ˇˇ˛$˛ˇ˙%&’’(˙ˇ ˚$˘ · 1989, it will be mandatory for the police to conduct a...

16
I n the face of nationwide protests by the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, the Centre on Tuesday got an out-of-turn open court hearing on its review petition in the Supreme Court but failed to get any relief as the judges declined to stay or even temporarily sus- pend its March 20 decision. The apex court said, “We are not against (the SC/ST) Act but the innocent should not be punished.” By this decision, the court held that prior to lodging a com- plaint under the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989, it will be mandatory for the police to conduct a prelim- inary enquiry to ascertain whether a case on merits is made out. Once a case is lodged, prior to arresting an accused, if it is a public servant sanction has to be taken from the appointing authority and in case of a non- public servant, a senior level police official (of the rank of SSP) will examine if the arrest is necessary. Appearing before a Bench of Justices Adarsh K Goel and UU Lalit, which passed the order, Attorney General KK Venugopal argued for close to two hours to make out a case for recall of the judgment. According to him, the court added provisions to the law passed by Parliament and this in effect diluted the purpose of protecting SC/ST victims who have long been afflicted with torture. He pointed out that the court approached the matter with a view that the Act is being misused by persons from SC/ST community who resort to lodging false complaints. The new mechanism intro- duced by the court, he added, even held up payment of com- pensation to SC/ST victims that is required to be immediately released upon filing of FIR. Additionally, he submitted that confusion prevailed as to whether in cases where offences under other Acts such as Indian Penal Code are clubbed with offences under the 1989 Act, the preliminary enquiry will hold up registration of associated crim- inal offences as well. The Bench did not pass a final order as the Maharashtra Government along with other parties in the origi- nal case sought time to file their submissions. In response, the Bench said that its judgment neither was against the SC/ST com- munity nor does it dilute the provisions of the Act. “People who are agitating may have not even read our order,” the judges remarked, adding that it was not averse to the rights of the underprivileged which stands on a higher footing. Continued on Page 4 P rime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday stepped in to do damage control on “fake news” guideline contro- versy as well as on demand for paying compensation to fami- ly members of the 39 Indian workers killed in Iraq. Clearly unhappy over the Information & Broadcasting Ministry’s directive to cancel the accreditation of journalists found “propagating” fake news, the PM ordered the I&B Ministry to withdraw its con- tentious guidelines. The PM intervened after I&B Minister Smriti Irani faced widespread criticism and outcry by jour- nalists and Opposition parties, who dubbed these norms an attempt to “muzzle” the free press. A day after Minister of State for External Affairs VK Singh, in a Press conference held in Amritsar on Monday, had kicked up a controversy by saying that “compensation is not like distributing biscuits”, Modi announced ex-gratia pay- ment of 10 lakh each to the family of 39 Indian workers, who were killed in Mosul, Iraq. “This is not like distribut- ing biscuits. This is about the lives of the people. How do I make the announcement now? I am not carrying anything in my pocket,” Singh had said after he landed in Amritsar with the mortal remains of 38 Indians. The body of the 39th person is yet to arrive. On the issue of fake news guidelines, the Prime Minister ordered that the Ministry should not interfere or give directions into the powers of Press Council of India (PCI) with regard to its powers in tak- ing action against the fake news or wrong news or any actions related to the com- plaints received on the news reports. After Prime Minister’s orders, the I&B Ministry issued a statement, saying Press release regarding fake news put out by it on Monday night “stands withdrawn”. “The PM has directed that the Press release regarding the fake news be withdrawn and the matter should only be addressed by the Press Council of India,” a senior PMO official said. The Prime Minister was also of the view that the Government should not inter- fere in the matter, the official added. Amending the guidelines for accreditation of journalists, the Ministry on Monday night announced norms to contain fake news. The guidelines said if the publication or telecast of fake news was confirmed, accreditation of the journalist would be suspended for six months in case of first violation and for one year in case of a second violation. In case of a third violation, his or her accreditation would be cancelled permanently, the Ministry had said. The I&B Ministry decision drew sharp criticism from Opposition parties as well as from Press bodies. The Congress said fascism has touched its peak as it sought to “muzzle” indepen- dent voices through “falla- cious” rules. The AAP and the CPI(M) likened the situation to the “emergency”. “The Government has no mandate to control the Press. The media is also worried about growing incidents of fake news but the Press Council is the right platform to deal with complaints regarding any fake news,” president of the Press Club of India Gautam Lahiri said. Soon after the withdrawal of the controversial order, I&B Minister Smriti Irani tweeted, “PIB Accreditation Guidelines asking Press Council of India & News Broadcasters Association to define & act against ‘fake news’ have gener- ated debate. Several journalists & organisations have reached out giving positive suggestions regarding the same. I&B Ministry is more than happy to engage with journalist body or organisation/s wanting to give suggestions so that together we can fight the menace of ‘fake news’ & uphold ethical jour- nalism. Interested journalists and/or organisations may feel free to meet me.” Reacting strongly, veteran journalist HK Dua said, “The press release is totally bogus and it has dangerous connota- tions. That means, the Government wants to control the Press. Who decides what is true and what is not true? The I&B Ministry will decide what is true and not true? Maximum lies are planted by the Government in the media...” “Fascism reaches its ‘nadir’ as a shaky Modi Government, caught in its web of lies, seeks to muzzle all independent voic- es in media through fallacious rules!,” Congress communica- tions in-charge Randeep Surjewala tweeted. Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel too questioned the Government’s attempt to check fake news asking whether it is an attempt to prevent reporters from report- ing news uncomfortable to the establishment. West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee termed the attempt as a “brazen and draconian” move to curb Press freedom and said it showed the Government “has lost its way”. “What about fake news spread by a political party on a regular basis?” the Trinamool chief tweeted without naming any party. Recalling the fight for Press freedom during days of the emergency (imposed for 21 months between 1975 and 1977), CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury said his party con- demned the “duplicitous” move. T he Centre on Tuesday said road construction work in the country has gone up sub- stantially in comparison to the past and award of contract has also seen a five-fold increase. With reports in The Pioneer last week stating that only 50 per cent of the nation- al highway projects were com- pleted, Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said the award of highways was barely 3,620 km in 2013-14 while con- struction was 4,260 km. “Of the 9,829 km con- structed last fiscal, the Ministry through State PWDs awarded 6,167 km while NHAI and NHIDCL shares stood at 3,071 km and 591 km respectively,” said Gadkari at a Press confer- ence where he shared projects details of past few years. He said of the total awards of 17,055 km, the share of the Ministry, the NHAI and the NHIDCL stood at 8,651 km, 7,397 km and 1,006 km respectively. He said the Ministry spent 1.16 lakh crore on high- ways construction in the last fis- cal of which 50,385 crore was the IEBR raised by the NHAI. Gadkari said India will adopt global norms for calcu- lating highways construction from this fiscal after hitting a record 26.92 km road building per day in FY2017-18, which as per international standards is 94.18 lane km. “A record 9,829 km of highways were con- structed in 2017-18 which comes to 26.92 km of roads per day while the road awards stood at 17,055 km in the just concluded fiscal, thus witness- ing about two-folds and five- folds increase in construction and awards of roads respec- tively” said the Minister. “We are adopting interna- tional norms for highways con- struction from this fiscal. The Ministry has so far been cal- culating construction of National Highways in linear length, which means there is no difference between 1 km of 2- lane with paved shoulders and 1 km with 6-lanes and service roads,” Gadkari said. Continued on Page 4 I ndia’s premier institute for science education, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, was ranked as the top institution in India in a ranking released by the Human Resource Development Ministry’s National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) on Tuesday. Delhi University’s Miranda House was picked up as the best college in India fol- lowed by St Stephen’s College (DU), Bishop Heber College (TN), Hindu College (DU) and Presidency College (TN). IISc, JNU and BHU also retained their top positions in the universities category. Anna University was ranked fourth while University of Hyderabad was fifth. IISc was followed by the Indian Institutes of Technology Madras, Bombay, Delhi, Kharagpur — at 2 to 5 ranks, while IITs of Kanpur and Roorkee were 7th and 8th. JNU was ranked 6th in overall ranking and BHU 9th followed by Anna University in Tamil Nadu. Announcing the rankings at an event at the Vigyan Bhavan on Tuesday, HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar said IIT, Madras has been adjudged the best engineering college and the IIM- Ahmedabad the best manage- ment institution. India’s premier healthcare institute, AIIMS, was ranked the best medical college followed by Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (Chandigarh), Christian Medical College (Vellore), Kasturba Medical College (Manipal), King George’s Medical University (Lucknow). In the pharmacy education, National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (Mohali), Jamia Hamdard (Delhi), Panjab University, Institute of Chemical Technology (Maharashtra), Birla Institute of Technology & Science (Pilani) were in top five. NLSIU-Bengaluru was adjudged the best law school in the country followed by National Law University (Delhi), Nalsar University of Law (Hyderabad), IIT Kharagpur and National Law University, Jodhpur. In architecture, IIT Kanpur and IIT Roorkee were on the top followed by School of Planning and Architecture (New Delhi), College of Engineering (Trivandrum) and School of Planning and Architecture (Bhopal). Continued on Page 4 I n a decision that is set to bring cheers to the examinees of CBSE Class X, the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry on Tuesday decided not to conduct a re-examina- tion for mathematics paper, which was alleged to have been leaked a few minutes before the exam. The decision was taken after the CBSE said that Class X is just an “internal segment” of school education system. CBSE issued statement say- ing, “Class X examination is essentially a gateway for Class XI and thus remains largely an internal segment of school education.” Education Secretary Anil Swarup had earlier in the day said, “Consequent to a prelim- inary evaluation of the impact of the reportedly leaked CBSE Class X maths paper & keeping in mind the paramount inter- est of students, the CBSE has decided not to conduct a re- examination, even in Delhi- NCR and Haryana. Hence, no re-exam for Class X.” T he Crown Prince and de facto leader of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, on Tuesday said Israel has a “right” to a homeland, in a notable shift to the kingdom’s position on Palestine. Saudi Arabia and Israel still have no formal diplomatic rela- tions, but behind the scenes, improvements in their ties have accelerated in recent years. Both countries see Iran as their biggest outside threat and the United States as their key ally, and both see danger from armed Islamist extremists. Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians has long proved an obstacle to a full rapproche- ment, as Riyadh still supports their claim to sovereignty. But now Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman — told the editor-in-chief of US news magazine The Atlantic appeared to put the rival land claims on an equal footing. Detailed report on P12

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In the face of nationwideprotests by the Scheduled

Castes and Scheduled Tribes,the Centre on Tuesday got anout-of-turn open court hearingon its review petition in theSupreme Court but failed to getany relief as the judges declinedto stay or even temporarily sus-pend its March 20 decision.

The apex court said, “Weare not against (the SC/ST) Actbut the innocent should not bepunished.”

By this decision, the courtheld that prior to lodging a com-plaint under the ScheduledCastes/Scheduled Tribes(Prevention of Atrocities) Act1989, it will be mandatory forthe police to conduct a prelim-inary enquiry to ascertainwhether a case on merits is madeout. Once a case is lodged,prior to arresting an accused, ifit is a public servant sanction hasto be taken from the appointingauthority and in case of a non-public servant, a senior level

police official (of the rank ofSSP) will examine if the arrestis necessary.

Appearing before a Benchof Justices Adarsh K Goel andUU Lalit, which passed theorder, Attorney General KKVenugopal argued for close totwo hours to make out a casefor recall of the judgment.According to him, the courtadded provisions to the lawpassed by Parliament and thisin effect diluted the purpose ofprotecting SC/ST victims whohave long been afflicted withtorture. He pointed out that thecourt approached the matterwith a view that the Act is beingmisused by persons fromSC/ST community who resortto lodging false complaints.

The new mechanism intro-duced by the court, he added,even held up payment of com-pensation to SC/ST victims thatis required to be immediately

released upon filing of FIR.Additionally, he submitted thatconfusion prevailed as towhether in cases where offencesunder other Acts such as IndianPenal Code are clubbed withoffences under the 1989 Act, thepreliminary enquiry will hold upregistration of associated crim-inal offences as well. The Benchdid not pass a final order as theMaharashtra Government alongwith other parties in the origi-nal case sought time to filetheir submissions.

In response, the Benchsaid that its judgment neitherwas against the SC/ST com-munity nor does it dilute theprovisions of the Act. “Peoplewho are agitating may have noteven read our order,” the judgesremarked, adding that it wasnot averse to the rights of theunderprivileged which standson a higher footing.

Continued on Page 4

����� 7/<�./2=*

Prime Minister NarendraModi on Tuesday stepped

in to do damage control on“fake news” guideline contro-versy as well as on demand forpaying compensation to fami-ly members of the 39 Indianworkers killed in Iraq.

Clearly unhappy over theInformation & BroadcastingMinistry’s directive to cancelthe accreditation of journalistsfound “propagating” fake news,the PM ordered the I&BMinistry to withdraw its con-tentious guidelines. The PMintervened after I&B MinisterSmriti Irani faced widespreadcriticism and outcry by jour-nalists and Opposition parties,who dubbed these norms anattempt to “muzzle” the free press.

A day after Minister ofState for External Affairs VKSingh, in a Press conferenceheld in Amritsar on Monday,had kicked up a controversy bysaying that “compensation isnot like distributing biscuits”,Modi announced ex-gratia pay-ment of �10 lakh each to thefamily of 39 Indian workers,who were killed in Mosul, Iraq.

“This is not like distribut-ing biscuits. This is about thelives of the people. How do Imake the announcement now?I am not carrying anything inmy pocket,” Singh had saidafter he landed in Amritsarwith the mortal remains of 38Indians. The body of the 39thperson is yet to arrive.

On the issue of fake newsguidelines, the Prime Ministerordered that the Ministryshould not interfere or givedirections into the powers of

Press Council of India (PCI)with regard to its powers in tak-ing action against the fakenews or wrong news or any actions related to the com-plaints received on the newsreports.

After Prime Minister’sorders, the I&B Ministry issueda statement, saying Pressrelease regarding fake newsput out by it on Monday night“stands withdrawn”.

“The PM has directed thatthe Press release regarding thefake news be withdrawn andthe matter should only beaddressed by the Press Councilof India,” a senior PMO officialsaid. The Prime Minister wasalso of the view that theGovernment should not inter-fere in the matter, the official

added.Amending the guidelines

for accreditation of journalists,the Ministry on Monday nightannounced norms to containfake news. The guidelines saidif the publication or telecast offake news was confirmed,accreditation of the journalistwould be suspended for sixmonths in case of first violationand for one year in case of asecond violation.

In case of a third violation,his or her accreditation wouldbe cancelled permanently, theMinistry had said.

The I&B Ministry decisiondrew sharp criticism fromOpposition parties as well asfrom Press bodies.

The Congress said fascismhas touched its peak as it

sought to “muzzle” indepen-dent voices through “falla-cious” rules. The AAP and theCPI(M) likened the situation tothe “emergency”.

“The Government has nomandate to control the Press.The media is also worriedabout growing incidents offake news but the Press Councilis the right platform to dealwith complaints regarding anyfake news,” president of thePress Club of India GautamLahiri said.

Soon after the withdrawalof the controversial order, I&BMinister Smriti Irani tweeted,“PIB Accreditation Guidelinesasking Press Council of India& News BroadcastersAssociation to define & actagainst ‘fake news’ have gener-ated debate. Several journalists& organisations have reachedout giving positive suggestionsregarding the same. I&BMinistry is more than happy toengage with journalist body ororganisation/s wanting to givesuggestions so that together wecan fight the menace of ‘fakenews’ & uphold ethical jour-nalism. Interested journalistsand/or organisations may feelfree to meet me.”

Reacting strongly, veteranjournalist HK Dua said, “Thepress release is totally bogusand it has dangerous connota-tions. That means, theGovernment wants to control

the Press. Who decides what istrue and what is not true? TheI&B Ministry will decide whatis true and not true? Maximumlies are planted by theGovernment in the media...”

“Fascism reaches its ‘nadir’as a shaky Modi Government,caught in its web of lies, seeksto muzzle all independent voic-es in media through fallaciousrules!,” Congress communica-tions in-charge RandeepSurjewala tweeted.

Senior Congress leaderAhmed Patel too questionedthe Government’s attempt tocheck fake news askingwhether it is an attempt to prevent reporters from report-ing news uncomfortable to theestablishment. West BengalChief Minister and TMC chiefMamata Banerjee termed theattempt as a “brazen and draconian” move to curb Press freedom and said itshowed the Government “haslost its way”.

“What about fake newsspread by a political party on aregular basis?” the Trinamoolchief tweeted without namingany party.

Recalling the fight for Pressfreedom during days of theemergency (imposed for 21months between 1975 and1977), CPI(M) leader SitaramYechury said his party con-demned the “duplicitous”move.

����� 7/<�./2=*

The Centre on Tuesday saidroad construction work in

the country has gone up sub-stantially in comparison to thepast and award of contract hasalso seen a five-fold increase.

With reports in ThePioneer last week stating thatonly 50 per cent of the nation-

al highway projects were com-pleted, Road TransportMinister Nitin Gadkari said theaward of highways was barely3,620 km in 2013-14 while con-struction was 4,260 km.

“Of the 9,829 km con-structed last fiscal, the Ministrythrough State PWDs awarded6,167 km while NHAI andNHIDCL shares stood at 3,071

km and 591 km respectively,”said Gadkari at a Press confer-ence where he shared projectsdetails of past few years. He saidof the total awards of 17,055 km,the share of the Ministry, the

NHAI and the NHIDCL stood at8,651 km, 7,397 km and 1,006 kmrespectively. He said the Ministryspent �1.16 lakh crore on high-ways construction in the last fis-cal of which �50,385 crore was theIEBR raised by the NHAI.

Gadkari said India willadopt global norms for calcu-lating highways constructionfrom this fiscal after hitting arecord 26.92 km road buildingper day in FY2017-18, which asper international standards is94.18 lane km. “A record 9,829km of highways were con-structed in 2017-18 whichcomes to 26.92 km of roads perday while the road awardsstood at 17,055 km in the justconcluded fiscal, thus witness-ing about two-folds and five-folds increase in constructionand awards of roads respec-tively” said the Minister.

“We are adopting interna-tional norms for highways con-struction from this fiscal. TheMinistry has so far been cal-culating construction ofNational Highways in linearlength, which means there is nodifference between 1 km of 2-lane with paved shoulders and1 km with 6-lanes and serviceroads,” Gadkari said.

Continued on Page 4

����� 7/<�./2=*

India’s premier institute forscience education, Indian

Institute of Science (IISc),Bengaluru, was ranked as thetop institution in India in aranking released by the HumanResource DevelopmentMinistry’s NationalInstitutional RankingFramework (NIRF) onTuesday. Delhi University’sMiranda House was picked upas the best college in India fol-lowed by St Stephen’s College(DU), Bishop Heber College(TN), Hindu College (DU)and Presidency College (TN).

IISc, JNU and BHU alsoretained their top positions inthe universities category. AnnaUniversity was ranked fourthwhile University of Hyderabadwas fifth. IISc was followed bythe Indian Institutes ofTechnology — Madras,Bombay, Delhi, Kharagpur —

at 2 to 5 ranks, while IITs ofKanpur and Roorkee were 7thand 8th. JNU was ranked 6thin overall ranking and BHU 9thfollowed by Anna University inTamil Nadu.

Announcing the rankingsat an event at the VigyanBhavan on Tuesday, HRDMinister Prakash Javadekar

said IIT, Madras has beenadjudged the best engineeringcollege and the IIM-Ahmedabad the best manage-ment institution.

India’s premier healthcareinstitute, AIIMS, was ranked thebest medical college followed byPostgraduate Institute ofMedical Education and

Research (Chandigarh),Christian Medical College(Vellore), Kasturba MedicalCollege (Manipal), KingGeorge’s Medical University(Lucknow). In the pharmacy

education, National Institute ofPharmaceutical Education andResearch (Mohali), JamiaHamdard (Delhi), PanjabUniversity, Institute of ChemicalTechnology (Maharashtra),

Birla Institute of Technology &Science (Pilani) were in top five.

NLSIU-Bengaluru wasadjudged the best law school inthe country followed by NationalLaw University (Delhi), Nalsar

University of Law (Hyderabad),IIT Kharagpur and NationalLaw University, Jodhpur.

In architecture, IIT Kanpurand IIT Roorkee were on thetop followed by School of

Planning and Architecture(New Delhi), College ofEngineering (Trivandrum) andSchool of Planning andArchitecture (Bhopal).

Continued on Page 4

���������������� 7/<�./2=*

In a decision that is set tobring cheers to the examinees

of CBSE Class X, the HumanResource Development (HRD)Ministry on Tuesday decidednot to conduct a re-examina-tion for mathematics paper,which was alleged to have beenleaked a few minutes before theexam. The decision was takenafter the CBSE said that ClassX is just an “internal segment”of school education system.

CBSE issued statement say-ing, “Class X examination isessentially a gateway for ClassXI and thus remains largely aninternal segment of schooleducation.”

Education Secretary AnilSwarup had earlier in the daysaid, “Consequent to a prelim-inary evaluation of the impactof the reportedly leaked CBSEClass X maths paper & keepingin mind the paramount inter-est of students, the CBSE hasdecided not to conduct a re-examination, even in Delhi-NCR and Haryana. Hence, nore-exam for Class X.”

�������������� ��������� ���

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The Crown Prince and defacto leader of Saudi

Arabia, Mohammed binSalman, on Tuesday said Israelhas a “right” to a homeland, ina notable shift to the kingdom’sposition on Palestine.

Saudi Arabia and Israel stillhave no formal diplomatic rela-tions, but behind the scenes,improvements in their ties haveaccelerated in recent years.

Both countries see Iran astheir biggest outside threat andthe United States as their keyally, and both see danger fromarmed Islamist extremists.

Israel’s conflict with thePalestinians has long proved anobstacle to a full rapproche-ment, as Riyadh still supportstheir claim to sovereignty.

But now Crown PrinceMohammed bin Salman —told the editor-in-chief of USnews magazine The Atlantic —appeared to put the rival landclaims on an equal footing.

Detailed report on P12

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Gurugram residents willsoon be able to track city

bus locations and timings ontheir phones as GurugramMetropolitan City Bus Limited(GMCBL) is preparing amobile app.

The mobile application willallow passengers to track busesin real-time, get informationabout when a bus will reach astop, and even know whenthey will reach a particular des-tination.

The authority will providea smart card for the journeyto the passengers. The appwill provide commutersinformation about route mapsand timetable of buses. It willalso generate details such asspeed of bus, route, time ofdeparture, whether a bus islate or on time and distancetravelled, along with diversionin routes, and unauthorisedstops.

Apart from this, GurugramMetropolitan City Bus Limitedhas also prepared their officialwebsite www.gmcb.in in whichthe commuters can view busroutes, timetable and get fareinformation.

“The app would be bene-ficial for commuters. It will help

passengers in getting real-timeinformation of buses. Themobile application will alsohave information on all routesof the city. Commuters can plantheir arrival time at their des-tination.

This is probably the firstcity bus service that has amobile app with features thatprovide real-time bus infor-mation including map loca-tion,” an official with theMunicipal CorporationGurugram (MCG) on request-ing anonymity, said.

With an aim to improveconnectivity in millenniumcity, the Municipal CorporationGurugram (MCG) has decid-ed to launch 500 CNG buses ina phased manner.

The GMCBL has prepared

an action plan on the project atleast 200 buses for 11 routes inthe first phase and 25 routeshave been finalized for 500buses.

Sources said a city busservice for the MillenniumCity will be operational byAugust 2018. Recently the cor-poration had identified thelocations of five depots acrossthe city.

It is proposed that theMCG was to have 51% share inthe Special Purpose Vehicle(SPV) followed by 19% share ofHaryana government, 25% ofHaryana IndustrialDevelopment Board and 5% ofthe Haryana State Industrialand InfrastructureDevelopment Corporation(HSIIDC).

���������������� 7/<�./2=*

A19-year-old man has beenarrested for killing his

live-in partner over suspicionof her talking to other men inthe locality. According topolice, the accused identified asImran, was arrested from theYamuna bus depot inBhajanpura.

Accroring to police, themurder was reported inNorthwest Delhi's SubhashPlace area on March 31.

Investigation revealed thatthe accused was living with awoman who hailed from Nepal.The accused had strangled herto death inside their house inShakurpur and then repeated-ly hit her with a stand onMarch 31.

“The woman was foundin a pool of blood. Theaccused had collected hisbelongings and was on therun,” said Dr A K Singla,Deputy Commissioner ofPolice (North East). Imran isaddicted to smack and doesodd jobs and commits theft to fuel his drug habit, Singlasaid.

When the accused wasquestioned, he had confessed tohis involvement in the crime.The accused had come in con-tact with the girl around oneyear ago.

“They had met at a club inNetaji Subhash Place. The twoof them had fallen in love andwere in a relationship.Eventually they decided tomove in together,” said a policeofficer.

The woman used to livewith her elder sister inShakurpur vi l lage andstopped living with their fam-ily. “The two women were notin touch with the family. Theyused to have a strained rela-tionship. Imran had moved inalong with another person,Sahil.

However, the accusedstarted to doubt the woman'sintentions when she started tointeract with other people inthe locality,” the officer said.

Imran would fight withhis girl friend on several occa-sions. On the evening of March31, the accused had anotherconfrontation with his girlfriend over the same issue.The confrontation soon turnedviolent leading to the woman'smurder.

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���������������� 7/<�./2=*

In a daring ATM heist, a 22-year-old man was caught red

handed by Shahdara districtpolice after he was caughtbreaking an ATM machine ofthe Punjab National Bankusing gas cutters at East Delhi'sVishwas Nagar area late onMonday night.

Deputy Commissioner ofPolice (DCP), Shahdara dis-trict, Nupur Prasad said, “Wehave arrested one Nazir whowas caught on the spot thepatrolling staff of the FarshBazaar police station. A gas cut-ter, two gas cylinders and cut-ting tools have been recoveredfrom his possession.”

Police said that at around12am, police received infor-mation about theft at the ATMkiosk of the Punjab NationalBank at Vishwas Nagar,Shahdara. The police wasinformed by the main branchofficials of the Punjab NationalBank at Okhla.

“When the team reachedthe spot, they found that theshutters of the ATM kioskwere down. On opening theshutter, we found Nazir cutting

the chest of the ATM machinewith gas cutter and other tools.He was caught red handed bythe team,” said Prasad.

The officer said that duringsustained interrogation, Nazirtold police that he sprayed ablack liquid on the CCTVcameras. It was then that themain Bank officials were alert-ed. The accused furtherrevealed that he is an electricianin an electrical company atAurangabad in Maharashtra.To earn quick money, He quithis job and started committingtheft. To avoid getting caught,he used to wear gloves and amask to conceal his identity, theDCP added.

���������������� 7/<�./2=*

A56-year-old man sufferingfrom an incurable condi-

tion of heart got a new lease oflife when doctors transplanteda heart from a 30-year-oldperson who was declared braindead after meeting a fatal acci-dent. Interestingly, the heart isair-lifted from Jaipur to Delhiunder supervision of a team ofexpert doctors.

A team of doctors at BLKSuper Specialty Hospital oper-ated free of cost as the recipientwho is a government employeebelongs to the lower incomegroup category. He was suffer-ing from dilated cardiomyopa-thy a stage where he could notperform his routine day to dayactivities without getting breath-less and had multiple episodesof sudden loss of consciousness.

BLK informed that as soonas National Organ & TissueTransplant Organisation(NOTTO) informed about thedonor and availability of aheart, a team of doctors led byDr Ajay Kaul Chairman andHOD CTVS, BLK SuperSpeciality Hospital immedi-ately left for Jaipur by an by anearly morning flight on April 2.Dr. Sushant Srivastava, Senior

Consultant and Director,CTVS, Dr. Dheeraj Gandotra,Consultant, Cardiology,Dr.Jasbir Singh Khanuja,Director and HOD,Anaesthesia, harvested theheart Monday night at Jaipur.The harvested heart was flowndown to Delhi by a 10:05pmflight that landed at IndiraGandhi International Airportat terminal 3 at 10:47pm beforetime as a special case.

A green corridor was cre-ated from IGI Airport to BLKSuper Speciality Hospital cov-ering a distance of 15 kilome-

tres over 18minutes atnight.The heart was then trans-planted in the wee hours ofnight by Dr. Ajay Kaul along-with his team.

“The recipient was suffer-ing from heart complicationsfrom past few years. The pace-maker was implanted at BLKSuper Speciality in July 2017.The patient has had bouts ofblackouts and fainting episodespost 4-5 months of the pace-maker. For a better quality oflife, Heart Transplant was anideal option,” said Dr AjayKaul, Chairman and HOD,

CTVS, BLK Super SpecialityHospital.

