 2018, whichamounts to more than half ofthe State’s population of 1.5million, according to statisticsreleased by Director General ofPolice Muktesh Chander.

Addressing a Press confer-ence on Monday in Panaji, thesenior officer also said that itwas “absurd” to attribute adrop in tourism footfalls to Goadue to harassment of tourists bytraffic police personnel.

“There has been a signifi-cant increase of 48 per cent inprosecution of traffic offendersas compared to the corre-sponding year. Notably, theGoa Police prosecuted 7,74,578traffic violators and collectedfines amounting to Rs 9.19crore (in 2018),” a statementreleased by the DGP said.

State’s population accord-ing to the 2011 official censusis 14.59 lakh. Calling accusa-tions from the travel andtourism industry stakeholdersthat tourism footfalls in Goahave dropped because of

harassment of tourists by traf-fic police as “absurd”, Chandersaid the Motor Vehicles Actmakes no distinction betweentourists and local residents.

“There is nothing whichsays that foreigners are exempt-ed from the Motor Vehicles Actin India. Is there a law by theTourism Department anywherethat (says) they are exempted?So there is nothing like that.Everybody has to follow trafficlaws,” he told the media.

“And if a traffic officer isprosecuting a traffic offender,it does not matter whether heis a foreigner or whether he isa tourist or whether he is a localGoan. So there is no question

of harassment. “People should obey traffic

rules. That is all. Nobody willharass them,” Chander said,adding that if there were specificcomplaints of harassment, thenthe police would be willing tolook into them. The Oppositionin the past has also accused traf-fic policemen of harassingtourists, especially those drivingself-driven vehicles hired inGoa or travelling in vehicleswith outstation number plates.

Goa is one of the top beachand nightlife tourism destina-tions in the country and lastyear attracted more than sevenmillion tourists, out of whichhalf a million were foreigners.

Traffic cops fined half ofGoa’s population in 2018


SAUGAR SENGUPTA n KOLKATA

Animal rights activists acrossKolkata on Monday erupt-

ed in anger demanding strictestpolice action against the accusedafter 17 puppies, including theirplausible mother were literallybludgeoned to death by twomost unlikely persons — nurs-ing interns in one of city’s lead-ingmedical colleges.

Video clippings apparent-ly taken from inside an adjacentdental medical college hostel atSealdah in North Kolkatashowed two nursing internsruthlessly clubbing the puppi-esthat whined helplessly.

The footages showed theperpetrators of the crime jam-ming the escape route beforerepeatedly attacking the haplesscanines with sticks and block-

ing their ways whenever theytried to retire to safety.

After each assassinationthe accused examined thembefore slipping them insideplastic carry-packs and throw-ing them away.

Postmortem reports citedinternal injuries as the cause ofdeaths of the poor dogs mostof which were found with bro-ken limbs and fractured skull,

sources said. Initial suspicionsof the litters being poisonedbeing poisoned was also ruledout by the autopsy report,sources said.

“We were on the thirdfourth of our building andwere yelling relentlessly fromour side asking the ladies tostop the act. But as we couldnot go to their side of the cam-pus we decided to take video

shots for the benefit of someNGOs,” said one of the dentalcollege students.

Another of his colleaguessaid “After there was no replyfrom the NGOs we uploaded itin Facebook and saw it goingviral within hours.”

Meanwhile, Jayanti Ghoshan animal rights activist and alawyer demanded strictest pos-sible action against the perpe-

trators of the crime even asKolkata’s civil society eruptedin great anger demandingexemplary action.

Surojit, a Bangla playbacksinger, said, “I cannot see ithappening even on the Net.Such a ghastly act. If they hadproblems with the puppiesthen they could have reportedit to the authorities or even theCorporation. Why murderthem and that too so merci-lessly.” Cases have been regis-tered under various sections ofthe Indian Penal Code andPrevention of Corruption Actand “those found guilty wouldbe strongly dealt with,” policesources said while the NRSMCauthorities said the internswould be rusticated if the alle-gations brought against themwere found to be true.

Nurses bludgeon 17 puppies to death

KUMAR CHELLAPPAN n

CHENNAI

Prime Minister NarendraModi will don the pen for

the readers of Thuglak, thepopular Tamil magazinefounded by Cho Ramaswamy.Modi, who had been a regularparticipant in the previousanniversary meetings of themagazine, a major event inTamil Nadu’s cultural calendar,told the readers of Thuglak thatthey were welcome to send himquestions which he wouldanswer in the next issue of thepublication.

Rich tributes were paid by Modi to Cho Ramaswamy,founder editor of Thuglakon Monday in connection with 49th anniversary of itspublication.

“Greetings to the readers ofThuglak as the magazine marksits 49th anniversary. I also paymy tributes to the fearless andphenomenal Cho Ramaswamy,who nurtured Thuglak andtook it to new heights,” the Prime Minister said in aTwitter message.

“I have often been a part of

the anniversary celebrationsof Thuglak but unfortunately,this time I have not been ableto. However, I request the read-ers to send me their questions,which I would be glad toanswer in the next issue,” thePrime Minister tweeted. Hismessages were read out by S Gurumurthy, the currenteditor and publisher of themagazine.

What marked the anniver-sary celebrations was the ques-tion posed by reader of Thuglalwhich were answered byGurumurthy. To a question byone of the readers about thepossible winner in the Lok sabha election from TamilNadu, Gurumurthy said the DMK has a slight edge overthe AIADMK.

“This is because the DMKhas a leader while theAIADMK is handicapped bythe absence of a strong leader.But that does not mean that itis going to be easy for theDMK,” he said.

Gurunurthy ruled out thepossibility of Rahul Gandhibecoming the next PrimeMinister of the country. “The

Congress, his own party, is notconfident about it. PChidambaram, described asthe strongman of the party hasalso made it celar that RahulGandhi would not be the PrimeMinister,” said Gurumurthy.

When asked about the pos-sibility of Narendra Modi get-ting re-elected as the PrimeMinister, he said it would bedecided by the electorate.“People always favour a strongleader. In 1971, when I was anordinary worker of theCongress which was led by thelegendary Kamaraj, I have seenIndira Gandhi winning theelection because all wereagainst her. The situation issimilar to that now. The election has turned out toa Modi versus Rest bout,” saidthe chartered accountant-turned columnist.

The anniversary meeting ofThuglak is an indication to theway electorate of Tamil Nadu isthinking and ChoRamaswamy used to enthraland electrify the audience withhis witty and sharp observa-tions about the political scenesgetting unfolded in the State.

Modi to don a pen forreaders of Thuglak

Patna: Leaders of the rulingNDA in Bihar on Mondaysought to project an image ofbonhomie as they treatedthemselves to sumptuous help-ings of dahi-chura (curd andflattened rice) as part of MakarSankranti festivities.

Chief Minister NitishKumar, his deputy Sushil KumarModi and Union Minister RamVilas Paswan moved from onevenue to another to join the feast hosted by leaders of thethree NDA constituents in a dis-play of unity.

The BJP, the JD(U) and theLJP have already announcedseat-sharing among them forthe coming Lok Sabha elections.

At the Lok Janshakti Party stateheadquarters, its founding pres-ident Ram Vilas Paswanaccorded a warm welcome toGovernor Lalji Tandon, ChiefMinister Kumar and DeputyChief Minister Modi.

Paswan was joined by hisson and LJP parliamentaryboard chief Chirag Paswan andbrothers Ram Chandra Paswanand Pashupati Kumar Paras,MP and Minister in BiharGovernment respectively, inwelcoming the guests, whowere also treated to other del-icacies prepared with jaggeryand til (sesame), consumptionof which is believed to be aus-picious on this day. PTI

Guwahati: Black flags werewaved at Assam Chief MinisterSarbananda Sonowal in hisconstituency Majuli onMonday and RTI activist AkhilGogoi went on a 24-hourhunger strike on the first day ofAssamese Magh or BhogaliBihu festivities as agitationagainst the Citizenship(Amendment) Bill continued.

Sonowal was shown black

flags for the second consecutiveday by members of AsomJatiyatabadi Yuva ChatraParishad, Krishak MuktiSangram Samiti and severalother local organisations inMajuli, when he arrived thereby helicopter to participate inan official function.

The protestors shouted slo-gans against the Chief Minister,the Centre and State

Governments and demandedwithdrawal of the controversialBill. Police took several pro-testors into custody and dis-persed the others. On Sundaytoo, Sonowal was shown blackflags by the AJYCP and theKrishak Mukti Sangram Samiti(KMSS) protestors outside theKaziranga University where hehad gone to participate in itsconvocation. PTI

Ahmedabad: Three persons,including a child, were killedafter their throats got slit by kitestrings during Uttarayan fes-tivities in Gujarat, police saidon Monday. Several otherswere injured in separate inci-dents across the State afterfalling off rooftops while flyingkites, an official added.

A Mehsana police officialsaid eight-year-old TehjeebKhan died at the local civil hos-pital after suffering a severeneck injury due to a kite string.

“Tehjeeb was riding a bicy-cle when a kite string slit histhroat,” he said. Ashok Panchal(45), who was riding a motor-cycle, was similarly killed instant-ly near Dholka in Ahmedabaddistrict, an official said. PTI

NDA leaders in Bihar treatthemselves to ‘dahi chura’feasts on Makar Sankranti

Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan offers sweet to Bihar Governor LaljiTandon as Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modilook on in Patna, on Monday PTI

People gather on terraces of houses to fly kites in Ahmedabad on Monday PTI

3 dead after kite

strings slit throats in

Guj during Uttarayan

Assam CM shown black flags as protests

against Citizenship Bill continue

p Video clippingsapparently taken frominside an adjacentdental medicalcollege hostel atSealdah in NorthKolkata showed twonursing internsruthlessly clubbingthe puppiesthatwhined helplessly

p After each assassination theaccused examined them beforeslipping them inside plasticcarry-packs and throwing themaway

p Postmortem reports citedinternal injuries as the cause ofdeaths of the poor dogs most of which were found withbroken limbs and fractured skull

KANHAIYA CHARGED...Police have alleged that

Kanhaiya had incited the mobto shout anti-India slogans.Metropolitan Magistrate SumitAnand put up the charge sheetfor consideration before acompetent court on Tuesday.The accused have beencharged with offences undersections 124A (sedition), 323(punishment for voluntarilycausing hurt), 465 (punish-ment for forgery), 471 (usingas genuine a forged docu-ment or electronic record), 143(punishment for being a mem-ber of an unlawful assembly),149 (being a member of anunlawful assembly), 147 (pun-ishment for rioting) and 120B(criminal conspiracy) of theIndian Penal Code (IPC).

In the charge sheet, policeclaimed that all the footagewere genuine and the presenceof students belonging toKashmir was also establishthrough mobile clips andvideos. It claimed thatKashmiri students had maskson during the procession, butdid not cover their faces whilereturning. This showed theirinvolvement, police said. Tenaccused people have beenchargesheeted on the basis ofelectronic evidence, includ-ing CCTV footage and mobilefootage, and documentary evi-dence, which include state-ments of students and securi-ty guards.

The final report claimsthat no permission was grant-ed to organise the event andevery member was a part of anunlawful assembly. Wheninformed about the lack ofpermission to hold the event,the accused started arguingand fighting, it said.

A case was registered onFebruary 11, 2016 under sec-tions 124A and 120B of theIPC against unidentified per-sons at the Vasant Kunj(North) police station, fol-lowing complaints fromBharatiya Janata Party (BJP)MP Maheish Girri and theAkhil Bharatiya VidyarthiParishad (ABVP). The event in2016 had taken place despitethe university administrationcancelling the permission, fol-lowing a complaint from theABVP, which had termed it as“anti-national.

“Metropolitan MagistrateSumit Anand had put up thecharge sheet for considerationbefore a court on Tuesday. Thepolice alleged that Kanhaiyawas inciting, being part of themob shouting anti-India slo-gans. Reacting to the devel-opment, Kanhaiya said it wasa diversionary ploy by theModi Government to hide itsall-round failures.

“I have not received anysummons or information fromthe court. But if it is true, thenwe are thankful to police andModi that finally after 3 years,when it is time is for him andhis Government to go, thechargesheet has been filed,”said Kanhaiya. While, accus-ing BJP led UnionGovernment of using issue toderive political mileage, ShehlaRashid tweeted, “The ModiGovernment has used thismanufactured controversy ininstallments. The next install-ment would be on the nomi-nation day for 2019 elections.”

TEJASHWI BACKS...“The people of the coun-

try are today unhappy with theBJP and want to remove it,”Akhilesh said, adding thealliance in UP has beenreceived well. “...From Delhi toKolkata, people are againstthe BJP as all have beendeceived by them,” he said. “Ican assure the BJP that wesamajwadis will not changeour language even if they try,”Akhilesh added. To a questionon the Congress being left outof the alliance in UP, Tejashwi,whose party is in alliance withthe Rahul Gandhi-led party inBihar, said, “The aim is same,to defeat the BJP... All saw howthe SP and BSP gave a sternreply to the BJP in the recentbypolls (in UP). The result isbefore everyone.” Claimingthat people are not happywith the BJP, Tejashwi saidthey had also come to “cheat”Bihar, with the Prime Ministerpromising special package.He also referred to “CMchacha” (Nitesh Kumar) goingwith the BJP after breakingthe alliance with RashtriyaJanata Dal (RJD). “This step ofthe BSP and the SP is going tobe hailed in later stages,” hesaid, adding it will prevent thecountry from falling into the

“clutches” of the RashtriyaSwayamsevak Sangh (RSS).Tejashwi said his visit to con-gratulate the BSP and the SPwas in fact realisation of thedream visualised by his fatherand RJD president LaluPrasad. Claiming there isundeclared Emergency in thecountry, he said all constitu-tional institutions are beingdamaged to serve personalinterests and there is also aneffort to replace theConstitution by MSGolwalkar’s (RSS leader)“Bunch of Thoughts” and the“Nagpuri law”. Tejashwi alsoreferred to the CBI and the EDsaying his family and he him-self, even when he was 13 yearsold, has been facing cases butstressed there was no need tocompromise and instead fightagainst them. “There is a moveto tarnish and sully the imageby giving negative publici-ty...After elections all will cometo know who is dishonest andhow the ‘chowkidar’ hastricked the people of the coun-try and only indulged in jum-lebaazi,” Tejashwi said target-ing Prime Minister NarendraModi. Tejaswhi hoped thatthe alliance formed in UttarPradesh will be extended toBihar and that all parties willwork together to defeat theBJP.

“In UP there are 80 seatswhile Bihar has 40 Lok Sabhaseats...Along with Jharkhandwhich has 14 seats a majorchunk of 134 seats are in theseStates...The BJP has around115 seats of these...Withalliance in these States,” hesaid, predicting that the BJPwill lose 100 seats. Tejashwi’ssupport for the BSP-SP alliancedrew snide remarks from theruling NDA in Bihar withBJP spokesman Nikhil Anandwondering whether it was partof “strong arm tactics” againstthe Congress, its ally in themahagathbandhan. Sourcessaid that despite the alliancebeing announced in UttarPradesh, parties like the RJDcould be accommodated onisolated seats on the lines ofKairana, where TabassumHasan won on RLD ticket ina Lok Sabha by-electionthough she had close linkswith the Samajwadi Party. Inreturn, the RJD, which already

has its alliance with theCongress in Bihar, couldaccommodate some candi-dates of the BSP and theSamajwadi Party, sources said.“I am the youngest. I havecome to wish her (Mayawati)on her birthday in advanceand take blessings...She is amature leader and we shouldkeep getting her guidance infuture,” Tejashwi said aftermeeting Mayawati. Later,Tejashwi shared his pictureswith Mayawati on socialmedia, in which he is seentouching the feet of the BSPsupremo.

RAJNATH TO MEET...It said a delegation from

Assam led by Chief MinisterSarbananda Sonowal metRajnath in New Delhi thisweekend. The delegationincluded Himanta BiswaSarma, senior Minister in theAssam Government, and someother BJP leaders of the State.

“They discussed issuesrelated to safeguards for pre-serving the cultural and lin-guistic identity and heritage ofAssam and implementationof Clause-6 of the AssamAccord and issues related togrant of tribal status to sixcommunities,” the HomeMinistry said.

Several representatives ofthe Bodo groups, including theBodoland Territorial Councilchief Hagrama Muhilary,Chandan Brahma, Ministerfrom BPF in the StateGovernment and BiswajitDaimary, MP also met theUnion Home Minister over theweekend and discussed vari-ous outstanding demands ofBodo community.

Manipur Chief Minister NBiren Singh had also called onSingh along with ManipurBJP president and Rajya SabhaMP, K Bhabananda Singh onSaturday.”They discussedissues related to protection ofthe rights and interests of theindigenous people of Manipur.Rajnath assured them that theinterests of all north easternstates including Manipur andtheir culture and heritage willbe fully protected,” the HomeMinistry said.

Meanwhile, highly placedofficials said the Governmentis assessing the situation aris-

ing our of the non-working ofthe Committee on AssamAccord, as more than half of itsmembers have declined to bepart of it. The Home Ministryhad on January 6 notified anine-member high level com-mittee under the chairmanshipof former tourism secretary MP Bezbaruah. Four membersof the panel -- eminent litter-ateurs Nagen Saikia and RongBong Terang along with edu-cationist Mukunda Rajbongshiand the nominee of the influ-ential All Assam StudentsUnion -- have already decid-ed not to be a part of the com-mittee. Bezbaruah too recent-ly declined to be part of theCommittee, formed to assessthe quantum of seats to bereserved in the AssamAssembly and in the localbodies of the State forAssamese, besides providingother safeguards.

FIRST SHAHI SNAN...The city has been provid-

ed 10 flyovers, nine railwayoverbridges and six under-passes besides widening andbeautification of roads and 32crossings. The 3,200-hectarearea of the mela has beendivided into 20 sectors with 20pontoon bridges for betterconnectivity. This has beendone for the first time. Underthe Paint my City Project dif-ferent walls on the streets hadbeen given a beautiful lookand for this, students of FineArts had been hired.According to the astrologicalcalculations Makar Sankrantiwill fall on January 15 butthere are lakhs of devoteeswho followed the tradition oftaking a dip in the Sangamwaters on January 14. Thisunexpected crowd of bathersput the officials on their toes.The official figure of batherson Monday was 33 lakh butsome senior citizens who havebeen witnessing the Kumbhfor the past several decadessaid that the crowd there wasthin. They expect crores ofdevotees on Mauni Amavasyaday on February 4.

NO THREAT...However, Yeddyurappa

clarified, “There is no need forus to do any “resort politics”,we are not doing also”, he said,

adding that a few of them wouldbe in Delhi. “A few are going toGurgaon, they will go and comeback...There is not even an iotaof truth in BJP taking some rul-ing coalition MLAs to Mumbai..Only Congress-JD(S) know(why their MLAs are stationedin Mumbai), we don’t knowabout it.”

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

2 women arrested for

abducting 3-yr-old girl

New Delhi (PNS): Greedfor money led to the arrest oftwo 20-year-old women whoallegedly kidnapped a 3-year-old girl child from JamaMasjid area with the intentionof selling her for `50,000. Theduo was arrested by DelhiPolice on Sunday afternoonand the child was rescuedsafely within 48 hours of herabduction. According topolice, the two accused per-sons were identified as Rani(20) and Sahili (20), both res-idents of Usman Pur. Policedisclosed that the two arechildhood friends and aremarried to two brothers of thesame family.

“On Friday, a man filed acomplaint at Jama Masjid

Police Station regarding thekidnapping of his 3-year-olddaughter. He told police thathe along with his wife,younger brother and twodaughters were visiting JamaMasjid. His daughters wereplaying near Vajukhana, whenhis younger daughter wentmissing. A case of kidnappingwas registered on his state-ment,” Deputy Commissionerof Police (Central) MandeepSingh Randhawa stated.During investigation, policeobtained CCTV footages inand around the area. Onanalysing the footages, threewomen were found walkingwith the kidnapped child butnobody could recognise thesewomen, police said.

Ever since the Narendra ModiGovernment moved theCitizenship (Amendment) Bill,2016 in the Winter Session ofParliament to provide critical sup-

port to the adherents of Indic religions, whoface virtual extermination in neighbouringIslamic nations like Pakistan, Bangladesh andAfghanistan, the usual pseudo-secular sus-pects have crawled out of the woodwork andonce again raised the hackneyed argumentabout how ‘Secular India’ can make specialprovision for the persecuted Hindus, Sikhs,Buddhists and Jains in India’s neighbourhood.

The Bill, which has been passed by theLok Sabha, seeks to provide critical human-itarian support by way of citizenship to per-secuted religious minorities in India’s neigh-bourhood belonging to Indic religions, theParsis and the Christians. This ought to havebeen done soon after the creation of IslamicPakistan in August, 1947, because the newnation was inaugurated with bloody assaultson religious minorities. The Bill, which seeksto correct the Indian state’s seven-decade-longcriminal neglect of its primary responsibil-ity towards the oppressed minorities of Indicorigin, speeds up the process of grant ofIndian citizenship to those who are forced toseek refuge in India. It also seeks to releasethem from some of the rigours of theForeigners’ Act and the Passport Act.

The Bill seeks to address a congenitalmalady that the then Prime MinisterJawaharlal Nehru ignored. While Indiadeclared itself a secular state which guaran-teed equal rights to all citizens when it becameindependent, Pakistan became an Islamicstate and offered no such guarantees to its reli-gious minorities. Apart from the bloody riotsat the time of Partition, a systematic pogrombegan in Pakistan against the Hindus andother Indic communities. This campaignlargely promoted by the Pakistan statereached such proportions that the PrimeMinisters of the two countries met for sev-eral days in New Delhi in April, 1950, andeventually signed what is known as theNehru-Liaqat pact which “solemnly” assuredthat the two Governments would ensure“complete equality of citizenship, full senseof security, personal honour, freedom of cul-ture and worship” to all religious minorities.The pact also guaranteed equal rights forminorities to hold political office and saidboth nations would take steps to enforce themeffectively. However, while India incorporat-ed all these guarantees for minorities in itsConstitution, Pakistan did not do so. It justmade a mention of it in the objectives reso-lution adopted by its Constituent Assembly.Even as the Pakistan Prime Minister returnedto his country, the pact proved to be a sham.

This is a 70-year-old tragic tale that is stillbeing played out but at least now there is aGovernment in Delhi which has the gump-tion to stand up for the persecuted minori-ties of Pakistan.

Those opposing this humanitarian leg-

islation are claiming that specif-ic relief to adherents of Indicreligions threatens India’s “sec-ular fabric.” This is in line withthe moth-eaten anti-Hindupolicies devised by JawaharlalNehru and carried on by theCongress and its Marxist fellow-travellers all these years. Hereare some reasons why this pseu-do-secular policy framework,which is basically anti-Hinduand meant to deny Hindustheir natural right to live in orreturn to Bharat, which hasbeen their homeland for millen-nia, must be thrown out lock,stock and barrel: Ever since thecreation of the Islamic state ofPakistan in 1947, hostilitytowards the religious minoritieshas been rampant in that coun-try. How ruthless the Muslimsof Pakistan have been towardsthese minorities is evident fromthe following statistics.

In 1941, adherents of Indicreligions constituted 19.69 percent of the population ofPakistan. The Islamic statecame into being on August 14,1947, and within four years, thepopulation of Hindus, amongothers, had crashed to 1.59 percent. Four decades later, it hov-ered around the same figureand stood at 1.64 per cent andhas been thereabouts ever since.So, what happened to theHindus of Pakistan, who con-stituted one-fifth of the popu-lation of that nation when it wasborn? They were either slaugh-tered or converted, while somesections of them, who could nolonger bear the persecution,

crossed over to India. However,despite their pathetic plight, theCongress, completely underthe grip of Jawaharlal Nehru’spseudo-secular policies, refusedto speak up for them and raiseits voice against this appallingtragedy, because the Congress’brand of “secularism” prohib-ited it from speaking up forHindus et al even if they werebeing systematically extermi-nated. Also, Nehruvian “secu-larism” forbade the party andthe Union Government fromoffering succour to the Hinduswho came in as refugees. Thisgrossly inhuman approach tothe plight of the Hindus inPakistan continued during theIndira Gandhi and RajivGandhi regimes as well.

