a world ‘guru’. it is time to make india a superpower, but ... become an example of protests in...

�� !��"#��$�� #��%�� &�� &�� '

�� (��)��*��!��$��+��$�� &)�� '�,�� &)��$��+��$�� &�� '

�� !��!��*� �� -�� .�� (��%� ��&�� ,�� /��%�,��0��'

" ��!��"�� ! ��#$#%� ,��$��!�%�� /��&��%�� &�� -��*��'�

��

�� 1$.,*�

Rashtriya SwayamsevakSangh (RSS) chief Mohan

Bhagwat on Thursday said theword “nationalism” is nowa-days equated with Hitler’s“nazism” or Mussolini’s “fas-cism” and it is better to avoidthis word, stressing on usingsome alternative terms.

Bhagwat’s remark cameamid continued protests inseveral cities of the countryagainst the Citizenship(Amendment) Act, which isbranded by those opposingthe CAA as a reflection of“Hindutva nationalism” thatis detrimental to Muslims.

Besides, analysing theresults of this month’s DelhiAssembly polls, the BJP’s ide-ological mentor RSS said in aneditorial in its mouthpiece onThursday that Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and HomeMinister Amit Shah cannotalways help the BJP winAssembly elections.

Recalling an RSS event inthe United Kingdom (UK),Bhagwat said, “During myrecent visit to the UK, I wasadvised by an RSS worker notto use the word ‘nationalism’ asEnglish is not our language andit could have a different mean-ing in England. It's okay to saynation, national and national-ity but not nationalism.Because it means (alludes to)Hitler, Nazism and Fascism

(in England).” Calling upon RSS mem-

bers to connect with peopleirrespective of their caste, lan-guage, religion or region,Bhagwat said India’s charac-teristic is to bind everyone inone thread following the principle of “VasudhaivaKutumbakam” (the world is a family).

“We (Indians) live for eachother, not for ourselves. Webelieve that the world has madeus and we have to give back toit. We look at the world withgratitude,” he said.

Sharing an anecdote, hesaid, a Muslim intellectual fromthe country once went for Hajand was sent to jail on blas-phemy charges for wearing a“locket”. The then Foreign Minister, SushmaSwaraj, intervened and got himreleased within eight days, hesaid, apparently suggesting thateveryone from India is con-sidered a Hindu outside the country.

“...Because Bharatiya san-skriti (Indian culture) is alsoknown as Hindu sanskriti,reflecting its values, ethos and

culture,” he said.The RSS chief also

gave a call to make India asuperpower.

Bhagwat said, “The aim ofthe Sangh is to unite Hindusociety. The Swayamsevaks arededicated to their aim. By feel-ing proud of the culture of ourcountry we have to work totake the country to newheights. We have to make Indiaa world ‘Guru’. It is time tomake India a superpower, butnot like other superpowersthat misuse their influence.”

Continued on Page 7

�� ."��"2*�

In what could be termed asanother attempt to buy more

time and delay the hanging ofthe four death-row convicts ofthe Nirbhaya gangrape andmurder case, Vinay Sharma,one of them, moved the courton Thursday and demandedbetter treatment for his “men-tal illness”.

The court has soughtresponse from the Tihar jailauthorities on a plea by Vinay,who through his counselsought remedy for his claimedmental illness, schizophreniaand the injuries suffered in hishead and arms.

Additional Sessions Judge(ASJ) Dharmender Ranadirected the prison authoritiesto file its reply on the plea ofVinay on Saturday.

“Vinay injured himself bybanging his head on his cellwall in Tihar Jail. The incidenthappened in jail number 3 onSunday afternoon and he got

some minor injuries and wastreated inside the prisonpremises,” said a prison official.

During the hearing, theprosecution opposed the pleasaying it was not maintainable.Counsel for Vinay told thecourt that he was refusing to recognise people, includinghis mother.

The plea claimed thatwhen Vinay’s counsel visitedhim in the prison on therequest of his family members,he found that he had sustainedgrievous head injury, fracturesin his right arm with plasterand was suffering from insan-ity, mental illness and schizophrenia.

Continued on Page 7

��"�� ."��"2*��

Delhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal is likely to take

the US First Lady, MelaniaTrump, on a brief tour of aGovernment school to helpher get a first-hand experienceof the “happiness curriculum”introduced by the Aam AadmiParty (AAP) Government, dur-ing her visit, along with USPresident Donald Trump, toDelhi on February 25.

The US First Lady is alsoexpected to interact with stu-dents of the school.

“Melania is likely to be wel-comed by Kejriwal and DeputyChief Minister Manish Sisodia,”a Government official said.

Trump, accompanied bywife Melania and a high-leveldelegation, will arrive inAhmedabad early on February24 for a little less than 36-hour-long trip to India. FromAhmedabad, he will travel toAgra before arriving in thenational Capital for the mainleg of the visit.

A visit to heritage site inAgra — Taj Mahal — is also inthe schedule.

Melania is to visit theschool when President Trumpwill hold talks with PrimeMinister Narendra Modi.

The Delhi Government’s“happiness curriculum” wasintroduced in DelhiGovernment schools two years

ago with an aim to reduce stressamong schoolchildren. In 40minutes of happiness class,meditation, relaxation tech-niques are imparted.

�� ."��"2*�

Rahul Gandhi is all set to beback as the Congress chief

in the party’s plenary session inApril. Rahul had quit the postfollowing the Congress rout inthe Lok Sabha polls last year.

Congress WorkingCommittee (CWC) hadappointed Sonia Gandhi asinterim president of the partyin August last year. But as theunwell Sonia had to skip theparty’s campaign in the recentAssembly polls, the calls forRahul to head the party havebecome stronger.

The Congress on Thursdaysaid Rahul was a clear choicefor the party president’s post.Party sources said Rahul wasthe only contender, hintingthat elections in that case maynot even be necessary.

“Rahul has acceptabilityacross the country and also thecapability to lead the party,”said a senior Congress leader.

Several party leaders havecalled for the appointment of afull-time party president. OnThursday, former UnionMinister Shashi Tharoor, whohas been advocating elections

to the CWC, said, “I renew myappeal to CWC to hold lead-ership elections to energiseworkers and inspire voters.”

“I was referring to my ear-lier call — eight months ago —for elections among the 10,000party workers who constitutethe ‘AICC plus PCC delegates’list. These should be for theelected seats in the CWC aswell as for the party presiden-cy,” said Tharoor.

Former MP SandeepDikshit has accused seniorleaders of failing to find a newpresident because they are“scared who will bell the cat”.

Reacting to the remarks,Tharoor tweeted, “WhatSandeep Dikshit said openly iswhat dozens of party leadersfrom across the country aresaying privately, includingmany with responsible posi-tions in the party. I renew myappeal to CWC to hold lead-ership elections to energise

workers and inspire voters.”Asked about the remarks

made by Tharoor and Dikshit,Congress chief spokespersonRandeep Surjewala said theCWC will decide on theCongress chief post.

“If anyone has any doubtsabout this, he should kindlyread the resolution of the CWCbefore giving any statements inpublic,” Surjewala said.

“Instead of giving state-ments on social media andinterviews in the media, ifSandeep Dikshit works hard inhis own constituency and polit-ically encash the work initiat-ed during Sheila Dikshit’s rule,the Congress will emerge vic-torious. It is my appeal toevery leader like Dikshit thatinstead of giving knowledge tothe entire country, they shouldfirst show the benefits of theirown work done in their con-stituencies,” he said.

Continued on Page 7

��

��

�� ."��"2*�

The mediation attempt bySupreme Court-appointed

interlocutors — advocatesSanjay Hedge and SadhanaRamachandran — to persuadethe Shaheen Bagh protesters tolift blockade of the Delhi-Noida main road remainedfutile for the second day onThursday. The protesterspatiently expressed theiranguish but refused to budgefrom their day 1 demand thatthey would end protest onlyafter the CAA is repealed andproposed NRC is shelved.

After holding talks with theprotesters, Hegde andRamachandran left for the day.It is understood they are like-ly to visit the protest site againon Friday to find an amicablesolution to end the impasse.The road blockade has beengoing on since December 15.

Like Wednesday, Hedgeand Ramachandran expressedtheir unwillingness to talk withprotesters in the presence of themedia. As Ramachandranstarted addressing the protest-ers reporters surrounding thedais tried to suggest her on howto hold talks. It angered her,and she asked the mediaper-sons to leave the tent where thetalks were to be resumed.

Ramachandran beganaddressing the protesters say-

ing, “Aapne bulaya, hum chaleaaye (You called us and we arehere)”. Hegde said the SC hasrecognised their right toprotest, but added “the rights ofothers have to be respected”.

“When Shaheen Bagh hasbecome an example of protestsin India, let us set an exampleof a protest that does not dis-turb anybody. You all must berest assured that we are here tofight for you. Don’t think if you

change your spot, your fightwill die down,” Hegde said.

“We have seen many PMscome and go. Whoever comesin power and runs the country,sometimes some could be rightand some could be wrong.Whatever you are saying thewhole country and the PM arelistening,” he added.

Ramchandran said she iswaiting for that day when thecountry’s atmosphere will

change. Then an elderly manexpressed his fear, “I am veryscared... I am very scared formy children. Madam save me,”he said. When Ramchandranasked him more about his fear,the man replied, “I am a singlefather. I will die but my chil-dren should get to live herefearlessly. My girls go to schoolwhere they are being told thatyou will go out of the country.”

Continued on Page 7

��

�� !"��#��

$� "��%�� !�� !�� "

#�� $��

�� ! " #

��$��$$�� %� &��'!�(� �� %� ��&��)�� ! ��'��)��*�"��

�%�� % ��

3�� &��%'��4 ��&��

��

'()*+�,-5�6�22"��.�78$1/1�-*�+

$��$,6��.�-"1!$.9

��'��4 ��4

2��,�� &�':;<��((%� ;=>$��"#��$��&��

�&�� 8��"2*��2�,6.?� (*?$2��(*�($."��$1

1$.,*��1$��1 ,*$.��-$1*��"*1$��. *9�"1$($��0�@$9�$�$

()#*��(��+,-./��

��!�� 0, 01012��" �,.�3

�(./�/(��0�*"��$1�?.1$��?.$2��9

�.()#�,1�.��$��.�A�-?2��$��

$��$.��1"��2�.-�,+�*��

��

#�� 2�,6.?�

Two incidents of murder inbroad daylight on Thursday

once again punched holes inthe tall police claims regardinglaw and order being in control.A worker of a shop was shotdead inside the establishmentnear Nehru cross nearRakabganj under Chowk policestation even as the assailant,along with three others,escaped with two bags full ofcash around 2 pm on Thursday.Unconfirmed reports said therewere ��7 lakh in one bag and��5 lakh in the other. However,police claimed that the shop-owner did not mention theamount taken away by thearmed miscreants. The victim

was identified as SubhashGupta, who was a resident ofCampwell road. Chief MinisterYogi Adityanath announcedan ex gratia of � 2 lakh for thekin of the victim.

Earlier, the miscreants,who were wearing helmets andmasks, stormed the officepremises all of a sudden andthreatened everyone to remainseated at their positions or bekilled.

Subhash Gupta, who wasin the back portion of theshop, rushed outside to offerresistance and one of the miss-creants opened fire at him. Aprofusely bleeding Subhashwas rushed to KGMU TraumaCentre where he succumbed toinjuries around 3.30 pm. Shop-

owner Ram Niwas Agrawalinformed the police about theincident around 2.30 pm.

He stated in the complaintthat his brother Khem ChandraAgrawal and nephew Riteshwere sitting in the accountsroom of the shop and busy insome work while Suhash wasengaged in cleaning the estab-lishment premises.

Two of the miscreants wentstraight to the accounts roomwhile others stayed back. Theyfirst checked the bags kept inthe lockers and then picked uptwo bags before heading to theexit point. Subhash tried to stopthem but one of the miscreantsshot at him. Thereafter, theysped off on two motorcyclestowards Rakabganj.

Police spokesman SBShukla said loot appeared to bethe motive for murder. Therewas panic and chaos in themarket immediately after theincident as traders downedthe shutters. However, nor-malcy was restored in the area,the spokesman said.

In another incident, ayouth, identified as PrashantSingh, was stabbed to death byunidentified culprits nearAlaknanda Apartment inGomti Nagar extension around4 pm on Thursday. The motivefor murder was said to berivalry among students of acoaching institute located atPatrakarpuram crossing inGomti Nagar. Prashant hadtaken admission to the coach-

ing institute to prepare forBTech entrance examination.Police spokesman SB Shuklasaid six accused had beendetained in this regard.

The police said Prashant,who was a resident ofPatrakarpuram, left his houseby a car around 3.30 pm andheaded to AlaknandaApartment to pick up hiscousin. They were scheduled toto go to a relative’s marriageceremony in Indira Nagar.

Near the apartment, his carwas attacked by a group of eightunidentified youths. He waslater stabbed by one of theyouths as he came out of thecar. The police said he wasstabbed in the stomach afterwhich the miscreants escaped,

leaving him in a pool of blood.Passersby informed police

about the incident after whicha quick response team reachedthere and took Prashant toRML Hospital where he suc-cumbed to injuries.

Sources said the killingmight have been a fallout ofPrashant and his accomplices’

proximity with a group offemale students. There used tofights between both the groupsbut the situation would benormalised due to coachinginstitute officials.

The groups had a clash atan eatary in Safedabad area inBarabanki district lateWednesday evening. However,

police said the youths escapedfearing police action.

Prashant was a native ofVaransi and living inPatrakarpuram with a localguardian. The police said theywere quizzing the girls in ques-tion, accomplices as well asteaching and non-teaching staffof the coaching institute.

�� !"#�!$!$

�� ! ��""��!�#��$��%&''()*(��+��+��,��&--./��0�� .��1��%�2��3��$��2��3��$101��')*(456��%+� �"��32�.783 )-(())!93'- 55:'�. ��;��3<)5-'=' '):*:�' '*)*:�-'>) ()��"��;��3<)5*'='-) ))(�'-) *(��;��3<)5 '=' * '> �' * '>5�?� ��;��31��(�7��@� �7�%��7��A��1�%?� ��&**)))'��3)**& )**) 55��//��;��3!&-*��(�1;0?.�@��/7��1��&')*-)*�B��3)*')& :6>:))C :6>>))

�� !�� "�� #��$��%�� &�� !��

-��

Lucknow (PNS): Aclash over a property dis-pute led to the death of awoman and left half-a-dozen others injured inMeerut on Thursdaymorning. Later, heavypolice force was deployedin the area to avert any fur-ther untoward incident.

As per reports, Wahabof Khiwai hamlet of Rohtaand Inshallah of Thirothad an old dispute over 10bighas of land in Thirothamlet in Meerut.

Two years back, thetwo groups had come to ahead in which guns werefreely used. Later, cross-FIRs were registered at thelocal local police stationand about a dozen accusedwere arrested and sent tojail. On Thursday morning,both parties again hadheated arguments over har-vesting cane crop on thedisputed land. After a freefor all in which sticks androds were used, some per-sons opened fire in whichGulshama (25), who wasworking in a nearby field,was killed and half-a-dozenothers from both thegroups suffered grievousinjuries.

Station house officer,Rohta police station,Upendra Singh later saidthat Gulshama’s brother-in-law registered a case nam-ing six persons as the per-petrators.

(@�!2$ &��%� �� 2�,6.?�

Within 24 hours of registration ofa rape case against BJP legislator

from Bhadohi and his kin, yet anoth-er BJP MLA from Ballia, SurendraSingh, was in the eye of a storm afterhis son Hazari Singh and supporterswere booked for manhandling a Dalitrevenue official.

In an FIR lodged with Bairiapolice station on Thursday, Revenuedepartment official Radhey ShyamRam accused Hazari Singh and 10 ofhis aides of manhandling him. Theaccused were booked under relevantsections of the IPC and ScheduledCastes and Scheduled Tribes(Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

While the Union governmentrecently paved the way for the arrestof those accused of subjecting Dalitsto atrocities, the police said that actionwould be taken after getting sufficientevidence in Ballia case. Surendra Singhrepresents Bairia constituency in UPAssembly.

Meanwhile, in Bhadohi, the policebeefed up security of a woman com-plainant after she lodged an FIRagainst local BJP MLA Ravindra NathTripathi, his three sons and threeaides for raping her for a month in2017. The woman had complained thatshe was getting life threats.

Bhadohi SP Ram Badan Singh said,“The complainant alleged that she wasgetting threats after which her she wasprovided with a round-the-clock secu-rity cover consisting of three consta-bles, including two women constables.”

The 40-year-old woman, a widow,lodged a complaint with the police onFebruary 10, following which an FIRwas registered on Wednesday.

The SP further said, “The com-plainant alleged that she was first rapedby Tripathi’s nephew Sandeep Tiwariin 2016 and she did not lodge a com-plaint as Tiwari had promised tomarry her. She also alleged that dur-ing 2017 Assembly polls, she was keptat a hotel for a month by Tiwari andall the seven accused visited the hotelintermittently and raped her. She alsosaid that she got pregnant and wasforced to go for an abortion.”

After initial probe, an FIR was reg-istered against the seven accused atCity police station of Bhadohi onWednesday. The SP said that thewoman’s statement was recorded beforea magistrate and her medical exami-nation would be conducted onSaturday after which further actionwould be taken.

�� 2�,6.?�

Predicting a landslide victory ofSamajwadi Party in the next

Assembly elections in UP,Akhilesh Yadav claimed that theywould win at least 351 seats aspeople were fed up with the “mis-rule” of the present BJP regime.

“People have compared thedevelopment-oriented governanceof Samajwadi Party to the BJPregime’s functioning of high-pitchsound bites and little work. Thus,they now want the SamajwadiParty to return to power,” the SPchief said while addressing partyworkers in the state SP office inLucknow on Thursday.

“During the SP regime, weprovided free irrigation to farm-ers and also introduced KisanDurghatna Beema Yojana to ben-efit the community. On the con-trary, the BJP government haspushed farmers towards the blindalley of deprivation,” he added

“Reports of farmers commit-ting suicide in Bundelkhand haveshaken public conscience but notof BJP leaders. In Bundelkhand,farmers are neck-deep in debt andhence forced to end their lives.Similarly, farmers growing cane,potato and paddy are also in dis-tress. The BJP had promised todouble farmers’ income by 2022but they have so far failed to comeup with a solution,” he alleged.

Akhilesh said that ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath’s state-ment, ‘those who come out on thestreets come to die’, hinted at hisarrogance.

“In democracy, every individ-ual has the right to dissent but thisgovernment does not want anyone to air their views,” he alleged.

The SP chief further said:“Law and order in the state hasgone from bad to worse. Incidentsof rape are being reported almostevery day but the CM says thatcrime is under control. Fed upwith the lies of the present regime,people will vote for the SamajwadiParty in next assembly elections.”

�� 2�,6.?�

Uttar Pradesh has become‘Achiever State’ in the

evaluation of ‘Business ReformAction Plan-2017-18’ (BRAP).

The report has beenreleased by the Department ofIndustrial Policy andPromotion (DIPP), Centralgovernment. Uttar Pradesh wasgiven a combined score of92.89 per cent The statesecured 12th position in theassessment as against 14th in2016.

Uttar Pradesh’s new andimproved single window por-tal (Nivesh Mitra) has simpli-fied the process of setting upindustries in the state.

The new system waslaunched by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi in February,2018. So far, in less than twoyears, 1,00,336 applicationshave been cleared throughthe single-window portal,which is close to 73 per cent,while the process for disposalof 13 per cent applications ison.

Infrastructure & IndustrialDevelopment CommissionerAlok Tandon said, “It is ourendeavour to provide hassle-free and human interface-freeservices to investors in UttarPradesh.

Providing a digital single-window platform of ‘NiveshMitra’ is an important compo-nent of this exercise. ‘

Nivesh Mitra’ will beequipped with ‘OnlineIncentive Management Tool’and ‘MoU Tracker Modules’ tosupport the industries andentrepreneurs for policy-levelfacilitation.”

Principal Secretary,Infrastructure and IndustrialDevelopment, Alok Kumarsaid: “Various steps are beingtaken to improve the ease ofdoing business in the state. Thegovernment is planning to addbuilding plan approval for thecommercial sector in ‘Nivesh

�� 2�,6.?�

The Rampur district administration demolisheda part of the boundary wall of Mohammed Ali

Jauhar University on Thursday. The varsity is thebrainchild of Samajwadi Party (SP) leader andRampur MP Azam Khan.

The boundary of the university was built on gov-ernment land and the varsity administration was ear-lier asked to demolished it.

Sources said that a huge police force reached thesite around 2:30 pm on Thursday and demolisheda part of the wall facing Aliyaganj village, using JCBmachine.

During the Samajwadi Party regime, the land wasgiven to Jauhar university and in exchange, the grampanchayat was given government land. UP RevenueCouncil considered the exchange of land to be inap-propriate and issued an order to vacate it.

The Deputy District Magistrate issued a noticeagainst Muhammad Ali Jauhar University registrarand chancellor Azam Khan, asking them to demol-

ish the wall, and gave two weeks’ time to carry outthe order.

The Rampur administration waited till the timeexpired and since no action was taken by the var-sity, it demolished the wall. Mohammad Ali JauharUniversity was established by Mohammad Ali JauharTrust in Rampur and Azam Khan was appointed asits chancellor in 2006. It was granted university sta-tus by UP government in 2012 when Akhilesh Yadavwas the Chief Minister.

�� 2�,6.?�

Chief Minister YogiAdityanath said that they

have shown the resolve andgiven employment in govern-ment sector to over 2.50 lakhyouths in almost 2.5 years.

“The emphasis of this gov-ernment is to connect peoplewith government schemes.When people connect withschemes, the overall impactbecomes huge. This has reflect-ed in 2.5-years rule of this BJPgovernment in which 2.51 lakhyouths were given governmentjobs,” Yogi said while address-ing the inaugural function ofMadhyamik Vidyalaya in BasiaVillage in Gorakhpur onThursday.

He said that the state gov-ernment has launched a newscheme for the youths, underwhich industries will connectwith ITI or Skill DevelopmentCentre associated with its sec-tor and will offer apprentice-ship to the youth. For this,the government will also pro-vide financial support of 2,500per month to the youths, hesaid.

The Chief Minister saidthrough skill development andvocational education, youthswill become economically self-sufficient. For this, the govern-ment has made provisions tocreate hubs for the apprenticescheme in every district. Over40 lakh youths with tradition-al expertise have benefittedfrom employment opportuni-ties that were created throughinvestments made in the state.

He said that efforts havebeen made to speed up thedevelopment work and toaccelerate infrastructural devel-opment programmes to new

heights. “We are refining theskills of our youths so that theycan take up jobs both withinand outside the country,” hesaid.

Yogi said the governmentis providing uniforms, bags,books and woollens free of costto one crore children of BasicShiksha Parishad in the state.Apart from this, the govern-ment is providing basic facili-ties to the people through effi-cient utilisation of funds for the

development of villages. He said that more than 1.20

lakh Basic Shiksha Parishadschools have been developedon the lines of convent schools.

Playground and open gymsare being developed in the vil-lages for the development ofyouths. This will help childrenbecome healthier and thenthey will be able to effectivelycontribute to nation-building.

Youths are the symbol ofour energy and the state gov-

ernment has implementedmany programmes for them,he said. The Chief Minister saidGallant Group has started sev-eral programmes in two grampanchayats at a cost of Rs 2.5crore. This shows that how anorganisation can connect withthe schemes and take them togreater heights.

He said the state govern-ment has developed a mecha-nism to expand schemes andbenefit people at the last mile.

Mitra’. Moreover, action toensure that information onland banks for industrial use isavailable online at oneplace through GIS is also inprocess.”

Executive director, UdyogBandhu, Neena Sharma said:“Due to regular monitoring ofdepartments from the ChiefMinister’s office, today we havebeen able to reach 125 online

services. Also, UP PollutionControl Board (UPPCB) has asignificant contribution inreceiving applications and issu-ing online clearances through‘Nivesh Mitra’.”

Special Secretary to ChiefMinister, Avinash Kumar, saidall the 20 departments havecontributed to complete theapplications within the stipulat-ed time frame.

�� !�"�#��$�$�%

�� 2�,6.?�

Chief Minister YogiAdityanath said educa-

tional and training institu-tions should pay attention toinnovation which is useful forsociety.

“Do not become a burdenon the system, society and gov-ernment by remainingdetached. Present a picturethrough your innovative ideasso that institutions, societyand governance can worktogether to move forward byforming a common strategy.Only then we will be able toachieve goals set by country’sleadership and humanity atlarge,” Yogi said while inaugu-rating the newly-constructedstadium at Madan MohanMalaviya University ofTechnology in Gorakhpur onThursday.

He said the university,named after Madan MohanMalaviya, is truly an inspira-

tion for the students as well asteachers. Yogi said it is a mat-ter of pleasure to name thenewly-constructed stadiumafter martyr Bandhu Singh, thehero of 1857 revolt.

“Maybe, the history hastricked us and attempted tokeep us away from our realheroes. But this society, folktradition and folk tales neverdeprive us of such greats,” hesaid.

“We set our goals accord-ing to our ideals, and ourefforts will correspond to thegoals we set. This universityhas presented a better modelto the students by makingrevolutionaries like MadanMohan Malaviya and martyrBandhu Singh as their inspira-tion,” he said.

The Chief Minister addedthat solid waste managementis the biggest challenge in pre-sent times and it needs to bedone in a better way.

“Develop a technology

that is simple, affordable andaccessible to everyone. A bet-ter model of rainwater harvest-ing has been introduced inKashi and it will be imple-mented in all districts,” Yogisaid.

The Chief Minister saidthat technology has advanceda lot. “We had many challengesduring Kumbh. We establisheda command and control cen-tre in Prayagraj for trafficcontrol and toll management.We were also keeping an eyeon suspects or criminals andbecause of the same reason,Kumbh passed off with nounpleasant accident,” he point-ed out.

Madan Mohan MalaviyaUniversity of Technologyshould come forward as aknowledge partner in order todevelop Gorakhpur as a smartcity, he said. By using technol-ogy, the entire city can bedeveloped as a smart and safe,he added.