“It is very encouraging tonote that heart transplant wassuccessfully performed by ourexperts. Such transplants alsocreate awareness and encouragepeople to donate organs forsaving precious lives. It is evenmore satisfying that we couldsave a life of a needy patient. AtBLK Super Speciality Hospital,this transplant aptly testifies'our passion for healing,” saidAbhay, Chairman andManaging Director RadiantLife Care.

���������������� 7/<�./2=*

In order to achieve its renew-able power obligations and to

provide uninterrupted andcheap power supply to the res-idents, BSES Rajdjani PowerLimited (BRPL) and BSESYamuna Power Limited (BYPL)have signed 'Power SaleAgreements' (PSA) with SECI(Solar Energy Corporation ofIndia) to procure 200 MW(BRPL 150 MW, BYPL 50MW) of wind power.

With the initiative, the dis-coms will be able to provideelectricity at a very competitivetariff of �2.52 per unit. Also, itcan manage the pick demandin summer nights easily.

A senior BSES official saidthat the power is expected beavailable to BSES discoms inNovember next year and for aperiod of 25 years, it will beavailable at a very competitivetariff of �2.52 per unit.

“BSES discoms are com-mitted for the promotion of

renewable power in Delhi whileensuring that there is minimalburden on the consumers. Wehave been procuring energyfrom all available renewableenergy sources at economicalrates. This allocation of windpower is a testimonial to theseefforts” he added.

This is not only one of thelowest tariffs for wind power butis also priced substantially lowerthan the average cost of long-term (power purchase agree-ment) PPAs, which are above�4.5 per unit. Moreover, thisagreement will help BSES dis-coms to fulfill their 'RenewablePurchase obligations' (RPO).

He further said Delhi expe-riences peak power demandtwice in a 24-hour period andthis wind power being sourcedfrom the coastal area of Gujaratis expected to support the nightpeak demand.BRPL and BYPLare premer power distributioncompanies and Joint Venturesbetween Reliance InfrastructureLimited and GoNCT.

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Adaughter killed her moth-er as she objected to her

relationship with her teacher.The accused daughter and herteacher were arrested onTuesday after police found herinvolvement in murdering hermother.

The police said on March9, of this year, one SatishKumar, a resident of KaviNagar lodged a complaint withthe local police and alleged thathis daughter Rashmi Rana (20)and her teacher Nisha Gautamhad murdered her motherPushpa Devi. The complainantalleged that they used a heavyiron rod to eliminate her.

During investigation hisallegation was found to betrue, said a police officer.Accused Rashmi Rana wasnoticed moving around atGhaziabad railway stationalong with her teacher. Both ofthem were taken into custodyand were put questioning, thepolice said.

She confessed to havekilled her mother in a fit ofanger. She told the police thatshe did not want to kill but shedied as she was hit on her head.She confessed that she wasliving with her teacher NishaGautam and her mother didnot like it. She told the policethat she was so influenced bythe teacher that she did notwant to leave her in which hermother was obstacle. So in a fitof anger she hit her and shedied confessed the daughter, apolice official said.

“ Both the accused havebeen sent to judicial custody”said Akash Tomar, theSuperintendent of Police (SP)City Ghaziabad.

������������� 7/<�./2=*�

In yet another case of roadrage in the national Capital,

an Associate Director of theHindustan Computer Limited(HCL) and his colleagues werebrutally thrashed by a group ofyouths, suspected to be heavi-ly drunk, after their car hit thelatter’s Range Rover near theKG Marg—Firozshah crossingin the wee hours of Monday.

The incident took place ataround 2 am on April 2 whenAssociate Director VikasSharma was heading towardsPaschim Vihar from Noida.

Vikas Sharma lodged acomplaint after he was called tothe Parliament Street police sta-tion by the Investigating Officerfollowing an FIR against himby the four youths.

Following the complaintfiled by Vikas, police have reg-istered an FIR at ParliamentStreet police station.

Vikas, in his written com-plaint, stated, “Since I work asper the US timings, my shift gotover late. I was heading homealong with my colleague Kunalin my Swift Dzire car DL3CAW 8961 from Noida. Whilecrossing the Firoz Shah KGMarg crossing, a speedingRange Rover, DL 10CJ-1111,rammed into my car, leavingthe front portion and the win-dow badly damaged.”

He further stated, “Due tothe impact of the collision, Ihad sustained injury on my legand my colleague Kunal man-aged to pull me out of the man-gled car. It was then that thefour occupants of the RangeRover, three boys and one girl,all in the age group of 24-25,heavily drunk, held me and mycolleague and started punchingat me and my colleague,” saidVikash.

The four continued to beatthem up till a passerby came totheir rescue, Vikash added.

“A few minutes later, apasserby spotted us and on see-ing him, the four fled in theircar. The passerby dropped meand my colleague to the RamManohar Lohia Hospital whereI was given treatment. I hadtold the doctor that I sus-tained injury on my right leg

due to an accident and theinjury on my face was due toassault,” Vikash said.

He also said, “Within anhour, two of the four persons,both Sikhs, came to the hospi-tal. These two were not eventhere at the time of the colli-sion.”

Meanwhile, police said thatdue to severe injuries inflictedon Vikash, he was taken toanother hospital.

Police said that the fourhad left Vikash with a fracturein his right foot and injuries onhis eyes and face and injurieswere also inflicted on Sharma'scolleague, Kunal.

According to Vikash, thetwo Sikh boys asked for an ami-cable settlement. “They gave astatement to the cops that astray dog came in front of theircar due to which they acci-

dentally hit my car. Within afew hours, we reached a com-promise that no case will beregistered.”

Still under the shock ofbeing thrashed and his cardamaged, Vikas got the shockof his life the next day.

“However, they lodged acase against me. Those men didnot allow me and my col-league to even go to the policeat the time of the incident,”added Vikash.

Police on Tuesday said thatthey have registered an FIRunder Sections 323(Punishment for voluntarilycausing hurt), 341 (Punishmentfor wrongful restraint) and 34(Acts done by several personsin furtherance of commonintention) of the Indian PenalCode at the Parliament Streetpolice station.

%�4����5�0�� ���������� ������������������ 7/<�./2=*

The Delhi Police CrimeBranch on Monday arrest-

ed four more persons in con-nection with the State StaffCommission (SSC) examina-tion cheating case. Police onTuesday said that the fouraccused, working in computerlabs, enabled computers ofsome candidates with internet,uploaded window sharingapplication as well as conveyedthe password. Last week, theDelhi Police in a joint operationwith the Uttar Pradesh SpecialTask Force (STF) had crackedthis cheating racket.

According to police, theaccused have been identified asAnup, Neeraj, Kushal Negi andDured Ali. They said that theaccused had provided internetconnection to the studentswho were appearing for theSSC exam. They then down-loaded the window sharingapplication, following whichthey shared the password withthe candidates and helped themin cheating.

The arrest has been madein connection with the ongoingcrackdown in the SSC cheatingcase. The police have registeredthe case in Timarpur police sta-tion under section 419, 420 and120-(b) of the IPC and section66 of the IT Act. While talking

about the accused other thanDurga Ali, a senior police offi-cer said, “Police said the threehave been produced before thecourt. Negi was sent to four-daypolice custody and the otherswere sent to judicial custody.”

While giving details aboutthe people who have beenarrested, the police claimedthat one of the accused, Ali, wasthe owner of the lab where theexamination had happenedand the two labs which aided

in the cheating are located inPatparganj and Badarpur.

It was later that the gangprocured their own examina-tion centre and they would paymoney to the owner of otherexamination centres, said theofficial.

They made the claim thatthere was a large-scale pene-tration in the SSC exams. Thepolice official added, “We arestill trying to ascertain thenumber of candidates whopaid money to cheat. We arealso looking into other exam-ination centres which may havebeen compromised.”

Other than this, four othermen were nabbed by the policelast week in connection withthe racket. After the arrest, thecase was transferred to theCrime Branch from the northdistrict police.

���������������� 7/<�./2=*

AZimbabwean woman hasbeen arrested by the Delhi

unit of the Narcotics ControlBureau in a joint operation withthe Central Industrial SecurityForce at the Delhi airport.Three kg Methaphetamineworth �15 crore in the inter-national market has been recov-ered from the possession of thewoman.

Madho Singh, ZonalDirector of the NCB said, “Theteam received intelligence onMonday at around 8:30pm thata Zimbawean woman, sus-pected to be carryingMethaphetamine will leavefrom Delhi to Goa in an Indigoflight.

“Accordingly, a team wasformed and the CISF was alsoalerted. During surveillance,the Zimbavean national arrivedat the Termal 1D of the IndiraGandhi International Airport,”said Singh.

The official further said,“The woman was interceptedby the team at ID. Duringchecking, it was found thatshe was carrying two bags andon checking these bags, 3 kgmethamphetamine was foundpacked in a black plastic poly-

thene and also hidden inboth sides of the trolley suit-case.”

Madho Singh added,“During preliminary ques-tioning, the woman disclosedthat she came to India onMarch 20 at the Mumbai air-port. She told the agencies thatshe was handed over the con-traband by an African nation-al in Delhi and she was furthersupposed to give to a Nigeriannational in Manilla Phillipines.”

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Acity court on Tuesday dis-charged Delhi AAP MLA

Manoj Kumar in six relatedcases of extortion filed againsthim in August 2015.

Additional ChiefMetropolitan MagistrateSamar Vishal absolved theMLA from the charges citinglack of evidence against him.The court, however, framedthe charges against his per-sonal assistant and co-accusedDeepak Sharma in the case.

The Delhi police had reg-istered as many as 17 FIRs inEast Delhi against Sharma,who was then arrested. Insome of the FIRs, the MLA was also made anaccused.

Sharma was arrested overa complaint by a ration shopowner, who had alleged that hehad been extorting �2,000every month from local shopowners, and had threatened tocancel their licences if theyrefused to pay up.

Most of the complainantshad alleged that Sharma hadbeen extorting �2,000 fromeach of them, police had said.Sharma had threatened toshut down the shops of thosewho resisted his demand, thecomplainants had told thepolice.

���������������� 7/<�./2=*

The National Green Tribunal(NGT) has directed the

Delhi Government to com-plete the demarcation of forestland in Southern Ridge are byJune 30. A Bench headed byJustice Raghuvendra S Rathorewarned the officers concernedthat in case the work is notcompleted till that date, a fineof � 5,000 per day would beimposed on them.

“After considering the factsand circumstances and thepast orders by which time wasgiven for completion of thework, we deem it proper togrant further time up to June30, 2018. However, we alsodirect that in case work is notcompleted till that date thenfine of Rs 5,000 per day there-after shall be paid, till July 31,”the NGT Bench said.

The Tribunal made clearthat extension of time wouldnot be done beyond July 31under any circumstances andin case of default appropriateorder shall be passed againstthe concerning officer, inaccordance with law whichmay include penal action.

“The respondents shall sub-

mit periodical report in respectof the progress. The first reportshall be submitted on April 20,2018; second report on May 21and the final report on June 30.Respondents are directed toensure that no encroachmentsare done in the demarcatedarea, hereafter. In case anyencroachment is found to bemade then it shall be personalresponsibility of the concerningofficer,” the Bench said.

The green panel had earli-er pulled up the DelhiGovernment for its casualapproach in demarcation offorest land in the SouthernRidge area here and directed itto complete the exercise.

It had warned that in casethe order was not compliedwith, disciplinary proceedingswould be initiated against theofficials concerned and a costof Rs 2 lakh would be paid byeach respondent, particularlyRevenue Department andDepartment of Forest.

Incidentally, the NGT hadearlier directed the DelhiGovernment to adhere to thetime schedule and expeditiouslycarry out demarcation of thearea falling within their limits.

It had said the cityGovernment was frustrating theorders of the green panel on onepretext or another and showingdisdainful conduct in the matter.

The Tribunal was hearinga bunch of pleas field by SouthDelhi resident Sonya Ghoshand others against encroach-ments on forest land in theSouthern Ridge area and seek-ing their removal.

���������������� 7/<�./2=*

The Delhi Assembly's BudgetSession has been extended

for another two days and theHouse would meet on April 4and 5.

The proposal to extendthe session was moved byDeputy Chief Minister ManishSisodia and was approved bySpeaker Ram Niwas Goel. “TheBudget Session of the Assemblyis extended for two days,” theSpeaker said.

It is the second time thatthe Budget Session of the DelhiAssembly, has been extendedfor two days. On March 28, theSession had also been extend-ed for two days. The House willagain sit on April 4 and 5.

The Budget Session hadbegun on March 16 and wasscheduled to conclude onApril 3.

���������������� 7/<�./2=*

The National Green Tribunal(NGT) has directed the

Delhi Government to actagainst unauthorised waterextraction in the nationalCapital and directed it to sealthe illegal borewells withintwo weeks.

A Bench headed by actingNGT Chairperson JusticeJawad Rahim directed theDelhi Jal Board (DJB) to sub-mit the list of all illegalborewells running without per-mission. The order came afterDelhi government told the tri-bunal that the concernedDeputy Commissioners ofRevenue department could notseal the illegal borewells as theydid not receive complete infor-mation about them from theDJB, as was directed by the tri-bunal.

The DJB counsel opposedthe submission and said theyhad already furnished infor-mation about 4,872 borewellsto the concerned DeputyCommissioners.

“We direct the DJB toonce again furnish fresh set ofstatements to the counsel rep-resenting the DelhiGovernment and the

Department of Revenue toavoid such controversy infuture. Upon furnishing ofsuch information, the counselshall take further steps andensure that the DeputyCommissioner concernedcomply with the orders of thisTribunal dated January 30,2018 within two weeks fromnow,” the Bench said and list-ed the matter for further hear-ing on April 27.

The Tribunal had onJanuary 30 directed the DelhiGovernment to seal all unau-thorised borewells in thenational Capital within threemonths.

It had also directed theauthorities to mark theborewells, which were dis-

charging contaminated watercontaining high levels of fluo-ride and arsenic, in red colourto apprise the public that thewater was unfit for consump-tion.

The NGT had also rappedthe civic bodies for not sub-mitting data on the quality ofwater supplied to households inthe national capital by theDelhi government despiterepeated directions.

The appalling picture ofwater supply in the capitalhad prompted the tribunal toseek the response of the citygovernment in the matter,after taking suo motu cogni-sance of a media report that“stinking and dirty” waterwas flowing through watersupply lines and the borewellswere pumping out contami-nated water.

Later, it had constituted acommittee comprisingSecretary (Environment) andrepresentatives from CentralPollution Control Board,Delhi Pollution ControlCommittee, DJB, CentralPollution Control Board andall municipal corporationsand asked them to submit acomplete and comprehensivereport.

���������������� 7/<�./2=*

The Confederation of AllIndia Traders (CAIT) on

Tuesday sought direct inter-vention of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi in resolvingsealing issue. In a letter to thePrime Minister, the CAIThighlighted the issue of notobeying due process of law bythe authorities, arbitrariness ofthe Monitoring Committeeand demanded the PrimeMinister to bring an Ordinanceto stop sealing for at least oneyear.

The traders' body alsomentioned that no action hasbeen taken to save the interestof the traders. “If the apathycontinues, we will be left withno option except handing overthe keys to the Government ormay shift to neighbouring citiesor close down their businesses,”a statement from the CAIToffice stated.

CAIT secretary generalPraveen Khandelwal allegedthat sealing is being done inhighly aggressive and unrea-sonable manner causing greathardships and sufferings, totraders. “The basic provisionsof the Delhi MunicipalCorporation Act1957 arebeing blatantly flouted whileconducting sealing. And noteven a single opportunity of

defence is given to traders,” hesaid.

Khandelwal said that the'Supreme Court AppointedMonitoring Committee' hasadopted an arbitrary mood inthe matter of sealing and over-reaching its powers. “Thetrades have been denied thebenefit of fundamental provi-sions of MCD Act, 1957.Neither any showcause noticenor opportunity of placingdefence is being given totraders,” he said.

Khandelwal further saidthat the civic body officialsare working like puppets anddefying their own MCD Act.“There is a state of confusionand terror due to sealing.The trade and economy arebeing badly affected as in thelast three months businessesin Delhi have registered adecline by 40 per cent and ifs ituat ion continues, thetraders will be left with noother alternative but to shifttheir business to neighbour-ing cities which will causehuge revenue loss to the

Delhi Government,” headded.

While urging the PrimeMinister to bring anOrdinance to stop sealing,the CAIT also said that offi-cials should be advised to fol-low due process of law strict-ly and a high-level committeemay be constituted underChairmanship of LieutenantGovernor Anil Baijal con-sisting of senior officials ofCentral and StateGovernment and representa-tives of trade to thrash outeach issue pertaining to seal-ing.

Traders in the nationalCapital have been hit hardafter building department ofthe municipal corporationshad started sealing businessestablishments for non-pay-ment of conversion charges,encroachment and illegal con-struction on the instructions ofthe SC-appointed MonitoringCommittee.

Thousands of shops havebeen sealed since lastDecember and there is still nosigh of relief amid all thealleged coordinated effortsput up by all concerned.Faced with no other options,traders' associations wentahead with two-day strike across the nationalCapital.

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Not a single toilet was con-structed in the national

Capital since the inception ofthe 'Swachchh Bharat Mission'two-and-half years ago, withfunds to the tune of �40.31 crorefor this purpose lying 'idle',said the CAG in its annualreport tabled by Deputy ChiefMinister Manish Sisodia in theDelhi Assembly on Tuesday.

According to a report bythe Comptroller and AuditorGeneral (CAG), the AAP-ledcity Government did not allo-cate the Mission funds toimplementing agencies as pertheir requirements.

The report said the imple-menting agencies, including allthree Municipal Corporationsof Delhi and the Delhi UrbanShelter Improvement Board(DUSIB) received a total of�40.31 crore under the missionincluding �10.08 crore as Stateshare, but the entire fundremained unutilised as ofMarch, 2017.

“NDMC, SDMC andDUSIB did not assess therequirement of household toilets,but the Mission funds totaling Rs16.92 crore was released to themfor construction of householdtoilets,” the CAG report said.

The auditing body said theDUSIB, responsible for makingslums and JJ clusters in the cityopen defecation free (ODF),did not receive the state sharefrom the Delhi Government.

“The DUSIB received (asin January, 2016) an amount of�6.86 crore, including the stateshare of �1.71 crore (25 per

cent of the total cost) against�41.49 crore required by them.

“Though the body active-ly followed up with theGovernment of NationalCapital Territory of Delhi(GNCTD) for State share (60per cent) for construction ofcommunity toilets, theGNCTD did not release thesame during 2016-17.Therefore, DUSIB refundedthe entire fund of �6.86 croreit received under the Mission,”

the CAG said in its report.“Not a single toilet was

constructed under the SwachhBharat Mission in two and halfyears since its inception onOctober 2, 2014. All the fundtotalling �40.31 crore allocatedfor this purpose is lying idle inbanking; as the monitoringand evaluation mechanism pre-scribed in the scheme was notworked upon”, the report stat-ed.

“This shows that the

GNCTD did not give adequateimportance to the implemen-tation of the Swachh BharatMission Scheme,” the reportsaid.The CAG also added thatbeneficiaries of unauthorisedcolonies were not consideredfor construction of house-hold toi lets under theMission, which means “mostof the habitats known forlack of toilet facilities wereexcluded from the Mission atthe planning stage itself ”.

���������������� 7/<./2=*

The Delhi UrbanDevelopment Department

has not set up any mechanismof coordination among multi-ple agencies to prepare a planfor developing road network,resulting in hindrance in theworks required for coping upwith the increasing number ofvehicles in the city, theComptroller and AuditorGeneral (CAG) said in a report.

According to the report,“there was also no effectivemechanism for citisens toreport their grievances regard-ing specific roads to the agen-cies concerned for redressal”.

“Multiple agencies wereresponsible for Delhi road net-work. The urban developmentdepartment did not establishany mechanism to coordinate

the efforts of these agencies toprepare a perspective plan,lack of which hindered theeffective planning and coordi-nation in developing Delhiroad network in a phasedmanner to cope up with everincreasing population of vehi-cles in the city,” the CAGreport stated.

CAG also slammed theSouth Delhi MunicipalCorporation (SDMC), sayingthat the civic body failed torecover mobilisation advanceand interest of Rs 1.07 crorefrom a contractor though thework was abandoned by thecontractor in 2013.

It also said, “Incomplete re-modelling of Karawal NagarRoad from Wazirabad Road toShiv Vihar Tiraha by East DelhiMunicipal Corporation result-ed in unfruitful expenditure ofRs 8.34 crore. In 11 works, an

expenditure of Rs 8.09 crorewas incurred by providingbitumen mastic carpet withoutconstructing base course.”

The report stated that theDelhi government had in 2007approved a scheme for widen-ing, improving, strengtheningand beautification of G T Roadfrom eastern approach of ISBTto Uttar Pradesh Border.

“Project II Division,Shahdra (north), however, inan unauthorised mannerdiverted the funds receivedunder this scheme for con-struction of RCC drain fromNew Seelampur to ShivMandir... The stipulated date ofcompletion of the work was inMay 2013. MCD paid Rs 1.08crore to the contractor tillNovember 2013 and noprogress of the work wasrecorded thereafter,” the reportstated.

���������������� 7/<�./2=*

Acity court on Tuesdayacquitted Delhi Transport

Minister Kailash Gahlot in acase related to alleged violationof model code of conduct dur-ing his campaign for the 2015state assembly elections.Additional Chief MetropolitanMagistrate Samar Vishalabsolved the AAP MLA fromthe charges levelled againsthim, citing lack of evidence.

The Delhi Police hadlodged an FIR in January 2015,alleging that the accused wasinfluencing the voters withfree food and had disobeyedthe order by a public servant.

According to the FIR, theaccused had violated the modelcode of conduct by distributingfree food to around 150 peoplein a school here in south westDelhi on January 31, 2015.

Around ten vehicles werealso parked in the school inviolation of the guidelines andthe party flag, banners andposters were also recoveredfrom the spot, the FIR had said.

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Ten colleges of DelhiUniversity have been

ranked among the top 20 col-leges in the country in theNational Institutional RankingFramework (NIRF) announcedby the Ministry of HumanResource Development (HRD),ranking the nation's top 100colleges. Principals of theranked colleges have hailedthe NIRF ranking and alsoevinced interest in their futureparticipation in the NIRF rank-ings.

Miranda House of theNorth Campus retained its'Top Position' it secured lastyear. Principal Dr PratibhaJolly told The Pioneer, “I per-sonally do not believe in systemof rankings but I know that forconstant improvement onemust be open towards adopt-ing new methods and tech-nologies for capacity build-ing.”

She said that all stake-holders are of immense impor-tance and need to be strength-ened. “You are as strong as yourweakest link and so we shouldwork on empowering allincluding the non-teachingstaff,” she said.

St Stephen's CollegePrincipal John Varghese couldnot be reached for his com-ments. Stephen's secured sec-

ond rank this year in NIRFrankings. The college man-agement has stayed away fromthe NIRF ranking system.Principal of Lady IrwinCollege, which secured the12th rank, was also unavailablefor her comments.

Dr Anju Srivastava, theprincipal of Hindu Collegewhich stood fourth in theranking, said, “Hard work andcommitment of faculty mem-bers, students, non-teachingstaff is behind the position ofthe college.”

“We do not applied lastyear and missed it, but we willdo comprehensive analysis of

our performance on all para-meters and try to improve fur-ther,” she added.

Shri Ram College ofCommerce (SRCC), which wasranked third last year, hasslipped the seventh place thisyear. SRCC principal Prof SimritKaur said NIRF works on quan-tifiable parameters assumingthat one size fits all. “It's a nicesystem of ranking started by theGovernment as it ranks colleges,institutes and universities with-in the country. Before NIRF,ranking was done by severalagencies on global basis,” shesaid. SRCC is looking forwardto participate in the NIRF rank-ing in future also, she added.

“We will definitely learnfrom the colleges that are aheadof us in the NIRF ranking andtry to work on the areas inwhich we lag,” said RamaSharma, Principal Hans RajCollege. She told that Hans Raj

College didn't apply for theNIRF ranking last year. TheHans Raj College is ranked 21stin the NIRF ranking for col-leges.

SK Garg, Principal of DeenDayal Upadhyaya College,which secured 13 rank contraryto its ninth rank in last yearNIRF ranking, said, “We areonly 27-year-old college, whilethe rest are 70-120 years old.We are competing with the col-leges which are four generationahead of us yet our perfor-mance is quite impressive,”said Garg.

Gyantosh Jha Principal ofAtma Ram Sanatan DharmCollege, which secured 14thrank contrary to 5th last year,said, “This time more collegeshave applied also research andinnovation was not included inthe parameters for colleges thisyear. We will try to improveourselves,” he said.

���������������� 7/<�./2=*

Citing a CAG report high-lighting “lapses” in the

public distribution system,Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwalon Tuesday attacked LieutenantGovernor Anil Baijal for“rejecting” the AAPGovernment's proposeddoorstep delivery and chargedhim with “protecting” rationmafia in Delhi.

After tabling the CAGreport in the Delhi Assembly,Deputy Chief Minister ManishSisodia too attacked Baijal andbureaucrats over findings of thereport pertaining to municipalroads and the public distribu-tion system.

Sharing an extract from theCAG report highlighting var-ious loopholes, Kejriwal tweet-ed, “This is what the L-G try-ing to protect when he rejectsdoorstep delivery of rations.The entire ration system is inthe grip of mafia protected bypolitical masters. Doorstepdelivery would have destroyedthis mafia.”

Sisodia, who is also theFinance Minister, highlightedsome points of the CAG reportflagging “lapses” by variousdepartments, seeking to cornerBaijal and officers.

“The CAG report hashelped us in identifying rigidi-ties in the system. We will

remove the shortcomings andtake action against thoseresponsible, be it Ministers orofficers,” Sisodia said.

Reading out the CAGreport with regard to the pub-lic distribution system, theDeputy Chief Minister said itfound that eight vehicles whichferried 1,589.92 quintals ofspecified food articles to fairprice shops had registrationnumber of buses, scooters,motorcycles and three-wheel-ers.

“This gives rise to doubtwhether the reported trans-portation of SFAs (specifiedfood articles) had actuallytaken place and possibility ofpilferage could not be ruledout,” the report stated.

Sisodia also slammed thethree BJP-ruled municipal cor-porations of Delhi for “unduepayment to contractor” and“wasteful expenditure”, aspointed out in the CAG report.

���������������� 7/<�./2=*

North Delhi MunicipalCorporation (NMC) on

Tuesday sealed 19 properties inCivil Line, Khan Market andareas of Rohini Zone for mis-using spaces.

A senior NMC official saidthat the officials of buildingdepartment took the action fol-lowing the direction of the'Supreme Court EmpoweredMonitoring Committee'.

Meanwhile, East DelhiMunicipal Corporation(EDMC) also sealed four stiltparking in Shahdara andMansarovar. “The officials ofthe building department initi-ated the action in the morningand reached on several spotsbut due to unavailability ofpolice force, sealing action wasnot taken in Jyoti Nagar andYamuna Vihar,” said an officialof the EDMC.

Thousands of shops andproperties have been sealed inthe drive which was started inDecember last year by themunicipal corporation for vio-lating norms of 'Master Plan2021'.

���������������� 7/<�./2=*

The Delhi Assembly onTuesday witnessed a high-

voltage drama when all fourBJP MLAs walked out tolodge their protest afterSpeaker Ram Niwas Goel didnot consider the request ofLeader of Opposit ionVijender Gupta for a discus-sion on the condition of“jhuggis” of the city.

As the House proceedingsbegan, Gupta demanded thediscussion despite Goel'sassurance that he would allowit later, Gupta, Om PrakashSharma, Manjinder SinghSirsa and Jagdish Pradhan,walked out of the House inprotest. Goel also slammedthe Leader of Opposition formaking “baseless” allegationsthat the Speaker was notallowing the discussion for thelast 12 days on 'jhuggis' sincethe Budget Session of theAssembly began on March16.

“He (Gupta) is lying. Iyesterday received a noticefrom him to have a discussionon the condition of jhuggis,”the Speaker told the House.

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Indian High CommissionerAjay Bisaria, on Tuesday met

Pakistan's National SecurityAdviser, Lt Gen (Rtd) NaseerKhan Janjua, in Islamabad.

While sources said that itwas a courtesy visit as theenvoys call regularly on dig-nitaries of the host country, itis believed that the two sidesdiscussed ways to improve ties.

The NSA of the two coun-tries were instrumental inresolving the latest diplomatictussle between the two sides ofharassments and intimidation.

