˘ˇˆ˙˘˝˛˚˚˜ - the pioneer · 2019. 4. 12. · bhubaneswar was inaugu-rated on april 13,...

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With the polling for the firstphase of polling ending

on Thursday, the three majorparties, BJD, Congress and BJPclaimed that they have "per-formed well".

However, many observersare of the view that there weretwo undercurrents flowing inthe four Lok Sabha constituen-

cies of Koraput, Kalahandi,Nabarangpur and Brahmampurand the 28 Assembly segmentsunder them.

The two factors that mayinfluence the outcome are:Naveen Patnaik’s high popular-ity among women voters andyoung voters’ support toNarendra Modi for India’sairstrike in Pakistan.

Naveen’s acceptabilityamong the women votersshould not be ignored becausewomen voters outnumberedtheir male counterparts in thefirst-phase polling.

On the other hand, youngervoters within the age group of

35 and first-time ones seemedto be supporting Modi becauseof the IAF’s bravery beyond theborders. "I expect the results tobe better (for the BJD) than the2014 polls," Patnaik toldreporters. BJP State in-chargeArun Singh claimed that hisparty would win a two-thirdsmajority of the Assembly seats.PCC president Niranjan Patnaiksaid Congress candidates wouldwin 18 out of the 28 Assemblyseats. Notably, in the 2014 elec-tions, the BJD had won all thefour Lok Sabha seats. Of the 28Assembly seats, the BJD hadbagged 20 while, the Congresssix and the BJP two.

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The Keonjhar police havearrested another accused in

connection with the incidenceof obscene photographs of ayoung woman election candi-date going viral on socialmedia.

The arrested youthChinmay Senapati is a residentof Bhadrak district. With this,the cops have so far arrestedthree persons in this case.

Earlier, the police hadarrested Jayadev Giri, a BJPyouth leader of Keonjhar dis-trict and his associateBisnudutta Barik.

The police said Jayadevand Bisnudutta had posted thevideo and photographs onsocial media which went virallater. The two were arrestedafter the victim’s uncle lodgeda complaint.

Briefing mediapersons,Keonjhar Sadar SDPO PrakashJames and DSP, HeadquartersSuresh Patra said, “The policeare in touch with authorities ofsocial platforms like Facebookand WhatsApp. Nine morepersons are involved in theincident and a search is on tonab the rest accused.”

Meanwhile, politicalobservers said this might be ahandiwork of rival parties inview of the elections inKeonjhar district going to pollson April 23.

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The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) onFriday gave new responsi-

bilities to Cooperation, FoodSupplies & Consumer WelfareMinister Surjya Narayan Patroand Bhubaneswar North MLAPriyadarshi Mishra.

BJD supremo NaveenPatnaik appointed Patro, avice-president of the party, asthe party’s senior poll observ-er for Keonjhar district.

Besides, sitting MLAMishra, who had earlier beendeclared as a party State gen-eral secretary, was given chargeof being a party spokesperson,informed newly-appointed BJDState general secretary BijayaNayak in a Press release.

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The State capitalBhubaneswar was inaugu-

rated on April 13, 1948 by firstPrime Minister JawaharlalNehru. Today the city cele-brates its 71st Foundation Day.

Although the modern citywas formally established in1948, its history can be tracedto the 3rd century BC and ear-lier. It is referred as a templecity with a series of ancientsandstone temples that vary insize from the towering struc-ture of Lingaraj to the few feet-tall small temples scattered allover the town. The town devel-oped around the LingarajaTemple.

The modern city was

designed by German architectand planner Dr OttoKönigsberger. It was designedfor a population of 40,000 overan area of 16.48 km to serve asthe administrative centre forthe State. Accordingly, six unitswere developed with Unit-V forlocation of the administrativecomplex and other units wereplanned on neighbourhoodprinciples. The town centreconsisted of a market building,a weekly market, a daily mar-ket and a bus station with acentral vista leading up to theRaj Bhavan and a commercialzone along Janpath and BapujiNagar up to the railway station.

This particular areadesigned by Koenigsbergerremains as the best green coverwith open space and well-organised transportation sys-tem. The innovative masterplan of the city with modernistbuildings, land-use patterns,provisions for education, recre-ation, medical and social ser-vices creates a landmark in the

history of town planning inIndia.

In 2015 whenBhubaneswar was proposedfor a Smart City, its populationwas 9.74 lakh. It is a fast-grow-ing city. The land use of the cityover a period showed tremen-dous rises in the built-up-formfrom agricultural area, vegeta-tion and vacant land. At pre-sent, the city is growingtowards north, northwest andsouthwest directions along themain transport routes.

A regional developmentplan for the city has been pre-pared. It is declared as Vision-2030 for BhubaneswarDevelopment Plan Area(BDPA) covering an area of419.1 sqkm. The BDPA com-prises BMC, KhordhaMunicipality, JatniMunicipality and adjoining122 Mouzas.

In the perspective plan,broad-level strategies and poli-cies on various aspects of urbandevelopment have been pro-

vided. To translate these strate-gies into medium-term plan-ning proposals, aComprehensive DevelopmentPlan (CDP) has been formu-lated. At present, the BDPA isexperiencing low-densityurban sprawl. This has made itsurbanised area grow rapidly,replacing farmland, marshyland and forests. The streets aregetting blocked with encroach-ments and traffic congestions.Water sources and storagecapacity appear to be insuffi-cient for future demand, alarge part of the area having nosewerage system. Besides, thecity is facing air pollution dueto vehicular movements andindustrial and constructionactivities. Water bodies havevanished to make space forhousing and commercial activ-ities. With high temperatureand humidity,

Bhubaneswar is convertedinto a heat island during thesummer. Since most of thecity is covered by concrete,

there is no scope for rainwaterto seep into the soil for ground-water recharge and the ground-water level is continuouslydepleting.

The major problem of thecity is the shortage of housing.The housing requirement ofBDPA is 4,31,915 dwellingunits. There are 436 recognisedslum settlements, of which 320are unauthorised.

Planned for a population of40,000, Bhubaneswar nowaccommodates more than amillion people. The city needsmeasures to reduce air pollu-tion and urban heat islandeffect. Proper guidelines shouldbe followed for water drainage,sewage and waste manage-ment. The Smart City initiativeby the Government promotingdevelopment of urban greenspaces can be coupled withstrategic landscaping to opti-mise benefits of greening pro-grammes. Air pollution can bereduced effectively by usingmore green space in the city

planning process. Proper landuse planning is needed to pro-vide sufficient green spaces toavoid damage to environment.

There is a need to increasethe infrastructural facilities interms of transport and com-munication, water supply andsanitation and, above, allhealthcare facilities so that itcould cope with the increasingrequirement of the city popu-lation.

Urban sprawls and fringedevelopments on the outskirtsneed to connect with the coreareas of the city which willmake accessibility of the peo-ple living on the outskirts.With proper planning, the citycan grow in harmony withnature. Sustainable urban plan-ning can reduce energy con-sumption, increase energy effi-ciency of existing systems andprotect natural areas.

(Dr Praharaj teaches atDepartment of Architecture,College of Engineering andTechnology, Bhubaneswar)

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�� BHUBANESWAR: In yetanother such inhuman act, aminor girl, aged six years, wasallegedly raped and murderedby a neighbour at GopabandhuNagar under the Jatni policelimits of Khordha district onThursday night.

Locals nabbed the accusedyouth soon after the incidentand thrashed him black andblue injuring him severely.They later handed him over tothe police. On Friday morning,the irate locals staged a protestin front of the Jatni police sta-tion and held a road blockadedemanding strong actionagainst the culprit.

Sources said the accusedtook the girl to an isolated placeand raped her there beforekilling her.

Bhubaneswar DCP AnupSahoo said the accused, who isin police custody now, wouldbe arrested and legal actionwould be taken against himsoon. “A special team will beformed to investigate the inci-dent since it is a sensitive case.We will also file a charge-sheetin a time-bound manner,” headded. Meanwhile, the criti-cally-injured accused has beenadmitted to the SCB MedicalCollege Hospital in Cuttack fortreatment. PNS

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BJD supremo and ChiefMinister Naveen Patnaik on

Friday alleged that the BJP-ledGovernment at the Centrebetrayed the people of Odishaby for the last five years by notfulfilling promises the BJPmade during the 2014 polls.

Patnaik stated this whileholding marathon road showsat Sanakhemundi and at vari-ous other places in Ganjam dis-trict.

“BJP leaders visit Odishaduring elections only. The partymade many promises like giv-ing Special Category State sta-tus to Odisha and createemployments for youths.Though it came to power at theCentre, it didn’t fulfil any of itspromises. The party hasbetrayed the people of Odishain the last five years,” said

Patnaik said.He slammed the Central

Government on issues ofMahanadi water disputebetween Odisha andChhattisgarh and the

Polavaram project in AndhraPradesh. The CentralGovernment supported boththe projects against Odisha’sinterest, he said.

Speaking about Khurda-

Balangir railwayline, Patnaik said,“Although we haveprovided land freeof cost, the Centre ismaking inordinatedelay in executionof the project.” Heasserted that theBJD would win 21out of 21 Lok Sabhaseats and continueto fight for fulfil-ment of the State’sl o n g s t a n d i n gdemands. “This is agood chance for allof us to teach theBJP a lesson,” hesaid.

“Your presence in largenumbers is the reflection ofyour love and support to ourparty. Continue your supportand bestow us with your votes,”he said.

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BHUBANESWAR:BJP nation-al president Amit Shah,addressing an election rally atKeonjhar on Friday, urged vot-ers to dethrone the BJDGovernment and bring a BJPGovernment in the State to seeOdisha emerge as No. 1 State infive years’ time.

“Elect Narendra Modiagain and vote out the NaveenPatnaik Government to seeOdisha become number oneState,” Shah said.

Shah lambasted the BJDfor youths of Odisha going out-side in search of work despite

the party remaining in powerfor 19 long years.

Alleging that corruptionhas touched the pinnacle in the

State, he said people close to theChief Minister are verycorrupt.

Claiming that the Keonjhar

medical college is being con-structed out of �1,600-croreDMF provided by the Centre,Shah promised that anothermedical college would be estab-lished in Keonjhar if the BJP isvoted to power.

He too promised that theGST would be lifted fromkendu leafs and minimum support prices (MSPs) wouldbe raised for all forestproducts.

The BJP Governmentwould distribute land rights(pattas) to all tribals under theForest Right Act within 5 years,he said.

Besides, Shah charged theCongress of indulging in cor-ruption and halting develop-ment in the country during thelast 70 years. PNS

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Aday after a BJD delegationmoved the State Chief

Electoral Officer (CEO) alleg-ing poll code violation by theBJP, its national vice-presidentand Kendrapada Lok Sabhacandidate Baijayant Panda anda private news channel ownedby Panda’s wife, the rulingparty again met the CEO onFriday accusing Panda of cheat-ing the people Kendrapada LSconstituency.

In a letter to the CEO, theBJD alleged that a criminal casewas filed against Panda inMarch 2018 for filing a false

affidavit in the 2014 electionsby suppressing his role in andcompensation from his familybusiness.

“In the affidavit, Pandadescribed him as a sitting MP(of Kendrapada). But he didnot mention about his role asa vice-chairman of miningcompany IMFA,” the letter stat-ed.

The party further alleged

that while Panda, in his2019 election affidavit, hasstated that he was appoint-ed as vice-chairman ofIMFA for a period of threeyears from October 28,2018 with a monthly remu-neration of Rs 17 lakh(over Rs 2 crore annually),the 2013-14 and 2014-15annual reports of the IMFA

have mentioned him as VC ofthe company with an annualsalary of Rs 1.4 crore.

This proves that Panda hasdeliberately suppressed his rolein the company, the letter said.

“Panda has cheated thepeople of Kendrapada. Thepeople in the district will nowquestion him as to why hecheated them and their trust in2014,” it added.

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A day after quitting theCongress, the party’s for-

mer spokesperson SonaliSahoo joined the BJP here onFriday.

She was inducted into theBJP in the presence of seniorparty leaders including UnionMinister Dharmendra Pradhanand Giridhar Gamang.

Sahoo had on Thursdayresigned from the Congressexpressing displeasure overdistribution of party ticketsfor the Assembly polls. She wasa ticket aspirant to contest theelections from the KhordhaAssembly constituency.

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Pradesh CongressCommittee presi-

dent Niranjan Patnaikon Friday campaignedin the AskaParliamentary con-stituency in favour ofCongress-CPI allianceLS candidateRamskrushna Pandaand Assembly candi-dates.

Patnaik along withPanda and other seniorCongress and CPI lead-ers moved in villagesand urged voters to vote forPanda for development of theconstituency.

“Development in the Askaconstituency has been haltedduring the BJD rule. This time,people will give a befittingreply by electing Panda andCongress’ Assembly candi-dates,” said Patnaik.

LS candidate Panda allegedthat Aska has suffered frompolitical neglects for long.“Irrigation and drinking waterproblems are rampant here.

There are no cold storages forfarmers.

The Aska spinning millhas been closed and the sugarmill is on the verge of closure.Schools have no doctors andmedicals have no doctors,”alleged Panda.

He too lambasted the StateGovernment saying that manyyouths are going to other Statesin search of works as the BJDGovernment has failed to pro-vide jobs during the last 19years.

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With the second-phasepolling on April 18 near-

ing, candidates for the BalangirAssembly constituency haveintensified their campaigningto woo voters.

A close fight is expectedamong candidates of the BJD,the Congress and the BJP.

Sitting MLA NarasinghaMishra of Congress, in thefray this time also, has steppedup his door-to-door campaignin villages assuring voters toprovide free houses to all land-less people, paddy MSP of�2,650 per quintal, increase oldage and widow pensions andcomplete the Lower Suktel andother projects at the earliest.

However, the Congress hassuffered a setback as nine partyleaders, including LaxmanMeher, resigned recently.

Political observers feelMeher has sizeable votes inDeogaon block and could bringtroubles for Mishra. But Mishrasaid Meher’s exit would notaffect his winning prospects asmany other leaders have cometo his support.

BJD candidate ArkeshNarayan Singh Deo has been inthe public service for the lastfive years. He played a vital role

in fetching the university sta-tus to the Rajendra College,establishment of a �10-croreauditorium and a new bus ter-minus at Balangir.

“The Naveen PatnaikGovernment has taken a num-ber of steps for upliftment ofpoor people; and I will strivefor development of Balangirfurther,” said young Singh Deo.

The recent joining of BJPleader Basu Pati, who has size-able voters in the Sibtala areaof Balangir block, in the BJD isan added factor to the winningprospects of Singh Deo. Meherand his supports recentlydecided to vote for BJD.

Arkesh, his father AUSingh Deo and his wife AdrijaManjari are moving in differ-

ent wards of town and villagesseeking votes for him and forBJD MP candidate and Arkesh’selder brother Kalikesh SinghDeo.

BJP candidate Annata Dashas also expedited his cam-paigning with high hopes ofwinning the seat.

“The politics in Balangirhas to be free from the twofamilies (Mishra and SinghDeo), who are more concernedto protect their own interests.I have come from a humblefamily and I am more compe-tent than others to ensuredevelopment in Balangir bycompleting the incomplete pro-jects like Lower Suktel andreopening of the sugar mill atDeogaon,” said Das while cam-paigning with his actress-wifeBidusmita.

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More than 150 military vet-erans, including eight for-

mer chiefs, have written a let-ter to President Ram NathKovind expressing concernover the “use” of the armedforces for “political purposes”and urged him to intervene inpreserving the “apolitical” char-acter of the armed forces. Theysaid such misuse of the Servicesmay affect the morale of themen and women in uniformand adversely impact theirfighting efficiency.

However, at least two of theformer chiefs, including NCSuri (IAF) and SF Rodrigues(Army), whose names were inthe list, said they had notsigned the letter dated April 11.Former Army vice chief LtGeneral ML Naidu too said hisconsent was not taken beforeincluding his name in the let-ter as one of the signatories.Suri said the armed forces areapolitical and report to thedemocratically electedGovernment.

Elaborating upon the needfor writing the letter, the vet-erans said it was written to thePresident to express sentimentsof the former soldiers on an

important issue. Moreover, theletter was addressed to thePresident as he is the custodi-an of the Constitution and theSupreme Commander of theArmed Forces.

It said, “We hereby respect-fully urge you to take all nec-essary steps to urgently directall political parties that theymust forthwith desist fromusing the military, militaryuniforms or symbols, and anyactions by military formationsor personnel, for political pur-poses or to further their polit-ical agendas.”

The veterans referred to the“unusual and totally unaccept-able practice” of political lead-ers taking credit for militaryoperations like cross-borderstrikes and even being called“Modi ki sena” referring torecent comments by UttarPradesh Chief Minister YogiAdityanath.

They stated that such mis-use of armed forces “wouldimpinge on the morale andfighting efficiency of the serv-ing men and women in uni-form. We, therefore, appeal toyou to ensure the secular andapolitical character of ourarmed forces is preserved.”

The veterans urged the

President to take all necessarysteps and urgently direct allpolitical parties to desist fromusing the military for politicalpurposes or to further theirpolitical agendas.

The letter cites examples of

the military being allegedlyused for political purposes,including Yogi’s referring to thearmed forces as “Modiji kisena” and the display of imagesof Wing CommanderAbhinandan Varthaman atpolitical events.

Referring to the allegedmisuse, the letter said, “This isin addition to media pictures ofelection platforms and cam-paigns in which party workersare seen wearing military uni-forms and posters and imageswith pictures of soldiers, spe-cially of Indian Air Force Wing

Commander AbhinandanVarthaman, displayed.”

Varthaman was capturedby Pakistan after an air combatwith India on February 27 andsubsequently released. In theirrallies, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and a numberof BJP leaders have been refer-ring to IAF’s Balakot strikesbesides mentioning the valourof the armed forces in defend-ing the country.

The Election Commissionhas already taken note of thePrime Minister’s commentsasking first-time voters to ded-

icate their votes to those whocarried out the air strike inBalakot.

The letter mentions theElection Commission’s notifi-cations to those violating themodel code of conduct, includ-ing to Adiyanath, but addsthat the actions do not have anyimpact on the ground.

“Indeed a notification hasbeen issued asking for an expla-nation from those responsiblefor these statements, includingfrom the Chief Minister ofUttar Pradesh,” the letter said.“However, we regret to statethat these do not appear to haveresulted in any substantivechange of behaviour or practiceon the ground,” it added.

When contacted, severalveterans, including formerArmy chiefs General DeepakKapoor and General ShankarRoy Chowdhury, acknowl-edged writing the letter.Reacting to the controversyover Suri and Rodrigues notsigning the letter, DefenceMinister Nirmala Sitharamancalled it “condemnable”.

“Two senior officers saidthey have not given consent. Itis worrying that fake letters arebeing signed by vested groups,”she said.

The Defence Minister didnot respond when asked aboutthose veterans who said theysigned the letter. The formermilitary chiefs endorsing theletter included Admiral LRamdas, Admiral ArunPrakash, Admiral (retired)Vishnu Bhagwat and AdmiralSureesh Mehta.

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Lifting the veil of anonymi-ty from the Government’s

political funding scheme, theSupreme Court on Fridaydirected parties to furnish byMay 30 all the details of fundsreceived through electoralbonds to the ElectionCommission in a sealed cover.

The top court, which didnot stay the Centre’s ElectoralBond Scheme, 2018, made itclear that it would accord in-depth hearing on April 15 thepleas of an NGO and theCPI(M) as they as also theCentre and the EC have raised“weighty issues” having“tremendous bearing on thesanctity of the electoral processin the country”.

“The just and proper inter-im direction would be torequire all the political partieswho have received donationsthrough Electoral Bonds tosubmit to the ElectionCommission of India in sealedcover, detailed particulars of thedonors as against each bond;the amount of each such bondand the full particulars of thecredit received against eachbond, namely, the particulars ofthe bank account to which theamount has been credited andthe date of each such credit,” it

said.A Bench headed by Chief

Justice Ranjan Gogoi askedthe parties to furnish “forth-with” the details of electoralbonds received by a politicalparty till date.

“The details of such otherbonds that may be received bysuch a political party up to thedate fixed for issuing suchbonds as per the Note of theMinistry of Finance datedFebruary 28, that is May 15,will be submitted on or beforeMay 30.

The sealed covers willremain in the custody of theECI and it will abide by suchorders as may be passed by thecourt,” it noted in the 19-pageinterim order.

The Bench, also compris-ing Justices Deepak Gupta andSanjiv Khanna, directed theFinance Ministry to tweak thewindow period for purchasingthe electoral bonds and reduceit from present 55 days to 50days in 2019.

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In a recognition of the invalu-able services provided by

the forces for the conduct ofelections, the ElectionCommission has directed allthe States and Union Territoriesto pay honorariums to theCentral Armed Police Forces(paramilitary) and State ArmedPolice (SAP) deployed on elec-tion duty for the ongoingParliamentary polls andAssembly polls in four States.

According to the ratefinalised by the ElectionCommission, �2,500 will bepaid to Gazetted Officers likeAssistant Commandant,Medical Officer, DeputyCommandant deployed for aperiod of 15 days or less, �2,000for Subordinate Officers likeAssistant Sub Inspector, SubInspector and Inspector and�1,500 for Other Rank such asConstable and Head Constable.

For Gazetted Officersdeployed for over 15 days, thehonorarium amount will be

�1,250 per person per week,�1,000 per person per week forsubordinate officers and �750per week for every Other Rankstaffers.

“The payment of such hon-orarium shall not exceed thetotal pay of one month of theofficer/personnel concerned,”reads the ElectionCommission order issued on

Wednesday. The expenditure incurred

on the honorarium will beborne to the tune of 100 per

cent by the Union Governmentin case Lok Sabha polls and incase of Assembly polls it will beincurred by the concernedState Government/UnionTerritory Administration,according to the order.

In case of simultaneouselections for the House of thePeople (Lok Sabha) and theState/UT Legislative Assembly,the expenditure will be sharedbetween the Central andState/UT Administration on50:50 basis.

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Jet Airways, facing its worstexistential crisis in its over

25-year-old history, on Fridayextended suspension of itsinternational operations tillMonday due to severe liquidi-ty issues. Incidentally, the stakesale bid invited by the SBI-ledconsortium of bankers, whichmanages the day-to-day oper-ations of the airline, also closedon Friday, after being extend-ed by two days.

Airline founder NareshGoyal, the UAE carrier EtihadAirways, Air Canada and thecountry’s national investmentfund among others are report-ed to have submitted bids.

On Thursday, the airlinehad announced temporarygrounding of its internationaloperations for a day — Jet wasthe largest international airlinefrom the country till the finan-cial crisis — when it had alsosuspended operations to theentire Eastern and

Northeastern markets as Jetwas forced to ground 10 moreaircraft following default oflease rentals.

The Prime Minister'sOffice (PMO) has called anurgent meeting to discuss thecrisis in Jet, which is facingacute financial woes.

The meeting was calledafter Civil Aviation MinisterSuresh Prabhu asked the sec-retary of the department toreview issues concerning JetAirways.

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In a veiled threat to Muslims,BJP candidate from

Sultanpur and Union MinisterMenaka Gandhi on Thursdayasked Muslims to vote for herotherwise she will not helpthem once they come to her forhelp because every relationworks on the give and takeprinciple.

In Muslim-dominatedTurabkhani area, Maneka said,“We are not Mahatma Gandhi’schildren that we keep givingand not get anything in return.”

Considering Maneka’sstatement as against the modelcode of conduct, the ElectionCommission of India issued ashow-cause notice to her.

The BJP candidate fromSultanpur Lok Sabha con-stituency claimed she is all setto win and told the Muslimaudience that “you might needme tomorrow.”

The Congress reactedstrongly with spokespersonRandeep Singh Surjewala say-ing she is trying to divide peo-ple on the basis of caste andcommunity.

“I am winning. I am win-ning because of the help andlove of the people,” Manekasaid at the meeting inSultanpur, a constituency ear-lier held by her son VarunGandhi.

“But if my victory is with-out the Muslims, I will not feelvery good,” she said, adding shewill be left with a bitter feeling.

“If Muslims come for somework after this, I will think whybother, what difference will itmake,” said Maneka.

The Minister askedMuslims to check with thepeople in Pilibhit, her earlierconstituency. “If there is evenone person who says therehad been something wrongon my part, don’t vote for me,”she said.

Maneka said she had comewith an “open mind” and theymay feel that they “might needme tomorrow.” “This electionI have already won, and you

will need me and want to laythe foundation for this.”

She also asked people topass on this message to others.Maneka’s remarks follow othercontroversial references to theMuslim electorate during theUttar Pradesh campaign.

At her recent electionmeeting in Saharanpur’sDeoband, Bahujan Samaj Partyleader Mayawati askedMuslims to support her alliancewith the Samajwadi Partyinstead of splitting their vote byopting for the Congress.

In a rejoinder to thisremark, Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanathbrought up the controversial“Ali-Bajrang Bali” reference atan election rally. “If theCongress, the SP and the BSPhave faith in Ali, we have faithin Bajrang Bali,” Yogi said.

Lord Hanuman is calledBajrang Bali while Ali is arevered figure in Islam. TheElection Commission has sentAdityanath a notice on whatcould be a violation of themodel code of conduct.

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Even as the voters’ verdict ofthe first-phase polls has

been sealed in EVMs till May23, all the three major parties,the BJD, the Congress and the

BJP, on Friday claimed theywoud win all the four LokSabha seats.

“There are possibilities thatour party will win all four LokSabha seats and more than halfof the 28 Assembly seats thatwent to polls in the first phaseon April 11,” said BJP vice-pres-ident Sameer Mohanty.

PCC president NiranjanPatnaik said his party wouldwin all four Parliamentary seatsand 20 plus Assembly seg-

ments. However, the BJD isconfident of winning all four LSseats and 27 of 28 Assemblyseats.

“The BJD will do betterresults this time,” said BJDspokesperson Sasmit Patra.

It may be noted that theBJD had won all four LS seatsand 20 Assembly seats underthem in the 2014 electionswhile the Congress and the BJPgot six and two Assembly seats,respectively.

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As per the final officialreport, the first-phase poll

in Odisha, conducted in fourParliamentary and 28Assembly constituencies onThursday witnessed 73.76 percent of voters exercising theirfranchise.