To begin with, Pakistancomprised west and eastPakistan but the eastern wingbroke away, leading to the cre-ation of the Bangladesh, whichhas Islam as its state religion, in1971. However, the vivisectionof Pakistan did not providemuch relief to the personsbelonging to Indic religions, ascan be seen in the figures givenbelow: In 1941, the adherents ofIndic religions constituted 29.61per cent of the population ofwhat is now Bangladesh. Thisdeclined to 22.79 per cent in1951 and had dropped precip-itously to 11.10 per cent in 1991.Recent estimates put the per-centage of these religiousminorities in Bangladesh tobelow eight per cent. Duringthese six decades since 1941, thepercentage of Muslims in

Bangladesh has risen from 70.26per cent to over 90 per cent.(Those who wish to learn moreabout the tragic plight of reli-gious minorities in the Islamicstates bordering India mustread Religious Demography inIndia, a comprehensive workthat will shake the people out oftheir pseudo-secular slumber,authored by AP Joshi, MDSrinivas and JK Bajaj of theCentre for Policy Studies,Chennai. The figures cited hereare from this work).

Meanwhile, as the Hindus,Sikhs, Buddhists and Jainsvanished from the demograph-ic charts of Pakistan andBangladesh, the Muslimsthrived in democratic India.They were around 35 millionat the time of independenceand constituted 10.43 per centof India’s population in 1951.In 2011, the Muslim popula-tion in India had crossed 14.20per cent and in real termsstood at 172 million. Yet, Indiashould not offer shelter to theHindus who are fleeing theIslamic states!

There are a dozen morereasons why the arguments ofthe Nehruvian and Marxistschools must be treated withthe contempt they deserve.The Citizenship AmendmentBill, 2016, introduced by theModi Government is, there-fore, a crucial piece of legisla-tion to correct a historic wrongperpetuated by Nehru and hisfollowers over the last 70 years.

(The writer is Chairman,Prasar Bharati)

Perhaps it is too little and too late in

the day but the Modi Government has

finally got round to doing what

should have been done long ago, focus on

building strategic advantage along the Indo-

China border, something that matters a lot

in diplomatic posturing and keeping ambi-

tious neighbours in check. So the Centre

has green-signalled the building of 44

“strategic roads” along the border with

China and more than 2,100 km of axial and

lateral roads in Punjab and Rajasthan,

adjoining the Pakistan border. Given China’s

ambitious Belt and Road Initiative, where

the Chinese are bent on building economic, infrastructural, cultural and strate-

gic contiguity with their border provinces and regional neighbours to ensure their

overlordship through indebtedness of the smaller states, who can hardly repay

Chinese loans or say no, the Indian counter is of utmost importance. More so

considering that we share nearly a 4,000-km-long Line of Actual Control with

China, touching sensitive areas from Jammu and Kashmir to Arunachal Pradesh.

Pakistan anyway reminds us of our porosity by pushing in infiltrators. Post-Doklam,

when Indian and Chinese troops were engaged in a standoff over road-building

on their border with Bhutan, China has been pushing road projects all along its

borders with India, clearly with an intention to speedily mobilise troops and sup-

plies during a conflict and seize the tactical advantage. Covertly, it is meant to

coerce India into believing that China is the superior party given its organisa-

tional efficiency and strategic readiness and that we could be no match for it,

whatever the reality might be. In fact, had it not been for the intransigence of our

troops in Doklam, where China was trying to impose an altered reality by dri-

ving a wedge between Indian and Bhutan, the Chinese would not have held back.

Besides, the China-built roads have facilitated incursion into Indian territory

to make us look vulnerable and blink first. The transgressions by the Chinese

Army into Indian territory rose to 426 in 2017 from the 273 in 2016, as per gov-

ernment figures. If China is testing our tolerance threshold by following what is

now known as its “salami-slicing” of sovereign neighbouring territories, then our

push for border roads makes for the right optics in terms of point-scoring. These

roads along the China border will undoubtedly facilitate a quicker mobilisation

of troops during any stare-down conflict and keep us connected to the outlier

areas, particularly parts of the Northeast. The two bridges on the Brahmaputra

river that were completed over the last four years — the new Saraighat and Dhola

Sadiya — have eased the prospect of both civil and military connectivity and

ensured a peaceful life for both locals and the security establishment. Besides,

we cannot overlook that China is building a huge dam on the tributary of

Brahmaputra within its territory to further squeeze the Arunachal frontier and we

need to be in readiness to counter such adventurism. In fact, India cannot afford

gestation of ideas but needs to hit the ground running. Parliament’s Standing

Committee on External Affairs has already warned how in key sectors, India is

“dependent on single access routes, a risky proposition in times of conflict.”

India can reply to China only if it has infrastructural connectivity in the region

which also allows us to mainstream locals economically and socially. We may

not need to pursue the offensive diplomacy of China but we can deliver a mean-

ingful punch or two when needed rather than embarrassing ourselves.

The problem with looking at numbers

in isolation is that they tend to be very

misleading. That holds true in sports,

in the stock markets and with basic eco-

nomic data. Therefore, it is always inter-

esting if you interpose other factors along-

side these numbers. Ergo, when you look

at the Index of Industrial Production (IIP)

numbers for November 2018 against last

year’s growth, you will see that growth was

extremely poor and has led for calls from

several people that the Reserve Bank of

India (RBI) should downgrade its growth

forecasts for the year. But when you consider that in 2017 Diwali was earlier, in

October rather than in November, and the fact that several manufacturing indus-

tries ramp up production ahead of Diwali and then shut down, sometimes for

as long as a week during the festive season, the numbers become slightly more

palatable. That said, this is not an excuse the government should use to hide

the fact that consumer demand in India and industrial production have been extreme-

ly muted in 2018.

Low consumer sentiment is often reflective of a weak economy but is there

another underlying cause to the weak sentiment? According to Maruti-Suzuki

Chairman, RC Bhargava, there is a historical trend that shows that in the years

preceding general elections in India, car sales tend to decline. Although car sales

for the first nine months of the 2018-19 financial year from April through December

2018 did grow slightly, that was a mere five per cent, and with exports declin-

ing, production growth was negligible. Given that automobiles are the largest cat-

egory for household spending after real estate, it usually is indicative of the state

of the rest of the economy. Of course, the real estate sector has not recovered

since the debt-fuelled binge they had in the early part of this decade, but car

sales have been rising steadily over the past few years. That said, sales of com-

mercial vehicles, particularly heavy commercial vehicles, have risen smartly in

the past year and this is almost always an indicator of future growth. So is this

just a case of the restrained Indian consuming public, that for reasons unknown

usually holds on to their purse strings really tightly in the year before the elec-

tion, and the next few months should, in fact, see an economic boom? May be.

But even if growth returns in the next few months, it is unlikely to absolve

Narendra Modi of his greatest failing, that on the economy and the failure to cre-

ate jobs. One that he himself brought to a shuddering halt with the now discred-

ited idea to go about demonetisation. The fact is that job growth has been very

weak over the past five years in the formal and informal sectors and while the

economy has not shuddered to a halt, private sector and foreign investment have

dried up thanks to constant flip-flops in policy and tax rates. There is going to

be no easy fix for the problem, and the fact that hundreds of millions of Indians

are going to need employment in the next decade. However, whoever gets the

hot seat by the end of May, whether it is Modi again or another leader, the job

will be a thankless one because, “it is the economy, stupid!”

Economic doldrums

The biggest hurdle in Modi’s prospects for re-election is theprecarious economy with dented consumer sentiment

Beefing up borders

Govt clears 44 strategic roads along our boundarywith China but we wish the nod had come earlier

Lend support

This refers to the editorial, “TheBua-bhatija dare” (January 14).There can be no second opinionthat alliance between theSamajwadi Party (SP) and theBahujan Samaj Party (BSP) hasgiven the BJP jitters. By agreeingto share the seats equally amongthemselves, the two parties havemade sure that no fissures shoulderupt between them in the future.

The seat-sharing formula setby the SP and BSP has also left theCongress high and dry. The grandold party, should, however, lendits support to the alliance becauseits goal, too, is the same — to takeon the BJP. Congress leaders,who went on record to say thatthey won’t mind compromisingwith other like-minded partiesand would even sacrifice theirinterests to defeat the BJP regime,should now walk the talk in thelarger interest of the country.

Tharcius S FernandoChennai

Woman for all seasons

Sir — This refers to the article,“Return of Dame Dikshit”

(January 12) by Rinku Ghosh. Ata time when Congress chief RahulGandhi has been harping on theyouth to helm the party at Statelevels, the appointment of veter-an war-horse Sheila Dikshit tohead the Delhi Congress isn’t sur-prising. It is but a decision takenin distress to rescue fortunes.

The political situation at theground level has changed withthe Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)

coming to power. Despite havingbeen the Chief Minister for threeconsecutive terms, vast experi-ence and sober nature, Dikshitmay find it hard to compete withthe young Kejriwal, who despitea mix of success and failures, isdeeply entrenched in the mindsof Delhiites as the ground-upperson who can deliver.

Though Dikshit won laurelsfor introducing the Delhi Metro

during her tenure, challengesfaced by her in countering corrup-tion in the 2010 CommonwealthGames and women’s safety, espe-cially the famous Nirbhaya inci-dent, still linger in our minds.

Further, having lost toKejriwal in 2013 and then againin 2014, the party had been far-ing very badly. The task ahead,therefore, is daunting for Dikshit.She is familiar with Delhi alright

but can she deliver with renewedpromises and no recent record ofaffirmative actions?

KR Srinivasan Secunderabad

Irreparable damage

Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Sending right message”(January 14). Even people likeHardik Pandya and KL Rahul —who top the who’s who list of thecricket industry — shouldunderstand or face the conse-quences of reckless behaviour inpublic sphere.

While anchors of talk showsare always eager to put words inthe mouths of their guests, it isfor the latter to exercise prudenceand refrain from falling prey tosuch provocations. The Board ofControl for Cricket in India(BCCI), too, has intervened andbanned the two for the next ODIseries. It would take long beforeboth the cricketers can mend thedamage suffered due to irre-sponsible utterances.

N NagarajanVia email

P A P E R W I T H P A S S I O N


facebook.com/dailypioneer | @TheDailyPioneer | instagram.com/dailypioneer/

op nionLUCKNOW | TUESDAY | JANUARY 15, 2019

08

Historical injustice

A SURYA PRAKASH

Finally, India has a Government at the helm which cares for Hindu refugees. By passing the

Citizenship Amendment Act in the Lok Sabha, the Modi regime has tried to correct a past folly

Kashmir is still a challengedue to destabilising activi-ties by Pakistan. The Army,CRPF, the J&K police andintelligence bureau are act-ing in better coordination.

Home Minister —Rajnath Singh

China is firmly opposed tothe US, India or any coun-try selling arms to Taiwanand having any form ofmilitary links with Taiwan.

Chinese Foreign Ministryspokeswoman—Hua Chunyingp

I'm a victim of my career.Using headphones,singing with musiciansand orchestras in con-fined surroundings obvi-ously damages the ear.

Singer—Elaine Paige

The NDA has weakened asits key constituents haveleft, whereas the parties inthe UPA have expressedtheir faith in the leadershipof its president.

Congress leader—Sachin Pilot

S O U N D B I T E

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

Regional front, yes, but where’s the Congress?

This refers to the editorial, “The Bua-Bhatija dare”(January 14). The recently announced alliancebetween Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party (SP) and

Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) still has someloopholes. First, it is a coalition of erstwhile enemies whohad their own caste overtones, the Yadav-dominated oneclaiming to be socialist, the other having clout among theDalit community and some Savarnas too. During the meet,Akhilesh Yadav glorified Mayawati by projecting her astheir prime ministerial candidate for the Lok Sabha pollbut there was no talk about any ideology. Their comingtogether, therefore, could be interpreted as a naked ambi-tion with a distinct anti-Modi agenda unless some par-ticularities are announced over the next few days.

Their past performance as Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister was hardly promising. Mayawati occupied theoffice three times with support from the BJP, whom shenow rejects as communal. No wonder, both these casteistparties were reduced to small numbers earlier in the Lok

Sabha and Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls. With Mayawatias the prime ministerial candidate, will other political par-ties such as Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress andChandrababu Naidu's Telugu Desam Party or ChandraShekhar Rao's Telangana Rashtra Samithi and SharadPawar's Nationalist Congress Party, who have their ownnational ambitions, join the SP-BSP alliance? Most of themhave shunned the Congress. Thus, the fate of an anti-Modination-wide gathbandan seems to be stillborn.

M RatanVia email

THE BILL SEEKS TO ADDRESS A

CONGENITAL MALADYTHAT THE THEN

PRIME MINISTERJAWAHARLAL NEHRU

IGNORED. WHILEINDIA DECLARED

ITSELF A SECULARSTATE, WHICH

GUARANTEED EQUALRIGHTS TO ALLCITIZENS WHEN

IT BECAMEINDEPENDENT,

PAKISTAN BECAMEAN ISLAMIC STATEAND OFFERED NO

SUCH GUARANTEESTO ITS RELIGIOUS

MINORITIES

Send your feedback to:[email protected]

Our sexual and reproductiverights are realised only when thecountry’s laws and policies

reflect these in totality for everyone. OnDecember 19, 2018, the Lok Sabhapassed the Surrogacy (Regulation) Billbanning commercial surrogacy, whichhas been legal since 2002. The Bill isintended to regulate malpractices relat-ed to surrogacy and has managed tobecome restrictive and counterproduc-tive to the very principles it was tryingto uphold. Surrogacy is basically anarrangement between a woman and acouple or individual, often supportedby a legal agreement, whereby thewoman (surrogate mother — SM)agrees to become pregnant and givebirth for another person or persons(commissioning parent/s — CP).

Routinely, assisted reproductive tech-niques are used for pregnancy, mostoften using the intended parent’s eggsand sperms. In case that is not possi-ble, either a donor egg or sperm or bothare used. This has been possible due toadvancement in scientific technologyaround assisted reproduction. However,these variations and the lack of clarityaround legal status of this arrangementhave really been the reason for sometragic past incidents.

From 2002 until this Bill waspassed, commercial surrogacy waspossible and a real option for realis-ing reproductive rights of countlessindividuals and couples who couldnot conceive, women who were athigh risk of death and disability ifthey chose to be pregnant, singlepeople of any sexual orientationand so on. Unfortunately, whatqueered the pitch were several inci-dents of would-be parents abandon-ing the surrogate mothers with theirnew-borns and subjecting them toexploitative conditions and meagrecompensation. It was largely felt thatthe rights of surrogate mothers were

exploited and needed protection.The issue of surrogacy is primar-

ily linked to reproductive rights of indi-viduals. Besides, right to scientificprogress is a human right that must becentral to this debate. The rights to pro-create and enjoy the progress of scien-tific advancement are interlinked in thisdiscourse. However, the recent Bill willtranslate in suppressing these rights. Ithas defined conditions for commission-ing the surrogacy and promises to reg-ulate the process. However, what it doesis ban commercial surrogacy andmakes altruistic surrogacy by a ‘closerelative’ the only route possible. It alsoallows only married couples to be eli-gible for opting surrogacy, that too, ifthey don’t have any child and are infer-tile for five years.

These conditions are based onmultiple assumptions, which include,a close relative who would be willingand capable of undergoing surrogatemotherhood without any emotionalexploitation and future repercussion.Further, it also takes for granted thatthe couple unable to conceive wouldshare everything about their medical

conditions within the family and thatthe five-year wait is appropriate.Assuming these to be a blanket truthis dangerous.

The biggest assumption that theBill makes is that all surrogacy centreshave been exploiting surrogate moth-ers. It fails to take into account all thosecentres where the practice is regulat-ed and the rights of surrogate mothersare protected. These centres have a fixedremuneration, about which surrogatemothers are informed at the outset.They are given care and support alongwith nutrition and medication for ahealthy pregnancy. The counselling andlegal representation help in keeping ita fair and rights-based arrangement forall and the legality of parenthood isclear. There has been so many childrenborn of a surrogacy procedure andbeing raised in the last decade that suchpractices should have been examinedand strengthened instead of com-pletely being curbed.

Today, where marital relation-ships may or may not have societal andparental approvals due to caste and reli-gion, such couples now have no option

if they hope to have a surrogate babythrough an altruistic relative. Also, asthe demographics change from mul-tiple siblings and larger families to sin-gle or two child families, the availabil-ity of an altruistic relative would dwin-dle in times to come.

The Bill also violates the reproduc-tive rights of same sex couples, live-incouples, singles and transgenders.Ironically, other laws, like the Protectionof Women from Domestic ViolenceAct, 2005 and the recent repeal of somesections under the Indian Penal Code,Section 377 and the TransgenderPersons Bill 2018 (Transgender Persons(Protection of Rights) Bill, 2018),recognise the rights of cohabitation andsame sex relationships. Thus, the Billreally does not conflate coherently withexisting legislation around reproduc-tive rights and gender justice.

Historically, one consistent flawwith most of our policies and laws hasbeen the failure to constitute andmanage the processes necessary forcompliance. The district-level commit-tees responsible for registration ofclinics for carrying out medical termi-

nation of pregnancies (MTP) are non-existent in most districts. Under suchcircumstances, establishing nationalboard and other structures to defineand approve surrogacies seems a dis-tant reality for many people.

India is a country where multi-ple realities co-exist. Changing nar-ratives add to differences that arisein communities due to education,migration, influence of popularmedia and socio-cultural norms.These differences need to be under-stood and accounted for whiledrafting legal instruments, other-wise a blanket and superficial viewwould skew the purpose of theselaws. This Surrogacy (Regulation)Bill has failed in its promise touphold the reproductive rights ofmost Indians who desire to have aprogeny using the latest scientificadvances through fair means.

(Dr Kalpana Apte is theSecretary General (CEO) at FamilyPlanning Association of India. DrShamla Dupte is the Director forMedical at Family PlanningAssociation of India)

The chameleon’s game

LUCKNOW | TUESDAY | JANUARY 15, 2019

THERE HAS BEEN NO MAJOR TERRORIST ATTACK

AFTER 2014. ALL ATTEMPTS TO WREAK HAVOC IN

THE COUNTRY HAVE BEEN ELIMINATED.

—DEFENCE MINISTER

NIRMALA SITHARAMAN

IS SITHARAMAN GIVING PAKISTAN CLEAN CHIT ON

URI, PATHANKOT ATTACKS BY SAYING THAT THERE

HAS BEEN NO TERROR ATTACK AFTER 2014?

—CONGRESS LEADER

P CHIDAMBARAM

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

The Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) maybe the latest ally to desert theNational Democratic Alliance(NDA) on the Citizenship(Amendment) Bill, 2016, introduced

in the last session of the Lok Sabha recently, butby no stretch of the imagination can the partybe termed as a “political weather scientist.”Similarly, the tag should also not be passed onto the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), which part-ed ways with the NDA last year. Compulsionsof state politics and scouting for better oppor-tunities at the national level forced these tworegional parties to break away from the NDArather than their potential to gauge trade winds.

In that sense, the bellwether status shouldgo to Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan. Forlong, he has been described as the ‘mausamvagyanik’, who can assess which way the polit-ical wind is blowing or which party would reapthe electoral harvest and form the nextGovernment.

Many have even appreciated his ability ofbeing “accurate and correct” with his politicalmoves over a period spanning three decades.Both his admirers and critics believe that he hasgot so much of expertise in reading “people’smood and pulse” that he always supports thewinning cause — the coalition which rules thecountry.

Paswan has been a part of all national coali-tions. He was first elected as an MLA in Biharway back in 1969, though he has always pre-ferred to be in Central politics after theEmergency when he first won the Hajipur LokSabha seat by a record margin in 1977. Be it theRight (NDA led by the BJP) or the one in whichthe Left had a major role (Third Front led byVP Singh) or the Centrist party (Congress-ledUnited Progressive Alliance), one factor whichhas always been common is the 75-year-oldPaswan. No ideology is anathema to him aslong as it takes him to the treasury benches.

He was first inducted in Union Cabinet byVP Singh in 1989 and since then the Dalitleader has never looked back. Of course, he lostone election in 2009 to an old rival in Bihar —Ram Sundar Das — from his stronghold ofHajipur and had to remain out of power for fiveyears. His followers, however, term that peri-od as an “accident” and an “aberration.”

When he decided to stick to the NDA inBihar for the 2019 polls, successfully bargain-ing a healthy six seats for his Lok JanshaktiParty (LJP) and one Rajya Sabha seat for him-self, many in his home state wondered if he hadlost his ability to predict the political climatewith the same perfection and astuteness.

Many in Paswan’s home state say thatUpendra Kushwaha, the former junior HRDminister in Narendra Modi’s Government andthe first one to jump ship in Bihar from NDAto UPA, has now developed the knack whichPaswan possessed at one point of time.Kushwaha, as president of the Rashtriya LokSamata Party (RLSP) and a Koeri himself,joined the grand alliance (mahagatbandhan) ofthe Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal(RJD) in the Hindi heartland, hoping to havea role in the next Union Government.

Kushwaha knows for sure that hisutility in NDA ended the momentNitish Kumar and his Janata DalUnited (JDU) joined hands with theBharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to retainpower in the State and oust the RJDwith which JDU had fought theAssembly elections in the first place.Kushwaha and Kumar share a similarcaste support base and he realised hewould be more useful to the mahagathbandhan in Bihar than theNDA. So Kushwaha’s ouster was aforegone conclusion. In fact, it helpedPaswan get a better deal with the NDAin seat-sharing as whatever incremen-tal votes his party gets in Bihar helpsthe latter’s cause in its bid to do wellin the State.

Bihar will be an important battle-field in the 2019 general election with40 seats, a State where both the UPAand NDA are firmly entrenched.Hence, this is one State where the bat-tle is largely between the two and notthe constituent parties as such.

Besides RJD, the Congress andnow the RLSP, the grand alliance inBihar also has former Chief MinisterJitan Ram Manjhi’s party, HindustaniAwam Morcha (HAM) and LoktantrikJanata Dal (LJD) founded by SharadYadav, who broke away from theJDU. Then there is Mukesh Sahni,who had floated his political outfitVikasshil Insaan Party (VIP) andjoined the grand alliance, aiming toget votes from his Nishad communi-ty spread across the State. In addition,there is a possibility of even the Left

parties becoming a part of the grandalliance, which could leave a couple ofseats for them to show it is an umbrel-la alliance of all castes, groups and ide-ology.

On paper, the alliance looks real-ly ‘grand’ given the various caste com-binations it carries with it, but onground it is difficult to visualise howcompeting castes, parties and groupswould jell, and whether one commu-nity would be able to transfer its voteto the other. Also, the sharing of seatsis still a mystery and several conflicts,claims and counterclaims couldemerge.

Ironically, it is in Bihar where theBJP had to concede to its allies in a bigway, which many see as the end of theroad for its expansion in the State. Itwon 22 seats in the 2014 Lok Sabhapoll, and along with its allies LJP (6)and RLSP (3), the NDA won 32 seatseven though the combinedOpposition then on paper was quitestrong — RJD and JDU. The BJPwould be contesting only 17 seats,forcing it to part ways with five seatswhich it won last time, clearly a set-back for the party cadres who werehoping for expansion and some dayform the State Government on theparty’s own strength like it did inMaharashtra, breaking from the ShivSena and contesting Assembly pollsalone.

As of now, Bihar is the only Statewhere the battle lines have beendrawn and demarcated firmly withalliances in place. Many see this as a

microcosm of India — emergence ofa two-alliance formation where theBJP would head one polarity and theCongress the other with regional par-ties siding with one or the otherdepending on their state politics,perceptions at a given point of timeand crass opportunism, of course.

It is now gradually becomingclear that it will be the regional par-ties which would become the newweather scientist of the Indian politics—switching sides at the slightest pos-sibility of better electoral outing andreviewing their decision every nowand then according to their conve-nience and smell of opportunity.Bihar is a perfect example where youdo not find any permanent politicalfriend or enemy.

Every single regional party of theState has a history of deserting eitherthe NDA or the UPA in the past several years ever since the days ofMandal and Mandir politics whichpeaked in the late 1980s and early1990s.

Both Paswan and Nitish Kumarare sailing in the same boat — chang-ing sides seamlessly, that too repeat-edly, without the baggage of ideologyor any other factor. Paswan may be theexpert on this but others are quicklyplaying catch-up. Kumar has almostcaught up with Paswan, changingfrom one extreme to the other — firstNDA to UPA and then back to NDA— without batting an eyelid.

(The writer is Senior Editor, ThePioneer, Chandigarh)

The gift of science or a burden of law?

Regional parties have become experts in sensing the political climate by switching sides at theslightest possibility of a better electoral outing and negotiating a relevance for themselves

The biggest blanket assumption that the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill makes is that all surrogacy centres have been

exploiting would-be mothers. It doesn’t fit with the existing legislation around reproductive rights or gender justice

Times have changed and technology has challenged the

status quo of the financial sector. There has been a bom-

bardment of mobile payment apps, online shopping,

investments and mobile banking which has transformed the

entire financial arena and its discipline. The banking system

has been confronted by this growing impetus of fintech com-

panies, which are spreading their roots in India. In order to

avoid paper-based formalities and avail the ease of access

through the internet, people are switching from banks to these

fintech ventures.