��#$��&�'�( �#�()!"%��*�++�,��+!� �,

�.�� 23,� �� 4�� 5�� 67

�"?2"�*$0"�,?!$1"��*"��"0"2?!".�/?1�".�"��-?0"1.$.,"�?8��$!$@�$��$1�9��?��*"�(@�1"-�!"+��8�.,��?.�.-�?8*�-*/��,*��?�.��(��"��$.��2��2"��?16'��*�� *"9�.?��$.��*"�$!$@�$��$1�9��?�1"��1.��?�?�"1�

8�� 9�5��-:3;��

��%��&��&� ��#��

WANTED

��

�� !"#�!$!$

�� 2�,6.?�

The Lord Shiva idol at theMankameshwar temple

will be bathed with water from9-10 rivers across the countryon the occasion ofMahashivratri on Friday.Mahant of the temple DivyaGiri said the water had beencollected from all the placeswhich she visited and the aimwas to highlight the need toconserve rivers. She said theconnection with environmentand water conservation wouldalso be highlighted.

“I visited a few places andcollected water from the riversthere,” she said. While she willpour the water on the Shivaidol from nine rivers, othermembers of the temple willperform ‘jalabhishek’ withGomti water.

Divya Giri said the gates ofthe temple would be opened forthe devotees early Friday morn-ing. “The administration hasextended help to us in terms ofcrowd management and we areexpecting not less than five lakhdevotees to visit the temple onthe occasion of Mahashivratri,”she added.

Meanwhile, traffic policeannounced diversions in view

of Mahashivratri celebrations.Vehicles will not be allowed tomove down the ramp ofMankameshwar temple.Vehicles will not be allowedmove from Ekka-Tonga standcrossing towards bandha roadand thereafter the Hanuman

Setu temple. These vehicleswill be diverted towards ITCollege crossing and Daliganjoverbridge.

Traffic movement will notbe allowed to move fromNadwa overbridge crossingtowards Mankameshwar tem-

ple, and will be divertedtowards Hanuman temple andbandha road.

Vehicles will not be allowedto move from Buddheshwarcrossing towards Buddheshwartemple, will have to take theservice road or the overbridge.

�� 2�,6.?�

The war of words triggeredby state Congress chief

Ajay Kumar Lallu’s move tosnatch BSP’s slogan of ‘JaiBhim’ during a recent marchin support of reservation inpromotions in governmentjobs, hotted up with moreleaders from both sides havinga go at each other.

Soon after Lallu led themarch sporting blue bandanaalong with some leaders andchanted ‘Jai Bhim’, Congresscandidate from Lucknow in2019 Lok Sabha poll AcharyaPramod Krishnam took a jibeat Lallu tweeting that it wouldbe better if the Congress alsoadopted the symbol of‘Elephant’ so that Dalits voted for the party in theupcoming polls.

Another BSP-hopper andCongress candidate fromMohanlalganj Lok Sabha seat,RK Chaudhary, also chose todistance himself from theCongress march. Instead, hetook out a separate march onThursday under the banner ofBS-4, attacking Centre’s moveof opposing reservation inpromotion in governmentjobs. However, no discipli-nary notice was served onChaudhary so far for takingout a separate march.

Interestingly, Krishnam’s

tweets got support fromanother Congress leader, SirajMehdi, who also criticisedLallu for going against theCongress’s ideology and tread-ing the path of BSP. Mehdi wasrecently expelled fromCongress along with someveteran leaders.

The tweets of Krishnamand Mehdi are being seen asan attack on Congress gener-al secretary Priyanka Gandhi

Vadra as just a week back, shevisited Varanasi and paid obei-sance at the birthplace of SantRavidas, eying the Dalit vote bank.

A former UP Congressspokesman opined, “Lallu’srecent move is merely anextension of Priyanka to wooDalits and hence an attack onthe UP unit chief would clear-ly be construed as an attack onPriyanka.”

A senior Congress leaderfrom east UP and Lallu confi-dante, however, came out insupport of the Congress standof trying to woo Dalits. In histweet, the Congress leaderquestioned Krishnam for mak-ing anti-party tweet sayingthat someone who neverreturned to Lucknow aftercontesting election on aCongress ticket had no right toquestion party’s programme.

��#,�� !"��!,�+�$��$ �,�*!$ �*�$�#�&#��-�#!"�#�

'�� <. �� "�!=��"��

�� 2�,6.?�

Filmmaker Muzaffar Ali saidon Thursday that Nawab

Wajid Ali Shah is as much rel-evant today as the British madehim irrelevant when he wasremoved during the time of theFirst War of Independence.

“Wajid Ali Shah wasdethroned by the Britishbecause he used to sing, danceand dress like Lord Krishnaand today, thumri, kathak andKrishna bind people together,”he said.

The filmmaker wasaddressing mediapersons athis Kotwara house to announce‘Wajid Ali Shah Festival’, whichwill be organised on February22 and 23. He said that a talkon Lucknow’s composite cul-ture and Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb

will be delivered by MorariBapu on February 22 and‘Gomti, 1857 Kranti Ka PehlaSawan’ will be staged atDilkusha. This will be followedby Anjuman-e-Dil, a jugal-bandi by the famous RoohaniSisters. “Morari Bapu had invit-

ed me to Ahmedabad, so Ithought I would invite him toLucknow for the Wajid AliShah Festival,” Muzaffar Alisaid.

Ali said he is presenting theGomti play which he had pre-sented at the Wajid Ali Shah

Festival over seven years back.“I think the youngsters shouldalso watch it. It comes from theanthology of poems written byRahi Masoom Raza. It hasbeen written in a beautifulmanner and in such details byRahi Masoom Raza just as wewrite a ‘marsiya’. Raza hasmixed a large number of gen-res and hence it is a relevantdocument. Gomti is the lastchapter of this documentwherein Raza describes howthe British take over the Awadhand try to destroy its cultureand they caught hold of Gomti,who was a poet and represent-ed the culture of that place.They cut of his tongue whichsymbolically represented thechange in the language of theplace and that is what the bal-lad is all about,” he said.

Lucknow: Social activists S RDarapuri and Sadaf Jafar saidThursday they intend to movecourt against the Uttar Pradeshgovernment’s recovery noticeson them for damage to publicproperty during anti-CAAprotests here last year. Theystated they have not yetreceived any official communi-cation seeking recovery, but asenior government official saidthe notices have been issued to28 people including them.

Darapuri told PTI onThursday, “I am hearing news

that I’ve been issued recoverynotices by the district admin-istration, though I have notreceived any such notice tillnow. I will challenge it in theHigh Court if I get any.”

Social activist Jafar, who isalso a Congress leader, said ifshe receives any recovery noticeshe too will move court. “Thestate government is sendingrecovery notices unconstitu-tionally to people. There is noproof against me of incitingviolence but instead of arrest-ing antisocial elements, they

arrested and tortured me,” shesaid. She was arrested onDecember 19 in connectionwith the violence.

Lucknow Additional DM(East) KP Singh had on Mondayissued recovery notices to 28people stating that they have todeposit Rs 63 lakh by March 20,otherwise action will be takenagainst them. Besides Darapuriand Sadaf, the notice also namesMohammad Shoaib of RihaiManch, and social activistsRobin Verma, Deepak Kabir,Pawan Rao Ambedkar, among

others. Darapuri, a retired IPSofficer, was accused of instigat-ing violence during the anti-CAA protest in the state capitalon December 19 last year. Hewas arrested on December 20,but later granted bail. He said onThursday that on December 30he was issued a show-causenotice and had replied to theadministration that onDecember 19 he was detainedat his home and therefore thecharges of “inciting violence”against him was not justified. PTI

�� 2�,6.?�

FICCI’s Forum ofParliamentarians, in part-

nership with the Embassy ofJapan, organised the fourthdialogue with states titled‘Japan’s Connect with UttarPradesh’ at a city hotel onThursday.

The series was launched byFICCI in partnership with theEmbassy of Japan in 2018 tohighlight the potential ofIndian states and the socio eco-nomic connect with Japan.Previous dialogues were heldin Patna, Shillong and Jaipur.

Deputy Chief MinisterKeshav Prasad Maurya, whowas the chief guest on theoccasion, shared his views onimproving ties between UPand Japan. He said India andJapan share strong culturaland civilisational ties and haveengaged in various institu-tional dialogue mechanisms tostrengthen bilateral as wellstrategic partnership.

“The bilateral relationsbetween the two countries

have set an example for theinternational community,” headded.

Satoshi Suzuki,Ambassador of Japan to India,delivered a keynote addressdetailing his vision for collab-

oration between Japan andUttar Pradesh in economic,cultural and educationalspheres. The highlight of thediscussion was to ideate onstrengthening of economicconnect, tourism, art and cul-

ture, people-to-peopleexchanges, skill developmentand capacity building betweenJapan and UP.

“The promotion ofJapanese language education isone of the indispensable areasto energise people-to-peopleexchange,” he added.

Past president of FICCIand co-chair of FICCI’s Forumof Parliamentarians’ CouncilJyotsana Suri recommendedthat Japan should foster tieswith Uttar Pradesh and har-ness the potential of trade andinvestment relations.

Principal Secretary (UPKhadi & Village Industries)Navneet Sehgal gave a presen-tation on the immense poten-tial Uttar Pradesh holds forpartnering with the Japan gov-ernment. Principal Secretary,Culture & Tourism, JitendraKumar spoke about the need toimprove people-to-people con-nectivity and also stressed thatcultural heritage as well touristlinkages can be strengthened.

Vice Chancellor ofLucknow University AlokKumar Rai spoke on the needto focus on education sectorand how to foster exchangeprogrammes between univer-sities in Japan and UP as wellas Japanese language training.

'�(�� %��#��&&� ��

�� 5��5 �� <.��=��

��+��$��$�� $��&��&�� !� "��

�,�+��!��+��"��&��+��,�� +��!��-.�� $��/�� !0��1��+�� !� "��

)�$�!��/��&�"�� !��2�+�0�,�� 3$��#� �0�� 3$��4�"� ��0��1��+�� !� "��

��2��,�� $��1��+�� !� "��

�� 2�,6.?�

The Met department hasforecast rains on Friday.

The forecast for Lucknow andneighbourhood is partly cloudysky with rains and thunder-showers in some areas. Themaximum and minimum tem-peratures are expected bearound 25 degree Celsius and16 degree Celsius, respective-ly. On Thursday, the state cap-ital recorded the maximumtemperature at 28.2 degreeCelsius, which was just a notchabove normal, while the min-imum temperature at 14.4degree Celsius was threedegrees above normal.

As for the entire state,rains and thundershowers arelikely at few places over easternUttar Pradesh and isolatedplaces over western UttarPradesh. There is a warning forthunderstorm accompanied by

lightening and gusty winds upto ( 30-40 kmph ) blowing atisolated places over the state.

It is also being said thatrains, showers and cloudy con-ditions are going to continuefor three to four days inLucknow and surroundingareas. The partial presence ofclouds in the city fromWednesday evening also indi-cated this. “Scattered drizzle orlight rain is expected on Fridayand Saturday, including in thestate capital, Met director JPGupta said.

)�� ?.��*�1��$9 2�,6.?��1",?1�"��*"�!$B�!�!�"!"1$��1"�$��CD'C�"-1""�,"2�� *�,*��$��@��$.?�,*�$(?0"�.?1!$2

�� !"#�!$!$

Bulandshahr: Police in west-ern Uttar Pradesh’sBulandshahr district onThursday initiated a probeafter a local BJP MLA’s sonwas allegedly found involvedin celebratory firing during awedding function despite aban on the practice.

A video of the undatedincident surfaced on social

media showing a son ofKhurja MLA Vijendra SinghKhatik firing multiple shotsfrom a gun. SeniorSuperintendent of Police,Bulandshahr, Santosh Kumar Singh said a probe hasbeen launched into the incident.

“The matter came to lightonly after the video started

doing the rounds on socialmedia. It has also beenreported that the person seenin the video is the son of alocal MLA and he hadopened fire during a weddingfunction,” Singh toldreporters.

He said the probe is beingheaded by Superintendent ofPolice (Rural), Bulandshahr,

Harendra Kumar and legalproceedings have been initi-ated. Parliament had in 2019passed the the Arms(Amendment) Act whichprohibits the use of firearmsin celebratory firing, viola-tion of which would attract af ine of Rs 1,00,000 or imprisonment for two yearsor both. PTI

�� Chief Secretary RK Tiwari

carried out a surprise inspec-tion of the UP Board controlroom which has been equippedwith computers connected toCCTV cameras installed atexam centres across the state.The Chief Secretary told theofficials that complaintsreceived at the control roomshould be recorded in a regis-ter as also the time of redres-sal. He said that if any com-plaint was received at the con-trol Room and the DIOS wasnot able to respond quickly,some other official should beasked to reach the particularschool. “This method can alsobe used to keep a tab on theactivities of the strong room, hesaid. Meanwhile, DistrictMagistrate Abhishek Prakashalso visited four exam centresand issued necessary directions.

�� City Montessori School

(CMS) founder Jagdish Gandhion Thursday appealed to PMNarendra Modi and USPresident Donald Trump tohave consultations over theformation of world parliament

to save humanity from com-plete annihilation. Gandhi said:“We hope that US PresidentDonald Trump and PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, whowill be meeting in India onFebruary 24 and 25, will con-sult over the formation of aworld parliament to safeguardthe future of 7.5 billion peopleof the world and the genera-tions yet to be born.”

��"�� A newly-developed

gallery on ‘Sports and Fitness’at Regional Science City wasinaugurated by mayor

Sanyukta Bhatia on Thursday.The inaugural function waspresided over by CM Nautiyal,consultant (INSA, NewDelhi), and member of LocalAdvisor y Committee,Regional Science City. Therewas a huge gathering compris-ing students and teachersfrom various schools apartfrom scientists from variousinstitutes. The mayor wit-nessed al l the exhibitsinstalled in the gallery whileproject coordinator, RegionalScience City, Raj Mehrotraexplained each exhibitintriguingly.

�/#7�)/>&�

��!��/ �� $��4"��

56��&�� $��$��"�� "�+'�,�� 6�&��20�,��&!+�-7/78�0��!�77��7.9

��3��!��!��!$��:��+�;��#� ��<&��+

�� 5�� 5��=.�%*�"��

�� !�E$88$1.$-$1

Aspecial court here onThursday convicted a

man for raping his 14-year-old daughter while thegrandfather, grandmotherand uncle of the victimwere acquitted due to lack ofevidence. Protection ofChildren from SexualOffences (POCSO) courtjudge Sanjiv Kumar Tiwarihas fixed February 24 forquantum of punishment inthe case. According to spe-cial lawyer for POCSODinesh Kumar Sharma, themother of the girl had fileda complaint with the policealleging that her husbandraped the daughter whenshe had gone to her parents’home on July 7, 2016. Thewoman had also allegedthat her father-in-law, moth-er-in-law and brother-in-lawsupported the accused anddid not take any step to pre-vent him to commit rape onhis daughter, Sharma said.

!��

��)�� !� ��*�� !� �� $2�-$1*�F�G

Students of the AligarhMuslim University (AMU)

took out a protest march underthe banner of Students’Coordination Committee hereon Thursday against UttarPradesh Chief Minister YogiAdityanath, accusing him ofshielding the State police fromallegations of brutalities.

“The Chief Minister isdeliberately twisting facts tofalsely implicate students andthus, shielding the police fromallegations of brutalities,” com-mittee spokesperson FaizulHasan said. Hasan, a formerpresident of the AMU Students’Union, said, “Either the ChiefMinister has been grossly mis-

informed or he is deliberate-ly trying to frame those whowere protesting against the Citizenship (Amendment)Act (CAA).” Adityanathdefended the Uttar Pradeshpolice on Wednesday overthe deaths of anti-CAA pro-testers, saying they were shotby other rioters and nothingcould be done to save some-one with a death wish.Wrapping up the discussionon the governor’s address inthe State Assembly, he saidthe role of the police indealing with rioters duringthe anti-CAA protestsshould be appreciated.Meanwhile, in a statement,AMU Employees’ Unionpresident Professor RameshRawat described Adityanath’sremarks that 15,000 stu-dents of the university hadattempted to indulge inarson on December 15 lastyear as “false and fabricated”.

�� 2�,6.?�

The 4th InternationalConference of

Asian Libraries ICAL-2020 is being jointlyorganised by IndianInstitute ofManagement (IIM),Lucknow and AsianLibrary Association(ASIALA), New Delhifrom February 26-28.

“Management andbusiness libraries occu-py an important placein Indian librarianshipand are in the throes ofa major transformationled by technologicalchanges. Like otherlibraries, they too needto reposition them-selves in the midst ofnew and emergingtechnological trendsand diversify intonewer areas of resourcediscovery and user ser-vices. Armed withinternet–ready smart-phones, users areincreasingly being ledto alternate sources ofinformation, leading todeclining usage oflibraries globally. Theoverall purpose of con-ference is to sustainexcellence by explor-ing new possibilitiesand implement changesto establish new roleand responsibilities soas to tap into sprit oftheir user communityfor meeting theirrequirements effective-ly by the use of innov-ative technologies,” anIIM-L official said.

The conferenceintends to engage theparticipants in a discus-sion of critical issuesinvolving the increaseduse of innovative prac-tice, offering value-added services andbenchmark new prac-tices through capacitybuilding. The IIM-Llibrary has a substantialcollection of databaseand multimedia docu-ments. “Objective ofGyanodaya is to pro-mote knowledge gener-ation and applicationthrough its effectivedissemination. With itsunique collection ofmore than 70,000 printdocuments and 5,000online journals in var-ious disciplines,Gyanodaya is the centreof attraction for acade-mics, researchers andstudents. The libraryacts as the main learn-ing resource centre andcaters the informationneeds of the Institute’steaching, training,research and consul-tancy programmes.

//%$*��/��*$-;-;� ��& 5�-1��-0

�� !"#�!$!$

�� ! �� ,�� #��%��6��-��+��*��,�� $$�� $ �� $��'

�� ,�� %�� 7��+�� &�� /��'

�� ,�� 8�&��CH��$��&� �*��,�� &��(@��%��,�� &�� '

� �� ,�� (�� H;=��#��I��'

��

New Delhi: The Supreme Courton Thursday dismissed theCBI’s plea challenging thePunjab and Haryana HighCourt order by which it had lastyear refused to interfere withthe Punjab Government deci-sion to take back all sacrilegecases from the Central probeagency. A Bench of Justices RF Nariman and S RavindraBhat dismissed the CBI’s pleaon the ground of delay.

“...Special Leave Petitionsare dismissed on the ground ofdelay. However, the question oflaw is left open. Pending appli-cation stands disposed of,” theBench said. PTI

New Delhi: Former CongressMP Ashok Tanwar moved theSupreme Court on Thursdayseeking contempt proceedingsagainst the DDA and the DelhiGovernment for allegedly “wil-fully and deliberately disobey-ing” its orders allowing con-struction of a permanent struc-ture for the Guru Ravidas tem-ple at Tughlaqabad. The templewas demolished by the DDA fol-lowing the SC’s August 9 lastyear direction which hadobserved that “serious breach”was committed by Guru RavidasJayanti Samaroh Samiti. PTI

New Delhi: The SupremeCourt in its interim order onThursday allowed theplea of the KarnatakaGovernment forimplementation ofthe final award by atribunal for sharingof water betweenGoa, Karnataka andMaharashtra from theMahadayi river.

The interim order waspassed by a Bench comprisingJustice DY Chandrachud and

Justice Hemant Gupta afterhearing the counsel from

the three States. TheBench said the final

hearing in the mat-ter will take place inJuly.

It also said theinterim order is

subject to the finaloutcome of the peti-

tions filed by the threeStates against the tribunal’saward.

PTI

New Delhi: The SupremeCourt Thursday questionedthe issuance of black warrantsby trial courts for execution ofdeath penalty even before theexpiry of 60-day time periodfor filing of appeals in theapex court by the convicts. Thetop court’s observation cameduring the hearing of an appeal,filed by death row convict AnilSurendra Singh Yadav, allegingthat the black warrant wasissued by a Gujarat sessionscourt just 33 days after his con-viction was upheld by the highcourt. PTI

�� ."��"2*��

With Bihar Assembly pollclosing by, BJP president

JP Nadda will visit Patna onFebruary 22 to discuss hisparty’s strategy with State lead-ers and that of NationalDemocratic Alliance (NDA)there besides to inaugurateBJP’s new offices in 11 districts.

This would be Nadda’s firstvisit to Bihar after taking overparty’s baton this year fromAmit Shah, the Union HomeMinister.

“Nadda would be inaugu-rating the newly-built office ofthe BJP in 11 districts in Bihar,including Samastipur, Siwan,Bhagalpur, Arwal, Naugachhia,Lakhisarai, Gopalganj,Sasaram, Saharsa, Aurangabad,and Sheohar by a remote con-trol at Patna office. These newoffices are equipped with latestequipment, including an e-library that would help partyworkers in advancing BJP ide-ology in their districts,” saidParty’s General Secretary andBihar-in-charge, BhupendraYadav .

Nadda will hold meetingswith members of the core com-mittee to ensure the victory ofNDA with Nitish Kumar being

the Chief Ministerial face of theNDA alliance.

Picking its lessons from theDelhi poll debacle, BJP is keento rein-in its motor mouthsand spoil its campaign in Bihar.Recently Nadda had sum-moned union minister andMP from Begusarai GirirajSingh’s controversial commentsagainst a prominent minorityinstitution.

BJP intends to focus onstate and development issuesrather taking up national agen-da in the forefront of its cam-paigning in the Bihar poll. BJPwants to win to end it series ofreverses in Maharashtra, Delhiand Jharkand by faithfullyaligning with the JDU and notqueering its pitch on aNationalist agenda.

�� ."��"2*�

Amid concerns and criti-cisms, Union Housing and

Urban Affairs MinisterHardeep Singh Puri onThursday said thatGovernment infrastructure,including the North and SouthBlocks, was built more than acentury ago and there is no rea-son why the Centre should notgo for a new-look CentralVista aesthetically while pre-serving the heritage.

Speaking at a function,Puri said that some people aretalking about the Central Vistamakeover without knowingwhat is happening. “Lookevery 100 years somebody hasto take charge and decide whatthe city is going to look like.Delhi in its present from...Thecurrent Delhi Governmentalinfrastructure (including)

Rashtrapati Bhavan, NorthBlock, South Block, were builtin 1910s or 1920s,” Puri added.

The questions are beingraised by experts from variousquarters that what is the needto do so and what’s the objec-tive and why it is being imple-mented. “We are paying thou-sands of crores of rent to houseGovernment buildings. Wehave the land, so there is noreason why we can’t do it in anarchitecturally, aesthetic way,preserve the heritage etc andcreate a New Delhi,” he said.

Sources said that the DelhiDevelopment Authority (DDA)has received nearly 400 objec-tions to the proposed change ofland use for 101 acres in cen-tral Delhi for the Centre’s ambi-tious Central Vista redevelop-ment project. The objectionsrange from questioning theneed for the project to itsimpact on environment andtraffic. Some also stressed onthe need to protect heritage anddemanded a proper assess-ment before going ahead withthe plan.

LokPATH (people forAppropriate Transformationof Habitat), a collective ofurban development experts,which was formed recently,has flagged the lack of trans-parency in the process of landuse change. The Indian Societyof Landscape Architects(ISOLA) has called the projectan “inappropriate planningdecision”. Many have ques-tioned the need for the projectand said it contradicts the pro-visions of the Master Plan ofDelhi 2021.

The redevelopment of theCentral Vista — the nation’spower corridor in Delhi —envisages a triangularParliament building next to theexisting one, a common CentralSecretariat for ministries and therevamping of the three-km-long Rajpath - from RashtrapatiBhavan to India Gate.

�� ."��"2*�

With the discharge of a womanmedico, who was country’s

first novel coronavirus patient beingtreated at the Government MedicalCollege hospital in Kerala onThursday, India may have becomea pathogen-free country for now, butthe pathogen continues to take itstoll in neighbouring nations.

One more Indian aboard aquarantined cruise ship off Japanwas tested positive for the novelcoronavirus and shifted to hospital,taking the number of Indian nation-als infected with the virus on thevessel to eight, the Indian embassysaid on Thursday. China has report-ed 2,118 deaths while the overallconfirmed cases has climbed to74,576.

The Indian embassy said that atotal of 138 Indians, including 132crew and 6 passengers, were among

the 3,711 people on board theDiamond Princess cruise ship. In atweet, the Indian embassy heresaid, “1 Indian crew who tested pos-itive for #COVID19 among 79 newcases on #DiamondPrincess yester-day too has been shifted to hospi-tal for treatment. All 8 Indiansreceiving treatment are respondingwell. Rest all Indians on-board arebraving out the trying circumstances.”

Earlier, seven Indians were test-ed positive for the COVID-19. Themission said that infected Indianswere responding well to the treatment.

Many countries have bannedarrivals from China while major air-lines have suspended flights to thecountry. In India, national carrierAir India has announced that it isextending the suspension of itsflights to the neighbouring countrytill June 30.

The discharge of the women

medico student marked the recov-ery of all three cases of infection inIndia reported from Kerala. Twoother students — one fromAlappuzha and another Kasaragod— had been discharged recently

after they too tested negative for thevirus in fresh tests days after beinginfected by it.

A total of 650 people werebrought back from Wuhan in Chinaon February 1 and 2 in two 747

Boeing Air India aircraft after theoutbreak of coronavirus in thatcountry.

Last month, the Air India hadsuspended its six weekly Delhi-Shanghai flights from January 31 to

February 14. However, it did notrestart the flight operations fromFebruary 15 onwards.

The national carrier had alsosuspended its Delhi-Hong Kongflights due to the coronavirus epi-demic that has killed more than2,000 people in China till date.

“Flight operations on bothroutes— Delhi-Shanghai and Delhi-Hong Kong — have been suspend-ed till June 30,” an Air Indiaspokesperson said on Thursday.

Earlier, IndiGo and SpiceJet hadsuspended their flight operationsbetween India and China.

�� ."��"2*�

Aday after US PresidentDonald Trump said in

Washington that India has nottreated his country “very well,”on issues of bilateral trade, theMinistry of External Affairs onThursday said the context inwhich the remarks were madewas balance of trade and therehave been efforts to address theconcerns. The US President’sremarks came days ahead of hismaiden two-day visit to Indiacommencing February 24.

Looking forward to hisvisit to India, Trump had saidIndia has not treated his coun-try “very well” on the tradefront and indicated that a “verybig” bilateral deal with NewDelhi may not be signed beforethe American presidential elec-tion in November.

Trump, forcefully pursuinghis ‘America first” policy, haspreviously described India as a“tariff king” for imposing“tremendously high” tariffs onAmerican products, also

expressed dissatisfaction overthe US-India trade ties. “Well,we can have a trade deal withIndia, but I’m really saving thebig deal for later on,” Trumptold reporters at the Joint BaseAndrews outside Washingtonon Tuesday when askedwhether he expects a trade dealwith India before the visit.

Asked about his com-ments, the External AffairsMinistry spokesperson RaveeshKumar said here it is importantto understand the context inwhich the remarks were made.The context was balance oftrade and efforts have beenmade to address concerns, hesaid.