According to ChiefElectoral Officer SurendraKumar, more women cast votescompared to their male coun-terparts. The turnout com-prised 74.43 per cent of womenand 73.09 per cent of men.

“The voting percentage offemale voters is a good sign,”Kumar remarked.

Interestingly, the highestpercentage of polling was reg-istered in the Maoist-infestedNabarangpur Lok Sabha con-stituency with 78.89 per cent of

the electorate casting theirvotes. The lowest voting at65.57 per cent was recorded inthe Brahmapur LS segment.The percentage of polling inKalahandi and Koraput stoodat 75.86 per cent and 74.77 percent, respectively.

In the Assembly segments,the highest polling was regis-

tered in Kotapad with 86.83 percent and the lowest inBrahmapur with 56.34 percent.

Kumar informed thatpolling would be held afresh intwo booths.

“We have recommended tothe Election Commission ofIndia for fresh polling in two

booths, one in Malkangiri and another inBerhampur Lok Sabha seg-ment,” he informed.

“The scrutiny is under-way by the poll observers. Wewill provide more details if theECI seeks from us. The finaldecision will be taken by theECI,” he added.

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The prestigious BaleswarParliamentary constituen-

cy is likely to witness a trian-gular contest among BJD, BJPand Congress on April 29. Thecandidates in the fray areRabindra Kumar Jena (BJD),

Pratap Chandra Sarangi

(BJP) and Navajyoti Patnaik(Congress).

The incumbent Jena is notonly trying hard to win the seatagain but also making efforts toincrease the margin of victory.Jena had made a debut last timein 2014 and was pitted againstthen former Minister ofCongress Srikant Jena and two-time MLA Sarangi. He hadwon the election in a margin ofnearly Rs 1.45 lakh votes andhis nearest rival was Sarangi.Jena was pushed to the thirdslot. Jena got a sizeable numberof votes from Bhograi, Jaleswar,Basta and Badasahi pavingway to his victory.

Patnaik is in the electoralfray after Jena has been sus-pended from Congress. He isplaying his debut inning in pol-itics and is trying his luckfrom the constituency assum-ing that Baleswar has a sizeablenumber of traditional voters of

Congress across all blocks,including Baleswar Sadar,Basta, Jaleswar, Bhograi ,Remuna , Nilgiri and Badasahi(Mayurbhanj district) which isabout 3 lakh. In past it is seenthat candidates from outsidethe district were blessed withvictory.

Kharabela Swain while wasa three-time MP of the con-stituency, Jena, who contestedin 2009 had won comfortably.In a triangular contest, heemerged winner by trouncingthe BJD-backed NCP candidateArun Dey and then incumbentMP Swain. Considering all

these factors, Patnaik, the sonof PCC chief Niranjan Patnaik,has been fielded from Baleswar.

But, it may be noted that inlast general elections, Congresscouldn’t win any of theAssembly seat.

Meanwhile, BJP candidateSarangi is leaving no stoneunturned to grab the seat.Odisha while has been in focusof BJP since last general elec-tions, Baleswar is its hot seat.It could only win Remuna seatlast elections. Campaigning bythe three major political partieshas been intensified while thenomination filing closed onTuesday.

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Adirect fight betweenEnergy Minister

Sushant Singh of BJDand Irasis Acharya ofBJP is on the cards inBhatli Assembly seat inBargarh district.

Singh who is known for main-taining good public relations is high-lighting the clean image of ChiefMinister and BJD supremo NaveenPatnaik, besides various developmen-tal works undertaken during his stintas two-time MLA of Bhatli.

The saffron party candidateAcharya enjoys good rapport with peo-ple of the constituency and is trying towoo the voters by raking up issues like

failure ofthe BJD Government and highlightingthe success of the BJP-led NarendraModi Government in the Centre.

On the other hand, SarojMohapatra of Congress will have to fallback on party’s pocket votes.

The Bargarh Lok Sabha con-stituency with seven Assembly seg-ment will go to polls in the secondphase on April 18.

KENDRAPADA: Former MLA SipraMallick, who had filed nomination forcontesting Assembly polls from theKendrapada constituency as anIndependent candidate, withdrew hercandidature on Friday.

Mallick had earlier made anannouncement in this regard aftermeeting BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik.She will now extend her support toFinance Minister Shashi BhusanBehera, whom the party has fieldedfrom the Kendrapada seat.

After being denied BJD ticket,Mallick, who had won the seat in the2009 polls, had on April 9 filed hernomination papers as an Independentcandidate. The Kendrapada con-stituency will go to polls in the fourthphase on April 29. PNS

"�� $�2!��.3 3

In a bid to derail the poll process inSwabhiman Anchal (earlier known as

cutoff area) of Malkangiri district,Maoists detained four motorboatsand around 12 staffs during the last twodays.

The ultras snapped the waterwayconnectivity between Kunturpadar,Panasput and Sindhiput in theSwabhiman Anchal zone.

As per reports, the Red rebelsdetained two motorboats onWednesday and two more onThursday assuming that these water-crafts might be used by Governmentfunctionaries during elections.

Polling was held in the district inthe first phase of elections onThursday.

As per the latest information, theMaoists released all the motorboatsand the staffs in late Thursday evening.

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It is a myth that literate andeducated people are much

more aware of election as ademocratic process and citi-zen's right. The percentage ofvoting by village women, most-ly tribal, is much higher thanthe women in the town. Whenthe tribal women take up thecudgels, they are serious.

Model Booth Number-129,Biranarayanpur in RayagadaBlock was well equipped withfacilities for all sorts of voters,including Dibyang, lactatingmother, senior citizens andpregnant women.

The school was neat andclean and shady inside. Therewas a tent outside the school toaccommodate voters insideand outside. The voters, most-ly tribals, were distributed"Chala" to get solace from thescorching heat.

Dora, BLO of the booth,managed the whole show.According to Dora, both the

EVMs had defect though themock poll prior to actual vot-ing went on well. So it wasalmost two and a half hours’late than the scheduled time ofbeginning the polling. In spiteof this, till 3.15 pm, 310 womenvoters out of 359 did cast theirvote in the booth making it to86 per cent. And still there were

around 15 women in the queuewaiting to establish their fran-chise.

When this correspondentvisited Booth no-212 atRayagada Autonomous Collegeat around 3.50 pm, it wasfound that only 297 womenvoted out of 566 making it to52 per cent.

"Tribal women from hin-terland outshined their coun-terparts in the city of Rayagada.This is certainly a good sign,"said convenor of Zilla SuchanaAdhikar Manch RabindraPatakhandal, who accompa-nied this correspondent to sev-eral booths in the interiorpockets of Rayagada.

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When India, the largestdemocracy, goes to vote,

it is obvious for the entireworld and the developed coun-tries in particular to keep watchon the election results. And itis a team from the USA thatvisited the SambalpurUniversity also did the sameduring their itinerary toSambalpur. They wanted toknow the interest of the peoplefor election and their votinghabits. Since they are also wellacquainted with Odisha theyalso wanted to know about theState and the fate of the presentBJD Government led byNaveen Patnaik.

They further wanted toknow the sentiment of thepeople on present politics inIndia as well as the State sincea regional party is in power forlast 19 years. They were alsovery meticulous on differentother affairs including what willbe role of Odisha in the nation-al politics, the possibility ofNaveen Patnaik coming to

power again and many others.The team wanted to know

about the election manifestoesof different political partiesand the opinion of the peopleon them. The team members,including the scientific officerof the USA Embassy in NewDelhi Christopher Cummins,economic affairs head ChristenLoir, American Consulate post-ed at Hyderabad SP Tripathymet Vice-Chancellor ProfDeepak Kumar Behera, ProfHimansu Sekhar Mishra ofPolitical Science Departmentand many others regardingacademic issues in the premiereducational institution of theState. They suggested to organ-ise a political seminar inSambalpur University in col-laboration with the USAGovernment so that it couldexpand the horizon of knowl-edge.

“It was totally an educa-tional tour to the university andtheir keen interest in India andits culture and tradition haveoverwhelmed us,” informedProf Mishra. But they didn’twant for media coverage as itwas totally an educational pro-gramme, Prof Mishra added.

"��

Literature has been acting asa major driver in social

reforms and inculcating valuesin the social setups and litera-tures based on the lives andprinciples of great personalitiesand leaders can influence,enrich and boost the process,said Nalco CMD Dr TapanKumar Chand while releasinga novel ‘Nepathya Nayika’ writ-ten by the well-known Odiaauthor Pushpanjali Kar here onThursday.

Unveiling the novel, pub-lished under the banner ofPakshighara Prakashani,Chand said the first-ever novelon the life of legendary Kasturba Gandhi inOdia language is commend-able.

The novel would certainlythrow insights on the makings

of a great leader like MahatmaGandhi and the roleplayed by Kasturba Gandhi, headded.

The novel, which is pub-lished to mark the 150th birthanniversary celebration ofMahatma Gandhi, would cer-tainly have an impact onwomen empowerment and roleof women in nation building,he said.

Odia writer Dr ManoramaMohapatra congratulated theauthor of the novel for penningdown the life of the lady behindMahatma Gandhi, which is agreat tribute to both MahatmaGandhi and Kasturba Gandhion the birth anniversary of theformer.

On the occasion, singerSharanya Mishra performed abhajan and artist BhaswatiBasu presented a mono actingon Kasturba Gandhi.

"��

The Indian Red CrossSociety Odisha State

Branch organised a first aidtraining camp for persons withdisabilities (PwDs) at the RamaDevi Women’s University hereon Thursday.

As many as 13 dibyangagirls of the university weregiven training on how to tack-le bone chilling, bloodpressure, sunstroke and poi-

soning and other such eventu-alities by trainer Dr Bikash

Prasad.University Vice-Chancellor

Prof Padmaja Mishra, PG HeadDr Sarita Supkar and RedCross honourary secretaryMajor Dr Kalpana Das attend-ed as guests and lauded the pre-sentation and dedication ofthe students.

Univesity advisor and firstaid trainer Dr Sushil KumarPatnaik spoke about differenttypes of first aid. Red Crossproject coordinator GulsanKumar Dash coordinated thecamp.

"�� 2� ��

Forest officials on Fridaybusted a wildlife poaching

gang and arrested two of itsmembers in the Kuldiha sanc-tuary of the Nilagiri ForestRange in Baleswar district.

The team of officials dur-ing a raid in Bhaliaposhi village

nabbed theaccused andseized deer skins,two guns andbullets from theirprocession. Oflate, wildlifekillings have beenon the rise in theNilagiri ForestRange.

Sociopoliticalleader andSNSMT chair-man SuparnoSatpathy congrat-ulated the forestofficials said thisis just a smallcatch as the ganglords are stillroaming freely.

He further said that arrest-ing poachers, who do theheinous job for financially sup-porting themselves and theirloved ones, is not the end at all;rather, efforts should be madeto spread the message about theill effects of wild animal poach-ing and how it causes ecologi-cal imbalance.

"��

Adelegation of BJP led by its Statevice-president Sameer Mohanty

on Friday approached the ChiefElectoral Officer (CEO), demandingre-election in the booths which were rigged and captured inthe first-phase polls held onThursday.

The BJP also demanded strin-gent action against the culprits whocreated disturbances at polling sta-tions.

The BJD Government is tryingto keep the elections under its con-trol by using the Governmentmachineries and BJD hooligans,alleged Mohanty.

The BJP’s apprisedthe CEO that EVMs of 12 booths

were damaged, EVMs in 60booths were defunct, seven boothswere captured and 28 booths were rigged in the first phasepolls.

Besides, voters in 12 boothswere unable to vote and voting werestarted late in as manyas 296 booths, the team told the

CEO. Mohanty was accompanied by

party’s State VP RamaranjanBaliarsingh, secretary Dr Lekhashree Samantasinghar,convenors Rabi Sankar Patnaik,Jayant Jena and lawyer SatyabrataNayak.

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Though BJD was enjoying aposition of pre-eminence in

Pallahara Assembly seat butwith MLA Mahes Sahu shiftedto contest from DhenkanalLok Sabha seat, former BJDleader Rabi Pani joining BJPand BJD rebel SandeepPradhan filing nomination asIndependent, the contest in alllikelihood to be triangular.

Pallahara consists of twoblocks, such as Pallahara andKaniha. There are 27 pan-chayats in Pallahara and 19

panchayats in Kaniha Block.Patayat Saheb Mrutyunjaya

Pal had filed his nomination asIndependent from Pallaharain 1951, who was a local ofPallahara. Subsequently, thecandidates fielded by differentparties like Congress, BJP andBJD happened to be fromTalcher and Parjang. ButPallahara general voters this

time demanded the parties tonominate local candidates.

Only the BJD has chosenlocal candidate, BlockChairman Mukesh Pal as thenominee this time. Now, theBJP has emerged as the mainrival of the BJD after formerBJD leader and former BJDChief Whip in Assembly RabiPani joined the saffron party

and is set to play a vital role inthe election. Pani was a LokSabha member in 1989 andMLA of Pallahara in 2009. Hehad defeated Union MinisterDharmendra Pradhan fromthe seat.

Meanwhile, SandeepPradhan , a local candidate,who was a BJD ticket aspirantbut deprived of the ticket, willpose a challenge for the BJD ashe has filed his nomination asan Independent.

BJP candidate AshokMohanty and Congress candi-date Subrat Garnayak belong toKaniha Block while BJD can-didate Pal is from Pallaharablock. Pallahara block consistsof three zones in which whilethe BJD has a good footing inone zone, in the other two, theBJP has a strong base.

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Toxic fumes emitted by vehi-cles on the roads are taking

a toll on the kids across theworld including India where atleast 3,50,000 children fell tochronic respiratory disease,asthma. India is second only toChina, as per a Lancet studythat analysed 194 countriesand 125 major cities worldwide.

Worldwide four millionkids get asthma every year as aresult of inhaling air pollution,said the study conducted byresearchers at the GeorgeWashington University MilkenInstitute of Public Health. Andan estimated 64 per cent ofthese new asthma cases occurin urban areas. The study basedon the data between 2010 and2015 is published in The LancetPlanetary Health journal.

The estimates suggestedthat there are 170 new cases oftraffic pollution-related asthma

per 100,000 children everyyear, while 13 per cent of child-hood asthma cases diagnosed

each year are linked to trafficpollution. India ranked secondto China where the largestburdens related to air pollutionwas at 7,60,000 cases of asthmaper year, while the UnitedStates had 2,40,000 kids fallingto the chronic disease.

Asthma is a chronic,inflammatory condition of thelungs and airways — basically,when asthma is triggered, thesymptoms make it difficult tobreathe, which can be extreme-ly dangerous and even lead todeath if attacks are severeenough and go untreated.

With 92 per cent of casesdeveloping in areas that havetraffic pollution levels belowthe World Health Organisation(WHO) guideline level, theresearcher suggest that thislimit may need to be reviewed.

“Nitrogen dioxide pollu-

tion appears to be a substantialrisk factor for childhood asth-ma incidence in both devel-oped and developing coun-tries, especially in urban areas,”said senior author of the study,Susan C. Anenberg fromGeorge Washington University,US.

“Our findings suggest thatthe World Health Organizationguideline for annual averageNO2 concentrations mightneed to be revisited, and thattraffic emissions should be atarget to mitigate exposure,”Anenberg said in a statement.

“Improving access to clean-er forms of transportation, likeelectric public transport andactive commuting by cyclingand walking, would not onlybring down NO2 levels, butwould also reduce asthma,enhance physical fitness, and

cut greenhouse gas emissions,”added Anenberg.

Our study indicates thatpolicy initiatives to alleviatetraffic-related air pollution canlead to improvements in chil-dren’s health and also reducegreenhouse gas emissions, saidlead author Ploy Achakulwisutfrom George WashingtonUniversity.

The researchers used NO2as a surrogate for the trafficpollution mixture to focusspecifically on the effects oftraffic pollution on childhoodasthma development.

As per the World HealthOrganisation (WHO), 350 mil-lion people around the worldsuffer from asthma of whichten per cent are in India. Thenumber is set to rise in view ofrapid urbanization, changinglife style and poor air-quality.

"�� 4�2�3

The Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) on Friday moved the

Election Commission (EC) andalso the Supreme Court seek-ing action against Congresspresident Rahul Gandhi forrepeatedly calling PrimeMinister Narendra Modi “athief ” and also attributing tothe Supreme Court things it didnot say in the Rafale jet case.

A BJP delegation, com-prising Union MinistersNirmala Sitharaman, MukhtarAbbas Naqvi and its mediahead Anil Baluni, met EC offi-cials and expressed the party’s“disappointment” with the pollbody, saying it has looked theother way despite their repeat-ed pleas to it against Rahul forhis “baseless” allegationsagainst Modi.

For her part, BJP MPMeenakshi Lekhi filed a con-tempt petition in the SupremeCourt against Rahul forattributing his ‘chowkidar chorhai’ comment against PM Modito the apex court. The matteris listed for April 15 (Monday)for hearing.

Pointing to Rahul’sremarks on Wednesday that theapex court has acknowledgedthat Modi is a “thief ” and thathe gave �30,000 crore to indus-trialist Anil Ambani, Naqvisaid such “lies” and “baselessallegations” are not only viola-tive of the Model Code ofConduct but also fall under“corrupt practices”, as describedin the Representation of PeopleAct. The court had never saidsuch a thing, he said.

“The Congress President isusing abusive words and state-ments that are untrue. He isrepeatedly calling the PrimeMinister ‘chor’ without anyevidence despite the SupremeCourt’s December verdict inthe Rafale case, and alsoputting words into the mouthof Supreme Court,” Sitharamantold reporters.

“We have complained tothe EC that neither theSupreme Court nor theComptroller and AuditorGeneral (CAG) have said any-thing of this kind. But the EC

did not take cognizance. Itlooked the other way. “Duringelection time if he is utteringwords which are untrue, canthe Election Commissionignore it?” the BJP leader asked.

“The Supreme Court hasmade it clear that ‘chowkidar-ji’ (watchman) has committeda theft,” Gandhi told reporters

after filing his nominationpapers in Amethi in UttarPradesh. “The way Congresspresident Rahul Gandhi hasused defamatory languageagainst Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and the BJPgovernment. He has beenspreading lies repeatedly bycalling the Prime Minister a

‘chor’ in connection with theRafale deal issue, despite theSupreme Court’s order in thematter,” Sitharaman said.

She further said that theCongress leader said at a pub-lic rally that Prime MinisterNarendra Modi was provenguilty of corruption in theRafale deal and giving �30,000

crore to Anil Ambani, who isthe chairman of the offset part-ner in the deal RelianceDefence.

“We all know (the)Congress president probablydoesn’t even read even half aparagraph. By saying that thecourt has said ‘Chowkidar chorhai,’ these (statements) verge oncontempt of court,” Sitharamansaid, adding that Rahul is show-ing signs of frustration.

“The person who himself ison bail, violating every norm ofpolitical decency allegingthings which the court hasnever said. He has lost allsense of decency by causingcontempt of court,” Sitharamansaid.

In the context of the firstphase of the Lok Sabha electionheld on Thursday, the ministersalso alleged that TrinamoolCongress (TMC) workers hadengaged in “rigging and boothcapturing” during the votingprocess in West Bengal. TheBJP demanded re-polling in297 booths in West Bengal’sCooch Behar Lok Sabha con-stituency that voted onThursday in the first phase ofpolling.

Appearing on behalf ofLekhi’s petition, senior advo-cate Mukul Rohatgi, told thebench that Congress presidentmade a remark that the“Supreme Court has said,chowkidaar chor hai” in theverdict.

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The controversy over theeducational qualification

of Union Minister Smriti Iranire-surfaced on Friday a dayafter she filed her nominationfrom Amethi as the BJP’s LokSabha candidate againstCongress chief Rahul Gandhi.

While the Congress allegedthat Irani, a former HRDMinister, has “falsified records”of her educational qualifica-tions and submitted contra-dictory affidavits to theElection Commission forwhich the “serial liar” shouldbe disqualified, Irani retaliat-ed saying she will emergestronger the more Congresstargets her.

Congress also complainedto Election Commission overIrani’s contradictory affidavits,demanding that she should bedisqualified from contestingelections and for misleading thepublic through her affidavits.

“Union Minister SmritiIrani, who had been rubbish-ing Opposition’s claim thatshe is not a graduate, hasaccepted that she enrolled foran undergraduate course inDelhi University but did notcomplete it,” Congressspokesperson PriyankaChaturvedi said at the AICCpress conference.

Making fun of the UnionMinister, Chaturvedi also sangthe title track of the popularsoap opera ‘Kyuki Saas BhiKabhi Bahu Thi’ by changingthe lyrics to “qualification keroop badalte hain...(qualifica-tion keeps changing)”. Irani, anactor-turned-politician, hadessayed the lead role in the hitserial.

“We have no issue with thefact that Smriti Irani is not agraduate. The issue here is thatshe has lied repeatedly on oathand to the courts. People ofIndia will see through these lies

and give a befitting politicalreply to a ‘serial liar’!” she said.

“She is also guilty of hid-ing information in the DelhiUniversity and misusing herinfluence and power as aUnion Minister.Constitutionally, legally andmorally, it would be best if shesteps down as the Union min-ister and by publicly acceptingthese lies,” Chaturvedi said.

Congress also listed thevarious affidavits submittedby the BJP leader since 2004 tohighlight the “contradictionand falsification of education-al qualifications”.

Irani hit back at theCongress saying she will con-tinue to work hard for Amethino matter what its leaders say.“In the past five years, there hasnot been any attack which hasnot been made against me bythe Congress and its ‘chelechapate’ (stooges), nor is thereany bad word or disrespectwhich has not been hurled atme,” Irani said.

“I have a message forthem... As much as you try, Iwill work for Amethi againstthe Congress. No matter whatyou say, the more you harassme, the harder I’ll work,” shesaid, adding that the Congresssupporters were targeting herbecause she was taking on the‘Namdar’ (dynast), referring toRahul Gandhi.

In 2004, Irani submitted anaffidavit to ECI as Lok Sabhacandidate from ChandniChowk, Delhi, stating that hereducational qualification asBachelor of Arts in 1996 fromDelhi University, School ofCorrespondence, Chaturvedisaid.

Irani in 2011 submitted anaffidavit to ECI as Rajya Sabhacandidate from Gujarat statingher educational qualification asB.Com. Part-I in 1994 fromDelhi University, School ofCorrespondence, she said.

Then in 2014, Irani sub-mitted an affidavit to ECI asLok Sabha candidate fromAmethi, UP, stating that hereducational qualification asB.Com.Part-I in 1994 fromSchool of Open Learning,Delhi University.

Chaturvedi said Irani wasalso quoted at a media event inAugust 2014 that she has adegree from the prestigiousYale University in the US. Inher affidavit filed on Thursdayduring her nomination, Iranisaid she passed secondaryschool examination in 1991and senior secondary schoolexamination in 1993.

She has said she did notcomplete her Bachelor ofCommerce (Part-I) — a three-year degree course — fromDelhi University’s School ofOpen Learning in 1994.

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The BJP on Friday said it willwait for the final judgement

of the Supreme Court on dona-tion in form of electoral bondsand would accept whatever isthe order from the apex court.

The Supreme Court onFriday directed all politicalparties to provide details ofdonations received in electoralbonds and the identity of thedonors to the ElectionCommission in a sealed coverby May 30, in an attempt tobring transparency

around anonymous poll funding.

“Whatever is the order ofthe Supreme Court, it has to becomplied with and it is alwayscomplied with”, said BJPspokesperson and supremecourt lawyer Nalin Kohli.

“As far as issues raised bythe government is concerned,they have been placed beforethe court for its consideration.And we will await the finaljudgement,” Kohli said.

Refusing to stay for nowthe contentious electoral bondsscheme, the court gave the

direction in an interim order inthe midst of the Lok Sabhapolls which began on Thursdayand concludes on May 19.

The political parties werealso directed to give details ofthe bank account of the donors.

The order was given on apetition filed by an NGO —Association of DemocraticReforms (ADR) — challengingthe validity of the scheme andsought a stay on the issuance ofelectoral bonds or that namesof the donors be made publicto ensure transparency in thepoll process.

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Something “very very seri-ous” seems to be going on in

West Bengal, the SupremeCourt said on Friday as itagreed to hear a plea allegingharassment of custom officialsat Kolkata Airport for checkingthe luggage of a TrinamoolCongress leader’s wife.

The top court asked theWest Bengal Government tofile its reply on the plea with-in four weeks.

A Bench of Chief JusticeRanjan Gogoi and JusticeSanjiv Khanna said: “Someonehas drawn our attention tosomething very very serious.We don’t know yet whose claimis bona fide but we would liketo go into the root of the mat-ter.”

Solicitor General TusharMehta, appearing for the cus-toms department and assistedby advocate Ravi Prakash, told

the Bench that the plea pertainsto the incident of March 15-16when customs officials wereobstructed from carrying outtheir duty.

The obstruction wascaused to the officials, whentwo women including oneRujira Naroola Banerjee, wifeof Abhishek Banerjee who isTMC MP and nephew of ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee,was intercepted at the airportfor checking.

Senior advocate AbhishekM Singhvi objected to theissuance of notice and said thatthe petition is not maintainableas the petitioner RajkumarBarthwal is a member ofCentral Board of Indirect Taxesand Customs and has no locusstandi to file the plea.

To this, the bench observedthat it does not know the bonafide of the petitioner but “Wecannot ignore what is going onin West Bengal. If required wecan ourselves take suo motucognizance of the events andget to the bottom of the issue”.

On March 29, the Centrehad told the apex court thatcustom officials at the NetajiSubhas Chandra BoseInternational Airport in

Kolkata were “intimidated,harassed and threatened” bythe local police for checking thebaggage of the wife of theTMC MP.

It had also alleged that“institutional anarchy” and“complete lawlessness” havebeen prevailing in West Bengal.

Mehta had told the courtthat on the intervening night ofMarch 15-16 at around 1.10AM, two women, who arrivedfrom an international flight,and their luggage were checkedby the custom officials.

“They were asked to allowchecking of their baggage butthey resisted. They were askedto show their passports afterwhich they abused the officialspresent there,” he had said.