Mobility has played a vital role in our financial revolution.

In this fast-paced world, one needs all the information and

services on their smartphones. Financial services tradition-

ally needed infrastructural set-up (branches) and fixed assets

to raise their entry for customer retention. While technology

advancements now allow fintech star t-ups to vir tually oper-

ate and deliver complex financial solutions, the digital trans-

formation coupled with mobility provide ease of excess to

their clients who initially were forced to wait in long queues

for making a deposit, requesting a cheque book or conduct

trade. That’s where these fintech companies earn trust and

credence from the people at large, giving flexible and adapt-

able options to their customers.

So how is fintech creating a disturbance in the banking

sector? While fintech ventures open the door to choose

between multiple schemes which are available in market,

banks can only promote their own products, narrowing down

your bouquet of understanding and choices. Fintech not only

offers numerous plans like mutual funds, pension plans or

insurances, but with the help of various tools and artificial

intelligence, draws a comparative analysis chart for the cus-

tomer and that eventually aids him/her to choose the right

plan/scheme for his/her financial goals.

These fintech giants have incorporated online transac-

tions and use of digital wallets, which eventually have made

our life trouble-free from those times where we would trade

goats for wheat. Old-fashioned banking transactions have been

losing their charm. Today these e-wallets allow anybody to

transfer funds from any place on the planet to any person

having a mobile phone. This provides a faster, cheaper and

more reliable way to transact than the conventional banking

system. Customers like to experiment with new methods

offered by fintech sector, which aids them to track their pay-

ments, passbooks and account balance more transparently

on their digital device. In recent years, we have also seen a

rapid growth in blockchain and cryptocurrency, which has

taken a toll on financial services by providing a swift infra-

structure to transact.

Fintech players also empower customers with mobile

applications which from time to time notify portfolio insights,

tracking of goals and so on. This helps customers get infor-

mation about their investments and holdings. The inheritance

of mobile application embodies a platform which personalis-

es each and every customer, and banks cannot deliver such

specific attention. With all the statistics and data on one’s

fingertips, the customer is always updated. Neo banks are

a very refined example for the same. In this digital sphere,

financial technology endeavours to help customers through

support chat boxes, machine learning algorithms and bio-

metric fraud analysis which attracts their confidence.

Fintech firms have also managed to tame security threats

and frauds. They promote machine-learning through artifi-

cial intelligence which keeps a track of money laundering.

The security software aler ts the consumer about a fraudu-

lent payment or any virus attack, thus keeping a check and

balance of every transaction. Biometrics, facial recognition,

iris scans and voice pattern add a layer to the security sys-

tem which increases the bank’s authenticity and reliability.

However, great care must be taken to ensure that each appa-

ratus is hack-proof in the cyber world and fintech compa-

nies are prioritising this on a war footing.

(The writer is a wealth creator)

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

A disruptor and

an enabler

Fintech companies earn trust and credence fromthe people at large by offering flexible, safe and

adaptable options, says Swapnil Aggarwal

AMITABH SHUKLA

F O R E I G N E Y E

This year marks the 150thanniversary of thediscovery, or invention, ofthe periodic table of theelements, one of the mostimportant, if least dramatic,of all scientificbreakthroughs. The periodictable made possible themodern industrial world. Itdidn’t just break down theworld into its constituents;it supplied the knowledgeneeded to recombine theseelements in new ways, fromfertiliser to poison gas,from medicines to plastic.

(The Guardian editorial)

BETTER LIVINGTHROUGH CHEMISTRY


EVERY SINGLEREGIONAL PARTY OF

THE STATE HAS AHISTORY OF

DESERTING EITHERTHE NDA OR THEUPA IN THE PASTSEVERAL YEARSEVER SINCE THE

DAYS OF MANDALAND MANDIR

POLITICS. BOTHPASWAN AND

NITISH KUMAR ARESAILING IN THE

SAME BOAT—CHANGING SIDES

SEAMLESSLY, THATTOO REPEATEDLY,

WITHOUT THEBAGGAGE OF

IDEOLOGY OR ANYOTHER FACTOR

KALPANA

APTESHAMLA

DUPTE

DOCYARDDR ANSHUMAN KUMAR

Director, Surgical Oncology

DHARAMSHILA NARAYANA SUPER

SPECIALITY HOSPITAL, NEW DELHI

Throat cancer has

high survival rate

Recently, actor-director, Rakesh Roshan has been diagnosed withthe early stage of Squamous Cell Carcinoma (SCC) of the throat

which is one of the primary types of throat cancer. This type ofcancer happens when there is excessive growth of abnormal cellsof the lining of the throat. The throat consists of pharynx and Larynx.The pharynx is the part of the throat behind the mouth and thenasal cavity. It is situated above the esophagus and larynx. Larynxis also called the voice box.

CAUSES There can be a number of factors contributing to the devel-

opment of throat cancer. The most common is the strong com-bination of heavy alcohol consumption and intake of tobacco,particularly in the form of cigarette smoking. Alcohol and tobac-co are already two of the most common reasons behind throatcancer and the risk increases when they are consumed simul-taneously for a long period of time. Apart from these, poor diet,bad oral hygiene, and even genetics can contribute to throat can-cer. It is most commonly diagnosed among those who are over60 years of age.

Various types of head and neck carcinoma are also associ-ated with certain chronic viral infections such as the Epstein-Barr Virus, Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), Herpes SimplexVirus and Human ImmunodeficiencyVirus (HIV). Few other risk fac-tors include prolong exposureto radiation or chemicalssuch as asbestos, nickel,and hydrocarbons.

SYMPTOMS Look out for

change in the voiceespecially that refusesto resolve in weeks,sore throat forno apparent rea-son, hoarseness,trouble swallow-ing, sudden weight loss, anemia, constantuneasiness inside the throat, swollenlymph nodes and ear pain. If such con-ditions do not improve even after threeweeks of conventional treatment, it isadvisable to consult an oncologist.

DIAGNOSISWhen diagnosed early, throat can-

cer has a high survival rate. To help withthe diagnosis, cooperate with the doc-tor by discussing the symptoms, lifestylechoices and medical history. To get aclearer look at the throat, a laryngoscopycould be prescribed to the patient. If anyabnormalities are found during this primary test, a more detailedbiopsy can be prescribed. There are various types of biopsies thatcan be suggested to the patient, such as the conventional biop-sy, fine needle aspiration (FNA), or an endoscopic biopsy.

Once throat cancer is diagnosed there are various imagingtests that can be undertaken to pin-point the extent of the can-cer or most commonly at what stage the cancer is currently resid-ing in. These tests may include magnetic resonance imaging(MRI), positron emission tomography (PET scan), computedtomography (CT scan), barium swallow and chest X-ray.

TREATMENT Once the diagnosis is complete, the patient is given treat-

ment that can include one or a combination of multiple proce-dures over a certain period of time which is determined by theseverity of the throat cancer among other factors. Usually, theearly stages of throat cancer can be treated with microlaryngealsurgery (MLS) or by radiotherapy. However, in locally advanceddisease, combination of surgery and CT/RT have been provento be the successful course of treatment for throat cancer.

RECOVERY Following the treatment, the patient is kept under close mon-

itoring to look for any relapse of the cancer. Meanwhile, somepatients may find themselves experiencing few complications.These include, having problems with speaking, breathing or swal-lowing, which can be helped through specific therapists, hard-ening of the skin or disfigurement of the neck or face, in whichcase reconstructive surgeries can be discussed.

PREVENTIONTo reduce the risk of any type of head and neck cancer, dis-

continue smoking, stop any other form of tobacco intake, reducealcohol intake and if possible, gradually keep alcohol completelyaway, maintain a healthy lifestyle with balanced diet and lookoutfor HPVs by taking preventing measures.

pioneer THE PIONEER LUCKNOW | TUESDAY | JANUARY 15, 2019 10

Is your child stressed anddepressed? A research revealsthat children who developed a

closer connection with nature hadless distress, less hyperactivity and

had a healthy lifestyle with regardto active play and eating habits

NatureConnect

PUMPKIN SEEDS: It may be small, but pumpkin seeds arepacked full of valuable nutrients. Eating only a small amount

of them can provide you with a substantial quantity of healthyfats, magnesium and zinc. It includes several health benefits likeimproved heart health, prostate healthand protection against certaincancers. They also contain alot of antioxidants likecarotenoids and Vitamin Eand a decent amount ofpolyunsaturated fatty acids,potassium, Vitamin B2(riboflavin) and folate. Diets richin pumpkin seeds have been associated with areduced risk of stomach, breast, lung, prostate and coloncancers. Pumpkin, pumpkin seeds, pumpkin seed powder andpumpkin juice can reduce blood sugar and is especiallyimportant for people with diabetes. If you have trouble sleeping,you may want to eat some pumpkin seeds before bed. They're anatural source of tryptophan, an amino acid that can helppromote sleep. You can add them to smoothies, yogurt and fruitand also into the meals by sprinkling them into salads, soups orcereals. Some people use pumpkin seeds in baking, as aningredient for sweet or savory bread and cakes.

W A R M F O O D S

More than 37 per cent Indians have bellyobesity, which is defined as abdominal

circumference, greater than 80 cm in womenand 90 cm in men. The reason for this is theeveryday consumption of wheat in diet.

Wheat is a part of staple diet, particular-ly in North India. Traditionally, Indians havebeen asked to do one wheat fast a week, extrawheat fast on the day of Ekadashi and nine-day wheat fast every three months duringNavratras.

WHY DROP WHEATWheat contains amylopectin A, gliadin and

gluten. Amylopectin A is a chemical uniqueto wheat. It is a trigger of small LDL particles.When wheat is removed from the diet, thesesmall LDL levels reduce by 90 per cent.

Gliadin is a protein, which stimulatesappetite. Eating wheat increases the averageperson’s calorie intake by 400 calories a day.Gliadin also has opiate-like properties, whichmake it “addictive”.

GLUTEN SENSITIVITYGluten is inflammatory to the gut. Wheat

eating patterns changed in the 70s and 80s,when newer techniques came to be used toincrease yield, including hybridisation. It wasbred to be shorter and sturdier and also to havemore gliadin. Corn starch, rice starch, tapio-ca starch or potato starch are the four basicingredients of gluten-free products. Thesedried, powdered starches increase the bloodsugar even higher.

According to Dr Tom O’Bryan, an inter-national expert on wheat and wheat-relateddisorders, for every one person who has intesti-nal manifestations of wheat sensitivity, thereare eight who don’t have any Gluten intoler-ance (GI) symptoms. No human has the capa-bility to breakdown wheat. But, whetherwheat causes a problem for them depends onwhether they have crossed the line of tolerance.The inflammatory mechanisms begin once alltolerance is lost, which trigger the immune sys-tem resulting in an autoimmune disease.Females are three times more likely to devel-op autoimmune celiac disease than males.

Earlier, the term gluten sensitivity wasused, but now wheat sensitivity is used as wheathas several components other than gluten,which may be a problem.

All people are wheat sensitive to somedegree, so wheat can be called an inflamma-tory diet. The defense mechanisms varybetween individuals; while some may react toit, some may overcome it, until they cross theline of tolerance. If after eating wheat, you getdiscomfort, you should get yourself tested ortry a wheat elimination diet.

About 50 per cent of wheat-sensitive peo-ple also cross react with corn and dairy. Hence,a wheat elimination diet has no wheat of anytype, no sugar, no corns/grains and no dairyproducts. Eliminate these from your diet forthree weeks and observe the change. Then eata pizza on day 22. If you notice any worsen-ing effect, then you are wheat sensitive. If youare sensitive, omit wheat in the diet.

So, is rice safe? Rice doesn’t increase theblood sugar levels to the extent that wheat does;rice also doesn’t contain amylopectin A orgliadin.

— The writer is Dr KK Aggarwal, president Heart CareFoundation of India

TACKLE YOURWHEAT BELLY

QUINOA VS AMARANTHBoth quinoa & amaranth are cere-

als. More appropriately, pseudo cere-als (both are non grasses that are usedin much the way as cereals which arein the form of grass, that is, ricepaddy, wheat field). Quinoa hasbeen marketed globally as a rareand exotic food whereas ama-ranth remain subdued andsidelined. Amaranth, alsoknown as Rajgeera orRamadana, is popular inJain and other communities during fasting and other rituals.

CHIA VS BASIL SEEDSChia is purely a prod-

uct from the USA and theWest. Compositionally,chia is similar to basil.Both are rich source ofomega 3 fatty acid anddietary fiber. Both swelland becomes a gel whenadded to liquid. However,when it comes to price,chia seeds cost a whopping`350 (250g) compared to basil seeds, priced at `145 (250g).

Discontinue

smoking, stop

tobacco & reduce

alcohol intake,

maintain a

healthy lifestyle

with a balanced

diet and lookout

for HPVs by

taking preventive

measures

GROUNDNUT VS OLIVE OILOlive oil is widely used as a salad oil

worldwide. A few years ago, it gained pop-ularity in India as a ‘healthier oil’ primar-ily due to a wide range of misconceptionsand promotions. The amount of olive oilsold in the world today exceeds the produc-tion capacities, creating an artificial demandand driving pricing up higher.

Also, most of the olive oil sold in the market for general cooking is blended with pomace oil(pomace oil is extracted from the olive pulp whereas olive oil is extracted from the seed and thefruit. The refined pomace oil is more processed which can lose the nutritional quality of oliveoil). Groundnut oil is ideal for Indian style of cooking compared to virgin olive oil. Both olive oil& groundnut oil are heart-friendly oils and are rich in omega 6 fatty acids. (Groundnut oil is morenative and have good amount of phytonutrients and antioxidants that protect the body from dam-age from free radicals).

KALE VS CABBAGEWe are used to cabbage. We use it in a

wide variety of Indian recipes. Kale andcabbage both belong to the same familyBrassica Oleracea. Cabbage is a rich sourceof Vitamin C and phytochemical, where-as Kale contains good source of B ComplexVitamins.

MILLETS VS OATSToday the label superfood is being attached

to the forgotten food like millets whichused to be a staple food few yearsago. Millets are nine varietiesof tiny grains also known asNavadanya. In the currentscenario of global warmingand water scarcity, milletscan be one of the cropswhich will provide the foodsecurity to the population.

Nine varieties of milletsare grown by the small dryland farmers across India. Someof them are on the verge ofextinction. Whereasoats has been marketedwell by the west as ahealthy breakfast por-ridge. Compared to oats,millets contain twice theamount of dietary fiberwhich provides bettersatiety value.

GOJI BERRY VS AMLAAmla, or the Indian gooseberry, was

one of the most sacred treesin India. The fruit has beenused in traditionalIndian medicine, culi-nary dishes and even inIndian versions ofshampoos.

Amla is a richsource of VitaminC, about 252mgcompared to Gojiberry, which has48mg of Vitamin C (per 100g). Gojiberries are available in the market in aprocessed form which may lead to lossof Vitamin C. Both have their place in theEastern tradition, but amla has more pro-found medicinal benefits.

COCONUT/ MUSTARD OIL VS OLIVE OILCoconut oil is rich in saturated fatty acid along with medium

chain triglycerides which are readily absorbed in the body and pro-vides instant energy. Coconut oil contains good amount of antiox-idants and phytochemicals which provides protection against freeradical damage. Olive oil, on the other hand, is rich in unsaturat-ed fatty acids namely mono and polyunsaturated form. There arestudies that have seen beneficial effects of coconut oil for cardiac function. Olive oil has its ownbenefits but in a Mediterranean environment which can’t be always true to Indian conditions.

BUCKWHEAT VS OATSBoth buckwheat and oats are consumed as a

cereal because of the carbohydrate contentwhich is comparable with other cereals. Both aregluten free and can be given to people with glutenallergy. In India, buckwheat in the form of flouris used as a fasting food during Navratri andJanmashtmi in Northern part of India. It is knownas Kuttu in Hindi.

INTERNATIONAL OR INDIAN SUPERFOODS?

The super foods are touted as the perfect health-iest options. We’ve stories all around us say-

ing ‘10 healthy breakfasts you must have’ featur-ing these foods. People try to make their own dietplans, and believe that the super foods are suffi-cient to address all their needs but end up focus-ing on it at the risk of an extremely imbalanceddiet. For instance, excess amount of omega 3 fattyacid rich foods can lead to high amount of free

radicals causing detrimental effects.Any minimally processed, well cultivated food

grain can be turned as a super food. Super foodcannot give a leverage to consume without con-trol. Any food not eaten in moderation can beharmful to the body. Each food has its importancein its own place, context, cultural preferences andregional ecosystem.

The increased focus on international superfoods means that Indian super foods take a backseat. International superfoods are extremely

expensive, and not affordable to everyone.Sometimes, certain foods might also lose its nutri-tional value when it is packaged and marketed inregions thousands of kilometers away. Diversityof diet is a basic bedrock of good nutrition &health. While we should always encourage diver-sity in thought and food, we truly need to under-stand the human body, our dietary requirementsand naturally, what is the most cost-effective wayof getting that nourishment.

The writer is senior nutritionist, Pristine Organics

CHOOSE

THE RIGHTSUPERFOODS

From spices, seeds to oils and vegetables, the concept of superfoods isbecoming popular among Indians for their rich omega 3 fatty acids, antioxidantsand dietary fibre. SHRUTI KUMBLA lists Indian and international superfoodsto add as substitutes in daily diet

The State Health Department of Kerala isintegrating mental health with maternaland child health programme to initiate a

primary care screening programme for theearly detection and treatment of perinataldepression. This is under the light of thelatter emerging as a major cause for concernin the Kerala.

About 7% of the 187 maternal deathsreported in Kerala in 2017/18 were suicides,making it the third cause of maternal

mortality in the state after post-partumhemorrhage and pre-eclampsia. Under theinitiative, training is being provided tostakeholders involved on recognisingdepressive disorders amongst youngmothers and mothers-to-be. A screening willbe done once during the first three trimestersand post-partum, in the sixth and 14th weekand ninth month. Psycho social counsellingwill be offered to all eligible couples andfollowed up post-partum into a year.

SLIMLINE

Statistics indicate thatsmokers are up to25 times more like-

ly to develop a cancer ofthe throat than their non-smoking counterparts. However, passivesmoking, tobacco chewing, and cigarsmoking are also risk factors. Another riskfactor is excessive use of alcohol and infec-tion with HPV, a virus also linked withcervical cancer in the women.

Throat cancer or squamous cell car-cinoma of the tonsil is a part of cancersof the head and neck. In oncology, squa-mous cell cancers of the head and neckare often considered together because theyshare many similarities — in incidence,cancer type, predisposing factors, patho-logical features, treatment of the cancerand cancer prognosis. Up to 30% of can-cer patients with one primary head andneck tumour will have a second primarymalignancy.

Ways in which one can diagnose andprevent the onset of cancer.

nGet yourself checked regularly.nStop consumption of tobacco.nFilter tap water. This can reduce

exposure to possible carcinogens and hor-mone-disrupting chemicals.

nGet vaccinated on time and as perschedule. For example HPV vaccine helpsprevent most cervical cancers and sever-al other kinds of cancer.

nDrink water helps reduce the riskof bladder cancer.

nMake lifestyle changes.

TIPTOPSTUDYCENTRE

Headaches are oftenunderestimated but areone of the most com-

mon disorders of the nervoussystem. Some of the commonsymptoms are pulsating painon one side of the head,nausea, light sensitiv-ity and blurredvision. Butbefore you tryany of thesehome reme-dies, a visit toa doctor is amust to ruleout any otherproblem.

What you eatplays an importantpart in migraine preven-tion. Avoid eating chocolates,bacon, processed foods anddairy products like buttermilkand dahi.

For some people, drinkinga little coffee helps. But too

much can cause a migraine.Keep lavender oil handy.

Inhaling the oil can help bringrelief faster. One can applydiluted oil to the temples aswell.

Reach out for gin-ger; it helps ease

nausea. Gingerp o w d e rd e c r e a s e sseverity andd u r a t i o n .One candrink gingertea as well.

Stress is acommon trigger

for migraines.Find an outlet for it;

do meditation or yoga toprevent future attacks.

Use nutmeg. Make a pastewith crushed nutmeg powderand water and massage this onthe forehead. This helps relieveheadache as it promotes sleep.

Those who get migraine attacksknow that it is not the typical

headache. Nausea and sensitivity tolight are common symptoms. Instead

of popping pills, ROSHANI DEVIshares tips that can reduce the

severity and duration

Anutosh Mishra, a 53-year-old bankemployee was suffer-

ing from AnkylosingSpondylitis, a form ofarthritis that affects thespine because of which hehad not been able to walkfor the last 15 years. Totreat this condition, hipreplacement surgeries(both) were carried out.

Dr Havind Tandon,Senior Consultant,Orthopaedics & JointReplacement at Indraprastha ApolloHospitals said: “Ankylosing Spondylitis ischronic inflammation of the spine andPelvis. Severe inflammation causes painand stiffness. It causes deformity and jointdestruction that lead to loss of mobility.The onset of the diseases starts in the sec-ond or third decade of life.”

As the spine is fused in thiscondition, it leads to variouschest problems also. Surgeriesof this kind have very highcomplication rates and thus,they require a multi-discipli-nary medical intervention,”further added Dr Tandon.

After the successfulsurgery, Mishra, at the time ofdischarge on January 6, 2019said: “I was in terrible pain andalways had to depend on oth-ers even for my day to day basicchores. I am thankful to Dr

Tandon because of whom I am able towalk properly today and perform my dailyroutine activities all by myself. It feels like,I have got my life back again.”

Ankylosing spondylitis is a genetic dis-ease, but becoming prevalent due to highsedentary lifestyle, alcohol abuse andtobacco use.