"This was a meeting sched-uled a week earlier. The IndianHigh Commissioner sensitizedthe Pak NSA on issues ofIndia's concern. Constructivediscussions took place onimproving the bilateral rela-tionship", sources said.

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Meghalaya Chief MinisterConrad K Sangma on

Tuesday called on UnionForeign Minister SushmaSwaraj and proposed for issueof work permit to Bangladeshinationals to address the chal-lenge of infiltration in the State.

Sangma also met UnionMinister of state for HomeKiren Rijiju, Union Minister ofRoads and transport NitinGadkari and Union PowerMinister RK Singh and briefedthem about the new initiativesplanned by the government inthe state to push the agenda ofgrowth and development.

Sangma met UnionExternal Affairs MinisterSushma Swaraj seeking herintervention on road connec-tivity between Bangladesh andMeghalaya and mentioned ofthe Shillong – Dhaka and Tura– Dhaka routes.

Swaraj has assured to con-sider the request and said thatthe issue would be taken up inNorth East Chief Minister’sMeet to be held in New Delhi onMay 4. Swaraj also assured himthat all central assistance wouldbe extended to Meghalaya andother North Eastern states toimprove relations with neig-bouring nations to enhancetrade and cultural ties.

Sangma said Meghalayashare over 440 km border withBangladesh, which is beingconsidered to devise a new

strategy on “Act South” toensure trade and commercethrives in the region. He alsoproposed for issue of workpermit to Bangladeshi nation-als to address the challenge ofinfiltration, to which the UnionMinister said that it would bediscussed and examined.

Later, Sangma met UnionMinister of state for HomeKiren Rijiju and briefed himabout the law and order situa-tion of the State and generallydiscussed on developmentalissues and new initiatives,which are being taken up by theGovernment.

Rijiju has assured to extendall cooperation and support topush the agenda of develop-ment in Meghalaya.

Sangma along withMeghalaya Power MinisterJames K. Sangma also called onMinister of State (IndependentCharge) Power R K Singh todiscuss on the power scenario.The Union Minister has set theagenda that as early as possibleall villages in Meghalaya shouldbe electrified.

Singh has assured all coop-eration to strengthen electric-ity system in Meghalaya. Healso asked Meghalaya to takeadvantage of Atal Jyoti Yojanato put up 2,000 solar streetlightsin each constituencies of thestate, also to tap potential ofsolar energy by putting uproof top solar panels inGovernment establishmentsand institutions.

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Atwenty-year-old Armyjawan hailing from

Maharashtra was martyred alongthe line of control (LoC) inKrishan Ghati sector of Poonchearly Tuesday morning.

So far 13 soldiers haveattained martyrdom in differentincidents of ceasefire violationsalong the line of control sinceJanuary 2018 while 14 civilianshave lost their lives in intenseshelling during the same period.

Unconfirmed reports sug-gested one of the forward postsof the Indian army could havebeen targeted by the BorderAction Team (BAT) of Pakistanarmy under the cover of intenseshelling in the area.

At least one senior officerand two other Junior commis-sioned officers also receivedinjuries during unprovoked andindiscriminate firing from thePakistan side in Krishna Ghatisector of Poonch on Tuesday.

According to official sources,a unit of the Indian army hadrecently shifted there and thejawans were still in the processof understanding the terrainand general topography of thearea. In the past also Pakistanarmy had carried out BAT oper-ations at the time of moving andshifting of new army units in theforward areas.

Pakistan army was violatingceasefire agreement in the regioncontinuously for last three dayswaiting for an opportunity tolaunch BAT operations to targetIndian soldiers.

Till late evening there was noofficial word on the nature ofinjuries received by the army offi-cers. They were shifted to mili-tary hospital from Poonch.

Udhampur basedspokesman of Northern com-mand headquarters Col NNJoshi in a press statement said,"Pakistan Army initiated unpro-voked and indiscriminate firingof Small arms, automatics &mortars from 0700 hours inKrishna Ghati sector along theLine of Control (LC) onTuesday". He said in responseIndian Army retaliated strong-ly and effectively.

However, in the exchange offire, Sepoy Mustapure ShubhamSuryakant was grievously injuredand succumbed to his injuries.

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The Gauhati High Court hasasked the authorities of the

National Register of Citizens(NRC) to inquire into reports ofinclusion of the name of an indi-vidual declared by foreigner bythe Foreigners’ Tribunal in theNRC, which is being updated atthe supervision of the SupremeCourt.

The development came tothe fore recently when the indi-vidual, Ali Ahmed filed a reviewpetition in the Gauhati HighCourt seeking to reconsider thecourt’s earlier order to declarehim as a foreigner. Ali Ahmedin his review petition cited thathis name is included in the firstdraft of the NRC, which wasreleased on December 31 lastyear.

It may be mentioned herethat a Foreigners’ Tribunal inAssam’s Sivsagar district onNovember 22, 2011 declared AliAhmed as a foreigner. AlthoughAli Ahmed approached theGauhati High Court and filed awrit petition against theForeigners’ Tribunal’s ruling,

the High court in 2017 rejectionthe writ petition and upheld theruling of the Foreigners’Tribunal.

Interestingly, the name ofAli Ahmed was included in theNRC under Lahorighat con-stituency in Morigaon district ofCentral Assam.

The High court hasexpressed concern over the mat-ter and said that it’s shocking asto how the name of an individ-ual—despite declared as for-eigner by a Foreigners’ Tribunaland the High Court upholdingthe tribunal’s ruling—enteredthe NRC.

In Assam, the NRC is aimedat identifying the number of ille-gal immigrants fromBangladesh. While the NRCauthorities have published afirst draft of the NRC onDecember 31 last year, theSupreme Court has asked theAssam government to publishthe final draft of the NRC on byJune 30 this year.

The NRC authorities invit-ed application from citizens forinclusion of their names in theNRC in 2015. While around3.29 crore people of the statehad applied for inclusion theyalso submitted close to 6.6crore documents to supporttheir citizenship claim. Theexercise involves 45,000 gov-ernment officials, 8000 workerson contractual basis and 10,000to 15,000 people associatingwith NRC updation process atvarious levels

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Commenting on the risingincident of communal

violence in India, a top officialof the Catholic Bishops'Conference of India said, thatIndian society, which is facingincreasing incidents of com-munal disharmony shouldlook to learn lessons fromGoa, a state known for itscommunal harmony.

"Goa is a sort of a modelhere we have lived peacefully,in joy. We have never heard ofcommunal tensions in Goa.People have tried and peopleare trying," Secretary Generalof the Catholics BishopsConference of India (CBCI)Bishop Theodore Mascarenhassaid on Tuesday. Nearly onethird of the state's populationhail from minority communi-ties, while Catholics accountfor about one fourth of thestate's 1.5 million population.

Mascarenhas, who was inGoa to announce the hostingof a conclave in the coastalstate to promote positive ener-gy and countering communalviolence, also said that media

should not provide a platformfor communal elements, whoare looking to media plat-forms to fan their divisionismfires.

"Our people are moreworried whether their childwill get admission in schools,will get a good education willget a good job, will be able tolive and survive. When peoplecan't deliver those things,then all sorts of other thingsstart. And therefore I think itis very important that we donot blow out these issues andgive a lot of importance tothese people who are . So thewhole thing is you start aspark and if the press startsmaking that spark look like abig fire," Mascarenhas toldThe Pioneer.

"Nobody should decidewhat I eat. I think mostHindus are not bothered whatwe eat and what we don't.There are a few people whoare making issues out of thesethings that are not issues," theBishop also said.

The CBCI official alsosaid that India had a long-standing tradition of peace

and tolerance, but added thatthe country "also has a smallgerm, a small bacteria, whichhas been time and again both-ering us in forms of riots, informs of speaking divisions,spreading hatred".

The conclave will includespeakers from across faithsand is aimed at promoting tol-erance, respect for each otherand checking communalforces, Mascarenhas said.

"But there are also a fewpeople who are becomingmore and more powerfulunfortunately. Who arebecoming more and moreactive who are destroying thispeace. This initiative is thebeginning of a series of ini-tiatives across the countrywhere we want to go," theBishop said.

The inter-religious faithconclave, organised by theCBCI, which will be held inGoa on April 5, will hostleaders from multiple faithswho will expound on theimportance of tolerance,mutual respect as a means ofcombating communal andsectarian intolerance.

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From Page 1At the same time, it said, lib-

erty of innocent citizens cannotbe taken away without any inde-pendent enquiry. This becomesmore crucial as the Act prohibitsgrant of anticipatory bail to anaccused.

On the aspect of misuse ofthe Act, amicus curiaeAmarendra Saran said that theCentre cannot deny misuse ofthe Act as in the earlier round,it be produced a ParliamentaryStanding Committee showinghow the law was being misusedleading to issuance of advi-sories to States and UTs. Eventhe Bench told the A-G thatabuse may not be by SC/STmembers but may be by policeor some vested interests.

The Bench said, “Thereshould not be any terror in soci-ety against cases taken up underthis Act. In cases where there isverifiable material or a grievousoffence of against SC/ST, pre-liminary enquiry may not benecessary but where verificationis not possible, an individual’sliberty cannot be curtailed with-out enquiry and our order pro-vides an outer limit of one weekfor such enquiry. We are notagainst Act but an innocentshould not be punished.”

From Page 1“This is not as per inter-

nationally adopted norms andthe correct position is capturedthrough counting of lane km,Gadkari said.

“Internationally, one stan-dard lane width in the US is 3.7metres, it varies between 2.75and 3.25 metres in Europe and3.5 metres in Germany. As perIndian standards, the width ofone lane is prescribed as 3.5metres,” the minister elaborated.

He said going by interna-tional norms, India construct-ed 34,378 lane km of highwaysin 2017-18 which comes to94.18 lane km a day last fiscal.This in linear length wisecomes to 26.92 km a day and9,829 km in the year.

From Page 1The NIRF also had special

mention for ICAR - NationalDairy Research Institute(Karnal), Indian AgriculturalResearch Institute (Delhi),Jawaharlal Nehru Centre forAdvanced Scientific Research(Bengaluru) and Tata Instituteof Fundamental Research(Mumbai) for imparting highquality education is specialareas.

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After the nail-biting bienni-al Rajya Sabha elections on

March 23, Uttar Pradesh is setto witness another politicalfight during the biennial elec-tions to 13 seats of LegislativeCouncil on April 26.

The term of 13 LegislativeCouncil members fromAssembly constituency willcome to an end on May 5.Prominent among those retir-ing is Samajwadi Party chiefAkhilesh Yadav.

Members for the 100-mem-ber Upper House of UPLegislature are elected fromAssembly constituency, Graduateconstituency, Teachers’ con-stituency, Local Bodies con-stituency and those nominated bythe Governor on recommenda-tions of the Chief Minister.

As per the election scheduleannounced by ElectionCommission, the process of fil-ing of nomination papers willcommence from April 9 andApril 16 will be the last day forfiling papers while the scrutinyof papers will be held on April 17.The last date of withdrawals willbe April 19 and polling will beheld on April 26 from 9 am to 4pm and counting of votes will betaken up from 5 pm the sameday. Like Rajya Sabha elections,the ruling BJP will be a majorgainer in the Council polls whereit is set to win at least 11 out ofthe total 13 seats. The SamajwadiParty can win one seat while theOpposition parties are likely tofield a joint candidate for the13th seat.

The BJP will like to repeatits feat during Rajya Sabhapolls to demoralise theOpposition before the 2019Lok Sabha elections.

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Thirty-two out of the 68 bloodbanks in the national Capital

functioned "without valid licens-es" in the year 2016-17 due todelay in processing applicationsfor their renewal, the CAG haspointed out.

In its report tabled in theDelhi Assembly on Tuesday, theComptroller and AuditorGeneral (CAG) has also high-lighted that there were "severaldeficiencies" in the managementof blood banks during the peri-od. "Thirty-two out of the 68blood banks in the NationalCapital Territory of Delhi werefunctioning without valid licens-es due to delay in processingapplications for their renewal,"the report said.

"Thirty-two blood bankswere not updating authenticinformation pertaining toblood/blood components in theNational Health Portal deprivingthe common people of theNational Capital Territory ofDelhi about information regard-ing availability of blood andblood components in the bloodbanks," it added.

The report further pointedout that voluntary blood collec-tion declined from 54.55 per centduring 2014-15 to 45.20 per centduring 2016-17. No blood bankof the city Government and themunicipal corporations of Delhiwere performing Nucleic AcidAmplification Test (NAT)screening affecting the quality ofblood, it said.

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The Delhi Police's CrimeBranch questioned the

principal of a school, whosetwo teachers were arrested fortheir alleged role in the leak ofClass 12 economics paper,again on Tuesday, after whichofficials said they had notfound anything yet to indicatehis involvement in the leak.

The police are trying tofind the link to the module inwhich handwritten papers werecirculated days before the Class10 mathematics and Class 12economics papers.

So far, they have quizzed150 people, including studentsand teachers, but they have notbeen able to trace the source ofthe leak.

Police are also looking intothe possibility of loopholes in theprocess right from the time thepaper is set to the time it reachedthe banks and subsequentlyfrom there, it is transferred to theexamination centres.

"The leak could have hap-pened at any stage. We arelooking into the source of theleak. It is suspected that the leakhappened between the time itwas submitted to the banks andit was kept there for safekeep,"the officer said.

A senior police officerprivy to the probe said that sofar, they have not found any-thing to indicate that the 55-

year-old principal was in col-lusion with the arrested duo ofRishabh and Rohit, who hadshared WhatsApp images of theeconomics paper with oneTauqeer, who was also arrest-ed.

"The principal was negli-gent by allowing teachers toopen papers at 9am when thetime for opening them was 9.45am. But so far, we have notfound anything to indicate thathe knew of Rishabh's andRohit's action," he said. Theprincipal was questioned a daybefore the trio was arrested andwas questioned yesterday andagain today but even the arrest-ed accused said that he was notaware of the leak.

The police are mullingabout writing to the CentralBoard of Secondary Educationrecommending action againstthe principal for alleged negli-gence.

"We have not found any-thing against him so far tocharge him under IPC sections.

However, there was negligenceon his part so we might writeto the Board to initiate actionagainst him," said the officer.

However, in order to besure, the principal was againquestioned today along withthe arrested accused, who havebeen remanded in two days'police custody by a city court.

Police also questioned theteachers of other schools whowere in touch with Rishabh andRohit to ascertain whetherthey had also received thepaper from the duo.

The investigators also saidthat the source of the leak wasanywhere between outer Delhiand Haryana. "It has come tothe fore that not many checksare in place in those areas. Sincethey are far flung, they aresomewhat neglected by officialswho carry out surprise checks.We are looking into places likeSonepat, Jhajjar, Bahadurgarjhin Haryana as the probableplaces from where the leakmight have happened," headded.

The Delhi Police haslodged two cases over the leaksof the CBSE question papers.

The first case related to theleak of economics questionpaper was lodged on March 27,while the other pertaining tothe leak of mathematics paperwas lodged on March 28, fol-lowing a complaint by theCBSE's regional director.

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External Affairs MinisterSushma Swaraj will pay a

three-day visit to Azerbaijanstarting tomorrow duringwhich she will attend a meet-ing of the Non-AlignedMovement (NAM) and holdtalks with top leadership of thatcountry.

Swaraj will hold talks withAzerbaijan's Foreign MinisterElmar Mammadyarov and callon President Ilham Aliyev andFirst Vice-President MehribanAliyeva, the Ministry ofExternal Affairs (MEA) said.

Swaraj will also representIndia at the mid-term minis-terial meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM)which will take place on April5 and 6 in Baku.

The MEA said as a found-ing member of NAM, Indiaremains committed to the pur-poses and principles of themovement.

"The External AffairsMinister's participation in theNAM Ministerial Meeting willunderline India's continuedactive and constructive engage-ment within the movement witha view to further strengthen sol-idarity and cooperation amongits member states," it said.

A range of issues, includ-ing ways to boost bilateralcooperation between India andAzerbaijan, are expected to bediscussed during her talks withleadership of that country.

Bilateral ties between Indiaand Azerbaijan have grown inmany areas, including energy,transportation, and capacitybuilding.India's ONGC-Videshis an investor in ACG oil fieldsand Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhanpipeline.

"The two sides will discussbilateral, regional and globalissues of mutual interest," theministry said in a statement.

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Aschool dropout fromChandigarh who is now a

cyber security expert has madeit to the Forbes "30 under 30"Asia 2018 list.

Trishneet Arora, 25, madehis way to the prestigious listwhich is packed with innova-tors and disruptors who arereshaping their industries andchanging Asia for the better, aspokesperson for the youngentrepreneur said here onTuesday.

Arora is cyber securityexpert, an author and thefounder and CEO of TACSecurity -- a Cyber-Securitycompany based in Mohali,adjoining Chandigarh.

TAC Security performsvulnerability assessment andpenetration testing for corpo-rates, identifying weaknesses intheir cyber security.

"In 2017, Arora was listedamong the 50 Most InfluentialYoung Indians by GQMagazine. He has receivedfunding from investor VijayKedia and support from formervice president of IBM, WilliamMay," the spokesperson said.

His name now figures inthe Enterprise Technology cat-egory of the Forbes "30 under30" Asia 2018 list.

Besides young interna-tional personalities from acrossthe world, international bad-

minton player P.V Sindhu fromIndia is part of the Forbes Asia"30 under 30" list under a dif-ferent category.

TAC Security helps corpo-rates recognise their weak-nesses before fraudulent hack-ers can use them adversely. Ithelps to protect networks andinformation assets from mali-cious activity such as cyber-attacks. TAC is also responsi-ble for security assessment for50+ UPI based applications.

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Former AICC secretary andsenior dalit leader of Delhi

Congress, Jai Kishen on Tuesdaycriticized the Union MinisterRam Vilas Paswan for accusingCongress on the SC/STs issue.Addressing a press conference,the Congress leader condemnedthe minister saying that he isready to debate with him on anyplatform on the issue of welfareof dalit and scheduled castes.

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Aday after violent 'BharatBandh,' BJP president

Amit Shah on Tuesday said a"microscopic minority ofdejected and rejected politi-cal parties" made the peoplesuffer and sought their apol-ogy to "Dalit sisters andbrothers."

In a series of tweets, Shahreached out to the communi-ty, which has been protesting a Supreme Courtorder on a law on atrocitiesagainst it, and sought to turnthe tables on the Congress byraking up its treatment toDalit icon BhimraoAmbedkar.

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Even as a debate is raging onmisuse of the Dalit atroci-

ty Act, data from the NationalCrime Records Bureau(NCRB)-2017 shows that therehas been a sharp decline inconviction in such cases forwants of evidence. The con-viction rate was 38 per cent in2010 and fell to just 16 per centin 2016 for crimes againstScheduled Castes (SCs). ForScheduled Tribes (STs), it fellfrom 26 per cent in 2010 to 8per cent in 2016.

As many as 47,338 cases ofcrime against Scheduled Castesand Scheduled Tribes wereregistered across the country in2016. The data for 2015 and2016 showed that the numberof crimes reported againstDalits had risen from 38,670 to40,801, with Uttar Pradesh,Bihar and Rajasthan headingthe table of States with mostinstances of crimes againstScheduled Caste people.According to Census 2011, thepopulation of SCs and STsstood at 16.6 percent and 8.6percent respectively.

Interestingly, final reportssubmitted by the police in2015 revealed that the policehad found 2150 cases to be“true but (with) insufficientevidence”, 5,347 cases to be“false”, and 869 cases to be“mistake of fact”.

The data shows that theproportion of cases that werepending trial at the end of theyear rose from 78 percent to 91percent in the case of Dalits,and from 83 percent to 90 per-cent in the case of tribals in thepast seven year. The data alsoshows a massive spike in thependency of cases, a decline in

the number where the trial wascompleted, and a glaring fall inconviction rates. In 2010, thenumber of pending cases was31,931 while the same wasincreased to 41,191 in 2016.Similarly, the disposal of casesby police and courts revealedthat under the Act, 1989,11,060 cases were taken up forinvestigation in 2016 and thecharge-sheeting rate was 77percent.

According to the Ministryof Home Affairs, in 2015, atotal of 38,564 cases were reg-istered for alleged crime againstthe SCs in which charge-sheetswere filed in 73.8 per cent casesand the conviction rate was27.2 per cent. As far as STs areconcerned, 6,275 cases wereregistered in the country foralleged crime against STs in2015 in which charge-sheetswere filed in 74.3 per cent cases,and the conviction rate was19.8 per cent.

In 2016, as many as 47,338cases of crime against Scs/STswere registered across thecountry. Of these, charge-sheets were filed in 78.3 percent cases, and the convictionrate was 25.8 percent. By 2016,there was a 10% increase in thenumber of cases of crimesagainst SCs, and a 6% increasein crimes against STs. If con-viction rates are taken as a pro-

portion of the total cases thatcame up for trial in each year(and not as a proportion of thetotal cases that completed trial),the figures are even more dis-mal. For instance, in 2016,only 659 cases against SCs wasended in conviction. For ST, 42cases ended in conviction.

Interestingly, according tothe report on the implementa-tion of the Act by the Ministryof Social Justice in 2015, thereare only 194 such exclusivecourts. India has more than 700districts, thus making the num-ber of such exclusive courts lessthan a third of the number ofdistricts in India. To make thematters worse, only 14 stateshave set up these exclusivecourts.

Interestingly, another studyby National Campaign on DalitHuman Rights (NCDHR)reveals that 50 percent of theearmarked funds are eithernot relevant to the communi-ty or not accessible. An analy-sis of schemes introduced infinancial year 2017-18 revealedthat out of 36 new schemesonly eight were for the directbenefit of SCs; and out of 70new schemes for STs only 15were benefiting them directly.In the case of Rajasthan(17.81% SC population),Haryana (20.17%), andHimachal Pradesh (25.19%),the expenditure on SC-specif-ic schemes was 0.34%, 3.94%and 7.36% respectively of totalPlan allocation in 2015-16

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The Comptroller andAuditor General ( CAG) on

Tuesday rapped State-ownedFood Corporation of India(FCI) for incurring avoidableexpenses of �534 crore, main-ly on buying gunny bags andtransportation of foodgrains.

The CAG has found irreg-ularities in management ofgunny bags in Punjab andimproper planning of move-ment of stocks in north easternStates. “Compliance audit of theoperations of the Corporation(FCI) brought out avoidable orextra expenditure amountingto �534.04 crore mainly due tonon-adherence to extantinstructions and inefficientoperations in procurement ofgunny bags and movement offoodgrains,” the CAG r said inits latest report tabled today inthe Lok Sabha.

With regard to manage-ment of gunny bags, the CAGsaid the Punjab region of theFood Corporation of India(FCI) purchased 25.87 croregunny bags for �1,147.53 crorefrom 2012-13 to 2016-17.While auditing, CAG found outthat FCI failed to recover223.58 crore on account ofinterest on advances given tostate government agencies forprocurement of gunny bags aswell as on account of reim-bursement of cost of gunnybags at higher rates than pre-scribed.

CAG audited accounts forfive years ending March 2017in four districts in Punjabwhich carries out 31 per cent oftotal procurement in the state.The audit was to assess whetherthe demand and purchase ofgunny bags were in accor-dance with the actual require-ment. FCI also did not recov-

er �2.86 crore from ContainerCorporation of India (CON-COR) as it failed to pursuepending claims for damages,short and rain effected gunnybags.

That apart, the auditorfound that FCI did not verifythe issue of bank guarantee bythe state government, whichresulted in irregular reim-bursement of guarantee fee tostate government agenciesamounting to Rs 145.74 crore.While auditing the trans-portation of foodgrain inAssam and NEF Shillongregion covering Meghalaya,Tripura and Mizoram, theCAG found that FCI incurredavoidable expenditure of Rs117.10 crore due to improperplanning for movement ofstock.

“Supply of foodgrains inexcess of requirement at a sta-tion and non-adherence to dis-tance measurement beforeawarding contract resulted inavoidable expenditure of Rs12.96 crore,” it added. In UttarPradesh too, the CAG foundthat FCI made excess paymentof Rs 14.10 crore to the stategovernment and its agenciesduring 2010-11 to 2016-17 dueto reimbursement of inadmis-sible elements as part of mandilabour charges on procure-ment of wheat. FCI is the gov-ernment’s nodal agency forprocurement and distributionof foodgrains. The Corporationis engaged in procurement ofvarious foodgrains, buildingup and maintenance of foodstocks, movement and deliveryto distributing agencies.

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The Central Bureau ofInvestigation (CBI) has

busted a gang who planned tosend 11 teenagers to the US oneducation visas, and bookedthem under the HumanTrafficking Act.

The members of the gangwere based in Delhi andPunjab. The CBI is working todetermine whether the racketis linked to another which itbusted in December, whenthree people were booked oncharges that they sent 25teenage students, aged between13-18 years, to France in 2016for “a rugby training camp”.

The agency registered acase against Lalit David Dean,Sanjeev Raj and VarunChoudhary, who collected Rs25 lakh to Rs 30 lakh from par-ents.

The CBI came to knowabout the racket when Frenchinvestigators caught one of thetrafficked boys and approachedInterpol.

It discovered that threeDelhi and Faridabad-basedagents held a small training ses-sion to convince the parents.Visas were issued after theagents procured an invitationfrom France. The investigationin this case is still under way.

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Affirming Government’scommitment to the inter-

ests of SC and ST community,the BJP Government onTuesday said it had strength-ened the SC/ST (prevention ofAtrocities) Act by adding newoffences to it and also arrangedfor the provision of witnessprotection in the Act.

While in Parliament HomeMinister Rajanth Singh defend-ed the Government, BJP pres-ident Amit Shah sought toattack the Opposition, partic-ularly the Congress saying“microscopic minority ofdejected and rejected politicalparties” made the people suf-fer and sought their apology to“Dalit sisters and brothers.”

In a series of tweets, Shahreached out to the communi-ty, which has been protesting aSupreme Court order on a lawon atrocities against it, andsought to turn the tables on theCongress by raking up its treat-ment to Dalit icon BhimraoAmbedkar. He also blamed“vested interest groups” forspreading the panic on theissue of reservation for Dalits,saying it is done before everyelection and asserted that theGovernment will do every-thing to protect their rights.

Giving a suo motu state-

ment in the Lok Sabha amidstbedlam and slogan-shouting ofprotesting MPs, Rajnath saidhis Government was notresponsible for the dilution ofthe SC/ST (Prevention ofAtrocities ) Act.

He said Modi-Governmenthad amended the SC/ST Actand added new offences in itand provided for witness pro-tection provisions andincreased the relief amount tothe victim. Besides, provided inthe Act that officials foundresponsible for the neglect ofduties were legally actedagainst.

SC/ST Act, 1989 wasamended recently to includenew offences and to ensurespeedy justice to victims. Theamended law had come intoeffect from January 26, 2016.

Rajnath said rumours onaccount of the SC/ST Act werecompletely false and baseless

and appealed all parties tohelp maintain peace in thecountry.

Asserting that the govern-ment is sensitive to the con-cerns of the backward com-munities, Home MinisterRajnath said it was notresponsible for the dilution ofthe SC/ST (Prevention ofAtrocities) Act.

Referring to the large scaleviolence during Monday’sBharat Bandh, the home min-ister said eight people werekilled — six in Madhya Pradeshand one each in Uttar Pradeshand Rajasthan, during thebandh which also witnessedclashes between the police andthe protesters.

“Through the House, Iwant to assure the people thatthere has been no dilutionwhatsoever by myGovernment, rather after com-ing to power and examining

the SC/ST preventionAtrocities Act, we have taken adecision to strengthen it,” hesaid.

“I fully appreciate that thereis widespread anger amongstthe people following theSupreme Court order. I wish toinform the House that theGovernment of India was notparty in that case. People havetaken to the streets,” he said.

The minister said imme-diately after the March 20judgement of the SupremeCourt, a decision was taken bythe government to file a reviewpetition in the Supreme Court.

The Attorney General hasmade an appeal in the SupremeCourt for an urgent hearingand the Supreme Court hasagreed to hear the matter todayitself.

“This shows the prompt

action by the Government anddoes not leave any doubtregarding the intention of thegovernment to protect theinterest of the SC/ST,” he said.

Law Minister RaviShankar Prasad also rejected as“unfounded” the opposition’scharge that the governmentdelayed the filing of a reviewplea in the Supreme Courtagainst its order on a law onatrocities against Dalits.

He stated that the court wasclosed for six days after the ver-dict was delivered on March 20.The review was filed yesterday.

“Where is the delay? Andlet me ask Rahul Gandhi thatdid he appeal for peace andclam yesterday?” he said, tar-geting the Congress president.