Mehta had added that soonafter the ladies left the airport,a huge contingent of police per-sonnel entered the premisesand tried to arrest the customofficials for checking the bag-gage of the women.

“This is institutional anar-chy and complete lawlessnessgoing on in West Bengal,” hehad said, adding that customofficials tried to lodge the FIRbut no case was registered bythe police so far.

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In the backdrop of ongoingtension with Pakistan on the

border post-Pulwama incidentin February in which 44Central Reserve Police Force(CRPF) men died in a suicideattack and growing militarymight of China, the ongoingArmy commanders’ confer-ence here has stressed on theneed to ensure optimum forcereadiness. The meet, whichstarted on Monday and ends onSaturday, also decided to sus-tain the pace of modernisationwith maximum utilisation ofresources with the existingBudget.

The conference, an apexlevel biannual event, whichformulates important policydecisions, comprehensivelydeliberated all aspects of extantsecurity dynamics, emergingsecurity scenarios, enhancingoperational capability in nearand long term and enhance-ment of combat edge overpotential adversaries, Armyofficials said here on Friday.

They said it was empha-sised in the conference thatIndian Army is committed topeaceful security environmentand shall holistically addressemerging threats, challengesand ensure no room for terror.

Reviews during the Conferenceincluded readiness, tri-servicessynergy, military diplomacy,joint exercises that have cre-ated capacity and environmentand supporting operationalplans that have evolved.

The deliberations in theconference validated the cur-rent course set by the militaryhierarchy, as merited by thedynamics of emerging securi-ty and operational events andthe key highlights includeopti-mum force readiness to beensured, re-prioritising theexisting requirements to ensurethat the resources allocatedfor force modernisation andcapacity building be ensured byoptimising allotted Budget.The commanders also pitchedfor increasing the content ofindegenisation in force mod-ernisation.

Reviewing the state ofexisting infrastructure alongNorthern Borders facingChina, the top echelon of theArmy decided to pursue theseprojects on higher priority.Ensure speedy move and allweather connectivity toNorthern Borders are the focusareas, officials said.

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You will never let this coun-try remain in peace,” the

Supreme Court said on Fridaywhile dismissing a plea seekingpermission to carry out reli-gious activities in nine ancienttemples situated on the undis-puted acquired land adjacent toRam Janambhoomi-BabriMasjid site at Ayodhya.

“There will always besomething,” said a bench com-prising Chief Justice RanjanGogoi and Justice SanjivKhanna.

The Bench was hearing anappeal filed against the January10 order of the Lucknow benchof the Allahabad High Court,which had dismissed the pleaseeking its nod to offer prayerin the nine temples there andhad also imposed a cost of �5lakh on the petitioner.

New Delhi: CBI told theSupreme Court on Friday thatit had closed in 2013 a prelim-inary inquiry against formerUttar Pradesh chief ministerMulayam Singh Yadav and hisson Akhilesh in a dispropor-tionate assets case.

Taking note of the oral sub-mission of the agency, a benchheaded by Chief Justice RanjanGogoi asked the CBI to file itsresponse within four weekson a fresh plea filed by aCongress activist seeking toknow the status of probe in theassets case against the familymembers of the SamajwadiParty patriarch including hissecond son Prateek.

The bench, which alsoincluded Justice Sanjiv Khanna,had on March 25 granted twoweeks to CBI, represented bySolicitor General TusharMehta, to file the response tothe plea.

Yadav, who is contestingLok Sabha polls from Mainpuriseat in Uttar Pradesh, in itsreply has alleged that the peti-tion, filed on the poll eve, waspolitically motivated.

He said the petition againsthim and his family was filed in2005 and the CBI and theIncome Tax Authorities did notfind anything adverse. PTI

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The Supreme Court onFriday agreed to hear on

April 15 a plea challenging theElection Commission’s ban onthe release of a biopic on PrimeMinister Narendra Modi till thegeneral election is over.

A bench headed by ChiefJustice Ranjan Gogoi said it willhear the plea filed by thebiopic’s producers.

The poll panel had onWednesday banned the screen-ing of the biopic during thecurrent poll period, saying anysuch film that subserves pur-pose of any political entity orindividual should not be dis-played in the electronic media.

The Commission, in a sep-arate order, had also directedthe producers “not to exhibitthe film titled ‘PM NarendraModi’ till further orders.

The Commission’s ordercame on April 10, a day beforeit was to be released, coincid-ing with the first phase of LokSabha elections. Votes for all543 seats will be counted onMay 23 after the end of the seven-phase pollingon May 19.

New Delhi: The SupremeCourt on Friday stayed arbitralproceedings between the Noidaauthority and private firmNTBCL over issues related totoll collection on Delhi-NoidaDirect Flyway.

A Bench of Chief JusticeRanjan Gogoi and JusticeSanjiv Khanna passed the orderwhile hearing an interim appli-cation filed by the Noidaauthority which has challengedthe arbitral proceedings.

The interim applicationwas filed by the authority in apending appeal filed by NoidaToll Bridge Company Ltd(NTBCL), which was runningthe flyway, in the apex courtagainst the Allahabad HighCourt’s order.

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Bijnor: With polling in the sug-arcane belt of western UttarPradesh over, farmers hope thenext Government would ensurethat sugar mills clear their pend-ing dues which have run intothousands of crores.

Non-payment of dues tosugarcane farmers dominatedthe electoral discourse in thisLok Sabha constituency in therun up to the April 11 polls.

Bijnor, one of the fiveAssembly segments under thisconstituency, has a total of15,62,065 voters.

"It was an important elec-tion issue for us. We honestlydon't have much hope from anyparty but we voted in hope of abetter tomorrow, for a change,"said Pankaj, a sugarcane farmerin Jamalpur here.

Rajendra Singh, nationalconvener of Azad Kisan Union,said pending arrears is a big issuefor farmers.

Farmers have cast theirvotes hoping for a Governmentthat would not make falsepromises and have concreteplans for them, he said.

Uttar Pradesh is the largestproducer of sugarcane in India,

accounting for 45 per cent of thecountry's output in 2018-19,according to data on the websiteof the Indian Sugar MillsAssociation.

Sugar mills owe �10,000crore to farmers in westernUttar Pradesh alone and asmuch as �250 crore is pendingfrom the previous season, offi-cial data shows.

The farmers in the regionsay they have been complainingabout non-payment of dues formonths now, but to no avail.

"I was paid last in December2017. How can we survive likethis?" another farmer fromJamalpur, Hari Singh, asks.

He claimed that his duesworth �2.5 lakh were pending.

Mill owners claim that theyare unable to pay the farmers asexcess production has led to afall in sugar prices.

However, farmers reject theargument.

They claim the sugar millsdon't pay up as the only lawwhich could keep them in check

was repealed by theGovernment.

The Sugar Undertaking(Taking Over The Management)Act, 1978, enacted after theprice of sugar was deregulated,was repealed in 2015.

The Act provided for tem-porary takeover of the manage-ment of sugar mills in case ofprolonged non-payment of duesto protect the interests of farm-ers and consumers and to rescueailing undertakings.

"After the Act was repealed,

the sugar mills became fearlessand they purposely stop pay-ment of our dues," saidTribhuvan Singh, a farmer inGopalpur village.

Reasons cited by the gov-ernment for repealing the Actincluded it's non-usage in threedecades and states having theirown laws for the sector.

"There was at least a fearamong them (sugar mills) thatthey can be held accountableunder this Act," said Tribhuvan,adding that his dues worth �1.5lakh are pending.

Farmers claimed that theGovernment is pushing them tocultivate other crops.

"The Government is nowpushing us to grow other cropsbut they don't understand thateach crop requires a favourableenvironment to grow," saidFarooq, a sugarcane farmer inAgari village here.

He said he had tried to growpoplar (used for making ply-wood) but the returns were notas lucrative. "Poplar takes eightto ten years to grow. We get �310per quintal for sugarcane andjust �80-100 per quintal forpoplar," he said. PTI

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Chennai: Senior BJP leaderPiyush Goyal on Friday saidthere is no need to scrap NEETfor medical admissions and hisparty would convince its ally,AIADMK, which has soughttemporary exemption for TamilNadu students from the test.

“I do not think NEETshould be scrapped. We willtalk to AIADMK and con-vince them,” he told reportershere.

He was responding to aquery on AIADMK manifestopitching for temporary exemp-tion for Tamil Nadu studentsfrom the National Eligibilitycum Entrance Test (NEET).

Pointing out that AIADMKhad requested that NEETshould be held in Tamil lan-guage, he said it was acceptedby the Centre and beingimplemented.

Flaying Congress PresidentRahul Gandhi over his party'spromise to replace NEET, healleged the party wanted to re-introduce the old system, underwhich managements of med-ical colleges can demand cap-itation fee and offer seats to therich.

“... The people of TamilNadu want medical seats to beoffered on the basis of merit..Poor children should also getan opportunity to pursue med-ical education," Goyal said.

Alleging that Congress

wanted to remove NEET sothat the poor do not take upmedical education, he said,"They are working for capital-ists.. So that the rich get admis-sion..."

NEET is one of the key pollissues in Tamil Nadu, wheremajor political parties haveopposed the test on the groundthat it was "discriminatory"against rural students.

The ruling AIADMK in itsmanifesto has promised to getexemption for the state stu-dents from NEET till suchtime they were able to cope upwith the improved new syl-labus.

The DMK in its manifestohas said the national entrancetest would be scrapped if itsalliance came to power.

In 2017, a 17-year-old Dalitgirl of Ariyalur district, SAnitha, who scored 1176 marksout of 1200 in her Class XIIexam committed suicide asshe could not get a good NEETscore.

Her death triggered state-wide outrage with all politicalparties and students comingtogether against the entranceexam.

After its legal efforts andlegislative measures to avoidNEET failed, the AIADMKgovernment had set up coach-ing centres to train students forthe test. PTI

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Lucknow: Accusing SP, BSPand Congress of practisingnepotism, Uttar PradeshDeputy Chief Minister DineshSharma on Friday said theseparties were contesting theelections only to defeat PrimeMinister Narendra Modi.

Sharma made the com-ments while addressing publicmeetings in Fatehpur Sikri,Aonla and Mainpuri, a BJPrelease said.

Polling will be held inFatehpur Sikri in the secondphase of Lok Sabha elections onApril 18 and it will held in Aonlaand Mainpuri in the third phaseon April 23.

"SP, BSP and Congress areparties that practise nepotism.While Akhilesh had sidelinedhis father Mulayam SinghYadav, Mayawati has broughther nephew into the party," therelease quoted Sharma as saying.

"Contrary to this, no one inBJP knows who will be the nextparty president," Sharma said.

"On one hand, there isModi, whose family is not tak-ing any benefits and on the otherthere are parties that are in pol-itics to promote their familiesonly," he added. The deputyChief Minister alleged that theOpposition parties did not havean agenda. "These parties arecontesting only to defeat Modijiin these elections," Sharma said.

He also hit out at Congressfor attacking the Govt overalleged irregularities in theRafale fighter jet deal withFrance. PTI

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Gandhidham (Guj): AttackingCongress over its poll promiseof repealing the sedition law ifelected to power in the LokSabha election, Union HomeMinister Rajnath Singh onFriday said here that the BJPGovernment would make thelaw even more stringent.

He was speaking at a gath-ering in Gandhidham city ofKutch district in Gujarat.

"Congress is saying thatthey will repeal the sedition law.I want to ask you all, should weforgive those anti-nationalswho are trying to break theunity and social fabric of ourcountry?" he asked.

"If it's within our powers, wewill make the sedition law evenmore stringent. We will makesuch a strict law that it wouldsend shivers down their spine.(Agar hamara bas chaley tohrashtradroh ko aur kadaa humbanayenge, taaki iss kanoon kiprovisions ki yaad aate hee logoki rooh kaanpe... aisa kanoonbanayenge)," Singh said.

The senior BJP leader alsoattacked former Jammu andKashmir Chief Minister OmarAbdullah over his demand fora separate prime minister forthe region.

"I want to tell these leadersthat if you continue to raisesuch demands, then we will beleft with no other option than

to abrogate Articles 370 and35A of the Constitution. Wedont want such India," saidSingh.

He also blamed formerPM Jawaharlal Nehru for theKashmir crisis.

"Had Pandit Nehru givenfull powers to SardarVallabhbhai Patel to handlethe issue, we might have got asolution at that time," saidSingh.

Speaking on the perfor-mance of the Modi govern-ment, Singh said, "I do not wantto claim that we have uproot-ed the corruption completely.But, our government has defi-nitely taken some decisive stepstowards that direction."

The minister claimed thatnobody could doubt the com-mitment and integrity of Modi.

Singh alleged that althoughIndia was capable of makinganti-satellite missile way backin 2007, the then PMManmohan Singh had stoppedthe scientists from doing so.

"At that time, only Russia,China and the US had thattechnology. When scientistsapproached Manmohan Singhfor a green signal, he stoppedthem saying such a step wouldupset those three countries. Butwhen scientists approachedModi, he immediately gave ago-ahead," Singh said. PTI

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Mamata Banerjee onFriday attacked Prime

Misister Narendra Modi andthe BJP for “using the Army toearn votes,” which was“deplorable by all standards.”

The Bengal ChiefMinister, speaking at an elec-tion rally at Kurseong inDarjeeling constituency,attacked the Prime Ministerfor “breaking the electoralcode of conduct” and “exploit-ing the sacrifices made by thearmed forces for electoralgains which have not beenheard of in India’s electoral his-tory.”

Supporting a group of vet-erans in the services whoreportedly wrote a letter to thePresident of India disapprov-ing of entangling the armedforces for political purposesBanerjee said, “I do not use thename of the Army. I respectArmy for its sacrifices. Like meall Indian respect the Armymen who make the supremesacrifice for the nation andhere the BJP is using this sac-rifice to win the elections. Icondemn this.”

Reminding the PrimeMinister that his days in officewas over she said “the BJP willnot win more than 100 seats in

the elections and it will be lefton the regional parties to formthe Government.”

Apparently ignoring theCongress she said, “the region-al parties will form theGovernment in the Centreand the Trinamool Congresswill play a pivotal role indoing so. This is why the BJPis afraid of us and they are try-ing to divide the electoratealong communal lines to winby hook or by crook.”

On the issue of primeministership she said “manypeople say that they don’thave leaders to become PrimeMinister or many of themwant to occupy the post. ButI want to make it clear thatnow the main job is to driveaway the BJP after which we

will the name of the PrimeMinister will be decided asthere are plenty of leaderswho can do the job.”

Meanwhile, Coochbeharand Alipurduar witnessed spo-radic violence even a day afterthe elections that the BJPclaimed was rigged by the

Trinamool Congress, “partic-ularly in Coochbehar.”

At least five people wereinjured and two houses weredamaged in BJP-TMC clashes,sources said.

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As the campaign for theApril 18 Lok Sabha elec-

tion in Tamil Nadu enters thelast phase, Congress presidentRahul Gandhi rocked theTamils with an offer of �3.6lakh to each of the poor peo-ple in the State over the nextfive years. Addressing a mam-moth crowd at Theni on Friday,Rahul Gandhi described PrimeMinister Narendra Modi as a‘thief, liar and megalomaniac’.

“Narendra Modi came topower with an assurance thathe would pay each of you �15lakh. But he did not paid any-thing to you or to me. He didonly one thing and that is: Only15 of his rich friends like AnilAmbani, Mehul Choksi,Neerav Modi and Vijay Mallyagot benefit,” charged RahulGandhu as the crowd cheered

him enthusiastically.He said the Congress man-

ifesto has been prepared by tak-ing into account the needs of allthe people. “It was prepared byspeaking to millions of people

all over India . Our manifestois the voice of the whole nationand not the voice of a singleman. It is not the Man Ki Baathof one megalomaniac. Ours isaKaam Ki Baath document,”said the Congress President. Healso declared that the Congresswould do away with the NEET,the common entrance test foradmission to the undergradu-ate and post graduate medicalcourses in the country.

“Tamil Nadu students donot like the NEET. If they areagainst the NEET, then therewont be any NEET in TamilNadu,” declared RahulGandhi. He paid glowingtributes to Anita , the TamilNadu girl who committedsuicide last year because she

could not clear the NEET. Theentire speech of Rahul Gandhiwas a charge sheet againstPrime Minister Modi whom hedescribed as the embodimentof all that is evil.

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Gangavathi (Karna): In ascathing attack on theCongress-JD(S) Governmentin Karnataka, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Fridaydubbed it as a "20 per centcommission Government."

Addressing a rally here innorth Karnataka, Modi said the Congress-JD(S) coalition's"only mission is commission",attacking it on the issue of cor-ruption.

Modi branded the earlier

Government (Siddaramaiah's)as a "10 per cent commision"Government, but now withCongress and JD(S) joininghands, it had become a "20 percent commission Government."

He asked whether the LokSabha elections was about"nation first or family first," ashe attacked the dynasty politicsof several anti-BJP parties.

Modi also asserted thatthere was a wave across thecountry favouring the return of

his Government.In the first phase of Lok

Sabha polls on Thursday, theopposition parties would not beable to sustain, Modi said.

"Phir Ek Bar...." Modi said,and the huge crowd roared inapproval saying, "Modi Sarkar.

The Prime Minister alsodrew huge applause when hespoke in Kannada towards theend of his speech, hailing everystrata of society and askingthem to say Chowkidhar'. PTI

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The State Government hasgiven its consent for the

conduct of elections to zillaparishads and mandalparishads as the terms ofincumbent members of thelocal bodies would end short-ly.

Recently the State ElectionCommission sent its proposalsto the Government expressingits preparedness for conduct-ing mandal parishad and zillaparishad elections.

The Central ElectionCommission agreed to theproposal to conduct mandalparishad and zilla parishadelections after completion ofelections to the Lok Sabha inTelangana State.

Against this background,Chief Minister Sri KChandrashekhar Rao held dis-cussions with the officers con-cerned on Friday at PragathiBhavan regarding conduct ofelections to mandal parishadsand zilla parishads.

The State Government hasproposed to the State ElectionCommission that the processfor conduct of zilla parishadand mandal parishad electionsmay go on from April 22,2019 to May 14, 2019.However, the results should beannounced only after theannouncement of Lok Sabhaelection results.

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Salem (TN): Tamil Nadu ChiefMinister K Palaniswami onFriday termed Congress presi-

dent Rahul Gandhi's promise onminimum income to poor as“undoable” and claimed the

party was trying all ways to getinto power.

Campaigning for AIADMKally, Pattali Makkal Katchi'scandidate for the DharmapuriLok Sabha constituency,Anbumani Ramadoss,Palaniswami also took a dig atthe DMK for making "irrele-vant" promises in the parlia-mentary elections.

"It is all optics. A schemethat would never reach peopleis being touted as somethingthat will be implemented,"Palaniswami said.

Prompted by Ramadoss,Palaniswami said, "...Yes, itneeds �3.5 lakh crore. Where isit? They are all lies andundoable. They are trying to getinto power by trying all ways.We are not like that." Gandhirecently announced that�72,000 per year will be givenas minimum income to poorfamilies, benefiting around 25crore people, if his party is votedto power in the Lok Sabha polls.

The Congress Presidentsaid 20 per cent or five crorefamilies belonging to the poor-est category with monthlyincome less than �12,000 wouldcome under the scheme. PTI

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Raking up Sonia Gandhi’sforeign national issue,

Prime Minister Narendra Modion Friday tore into NCP chiefSharad Pawar for teaming upwith the Congress and stand-ing by those leaders who arerooting for separation ofJammu & Kashmir from Indiaand installation of a separatePrime Minister.

Addressing an election rallyat Ahmednagar in westernMaharashtra, Modi said: “TheCongress and NCP are stand-ing by such people who arerooting for separation ofJammu & Kashmir from Indiaand installation of a separatePrime Minister. I have absolute-ly no expectations from theCongress, because it is the rootcause of the problem. But, I donot understand as to what ishappening to Sharadrao Pawar”

“Arey Sharadrao, you hadleft the Congress on the nation-ality issue. You had brokenaway from the Congress. But,how long can keep quiet on thedemand for two PrimeMinisters in the country madeby certain leaders?, After ally-

ing with the Congress, you(Sharad Pawar), you are seeingIndia from ‘foreign’ specta-cles,” Modi asked, wanting toknow from the crowd if theyagreed with the demand fortwo Prime Ministers in thecountry and if they allowed thedivision of Kashmir for whichthe scores of Jawans sacrificed

their lives.“Aare Sharadrao, your

party’s name is NationalistCongress Party. Have younamed your party this way tothrow wool on the face of thepeople? Your friends are talk-ing about two Prime Ministerfor the country. Being a leaderfrom the land of Chhatrapati

Shivaji, how are you gettingsleep, Sharadrao?,” Modi asked,as he slammed the Congress forits promise to “repeal” ArmedForces (Special Powers) Acts(AFSPA)in Jammu & Kashmir.

Modi asked the peoplegathered at the rally to decidebetween “imandar chowkidar”(himself) and a “bhrashtachari

naamdar”, a reference forCongress president RahulGandhi.

“You will have to choosewhether you want an ‘imandarchowkidar’ (honest guard) or a‘bhrashtachari naamdar’ (cor-rupt dynast)... Do you wantheroes of Hindustan or thosebrokers working for Pakistan?,”the Prime Minister asked.

Coming down heavily onthe previous UPA Government,Modi said that during the pre-vious regime, the country wasat the receiving end of terrorstrikes and blasts be it inMumbai or Pune. “Who werekilled in these blasts?.... Traders,farmers, workers, ordinary cit-izens… On the contrary, bombblasts have stopped completedduring the last five years whenthe BJP Government has beenin power. We have struck ter-ror in the minds of the terror-ists,” Modi said.

Alluding to scams that“broke out almost every day” ofthe UPA Government, Modisaid that the people had tochoose between ‘imandarchowkidar’ (honest guard) and‘bhrashtachari naamdars’ (cor-rupt dynastic politicians).

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Salem (TN): CongressPresident Rahul Gandhi onFriday mocked PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’s“Make in India” slogan, sayingthe country’s market was nowflooded with Chinese prod-ucts.

Addressing a poll rallyhere, he referred to unem-ployed youth of Tamil Nadu,saying Modi had hurt them inthe last five years, giving“huge amounts of money fromthe banks to the richest peo-ple but not to them.”

“He gave you an emptyslogan called Make in India butwherever we look we see Madein China products,” he said.

Be it phone, shoes or shirt“you see made in China,” headded.

“Now we want real madein India and real made inTamil Nadu,” Gandhi said.

Under Modi, “Make inIndia” if a young Tamil entre-preneur wanted to start abusiness he had to knock onthe doors of different govern-ment offices where “he had topay bribes,” the Congress chief

alleged.“By the time he got his

permissions the business isalready failed,” he said.

Hence, the Congress cameup with a new idea in its man-ifesto for entrepreneurs, hesaid adding “when you wantto start a new business youwill not have to take permis-sion from any governmentdepartment for three years.”

They could take the per-mission once the business wasestablished and till such timethe focus could be on makingthe business work and con-solidating it, Gandhi said.

“Once your business isestablished take permission.”

Terming the GST asGabbar Singh Tax again, hesaid it comprised five differ-ent taxes and a tax rate of 28per cent wherein “evenweavers had to pay tax if theyhad to buy thread or materi-al.”

The moment his partywas voted to power it will beremoved and we will give youa “real GST, (envisaging) onetax, minimum tax and a sim-

ple tax.”Alleging that Modi “takes

thousands and thousands ofcrores and gives it to peoplelike Anil Ambani and Adani,”the Congress chief accused thePrime Minister of giving awayRs 3,50,000 crore to 15 of therichest persons in the country.

“But when Tamil farmersare protesting in JantarMantar, he has not got evenone word to say. They have totake off their clothes and stillhe does not pay any attention.He does not have decency tocall them and ask them whythey were upset.”

However, “Modi huggedevery single corrupt busi-nessman, and you can seepictures of him hugging AnilAmbani,” Gandhi said.

The Prime Minister couldalso be seen sitting with NiravModi, Mehul Choksi andVijay Mallya, but not with anypoor person, he alleged.

“There is not a single pic-ture of the Prime Ministerwith a poor farmer, or ownerof a small business,” theCongress chief charged. PTI

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&��<�:��-�� Amethi (UP): Union Minister

Smriti Irani on Friday hit backat the Congress over its allega-tions that she “falsified records”of her educational qualifica-tions, saying she will continueto work hard for Amethi nomatter what its leaders say.

Dubbing Irani a “serialliar”, the Congress also allegedthat she submitted contradic-tory affidavits to the ElectionCommission for which sheshould be disqualified.

“In the past five years,there has not been any attackwhich has not been madeagainst me by the Congress andits ‘chele chapate’ (stooges),nor is there any bad word ordisrespect which has not beenhurled at me,” Irani said whenasked to comment on Congressspokesperson Priyanka

Chaturvedi’s swipe at her qual-ifications through a spoof onher hit TV serial.

“I have a message forthem... As much as you try, Iwill work for Amethi againstthe Congress. No matter whatyou say, the more you harassme, the harder I’ll work,” shesaid, adding that the Congresssupporters were targeting herbecause she was taking on the

‘Namdar’ (dynast), referringto Rahul Gandhi.

Earlier, Chaturvedi alsoalleged that Irani was misusingher influence and power as aUnion minister.

“Union Minister SmritiIrani, who had been rubbish-ing Opposition’s claim that sheis not a graduate, yesterdayaccepted that she enrolled foran undergraduate course inDelhi University but did notcomplete it,” the Congressleader said.

The Union minister andBJP candidate for Amethi LokSabha seat, Irani Thursdaysubmitted to the ElectionCommission that she did notcomplete her graduation fromthe Delhi University.

In her affidavit filed duringher nomination, Irani, who iscontesting against Congresschief Rahul Gandhi, said shepassed secondary school exam-ination in 1991 and seniorsecondary school examinationin 1993.

Irani has said she did notcomplete her Bachelor ofCommerce (Part-I) — a three-year degree course — fromDelhi University’s School ofOpen Learning in 1994.

In her 2004 affidavit, shehad claimed that she is a grad-uate.