DadiKaKehna

money 11LUCKNOW | TUESDAY | JANUARY 15, 2019

Script Open High Low LTPRCOM 13.71 13.71 13.40 13.45YESBANK 185.10 198.00 182.40 195.40JETAIRWAYS 254.80 297.00 248.50 294.40INFY 706.00 709.00 695.70 700.90DMART 1454.70 1474.20 1386.05 1395.75JPASSOCIAT 7.35 7.35 7.20 7.23TCS 1854.70 1854.85 1810.50 1814.40SUZLON 5.35 5.35 5.25 5.27STAR 481.50 523.50 481.00 520.00LT 1369.00 1369.00 1331.00 1334.00TATAMOTORS 180.55 187.40 177.55 182.30IBULHSGFIN 811.90 819.00 785.00 790.75FEDERALBNK 94.55 94.55 89.10 90.60LINDEINDIA 792.00 819.00 745.70 749.60BANDHANBNK 456.00 456.00 438.15 442.85TATASTEEL 474.95 474.95 466.60 470.70RELIANCE 1096.70 1102.00 1086.25 1096.45ICICIBANK 378.40 378.40 372.70 373.40DHFL 222.00 224.20 218.50 220.30L&TFH 140.60 140.65 135.15 136.25SUNPHARMA 446.00 452.50 444.05 450.65JINDALSTEL 149.00 149.05 143.50 144.00GAIL 338.60 338.60 322.50 324.75SBIN 301.60 303.40 299.45 300.50GRUH 242.00 244.00 232.50 233.70INDUSINDBK 1510.00 1510.00 1471.10 1484.05WIPRO 330.00 330.30 312.20 313.35MARUTI 7311.00 7431.70 7251.85 7402.55AXISBANK 666.50 666.50 652.90 657.65EVEREADY 210.00 220.70 201.00 217.30ASHOKLEY 94.95 94.95 92.75 93.45PNB 80.60 82.70 79.20 82.05CGPOWER 45.40 45.40 43.55 43.70BAJFINANCE 2515.00 2551.55 2484.55 2547.00SPICEJET 79.65 81.65 79.00 80.65ITC 295.40 295.40 290.05 294.30M&M 725.00 727.95 715.20 727.50UNIONBANK 93.60 95.40 91.25 93.90DELTACORP 258.00 258.90 254.50 256.00NIITTECH 1166.70 1192.00 1148.00 1187.20HINDALCO 207.30 207.30 203.45 205.85VEDL 196.00 196.00 192.05 193.05RELINFRA 307.00 310.15 304.00 305.75BANKINDIA 103.10 105.05 100.75 103.80HDFC 1990.00 1990.00 1950.00 1969.30PHILIPCARB 209.90 214.50 205.05 206.20PCJEWELLER 79.40 80.50 78.75 79.20EQUITAS 120.50 120.65 116.55 117.60HINDUNILVR 1770.00 1780.35 1759.10 1763.50BIOCON 644.90 647.40 638.20 645.30BAJAJCORP 386.00 398.00 384.60 385.85IDFCBANK 47.00 47.35 46.20 46.65GRAPHITE 725.55 725.55 705.00 706.95NCC 92.00 92.00 88.45 88.80AUROPHARMA 770.00 778.65 764.30 770.35BANKBARODA 121.25 123.10 120.05 121.10BOMDYEING 118.25 120.80 117.00 118.45KTKBANK 116.50 120.85 115.35 119.05SPARC 191.50 192.00 183.00 184.50HDFCLIFE 406.00 406.00 390.05 392.55KOTAKBANK 1224.00 1224.00 1204.60 1210.45SAIL 52.00 52.20 50.40 50.60ESCORTS 753.00 755.05 746.65 751.05MINDTREE 837.00 856.00 830.00 854.00ZEEL 451.00 451.45 442.70 448.30IOC 132.70 133.00 131.05 132.15M&MFIN 447.90 451.30 435.20 438.35BEML 891.00 891.75 873.00 876.90EXIDEIND 259.95 259.95 248.15 251.00RELCAPITAL 216.05 216.75 213.45 216.05BHARTIARTL 334.05 334.10 317.95 330.00J&KBANK 37.55 38.70 37.00 37.40GLENMARK 650.00 669.65 648.65 666.00COALINDIA 233.00 233.00 229.45 230.70DABUR 425.65 435.50 420.90 433.25TECHM 699.45 701.30 676.55 679.00CASTROLIND 152.80 159.90 151.00 158.30ABFRL 207.30 219.00 203.90 215.10HDFCBANK 2114.55 2114.55 2097.00 2105.00HFCL 24.50 25.00 24.10 24.55HEXAWARE 325.40 326.30 314.10 314.65HINDPETRO 235.05 235.90 232.10 233.45MPHASIS 905.00 907.05 866.00 876.50DCBBANK 178.60 180.70 177.55 180.70BHEL 69.15 69.40 67.65 67.75JSWSTEEL 290.90 290.90 282.45 283.10CADILAHC 352.00 355.40 349.70 354.05INFIBEAM 43.90 43.90 41.90 43.00NTPC 148.55 148.55 145.00 145.25KAJARIACER 524.30 535.00 522.25 525.05HCLTECH 942.00 942.90 928.30 940.00GNFC 363.75 365.80 357.80 360.60BAJAJ-AUTO 2716.00 2734.00 2678.55 2700.20APOLLOHOSP 1289.00 1330.00 1286.35 1324.20CYIENT 622.00 622.00 587.00 607.00ASIANPAINT 1410.00 1410.25 1386.80 1388.00PIDILITIND 1111.55 1140.00 1099.10 1133.00ORIENTBANK 98.60 100.70 96.10 97.60CHOLAFIN 1174.75 1197.25 1152.25 1189.55RBLBANK 580.95 580.95 569.10 574.05BHARATFORG 482.00 482.25 471.30 476.00WOCKPHARMA 515.90 519.30 507.00 508.80JISLJALEQS 66.95 67.00 64.15 64.45JUSTDIAL 480.40 483.20 472.00 475.00NBCC 61.00 61.10 59.35 59.70ADANITRANS 221.30 229.15 217.20 223.65BPCL 337.55 339.30 331.50 334.60PEL 2317.80 2317.80 2251.00 2270.00CANBK 277.95 281.30 275.40 277.50

NATIONALUM 63.00 63.15 61.05 61.40QUESS 721.40 755.45 710.25 714.00ABB 1350.00 1354.80 1300.00 1304.55MOTHERSUMI 162.60 162.60 158.40 161.50RADICO 414.10 425.00 411.60 418.60VIPIND 503.20 503.40 490.00 491.50INDIACEM 87.10 87.60 85.30 85.70HAVELLS 688.00 690.00 683.80 687.90DLF 182.10 182.70 178.30 181.60JUBLFOOD 1237.00 1249.00 1209.40 1214.55SUNTV 588.00 591.05 576.00 576.00ULTRACEMCO 3773.55 3794.25 3737.25 3772.00RCF 65.40 65.45 64.10 64.60TATAMTRDVR 96.45 97.10 94.30 96.40WABAG 310.00 310.05 301.00 302.85DIVISLAB 1505.05 1537.00 1504.90 1527.40ONGC 145.40 145.40 142.60 143.50BEL 92.50 92.50 89.80 91.35UPL 785.00 785.00 766.25 768.75SOUTHBANK 15.65 15.70 15.40 15.60EICHERMOT 20550.00 20604.95 20250.00 20453.80KPIT 211.30 211.45 205.40 205.90SYMPHONY 1123.65 1234.65 1120.35 1196.20HEROMOTOCO 2890.00 2921.90 2858.80 2865.00TATAGLOBAL 212.00 214.20 209.50 213.10IBREALEST 88.65 88.70 86.00 86.40KEC 282.10 282.70 275.00 279.45RECLTD 124.25 125.20 123.20 124.50STRTECH 294.80 294.80 288.50 290.05JAICORPLTD 110.00 110.50 108.00 108.50MCX 757.00 763.50 746.25 759.85MINDAIND 312.50 314.10 298.20 302.00TATAPOWER 74.95 74.95 73.60 74.15CIPLA 514.95 514.95 506.00 512.25INDIGO 1060.05 1085.75 1051.00 1081.60COLPAL 1322.65 1322.65 1303.00 1305.15ICICIGI 878.25 883.45 857.40 865.00LUPIN 839.00 840.40 829.00 834.95TITAN 962.00 962.00 949.70 956.00PETRONET 216.10 218.20 214.40 216.60DRREDDY 2589.35 2601.35 2556.90 2576.00TATAELXSI 970.00 974.00 956.00 969.85DISHTV 40.00 40.00 37.45 37.75SRTRANSFIN 1210.00 1210.00 1164.00 1169.00PFC 107.00 107.95 106.45 106.80FSL 49.00 49.70 48.55 49.25ISEC 277.00 283.70 271.95 274.15IDEA 37.05 37.05 35.60 35.95MARICO 381.00 383.80 375.50 383.25

EMAMILTD 435.45 447.85 422.20 427.75PAGEIND 23025.00 23924.70 22958.80 23872.50NESTLEIND 11389.95 11389.95 11191.95 11225.00ICICIPRULI 355.00 355.00 346.60 350.55ABCAPITAL 96.75 96.75 95.80 96.25ADANIPOWER 50.20 50.35 49.40 49.50HEG 3660.00 3660.00 3600.00 3610.10RPOWER 29.55 29.55 28.80 28.95GODREJPROP 725.00 749.00 723.00 733.15MANAPPURAM 99.70 99.70 95.15 95.55CANFINHOME 275.00 277.40 268.65 274.10TVSMOTOR 536.45 540.75 531.85 534.00SIEMENS 1056.80 1064.40 1041.05 1054.20MFSL 455.00 456.35 441.60 445.10ACC 1458.65 1468.00 1446.90 1461.50MGL 891.00 895.30 882.40 883.50SCHAEFFLER 5619.00 5836.30 5610.00 5663.50INTELLECT 218.70 218.70 214.25 215.20SUVEN 224.50 224.50 217.55 218.65AARTIIND 1560.00 1579.85 1550.10 1564.85BAJAJFINSV 6359.00 6375.05 6274.85 6359.45KEI 359.50 359.50 349.65 352.10RAIN 116.70 118.95 116.50 117.15TATACOFFEE 98.25 102.45 97.30 100.95IGL 270.60 273.00 266.50 271.00LTI 1730.00 1753.70 1715.25 1728.85NMDC 92.75 92.85 91.65 92.10BHARATFIN 958.00 958.00 937.30 940.00AUBANK 648.30 665.95 643.50 664.15OMAXE 213.45 213.45 211.75 211.85GRASIM 815.00 817.75 808.00 813.55APOLLOTYRE 225.00 225.00 222.00 223.35GODREJCP 775.95 781.70 771.90 778.00AMBUJACEM 213.10 215.15 211.50 214.30

BALKRISIND 884.00 887.50 877.75 880.00REPCOHOME 432.00 434.25 417.45 420.10CENTURYTEX 889.50 890.00 875.60 882.00TRIDENT 70.90 71.20 69.55 70.00FRETAIL 435.05 447.10 426.00 440.25MRPL 70.50 70.50 68.85 69.50ITI 91.10 92.25 90.55 91.10ALBK 44.25 44.90 43.80 44.45IBVENTURES 381.50 390.70 381.50 387.20JSWENERGY 69.60 69.75 68.00 69.35JKTYRE 101.35 101.35 99.60 99.95BATAINDIA 1150.05 1168.80 1148.85 1161.60INDHOTEL 142.25 142.25 134.60 139.15IDBI 63.00 63.20 62.15 62.75LICHSGFIN 486.00 486.00 475.25 478.25ASTRAL 1150.45 1154.55 1120.05 1125.00IFCI 14.45 14.78 14.35 14.61TORNTPHARM 1894.95 1895.00 1872.60 1883.05FCONSUMER 43.90 43.90 43.00 43.15NAUKRI 1599.00 1662.00 1589.00 1634.10TORNTPOWER 256.70 262.00 255.30 260.50DEEPAKNI 215.10 219.00 210.00 219.00UJJIVAN 288.00 288.95 284.85 286.00GMRINFRA 16.50 16.60 16.35 16.40INDIANB 252.50 257.85 250.00 252.70BRITANNIA 3098.35 3117.00 3064.55 3111.90AMARAJABAT 756.05 765.00 755.00 762.45BLISSGVS 168.00 170.60 165.15 165.65RAJESHEXPO 580.00 584.30 570.00 573.05EDELWEISS 176.20 178.60 174.00 177.55SREINFRA 34.50 34.85 33.10 33.75VENKYS 2325.00 2325.00 2280.00 2300.90KRBL 325.00 327.00 319.75 320.55MUTHOOTFIN 534.90 537.80 528.20 532.75BERGEPAINT 324.60 328.10 323.10 324.00INFRATEL 276.05 282.60 274.65 281.30IDFC 42.40 42.90 41.55 42.70AVANTI 377.00 378.90 370.20 372.40BBTC 1277.00 1277.50 1261.15 1265.00FORCEMOT 1615.00 1620.00 1600.05 1602.15JUBILANT 726.90 729.80 718.00 721.75TATACHEM 693.45 697.15 692.50 695.45SUNTECK 336.05 338.45 327.00 327.10POWERGRID 193.50 194.00 191.05 192.45ADANIPORTS 376.50 376.50 372.50 374.40AJANTPHARM 1189.70 1189.70 1158.50 1174.15SHANKARA 512.50 519.85 500.00 503.50LUXIND 1130.00 1132.50 1070.00 1090.35OBEROIRLTY 450.00 450.00 439.40 445.65JAMNAAUTO 61.75 62.70 60.75 62.10JINDALSAW 80.30 81.40 79.40 79.40CEATLTD 1261.05 1266.50 1247.20 1259.80LEMONTREE 73.00 73.00 70.20 71.50SYNDIBANK 39.70 39.85 38.70 39.45SFL 1320.00 1378.95 1291.05 1347.00HUDCO 43.10 43.50 42.70 43.10GSFC 111.50 111.50 109.70 110.45DENABANK 13.65 13.70 11.00 13.50HSIL 245.50 258.80 242.00 252.05NOCIL 163.00 168.50 163.00 165.20IRB 157.00 157.15 152.10 152.15CUMMINSIND 838.55 859.00 835.45 854.50CHENNPETRO 263.30 264.85 258.15 262.20ENGINERSIN 123.60 123.65 121.15 121.75TIINDIA 322.60 333.80 322.55 326.95GODFRYPHLP 902.30 922.30 888.25 921.90PERSISTENT 559.90 560.00 549.60 552.65VOLTAS 542.80 545.00 538.00 539.35KSCL 560.00 564.25 555.30 561.00APLLTD 594.90 606.45 591.00 597.00VINATIORGA 1564.30 1605.70 1514.75 1605.00CENTURYPLY 185.25 188.15 181.80 182.50GSPL 170.60 172.40 168.60 172.40CHAMBLFERT 169.00 170.00 165.70 167.40PTC 90.90 91.00 88.85 89.20GODREJIND 536.20 536.60 521.75 522.00OIL 174.55 174.60 172.40 172.55JSL 33.00 33.05 30.00 32.90PFIZER 2743.00 2743.00 2681.00 2696.50MANPASAND 84.35 86.00 83.20 84.80HINDCOPPER 49.50 49.80 48.60 49.30NAVKARCORP 56.00 56.00 52.60 53.00VGUARD 207.20 207.90 203.95 204.80TATAMETALI 645.00 652.00 633.05 633.05SUPREMEIND 1095.00 1152.00 1091.75 1145.20KANSAINER 450.00 450.10 438.40 444.00DBCORP 175.00 178.40 170.90 177.10JAGRAN 114.00 115.00 108.00 112.20TATACOMM 517.00 517.25 506.30 509.20WELSPUNIND 62.00 62.45 61.00 61.50MERCK 3280.00 3295.00 3168.00 3187.05CAPPL 421.95 421.95 401.15 402.20RAYMOND 812.05 820.50 805.15 814.00BALMLAWRIE 196.00 202.90 193.55 197.95SWANENERGY 101.50 101.80 99.65 101.70WELCORP 137.85 138.20 134.25 134.30IBULISL 320.20 334.95 319.65 320.60BAJAJELEC 488.00 488.00 477.20 479.80PVR 1639.55 1643.90 1627.15 1641.15SBILIFE 635.00 635.15 616.10 621.35TV18BRDCST 37.75 37.90 37.20 37.45DBL 390.85 392.55 385.00 389.15DEEPAKFERT 143.05 143.40 141.60 142.00WHIRLPOOL 1474.10 1482.65 1455.00 1455.00REDINGTON 80.25 84.20 80.25 83.40GHCL 247.90 254.40 247.25 253.95WESTLIFE 385.00 390.00 383.00 383.65SHREECEM 16180.00 16185.00 15405.65 15519.00JMFINANCIL 90.70 90.70 87.85 88.60ZENSARTECH 233.25 241.05 228.50 228.50

CONCOR 673.05 689.00 666.15 683.10SRF 2046.60 2050.00 2002.50 2022.95PARAGMILK 240.75 244.45 237.00 237.90LTTS 1632.05 1658.00 1625.00 1645.00BAJAJHLDNG 3025.10 3100.00 2991.00 3009.10COROMANDEL 468.00 470.00 450.00 454.90EIDPARRY 224.00 224.00 217.15 222.30PNBHOUSING 896.00 896.00 880.00 880.05MEGH 56.90 56.90 55.70 56.20TRENT 355.10 358.00 349.00 357.05MHRIL 208.85 216.00 208.85 213.50HSCL 132.90 132.90 129.00 129.80UBL 1371.30 1388.35 1370.00 1374.60LAURUSLABS 377.75 381.00 372.00 372.00SADBHAV 222.65 226.10 217.00 218.05GESHIP 323.35 323.35 312.00 312.00NILKAMAL 1408.55 1409.75 1379.65 1391.40NETWORK18 39.50 40.20 39.50 39.80UCOBANK 20.50 20.70 20.45 20.45VBL 811.95 823.15 811.95 819.50ADANIGREEN 40.80 40.80 39.50 39.85GPPL 96.30 96.30 90.00 90.70MMTC 29.40 29.65 29.10 29.50PRSMJOHNSN 86.50 86.65 84.00 84.45CUB 191.00 192.00 189.15 189.75ALKEM 1945.00 1945.20 1901.00 1935.00NHPC 25.30 25.60 25.30 25.40EIHOTEL 183.70 183.75 181.00 182.30GRANULES 89.85 89.85 87.55 87.55VMART 2286.35 2298.85 2242.40 2249.80JYOTHYLAB 200.00 202.50 196.85 196.85CCL 270.50 270.50 262.10 267.20MINDACORP 149.50 152.45 149.50 150.00IPCALAB 781.20 787.65 776.75 780.15SCI 46.10 46.90 46.05 46.35PNCINFRA 148.95 157.00 148.40 152.00PIIND 831.60 844.70 830.55 840.00KPRMILL 522.00 523.25 512.95 516.45APLAPOLLO 1126.00 1126.00 1102.00 1102.00SONATSOFTW 299.20 299.40 295.00 296.10TAKE 150.00 150.15 148.00 149.50NESCO 482.85 484.30 462.00 462.00THOMASCOOK 232.00 235.00 231.00 233.45NATCOPHARM* 690.35 690.35 680.90 684.20COCHINSHIP 372.50 376.00 369.05 370.05JKLAKSHMI 289.85 301.80 289.85 299.10KNRCON 215.00 215.75 211.70 215.40VIJAYABANK 48.50 49.50 48.40 48.60MOTILALOFS 690.95 697.35 683.00 689.05CENTRALBK 36.20 36.30 35.90 35.90GLAXO 1469.50 1492.45 1453.40 1489.00MAHINDCIE 238.00 238.00 232.70 236.15RAMCOCEM 626.00 636.25 614.25 631.05PRESTIGE 215.25 215.30 208.05 208.30HINDZINC 272.70 274.05 271.00 272.00NAVINFLUOR 674.15 679.00 666.95 672.50GUJALKALI 525.00 525.00 515.00 520.50ALLCARGO 109.75 110.40 108.30 109.95ATUL 3435.00 3473.95 3420.00 3421.30BASF 1503.00 1526.00 1503.00 1515.85GREENPLY 138.60 142.00 137.50 139.00BOSCHLTD 19515.00 19515.00 19100.00 19100.00GREAVESCOT 120.00 121.85 119.15 121.30NLCINDIA 67.10 67.80 66.80 67.30LALPATHLAB 988.00 988.00 960.50 985.50AIAENG 1661.00 1692.00 1655.00 1655.00RALLIS 168.25 168.25 166.65 167.20RNAM 153.60 155.50 151.25 154.00JKCEMENT 700.00 717.00 697.95 705.05SUDARSCHEM 342.65 349.00 342.00 342.35MRF 66850.00 66939.00 65700.10 66342.00MAHABANK 15.19 15.19 14.65 14.68CARERATING 1015.00 1017.45 995.00 1000.40HIMATSEIDE 212.00 218.95 208.55 211.20TATAINVEST 877.90 877.90 825.00 825.00GODREJAGRO 496.05 499.00 493.00 494.30MOIL 168.00 168.00 166.20 166.85TNPL 232.15 238.90 226.60 238.90GUJFLUORO 940.00 957.00 932.00 933.00TEAMLEASE 2731.00 2999.00 2650.00 2889.75HAL 779.45 779.45 769.30 772.05LAKSHVILAS 78.50 78.65 77.15 77.15MAXINDIA 85.00 85.75 84.30 85.25JSLHISAR 83.05 83.50 81.75 83.25GUJGAS 663.40 672.05 663.40 669.00ITDCEM 116.05 118.00 115.00 115.05IEX 163.90 164.80 161.25 161.45NIACL 179.90 181.15 179.05 180.40

ASTRAZEN 1644.25 1644.25 1594.00 1597.00SCHNEIDER 97.85 98.00 96.95 97.50ASHOKA 130.00 132.10 130.00 130.10CROMPTON 229.90 229.90 226.45 226.45ADVENZYMES 170.05 171.30 168.00 170.80ABBOTINDIA 8087.00 8087.00 8000.00 8030.25FINCABLES 455.00 455.00 447.00 448.25COFFEEDAY 271.50 276.95 267.00 274.90NBVENTURES 115.00 115.60 114.35 115.40GET&D 309.00 316.00 309.00 314.10BAYERCROP 4211.00 4222.00 4180.40 4190.00SJVN 25.45 25.60 25.40 25.50RELAXO 755.00 759.00 740.00 750.85GDL 119.70 119.70 111.45 111.50SHK 179.10 180.85 176.50 177.70LAOPALA 216.00 218.30 214.35 215.00ZYDUSWELL 1339.10 1353.55 1329.70 1341.50TIMETECHNO 99.50 101.55 99.20 100.10OFSS 3620.00 3630.00 3592.40 3603.05INDOSTAR 355.25 357.00 348.55 353.05THERMAX 1140.00 1140.00 1120.50 1128.70INOXLEISUR 254.95 255.40 249.80 251.20SYNGENE 532.00 545.00 532.00 545.00SUPPETRO 195.00 195.00 184.00 186.00FORTIS 138.60 140.40 138.60 139.10MAHLOG 500.45 518.40 500.00 504.15GICRE 261.00 261.75 258.00 258.10CORPBANK 28.30 28.80 28.05 28.40PGHH 10055.95 10055.95 9900.00 10000.00GMDCLTD 86.65 86.70 85.30 85.30BIRLACORPN 551.00 554.25 547.20 548.75GULFOILLUB 838.70 844.00 829.00 844.00FDC 173.25 173.25 170.00 170.70GILLETTE 6485.10 6505.00 6473.55 6500.00GSKCONS 7460.30 7513.95 7436.25 7440.003MINDIA 20876.85 21380.00 20539.30 20600.00UFLEX 267.30 268.30 265.00 265.20TEJASNET 217.40 219.65 214.15 215.00TTKPRESTIG 7480.60 7605.00 7480.60 7581.00LAXMIMACH 5695.00 5726.20 5671.00 5679.25KALPATPOWR 381.10 381.10 370.10 372.40SOBHA 456.60 456.60 450.50 453.00FINOLEXIND 532.25 539.35 532.25 539.35WABCOINDIA 6378.35 6412.00 6279.60 6367.30SUNDRMFAST 515.70 517.70 512.00 512.00AKZOINDIA 1744.55 1764.70 1741.10 1754.20INOXWIND 74.70 74.70 73.30 74.15IOB 14.65 14.75 14.40 14.57ENDURANCE 1188.10 1203.30 1188.00 1200.00MONSANTO 2588.05 2596.15 2550.15 2564.50ITDC 321.65 321.65 309.25 309.25VTL 1084.55 1085.95 1075.00 1085.95HONAUT 21700.00 22000.00 21439.90 21597.25CERA 2506.20 2600.00 2490.00 2600.00FORBESCO 2222.00 2267.00 2173.00 2254.75SUNCLAYLTD 3518.95 3518.95 3350.00 3370.00BLUESTARCO 618.00 618.00 604.95 607.00SUPRAJIT 218.00 218.00 214.35 214.55CARBORUNIV 361.00 362.85 359.80 361.00GICHSGFIN 265.95 265.95 264.10 264.10TRITURBINE 113.30 114.45 113.30 114.05ANDHRABANK 29.50 29.55 29.10 29.35HEIDELBERG 146.60 148.40 145.10 148.40ERIS 671.35 671.35 650.00 659.65DCMSHRIRAM 348.00 352.35 341.65 346.00CRISIL 1643.50 1652.90 1631.05 1638.75IFBIND 839.55 841.25 813.50 813.50DCAL 230.50 233.00 227.60 229.05PHOENIXLTD 551.55 559.30 550.10 554.50TIMKEN 599.90 601.00 595.10 599.00BDL 282.10 284.00 278.65 284.00JBCHEPHARM 300.40 304.85 299.05 300.25SHARDACROP 303.00 303.65 294.15 296.00MAHLIFE 380.25 388.70 380.00 388.40CENTRUM 35.75 35.75 34.75 35.65NH 204.00 205.00 198.00 201.25FLFL 392.05 394.00 388.00 388.50TVSSRICHAK 2421.00 2423.95 2405.10 2406.00SHILPAMED 384.35 390.50 382.75 390.40AEGISLOG 208.30 208.30 205.00 205.35SKFINDIA 1925.70 1933.80 1907.25 1916.00ORIENTCEM 76.00 78.60 76.00 78.00ELGIEQUIP 256.20 260.25 256.00 256.00SOLARINDS 1047.40 1047.45 1026.15 1041.45ASAHIINDIA 255.00 257.00 254.70 256.20STARCEMENT 102.90 102.90 96.00 96.00SANOFI 6245.20 6288.15 6200.00 6282.95DHANUKA 429.75 429.95 425.00 425.00SOMANYCERA 363.55 368.20 361.50 363.85MAGMA 107.25 107.70 105.05 106.90HERITGFOOD 518.50 524.10 511.45 523.90GALAXYSURF 1187.00 1187.00 1165.10 1165.10NAVNETEDUL 105.00 110.00 105.00 110.00KIOCL 149.00 149.00 144.10 144.10BLUEDART 3255.10 3287.80 3212.00 3287.80ASTERDM 162.00 162.60 161.00 162.60ESSELPRO 109.45 109.45 106.80 107.10ECLERX 1071.45 1073.95 1055.10 1057.85HATSUN 680.10 684.00 679.60 684.00ISGEC 5000.05 5038.85 4976.00 5000.00THYROCARE 549.55 549.55 546.00 549.00GRINDWELL 552.60 564.00 548.50 563.80TVTODAY 367.70 370.00 367.00 369.55TIFHL 468.40 472.00 463.75 465.00SHOPERSTOP 510.00 518.95 510.00 518.95APARINDS 615.85 619.25 614.55 619.25GEPIL 816.40 818.00 812.85 812.85SIS 762.45 762.45 754.50 759.25SHRIRAMCIT 1649.70 1649.70 1641.05 1641.05RATNAMANI 912.00 914.30 912.00 914.30