“There is tension in thecountry and the Congress istrying to fuel it,” he said.

����� 7/<�./2=*

Expressing concern over theHindi Salahkar Samiti

(advisory committee) of theRajya Sabha not meeting forthe last three and half years,Chairman M Venkaiah Naiduon Tuesday directed that twomeetings of this importantcommittee shall be held everyyear henceforth, mandatorily.He said this while presidinghere over the meeting of thecommittee meant for promo-tion of use of Hindi in theRajya Sabha Secretariat.

After detailed review ofimplementation of the OfficialLanguage Policy in theSecretariat, the members ofthe committee while noting thesubstantial use of Hindi in theSecretariat stressed on the needfor total compliance with theprovisions in this regard.

Naidu urged the membersof Rajya Sabha, hailing fromnon-Hindi speaking areas, tospeak in Hindi if they chose todo so without the fear of gram-matical mistakes. Referring tohis own experience, theChairman recalled that he didnot know Hindi when he firstcame to Delhi but soon pickedup the language by speaking

without any hesitation. He fur-ther said “King can do nowrong. You are Members ofParliament and can speak freelywithout the fear of committingmistakes.”

He said the best way ofpropagating Hindi is encour-aging its use instead of forcingothers to adopt it. Naidu fur-ther said knowing differentlanguages is advantageous andurged North Indians to learnany South Indian language oftheir choice as it would pro-mote national unity and inte-

gration. The Chairman also called

for simple translation of busi-ness related matters into Hindiso that more and more MPs areencouraged to use it. He urgedthe need for adopting widelypopular words from other lan-guages in Hindi for its easyacceptance.

During the discussion non-Hindi speaking Memberscalled for permitting them to

make grammatical correctionsin their printed Hindi speech-es so that they could speakwithout the fear of committingmistakes which in turn wouldbe on record.

Besides Deputy ChairmanP J Kurien, the Rajya SabhaMembers who attended themeeting of the committeeincluded Satyanarayan Jatiya,Harivansh, Vinay PSahasrabuddhe, K Keshav Rao,Prabhat Jha, Ravi PrakashVerma, Prasanna Acharya andJharna Das Baidya.

����� 7/<�./2=*

Hours after the United Statesbanned Pakistan-based

terror group, Milli MuslimLeague (MML), India wel-comed the move saying thedecision reflects rejection of theattempts being made inPakistan to mainstream ter-rorist individuals and entities.

The US on Tuesday desig-nated MML, a political front ofHafiz Saeed-led Jamaat-udDawa, as a foreign terroristorganisation. Saeed is the mas-termind of Mumbai terrorattack. The US also designatedseven members of the MML asforeign terrorists for acting onbehalf of LeT and addedTehreek-e-Azadi-e-Kashmir(TAJK) to the list of terroristgroups. TAJK is said to be afront of the LeT, which accord-ing to the Donald Trumpadministration, continues tooperate freely inside Pakistan.

Reacting to the US move,the Ministry of External Affairssaid the designation of theMML also shows Pakistan’sfailure to dismantle terror sanc-tuaries in that country and vin-dicated India’s position thatIslamabad has not taken effec-

tive action against terroristgroups and individuals.

“India welcomes the actiontaken by the US for designat-ing the Milli Muslim League asan alias of Lashkar-e-Taiba(LeT), a Pakistan based ter-rorist group and its func-tionaries who are acting onbehalf of LeT. It is also cogni-sance of the fact that terroristindividuals and entities areallowed to change names andcontinue to operate freely fromterritory under Pakistan’s con-trol,” MEA said in a state-ment.

It further added that thedesignation of the MML is arejection of the attempts beingmade in Pakistan to main-stream terrorist individualsand entities and highlightsPakistan’s failure to fulfil its

international obligation to dis-mantle terrorist sanctuaries,and disrupt terror financing.

These designations seek todeny the resources it needs toplan and carry out further ter-rorist attacks. Among otherconsequences of the designa-tions, LeT’s property and inter-ests in property subject to USjurisdiction are blocked, andUS persons are generally pro-hibited from engaging in anytransactions with the group.

The ban by the US comesa day after the ElectionCommission of Pakistan askedthe MML to produce a clear-ance certificate by the interiorministry for its registration asa political party. General elec-

tions are scheduled to be heldin Pakistan in July. Pakistan’selection commission had ear-lier rejected the MML’s appli-cation for registration as apolitical party after the interi-or ministry objected to its tiesto banned militant outfits.

President of the MML,Khalid is also the head of LeT’sPeshawar headquarters andserved on the JuD’sCoordination Committee forCentral Punjab Province. TheJuD was designated by theDepartment of State as an aliasof the LeT pursuant April 2016and was added to the UnitedNations Sanctions list as analias of the LeT in December2008.

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While there have been sev-eral studies about the

health hazards caused by themicrobes that lurk on thecoins or currency handled inan unhygienic manner, it isonly now that the country’stop food regulator has wokenup to this deadly source ofcontamination.

The Food Safety andStandard Authority of India(FSSAI) has recently issued apublic health advisory to thefood handlers and food ven-dors to avoid handling foodand currency simultaneously toavoid various kinds of dis-eases including food poisoning,and skin, respiratory and gas-trointestinal infections.

The FSSAI has noted thathandling of currency withuncleaned hands and use ofsalvia during counting of coinsor currency and storage ofcurrency in unhygienic condi-tion will lead to contaminationwith harmful micro-organism.

According to the circular

issued recently, the FSSAI hasadvised the concerned stake-holders that after handlingcurrency, hands should bethoroughly washed beforetouching food and vice versa.

Ideally, handling of thefood and currency should bephysically separated. It is rec-ommended that gloves shouldbe used to handle food andbare hands to handle currency,it noted adding that pregnantwomen, children and immunecompromised people are easyprey to such contamination.

The FSSAI has also askedthe State food commissionersto raise awareness among peo-ple about this menace and dis-courage the simultaneous han-dling of food and currency.

This is not the first timethat the threats from the con-taminated currency have cometo the light. In fact, numerousstudies have shown that cur-rency notes are loaded withpathogenic micro organisms,the most common beingEscherichia Coli or E Coli thatis found in faecal matter.

A study conducted by themicrobiology department ofKasturba Medical College inKarnataka’s Manipal publishedin Current Science in 2011found that 96 per cent of thecoins and 100 per cent of thesample notes were contami-nated with pathogens such asStaphy lococcus Aureus, E Coliand Klebsiella spp. Worse,many of them were resistant to

commonly used antibiotics.E Coli is known to cause

diarrhoea, urinary tract infec-tions, neonatal meningitis andpneumonia whileStaphylococcus Aureus cancause toxic shock syndrome,skin infections, urinary tractand respiratory tract infec-tions.

Citing various studies,Pushpa Girimaji, a well knownconsumer rights columnist toonotes that the currency notesare a source of infection anddangerous to health, more sobecause many of the pathogenson them are multi-drug resis-tant strains.

“But more importantly,these studies bring to light, theimperative need to ensure thathotels, hospitals, school andoffice canteens, restaurants,street food stalls, shops sellingbakery products, mithai, andeven those preparing food formid-day meals and religiousplaces, do not contaminatefood with currency either at thetime of preparation or at thetime of sale or distribution.”

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Telangana Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao has

come down heavily on theCentre on the issues of dilutionof SC/ST Prevention ofAtrocities Act and the proposedblacklisting of journalists ifthey carry “fake news”.

In a statement issued todayhe strongly condemned theattacks on Dalits during BharatBandh yesterday and urgedthe entire country should standby Dalit who were economi-cally, socially and politicallysuppressed for generations.

On Supreme Court’s guide-lines on the SC/ST preventionof atrocities act, the ChiefMinister said, “Dalits are feel-ing that the recent SupremeCourt guidelines are weakening

and diluting the Laws and Actsmeant for protection of Dalits”.

He urged the Prime Ministerto talk to the Chief Justice ofSupreme Court in this regard.

The CM urged the PM toplace before the Supreme Courton how the guidelines issued bythe Apex Court had punchedholes in the SC/ST Atrocitiesprevention Act. “The Centralgovernment should take a sym-pathetic view on the on goingagitation launched by the Dalitswho are crestfallen with the SCguidelines”, KCR said.

Recalling that the succes-sive Governments enacted lawsto protect the rights and inter-ests of the Dalits, KCR said, “theGovts have a bounden duty toensure that the Laws and Actsmade for the Dalits should beimplemented properly.”

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An executive committeemeeting of Gujarat BJP will

be held on April 12 and 13 atSurat in which decisions wouldbe taken on organisationalframework and programmesfor the upcoming months.

Gujarat BJP vice-president IKJadeja said that in the meeting tobe chaired by BJP’s State presidentJitu Vaghani, party’s nationalgeneral secretary and Gujaratin-charge Bhupendra Yadav,national secretary, organisation V.Satish, Gujarat CM Vijay Rupaniand Deputy CM Nitin Patel willalso remain present.

In the two day long meetingsresolutions on performance ofNarendra Modi Government atCentre would be passed. Themeeting will also be attended byoffice bearers of Gujarat BJP, var-ious cells and morchas, conven-ers and district in-charges of theparty as well as special invitees.

On Tuesday, an importantmeeting of Gujarat BJP OBCmoracha was held at the Stateheadquarters ‘Shrit Kamalam’ onthe outskirts of the State capitalGandhinagar. Emphasis wasgiven to create awareness amongpeople about various schemes ofCentral and Gujarat Govt’sregarding OBCs in the meeting.

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The houses of a sitting and aformer MLA, both Dalits,

were set afire by a violent mobon Tuesday afternoon in theHindaun town in Karauli dis-trict of Rajasthan followingwhich curfew was imposed inthe area, a senior official said.

A mob comprising nearly5,000 people set ablaze housesof sitting MLA Rajkumari Jatavand former MLA BharosilalJatav in the Hindaun City,District Collector, Karauli,Abhimanyu Kumar told PTI.

While Rajkumari Jatav is

from the ruling BJP, BharosilalJatav is a former Congress leg-islator who also served as aMinister in the State. The inci-dent occurred a day afterRajasthan and several otherStates saw large scale protestsand violence during a ‘bandh’called by Dalit organisations.

Considering the law andorder situation, curfew wasclamped in the city, Kumaradded. He said the situationwas tense since morning.

After incidents of stone pelt-ing and arson, a mob set on forthe houses of the MLA and theex-MLA following which curfew

has been clamped till Wednesdaymorning, an official said.

“The traders’ associationand upper castes are agitated inHindaun City. They took out aprocession today and tried toenter the SC/ST dominatedareas,” Additional DirectorGeneral of Police (Law andOrder) NRK Reddy said.

“Police forces lobbed tear gasshells and resorted to cane charg-ing and firing rubber bullets todisperse the mob,” Reddy said.

SP, Karauli, Anil Kayal saidafter the incidents of arson andviolence, nearly 40 people weredetained in Hindaun.

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In a development unprece-dented in the history of the

State a concerned BengalGovernor KN Tripathi hassummoned State ElectionCommissioner, Chief Secretaryand Home Secretary followingreports of large-scale pre-elec-toral violence over filing ofnominations in the three-phasepanchayat elections beginningMay 1, BJP State presidentDilip Ghosh said.

Even the ruling TrinamoolCongress wondered how apolitical leader became privy towhat transpired between theoffices of Governor and SEC aparallel claim from poll paneloffice said ElectionCommissionerAmrendraKumar Singh had soughtappointment from Tripathiwho hadgranted an audience at12 pm on Wednesday.

The development comes inthe wake of large-scale violencereported during filing of nom-ination for the three-tier ruralpolls where Opposition leadersas senior as a BJP district pres-ident and a secretary werestabbed and beaten up byarmed Trinamool Congress

goons who literally took con-trol of most subdivision andblock administrative offices.

What rest of India saw ina single day over Dalit unrest,Bengal witnessed in tranchesfor the past couple of days evenas major political parties suf-fered at the hands of MamataBanerjee’s men.

By the sundown reports ofunremitting violence poured infrom Indus, Sonamukhi andPatrasayar in Bankura,Arambagh in Hooghly,Raghunathganj, Jiaganj inMurshidabad, Mangalkot,Ketugram in Burdwan andRampurhat, Luvpur andIlambazar in Birbhum district.In all cases the police lookedthe, other way, parties com-plained.

The audacity brimmedover in Birbhum where BJPdistrict secretary KalosonaMondal was badly thrashedand stabbed in his backsideright inside the DistrictMagistrate’s office and he hadliterally to take shelter insidethe district court, sources said.

The leader was subse-quently admitted to the districthospital in Siuri. In neigh-bouring Murshidabad, BJP dis-

trict president Gouri ShankarGhosh was thrown on the roadand badly thrashed with wick-ets along with his party menwho had gone to file nomina-tions, source said.

At Arambagh, Goghat andother places the oppositionparties were targeted irrespec-tive of their political colours.The CPI(M) too complained ofmassive violence against theirsub-district level leaders manyof whom had been hospitalised.

Hordes of armedTrinamool hoodlums campedoutside block, sub-division anddistrict administrative offices.In many places like Birbhumtheir district bosses organizedmass feast for the “labour”they put in to realize ChiefMinister’s dreams of an oppo-sition-less state apparently toavert a Tripura-like electorallandslide.

Back in Kolkata theTrinamool and BJP engaged inverbal matches after

Dilip Ghosh claimed inthe wake of his meeting withTripathi that the

Governor had summonedthe SEC, Chief Secretary andHome Secretary at12 noon onWednesday.

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Adelegation of Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee(GPCC) on Tuesday submitted a memorandum to Gujarat

Governor regarding rising atrocities on Dalits in the countryand recent judgment of Supreme Court diluting the provisionsof arrest under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled tribes(Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.

The Congress delegation comprising newly appointed GPCCpresident Amit Chavda, Leader of Opposition Paresh Dhanani,GPCC’s SC cell’s chief Naishad Solanki and other MLAs andoffice bearers.

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ASpecial MaharashtraControl of Organised

Crime Act (MCOCA) courtwill on May 2 deliver its verdictin the sensational 2011 seniorjournalist J Dey murder case, inwhich incarcerated underworldgangster Chhota Rajan is a keyaccused.

Nearly seven years afterDey was gunned down by agroup of motorbike-ridinggangsters allegedly at the ordersof Rajan, MCOCA court’sAdditional Sessions JudgeSameer Adkar on Tuesday fixedMay 2 as the date for deliver-ing the verdict in the much-dis-

cussed case.Apart from Chhota Rajan,

the other accused in the caseare former journalist JignaVora, Rohee ThangappanJoseph alias Satish Kalya,Abhijeet Shinde, Arun Dake,Sachin Gaikwad, AnilWaghmode, Nilesh Shendge,Mangesh Agawane, VinodAsrani, Paulson Joseph andDeepak Sisodia.

Of the total 12 accused, oneaccused Vinod Chembur aliasVinod Asrani, a real estatedealer and a bookie fromChembur, who was the mainfinancer and co-conspirator,passed away on April 11 2016following multiple ailments.

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Jammu and Kashmir ChiefMinister Mehbooba Mufti

on Tuesday reviewed situationin Kashmir at a high-levelmeeting amid a shutdown forsecond consecutive day againstkilling of 13 militants and fourcivilians in a series of encoun-ters between militants andsecurity forces on Sunday andsubsequent protests ofunarmed civilians.

An official spokesman saidthat Chief Minister impressedupon the officers dealing withsecurity situation to ensure thatcollateral damage was avoidedand all the Standard OperatingProcedures (SoPs) in this regardwere strictly adhered to.

Senior civil and police offi-cers briefed the CM, who cutshort her visit to New Delhiafter the situation worsened inKashmir, about the overall sit-uation in the Kashmir Valley.She inquired about woundedpersons admitted in variousHospitals and directed the hos-pital authorities to ensure spe-cialised treatment of them.

Mehbooba, who is com-pleting two years in office on

April 4, arrived amid completeshutdown in the Valley as nor-mal life remained paralysed forthe second day on separatists’call against the recent killings.

Commercial establish-ments and offices remainedclosed, while public transportremained off the roads.Educational institutions havebeen closed across Kashmir.

Clashes erupted in Kanganarea of Ganderbal district whena local youth succumbed toinjuries at a Srinagar hospital.The youth had been injured inpolice action on Monday.

Medical SuperintendentDr Farooq Jan while confirm-ing the death of GowharAhmad Rather (22) said thatthey could save him as he hada fatal head injury.

While the locals said thatRather was hit by a bullet, policeclaimed that he fell down duringa police chase and suffered a headinjury after hitting a drain edge.

In another incident,tragedy hit a family in northKashmir’s Hajin pocket whenunknown militants barged intotheir house and killed a malemember and injured womenusing knives and guns.

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Eight months his actress-turned-author wife Twinkle

Khanna was trolled for hersarcastic tweet that her morn-ing walks were being ruined bypeople defecating in the open,a bio-toilet-funded byBollywood actor AkshayKumar was thrown open to thepublic at Jahu beach in north-west Mumbai on Tuesday.

Having taken seriouslyTwinkle’s “insensitive” tweetthat had earned her considerablecriticism, Akshay Kumar–work-ing in tandem with Shiv Sena’syouth wing president AdityaThackeray–spent �10 lakh onthe construction of a bio-toiletat the Juhu beach.

After the bio-toilet withrunning water facility and sep-arate enclosures for men andwomen, was completed, Akshayjoined the Yuv Sena chief andhanded it formally over to theBrihanmumbai MunicipalCorporation (BMC) for publicuse and maintenance.

Twinkle’s August 19, 2017tweet: “Good morning and Iguess here is the first scene ofToilet Ek Prem Katha part 2#WhenYourWalkGoesDownTheToilet” showing a photo-graph of a man defecating inpublic had created quite abuzz in the social media.

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The BJP on Tuesday joinedthe ongoing agitation by

Vayalkilikal (Farm Birds), aforum of rice farmers ofKeezhattur nearThalipparamba in Kerala’sKannur district against theCPI(M)-led LDF Government’sdecision to acquire severalhectares of ecologically sensi-tive paddy farmland for con-struction of a national highwaybypass by taking out a 21-kilo-meter Karshaka Raksha March(Save-Farmers March).

“It was the Nandigramstruggle which had led to theCPI(M)’s ouster from WestBengal. In Tripura, it was oust-ed through democratic process.The CPI(M) will be taking itslast breaths in Kerala atKeezhattur,” BJP’s national sec-retary Rahul Sinha, a frontlinewarrior of the Nandigram stir,said while inaugurating thefoot march at the Keezhatturrice field.

The BJP march fromThalipparamba to Kannur, cap-tained by national executivemember PK Krishnadas, tookplace just when the CPI(M) hasbeen on a campaign accusing theSangh Pariwar of hijacking thestir of the farmers, all of whom

had so far been active Marxistparty workers. Keezhattur isknown as a ‘party village’ underthe CPI(M)’s absolute control.

“I had come to Kannureight years ago when the strug-gle was going on in Nandigram.I had come here then to visit thehomes of the BJP-RSS workerswho had been victims of CPI(M)violence. On this trip, I havebrought to Kannur the soil ofNandigram which had triggeredthe decimation of the CPI(M) inWest Bengal,” Sinha said.

The BJP leaders showeredrespects on Nambradath JanakiAmma, the elderly womanleader of the stir, and SureshKeezhattur, the face of thefarmers’ protest who claims tobe a Marxist still, at the publicmeeting held as part of theinauguration of the march.Senior State BJP leaders likeAN Radhakrishnan and CKPadmanabhan took part in theprogramme.

“At this sacred land ofKeezhattur, the BJP is takingthe pledge not to allow acqui-sition of even an inch of farmland to satisfy the CPI(M)’sthirst for corruption,” Sinhasaid alleging that the Marxistswere firm on constructing thebypass through the paddy landitself because their eyes were

riveted on possibilities of cor-ruption to the tune of �300crore in the project.

According to the BJP, theCPI(M) is firm about con-structing the bypass throughthe paddy land itself as thereare chances for corruption inremoving clay from the fieldand filling it with soil broughtfrom outside. It is also accusedof a bid to protect the interestsof traders and other rich peo-ple who may lose land andbuildings if the alignment isshifted to Thalipparamba town.

“The other parties like theCongress had declared soli-darity with the farmers’ stirafter the BJP joined their strug-gle. It is entirely possible thatthese parties may abandontheir role in the struggle mid-way. But the BJP will stand bythe farmers till they achievetheir goal,” the BJP leader said.

Rahul Sinha and JanakiAmma jointly showered thesoil the former had broughtfrom Nandigram over thepaddy land of Keezhattur in anact symbolizing similaritiesbetween the two land-relatedstruggles. Farmers’ leaderSuresh Keezhattur led the BJPworkers and others in takingthe pledge to protect the paddyland at any cost.

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In a strategic move ahead of theLok Sabha polls due in the first

half of next year, Vijay RupaniGovernment came out withmajor bureaucratic reshuffle inthe State on Monday late night.

The State Governmentbegins its reshuffle processwith relatively junior levelbureaucrats, but as the LokSabha polls will come closerthere would be more suchmass transfers on cards incoming months.

Sources in GeneralAdministrative Department(GAD) said that similar reshuf-fle in IPS cadre officials, espe-cially Assistant Superintendentand Superintendent Level policeofficials would be done shortly.

Requesting anonymity asenior bureaucrat said that theState major reshuffling of seniorIAS and IPS officers too are oncards. According to him thereshuffling process would con-tinue till the announcement of the2019 Lok Sabha election dates.

“Large number of GujaratAdministrative Service (GAS)and Gujarat Police Service(GPS) cadre officials is alsoawaiting their transfer in com-ing days. After the formation ofnew Government in Decemberlast year, this is the first majorbureaucratic reshuffle,” said asenior official with GAD.

On late Monday night trans-ferred 67 IAS officials, mostly col-lectors and District DevelopmentOfficers (DDO) were transferred.

Collectors of all the fourmajor cities–Ahmedabad,Vadodara, Surat and Rajkotwere transferred. Overall 21 outof 33 district collectors weretransferred. Ahmedabad col-lector Avantika Singh trans-ferred to Gandhinagar asDirector of Employment andTraining and ex-officialManaging Director of GujaratSkill Development Mission.Dr Vikrant Pandey, MS Patel,and Ponugumatla Bharathi –Rajkot, Surat and Vadodaracollectors respectively havebeen transferred.

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As the Karnataka electionsare crucial for both the rul-

ing Congress and major oppo-sition, BJP chief Amit Shah andCongress president RahulGandhi are battling it out forsupremacy. It is on Tuesdayboth the top leaders are inKarnataka campaigning vigor-ously with high decibels accus-ing each other. Shah onTuesday is busy working outstrategies and campaigning bymeeting Lingayat seers andother dalit leaders at Haveriand other north Karnatakaplaces To check mate RahulGandhi and chiefSiddaramaiah.

Meanwhile CongressPresident Rahul Gandhi at lin-gayat strongman Yeddyurapp’shome turf in Shivamoggaslammed Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and hisGovernment. In his fifth leg ofhis campaign speaking at hisJanashirwad Yatre took Modigovernment on a number offronts including exam paperleaks, atrocities on Dalits, cor-ruption and the plight of farm-ers among other issues.

He said “Modiji wrote abook on how to handle stressduring exams. For two hours he

gave a lecture to school stu-dents. Then students sat fortheir exams and Modiji’sGovernment says paper hasbeen leaked.”

Charging the PM and hisGovernment with being indif-ferent to the rise in atrocitiesagainst Dalits he said: “TheSC/ST Act is being dilutedand the PM doesn’t say a word.”

‘The total money thatModi Government spends onDalits and adivasis nationally,Congress spends the same inonly one State, Karnataka’, headded.

“Modiji comes toKarnataka and talks about cor-ruption but doesn’t look at thepeople on stage. Because if hedid, he’d see Yeddyurappa andfour other Ministers, who havebeen to jail,” Rahul said.

The Congress presidentwas also critical of the Rafaledeal as he was about theGovernment’s inaction in thecase of Amit Shah’s son Jay’swindfall gains.

Rahul Gandhi also lamedModi for his silence whenfarmers ask for loan waivers.Instead, Gandhi accused Modi

of signing off loans of 15-20corporate.

He said “When I asked theState’s leaders to do somethingfor the farmers, Siddaramaiahji(Congress leader andKarnataka CM)waived off�8,000 crore worth of loans.”

47 year old leader accusedRSS of teaching Modi to speaklies. Gandhi’s itinerary includespublic hustings in Honnali,Harihara, Bathi and Davangere.On Wednesday, he will visitHolalakere, Siddaganga Math,Kunigal and Magadi beforeflying back to Delhi.

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Even as major political par-ties, including the

AIADMK, the DMK and theCongress, continued their agi-tation against the Centre’s fail-ure to constitute the CauveryManagement Board as per theFebruary 16 directive of theSupreme Court, leaders of var-ious farmers’ associations lam-basted the non-BJP politicaloutfits for their hypocrisy anddouble standard in resolvingthe Cauvery river water dis-pute.

On Tuesday, political land-scape was in for a surprise withChief Minister EdappadyPalaniswamy and deputy ChiefMinister O Panneerselvamjoining the State-wide fastingannounced by the AIADMK tocondemn the Centre for notsetting up the CMB in com-pliance with the SupremeCourt verdict.

EPS and OPS joined theAIADMK Ministers and lead-ers of the party who were sit-ting in fast at Chepauk, the cap-ital city’s usual venue for sit-inprotests. They had party pre-sidium chairmanMadhusoodanan and seniorspokesperson Gokula Indira forcompany along with some ofthe Ministers. Other Ministers

spread out across the districtsfor their fasting.

The whole Tamil Naduwore the look of a State whichis on paid-holiday as manyoffices remaining empty andshops and business establish-ments downing the shutters.Various farmers’ associationshad given a bubdh call for theday and the entire CauveryDelta districts observed a totalshut down in response to thecall.

The DMK and alliance

partners continued their roadroko almost everywhere in theState as a prelude to the bundhwhich they are going to observeon April 5. Party workers triedto block trains but the timelyintervention of the policehelped to avert a crisis situa-tion.

But leaders of the farmingcommunity lambasted theDMK, the Congress and theLefts for their failure to addressthe Cauvery imbroglio whenthey were ruling the country

from 2004 to 2014. “The pre-sent agitation by the DMK,AIADMK, the Congress, theLefts and the fringe outfits is aploy to divert the attention ofthe public from the failure andfraud committed by these par-ties,” R V Giri, President,Consortium of Indian FarmersAssociation (CIFA), an umbrel-la organisation of various farm-ers’ union told The Pioneer.

He pointed out that theCauvery Water DisputeTribunal had ruled in February

2007 that the CMB should beconstituted immediately. “TheTribunal had also decided thequantum of water to bereleased by Karnataka to theriparian States. But the thengovernment took more than sixyears to even notify the CWDTverdict in the gazette. It wasgazetted only in 2013 and thattoo following the pressureexerted by the then chief min-ister Jayalalithaa,” said Giri,himself an ordinary farmer.

Kattumannarkoil Kannan,vice president, Cauvery DeltaFarmers’ Welfare Association,which had fought the legal bat-tle for Cauvery waters, chargedthat the DMK and the Congresstogether with the Lefts weredeceiving the farming commu-nity as well as the people in theState. “The DMK, the Congressand the Lefts are responsible forthe present state of affairs. Whenasked why they did not consti-tute the CMB while they wereruling the country, the DMK andthe Congress do not have anyreplies. Right now what they aredoing is vote bank politics,” saidKannan. He also pointed out thatthere was no unity among thepolitical outfits in Tamil Nadu.“ The AIADMK is fasting on oneday while the DMK is observingbundh the other day. Whomthey are trying to cheat?” askedKannan.

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The hailstorms and unsea-sonal rain continued to hit

parts of Telangana and AndhraPradesh for the fourth consec-utive day on Tuesday. While itbrought relief to the peoplefrom scorching heat wave astemperatures dropped consid-erably, the change in weatherhas caused havoc to the agri-culture and horticulture sectorsand shattered the hopes ofthousands of farmers inTelangana.

Officials of agriculturedepartment have estimatedthat the standing crop of paddy,maize and chilly and other vari-eties on 36000 hectares weredamaged in 16 districts. Thehail and rains have also causedextensive damage to the mangoorchards in the State. Most ofthe damages were reportedfrom Khammam, Nalgonda,Karimnagar and RajannaSricilla districts and neighbor-ing areas. Paddy was the worstaffected as the standing crop on29000 acres was damaged.

At many places the galewinds also uprooted the treesand also caused damages to thepower supply lines. ChiefMinister K Chandrasekhar Raodirected the officials to remainon high alert against recurrenceof the hailstorms and rains andenumerate the losses sufferedby the farmers.