India is eagerly awaitingPresident Trump’s visit and itwill strengthen the bilateralglobal strategic ties, Kumarsaid. He also said “we don’twant to create any artificialdeadline” replying to questionon when India-US trade dealwill be signed.

On how many agreementswill be signed during Trump’sIndia visit, Kumar said aroundfive MoUs were under discus-sion. Asked whether the issuesrelating to H1B visa will figurein Modi-Trump talks, Kumarsaid they could come up.

Trump will reachAhemdabad on February 24where a grand event - called“Namaste Trump” - to welcomehim will “showcase India’s richand diverse culture that willhave few parallels in India orelsewhere”.

“US President Trump willland in Ahmedabad aroundnoon, from there he will go tothe Motera Stadium to addressthe ‘Namaste Trump’ event.The route from the airport tothe stadium -- we expect a large

number of people will line-up,”Ravish Kumar said.

Talking of the route fromthe Ahmedabad airport to thestadium, he said, “We expect alarge number of people linedup along the route”. So far, 28stages have been set up whichwill represent various parts ofthe country, on which artisteswill be performing.

The roadshow will featureMahatma Gandhi’s life and theprogramme at the MoteraStadium would be like the“Howdy Modi” event, he saidreferring to the mega pro-gramme at Houston in US,where Trump had shared stagewith Prime Minister NarendraModi and addressed the assem-bled Indians.

The other stop on Trump’sschedule is Agra and the laststop is New Delhi where Modiand Trump will hold talks onthe entire range of bilateralissues including defence andtrade. Incidentally, it will be thefifth meeting between Modiand Trump in the last eightmonths.

> �� %>�� .��.��

�� ."��"2*�

Days after the landmarkSupreme Court judgment

directing the Government togrant permanent commissionand command postings towomen officers, Army ChiefMM Naravane on Thursdaysaid his force has been cham-pioning gender equality and theapex court verdict has given theArmy clarity to move forward.

In a momentous ruling onMonday, the apex court onMonday had called for a“change in mindsets” anddirected that women officers ofthe Army, serving under ShortService Commission(SSC), beconsidered for grant ofPermanent Commission, irre-spective of tenure of service,and also for command posts innon-combat areas since “anabsolute bar on women seekingcriteria or command appoint-ments would not comport withthe guarantee of equality underArticle 14.”

Making the Army’s standclear, the Army Chief said herethe Indian Army does not dis-criminate any soldier based onreligion, caste, creed, or evengender. The outlook of theIndian Army has been through-out like this and “that is why westarted inducting women offi-cers as early as in 1993.”

Outlining steps taken toinduct women in the force, hesaid the Army has taken theinitiative to induct women inrank and file, and the first batchof 100 women soldiers isundergoing training at Corps ofMilitary Police Centre andSchool, he said.

Supreme Court’s decision isa welcome one as it brings outa sense of clarity and purpose togainfully employ officers for bet-ter efficiency of the organisa-tion. I must assure that every-body in the Indian Armyincluding women officers will

be given equal opportunity tocontribute to the nation as alsoprogress in their careers,” he saidhailing the verdict as enabling.Naravane also said letters arebeing sent to women officersasking whether they will preferpermanent commission.

The court has given threemonths’ time to theGovernment to implement itsverdict and Naravane said aroadmap has been prepared forits implementation. He alsosaid there is equal opportuni-ty for everyone and there is nogender discrimination. “We

have drafted a plan” he stated.Same procedure for male

Short Service Commission(SSC) officers will be followedfor women to give permanentcommission, the Army chiefclarified adding “it will besame rule for everyone.”

Observing that the judge-ment is for those who havecrossed a certain point in theircareer in the Army, he saidthose rules for young officerswill not be applied on them. Inthe next batch of women offi-cers trained all these factors willbe discussed, he stated.

��% ��%�� !�%��&� �� #�$� �%��

��

� �� +��%�� / �� 8�&��CH

� 2��%�� &��&�� .��&�� &��$�� .��&�

� ��

7$��+�� &� �� %�� $�� #�� /��

! � � � ! � � � �

Speaking on the situation inJ a m m u & K a s h m i r ,

Naravane said terror inci-dents have seen a downturnand the Army is maintainingpressure on terror groups.

There is an externaldimension to the decrease incross-border terrorism, hesaid, in oblique reference tothe ongoing Financial ActionTask Force (FATF) plenary.

Pakistan may have torethink strategy as even Chinarealised they cannot back

their all-weather friend all thetime, the Army chief said onthe FATF plenary.

On the health conditionof hardline Hurriyat leaderSyed Ali Shah Geelani, thearmy chief only said securityforces are geared up to takecare of any situation. On theproposed creation of a theatrecommand exclusively forJammu and Kashmir, he saidthere will be detailed discus-sions before anything isfinalised.

$��@J6 ��

Regarding the new ThalSena Bhawan to be built in

the Delhi Cantonment, forwhich Defence MinisterRajnath Singh will lay the firststone on Friday morning, theArmy Chief said the pro-posed

“Thal Sena Bhawan willbring all Army Headquarteroffices under one roof there-by improving the working

efficiency, while reducing thecarbon footprint and logisticsrequirements.”

However, he clarified thatthe office of the Army Chiefwill not shift to the new build-ing, and will continue to beclose to wherever the DefenceMinister’s office is. The newArmy Headquarters will bespread over 35 acres and willbe built in five years.

.��$��+�� I��&�� #��;��

�� ."��"2*�

As China on Thursday object-ed to Home Minister Amit

Shah’s visit to ArunachalPradesh, saying the visit had vio-lated its territorial sovereigntyand “sabotaged” mutual trustwith India, New Delhi assertedthe eastern State is an integralpart of the country. Moreover,objection to an Indian Minister’svisit there does not stand to rea-son, it reiterated.

The Home Minister is inArunachal Pradesh to attendfunctions related to the 34thStatehood Day of the north-eastern state and launched pro-jects including industry androad infrastructure. China hasalways claimed the border Stateas part of south Tibet and rou-tinely criticises the visit of anyIndian official to the region.

Objecting to Shah’s visit,Chinese Foreign Ministryspokesperson Geng Shuangsaid “China’s position on theeastern sector of the China-India boundary, or the south-ern part of China’s Tibet region,is consistent and clear.”

Responding to a questionabout Shah’s visit, the

spokesperson said “the ChineseGovernment has never recog-nised the so-called ‘ArunachalPradesh’ and is firmly opposedto the Indian politician’s visit tothe southern part of China’sTibet region as it violatedChina’s territorial sovereignty,undermined stability of theborder area, sabotaged politi-cal mutual trust, and violatedrelevant bilateral agreement,”Geng. The official also saidIndia should stop taking anyaction that may “further com-plicate the border issue.”

Asked about China’s objec-tion to Shah’s visit, Ministry ofExternal Affairs spokespersonRaveesh Kumar said here onThursday India’s consistent posi-

tion has been that the State is itsintegral and inalienable part.Objecting to visit to Arunachalby an Indian leader does notstand to reason, he said.

China last year too raisedsimilar issue when DefenceMinister Rajnath Singh visitedArunachal Pradesh to takestock of the security situationin the frontier border region.

Earlier in 2019, customsauthorities in a northeasternChinese city had destroyednearly 30,000 world mapsshowing Arunachal Pradeshas a part of India and Taiwanas a separate country.

�5,=�,��$��#� �0��'��&��

The Indo Tibetan Border Policeon Thursday honoured its

doctors, paramedics, cooks andsanitation officials who served ina special quarantine centre set uphere housing 406 people suspect-ed to have been exposed to coro-navirus, a spokesperson of theforce said. “Thank you for whatyou did. The country and the forceis proud of you,” ITBP Director

General (DG) S S Deswal told thepersonnel after he held a special‘sainik sammelan’ at the Chhawlacamp of the force. Deswal gaveaway the top award of the forcecalled the ‘DG commendationdisc’ to 28 personnel, appreciationletters to three while 32 stafferswere presented with cash rewards,ITBP spokesperson Vivek KumarPandey said.

��"��# $%#� �%��&%'# (��)�� "#*�%+)" $%�, -)%�.� *�#(��.��(�� I��

'��,,�%��!,�)"!�!$�$��/! �#��0�#$1� !�&��)�2��#(�#1�33

(��,��$�� &��>.�� )!��,��"� ��#�� !� "#�

,(��)�� &��)�&��&��

��/�+�$��$�� !��?��)��$��

��?� �� 5��

1�� K"#/!��%��$ ��-��

��!��@��=�"��

�� !"#�!$!$ �� /

��"�� "�� 6?26$�$

Bengal is mulling enhancedsecurity for election strate-

gist Prashant Kishore, sourcesin the State Government saidadding already the securitydirectorate has reviewed hissecurity status and submittedits recommendations beforethe Government.

Accordingly, Kishore whohas reportedly been hired bythe ruling Trinamool Congressto chalk out its strategy roadmap ahead of the 2021Assembly elections is likely toget ‘Z’ category security coverwhich is provided among oth-ers former Chief MinisterBuddhadeb Bhattacharjee,senior Ministers like ParthoChatterjee, Firhad Hakim,Suvendu Adhikary, BCCI pres-ident Sourav Ganguly andanother 5-6 persons.

Chief Minister MamataBanerjee and his nephew andMP Abhishek Banerjee gets ‘Z

Plus’ security cover.The security personnel will

be drawn from the trainedofficers of Kolkata Police andBengal Police, sources saidadding the decision to providesecurity cover to Kishore wastaken following a meeting ofthe security directorate officials.

Significantly the meetingtook place following two devel-opments. First, Kishore’s expul-sion from the Jantadal UnitedParty of Nitish Kumar andsecond his decision to launch‘Baat Bihar Ki’.

“A meeting was calledwhere his security wasreviewed and its upgradationwas recommended to the StateGovernment,” sources said.

However officials inKishore’s election managementcompany said they did nothave any information about thenew security proposals.

Bengal has seen a lot ofpolitical murders over the pastone decade or so. One such vic-

tim of recent escalated politi-cal hostilities was a TrinamoolCongress MLA from Nadia.

Satyajit Biswas KrishanganjMLA was murdered near housein Nadia. Local BJP MP whowas named among 43 otherswas recently grilled for fourhours by the State CID regard-ing his alleged role in the mur-der.

With TMC’s positionimproving since the losses itsuffered in last year’sParliamentary elections—whenthe party conceded 18 out of 42seats to the BJP —thanksKishore’s reported strategicmanipulations the Bengal rul-ing party wants him secured atany cost, experts said.

One of the major reflec-tions of Kishore’s successeswith the TMC was a remark-able comeback staged by theTrinamool in the recently heldAssembly elections to threeseats in which the BJP sufferedhumiliating defeat.

Kolkata: West Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee onThursday wrote a letter toPrime Minister NarendraModi, expressing concern over‘steady reduction’ of centralfunds to the State and ‘inordi-nate delay’ in their release.

The BJP called the letter a“political ploy to befool people”ahead of civic polls in thestate.

In her letter, Banerjeeasserted that despite the declinein central funds the state’sGSDP grew by 10.4 per centagainst the national GDPgrowth of 5 per cent in 2019-20. “I write to you with deepconcern regarding steadyreduction of central funds tothe state and also inordinatedelay in release of funds to usfrom the Government of India,”Banerjee wrote.

She said the state is yet toreceive its share of central

funds totalling �50,000 croretill January, 2020.

This “extradordinary situ-ation” is creating major diffi-culties in meeting obligationsfor the welfare of the state, shesaid.

The letter said, “You will,no doubt, appreciate that boththe central and the StateGovernments are expected tofulfil the constitutional oblig-ations and the commitments tothe people, so that respectivegovernments run smoothly ...However West Bengal is beingdeprived of the huge out-standing dues.”

Banerjee said West Bengal’sindex of industrial production(IIP) in April-November 2019-20 stood at 3.1 per cent againstthe national figure of 0.6 percent, while growth of the ser-vices sector at 16.4 per cent wasmuch higher than the nation-al number of 6.9 percent. PTI

Bengaluru: Leaving the organ-isers of an Event to protestagainst the CAA, NRC andNRP here red-faced, a youngwoman on Thursday raised‘Pakistan Zindabad’ slogan inthe presence of AIMIM chiefAsaduddin Owaisi, whodenounced her action andasserted “we are for India”.

The woman, identified asAmulya, asked people to shoutwith her ‘Pakistan Zindabad’after the organisers of the eventunder the banner of “SaveConstitution” invited her toaddress the gathering soonafter Owaisi came on the stage.

Soon Owaisi rushed tosnatchthe mike from her handsand was joined by others whotried to remove her from thestate.

But the woman wasadamant and raised the sloganagain repeatedly.

Later, the police stepped inand removed her from thedais.

Owaisi then addressedthe gathering, saying he did notagree with the woman.

“Neither me nor my partyhas any link with her. Wedenounce her. The organisersshould not have invited herhere. If I knew this, I would nothave come here. We are forIndia and we no way supportour enemy nation Pakistan.Our entire drive is to saveIndia,” the AIMIM MP said.

JD(S) corporator ImranPasha claimed she was plantedby some rival group to disruptthe event. The woman, he said,was not in the list of speakersand demanded that the policeinvestigate the matterseriously. PTI

Chennai: A road crash inTamil Nadu early Thursday left20 dead and 28 injured as alorry collided with their busreducing it to a mangled heap.

Police said the accidentoccurred on the Salem-Kochihighway at Avinashi in Tirupuraround 4 am as the Kerala StateRoad Transport Corporation(KSRTC) bus was proceedingto Ernakulam from Bengaluru.Tirupur is located about 450km from here.

Most of the passengerswere asleep when the lorrycrashed into the bus.

The lorry driver,Ernakulam native Hemaraj,was arrested later.

The tiles-laden containerlorry’s tyre burst and it enteredthe wrong lane colliding withthe bus, reducing the vehicle toa mangled heap, police said.

The 20, including sixwomen, died at the scene whilethe injured were admitted tohospitals in Tirupur and somereferred to Coimbatore, policesaid.

Palakkad Superintendentof Police Siva Vikram said “Itwas a high speed collision.The container lorry went out of

control.”The accident came as a

shock to many in the state sinceone of such a magnitude hasnot happened in Tamil Nadu inthe recent past.

There were 48 passengerson board the bus.

The lorry suffered a tyreburst before colliding with theKSRTC bus, Tamil Nadu ChiefMinister K Palaniswami said inthe State Assembly, adding, allthe victims were Keralites.

Prime Minister NarendraModi, Tamil Nadu GovernorBanwarilal Purohit,Palaniswami, and Kerala ChiefMinister Pinarayi Vijayan con-doled the deaths.

“Extremely anguished bythe bus accident...In this hourof grief, my thoughts andprayers are with the bereavedfamilies. I hope those who areinjured recover at the earliest,”the PM’s Office said in a tweetquoting Modi.

Though reports initiallysuggested the bus was pro-ceeding towardsThiruvananthapuram inKerala, officials later clarified itsdestination was Ernakulam.

Palaniswami said he has

asked the Tirupur administra-tion to coordinate with theirPalakkad counterparts, to expe-dite activities including send-ing the bodies of the deceasedto Kerala.

Further, 23 people wereseriously injured and wereundergoing treatment while

five others sustained simpleinjuries and were proceeding toKerala, he said.

“I have directed theTirupur collector and policeofficials there to set up a helpcentre to assist the relatives ofthe victims and also expeditethe process of sending the

bodies of the deceased by con-tacting Kerala officials,” hesaid.

In Thiruvananthapuram,Vijayan deputed his cabinetcolleagues—Transport MinisterAK Saseendran andAgriculture Minister VSSunilkumar, to Tirupur to

coordinate relief operations,his office said.

The Kerala delegation laterarrived in Tirupur.

Saseendran, Sunilkumar,Palakkad MP VK Sreekandan,and Alathur MP RamyaHaridas besides MLAs fromKerala are camping at Tirupur.

“The State Governmentwill provide a compensation of�10 lakh to the bereaved fam-ilies, �two lakh will be givenwithin a week. The rest of theamount will be given followingthe procedures,” Saseendransaid.

“The families of theKSRTC employees will be given�30 lakh each under the insur-ance scheme,” he added.

The State Government hasalso declared that it will takecare of the medical expenses ofthe injured passengers.

The Health departmenthas sent ambulances to Tirupurto bring back the bodies. Theaccident left the survivors shell-shocked.

Karishma, on her way toErnakulam, said she was seat-ed on the left side of the busand was sleeping when theaccident occurred.

“When I woke up sudden-ly, I saw many people runningaround and the injured beingtaken in ambulances,” thewoman told the media.

Alan, also from Kerala,said he was still finding it dif-ficult to overcome the shock.

“I have sustained a minorinjury on my leg. But my friendis injured on the nose and I amtaking him to hospital,” hesaid.

Jemin George, an injured

passenger, said he suffered a cuton his lips and an injury to hisforehead that required 10stitches.

“I do not know what exact-ly happened. I was sleeping ina seat behind the driver’s seat,”he said, adding, he was referredto a hospital in Coimbatore.

A weeping woman pas-senger alleged the containerlorry was overloaded and therewere not many vehicles on theroad.

-;�� #��5�� $��

Aizawl: MizoramGovernor PSSreedharan Pillai hailed the Mizo PeaceAccord, signed in 1986, as a beacon ofhope for enduring peace as the north-eastern state celebrated its 34th statehoodday on Thursday.

Pillai, while addressing a programmehere on the occasion, said, “The signingof the historic Mizo Peace Accord on June30, 1986 remains a beacon of hope for theworld that peace can be attained and sus-tained if the people and leaders choose itover violence.”

Mizoram became the 23rd state ofIndia in 1987 after the Mizo NationalFront (MNF) signed the peace accord withthe Centre, ending a two-decade-longinsurgency.

Before attaining statehood, Mizoramwas union territory.

Observing that Mizoram’s endeavour

since attainingstatehood has

been to attain self-reliance, Pillai urged thestate government and denizens not to sole-ly rely on central funding.

“Mizoram is abundantly blessed withresources in horticulture, handloom,handicrafts, human resource and tourismsectors, which we need to tap. It is our dutyto provide a congenial socio-economic set-ting where our youth can flourish withpride,” he said.

He called upon the state governmentto work towards achieving a welfarestate.Pillai said the Centre has allocated 10per cent of the Union budget for the devel-opment of the Northeast.

He also urged the churches and theNGOs to help the State Government incombating AIDS and cancer. Several pro-grammes were held across the State on theoccasion. PTI

�� @$!!�

The Public Health Engineering (PHE) workers onThursday extended their ongoing strike by 72 hours in

support of various demands including release of pendingwages and regularisation of services.

The PHE workers had begun their strike on February7. The stir has led to a drinking water crisis in most partsof the Jammu region.

“We have decided to extend the ongoing strike by 72hours and if the Government failed to address our issues,we have no option but to hit the roads,” a leader of the pro-testers said. Police on Wednesday foiled an attempt by thou-sands of PHE workers to stage a rally from the office of thechief engineer to the Raj Bhavan here.

“After the end of the 72-hour deadline, over 22,000workers from across the Jammu region will gather here andcome on the roads to press for their genuine demands,” theleader said. He said the wages of the workers are pendingfor the last 65 months, while they have served the depart-ment for over two decades with a hope that their serviceswill get regularised one day.

“We have only got assurances from time and again andtherefore, we will not budge till our demands are met...Withor without Article 370, our fate remains the same and ourfamilies are suffering due to the failure of the Governmentto address our issues,” he said.

Coimbatore: A Muslim couple entered intowedlock amid protests against theCitizenship Amendment Act here by over1,000 people, including women, onThursday.

The ceremony took place under acanopy erected at the protest venue atAathupalam and was witnessed by the pro-testers, who have been on a sit-in sinceWednesday seeking withdrawal of theCAA, proposed National Register ofCitizens and National Population Register.

The marriage was solemnised by anImam, with the bride Reshma and groomAbdul Kalam exchaging vows amid slogansagainst the new law.

Family members and those present atthe venue blessed the couple.

A Muslim couple, holding an anti-CAAplacard, got married at the venue of theongoing protest against CAA in Chennai onMonday. PTI

Salem/Chennai: Six pilgrimsfrom Nepal, Including twowomen, were killed and 24others injured in a road acci-dent near Salem on Thursday,police said.

The accident happenedon the Salem-Bengaluru high-way after a bus rammed theminibus the pilgrims weretravelling in when its drivertried to swerve to the rightnear Omalur in the district,police said.

Chief Minister KPalaniswami condoled thedeath of the six pilgrims and

said the accident happened inthe early hours of Thursdaywhen they were proceeding toRajasthan from Kaniyakumari.

Speaking in the TamilNadu Assembly, he said thatthe accident happened around1 AM.”Six Nepalis includingtwo women travelling in thebus were killed,” he said andexpressed his condolences.

The injured have beenadmitted to hospital, he said,adding he has directed theSalem Collector to ensure theyreceived the best medical treat-ment. PTI

Imphal: The Manipur Stateeducation board cancelled theclass 11 final exams after ques-tion papers of at least five sub-jects were leaked, a senior offi-cial said on Thursday.

Question papers of Physics,Chemistry, Maths, Biology andManipuri were leaked, Councilof Higher Secondary EducationManipur (COHSEM) secre-tary Ch Biren Singh told PTI.

The final examinations,which began on February 17, ofall streams of class 11 have beencancelled as “concrete evidenceregarding the leakage” wasfound, COHSEM chairman LMahendra said.

The council has instructedprincipals of all the affiliatedschools to return the questionspapers “in their original formsas collected” by February 24, headded.

Mahendra assured sternaction against those foundresponsible and said the prin-cipals who do not comply withthe council’s direction will beconsidered as individualsresponsible for the leakage.

“Authorities of private insti-tutions found guilty will havetheir affiliation cancelled,” hesaid, adding that the councilwill announce new dates for theexams soon. PTI

<��+�� /�� $��$�� !0�� $�� !� " #

+�� !��& �!�$��

,��%�� %��-.�� /��

��$��*#!$��$��,!��($��$��,1#�,(�$!�)%��&�&(),�

��A��!��"��-��+��+��0� �� 4"Bareilly (UP): A class nine studenthas been detained by the police herefor allegedly threatening to blow uphis school building in a ‘Pulwama-like attack’ if he was not paid �2 lakhas extortion amount, an official saidon Thursday.

Senior SP Shailendra Pandeysaid the boy, who also works as anewspaper hawker, has been sent toa reform home.

The principal of the school hadcomplained to police that someonedropped a letter at his house onFriday threatening to blow it up andalso the school building. OnTuesday, the accused student hand-ed him a letter carrying the“Pulwama-like attack” threat, thepolice officer said.

On receiving the complaint, acase under relevant sections of theIPC was registered and the boy wasquestioned.

After changing his statementfrequently, he confessed to havewritten the letter to make easymoney, the police said. PTI

01�� 2�� "�34�� !!��

��4 ��

'�!�� . ��

4(��$!�)�0�0�#��&��)!0(#��+��#,��5��+��6�,

�� "��&��&� ��%�

��0�� ! !�

1!2�3 �%(�%��%�,%�� #*� .�,)"#*) 4�# (.��)" 5�#�,) %&�. +%�'( ��"#%'(� �*) )&)��

5$#� �� !� ��%��&� ��!��

,��+��)��1+�� !� " #

A�%�� 6��*��+��7�� C+�� ,*"..$�

Three people were killed andnine injured when a crane came

crashing down on the sets of actorKamal Haasan’s upcoming film‘Indian 2’, police said, as the veter-an actor mourned the deaths.

An assistant director was amongthe three killed in the accident onWednesday night and a case hasbeen registered against the craneoperator, who is absconding, undervarious sections of the IPC, includ-ing causing death by negligence,police sources said.

Those dead were assistant direc-tor Krishna, art assistant Chandranand Madhu, a production assistant,Lyca Productions, producer of themovie, said in a statement onThursday.

Haasan, the film’s heroine KajalAggarwal and others condoled thedeaths and hoped that such inci-dents did not recur.

Haasan also visited the injuredat a hospital late Wednesday night.

The accident took place at sub-

urban Nazrathpet when the craneemployed to erect the sets crashed,police said.

The shoot was underway at aprivate cinema studio, they added.

On Thursday, Haasan and LycaProductions condoled the death ofthe three professionals.

The 65-year-old actor saidthough he had “met with andcrossed” many accidents, this was“very horrific.”

Condoling the death of three“most hardworking” technicians,Lyca Productions said “we areextremely saddened” over the acci-dent.

Expressing his condolences,Haasan tweeted: “Though (I) havemet with and crossed many acci-dents, today’s mishap is very hor-rific. I have lost three of my col-leagues.”

“More than my pain, the grief ofthe family who lost them will bemanifold. I take part in their griefas one of them,” he said.

Lyca Productions said “nowords could ease what we truly feel”

and expressed condolences to thebereaved families.

Many other film actors includ-ing Dhanush mourned the deaths.

In a tweet, the actor-producersaid the loss at the sets of Indian 2was “irreparable.”

“Such incidents should notrecur,” he said and wished speedyrecovery of the injured.

Kajal Aggar wal expressedanguish over the death of her col-leagues. “Words cannot describe theheartache I feel at the unexpected,untimely loss of my colleaguesfrom last night. Krishna,Chandranand Madhu—sending love,strengthand my deepest condolences toyour families.

May God give strength in thismoment of desolation,” she tweet-ed.

“In so much shock, denial, trau-ma from the monstrous crane acci-dent last night. All it took was afraction of a second to stay alive andtype this tweet....” she added.

Lyricist Vairamuthu a lsoexpressed grief.

Panaji: The Goa Congress hassaid it will Challenge its 10 for-mer MLAs, who joined the BJPlast year, to resign and seekfresh mandate on the saffronparty’s ticket.

State Congress spokesmanUrfan Mulla told PTI onThursday that his party leaderswill visit homes of the 10MLAs and challenge them tore-contest the election.

After the 2017 Goa polls, ahung Assembly had emerged.But, the BJP outsmarted theCongress by cobbling togethera coalition quickly.

In July last year, 10Congress MLAs switched overto the BJP. “The Congress willchallenge them to resign asMLAs and then re-contest onBJP’s ticket from their respec-tive Assembly constituencies. Ifthey think they can get re-elect-ed on BJP’s ticket, they shouldtry their luck,” Mulla said. PTI

�� B8��1,��'�� 3"��C��0��+��-��

�� 6�� !"#�!$!$

Jaipur: The Rajasthan Budgetis based on seven resolutions,including Nirogi Rajasthan andefforts are being made so thatdevelopment is not interrupt-ed in the State despite variouschallenges, Chief MinisterAshok Gehlot said onThursday.