NIFTY 50

SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY 50 10807.00 10808.00 10692.35 10737.60 -57.35YESBANK 185.00 198.00 182.30 195.00 10.75INFY 707.00 710.20 695.95 701.30 17.80SUNPHARMA 447.00 452.00 443.75 451.50 7.10BAJFINANCE 2515.95 2552.90 2484.15 2551.00 36.80MARUTI 7330.00 7433.35 7257.00 7425.00 104.50TATAMOTORS 180.30 198.30 177.45 182.40 2.10INFRATEL 276.70 282.80 274.35 280.15 2.95IOC 133.00 133.15 131.00 132.15 0.95CIPLA 510.20 514.00 505.60 513.25 3.05ULTRACEMCO 3770.20 3796.95 3737.95 3776.40 6.20HINDALCO 205.50 206.60 203.40 206.15 0.30RELIANCE 1095.00 1100.50 1086.40 1099.00 0.95ZEEL 450.95 451.75 442.30 450.65 -0.40GRASIM 815.00 818.00 807.00 813.45 -0.80HCLTECH 941.00 944.00 928.00 939.00 -1.05BAJAJFINSV 6388.90 6388.90 6265.00 6364.00 -7.65TITAN 958.00 961.35 949.00 958.00 -1.30HINDUNILVR 1771.00 1780.75 1760.10 1766.00 -3.40HINDPETRO 235.25 236.30 232.60 233.00 -0.50M&M 725.00 726.40 714.30 726.00 -1.90HDFCBANK 2109.90 2109.90 2098.45 2104.90 -7.00ITC 294.50 294.80 290.00 294.30 -1.05EICHERMOT 20628.00 20629.20 20222.00 20429.00 -78.60COALINDIA 232.40 232.50 229.05 231.05 -1.20DRREDDY 2585.35 2605.00 2555.00 2574.25 -13.90ONGC 145.00 145.20 142.50 143.60 -1.05SBIN 301.00 303.60 299.55 300.50 -2.25TATASTEEL 474.20 474.40 466.80 470.55 -3.65BPCL 338.90 339.85 331.55 334.50 -2.80ADANIPORTS 377.00 377.00 372.40 373.70 -3.45BAJAJ-AUTO 2718.00 2747.20 2676.45 2694.15 -26.80KOTAKBANK 1217.00 1224.45 1206.40 1210.00 -13.20HDFC 1983.00 1983.15 1949.60 1969.25 -22.15ASIANPAINT 1404.00 1410.60 1385.45 1387.70 -15.95HEROMOTOCO 2901.00 2910.30 2856.05 2865.50 -33.75POWERGRID 194.05 194.35 191.00 192.05 -2.30AXISBANK 663.00 663.00 652.55 658.35 -8.15ICICIBANK 378.70 378.70 372.70 373.40 -5.15TCS 1850.00 1851.00 1810.00 1815.45 -27.10BHARTIARTL 334.10 334.80 328.15 330.00 -5.10NTPC 148.00 148.35 145.20 145.70 -2.30JSWSTEEL 288.45 288.45 282.05 283.90 -4.90VEDL 196.00 196.00 192.00 193.00 -3.60UPL 784.00 784.00 766.90 769.00 -14.45INDUSINDBK 1509.00 1509.00 1471.00 1483.25 -31.90LT 1367.20 1367.20 1331.00 1334.50 -35.10TECHM 703.00 703.10 676.90 679.85 -19.35IBULHSGFIN 812.90 818.90 786.20 789.45 -26.70GAIL 338.00 338.30 322.15 325.20 -13.40WIPRO 330.05 331.10 311.35 312.50 -16.20

SE 500B

NIFTY NEXT 50

SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY NEXT 50 27653.70 27659.85 27391.65 27514.85 -192.70DABUR 422.35 435.30 420.80 433.40 11.75PIDILITIND 1114.90 1140.75 1100.00 1136.75 27.50CADILAHC 350.25 355.90 349.60 354.80 6.50INDIGO 1058.00 1086.00 1052.55 1076.00 18.55AMBUJACEM 213.00 215.30 211.55 215.05 2.20CONCOR 678.55 686.35 665.15 685.00 6.45MCDOWELL-N 589.00 599.50 586.60 596.50 4.90BRITANNIA 3102.00 3124.00 3063.00 3114.00 17.15BIOCON 645.00 647.75 638.25 646.00 3.50MOTHERSUMI 161.20 162.30 158.50 162.00 0.80AUROPHARMA 769.95 778.90 765.60 771.85 2.00PETRONET 216.40 218.35 214.30 217.25 0.55MARICO 382.00 383.60 375.50 382.30 0.85NIACL 180.00 181.00 178.55 180.00 0.35HAVELLS 686.00 690.55 683.45 689.00 0.95PGHH 9998.50 10010.00 9899.95 10000.00 1.50ACC 1461.90 1465.20 1447.05 1458.80 0.15NMDC 92.65 92.85 91.55 92.05 -0.15GODREJCP 783.95 783.95 772.40 777.00 -1.95DLF 182.30 182.30 178.20 181.70 -0.45BANKBARODA 120.95 123.10 120.10 120.70 -0.45NHPC 25.50 25.60 25.30 25.40 -0.10OFSS 3648.00 3648.00 3588.10 3620.00 -17.35SIEMENS 1052.10 1065.45 1039.80 1052.00 -5.85ABCAPITAL 96.25 96.80 95.70 95.85 -0.60LUPIN 837.80 840.95 828.50 833.60 -5.75BEL 91.90 92.55 89.70 91.40 -0.65MRF 66600.00 66996.95 65955.90 66455.05 -482.20ASHOKLEY 94.30 94.30 92.70 93.55 -0.75OIL 173.80 174.40 172.30 173.10 -1.45HINDZINC 273.00 274.30 270.40 271.00 -2.50BHEL 68.75 68.75 67.50 67.80 -0.75COLPAL 1320.05 1320.05 1302.15 1304.95 -14.50LICHSGFIN 482.50 484.30 475.20 477.55 -6.55GICRE 262.00 262.00 258.00 258.00 -4.15PEL 2296.75 2296.75 2250.00 2260.00 -36.85SRTRANSFIN 1190.80 1191.05 1144.75 1169.10 -20.60ICICIPRULI 354.55 354.95 346.65 349.95 -6.60SUNTV 588.90 590.85 576.00 577.00 -11.90BOSCHLTD 19470.00 19470.00 19029.80 19080.40 -437.40ICICIGI 879.00 883.20 857.05 865.00 -20.00BANDHANBNK 453.60 455.80 437.45 443.00 -11.40SHREECEM 16080.00 16080.00 15401.35 15499.00 -414.20SBILIFE 633.00 636.65 618.25 620.00 -18.50IDEA 37.00 37.00 35.60 35.80 -1.10ABB 1350.00 1357.40 1301.10 1303.90 -41.70SAIL 52.30 52.30 50.40 50.50 -1.70L&TFH 140.95 140.95 135.00 136.40 -5.10HDFCLIFE 405.05 405.05 390.25 391.40 -15.20DMART 1440.00 1473.80 1388.00 1394.00 -177.65

PTI n NEW DELHI

Domestic passenger vehi-cle sales declined inDecember 2018 for the

fifth time in the past sixmonths, as manufacturersreduced wholesale dispatchesto dealers in order to cut inven-tory pile-up after a tepid festiveseason. According to the latestdata released by the Society ofIndian AutomobileManufacturers (Siam) onMonday, passenger vehicle(PV) sales in December stoodat 2,38,692 units, marginallydown from 2,39,723 units inDecember 2017.

Similarly, domestic carsales declined 2.01 per cent to1,55,159 units, compared with1,58,338 in December 2017. PVsales declined by 3.43 per centin November 2018. It rose 1.55per cent in October, snappingthree months of consecutivedecline. In July, August andSeptember, PV sales fell by 2.71per cent, 2.46 per cent and 5.61per cent, respectively.

“As festive season sellingdid not happen this year (2018)around, stocks at dealer levelwent up considerably. Itrequired a correction soautomakers made adjustmentsin this regard duringDecember,” Siam President

Rajan Wadhera told reportershere. With reduced dispatchesand brisk retail sales during themonth, the situation is nownormal with inventory levelsreduced to 30-35 days from theearlier levels of 45-50 days, headded. Issues like high fuelprices, lack of finance andcredit options led to decline insales in the third quarter,Wadhera said.

“With fuel prices comingdown, buyer sentiments havenow started to turn positiveand we expect the fourth quar-ter to be better in terms ofsales,” Wadhera said, addingthat 2019 is going to be a“year of growth”.

“As we move towards BS-VI emission norms from 2020,we expect to see pre-buyinghappening this year. It happens

all over the world,” he noted.Wadhera said two-wheelerprices are set to go up aftertransition to BS VI norms. In2018, PV sales rose 5.08 percent to 33,94,756 units, from32,30,614 units in 2017.

During December, mar-ket leader Maruti Suzuki Indiaposted a 1.5 per cent increasein PV sales at 1,19,804 units.Rival Hyundai Motor Indiaalso reported an increase of4.82 per cent at 42,093 units.Homegrown utility vehiclemajor Mahindra & Mahindrareported a 2.83 per cent declinein its PV sales at 15,091 unitsin December. Tata Motors sawsales dip 4.31 per cent to 15,395units during the month.

Siam said total two-wheel-er sales in December declined2.23 per cent to 12,59,026

units, compared with 12,87,766units in the year-ago month.Motorcycle sales last month,however, rose marginally to7,93,061 units, against 7,88,334units a year ago. Scooter salesdeclined 6.08 per cent to4,06,137 units, compared with4,32,427 units in December2017. During the month, mar-ket leader Hero MotoCorp sawits bike sales grow marginallyto 4,00,710 units. Rival BajajAuto also witnessed a 39.24 percent jump to 1,57,252 units,while Honda Motorcycle andScooter India (HMSI) sawmotorcycle sales dip 25.42 percent to 92,784 units.

In scooter segment, marketleader HMSI’s scooter saleswere at 2,15,212 units inDecember, down 9.88 per centas compared to the previousyear. Chennai-based TVSMotor Co posted an 8.51 percent jump in its scooter sales at86,963 units, while HeroMotoCorp witnessed a declineof 37.11 per cent at 35,881 unitsin December 2018. Sales ofcommercial vehicles weredown 7.8 per cent to 75,984units in December, Siam said.Vehicle sales across categoriesregistered a decline of 2.97 percent to 16,17,356 units from16,66,878 units in December2017, it added.

PV sales dip in Dec, see fifth

monthly decline since July

PTI n NEW DELHI

Inflation based on wholesaleprices fell to a 8-month low

of 3.80 per cent in December,2018, on softening prices offuel and some food items.The Wholesale Price Index(WPI)-based inflation stood at4.64 per cent in November,2018, and 3.58 per cent inDecember 2017. According tothe government data releasedMonday, deflation in foodarticles stood at 0.07 per centin December, against 3.31 percent in November.

Vegetables, too, saw defla-tion at 17.55 per cent inDecember, compared to 26.98per cent in the previousmonth. Inflation in the ‘fueland power’ basket inDecember slumped to 8.38 percent, nearly half of 16.28 percent in November. This was onaccount of lowering of pricesof petrol and diesel throughDecember. Individually, inpetrol and diesel inflation was1.57 per cent and 8.61 per cent,respectively, and for liquifiedpetroleum gas (LPG) it was6.87 per cent duringDecember. Among food arti-cles, potato prices becamecheaper substantially withinflation at 48.68 per cent inDecember, as against 86.45 percent in November. Inflation inpulses stood at 2.11 per cent,while in ‘egg, meat and fish’ itwas 4.55 per cent.

WPI inflation at8-month low of3.80 pc in Dec

PTI n NEW DELHI

Maruti Suzuki India (MSI)on Monday announced

opening of bookings for itsupcoming version of WagonR.Customers can book the thirdgeneration WagonR at itsauthorised dealer networkacross the country at an initialpayment of Rs 11,000, thecompany said.

Moreover, the customerscan also opt for online bookingon the company’s website, itadded. The new car will belaunched on January 23. The‘Big New WagonR’ will beavailable with a new 1.2 litrepetrol engine option alongwith another choice of 1 litreengine. It will also be offered inautomatic gear shift variant, the

company said.The new vehicle has been

developed on the Suzuki’s fifthgeneration HEARTECT plat-form, “which makes the car sta-ble, strong and safe,” it said. Useof high tensile steel hasimproved the overall safety,rigidity and NVH (noise, vibra-

tion, and harshness) perfor-mance in the new offering.

It also has safety featuresincluding driver airbag, ABS(anti-lock braking system) withEBD (electronic brakeforcedistribution) and front seatbelts reminder, speed alert sys-tem and rear parking sensors.

Maruti opens booking for new WagonR

PTI n NEW DELHI

Bharti Airtel plans to deploypre-5G network technolo-

gy for its customers at theworld’s largest congregationKumbh Mela - to be heldbetween January 15 and March4 in Allahabad. “Airtel is alsoboosting its mobile network atthe venue to serve the connec-

tivity needs of millions of vis-itors at the Kumbh Mela. It willbe deploying state-of-the-artMassive MIMO technology atthe venue to massively enhanceits network capacity,” Airtelsaid in statement on Monday.

Massive MIMO is a pre-5Gtechnology that expands net-work capacity by five to seventimes over the same spectrumand helps a large number ofconcurrent users to enjoy aseamless high speed data expe-rience, the statement said. Acompany official said thatdeployment of the new mobile

sites will start this week.Airtel had also deployed

this technology at all major IPLvenues last year. “In addition,temporary sites and small cellsites will also be deployed at thevenue,” the statement said. Thetelecom firm also announcedinitiatives to offer a digitalKumbh Mela 2019 experienceto its customers. Besides newmobile site, Airtel smartphonecustomers will be able tostream the Kumbh proceedings– including important Snans(religious bath) and Aartis – onthe Airtel TV app.

Airtel to deploy pre-5G mobilenetwork tech for Kumbh Mela

world 12LUCKNOW | TUESDAY | JANUARY 15, 2019

Allen Leech, Jessica Blair tie the knot

Los Angeles: Actors Allen Leech and JessicaBlair Herman have revealed that they got mar-ried on January 5. According to Hello! maga-zine, the couple exchanged vows at a ceremo-ny which took place at Alisal Ranch and Resortin California’s Santa Ynez Valley. The “DowntonAbbey” star said their D-day had the best of bothIreland, his home, and California. “It ended upbeing something quite different. When you getmarried in California you expect sunshine, buta little bit of Ireland blew over on the day andwe had some heavy rain,” Leech, 37, said. Whilethe bride wore a Monique Lhuillier gown withYves Saint Laurent heels, the groom sported adeep navy Armani suit with burgundy bowtie.Blair Herman, 32, talked about her love for herhusband. “As soon as I met him there was a senseof ease and comfort, that I knew marriage wouldbe uncomplicated and beautiful with him,” the“The People v OJ: American Crime Story” actorsaid. The wedding was attended by Leech’s“Downton Abbey” co-stars Michelle Dockeryand Dan Stevens and Rami Malek. “Glee” alumDarren Criss and Lea Michele sang at the alfres-co ceremony when the string quartet they hadbooked could not perform due to the rain.

‘GOT’ final season to premiere on April 14

Los Angeles: Winter is coming to scorch the TV screens as “Game of Thrones” returns for onelast time on April 14 with its eighth season.HBO on Monday announced the premiere date of thehit series last installment on its official Twitter account. The network also offered a 90 second-long “offical tease”, captioned as: “April 14. #ForTheThrone.” The video clip shows Jon Snow, Sansaand Arya - three members of the Stark family - making their way through the crypts under theirfamily home. The viewer hears messages their from dead family members Ned and Catelyn Starkas well as Lyanna Stark, Ned’s sister and the mother Jon never knew.When the troika reaches thecrypt’s end, they come face-to-face with their own statues. As confusion clouds their faces, a fall-en feather starts turning into ice and the crypt fills up with fog, cautioning that the winter is here.Last wee, HBO debuted new footage from the eighth season — that featured Jon, Sansa and DaenerysTargaryen — as part of its 2019 line-up. The network announced last November that the show’sfinal season will premiere in April 2019.

GLOBE TROTTING

Trump threatens to

devastate Turkey

PTI n WASHINGTON

President Donald Trump hasthreatened to “devastate”

Turkey economically if theNATO-allied nation attacksUS-backed Kurdish forces inSyria following a pullout ofAmerican troops from the war-torn country, and also urgedthe Kurds not to “provoke”Ankara. Last month, PresidentTrump surprised the world byannouncing that he is with-drawing 2000 American troopsfrom Syria. The pullout beganlast week. The US troop with-drawal has left America’sKurdish allies vulnerable toan attack from Turkey. Ankaraviews the Kurdish forces as ter-rorists aligned with insurgentsinside Turkey.

Trump also warned ISISthat America would hit themhard from nearby militarybases if it regains momentum.“Starting the long overdue pull-out from Syria while hitting thelittle remaining ISIS territori-al caliphate hard, and frommany directions. Will attackagain from existing nearbybase if it reforms,” the presidentsaid in a tweet.

“Will devastate Turkey eco-nomically if they hit Kurds.Create 20-mile safe zone....Likewise, do not want theKurds to provoke Turkey,”Trump said in a hard-hittingtweet on Sunday. Trump’s tweetis a stark threat toward an allyin the region that has partneredwith the US in the fight againstISIS.Last week, TurkishPresident Recep TayyipErdogan hit out at US NationalSecurity Adviser John Boltonfor saying the US withdrawalwas contingent upon Turkey’spledge not to attack US-backedKurdish fighters in Syria oncetroops leave.“Bolton made aserious mistake. If he thinksthat way, he is in a big mistake.We will not compromise,”Erdogan said.

The Pentagon has said thatthere is no timeline for UStroop withdrawal and it would

be based on ground real-ties.“Russia, Iran and Syriahave been the biggest benefi-ciaries of the long-term US pol-icy of destroying ISIS in Syria- natural enemies. We alsobenefit but it is now time tobring our troops back home.Stop the ENDLESS WARS!”Trump said.

His announcement hascome following a visit to theregion by Bolton and Secretaryof State Mike Pompeo.“Theroughly 2,000 uniformed sol-diers that are in Syria today aregoing to be withdrawn. Thatactivity is underway. We’regoing to do so in an orderly,deliberate way, a way that pro-tects America’s national secu-rity, a way that allows us to con-tinue the important missionthat they were on,” Pompeotold CBS News in an interviewon Sunday.

“The counterterrorismmission, the effort to make surethat the destruction of ISIS isnot only complete but thattheir resurgence is not possible,our efforts to counter the threatfrom terrorism stemming fromthe Islamic Republic of Iran –those are all real missions. Thetactical change we’ve made inthe withdrawal of those 2,000troops is just that, a tacticalchange,” he said.Noting that themission remains the same,Pompeo said Turkish leader-ship has made it clear that itunderstands there are peopledown in Syria that have theirrights. “We also want to make

sure that those in Syria aren’tattacking, terrorists aren’tattacking Turkey from Syria.We’re fully engaged,” he said,responding to a question ifTurkey has promised the USnot to attack the Kurdish allies.

Pompeo argued that therewas no danger to Americaninterest even after its with-drawal from Syria. “The UnitedStates of America can projectmilitary power from lots ofplaces in the world. Theabsence of a couple thousandsoldiers on the ground in Syriain no way materially dimin-ishes the capacity of the UnitedStates of America and ouramazing Armed Forces todeliver American power toaccomplish our objectives any-where in the world,” he said.

“That certainly includes inSyria. It certainly includes intoIran, if need be. We still havethose tools. American diplo-mats still have that leverage andthat power standing behindthem. I am very confident inour military capabilities here inthe Middle East,” Pompeosaid.Ground troops first arrivedin Syria in autumn 2015 whenthen-President Barack Obamasent in a small number of spe-cial forces to train and adviseYPG fighters.A peaceful upris-ing against the president ofSyria President Bashar al-Assadseven years ago turned into afull-scale civil war. The conflicthas left more than 350,000people dead, devastated citiesand drawn in other countries.

... if it hits US-backed Kurdish forces

File photo of US President Donald Trump withTurkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Pak to shelve major CPEC power projectPTI n ISLAMABAD

The Pakistan governmenthas decided to shelve a

major coal-based power plantproject under the USD 60 bil-lion China-Pakistan EconomicCorridor, citing sufficient gen-eration capacity already linedup for the next few years.TheCPEC, which connects GwadarPort in Balochistan withChina’s Xinjiang province, isthe flagship project of ChinesePresident Xi Jinping’s ambitiousBelt and Road Initiative (BRI).

The previous PakistanMuslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government had pushed forthe construction of the 1,320MW Rahim Yar Khan powerproject by China. The PakistanTehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) govern-ment of Prime Minister ImranKhan officially conveyed toBeijing that it was no moreinterested in the project inview of sufficient generation

capacity already lined up forthe next few years, the Dawnreported.

It has requested theChinese friends to formallydelete the project from theCPEC list, the report said.During the 8th JointCoordination Committee(JCC) meeting held last month,a Pakistani delegation led byMinister for Planning and

Development MakhdoomKhusro Bakhtyar “proposed toremove the Rahim Yar Khanimported fuel power plant(1,320MW) from the CPEClist, in order to provide struc-ture optimisation space for thesubsequent power market ofPakistan,” said an official, quot-ing minutes of the December20 JCC meeting.

The Chinese side suggest-

ed that a joint study on opti-misation of energy mix be car-ried out at the earliest. The pro-ject was originally pushed asimported coal-based plant byQuaid-i-Azam ThermalCompany of the Punjab gov-ernment led by PML-N presi-dent Shahbaz Sharif who usedto attend meetings of theCabinet Committee on Energyled by his brother and thenprime minister Nawaz Sharif.

A leading business tycoonhad proposed the project andwas expected to be one of thekey sponsors.The project wasremoved from the CPEC pri-ority list when then bureau-cracy highlighted that surplusgeneration capacity had alreadybeen contracted and more con-tracts would lead the countryto ‘capacity trap’.

The government hadalready notified a ban oncapacity addition on importedfuel as early as June 2016 and

the Rahim Yar Khan andMuzaffargarh coal-based plantswere removed from the CPECpriority list, the report said.Among other reasons, this ledto unceremonious removal ofthe then power secretary andhead of the NationalTransmission Company — thesystem operator.

The Punjab governmenthad pushed for revival of theplant which was included againin the priority list in subsequentCPEC negotiations, accordingto a federal secretary.

It was not needed at all andwould have been a burden onthe already deteriorating finan-cial condition of the power sec-tor, he said, adding thatDiamer-Bhasha dam was alsoincluded in the CPEC list whenthe coal-based projects wereremoved, but the dam projectcould also not move forwardunder the CPEC for unrelatedreasons.

China sentences Canadian man to death in drug case linked to Huawei rowDalian (AFP): A Chinese courtsentenced a Canadian man todeath on drug traffickingcharges on Monday after hisprevious 15-year prison sen-tence was deemed too lenient,a ruling likely to deepen adiplomatic rift between Ottawaand Beijing. Robert LloydSchellenberg, 36, nodded as thejudge in the northeast city ofDalian asked him whether heunderstood the verdict, fol-lowing a day-long retrial inwhich he declared his inno-cence.

“The court completelyrejects the accused person’sexplanation and defencebecause it is completely at oddswith the facts,” the chief judgesaid in a courtroom packedwith observers — among themCanadian embassy officials andthree foreign reporters, includ-ing one from AFP.

He can appeal against thesentence at an upper court.Schellenberg had originallybeen sentenced to 15 years inprison and a 150,000-yuan($22,000) forfeiture inNovember. But following anappeal, a high court in Liaoning

ruled in December that thesentence was too lenient giventhe severity of his crimes.

“I am not a drug smuggler.I came to China as a tourist,”Schellenberg, said in his finalstatement before the sentencewas announced. He wasbrought to the hearing in hand-cuffs. The sentence comesagainst the backdrop of theChinese government’s angerover the arrest in Canada of atop executive from telecomgiant Huawei last month on aUS extradition request relatedto Iran sanctions violations.

Chinese authorities havesince detained two Canadiannationals — a former diplomatand a business consultant — onsuspicion of endangeringnational security, a move seenas retaliation over the Huaweiexecutive’s arrest.

The Dalian court saidSchellenberg, who wasdetained in December 2014,played a “key part” in an inter-national drug trafficking syn-dicate.