He spoke to the ChiefSecretary SK Joshi about thesituation and asked him toprepare the reports so thatthey could be sent to Centre forseeking assistance and relief.

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The State Governmentdefended its decision to

handover power distribution infive districts to integrated ser-vice providers (ISP) or privateplayers. The Governmentblamed the Opposition forspreading misinformationabout the programme by dub-bing it as a move to privatisepower sector in the State. “Theopposition is spreading canardsagainst the Yogi Governmentthrough false propaganda. TheGovernment has decided onlyto hand over power distribu-tion to a franchise—ISP, whichwill only look after mainte-nance of power distributionsystem, billing and collectingrevenue from consumers,’’ saidEnergy Minister SrikantSharma in Lucknow onTuesday.

“The Government willcontinue to own assets ofpower distribution networkand there would be noretrenchment of existingemployees. Instead, more jobswould be created in the Power

sector after the entry of the ISP,”he said.

Claiming that the YogiGovernment was committed tobenefiting all categories of powerconsumers, the Minister said thatthe motto of the Governmentwas ‘Upbhokta Devo Bhava’(Consumer is divine).

Blaming the opposition forthe confusion among commonpeople over the ISP, the Ministersaid that they were trying toinstigate Power employees whoare agitating against theGovernment over handing overfive cities to the franchise.

“The opposition partiesduring their regimes in UP,handed over power distributionin Agra to a private companyand now they are opposing itto cover up their misdeeds. TheBJP Government is handingover power distribution to ISPon far better terms and condi-tion to safeguard the interest ofconsumers and public sectorpower generation companies.In coming days, consumerswill endorse the Government’smove in an overwhelmingmanner,” he said.

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After uprooting from Iraq and Syria, theIslamic State (IS) is trying to establishitself in Afghanistan and Pakistan as

both these countries are totally radicalisedand, hence, it will be easier for them to settheir bases over there. The creation ofIslamic State Khorasan Province (ISK-P) bythe IS fascinated large number of semi-liter-ate, fanatic and disenchanted Muslim youthsall over the world who came to Afghanistanand joined the outfit. The ISK-P earned thesupport of not just extremist Muslims but sev-eral Muslim writers, thinkers and intellectu-als also extended their assistance.

ISK-P contacted leaders of various ter-rorist outfits in Afghanistan and Pakistan andpersuaded them to join ISK-P. The organi-sation also made alliances with few groupswhile encouraging smaller groups to amal-gamate in the IS. Besides these groups, dis-sidents of numerous terrorist outfits, especial-ly of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP),Afghan and Pakistan Taliban, Al Qaeda,Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan joined theIS. Haji Mehsud, former Chief of TTP, andseveral important Afghan Taliban leaders,particularly Mullah Nemat Mufti, MullahSufu Qayum and Mullah Rasool also joinedthe IS with their followers.

The outfit is against Shias and alleges thatthey “pretend” to be Muslims and should bepurged even before non-Muslims. Hence,fighters from anti-Shia organisations likeJundullah, Lashlar-e-Jhangvi al Alami, Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan also joined the IS.

ISK-P announced Hafiz Saeed Khan asits leader while Mullah Abdul Rauf Aliza asits deputy leader. Hafiz Saeed was fromPakistan and leader of TTP, while MullahAliza was an Afghan national. In this way, theIS inculcated its sway both in Pakistan as wellas in Afghanistan and fighters from both thesecountries joined the outfit. Saeed was killedin 2016 while Aliza lost life in 2015 but bothof them worked hard to popularise ISK-P.

Afghanistan being a poor country andunemployment rate at about 40 per cent, itwas easy for ISK-P to recruit Afghans. Theywere paying more than double the amountpaid by the Afghan Government. Hence, sev-eral personnel of the Afghan NationalSecurity Forces (ANSF) joined the IS alongwith their weapons. Large number of Afghansare uneducated and are ready to sacrifice theirlives in the name of Islam. This is why moreand more people are joining the outfit.

ISK-P distributed literature in Dari andPashto languages, denouncing the Talibanand Al Qaeda and mentioning that the IS isthe only organisation which can save Muslimsfrom persecution and establish Islamic rulebased on Shariat. In literature, the IS also men-tioned about several terrorist activities car-ried by the outfit.

Large number of foreign fighters main-ly from Pakistan, Tajikistan, Chechnya andUzbekistan also joined the IS. Besides these

countries, fighters from African countries andEuropean countries, especially from France,Algeria and the UK, are also residing inAfghanistan. Analysts claim that the num-ber of foreign fighters in Afghanistan are morethan 3,000 and it will further enhance oncethe IS is completely ousted from Iraq andSyria as most foreign fighters would notreturn back to their native soil but will reachAfghanistan to reinforce the IS.

The IS successfully carried out several ter-rorist attacks in the recent past in differentplaces in Afghanistan. On January 20, terror-ists laid siege into Kabul’s IntercontinentalHotel and killed more than 20 persons,including four foreigners. On January 27, ter-rorists attacked with an ambulance full ofexplosives in Kabul in which death tollcrossed 100. Again, on January 28, few ter-rorists attacked an Army post near militaryacademy, Kabul, and killed 11 soldiers. Fewdays after, terrorists also attacked an NGOoffice in Jalalabad. ISK-P also killed 41 Shiasin a cultural centre while more than 150 per-sons were exterminated in Kabul. The IS alsosuccessfully carried out terrorist acts in Ghor,Qushtapa and other places.

Analysts claim that terrorists killedmore than 10,000 Afghan security person-nel and injured more than 15,000 persons in2017 alone. This year appears to be bloodi-er and more security personnel and civilianswould be killed if effective measures are nottaken by the Afghan Government and theUS-led NATO troops. ANSF is unable to con-trol the mounting pressure by terrorists, espe-cially the IS, because of rampant corruption,lack of will to fight, old and rusted weapons,unsatisfactory training and no actionableintelligence. In fact, the intelligence machin-ery of terrorists is working better than the

intelligence setup of ANSF. The Afghan Government is losing

ground and according to analysts, about sev-enty per cent of the area is under control ofterrorists including, the IS. BesidesAfghanistan, quite a few areas of Pakistanabutting Afghanistan, including FederallyAdministered Tribal Areas (FATA),Waziristan, Balochistan among others, arealso under the control of terrorists. Recentsurge in terrorist activities also indicate thatonly aerial bombings would not wipe out ter-rorist outfits and there will be no use nego-tiating with them as terrorist outfits utilisetime of negotiations in regrouping themselves.

The strength of NATO troops must beenhanced as 15,000 troops would fail to con-trol various terrorist outfits in the country.If NATO troops leave Afghanistan beforeeradicating the IS, it will be disastrous not onlyfor the region but for the whole world. Theworld powers, which jointly or separatelyruined the IS in Iraq and Syria, should worktogether to destroy it from Afghanistan.Hence, it is essential that all world powersopposed to the IS work together to destroyit permanently. The US dropped most pow-erful non-nuclear bomb in Achin district inApril 2017 and destroyed weapons, tunnelsand killed more than 90 IS fighters. It con-ducted more than 400 air raids in Februaryand March 2017 against IS strongholds butair raids are not enough. Land forces arerequired for area domination.

Terrorist activities in Afghanistan can-not be curbed unless Pakistan, which is pro-viding safe heaven to various terrorist out-fits, is controlled. Although US PresidentDonald Trump has suspended $1.9 billion aidto Pakistan but it is not enough as China haspromised to compensate. NATO troops

should bombard the infrastructure createdby sinister Inter-Services Intelligence totrain and shelter the terrorists. The NATOtroops should not only destroy terrorists’ hide-outs but should also exterminate their train-ers. Leaders of terrorist outfits should also beeliminated either by bombardments or byspecial operations. Pakistan Government can-not take action against terrorist outfits as theirleaders have mass following but NATO troopscan destroy them.

The Afghan Government must gal-vanise ANSF and personnel should be well-trained and must be provided with latestweapons. Working conditions and salarystructure should be improved and feeling ofpatriotism should be inculcated. The intel-ligence network of the country is in sham-bles, no security forces can trounce terroristoutfits unless the intelligence organisationsprovide pin-pointed actionable intelligence.The Afghan Government should send intel-ligence personnel to India so that they aremethodically trained in collection, analysisand timely dissemination of intelligence.

The Government should take stringentaction against corrupt officials and rectifygenuine problems of the masses. TheGovernment should also try to win the con-fidence of the masses through launchingpoverty elimination and employment gen-eration schemes. Leaders of political par-ties must contact the masses and broadentheir base. The election system should behonest and transparent so that the publicdoes not give any importance to the alle-gations of defeated candidates about the useof malpractices by the winning candidates.

(The writer is member of United ServicesInstitute of India, and the Institute for DefenceStudies and Analyses)

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Sir — This refers to the report,“Dalit rage singes India, 8 killed”(April 3). It is becoming increas-ingly evident that Dalit radicals areresorting to violence and arson atthe filmiest of grounds, in protestagainst perceived insults and spo-radic incidents. In the latest case,the radical Dalit violence in sev-eral places was triggered by a total-ly false and thoughtless misinter-pretation of the recent SupremeCourt judgement on the alleged‘dilution’ of the SC/ST (Preventionof Atrocities) Act which directedthat there would be “no automat-ic arrest” on any complaint with-out “preliminary enquiry by thepolice within seven days beforetaking any action”. Is this not avery legitimate and fair provision?How can any one be arrested bya mere complaint by an interest-ed party against an opponent?

All politicians who are insist-ing on a review of the apex courtorder seem to be playing vote-bankpolitics. It will do no good to theimage of the Modi Government toplay footsie with Dalit radicalsand not condemn violence andkillings on a fake Dalit cause.

M RatanVia email

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Sir — This refers to the report,“Dalit rage singes India, 8 killed”(April 3). It is unfortunate that vote-bank politics has stooped politicalparties so low that none of themhave the courage to support the jus-tified verdict of the Supreme Courton Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of

Atrocities) Act.None of the State

Governments could mustercourage to prevent miscreantsfrom indulging in violence or pre-vent heavy loss to public proper-ty during the Bharat Bandh calledagainst the apex court’s verdict. Itwas complete failure of constitu-tional provision gifted by BRAmbedkar which required theadministration to ensure compli-ance of judicial verdicts.

If those fighting for reserva-tion or political parties support-ing them have any respect for BRAmbedkar, they should ask for theabolition of reservation whichhas been spreading hatredamongst the society by alienatingpersons of reserved categoriesfrom the normal society.

SC AgrawalDelhi

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Sir — This refers to the article,“Welcome, China’s President forlife” (April 2) by GarimaMaheshwari. A resurgent China haschosen its way, why should a deca-dent West want to impose its styleof governance where people haveto tolerate an alliance of corruptpoliticians and bureaucrats?Unfortunately, Indian pseudo-lib-erals seek to impose this decadentculture because of the perks asso-ciated with such systems. Indiashould evolve its own system ofgovernance based ancient systemsand Dharma.

Ashok Mehta Via web

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No one should be surprised atthe headlines in newspa-pers and prime-time telev-

sion channels that the currentWinter Session of Parliament isheading towards a washout. This isthe 12th straight session wasted sofar. In fact, we have been seeingalmost the same headlines at theclose of every Parliament session inthe past two decades. People arebecoming disenchanted with theMPs for not doing their duties.

What are the functions andduties of an elected Member ofParliament? There are four impor-tant functions: Budget scrutiny,protecting the interests of the con-stituents, function as a watchdogover the Government and above all,

making laws. Are they performing their

duties for which they have beenelected? This belligerence is not per-taining to the Congress-ledOpposition now as the BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP) too was doing thesame thing when it was in theOpposition.

While the Government blamesthe Opposition, the latter blamesthe BJP for not reaching out tothem. Congress president RahulGandhi in a rally in Karnataka onMarch 25 said, “In Parliament, a no-confidence motion against the ModiGovernment has been moved. Forthe past 10 days it has been stalledbecause the Government is afraid”.

Hence, the blame-game contin-ues. While political parties used tokeep up pretensions that they werewilling to work, it was clear from dayone that neither the Government northe Opposition had any intention ofallowing the Parliament to functionduring this session.

Significantly, this is the firsttime the Narendra Modi

Government is facing a no-confi-dence motion brought separately bythe Congress, the Telugu DesamParty (TDP) and the TelanganaRashtra Samithi (TRS). The AllIndia Anna Dravida MunnetraKazhagam (AIADMK) is threaten-ing to bring another.

Both the presiding officers hadbeen pleading with the members toallow the House to function but tono avail. The Chairman of RajyaSabha M Venkaiah Naidu lament-ed, “ I am filled with sadness at thedisorder, indiscipline and inappro-priate conduct in the House”.

Naidu made several appeals tothe members, asking them not tofurther erode the “quality of poli-ty”. He finally succeeded in makingthe Rajya Sabha bid farewell to 60retiring members last week. LokSabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajanhad no such success.

The Upper House was onlyable to pass the Payment of Gratuity(Amendment) Bill 2017, while theLok Sabha cleared the Finance Bill2018 without any discussion,

including a �89 crore spendingplan for the next fiscal year in lessthan half an hour.

The House passed the 21amendments for taxation proposalsin the Bill by a voice vote and alsothe appropriation Bill containingthe budgetar y plans for 99Government departments andMinistries.The Opposition blockedthe Government in both Houses onvarious issues. Mainly, the fourregional parties from the south —AIADMK, TRS, YSR Congress andTDS — supported by the otheropposition parties stal led the business.

Every day as soon as the Housebegan its proceedings, 37 AIADMKmembers trooped into the well ofthe House, demanding setting up ofthe Cauvery Water ManagementBoard as ordered by the SupremeCourt. The TRS wanted its 12 percent reservation for Muslims in the State to be notified underNinth Schedule.

TDS, an ally of the NationalDemocratic Alliance (NDA), after

quitting the alliance last month,became more belligerent, demand-ing special status for AndhraPradesh as promised at the time ofthe bifurcation of the State in 2014.Not to be outdone, the YSRCongress too is demanding thesame and both parties have sepa-rately given a no-confidence motionagainst the Modi Government.

Politically, it is not unexpectedin view of the upcoming Assemblyelection to Karnataka where boththe Congress and the BJP areengaged in direct fight.

As for the AIADMK, it is com-petitive local politics which is play-ing out in Parliament. Same is thecase with TDP and YSRC. The TRSis indeed playing to the tune of itshome constituency. Losing onemore Session does not auger wellfor the Government as well as theOpposition. There are many issueswhich are important, like the agrar-ian crisis, the Nirav Modi-PNBscam, Iraq issue, CambridgeAnalytica data sale, Ramnavamiclashes in West Bengal and Bihar

and so on. Certainly, it is for the

Government to ensure that businessis transacted in both Houses and itmust reach out to the Opposition.But the Opposition too has aresponsibilities to debate, discussand expose the Government.

Right now, the relationshipbetween the Government and theOpposition has completely brokendown. The Government should alsonote the growing north-south divide,with the southern States complain-ing of a stepmotherly treatment.

If this continues, the people ofthe country may no longer havetrust in politicians, who theybelieve, are taking them for a ride.They are already disenchanted withthe political class with the increas-ing number of NOTA votes in theballot paper indicating their anger.Parliament is a temple of democra-cy and if this breaks down, thedemocracy will also be shattered.

(The writer is (The writer is asenior political commentator andsyndicated columnist)

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The news shared by the IndianCellular Association (ICA) aboutIndia replacing Vietnam to

become the world’s second largestmobile phone producer in the world in2017 by accounting for 11 per cent of theglobal mobile production — up fromthree per cent in 2014 — may just be thebeginning of new and exciting trends inIndia’s growth as a manufacturing hub.Much of the success can be attributed toGovernment’s singular focus to promotethe manufacturing sector in the coun-try through its flagship programme,Make in India, to make India a globalhub for manufacturing, research andinnovation and an integral part of theglobal supply chain.

As it is known that economicgrowth and enhanced standards of liv-ing are positively correlated with nation-al industrial activity and that growth ingross domestic product (GDP) is posi-tively related to the growth of thenation’s manufacturing sector, India’squest to increase the share of manufac-turing in its GDP from the current 16per cent to 25 per cent by 2025 is mov-ing in the right direction. However,there’s still a long way to go before westart investing strategically in technicaleducation, training and skill develop-ment; devise favourable policies andallow access to cheap capital to attractglobal manufacturing giants to set uptheir bases in India.

Average wages in China have risenby 80 per cent since 2010, thereby mak-ing manufacturing of goods four per centcheaper than in the US; forcing the coun-try to abdicate low-cost manufacturingand move into medium to high-techmanufacturing — such moves arebacked by the Chinese Government.This transition of China has openedspaces for other countries like Malaysia,India, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam,collectively known as MITI-V, to moveinto its shoes and take its position as alow-cost manufacturer.

India, in particular, is a strong con-tender to be the next top hub for low-cost manufacturing due to its manufac-turing competitiveness like young pop-ulation, low labour costs, a supportivepolicy environment, good quality infra-structure, availability of engineers, min-imum level of education for all workers,economic growth and large internalmarket of 1.2 billion consumers. Sincethe launch of Make in India, severalcompanies have set up their manufac-turing base in India, like Chinese elec-tronics giant Huawei that has startedmanufacturing at a facility in Tamil Naduand Foxconn, the Apple supplier, whichis opening a $10 billion iPhone manu-facturing plant in India.

India should quickly move to estab-lish itself as a global manufacturing hub.First, policies in the country have to befavourable to give a boost to Make inIndia initiative. The framework for spe-

cial economic zones (SEZs) have to becompletely revamped to make the entry,exit and operations with the SEZ easi-er, including exemption from the min-imum alternate tax (MAT) for industriesin these zones and boosting exports bysimplifying the procedures. Recentefforts to reduce the minimum arearequired from 25 hectares to fourhectares for the establishment of sector-specific SEZs, such as biotechnology,non-conventional energy equipment,agro-based food processing and servicesin the North-Eastern States, Goa, Jammu& Kashmir, Uttarakhand and the UnionTerritories is also a welcome move.

The 2018 Budget, which saw a risein customs duty rates for many items, inaddition to a new surcharge referred toas ‘social welfare surcharge’ on import-ed goods, which is levied at 10 per centon basic customs duties, shows a clearpolicy shift to incentivise domesticmanufacturing. With this new levy, thedecade-old education cess has been abol-ished and the cumulative customs dutyrate for standard goods has gone up from30.15 per cent to 30.98 per cent. Basiccustom duty on many goods, includingmobile phones, car, television and pack-aged foods, basic customs duty has beenincreased by five per cent to 10 per cent,in a move to make manufacturing inIndia more lucrative for businessesespecially in certain sectors like food pro-cessing, electronics, auto components,footwear and furniture. Make in Indiaand ease of doing business are two ini-tiatives that are inseparable.

In order to make India a manufac-turing hub, trade facilitation, automationand digitisation should be enhanced bythe Government. The Finance Minister

has empowered the board to providespecific relaxation to a specified class ofimporters/exporters/ goods in the arenaof digital documentation, expeditiouscustoms clearance to reduce the time andcost of clearance of goods.

Second, the success of Make in Indiadepends on skilling India to a largeextent. The unbeatable advantage ofdemographic dividend, where morethan half of its population is below 25years of age, can be realised if the youthhave the skills to be employed. It is a hugechallenge for the Government to devel-op skill-based workforce to drive theMake in India initiative and create a ded-icated Ministry of Skill Development &Entrepreneurship to restructure voca-tional training structure.

The Government has set a target toskill 500 million people by 2022. We canlearn from Malaysia, China andSingapore, where the workforce wasskilled to cater to the requirements forthe nations’ economic developmentthrough strategic Government interven-tions. As a solution, the industry shouldcome forward and involve themselveswith vocational training colleges todevelop a skilled labour pool by engag-ing in setting standards for curriculumand certification testing which willensure that all entry-level workers havethe skill needed to perform the job.

Third, the Indian manufacturing islabour intensive and lacks automation.Relying on labour and using non-st-andard automation leads to more labourissues and lower quality levels. To gainglobal recognition in manufacturing,steps should be taken to improve pro-ductivity. A 15-20 per cent productivi-ty can be achieved by redefining the pr-

ocesses like changes in the plant layout,de-bottlenecking and efficient line bal-ancing and another 15-20 per cent pr-oductivity can be accomplished by str-uctural changes in smart automation.

Fourt, supply chains in our countryare largely inefficient. An array of infra-structure and transportation bottle-necks lead to an increased inventoryacross the value chain. This is also thereason why many Western companiesdo not integrate their Indian plants intotheir global networks and use themmainly to serve domestic markets. Indiashould take help of its highly evolved ITindustry to build custommade enterpriseresource planning tools cost-effectivelyto manage complex supply chains,reduce inventory and become more lean.

Finally, Indian small and medium-sized suppliers, many times, with lim-ited engineering and process capabil-ities, fail to provide high-quality prod-ucts. The Government should provideincentives to original equipment man-ufacturers to build quality into theirdesigns. Growth in manufacturing iscrucial for India’s economic develop-ment. India has to create a manufac-turing sector with the capability to gen-erate large-scale employment to caterto its growing young population.

The Government has to focus onremoving the challenges affecting theIndian manufacturing industry and de-velop robust infrastructure and policieswhich will have a positive impact on thefactors of production like land, labour,electricity, technology, transport, cost ofcapital and cost of borrowing to makeMake in India initiative successful.

(The writer is Assistant Professor,Amity University)

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Sugar output increased 49 percent to 28.18 million tonne

(MT) so far in 2017-18 mar-keting year, but mills are unableto make cane payment to grow-ers owing to low prices, indus-try body ISMA said onTuesday.

Consequently, total canearrears are estimated to havereached Rs 16,200 crore as onMarch 31 of the current mar-keting year (October-September). Of this, UttarPradesh has maximum arrearsat Rs 7,200 crore, it added.

Indian Sugar MillsAssociation (ISMA) has peggedsugar output at 29.5 MT in2017-18 marketing year, asagainst 20.3 MT last year.

“Considering lower sugarrealisation from domestic salesas well as depressed globalsugar market, sugar mills are

unable to generate sufficientfunds for payment of caneprice to farmers on time,”ISMA said in a statement.

The domestic ex-mill priceof sugar has crashed and is hov-ering at about Rs 3,000 perquintal, about Rs 500-600 perquintal below the cost of pro-duction, due to an unexpectedsurplus availability, it said.

Moreover, the world sugarmarket is depressed andimporters are quoting USD350 per tonne FOB (freight onboard) for Indian sugar even asthe Centre has allowed exportof 2 MT, it added.

As per the latest ISMAdata, mills have produced 28.18MT sugar till March of thismarketing year as against 18.88MT in the year-ago period.

While sugar production inMaharashtra increased to 10.12MT, Uttar Pradesh recorded9.54 MT output and Karnataka3.55 MT. These are top threesugar producing states in thecountry.

ISMA said 193 mills out of534 have stopped crushingoperations and the remaining331 were functioning tillMarch-end. Few more mills inMaharashtra and Karnatakamight end crushing in a cou-ple of days.

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The Reserve Bank is unlike-ly to yield to the India

Inc’s pressure for a benignmonetary policy stance bykeeping policy rates unchangedin its first monetary policyreview of 2018-19 to beannounced on Thursdayagainst the backdrop of hard-ening global crude oil prices.

This would also be the firstmonetary policy announce-ment after the Budget, whichhas slightly deviated from thefiscal consolidation roadmap.

The six-member MonetaryPolicy Committee (MPC),headed by RBI Governor UrjitPatel, is to meet on April 4 and5.

Pressure has been mount-ing on the Reserve Bank ofIndia (RBI) to cut interest ratesin the wake of declining retailinflation and the need to fuelgrowth momentum.

However, the RBI will haveto do a tightrope walk as glob-ally interest rates are inchingupwards.

Last month, the US FederalReserve raised interest rates bya quarter of a percentage pointand signalled that it is on trackto raise rates two more times in2018.

Besides, the RBI has to takeinto consideration the rise incrude oil prices which tem-porarily touched USD 70 perbarrel.

Industry body Ficci haspitched for a benign stance inthe monetary policy forstrengthening the revival signsin the economy.

“Over the last few months,

the signs of economic recoveryare visible, but there is a needto further push the growthlevers to see a complete turn-around in manufacturing andenable investments to reach fullscale,” the industry chambersaid.

According to KotakMahindra Life Insurance fundmanager Kunal Shah, MPCcommittee will highlight risksof inflation inching towards 5per cent mark in 2018-19 spe-cially due to MSP hikes andgradual closing of output gap.

MPC members could takesome comfort if monsoon per-formance is good and prices areseen at moderate levels.

“We think MPC will onlybe able to adopt hawkish stanceif inflation surprises towards5.5 per cent by year end andlikelihood of which are mini-mal today,” he said.

“We expect the MPC tokeep policy rates on hold andmaintain its neutral stance,”analysts at American brokerageMorgan Stanley said in a note.

Bank of America Merill

Lynch (BofAML) also echoedthe view, but added that itexpects a rate cut in the Augustreview if the monsoon isfavourable.

“We expect the RBI MPCto strike a balanced tone onApril 5, with March quarterinflation set to average 4.6 percent, 0.50 per cent below their5.1 per cent forecast,” it said.

After surging to a con-cerning 5.2 per cent inDecember, the headline infla-tion cooled off to 5.07 per centin January and further to 4.4per cent in February.

Other industry chamberAssocham is of the view thatthe central bank would opt forstatus quo as the government’sbudget announcement to pro-vide farmers 1.5-times of min-imum support price (MSP) fortheir produce may jack upinflation.

“This would leave very lit-tle leeway for the RBI to cutrates in this monetary policyand hence we expect the RBI tokeep the key interest ratesunchanged,” Assocham said in

a statement.Currently, repo rate — the

short term lending rate atwhich RBI lends to banks —stands at 6 per cent.Consequently, the reverse reporate is 5.75 per cent and themarginal standing facility(MSF) rate and the bank ratestand at 6.25 per cent.

According to KotakMahindra Bank, the RBI isexpected to be on an extendedpause as inflation is likely toremain close to 4.5 per centduring 2018-19.

“We expect the RBI’sMonetary Policy Committee(MPC) to maintain status quoas it awaits clarity on monsoon,sustainability of high crude oilprices post the winter squeeze,and global financial condi-tions,” it said in a note.

The MPC has two otherrepresentatives from RBI —Deputy Governor ViralAcharya and ExecutiveDirector Michael DebabrataPatra. The three external mem-bers are: Chetan Ghate, PamiDua and Ravindra Dholakia.

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India’s first smart and greenhighway, the Eastern

Peripheral Expressway (EPE),which consumed 5 lakh tonneof cement and 1 lakh tonne ofsteel, will be inaugurated byPrime Minister NarendraModi this month, Union min-ister Nitin Gadkari said onTuesday.

The Prime Minister willdedicate to the nation the 135-km six-lane access-controlledexpressway, built at a cost ofnearly Rs 11,000 crore todecongest the national capitalalong with the first phase ofDelhi-Meerut Expressway.

The EPE is equipped withsmart and intelligent highwaytraffic management system(HTMS) and video incidentdetection system (VIDS)besides a closed tolling systemin which the collections will bemade only on the distancetravelled and not on the entirelength and would be lit withsolar lights.

“The Eastern PeripheralExpressway will be inaugurat-ed by Prime Minister thismonth and will set a bench-mark in highway construc-tion by being environment-friendly with world-class safe-ty features and smart/interac-tive infrastructure,” RoadTransport, Highways,Shipping, Water Resources andGanga Rejuvenation MinisterGadkari told reporters here.

The greenfield project,whose foundation stone was

laid by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on November5, 2015, will divert an esti-mated 2 lakh vehicles passingthrough the national capitaldaily to this bypass, bringingdown pollution.

The minister said that thecost of construction alone forthe project was 4,420 crore.

“This will be a fully accesscontrolled six-lane express-way and entry and exit will bethrough designated inter-changes only. There will beclosed tolling system and thetoll will be collected only onthe distance travelled and noton the entire length. Toll plazaswill be equipped withElectronic Toll Collection(ETC) system for faster toll col-lection and uninterrupted trav-el experience,” he said.

The minister claimed thatthe project is going to be com-pleted in a record time ofabout 500 days against a targetof 910 days. He said it isdesigned to check pollutionand will help in decongestingDelhi and its adjoining area asno commercial vehicle (whichis not destined for Delhi) canenter Delhi.

“This is the first express-way in the country with solarpower for lighting on the entireexpressway. There are 8 solarpower plants on this express-way having a capacity of 4000-kilo watt (4 MW). For planta-tion, drip irrigation has beenused in the central median aswell as for avenue plantation,”he said.