There was a controversywhen her 2014 affidavit con-tradicted her own claim. PTI

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Shattering prevailing peacealong the Line of Control in

Sawjiyan area of Poonch sector,Pakistan Army on Friday morn-ing violated ceasefire agree-ment by resorting to heavymortar shelling.

Several civilian areas weretargeted by the Pakistan Armyduring intense round of shelling.

Three civilians includingtwo girls received injuries andwere shifted to Poonch districthospital by the local residents inthe area.

In the absence of ambu-lance facility, the local villagersused ‘charpai’ to evacuateinjured girls amid intenseshelling in the forward areas ofPoonch.

Unconfirmed reports

claimed Pakistan Army violat-ed ceasefire agreement whileproviding cover fire to a groupof infiltrators.

Sawjiyan sector remainedpeaceful for a long time with noincident of ceasefire violationreported in the area in the lasttwo years.

Pakistan Army was earlierusing the same route to pushinfiltrators inside the Indian ter-ritory.

The foot soldiers of theIndian Army were directed toremain in a state of high alertfollowing breach of ceasefireagreement.

According to police theinjured civilians were identifiedas Tasvir Begum D/O AbdulRasheed, Sabina Akhtar D/OMumtaz Ahmad and MohdHesak S/O Noor Mohd. PTI

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With about 77 per centpolling in the Assembly

and Lok Sabha elections inAndhra Pradesh, both theTDP and YSRCP on Fridayexuded confidence of formingthe next Government in theState and winning a majority ofLok Sabha seats.

While the ruling TeluguDesam Party (TDP) was con-fident of people, giving it amassive mandate for anotherterm, the main OppositionYSR Congress Party (YSRCP)was equally sure of a landslidevictory.

Violence and malfunc-tioning of Electronic VotingMachines (EVMs) marred thepoll process on Thursday,resulting in the extendedpolling time, continuing insome booths till midnight.

The main contenders ofpower claimed that the high

voting percentage will work intheir favour. They also blamedeach other for the violence thatleft two people dead and manyinjured.

TDP president andAndhra Pradesh ChiefMinister, N ChandrababuNaidu, told party leaders dur-ing a video conference early onFriday that the polling trendmade it clear that people werewith the TDP.

He believes the enthusiasmshown by voters, especiallywomen and the aged, was aclear indication of ‘pro-incum-bency’. Naidu said that TDPwill win 130 seats in 175-member Assembly and willalso bag 20-22 out of 25 LokSabha seats.

TDP leaders said the wel-fare schemes, especially pen-sions for the elderly and wid-ows and financial assistanceprovided to self-help groupswould help them retain power.

Today marks the 100th anniver-sary of one the goriest episodesin human history and the dark-est chapter of the British rule inIndia when an unarmed peace-

ful gathering of thousands of people wasfired upon at Jallianwala Bagh on theinstructions of General Reginald Dyer,leaving several hundreds dead and manymore wounded.

It was Baisakhi on April 13, 1919, andthe thousands who assembled, includingchildren and women at Jallianwala Bagh,were apparently unaware of the restrictionsimposed on such gatherings. Without anywarning, the gathering was fired upon,which continued for 10 minutes and till theammunition was exhausted.

The genocide shocked the entire worldand marked a turning point in India’s free-dom struggle by creating an upsurge ofnationalist sentiments across the country.Deeply anguished by the British brutality,Gurudev Rabindranth Tagore addressed aletter to Lord Chelmsford, the Viceroy ofIndia, renouncing the Knighthood con-ferred upon him.

It would be appropriate to recall por-tions of that letter to acquaint the presentgeneration with the pains and sufferingsinflicted on Indian masses by a callous andstone-hearted British administration.Tagore said, “The enormity of the measurestaken by the Government in the Punjab forquelling some local disturbances has, witha rude shock, revealed to our minds thehelplessness of our position as British sub-jects in India. The disproportionate sever-ity of the punishments inflicted upon theunfortunate people and the methods of car-rying them out, we are convinced, are with-out parallel in the history of civilisedGovernments, barring some conspicuousexceptions, recent and remote. Consideringthat such treatment has been meted out toa population, disarmed and resourceless,by a power which has the most terribly effi-cient organisation for destruction of humanlives, we must strongly assert that it canclaim no political expediency, far less moraljustification.”

Asking the Viceroy to relieve him of thetitle of Knighthood, Tagore stated, “Thetime has come when badges of honourmake our shame glaring in the incongru-ous context of humiliation, and I for mypart wish to stand, shorn of all special dis-tinctions, by the side of those of my coun-trymen, who, for their so-called insignif-icance, are liable to suffer degradation notfit for human beings.”

Even though 100 years have lapsedsince that inhuman massacre happened, thepain and agony continue to rankle in theheart of every Indian to this day. Historyis not a mere chronicle of events. It showsus the depths to which depraved minds canplunge and cautions us to learn from thepast. It also tells us that the power of evil

is transient. This was summedup most succinctly by theFather of the Nation, MahatmaGandhi, who had once said:“When I despair, I rememberthat all through history, the wayof truth and love has alwayswon. There have been tyrantsand murderers and for a timethey seem invincible, but in theend, they always fall... think ofit, always”.

India and the world havetravelled a long distance sincethe massacre at JallianwalaBagh. Mahatma Gandhi hasshown to the rest of the worldhow through peaceful meansand non-violence even a pow-erful colonial power can bebrought to its knees. No doubt,colonialism has become a relicof the past. But it is importantfor everyone to draw lessonsfrom history and shape a bet-ter future for humanity. Today,more than at any other time,the world community needs tocome together to promoteeverlasting peace in all thecorners of the globe and ensurethat sustainable development ofthe planet becomes the watch-word at all times and at all lev-els, from schools to summits ofglobal leaders. Progress cannotbe achieved without peace.

All countries should unitein establishing a new and equi-table world order where power

and responsibilities, opinionsand voices are respected andwealth and earth’s resources areshared. In other words, the newworld order must create a level-playing field for all countries.

We should ensure thatmulti-lateral forums are notdominated or influenced by afew powers and communities.The voice of every nation willhave to be taken into account.It is this approach and perspec-tive which India applies when-ever reviewing or addressingglobal issues. It is against thisbackground that India andsome other countries havebeen asking for a more impor-tant and significant role in theUN Security Council.

In fact, from timeimmemorial, India believed inthe philosophy of VasudaivaKutumbakkam and viewed theentire world as one family. Intune with its civilisational val-ues, India never nurtured anyaggressive or hegemonisticdesigns at any point of timealthough it was once known as‘Vishwaguru’ and contributedabout 27 per cent of the glob-al GDP. Despite its pacifisttradition and remaining wed-ded to the philosophy of non-violence, India became a victimof successive foreign invasionsin the past and of terrorism inthe past few decades.

Terrorism has become thebiggest threat to humanitytoday. Several countries acrossthe globe had to grapple withan upsurge in mindless vio-lence while India had been vic-tim of numerous terroristattacks for decades. Stampingout the scourge of terrorismbrooks no delay. The UnitedNations and the world leadersneed to accord highest urgencyto completing the delibera-tions on the ComprehensiveConvention on InternationalTerrorism (CCIT), which hasbeen pending with UN for toolong — ever since India pro-posed it in 1996. Nations,which use terrorism as a statepolicy, should not be allowedto hold the rest of the world toransom and need to be isolat-ed internationally.Fundamentally, the channelsfor financing terrorism have tobe cut off and sanctions needto be imposed on such nations.To accomplish this objective,the international communityhas to come together as one toensure that no single countrypromoting terrorism feels safeand insulated from punitiveaction. All countries mustremember that terrorismspares no one in the finalanalysis. No one can quite pre-dict when it could afflict acountry, which may choose to

look the other way today. It canbe wiped out only throughmutual understanding of thereal threat that terrorism posesto humanity and a true appre-ciation of the need to battle itunitedly.

With technology revolu-tionising every aspect of mod-ern life on an unprecedentedscale and virtually reducing theworld to a global village, theinternational communityshould seize this opportunity totransform the lives of millionsof people in the poor, underde-veloped and developing nations.All countries should cometogether in combating climatechange and sustaining the nat-ural resources as nobody has theright to jeopardise the life offuture generations and the plan-et itself. Once again, I would liketo recall the profound words ofthe Mahatma, who had said thatthe earth provides enough tosatisfy every man’s needs but notevery man’s greed.

Before concluding, Iwould like to appreciate theefforts of the Government inshowcasing photographs,paintings and newspaper clip-pings depicting the authenticaccount of Jallianwala Baghmassacre at Yaad-e-JallianMuseum in Delhi.

(The writer is Vice Presidentof India)

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Sir — This refers to the report,“No wave keeps poll outcomeunder wraps” (April 12). Thefestival of democracy has begunwith the first phase of votingbeing completed peacefully. Theabsence of any “wave” this timehas given the voters an oppor-tunity to make the decision onvoting preference dispassion-ately. It’s good that the voterturnout in the first phase of elec-tions remained more or less thesame as it was in the 2014 LokSabha election.

India is the only country inthe Asian region which adopteda parliamentary form of democ-racy on getting independencefrom foreign rule. Today, we canproudly say that democracy hasbloomed, flourished, sustainedand has taken deep roots insidethe country in spite of numer-ous attempts being made bydisruptive forces to derail it.

Heavy voter turnout in elec-tions reasserts people’s faith inthe system of democracy. Longqueues of women voters in thepoll booths across the length andbreadth of the country are mostencouraging and a shining fea-

ture of our elections. This sub-stantiates awareness and theresolve of the so-called aadhiaabaadi (half the population) foractive participation in the demo-cratic process.

Which party wins the elec-tions is immaterial. The ultimatewinner will be that of the Indiandemocracy.

MC JoshiLucknow

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Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “For the sake of Rafale”(April 11). By overruling theUnion Government’s objectionsover the admissibility of somedocuments pertaining the Rafaledeal, which they claimed, weresensitive in nature and had beenobtained through “unauthorised

photocopying and leakage”, theSupreme Court has unwittinglyprovided the kind of opening theOpposition was desperatelywaiting for. Rafale is not a cor-ruption scam. For, nowhere inthe mountain of invective andallegations in the Rafale deal hasanyone even remotely provideda shred of evidence that illicitmoney changed hands.

By agreeing to relook at its

own December order in theRafale deal in the light of the filenotings, published subsequent-ly in a tangential manner by TheHindu, the court has in a wayintervened in the poll process.Plain common sense demandedthat it reserve its order whetheror not to reopen the case afterthe end of the campaigning.

KS JayatheerthaBengaluru

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Sir — It’s not just the two main-stream parties, the BJP andCongress, who indulged in com-petitive populism but regionalparties, too, do not lag behind inannouncing freebies. The needof the hour is to keep the nationdebt-free. But going by theannouncement of free sopsannounced by political parties,India will soon become debt-laden. It is only our descendantswho are going to suffer in thelong run if this loot and plunderisn’t stopped right now.

KV SeetharamaiahHassan

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Ahundred years ago this dayoccurred the massacre at JallianwalaBagh, Amritsar, which remains oneof the worst crimes of British impe-rialism in India. On that day, offi-

ciating Brigadier, Reginald Dyer, orderedGurkha soldiers under his command to fire ona peaceful and unarmed gathering of men,women and children to celebrate Baisakhi. Thefiring continued for 10 minutes and wasdirected at places where the concentration ofpeople was the heaviest.

The toll, according to official figures, was379 killed and about 1,100 wounded. Unofficial— and by all accounts more correct — countsput the figure above 1,000 dead and 1,200wounded. Outrage among Indians was coun-trywide and intense. Prominent among thoseexpressing it were Pandit Motilal Nehru, SirShankaran Nair, who resigned his membershipof the Viceroy’s executive council in protest,Punjab legislative council members, Nawab DinMurad and Karter Singh and, of course,Rabindranath Tagore, who renounced theknighthood conferred upon him by the BritishGovernment through an open letter to theViceroy, Lord Chelmsford, published in TheStatesman (June 3, 1919) and Modern Review(July, 1919).

The letter, reflecting the deepest feelings ofanguish and anger, began thus: “The enormi-ty of the measures taken by the Governmentin the Punjab for quelling some local distur-bances has, with a rude shock, revealed to ourminds the helplessness of our position as Britishsubjects in India. The disproportionate sever-ity of the punishments inflicted upon the unfor-tunate people and the methods of carryingthem out, we are convinced, are without par-allel in the history of civilised governments, bar-ring some conspicuous exceptions, recent andremote. Considering that such treatment hasbeen meted out to a population, disarmed andresourceless, by a power which has the most ter-ribly efficient organisation for destruction ofhuman lives, we must strongly assert that it canclaim no political expediency, far less moral jus-tification.”

Stating that the “accounts of insult and suf-ferings” borne by “our brothers in Punjab” andthe universal agony and indignation aroused“in the hearts of our people” had been ignoredby the rulers, who were possibly congratulat-ing themselves for having taught the people asalutary lesson, he added, “This callousness hasbeen praised by most of the Anglo-Indianpapers which have in some cases gone to thebrutal length of making fun of our sufferings,without receiving the least check from the sameauthority — relentlessly careful in smotheringevery cry of pain and expression of judgementfrom the organs representing the sufferers.”

Finally, declaring his decision to renouncehis knighthood, he had stated, “The time hascome when badges of honour make our shameglaring in the incongruous context of humili-ation, and I for my part wish to stand, shornof all special distinctions, by the side of thoseof my countrymen, who, for their so-calledinsignificance, are liable to suffer degradation

not fit for human beings.”The stray attacks, including that

on a woman English missionary, thatpreceded the Jallianwala Bagh mas-sacre had its roots in the agitationagainst the draconian Rowlatt Act(1919) — ostensibly aimed at squash-ing sedition. It turned British-ruledIndia much more of a surveillance-cum-police state than it had ever been.In protest, Mahatma Gandhi called fora nation-wide strike which drew anoverwhelming response. In Punjab,the movement peaked in the first weekof April when rail and telegraph ser-vices were disrupted. The PunjabGovernment, headed by theLieutenant-Governor, Sir MichaelFrancis O’Dwyer, imposed martial lawto maintain order and sought toteach the people of the province a les-son. The massacre followed.

Shamefully, the horror did not endwith it. On the following day, Dyerissued a public statement in Urdu inwhich he asked (in English transla-tion) the residents of Amritsarwhether they wanted war or peace. Ifthey wanted war, the Government wasprepared for it. If they wanted peace,they would have to open shops andmarkets. Otherwise, they would beshot.

Next came a most humiliatingmeasure, which lasted from April 19to 25, 1919. From 6 am to 8 pm every

day, people traversing the street onwhich the woman English missionarywas attacked had to crawl on all foursfor the entire length. Even doctorswere not allowed to enter the streetand the sick went unattended.

The mass murder and the threatsand measures that followed wereemblematic of the merciless exploita-tion and repression that characterisedBritish rule in India under the cam-ouflage of discharging its benignimperial mission of making this coun-try fit for self-rule. The fundamentalgoal of the imperial Government wasexploiting to the hilt India’s resourcesfor Britain’s benefit. The draining ofIndia’s wealth, which reduced thecountry, once celebrated for its pros-perity, to utter poverty, has beenexhaustively documented by RomeshChunder Dutt in his classic, TheEconomic History of India, in two vol-umes.

Coming to specifics, MadhusreeMukerji has shown in Churchill’sSecret War: The British Empire and theRavaging of India During World WarII, how British policies led to frequentfamines in India from the second halfof the 18th century to 1943 whenbetween 1.5 to three million peopledied during the Great Bengal Faminewhich was primarily caused by theBritish Prime Minister WinstonChurchill’s cynical measures.

A number of Britishers, includ-ing Edwin Samuel Montague, secre-tary of state for India, criticised Dyer.But he also had his staunch support-ers, including Rudyard Kipling andremained a hero to Colonel Blimpsand allied circles. He was, by way ofpunishment, relieved of his com-mand, denied promotion, made toretire prematurely and barred fromfurther employment in India. Thiswhen he should have at least beencashiered and prosecuted for massmurder.

Michael Francis O’Dwyer, whofully supported Dyer’s action, wasassassinated in London on March 13,1940, by the fearless revolutionary,Udham Singh, who made no attemptto escape after the shooting and toldthe court during his trial that he washappy for what he had done and wasnot afraid of death. He ended by ask-ing what greater honour could bebestowed on him than death for thesake of his motherland.

He was executed by hanging.PS: British Prime Minister

Theresa May has described the massslaughter as a “shameful scar” onBritish Indian history. She shouldknow that the scar will heal only afterBritain formally apologises for thecrime, which it has not done.

(The writer is Consultant Editor,The Pioneer, and an author)

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For those innocent souls stillblissfully ignorant of what Non-Functional Financial Upgrade

(NFU) implies, in brief, it simplyensures that when an IAS officer froma particular batch (one that includeseveryone who joins service the sameyear) is promoted to a certain rank, allbatchmates from Group A Central ser-vices automatically start drawing thesame pay-scale two years after thatindividual’s promotion. Even as thoseofficials continue to discharge earlierfunctions, they are upgraded to a high-er pay grade. Thus, nearly all civil ser-vices officers, regardless of what rankthey may retire with, get pension at thehighest level of HAG+ or what thosefew appointed as Cabinet Secretaries

are granted. If that isn’t hitting the jack-pot, then what is?

One doesn’t need to be a guru tofigure out that such a system is con-trary to all principles of managementand without precedent anywhere inthe world, either in the Governmentor corporate sector. As a matter of fact,Vivek Rae, the IAS member in the sev-enth Pay Commission, recommend-ed that NFU be done away with ongrounds that “to strive for uniformcareer progression across such adiverse set of services and cadres, withwidely varying functions, violatesfundamental management principlesrelating to organisational structures.Such a dispensation, with automaticcareer progression till the HAG level,completely buries the concept ofmerit-based career progression andundermines considerations of efficien-cy and accountability.”

Singh’s motivation for approvingthis, despite pretensions to intellectu-al and moral honesty, is not difficultto guess. Pragmatism required a veilto cover the scandalous actions of hiscoalition partners, which the bureau-cracy willingly provided, obviously in

exchange for a quid pro quo. ThatPrime Minister Narendra Modirefused to do away with NFU, as themajority members of the seventh PayCommission recommended, obvi-ously suggests that he and his col-leagues are as much a hostage tobureaucracy as was the previousGovernment, despite all his blatherabout good governance.

It is in the nature of the beast thatwhen hogs are given unlimited accessto the feeding trough, other hogs willfollow, even those, who may not seethemselves as hogs as well. It was justa matter of time before the CentralArmed Police Forces (CAPF) and thearmed forces approached theGovernment for their inclusion and onrefusal, approached the courts. Whilethe apex court has already directed theGovernment to commence NFU forCAPF — something the Governmentrecently approved for implementation— the case of the armed forces stilllingers with that august body.

The irony in all this is difficult tomiss. NFU was granted in order toaddress the wide disparity in careerprogression across different Organised

Group ‘A’ services (Central services)and to bring parity between them andthe IAS. It was accepted despite its“wide-ranging financial, organisa-tional and governance implications”as the seventh Pay Commission put itespecially with regard to inter-se sta-tus between various services andtheir military counterparts, which hadbeen sacrosanct till then since inde-pendence.

To quote Rathin Roy, the othermember of the seventh PayCommission, the “broad parity wasdisturbed by granting NFU to IPS,IFoS and organised group ‘A’ servicesafter the sixth Central PayCommission report, without a simi-lar dispensation being extended to theDefence Forces. Consequently, theDefence Forces officers, who are in noway lower in status or responsibilitythan Group ‘A’ Central services,though not classified as such, have fall-en steeply behind IPS/IFoS and 49organised group ‘A’ services.”

Again, as it was bound to happen,all of this has had a particularly dis-astrous impact on the “armed forces’morale, status, cohesion and nation-

al security”, to quote the seventhCentral Pay Commission. In the pre-sent circumstances, especially giventhat it is an election season, it is morethan likely that the issues raised willbe disregarded, more so in light of theextraordinary performance of thearmed forces over the past couple ofyears, despite acute deficits in weapons,equipment and ammunition. After all,it is not just coincidence that everyparty attempts to include “surgicalstrikes” in its outreach — be it the fightagainst poverty or the measure of theleaders’ strength of character, as Modihas so effectively done till now.

Unfortunately, this bombast bypoliticians, especially of the rulingparty, is difficult to balance against theGovernment’s extensive efforts todeny NFU to the armed forces. ThePress Information Bureau (PIB) onMarch 25 stated, “In the instant case,the recourse to judicial review wastaken as per the existing policies andat the decision of the Government ofIndia. Certain facts have been twist-ed and misrepresented in the mediawith the purpose of misleading theuniformed community and the gen-

eral public. One, the Central PayCommission has been incorrectlyquoted to have recommended NFU/NFU for the armed forces.

“Two, there has been no attemptto malign the uniformed communi-ty or quote them as staying in ‘pala-tial houses’ as the hardships faced bymilitary fraternity are well-known anddeeply respected by everyone, includ-ing those in the Government. Thecounsel of the Government of Indiahas only read out the recommenda-tions of the seventh Central PayCommission as the argument of thecase in the apex court….”

Clearly, the PIB’s statement isdisingenuous. For one, it denies theexistence of Para 17.55 of the seventhCentral Pay Commission report thatcategorically states, “The Chairman isof the considered opinion that …thesame will be available not only to allorganised Central group ‘A’ servicesbut also members of CAPFs, ICG andDefence forces.” Second, the PIB’sdefence of the Government counsel’sarguments is at complete variance tothe tweet by advocate for the litigants,Col Mukul Dev: “March 12, 2019, the

Black Day in the history of Indianarmed forces, which I must observeit as, when I had to hear the mostdemoralising and damaging argu-ments of the Ministry of Defence(MoD)… the MoD babus have gotobjection to the CSD facilities, theArmy public schools, the officersinstitutes, the free travel passes (in theirterminology), the concessional airtravel scheme, the grant of MilitaryService Pay, the free rations and the so-called palatial houses in which we aremade to stay….In essence, the samevery babus, who are entrusted to lookafter the interests of soldiers, are nowtrying to usurp everything. Times havedefinitely changed.....”

While the Prime Minister canhold forth on how much better wewould have fared if the Rafale hadbeen in our inventory during therecent spat with Pakistan, he would dowell to remember that the basic tenetof warfare is that the man behind thegun matters more than the gun.

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

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As part of its commitment tomake farming communi-

ties more sustainable, FMCIndia today announced that ithas commissioned communitywater filtration plants in 15 vil-lages to increase access to clean,potable water across UttarPradesh. The first plant wasinaugurated on Friday in villageBeejapur (Haidergarh), Distt.Barabanki. This plant will servethe potable water requirementof nearby villages like Naraulli,Barawa, Hatipalpur, Gangapur,Sansara and others in vicinity.

With each plant having thecapacity to produce 48,000 litersof filtered water per day, the 15plants are cumulatively capableof meeting the safe waterrequirement of nearly 40,000families. The water plants madewith an investment of almost�11 million, will be operated bythe village communities on acooperative mode land areexpected to create employment

opportunities while promotingcommunity ownership.

“FMC embraces opportunitiesto better living standards wher-

ever it operates,” said PramodThota, country president, FMCIndia. “In Uttar Pradesh, FMCsupports the Government’s com-mitment to uplift health stan-dards, and we are happy to ded-icate these 15 water purifiers tosupport its cause. We believe thatthese plants will make a tangi-ble positive difference in thehealth index of the villages intime to come.”

“Project Samarth, FMCIndia’s corporate social

responsibility program aimedat developing the lives of farm-ing communities, is one of theenablers of our corporate phi-losophy — Pragati Aapki,Prakriti Hamaari — to driveall stakeholders to progress,rural communities being themost important one. We arecommitted to empower themfor a better living, and thesewater filtration plants are onesuch undertaking,” Thotaadded.

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Jet Airways, facing its worstexistential crisis in its over

25-year-old history, Fridayextended suspension of itsinternational operations tillnext Monday due to severe liq-uidity issues.

Incidentally, the stake salebid invited by the SBI- led con-sortium of bankers, whichmanages the day-to-day RPTday operations of the airline,also closes by the end of the dayFriday, after being extended bytwo days.

Airline founder NareshGoyal, the UAE carrier EtihadAirways, Air Canada and thecountry’s national investmentfund among others are report-ed to have submitted bids,according to media reports.

On Thursday, the airlinehad announced temporarygrounding of its internationaloperations for day — Jet wasthe largest international airlinefrom the country till the finan-cial crisis — when it had alsosuspended operations to theentire Eastern andNortheastern markets as Jetwas forced to ground 10 moreaircraft following default oflease rentals.

This has left Jet with nolarge aircraft while it had just14 planes for domestic opera-tions as of late Thursday.

“Jet has decided to extendsuspension of its international

operations till Monday, due tosevere cash crunch,” airlinesources told PTI Friday.

Jet was the largest domes-tic carrier operating in theinternational sector with a hubin Amsterdam, where a cargoagent had taken possession ofan aircraft this on Tuesdaydemanding bill payment. Thisled to the cancellation of theAmsterdam-Mumbai flightthat day.

Thursday Jet flights toLondon, Amsterdam and Parisfrom Mumbai, New Delhi andBengaluru scheduled were can-celled for operational reasons,”Je had said, adding it had alsocancelled the Bengaluru-Amsterdam-Bengaluru flightFriday.

On the domestic front, allJet operations to and from theEastern and Northeasternstates were suspended till fur-ther notice. Following this,there would no Jet flights toand from Kolkata, Patna,Guwahati and other airports inthe region, travel industrysource had told PTI.

Jet had also said itsMumbai-Kolkata, Kolkata-Guwahati and Dehradun-Guwahati-Kolkata f lightsstood cancelled till furthernotice due to “operationalreasons.”

As of Thursday, the airlinehad just 14 planes — waydown from 123 planes in oper-ations till a few months back.

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Cash-strapped Jet Airwaysis currently flying less

than 50 domestic flights, asenior official of aviationregulator DGCA said onFriday.

“Jet is currently flyingless than 50 domestic flights.The airlines has 16 aircraftavailable with them for fly-ing,” the official said.

The official did not givethe actual number of aircraftthat are currently flying.

The official said that theairline has suspended itsinternational operations tillMonday.

As the crisis in the pri-vate airline deepened, thePrime Minister’s Office hascalled an urgent meeting todiscuss the situation, officialsources said.