“Not just content withspreading drugs in one coun-try, the syndicate has spread

across borders... it is a harm tohuman health and also to thestability of countries,” the courtsaid. China has executed otherforeigners for drug-relatedcrimes in the past, including aJapanese national in 2014 anda Filipina in 2013.

Experts said retrials arerare in China, especially onescalling for a harsher sentence.Ottawa has said it was follow-ing the case “very closely” andhas provided Schellenberg withconsular assistance.

Beijing has repeatedlydenied any diplomatic pressurein the case.

The Chinese foreign min-istry said Friday critics “canstop recklessly suspecting oth-ers of politicising legal issuesjust because they have done so”.Canadian Prime MinisterJustin Trudeau has accusedChina of “arbitrarily andunfairly” detaining formerdiplomat Michael Kovrig andbusiness consultant MichaelSpavor. Trudeau suggested thatKovrig still enjoyed diplomat-ic immunity, an assertionrejected by the Chinese foreignministry on Monday.

China’s exports

register steep fall in

Dec, worst in 2 yrs

PTI n BEIJING

China’s exports fell by awhopping USD 221.25 bil-

lion in December registeringthe biggest plunge in two yearsamid the ongoing trade warwith the US, highlighting thecontinued slowdown of theworld’s second largest economy.

Both exports and importsfared worse than expected inDecember, according to the fig-ures released Monday by theGeneral Administration ofCustoms (GAC).The figuressuggest the negative impact ofthe trade war may be greaterthan Chinese authorities pre-viously estimated, and point tothe need for a more rapid andlarger economic stimulus tostabilise growth, the HongKong-based South ChinaMorning Post said in its report.

Total exports fell to USD221.25 billion in December,down 1.4 per cent fromNovember, and 4.4 per centfrom the same month in 2017.

The figures indicate a fur-ther weakening in the strengthof the world’s second biggesteconomy which sent Asianstock markets lower onMonday. The fall of exports inDecember which is the biggestsince December 2016, whenChina grew at its slowest pacesince 1990 was the first indi-cation that the trade war withUS is biting Beijing.

Officials of China and USheld three day talks last weekto clinch a deal by March 1, theend of deadline set by USPresident Donald Trump, whois demanding that Chinashould come up with credibleinitiatives to reduce the USD375 billion trade deficit in2017.Last year again China’strade surplus with the US roseto USD 323.32 billion in com-parison with about USD 275.81

billion in 2017, according to theGAC figures.

China’s exports to the USrose 11.3 per cent last year,while American exports toChina increased by about 0.7per cent.

The December data over-shadowed China’s overseastrade registering a historic highof USD 4.5 trillion last year. InChinese currency terms thevalue of the trade was 2.7 tril-lion yuan higher than that of2017, the GAC said.

“China effectively tackledchanges of the external envi-ronment last year, and the for-eign trade maintained stableand positive growth, reachinga historic high in import andexport volume,” GACspokesman Li Kuiwen toldmedia on Monday while releas-ing the data.

Exports rose 7.1 per centyear on year to 16.42 trillionyuan last year but at the sameimports grew 12.9 per cent to14.09 trillion yuan, resulting ina trade surplus of 2.33 trillionyuan, which narrowed by 18.3per cent.

Exports and imports ofproducts under the generaltrade category surged 12.5 percent year on year to 17.64 tril-lion yuan, accounting for 57.8per cent of the total foreigntrade, 1.4 percentage pointshigher than 2017.

China’s trade with theEuropean Union, the US andthe ASEAN countries increased7.9 per cent, 5.7 per cent and11.2 per cent, respectively, withtheir combined trade volumeaccounting for 41.2 per cent ofChina’s total foreign trade.

Trade with countries alongthe Belt and Road registeredfaster-than-average growth,with the trade volume standingat 8.37 trillion yuan, up 13.3 percent year on year, GAC said.

Pak SC dismisses appeal against suspension of Sharifs’ sentences PTI n ISLAMABAD

In a relief to jailed formerPakistan prime minister Nawaz

Sharif, the Supreme Court onMonday dismissed the anti-graftbody’s appeal against the sus-pension of his jail sentence andthat of his family in one of threecorruption cases faced by theembattled leader.

In July 2018, an account-ability court here handed Sharif10 years as jail time for owningassets beyond known incomeand 1 year for not cooperatingwith the National AccountabilityBureau (NAB). A five-memberbench led by Chief Justice Saqib

Nisar upheld the Islamabad HighCourt’s verdict that ordered sus-pension of prison sentencesawarded to Sharif, his daughterMaryam Nawaz and son-in-lawCaptain (retd)MohammadSafdar in theAv e n f i e l dcorruptioncase relatedto their pur-chase of fourluxu-

ry flats in London through cor-rupt practices.

The apex court, in its ruling,said that the NAB has failed toprovide the “ground for cancel-lation of bail” and that the IHChad not exceeded its authority ingranting bail to the convicts of theAvenfield case.The 69-year-oldthree-time former prime minis-ter and his family have deniedany wrongdoing. Sharif is cur-rently in jail after an anti-cor-ruption court sentenced him on

December 24 to seven yearsin jail in the Al-AziziaSteel Mills graft casewhile acquitting him inthe Flagship

Investments corruption case inthe Panama Papers scandal.

The Supreme Court’s deci-sion brings a rare relief for theSharif family, both of whoseleaders — Nawaz Sharif andShahbaz Sharif — are currentlyincarcerated, Dawn newspapercommented. The NAB,Pakistan’s anti-corruption body,approached the apex court afterthe Islamabad High Court, onSeptember 19, suspended prisonsentences of the Sharifs awardedby an accountability court.

The accountability courtconvicted Maryam and Safdar inthe Avenfield properties caseand sentenced them to eight years

and one year, respectively, inprison. Upholding the lowercourt’s decision, the SupremeCourt bench threw out the NAB’srequest to revoke the Sharifs’bails, observing that the anti-cor-ruption watchdog had failed toprovide the “grounds for cancel-lation of bail”.

The IHC did not exceed itsauthority in granting bail to theconvicts of the Avenfield case,Geo TV quoted the bench asobserving.

Justice Asif Saeed Khosa,who will be sworn in as the coun-try’s next chief justice later thismonth, stated that the IHC deci-sion was temporary and the

apex court would not interferewith the decision.

“The person [Nawaz Sharif]is in prison and there is no alle-gation about the misuse of bail.We have a Constitution to followand we will make sure justice pre-vails. There will be a fair trial inevery case,” Justice Khosaremarked. Reacting to the topcourt’s decision to dismiss theNAB’s appeal, InformationMinister Fawad Chaudhry tookto Twitter and hailed the decisionsaying Sharif is still is in prisonand hence the decision will nothave any effect on the present stateof the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader.

‘Strong possibility’ of Rana’sextradition to India : SourcesPTI nWASHINGTON

There is a “strong possibility”of Pakistani-Canadian

Tahawwur Hussain Rana’s extra-dition to India before the com-pletion of his 14-year jail term inthe US in 2021 for plotting the2008 Mumbai terror attack, aninformed source here has said.Rana, 58, a resident of Chicago,was arrested in 2009 on thecharges of plotting the 26/11 ter-ror attack. Rana, a Pakistan-bornCanadian national, was con-victed by a federal jury of par-ticipating in a conspiracy involv-ing a terrorism plot against aDanish newspaper and provid-ing material support to Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a terrorist organ-isation based in Pakistan.

A total of 166 people, includ-ing 6 US nationals, were killed inthe attack carried out by 10Pakistan-based LeT terroristsin Mumbai. Nine of the attack-ers were killed by police whilelone survivor Ajmal Kasab wascaptured and hanged after hand-ed downdeathsen-

tence by an Indian court. In 2013,Rana was sentenced to 14 yearsof imprisonment, followed byfive years of supervised release byU.S. District Judge HarryLeinenweber.

According to the US offi-cials, he is set to be released inDecember 2021. The Indiangovernment, with “full co-oper-ation” from the Trump admin-istration, is currently working oncompleting the necessary paper-work to ensure the extraditionbefore his current jail term endsin December 2021.

India would not seek extra-dition of Rana on the charges forwhich he is already serving hisjail sentence, as officials pointedout that the “double jeopardy”clause in the US justice systemprohibits to punish a persontwice for the same crime.India isseeking extradition of Rana onthe ground that he was activelyinvolved in planning an attack onthe New Delhi-

based National Defence Collegeand Chabad Houses in severalcities. There is also forgery caseregistered against him in India.“There is a strong possibility ofextradition of Rana to India oncompletion of his jail term here.We (US and India) are workingon this,” a source told PTI.

But the “challenge” is tocomplete the necessary paper-work during this period andovercome the cumbersomebureaucracy of the two countriesand the independent judiciary,the source said.

India’s Ministry of ExternalAffairs, Ministry of Home Affairsand Ministry of Law and Justiceand the US’ State Departmentand the Department of Justice,each of them has their ownextradition procedure in place.

They are unwilling to cut-down or speed up their ownprocess when it comes to extra-dition, the source added.Following a recent visit to the USby India’s National InvestigationAgency (NIA) team, officialsfrom both sides have agreed tocut down on the bureaucraticprocedures so that all the neces-sary paperwork is ready beforethe current jail term of Rana endsin December 2021. During thevisit, the NIA team also receivedguidance from their US coun-terparts on the paperwork whichIndia needs to complete to meetthe requirements of theAmerican judiciary system andtheir standards.

Pompeo on diplomatic tightropein Saudi talks over KhashoggiAFP n RIYADH

US Secretary of State MikePompeo faces a tough bal-

ancing act on Monday as hepresses Saudi Arabia’s crownprince over critic JamalKhashoggi’s murder whileshoring up strategic ties withRiyadh. The top US diplomat,on an extensive Middle Easttour, is set to hold talks withPrince Mohammed binSalman, who faces interna-tional opprobrium over thejournalist’s murder inside theSaudi consulate in Istanbul.

Pompeo walks a diplomat-ic tightrope on his secondpolitically sensitive visit toSaudi Arabia since the killing,amid pressure from Americanlawmakers for a toughresponse. “We will continue tohave a conversation with thecrown prince and the Saudisabout ensuring the account-ability is full and completewith respect to the unaccept-able murder of JamalKhashoggi,” Pompeo toldreporters ahead of his arrival inthe Saudi capital.

After landing in Riyadh onSunday evening, Pompeopushed for Saudi Arabia tocontinue its investigation intothe murder, in talks with Adelal-Jubeir, minister of state forforeign affairs, and the SaudiAmbassador to Washington,Prince Khalid bin Salman.

Khashoggi, a WashingtonPost contributor, was mur-dered on October 2 in what

Saudi Arabia called a “rogue”operation, tipping the kingdominto one of its worst diplomat-ic crises and subsequentlystraining ties between Riyadhand Washington. Pompeo’s visitto Saudi Arabia, where he willbe hosted by PrinceMohammed, is part of anextensive eight-day trip toAmman, Cairo, Manama, AbuDhabi, Doha, Riyadh, Muscat,and finally Kuwait City.

US President DonaldTrump has brushed aside inter-national outrage to stand byPrince Mohammed over themurder of Khashoggi, whosecorpse was dismembered at theconsulate.

His support has comedespite the US CentralIntelligence Agency’s reportedconclusion that PrinceMohammed very likely orderedthe murder.

A bipartisan resolutionapproved by the US Senate lastmonth also held the crownprince responsible for thekilling.

world 13LUCKNOW | TUESDAY | JANUARY 15, 2019

Cargo plane crashes in Iran, killing 15

AFP n TEHRAN

Amilitary cargo plane over-shot a runway, crashed

and caught fire during abotched landing near theIranian capital Tehran, killing15 people, the army saidMonday. The plane was car-rying meat from Bishkek inKyrgyzstan when it crashednear the capital Tehran, thearmy said in a statement,adding that “13 of the plane’spersonnel were killed”.

The charred remains of aplane’s fuselage with IranianAir Force colours, its nosewedged through the wall ofwhat appeared to be a house,were seen in photographsobtained by AFP.

Wreckage including alanding gear and a mangledjet engine were scattered near-by. “A (Boeing) cargo 707place carrying meat took offfrom Bishkek in Kyrgyzstanand had an emergency land-ing at Fath airport this morn-ing,” the army said in a state-ment on its website.

“It exited the runway dur-ing the landing and caughtfire after hitting the wall at theend of the runway.” Fath air-port is in Alborz province,just northwest of Tehran.

The Fars news agency,considered close to the mili-tary, earlier said there were 16people onboard and that onlythe flight engineer had sur-vived. State broadcaster IRIBshowed footage of burning

wreckage. Investigators foundthe plane’s black box, whichwill provide more detailsabout the crash, deputyAlborz governor AzizollahShahbazi told Tasnim newsagency.

Pictures published bylocal media showed thecharred carcasses of the ani-mals on board, still smoul-dering inside one of the build-ings the plane smashed into.

Fars carried a video show-ing emergency teams cuttingthrough the plane’s nose,which had penetrated what itsaid was an empty residentialcomplex.

Iran’s ageing air fleet hashad a string of crashes inrecent years. Iran’s AsemanAirlines was ordered toground its fleet of ATR planesin February last year after oneof them crashed in the Zagrosmountains, killing all 66 peo-ple onboard.

Iran has been subject totough US sanctions for years,hindering the purchase ofnew aeroplanes and criticalspare parts for the US-madeplanes in its air force, civilianflag carrier Iran Air anddomestic airlines.

Hopes of a change in thesituation were dashed lastMay when Washington pulledout of a landmark 2015 dealover Iran’s nuclear pro-gramme, reimposing sanc-tions that had been lifted aspart of the multilateral accord.

This photo provided by Mizan News Agency, shows an Iranian rescue works at the site of a Boeing 707 cargo plane crash, atFath Airport about 40 kilometers (25 miles) west of Tehran, Iran on Monday. AP

Indonesia recovers 2nd black

box from Lion Air crashAFP n JAKARTA

The cockpit voice recorderfrom an Indonesian Lion

Air jet that crashed in Octoberhas been recovered, officialssaid Monday, a discovery thatcould be critical to explainingwhy a brand new plane fell outof the sky just after take-off.The Boeing 737 MAX vanishedfrom radar about 13 minutesafter departing Jakarta, slam-ming into the Java Seamoments after pilots had askedto return to the capital andkilling all 189 people onboard.

The bright orange voicerecorder was discovered earlyMonday about 10 metres froma flight data recorder that waspinpointed back in November,authorities said.

“But it’s broken into twopieces so hopefully it’s stilluseful” to investigators, HaryoSatmiko, deputy head ofIndonesia’s NationalTransportation SafetyCommittee (NTSC), toldAFP.More human remainswere also found near the voicerecorder, he added, withoutgiving details.

“This will really help theinvestigation process... andcould give some more answerson the cause” of the crash, saidJakarta-based aviation analystDudi Sudibyo.The plane’s pre-viously discovered flight datarecorder supplied information

about the speed, altitude anddirection of the plane before itplunged into the sea onOctober 29.

A preliminary crash reportfrom Indonesia’s transport safe-ty agency suggested that pilotsof Flight 610 struggled to con-trol the plane’s anti-stallingsystem just before the accident.It also found that the Lion Airjet should have been ground-ed over a recurrent technicalproblem before its fatal journey,as it criticised the budget car-rier’s poor safety culture.

But it did not pinpoint adefinitive cause of the crashand a final report is not likelyto come before later this year.

Despite the name, blackboxes are usually bright orangewith reflective stripes, and allcommercial planes are obligedto have them on board.

They’re built to survive atvast depths and in extremeheat, and are fitted with a bea-con which can emit a signal forone month.Black box data helpexplain nearly 90 per cent of allcrashes, according to aviationexperts.

Authorities called off thegrim task of identifying victimsof the crash in November, withonly 125 people identified aftertests on human remains thatfilled some 200 body bags.

Despite a dubious safetyrecord and an avalanche ofcomplaints over shoddy ser-

vice, the budget carrier’s parentLion Air Group, which operatesfive other airlines, has capturedhalf the domestic market in lessthan 20 years of operation.

It has now becomeSoutheast Asia’s biggest airlinegroup by fleet. Indonesia’s avi-ation safety record hasimproved since its airlines,including national carrierGaruda, were subject to years-long bans from US andEuropean airspace for safetyviolations, but the country stillrecorded more than threedozen fatal accidents over thepast 15 years.

Nearly 30 relatives of thecrash victims have filed lawsuitsagainst Boeing, alleging faultswith the 737 MAX led to thedeaths.

The single-aisle Boeingplane is one of the world’snewest and most advancedcommercial passenger jets.

After investigators said thedoomed aircraft had problemswith its airspeed indicator andangle of attack (AoA) sensors,Boeing issued a special bulletintelling operators what to dowhen they face the same situ-ation.

An AoA sensor providesdata about the angle at whichair passes over the wings andtells pilots how much lift aplane is getting. The informa-tion can be critical in prevent-ing an aircraft from stalling.

AFP n KHARTOUM

Defiant Sudanese PresidentOmar al-Bashir said

Monday that ongoing protestswill not lead to a change in gov-ernment, as he addressed a rallyof cheering supporters in war-torn Darfur. “Demonstrationswill not change the govern-ment,” Bashir told crowds ofsupporters gathered in Niyala,the capital of South Darfurstate, where just a day agopolice had broken up an anti-government demonstration.

“There’s only one road topower and that is through theballot box. The Sudanese peo-ple will decide in 2020 who willgovern them,” said Bashir, whois planning to run for the pres-idency for the third time inelections to be held next year.

Deadly protests haverocked Sudan since Decemberwhen angry crowds took to thestreets in towns and villagesagainst a government decisionto raise the price of bread.

At least 24 people havedied in the protests, whichswiftly turned into nationwideanti-government rallies, withprotesters calling on Bashir tostep down. “Sudan has manyenemies and those enemies

have few people among uswho don’t want stability andsecurity,” said Bashir, wavinghis trademark cane as sup-porters chanted “stay, stay”.

“We will not allow anyoneto destroy our homeland bylooting and burning our prop-

erties.” In the initial days ofprotests, several buildings andoffices of Bashir’s rulingNational Congress Party wereset on fire in towns and villages.

On Sunday, the first anti-government demonstrationswere held in Niyala and El-

Fasher, the capital of NorthDarfur. Bashir is wanted by theHague-based InternationalCriminal Court for war crimesand genocide allegedly com-mitted in Darfur where a bru-tal conflict had erupted in2003.

‘Sudan protests will not change govt’

Anti-government protesters rally in Khartoum, Sudan, Sunday, Jan. 13, 2019. Hundreds of protesters are marching again in andaround Sudan's capitol Khartoum, the fourth week of unrest that began over the rising price of bread and a failing economy butwhich now calls for the ouster of autocratic President Omar al-Bashir. AP

PTI n BEIJING/LONDON

The rare appearance of aEuropean robin in here in

the Chinese capital has causeda stir among nature fans, withsome calling the bird a “Brexitrefugee”. Nearly 200 bird-watching photographersflocked to the popular BeijingZoo last Friday after wordspread that a European robinhad been spotted there, theBBC reported on Monday.

The red-breasted bird iscommon across Europe but israrely seen in Beijing - it’s onlythe third time one has beenrecorded in the capital. Somebirdwatchers have joked therobin might be a “Brexitrefugee”, the report said.

“It’s very rare to see [theEuropean robin] in Beijing,”Terry Townshend, founder ofBirding Beijing told the BBC.“Almost 200 photographerscamped out for it. I think a lotof people want to [capture it]because it’s a very photogenicbird and it has that sort of exot-ic feel.”

Townshend said he foundout about the sighting throughbird watching groups onWeChat - a messaging app inChina. “A lot of people asso-ciate the bird with Britain... [so]someone in the WeChat groupcalled the bird a ‘Brexit refugee’because [they joked that itwas] escaping the politicalchaos in the UK,” Townshendsaid, referring to embattledBritish Prime Minister TheresaMay’s controversial Brexit dealwith the European Unionwhich would be voted by the

House of Commons onTuesday.

A defeat in Parliamentwould throw May’s Brexit plansinto disarray, weeks before theUK is due to leave the 28-member bloc on March 29. Itis not common for robins tomigrate and it is unclear howthis one might have landed sofar away from home.

“It normally lives in Europe[and] Beijing is at least 1,500miles (over 2,400 km) of whereit should normally be,” saidTownshend. “But it’s likely thatthis bird is from the easternpart of Europe and not Britain.”“We don’t really know whybirds sometimes turn up in oddplaces, it might be related toweather, when they are migrat-ing they could be blown bystrong winds.”

However it got there, theEuropean robin is expected tostay in Beijing for some weeksto come. Townshend said arobin would normally onlyleave for home at the end ofwinter.“So we would expect itto stay in Beijing for the rest ofwinter and it would probablydisappear in March.”

The European robin was in2015 chosen as UK’s firstnational bird in a poll of morethan 200,000 people.

UK leader mounts last-ditchbid to win Brexit deal backing

British Prime MinisterTheresa May plans to tell law-makers she has received furtherassurances about her Brexitdeal from the European Union,in a last-ditch attempt to winsupport for the unpopularagreement. May is due to makea statement in the House ofCommons Monday afternoon,a day before lawmakers are dueto vote on her EU divorcedeal. May argues that defeatingthe deal could open the way forEU-backing legislators to blockBrexit, with “catastrophic”results for Britons’ faith indemocracy.

A handful of previouslyopposed legislators got behindthe agreement in the last fewdays, but they remain out-numbered by those determinedto vote against it.Defeat wouldthrow Brexit plans into disar-ray, weeks before the U.K. isdue to leave the bloc on March29.

AFP n CARACAS

The president of the opposi-tion-controlled but side-

lined National Assembly wasdetained by Venezuelan intel-ligence agents for around anhour Sunday, but PresidentNicolas Maduro’s governmentdenied any knowledge of theoperation. “We have learnedthat there was a situation inwhich a group of officials act-ing in a unilateral mannerconducted an irregular proce-dure,” said CommunicationsMinister Jorge Rodriguez.

He added that officers fromthe SEBIN intelligence service“are being dismissed and sub-jected to a stricter disciplinaryprocedure” after having pro-voked a “media circus.”Following his release, JuanGuaido was met by hundredsof cheering supporters at thepolitical rally he had beenheading to when he was inter-cepted on a highway by armedand hooded men in twoVenezuelan intelligence ser-vice vehicles, according to hiswife. “So Maduro no longercontrols the armed forcesbecause the chain of com-mand was broken,” Guaidosaid. “Who is commandingthe regime now? If they’re

already admitting that theydon’t control the state’s securi-ty agencies, there’s a seriousproblem at Miraflores,” headded, referring to the presi-dential palace.

Guaido had directly chal-lenged the legitimacy ofMaduro as the president wassworn in for a second term onThursday, calling the next dayfor a transitional governmentahead of new elections.

He was detained whiletravelling to the political meet-ing in Caraballeda, 40 kilome-tres from the capital, Caracas.“They forced us to get out.

They did not hit him (Guaido),but they told us they had toproceed with his immediatearrest,” his wife Fabiana Rosalessaid in a telephone call madepublic by a member of theassembly, Larissa Gonzalez.

After Guaido’s release,Rosales in a Twitter postthanked “everyone that react-ed immediately with supportagainst the dictatorship’s abus-es against my husband.”

“The dictatorship cannotbreak his fighting spirit,” sheadded. US Secretary of StateMike Pompeo denounced the“arbitrary” detention. “We call

on security forces to uphold theconstitution and rights of theVenezuelan people. The U.S.and world are watching,” hewrote on Twitter. Once hereached Caraballeda, Guaidowas met by cheeringcrowds.“Brothers and sisters,I’m here!” he said before direct-ing a message at Maduro.

“The game is changing.The people are in the street.The symbols of pressure, resis-tance and strength are here. “Ifthey want to send a message sothat we go into hiding, here isthe people’s response: We arehere!”

On Friday, the 35-year-old Guaido had said that theVenezuelan constitution gavehim the authority to assumepower as part of a governmentof transition after brandingMaduro a “usurper.”

He also called onVenezuelans to rally January 23for a transitional government,a significant date as it was thenin 1958 that the military dic-tatorship of Marcos PerezJimenez fell.

Maduro was re-elected inMay in a vote that was boy-cotted by the opposition, whosebest known leaders were barredfrom running, under housearrest or in exile.