The interchanges havebeen developed architectural-ly with beautiful plantationmerged with fountains and 28fountains have been installed,the Minister said adding,about 1.5 crore cum fly ash hasbeen used in the project andabout 20,000 trucks of earthwere carried out in a single dayto expedite project.

Besides 1.5 cr cu m of flyash was carried out from thenearest plants of Dadri,

Badarpur, Panipat etc and 5lakh tonne of cement and onelakh tonne of steel has beenused in the project.

Apart from HighwayTraffic Management System(HTMS) that includesVariable Message Signs (VMS)CCTV, Video IncidentDetection System (VIDS),Warning Devices, Over SpeedChecking System, Weigh-in-Motion, PavementManagement Systems and

Fiber Optic Network, it willhave real time incident man-agement.

Along the expressway,wayside amenities are beingdeveloped at six locationswhich will have the facility ofpetrol pumps, motels, restareas, wash rooms, restau-rants, shops, repair services etc.to cater the various needs ofthe expressway users, he saidadding a total of about 2.5 lakhtrees will be planted as green

belt.Besides rainwater harvest-

ing in the project, “Thirty sixmonuments like Ashoka lion,Konark Temple, JaliyanwalaBagh, Ashoka Chakra,Gateway of India, QutabMinar, Char Minar, Lal Quila,Kirti Stambh, India Gate andHawa Mahal have beeninstalled.

The project had earlierfaced resistance from farmersover land and other issueswhich have since been solvedby giving higher compensa-tion.

The Supreme Court hasdirected police chiefs of UttarPradesh and Haryana to pro-vide adequate security forexpeditious completion of theproject. About the Delhi-Meerut Expressway, he said thefirst phase of the expressway —from Nizamuddin bridge toDelhi-UP border — will beinaugurated along with EPEand the project has verticalgardens with solar system onthe Yamuna Bridge on thisexpressway. “This is the firstbridge in the country/worldthat have vertical gardens withsolar power system and dripirrigation. Beautiful lightingsystem has also been devel-oped on the major structures,”he said.

The minister said a cycletrack of 2.5 metre has also beenconstructed on both the sidesof this expressway, which alsohas provision of 1.5 metreFootpath on each side forpedestrians.

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India will adopt global normsfor calculating highways con-

struction from this fiscal afterhitting a record 26.92 km roadbuilding per day in FY2017-18,which as per international stan-dards is 94.18 lane km, Unionminister Nitin Gadkari saidtoday.A record 9,829 km ofhighways were constructed in2017-18 which comes to 26.92km of roads per day while theroad awards stood at 17,055 kmin the just concluded fiscal,thus witnessing about two-foldsand five-folds increase in con-struction and awards of roadsrespectively.

“We are adopting interna-tional norms for highways con-struction from this fiscal. Theministry has so far been calcu-lating construction of NationalHighways in linear length,which means there is no differ-ence between 1 km of 2-lanewith paved shoulders and 1 kmwith 6-lanes and service roads,”Road Transport, Highways,Shipping, Water Resources andGanga Rejuvenation MinisterGadkari told reporters here.

This is not as per interna-tionally adopted norms andthe correct position is capturedthrough counting of lane km,Gadkari said. “Internationally,

one standard lane width in theUS is 3.7 metres, it variesbetween 2.75 to 3.25 metres inEurope and 3.5 metres inGermany. As per Indian stan-dards, the width of one lane isprescribed as 3.5 metres,” theminister elaborated. He saidgoing by international norms,India constructed 34,378 lanekm of highways in 2017-18which comes to 94.18 lane kma day last fiscal. This in linearlength wise comes to 26.92 kma day and 9,829 km in the year.

From this fiscal, the min-istry will follow internationalnorms to calculate constructionof highways - lane km, he said.

The minister said the awardof highways was barely 3,620km in 2013-14 while construc-tion was 4,260 km.

Of the 9,829 km construct-ed last fiscal, the ministrythrough state PWDs awarded6,167 km while NHAI andNHIDCL shares stood at 3,071km and 591 km, respectively. Ofthe total awards of 17,055 km,the share of ministry, NHAI andNHIDCL stood at 8,651 km,7,397 km and 1,006 km, respec-tively.

He said the ministry spentRs 1.16 lakh crore on highwaysconstruction in the last fiscal ofwhich Rs 50,385 crore was theIEBR raised by the NHAI.

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The KUSUM scheme, withover Rs 50,000 crore gov-

ernment support to promotethe use of solar power amongfarmers, is likely to get theCabinet nod by this month endand will be rolled out in thefirst half this fiscal, a seniorofficial said on Tuesday.

“The KUSUM (Kisan UrjaSuraksha Evam UtthaanMahaabhiyan) Scheme is like-ly to be placed before UnionCabinet for consideration andapproval by this month end.We would be able to implementthe scheme in first half of thisfiscal,” New and RenewableEnergy Secretary AnandKumar told reporters here atthe launch of TERI year book.

He said that under therevised draft of the scheme tobe placed before the Cabinet,the amount of central govern-ment assistance has beenenhanced from earlier pro-posal.

Under the scheme, thegovernment plans to incen-

tivise farmers to run solar farmwater pumps and use barrenland for generating power forextra income — up to Rs60,000 per acre every year.

At present, farmers earnabout Rs 30,000 per acre annually from conven-tional wheat and paddy rota-tion, after deducting inputcosts.

As per the initial proposalthe total cost of the capacitiesunder this scheme was esti-mated at Rs 1.4 lakh crore.

The Centre’s contributionwas proposed at Rs 48,000

crore under the scheme to aidtotal solar power generationcapacity of 28,250 MW over thenext 10 years.

Talking about the govern-ment’s ambition of having 40per cent of the energy mix fromnon-fossil fuels, Kumar saidthat India would have half ofthe installed power generationcapacity from non-fossils orrenewables like solar, windand hydro.

Apart from 175 GWrenewable energy target fromsources including solar, windand hydro, 10 GW each wouldcome from offshore windpower and floating solar pro-ject taking the total clean ener-gy capacity to 195 GW by2022, he said.

Kumar further stated thatunder the new hydro policy, thelarge hydro projects (above 25MW) would also be broughtunder the definition of renew-ables and therefore, Indiawould achieve around 250 GWclean energy by 2022 whichwould be almost half of 520GW installed capacity planned

till that time.Talking about clean ener-

gy auctions he said that high-est ever 12 GW of wind ener-gy and 20GW of solar energyprojects were tendered last fis-cal.

India plans to auction 20GW of solar and 10 GW ofwind energy in the current fis-cal and same capacities wouldbe auctioned next fiscal also.Thus India would complete theauctions of the planned capac-ities by March 2020 in view 18months long implementationperiod of these projects.

Kumar said India’s renew-able energy capacity excludinglarge hydro has increased to 68GW by the end of March thisyear compared to 57 GW lastyear around this time.

On this occasion, Kumaralso said that TERI andMinistry of New andRenewable Energy woulddevelop a portal to provideonline data about renewableenergy on real time basis andmodalities for this would soonwe worked out.

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There is no definite proposal for a new drug pol-icy before the government at present though

some stakeholders have discussed the basic con-tents that should go into a draft pharma policy,Parliament was informed today.

This was in reply to a question whether the gov-ernment is proposing to formulate a new drug pol-icy.

“At present there is no concrete proposal of anew drug policy at government level,” Minister ofState for Chemicals and Fertilisers Mansukh LMandaviya said in his reply to the Lok Sabha.

A discussion draft eliciting the basic contentsthat should go into a draft pharmaceutical policywas discussed amongst some stakeholders, headded.

Some of the issues that were discussed are“making essential drugs accessible at affordableprices to the common masses and providing alonger term stable policy environment for the phar-maceutical sector,” Mandaviya said.

The stakeholders also discussed ways to makeIndia sufficiently self -reliant in end to endindigenous drug manufacturing and ensuringworld class quality of drugs for domestic con-sumption and exports, he added.

Other issues discussed were “creating an envi-ronment for research and development to produceinnovator drugs and ensuring growth and devel-opment to Indian pharma industry,” Mandaviyasaid.

It was a preliminary discussion and no time-line has been fixed in this regard, he added.

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The government will soon shiftDirectorate General of Safeguards

(DGS) to Commerce Ministry as partof its plan to create a single authorityfor imposing trade remedies to protectdomestic industry.

DGS is under the finance ministry.As per the plan, the government

would merge DGS with the DirectorateGeneral of Antidumping and AlliedDuties (DGAD), the investigatingarm of commerce ministry, to stream-line the process of imposing traderemedies.

Trade remedies which includeantidumping, countervailing and safe-guard duties are allowed under glob-al trade norms to guard domesticindustries from significant imports orcheap inbound shipments.

“By merging the two DirectorateGenerals, the government wants to cre-ate a single point contact which canconduct investigations related to inter-national trade and remedial duties,” anofficial told PTI.

The official said the shifting ofDGS to the commerce ministry willhappen “very soon, definitely by end-

June”.Under the Goods and Services Tax

(GST) regime, DGS has also beenentrusted to investigate complaints ofprofiteering.

The investigating agency submitsits reports to the National Anti-prof-iteering Authority, which then takes itsown view and decides on the penalty.

Once DGS is shifted to the com-merce ministry, the directorate generalwill be renamed and will continue tobe under the Department of Revenuein the finance ministry to carry outprofiteering investigations.

“It could be renamed asDirectorate General of Anti-Profiteering or GST Anti-ProfiteeringInvestigation wing. A final decision willbe taken by the finance ministry,” theofficial added.

Currently, DGAD conducts probeinto allegations of cheap imports, bydomestic industries.

If established that dumping hascaused material injury to domesticplayers, it recommends imposition ofanti-dumping or countervailing duty.

While DGAD recommends theduties, the finance ministry imposesthe same.

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The UIDAI on Tuesday saidit does not have informa-

tion about bank accounts,health records, or financialand property details of Aadhaarholders, and “will never have”such details in its database.

The Aadhaar-issuing bodysaid that its database containsonly minimum details of thebiometric ID holders, includ-ing select demographic infor-mation.

Seeking to dispel any pos-sible misgivings about UIDAIever tracking activities of indi-viduals with the data it has, theauthority said, “rest assured,UIDAI does not have yourinformation about bankaccounts, shares, mutual funds,financial and property details,health records, family, caste,religion and education etc andwill never have this informa-tion in its database”.

In a public outreach, theUnique IdentificationAuthority of India (UIDAI)issued detailed FAQs orFrequently Asked Questions innational dailies, where itaddressed about a dozenqueries pertaining to concernsover data safety, profiling, andAadhaar’s link with bankaccounts and mobile numbers.

Citing the Aadhaar Act,

UIDAI said that its provisionsspecifically prohibit it fromcontrolling, collecting, keepingor maintaining any informationabout the purpose of authenti-cation either on its own orthrough any entity.

“Aadhaar is an identifier,not a profiling tool,” it reiter-ated.

The move comes at a timewhen the Constitution Benchof the Supreme Court is hear-ing a clutch of petitions chal-lenging the Aadhaar Act andthe use of biometric identifierin various government andnon-government services.

UIDAI CEO Ajay BhushanPandey last month made apresentation in the SupremeCourt to defend the govern-ment’s ambitious Aadhaarscheme.

UIDAI further said that ituses “advanced security tech-nologies” to safeguard dataand also keeps upgrading themto meet new security threatsand challenges.

Stating that Aadhaar hasarmed the common man witha credible identity, UIDAIclaimed that the 12-digit bio-metric identifier today “inspiresmore confidence and trustthan any other identity docu-ment in India”.

It has also clarified thatdenial of services for lack of

Aadhaar or failure of verifica-tion for technical reasons,should immediately be broughtto the notice of the higherauthorities in the departmentsconcerned, and termed denialsof such nature as “unlawful”.

The UIDAI said that link-ing of Aadhaar to bankaccounts would help weed outaccounts being operated byfraudsters, criminals andmoney launderers.

Moreover, it would benefitthe Aadhaar holder directly asa verified bank account wouldlead to secure banking, andprevent frauds.

It went on to argue thatAadhaar number alone doesnot make it possible for some-one to hack an account andsaid the “bank account is safeif you dont part with yourPIN/OTP (One Time pass-word) given by banks”.

Similarly, it said that veri-fication of mobile numberswith the biometric identifierwould help weed out numbersthat are being operated byfraudsters, and criminals.

“It has been found thatmost criminals and terroristsget SIM cards issued in ficti-tious name and even real peo-ple without their knowledgeand use them in committingfrauds and crime,” UIDAIsaid.

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The UIDAI has unveiled the beta version of themuch-awaited ‘Virtual ID’, and promised that

service providers will “soon” start accepting thesame in lieu of Aadhaar number.

In the beta form, users can generate theirVirtual ID and use it to update address in Aadhaaronline for the time being, according to UIDAIwhich announced the Virtual ID concept earli-er this year to address privacy concerns.

Put simply, the new feature will allowAadhaar holders to quote their Virtual ID (VID)number without actually disclosing the 12-digitAadhaar number for authentication or verifica-tion purposes.

“...Soon, service providers will start accept-ing VID in place of Aadhaar number. For now,you can use this for online address update in yourAadhaar,” the Unique Identification Authority ofIndia (UIDAI) said in a recent tweet.

The tweet urges the users to generate theirVIDs and gives a link of Aadhaar website for thesame.

In January this year, UIDAI announcedplans to introduce ‘Virtual ID’ feature which anAadhaar-card holder can generate from its web-site and give for various purposes, including SIMverification, instead of sharing the actual 12-digitbiometric ID.

The VID, which is a random 16-digit num-ber mapped to a person’s Aadhaar number,together with biometrics of the user would giveany authorised agency like a mobile company, lim-ited details such as name, address and photograph,which are enough for any verification. The VIDeffectively gives the users, the option of not shar-ing Aadhaar number at the time of authentica-tion. UIDAI had stated that it will be compulso-ry for all agencies that undertake authenticationto accept the Virtual ID from their users from June1, 2018.

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India has the potential toinnovate on the lines of

Silicon Valley but it needs to domore for expanding the inno-vation ecosystem as it aspires tobecome a middle income coun-try, World Bank India headJunaid Kamal Ahmad said onTuesday. He said what drivesproductivity is pertinent whenit comes to innovation and is avery relevant question for Indiaas it seeks to move up the lad-der from low middle income tohigh income country.

Releasing a World Bankreport on innovation in devel-oping countries, he said: “Ithink we can do a Silicon Valleyin India in the next five years..asthe world is changing, we canleapfrog.

“I believe firm size, firmcapability and innovation havea strong relationship. Moreneeds to be done in the inno-vation ecosystem in Indiawhere firms continue to remainstagnant.”

In developing countries,the concept of national inno-vation system must be expand-ed, said the World Bank ChiefEconomist for EquitableGrowth, Finance andInstitutions, William F

Maloney.According to the report,

investments for innovationoften consist of marginalimprovements in process orproducts, rather than signifi-cant technology adoption ornew product imitation.

“They very rarely involvefrontier research...if a firm (orcountry) invests in innovationbut cannot also import thenecessary technology, contractor hire trained workers andengineers, or draw on neworganisational techniques, thereturns to that investment willbe low.” Returns from invest-ments in research and devel-opment (R&D) rise initially, butlack of complementary factorsover time result in their decline,the report said.

“The policy maker’s con-ception of the national inno-vation system (NIS) must gobeyond the usual institutionsand policies designed to offsetstandard innovation-relatedmarket failures. The scope ofthe NIS must include broadercomplementary factors andsupporting institutions,” itadded. Further, innovationcannot be supply driven, theremust be demand from firmsthat have the capabilities toinnovative.

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Indian equities after tradingrange-bound for a better

part of Tuesday’s session final-ly ended higher, with bankingshares leading the way after theRBI allowed lenders to spreadprovisions for bond losses overthe next four quarters.

Both benchmark indicesSensex and Nifty managed toclose higher for the secondstraight session following afag-end rush for buying stocks.

The 30-share Sensex endedwith a gain of 115.27 points andthe broader Nifty closed 33.20points higher.

Besides banks, auto, PSUand power stocks led the rallyon bourses, despite weak glob-al cues.

Banking shares gained afterthe Reserve Bank allowedlenders to spread provisions forbond losses in the third andfourth quarters of the previousfiscal over the next four quar-ters. Also, the appreciatingrupee against the US dollarsupported the market uptrend.

“Market traded range-bound throughout the day dueto volatility in the global mar-ket. But towards the close,pace picked up supported bymoderation in yield andgrowth in core sector. Yielddeclined amid central bankallowing the banks to spreadtheir bond trading losses whichgave a positive sentiment tobanking stocks...,” Vinod Nair,Head of Research, GeojitFinancial Services Ltd, said.

Investors are graduallyshifting focus to upcoming Q4results and RBI policy outcomewhich will dictate the marketoutlook in the near term, headded.

The Sensex on Tuesdayresumed lower and slippedfurther to hit a low of 33,153.83on a bearish trend in otherAsian markets, trackingovernight losses at the WallStreet on weakness in technol-ogy shares and trade tensionbetween the US and China.

Later towards the fag-end,it staged a comeback to recov-er losses to scale a day’s high of33,402.94, before settling115.27 points, or 0.35 per cent,higher at 33,370.63.

The gauge had gained286.68 points in the first session

of the new fiscal on Monday.The 50-share Nifty after

moving between 10,171.05 and10,255.35 on alternate bouts ofselling and buying, concluded33.20 points, or 0.33 per cent,higher at 10,245.

Meanwhile, domestic insti-tutional investors (DIIs) boughtshares worth a net Rs 413.16crore, while foreign portfolioinvestors (FPIs) sold sharesworth Rs 689.75 crore onMonday, provisional datareleased by the stock exchangesshowed.

Shares of Bank of Indiarose 3.11 per cent, followed bySyndicate Bank 2.75 per cent,Bank of Baroda 2.29 per cent,Indian Bank 2.44 per cent,UCO Bank 1.60 per cent, StateBank of India 1.60 per cent and

Bank of Maharashtra 1.82 percent on the BSE.

Other gainers were PowerGrid 1.93 per cent, BhartiAirtel 1.83 per cent, TataMotors 1.34 per cent, RelianceIndustries 0.68 per cent, AsianPaints 0.64 per cent and SunPharma 0.48 per cent.

Other banks like Yes Bank,IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank andKotak Bank also ended in thepositive zone, rising by up to2.11 per cent.

Among the losers were:Wipro 2.02 per cent, ONGC1.28 per cent, Adani Ports 0.86per cent, HDFC Bank 0.74 percent, Bajaj Auto 0.60 per cent,NTPC 0.47 per cent and L&T0.46 per cent on profit-book-ing. In the BSE sectoral pool,power index stayed on top, up1.57 per cent, followed byinfrastructure by 1.17 per cent,PSU by 1.11 per cent, bankexby 1.08 per cent, auto by 0.85per cent, healthcare by 0.67 percent, oil and gas 0.62 per cent,metal 0.49 per cent and realty0.48 per cent.

Broader markets beat thebenchmarks, with the small-cap index firming up 1.35 percent and mid-cap 0.92 percent. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei wasdown 0.45 per cent andShanghai’s Composite Indexshed 0.84 per cent, while HongKong’s Hang Seng gained 0.29per cent.

In the euro zone,Frankfurt’s DAX fell 1.41 percent, while Paris CAC shed 0.85per cent in early deals. London’sFTSE down 0.72 per cent.

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Facing al legat ions ofwrongdoing in the loan

extended to Videocon Group,ICICI Bank MD and CEOChanda Kochhar has pulledout of the annual session ofFICCI Ladies Organisation(FLO) to be held this week,where she was to be felicitat-ed by President Ram NathKovind, according to theorganiser.

Kochhar was to be theGuest of Honour at the April5 event and flyers sent out lastmonth mentioned her nameprominently.

However, the revised onessent out today did not carryher name.

“She was the guest ofhonour but she has backedout from the programme. Sonow she is no longer comingfor the event,” FLO ExecutiveDirector Rashmi Sarita toldPTI.

Sarita, however, did notsay as to why Kochhar haspulled out.

“Yes, she was to be (felic-itated), she was also the guestof honour. She just pulled out

from the programme,” sheadded.

FLO is the women busi-ness wing of the industryassociation, the Federation ofIndian Chambers ofCommerce and Industry(FICCI).

The CBI has launched apreliminary investigation intoRs 3,250 crore loan ICICIBank had extended toVideocon in 2012 and therole of Kochhar’s husband —Deepak Kochhar.

Reports have alleged thatVideocon chairmanVenugopal Dhoot investedRs 64 crore in Nu PowerRenewables, a firm owned byDeepak Kochhar af terVideocon secured a loanfrom a consortium of banks,including ICICI.

ICICI, India’s third-largest lender, has denied anywrongdoing in the loan, say-ing it was part of a consor-tium of lenders that extend-ed the facility to Videocon. Italso backed Kochhar saying“there is no question of anyquid pro quo/nepotism/con-flict of interest as is beingalleged in various rumours”.

Asked about the reasonsfor Kochhar pulling out at thelast moment, Sarita said shewas not sure as Kochhar’sof f ice cal led the day before Monday and said thatshe will not be able to gracethe event . Thereaf ter,Kochhar’s name was removedfrom the list.

The CBI has registered aPreliminary Enquiry and hasquestioned few ICICI bankofficials in the loan issue.

Agency officials said theyare also studying relevantdocuments of the transactionand the Kochhar couple canbe summoned for question-ing if any evidence of wrong-doing comes to light.

They said the statementsof nodal officers of the ICICIBank, who were part of pro-cessing the loan of about Rs3,250 crore, have beenrecorded as part of the PEregistered six weeks back.

A PE is a precursorbefore the agency lodges anFIR to probe criminal chargeson the basis of evidence col-lected during the formerexercise.

“President Ram Nath

Kovind will be the chief guestand deliver the keynoteaddress at the 34th Annualsession of FICCI LadiesOrganisation (FLO) thewomen business wing of theFederat ion of IndianChambers of Commerce andIndustry (FICCI) on April 5,2018, in New Delhi. ChandaKochhar, MD & CEO ofICICI Bank will be the Guestof Honour,” a statementissued by FLO had said onMarch 31.

It had stated that FLOwil l honour 10 IndianWomen Achievers with FLOICON AWARDS includingChanda Kochhar, ManagingDirector & CEO, ICICI Bankfor Banking & Finance; Aarti Vij, Chief of AIIMS’Organ Retrieval and

Banking Organisation(ORB O) for Health &Wellness; Ekta Kapoor, JointManaging Director andCreative Director of BalajiTelef i lms for MediaEntrepreneurship andTwinkle Khanna,Entrepreneurs, Author, FilmProducer, for ConscientiousCinema.

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Home buyers should betreated as financial credi-

tors which will allow them toequitably participate in aninsolvency resolution process,a high-level panel has recom-mended to the government.

The 14-member panel,headed by Corporate AffairsMinistry, has also suggestedrelaxations for Micro, Smalland Medium Enterprises(MSMEs) under the Insolvencyand Bankruptcy Code.

A slew of other changes tothe Code, which came intoforce in December 2016, hasalso been suggested by thepanel.

Constituted by theCorporate Affairs Ministry, thecommittee had the mandate toidentify and suggest ways toaddress issues faced in theimplementation of the Code.

In a detailed report, thepanel has recommended thathome buyers should be treat-ed as financial creditors owingto the unique nature of financ-ing in real estate projects andthe treatment of home buyersby the Supreme Court in ongo-

ing cases. “Notably, classifica-tion as financial creditorswould enable home buyers toparticipate equitably in theinsolvency resolution processunder the Code,” it added.

The recommendation,once implemented, would pro-vide relief for home buyers fac-ing hardships due to incom-plete real estate projects.

Some realty firms are fac-ing insolvency proceedings.

Under the Code, financialcreditor implies any person towhom a financial debt is owed.The financial debt can includemoney borrowed for interest.

According to the reportmade public by the ministry,the government should exemptMSMEs from application ofcertain provisions of the Code.“Illustratively, since usuallyonly promoters of an MSMEare likely to be interested inacquiring it, applicability of sec-tion 29A has been restrictedonly to disqualify wilfuldefaulters from bidding forMSMEs,” it noted.

Section 29A of the Codepertains to ineligibility criteriafor bidders.

Besides, the panel has sug-

gested that only those who con-tributed to defaults of the com-pany or are otherwise unde-sirable should be ineligiblefrom bidding for stressed assetsunder the Code.

“Moreover, being mindfulof the Non-Performing Assets(NPA) crisis in the country, theneed to encourage the marketfor NPAs was felt and accord-ingly several carve-outs fromsection 29A have been recom-mended for pure play financialentities.

“In order to prevent retro-spective application of any pro-posed change, it has been rec-ommended to add a provisionthat the amendments shall beapplicable to resolution appli-cants that have not submittedresolution plans as on date ofcoming into force of the saidamendment,” the report said.

Against the backdrop ofrising number of cases comingup under the Code, the com-mittee has recommended cer-tain measures to prevent pos-sible misuse.

In this regard, the provisionto provide for special resolutionpassed by the corporate debtor’sshareholders or resolution

cleared by at least three-fourthof the total number of partnersof the corporate debtor hasbeen recommended.

To provide for withdrawalof resolution application inexception circumstances, thepanel has suggested that in suchcases, there should be approvalfrom the Committee ofCreditors (CoC) with ninetyper cent of voting share.

“In order to facilitate suc-cessful implementation of theresolution plan by the suc-cessful bidder, it has been pro-posed to allow one year time toobtain necessary statutoryclearances from central, stateand other authorities or suchtime as specified in the relevantlaw, whichever is later,” thecommittee said.

In January, the Code wasamended to prevent unscrupu-lous persons from misusing thelaw. Wilful defaulters and thosewhose accounts have been clas-sified as non-performing assets,among others, are barred frombidding for stressed assets.

The Code provides formarket-determined and time-bound insolvency resolutionprocess.

MUMBAI: HersheyIndia Pvt Ltd, a well-known player in theconfectionery andchocolate sector, hasannounced theappointment of HerjitS Bhalla as the compa-ny’s new ManagingDirector. Herjit bringsextensive experiencein building consumer,food and retail brandsand is an accomplishedindustry leader.

Herjit has spentmore than 16 years in various sales and mar-keting, management roles at Unilever in India,Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus. In his last posi-tion, Herjit served on the Board of Directorswith Metro Cash & Carry handling operationsfor North and East India. Mr. Bhalla hasrepeatedly demonstrated his unique profi-ciency in effectively leading teams, turningaround and building businesses, drivingemployee engagement, and positively impact-ing revenue growth.

Commenting on his new role, Herjit said,“I feel honoured to be part of The HersheyCompany and its legacy of more than 120years. There is a lot of energy and a spirit ofenterprise at Hershey India. I look forwardto working closely with the teams and mak-ing a positive contribution toward the growthand progress of the company. I am confidentthat together we can take Hershey India to thenext level.”

Steven C Schiller, President, International,The Hershey Company, commented on theappointment, stating, "We are happy to wel-come Herjit into our Hershey Internationalleadership team. India is a key focus marketfor Hershey globally. I am confident that hisleadership will continue the growth path weare on in India as we continue to bring prod-ucts to market that consumers love.”

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Government auditor CAGhas detected under-reali-

sation of administrative chargesworth Rs 6.17 crore from estab-lishments at eight regionaloffices of retirement fund bodyEPFO, according to a report.

The under-realisation wasdetected after test checking ofrecords at the eight EPFOregional offices during January2015 to March 2017 period.

“Failure of eight regionaloffices of Employees’ ProvidentFund Organisation (EPFO) toverify dues remitted by theestablishments with referenceto the revised rate of adminis-trative charges on Employees’Deposit Link Insurance (EDLI)and Employees’ ProvidentFund resulted in short realisa-tion of Rs 6.17 crore during theperiod from January 2015 toMarch 2017,” stated aComptroller and AuditorGeneral (CAG) report tabled inParliament on

According to the report,the EPFO had revised rate ofadministrative charges forEDLI and EPF schemes fromJanuary 1, 2015. These chargesare deposited by the employersin the designated bank accountof the EPFO.

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The railways has registered ahealthy growth in revenues

from ticketing last fiscal despitecompetitive prices on offerfrom airlines and without rais-ing fares, official data shows.

In 2017-2018, the nation-al transporter earned Rs 50,000crore from passenger fare, anincrease of Rs 2551 crore over2016-2017. It has also record-ed a spurt in the number ofpassengers with a two per centgrowth in suburban railwayticketing and 6.3 per centgrowth in bookings throughPRS. Overall, the number ofpassengers travelling in trainshave increased from 8219.38

million in 2016-2017 to8267.32 million in 2017-2018,official data shows. The growthhas been registered despiteconcerns over the railways los-ing out on passengers due tothe dynamic pricing of airlinesand also due to the flexi-faresystem introduced in premiumtrains. However, that has notimpacted the transportermuch, officials said.