SpiceJet on Fr idayannounced it will induct 16Boeing 737-800 NG aircrafton dry lease to bring downf l ight cancel lat ions andexpand the airline’s interna-tional and domestic pres-ence.

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India’s retaili n f l a t i o n

saw a margin-al rise of 2.86per cent inMarch onaccount ofincrease inprices of foodarticles andfuel, accord-ing toGovernment data releasedFriday.

The inflation based onConsumer Price Index (CPI)was 2.57 per cent in Februarythis year. On yearly basis, itwas 4.28 per cent in March2018.

The data released by theCentral Statistics Office (CSO)

showed that inflation in foodbasket rose to 0.3 per cent inMarch from (-) 0.66 per cent inthe previous month.

The rate of price rise wasalso higher in ‘fuel and light’category. The inflation in thesegment rose to 2.42 per centas against 1.24 per cent inFebruary.

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AJapanese court on Fridayruled that Carlos Ghosn

will remain in detention untilApril 22, as prosecutors grillthe former Nissan boss overallegations of financial mis-conduct.

His lawyers immediatelyappealed the decision but theTokyo District Court rejectedthe appeal. They have alreadyasked the Supreme Court tointervene in his detention.

Unless the appeal to theSupreme Court succeeds, the65-year-old will be held incustody at a detention centrein Tokyo until April 22,whereupon authorities willeither have to press formalcharges, release him or re-arrest him if they feel he hasother accusations to answer.

Prosecutors are lookinginto allegations that Ghosnsiphoned off some $5 millionfrom funds allegedly trans-ferred from Nissan to a deal-ership in Oman, and spent themoney on a luxury supery-acht.

Ghosn has not been for-mally charged over these alle-gations.

But the tycoon doesalready face three separatecharges. Two of these relate tomillions of dollars in salarybelieved to have been con-cealed from shareholders. Thethird charge is that he soughtto shift personal investment

losses to company books.Ghosn denies all allega-

tions and lashed out in avideo message — shown onApril 9 — at what he termeda “plot” by “backstabbing”Nissan executives scared ofcloser integration with Frenchpartner firm Renault.

Ghosn’s wife Carole hasincreasingly become a keyfigure in the case and wasquestioned by authorities onThursday.

According to a sourceclose to the matter, some ofthe USD5 million for theyacht was funnelled to aBritish Virgin Islands-listedcompany -- which has CaroleGhosn registered as presi-dent.

The case has bewitchedJapan and the business worldsince the tycoon was arrestedout of the blue at a Tokyo air-port on November 19 andwhisked off to the detentioncentre.

He spent 108 days in aninitial period of custody, inconditions he said he wouldnot wish on his “worst enemy”,deprived of his watch, forcedto sleep with the light on andforbidden contact with hisloved ones.

He then won bail, stump-ing up $9 million for his free-dom and submitting to strictbail conditions including notusing the internet or contact-ing anyone connected to thecase.

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The World TradeOrganisation has upheld

South Korea’s import ban onJapanese seafood from areasaffected by the 2011 nucleardisaster in Fukushima, over-turning a ruling by a lowerpanel last year that said Seoulwas unfairly discriminatingagainst Japanese products.

The decision is a setbackfor Japan, which has promot-ed Fukushima’s recovery fromthe nuclear disaster and thesafety of its agricultural andfisheries products ahead ofnext year’s Summer Olympicsin Tokyo.

South Korea on Fridaywelcomed the decision andsaid it will continue to block allfishery products fromFukushima and seven neigh-boring prefectures to ensure“only foods that are confirmedas safe are put on the table.”

Japan said the WTO rulingwas “extremely regrettable” andvowed to get the import banreversed through bilateral talkswith South Korea. JapaneseForeign Minister Taro Konosummoned South KoreanAmbassador Lee Su-hoon toconvey Tokyo’s displeasure.

“The Government willcontinue to maintain andstrengthen our quarantine sov-ereignty and safety net,” saidYoon Chang-yul, an officialfrom South Korea’s Office forGovernment PolicyCoordination.

Yoon said the WTO rulingallows Seoul to maintain theban “indefinitely” until it viewsthe safety concerns as fullyresolved. When asked aboutthe possibility of the seafoodban fueling larger trade anddiplomatic disputes, he saidthat “hopefully, that won’t hap-pen.”

South Korea broadenedinitial import restrictions to ablanket ban covering allseafood products from theeight prefectures in 2013, afterthe Tokyo Electric PowerCompany revealed that highlycontaminated water leakedfrom a storage tank at a crip-pled nuclear plant inFukushima that was submergedby a massive tsunami in 2011.

Japan launched a com-plaint with the WTO over theban in 2015, saying that theradioactive levels of seafoodfrom the areas were safe. The

ruling by WTO’s appellate bodyreversed key points of a verdictby a lower dispute panel lastyear that supported Japaneseclaims that the South Koreanmeasures excessively restrictedtrade and were “arbitrarily orunjustifiably discriminating”against Japanese food products.

The appellate body said thepanel failed to considerwhether the methods of cont-amination testing proposed byJapan would fully satisfy SouthKorean protection standards.The Fukushima plant has nowbeen significantly stabilizedand radiation has come downto levels considered safe inmost areas. Still, more than 20countries and areas keep theirimport ban or restrictions onJapanese fisheries and agricul-tural products, although thenumber had come down from54 soon after the disaster.

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The National Company LawTribunal (NCLT) on Friday

stayed a plea to withdraw thebankruptcy proceedings onSterling SEZ & Infrastructurefiled by Srei InfrastructureFinance, till April 25.

At the last hearing onMarch 26, the tribunal hadsought replies from all stake-holders, including the cor-porate affairs ministry, andFriday’s stay order is basedon a plea by the ministry asthe promoters are absconding.

Corporate affairs ministry’ssenior counsel Sanjay Shoreysaid, “we got stay over with-drawal of IBC proceedings onSterling SEZ”.

He said, they sought a stayas another bench of the tri-

bunal is hearing a similar set-tlement plea regarding SterlingBiotech, which is the flagshipcompany of the Sandesara fam-ily’s Sterling Group.

The plea will be heard onApril 25, the tribunal said.

On Wednesday, the tri-bunal had allowed the with-drawal of the insolvency pleafiled by Srei InfrastructureFinance against Sterling SEZ,which is owned by Nitin andChetan Sandesara, who areabsconding and are believed tobe abroad.

The Gujarat-based SterlingSEZ is a subsidiary of theSterling group and owes over�8,100 crore to its financial andoperational creditors.

Promoters are abscondingand a case is pending in a Delhicourt to declare them fugitiveeconomic offenders.

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State-run telecom productmaker ITI Ltd on Friday

said it has recorded 20 percent growth in revenue at�2,051 crore for financial year2018-19.

The company had regis-tered revenue of �1,703 crorein 2017-18.

With the revival packagesupport f rom theGovernment and execution ofBharatNet phase 2 projectsand rejuvenated manpower,the turnover of the companyhas improved, ITI said in astatement.

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The Prime Minister’s Office(PMO) has called an

urgent meeting to discussthe crisis in private airline JetAirways, which is facingacute financial woes.

According to sources, themeeting has been called afterCivi l Aviat ion MinisterSuresh Prabhu asked the sec-retary of the department toreview issues concerning JetAirways.

Crisis-hit Jet Airways isfacing acute financial crunchand has grounded several ofits flights and stopped inter-national operations.

The drastic measure wasannounced after the airlineinformed the exchanges thatit was forced to ground 10more planes due to non-pay-ment of rentals to the lessors.

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New Delhi: Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) Friday said its compact car Celeriosold 1,03,734 units in 2018-19, joining the club of company’s models with salesof more than one lakh units in a year. The model has cumulatively sold 4.7 lakhunits since its launch in 2014, MSI said in a statement. The sales of the modelgrew by 10 per cent in 2018-19, it added. Celerio was “the first car to democra-tise the two-pedal (auto gear shift) technology and the recent upgrade in its safe-ty features has significantly enhanced its appeal as the perfect city car”, MSI SeniorExecutive Director - Marketing and Sales RS Kalsi said. Celerio’s 1-litre petrolengine delivers a fuel efficiency of 23.1 km/ltr for both Auto Gear Shift (AGS)and the manual transmission variants. The factory-fitted CNG Celerio offers afuel-efficiency of 31.76 km/kg, MSI said. The other Maruti Suzuki cars in theclub of over one lakh annual sales include Vitara Brezza, Dzire, Baleno, Swift,WagonR and Alto.

�.#/��)��#��2��*.�2.�".�� .��'�#�/�New Delhi: German auto major Volkswagen Friday said it has launched a

new version of its compact sedan Ameo in India, priced at �6.69 lakh (ex-show-room). The Ameo Corporate edition has been introduced to cater to corporateand business customers, the company said in a statement. “Through the AmeoCorporate edition, we aim to offer globally renowned standards of safety, qual-ity and fun-to-drive experience to all our customers,” Volkswagen Passenger CarsDirector Steffen Knapp said. The petrol trim of the model is priced at �6.69 lakh,while the diesel trim is tagged at �7.99 lakh.

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New Delhi: E-learning platforms are changing the Indian education land-scape by addressing the demand-supply gap of both students as well as corpo-rate employees by dispensing personalised learning outcomes, experts say. Onlinelearning has widened the scope of education and transcended it beyond class-room boundaries. With high internet penetration in the last two years, it has takenover the traditional methods not just in the urban landscape but also in rural areas.The education system is evolving at a very fast pace, online education platformupGrad co-founder and MD Mayank Kumar said.“With industries directly con-necting with e-learning institutions like ours, content has never been so up-to-date. All this put together makes e-learning platforms complete, and students andworking professionals future-ready, in a matter of months,” he said. Kumar notedthat e-learning penetration in corporations is increasing, regardless of the com-pany’s size. Since class-based training is more expensive, proportionately, for smalland medium-sized firms, these firms are increasingly recognising e-learning asa convenient and cost-effective mode. According to a report by KPMG, the Indianonline education industry will grow from 1.6 million users in 2016 to 9.6 mil-lion users by 2021.

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Equity benchmarks closed inthe green for the second

straight session Friday asinvestors looked forward to theearnings season with measuredoptimism amid an uncertainglobal growth environment.

After rising over 200 pointsintra-day, the 30-share BSESensex finally settled 160.10points, or 0.41 per cent, higherat 38,767.11, led by FMCG, autoand banking stocks. The broad-er NSE Nifty rose 46.75 points,or 0.40 per cent, to 11,643.45.During the week, the Sensex fell95.12 points or 0.24 per cent,while the Nifty shed 22.5 pointsor 0.19 per cent.

“General elections andupcoming Q4FY19 numberswill remain the crucial triggersfor the market in the short term.On the earnings front, weexpect that a low base effect,turnaround in profitability ofcorporate lending banks andhealthy growth in earnings ofenergy companies are expectedto largely drive aggregate Sensexearnings,” said Hemang Jani,Head - Advisory, Sharekhan byBNP Paribas.

ITC was the biggest gainerin the Sensex pack, rallying 3.14per cent. Maruti Suzuki, AxisBank, Hero MotoCorp,Vedanta, Asian Paints, M&M,

HUL, Bajaj Auto andPowerGrid were among theother top gainers, rising up to2.13 per cent.

On the other hand, BhartiAirtel, Bajaj Finance, L&T, TataMotors, IndusInd Bank, TataSteel, HCL Tech and ONGCwere among the top laggards,shedding up to 1.71 per cent.

IT bellwether Infosys ended0.63 per cent higher, whilerival TCS slipped 0.26 per centahead of their quarterly earn-ings.

Sectorally, BSE FMCGindex gained the most, spurting1.71 per cent, followed by util-ities, power, auto and banking,rising up to 1.12 per cent.

Broader indices rose in linewith the benchmarks. The BSEMidcap index gained 0.29 percent, while the small-cap gaugeended 0.37 per cent higher.

According to Vinod Nair,Head of Research, GeojitFinancial Services, marketturned positive despite a weakrupee as investors remainfocused on the upcoming earn-ings season. “Banks outper-formed as CPI inflation data (tobe released later in the day) isexpected to be under RBI’s tar-geted level... Earnings seasonwill give direction to the mar-ket while investors are alsokeen on the ongoing election togain confidence,” he added.

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IT major Infosys Friday reported10.5 per cent growth in consoli-

dated net profit at Rs 4,078 crore forthe March 2019 quarter as against�3,690 crore a year ago.

Revenue of the city-based firmgrew 19.1 per cent to �21,539 crorein the quarter under review from�18,083 crore in the correspondingperiod last fiscal, Infosys said in aBSE filing.

The country’s second-largestsoftware services firm expects itstopline to grow 7.5 - 9.5 per cent inFY2019-20 in constant currencyterms.

For the full financialyear, Infosys’ net profit declined by3.9 per cent to �15,410 crore, whilerevenue increased 17.2 per cent to�82,675 crore.

“Our planned investments havestarted yielding benefits. As we lookahead into fiscal 2020, we plan todeploy various measures of opera-tional efficiencies across the busi-ness,” Infosys CEO and ManagingDirector Salil Parekh said.

He termed the results as strongon multiple dimensions includingrevenue growth, performance ofdigital portfolio, large deals andclient metrics.

In US dollars, Infosys saw its

net profit growing 1.7 per cent toUSD 581 million in the March 2019quarter from USD 571 million inthe year-ago period, while revenuesrose 9.1 per cent to USD 3.06 bil-lion from USD 2.8 billion a yearago.

For 2018-19, profit declined11.5 per cent to USD 2.2 billion,while revenues grew 7.9 per cent toUSD 11.7 billion.

For the financial year 2019, thecompany’s board has recommend-ed a final dividend of Rs 10.50 pershare. After including the interimdividend of Rs 7 per share, the totaldividend for the fiscal will amountto �17.50 per share, it said.

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Asserting that politicians need tothink beyond populism, Vice

President M Venkaiah Naidu Fridaysaid free power and loan waiverschemes are not long-term solutionsto farmers’ woes. The statementassumes significance as politicalparties are making big promises towoo voters in the ongoing generalelections.

“Free power... people wantassured power, they want regularpower and then loan waiver scheme.They (schemes) are not going to helpthe farmers in the long-term becausethis is not the end of the story,” he

said at the 125th foundation day cel-ebrations of the Punjab NationalBank (PNB).

“We have to see that we sup-plement the infrastructure, we pro-vide opportunities of better market...timely, affordable and cheaper cred-it (should be made) available to thefarmer. These are the long-termsolutions. Policy makers of thecountry have to think on these lines,”he said.

Main opposition party Congresshas promised minimum incomeguarantee scheme or Nyay to 20 percent poorest of the country. Thescheme is aimed at providing�72,000 a year to the targeted fam-

ily. On the other hand, the rulingBJP in its poll manifesto has said itwill extend �6,000 per year PMKISAN scheme to all farmers.Currently, it is limited to farmershaving farm holding of 5 acres.Another political party DMK haspromised loan waiver scheme forfarmers. On rising non-performingassets (NPAs) in the banking system,he said, it is a great concern as theproblem has certainly affected banks’capacity to lend. Calling banks tomaintain strict vigilance duringpre-and post-sanction procedures ofloans and never make compromis-es in the due diligence processes, thevice-president said.

Script Open High Low LTPSUZLON 6.75 7.41 6.70 7.20SPICEJET 104.00 112.00 104.00 109.90PCJEWELLER 96.15 114.80 95.65 111.95RAIN 111.00 131.40 110.50 130.65DHFL 168.50 173.20 166.00 167.10BHEL 74.85 78.10 74.50 77.55JETAIRWAYS 260.50 264.80 257.50 260.45DLF 177.90 183.60 177.60 181.80YESBANK 268.90 272.00 266.00 267.85IBREALEST 119.00 119.00 110.40 111.30ITC 296.40 306.40 295.60 305.60RPOWER 9.70 9.70 9.38 9.51TATAMOTORS 219.00 219.25 215.05 215.85RELIANCE 1348.90 1356.55 1337.30 1341.95INFIBEAM 44.35 48.80 44.35 47.35TATASTEEL 538.70 542.90 532.40 533.75IBULHSGFIN 847.00 852.60 826.60 830.10LUPIN 802.05 834.00 802.05 829.80HDFCLIFE 395.10 407.00 395.10 405.25ADANIPOWER 50.90 54.80 50.30 52.95MARUTI 7192.00 7350.00 7170.00 7332.15LT 1384.00 1384.00 1357.00 1361.05TCS 2040.00 2040.00 2008.05 2013.75INFY* 746.00 751.50 741.00 747.85ASHOKLEY 95.00 96.20 93.40 95.65IFCI 12.79 13.07 12.25 13.00GRAPHITE 460.10 462.85 445.65 455.70SBIN 314.50 316.50 311.50 315.30RELCAPITAL 185.00 186.55 181.70 183.60JAICORPLTD 122.70 128.75 119.60 127.30RELINFRA 129.65 132.20 128.40 131.35JPASSOCIAT 5.65 5.66 5.53 5.63SYNDIBANK 41.60 42.35 40.35 42.30SHANKARA 528.00 558.30 520.50 538.70JSWENERGY 73.50 73.50 71.60 72.90VEDL 181.60 184.30 179.75 183.90HINDUNILVR 1712.00 1724.00 1708.45 1720.85EXIDEIND 222.80 223.10 218.85 221.90BANKBARODA 129.15 131.70 127.85 130.75WIPRO 282.65 284.70 281.65 283.60EQUITAS 133.95 135.90 133.70 135.00AXISBANK 750.10 765.45 750.10 764.15PNB 93.00 93.55 92.20 93.25RECLTD 153.45 155.65 151.25 154.80GAIL 342.50 357.65 342.50 355.60TV18BRDCST 35.80 38.95 35.25 38.50DMART 1470.00 1482.00 1451.20 1460.95BHARTIARTL 346.00 350.40 339.10 341.55AVANTI 391.75 411.00 387.35 398.15BEL 93.85 94.85 92.20 94.25ASIANPAINT 1430.00 1444.80 1425.15 1437.60TATAPOWER 73.15 74.50 71.90 72.95BOMDYEING 135.15 139.90 133.90 136.85GODREJPROP 920.35 932.55 901.20 905.90ZEEL 410.50 420.00 409.00 417.75TECHM 779.95 786.50 775.00 784.70MEGH 61.00 65.20 60.80 64.60HEG 2061.50 2104.95 2041.85 2079.70ICICIBANK 391.05 395.25 388.85 394.45STRTECH 204.40 206.00 200.65 201.30WOCKPHARMA 447.50 454.00 447.50 449.25JINDALSTEL 177.90 182.00 176.40 181.35IOC 158.90 159.65 155.00 155.50SUNPHARMA 469.00 469.00 462.00 464.30HFCL 23.20 24.10 23.10 24.00BAJFINANCE 3057.90 3060.85 3001.05 3007.10CGPOWER 40.20 40.40 38.80 39.00RCOM 2.56 2.60 2.55 2.55ICICIGI 1080.00 1110.20 1080.00 1094.85INDUSINDBK 1742.10 1744.00 1725.75 1738.65UJJIVAN 347.50 351.60 343.20 349.35SAIL 56.75 57.35 56.30 57.00LICHSGFIN 532.50 540.70 529.25 539.55MANAPPURAM 127.20 127.90 123.00 126.55JUBLFOOD 1379.00 1380.35 1350.60 1362.85PERSISTENT* 615.00 630.00 611.10 613.65NCC 105.70 108.50 105.55 107.55BANKINDIA 99.05 100.15 97.80 99.55HEROMOTOCO 2602.90 2644.05 2595.00 2640.05FORCEMOT 1770.00 1820.20 1750.00 1780.35RADICO 370.20 374.55 354.15 358.55IDEA 16.30 16.45 15.95 16.05DBL 620.00 658.20 620.00 653.15MOTHERSUMI 151.50 151.50 147.70 149.25FORTIS 136.90 144.40 136.90 138.45TITAN 1109.60 1109.60 1092.90 1096.10HDFCBANK 2256.75 2271.60 2251.30 2265.15CIPLA 550.00 555.45 545.60 554.35IDFCFIRSTB 54.55 54.85 53.85 54.00INDIACEM 110.10 111.10 108.15 109.95IBVENTURES 351.00 351.70 335.05 337.15JYOTHYLAB 186.45 198.40 186.35 192.25CROMPTON 234.00 238.00 230.45 232.20JISLJALEQS 56.10 58.90 56.10 58.25TVSMOTOR 489.05 501.55 486.00 498.50ENGINERSIN 117.10 121.70 117.10 120.95FCONSUMER 43.30 46.20 43.05 44.50INDIGO 1402.65 1437.10 1401.95 1432.15HEXAWARE 342.90 343.70 337.00 337.90IRB 134.10 140.25 134.10 139.25BPCL 363.00 367.75 358.50 360.60TATAMTRDVR 104.30 104.30 101.80 103.50JUSTDIAL 596.00 597.10 586.30 590.55M&M 674.80 679.00 667.85 677.45HINDPETRO 261.90 264.30 258.70 259.75KOTAKBANK 1338.90 1350.00 1338.00 1345.50ESCORTS 770.00 789.05 766.85 787.05CANBK 282.70 285.00 278.50 284.45

IDBI 43.90 44.25 43.40 44.10LTI 1666.00 1669.00 1644.90 1649.70EDELWEISS 183.00 184.05 177.00 178.60POWERGRID 197.30 197.55 195.00 197.00ACC 1675.00 1684.95 1651.65 1656.20GUJGAS 156.85 162.90 156.50 160.10AUROPHARMA 780.00 791.50 770.40 776.30GLENMARK 650.40 659.70 646.95 650.55DISHTV 38.00 38.95 37.45 38.60FEDERALBNK 96.50 97.50 96.25 96.70PFC 119.90 121.80 119.65 121.15JSWSTEEL 287.00 288.35 285.10 286.50AMBUJACEM 228.00 230.65 226.80 228.65OBEROIRLTY 569.30 591.00 567.55 585.15BIOCON 628.50 633.15 624.80 628.75UNIONBANK 93.40 93.65 91.70 93.30PETRONET 239.25 245.00 238.40 239.45CEATLTD 1096.40 1121.90 1096.30 1117.85L&TFH 147.85 148.25 145.90 146.95TATAGLOBAL 215.05 217.30 213.20 214.95HAVELLS 750.00 750.85 739.10 743.90DELTACORP 259.50 261.45 257.10 258.05EICHERMOT 20995.05 21423.90 20924.00 21375.60CENTURYTEX 909.10 925.00 902.00 922.25HDFC 2028.85 2031.40 2009.00 2026.25NTPC 136.10 136.50 135.25 136.00DABUR 405.40 408.90 403.30 406.80BHARATFORG 497.20 500.80 491.50 492.75ANDHRABANK 28.80 29.05 28.55 28.90BAJAJCON 330.00 335.00 326.05 332.80NBCC 62.00 62.50 61.55 61.90PHILIPCARB 169.05 172.45 168.70 170.45AMARAJABAT 684.95 695.95 681.50 691.00ABCAPITAL 98.95 99.25 97.80 98.40VOLTAS 617.95 625.50 616.60 620.30ONGC 158.55 159.70 157.40 157.80ADANIPORTS 380.00 387.65 378.00 385.30FRETAIL 427.35 429.35 417.00 420.35WELCORP 138.00 138.95 135.55 136.20PNBHOUSING 839.10 840.00 820.50 822.85GODREJAGRO 512.95 530.00 512.95 521.85IGL 309.65 315.85 309.30 312.35

RAMCOCEM 753.65 774.00 749.50 768.60GRASIM 849.65 860.65 841.00 853.75ULTRACEMCO 4150.00 4196.50 4137.10 4165.15BEML 971.70 984.50 970.75 978.25VENKYS 2101.00 2193.00 2101.00 2142.40HINDALCO 211.00 211.90 208.20 209.95STAR 496.55 498.60 489.05 493.75FSL 53.40 53.40 52.00 53.10BAJAJ-AUTO 2997.00 3020.00 2975.05 3006.45NOCIL 142.00 143.00 139.00 139.45GSFC 106.95 106.95 103.60 104.10BATAINDIA 1381.00 1412.15 1381.00 1407.05SIEMENS 1170.10 1195.00 1169.00 1183.60ITI 100.00 102.10 99.15 99.80RAYMOND 780.70 788.75 777.20 783.30INDIANB 274.95 275.65 266.90 274.80COALINDIA 241.95 241.95 239.15 239.80DRREDDY 2798.65 2820.00 2785.35 2806.35GRANULES 112.30 115.85 112.20 114.65ALBK 53.65 54.45 53.40 54.25MUTHOOTFIN 614.30 619.90 611.00 614.70MMTC 28.15 28.60 27.90 28.15VIPIND 473.10 479.00 466.65 478.00BAJAJFINSV 7560.00 7570.00 7499.15 7519.15ORIENTBANK 109.80 111.10 108.75 110.20J&KBANK 62.90 64.00 61.00 61.90BRITANNIA 2943.80 2991.00 2943.75 2985.70LTTS 1642.00 1674.00 1628.50 1649.70GODREJCP 668.85 675.00 667.05 670.00SUNTV 602.50 605.55 596.05 603.95SRTRANSFIN 1208.10 1228.60 1208.10 1224.85OMAXE 212.85 213.00 210.65 211.70LAKSHVILAS 90.70 91.95 89.25 90.70NMDC 103.75 105.20 103.50 104.15UPL 923.00 931.00 911.00 926.90GMRINFRA 18.80 18.90 18.40 18.65KAJARIACER 605.50 626.95 605.50 623.40MCX 789.00 801.15 787.10 796.60MPHASIS 1009.15 1009.15 986.00 990.20UBL 1429.80 1429.80 1410.05 1417.30PIDILITIND 1278.70 1291.75 1277.10 1288.30ASTRAZEN 2058.85 2205.00 2058.85 2180.70MARICO 357.40 364.00 357.40 359.85AUBANK 591.00 596.00 586.40 590.60GNFC 327.05 329.00 321.95 323.65KTKBANK 134.55 136.20 134.30 134.90HCLTECH 1083.00 1100.50 1077.00 1083.00CASTROLIND 166.05 167.90 165.55 166.35WESTLIFE 417.75 418.00 412.00 414.70ICICIPRULI 367.10 368.00 363.20 364.60