Presenting the Budget forFY2020-21 in the RajasthanAssembly, Gehlot referred tothe public welfare measures inthe last Budget, and said thathis Government has tried topresent a concrete action planin this Budget also.

He levied no new tax pro-posals and announced to fill53,151 new vacancies. He alsoannounced rebate of �130 crorein different kinds of taxes.

This is the second Budgetof the Congress Government,

which came to power in thestate in December 2018.

“For us the entireRajasthan is like a family. Forthis family, I want to makeseven resolutions as prioritiesof this Budget,” Gehlot said.

These resolutions arehealthy Rajasthan, prosperousfarmers, welfare of women,children and elderly, capablelabourers, youth-students, edu-cation, water power and roads,skills and technology, headded.

Chief Minister Gehlotwho also holds finance portfo-lio said the Central govern-ment’s revenue has reduceddue to its wrong economicpolicies and Rajasthan is alsosuffering due to this.

He said that state’s share inthe central taxes has been

reduced by �10,362 crore.Gehlot said the financial

condition of the states in thefederal system depends on thepolicies and decisions of thecentral government to a largeextent and noted that todaymost economic indicators indi-cate that the country’s eco-nomic condition has derailed.

“We have made efforts tomake it an inclusive budget by

keeping in mind theviews and suggestionsof farmers, cattle rearers,women, students, youth,industrial and businessorganisations and civilsociety,” Gehlot said.

He said, it is impor-tant to present the truepicture of the economicsituation of the country

before giving details of far-reaching steps that are likely tobe taken in the coming year bythe state government to achievethe overall development of thestate.

“The reason for mention-ing the financial position of thestates in our federal systemdepends on the policies anddecisions of the Centre to alarge extent. Today, most of theindices of the country’s econ-

omy indicate that the country’seconomy is currently goingthrough a bad phase,” he said.

The World Bank, IMF andADB have slashed growth rateprojections. According to theEconomic Survey 2019-20India’s GDP growth rate isestimated to be 5 per cent, headded.

The Chief Minister saidthe Central Government rais-es funds in many ways such asby taking money from theReserve Bank, disinvesting inAir India and Bharat PetroleumCorporation Limited (BPCL),reducing the stake in LICwhereas the states have nosuch option. He said thatdespite these challenges, wehave tried that the road todevelopment in this budget isnot obstructed. PTI

Jaipur: The Opposition BJP onThursday criticised the Budgetpresented by the Congress-ledRajasthan Government, sayingit was a ‘routine budget’ and an“example of poor financialmanagement”.

The BJP also said the bud-get failed to fulfil the expecta-tions of the people of the state.

Leader of Opposition inRajasthan Assembly, GulabChand Kataria said the AshokGehlot-led government hasburdened electricity consumerswith �12,000 crore annually byincreasing the power tariff. Headded that the state had comeinto surplus in terms of revenuereceipts in the previous dis-pensation led by the BJP.

“Power companies arereeling under losses. Theyhave put an annual burden of�12,000 crore on people byincreasing power tariff. Thereis no relief to people in thebudget. We are not able to seeany development in the bud-get,” Kataria said at a press con-ference.

The Congress govern-ment had recently announcedthe power tariff hike of 11.21per cent.

Replying to a question ondecreasing state share in taxcollection from the Centre,Kataria said the State share inGST has increased concur-rent with the income of theCentre.

He claimed the StateGovernment was earning�21,000 crore through value-added tax (VAT), the highestin any state of the country,and despite that there was noword about development inthe budget.

Rajasthan BJP presidentSatish Poonia said it was a rou-tine Budget of the routinegovernment and did not fulfilthe expectations of the peopleof the State. They will blamethe Centre and will also expectfrom the Centre. It is an exam-ple of their poor financialmanagement. The Budget doesnot seem to be fulfilling theexpectation of the people of thestate. PTI

��"�� !�!($�

ANagpur court on Thursdaygranted bail to

Maharashtra’s former ChiefMinister and leader of theOpposition in the StateAssembly Devendra Fadnavisin a case seeking criminal pro-ceedings against him non-dis-closure of criminal cases reg-istered against him in his 2014election affidavit.

Fadnavis, who had beengranted exemption from per-sonal appearance on four pre-vious occasions, finallyappeared before ChiefMetropolitan Magistrate PSIngle amid tight security, andsought bail in thecase.

After recording Fadnavis’appearance before the court,the CJM granted him bail on apersonal bond of �15,000.

Fadnavis had been given

last chance to appear before thecourt on Thursday. Whilegranting bail to Fadnavis, theCJM observed: “The presenceof the accused (Fadnavis) issecured. The offences are bail-able. There is no apprehensionof him absconding. Hence,bail is granted”.

The court was hearing anapplication filed by advocateSatish Uke, seeking criminalproceedings to be initiatedagainst Fadnavis for allegednon-disclosure of criminalcases registered against him inhis election affidavit in the 2014Assembly elections.

The court, while grantingbail, directed Fadnavis toremain present at the nexthearing and also as and whendirected by the court in thematter. The court has sched-uled the next hearing for March30.

Earlier, advocate Satish Uke

opposed Fadnavis’ bail appli-cation on grounds that he hadskipped earlier hearings onvarious grounds and citing theprecedence of a similar caseconcerning Delhi ChiefMinister ArvindKejriwal.

Uke had initially hadmoved a magisterial courtwhich dismissed his complaintagainst Fadnavis on September7, 2015. Subsequently, hemoved a sessions court inNagpur which transferred thematter to the magisterial courtfor a “de novo” (afresh) con-sideration.

Not happy with theSessions court’s order, Fadnavismoved the Bombay HighCourt, which on May 3, 2018set it aside.

Later, in its judgment on

October 1, 2019, the apex courthad set aside the Bombay HighCourt order which gave a cleanchit to Fadnavis and held thathe did not deserve to be triedfor the alleged offence underthe Representation of thePeople (RP) Act.

The SC order had come onan appeal filed by Uke, whohad challenged the high court’sorder.

In its October 1 2019 order,the Supreme Court had direct-ed that a magistrate’s court inNagpur district consider afreshthe complaint filed by Uke,seeking criminal proceedingsto be initiated against MrFadnavis under section 125-Aof the RP Act.

The section 125-A of theRP Act, which deals with thepenalty for “filing false affi-

davit”, says if a candidate or hisproposer fails to furnish orgives false or conceals anyinformation in his nominationpaper on issues like pendingcriminal cases, then the personmay be awarded six months jailterm or fine or both.

Early this week, theSupreme Court reserved itsverdict on Fadnavis’ plea seek-ing review of its 2019 judgmentasking the BJP leader to facetrial for allegedly failing tofurnish details of two pendingcriminal cases against him inhis 2014 poll affidavit.

While representingFadnavis, senior advocateMukul Rohatgi had told a SCbench headed by Justice ArunMishra that the issue wouldhave very far reaching conse-quences for other candidatesfighting elections and the apexcourt needed to re-examine itsOctober 1, 2019 order.

��)�9�� )�9�8��8 ��?�� &��

��"�� !�!($�

Maharashtra Chief MinisterUddhav Thackeray will

meet Prime Minister NarendraModi in New Delhi on Friday,in what is being described bythe Shiv Sena as a ‘courtesy call’.

Though Uddhav had metModi briefly on December 6during the latter’s visit to Puneto attend a national conferenceof directors general and inspec-tors general of police, Friday’swill be — for all practical pur-poses — the first formal meet-ing between the two leaders,after the Shiv Sena snapped tieswith the BJP and formed a gov-ernment in Maharashtra inalliance with the NCP andCongress November 28.

Confirming Uddhav’sscheduled meeting with Modi

on Friday, Shiv Sena’s MP andspokesperson Sanjay Raut-- ina tweet posted on Thursdayevening — described the meet-ing as “courtesy call”. He, however, declined to go intofurther details relating to themeeting.

Informed sources in theShiv Sena, meanwhile, saidthat at Friday’s meeting,Uddhav would press for releaseof pending tax dues and alsoseek financial assistance fromthe Centre for the unseasonalrains hit farmers in the State.

It may be recalled that in aletter written to Union FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharamanon December 11 last year,Thackeray had sought theState’s “legitimate dues” of�15,558 crore from the Uniongovernment by way of GSTcompensation and tax devolu-tion.

“The State is awaiting legit-

imate dues of �15,558.05 crorefrom the Government ofIndia.... Timely release of GSTcompensation and tax devolu-tion amount will help my stateto manage the finances effi-ciently, “ the Chief Minister hadwritten in his letter.

At that time, the pendingdues comprised �6,946.29 croreby way of tax devolution and�8611.76 crore towards GSTcompensation up to November2019.

“As per the Union budget2019-20, the tax devolution toMaharashtra was �46,630.66crore which is 11.15 per centmore than �41,952.65 crorereceived by the state during2018-19.

But, the state has receivedonly �20,254.92 crore tillOctober 2019 which is 25.53per cent less compared to thebudget estimate of 2019-20,”the Chief Minister had said inhis letter to Sitaraman.

$�� "��,%�� 6��%��

)��%��!��,��)�� ")#%5)# ��# 7�'%�)#� �..�

78�� 9�� &��:� &� �"��& ��

$��!��&�� %�� !��#��

��

NoticeApplications are invited for filling up 08 (Eight) posts ofChief General Manager (CGM)/General Manager (GM)and 04 (Four) posts of Deputy General Manager(DGM)/Assistant General Manager (AGM) on deputationbasis. The detailed vacancy my be seen at www.ibbi.gov.inDavp- 07121/11/0011/1920

Bengaluru: Calling BJPGovernment in Karnataka as“a child born illicitly fromOperation Kamala”, theOpposition Congress onThursday warned the rulingparty that people would pun-ish it, if it doesnt keep thepromise of making the state a‘Rama Rajya.’

Alleging that the BSYediyurappa-led Governmentin the state has not come topower with the mandate of thepeople, but only by engineer-ing the defection of 17Congress-JD(S) legislators, theLeader of Opposition in theassembly Siddaramaiah saidthere was no programme fromthe current dispensation worthmentioning in the last seven toeight months.

“There is no programmeof the BJP Government in thelast 7-8 months that is worthmentioning; all the mentionsmade in the address are of pre-vious Congress and coalitionGovernment, he said.

He accused theGovernment of failing to getthe right share of central fundsto the state on time, despitehaving the same party inpower at the Centre.

Siddaramaiah said therewould be over a �11,000-croreshortfall in tax devolution toKarnataka during 15th financecommission, while warningthat “We are going to suffer ifthis continues and the admin-istration doesnt act.”

You (BJP) people had

said that you will makeKarnataka a Rama Rajya ifparty comes to power both atthe state and theCentre...Where is it? Do it,”he said.

You (BJP) will constructRam Mandir and bring inUniform Civil Code, becauseit is your agendabut alsomake efforts towards build-ing Rama Rajya as you hadpromised or else you mayhave to eat your own words,and people will punish you,he said.

Participating in thedebate on the motion ofthanks to Governors addressin the assembly,Siddaramaiah said the stategovernment has failed togive any preview throughthe address.

The Governors addressdoesnt have anything fromthis Government, except thestate providing �4,000 crorein addition to the Central

governments �6,000 croreunder the Pradhan MantriKisan Samman Nidhi scheme,”he said.

Attacking the governmentfor its failure in handlingincessant rains and large-scale floods last year, the for-mer Chief Minister criticisedit for not providing proper andtimely relief and delay in get-ting central relief funds. PTI

�� ."��"2*�

With the telecom sector reelingunder severe financial stress and

Vodafone Idea staring at bankruptcy incase it is made to pay its adjusted grossrevenue (AGR) dues, the Governmentis considering options to stick to theSupreme Court’s directive but with leastpossible impact on the financials of thestressed operators.

According to people in the know,the Government will try to ensure thatits action regarding AGR dues takes careof all the perspectives, firstly, compli-ance with the Supreme Court’s order,

then, ensuring minimum impact on thehealth of the telcos along with makingsure that the consumers are not impact-ed adversely.

The Government, among otheroptions, is considering to set up a fundto facilitate operations of telcos post thepayment of their AGR dues, sourcessaid. According to sources in the know,the dues which have to be paid to theDepartment of elecommunications(DoT) would have to be put in the tele-com fund, and can then be lent to thecompanies at lower interest.

This will allow companies to main-tain their going concern status and con-

tinue operations without running tobanks to raise funds.

With the sector in trouble, none of thebanks would be ready to lend to telcos,so the fund would act as critical fundingsupport. The telecom fund is likely to helptelcos manage their cash flows and wouldbe fiscally neutral for the Government.

The sources also said that twoother options are being looked at —waiver of penalties or staggered pay-ments with interest. The PrimeMinister’s Office (PMO) and the Lawand Finance Ministries would take thefinal call. The DoT has maintained thatit will execute the top court’s directive

and stick to the spirit of the order.In the last couple of days, chiefs of

telecom majors, Bharti Airtel andVodafone Idea have met Governmentofficials and Ministers in a bid to get some relief.

On Wednesday, Mittal andVodafone Idea Chairman KumarMangalam Birla met Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman to apprise her thecurrent stressed state of affairs in thetelecom sector due to huge AGR pay-ment and are learnt to have sought relieffor sustenance. Both the telco bosseshave also met Telecom Secretary AnshuPrakash.

�� #��%��!��"��"�� !��!��

.$��?.$2��!�2�6"."��?�.$E��!K�(*$-�$�

He added, “What do countries do when theybecome the strongest? With superpower status theytry to exert their influence on other countries, exploit-ing their resources for themselves. This is the reasonresearchers think that a country becoming too pow-erful is bad for the world.”

Bhagwat, who is on a five day visit to Jharkhand,was addressing “Sangh Samagam” of RSS volunteerson college ground of Dr Syama Prasad MookerjeeUniversity, Morhabadi, Ranchi.

The meeting was attended by former JharkhandChief Minister Raghubar Das, Ranchi MLA and for-mer Minister CP Singh, Ranchi MP Sanjay Seth andBJP leaders, besides RSS volunteers.

The RSS chief, on the occasion, also expressedconcern over environmental imbalance urging thepeople to work for protecting the environment. Hesaid entire world has seen the affects of playing withenvironment and in present context China is an exam-ple. Bhagwat, who enjoys Z+ security cover by a spe-cial group of the Central Industrial Security Force(CISF) due to the threat perception against him,reached Birsa Munda Airport on Wednesday. OnThursday apart from attending the Sangh Samagam,he also addressed a meeting on IIM campus, followedby meeting at Maheshwari Bhavan. The RSS chief willbe in State capital on Friday and Saturday too and willleave for Giridih the same day.

The RSS chief visit to State assumes importanceas there are around 60,000 full time RSS worker inState and the organisation is working to increase itsmembers. In Jharkhand the Vanavasi Kalyan Ashram

a wing of RSS has its activities for Scheduled Tribesin remote areas of Jharkhand.

The BJP tasted defeat in the Delhi Assembly elec-tions for the second consecutive time, increasing itstally from three to just eight seats, while Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) scooped62 of 70 seats. The article in The Organiser said, “...theapparent failure of BJP to revitalise the organisationalstructure at the grassroots level after 2015 and build-ing up of the campaign on in the last leg of the elec-tions were the two major reasons for defeat in the well-fought out battle. But Narendra Modi and Amit Shahcannot always help out in the Assembly level electionsand there is no option but to rebuild the organisationin Delhi to address the local aspirations of the mass-es is the clear message,” it added.

1$-$�2�6"29��?�1"��1.�$��,?.-�1"E��.�$1�2

After the Congress was decimated in the just con-cluded Delhi Assembly elections, the question of lead-ership is being raised from within the party. A seniorCongress leader said that if Rahul Gandhi had beenpresident, the result could have been better inHaryana and Maharashtra. “Since Soniaji was notmostly unwell, there has been a leadership vacuumand that affected the party’s performance,” he said.

Earlier In 2017, Rahul Gandhi was elected pres-ident unopposed following demand from differentquarters of the party, but after the drubbing faced bythe party in the 2019 general elections that saw theCongress barely getting over 50 seats, losing out toeven being called the Opposition, the Gandhi scionresigned.

.?�2�-*��$��".��?8��*$*"".($-*��.."2L

Another man, while talking to the interlocutors,said, “I have a national flag on my bicycle. We lovethis country and stop calling us traitors.”

On Monday, the Supreme Court observed that theblockade of the road at Shaheen Bagh was “troubling”and suggested the protesters go to another site whereno public place would be blocked. It, however, upheldtheir right to protest.

The apex court also asked Hegde to “play a con-structive role as an interlocutor” to persuade the pro-testers to move to an alternative site. It said the inter-locutors could seek former bureaucrat WajahatHabibullah’s assistance.

.�1(*$9$�,?.0�,��1�"��!".�$2��1�,6

“Vinay could not identify his counsel and hismother in jail,” it said.

The petition further claimed that he was havingdecreased sleep for a long time and was referred tosenior psychiatrist in view of drug dependence.

The court had on February 17 issued fresh deathwarrants for March 3 at 6 am against the four deathrow convicts in the Nirbhaya gang rape and murdercase. It had issued fresh warrants against death rowconvicts -- Mukesh Kumar Singh (32), Pawan Gupta(25), Vinay (26) and Akshay Kumar (31). This is thethird time that death warrants have been issued againstthem. A senior prison official said that Vinay is irri-table in nature and acts different from the other threeconvicts. His nature is different from the other three.

�� 8� 9

��"�� !�!($�

APune-based Special CBIcourt has sentenced

Shaliwahan Solegaonkar, thenBranch Manager, Bank ofMaharashtra, Pune to 10years’ rigorous imprison-ment(RI) and levied a fine of�24 lakh on him, while it hasawarded three years’ rigorousimprisonment to one RakeshYadhav, a private person,along with a fine of �10,000on him.

The CBI had registered acase on June 28, 2018 on theallegations that during theper iod 2009 to 2017,Solegaonkar, a BranchManager in 5 dif ferentBranches of Bank ofMaharashtra at Pune, hadallegedly entered into crimi-nal conspiracy with Jadhavand other unknown personsand both the accused fraud-ulently misappropriated anapproximate �2,56,15,998from the bank’s funds.

The modus operandiused in the alleged crimewas Solegaonkar while work-ing with the bank in differentcapacities —as Clerk, Dy.Manager at Sahakar NagarBranch, Dy. Manager atLavale & Lasurne branch-es,Manager at HadapsarIndustr ia l Estate andTalegaon Dhamdherebranches—had transferredvarious amounts from BankGeneral Ledger (B GL)account to a Savings Account

opened in the name of Jadhavwhich was maintained atSahakar Nagar Branch ofBank of Maharashtra at Pune.

Subsequently, ShaliwahanSolegaonkar transferred thesaid amounts f rom theaccount of Jadhav to his ownSavings Bank Accounts main-tained at Vadgaon BudrukBranch and SahakarnagarBranch of Bank ofMaharashtra, respectively andthereby allegedly misappro-priated a total amount of

�2,56,15,998, which wasentrusted to him as banker.

After investigation, theCBI filed five charge sheetswere filed before the SpecialJudge, BI Cases, Pune onDecember 20, 2018 andDecember 26, 2018 undersections 120-B of IPC r/w 409and under Section 13(2) r/w13(1)(d) of P.C. Act, 1988against the two accused.

The Trial Court found theaccused guilty and convictedthem.

Germany and Japan are final-ly winning a war together.Unfortunately, it is the “waron rationality.” Coal, as every-body knows, is by far the

most damaging source of energy we use,in terms of both the harm to humanbeings and the impact on the climate. It’stwice as bad as natural gas and dozens oftimes worse than solar or nuclear or windpower. Yet both Germany and Japan havebeen building a lot of new coal-firedpower stations. But why are they still bet-ting on coal?

Would it upset you if I said it’sbecause they are, despite their apparentsophistication, superstitious peasants atheart? Well, go ahead and get upset.Germany still gets more than a third ofits energy from burning coal and most ofit is ultra-polluting lignite or “brown”coal. Solar, wind, geo-thermal andhydropower generation provide just 17per cent of the country’s electricity needs.If most of Germany’s 17 nuclear powershad not been shut down after 2012 (thelast are scheduled to close within twoyears), then at least half the coal wouldnot have been needed.

There had been an active anti-nuclearpower movement in Germany for sometime but what triggered the 2012 decisionto shut the entire sector down was theFukushima disaster of the previous year.I am deliberately avoiding the words“calamity”, “disaster” and “catastrophe”because while the Fukushima tsunamikilled 19,000 people, the subsequentproblem with the four nuclear reactors onthe coast killed nobody. Yet, the Germanpeople, or at least a large number ofGerman anti-nuclear activists, insistedthat any nuclear reactor anywhere was amortal danger and the Governmentagreed to shut all nuclear plants down.The country pulled a 180 and decided toembark on ending its use of nuclearpower entirely.

The same thing happened in Japan.The Japanese planners were foolish to putfour reactors on the coast in a regionwhere earthquakes and consequenttsunamis were to be expected from timeto time. What needs to be condemned isthe decision of the planners and notnuclear power. Nevertheless, all 50Japanese nuclear reactors, which account-ed for 30 per cent of the country’s electrical power, were immediately shutdown.

The Japanese are not as blindly dog-matic as the Germans: Two of thosenuclear plants reopened in 2015 andseven more resurfaced recently. A further17 are in the lengthy process of restartapproval. So by 2030, the JapaneseGovernment hopes to be getting 20 percent of its electricity from nuclear poweragain. But that’s only half the amount of

nuclear power that Japan orig-inally planned to make avail-able by 2030. The gap between20 per cent and the planned40 per cent of the country’senergy needs will be made upby burning coal.

Japan recently announcedthat it plans to build 22 newcoal-burning power plants inthe next f ive years. ItsGovernment has argued thatthese coal plants use ultra-supercritical boilers that arevastly more energy-efficientand pollute less per unit ofenergy. But these plants stillemit greenhouse gases and area non-starter for activists whowant the world to zero outcarbon emissions.

This is deeply irresponsi-ble behaviour and the worstthing is that the decision-makers know it. They are justdeferring to public opinion,which in this instance isentirely wrong. The “supersti-tious peasants” should reallybe fr ightened of global warming, for which coal-burning is a major driver, notof relatively harmless nuclearpower.

That’s not to say thatnuclear power is the solutionto all our problems, or evenmost of them. It is generally

the most expensive optionbecause it costs so much tobuild the reactors and theassociated controls and safe-ty devices. Indeed, nuclear isno longer cost-competitivewith other “clean” sources ofpower like wind and solar.

So there is a case for notbuilding any more nuclearpower stations, at least inregions and countries thathave ample resources in termsof sun and wind. But there isno case for shutting downexisting nuclear stations andburning more coal to make upthe difference. That is so stu-pid, it verges on the criminal.

Other countries can beidiotic, too. Due to an admin-istrative glitch, Chineseprovinces are currently building hundreds of unnec-essary coal-fired power sta-tions that may never be used,since the Central Governmentexpects the country’s coal useto peak this year — and mostexisting Chinese coal plantsalready sit idle more thanhalf of the time.

China is using coal powerfinancing as a key element ofits Belt and Road Initiative toexpand its economic andpolitical influence throughoutAsia and Africa. Both Japan

and China are now racing tosecure lucrative constructioncontracts in developing coun-tries to expand their strategicreach.

At least China is alsobuilding nuclear plants as fastas it can. Last year, it account-ed for more than half theworld’s output of solar panels.(On the other hand, it is pro-viding work for the Chineseconstruction industry bybuilding a planned 300 coal-fired power stations inother countries, presumablyon the unspoken assumptionthat carbon dioxide emissionselsewhere won’t affect China’sclimate.)

But nobody is as crazy asthe Germans and theJapanese, who have been shut-ting down nuclear plants andreplacing them with coal-fired plants. France will closeits last coal-fired station in2022 and Britain will do thesame in 2025. But Germanysays 2038 and Japan just says“eventually.” That’s far toolate: By then the die will becast and the world will becommitted to more than 2oCof warming.

(Gwynne Dyer’s new bookis ‘Growing Pains: The Futureof Democracy and Work’).

'�� !�� (��)��*�� !

��+' #�� ,�� "��%� �� -��)��"��"��%�� "�� )�� (��.��/(.�0��

��1233�� -��%��.��$��$��!��4�� 5��"� �� 6��"��)��'��7��"�� -�� !��

)��"�� !�� "�� 833��-�� 9�� : ��!�� ;��"��-�� "��!�� !��!��<��)��=��"��)�� -��-��$�� !��

"�� =��!��!-��!

��4��6��%�� "�� !�� !��6��%�� 9��:��!��"��

��>�3�� !�� "�� "��%��$�� %��%��!�� 6��'��$��%�� %��!��"��#�� $�� '��=�� =�� ?2�� '�� !��'��%�� '��

=��=��%��@4�� '�� !��!�� +��#��/+#0�-��$��6 ��!��!��.��#�� 65#%��'��!�� )��A��%��<�� +#��'��'��!��'��!��'�� ,��!��B�� '�� "��%��!��!��'��#�� /'#0��6��'��#�� /6'#0�7�� 6��!�� !�� '��$�� *��6��#�� 65#%�� =��-��$��#��)��2C88�� '��*��-��=�� '��=��"�� 65#�� !��#�� '��D��=��6�� )��,�� )��#��E��)��'��E��7��5 �� '��'��6��%��!��.��@-��!��

.�� )�@

��

Sir — The United NationsEducational, Scientific and CulturalOrganisation (UNESCO) oper-ates with four levels of languageendangerment between “safe” (notendangered) and “extinct” (no liv-ing speakers), based on inter-gen-erational transfer. At a time whennations are talking about thedecline of languages, India stillranks one among those countriesthat have the largest number of liv-ing languages. But it is depressingthat our country has also earnedthe dubious distinction of beingone with the most number ofendangered languages in the world.India has reportedly lost one-fifthof its languages in the past fivedecades.

It’s not surprising that thoselanguages that are at risk are theones spoken by marginal tribes.Mother tongue languages, too,rank at the bottom. When there’sno education in the mothertongue, children drop out whenthey go to high school. The bestway to conserve a language is tocreate livelihood opportunities forthose who speak it.

Dimpy Bhatia New Delhi

��

Sir — It wasn’t surprising that aspecial court pulled up theCentral Bureau of Investigation(CBI) for not conducting a lie

detector or psychological test onits former Special Director,Rakesh Asthana, in an allegedbribery case. But it was happythat Special CBI Judge SanjeevAggarwal has asked the probeagency to submit the case diary

for examination. It also enquiredabout the previous investigatingofficer, Ajay Kumar Bassi, whowas taken off the case and hadbeen transferred to Port Blairafter the then agency Chief,Alok Kumar Verma, was shunt-

ed out. People are fully awarethat Asthana is the blue-eyed boyof Prime Minister NarendraModi and Union Home MinisterAmit Shah. How can one forgetthat in 2002, the then HomeMinister and Deputy PrimeMinister LK Advani had intro-duced Asthana to the thenGujarat Chief Minister NarendraModi?