Caracas denies ordering assembly leader’s detention

Opposition members cheer for Juan Guaido, President of Venezuelan NationalAssembly, during a speech in Caracas, Venezuela on last Friday. AP/File photo

Rare sight of European robin inBeijing causes stir and Brexit jokes

‘Palestiniandies afterIsrael borderclashes’Gaza City (AFP): A Palestinianteenager succumbed to hiswounds on Monday three daysafter being shot by Israeli forcesduring clashes on the Gaza bor-der, the health ministry in thecoastal enclave said. In a state-ment, health ministryspokesman Ashraf al-Qudrasaid Abdul Raouf Salha, 14,“died as a result of his injuriesfrom (Israeli) occupation fire lastFriday east of Jabalia” in thenorthern Gaza Strip. Palestinianshave been taking part in oftenviolent protests at least weeklysince March along the Gaza-Israel border.The demonstratorsare calling to be allowed toreturn to the homes their fam-ilies fled or were expelled fromin territory that is now insideIsrael. Israel accuses the strip’sIslamist rulers Hamas of orches-trating the protests and usingthem as cover for violence.

The Israeli army said Fridayaround 13,000 Palestinians hadtaken part in violent “riots” inmultiple sites along the border.It had not responded to a requestfor comment on the teenager’sdeath on Monday. At least 243Palestinians have been killed byIsraeli fire since protests beganin March.

The majority have beenkilled during protests and clash-es, though others have died inairstrikes or shelling.Two Israelisoldiers have been killed over thesame period, one by aPalestinian sniper and anotherduring a botched special forcesoperation inside Gaza.

Human brain works backwards to retrieve memoriesPTI n LONDON

When we remember a pastevent, the human brain

reconstructs that experience inreverse order, according to astudy which could help assessthe reliability of eye witnessaccounts of crime scenes. Thestudy, published in the journalNature Communications,reconstructed the memoryretrieval process, using braindecoding techniques. Thesetechniques make it possible totrack when in time a uniquememory is being reactivated inthe brain, said researchersfrom the University ofBirmingham in the UK.

Understanding more pre-cisely how the brain retrievesinformation could help betterassess the reliability of eye wit-ness accounts, for example ofcrime scenes, where peopleoften are able to recall theoverall ‘gist’ of an event, butrecall specific visual details lessreliably.The researchers foundthat, when retrieving infor-

mation about a visual object,the brain focuses first on thecore meaning — recoveringthe ‘gist’ — and only after-wards recalls more specificdetails.

This is in sharp con-trast to how the brainprocesses imageswhen it f irste n c o u n t e r sthem. When weinitially see acomplex object,it is the visualdetails — pat-terns andcolours — thatwe perceivefirst.

Abstract,meaningful infor-mation that tells usthe nature of theobject we are lookingat, whether it is a dog, aguitar, or a cup, for example,comes later.

“We know that our mem-ories are not exact replicas ofthe things we originally expe-

rienced,” said Juan LindeDomingo, lead author of thestudy.

“Memory is a recon-structive process, biased bypersonal knowledge and world

views — sometimes weeven remember

events that neveractually hap-pened. Butexactly howmemories arereconstructed

in thebrain, stepby step, iscurrent ly

not wellunderstood,”

D o m i n g osaid. During the

study, partici-pants saw images

of specific objects,and then learned to

associate each image witha unique reminder word, forexample the word ‘spin’ or‘pull’.The participants werelater presented with the

reminder word and asked toreconstruct the associatedimage in as much detail aspossible.Brain activity wasrecorded throughout the taskthrough 128 electrodesattached to the scalp, allowingthe researchers to observechanges in brain patterns withmillisecond precision.

The researchers trained acomputer algorithm to decodewhat kind of image the par-ticipant was retrieving at dif-ferent points in the task.

“We were able to show thatthe participants were retriev-ing higher-level, abstractinformation, such as whetherthey were thinking of an ani-mal or an inanimate object,shortly after they heard thereminder word,” said MariaWimber, senior author of thestudy.

“It was only later that theyretrieved the specific details,for example whether they hadbeen looking at a colourobject, or a black and whiteoutline,” Wimber said.

Kuala Lumpur (AFP): A giantpanda born in a Malaysian zoocelebrated her first birthdayMonday with a cake made of icein front of adoring visitors.

The youngster lookedaround shyly as a zookeeper car-ried her to a platform in herenclosure where the cake, whichhad a large number “one” on top,was waiting.After nibbling atsome carrots used to decoratethe creation, the panda - whohas not yet been named —seemed to tire of the celebra-

tions, and fell asleep.Currentlyweighing 34 kilos (75 pounds),she is the second cub born toLiang Liang and Xing Xingsince they were sent from Chinato Malaysia in 2014, on a 10-yearloan.The first, Nuan Nuan, wasborn in August 2015 and sentback to China in 2017. Beijingand Kuala Lumpur have agreedthat cubs born in captivity mustgo back to China at the age oftwo. The pandas are kept at thenational zoo’s panda centre out-side Kuala Lumpur.

Panda celebrates first b’day in Malaysian zoo

LUCKNOW | TUESDAY | JANUARY 15, 2019

Actress PRIYA PRAKASH VARRI-ER, who is gearing up for therelease of her forthcoming filmSridevi Bungalow, saysshe wanted to becomea part of Rohit Shetty’sSimmba along withRanveer Singh.Popular as the ‘winkgirl’, Priya becamean overnight sensa-tion with herexpressions in theteaser songManikyaMalaraya Poovifrom herMalayalammovie OruAadar Love.She said,“There werelots ofrumours that Iwas part of Simmbabut I wish that was true because Iam a great fan of Ranveer Singh.

Actor EMRAAN HASHMI’S eight-year-old son Ayaan has beendeclared cancer-free five yearsafter he was diagnosed with thedisease. The actor announced the

news to his fansvia social media. “Today, five yearsafter his diagno-sis, Ayaan hasbeen declaredcancer free. Ithas been quite ajourney. Thankyou for all yourprayers andwishes. Love andprayers for all the

cancer fighters out there. Hopeand belief goes a long way. Youcan win this battle,” he wrote.He also uploaded a few pho-tographs of his son along withthe heartfelt post.

Actor CHRIS PRATT and girlfriendKATHERINE SCHWARZENEGGERare engaged.The couple is ready to tiethe knot following a whirl-wind romance that sawthem fall for each otherover the summer andspend plenty ofquality time withPratt’s six-year-old son Jack.“SweetKatherine, sohappy you said‘yes’. I’m thrilledto be marryingyou. Proud to liveboldly in faith withyou. Here we go,” hecaptioned a photo ofhimself cuddling up toSchwarzenegger,whose engagementring was visible.The news has comejust two days after Pratthelped Schwarzeneggermove from her home.

Wanted to be apart of Simmba

‘I am excited to playa lawyer on screenfor the first time formy forthcoming filmSection 375.EveryoneI amworkingwith onthisproject, Ihavebeen afan of. Ilove AkshayeKhanna as an actorand his last fewoutings have beenamazing. I am happyto collaborate withdirector Ajay Behltoo.’—Richa Chadha

Chris, Katherineengaged

vivacity 14

It is that time of the year yet againwhen the largest literature festival inthe Asia Pacific region, the JaipurLiterature Festival, returns to enthrallbookworms and even those who are

not-so-literary inclined. With a myriad ofliterary sessions, performances and moreslated to be held at the Diggi Palace hotel,this year’s festival will span over four days,from 24th - 28th January.

But the Pink City holds a lot ofattractions for those who wish to delve intomore than just books. There are magnif-icent palaces, colorful bazaars and manyother one-of-a-kind experiences that thecity has to offer. The following are someplaces and activities:

The culture fix at Chokhi DhaniTo truly immerse yourself into the rich andvibrant culture of Rajasthan, kickstart yourvisit with a trip to this village resort whichtransports you to a realm that is far-removed from the city. Peppered withmagic shows, folk dance performances, ele-phant and camel rides, boating and acro-batics, there is a lot that can hold yourattention. There is more that is a delightfor your gastronomical senses as well.Savour the traditional Rajasthani farewhere you can partake dal-bati-choorma,mawakachori and ghewar among many lip-smacking delicacies.

Shop till you drop at the bazaars After that much needed disconnect fromcity life, the perfect way indulge yourself isby taking a trip through the vibrant bazaars.There are hole-in-the-wall shops which canreveal treasures that have their origins in tra-ditions that are thousands of years old.Within these bazaars, you can get every-thing from carved wooden souvenirs to col-orful handicrafts and marble sculptures. Youcan also find exquisite Rajasthani gold jew-elry, Mojaris and chappals and blue potterythat is unique to these locales.

Explore historical forts and palaces The rich history of the city which was

founded in 1727 is reflected in the abun-dance of mighty forts and palaces in thecity. Some of the celebrated architectur-al monuments include the Jal Mahal, theAmer Fort and the Nahargarh Fort. Thearchitecture of Jal Mahal which is nestledin the Man Sagar Lake amidst theNahargarh hills, showcases the amalga-mation of Rajput and Mughal styles. TheNahargarh fort offers an unparalleled viewof the entire city. The Amer fort isanother opulent palace built in red sand-stone and marble, which is also one of thevenues of the Jaipur Literature Festival thisyear. For those who are interested, thereare heritage walks aplenty for attendeesof the festival by seasoned local tourguides.

Dive into adventure Wrap up your trip to the otherwise quaintcity of Jaipur with the some adrenaline-pumping adventures that it has to offer. Zipthrough the wildlife with the famous jun-gle safaris or witness the mighty leopards,tigers and hyenas at the RanthamboreNational Park. Experience the wildernessthrough camel safari, paraglide across thesparkling lakes or drift over the city in ahot air balloon.

From its tales of past valour to its viva-cious present, there’s a lot that makes Jaipurunforgettable.

The antics of Suppandi, thetall tales of ShikariShambhu and the wisdom

of Tantri — who can forget thecharacters who were an essentialpart of our childhood days. Andnow, Tinkle, where each of thesecharacters have been appearingevery month with unfailing reg-ularity get to share inch spacewith actor Ranveer Singh in themagazine’s second issue forJanuary. He is seen posing withthe favorite Tinkle Toons, on thecover page of the issue.

And if you turn the pages, ‘Allin a day’s work’ is the comic stripstarring Ranveer Singh and

Tinkle Toons. That’s not all.Tinkle spotlight will also be fea-turing an interview with the

Simmba star.The issue will hit the stands

on January 16.

However, this is not the firsttime that celebrities have been apart of the much-loved chil-

dren’s magazine. The Indiancricketer Virat Kohli featured inthe magazine in November 2016,director Gauri Shinde in May2017, sportsperson P V Sidhu inNovember 2017 and authorRuskin Bond in September 2018(700th issue).

The actor in the meantime,continues his uninterrupted runat the box office where his latestrelease, Simmba has notched up350 crores making it his biggestsolo hit. This also make it thehighest grossing Bollywoodmovie for both Rohit Shetty andKaran Johar who are the co-pro-ducers.

When actor Shilpa Shuklaentered the Hindi filmindustry, abiding by the

common wisdom, she tried hard tobe conventional. She says, “Earlier,people told me that acceptance hap-pens if you present yourself in aconventional way. It is funnybecause as much as I tried beingmyself and focus on my acting, Ialso tried to be a part of this mind-set.” It was writer and filmmaker,Jaideep Sahni, she says, who toldher to be herself and break out ofthat trap during the filming of ChakDe India. “He told me, ‘Tu jaljeerahai. Tu Coca Cola bann ne kikoshish kyun kar rahi hai?’” Andthat is what set her on a path thathas now hewed out for herself. Therest as the history for BindiyaNaik remains one of the mostmemorable characters from thefilm.

“I was really intrigued bythese words. Why do we after alltry to become someone that we are

not? From 2010 I started followingthat. It’s very important for me tobe comfortable in my own skin,”says that actor who will be seen inBombairiya.

Shilpa believes that imitating astyle that wasn’t her was tough. Shesays, “When I wore lenses for thefirst time for a screening, my eyeswere teary throughout. And I won-dered to myself as to why did I wearthem? I had to be me. But I equal-ly respect those people who actu-ally put themselves in someoneelse’s shoes and act.”

Even if you’ve been a part ofnumerous experiences, there arealways certain spaces which remainunexplored, believes Shilpa of Chak

De... and BA Pass fame. She saysthat her role in the film really “firedher up” after she learnt how it fit-ted in the “entire ensemble” ofthings. “I don’t think there are manyscripts around this topic today. Thefilm talks about a very relevant issuefor today’s society through humour.So I found it very unique,” she says.

The film’s director Pia Sukanyahad earlier said that the film makesvulnerable characters appear funny.It’s a film, she said, where onewould laugh at the plot and people’ssituations because they are too real.“Crisis-like situations are laughableprovided you are not a part of it,”she said.

Shilpa says that she found thescript interesting since she hadnever played a politician before and“my character is a funny one. In away, her situation is very serious butit can make people laugh. I liked thefact that there were so many differ-ent and interesting actors workingin the film. While telling a story, Ifeel all of us are instruments but inthis particular film, everyonetogether becomes one whole.”

Playing varied characters andgetting into someone else’s shoes isof course difficult. So how doesportraying a character personallyaffect or change a person? Shilpa

feels that even though one plays acharacter and is constantlyengrossed in it while shooting,“many a times, the realisation hitsyou much later after the film isreleased. And then, you start think-ing about it. Acting is very instinc-tive. You often work without real-ly putting your mind and thoughtto it.”

She says that it was only whenshe watched the film for the firsttime, that she realised what kind ofa message her character or the filmtries to give. “When I read thescript, I was laughing throughout.But only when I watched the filmI realised that it conveys such animportant message through com-edy.”

She says that it was similar withChak De... the film where she wasnoticed for the first time.Incidentally, it also transformed herin a way as she “fell in love” withhockey. Before that she had neverplayed the sport. “After that veryrole, I was eager to go and watchthe Hockey World Cup to see mycountry win. It happened after 36years. When such realities cometogether, the joy is irreplaceable,”says she.

Even though she has acted inother films, her character of Bindiya

Naik is the one that people stillremember very well. For Shilpa aswell, the role was path-breaking asit shaped her acting career, enabledher to move ahead and be true toherself.

The actress comes from a non-Bollywood background and saysthat she had no “orientation” beforecoming to the industry. “Earlier Iused to think that you complete thework and your job is done. Butthere is a lot that goes behind it. Itmakes you learn so much. Chak De,was my first commercial block-buster.” She felt that she had a lotto learn even after that. And beingreal topped the list.

That was evident in her char-acter in BA Pass which too gar-nered a round of applause.

She reveals that for her firststint, Khaamosh Paani, she wasonly 18 and basically “a kid whoknew nothing.” She says that therewere around 90-100 girls for therole’s audition, and it went extreme-ly well for her. But “I still don’t knowwhat had worked. So there arespaces which are always unknown.”

She says that with a role like BAPass, she learnt how to read, under-stand and question. She realisedthat even success has nothing to dowith happiness. “So it taught me to

figure out what is going to keep mein a happy space, equally empathet-ic to others, and in-tune with real-ity. Because often, in this industry,we are taken away from reality. Welive in our own world.” She addsthat this condition is not fair for anyartist, “because artists draw theirenergy from life. So I don’t believein living in a limbo and creatingcharacters.”

While talking about the evolu-tion of Bollywood over the years,she says that today “everyone is ahero.” She adds, “Why do certainfilms work? For example, Chak Deworked because everyone was ahero in it. We can see the times arechanging. Women are leading,actor is not the only hero.”

She gives another example ofher film, BA Pass. “People hadquestioned that the filmmakers hadput a woman in the forefront of theposter, so it might not sell. Iremember during its release,Chennai Express was going torelease the next week. But the filmworked and it is an evidence thataudience is accepting the change.When we talk of demand and sup-ply, this is what it is about. Supplyis not putting the blame on demandanymore. There are equal respon-sibilities. People are accepting con-tent, and rejecting what they don’tlike. They only put their moneywhere they find it worth. Eventhough it will take time to changecompletely, the good news is thatinteresting times have started.”(Starring Radhika Apte, AkshayOberoi, Ravi Kishan, among otheractors, the film releases on January 18.)

Photo: Pankaj Kumar

Calling out Rajkumar Hirani inthe #MeToo movement is a rad-ical step-up in the naming and

shaming endeavour. The creator of theMunna Bhai series has silenced all hisfans and friends in the film industry,and the outspoken few have said theallegations against him are disturbing.

Writer Apurva Asrani is one of therare voices that spoke up on beingcontacted.

He said, “I choose to believe theyoung lady as it takes much courageto speak up against such a powerfulfilmmaker and then risk being boy-cotted by the film industry. I think theproducers did the right thing byremoving Mr. Hirani’s name from theEk Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Lagaposters and promos.

“This is something the PhantomFilms producers had failed to doafter allegations against Vikas Bahlcame to light.”

A HuffPost India article narratedthe alleged ordeal of a woman whoworked with Hirani on Sanju, andwho has claimed the filmmaker sex-ually assaulted her. Hirani has deniedit.

Actress Dia Mirza, a close friendof Hirani, reacted with stupefied con-fusion.

“I am deeply distressed by thisnews. As someone who has knownand respects Raju sir for 15 years, I canonly hope that a due official enquiryis conducted. He is one of the mostdecent human beings I have everworked with and I think it would begrossly unjust on my part to speak onthis as I do not know the details,” Diasaid.

Filmmaker Hansal Mehta said, “Itis disturbing. I hope the truth prevailsand due process is followed to ensurea quick and just resolution.”

Writer-director Vinta Nanda, whohas named Alok Nath for sexualassault, is extremely vocal on the alle-gations again Hirani.

“Despite having faced what I havepersonally, it’s hard to believe it.That’s what’s strange about how we’reconditioned by our feudal cultures.However, it’s no secret that patriarchyafter so many decades of industriali-sation, which led to women having tojoin workforces across the world, isstill too deeply entrenched in oursocial breeding.

“It’s no secret that multitudes ofmen and women in India lead duallives, one what is required at home and

within the family and the other thatis required for them to be at work.Therefore, it’s very hard to understandwhat’s going on in a person’s head andit’s very easy to hide the negative man-ifestations of power behaviours with-in the binary.”

Commenting on the deathlysilence in the film industry, Nandasaid, “The industry is frightened.There are skeletons hoarded in manycupboards out here and there’s no landleft for them to be buried. This silenceis what we call sanatta in Hindi.Everyone is speechless. They don’tknow what to say. They don’t knowwho they should protect, the preda-tors who are their dear friends or thesurvivors who need their support.”

She sees this as a moment of reck-oning for the Indian entertainmentindustry.

“This is a huge calling for theindustry. It’s time to wake up and smellthe coffee and do what is right becauseyou can’t veil the truth any longer. It’salso a moment in which the industryneeds to introspect. It needs to comeout of it’s we are family mode, whereanything that happens remains with-in the family.

“It’s time for the industry to usethis opportunity to become profes-sional across the board. I would bebold enough to add that we shouldprotect all survivors and help themheal but we should forgive all preda-tors and perpetrators who harassed,assaulted and violated them before the#MeToo movement happened. Fromhere onwards we should be strict,unforgiving and punishing to anybodywho dares to misbehave.”

—IANS

Actor RANVEER SINGH will rub shoulders with much-loved characters from Tinkle

T O O N T A L K

No end to #MeToo

Filmmaker RAJKUMAR HIRANI being named in a sexualharassment case has left the film industry with mixedemotions — silent, outspoken and a few disturbed

B E Y O N D

BOOKS

B E Y O N D

BOOKS

While the JAIPUR LITERATURE FESTIVAL is the centerpiece for thebibliophiles, there is a lot more to do in the city after the sessions are over

ZIP THROUGH THEWILDLIFE WITH THE

FAMOUS JUNGLESAFARIS OR WITNESS

THE MIGHTYLEOPARDS, TIGERS

AND HYENAS AT THERANTHAMBORENATIONAL PARK

The reality quotientActress SHILPA SHUKLA talks about how she keeps characters

true to herself. By CHAHAK MITTAL

LUCKNOW | TUESDAY | JANUARY 15, 2019 sport 15

AFP n MELBOURNE

Abattling Andy Murray bowed out ofthe Australian Open at the first hur-dle on Monday, but it was business

as usual for ruthless Roger Federer andRafael Nadal who joined CarolineWozniacki in round two.

The Scottish five-time Melbourne Parkfinalist gave it everything he had andshowed glimpses of the form that won himthree Grand Slams, but his ailing body lethim down during a gutsy 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (5/7),6-7 (4/7) defeat to 22nd seed RobertoBautista Agut.

Murray tearfully revealed before thetournament that he was in constant agonyfrom a hip injury and planned to retire thisyear.

The 31-year-old hopes to end his careerat Wimbledon, but has admitted theAustralian Open could be his last event,unless he has a late change of heart.

"Amazing. That was incredible, thankyou so, so much to everyone that came outtonight," he said after being given a rap-turous send-off.

While his tournament ended in despair,Swiss master Federer, six years older thanMurray, continued his march towards arecord seventh Australian Open title.

He swept past Uzbek Denis Istomin 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 said he was in "disbelief " that hewas the double defending champion at hisage and vowed to give his all to make it threein a row.

"I'm going to try everything possible (towin again) and leave it all on the court," saidthe world number three.

His long-time rival Nadal, who cut shorthis 2018 season to have surgery on a footinjury, showed no mercy to Australian wild-card James Duckworth in his openinground clash.

The 17-time Grand Slam winner cruisedthrough 6-4, 6-3, 7-5 and said it was animportant victory.

"Not easy to come back after a lot ofmonths, especially against a player playingsuper aggressive on every point," said the2009 Australian champion, who showed nosign of any injury worries. "The energy I feelin this place is fantastic."

The second seed is bidding to becomethe first man in the Open era, and only thethird in history along with Roy Emerson andRod Laver, to win each Grand Slam on twoor more occasions.

Fifth seed Kevin Anderson progressed,as did NextGen Finals champion StefanosTsitsipas. But ninth seed John Isner becamethe first top seed to crash out.

World number three Wozniacki, whomade her Grand Slam breakthrough inMelbourne last year, opened her defencewith a convincing 6-3, 6-4 win overBelgium's Alison van Uytvanck.

It was an emotional win for the Danewho is struggling with rheumatoid arthri-tis and she was in tears afterwards.

"Last year I had some special memoriesand just to be able to be back out here onRod Laver Arena is something extremelyspecial and emotional," she said.

GOOD TESTSecond seed and 2016 champion

Angelique Kerber was also impressive,breezing past Slovenia's Polona Hercog 6-

2, 6-2.Maria Sharapova, a winner at

Melbourne in 2008, signalled her intent witha rare 6-0, 6-0 double bagel demolition ofBritain's Harriet Dart.

Playing in her 15th Australian Open, thethree-time finalist said she was pleased togo through so easily as she battles back frominjuries.

"I'm still working through some painfuldays. But, you know, I felt like I did all theright things today in order to get throughthat match," said the Russian.

Fifth seeded Sloane Stephens, the 2017US Open champion who struggled in herwarm-up tournaments in Brisbane andSydney, got back to business with an easytwo-set win against fellow American TaylorTownsend.

Eleventh seed Aryna Sabalenka, wide-ly tipped as a potential future champion, alsosafely negotiated round one on a hot day. ButGermany's 14th seed Julia Goerges wasknocked out, as was former French Openchampion Jelena Ostapenko.

Britain's Katie Boulter, meanwhile, cre-ated a slice of history by becoming the firstwoman to win in a third set tiebreak -- a newrule introduced to the Open this year, beat-ing Russia's Ekaterina Makarova 6-0, 4-6, 7-6 (10/6).

PTI n KUALA LUMPUR

Top Indian shuttlersKidambi Srikanth and

Saina Nehwal will begin theseason with renewed verve atthe Malaysian Open WorldTour Super 500 tournamentwhich gets underway with thequalifiers here on Tuesday.

World No 8 Srikanthendured a below-par seasonwhere he topped the BWFranking for a brief period andalso claimed theCommonwealth Games Silverbut failed to win a single title,following an unprecedentedhigh of 2017.

Though he couldn't pro-duce the goods in the inter-national circuit, Srikanth man-aged to keep a clean slate in thejust-concluded PremierBadminton League (PBL)where he anchored his team toa title win on Sunday.

The 25-year-old fromGuntur will hope to continuehis unbeaten run when hetakes on Hong Kong's Ng KaLong Angus in his season-opener on Wednesday.

Saina, on the other hand,has been one of the top achiev-ers in 2018, claiming a second

Gold in the CWG and secur-ing a Bronze at the AsianGames and AsianChampionship.

She also reached the finalsat Indonesia Masters,Denmark Open and SyedModi International.

The 28-year-old fromHyderabad, who recently mar-ried fellow shuttler P Kashyap,will also face a Hong Kongplayer in Deng Joy Xuan in herwomen's singles first round.

B Sai Praneeth, mean-while, has decided to give thetournament a miss after fea-turing in the PBL forBengaluru Raptors.