BALKRISIND 953.00 957.50 946.50 949.65APOLLOHOSP 1250.25 1266.25 1231.15 1260.75APOLLOTYRE 214.70 215.95 213.00 214.75MGL 1005.10 1024.00 1000.45 1020.30MFSL 440.00 440.50 434.90 437.30M&MFIN 420.20 420.20 409.70 415.10BAJAJELEC 547.50 558.00 542.75 555.75DIVISLAB 1717.00 1734.00 1713.00 1728.30TATAELXSI 959.00 966.70 955.95 961.90JUBILANT 689.00 695.20 688.00 691.50NATIONALUM 55.25 55.85 55.20 55.50AARTIIND 1652.00 1652.00 1621.00 1629.70NETWORK18 35.15 37.20 35.15 36.95SOUTHBANK 17.50 17.55 17.25 17.30RBLBANK 669.90 673.10 664.10 667.60ABFRL 222.45 227.60 221.45 226.45EIDPARRY 204.05 204.05 196.95 202.50SUVEN 270.00 272.80 267.35 268.70KEC 284.00 289.35 283.65 288.15PAGEIND 23546.75 23587.70 23067.00 23304.40ESSELPRO 124.00 129.45 124.00 128.05COLPAL 1215.00 1235.65 1211.00 1214.20HSIL 267.65 280.40 266.00 276.55GILLETTE 6900.00 7444.80 6900.00 7298.40ABB 1400.05 1434.00 1400.00 1426.20SPARC 184.50 185.75 182.50 183.15RCF 62.10 62.10 60.60 60.95BDL 312.50 315.85 305.25 307.35HSCL 117.20 117.20 115.00 115.70MAHLOG 515.90 538.20 515.90 535.35BERGEPAINT 323.25 328.50 321.35 327.15BANDHANBNK 540.10 543.35 533.00 535.15REPCOHOME 436.05 443.40 432.60 438.80CANFINHOME 350.95 354.00 348.50 353.00TORNTPOWER 254.20 257.25 253.45 256.65WELSPUNIND 58.40 58.70 57.40 58.45BHARATFIN 1097.30 1099.45 1088.60 1095.05TRIDENT 66.75 67.80 66.75 67.40PVR 1717.00 1721.35 1692.00 1696.90BLISSGVS 178.35 180.20 176.60 179.20INTELLECT 224.05 226.70 221.80 223.15SBILIFE 624.55 626.70 620.10 624.45HINDZINC 281.80 282.15 279.20 280.40ADANITRANS 220.05 224.25 217.95 220.60RALLIS 158.05 160.35 158.00 158.70IDFC 46.10 47.15 45.95 46.80CUMMINSIND 746.00 751.75 741.00 748.55TATACHEM 606.00 610.50 602.00 607.65NAVINFLUOR 718.00 722.25 709.15 712.15WHIRLPOOL 1437.15 1439.15 1405.10 1411.80NAVKARCORP 39.50 40.00 38.90 39.45PNCINFRA 147.80 153.00 140.00 152.20FDC 164.75 168.40 157.70 166.05MINDTREE 974.60 979.00 971.60 974.55MANPASAND 113.25 117.75 112.50 114.65TAKE 137.50 144.25 137.50 141.30GODFRYPHLP 1142.70 1158.00 1130.00 1153.95MERCK 3899.95 3910.85 3875.00 3890.95JAGRAN 119.25 122.00 119.20 119.70CENTRALBK 34.45 35.75 33.75 35.00PARAGMILK 248.90 254.25 248.90 250.10GICHSGFIN 262.55 266.40 256.65 262.50NIACL 190.35 195.65 189.20 190.85GICRE 243.85 250.00 242.45 246.85SWANENERGY 109.80 110.65 108.80 109.70THOMASCOOK 252.60 253.05 247.10 248.90RAJESHEXPO 672.00 679.00 665.00 669.95MAGMA 122.00 122.50 120.00 122.30KSCL 478.10 490.00 475.50 486.10AJANTPHARM 1020.00 1028.75 1014.40 1018.00NHPC 24.20 24.20 23.85 23.95ISGEC 551.50 572.95 548.95 568.40PEL 2653.20 2685.25 2653.20 2674.15SRF 2464.00 2475.00 2430.40 2442.60HINDCOPPER 49.90 50.00 49.10 49.25JAMNAAUTO 59.25 60.50 59.20 60.00ISEC 228.90 229.00 219.35 224.05NESTLEIND 10779.00 10988.90 10779.00 10940.95INDOSTAR 406.40 411.05 399.85 401.05CONCOR 518.60 521.20 512.30 513.90GRUH 279.65 280.60 275.45 277.70SREINFRA 28.40 28.95 28.10 28.75CYIENT 582.50 589.30 581.00 582.20INDHOTEL 152.50 153.15 151.05 151.50CADILAHC 344.30 346.90 340.70 341.70CHOLAFIN 1494.65 1494.65 1476.05 1481.40PTC 72.80 73.65 72.50 72.95CENTURYPLY 188.40 190.60 185.70 188.40MRPL 70.75 71.70 70.60 71.00DCBBANK 200.00 200.55 197.95 198.50KANSAINER 456.50 465.20 454.35 462.70SUNDRMFAST 564.00 566.65 552.05 555.95PRSMJOHNSN 93.90 93.90 92.55 93.10ALLCARGO 116.95 118.55 113.80 116.80NIITTECH 1293.00 1302.05 1293.00 1297.15EVEREADY 184.80 189.00 183.55 185.40HEIDELBERG 179.00 181.75 178.35 179.80JKTYRE 92.45 92.75 92.05 92.35GDL 138.45 145.90 138.15 143.50TATACOFFEE 91.95 93.10 91.50 92.25IPCALAB 946.15 954.00 940.00 951.15IBULISL 364.90 371.00 351.80 355.35GODREJIND 529.00 534.00 526.50 527.60VGUARD 221.05 223.50 220.55 222.60OIL 177.05 178.70 177.00 177.55GSKCONS 7180.00 7235.00 7180.00 7228.35INOXLEISUR 318.00 320.40 315.00 316.15BBTC 1270.00 1291.40 1265.00 1282.45LUXIND 1359.60 1380.95 1333.80 1371.30

JINDALSAW 81.65 82.70 81.65 82.00GPPL 97.00 99.75 97.00 99.15LEMONTREE 79.90 80.60 79.00 79.15IEX 159.95 159.95 155.25 155.70MOTILALOFS 668.40 689.00 668.40 686.35CHENNPETRO 258.70 260.55 255.90 259.70KEI 404.60 408.15 400.00 405.35DEEPAKFERT 138.95 138.95 136.15 137.30PRESTIGE 268.80 274.05 268.15 272.15JBCHEPHARM 347.85 355.50 343.65 351.90MOIL 160.70 162.20 159.60 159.95SCI 35.20 35.40 35.05 35.10ADANIGREEN 36.10 37.35 36.10 36.90UFLEX 241.00 246.60 240.00 242.10HUDCO 44.10 44.75 44.10 44.20TRENT 353.00 354.00 350.25 352.25SUNTECK 486.50 491.30 484.80 486.30MINDAIND 337.00 341.80 331.75 338.70TORNTPHARM 1827.55 1844.85 1823.40 1838.95NATCOPHARM* 569.85 569.85 562.45 565.40GREAVESCOT 150.00 150.10 145.15 145.85TATAMETALI 667.90 668.50 659.15 662.05BOSCHLTD 17893.95 18000.00 17819.00 17938.95OFSS 3563.60 3567.30 3543.20 3557.50SOBHA 502.00 507.00 498.00 500.20SUPREMEIND 1127.00 1150.00 1100.50 1137.35JMFINANCIL 89.00 89.00 87.05 87.75GALAXYSURF 991.00 1031.25 978.10 1018.70NAUKRI 1917.60 1925.45 1881.55 1891.00GMDCLTD 77.25 78.60 76.85 77.05COCHINSHIP 393.50 396.45 391.00 395.45QUESS 704.85 710.10 703.80 706.10CHAMBLFERT 169.00 169.00 165.00 165.65WABAG 309.00 310.20 304.05 306.45COFFEEDAY 273.05 279.00 272.45 275.25SCHNEIDER 103.40 107.25 103.40 104.65JSLHISAR 89.95 90.55 88.55 89.80ENDURANCE 1167.00 1173.00 1157.00 1158.40INFRATEL 314.45 317.30 313.20 314.10PIIND 1018.40 1032.10 1016.00 1024.60VBL 850.00 861.00 844.05 853.10MAHLIFE 370.80 372.00 365.40 366.95ADVENZYMES 192.25 192.25 187.25 187.90CORPBANK 28.20 28.20 27.75 27.95THERMAX 984.10 990.00 977.35 983.10NILKAMAL 1362.85 1416.35 1362.85 1406.70SJVN 24.10 24.85 24.10 24.35ASTRAL 1187.00 1218.00 1187.00 1213.15EIHOTEL 191.30 193.50 190.30 191.40TVTODAY 305.00 321.00 305.00 316.35LALPATHLAB 1032.30 1035.00 1018.50 1030.95SYMPHONY 1390.80 1405.85 1380.05 1393.80MAHSCOOTER 3680.00 3716.65 3612.20 3696.95GULFOILLUB 869.65 887.70 865.55 886.25TEJASNET 190.00 190.00 183.10 183.70COROMANDEL 435.25 437.95 432.80 435.50SHK 157.25 157.45 155.65 156.40ASHOKA 130.25 131.60 129.65 130.60PHOENIXLTD 655.00 655.00 623.25 629.00TNPL 211.00 212.00 207.40 209.25MRF 57457.45 58599.00 57457.45 58536.10FORBESCO 2486.00 2492.00 2400.00 2423.75HIMATSEIDE 213.05 216.30 210.70 215.35HERITGFOOD 511.00 511.00 496.25 504.10CRISIL 1525.80 1545.05 1525.70 1530.15TIINDIA 380.00 380.00 370.10 372.75FINCABLES 480.50 481.00 471.00 477.15NLCINDIA 67.40 68.10 67.25 67.70DCMSHRIRAM 393.00 397.75 392.30 393.15SUDARSCHEM 364.95 368.05 361.45 365.85GHCL 240.00 244.00 238.65 242.50JKLAKSHMI 359.10 371.65 354.20 366.10EMAMILTD 404.90 406.00 400.00 401.35MAXINDIA 69.45 70.20 69.15 69.65PFIZER 3235.00 3264.00 3200.00 3235.35BALMLAWRIE 180.95 181.80 179.55 180.40KALPATPOWR 474.60 492.70 474.60 483.20SONATSOFTW 333.80 336.10 331.95 334.20GUJFLUORO 1051.30 1055.70 1037.00 1042.55DCAL 231.00 232.80 228.00 229.20ALKEM 1763.25 1763.65 1750.40 1759.00DEEPAKNI 269.40 271.05 268.35 269.50LAURUSLABS 400.85 403.40 399.40 401.65

KNRCON 251.90 251.90 240.15 242.15SANOFI 5811.40 5815.00 5670.05 5727.70ECLERX 1160.00 1160.00 1118.30 1119.80BASF 1378.10 1397.85 1378.05 1394.05GREENPLY 167.30 172.00 166.50 170.25UCOBANK 18.70 18.90 18.55 18.75DBCORP 197.05 197.05 193.00 193.60BAJAJHLDNG 3318.00 3335.65 3295.40 3299.95CCL 272.40 272.95 269.00 270.65MAHABANK 14.26 14.50 14.20 14.39NBVENTURES 102.35 105.00 102.25 103.20CARBORUNIV 377.60 380.00 377.60 379.75ABBOTINDIA 7376.00 7436.00 7359.20 7407.35SKFINDIA 2100.00 2115.00 2078.10 2084.953MINDIA 24950.00 24950.00 24472.00 24791.80KRBL 325.05 325.35 321.50 322.60CUB 197.60 199.20 196.80 198.20SYNGENE 577.15 577.75 573.50 575.15APLAPOLLO 1452.60 1464.90 1441.85 1456.55AIAENG 1767.55 1790.90 1760.00 1769.40TATACOMM 588.00 588.00 581.25 583.30RNAM 195.95 197.10 194.20 194.95HAL 715.90 720.00 710.00 712.60GSPL 182.55 183.55 182.50 183.10IOB 14.75 14.83 14.58 14.71RELAXO 845.20 853.60 842.00 849.20CERA 2735.00 2799.00 2728.00 2784.85WABCOINDIA 6359.95 6360.00 6301.00 6316.55AKZOINDIA 1779.95 1781.00 1747.00 1758.20JSL 39.75 40.50 39.55 39.85TIMETECHNO 95.35 98.00 95.10 97.30BIRLACORPN 514.50 518.35 506.20 512.15TATAINVEST 858.30 861.00 856.25 857.75GEPIL 864.00 864.00 845.25 846.90CARERATING 990.90 992.20 985.05 988.40GUJALKALI 480.65 488.90 480.65 484.90TTKPRESTIG 8454.00 8499.00 8380.00 8426.25GLAXO 1299.75 1300.00 1292.00 1299.30ATUL 3503.25 3509.80 3471.00 3484.60LINDEINDIA 500.30 500.35 491.55 492.95SOMANYCERA 420.00 422.20 410.95 421.90SUPRAJIT 225.50 230.00 222.20 228.30TRITURBINE 107.00 110.20 106.55 109.25VINATIORGA 1700.00 1711.40 1697.00 1704.75SHREECEM 19050.00 19164.05 18998.05 19035.35CAPPL 391.10 398.95 390.20 393.10MINDACORP 132.35 133.00 131.50 131.60JKCEMENT 887.45 888.00 874.80 875.55SHOPERSTOP 447.95 453.40 447.10 449.15LAOPALA 202.50 207.00 201.80 203.20NH 218.00 218.30 216.00 217.90VTL 1130.00 1142.35 1121.00 1131.40TIMKEN 581.85 585.85 573.00 580.15BLUESTARCO 683.05 690.00 681.85 682.90FINOLEXIND 488.95 489.00 482.10 485.20MHRIL 237.35 242.25 234.45 240.10REDINGTON 96.10 97.45 96.05 96.55APLLTD 538.95 541.15 533.95 535.90ELGIEQUIP 255.40 257.95 254.25 257.35GESHIP 299.00 301.00 296.30 297.45MAHINDCIE 226.60 226.60 220.60 223.50ZENSARTECH 232.20 233.30 231.15 232.35SHILPAMED 340.25 344.90 337.25 340.05INOXWIND 68.55 69.70 68.10 69.00UNITEDBNK 10.92 11.18 10.91 11.07ORIENTCEM 94.95 95.25 93.60 94.10AEGISLOG 208.20 209.75 207.45 208.15ITDC 278.60 279.65 275.60 276.80SHARDACROP 397.60 399.80 389.50 399.25GRINDWELL 590.15 600.00 582.00 588.50HATSUN 764.90 764.90 740.20 755.30ITDCEM 123.80 124.50 122.20 123.45SHRIRAMCIT 1740.00 1749.25 1725.00 1733.05NAVNETEDUL 109.35 110.45 108.75 109.30THYROCARE 516.00 524.00 516.00 520.25FLFL 489.45 492.00 475.15 477.40PGHH 10710.00 10710.00 10650.00 10664.80LAXMIMACH 6139.95 6140.00 6050.00 6066.00IFBIND 882.80 882.80 860.00 869.80SIS 844.05 846.95 829.00 834.65TVSSRICHAK 2196.10 2230.00 2196.10 2221.50GET&D 277.15 279.00 275.65 276.85TEAMLEASE 2936.85 2936.85 2875.00 2905.95NESCO 466.45 467.90 460.00 464.65BAYERCROP 4212.55 4270.00 4212.30 4246.90ASTERDM 153.05 154.55 152.30 152.65SOLARINDS 1058.00 1069.40 1055.70 1065.15KIOCL 141.10 141.10 138.00 139.45SUNCLAYLTD 2839.00 2839.00 2760.00 2800.00ZYDUSWELL 1298.70 1310.00 1290.55 1298.75BLUEDART 3250.05 3275.00 3243.20 3252.85KPRMILL 571.15 573.50 564.15 573.30GAYAPROJ 170.75 171.80 170.40 171.15RATNAMANI 890.05 892.45 880.05 887.25CHOLAHLDNG 480.00 493.45 480.00 491.00ERIS 625.45 629.55 625.00 629.15SUPPETRO 216.70 217.95 215.00 217.95CENTRUM 33.85 33.90 33.40 33.60HONAUT 23998.95 24119.95 23710.00 23930.25SADBHAV 242.30 247.00 242.30 247.00MONSANTO 2545.00 2545.10 2530.00 2538.20APARINDS 685.00 688.00 683.10 686.50VMART 2549.80 2574.40 2549.80 2570.50DHANUKA 394.50 396.65 393.50 396.60ASAHIINDIA 251.00 258.00 249.00 255.65SCHAEFFLER 5440.00 5470.00 5440.00 5440.00STARCEMENT 99.95 99.95 98.15 99.05JCHAC 2020.00 2020.00 1972.50 1973.20SFL 1341.05 1348.00 1341.05 1345.05

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY 50 11612.85 11657.35 11578.80 11643.45 46.75ITC 296.65 307.40 295.60 307.40 11.00GAIL 343.60 359.45 341.80 355.30 12.60MARUTI 7188.90 7357.00 7161.05 7348.00 160.15ZEEL 409.85 419.45 408.50 417.35 6.45CIPLA 547.95 556.70 545.30 553.00 8.15VEDL 181.45 184.50 179.70 183.80 2.65ADANIPORTS 379.20 387.00 377.30 385.00 5.55EICHERMOT 21027.30 21430.00 20905.05 21280.10 281.95BRITANNIA 2952.00 2990.00 2944.00 2985.05 39.00AXISBANK 753.40 766.75 751.60 762.20 9.90HEROMOTOCO 2597.00 2644.80 2591.15 2635.00 33.90ASIANPAINT 1432.75 1444.80 1425.80 1436.00 12.85ICICIBANK 390.60 395.55 388.25 393.45 3.40M&M 674.00 679.50 667.55 677.95 5.20INFY 743.10 751.55 740.60 748.00 5.30WIPRO 282.40 284.70 281.40 283.20 1.90TECHM 779.00 786.35 774.55 785.95 5.00POWERGRID 196.65 197.65 195.05 197.10 1.15HINDUNILVR 1716.40 1724.70 1710.20 1720.40 10.00GRASIM 852.45 860.85 840.20 853.00 4.25BAJAJ-AUTO 2991.80 3025.95 2975.25 3008.15 14.45ULTRACEMCO 4150.10 4196.90 4137.00 4155.10 14.95INFRATEL 314.00 317.35 313.00 314.45 1.10UPL 922.45 929.75 911.00 925.10 2.55KOTAKBANK 1343.20 1348.00 1336.55 1344.90 1.70NTPC 136.00 136.50 135.20 136.10 0.15HDFC 2024.00 2029.90 2008.10 2023.00 0.20BAJAJFINSV 7572.00 7594.95 7506.00 7562.00 -0.75HDFCBANK 2252.10 2272.20 2252.10 2257.00 -0.50SBIN 314.60 316.40 311.20 314.50 -0.40JSWSTEEL 287.00 288.45 285.00 286.10 -0.90TCS 2038.00 2039.00 2007.00 2013.05 -6.45TATASTEEL 537.00 542.70 532.20 534.00 -1.70COALINDIA 242.00 242.00 239.45 240.15 -0.80SUNPHARMA 467.00 468.50 462.30 464.00 -1.55BPCL 363.90 367.80 358.15 360.10 -1.60RELIANCE 1350.00 1356.90 1336.65 1340.00 -6.80DRREDDY 2800.00 2821.00 2786.05 2796.25 -15.50HCLTECH 1088.80 1100.85 1076.60 1082.70 -6.15YESBANK 269.70 271.90 265.80 267.50 -1.55INDUSINDBK 1743.50 1744.45 1726.10 1730.00 -10.65ONGC 159.00 159.65 157.25 157.35 -1.25HINDALCO 211.30 212.00 208.00 209.55 -1.75TITAN 1107.00 1107.95 1094.00 1095.80 -9.25BHARTIARTL 347.00 350.35 339.00 343.00 -3.35BAJFINANCE 3052.00 3062.00 3001.30 3012.00 -35.85TATAMOTORS 218.95 219.00 215.00 215.60 -2.60LT 1380.00 1381.85 1358.30 1359.75 -18.25IOC 158.85 159.70 155.05 155.55 -2.40IBULHSGFIN 847.75 852.90 825.80 827.80 -18.00

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY NEXT 50 28171.60 28295.70 28165.00 28271.10 122.55BHEL 74.70 78.30 74.50 77.60 3.25LUPIN 811.95 836.00 811.00 834.45 25.10HDFCLIFE 396.05 407.00 395.20 405.25 11.15DLF 177.70 183.65 177.30 182.00 4.30MRF 57500.00 58599.00 57500.00 58500.00 1031.10BANKBARODA 128.70 132.00 127.90 131.00 2.30ASHOKLEY 94.40 96.30 93.40 96.10 1.60INDIGO 1415.00 1436.80 1406.50 1426.15 22.05GICRE 244.30 250.25 244.30 247.00 3.75ABB 1406.90 1433.50 1403.00 1430.00 21.65ICICIGI 1078.05 1112.45 1070.70 1100.00 15.90HDFCAMC 1558.00 1587.00 1550.00 1579.10 20.30SRTRANSFIN 1214.10 1227.55 1213.05 1225.00 15.25AMBUJACEM 227.10 230.90 226.70 229.40 2.20SIEMENS 1172.15 1195.00 1167.30 1185.25 11.05GODREJCP 667.85 675.00 666.55 670.25 5.90DABUR 404.60 409.35 403.00 407.00 3.30NMDC 103.60 105.20 103.30 104.50 0.80PIDILITIND 1280.80 1294.00 1277.35 1287.10 9.75MARICO 357.00 364.00 356.80 360.85 2.40BOSCHLTD 17810.00 18025.00 17810.00 17949.55 118.15DIVISLAB 1717.00 1736.75 1713.00 1728.00 9.60SAIL 56.90 57.35 56.25 56.95 0.20NHPC 23.95 24.20 23.90 24.05 0.05SHREECEM 18905.00 19184.80 18904.55 19000.00 33.05CONCOR 519.15 521.70 512.00 516.90 0.60MOTHERSUMI 151.00 151.30 147.65 149.80 0.15SBILIFE 627.30 627.35 620.30 625.00 0.05OFSS 3555.00 3568.40 3535.25 3550.00 -1.75PGHH 10740.00 10740.00 10666.65 10682.00 -6.75L&TFH 147.00 148.10 145.75 146.60 -0.15PEL 2664.70 2686.90 2656.05 2664.25 -2.90UBL 1419.00 1429.00 1417.00 1417.00 -1.75HINDPETRO 260.00 264.35 258.50 260.05 -0.40BAJAJHLDNG 3340.00 3344.55 3296.85 3301.25 -4.90NIACL 191.00 195.45 189.00 190.75 -0.30HINDZINC 281.00 282.25 278.85 280.50 -0.85PETRONET 239.80 245.20 238.00 239.10 -0.75BIOCON 629.40 633.55 624.50 627.25 -2.35ICICIPRULI 367.20 368.00 363.55 364.65 -1.65DMART 1465.00 1480.80 1451.10 1460.35 -12.25AUROPHARMA 784.80 791.70 770.00 776.20 -6.65CADILAHC 343.25 347.15 341.20 341.50 -3.60PAGEIND 23500.00 23650.00 23028.05 23230.00 -254.30COLPAL 1230.00 1235.95 1208.70 1216.00 -14.70BANDHANBNK 540.00 543.40 532.35 532.75 -6.90ACC 1675.90 1685.55 1653.00 1653.60 -22.30MCDOWELL-N 555.35 557.25 544.10 547.00 -7.55HAVELLS 745.00 750.90 738.50 742.40 -10.40IDEA 16.30 16.45 15.90 15.90 -0.35

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President Donald Trumpconsidered nominating his

daughter to head the WorldBank, and she also would havebeen “great” as US ambassadorto the United Nations, he saidin an interview published onFriday.

“She’s a natural diplomat,”Trump told The Atlantic.

“She would’ve been great atthe United Nations, as anexample.” But if he had nomi-nated his daughter — who is asenior advisor to the president— “they’d say nepotism, whenit would’ve had nothing to dowith nepotism. But shewould’ve been incredible.”

“I even thought of Ivankafor the World Bank,” Trumpsaid. “She would’ve been greatat that because she’s very goodwith numbers.”

“She’s got a great calm-

ness... I’ve seen her undertremendous stress and pres-sure. She reacts very well —that’s usually a genetic thing,but it’s one of those things, nev-ertheless,” Trump said.

Trump ultimately nomi-nated Kelly Knight Craft, hisenvoy to Canada, to be the nextUS ambassador to the UnitedNations, while David Malpass,a senior US Treasury official,became the new head of theWorld Bank.

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President Donald Trump’smeeting with South Korean

President Moon Jae-in comesamid uncertainty over whetherthe leader of North Korea is con-sidering backing out of nuclearnegotiations or restartingnuclear and missile tests.

Trump, in his first meetingwith Moon since the unsuc-cessful US summit with Kim inHanoi, said the US wants to keepeconomic sanctions in place topressure Kim to denuclearize.But Trump said he retains goodrelations with Kim and didn’trule out a third summit or tak-ing steps to ease food or othershortages in the repressivenation.

“We want sanctions toremain in place,” Trump saidThursday at the White House. “Ithink that sanctions right noware at a level that’s a fair level.”Moon, for his part, has called foran easing of sanctions, includingthose holding back joint eco-nomic projects between Northand South Korea. But he

didn’t speak to the sanctionsissue as he and Trump spokewith reporters at the start of theirtalks.

Trump said he would favoreasing those sanctions at theright time but added: “This isn’tthe right time.” He said he wasopen to discussing smaller steps,such as helping to ease NorthKorea’s humanitarian problems,but that, in general, the U.S.Wants sanctions to remain.

“There are various smallerdeals that maybe could happen,”Trump said.