Back then, he was headingthe probe on the Godhra trainburning case and had sent theState into an unprecedented car-nage and helped Modi to getclean chit from the SupremeCourt appointed-SIT, headed byR Raghavan.

To clear the matter, SpecialJudge Aggarwal has directed theinitial investigating officer inthe case, Ajay Kumar Bassi, toappear before it on February 28.Hope the case diary clears therole of Asthana and PrimeMinister Modi’s much hyped nakhaunga, na khane dunga mantraand simultaneously, the skeletonof the country’s highest probeagency’s alleged wrongdoing.

Bidyut Kumar ChatterjeeFaridabad

. � . > ) � ' / # A � . � � � / ( �

***7,�!+10!�)��#7��&��%'��4 ��M 3��M ��'��4 ��4

�( �� !"#�!$!$

�:

5��

8 �� ! ��

�� ./��&��'�.�&� ��N��-�� @��

�� %��&��#�� '��L

�5)&6O1��

�� ,�� '�� &��&��&��/��&��'�.�&� �� &��'

��76�(�+�$)�#�#(7�6#$)O!��(��&��

� � � � ! ; � � �

� � � � � � � � � �� ! � � � �

��

��&�� /�� '�"��&�� &�� /

��'��/��P�� .��" �� ,�� ?��F�."�,?G� �� 8�&�� C:� �� !��2��&�� /�� '�*�� +�� &/�� '��:5<:�� : <;C�� '��:5Q:��/�� :=D��'�8�� C=:Q�� &��(��1�� &��/�� A==�� '�� H==�� %�� #��;=��'��#�� '�

��&�� '�� &��'��/�� &�� '��

�� N��'�� /�� /�� %�� I�� '�� /��&��&��/�N�� -��'��&��/��'�$��&�� &��%�� '�

!#8#��#))�68��

?�*"1�,?�.�1�"�,$.�("��?��, �??'��"��?�$.

$�!�.��1$��0"-2��,* �,*�."�"1?0�.,"��$1"

,�11".�29(��2��.-

*�.�1"��?8�..","��$19

,?$2/8�1"�?�"1��$��?.��*$��!$9�."0"1

("��"��.,"�*"�,".�1$2-?0"1.!".�"B",��*"

,?�.�19+��,?$2��"��?�"$6�

�*��9"$1�

�� !!�� +��=��))�6()&7�&$��69:;#��'5&;

# ��"� �� ,�� &��%��/�� '��8$�8�� F�%��G �� %�� '

�6;<��=O-��!!�.��

5��!"��&�� !��&� %�%��

5��!�� !� �%��1;"�� < ��2��!�� % �

�&�� &��&�� &�� '

��5��=O!��(��

$�� &� ��!�

��!�� !�� "�� >��?"��'�� '

@� �"��

�� "�� ! ��'@��"� ��

��

Mudapu Yadamma, 38, is fromMallareddipalli village in Nalgonda dis-trict, Telangana. Two years ago, her hus-

band, a farmer, committed suicide by consumingpesticide and left her with a debt of �3.5 lakh.Kamatham Lakshmidevi, 31, is fromDanduvaripalli village in Ananthapur district ofAndhra Pradesh. She, too, was left with a debt of�8 lakh after her husband, also a farmer, killedhimself two years ago.

Vidya More, 38, is from Maharashtra. Whenher husband ended his life in 2012, his suicide wasdeclared not eligible (as a farm suicide) therebydenying her the right to ex-gratia compensation.

They may live in different States but the fateof farm widows across the country is worrying-ly similar. Not only do farm widows suddenlybecome invisible to the State, they are ostracisedby their families and are left to fend for themselves,especially when they are hounded to repay thedebts taken by their farmer husbands. Latest sta-tistics released by the Government show that11,379 farmers killed themselves in India in 2016.In other words, there were 948 suicides everymonth or 31 growers committed suicide daily. Onebig reason for this was mounting debts. While theinability to pay back loans can be attributed to sev-eral reasons, including failed crops, the agrariancrisis and the unavailability of alternative oppor-tunities for earning a livelihood, the burden ofrepaying the debts has fallen on their widows.

At present, there is no programme or policythat frees these farm widows from debts incurredby their husbands. The harrying by banks ormoneylenders begins almost immediately after thehusband’s death, leaving hardly any time for thewidow to mourn her spouse.

The need to survive and look after her chil-dren pushes her to earn a living. But studies haveshown that the woman farmer often adopts thesame kind of farming as the deceased husband.She also resorts to the same practice of chemical-intensive and external-input-driven farmingrequiring investments and borrowing. But withwomen farmers not seen as credit-worthy andaccess to Government schemes and credit beinglimited, the situation can be so hopeless and direthat women farmers are often forced to take thesame path as their husbands and end their lives.Women accounted for 8.6 per cent of farmer sui-cides in the country.

A prime cause has been the inadequate effortsby the Government to prevent farmer suicidescoupled with insufficient and lopsided support tofamilies affected by them, according to theMahila Kisan Adhikaar Manch (MAKAAM), aninformal forum comprising 120 organisations ofwomen farmers and civil society groups in 24States working to secure rights of women grow-ers.

Recent consultations on the “Status of WomenFarmers in Farm Suicide Families” held byMAKAAM and UN Women also revealed that thelack of recognition by the Government of thedeaths as farm suicides in many cases further exac-erbated the conditions of the marginalised wid-ows as the State refused to extend any support tothem.

Korra Shanthi is one such victim of State apa-thy. A resident of Nalgonda district, Telangana,Shanthi and her husband were engaged in culti-

vation on leased land. When her hus-band ended his life in 2018, Shanthi wasleft with a debt of �6 lakh. Although sheapplied for ex-gratia payment with thehelp of local activists, she has notreceived any money yet. Shanthi hasbeen told that she is unlikely to receiveit because her husband did not own anyland in his name, making her ineligiblefor ex-gratia payment.

Since several State Governmentrules specify that only land owners andland title holders are considered as farm-ers while extending support to the sui-cide-affected family, those toiling onleased land fall through the cracks. Withland ownership being the main criteria,tenant farmers and women farmers,especially farm widows who do not haveland in their names, are not recognisedas real farmers. Further, farmers whohave borrowed from moneylendersalso don’t get counted as eligible or gen-uine cases and their widows and fami-lies are denied compensation. “This isone of the biggest problems in Punjab,”contends 40-year-old Veerpal Kaur. Aresident of Mansa district, Punjab, Kaurhas witnessed the despair that led to herhusband, father and father-in-law end-ing their lives. But their families were notconsidered eligible although the suicideswere due to farm distress.

Lack of recognition is a major hur-dle in the relief and rehabilitation ofwidows and their families. This isaccording to a MAKAAM study on thestatus of women in farm suicide-affect-ed families in six States of Maharashtra,Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh,Tamil Nadu and Punjab. One of theimportant findings was that inMaharashtra, Punjab and Karnataka,

only those farmers who had institution-al debt were considered as genuine andeligible for support, not those who endedtheir lives due to pressure from money-lenders.

Moreover, there was a wide varia-tion in the relief and rehabilitation pack-age given by these six States. The studyshowed that the criteria used to deter-mine “farm suicides” were differentacross States and even within the rele-vant agencies like the police, agricultureand revenue departments.

According to MAKAAM’s SeemaKulkarni, even in the States wherecompensation was being paid, it was notuniform. “While Andhra Pradesh pro-vides a compensation of �7 lakh for eachfamily, in Maharashtra, which has thelargest number of farm suicides in thecountry, this is only �2 lakh. In the caseof Telangana, although its policy statesa compensation of �6 lakh, hardly anypayment had been made since subsum-ing farm suicide cases into the FarmerInsurance scheme called Rythu BeemaPadhakam”, says Kulkarni.

Of all the States, only AndhraPradesh had a one-time settlementmechanism, (used in certain cases), tosettle all outstanding institutional as wellas private loans within �1 lakh to liber-ate woman from never-ending debt.However, its use was limited.

The study also found that onlyKarnataka had a policy to supporteducation of children from farm suicidefamilies, including reimbursement of feeof those studying in private institutions.“However, even here, the implementa-tion was poor and lacked coordinationbetween different agencies, states”,Ashalatha Satyam of Rythu Swarajya

Vedika, a MAKAAM partner.She points out that such a policy

does not exist in other States. This is whymany widows in Telangana and AndhraPradesh had to pull out their childrenfrom schools. Although the MaharashtraGovernment had announced a supportpackage related to education fee, noth-ing has been finalised so far.

In cases where land is in the nameof the husband, wives have the oppor-tunity to eke out a living once they areable to get it transferred in their name.But even here it is usually a long anduphill battle as relatives don’t want togive her the rightful share in the prop-erty. Lack of land ownership has forcedmost of the women to either becomelabourers or seek other means ofemployment, often at the cost of theirsafety. So, Mudapu Yadamma is depen-dent on wage labour to keep her threechildren in school since her in-laws arenot prepared to give her a share in thefamily land. Kamatham Laxmidevi,too, was denied her share in the familyland cultivated by her husband and doesany work that helps her earn a living.Vidya More has taken up sewing andwage labour to make ends meet. But allthis isn’t enough to repay the huge debtsincurred by their husbands.

They are not the only ones strug-gling for survival and their rights.Hundreds of farm widows have fallenoff the Government’s radar. Governmentapathy and hopelessness have led manyto take their lives. This is not unknownto the political masters. Then what is theGovernment waiting for? Just howmany more suicides will it take for it totake action?

(The writer is a senior journalist)

��%��%��!��&� !�� %�=��!��!� ��&� ��>�

��.�## �<� � � � � � � � � � �

��(�$��(0��#(�0��

��.9��;��1��

2�� &��%�� /&�� P��

�� 1��!��

2$,6�?81",?-.��?.�

��$�!$@?1*�1�2"��.�

�*"�1"2�"8�$.�1"*$(�2��$��?.

?8��?��$.��*"�1

8$!�2�"�'��*��$,,?1��.-

�?�$�!$6$$!��9�?.��*"

��$��?8�?!".��.�

8$1!��,��"/

$88",�"�8$!�2�"��

�.��*"��B��$�"��?8

!$*$1$�*�1$ 6$1.$�$6$ �"2$.-$.$

$.�*1$1$�"�* �

�$!�2�.$��$.��.@$(

-��#��,��"��%��-�� !��+''��'��)��%�

�� -��9��"��:�� 9 ��"��:�� 9*�� )��:��*��"�� 97��:��F��)��-��

)�� -��!+'��"��-��+'�� =��#��9��:�� "�� -�� -��!��1>�333��1G��!�� 9��:��=��*�� -�� #��+'!�� -��!�� +E��F��<��

-��%�� +'��$��' ��#��/$'#�0�� 18��+'�� B��<�� 23��-��%��+'�� '�� !� ��+'�� 1?!18��*�� 1G�?��-��+'�� "��-��"�� G3��!�� -��4��=��<�� -��!+'��

"��A��A�� -��!��-��%��B��=�� !��%��!$'#��

*��9��:�� +'"��B��-��"��-��=��)��#� ��$� ��-��

)�� !�� !��"��+'��-��%��+7'�� =��92?��:��#��6��4��%��-��#��"��9*�� )��:��*�� 97��"��:��B��

"��-��+'�"��A�� !��A�� +'��-��!��$��!��+'��-��F��,��#��6��!�� !�� $��"��!�� "�� !��!�� 4�� !��?$�� -��+'��!��!��!��%��

/�� !�� !�!��0

To promote awareness of lin-guistic and cultural diversityand bolster social and multilin-

gual identity, the InternationalMother Tongue Day is celebratedevery year on this day (February 21).

Mother tongue refers to a per-son’s native language, that is, a lan-guage learned from birth. The firstInternational Mother Tongue Daywas observed in 1990 after the dec-laration by the United Nations (UN)to recognise the sacrifices of peoplewho lost their lives for the sake oftheir mother tongue in Bangladesh.

Language is one of the most pre-cious gifts that we have and eachtongue represents a unique and dis-tinct cultural heritage. Language is a

means of communicating values,beliefs and customs and has animportant social function as it fos-ters feelings of group identity and sol-idarity. It is the means by which cul-ture, traditions and shared valuesmay be conveyed and preserved.

About 50 per cent of the world’sout-of-school children live in com-munities where the medium ofinstruction is different from thelanguage used at home. This is per-haps one of the most astounding factsabout second language education.Schools have tried to tackle theproblem by going to the families ofthese children for assistance in help-ing students gain confidence in theuse of the second language. They askthe parents to use the second lan-guage at home so that the studentsbecome more comfortable with itand are able to cope with it in school.This does more harm than good forreasons other than that of a secondlanguage being much harder to learnregardless of copious levels of effortput in to achieve fluency.

In developing areas, usually therearen’t resources enough to prepare

students at this level, so the effortsmade by the parents and the studentsare futile in that sense.

This second language educa-tion also causes a rift between fam-ilies and their native languages in awholly unnecessary way. Families feelalienated from their mother tonguesimply because the school gives theimpression that they should feelthis way. By propagating this attitude,these education systems are essential-ly destroying diverse cultures andbackgrounds that make our speciesso great.

The different languages anddialects spoken throughout the globereflect how history and culture haveshaped the way in which peoplespeak, think and reflect. Our moth-er tongue helps to link new genera-tions to the past, which is part of ourcultural and plurilingual heritage. Itis a well-known fact that everyonehad a language that they grew upspeaking and a good proportion ofthe world spoke more than onetongue. However, the idea that some-one would regularly have to betaught in a language that wasn’t

native to them had never occurredpreviously. “This was, undoubtedly,exacerbated by the fact that I nevermade significant strides towardsbecoming fluent in another lan-guage. The closest I had ever comewas a working proficiency in Spanishduring my junior year of high school.When I think back on my perspec-tive on this subject in the context ofmy parents, their accents neverbothered me because I had justalways been so used to them”, says a21-year-old former student Tej, whois pursuing higher studies atWashington University in St Louis,USA.

Leanne Hinton, a Professor oflinguistics at the University ofCalifornia in Berkeley, says in MotherTongue-Based MultilingualEducation, “More broadly, the loss oflanguage is part of the loss of wholecultures and knowledge systems,including philosophical systems,oral literary and musical traditions,environmental knowledge systems,medical knowledge and importantcultural practices and artistic skills.The world stands to lose an impor-

tant part of the sum of humanknowledge whenever a languagestops being used. Just as the humanspecies is putting itself in dangerthrough the destruction of speciesdiversity, so might we be in dangerfrom the destruction of the diversi-ty of knowledge systems”.

These problems are hard to fix.If one were to approach educatorsand tell them to fix the issue, theywould undoubtedly point to a lack ofresources. Nevertheless, an effortmust be made by educators to haverespect for the mother tongue of theirstudents, even if it is different fromtheir own.

The beauty of academic educa-tion is that the majority of it comesfrom books that can be more easilyproduced in areas with greaterresources. It is for the educators inthese parts of the world — who aremultilingual — to produce ortho-graphical and instructional materi-als for use in developing areas.Given the resource crisis in thedeveloping world, this is likely to beone of the most practical solutions.Children in developing areas have the

thirst for knowledge, we must dowhat we can to satiate it.

Language is the essence andidentity of culture and is a major toolof communication and for exchangeof ideas and emotions. To know yourlanguage is the simplest and mostimportant way to keep and preserveyour culture. In recent times, the ideaof linguistic and cultural awarenesshas increased; thus allowing themother tongue to be more cultural-ly accepted.

It is clear, that we must strive toreform the systems that educate theyouth, in order to further the qual-ity of learning in the first languageor mother tongue and to inspire sol-idarity based on understanding, tol-erance and dialogue.

Maintaining and retaining thelanguages of ethnic and culturalgroups is critical for the preservationof cultural heritage and identity.Using one’s mother tongue at homewill make it easier for speakers to bemore comfortable with their own lin-guistic and cultural identity.

(The writer is Chairperson,Department of Linguistics, AMU)

�� %�� %�� !��"�#$ ��!� %$�&��!'�!$(��)�$ %��*��"�*'& '#�&�!#�'+(��(�*#� �*�&�)�#� %$�+#$($#,� ��)

*'& '#�&�%$#� �!$��"��"$� � -��.(��!��$/(�0� %$#� ��!'$�� %�0$��(�+�# ��)� %�(�$1$#*�($

�' ��

�� !"#�!$!$

***7,�!+10!�)��#7��

�� 8� � �

��(��@�� &��&�� )�&�L�.��'@�� +��'�*�� #�� '�@�� 2�&�� '��+�� O�� '

F�� G

-"."1$��.-�@?(�.""��?8��*"�*?�1

,��)� 9�� !"#�!$!$

�� ."��"2*�

The Adani family-ownedAdani Gas has secured a

nod from oil regulator for itsdemerger from its parent andthe subsequent sale of a stakein the company to Frenchenergy giant Total SA after itmade a formal application forthe same, sources said.

The Petroleum andNatural Gas Regulatory Board(PNGRB) had threatened tocancel the 13 city gas distrib-ution licences Adani Gas hadwon in the 9th bid round in2018 for allegedly perpetratinga “fraud” by not disclosingmaterial facts of the demerger.

After PNGRB slappedAdani Gas a showcause noticeon Adani Gas Ltd (AGL) onNovember 29, 2019, the com-pany maintained that “all con-cerned authorities were inti-mated about the proceedingspertaining reorganisation ofAGL through media/ newspa-pers/ disclosures/ public list-ing/ bid submissions.”

But, with PNGRB threat-ening to seek an investigationby the Ministry of CorporateAffairs into the “fraud”, imposea Rs 396.81 crore penalty andcancel licences for all 13 areasthat it had won, the companymade a formal application forthe stake sale. The sources saidsubsequent to that, PNGRBprocessed the application and

gave its approval. PNGRB,however, has told the compa-ny that it should have soughtapproval of the stake sale intime. A company spokespersonwas not immediately availablefor comments.

Originally, Adani Gas waspart of Adani Enterprises Ltd(AEL) and was demerged intoa separate unit before half ofAdani family’s 74.8 per centstake being sold to Total.

PNGRB had in itsNovember notice stated thatthe AGL at the time of sub-mission of bids in the 9th citygas distribution bid round inJuly 2018 was “already in theprocess of undertaking theimplementation of a‘Composite Scheme ofAmalgamation andDemerger’” and was fullyaware that this would “result inthe change in promoter ofAGL from AEL to two discre-tionary family trusts”. AGLsubmitted bids using the networth of AEL to meet the bid-ding criteria and non-disclo-sure of the change of owner-ship was a “fraud”, it had con-tended.

In October 2018, theAdani group agreed to form a50:50 joint venture with Totalfor retailing CNG to automo-biles and piped cooking gas tohouseholds. A year later, Totalsigned up to buy 37.4 per centstake in Adani Gas for around

Rs 5,700 crore. When the newsof the PNGRB notice firstbroke last month, Adani Gashad stated that it has “dulyresponded to PNGRB with allrequired informations to closethe matter”.

“Our project work at allGAs (geographical areas) aregoing on in full swing and withthe facilitation and support ofPNGRB and all authorities, weare committed to deliver CNGand piped gas to millions ofour consumers on a fast trackbasis. “We are guided by theprinciples of corporate gover-nance. It should be noted thatwe are fully compliant andhave transparently representedfacts in totality adhering tonorms of compliance and dis-closure,” the Adani Gasspokesperson had added.

The spokesperson also saidthat there is no question ofpenalties as the same are notapplicable and moreover AdaniGas is in full compliance ofapplicable rules/laws. AdaniGas has already set up city gasdistribution operations inAhmedabad and Vadodara inGujarat, Faridabad in Haryanaand Khurja in Uttar Pradesh.It in joint venture with IndianOil Corp (IOC) is also devel-oping distribution networks inAllahabad, Chandigarh,Ernakulam, Panipat, Daman,Dharwad, and UdhamsinghNagar.

�� !�!($�

Benchmark indices resumedtheir slide on Thursday as

trading sentiment remained ata low ebb on lacklustre overseascues and lack of buying trig-gers. A depreciating rupee andpersistent capital outflows alsoweighed on the bourses, traderssaid. After a choppy session, the30-share BSE Sensex settled152.88 points, or 0.37 per cent,lower at 41,170.12. Similarly,the broader NSE Nifty slipped45.05 points, or 0.37 per cent,to 12,080.85.

Financial markets willremain closed on Friday onaccount of ‘Mahashivratri’.During the week, the Sensexfell 86.62 points or 0.21 percent, while the Nifty shed 32.65points or 0.26 per cent. AsianPaints, HUL, TCS, Nestle, TechMahindra and RelianceIndustries were among the toplaggards in the Sensex pack onThursday, dropping up to 2.30per cent. On the other hand,IndusInd Bank was the topgainer, spurting 3.57 per cent,followed by Tata Steel, SBI,ONGC and PowerGrid.

Global markets stayed onthe backfoot as investorsassessed the economic impactof the coronavirus epidemic.The coronavirus death tollclimbed to 2,118 in China with

the death of 114 more people.However, new confirmed casesdeclined to 394, registeringthe biggest drop sinceDecember when the first casewas reported in Wuhan. “TheSensex remained volatile andended in negative during thetruncated week. Global marketswere mixed with the US andChinese markets trading inthe negative for the week...With the coronavirus situationin China stabilising, commod-ity prices have started to recov-er. Thus, crude price has start-ed to inch up and is now closeto USD 60 per barrel.

“With the earnings seasoncoming to an end, the focus willshift to global and domesticmacro developments. Thereare no major political events inthe near term. While the inter-est level is high for small andmidcap stocks, investors are stilltrying to assess the impact ofcoronavirus on procurementfrom China,” said SanjeevZarbade, VP PCG Research,Kotak Securities. Sector-wise,BSE energy, oil and gas, IT, con-sumer durables, FMCG, teckand realty fell up to 0.95 percent, while metal, telecom,bankex and power rose up to0.90 per cent. The broader BSEmidcap and smallcap indicesoutperformed the benchmarks,rising up to 0.51 per cent.

��8�� .�8)�� #��

�� !�� !��"��?��

�� /�� "�8��RC�&��I� �� ."��"2*�

Fitch Ratings on Thursdaysaid it has taken Bharti Airtel

off ‘watch negative’ and affirmedthe telecom operator’s long-termforeign currency issuer defaultrating at ‘BBB-’ with a stable out-look. “The Stable Outlookreflects our view that an equityinjection of USD 2 billion inJanuary 2020 and EBITDAgrowth for the financial yearending March 2020 (FY20) andFY21 will be more than sufficientto offset the increase in debt topay regulatory dues of up to USD4.9 billion, which stem from adispute over adjusted gross rev-enue (AGR),” the rating agencysaid in a statement.

Bharti paid Rs 10,000 croreon February 17 to theDepartment ofTelecommunications (DoT) afterthe Supreme Court rejected tel-cos’ petition to ascertain with theDoT the amount and timing ofpayment of regulatory dues relat-ed to the AGR dispute. “Bharti’smanagement estimates the reg-ulatory dues will not exceed theprovision amount of USD 4.9 bil-lion,” it said. The SupremeCourt’s original ruling inOctober led the DoT to seekhefty unpaid dues on licence feesand spectrum-usage chargesfrom telcos. The DoT demandrelates to a 14-year-old disputeregarding the definition of AGR,which the Supreme Court agreedshould include all kinds of

income generated by the telcos.“The Rating Watch Negative isremoved from all the ratings,”Fitch said. It estimated thatfunds from operations (FFO)adjusted net leverage willimprove to 2.3-2.4 times inFY20 and to around 2.0x in FY21- excluding USD 6.3 billion indeferred spectrum costs - below2.5 times, the threshold abovewhich it may consider negativerating action.

The USD 2 billion (over Rs14,000 crore) equity injectionalleviated pressure on the balancesheet resulting from high regu-latory dues obligations and thecompany says it is committed toan investment-grade rating. Itraised about USD 7.6 billion inequity through a rights issue andthe sale of equity in its Africansubsidiary, Airtel Africa Plc, inlast 18 months. “We estimateBharti’s consolidated EBITDAwill increase by 20-25 per cent ayear in FY20 and FY21 due toeasing competition in the Indianwireless market and continuedstrong growth in its Africanmarkets and Indian enterprisesegment,” Fitch said. The ratingagency said Bharti is poised togain at least 30 million sub-scribers from Vodafone Idea inFY21. “We believe that Bhartiand Jio will gain market share,given Vodafone Idea has limit-ed financial flexibility to raise atleast USD 6 billion in debt to payregulatory dues in the shortterm,” it said.

New Delhi (PTI): India-focussedoffshore funds and exchangetraded funds (ETFs) witnessed anet outflow of over USD 2 billion(about Rs 14,200 crore) in threemonths ended December 2019,making it the seventh consecu-tive quarter of withdrawal amidstuttering economic growth, saysa Morningstar report.

In comparison, net out-flow of USD 1.3 billion was wit-nessed during the quarter endedSeptember. India-focussed off-shore funds and ETFs are someof the eminent investment vehi-cles through which foreigninvestors invest in Indian equi-ty markets. Of the total quarterlynet outflow of USD 2.1 billion,India-focussed offshore ETFsregistered a net withdrawal ofUSD 321 million, while theremaining amount was with-drawn by India-focussed off-shore funds, the report noted.Flows into offshore funds aregenerally considered to be long-term in nature, whereas flowsinto offshore ETFs indicate pre-dominantly short-term money.

During the quarter, theirasset base rose to USD 49.4 bil-lion from USD 49.1 billion inthe previous quarter. Of theoverall asset base of USD 49.4billion, India-focussed offshoreETFs made up about USD 8.5billion, whereas India-focussedoffshore funds accounted forUSD 40.8 billion.