Flexi-fare scheme wasintroduced in September 2016in Rajdhani, Duronto andShatabdi trains. While, in 2016-2017, the total revenue in flexi-fare trains was Rs 1931.60crore with 13.73 million pas-sengers in 2017-2018 tillFebruary, it rose to 14.08 mil-

lion passengers and revenues ofRs 2,296.75 crore.

The average distance cov-ered by trains across the railwaynetwork has also grown from559 km in 2016-2017 to 566km in 2017-2018.

In terms of freight loadingtoo, the railways has shown apositive trend with an increasein all commodities. Coal load-ing has increased by 21.67 mil-lion tonne, containers by 6.82million tonne, cement by 10.1million tonne and steel by 4.79million tonne.

Overall, loading has seenan increase of 53.2 milliontonne with the total loading in2017-2018 being 1162 milliontonne.

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The government has askedPNB and probe agencies to

share details of the Rs 13,000crore scam with charteredaccountants’ apex body ICAI,which is looking into the sys-temic issues related to thefraud, an official said.

A high-level group consti-tuted by the Institute ofChartered Accountants of India(ICAI) is studying specificallythe systemic issues involved inPunjab National Bank fraudand would also suggest reme-dial measures for strengtheningthe banking system.

The 10-member panel,

which has met at least threetimes, is awaiting more infor-mation, ICAI President NaveenND Gupta said on Tuesday.

Speaking to reporters here,he said the government hasasked the bank, the CBI andEnforcement Directorate toshare information about thescam with the institute.

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Israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu on

Tuesday canceled an agree-ment with the United Nationsto resettle thousands of Africanmigrants, caving in to pressurefrom hawks in his coalitionwho opposed the deal becauseit would allow many othermigrants to remain in thecountry.

The startling turnarounddrew heavy criticism fromNetanyahu’s opponents andraised questions about theembattled Israeli leader’s deci-sion making processes.

Netanyahu proudlyannounced the deal with theUN refugee agency in a nation-ally televised news conferenceon Monday, saying it wouldbenefit Israel and the migrants.But after coalition hard-linersattacked him, he announcedlate in the evening that he wassuspending the arrangementin order to consult with resi-dents of south Tel Aviv. Veteranresidents of the working classarea, where the migrant popu-lation is concentrated, had felt

slighted by the deal.After meeting with resi-

dents on Tuesday, Netanyahusaid he had weighed the prosand cons and he “decided tocancel the agreement.”

Nationalist allies who dom-inate Netanyahu’s coalition hadharshly criticised the dealbecause it would allow thou-sands of Africans to remain inIsrael.

Naftali Bennett, leader ofthe nationalist Jewish Homeparty, tweeted earlier Tuesdaythat the deal “is bad for Israel.”

“It’s not enough to suspendit. I call on the prime ministerto cancel it completely. Itsapproval would cause genera-tions of crying and determinea precedent in Israel grantingresidency for illegal infiltrators,”

he said. Netanyahu announcedthe deal on Monday after a planto deport the migrants to anunnamed African country, pre-sumed to be Rwanda, fellthrough.

Given the lack of choices,Netanyahu said his deal withthe UNHCR was the best avail-able option.

It called for resettling abouthalf of the 35,000 Africanmigrants in Israel to Westernnations, while allowing the restto remain in Israel. It alsocalled for dispersing themigrant population throughoutthe country, and investing andrehabilitating Tel Aviv’s impov-erished southern neighbor-hoods. Dozens of migrants andtheir Israeli supporters protest-ed the suspension outsideNetanyahu’s office in Jerusalemand government offices in TelAviv as he met with the neigh-borhood representatives.

Some protesters stripped tothe waist, draped themselveswith chains and taped theirmouths shut at a protest in TelAviv. Others waved signs read-ing “Human lives are not toplay with. Yes to the deal.”

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The crown prince and defacto leader of Saudi Arabia

said Israel has a “right” to ahomeland, a notable shift in thekingdom’s position published.

Saudi Arabia and Israelstill have no formal diplomat-ic relations, but behind thescenes, improvements in theirties have accelerated in recentyears.

Both countries see Iran astheir biggest outside threat andthe United States as their keyally, and both see danger fromarmed Islamist extremists.

Israel’s conflict with thePalestinians has long proved anobstacle to a full rapproche-ment, however, as Riyadh stillsupports their claim to sover-eignty.

But now Crown PrinceMohammed bin Salman —speaking to the editor-in-chiefof US news magazine TheAtlantic — appeared to put therival land claims on an equalfooting.

The prince was asked by

Jeffrey Goldberg whether the“Jewish people have a right toa nation-State in at least part oftheir ancestral homeland?”

“I believe that each people,anywhere, has a right to live intheir peaceful nation,” said theprince, who is on a three-weekUS tour.

“I believe the Palestiniansand the Israelis have the rightto have their own land,” headded.

“But we have to have apeace agreement to assure thestability for everyone and tohave normal relations.” Since 2002, Saudi Arabia hasbeen the main sponsor of the

Arab Peace Initiative, whichenvisions a two-State solutionto the Israeli-Palestinian con-flict.

But no such senior Saudiofficial is known to have pre-viously accepted that Israel hasa “right” to any land beyond thepractical need to secure a last-ing deal.

If, as expected, the crownprince succeeds his octoge-narian father King Salman andascends to the Saudi throne, hewill also become guardian ofIslam’s holiest shrines.

But he told Goldberg hehad no “religious objection” toIsraelis living alongsidePalestinians, so long as themain Muslim holy site inJerusalem — the Al-Aqsamosque compound — is pro-tected.

“We have religious con-cerns about the fate of the holymosque in Jerusalem and aboutthe rights of the Palestinianpeople,” he said.

“This is what we have. Wedon’t have any objection againstany other people.”

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Senior Chinese diplomatWang Yi told North Korea’s

Foreign Minister on Tuesdaythat Beijing supports theNorth’s planned summits withSouth Korea and the UnitedStates.

The Foreign Ministry citedWang, China’s state councilorand Foreign Minister, as tellingRi Yong Ho at a meeting inBeijing that China appreciatesNorth Korea’s efforts to easetensions on the KoreanPeninsula.

The ministry described Rias saying that North Koreawould maintain close strategiccommunications with China asoutlined at last week’s surprisemeeting between Chineseleader Xi Jinping and his NorthKorean counterpart, Kim JongUn. Kim’s visit to China madeclear that Beijing, North Korea’sonly major ally and chiefprovider of energy and tradethat keeps the country’s brokeneconomy afloat, will have amajor role in any effort to reinin the North’s nuclear pro-gram.

Earlier Tuesday, Wang toldreporters that China hopes aplanned meeting betweenNorth Korea and the US wouldbe able to avoid “disruptive fac-tors” and stick to the pursuit ofdialogue between Kim and US

President Donald Trump.“Of course, historical expe-

rience tells us that when thereis an easing in the situation onthe peninsula and hopes forpeace and dialogue appear,there will often be disturbances

of this or that kind,” Wang saidat a briefing with reporters fol-lowing a meeting with SwissForeign Minister Ignazio Cassis.“We call on all parties to main-tain their determination, elim-inate interference, and go alongin the right direction of dia-logue and negotiation.”

North Korea’s officialKorean Central News Agencysaid Ri led a Government del-egation that left Pyongyang, theNorth’s capital, on Tuesday totake part in a ministerial meet-ing of the Non-AlignedMovement to be held inAzerbaijan and visit Russia.

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Some South Africans are paying tribute to Winnie

Madikizela-Mandela, visitingthe home of the anti-apartheidactivist and ex-wife of Nelson Mandela a day after shedied.

Women’s league membersfrom South Africa’s ruling partysang outside Madikizela-Mandela’s house in the Sowetoarea of Johannesburg onTuesday. Julius Malema, anopposition leader, later spoke toa crowd of supporters outsidethe home, saying South Africansmust “bid farewell to a giant.”

President Cyril Ramaphosasaid Monday that a state funer-al will be held for Madikizela-Mandela on April 14. She diedat age 81 after an illness.

Madikizela-Mandela waspersecuted by the apartheidgovernment, and venerated bymany South Africans, becauseof her activism against whiteminority rule. Her reputationwas sullied by scandals, includ-ing a 1991 conviction for kid-napping and assault.

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French rail workers kickedoff three months of rolling

strikes on Tuesday, part of awave of industrial action thatwill test President EmmanuelMacron’s resolve to reshapeFrance with sweeping reforms.

The strike will cause chaosfor France’s 4.5 million train pas-sengers, with stoppages plannedtwo days out of five until June 28unless Macron drops his bid toforce a major overhaul at staterail operator SNCF.

Staff at Air France, garbagecollectors and some energyworkers are also staging sepa-rate walkouts today in a grow-ing atmosphere of social strife11 months after Macron cameto power.

Pensioners, students andpublic sector workers havealready taken to the streets in

recent weeks protesting againstthe 40-year-old centrist’s wide-spread reform plans.

“In the most tense socialclimate since the start of theMacron presidency, there is areal risk of the discontent crys-tallising,” the regional CharenteLibre newspaper warned onMonday. The rail strike offi-cially started last evening but itbegins in earnest on what themedia have dubbed “blackTuesday”.

Only one high-speed TGVtrain out of eight is scheduledto run and one regional trainout of five, spelling problems forcompanies across the countryas staff struggle to get to work.

“I regularly travel betweenLyon and Grenoble for work.The strike is going to raise hugeproblems for me,” lawyerPerrine Fontana, 27, told AFPat the main station in thesouthern city of Lyon yesterday.

“I can understand the rail-road workers to a certaindegree, but their strike chal-lenges the personal and pro-fessional lives of many people.”

Three-quarters of Eurostartrains to London and Brusselswill run and Thalys trainstowards Belgium and theNetherlands will operatealmost normally, but there willbe none at all to Spain, Italy orSwitzerland.

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An Arab Israeli man wasshot dead by soldiers

Tuesday after crashing into ahitch-hiking stop in the occu-pied West Bank and thenattempting to flee, officialssaid.

No other injuries werereported and officials said thecrash was still being investi-gated. It was not for now beinglabelled an attack.

Israel’s military said theincident occurred near theJewish settlement of Ariel,south of the Palestinian city ofNablus.

Israeli security forces checkthe site where an Arab Israeliman was shot dead by soldiersafter crashing into a hitch-hiking stop near theJewish settlement of Ariel in theoccupied West Bank on April3, 2018.

Israeli security forces checkthe site where an Arab Israeliman was shot dead by soldiersafter crashing into a hitch-hiking stop near the Jewish set-tlement of Ariel in the occupiedWest Bank on April 3, 2018

The driver was in a stolencar and being pursued when hecrashed into the hitch-hikingspot, the army said in a state-ment.

It was not clear if anyonewas at the time present at thehitch-hiking stop, one of thedesignated locations for hailinga ride common in Israel andnear Israeli settlements.

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US President Donald Trumptoday vowed to deploy the

military to the border withMexico, something hedescribed as a "big step."

Cultivating his tough-on-migration image during aWhite House meeting withBaltic leaders, Trump said "weare going to be guarding ourborder with our military" as helashed out at his predecessor.

"President Obama madechanges that basically createdno border," he said.

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Turkish President RecepTayyip Erdogan and

Russian counterpart VladimirPutin today launched the con-struction of Turkey's firstnuclear power plant in theMediterranean Mersin region.

"In the name of God!"Erdogan said standing next toPutin at the presidential palacein Ankara as he orderedthrough a video link the launchof the $20 billion dollar Akkuyunuclear power plant project.

State television TRTshowed workers already start-ing work on the ground as fire-works went off to mark theevent.Once completed thepower station will provide 10percent of the electricity needsof Turkey, which has few ener-gy resources of its own.

The first stage is due tocome online in 2023, the 100thanniversary of modernTurkey's founding, and be com-pleted entirely in 2026.

"This scale of the project isdifficult to exaggerate," Putinsaid at the ceremony. "Thismarks a new stage in the devel-opment of Turkey's economy."

Erdogan said: "The powerplant will contribute to ourenergy security and also play animportant role in the fightagainst climate change."

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In order to attract the Indianstudents to study in Russian

universities, the Scientists andResearchers of The NationalResearch TechnologicalUniversity of Russia (NUSTMISIS) recently held a videoconference to interact withIndian media, students andscience enthusiasts onWednesday in New Delhi.NUST MISIS is a dynamic sci-entific and educational centerattracting the best graduates,scientists, and lecturers. TheUniversity specifically focuseson integrating science, educa-tion, and innovations, as well asestablishing a creative envi-ronment for unlocking the

potential of every student.Sergey Kaloshkin, Director

of the Institute of New Materialsand Nanotechnologies of theNUST MISIS, along with otherresearchers and experts, dis-cussed and demonstrated var-ious research projects they havebeen working on tumours, tis-sue engineering, devise forearly diagnosis, and develop-ment of new materials formedical use. Discussionsrevolved around the develop-ments in the field of health andmedicine in Russia and India,

including in partnership withthe international scientific com-munity, which can be appliedin various fields and not only inmedicine.

Sergey Kolashkinexplained that the NationalUniversity of Science andTechnology is presently pro-viding Science Education tomore than 15 thousand stu-dents including 3600 foreignstudents from 69 countries.Last year, nine Indian studentscompleted their post-gradua-tion from MISiS.

MISiS has a cooperationagreement with Saha Instituteof Nuclear Physics in Kolkata,India. They are carrying outtheir research on developingNanoparticles that fight againsttumors. Apart from that theyjointly work with Institute ofTechnology in Delhi on fun-damental research of magnet-ic properties of new alloys fornext decades.

Among the top 10 studydestinations for Indian stu-dents, United States of Americaremains at top followed byUnited Kingdom, Australia,New Zealand, Canada,Germany, China, Singapore,Ireland and the UAE.

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Two-thirds of today’s organisations have not thor-oughly embedded learning into their corporate

cultures, according to new research conducted byHR.com in partnership with corporate learning tech-nology company, Skillsoft. Based on survey respons-es from 722 participating HR and Training profes-sionals, the complimentary whitepaper titledSupporting the Modern Learner, is now available for download at h t t p : / / l e a r n . s k i l l s o f t . c o m / We b s i t e - A R -supportingtheModernLearner-Register.html.

The study found that just eight per cent of respon-dents describe learning and development (L&D) intheir organisations as excellent, while 45 per cent labelit as mediocre or worse. Organisations in which learn-ing is embedded are even rarer. Only 35 per cent ofparticipants said that learning is a part of their com-pany culture to very high or high extent.

“Never in the history of the world has the abili-ty to learn been more important,” said DebbieMcGrath, chief instigator and CEO of HR.com.“Information changes daily, along with new technol-ogy in a fast-moving, global marketplace. Employeesneed to be able to learn quickly and on the fly if theirorganisations are to survive and succeed. Yet, L&Dis failing to keep up with these needs in most organ-isations.”

The study found that despite massive technologicalchanges, instructor-led training remains the most fre-quently used training method, followed by onlinecourses. Relatively few organisations take advantageof the latest technologies or learning paradigms. Onlyabout two-fifths of respondents, for example, said theirorganisations use mobile learning, even thoughsmartphones and tablet computers are pervasive.

And only about a quarter of firms say they usemicro-learning—that is, short bursts of learning twoto five minutes in length—to help train employees.Even fewer (22 per cent) personalise their learning forindividuals to a high or very high extent. That is despitethe fact that personalised learning is linked to high-er quality L&D.

“The results of this study support our belief thatmodern learners benefit most from scenario-basedmicro-learning offered in multiple modalities and withthe same immersive experience that they havebecome accustomed to from consumer brands likeGoogle, Amazon, and Netflix,” said Tara O’Sullivan,chief creative officer for the Skillsoft Group. “Offeringcontent and platforms aimed at enhancing the learn-ing experience and making learning frictionless gohand-in-hand with making the most of employees’precious time and create lasting change in their organ-isations.”

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The roots of Actuarial Sciencego back all the way to 1613 ADwhen a book on compound

interest was published by RichardWitt. Hence, it can be considered oneof the oldest professions in theworld. However, awareness aboutActuarial Science is limited to high-level financial professionals, not justin India but across the globe.

The importance of ActuarialScience can be judged by the fact thatqualified actuaries and actuarial stu-dents pursuing Actuarial Science arefrom other professions too, like CA,MBAs from IIMs, Statisticians fromISIs, Intellectuals from IITs and alsofrom many prestigious engineeringcolleges and universities. The salariesmatch the best in the industry.

The career graph of Actuaries hasbeen fairly long and upward moving.Dedication, hard work and intensepreparation are needed for aroundseven years to become a qualifiedactuary. Any place where risk anduncertainty exists, actuaries have a bigrole to play.

However, due to a clustering offinancial risks in Life Insurance,General Insurance, Health Insurance,Reinsurers, Pensions and financialinvestments, actuaries are preferred byinsurance, credit risk and wealthmanagement companies. Other areasinclude banking, stock markets, finan-cial product brokers and valuation ofemployee benefits. Data science is thenew area where actuaries and actuarialstudents have a natural inclination toexcel.

During nationalisation of insur-ance, the LIC of India was the majoremployer of actuarial personnel andthe prominence and recognition ofactuaries were apparent when most ofits chairpersons were actuaries. Therewas a sharp demand and supply gapexisted for actuarial personnel oncethe insurance sector was opened upfor private players in 2000. The mar-ket offered handsome packages to thegood quality actuarial professionalsand the trend continues.

Actuarial professionals at nation-al and international levels have anunparalleled advantage in all workareas of insurance companies. The fol-lowing are the primary ones:

Risk Management, ProductDesign and Pricing, Managing Policyholders reasonable expectations relat-ing to benefits/ bonus distribution,policy illustration, managing invest-ments/ asset liability management,actuarial models development, pre-dictive/stochastic modeling,Information Technology, new initia-tives, compliance, advice to otherdepartments like policy servicing/HR(efficiency/employee benefit)/IT, val-uation of liabilities, solvency mainte-nance, mergers and acquisition.

���������,������������The role of actuaries was felt in

India when actuaries touched the livesof Government, public and privatesectors' employees and their family

members bydesigning, set-ting up andmanaging gra-tuity schemesunder paymentof the Gratuity Actof 1972 and super-annuation schemes.The actuaries help man-age Government initiatives inproviding insurance coverage to mass-es under the Pradhan MantriSuraksha Bima Yojana, PradhanMantri Jan Dhan Yojana and the AamAdmi Bima Yojana for BPL families,universal health insurance schemesfor APL families, Jan Arogya Policy,Janata Personal Accident Schemes,students’ safety, Ashraya Bima Yojana,Rural and Agriculture Insurance andSwavalamban.

Actuaries helped by designing andmanaging plans for small and largescale businessmen to carry on theirbusinesses. The bankers’ indemnitypolicy helps control the risks of loot-ing and fraud. LPG has reached thedoorstep of the poor. The LPG deal-ers ensure regular supply and sotheir safety net is of utmost impor-tance. Multi-peril policy for LPGdealers is in place. Meritorious sportswinners at Olympics and AsianGames and artists’ schemes providepension and insurance coverage to itsmembers.

SEWA is providing insuranceand health insurance with help ofinsurers and actuaries to their mem-bers. Similarly social schemes are in

place for beediworkers, car-penters, brickkiln workers,fishermen, cob-

blers, handicraftartisans, rickshaw

pullars, bidi pattacollectors, handloom

and Khadi weavers,leather and tannery workers,

woman tailors, physically handi-capped self-employed persons, papadmakers, rickshaw pullers and auto dri-vers, primary milk producers, saltgrowers, safai karmcharies, tendu leafcollectors, seri culture (silk farming),forest workers, power loom workers,toddy tapers and hill area women.

The insurance sector managesthese schemes and actuaries’ role ispricing the product to ascertain thefunds needed, analyse the experience,keep reserves, monitoring experi-ence of scheme/products, maintain-ing solvency and assessing sustain-ability in longer run and ascertainwhen Government support is need-ed.

����������������The development in artificial

intelligence, genetic engineering,super computers, power of analysinghuge data and information spread onsocial media and robotics has raisedquestions on professions like medi-cine, engineering and space science.Actuarial Science is no exception.However, the development in sciencehas helped actuaries to get better

information to do their work.Even today in traditional actuar-

ial areas, there are some jobs done ina limited way. In life insurance, thegroup insurance is an area wherescheme membership ranging from10k and above, there is no concreteinformation on attrition rates. Thereare a number of other studies under-taken in life insurance; similar stud-ies need to be undertaken in generalinsurance and health insurance areas.The Appointed Actuary system is wellestablished in the life insurance busi-ness and the same is need in healthand general insurance. In Postal LifeInsurance, Agriculture InsuranceCompany, ESI, ECGC and IMGC typeorganizations, actuarial departmentsare yet to be strengthened.

The need of expertise of actuar-ial professionals has also been felt inorganisations which deal in long-termfinances. Actuaries can be useful inassessing the risks and quantifyingthose risks. In banks, for example inmanaging credit risks, asset liabilitymanagement and also analysis of thenon-performing assets in line of per-sistency analysis in insurance com-panies will change the perception ofbanking if actuaries are involved.There are many such scenarios in themarket where actuaries have a big role.The market may utilise actuaries andother actuarial professional servicesfor their financial management.

The insurance sector shall see therisk-based capital regime and therewould be need of more actuarial per-sonnel in traditional insurance and

pension areas. The Government utilis-es services of actuaries in planningand annual budget, hence there is nodearth of employment opportunitiesfor actuaries.

����������������The ACET (Actuarial Common

Entrance Test) is the entry gate towriting an actuarial examination inIndia. A student who is good inEnglish, Mathematics and Statisticswith +2 levels can clear ACET, thoughthe entrance examination is not lim-ited to only science stream students.

Important aspects of risk man-agement and modelling are includedin the first nine examinations calledCore Technical (CT). Under CoreApplications (CA) level, two practi-cal examinations of intense nature testthe modelling and communicationskills of the student along with anextensive paper on actuarial riskmanagement.

At Specialist Technical (ST) andSpecialist Applications (SA) levels, theprinciples introduced at CT and CAlevel are applied at high levels. The STand SA level examinations offerchoice to a student on areas he/she canchoose for the career, viz., life insur-ance, general insurance, pensionsand other employee benefits, invest-ment and risks. Students are trainedin general business managementthrough the actual experience theygain is in the real job world.

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(� ������6� �� .*7/�=��=�7.6��1=�7�*2*�������� ��� ���������������������� ��� ��������������� �����@ ������������ ���?����,����������������� ������������������������������ �����������������������

>���+��+� ��1���The James Dyson Award opens for

entries, giving students and recentgraduates of engineering and design aunique opportunity to show their problem-solving inventions on a global stage. Thebrief is simple, design something whichsolves a problem, big or small. The inter-national winner will gain global exposurethrough the competition, and �26,00,000as prize money to develop their idea.

This is the second season for the awardin the country. Last year, three Indianentries made it to the international top 20shortlist, with Asish Mohandas, creator,Maattam being recognised as the nation-al winner for India in 2017.

Over the last 14 years, the JamesDyson Award has gained more and moreinternational recognition, attracting out-standing ideas from across the globe.Ingenuity can be found anywhere. Thisyear, the annual competition will includeentries from a further four nations—Mexico, UAE, Sweden and the Philippines;operating in a total of 27 nations.

Eligibility: Entrants must be, or havebeen within the last four years, enrolled

for at least one semester in an UG or grad-uate engineering or design programme ata university in a country or region cho-sen to participate in the James DysonAward.

In case of team entries, all membersof the team must be, or have been withinthe last four years, enrolled for at least onesemester in an UG or graduate pro-gramme at a university in a country orregion chosen to participate in the JamesDyson Award. One will need to be nom-inated and registered as the team member.

How to enter: Candidates can applyonline at the James Dyson Award website.Entrants should concisely explain whattheir invention is, how it works, and theirdevelopment process. The best entries arealways realistic and sustainable, showiterative development, solve a real prob-lem and tell a story. Entrants should sub-mit imagery to support their application.The best entrants should be able to showevidence of physical prototyping as wellas sketches and CAD.

Deadline to apply: midnight GMT onJuly 20, 2018.

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�����;�������;�����Pearl Academy announced

applications for admission toPG and UG courses for Design,Fashion, business and Mediaacross all campuses. It will beconducting its entrance exam inorder to shortlist aspirants foradmissions for Under Graduateand Post-Graduate courses indesign, fashion, business andmedia programmes offered bythe academy. Considered to bea pioneer in fashion educationfor 25 years, Pearl Academy hasits campuses in New Delhi,Mumbai, Noida and Jaipur.

New course: PearlAcademy introduced three-yearUG courses in Media &Communication namelyAdvertising and Marketing,Media and Communication,and Media Communication —Journalism/ Entertainment /Brand communications fromthe academic year beginningJuly 2018. They have also intro-duced two-year post graduatecourse in Media andCommunication with pathwaysin Journalism, Entertainmentand Brand Communication.

Eligibility: Class XII passwith minimum 50 per centmarks, or students appearing forthe Class XII exam are eligibleto appear for UG courses. Theeligibility of students appearingfor PG courses is graduate fromany recognised university.

Selection process:Candidates will be selected onthe basis of their performancein the written test (general pro-ficiency test/ design aptitudetest/ media aptitude test) andpersonal interview.

Scholarship: Selected stu-dents would be offered a schol-arship of up to 50 per cent oftheir total tuition fees for newcourses in media & advertising.

How to apply: Studentscan download the applicationform from http://pearlacade-my.com/admissions/. For moreinformation, reach out to PearlAcademy’s toll-free number1800 103 3005.

Important dates: The lastdate of submission of applica-tion is April 16 for Delhi NCR,Mumbai and Jaipur, and April23, 2018, for all other locations.The entrance exam will be con-ducted on April 21 at the fourcampuses and April 28, 2018, atall other locations.

������������������The Delhi Collage of Art

(DCA) invites applications foradmission to four-year Bachelorof Fine Art (BFA). The pro-gramme consists of variousmodules covering differentaspects of Fine Arts. The pro-gramme provides disciplinesof painting, sculpture andapplied art at the undergradu-ate level to help each studentdevelop as a full-fledged artist.

Eligibility: Class XII passfrom any stream who wants towork in Fine arts industry canapply for bachelor degree pro-gramme.

How to apply: Applicationforms and brochure may beobtained from admission officeof Delhi Collage of Art, B-7/7Basement, Ring Road RajouriGarden, New Delhi. For moreinformation, log on to www.del-hicollageofart.com.

Deadline: April 14, 2018.

�����������������+Cradle Institute of

Paramedical Sciences, NewDelhi, invites application formfor one-year full-time diplomain Medical Lab Technology andEmergency Medical Technician.The programme aims to pro-vide efficient and balancedtraining in laboratory medicine.This course offers a challengingcareer in a hospital, minoremergency centers, private lab-oratory, blood donor centers,doctor’s office or clinics.

Eligibility: Minimum qual-ification for securing admissionto this diploma programme is

Class XII pass and from anyrecognised Board.

How to apply: The appli-cation forms and brochure maybe obtained from admissionoffice of Cradle Institute ofParamedical Sciences, 988, NearOberoi Farm, Kapashera, Delhi.

Deadline: April 20, 2018.

����������+���������The Council of Education

and Development Programmes(CEDP Skill Institute), one ofthe premier government recog-nised institutes imparting skill-based training and education,has recently announced admis-sion to General Duty Assistant(GDA) training programmefor the aspiring students willingto pursue their career in health-care sector at its campus inMumbai.

It is a full-time, 100 per centjob-oriented programme whichequips candidates with theessential knowledge and skillsfor the booming HealthcareIndustry. The course comeswith numerous opportunitieslike working as a duty assistantand nursing assistants at reput-ed hospitals, work as a free-lancer and provide home visitsto ailing patients etc.

Eligibility: Class X passApplication form:

Students can acquire the appli-cation form from all the CEDPcentres across Mumbai andNavi Mumbai.

Deadline: April 10, 2018.

���������������+The UK’s University of

Southampton invites applica-tions for its one-year MSc inSustainability programme. It isan interdisciplinary master’sdegree designed to explore sus-tainability issues in both devel-oped and developing societiesand address critical global chal-lenges faced by them.