“You could work out step-by-step pieces, but at this moment,we’re talking about the big deal.The big deal is we have to get ridof the nuclear weapons.”Negotiations on Pyongyang’snuclear program appear to bestalled, and there is uncertaintyover whether Kim is consideringbacking out of talks or restartingnuclear and missile tests.

The Korean Central NewsAgency on Thursday said that ata party meeting on Wednesday,Kim stressed “self-reliance” inhis country to “deal a telling

blow to the hostile forces” that“go with bloodshot eyes miscal-culating that sanctions canbring” North Korea “to itsknees.”

Moon said it’s important tomaintain the “momentum ofdialogue” and express a positiveoutlook to the internationalcommunity that a “third US-North Korea summit” will beheld.

“I’d like to express my highregard for how you have con-tinued to express your trusttowards Chairman Kim,” Moonsaid. “And also, you have madesure that North Korea does notdeviate from the dialogue track.”Moon did not directly addressthe issue of sanctions. But several North Korea watchers, including Sue MiTerry, a North Korean expert atthe Center for Strategic andInternational Studies and a for-mer Asia analyst at the CIA, saidMoon was expected to try topersuade Trump — perhapsonly privately — to agree to ease some sanctions to keep thetalks alive.

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Pope Francis knelt and kissedthe feet of South Sudan’s

rival leaders, in an unprece-dented act of humbleness toencourage them to strengthenthe African country’s falteringpeace process.

At the close a two-dayretreat in the Vatican for theAfrican leaders, the pope askedSouth Sudan’s president andOpposition leader to proceedwith the peace agreementdespite growing difficulties.

Then he got down on hisknees and kissed the leaders’feet one by one on Thursday.

The pope usually holds aritual washing of the feet withprisoners on Holy Thursday,but has never performed sucha show of deference to politi-cal leaders.

“I express my heartfelthope that hostilities will final-ly cease, that the armistice willbe respected, that political andethnic divisions will be sur-mounted, and that there will be

a lasting peace for the common good of all those cit-izens who dream of beginningto build the nation,” the popesaid of South Sudan in his clos-ing statement.

The spiritual retreatbrought together PresidentSalva Kiir and opposition headRiek Machar. Also presentwere Kiir’s three vice presi-dents. The pope kissed the feetof all of them.

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At least 21 people were killedand 50 others injured in a

suicide bombing at a crowdedmarket in Pakistan’s restiveBalochistan province on Friday,in an attack believed to be tar-geting the Hazara ethnicminority community.

Prime Minister ImranKhan condemned the attackand ordered an inquiry.

The explosion around 7.35am took place in the busywholesale market area ofHazarganj in Quetta whereHazaras and other traderscome daily to buy fruits andvegetables to later sell at theirshops in other parts of the city.

Deputy Inspector General(DIG) Abdul Razzaq Cheemasaid that the blast, whichoccurred when the vegetableand fruit sacks were beingloaded onto trucks by thetraders, targeted the Hazaraethnic community.

However, Home MinisterZiaullah Langove, in a pressconference, said that the blastwas not targeting “a specificcommunity”.

“Our guess is that no spe-cific community was targeted.Marri Baloch and FrontierCorps (FC) personnel wereamong those killed as well. Thenumbers of the Hazara com-munity were just greater,”Langove said.

He also described the blastas a suicide attack.

Officials said that 21 peo-ple have been killed and 50 oth-ers injured in the blast.

An Edhi welfare trust res-cue official at the scene of theblast said he had countedaround 21 bodies being takento hospitals.

At least eight of those killedin the bomb blast are from theHazara community, Cheemasaid. The security forces fearthe death toll may rise, GEONews reported.

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With Britain tearing its hairout over the Brexit con-

fusion, Scotland’s Governmentis biding its time as it preparesfor the ultimate prize — inde-pendence.

Scottish First MinisterNicola Sturgeon, a strongopponent of Brexit, has said shewill set out her thinking onindependence plans later thismonth.

The issue presents votersand leaders north of the borderwith another source of dispute,something that this week’s deci-sion to delay Britain’s departurefrom the European Union hasdone little to resolve.

The Government is“absolutely committed to anindependent Scotland in theEuropean Union,” ScottishMinister for Europe, Migrationand International DevelopmentBen Macpherson told AFPwhile out campaigning in Leith,east of Edinburgh.

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Bharatnatyam dancer Rukmini Chatterjee,who has performed globally and has lived

in Paris for 25 years, feels that acquaintancewith diverse cultures “gives us a big edge overothers.” She is curating Connections, a festivalwhich hosts Chinese dancers with French jazzmusicians.

Asked about the converging cultures of theworld, the choreographer who trained underMrinalini Sarabhai, said, “It should be an essen-tial part of people’s lives today since we live ina knowledge economy and a global village. Myartistic path for the past 28 years has been thatof bringing cultures together on the same stage,crossing borders of all sorts and getting artistsand art forms from across the globe to dia-logue,” Chatterjee said.

“Knowing and understanding other cul-tures gives us a big edge over others, by widen-ing our horizons and making us much morecapable of dealing with global situations, psy-chologies, economies and many otherdomains,” she added.

Her leit-motif for theConnectionsfestival, sinceits inception in2014, has beenselecting per-formances thattouch thehearts andminds of peo-ple. Lined upthis year is theBeijing DanceA c a d e m y ,whose aesthet-ics come fromtheir martialarts, acrobat-ics, ancientpoetry, paint-ing and drama,and who areperforming forthe first time inIndia.

As per theorganisers, some of the dances have been cre-ated by the choreographer of the BeijingOlympics opening ceremony. “Our endeavourhas been to bridge the gap between the old andthe new by building bridges between ourancient culture and our modern audience,” theysaid.

Chatterjee, with her vast repertoire of inter-national performances, also shared that the per-formances that excite her the most connectdeeply with audiences across cultures andcountries. “They could be profoundly anchoredin their own cultures, but are also universal innature. Two totally disparate genres can stillhave a lot in common,” she explained.

This merging of cultures is visible in herown oeuvre of performances and personal life,as she mentions Paris as a city that attractsworld cultures and the Upanishads, which pro-foundly uphold the values of the universal man,as deep influences on her work.

The three-day festival is being held at theSRCPA and will conclude on April 14.I'%6�

Somewhere in the second episodeof Delhi Crime, in the aftermathof the brutal December 2012gang rape, DCP South VartikaChaturvedi decides to address a

press conference to set the record straightabout the inaction of the Delhi Police.Shefali Shah, who plays the role in theweb series which released last month,walks to the podium and when her junior,Bhupendra Singh, played by RajeshTailang offers her a hand up, she ignoresit and climbs up on her own, setting thegender equation on an altogether differ-ent note. “It is a small thing but mattersto me in creating what Vartika became.Her sense of power is evident in the scene.But if she didn’t have the vulnerability andthe sensibility, she would not have takenthe incident personally and gone all outto investigate it,” points out Shefali. It isin the smallest of gestures that the actorimbues her characters with that has gother accolades each time that she lights upthe small or the large screen.

She goes on to point out, “All of ushave layers. The belief that if you cry orare vulnerable is bullshit. Every emotionhas strength even though its expressionvaries from person to person. Vartika isan extremely strong person and feelsacutely about this particular crime. Sheis broken and angry but she channelisesall of that in a single minded focus ofcatching the perpetrators. She does notlet her emotions overshadow her inves-tigation but that does not mean that shedoes not feel it.”

The web series as well as Shefali’s rolehas been garnering praise from critics andaudience alike. So did she imitate themannerisms or the behaviour of formerDCP South Chhaya Sharma, who led a41 member team to solve the case in arecord five days. “I had the honour ofmeeting her over coffee for two hours andit is impossible to soak in the completeperson in that time. I don’t know how shebehaved in office or at home. We were notthere so I don’t know what she did atwhich moment. It is not about trying tobe like her. It was about being Vartika,”Shefali emphasises over the phone. Shedoes feel that it was essential to maintainthe germ and the thread of her being butthen she played it from her own percep-tion. “I’m a spontaneous and impulsiveactor. There was a lot of work that I didto create her,” she says.

No stranger to the small screen hav-ing started out with Aarohan in 1993,Shefali took all of three minutes to say yesto the role. “Most of my decisions areinstinctive and impulsive. I read the firstepisode and I finished the entire series inone night. I said I have to be a part of it.It was as simple and straight.”

But that didn’t mean that the job wasdone. Richie Mehta, creator, writer and

developer of the series, worked extensive-ly with her on it. “We started question-ing, why is it this way? What is Vartikathinking? We were in touch even as hetravelling and I was working on otherprojects. Just before the shoot, every sin-gle day, even if he had just two hours, Iwould say we have to meet because Iwanted to discuss the character. A scene,after all, is the window between the actorand the person but it is not what deter-mines the character. It is the characterwhich determines how she behaves orreacts in a scene,” she says.

Recalling the actual incident, Shefaliremembers that it left everyone startledand that scar would never go away. So itwas also in a manner of reliving the inci-dent. “This was my most consuming andenriching experience and then you arejust reacting to it. In the first sequence,there is a sense of disbelief and shock. Butthen, she takes one moment for herselfand gets completely into action mode,”she says.

While at one level, Shefali played theofficer who heads the investigation, sheis also portraying a mother with ateenage daughter. “It was not just aboutthe mother and daughter relationship, butalso about what the entire generation feltin December 2012. Watching the protestfrom the police station is different fromhaving someone stand up and questionyou at home. And that was the same exactquestion that Vartika was asking and thatis why she wants to do justice and not to

prove herself or get a medal,” she says. Some critics of the show have said

that it only has a single point of view andtried to humanise the police at the costof the victim’s parents, family and media.“This story and incident has severalpoints of view. And this is the one thatthe director wants to tell. It is not aboutidealising. It is just about telling what real-ly happened which a lot of people,including me, did not know,” she says.

But having worked so closely with thestory and living with it for so long, doesshe feel that we have become even moredehumanised as a society as more casesof a similar nature have come up. “I don’tthink we have got used to it. If anything,we have become more sensitised to it. Arape case now goes into a fast track court.More incidents against women havecome within the ambit of rape. Earlier, awoman was blamed for a crime againsther. It’s changing,” she argues.

But she accepts that the change in the

system will take longer as the behaviouris embedded for generations. “Patriarchy,misogyny, the way people are brought up,the sense of privilege men have, illitera-cy, caste and class have been the normover the years. It will take time to com-pletely disappear but it is not fair to saythat things are not changing. It won’t hap-pen overnight,” she says.

Moving on to her previous outing onNetflix as Tara Shetty in Once Again,Shefali feels that it was one of the mostbeautiful characters that she has por-trayed. “I am a hardcore romantic.People always think that a strong womancannot be romantic and the two aremutually exclusive. Tara is a strongwoman. There is something lyrical andpoetic about her. She is so vulnerable andshe is ready to walk that road, take thatchance and is even ready to get hurt inthe process. The film was nuanced wherethe romance, was unsaid yet said. You canactually feel the palpitation because of theway it was shot,” she says, her excitementand passion for the film not hard to dis-cern even when heard at the other endof a phone.

Going back much in time, she recallsthe character of Saavi, another womanin love that she portrayed at the start ofa career in the serial Hasratein, which wastelecast on Zee TV in 1996-97. Whilethree other actresses had portrayed therole of a woman who leaves her husbandand has an extra marital affair with amarried man, it took Shefali to step into

Saavi’s shoes to give it the gravitas andgrace that made the actions of the char-acter seem justified. “I thought it was asweet story. And I saw her very differ-ently from the way it was being playedearlier. I did not see her as a vamp. Shewas in love. She had her reasons. Youneed to have conviction to play such acharacter. The person might be bad insomeone else’s perception but for him orher they are doing the best they can. Theyare justified as they fell in love wherethere isn’t a right or wrong,” she says.

Another role that is etched in mem-ory is that of Pyaari Mhatre in Satya(1998) for who can forget Shefalimatching each perfectly coy step toSapne Me Milti Hai so much so that shebecame an embodiment of the song. “Icannot forget it as it was my first film.It is also very special because of itsensemble cast, cult status, the way it wasshot by an international DOP. It was rawand organic. There are certain momentswhere the vision of the director comesthrough even when though the actorgets the accolades. In this, the momentwas where she slaps her husband BhikuMhatre, played by Manoj Bajpai. Onscript, it was a very powerful moment.I heard it and agreed to do it,” sherecalls.

Of course, anyone who has seenGandhi, My Father (2007) cannot helpbut be affected by the human angle atplay in the film. The Mahatma was thefather of the nation but what he was likeat home and how it affected the familyforms the crux of the story. As Kasturba,Shefali held her own and won the BestActress award at the Tokyo InternationalFilm Festival. “Of course she was a pow-erful woman but she was stuck betweenher child and her husband. She under-stands the compulsions of her husbandbut she is also a mother and nothing cantake that away from her,”

However, talking to Shefali isincomplete without a mention ofMonsoon Wedding (2001) where sheplays Riya, who has been molested as achild by a family member. It was one ofthe rare films where pedophilia was por-trayed on screen. “Mira called me andsaid that she had seen Satya and want-ed me to play Riya. She gave me a briefover the phone and I agreed because Iwanted to work with her. It was such apowerful part and the thrill of workingwith such an incredible director andinternational cast was amazing. I justhad to be a part of it,” she says.

Looking ahead, she hopes for thesecond season of Delhi Crime. “Thereare a couple of things in discussionwhich I am trying to work out,” she saysas she signs off. We can only look for-ward to characters imbued with astrong individual streak.

Initially you were notinterested in the role andthe project, Fahrenheit

451. What made you say yes?I wasn’t interested in play-

ing a figure of authority. Withwhat was going on around theworld with the police and mycommunity, as a black man, Ididn’t want to play somebodywho was an oppressor. I justdidn’t want that in my head.It was something that I was-n’t interested in playing, a fire-fighter that was going aroundburning books. That kind ofcharacter just didn’t seemright because I played OscarGrant and I was playing char-acters that meant so much tomy community. But after sit-ting down with the directorRamin and knowing MichaelShannon was going to be apart of it and understandingtheir vision, the kind ofthemes and messages that hewanted to send through themovie, I was fine. Then I

talked to my agents, talked tomy mom, dad, friends andeven people around me. That’show I made the decision. Imake decisions through mycommunity. I didn’t want peo-ple to see me dying in myroles as it has been.

What do you thinkabout the film in today’scontext?

I mean, for a book that

was written around 60 yearsago, it could have been writ-ten last year. For me, to be apart of this story that is soimportant today. Conceptsof free thought, choice, mediacontrol and anti-intellectuals,it is controlling us so much.So for me to play a characterthat challenges these ideaswas important and sends apositive message. And work-ing with HBO, co-producing

it with my own company andworking with MichaelShannon, I checked off all theboxes.

Ramin Bahrani (direc-tor) said that in your firstmeeting, you showed up inthe character of Killmonger?

Yes, I was in the middle ofproduction of Black Pantherwhen we had that meetingand I was locked in the char-

acter. It was a heavy role forme to play and I literally justforgot. I saw the look on hisface of how he was looking atme, it was a little intimidatingand I remember I had mygold fronts on. So I tookthem out and I came down alittle bit and we had a goodmeeting.

Do people still yell atyou, “Wakanda forever?”

Yes. (laughs) Yes, theydo. But they don’t under-stand. I’m not from Wakanda,technically, so — no, that’sChadwick. That’s a Chadwickthing. So, like, when theysay, “Wakanda forever,” lowkey, I’m still in the character.I’m like “Nah, that ain’t me.”(laughs) I don’t do it back tothem. That’s not my thing.

I read that you didn’treally have a social life dur-ing Black Panther becauseyou were drinking a gallon

and a half of water, so youhad to pee all the time.

Yes, that’s not fun.Especially in the middle of anight. You’re trying to sleep,you have to wake up, use thebathroom. You’re like, oh mygod, I’m just going to hold it.And then it just doesn’t quitework out. We didn’t really goby hours but by sessions. SoI worked out two to threetimes a day. Ate six times aday. It’s hard to go out to aclub or even party whenyou’re like — oh wait, mealprep. We had to pop thisthing in the microwave andeat food. So it is tough tosocialise when you’ve got toget in shape like that. Yes, andwork out three or four timesa day too. It is so damn diffi-cult. So as soon as I leavefrom here, I’m going to thegym. (Sigh)

(The film will premiertoday at 9 pm on Star MoviesSelect HD.)

As people across the globeexcitedly prepare for thefinal season of 2019’s

most anticipated series —Game of Thrones, here aresome trends from across theworld that have been noticedfor this iconic show in the last30 days.

According to the data,India has emerged as the fourthcountry where users are mostexcited about the show — thisis only preceded by USA, Braziland Great Britain — and is theonly Asian country to feature

in top five. When it comes toIndian cities, Mumbai, Delhi,Bangalore, Hyderabad andChennai top the list. WhereasJon Snow, Daenery Stargaryen,Aarya Stark, Sansa Stark andTyrion Lannister become themost talked characters acrossthe country. Based on volumeof conversations, top 10 hash-tags used across India are —#gameofthrones, #got, #jon-snow, #forthethrone, #aryas-tark, #sansastark, #winter-iscoming, #daenerystargaryen,#tyrionlannister, #winterishere.

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Mention Bobbi Brown andyou know you have themantra to look the best ver-

sion of yourself. It is to the credit ofthe iconic make-up artist, author andformer editor that the brand shelaunched at Bergdorf Goodman, theluxury department store based onFifth Avenue in MidtownManhattan in New York City in1991, has become much biggerthan the person.

While the brand was sold toEstee Lauder in 1995, the productsmade by Bobbi, which suited a widevariety of skin tones and seemed tobecome a part of your own skin, lipcolour and cheeks, have proved tobe game changers. She has authorednine books about make-up andbeauty that made it to the New YorkTimes bestseller list. Along the way,she has worked her magic at inter-national fashion weeks for overthree decades. Considered as one ofthe top 10 make-up artists and beau-ty experts in the world, she hasworked with some of the biggestnames from the industry includingMichelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey,Katie Holmes, the Sex And The Citycast, Jessica Alba, Claudia Schifferand Naomi Campbell. Bobbi is vis-iting the country to be part of thefirst India Make-Up show.

How different is it to work withfaces and skin tones that areIndian? What do you modify inyour techniques?

I always start my work in thesame way — looking for the righttone and texture for the skin. Thatwill never change. You want to utiliseproducts that work for the skin typeand always start with a moisturiser.Hydrated skin is the key to yourmake-up looking its best.

What are the lip colours as well asblushes that work best with Indianskin tones?

The right lip colour for you is

based on three things — your style,natural lip colour and skin tone. Ingeneral, the most flattering naturalhue will either match or be slightlydarker than your lips. Avoid shadeslighter than your lips, especiallythose with gray or beige undertones,as they will make you look washedout. For blush, women with tan,warm skin tones should choose analmost plum shade that looks like arich pink when applied. For deeperskin tones, redder shades that havebluish tones like cranberry leave abeautiful finish.

Earlier, Indians were lookingtowards the West in terms of skincolour and features but now theyare more comfortable in theirskin. What would you attribute itto?

I think it’s a combination of pos-itive voices on social media and thebeauty industry working to becomemore inclusive. There are moreproducts, colour options, positiverole models and unique voices withlarge platforms that are changing theconversations around beauty.Realism is in.

What does it take to be rankedamong the top 10 beauty artistsin the world?

A lot of hard work anddetermination. The advice Igive is to be open. Be a spongeand absorb everything. Workhard — and for free if you haveto — when following yourdreams. Keep at it, don’t let failurestop you.

You’ve worked with some of thebiggest names. What were someprofessional and personal lessonsthat you learnt along the way?

My biggest takeaway is to benice to everyone. It’s as simpleas that. You never know whoyou are going to meet orwho knows who. Be kind,

respectful and treat others how youwant to be treated.

What is it that attracts youabout India?

Everything. I have wantedto come to India for a longtime. The people, the history,the culture, and of course, thefood is something I’m looking

forward to experiment with. Iam open to experiencing all that

India has to offer. Visually, themake-up worn by women in thecountry scales from over the top, totraditional, to a cleaner, more mod-ern look. Most importantly, every-one looks so beautiful. PriyankaChopra is someone I would definite-ly like to work with when in India.She is one of the most beautifulwomen on the planet and seemsvery down to earth and cool.

Why did you decide to collaboratewith India Make-up Show?

It’s a unique opportunity tointeract with artists and con-

sumers in this type of set-ting. I am really excited toshare my make-up tech-niques and more aboutmy career.

Any more books onthe anvil?

No new booksright now but I justlaunched a new lineof supplements. It’sa collagen-basedcollection, all

designed to target yourbeauty concerns with one

of the largest retailers inAmerica. We have an efferves-

cent tablet made with hyaluron-ic acid to boost your skin’s mois-

ture. There’s a collagen and pro-tein powder that benefitshair, skin, and nails andgives you energy. It’s allabout supporting beauty

from the inside out. I am back in thestudio creating and curating contentfor my online magazine www.just-bobbi.com as a working make-upartist. I am also creating contentaround my podcast Long StoryShort. And I’m designing new expe-riences for our guest at our hotel,The George, in Montclair, NewJersey.

What do you keep in mind whiledoing the look for any person?

I always look at make-up assomething that will enhance yournatural features, not hide them.

Looking back at your journey,when you started out, did you haveany idea that the brand would growas big as it has?

I don’t think I could have pre-dicted the career that I’ve had. If youhad told me all of this when I was a little girl growing up inChicago, I wouldn’t have believedyou. I’m proud of the work I did in building my brand and theimpact my work had on the beautyindustry.

A lookback at some of the moreiconic moments, in your opinion?

A few moments that alwaysstand out for me are working withNaomi Campbell and PatrickDemarchelier on Naomi’s first Voguecover in 1989. It happened to be myfirst Vogue cover too. I did a lot ofbeauty spreads with the magazineover the years that I am reallyproud of. There were also momentslike doing make-up for L’WrenScott’s show at London FashionWeek to doing Dr Jill Biden’s (for-mer Vice President Joe Biden’s wife)make-up during the (Presidential)inauguration in 2009 and celebrat-ing my 20-year anniversary at BobbiBrown with a film by Bruce Weber.I’ll always cherish these moments.

(The show is on April 20 in NewDelhi.)

He had watched theNaseeruddin Shah andShabana Azmi-starringAlbert Pinto Ko Gussa KyunAata Hai? in his youth and it

left a huge impression on him. “It hasstayed with me till date. At that age, I couldrelate to Naseer’s anger,” says directorSoumitra Ranade, who has re-conceptu-alised the eponymous film starring ManavKaul, Nandita Das and Saurabh Shukla.

After liberalisation and opening up ofthe economy, a major chunk of populationwas pushed away from development,believes the director. “While we were allenjoying multiplexes, mobile phones andother luxuries, a large part of humanity wasleft out,” he says while talking about howhe had discovered the theme of the filmwhile travelling in the interiors of the coun-try where he found that people were angryand frustrated with what the system hadto offer.

He explains that the 1980’s film depict-ed that there was still room for develop-ment. “However, today I don’t see anyscope. Everything is so full and has beenoccupied, I see no space for understand-ing or development. Those were simplertimes. The common man is basicallyangry with himself that he is not able todo anything and is constantly facingbacklash from the corrupt system,” he says.Ranade’s Albert Pinto presents the angstof the common man and is an “an inter-esting take on reality.”

The Indian demography is theyoungest in the world and a majority of itsyoung people are unhealthy and unem-ployed, which makes them angry. He says,“If they remain in this state, India canbecome a terrorist country. We can actu-ally see that happening right now. They areso angry that they can be easily maneu-vered by political groups. Unless this emo-tion is channelised well, we are sitting onthe brink of a volcano which can erupt any-time.”

The Jajantaram Mamantaram directorbelieves that the ones who hold the great-est power to challenge or change the exist-ing notions of the society belong to themiddle class. “Most people in India belongto the middle class — the only group whichcan change or challenge the system. Thepoor are too powerless and the rich arenever interested. Unke liye toh sab achhahi hota hai (things are always good forthem). And most of the writers, painters,poets and the like can influence the peo-ple as they are all a part of the middle class.It’s important for them to open the win-dows, see the reality and change it,” he says.

Giving an example of mass farmer sui-cides in India, he explains that the issuehas become a slogan these days. “However,”he says, “the farmers have been commit-

ting suicides since the past 25 years. It’sonly now that we have come to know aboutit. And it is so deeply rooted that we don’teven realise how grave the situation is. Welearnt about it only when the farmersmarched into our cities. This is distress-ful and sad.”

He calls cinema “an extremely power-ful medium,” but he also believes that it

needs to reframe some of its aspects. “Ifyou use cinema only for Bollywood,masala films, it would be ridiculousexploitation of the medium. Big names andfilms don’t always work. A few films thatreleased last year are examples. And I amnot surprised actually. When you keep ongiving the same thing to the audience, theywill not accept it after a point. They want

to see interesting stories, which they canconnect to,” says he.

He gives the example of Dangal,which was something new, interesting andworth showcasing. He questions, “So whynot something like that? It can’t be justcrass and beautiful bodies all the time.How long can you keep giving the audi-ence that? They need stories which could

inspire them. The change is that even theaudience is accepting new concepts. Theyare becoming smarter and are able to tellthe creators their own choices. And anexposure to international cinema throughOTT platforms is the reason behind thischange.”

With the changing society, he says,even the cinematic concepts have evolved.Ranade believes that his 2003 film,Jajantaram Mamantaram came when,although there was despair, there was stillsome innocence left. “I had young kids atthe time and I was living a different storyevery night with them. And slowly, whenmy children grew up, I also looked in otherdirections and even the world around mechanged. And that started impacting me,which is obvious,” he says and adds that afilm has to be relevant to its time. “AndAlbert Pinto... is very important in today’stime. I am surprised that no one thoughtof making it as yet. We don’t appear to bea civilised society if you see the kind ofdebates that we have on news channels. Weare literally abusing and lynching eachother. What’s wrong with our language andculture?” he questions.

The second, of course, is the virtuallynching on social media. He adds, “It hasbecome a window for anger and blurtingout impulsive thoughts. It has become anonline court of judgments and opinions.With an anonymous identity, sitting in myroom, I can abuse anybody. It’s easy. Thatrage is not the solution, but I understandit.”