&��)�� !�� "

Script Open High Low LTPRELIANCE 1498.70 1507.95 1483.45 1485.50IBULHSGFIN 304.30 359.60 301.65 338.30TATACHEM 761.40 778.35 760.80 763.35HDFCLIFE 582.90 583.50 572.10 573.75SRTRANSFIN 1295.00 1358.45 1277.55 1342.05IDEA 4.44 4.98 4.23 4.40HDFC 2365.00 2378.05 2349.75 2370.90INDUSINDBK 1149.00 1203.65 1146.20 1181.75SBIN 320.00 329.00 318.95 327.65TCS 2215.00 2215.00 2152.05 2156.30MFSL 541.10 597.60 541.10 565.05INFY 800.45 805.90 794.05 796.70TATAMOTORS 158.60 162.15 156.00 158.45ESCORTS 910.60 910.70 838.45 877.35TATASTEEL 429.85 447.50 428.25 443.70MUTHOOTFIN 876.90 935.20 867.30 913.30AUROPHARMA 610.00 617.00 590.85 599.55JYOTHYLAB 130.05 138.00 129.05 135.35YESBANK 35.25 36.50 34.70 35.45LT 1282.00 1288.80 1275.60 1280.85INDHOTEL 137.40 141.40 134.00 140.00M&M 526.00 532.90 523.25 524.75DMART 2439.00 2484.10 2430.55 2461.80NCC 43.10 44.30 41.30 41.75AMBER 1679.00 1690.00 1624.00 1643.25BAJFINANCE 4880.00 4923.20 4860.00 4880.70NAM-INDIA 433.15 452.95 430.00 441.65PEL 1571.00 1633.00 1555.50 1599.45BHARTIARTL 542.00 552.00 538.50 545.50HDFCAMC 3375.00 3448.45 3346.30 3383.35RBLBANK 306.00 319.45 303.50 308.85AXISBANK 743.50 753.90 737.80 743.95MARUTI 6760.00 6807.60 6721.00 6754.65HDFCBANK 1228.00 1228.95 1214.35 1217.30ADANIENT 253.60 261.10 252.85 257.50MIDHANI 218.15 248.60 216.60 228.40GODREJPROP 1080.00 1120.50 1076.65 1112.45ICICIBANK 547.00 549.10 542.20 546.65HINDUNILVR 2288.30 2289.65 2243.00 2247.85JINDALSTEL 187.20 195.85 186.10 193.35

ADANIGAS 164.05 194.55 163.00 185.50SPICEJET 87.95 94.25 86.55 92.95TORNTPOWER 315.00 321.45 313.05 313.75APOLLOHOSP 1785.00 1814.00 1779.85 1800.15LICHSGFIN 364.70 375.50 362.35 364.55NIITTECH 1880.00 1913.35 1846.90 1854.95KOTAKBANK 1700.00 1700.00 1677.95 1686.70CIPLA 447.55 448.50 434.30 435.55ASHOKLEY 81.30 84.65 81.20 84.25MGL 1143.00 1152.20 1122.70 1128.05WOCKPHARMA 369.40 376.00 351.00 357.50BANDHANBNK 417.95 434.00 410.85 415.80DLF 229.35 229.35 219.05 220.05ONGC 102.15 104.10 101.75 102.85ASIANPAINT 1885.00 1885.00 1840.00 1842.85HEXAWARE 371.00 373.45 362.00 363.00SUNPHARMA 406.00 411.30 404.00 404.90SBILIFE 940.00 945.65 922.05 927.95BIOCON 305.80 319.05 305.00 315.00AVANTI 525.80 562.90 521.00 558.60PFC 129.50 133.30 128.50 132.25VSTIND 4385.30 4400.00 4331.00 4341.80JSWSTEEL 281.50 285.90 277.00 281.70ZEEL 252.00 260.90 251.25 256.80ACC 1430.00 1451.70 1420.20 1423.85COALINDIA 177.75 180.10 175.25 179.30TATAGLOBAL 387.50 387.50 379.30 380.50MANAPPURAM 174.25 179.25 174.00 176.15BALKRISIND 1277.20 1298.00 1252.45 1265.90HCLTECH 603.25 612.90 603.25 608.15SRF 4169.00 4258.90 4154.80 4167.50TITAN 1332.00 1340.60 1319.75 1322.70IRCON 578.50 587.80 566.95 572.00POLYCAB 1078.55 1157.25 1072.45 1139.50HINDALCO 190.60 191.00 185.55 189.85HEROMOTOCO 2265.00 2275.50 2236.00 2240.10BANKBARODA 80.80 83.20 80.25 82.30BAJAJFINSV 9750.00 9824.00 9694.75 9709.50ITC 207.00 208.60 205.50 207.40GODREJCP 621.75 638.00 621.75 630.55TATAELXSI 1005.50 1020.60 987.00 995.85DRREDDY 3285.00 3363.00 3245.00 3256.50INFRATEL 227.00 230.70 224.45 226.10FEDERALBNK 85.75 88.00 85.15 87.55VOLTAS 734.00 740.50 721.00 725.15TATAPOWER 51.80 52.60 50.95 51.60CEATLTD 1069.00 1094.65 1023.85 1044.10CANBK 173.50 177.40 171.30 172.75

MINDTREE 1007.10 1055.00 1006.95 1048.45AJANTPHARM 1321.00 1484.80 1319.40 1446.05L&TFH 123.55 127.55 122.50 123.10BEML 871.15 884.55 870.50 875.45MOTHERSUMI 122.00 125.05 120.40 122.90VENKYS 1439.00 1533.00 1430.05 1476.75EICHERMOT 18890.00 19005.75 18564.90 18844.55COROMANDEL 624.00 625.80 599.90 620.15RAJESHEXPO 702.50 707.20 661.00 665.10IBREALEST 87.20 91.70 87.10 89.10NESTLEIND 16774.85 16774.85 16515.30 16544.10TEAMLEASE 2445.10 2506.75 2430.00 2469.05JUBLFOOD 1897.60 1915.70 1873.05 1882.30IGL 478.55 483.10 461.90 464.05ATUL 4982.00 5322.00 4979.45 5202.30STAR 507.90 524.00 507.90 513.75MCX 1340.00 1372.00 1339.30 1357.75TORNTPHARM 2242.00 2258.90 2228.90 2235.80VEDL 142.10 144.60 140.90 142.30RALLIS 238.25 255.60 237.30 245.00ULTRACEMCO 4470.00 4505.60 4420.05 4431.20PNB 52.70 53.65 52.15 52.85DIVISLAB 2211.00 2239.55 2158.10 2168.60POWERGRID 187.60 190.80 185.95 189.35DABUR 502.00 517.00 502.00 506.15TECHM 841.00 845.70 828.00 829.55BPCL 475.75 480.00 470.55 471.50TRENT 775.20 795.00 765.10 774.35DIXON 4471.00 4537.35 4321.10 4350.95IPCALAB 1410.00 1481.35 1396.20 1456.15OMAXE 160.00 160.00 155.35 155.45GODFRYPHLP 1305.00 1394.80 1273.25 1342.70SAIL 41.95 42.60 40.90 42.15BHEL 35.40 35.85 34.90 35.10APOLLOTYRE 150.80 159.15 149.80 158.15OIL 128.50 128.50 124.70 125.10GODREJIND 417.90 422.20 415.75 420.35AUBANK 1165.10 1193.50 1159.85 1173.45ISEC 500.70 523.60 493.80 511.05SYMPHONY 1376.65 1400.00 1370.00 1379.20DELTACORP 149.15 159.25 149.00 156.55UPL 587.00 596.10 581.00 584.15SUNTV 494.00 501.25 488.80 490.75GRASIM 752.00 767.90 746.40 751.50JUSTDIAL 504.00 511.00 497.00 498.75BEL 85.15 87.10 83.90 86.55STRTECH 119.00 119.00 112.90 113.30IDFCFIRSTB 40.00 40.85 39.50 40.30GHCL* 171.00 174.50 170.75 172.50MRF 69845.00 71153.25 69845.00 70747.20ABFRL 272.00 283.60 272.00 277.55SIEMENS 1405.00 1429.90 1405.00 1411.40UNIONBANK 44.20 44.75 43.65 44.25INFIBEAM 58.10 59.25 57.30 58.75ADANIPORTS 370.80 374.50 369.90 370.65ADANIGREEN 198.25 198.25 192.00 194.95M&MFIN 379.75 389.40 379.10 381.50HINDPETRO 225.00 228.00 222.10 222.50AMBUJACEM 205.00 210.20 204.55 205.80GRAPHITE 276.60 276.60 266.80 267.65CGCL 212.70 213.60 210.30 211.40IOC 114.15 114.40 112.00 112.30ICICIPRULI 490.00 503.65 490.00 494.95DEEPAKNI 481.50 491.75 479.55 483.50PAGEIND 22952.50 23716.60 22865.20 23054.25HEG 1020.15 1022.85 993.35 998.75BANKINDIA 60.50 60.85 59.65 59.95PNBHOUSING 409.50 428.55 408.45 416.95RVNL 23.80 24.40 23.40 23.60TATAMTRDVR 63.90 66.15 60.30 64.85UJJIVAN 389.70 391.70 384.35 385.40JAICORPLTD 98.10 103.00 97.25 101.15PARAGMILK 114.00 115.00 103.00 103.80BRITANNIA 3081.70 3121.35 3052.10 3059.45WELCORP 209.35 209.85 202.65 203.90ADANIPOWER 58.20 58.90 57.20 57.65RADICO 436.00 436.00 423.30 426.70HAVELLS 621.15 631.00 621.15 622.60GLENMARK 319.00 325.65 318.20 321.35MEGH 59.50 61.65 58.10 59.95WIPRO 247.60 248.85 245.10 245.55NOCIL 93.85 97.40 92.70 96.60PIDILITIND 1599.90 1599.90 1572.60 1575.35CROMPTON 294.00 300.75 289.20 290.65BAJAJ-AUTO 3100.35 3100.35 3060.00 3064.45GAIL 119.00 121.00 118.75 119.30EQUITAS 114.65 117.05 113.60 114.05NTPC 112.05 112.30 111.00 111.40GICRE 218.90 227.90 209.15 210.40NATIONALUM 39.70 39.70 38.30 38.85KTKBANK 76.45 79.90 76.05 76.35CREDITACC 964.00 1000.80 960.00 992.65ABCAPITAL 89.15 92.15 88.65 90.10RPOWER 1.82 1.86 1.78 1.86NMDC 104.10 106.35 103.95 105.00SHREECEM 24375.00 24791.70 24300.35 24395.30SUNTECK 404.00 404.00 382.00 390.05PGHL 4222.35 4222.35 4151.70 4161.75APLLTD 682.30 682.50 661.00 664.35MARICO 304.70 307.00 297.20 306.20FRETAIL 352.75 364.65 339.30 342.45UBL 1319.70 1319.70 1261.60 1267.00INDIGO 1480.00 1480.00 1455.00 1464.95LUPIN 706.10 707.15 698.00 699.20RAYMOND 584.90 597.10 577.45 583.85GMRINFRA 22.80 23.85 22.80 23.60JINDALSAW 88.20 91.15 88.15 89.60NBCC 30.80 30.80 28.50 28.60

TVSMOTOR 446.00 448.00 437.90 446.20GRANULES 187.80 188.35 182.35 184.35PETRONET 266.05 270.90 265.65 267.45LEMONTREE 60.50 63.50 59.90 62.10BATAINDIA 1817.95 1824.95 1795.50 1803.40CARERATING 517.35 547.75 511.00 531.40INOXLEISUR 489.50 503.50 479.75 487.05PTC 52.20 52.75 51.35 52.25NAUKRI 2880.00 2890.00 2824.10 2839.05SPARC 164.90 170.50 164.35 167.00CADILAHC 276.25 281.50 275.60 279.30J&KBANK 19.50 22.45 17.50 20.00NAVINFLUOR 1278.00 1300.85 1236.00 1279.00MOTILALOFS 796.45 835.60 794.25 830.25PVR 2110.00 2121.00 2060.05 2067.90JMFINANCIL 113.50 123.80 112.40 122.30RECLTD 136.95 141.30 136.90 139.95BOMDYEING 82.40 83.25 81.30 81.65RELAXO 817.65 817.65 795.00 805.25ABBOTINDIA 15945.00 15960.00 15433.15 15554.70INDIACEM 75.00 76.70 74.50 75.60RITES 320.75 323.75 315.80 318.55RAMCOCEM 795.00 818.00 795.00 803.45ERIS 440.85 444.05 426.05 432.55BHARATFORG 478.30 490.65 476.60 484.25CANFINHOME 508.70 514.25 507.95 509.45AMARAJABAT 798.95 798.95 766.50 769.90WABAG 203.90 223.00 203.90 217.20NETWORK18 31.55 32.40 30.25 30.80GODREJAGRO 532.20 545.00 530.00 531.00CASTROLIND 159.30 159.30 153.60 154.25JUBILANT 533.00 549.00 529.00 546.55IRB 96.60 100.35 95.20 99.10COLPAL 1370.00 1370.00 1339.65 1344.55RELINFRA 22.90 24.35 22.40 23.25NLCINDIA 53.05 54.80 52.60 53.50TRIDENT 5.69 6.32 5.69 6.23TV18BRDCST 28.50 28.50 26.65 26.90FORCEMOT 1262.85 1300.80 1262.80 1270.45SCI 56.00 58.80 54.25 56.30BERGEPAINT 579.00 582.25 571.25 572.60PHILIPCARB 129.90 130.70 128.45 129.60BRIGADE 227.60 255.00 226.90 240.50WHIRLPOOL 2267.80 2298.00 2249.30 2275.90CCL 243.85 258.95 242.55 248.90ESSELPRO 184.00 189.50 183.00 187.50REPCOHOME 305.30 312.30 305.30 308.65HERITGFOOD 376.00 407.70 362.00 367.75CHOLAFIN 330.45 334.50 327.25 331.95ORIENTELEC 274.65 286.45 274.05 276.15EDELWEISS 89.35 93.45 88.35 89.85NIACL 135.90 139.20 133.80 134.35ITI 86.30 86.45 84.10 84.35NHPC 21.35 21.75 20.90 21.45DCBBANK 172.80 172.85 168.20 170.65PCJEWELLER 18.05 18.05 17.55 17.60EXIDEIND 178.95 179.75 177.60 178.00GNFC 178.30 182.00 176.00 176.80IDFC 35.25 35.70 35.00 35.55PRESTIGE 366.90 372.00 362.80 365.45KEC 330.00 346.00 330.00 339.05DISHTV 11.00 11.69 11.00 11.11ALKEM 2630.00 2690.00 2627.00 2657.75FSL 47.60 48.65 46.85 48.25VIPIND 459.00 461.00 449.10 450.70TATAINVEST 923.25 951.00 921.00 922.65CONCOR 545.00 560.00 545.00 550.05FINEORG 2226.30 2271.65 2166.20 2230.00SHILPAMED 451.00 483.30 451.00 467.35INTELLECT 149.00 150.40 141.00 142.30BLISSGVS 142.65 142.65 138.00 140.00RELCAPITAL 7.25 7.59 7.11 7.59TEJASNET 78.50 78.50 67.00 67.20WESTLIFE 485.55 489.00 473.05 475.95BBTC 1120.05 1126.70 1092.05 1097.35AAVAS 1970.00 2039.55 1950.00 1968.05NATCOPHARM 654.00 675.05 642.60 664.70GREAVESCOT 145.25 146.80 138.65 139.25ITDC 301.50 310.50 296.30 297.15GUJGAS 297.70 297.70 286.00 287.65SANOFI 7200.35 7395.00 7179.60 7322.90VBL 803.00 837.45 800.80 819.25LALPATHLAB 1602.05 1651.00 1602.05 1617.65PIIND 1542.50 1563.75 1539.40 1555.10FORTIS 157.00 158.00 153.50 156.50MAHLOG 400.00 439.90 398.55 418.00RAIN 104.00 104.60 102.00 102.45LAKSHVILAS 15.85 17.10 15.50 17.10RESPONIND 89.00 91.80 87.15 89.40DBL 350.00 364.40 344.50 346.35SUDARSCHEM 464.15 472.30 463.00 465.90CUMMINSIND 548.00 556.60 542.60 555.15BDL 294.00 301.60 285.90 294.40BALRAMCHIN 164.25 167.15 164.05 164.55CRISIL 1641.85 1700.30 1634.45 1669.15MASFIN 1053.75 1095.60 1047.00 1089.503MINDIA 21850.05 21875.00 21655.00 21700.65APLAPOLLO 2095.80 2155.50 2095.10 2117.85TATACOFFEE 95.05 96.60 93.80 94.25HINDZINC 185.00 187.65 181.70 182.50LAXMIMACH 3297.80 3297.80 3250.00 3251.05LTI 1965.00 2009.90 1965.00 2002.15AEGISLOG 254.85 258.00 248.60 250.00SOBHA 353.50 354.10 336.50 338.35HSCL 52.80 54.55 52.35 53.95KEI 533.75 536.30 519.30 522.40SHANKARA 485.05 504.00 475.00 480.25REDINGTON 121.50 126.40 119.20 120.90

MAXINDIA 88.25 94.00 85.80 86.85ENGINERSIN 83.90 83.90 81.50 81.90JKTYRE 67.20 68.75 66.70 68.05THYROCARE 620.40 624.00 608.00 611.80KALPATPOWR 360.00 377.00 360.00 367.55HFCL 16.95 17.45 16.90 17.00BAJAJHLDNG 3938.00 3938.00 3662.95 3677.40NESCO 740.15 750.75 722.00 728.60EMAMILTD 275.00 275.45 268.30 269.35GSKCONS 9801.00 9832.20 9665.00 9679.45CHAMBLFERT 155.00 156.05 151.50 151.80ALLCARGO 112.00 120.00 111.00 115.70

ASTRAZEN 2843.80 2882.10 2794.00 2802.20BASF 850.00 855.00 834.95 837.65PFIZER 4242.50 4260.00 4169.10 4182.85SUZLON 2.46 2.49 2.46 2.49GSPL 231.00 240.50 230.20 238.50HATHWAY 25.00 25.00 22.40 22.60GESHIP 274.15 280.50 265.65 272.00GALAXYSURF 1641.80 1718.95 1627.10 1658.90JKCEMENT 1480.00 1480.00 1460.00 1470.55RCF 43.25 43.35 42.60 42.75LTTS 1727.00 1751.00 1726.45 1740.90MAHINDCIE 154.00 156.00 152.35 154.85SADBHAV 82.10 85.90 81.75 82.35JBCHEPHARM 568.00 568.00 532.00 534.60UFLEX 229.20 231.55 225.05 227.85BLUESTARCO 833.00 858.45 832.45 844.95CESC 691.20 699.85 682.00 697.70ADANITRANS 311.00 332.20 308.05 324.80EIDPARRY 208.85 210.50 204.00 206.40METROPOLIS 1828.50 1854.70 1781.65 1827.00AKZOINDIA 2470.00 2478.90 2404.80 2415.45HONAUT 35299.90 35300.00 34850.00 34909.30LINDEINDIA 772.45 801.00 772.45 787.65BOSCHLTD 14500.00 14645.30 14480.00 14547.90ICICIGI 1353.20 1365.00 1341.00 1346.30LUXIND 1572.70 1592.20 1543.60 1549.45IEX 186.55 191.00 181.50 185.30GLAXO 1342.00 1358.00 1338.55 1344.85GILLETTE 6000.00 6036.60 5899.00 5917.65OBEROIRLTY 515.70 523.75 511.00 517.65IIFL 192.00 195.65 186.95 187.95SIS 591.35 624.10 591.05 607.20OFSS 2857.20 2857.20 2800.20 2821.15HIMATSEIDE 101.35 109.75 100.00 107.40MMTC 19.50 20.00 19.30 19.40FCONSUMER 20.90 21.05 20.50 20.70HAL 745.00 754.00 733.00 737.75SCHAEFFLER 4567.10 4664.45 4550.00 4641.00TATAMETALI 607.60 644.95 602.30 637.30ORIENTBANK 41.65 42.95 41.50 42.20JCHAC 2943.05 3048.00 2929.00 2961.00CAPPL 352.20 360.00 350.00 350.65JAGRAN* 69.20 73.50 68.70 71.45FINOLEXIND 550.00 569.00 549.60 566.70SUPREMEIND 1398.00 1398.10 1376.45 1388.30VINATIORGA 1021.00 1023.45 1000.00 1014.20MINDACORP 112.90 116.35 111.70 115.55FDC 245.00 253.50 242.70 250.00JSWENERGY 64.80 65.40 62.90 63.20COCHINSHIP 348.00 349.30 340.45 345.05INOXWIND 38.30 38.55 37.05 37.10QUESS 549.95 552.65 542.30 544.85BIRLACORPN 747.60 752.15 735.25 737.70JAMNAAUTO 40.45 40.60 39.15 39.45JSL 41.30 42.40 41.10 41.35SONATSOFTW 332.40 342.30 326.00 338.45WABCOINDIA 6736.85 6900.00 6725.10 6800.55ASHOKA 98.35 101.45 98.35 99.35WELSPUNIND 45.45 46.45 45.15 45.35KAJARIACER 543.00 558.30 541.45 551.70VMART 2407.60 2490.20 2407.50 2427.95NH 347.50 353.00 340.50 347.15SHOPERSTOP 363.00 392.80 363.00 387.05IDBI 34.90 34.90 34.45 34.55GSFC 70.15 70.60 69.00 69.70PERSISTENT 720.00 720.25 710.90 716.90LAURUSLABS 438.00 444.00 438.00 440.05VGUARD 205.00 206.40 202.35 203.05GARFIBRES 1462.55 1462.80 1379.95 1389.80GEPIL 764.45 800.00 764.45 784.95PNCINFRA 201.90 203.05 196.95 198.15FINCABLES 365.70 365.70 355.00 361.00HINDCOPPER 35.90 37.35 35.75 36.55HUDCO 33.75 34.40 33.50 33.60SOUTHBANK 9.85 9.85 9.70 9.73SHK 111.35 116.05 111.35 115.15INDIANB 83.30 84.45 82.60 83.35

IBULISL 102.50 107.85 102.00 107.85DEEPAKFERT 97.30 97.75 95.05 95.50DCAL* 93.90 94.50 92.00 92.75DALBHARAT 870.75 887.60 865.40 868.65IFCI 6.03 6.03 5.92 5.96CARBORUNIV 345.00 361.40 344.30 347.75HEIDELBERG 201.35 201.75 199.10 199.75ZYDUSWELL 1475.40 1489.00 1473.70 1484.80KRBL 305.00 306.00 292.00 294.45PGHH 11202.40 11202.40 11123.00 11148.50TNPL 174.00 174.00 168.20 169.85SJVN 25.60 25.95 25.50 25.70TIINDIA 493.00 511.40 489.95 505.95ASTRAL 1199.35 1208.50 1185.25 1192.95MOIL 138.20 140.15 138.00 138.55DHFL 11.39 11.39 11.39 11.39GET&D 144.90 144.90 136.20 138.95DCMSHRIRAM 355.65 355.65 343.30 347.50MRPL 40.55 41.20 40.10 41.00NILKAMAL 1500.00 1512.80 1488.20 1494.95ADVENZYMES 163.00 164.00 161.00 161.60VAIBHAVGBL 1173.60 1199.00 1165.55 1175.45SCHNEIDER 101.65 103.00 99.95 100.20JKLAKSHMI 329.20 330.00 324.10 325.55BAJAJELEC 414.05 422.30 407.00 410.05MPHASIS 904.65 914.40 896.00 900.10FLFL 387.40 390.60 376.65 380.55EIHOTEL 140.00 145.35 140.00 144.35CUB 222.00 224.30 221.40 222.55THERMAX 985.55 1007.15 972.70 980.10CERA 2452.65 2501.75 2441.50 2472.55GUJALKALI 366.15 370.00 361.50 362.50GPPL 77.20 79.60 77.20 77.70ENDURANCE 1051.00 1053.50 1046.00 1046.80PRSMJOHNSN 63.00 64.55 62.60 63.95SYNDIBANK 22.00 22.50 22.00 22.25SUNDRMFAST 447.50 458.55 447.50 449.60MINDAIND 380.30 385.05 376.10 381.55CORPBANK 21.00 21.00 19.15 20.25BALMLAWRIE 109.75 111.05 109.05 109.65SOLARINDS 1276.30 1276.30 1213.25 1228.75CHENNPETRO 114.55 115.80 112.90 113.25ASTERDM 172.25 173.25 169.25 170.50DHANUKA 520.10 524.00 514.00 515.85SKFINDIA 1957.00 2009.35 1957.00 1977.95AIAENG 1830.00 1900.00 1819.00 1875.60IOB 9.14 9.17 8.95 9.00VRLLOG 247.95 257.65 245.00 245.85GICHSGFIN 118.00 120.90 117.25 117.60PHOENIXLTD 867.00 875.95 847.35 858.85BAYERCROP 4260.00 4313.85 4247.10 4261.05JISLJALEQS 6.35 6.46 6.14 6.38ALBK 14.20 14.50 14.00 14.25KANSAINER 501.25 506.25 501.25 504.85ARVINDFASN 389.55 404.00 380.00 380.05RATNAMANI 1331.15 1344.00 1300.10 1316.60BLUEDART 2997.85 3035.00 2984.60 2998.90BAJAJCON 198.45 200.00 195.05 199.00TIMKEN 1040.00 1047.50 1030.00 1040.85MAHSCOOTER 4730.00 4767.50 4701.55 4711.25ECLERX 615.00 629.45 610.75 621.70JSLHISAR 74.80 75.15 71.55 72.05DBCORP 129.00 129.00 120.50 121.75CYIENT 442.55 445.05 436.15 438.30CENTRALBK 17.00 17.10 16.85 16.95SFL 1680.00 1691.65 1650.00 1669.75MAHLIFE 383.05 398.10 380.05 395.45UCOBANK 13.95 14.05 13.75 13.85KNRCON 282.25 282.60 279.40 280.40ITDCEM 57.40 58.10 56.70 57.15ORIENTCEM 79.95 82.80 79.65 82.00SYNGENE 310.45 313.95 304.50 307.05LAOPALA 212.15 215.15 210.00 210.65TCIEXP 905.00 918.30 902.85 914.80TCNSBRANDS 566.40 599.00 566.40 590.40ANDHRABANK 14.55 15.10 14.55 14.95TTKPRESTIG 5858.45 5877.35 5848.30 5865.65TAKE 99.00 100.45 98.50 99.20TIMETECHNO 52.90 53.35 51.05 52.05ZENSARTECH 145.65 150.15 144.30 148.30MHRIL 225.00 235.60 223.15 224.20NBVENTURES 69.70 70.50 69.50 70.00IFBIND 517.00 523.85 515.05 516.45VARROC 408.50 411.00 400.10 402.75CENTURYPLY 152.20 154.85 152.20 154.50SUPRAJIT 195.00 196.40 189.50 189.95SOMANYCERA 203.00 204.75 199.60 200.30CHOLAHLDNG 542.00 544.00 532.00 538.95INDOSTAR 281.45 283.15 280.85 281.35VTL 1060.15 1080.00 1060.15 1076.40GMDCLTD 58.05 59.05 57.55 58.30TVSSRICHAK 1588.00 1680.00 1577.00 1591.30CHALET 343.65 344.80 339.45 340.15UNITEDBNK 7.87 7.92 7.71 7.75GRINDWELL 618.90 622.95 614.00 614.80GDL 125.10 128.20 125.10 127.00TVTODAY 264.00 264.00 248.65 250.35MAHSEAMLES 340.95 347.30 340.90 346.65MAHABANK 11.59 11.62 11.41 11.53KPITTECH 88.70 90.00 85.85 87.30CENTRUM 19.60 20.00 19.00 19.45MAGMA 51.00 52.20 49.00 49.85KPRMILL 618.00 624.00 615.95 621.65GULFOILLUB 756.50 756.50 745.50 746.80SWANENERGY 124.85 125.95 121.50 123.50GAYAPROJ 25.30 25.30 25.30 25.30SHRIRAMCIT 1421.65 1438.00 1410.75 1436.15STARCEMENT 85.25 86.00 84.15 85.15