The course is taughtacross three faculties at theUniversity — Faculty ofSocial, Human andMathematical Sciences,Faculty of Engineering andEnvironment, and Faculty ofBusiness, Law and Art. Thecourse is designed with flex-ibility to allow for a pro-gramme of study that is tailor-made to suit requirementsand aspirations of individualstudents. A constant focuson applied research and field-based methods provides suf-ficient exposure to studentsbefore they go out and face thereal world sustainability chal-lenges.

Eligibility: Internationalstudents must hold a Bachelor’sdegree or equivalent approvedby National RecognitionInformation Centre of UK andIELTS or equivalent score (6.5average, minimum of 6 in eachindividual component).

Course fee: £18,630Scholarships: Students are

eligible for Southampton MeritScholarships worth up to£3,000, the CheveningScholarship and theCommonwealth Scholarships.These scholarships will be inthe form of a tuition fee reduc-tion.

Student Intake: 15 - 45.Important dates: The

course commences fromSeptember 2018. Althoughapplications deadline is June 30,2018, with maximum 45 seatsavailable for the programme,early applications are advisable.

For more information, logon to https://www.southamp-ton.ac.uk/geography/postgrad-uate/taught_courses/msc_sus-tainability.page or [email protected].

The Placement Cell of Dyal Singh EveningCollege, a full-fledged day college,

University of Delhi, recently organised anInternship Fair in the college campus.Organised by Dr Sumita Puri, convenor, ThePlacement Cell of the college, the fair wasinaugurated with lightening of the lamp byPrincipal Dr Pawan Kumar Sharma, teacher-in-charge of the Department of English DrBrati Biswas, student President LakshaySingh Bhandari, along with other teachers.

Seventeen renowned companies includ-ing Tax N Legal Partners, Umeed NGO, EatMy News, and other companies of repute par-ticipated in the Internship Fair. Most of thecompanies offered on the spot positions tothe candidates interviewed at the fair whilefew planned on following up with the short-listed candidates.

“We received 62 applications out of

which we shortlisted 25 candidates for theinterview and selected the best four out ofit. It was a great platform that offered largetalent pool under on roof for students fromdifferent courses and colleges. The overallquality of the students has been significant-ly better than the candidates they saw onother platforms,” Saumya Tewari, ManagingPartner, Tax N Legal Partners, says.

Around 350 undergraduate studentsfrom various colleges and universities attend-ed the event. It provided the employers withan access to a pool of diverse candidates thatmeet organisations’ diverse profiles fromFinance, Accounting, Digital Marketing,Content writing, Human ResourceDevelopment, Sales and Insurance forInternship and Co-ops. The diligence of theteam of teachers and students made the eventa huge success.

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With less than a month left for one ofthe toughest entrance exam, students

might have already started burning the mid-night oil. While it isn’t easy to memorise andgrasp all the lessons in a short span of time,cracking the competitive exam with a well-planned strategy is not an unattainable feat.

With the clock fast ticking, students arerequired to devise a stronger action plan inorder to crack the JEE Main. It is to be notedthat only those students who manage toachieve the required cut off in JEE Main areeligible for the next level JEE Advancedexam. It is a challenge to excel in both theexams and students may find it difficult ormay get demotivated to meet the requiredexpectations. To overcome this problem,they need to chart out an efficient timetableand carefully plan strategies that can helpthem smoothly sail through the exams. Hereis a list of strategies that you can follow forlast minute preparation.

Practice thoroughly from NCERTtextbooks: NCERT textbooks are a greatresource and aspirants preparing for the JEEMain should study from these textbooksthoroughly. NCERT books not only coverthe fundamentals but also play an impor-tant role in the preparation of the compet-itive exam. In order to solve most of thequestions in the JEE Main paper, a strongknowledge of the basics is required, whichcan be gained from the NCERT textbooks.

Solve mock tests: Practice as many mul-tiple choice questions as you can. Solve JEEMain sample papers to get a grasp on thepattern of questions. Solving mock paperswill improve your confidence level and helpyou to concentrate better on weaker seg-ments. In addition, it will increase yourspeed and accuracy and introduce you to thereal exam scenario.

Do not waste time in learning new con-cepts: Although every topic and chapter iscrucial to crack the exam, do not waste timein learning new topics or engaging in com-plex lessons in such a short span of time.Instead, devote time to strengthen thealready learnt topics and solve as manymock papers as you can. In addition, iden-tify your mistakes and learn to correct themthrough practice.

Subject-wise preparation: Make notesfor every subject and list down importantpoints that will help you in your revisionlater.

�Mathematics: NCERT textbook revi-sion is a must. Ensure you practice all ques-tions from the textbook and if you are leftwith more time, pick up a couple of MCQ-based books for additional preparation.Sequence and Series, Probability, Circles andFamily of Circles, Inverse Trigonometric

Functions, Matrices, Parabola, Quadraticequations and expressions, Hyperbola incoordinate geometry; Continuity andDifferentiability, Limits, Application ofderivatives and Definite integral in calcu-lus are some of the important chapters thatneed reconsideration during revision.

�Physics: Jot down important pointsand formulae of every chapter in a separatebook. Solve as many questions as you canfrom mock papers and keep the revisionbook handy. Important topics areDimensional Analysis, Current Electricityand Heat Transfer, Kinetic Theory of Gases,Thermodynamics and Rotational Dynamics,Geometrical Optics, Waves and Sound andElectromagnetic Induction.

�Chemistry: For Chemistry as well, theNCERT textbook is highly recommendedby teachers, as it is well framed for a detailedunderstanding of all the topics. Attempt allquestions in the textbook and then move onto reference books for additional prepara-tion. Important topics in Chemistry areRedox reactions, Thermodynamics,Chemical equilibrium, CarbonylCompounds, Chemical bonding, Mole con-cept and the concept of equivalents,Electrochemistry.

Follow a fixed routine: It is essential fora student to follow a fixed routine for thenext few days till the exam. Make it a prac-tice to wake up early in the morning andsleep early. Prepare a timetable and devotean equal amount of time for all the subjects.Sleep for at least six-seven hours a day fora refreshed mind and body. Try to practicemeditation and breathing exercises duringfree time. Do not skip meals.

Take timely breaks: While preparingyour timetable for a continuous study of 8-10 hours, ensure that it includes breaks asper your convenience to get a breather.Regular breaks keep your mind calm andpoised. This will, in turn, help you to con-centrate better and keep stress at bay.

The new LEARNPostdoctoral Fellowship ison offer and sponsored by theNew Zealand Government,through the Ministry forPrimary Industries (MPI).This fellowship is available foran emerging scientist from adeveloping country to studyin New Zealand.

Eligibility: A PhD in thelast 5 years. Be a high achiev-ing researcher (supported byacademic transcripts, lettersof recommendation and pub-lishing record). Be employedin an area of research alignedwith livestock greenhousegas mitigation in your homecountry. Have the support ofyour employer to apply forthe Fellowship. Have a men-tor in a New Zealand researchorganisation (host). Be resi-dent in a developing countryas defined by the OECD listof Overseas DevelopmentAssistance recipients SatisfyNew Zealand Governmentrequirements for interna-tional entry. Be able to speakand understand English to alevel sufficient to function ina research role.

How to apply: There is atwo-stage application process.The New ZealandAgricultural Greenhouse GasResearch Centre administersthe LEARN awards on behalfof the Ministry for PrimaryIndustries.

Applicants must firstsubmit an Expression of

Interest to determine eligi-bility. Forms can be down-loaded. If eligibility is con-firmed, the applicant will beinvited to submit a full appli-cation.

Application deadline:Must be submitted at anytime during the year, howev-er, full applications must besubmitted by June 30, 2018(New Zealand time).

SINGA Awards areavailable for pursuing PhDstudies either at NationalUniversity of Singapore orNanyang TechnologicalUniversity or the SingaporeUniversity of Technology andDesign.

Eligibility: Open forapplication to all interna-tional graduates. English lan-guage requirements:TOEFL, IELTS and GRE arenot required. However, appli-cants may indicate theirscores in the online applica-tion form if they have alreadytaken any of these tests.

How to apply: Soft-copies of identity card orpassport, A recent passport-sized photo in JPEG/PNGformat, Bachelor’s academictranscripts (English),Bachelor’s degree certifi-cate/scroll (in English).Master’s AcademicTranscripts, if any (English).Two recommendationreports.

Application deadline:The last date to apply is June1, 2018.

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QUERY: My name is UrvashiVerma. My date of birth is March10, 1997. I am very confusedabout my career. I am an averagestudent, I have done Graduationin Arts.

BHATT: The element of yourzodiac sign is water and rulingplanet is Jupiter. Your zodiac signis symbolised by two fish swim-ming in opposite directions, andthis sums up the lifelong theme ofyour career.

You need both security andfreedom. You are highly compas-sionate, intuitive, flexible andoverly sensitive. You work best ina situation where you can enjoyyour freedoms of movement andself-expression and do best work-ing in a field that allows you both.

You are creative beings andcan think out of the box, whichwill make you stand out from thecrowd.

Your intuitive and metaphys-ical nature can lead you intocareers such as sales, copywriters,marketing creatives and advertis-ing executives.

Social Worker: Pisceannatives are always ready to lend ahelping hand in crucial situa-tions. You are also quite deeplyemotional and intuitive, and havea way with people. You could real-ly enjoy working as a trainer,school counsellor or social work-er. Do take care of emotionallyintense jobs that might prove to betoo heavy a burden on your heart.

Photographer: As you arevery creative by nature, the scopefor creativity is endless and canlead you down many differentpaths. Hence, Photography is theideal way for expression of cre-ativity. You can manipulate theimages and turn them into thevision.

G r a p h i cdesigner: Thiscareer demandsa high level ofvisual imagination,concentration, and technicalknowledge. You have all the abil-ities to do well in this challengingprofession.

Executive: You are capable ofplaying secondary level of man-agement in any organisationsbecause you can’t shoulder the fullresponsibility.

Finance: The Pisces has theability to maintain the properfinancial management. Your starsshow that you know the limit ofmaking expenses and will notcross the limits. Thus you can dowell in Finance related job becauseyou have greater control overfinances. If you will prefer to makethe career in this section, you willhave a comfortable financial posi-tion.

Psychologist: You are alsoquite deeply emotional and intu-itive, and very caring for childrenand old aged people. You couldreally enjoy working as a trainer,school or psychological consultant.Do take care of emotionallyintense jobs that might prove to betoo heavy a burden on your heart.

You can also work wonders inan alternative career such as a tarotcard reader, psychic or astrologer.Moon in Pisces makes one tech-nician, engineer, warrior, musi-cians, navigator or a Governmentemployee. You should avoid thejob or career that has a physical-ly or psychologically gruellingroutine or deals with the harshrealities of life.

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JEE Advanced 2018 will beheld in online for the firsttime in India. Many aspi-

rants may have difficulty inadjusting to the new mode.Moreover, no such patterns areyet fully revealed that can helpstudents get an idea of theexam. With hardly some timeleft for JEE Advanced, studentsneed to first get eligible for it byclearing the JEE Main 2018.

Even though the prepara-tion for JEE Main andAdvanced go hand in hand, aproper strategy needs to beplanned for excelling among the2.24 lakh competitors appear-ing for Advanced exams. Owingto the high levels of competi-tion, the exam requires a rig-orous and consistent prepara-tion. The aspirant requires highlevels of discipline, dedicationand self-motivation to qualifyfor the IIT's with good ranking.

�������Until now the pattern, type

and number of questions wereknown in a certain trend. Butthe JEE Advanced to be con-ducted in 2018 has not yetrevealed the pattern. JEEAdvanced will be conducted intwo parts — Paper I and Paper

II. Both the papers will havequestions from three sections —Physics, Chemistry andMathematics.

The questions will be mul-tiple choice or objective typeand numerical in nature. MatrixMatch with three columns,Integer Type questions withdecimal answers or more thanone-digit answers can also beasked. Developing a properstrategy will help students excelin the JEE Advanced. The fol-lowing activities will be of help: �Revise regularly�Attempt several mock teststhat are available online. �Clarify each topic, subjectand concept.�They should study hard anddevelop a systematic plan forrevision. Studying in a haphaz-ard manner will tend to ham-per their preparations.

����������Scan the question-options:this is one of the best ways toattempt single choice correctanswers. Sometimes, scanningthe question again after goingthrough the options in mindhelps in strategising theapproach to solve the questions.Options themselves guide the

correct strategy or even theright answer.�Same answer in differentforms: While attempting themultiple choice correct ques-tions, each question needs to besolved and mapped for all theavailable options.In some such questions, thesame values are written in dif-ferent forms, which remain tobe one of the question typeswith least percentage of correct

responses. �Comprehension based: Evenif you know the concept men-tioned in Comprehension, youshould read it thoroughly, thereare chances of redefining aconcept or providing hypo-thetical assumptions. In thatcase, your apparently correctapproach might lead to anincorrect answer.�Matrix Match Type (One toOne Matching): If the questionis of One to One matching, thenyour approach should be find-ing the odd one out (if any).This will help you quickly reachthe correct mapping.� Integer answer type:Generally these questions arethe subjective questions con-verted to objective, and hencewould be time taking. The cor-rect way would be to treatthem as subjective and solvethem only if you have a com-mand on the topic or if youhave attempted all other ques-tions of the paper. These ques-tions also have a low scoringstatistical record.�Reason assertion type: Thesedays these types of questions arenot at all asked, but in case thereare few questions of this cate-gory, be very careful if both the

statements are correct. Becausethen it's very tricky to decidebetween the options A and B. orelse you can mark the correctresponse easily.

*����������Stay focussed and maintain apositive attitude�Develop speed. Refer to reput-ed mock-test series to build awinning exam temperament.Solve the past year’s JEE papers.Focus on your weak areas andimprove upon your concepts.�Practise of JEE level onlinequestions is necessary as itimproves your reasoning andanalytical ability.�Remember it is quality of timespent and not the quantityalone. Hence give short breaksof five to 10 minutes every oneto two hours of serious study.Completely relax when youtake a break.�Practice meditation to devel-op inner calm, poise, confi-dence and power of concentra-tion.�Don’t overstress yourself. Fiveto six hours of sleep everynight is a must, especially three-four days before JEE to keepyou physically and mentallyfit.

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With the onset of the 21stCommonwealth Games here,here's a look at some of the

Indian contingent's top stars and darkhorses to watch out for at an eventwhere the country stands fourth in theall-time medal tally.

�������India is second in the CWG's all-

time medal list for shooting and it isexpected that the marks-men and women willonce again be contribut-ing a bountiful of medals. Heena Sidhu: The feistypistol shooter fromPunjab is in fine formgoing into the Games,having claimed threegold medals at theC o m m o n w e a l t hChampionships afew months ago. She will be compet-ing in the women's 25m pistol and 10mair pistol competitions.Manu Bhaker: The 16-year-old hasbeen nothing short of sensational withtwo gold medals (individual and team)in her maiden senior World Cup justweeks ago. She would be lining upalongside Heena in the 10m air pistolevent.Jitu Rai: The diminutive Army shoot-er is a strong medal hope and wouldbe aiming for a second successive CWGgold in the men's 50m pistol event. The30-year-old will also try his fortunes inthe 10m air pistol competition.

�������The blue-riband event of all multi-

sport extravaganzas, athletics gaveIndia a gold, silver and a bronze in the2014 CWG.Neeraj Chopra: The 20-year-old javelinthrower would be a carrying a massiveburden of expectations and it remainsto be seen how he responds to the spot-light. At the senior world champi-onships in London some months ago,the junior world record-holder failedto qualify for the finals. A gold at lastyear's Asian Championships is his

biggest achievement going into hismaiden CWG.Seema Punia: The discus thrower, whoclaimed a silver in the Glasgow Games,would be eyeing a golden end to herCWG stint. The 34-year-old achievedtwo-year best when she threw to61.05m, which was also a meet recordat the Federation Cup last month.Tejaswin Shankar: The 19-year-oldhigh-jumper bettered his own nation-al record marginally at the FederationCup last month. He improved it from2.26m to 2.28m.

��������A gold by P Kashyap was the icing

on the cake as the shuttlers returnedwith four medals from Glasgow andthis time, the expectations would be

much higher with a star-studded line-up set to take the court.PV Sindhu: The Olympic silver-medal-list is being seen as a sure-shot medal-list. She won a bronze in the last edi-tion and looks set to change the colourof the medal when she takes the courtthis time.Saina Nehwal: Still regaining her fitnessafter a career-threatening knee surgery,2010 gold-medallist Saina would be astrong contender too if she manages toremain fit during the event.K Srikanth: In the absence of aninjured Kashyap, Srikanth would beIndia's men's singles medal hope andhe would aim to better his quarterfi-nal finish of the 2014 Games.

*������India are second in the CWG all-

time medal list of wrestling and areexpected to dominate this time aroundas well.Sushil Kumar: The double Olympicmedallist would be aiming for anoth-er gold when he competes in 74kgmen's freestyle event.Sakshi Malik: The Rio bronze-medal-list has been in good form and wouldbe expected to better the silver medalshe won at Glasgow. She would be inaction in the 62kg freestyle event.Vinesh Phogat: 2014 Gold medallist,Vinesh suffered a career-threateninginjury at the Rio Olympics but shereturned to win a silver medal (55kg)at the Asian Championship andclaimed the gold at NationalChampionships. She would be a medalcontender in 50kg this time.

�D����A women's doubles gold in 2014

opened India's CWG account in squashand Dipika Pallikal and JoshnaChinnappa would once again look toensure that India have something to cel-ebrate.

*���������World champion Mirabai Chanu

(48kg), with a Commonwealth recordunder her belt, and a personal bestwhich is 10kg better than her nearestrival at this event, is expected to openthe gold rush for India.

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Vernon Philander sent Australiacrashing to defeat with a sensa-

tional spell of bowling on the fifth dayof the fourth Test against Australia atthe Wanderers Stadium on Tuesday.

Philander took a career-best six for21 as Australia were bowled out for 118,giving South Africa victory by 493runs, a record runs margin for SouthAfrica.

South Africa completed a 3-1 serieswin, the first time they had beatenAustralia in a home series since1969/70.

It brought to an end a series of high-quality cricket and even greater off-fielddrama, culminating in a ball tamperingscandal during the third Test in CapeTown which resulted in former captainSteve Smith, vice-captain David Warnerand Cameron Bancroft sent home.

Philander struck twice in the firstover of the day. He had Shaun Marshcaught at gully off the first ball. Aninside edge looped off the batsman'sthigh pad to Temba Bavuma.

Four balls later Mitchell Marsh wascaught behind without a run havingbeen added to the overnight 88 forthree. It was Philander's 200th wicketin his 54th Test.

Peter Handscomb was next, bowledoff an inside edge for 24 as he tried to

withdraw his bat - an almost exact repli-ca of his first-ball dismissal in the firstinnings.

Tim Paine and Pat Cummins wereunable to repeat their defiant stand ofthe first innings, with Paine caughtbehind for seven and Cummins bowledfor one.

Chadd Sayers was caught at thirdslip off the first ball he faced. At thatstage Philander's figures for the morn-ing were 5.2-2-3-6.

Morne Morkel, playing in his finalTest, had been given a guard of honourby his teammates and support staffwhen he walked on to the field at thestart of the day.

With nine wickets down, Morkelwas given the ball but was unable to addto his 309 Test wickets. The final wick-et fell to a run-out, with Nathan Lyonfailing to beat Aiden Markram's throwfrom point as he went for a second runoff Morkel's bowling.

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Gritty tailenders Ish Sodhi and Neil Wagner held out for adramatic draw in the second Test on Tuesday to give New

Zealand the series 1-0 and extend England's dismal away record.England were just four wickets from victory when the sec-

ond new ball was taken before tea but they could only priseout one more until the last ball of the match when Wagner'sdismissal ended the rearguard pair's resistance.

They added just 37 runsin 188 deliveries after Colinde Grandhomme was theseventh wicket to fall, but bythat stage only survival mat-tered for New Zealand whofinished on 256 for eightwhen Wagner fell for sevenand bad light ended playeight balls early.

The draw gave New Zealand the series 1-0 after they wonthe first Test by an innings and 49 runs and it stretchedEngland's winless away record to 13 Tests.

Any hopes New Zealand had of reaching 382 to win back-to-back Tests disappeared at the start of the final day when StuartBroad took two wickets with the first two balls.

From there, England were chasing eight further wickets forvictory while New Zealand battled to hang on with 83 fromopener Tom Latham, a 57-run stand by de Grandhomme (45)and Sodhi, and then Sodhi and Wagner's stubbornness.

Sodhi ducked, weaved, slashed and took hits to the bodyas he produced his third Test 50, facing 168 balls, while Wagnerfaced 103 balls for his seven.

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The Indian boxing contingenton Tuesday heaved a sigh of

relief after it escaped any majorsanction for use of syringes atthe Commonwealth Games vil-lage by its doctor Amol Patil,who was let off with a reprimandfor not disposing the needles asper stipulated procedure.

Hearing a complaint filed bythe Commonwealth GamesFederation's medical commis-sion, the CGF court ruled thatPatil had erred in not disposingthe syringes as mandated by the'No Needle Policy of the Games.

Patil had administered avitamin B complex injection toan athlete who was feelingunwell.

"Under the No NeedlePolicy, needles are required tobe stored in a central securedlocation, access to which isrestricted to authorized medicalpersonnel of the CGA delega-tion. The needles in questionwere not disposed of until he

had made two trips to thePolyclinic," the CGF said in astatement.

"In the circumstances, theFederation Court's decision isthat CGF should issue a strongwritten reprimand to the Doctorfor the breaches.

"A copy of the letter of rep-rimand should be served on theChef de Mission of the IndianTeam who should be advised toensure that no further infrac-tions of CGF Policies occur by

any member of the IndianTeam," it added.

The CGF had stoicallyrefused to name the nationalassociation or the athleteinvolved in the controversywhich flared up after syringeswere discovered at the GamesVillage on Saturday.

But speculation was rifethat the country involved isIndia. The dope tests that fol-lowed the discovery of syringes,however, turned out negative.

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Two of Nigeria's finest wrestlers eagerlyawait the opportunity to taste revenge on

two Indian counterparts. Odunayo Folasadewants to avenge for her loss at Pro WrestlingLeague season 3 in CWG in women's 57 kgweight category.

Odunayo was handed a startling defeatby Pooja Dhanda at PWL in January thisyear. The result of this bout propelledPunjab Royals to victory over MumbaiMaharathi. Odunayo has claimed that she

repeatedly dreams of domi-nantly beating Pooja Dhandasince the loss. At the same time,Pooja Dhanda has said that sheis confident about her prepara-

tions and that she is ready for any challenge. Similar story brews in the women’s 68kg

weight category. Divya Kakran pulled off anupset by beating Blessing Oborududu at theCommonwealth Championship inJohannesburg. Divya states that she defeat-ed Blessing fair and square at theCommonwealth Championship. She feelsthat this has boosted her confidence whichwill be the cornerstone for her performancesat CWG.

GOLD COAST: Indian shuttlers have reason to becheerful going into the Commonwealth Games withthe organisers deciding against implementing BWF'sexperimental service rule that has been criticised bythem.The new service rule, which mandates that the shut-tle be exactly at 1.15 meters above the ground at thetime of service, was tried at the prestigious AllEngland Championships in March.The Indians have been critical of it along with severalglobal stars such as Danish star Viktor Axelsen and two-time Olympic champion Lin Dan of China.The Commonwealth Games, which start on April 4 withan opening ceremony, will be played under the old ruleswhich mandate that the shuttle be keptabove the waist height at the time of service."The Commonwealth Games Federationand the Badminton World Federation haveagreed that the new service rules will not be used dur-ing the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games," said a mes-sage communicated to the national associations.The decision would be music to the ears of Indian shut-tlers, who have been vocal in their criticism of the rule.The critics of the rule feel that it tilts the scale in favourof short players while putting taller ones like P V Sindhuand Axelsen at a disadvantage.Sindhu had criticised the BWF for introducing the ruleat a big-ticket event like the All England Championships,considered among the most prestigious events in thebadminton calendar. She felt the shuttlers should havebeen given more time to adapt.

GOLD COAST: Heartbroken Australian diver TanekaKovchenko retired on the eve of the CommonwealthGames on Tuesday after medical expertswarned that she risked severe paralysis if onemore dive went wrong.The 23-year-old, who had been set to com-pete in the 10m platform andwomen's synchronised 10mplatform at the Gold Coast, hasbeen suffering headaches andneck pain since the end of lastyear. Scans confirmed two ver-tebrae have compressed herspinal cord and her doctor andneurologist said she could endup as a ventilator-dependentquadriplegic in the event of a bad landing."I have had an amazing 14 years diving, chasing mydream of representing Australia," said Kovchenko, whohails from nearby Brisbane. "I am grateful for every expe-rience and opportunity I have been given. I am leavingthe sport as an athlete proud of my accomplishmentsand with so many life skills."

GOLD COAST: The Indian OlympicAssociation was on Tuesday forced to get an offi-cial accreditation for Saina Nehwal's father HarvirSingh after the star shuttler in an angry missivehad threatened to pull out of the CWG.The 2010 CWG gold medallist wrote a letter to a seniorIOA office-bearer currently in Gold Coast where she hadsaid that if her father's name is not cleared as "an offi-cial", she will not take part in the quadrennial extrava-ganza. "I msgd u and tried to call u but u didn't pick upthe call but there is so much issue going on with myfather...If his accreditation is no (sic) cleared as an offi-cial I am not going to play the matches," Saina wrote inher letter addressed to the IOA. An official in the IOAconfirmed the report."It's our duty to help the sportspersons. They should focuson winning medals. Yes, Saina had written to a seniorofficial. But we don't want to make an issue out of it. Asit is, we have solved her problem. We wouldn't like tocomment on the tone and tenor of the letter," a seniorIOA official said.

GOLD COAST: England's Alistair Brownlee has wongold in the past two Olympic triathlons. At the CWGon Thursday, he won't have to swim, cycle or run quiteas far in pursuit of a medal.Brownlee's first-place finishesat London in 2012 and at Riode Janeiro in 2016 — and inthe Glasgow CWG, in fact —came over the traditionalOlympic distances of a 1.5-kilometer swim, 40-kilometercycle and 10-kilometer run.But this CWG will feature the sprint distance -half of an Olympic event. So a swim leg of 750meters, a 20-kilometer cycle and a 5-kilometerrun. Brownlee will likely appreciate the less-gru-eling distance — he's coming off hip surgery last August.It came in a year when Brownlee was focusing on evenlonger events — in the Ironman 70.3 series. The 70.3refers to the total distance covered in the race — a 1.2-mile swim, 56-mile cycle and 13.1-mile run. Agencies

GOLD COAST: The celebrated MC Mary Kom needsto win just one bout to secure herself a medal, whileVikas Krishan got a bye into the men's pre-quarter-finals as Indian boxers were handed reasonably gooddraws in the Commonwealth Games here on Tuesday.With their team doctor Amol Patil let off with a rep-rimand in the needle controversy, the boxers heaveda sigh of relief and focus was back on the sport.Mary Kom has been pitted against Scotland's MeganGordon in the quarterfinals of the 48kg category,which will take place onApril 8. Competing in herfirst and lastCommonwealth Games, the35-year-old is the favouriteto claim the gold in a drawwhich features only eightboxers.Vikas (75kg), on the otherhand, has made it to last-16because of a bye along withdebutant Manish Kaushik(60kg). Vikas has come into this tournamentafter claiming a gold medal at the prestigiousStrandja Memorial Tournament in Bulgaria.Former Asian Games bronze-medallist SatishKumar (+91kg) has also got a bye but owing to thesmall size of his draw, he has reached the quarter-finals. Glasgow CWG bronze-medallist Pinki Jangra(51kg) is another one in the quarterfinals and will beup against England's Lisa Whiteside on April 11.

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GOLD COAST: Olympic silver-medallist P V Sindhu and World No2 K Srikanth have been given the topbilling in their respective women's andmen's singles badminton competi-tions of the Commonwealth Games,starting at Carrara Sports and LeisureCentre on April 10.

In the draw of 64, Sindhu willbegin her quest for the gold in thesecond round against FalklandIslands' Zoe Morris after both theplayers received byes in their respec-tive opening rounds.

The 22-year-old Indian is expect-ed to meet 2014 Glasgow Gameschampion Michelle Li in the semifi-nals. The third seeded Canadian had

beaten Sindhu inthe semi-finalsfour years backen route the goldmedal.

The 2010champion andformer world No

1 Saina Nehwal has been seededsecond and will start her campaignwith a second-round clash againstElsie de Villiers in the other half ofthe draw. In men's singles,

Srikanth, who clinched four titles inthe last season, will open his campaignagainst Liam Fong of Fiji and is like-ly to clash with 2010 silver medallistRajiv Ouseph in the semi-finals.

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