Well, what could be the solutionthen? He answers, “I think the solution isequality but attaining it is very difficult. Idon’t know if we are ever going to reachthat goal. But we need to, at least, have thebasic necessities distributed equally.”

Telling us the reason why he choseManav and Nandita for the lead roles, helaughs and says that both are ”my verygood friends.” However, that is just one ofthe many reasons in the list.

“I find Manav to be a very interestingactor. He can show every emotion veryeffortlessly. His face can deal with versa-tile emotions easily. If I tell you that he isa good-hearted person, you will want tobelieve me. If I say, he is a very kameenatype ka aadmi, you would still want tobelieve me. You will believe me even if Isay that he is a very sensitive man. He isnot ‘one’ kind of a person, he is all of these.He can be a beautiful, pretty, romantic heroas well. And Nandita, she is not ‘an actor’actor. She is a thinking person, whose facereflects that intensity with which sheworks for anything. She is a writer and adirector as well who is intelligent and sen-sitive to understand a lot of things altogeth-er,” says he.

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Hairstylist Sapna Bhavnani willbe using recycled waste hair

and aesthetic masks to createunique presentations as a symbol ofbreaking stereotypes at the IndiaMake-up Show. The wardrobe willbe by Kallol Datta.

Sapna has come on board tocurate a special showcase titled#StrongIsTheWeakestLabel for theMumbai edition. The debut editionof the show is curated by BrothersIncorporated, founded by RahulTuljapurkar and Ninad Shah.

“As a child, all the superheroesI admired wore masks. I alsowanted to be one. These dayswomen are perceived as strongbecause we can run a household,raise children and husbands, earnsalary and also find time to dosome weight-lifting to get stronger,”Sapna said.

“We disguise our bruises bybuying the best foundation in themarket. Contour our cheek bonesand define our eyebrows to set ahorizon for ourselves. Perfumeshide the smell of decay and haircolour the grey skies above... I'mnot saying there is anything wrongin grooming oneself. But we startwith our face and hair and continuewith our body and soul,” she said.

“I'm not saying that is wrong aswell. It's a choice. My main reasonfor becoming a hair stylist was togive women a fringe to hide under.Over time, I changed that and said'Why should they hide?' Let's justcut it all off and show our faces,” sheadded.

The show began on Friday inMumbai. Sapna's showcase will beheld on April 13.

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PV Sindhu survived ascare before making

the semifinals but SainaNehwal was thoroughlyoutplayed in her straight-game quarterfinal loss ona mixed day for India at theSingapore Open bad-minton tournament onFriday.

Sindhu, in fact,emerged as the lone sur-vivor after India's cam-

paign in men's singles wasover following the ouster ofKidambi Srikanth andSameer Verma, and loss ofmixed doubles Indian pairof Pranaav Jerry Chopraand N Sikki Reddy later inthe day.

Sindhu defeated worldNo 18 Cai Yanyan of China21-13, 17-21, 21-14 to setup a meeting with formerworld champion NozomiOkuhara.

It is Sindhu's second

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Arsenal and Chelseaclosed in on the EuropaLeague last four on

Thursday after the Gunnerssaw off highly-fancied Napoli2-0 at the Emirates, whileMarco Alonso's late headerearned Maurizio Sarri's side ahard-fought win at SlaviaPrague.

Unai Emery's Arsenal holda healthy advantage going intonext week's second leg thanksto a fine early strike fromJuventus-bound Aaron Ramseyand an unfortunate KalidouKoulibaly own goal midwaythrough the first half, and canrue missed chances that wouldhave put the tie completelybeyond the Italians' reach.

"To keep a clean sheet andscore a couple of goals is a love-ly way to start the first leg.We're delighted with that," saidRamsey, who should haveadded the third when he blazedover with nine minutes left, toBT Sport.

"We can go into the secondleg with a little bit of a cushion,but we know it will be a diffi-cult place to go... They are aquality team."

Chelsea meanwhileescaped from Eden Arena aftera bitty display that saw KepaArrizabalaga have to makesome fine saves to keep the

Czechs out before Alonso nod-ded home Willian's pinpointcross four minutes from timeto seal a 1-0 win.

The Blues remain unbeat-en in the Europa League, keep-ing eight clean sheets in thecompetition this season, and itwas that solidity that saw themthrough on a tricky evening inPrague.

The Premier League pair

remain on a collision course forthe final in Baku, with bothsides set to avoid each other ifthey make it through nextweek's second legs.

"I was surprised by the lackof courage and personalityfrom my players at the start,"Carlo Ancelotti told Sky Sport.

"Turning this around willbe difficult now, but we'll behome at the San Paolo, and our

supporters will help us."

�2.� 0��/��)�-#�;Arsenal will almost cer-

tainly take on Valencia shouldthey hold on at what will be anintimidating Stadio San Paoloafter the La Liga side scoredtwice in stoppage time to win3-1 at fellow SpaniardsVillarreal.

Goncalo Guedes scored

twice, including whatcould be the decisivethird three minutes intoadded time, asMarcelino's side struckwith two clinical break-away goals to give thema great chance of making thesemis.

Chelsea meanwhile willlikely play Benfica should theygo through after 19-year-oldJoao Felix became the youngestever player to score a EuropaLeague hat-trick and set up theother goal in 4-2 win overEintracht Frankfurt that leavesthe Bundesliga side, who had toplay with 10 men for 70 min-utes, with an uphill task to makethe last four in Germany nextweek.

Felix, a revelation in his first

season in the Benfica firstteam, got the ball rollingfrom the spot in the 21stminute after EvanN'Dicka was sent off forshoving over goal-boundGedson Fernandes.

He put the hosts back infront just before the break afterLuka Jovic — on loan fromBenfica — scored a shock lev-eller against his parent club inthe 40th minute.

Ruben Dias made it threewhen he headed in Felix's flick-on a from a corner, and the 19-year-old side-footed home AlexGrimaldo's cross to completehis treble nine minutes into thesecond half, before GoncaloPaciencia pulled one back withhis head from a corner to keepthe tie alive.

�-"�� $�4 34

Atletico Madrid coach DiegoSimeone believes Diego

Costa's eight-match ban isharsh and has dismissed sug-gestions the striker could besold in the summer.

Costa was handed thelengthy suspension by theSpanish Football Federation(RFEF) on Thursday for direct-ing a crude insult towards ref-eree Gil Manzano during thefirst half of Atletico's 2-0 defeatto Barcelona last weekend.

"It seems harsh to me,"Simeone said at a press confer-ence on Friday.

The punishment meansCosta will not play again this

season.But Simeone insists Costa

still has a future at the club."Absolutely yes, you know

what I think of Costa," Simeonesaid. "We must take care of ourown and with Costa, now morethan ever."

Atletico president EnriqueCerezo suggested on Thursdaythe club will appeal against theban.

"It's bad news," Cerezosaid. "The natural thing is forus to appeal, to ask for lenien-cy and see what happens.

"There are players who arevery temperamental. Insultsshould never happen on thefootball field but there aretimes when they do happen."

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Bayern Munich coach Niko Kovac on Fridayconfirmed reports Robert Lewandowski and

Kingsley Coman were involved in a fist-fight dur-ing training, but ruled out any sanctions.

Kovac admitted the forwards traded blows fol-lowing an argument ata training sessionbehind closed doorson Thursday whilepreparing for Sunday'sleague game away toFortuna Duesseldorf.

"The three of ustalked about it, theplayers are sorry andhave apologised fortheir behaviour, there will be no financial penal-ties and the matter has been resolved," said Kovacin a press conference.

Lewandowski, 30, reportedly chastised Coman,22, during a training exercise, and the exchangeof words quickly escalated. The two players werereportedly separated by Niklas Suele and JeromeBoateng, but Kovac was evasive about the causeof the strife, saying simply "emotions" had run highin a heated training session.

�-"�� 2"�4"�

Mauricio Pochettino said it willbe "difficult" for Harry Kane to

play for Tottenham again this sea-son after the forward suffered anankle injury during theirChampions League win overManchester City.

The England captain, who suf-fered a "significant lateral ligament"injury in the 1-0 victory on Tuesday,is susceptible to ankle damage —this is his fifth ankle injury since2016 and the second to his left jointthis year.

"He was so upset after thegame, it was a difficult moment forhim," Tottenham boss Pochettinosaid ahead of his side's home matchagainst already relegatedHuddersfield on Saturday.

"We feel so disappointed and itwas difficult to accept the situation,"he added.

"He is now much better, he hadthe scan yesterday and he needs tosee the specialist next week. He is in

a good place because he is a posi-tive guy.

"It is a little bit sad but he is look-ing forward to recovering as soon aspossible."

When asked if he believes Kanecould return this season, Pochettinosaid: "We'll see, there is five weeks,it is going to be difficult.

"Next week we are going to seewith the specialist. We are going todo everything to recover him assoon as possible but there is only fiveweeks of the season to recover."

�-"�� %� 3

Brazilian star Neymarwants to stay at Paris

Saint-Germain, where heis under contract until2022, according to hisfather and agent, Neymarsenior.

"We have a contract,we're not even halfwaythrough that contract,"Neymar senior told RMCSport.

Neymar arrived atPSG from Barcelona in2017, but has been at thecentre of rumours linkinghim with a move to RealMadrid.

"These rumours of

leaving will always exist,you can't have a playerlike Neymar without peo-

ple or clubs dreaming ofhaving him," saidNeymar senior.

PSG fans, he contin-ued, "can rest easy :Neymar today doesn'twant to leave PSG, hewants to continue at PSG,get back on the pitchfirst up, to be able to helpthe club claim titles andwin".

Neymar has been outwith an injured right footsustained on January 23,but the 27-year-old wasback in training onThursday and PSG willbe hoping he is fully fitfor the April 27 Frenchcup final against Rennes.

�-"�� $32��

Cristiano Ronaldo's Juventus head toSPAL on Saturday needing just a point

to wrap up an eighth consecutive Serie A titlein record time before their crucial ChampionsLeague decider against Ajax in Turin nextweek.

Ronaldo returned from injury to score aprecious away goal for Juventus in their 1-1Champions League quarter-final, first legdraw in Amsterdam on Wednesday, and the34-year-old can claim his first Italian leaguetitle to add to his two in Spain with RealMadrid and three with Manchester United.

It would be a 28th trophy in four coun-tries for the five-time Ballon d'Or winner, ahaul which includes five Champions League,and the Euro 2016 title with Portugal.

Juventus have a 20-point advantage onsecond-placed Napoli and a draw would sealtheir 35th 'Scudetto' with six games to spare— the earliest any team has ever sealed SerieA — thanks to their superior head-to-headrecord over Carlo Ancelotti's side.

SPAL, 16th and just four points above thedrop zone, had eased their relegation fearswith three consecutive wins that included vic-tories over Champions League-chasing Lazioand Roma, but lost last weekend at Cagliari.

Leonardo Semplici dogged side alsohave history against them, as they have beat-en Juventus just once in their history, wayback in 1957.

Given the relative weak-ness of the weekend's opposi-tion, coach MassimilianoAllegri may not want to riskRonaldo ahead of Tuesday'sChampions League deciderand could rotate his side.

Forwards Paulo Dybalaand Douglas Costa came off

the bench at Ajax ahead of highly-ratedteenager Moise Kean, who had scored fivegoals in as many games for Juventus.

All three could start against SPAL.Leonardo Bonucci looks set to work over-

time with defenders Giorgio Chiellini,Andrea Barzagli and Martin Caceres all outinjured.

"Let's close down the championship onSaturday," urged Bonucci.

Second-placed Napoli travel to bottomclub Chievo looking for a boost after theirdemoralising 2-0 Europa League quarter-final, first leg defeat at Arsenal.

Carlo Ancelotti's side are without a winin three games and next week host Arsenalin their Stadio San Paulo hoping for a mir-acle.

Inter Milan, seven points behind Napoli,can consolidate third place at second-from-bottom Frosinone after last weekend's drawagainst fellow Europe-chasers Atalanta.

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Sebastian Vettel fired a warn-ing as he powered his

Ferrari to the fastest time infirst practice at the milestoneChinese Grand Prix inShanghai on Friday.

For what will be the1,000th Formula One race, thefour-time world championclocked a best time of oneminute 33.911 seconds, with

Mercedes' reigning title-’derLewis Hamilton 0.207 secsbehind.

Third fastest was Vettel'syoung Ferrari team-mateCharles Leclerc, 0.256 secs offthe pace, followed by RedBull's Max Verstappen andValtteri Bottas in the otherMercedes.

But the session belongedto Germany's Vettel, 31, whohas been under pressure after

a series of unforced errorsstretching back to last season.

He has been strugglingwith the set-up of his Ferrariand admitted on Thursdaythat he is still not really athome in it.

Vettel finished fourth inthe season-opening race inMelbourne and was then fifthin Bahrain, where he waseclipsed by team-mate Leclerc,who is 10 years his junior.

Vettel's opening Shanghaisalvo was all the more impres-sive because the Ferraris wereon the slower medium tyres infirst practice.

The Chinese Grand Prixhas one of the longest straightsin Formula One, which willsuit Ferrari's awesome pace.

Toto Wolff, Mercedesteam principal, called Vettel'sstraight-line speed "frighten-ing".

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�� 4��"�� semifinal of the season, fol-lowing a last-four finish atthe India Open last month.

The second-seededOkuhara, hailing fromJapan, didn't break muchsweat on her way to a 21-8, 21-13 win over sixthseed Saina.

In men's singles,Srikanth's struggle against

Kento Momota continuedas he suffered his ninthstraight loss to the Japanesetop seed, going down 18-21, 21-19, 9-21 in 66 min-utes to end his campaignwith yet another quarter-final finish.

Sameer Verma, aworld No 16, battled for anhour and nine minutes

before losing 10-21, 21-15,15-21 to second seededChinese Taipei Chou TienChen.

In mixed doubles,Pranaav and Sikki suf-fered a 14-21, 16-21 loss tothird seed Thai pair ofDechapol Puavaranukrohand SapsireeTaerattanachai to bow out

of the World Tour Super500 tournament.

Sindhu broke off at 5-5 in the opening game toearn the bragging rightsbut her Chinese rival cameback strongly in the secondgame, opening up a lead of11-6 at the break.

The Indian foughtback superbly to narrow

the lead to 15-16 beforeCai marched ahead to takethe match to the decider.

In the third game,Sindhu once again foundher bearings and surged toa lead of 11-5 before theinterval. The Indian con-tinued to move ahead andclosed out the match com-fortably in the end.

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The West Indies sacked contro-versial coach Richard Pybus

amid a f lurry of changesannounced on Thursday, onlyseven weeks before the start ofthe World Cup.

Floyd Reifer will becomeinterim head coach, with RobertHaynes replacing CourtneyBrowne as interim head of selec-tors, while the entire selectionpanel has also been changed.

"We are confident that in MrHaynes we have found an inter-im chairman who shares thephilosophy of inclusiveness andshares our selection policy,"

Cricket West Indies (CWI) pres-ident Ricky Skerritt said.

"(Reifer) has lived the sameprinciples of West Indian excel-lence that we now insist mustprevail in our cricket."

The Windies had seen anupturn in fortunes on the pitchin recent months, with a shock 2-1 Test series win over Englandand 2-2 one-day internationalseries draw.

They open their World Cupcampaign against Pakistan atTrent Bridge on May 31 — the

second day of the tournament inEngland and Wales.

The change of coach couldpotentially pave the way for starplayers to return to the team, withthe likes of Dwayne Bravo andKieron Pollard playing almostexclusively franchise Twenty20cricket, with Andre Russell alsohaving not played an ODI sincelast July.

Skerritt replaced former CWIpresident Dave Cameron lastmonth after beating him in anelection.

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Gasping for breath aftersix successive defeats,

Virat Kohli led RoyalChallengers Bangalore willlook to snap their winlessstreak and stay afloat whenthey take on an inconsistentKings XI Punjab in a must-win IPL encounter at PCAstadium on Saturday.

Nothing seems to begoing right for RCB, whoslumped to their sixthstraight loss after goingdown against Delhi Capitalsin their IPL match lastSunday.

Kohli, who was recent-ly named the LeadingCricketer of the year for thethird successive time byWisden Almanack, willhope that fortunes finallyknock at the doors of RCBas they need to win all theirnext eight matches to sal-vage any hope of making itto the play-off.

RCB have been incon-sistent with both their bowl-ing and batting faltering inmany occasions.

Yuzvendra Chahal hasbeen their top bowler withnine wickets but rest of the

bowling line-up concededfar too many runs.

RCB's batting too haslooked equally inconsistent.

KXIP, on the otherhand, have won four match-es out of seven but they havemaintained dominance onhome ground.

Despite the loss, KXIP's

batting has done well withopener K L Rahul, whoscored unbeaten century

against Mumbai, and ChrisGayle looking in devastatingform.

Kings XI also has thelikes of David Miller andMandeep Singh and theside will look forward tosome big knocks from themas well.

The pace-spin duo ofMohammad Shami andAshwin has been KXIP'sbest bowlers and they wouldlook to put another goodshow.

Among others, AnkitRajpoot, Sam Curran,Hardus Viljoen, Mujeeb UrRahman, Andrew Tyewould also look to providedepth to the Kings XI bowl-ing.

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Inzamam-ul-Haq and MarkBoucher on Friday were

inducted as the Honorary LifeMembers of the MaryleboneCricket Club (MCC).

According the MCC website,Pakistan's Inzamam and SouthAfrican Boucher have beenincluded in recognition to theiroutstanding achievements in thegame of cricket.

Former Pakistan skipper andbatsman Inzamam played 119Test matches. He captained theside from 2001-07 and scored8,829 runs at an average of 50.16,including 25 centuries.

He made his internationaldebut in 1991, featuring inPakistan's successful 1992 WorldCup campaign. He played in 378ODIs, scoring 11,739 runs at anaverage of 39.5.

The 49-year-old Inzamam

has now joined fellow Pakistancricketers — Imran Khan, WasimAkram, Waqar Younis andShahid Afridi — as an HonoraryLife Member of MCC.

Meanwhile, former SouthAfrica wicketkeeper-batsmanBoucher was the first glovesmanto take 500 catches in the longestformat.

Having made his debut in

1997, 42-year-old went on to play146 Test matches, scoring 5498runs, taking 530 catches and 23stumpings. In 290 ODIs, Bouchermade 4523 runs, taking 395catches and claiming 21 stump-ings.

He holds the combined-for-mat international record forwicket-keeping dismissals- 998 intotal.

Boucher has joined his coun-trymen Allan Donald, JontyRhodes, Shaun Pollock andDaryll Cullinan as an HonoraryLife Member of MCC.

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From the low of the NidahasTrophy final in Sri Lanka to now

being in the scheme of things as thenational selectors gear up to pick theIndia squad for the World Cup, all-rounder Vijay Shankar has come along way. While Indian fans andcricketers await with bated breathfor MSK Prasad and team toannounce the squad for the show-piece event on Monday, Shankarwants to focus on the job at hand— winning games for SunrisersHyderabad.

Shankar said that even when hewas down and out, it was the SRHmanagement which backed himand helped him come back strong-ly, so his focus is the IPL.

"Wearing the India cap is adream for every cricketer. But Ihaven't let the thought of the WorldCup team selection affect me. I havelooked to focus and contribute forSRH.

"It is very important to do well

for Hyderabad. I got into SRHbefore I made a comeback into theIndian team. So, the trust they haveshown in me, must be repaid," hesaid.

Asked if the idea to bat at No3 and 4 in the IPL is an attempt toprepare for the role (if given) in theIndian team for the World Cup, hesaid: "I have not thought about that,but it is really good that I am bat-ting up the order.

"It has nothing to do withWorld Cup, it is about doing whatsuits the team and the situations."

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West Indian duo ofKieron Pollard and

Alzarri Joseph will hog thelimelight when MumbaiIndians lock horns with anout-of-sorts RajasthanRoyals in an match wherehome skipper RohitSharma's return frominjury will also be awaitedon Saturday.

A leg spasm had forcedRohit to miss an IPL gamefor the first time in 11 sea-sons when he set out ofMumbai's last game againstKings XI Punjab.

In his absence, stand-in skipper Kieron Pollardensured MI continue itsgood run as his whirlwind83-run knock helped theside script a three-wicketwin in a humdinger onWednesday.

The winning runs werehit by 22-year-old AlzarriJoseph, who has been thenew sensation in this year'scash-rich T20 league.

After a dream debutwhere he returned withbest IPL figures of six for12 against SunrisersHyderabad, Alzarri (15 notout) played a crucial cameoagainst Kings XI to rompthe side home.

So it would be interest-ing to see whether the

Antigua-born Joseph andthe big-hitting Pollard cancarry their form intoSaturday's game.

Another West Indianwho would be in focus isJofra Archer, who hadgiven Rajasthan Royal achance to defend 151against Chennai SuperKings on Thursday with asuperb spell of fast bowl-ing.

Rajasthan would bewary of MI's attack afterthey were reduced to a 53for three by CSK. None ofthe batsmen could score abig innings with Ben

Stokes emerging as thetop-scorer with 28 run.

RR's batting line-up,including skipper AjinkyaRahane, Sanju Samson,Steve Smith and Jos Buttlerwill need to pull up theirsocks to confront theMumbai bowlers at theWankhede Stadium.

Rajasthan Royals pac-ers Jaydev Unadkat andDhawal Kulkarni alongwith Shreyas Gopal andleggie Riyan Parag wouldhave to deliver for theirskipper if they have to stayalive and make it to thePlayoffs.

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Chennai Super Kings captain MahendraSingh Dhoni escaped a ban and was

let off with a 50 per cent fine on his matchfee for an unprecedented confrontationwith the on-field umpires during the IPLencounter against Rajasthan Royals.

In a rare instance, Dhoni, who was noteven meant to be on the field of play, losthis cool and rushed out of the dug-out tochallenge umpire Ulhas Gandhe after heflip-flopped on a no ball on Thursdaynight.

"MS Dhoni, the Chennai Super Kingscaptain, was fined 50 percent of hismatch fees for breaching the VIVO IndianPremier League's (IPL) Code of Conductduring his team's match against RajasthanRoyals at Jaipur," the BCCI stated.

Gandhe had tried to rule a waist high

full toss as no ball by RR all-rounder BenStokes. But he reversed his decision aftersquare leg umpire Bruce Oxenford did notsignal for it.

"Dhoni admitted to the Level 2 offence2.20 of the IPL's Code of Conduct andaccepted the sanction," it further stated.

As is the case with IPL teams, it's thefranchise that will pay the fine on the play-er's behalf.

Dhoni was seen angrily gesturing atGandhe for backtracking after initially sig-nalling a no ball.

It took some convincing fromOxenford for Dhoni to head back to thedugout even though he seemed far fromconvinced.

But the confusion and the ensuingconfrontation did not have a bearing onCSK's fortunes.

Stokes failed in the final over and

Mitchell Santner finished the match witha six to take his team to a four-wicket winin a chase of 152.

According to the ICC Code ofConduct, which governs the IPL, show-ing serious dissent at an umpire's decisionby words or action can lead to a maxi-mum punishment of one-Test or two-ODI ban.

The ongoing edition of the IPL hashad quite a few umpiring controversies sofar. Not too long back, India and RoyalChallengers Bangalore skipper ViratKohli lambasted the standards after histeam was at the receiving end of a poorno ball call.

The umpire failed to spot a clear caseof over-stepping in RCB's clash againstMumbai Indians and Kohli had gone onto say that the officials "should keep theireyes open".

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Andre Russell blazed away toa 21-ball 45 after ShubmanGill's brisk half-century,

powering Kolkata Knight Ridersto 178 for seven against DelhiCapitals, in the Indian PremierLeague here on Friday.

This was Russell's sixth suc-cessive 40-plus score, his four sixesand three boundaries comingafter youngster Gill stroked 65 off

39 balls, helping the hosts recov-er from Ishant Sharma's wicket-maiden first over.

The Jamaican, who wascleaned up by Kagiso Rabada witha toe-crushing yorker in theirSuper Over defeat in the first leg,also exacted a sweet revengesmashing the South African fortwo sixes in an over that yielded16 runs.

Chris Morris removed Russellin the penultimate over when he

was caught in the deep by Rabada.Sent into bat, from batting at

No 6 in their last match againstChennai Super Kings, Gill waspromoted to open the innings andthe 19-year-old responded with afine knock, his second IPL fifty,and first this season.

Gill smashed seven fours andtwo sixes, both against spinnerAxar Patel, and along with RobinUthappa (28), added 63 runsafter a horror start.

Ishant knocked out the off-stump of Joe Denly with a fantas-tic inswinger, the Englishmanlasting just one ball on his IPLdebut.

Delhi could not have askedfor a better start with Ishantstarting the proceedings with awicket-maiden.

But KKR did well to bringthem out of the rut with Uthappaand Gill counter-attacking with aflurry of boundaries.

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Mumbai Indians Director of CricketOperations Zaheer Khan on Friday

said that skipper Rohit Sharma is availablefor the team's IPL match against RajasthanRoyals on Saturday.

A leg spasm had forced Rohit to missan IPL game for the first time in 11 sea-sons when he sat out of Mumbai's lastmatch against Kings XI Punjab at theWankhede Stadium on Wednesday.

He had sustained the injury during atraining session.

Asked about Rohit's injury status,Zaheer said, "He is definitely available forselection and he is very confident, so thatis a very positive sign right now for us.

"He is going to practice and get a bet-ter gauge of things, but we are pretty con-fident (of him playing)," said the 40-year-old former India pacer.

Rohit briefly batted at the nets at theWankhede Stadium on Friday.

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Veteran South African pacerDale Steyn on Friday

joined Royal ChallengersBangalore as a replacementfor the injured Nathan Coulter-Nile, giving a much neededboost to the bowling depart-ment of the bottom-placedteam in the IPL.

Steyn will replaceAustralian Coulter-Nile, who is

recovering from a back injury."Royal Challengers

Bangalore have signed DaleSteyn as a replacement for theinjured Nathan Coulter-Nilefor the remainder of the VIVOIndian Premier League (IPL)2019," read an IPL statement.

Steyn went unsold in theprevious two IPL auctions andlast played in the competitionin 2016 when he representedGujarat Lions.

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