��

SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY 50 12119.00 12152.00 12071.45 12080.85 -45.05INDUSINDBK 1145.05 1203.85 1145.05 1180.95 38.80ZEEL 252.50 260.85 251.00 260.55 8.30TATASTEEL 429.00 447.70 428.00 443.45 10.25SBIN 319.35 329.20 318.75 327.90 7.55POWERGRID 187.50 190.70 185.90 189.85 2.35ONGC 102.00 104.10 101.70 102.75 1.05HINDALCO 187.80 191.00 185.40 190.00 1.90COALINDIA 177.75 180.25 175.20 179.10 1.35YESBANK 35.30 36.50 34.65 35.55 0.25HCLTECH 611.00 612.95 605.15 610.00 4.25AXISBANK 742.75 754.00 737.60 745.50 4.45ITC 207.00 208.55 205.45 207.90 1.20TATAMOTORS 157.95 162.30 156.00 158.75 0.70JSWSTEEL 280.70 285.85 277.00 281.80 0.95SUNPHARMA 403.85 411.50 403.55 404.80 1.25ICICIBANK 545.50 549.35 541.80 546.50 1.70BHARTIARTL 543.70 552.00 538.60 544.60 1.20BAJFINANCE 4867.90 4923.40 4853.75 4888.00 9.95INFRATEL 225.50 231.00 224.60 225.30 0.20UPL 586.00 596.25 580.70 585.50 0.30LT 1279.90 1288.90 1275.30 1282.00 0.60VEDL 141.80 144.75 140.80 142.60 -0.05EICHERMOT 18869.90 19030.00 18544.50 18850.00 -25.20ADANIPORTS 371.00 374.50 370.00 370.50 -0.80MARUTI 6761.00 6807.55 6720.00 6740.10 -16.50HDFC 2364.00 2377.50 2349.05 2368.50 -8.75GAIL 118.90 121.00 118.50 119.40 -0.45M&M 525.90 533.00 523.00 524.30 -2.10BAJAJFINSV 9758.00 9827.55 9693.75 9715.00 -43.65NTPC 111.70 112.40 110.95 111.55 -0.50INFY 803.25 806.10 793.85 796.80 -3.65HEROMOTOCO2267.00 2276.00 2235.45 2240.00 -11.60TITAN 1330.00 1341.05 1320.00 1322.70 -6.90DRREDDY 3289.30 3364.95 3240.05 3257.00 -21.15WIPRO 248.00 248.55 245.10 245.85 -1.75BRITANNIA 3079.80 3123.45 3052.25 3060.00 -22.25HDFCBANK 1230.00 1230.00 1214.10 1217.00 -10.20GRASIM 750.00 767.80 745.90 750.75 -6.40KOTAKBANK 1697.30 1699.25 1676.20 1685.00 -16.10ULTRACEMCO 4450.00 4508.00 4420.00 4430.00 -43.10BPCL 474.85 480.00 470.55 471.00 -4.55BAJAJ-AUTO 3091.00 3100.05 3057.65 3059.00 -31.90RELIANCE 1497.00 1508.00 1483.80 1487.00 -16.80NESTLEIND 16740.00 16740.00 16525.40 16560.00 -225.05IOC 113.55 114.45 112.00 112.40 -1.80TECHM 840.15 845.90 826.95 827.45 -13.45TCS 2204.50 2214.40 2151.25 2157.00 -39.35HINDUNILVR 2282.20 2289.95 2242.50 2251.00 -41.15ASIANPAINT 1883.00 1886.00 1839.05 1845.25 -39.65CIPLA 448.00 448.80 434.50 436.70 -10.80

SE 500B

��

SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY NEXT 50 28632.20 28958.75 28627.55 28669.80 39.05IBULHSGFIN 304.00 359.75 301.30 336.00 30.55IDEA 4.45 5.00 4.20 4.40 0.20SRTRANSFIN 1281.00 1359.40 1277.00 1350.05 59.00ASHOKLEY 81.30 84.65 81.20 84.30 3.05BIOCON 305.95 319.00 305.80 314.60 8.50MARICO 300.00 307.00 297.00 306.95 7.10PFC 129.25 133.40 128.35 132.25 2.65PEL 1573.10 1633.90 1553.75 1600.20 27.10BANKBARODA 80.35 83.25 80.30 82.30 1.20DMART 2433.00 2485.00 2430.00 2458.00 33.50GODREJCP 622.60 637.90 622.60 631.00 8.40ICICIPRULI 490.80 504.00 490.80 495.65 6.10MOTHERSUMI 121.00 125.10 120.30 123.00 1.40CADILAHC 276.00 281.70 275.00 279.00 3.10PAGEIND 22775.00 23756.20 22775.00 23100.00 188.85HAVELLS 621.20 631.35 620.05 623.10 4.55NIACL 135.00 139.05 133.50 133.70 0.95HDFCAMC 3372.00 3446.60 3345.00 3382.00 23.70NHPC 21.35 21.75 20.85 21.60 0.15BANDHANBNK 417.95 434.00 410.10 416.00 1.10PETRONET 266.00 271.00 265.10 266.25 0.60AMBUJACEM 204.95 210.25 200.10 206.20 0.40PNB 52.50 53.70 52.05 52.80 0.10NMDC 104.80 106.50 103.80 104.80 -0.20PGHH 11208.95 11209.00 11100.00 11150.00 -25.75L&TFH 123.00 127.65 122.50 122.85 -0.50SHREECEM 24400.00 24791.65 24270.65 24417.00 -116.25AUROPHARMA 612.05 617.55 590.35 598.60 -3.25COLPAL 1361.95 1366.95 1339.55 1346.00 -7.40DIVISLAB 2199.50 2236.40 2156.85 2172.00 -13.85BOSCHLTD 14512.05 14649.80 14431.20 14520.00 -101.75ACC 1430.00 1451.75 1420.25 1423.45 -10.10SIEMENS 1415.45 1430.25 1408.75 1411.80 -10.10DABUR 509.00 517.00 503.05 504.40 -3.65ICICIGI 1356.30 1366.65 1340.00 1344.70 -10.85CONCOR 551.40 560.00 548.00 549.75 -4.65INDIGO 1479.75 1479.75 1454.15 1466.45 -15.30MCDOWELL-N 726.00 742.70 720.70 722.55 -7.55HDFCLIFE 582.10 583.70 572.10 573.00 -6.10SBILIFE 939.70 945.00 921.70 928.25 -9.95PIDILITIND 1590.10 1597.80 1571.70 1574.95 -18.80OFSS 2849.10 2881.95 2800.00 2815.00 -33.95BERGEPAINT 578.40 582.30 571.10 572.00 -7.15UBL 1286.00 1304.70 1261.10 1268.00 -18.40LUPIN 706.15 708.10 698.00 698.80 -10.25HINDZINC 185.00 187.70 181.50 182.00 -2.80HINDPETRO 224.50 228.00 222.00 222.60 -3.85BAJAJHLDNG 3760.00 3770.00 3660.00 3675.00 -89.00GICRE 218.00 228.00 209.25 210.25 -6.35DLF 226.90 228.35 219.00 220.00 -6.90

4�%." 99�� !"#�!$!$

��5��-�,,0�� ("�@�.-

The death toll from the coro-navirus epidemic in China

has climbed to 2,118 with thedeath of 114 more people,while the overall confirmedcases increased to 74,576,Chinese officials said onThursday.

China’s National HealthCommission (NHC) said thenew confirmed cases declinedto 394, registering the biggestdrop since December when thefirst case was reported inWuhan city in the centralHubei Province.

The NHC said onThursday that it receivedreports of 114 deaths onWednesday from 31 provincial-level regions. The overall con-firmed cases on the Chinesemainland reached 74,576 and2,118 people died of the dead-ly disease. The commissionadded that 4,922 people werestill suspected of being infect-ed with the virus.

Among the deaths, 108were in Hubei Province, theepicentre of the virus and oneeach from Hebei, Shanghai,Fujian, Shandong, Yunnan andShaanxi, it said.

The worst-hit HubeiProvince and its provincialcapital Wuhan which were theground zero of the virus report-ed 349 new confirmed casesand 108 new deaths onWednesday. The latest reportbrought the total confirmedcases in the Hubei province to62,031, the NHC said.

It said, China’s daily new

confirmed cases of the virusalso known as COVID-19 out-side Hubei province havedropped for 16 consecutivedays indicating that the epi-demic is largely confined toHubei province and Wuhancity.

A total of 45 new con-firmed cases were reported onWednesday outside Hubei,down from 890 on February 3,state-run Xinhua news agencyreported.

In Hubei too the cases arecoming down, it said.

Significantly, China’s dailynumber of newly cured anddischarged novel coronaviruspatients has surpassed that ofnew confirmed infections for asecond consecutive day, theNHC said.

On Wednesday, 1,779 peo-ple were discharged from thehospitals after recovery, muchhigher than the number of thesame day’s new confirmedinfections, which stands at 394,it said.

So far, a total of 16,155patients infected with the novelcoronavirus have been dis-charged from the hospitalsafter recovery by the end ofWednesday, it said.

In Hong Kong, 65 con-firmed cases, including twodeaths have been reported bythe end of Wednesday. Macaureported 10 confirmed casesfollowed by 24 in Taiwan,including one death.

Also over 100 cities inChina have adopted QR codesto facilitate the control of thenovel coronavirus and work

resumption, fintech firm AntFinancial said on Wednesday.

The QR codes, producedwith the mobile app Alipay, arebased on the users’ movementsover the previous two weeksand tell whether users havebeen to virus-hit areas.

Instead of filling in health

report forms, residents cannow show the QR codes atcommunity or expresswaycheckpoints. Thus, no-contactchecks can be carried out toreduce virus transmission risks.

According to AntFinancial, all cities in theprovinces of Zhejiang, Sichuan

and Hainan have adoptedhealth QR codes, with 15 mil-lion people registered for theQR codes in Zhejiang alone.

Hangzhou, capital ofZhejiang Province, adoptedthe QR codes on February 11.

The QR codes show howthe Internet is being used in

China’s fight against the epi-demic, and provide strong sup-port for prevention and controlof the epidemic and workresumption, Pan Helin, anexpert in economics atZhongnan University ofEconomics and Law, Xinhuareported.

6 ��&� !��

��@�� ?69?

Two former passengers ofthe coronavirus-wracked

Diamond Princess have died,local media reportedThursday, as fears mountabout those who have left theship after testing negative forthe virus.

A man and a woman intheir 80s who had been infect-ed have died, public broad-caster NHK and othersreported, which would be thefirst fatal cases among themore than 600 on board thecruise ship.

Both had underlying con-ditions and had been taken offthe ship on February 11 and12 before being treated inhospital, NHK said.

The huge vessel mooredin Yokohama near Tokyo iseasily the biggest coronaviruscluster outside the Chineseepicentre, with 621 positivecases confirmed among thepassengers and crew.

On Wednesday, 443 pas-sengers disembarked from theship after testing negative forthe COVID-19 virus and notshowing symptoms during a14-day quarantine period. Thecomplete removal of the pas-sengers was expected to takeat least three days.

More passengers left theship on Thursday, packinginto yellow buses and leavingfor stations and airports forhome.

But questions are increas-ingly being asked as to thewisdom of allowing formerDiamond Princess passengersto roam freely around Japan’sfamously crowded cities, evenif they have tested negative.

“Is it really safe to get off?”screamed a headline in theNikkan Sports tabloid.

The paper quoted a pas-senger who said he was test-ed on February 15 and leftfour days later.

“I thought I could beinfected during the four days.I thought ‘Is it really ok’?” TheDiamond Princess was placedinto quarantine on February 5when a passenger who left inHong Kong was found infect-ed with the virus.

Passengers were confinedto cabins except for brief tripson deck wearing masks andgloves, when they were told tokeep their distance from oth-ers. But a specialist in infec-tious diseases at KobeUniversity rocked the boatwith a video slamming “com-pletely chaotic” quarantineprocedures onboard, in rare

criticism from a Japanese offi-cial.

“The cruise ship was com-pletely inadequate in terms ofinfection control,” saidKentaro Iwata in videos he hassince deleted, saying “there isno need to discuss this fur-ther”.

The videos had beenviewed more than a milliontimes in Japanese and hun-dreds of thousands of times inEnglish.

Japan’s health ministrylashed out in defence, sayingit had conducted “consulta-tions on appropriate infectioncontrol in the ship” withexperts and taken a range ofmeasures.

It also released a videoshowing passengers how towash and disinfect their handsproperly and had “properhygiene management” formedical workers entering andcoming off the ship.

In addition, risky and safeareas were strictly dividedand there was a stationinstalled for safely removingcontaminated gear, the min-istry said.

“We’ve been doing ourbest in the circumstances,”Health Minister KatsunobuKato told MPs on Thursdaymorning.

“I want you to under-stand that not only our offi-cials at the health ministry butalso Self-Defense Forces offi-cials and medical officials areworking desperately hard,” headded.

Iwata, who spent severalhours on the ship, had alleged:“There was no distinctionbetween the green zone,which is free of infection,and the red zone, which ispotentially contaminated bythe virus.” He said he was soconcerned at what he saw onthe ship during a brief visit onTuesday that he has placedhimself in a 14-day quarantineto avoid infecting his family.

“I was in Africa dealingwith the Ebola outbreak. I wasin other countries dealingwith the cholera outbreak. Iwas in China in 2003 to dealwith SARS... I never had a fearof getting infection myself,” hesaid in the video in Englishand Japanese.

“But inside DiamondPrincess, I was so scared...because there was no way totell where the virus is.” Severalcountries have evacuated theircitizens from the ship andinsisted they endure a further14-day quarantine when theyarrive on home soil.

��?��D��$�+�� $��,�5,�-��E��&��&��"��@��0�1�� !� ,"

��/� �� !�� "?�2

The mayor of the SouthKorean city of Daegu urged

its 2.5 million people onThursday to refrain from goingoutside as cases of a new virusspiked and he pleaded for helpfrom the central government.

Mayor Kwon Young-jinmade the request in a televisednews conference after thesoutheastern city and its near-by towns reported 35 addi-tional cases of infection withthe new coronavirus onThursday.

Kwon also asked Daegu cit-izens to wear masks evenindoors if possible. Heexpressed fears that the risinginfections in the region willsoon overwhelm the city’shealth infrastructure and calledfor urgent help from the cen-

tral government in Seoul.The Korea Centers for

Disease Control andPrevention said 28 of those 35new patients went to churchservices attended by a previ-ously confirmed virus patient.That patient is a South Koreanwoman in her early 60s whohas no recent record of overseastravel, according to center offi-cials.

On Wednesday, the cityconfirmed 13 cases and 11 ofthem either went to the samechurch with the woman patientor contacted her at a hospital,according to the disease controlcenter.

The explosion of infec-tions in Daegu and the neigh-boring southeast region, aswell as some new cases in theSeoul metropolitan area wherethe sources of infections were

unclear, have raised concernthat health authorities are los-ing track of the virus as itspreads more broadly in thecountry.

“National quarantineefforts that are currentlyfocused on blocking the inflowof the virus (from China) andstemming its spread are inad-equate for preventing the illnessfrom circulating in local com-munities,” Kwon said.

South Korea has reporteda total of 82 cases of COVID-19, a disease first detected inWuhan, China, in December.

In a telephone conversationwith Kwon, President MoonJae-in said the central govern-ment will make all availableassistance to help the Daegucity to fight against the virus’further spread, according to thepresidential Blue House.

"��$��$�� &��&�� )��0��/�� !9� ��!��/��!��)�� 79F��$��$�� !�� &��$�+� �� $�� $��&��9� ,"

��5� �� 5�� ("�@�.-

The coronavirus epidemicthat has paralysed the

Chinese economy may have asilver lining for the environ-ment.

China’s carbon emissionshave dropped by least 100 mil-lion metric tonnes over the pasttwo weeks, according to astudy published on Wednesdayby the Centre for Research onEnergy and Clean Air (CREA)in Finland.

That is nearly six percent ofglobal emissions during thesame period last year.

The rapid spread of thenovel coronavirus — which haskilled over 2,000 and infectedmore than 74,000 people acrossChina — has led to a drop indemand for coal and oil, result-

ing in the emissions slump, thestudy published on the British-based Carbon Brief websitesaid.

Over the past two weeks,daily power generation at coalpower plants was at a four-yearlow compared with the sameperiod last year, while steel pro-duction has sunk to a five-yearlow, researchers found.

China is the world’s biggestimporter and consumer of oil,but production at refineries inShandong province — thecountry’s petroleum hub — fellto the lowest level since autumn2015, the report said.

Economic activity in Chinausually picks up after the LunarNew Year holiday, which beganon January 25.

But authorities extendedthe holidays this year — by a

week in many parts of thecountry including Shanghai —in an effort to contain the epi-demic by keeping people athome.

“Measures to contain coro-navirus have resulted in reduc-tions of 15 percent to 40 per-cent in output across key indus-trial sectors,” the report said.

“This is likely to havewiped out a quarter or more ofthe country’s CO2 (carbondioxide) emissions over thepast two weeks, the periodwhen activity would normallyhave resumed after the ChineseNew Year holiday.”

But environmentalistshave warned that the reductionis temporary, and that a gov-ernment stimulus — if direct-ed at ramping up productionamong heavy polluters — could

reverse the environmentalgains.

“After the coronaviruscalms down, it is quite likely wewill observe a round of so-called ‘retaliatory pollutions’ -factories maximising produc-tion to compensate for theirlosses during the shutdownperiod,” said Li Shuo, a policyadviser for Greenpeace China.

“This is a tested and provenpattern.”

Meanwhile, China’s nitro-gen dioxide emissions — abyproduct of fossil fuel com-bustion in vehicles and powerplants — fell 36 percent in theweek following the Lunar NewYear holidays, compared withthe same period a year earli-er, according to another studyby CREA that used satellitedata.

�� $�*�.-�?.

President Donald Trumpon Wednesday named the

current ambassador toGermany, Richard Grenell, ashis top intelligence advisor,immediately drawing criti-cism that the politically out-spoken figure is unsuited tosuch a sensitive position.

Grenell was named actingdirector of national intelli-gence, a temporary statuswhich means he will not facea Senate confirmation processunless Trump puts him for-ward for a permanent posi-tion.

He takes over from JosephMaguire, a retired admiralwhose status as acting direc-tor was due to expire inMarch.

Trump tweeted that

Grenell “has represented ourCountry exceedingly well andI look forward to workingwith him. I would like tothank Joe Maguire for thewonderful job he has done,and we look forward to work-ing with him closely, perhapsin another capacity withinthe Administration!”

The director of nationalintelligence, often referred toas the DNI, oversees thesprawling US espionage andintelligence apparatus andreports directly to the presi-dent.

Grenell, an outspokenambassador in Germany, willbe the first openly gay mem-ber of the Trump cabinet.

He has caused a stir dur-ing his diplomatic service,acting as an enforcer ofTrump’s policies on Iran,

China and other issues whereEuropean capitals don’t alwayssee eye to eye with the WhiteHouse.

Last year he faced calls forhis expulsion, shortly aftertaking up his post in

Germany, when he spoke upin support of right-wingpoliticians in Europe.

Trump, however, report-edly sees Grenell as a loyalist,helping him to reassert him-self following acquittal in hishistoric impeachment trial inCongress and ahead of theNovember presidential elec-tion. Samantha Powers, a UNambassador under BarackObama’s presidency, tweetedthat the appointment of some-one so openly political to theintelligence post “would be atravesty.”

Democratic Senator MarkWarner said in a statementthat “the President has select-ed an individual without anyintelligence experience toserve as the leader of thenation’s intelligence commu-nity in an acting capacity.”

��-��

"�� 7��+�&� �� (1��"2�

EU leaders are to hold aBrussels summit Thursday

to set a seven-year budgetdespite splits between somestingy rich nations, poorerones wanting to preservespending and others wanting tofund grand global ambitions.

The money tussle, hard-fought at the best of times, isespecially problematic this timearound because of Britain’sdeparture from the EU.

The “Brexit gap” caused bythe loss of the UK’s contribu-tion is 75 billion euros ($81 bil-lion) over the 2021-2027 peri-

od. German Chancellor AngelaMerkel on the eve of the sum-mit predicted “very tough anddifficult negotiations” aroundthe table.

The talks are expected tobe so strained that some of the27 EU delegations are prepar-ing for the summit to drag outinto the weekend.

A few EU sources, howev-er, suggested differences overthe budget are so great thesummit could end quickly andthe can kicked down the roadto another summit — or two —in the coming months.

An analyst at the EuropeanPolicy Centre, Marta Pilati,

agreed, saying: “There likelywon’t be agreement at thissummit. All the member statesaren’t showing much willing-ness to compromise.” The min-imum spending in the multi-annual financial framework(MFF), as the long-term bud-get is called, is just over one tril-lion euros. The discord is overhow much above that amountthis budget should be, howspending might be shiftedbetween priorities and howmuch each member stateshould pay as a percentage ofits gross domestic product(GDP). Another touchy issue iswhether budget rebates pock-

eted by a few wealthier coun-tries should still exist.

The last MFF came in at1.08 trillion euros (in 2018prices). A “frugal four” groupof nations — Austria,Denmark, the Netherlands andSweden — wants to rein in thebudget and make up only someof the ground of the Brexit gap.

They also want to keeptheir rebates, as does Germany.

At the high end of spend-ing demands is the EuropeanParliament, which wants theMFF expanded to 1.32 trillioneuros to pay for costly goalssuch as turning the EuropeanUnion into a carbon-neutral

economy within three decades.The legislature, which has

to sign off on the final MFF,believes more money can beraised from EU-wide taxes onplastics and on the carbonemissions trading scheme.

A “friends of cohesion”group of mostly eastern andsouthern EU nations wants toringfence money it gets to helpbring infrastructure and soci-ety up to the level of wealthiercounterparts.

Agriculturally sensitivecountries such as France, Spainand Poland are also looking topreserve farmers’ subsidies.France would like to also see

extra money for common secu-rity and defence and the“unfair” rebates scrapped.

The EuropeanCommission, which aims for a“geopolitical” mantle underPresident Ursula von derLeyen, is trying for a target of1.13 trillion euros.

The president of theEuropean Council, CharlesMichel, who calls and coordi-nates summits, believes he canat least narrow positions.

His MFF proposal is 1.09trillion euros and makes cuts tocohesion funds and farm sub-sidies to finance other priori-ty areas.

�� ? �" @$."1�?

ABrazilian senator was shot Wednesday as he tried to inter-vene in a strike by military police demanding higher salaries

in the northeastern state of Ceara.Sen. Cid Gomes, a former governor of the state, received a

shot in the chest and was taken to a nearby hospital. A statementfrom the hospital released in the evening said the senator wasin stable condition and breathing without medical help.

A video circulating on television showed Gomes trying todrive a backhoe through a barricade of balaclava-clad police offi-cers and the vehicle’s windows being shot out. It wasn’t imme-diately clear where the gunfire came from.

Shortly before heading to the protest, Gomes had posted avideo on Twitter sharing his anger and calling for people to helphim end the strike.

At the protest, Gomes was seen with a bullhorn.“You have five minutes to leave. Not one more,” he warned

from behind the metal barricade that separated his group fromthe masked officers.

4�%." 9�� !"#�!$!$

9�� 7@7��&�� 2� ��#�)$� �� .��"� .$��?.�

India ranked 77th on a sus-tainability index that takes

into account per capita carbonemissions and ability of chil-dren in a nation to live healthylives and was placed 131st ona ranking that measures thebest chance at survival andwell-being for children, accord-ing to a UN-backed report.

The report was released onWednesday by a commission ofover 40 child and adolescenthealth experts from around theworld. It was commissioned bythe World Health Organization(WHO), UN Children’s Fund(UNICEF) and The Lancetmedical journal.

In the report assessing thecapacity of 180 countries toensure that their youngsters can

survive and thrive, India ranks77th on the Sustainability Indexand 131 on the FlourishingIndex, it said.

Flourishing is the geomet-ric mean of Surviving andThriving. For Surviving, theauthors selected maternal sur-vival, survival in childrenyounger than 5 years old, sui-cide, access to maternal andchild health services, basichygiene and sanitation, andlack of extreme poverty.

For Thriving, the domainswere educational achievement,growth and nutrition, repro-ductive freedom, and protec-tion from violence.

Under the SustainabilityIndex, the authors noted thatpromoting today’s nationalconditions for children to sur-vive and thrive must not come

at the cost of eroding futureglobal conditions for children’sability to flourish.

The Sustainability Indexranks countries on excess car-bon emissions compared withthe 2030 target. This providesa convenient and availableproxy for a country’s contri-bution to sustainability infuture.

The report noted thatunder realistic assumptionsabout possible trajectoriestowards sustainable greenhousegas emissions, models predictthat global carbon emissionsneed to be reduced from 39·7giga tonnes to 22·8 gigatonnesper year by 2030 to maintaineven a 66 per cent chance ofkeeping global warming below1·5°C.

It said that the world’s sur-

vival depended on childrenbeing able to flourish, but nocountry is doing enough to givethem a sustainable future.

“No country in the worldis currently providing the con-ditions we need to supportevery child to grow up andhave a healthy future,” saidAnthony Costello, Professorof Global Health andSustainability at UniversityCollege London, one of the leadauthors of the report.

“Especially, they’re underimmediate threat from climatechange and from commercialmarketing, which has grownhugely in the last decade,” saidCostello – former WHODirector of Mother, Child andAdolescent health.

Norway leads the table forsurvival, health, education and

nutrition rates - followed bySouth Korea and theNetherlands. Central AfricanRepublic, Chad and Somaliacome at the bottom.