Commonwealth Gamessilver medallists SatwiksairajRankireddy and Chirag Shettywill look for a positive starttoo when they face China's OuXuanyi and Ren Xiangyu.

In women's doubles,CWG Bronze medall istsAshwini Ponnappa and NSikki Reddy will meet HongKong's Ng Tsz Yau and YuenSin Ying, while the mixeddoubles pair of SatwiksairajRankireddy and AshwiniPonnappa square off againstEnglish pair of Ben Lane andJessica Pugh.

PTI n KOLKATA

Asian Cup Gold medallist Shakil Amedhas added one more feather to his cap

when he set up a world record in indoorrowing by completing 1,00,000 (onelakh) metres in above-40 years categoryhere on Sunday.

A FISA level one coach, Shakil beganhis record-setting indoor rowing feat in

Salt Lake stadium complex at 8 am onSunday morning and achieved the mile-stone of covering 1,00,000 metres of sim-ulated distance in 10 hours.

Secretary of West Bengal RowingAssociation (WBRA) Souvik Ghosh andcommittee member AniruddhaMukherjee said they would now certifythe feat to the authorities of LimcaBook of Records for entering the achieve-

ment in their record book.Shakeel also has the record of com-

pleting 50,000 metres of simulated row-ing in four hours and 13 minutes whichis already in the Limca Record Book.

Rowing Federation of India GeneralSecretary Girish Phadnis congratulatedShakil for the unique feat.

"It is indeed a big achievement,” itsaid.

AFP n MADRID

Lionel Messi scored his 400thLa Liga goal, a total his

coach Ernesto Valverde called"monstrous", as Barcelona ter-rorised Eibar to reclaim theirfive-point cushion at the top ofthe table.

Messi drove the ball intothe bottom corner after beingteed up by Luis Suarez, whoadded two goals to his own tallyeither side of the Argentinianmarking another historic recordat the Camp Nou on Sunday.

"It's monstrous," saidValverde, after the 3-0 victory."It's easy to say but you have toscore them one after the other,it's a long-term job.

"His numbers are stratos-pheric, incredible. He is fromanother galaxy." Victory sawValverde's side restore theiradvantage over Atletico Madrid,who had briefly cut the gap totwo points after beating Levanteearlier in the day.

"There is a lot of time left,"Valverde said.

"It is a good cushion butnothing is done yet."

Real Madrid won too, beat-ing Real Betis, to ensure Spain's

big three all prevailed in thesame round for only the fourthtime this season. Real remain 10points adrift of Barcelona.

Messi, meanwhile, extendshis own hefty lead as the divi-sion's all-time top scorer, whichcurrently stands at 89 goals,ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo.

Ronaldo, now at Juventusin Italy, owns a better goals-to-game ratio, with his 311 strikescoming in 292 matches. Messi'squadruple century arrived inhis 435th.

In fact, it was one of Messi'squieter nights in terms of per-formance and in another team

it might have been Suarez orPhilippe Coutinho picking upthe plaudits.

Suarez assisted Messi,applied a classy finish and wason the end of a scintillatingteam move for Barca's first.

- Sparkling Coutinho dis-play -

==============================

Coutinho was the providerfor that one and delivered asparkling display to appeasethose doubting his future at theclub.

The Brazilian has endureda spell out of Valverde's pre-ferred starting line-up but heconverted a penalty againstLevante in the Copa del Rey onWednesday, and was arguablyman of the match here.

He alone supplied threepasses in the build-up toSuarez's opener. Arthur Melostarted it, playing a one-twowith Coutinho and then intothe feet of Sergio Busquets.

Busquets pinged the ballleft to Coutinho, who twiceexchanged with Suarez beforethe Uruguayan, off balance,found the far corner.

Messi's moment came inthe 53rd minute and it wasSuarez who started it, stealingback possession after a heavytouch from Anaitz Arbilla. Hebounced it off Coutinho andfound Messi, who touched andrifled in.

Barca were enjoying them-selves as Coutinho flicked theball over one opponent's headand Suarez did the samethrough another's legs.

The third goal was simple,however, Sergi Roberto takinga quick throw and freeing thescuttling Suarez. With the goal-keeper out, he looked up andchipped the ball into the net.

AP n LONDON

There were too many saves forManchester United goalkeeper David

de Gea to even remember.Everyone else was certainly counting:

Eleven. The most by any goalkeeper in aPremier League match this season. Andthey were all in the second half to thwarta Tottenham comeback.

The Spaniard's virtuoso goalkeepingperformance protected a 1-0 victory in thePremier League on Sunday after MarcusRashford's first-half strike, giving Uniteda sixth successive victory in all competi-tions since Ole Gunnar Solskjaer replacedJose Mourinho.

"I said to David at halftime, 'You mighthave to make a save here, you have to keepyour concentration,'" Solskjaer said.

"He didn't have to keep his concen-tration because he was never allowed torelax. He is a fantastic goalkeeper. I thinkhe's the best in the world."

Few would dispute that on Sunday asDe Gea was masterful with his hands andfeet - particularly frustrating efforts byHarry Kane and Dele Alli to equalize.

"I don't even remember some ofthem," De Gea said, when asked for hisfavorite save.

Rashford helped out his teammate."The near-post save from the corner

was the best one," the striker said, along-side De Gea.

That was in the 70th minute whenChristian Eriksen's corner was turned inat the near post by Toby Alderweireld andDe Gea's instinctive reaction saw the ballcleared with his left foot.

"De Gea was unbelievable, and allcredit to him," Tottenham managerMauricio Pochettino said.

"We weren't clinical. And sometimeswith less opportunities you score, butthere's no complaints."

The only goal came in the 44th

minute at Wembley Stadium afterTottenham defender Kieran Trippier gavethe ball away. Paul Pogba sent a long, highdiagonal pass to Rashford who con-trolled the ball with one touch and thensent it low beyond goalkeeper HugoLloris.

By passing his first significant test,Solskjaer strengthened his bid to keep themanager's job into next season.

In particular, he got the better ofPochettino, who has been considered thefavorite to be hired as Mourinho's per-manent successor. Although still third inthe standings, Tottenham has now lostback-to-back league home games and top-scorer Harry Kane limped off at the end.

United is yet to rise from sixth underSolskjaer but the record 20-time Englishchampion is now only behind Arsenal ongoal difference and six points adrift ofChelsea in the fourth and final ChampionsLeague place.

And the mood has been transformedat United since Mourinho was fired andformer fans' favorite Solskjaer was broughtin on loan from Norwegian side Molde.

"The manager brought some happi-ness, the players are playing well and theteam is very strong now," De Gea said."This is the real Manchester United."

Federer, Nadal start with winsDefending champion Roger, Nadal and Kerber sail into second round; Andy Murray crashes out

PTI n MELBOURNE

Prajnesh Gunneswaran's maid-en Grand Slam appearance

ended in disappointment afterAmerican Frances Tiafoe defeat-ed the Indian in straight sets inthe opening round of theAustralian Open on Monday.

Tiafoe defeated Gunneswaran7-6 (9-7) 6-3 6-3 to set up a sec-ond round clash with big SouthAfrican Kevin Anderson.

World No 39 American beatthe Indian qualifier in a matchthat lasted an hour and 52 min-utes.

Guuneswaran fought hard inthe first set which went into thetie-breaker after both playersheld their serve till the 12thgame.

In the tie-breaker, Tiafoe gota mini-break and then closed theset at 9-7 in the tie-breaker.

Once he won the first set, theAmerican completely dominatedthe 106th ranked Indian in thesecond and third sets respective-ly.

Prajnesh's first serve let himdown in the second set and hissuccess rate was 43 percent com-pared to 72 per cent of theAmerican.

Tiafoe converted two breakpoints in the third and sixthgame of the second set to take it6-3.

In the final set, Tiafoe got animportant break of serve againstthe left-handed Gunneswaran inthe eighth game and then closedthe match in the ninth game toend India's lone challenge in thesingles event.

In the women's event, AnkitaRaina and Karman Kaur Thandifailed to cross the early hurdle los-ing in the second and first roundrespectively in the qualifiers.

Prajnesh suffersshock defeat

Roger Federer in action during the match, (right) Rafael Nadal reacts after winning the match, (down) Kerber returns a shot to her opponent during the match File Picture/AP

Barcelona players celebrate after winning the match AP

THE SECOND SEED ISBIDDING TO BECOME

THE FIRST MAN IN THEOPEN ERA, AND ONLY

THE THIRD INHISTORY ALONG WITH

ROY EMERSON ANDROD LAVER, TO WINEACH GRAND SLAMON TWO OR MORE

OCCASIONS.

Messi puts Barca five points clear

SHAKIL AHMED SETS WORLD

RECORD IN INDOOR ROWING

De Gea's saves help ManU beat Tottenham

Saina, Srikanth begin new season at Malaysia Masters

LUCKNOW | TUESDAY | JANUARY 15, 2019 sport 16

PTI n ADELAIDE

Mahendra Singh Dhoni's inabil-ity to set the pace duringmiddle overs will remain a

major cause of concern when India takeon Australia in a do-or-die second ODIon Tuesday in their bid to keep thethree-match series alive.

Hardik Pandya's sudden suspen-sion on disciplinary grounds has badlyaffected the balance of the batting order,which was apparent during team's 34-run defeat in the opening match despitevice-captain Rohit Sharma's 22nd hun-dred in 50-over format.

Dhoni's 51 off 96 balls and failingto rotate the strike has brought to focusthe rejigging that skipper Virat Kohliand coach Ravi Shastri will have to fretupon.

With Dhoni being slotted at No 5even though vice-captain Rohit wantsthe veteran to bat a notch higher butcues from India's training sessionmade it clear that the team is unlikelyto tinker with the batting order.

India's batting order did comeunder the spotlight at the SydneyCricket Ground. The top three (Rohit,Shikhar Dhawan and Kohli) haveenjoyed a fairly consistent run since2016.

But it was a rare occasion whenDhoni had to come out in the fourthover of the innings.

Dhoni averages 52.95 while battingat number four, which is higher thanhis current career-average of 50.11 over333 games.

It is even higher than his favouredbatting positions of number five (50.70)and six (46.33) but batting lower downthe order, strike-rate becomes para-mount.

Yet, Dhoni's career strike-rate atnumber four is 94.21 is higher than hisoverall career strike-rate of 87.60, or atnumber five (86.08) and number six(83.23).

When India last played ODIs inAustralia in January 2016, Dhoni bat-ted at number four in two matches butonly scored 18 runs.

In fact, since that series, Dhoni hasbatted at number four in only eightODIs, with the last instance in the 2018Asia Cup.

He averages 24.75 in this interim,with a strike-rate of 77.34 and a high-est of 80 against New Zealand inOctober 2016.

This presents a quandary, whichthe Indian team management might notbe in a mood to sort out at present.

Rayudu did well enough in the AsiaCup and in the home series againstWest Indies, and both batsmen merita longer run in their respective positionsto help settle this batting line-up in therun-up to the English summer.

No pre-match short-list has beenannounced for this second ODI, andall-rounder Vijay Shankaronly arrived late Mondayafternoon in Adelaide,thus might not be avail-able for selection.

In Hardik's continued absence,any forthcoming changes will be to finda better balance between bat and ball.

While India coped in the Asia Cupand against West Indies when he wasout injured, playing three spinners insub-continental conditions helped. Inoverseas conditions, Pandya's absencerestricts the team's capability withboth bat and ball.

Despite his suspect action, Rayuduis free to continue bowling in interna-tional cricket, but it remains to be seen

if the team managementwould want him to.

Kedar Jadhav providesan alternative option in

that light, and he could come into theplaying eleven at Dinesh Karthik'sexpense.

There is every chance that the samebowling composition as in the first ODIwill be retained, despite Khaleel Ahmedbeing off-colour. He batted in the netsalong side Yuzvendra Chahal onMonday.

Out of the three fast bowlers,Mohammed Shami was most impres-sive in the first match and given the del-icate situation of this series, he will cer-

tainly not be left out.The team management also banks

on Ravindra Jadeja's all-round skills,and as such Chahal's chances of animmediate return to the side looksdoubtful.

Mohammed Siraj had a long bowl-ing stint though, under the watchfuleyes of coach Ravi Shastri, and he couldbe in contention for Ahmed's place.

However, onus will be on the topthree batsmen to come good once againand deflect any undue pressure on themiddle order for a second game run-ning. Kohli averages 73.44 at theAdelaide Oval across all formats, whilein ODIs alone, he still averages an

impressive 46.66.While he would definitely strive to

score runs again at his favourite venue,Dhawan's form will be in limelight.

Along with Dhoni and Rayudu, heis the third batsman in the top six whodidn't play any domestic cricket whilethe Border-Gavaskar Trophy was beingcontested.

SQUADIndia: Virat Kohli (c), Rohit

Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, AmbatiRayudu, Dinesh Karthik, Kedar Jadhav,MS Dhoni (wk), Kuldeep Yadav,Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravindra Jadeja,Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed,Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj,Vijay Shankar.

Australia: Aron Finch (c), JasonBehrendorff, Alex Carey (wk), PeterHandscomb, Usman Khawaja, NathanLyon, Mitch Marsh, Shaun Marsh,Glenn Maxwell, Jhye Richardson, PeterSiddle, Billy Stanlake, Marcus Stoinis,Ashton Turner, Adam Zampa.

PTI n ADELAIDE

Not playing a single inter-national match for a con-

siderable amount of time canimpact any bowler's matchrhythm and pacerBhuvneshwar Kumar learnt itthe hard way after being hitfor 66 runs in the first ODIagainst Australia at Sydney.

Bhuvneshwar, who was apart of the Test squad, wasn'tpicked in the playing XI dur-ing the four-match series anddid look rusty during the slogovers of the opening ODI.

Asked if being out ofcompetitive cricket for amonth have an impact, hereplied: "It (not playing regu-larly) did impact (myrhythm). Match rhythm istotally different when it comesto bowling. I was trying every-thing to be in rhythm in thenets.

"But it can't be a 100 percent when you compare to amatch (situation). It wasn'tgreat in the last match (inSydney) but it wasn't bad aswell. It can improve, as thematches will go on," he added.

During the past onemonth, Bhuvneshwar wastraining hard to get into matchrhythm.

"I was trying everything tobe in rhythm. In the nets, Iwasn't planning or preparingto bowl in the ODIs. I waspreparing like I have to play inany of the Tests. I was prepar-ing in that manner. Therewasn't anything specific that Icould do.

"But it was just normalbowling and increasing thenumber of overs. If I wasbowling 4 overs (to start with),then go to 6, then 8, then 10.The key thing for me is to beniggle-free and be in bowlingrhythm," the UP seamer said.

Bhuvneshwar revealedthat he wasn't 100 percent fitduring the series but current-

ly is niggle free."See, I was fit but I could-

n't say that I was a 100 percent. Because in Test match-es, it's a five-day game, so Ireally didn't know I would beable to go through that thing.What was good was we hadbowlers who could play at thattime and I got time to be 100per cent fit again. I wasn't real-ly sure that time," he said.

Bhuvneshwar claimed thathe has been able to regain hisusual pace and will be bowl-ing at 130-135 kmph.

"I was going through nig-gles at that time (in England)and when you have a niggleyou can't be a 100 per cent, sothat was during that period.Since then and now, I havetrained a lot, especially duringthe one month of the Testseries. I trained a lot. That isthe reason I am back to 130-135 (pace). The main thing isI am niggle-free right now.That's the main thing for me,"he said.

Kumar outlined that theteam management is not wor-ried about Ambati Rayudu'saction being deemed suspectby the ICC.

PTI n ADELAIDE

Australia vice-captain Alex Carey onMonday said that an ODI series

win against a top team like India "willmean a lot" considering the hosts'struggles over the last 12 months.

The home took a 1-0 lead in thethree-match series with a 34-run winin Sydney, and the second ODI will beplayed in Adelaide on Tuesday.

Pakistan were the last side to losean ODI series to Australia, 4-1 inJanuary 2017, and thereafter after atumultuous 2018, wherein they wononly 2 out of 18 ODIs, the hosts havestarted 2019 on a winning note.

"It would mean a lot, it has been awhile. I want to see Australia win andbeing part of it means so much to usevery game we play. But to continue toget better every game is probably ourbiggest process at the moment leadinginto that World Cup," said Carey.

"Against India, they're a really goodside so they're going to look to bounceback pretty quickly, so it's going to bea great opportunity to stand up tomor-row night, to puff our chests outagain and hopefully put another real-ly good performance," he said.

Carey insisted that Australia arenot seeing the ongoing contest as arevenge series after the loss in Tests

against India."I think the performance the other

night is a really good step in the rightdirection. If you take a look at our bat-ting performance, we all played well,we all played our role, and then withthe ball having them three down earlywas pretty early.

"But having to break that big part-nership between MS Dhoni and RohitSharma and get over the line was, as aplayer, was a really amazing feeling outthere."

Carey also talked about rollingthings into the World Cup and con-tinuing the winning form.

"I think the other night was a real-ly big step forward and we canimprove from that, definitely.Obviously the three quicks that playedthe Test series and played last seriesaren't in this series so it is a really goodopportunity for Jason Behrendorff,Jhye Richardson and Peter Siddle whoall played really well the other night.

"It was a great opportunity for metoo at the top of the order and PeterHandscomb coming back in. If youlook across the list, there are so manyopportunities for guys to put theirhand up and really make a spot theirown."

IANS n KOLKATA

Australian umpiring great Simon Taufelon Monday backed under-fire crick-

eters Hardik Pandya and Lokesh Rahul,calling for the issue to be handled with careas everyone makes mistakes and it isimportant to learn from them.

Chastised from every corner for theiralleged "misogynistic" comments aboutwomen on a television show, the taintedpair have been suspended by the BCCI andhave returned home midway from the tourof Australia to explain themselves.

In the city as the special guest for a localcricket league -- the Silver Oak EstateCricket League — Taufel was asked abouthis opinion on the issue that has taken thenation by storm.

"I knew this question was going tocome up. Look what I would say in everyteam and in every business and every sport,is that good people make a good team. Andthat we all make mistakes from time totime. We all learn as we go," Taufel, 47, toldreporters at the Press Club.

"Although, I didn't see the show, I haveread little bit of press about some of thecomplaints. I have made plenty of mistakesin my career and I have learnt along theway.

"These players may have made somemistakes with some of the things that theyhave said. But they too will learn and allthe other players and all the other people

that have seen this event will also learn,"he added.

Considering the duo's career ahead,Taufel cautioned that the issue should behandled carefully and hoped that theywould learn from their mistakes andbecome better persons.

"So I think we really need to be care-ful about being overly critical. People domake mistakes but if we learn from thoseand we are genuine about wanting to dobetter, and commit to doing better thenthat's a good thing," he said.

AFP n JOHANNESBURG

Duanne Olivier sparked a Pakistan col-lapse as South Africa completed a

series clean sweep with a 107-run win onthe fourth day of the third and final Testat the Wanderers Stadium on Monday.

Starting the day on 153 for three,Pakistan lost their remaining sevenwickets for 120 runs to be bowled out for273.

Olivier effectively ended Pak's hopeswhen he took two wickets off successiveballs in the third over of the morning.

Babar Azam received a fast, liftingball angled in towards his throat, whichhe gloved to wicketkeeper Quinton deKock. Azam (22) had helped AsadShafiq add 58 for the fourth wicket.

Pak captain Sarfraz Ahmed wasbowled first ball. Seemingly expecting

another short-pitched delivery fromOlivier, he was deep in his crease whenhe had his off stump knocked back by afast, full delivery. With V Philander gain-ing unpredictable bounce from a goodlength just outside off stump, Shafiqadvanced down the pitch and was caughtat second slip off a ball which seamed

away from him.Olivier, who got his chance to play

in the series because Philander wasinjured, was the leading wicket-taker with24 at an average of 14.71. He was namedman of the series. Kock, who made 129for SA in the 2nd innings, was man ofthe match.

India vs Australia

Live from 7:50am IST

SONY SIX & SONY TEN 3

HALEP MAINTAINS TOP SPOTMadrid: Romania's Simona Halep continued to lead theWomen's Tennis Association (WTA) rankings released onMonday with 6,642 points, followed by Germany'sAngelique Kerber. Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark remainedin the third spot in this week's rankings, ahead of Japan'sNaomi Osaka and US' Sloane Stephens, reports Efe news.Meanwhile, Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic climbed twospots to world No. 6 following her victory at the SydneyInternational on Saturday, pushing Ukraine's Elina Svitolinaand her compatriot Karolina Pliskova into seventh andeighth spots respectively.

KERALA AND PATIALA PLAY OUT 4-4 DRAWChennai: Kerala and Patiala played out an exciting 4-4 drawin a Pool 'E' match in the 9th Hockey India Senior NationalHockey Championship for men 'B' Division here on Monday.In other matches, Hockey Coorg beat Steel Plant SportsBoard 2-1 and Sports Authority of India defeated All IndiaPolice Sports Control Board 2-1. There were also wins forHockey HIM over Assam Hockey 5-1 and Hockey MadhyaBharat walloped Goans Hockey 9-3. In the first match today,Kerala Hockey and Hockey Patiala were involved in anintense battle for supremacy. S Shijin (11th, 17th, 40thminutes) with a hat-trick helped Kerala take a 3-1 lead.Rahul Sharma's 49th minute goal through a penalty cornerequalised the score and Jaswant Singh's 56th minute goalgave Hockey Patiala a 4-3 lead. M Nishant then scored forKerala Hockey to secure a draw and split points.

ISHAN KISHAN TO LEAD BP XINew Delhi: Jharkhand wicketkeeper-batsman Ishan Kishanwill lead Board President's XI in a three day warm-up gameagainst England Lions in Thiruvananthapuram from January18-20. The players involved in the Ranji Trophy quarter-finals have not been considered for selection, said the BCCIin a statement. Jharkhand's left-arm spinner Pappu Roy,rookie Mumbai fast bowler Tushar Deshpande, Andhrabatsman Ricky Bhui have earned their places in the side.Deshpande, who has been injured for the better part of theseason, has been called as the national selectors alongsideVirat Kohli wants to increase the pool of fast bowlers.

SRIKANTH SIGNS 35 CRORE DEAL New Delhi: Ace Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth signed afour year 35-crore sports sponsorship deal with Chinesebrand Li-Ning on Monday. The former world number one,who is the only Indian badminton player to have won sixSuper Series badminton event, signed a four-year deal withpremium Chinese sports brand Li-Ning which will compriseof sponsorship and equipment supply, a media release said."I am honoured to be the face of Li Ning in India and globally.I love their products and I'm really looking forward tostepping on the court with a renewed vigour to accomplishfew more goals that I have set for myself & keep bringlaurels for my country," Srikanth said.

AWARD FOR FORMER INDIA CRICKETER VV KUMAR Chennai: Former India leg-spinner V V Kumar washonoured with the Sundaram Finance "Spirit of Mylapore"award for his contribution to the culture and heritage ofMylapore. The award was presented to the legendary TamilNadu bowler by the Sundaram Finance Managing Director TT Srinivasaraghavan at a function here, a press note said.Former India Davis Cup player Ramanathan Krishnan hadreceived the award in 2014. Agencies

SINGLES

INDIA LOOK TO RESTORE PARITY

After suffering 34 runs defeat in 1st ODI, Men in Blue look for equaliser

(clockwise) Indian players celebrate after dismissing Australian batsman, Rohit Sharma walks off the field after getting dismissed, MS Dhoni plays a shot during the match AP

Bhuvneshwar Kumar in action AP

Simon Taufel speaks during a press conference AP

South African players pose for a photo with the trophy after winning the series 3-0 against Pak AP

INDIA-AUSTRALIA AT ADELAIDE:

TEAM P W L T SUCCESS%

Australia 51 36 15 - 70.58

India 14 8 5 1 60.71

Aus-Ind 5 4 1 - 80.00

Faisel Features

Not playing regularly can

impact rhythm: Bhuvneshwar

Umpire Taufelbacks Hardik, Rahul

Series win against India

would mean a lot: Carey

OLIVIER SPARKS SOUTH AFRICA TO SERIES WIN

MOST WICKETS IN SOUTH AFRICA-PAKISTAN SERIES:

Bowler Series M Overs Runs Wkts AVG 5WI 10WM Best

Duanne Olivier (SA) 2018-19 3 88. 353 24 14.70 3 1 6-37

Dale Steyn (SA) 2012-13 3 115.2 258 20 12.90 2 1 6-8

Mohammad Asif (Pak) 2006-07 3 125.5 351 19 18.47 2 - 5-76

Makhaya Ntini (SA) 2006-07 3 103.1 355 19 18.68 2 - 6-59

Kagisp Rabada (SA) 2018-19 3 86.2 318 17 18.70 - - 4-61

++ All series played in South Africa

Faisel Features

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