However, when taking intoaccount per capita CO2 emis-sions, these top countries trailbehind, with Norway 156th,the Republic of Korea 166thand the Netherlands 160th.

Each of the three emits 210per cent more CO2 per capitathan their 2030 target, the datashows, while the US, Australia,and Saudi Arabia are amongthe 10 worst emitters. Thelowest emitters are Burundi,Chad and Somalia.

According to the report,the only countries on track tobeat CO2 emission per capitatargets by 2030, while alsoperforming fairly – within the

top 70 – on child flourishingmeasures are: Albania,Armenia, Grenada, Jordan,Moldova, Sri Lanka, Tunisia,Uruguay and Vietnam.

“More than 2 billion peo-ple live in countries wheredevelopment is hampered byhumanitarian crises, conflicts,and natural disasters, prob-lems increasingly linked withclimate change,” said MinisterAwa Coll-Seck from Senegal,Co-Chair of the commission.

The report also highlightsthe distinct threat posed to chil-dren from harmful marketing.

Evidence suggests that chil-dren in some countries see asmany as 30,000 advertisementson television alone in a singleyear, while youth exposure tovaping (e-cigarettes) adver-tisements increased by more

than 250 per cent in the USover two years, reaching morethan 24 million young people.

Studies in Australia,Canada, Mexico, New Zealandand the US – among many oth-ers – have shown that self-reg-ulation has not hampered com-mercial ability to advertise tochildren. Children’s exposureto commercial marketing ofjunk food and sugary beveragesis associated with purchase ofunhealthy foods and over-weight and obesity, linkingpredatory marketing to thealarming rise in childhoodobesity, it said.

The number of obese chil-dren and adolescents increasedfrom 11 million in 1975 to 124million in 2016 – an 11-foldincrease, with dire individualand societal costs, the report

said. To protect children, theauthors call for a new globalmovement driven by and forchildren.

Specific recommendationsinclude stopping CO2 emis-sions with the utmost urgency,to ensure children have a futureon this planet; placing childrenand adolescents at the centre ofglobal efforts to achieve sus-tainable development, thereport said.

New policies and invest-ment in all sectors to worktowards child health and rights;incorporating children’s voicesinto policy decisions and tight-ening national regulation ofharmful commercial market-ing, supported by a newOptional Protocol to the UNConvention on the Rights ofthe Child, it said.

/��!5�� 5� "�� 5�� 5 �� $�*�.-�?.

India poses a “bigger prob-lem” than China when it

comes to fighting climatechange, particularly on reduc-ing carbon emissions,Democratic presidential aspi-rant and former New Yorkmayor Michael Bloomberg hasclaimed.

During his maiden appear-ance on a Democratic presi-dential primary debate in LasVegas on Wednesday,Bloomberg said it was “ridicu-lous” of the Trump adminis-tration to take the US out of the2015 Paris climate agreement,as he outlined his approach totackling climate change.

“In all fairness, the Chinesehave slowed down. It is Indiathat is an even bigger problem,but it is an enormous problem.Nobody is doing anythingabout it,” Bloomberg said inresponse to a question on cli-mate change.

He was asked about hisbusiness which is heavilyinvested in China, the number

one producer of carbon emis-sions in the world, and how farwould he go to force Beijing toreduce those emissions andtackle the climate crisis.

“You’re not going to go towar with them. You have tonegotiate with them and wehave seen how well that workswith tariffs that are hurting us.What you have to do is con-vince the Chinese that it is intheir interest as well, their peo-ple are going to die just as ourpeople are going to die and wewill work together,” Bloombergsaid in his response.

Bloomberg’s statementcame even as India has pledgedthat under the Paris Agreementit will reduce emissions inten-sity of GDP by 30-35 per centby 2030 and create additionalcarbon sink of 2.5-3 billiontonnes of carbon dioxide equiv-alent through additional forestcover by 2030.

It has also pledged that 40per cent of the country’s powercapacity would be based onnon-fossil fuel sources.

The country had decided

to better adapt to climatechange by enhancing invest-ments in development pro-grammes in sectors vulnerableto climate change, particularlyagriculture, water resources,Himalayan region, coastalregions, health and disastermanagement.

India ratified the Parisagreement on climate change in2016 to become the 62ndnation to join the deal.

Bloomberg, the billionaireand philanthropist whoannounced his presidential runonly this year, asserted that theUS was making a difference.

“We are closing the coal-fired power plants. If we and forsome of the rules on frackingso that they don’t releasemethane into the air and intothe water you will make a bigdifference but we are not goingto get rid of fracking for a whileand we frac incidentally notjust natural gas, you frac oil aswell,” he said.

The United States hasalready closed 304 out of the530 coal fired power plants and

80 of them have been closed inEurope, he said.

“Let’s start at the beginning.If you’re President, the firstthing you do the first day is yourejoin the Paris agreement.This is just ridiculous for us todrop out,” Bloomberg said,adding that America’s respon-sibility is to be the leader in theworld. “And, if we don’t, we aregoing to be the ones that gethurt just as much as anybodyelse and that’s why I don’twant to have us cut off all rela-tionships with China becauseyou will never solve this prob-lem without China and India,western Europe and America,”he said.

Former vice president JoeBiden accused China of spread-ing pollution across the world.

“The idea of China andtheir Belt and Road proposal isthey are taking the dirtiestcoal in the world mostly out ofMongolia and spreading itaround the world,” he said.

“It is clear they make itclear when you call them toWashington in the first 100

days if you continue you willsuffer severe consequencesbecause the rest of the worldwill impose terror of sand oneverything you are sellingbecause you are undercuttingthe entire economy,” Bidensaid.

In June 2107, US PresidentDonald Trump declared thatthe US will withdraw from theParis climate accord, saying the“draconian” deal unfairly pun-ished America but benefitedcountries like India and China.

“It is time to exit the ParisAccord and time to pursue anew deal that protects the envi-ronment, our companies, ourcitizens, and our country,”Trump had said, dampeningglobal efforts to curb globalwarming. “India makes its par-ticipation contingent on receiv-ing billions and billions and bil-lions of dollars in foreign aidfrom developed countries.There are many other exam-ples. But the bottom line is thatthe Paris accord is very unfair,at the highest level, to theUnited States,” Trump said.

:��;�)��$�� 0��D��+��!��!��+��0��9�5��2��?��0�)-��90��9�� 0�#-@90�$��$��)��$�� $��!� ��?� �� !��1��@�� ,"

�� *$.$�

Aman suspected of fatallyshooting nine people in the

German city of Hanau wasfound dead at his home earlyThursday, hours after theattacks in and outside twohookah lounges, police said.

Officers also found anoth-er body at the same address,police said.

Police gave no details of thesuspected gunman but said“there are currently no indica-tions of further perpetrators.”

They did not give details ofhis possible motive or how hedied, or specify why theybelieve “with a high degree ofprobability” that he was theassailant.

The number of dead in theshootings Wednesday eveningrose to nine, a police statementsaid.

German news agency dpareported, citing unnamed secu-rity officials, that a writtenclaim of responsibility and avideo were found and are beingexamined by police.

Henry Faltin, a spokesmanfor police in southeastern Hessestate, where Hanau is located,declined to comment on thedpa report, or a report by dailyBild that ammunition was alsofound in the suspect’s vehicle.

Officers sealed off andsearched the apartment inHanau’s Kesselstadt district,near the scene of one of theshootings, after following upwitness statements on a get-away car.

Police said work to confirmthe identities of the two bod-ies at the home was still under-way, and they couldn’t imme-diately give details either onthem or the identities of thevictims of the earlier shootings.

“Thoughts this morning

are with the people of Hanau,in whose midst this terriblecrime was committed,”German Chancellor AngelaMerkel’s spokesman said onTwitter.

“Deep sympathy for theaffected families, who are griev-ing for their dead,” thespokesman, Steffen Seibert,said.

“We hope with thosewounded that they will soonrecover.”

Earlier Thursday, policesaid that eight people werekilled and around five wound-ed. They said a dark vehicle wasseen leaving the location of thefirst attack and another shoot-ing was reported at a sceneabout 2 1/2 kilometers (1 1/2miles) away.

Police officers swarmedcentral Hanau, cordoning offthe area of one of the shootingsas a helicopter hovered over-

head. A car covered in thermalfoil also could be seen, withshattered glass next to it.Forensic experts in white over-alls collected evidence.

Hookah lounges are placeswhere people gather to smokeflavored tobacco from MiddleEastern water pipes.

“This was a terribleevening that will certainlyoccupy us for a long, longtime and we will rememberwith sadness,” Hanau MayorClaus Kaminsky told the Bildnewspaper.

Lawmaker Katja Leikert, amember of Merkel’s center-right party who representsHanau in the German parlia-ment, tweeted that it was “a realhorror scenario for us all.”

Hanau is about 20 kilome-ters (12 miles) east ofFrankfurt. It has about 100,000inhabitants and is in Hessestate.

�� :�� 5��%�� -��

,�$�� (��0��!� �� !9�5��$��$��+�� !��(��?� �� !��&��0�� 9� ,"

��

Ireland’s parliament resumeson Thursday for the first time

since this month’s general elec-tion, with no new governmentin place and the three biggestparties locked in coalition talks.

Lawmakers in the Dail, thecountry’s lower chamber, aredue to sit from 1200 GMT, withthe 160 seats reflecting a newpolitical balance after theFebruary 8 vote.

A speaker will be electedbefore parties make nomina-tions for taoiseach (prime min-ister) and debate the candidates.

Talks have not yet pro-duced a workable scheme forgovernment, meaning all nom-inees are expected to fall shortof the votes required and theDail will likely adjourn.

Fianna Fail is the largestparty in the legislature with 38seats, followed by Sinn Fein on37 and Fine Gael led by Indian-origin Prime Minister LeoVaradkar on 35.

Sinn Fein’s unexpectedsurge in support broke thestranglehold of the two centre-right parties, and put them onthe threshold of power for thefirst time.

The one-time fringe nation-alists — the former politicalwing of paramilitary group theIrish Republican Army (IRA) —won the popular vote inIreland’s single transferable votesystem.

Its left-wing policies toaddress a housing and healthcrisis found favour but it is its

flagship policy on Irish unitythat is likely to be a key issue ifit gets into power.

Sinn Fein is now the sec-ond-biggest party in the IrishRepublic and in British-runNorthern Ireland. It wants a ref-erendum on sovereignty with-in five years.

The IRA fought British rulein Northern Ireland for decadesuntil the late 1990s, when apeace agreement largely endedviolence that left more than3,000 dead on all sides.

Under the agreement, areferendum on sovereignty canbe called if it appears a major-ity are in favour of union withIreland.

With none of the threemain parties having the 80seats required for a majority, atleast three parties will be need-ed to form a government.

Fianna Fail and Fine Gaelhave both ruled out workingwith the nationalists. As a result,Sinn Fein has sounded outsmaller, left-leaning parties for

the possibility of a broadalliance. Chances of that hap-pening look slim.

Varadkar, whose electioncampaign was launched on theback of his successful part inBrexit negotiations, told statebroadcaster RTE on Monday hewas prepared to go into oppo-sition.

But RTE political corre-spondent Micheal Lehane saidthe premier seemed to be leav-ing an alliance with Fianna Failopen as a “last resort”.

As the three main partieswill not work together, theGreen Party — the fourthlargest with 12 seats — maybecome a power broker in thenext government.

It has invited Sinn Fein,Fianna Fail and Fine Gael tomeetings from Friday to sketchout a plan for the next admin-istration.

“We are proposing thesebilateral meetings to get clarityon points of agreement and dif-ference with each party”, leaderEamon Ryan said on Sunday.

“We hope the approachwill make sure any future nego-tiations on government forma-tion is based on proper policyanalysis.” Negotiations may takesome time and if they do notcome to fruition a new generalelection may be called.

After the 2016 general elec-tion it took 70 days before aminority coalition governmentwas formed under Fine Gael,supported in a confidence andsupply agreement by FiannaFail.

��.=# *�&) ��)� (%�"')" �4�%=�5.) #*),)$�% +�&)%�,)��>,)��+ �..��,�))# �%))?()�)" �� $�..#*�%� �$ �*) &��)#%)@'%)" ��" �*)!�. 4.. .=).��"A�'%�B

.��

A��"�� &� �� "��

Bernie Sanders says he does-n’t plan to divulge addition-

al information about his health,months after suffering a heartattack on the campaign trail andoffering a subsequent pledge torelease “comprehensive” medicalrecords.

“I think we have released adetailed medical report, andI’m comfortable on what wehave done,” the 78-year-oldVermont senator said during aCNN town hall on Tuesday.

Questions about Sanders’health have lingered ever sincehe checked into a Las Vegas hos-pital with chest discomfort onOctober 1 and had two stentsinserted. His campaign didn’tacknowledge that he had suf-fered a heart attack until hisrelease several days later. Andafter pledging to divulge a “com-prehensive” accounting of hiswell-being, the campaign wait-ed until New Year’s Eve to putout letters from three doctorsattesting to his health — a movetraditionally deployed to avoidscrutiny.

Now, as Sanders heads intothe Nevada caucuses onSaturday with growing momen-tum following strong perfor-mances in earlier contests, he’s

facing additional pressure fromhis rivals to divulge more.

That was brought into sharpfocus Wednesday when cam-paign spokeswoman BriahnaJoy Gray sought to deflect ques-tions about Sanders’ health dur-ing an appearance on CNN.

First, she suggested that theline of questioning was akin toa “smear campaign.”

Then, she inaccurately stat-ed that Sanders’ rival, 78-year-old Mike Bloomberg, also suf-fered a heart attack — a claimshe walked back after a swiftresponse from the billionaire for-mer New York mayor’s presi-dential campaign.

“Here’s what we know aboutSen. Sanders: In October 2019,he had a medical incident in LasVegas. He didn’t tell the publicfor days and the full details havenever been released,” Bloombergcampaign manager KevinSheekey said.

“Now his campaign staff isspreading lies about MikeBloomberg.” Bloomberg hadtwo stents inserted after hisdoctors performed a heart stresstest in 2000, but he did not havea heart attack.

After returning to the cam-paign trail in late October,Sanders pledged to releasedetailed information about his

health before the year’s end.“I want to make it compre-

hensive,” Sanders said in aninterview with The AssociatedPress at the time.

Whether he’s lived up to thatis open to interpretation. Hiscampaign did not immediatelyrespond to a request for com-ment Wednesday.

Unlike rules governing per-sonal finances, there is no lawobligating presidential candi-dates to release medical infor-mation. And how much pastcontenders have revealed varieswidely. In 2008, Republican Sen.John McCain, then 71, releasedmore than 1,000 pages of med-ical records to show he was can-cer-free and fit to serve as pres-ident.

Yet in 2016, PresidentDonald Trump was dismissive ofthe practice, releasing a doctor’sletter that proclaimed the then-70-year-old to be “in excellentphysical health” despite takingcholesterol-lowering medica-tion and being overweight.

Since then, other candi-dates have relied mostly on let-ters from their doctors. Amongthe Democrats, Bloomberg andMassachusetts Sen. ElizabethWarren, 70, have released one-page doctors’ letters summariz-ing past and present health,

along with four pages of key labtest results.

Biden’s doctor’s letter cov-ered three pages giving the 77-year-old’s history and mostrecent checkups.

Sanders, the oldest candi-date in the race, released a two-page review from his primarycare doctor, and two cardiologistnotes, each essentially a longparagraph.

Sanders’ health is arguablyof most concern because of hisheart attack last fall, and togeth-er those doctors’ notes did revealsome important information:He’d undergone an exercisestress test after recovering, andit showed that his heart, whichhad sustained “modest heartmuscle damage,” was function-ing well when challenged.

None of that informationsheds light on one concern inparticular for older candidates:the chances of their memory andcognitive ability declining dur-ing their time in office.

The youngest candidate inthe race, Pete Buttigieg, has yetto divulge medical information.But that didn’t stop the 38-year-old from urging others to offerup far more details than theyhave and follow the practice offormer President BarackObama.

�� &��C�� ($�

A26-year-old Indian man hasbeen arrested for allegedly

stealing 86 expensive watchesworth over USD 2 million froma shop in Dubai where heworked, according to a mediareport.

The man, who worked as acleaner, has gone on a trial at theDubai Court of First Instanceafter he was accused of stealingthe valuables from a watch andjewellery shop the famous GoldSouq, the Khaleej Times report-ed.

A complaint about the stolenwatches worth over Dh 8.3 mil-lion (USD 2 million) was filed onJanuary 6 at the Naif police sta-tion, the report added.

“I own shops that sell watch-es and jewellery in the Gold Souq.On December 25 last year, I wasin one of my shops when anIndian salesman brought to myattention that a watch, worth Dh30,000, was found in the trashbin,” an Iraqi businessman, 51,recounted in front of the publicprosecution investigator.

“I took the matter lightly,thinking it must have fallen acci-dentally there. However, thatcaught the attention of anemployee who went to my part-ner’s shop and alerted him.”

After the incident, theowner then checked the CCTVcameras which showed thecleaner taking the watch,putting it in a box and drop-ping it in the trash bin so hecould steal it later, the reportsaid.

“When we confronted thecleaner, he confessed he wasabout to steal the watch as heneeded money. He denied,though, having stolen any itemsfrom the other shops. But we didnot believe him,” the owner said.

“We contacted the his broth-er who was then in India andwho works as a manager at ourshops. I told him to come backto Dubai.” When the owner andhis partner asked the defendantagain about the theft in the pres-ence of his brother, he confessedhe had stolen two watches worthDh 250,000 and Dh 270,000,respectively.

&&�� %&�'�9�

"�� 2� �� &��&��&��8� ��

�� "�� ?�� ,�� !� �� %��'��;��8� �� /�:C��H�� /�:C��/�;��$%��"�� 2� �� .��'

�� !"#�!$!$

��:��.�9��/�� ● ��&��K�:D=��● (��%��K�:;=��● -��K�C==��● ,��K�A==��● ?��K�A=��● ��K�:=��● ��F�� GK�;��● -��F�� GK�;��● ��K�C��● 8��K�C=�� ● ,��&�� &�� %�� '�● (��&�� '�● ,�� '�� %�� '�$ �� #��'● ,�� %�� '�1��%�� &�� &�� &��'● *��/��%�� %��&��%�� &��'��&�� %��#��

��'�1�� &��&�%� �� %��'�● $�� NN�� &�%��:D=� ��'�● �� &�� NN�� %�� &��'● �� &�� '��!=��#&��0�56��&��0�(!��!9

8.��9�� ● .�� K�:==��● -��K�;��● -��K�:=��● -��K�A=��● 2��K�H��● 6��K�:=��● 2��)��K�:=��● ��K�C=��● ��K�;��● ��K�:=��● 0��K�:=��● ��K�A=��● 1� �,��F �GK�:=��● ,��%��&��K�:C=��● 9�%��.��K�:=��● ,��&�K�C;��● ��K�:=��● �� K�;��

● ,��%�� '�

● �� %�� '(�� %��&�� '�

● �� %�'�!�%��%',��)��&� �� %�� '● ��&�� #�� '● ,�� )�� &��%��'�!�#�� &�� '● *�� %��

�� '�$ �� %�� '�� '● �� )��&��'�9�� &�� %�'● �� %��'�-�� '��!=��'0�"��0� ��"��9

!� ��)�&�� )�&��

�� %��/��%� �1��!�� 2�#��(��,��%�� !��!�� ' �#)�� 8�&��;��:C��::KA=��6�5��: ;==��$%��!� ��)�& ��28�!��.�� ,�&��*�&'

� � � � � � �

Sharing food and wine withfamily and friends is veryimportant for her. Brushing

past scented leaves in a garden, pick-ing parsley outside the back door,pulling a cork from a bottle of wine,setting out a picnic on a bush table— all these things push her to liveanother day and eat another meal.Stephanie Alexander, an Australianfood educator, believes that there isno greater joy than sharing food,conversation and laughter around atable.

�You emphasise more on joyfuland healthy cooking. Do you thinkpeople nowadays are more awareof fresh and organic ways of cook-ing?

Yes, I think it is very importantto concentrate on the enjoyableaspect of cooking. We alsoneed to make sure thatyoung people, who are inthe process of learningthe skills of cooking,not only get efficientin that but alsounderstand howimportant it is toenjoy the process. Forme, cooking is one ofthe most wonderfulthings to bring a family orgroup of people together. SoI spend a lot of time trying toencourage people to enjoy their foodchoices.

I choose organic food only. The

organic movement is growing every-where, as more and more people arebecoming aware of their food choic-es. We have great emphasis on fish

too.

�Melbourne is known asAustralia’s food capital.What reasons would youattribute that to?

I am very proud ofMelbourne as it is a great food

destination. Though we are acountry of just three million,

there are a lot of things we can do.We have a range of cafes and restau-rants catering to every need. Someof the reasons for its popularity are:The Queen Victoria Market, fishfood, Wagyu beef tartars and chilli

baked mussels.

�What do you have to say aboutthe current food culture ofMelbourne? What does it have instore for Indians specifically?

There are no special food trendsthere. You can have good foodeverywhere in Melbourne, not onlyin the city but even in the vineyardor sea side. Wherever you go, youwill find one commonality fish.

One in every third person inMelbourne is born elsewhere orthere parents were. So we have allkinds of ethnic foods you can imag-ine. The population there has a hugechoice. So any visitor, Indian or oth-erwise, can choose what they wouldlike to eat. There is nothing specif-ic.

�What is your signature dish andhow did you come up with it?

I don’t think I have a signaturedish. I only have certain thingswhich I cook all the time. One ofthem is roast chicken, my childrenare very fond of it. My speciality isgarlic chicken and potatoes andlemon garlic chicken. It tastes deli-cious. I always like to serve a dishwith green salads. Even choosing afavourite dish is very hard for me.I really like lamb cutlet and freshfish.

�What are the new global foodmovements?

Now more and more restaurantsare interested in using indigenousingredients. If you go into a goodrestaurant in Melbourne, you willfind ingredients that you have neverheard of such as fingerlions. As thename suggests, it is the size of yourfinger and are grown on very smalltrees in the rain forest.

�You are the author of 17 cook-books. Are there any more on theirway? If so, what will you focus on?

Yes, I am writing a book onhome cooking. It will cater to thefamily cooking basically. However,it will take a year for it to come out.

Do you have a kid in your lifewho loves a good baking ses-

sion? Who really wants to use yourchef ’s knife? Who is addicted tothe TV show MasterChef Junior,and who uses words like “umami”in regular conversation?

There are many terrific gifts toencourage the fledgling cooks inour lives.

��!��"!��An all-inclusive cooking kit

(besides the ingredients) is oftena great catalyst for getting kids intothe kitchen.

Handstand Kitchen makes aslew of them, including aRainbows and Unicorns UltimateBaking set, with cookies cutters,unicorn-shaped cupcake tray, spat-ula, frosting bag with three tips,and a recipe leaflet and stickersheet. Other offerings here includethe Out of This World space-themed baking kit; a 17-pieceIntro to Baking kit; and severalmatching adult and child apronsets.

Curious chef ’s kits include a17-piece prep set with bowls,measuring cups and spoons, anda timer. Made for Me has kits forparticular foods, such as a begin-ner’s pasta and pizza making set forkids, as well as a macaron, sushiand pancake party set.

��Here’s a gift that leaves some-

thing to look forward to after theholidays are over. Options include:

Young chef ’s club: From thefolks at America’s Test Kitchen,these monthly kits are also themat-ic. Kids ages 5 and up receive a boxfilled with family-friendly recipes,hands-on activities, and extrasranging from board games to tor-tilla warmers to special sprinkles.

Culinary adventure society:For kids who already know theirway around a kitchen and are crav-ing new ingredients and flavoursto play with. Up to four times ayear, Zingerman’s specialty foodstore in Ann Arbor, Michigan, willsend a big box of eight to 10 inter-esting and on-trend food surpris-es. A box might contain maffe, apeanut simmer sauce from WestAfrica; Lisbon lemon marmalade;or a tamarind date sauce inspiredby Somali cuisine, for example. Acollection of writing on the foods’history and culture is included.

A�� A new smart kitchen tool is

exciting, even empowering.Examples:

Immersion blender: For aslightly older kid, it can be used toblend things like soups and saucesright in the pot. That save you fromhaving to transfer hot liquids into

a regular blender or food proces-sor, so it can be a safer way to pureethings. Breville makes an All inOne Immersion Blender that alsotransforms into a food processor,so kids can take on different lev-els of chopping as they get moreskilled.

Cutting boards: Giving kidstheir own cutting board makesthem feel as though they’ve arrived.You can support Unicef.com byordering one of many hand-carvedboards, such as the teakwoodDaily Grain from Guatemala, orthe Beautiful Meal board fromThailand. Or memorialise a fam-ily recipe for a child on a cuttingboard: Carver’s Ridge lets you sendin a recipe, choose a font and boardsize, and have your recipe engravedinto a fully functional work board.

��"� �� "��It’s fun to play around with a

single ingredient in many forms.Olive Oil and Vinegar: The

worlds of olive oil and vinegar areboth vast. For starters, you canmake new and different saladdressings all week long. O-Med, asmall company from Grenada,makes lots of varieties, includingsmoked olive oil, yuzu olive oil andolive oil from Arbequina olives.Encourage the kids to mix andmatch those with cabernet vinegar,rose vinegar and cava vinegar. Yourfamily’s vinaigrettes with never bethe same.

Honey: Bee Raw Honey has abeautiful nine-vial assortment ofhoneys ranging from floral andsweet to buttery to “barnyard.” Thehoney comes from different flowersources across the country, andsales help support artisanal bee-keepers.

��!�Lots of kid-friendly cookbooksand food books out there, for allages. A few to check out thisholiday season:

From America’s Test Kitchen,The Complete Cookbook for YoungChefs and The Complete BakingBook for Young Chefs. All recipesare kid-tested. The little chef hatsymbols let you know how muchexperience is needed for eachrecipe.

Notes from a Young BlackChef (Knopf, 2019): Award-win-ning, 29-year old executive chefKwame Onwuachi was raised inNew York City, Nigeria andLouisiana. He started cooking at ayoung age under his mother’sdirection, and tells an intensestory of moving up throughkitchens both gritty and elite. Thismemoir centers on the experienceof being a minority in the culinaryworld, and finding a place in thesphere of fine dining. %,"

��)P��&��%�

�� &��'�� %��"��#��$�� )��"�� #�#��%�$��#�� '��;��::'A=��H��$%��)'

��-�� .��

��1�)��8�� 8��'��,�� !�� %��"��#&�� @� ��,��%�� '�� &�� $��(�� '��;�� Q��::KA=��#)�� C5�8�&��6�5��A:D<��$%�� -�� .��'

"�)��8�N�,��

&�� !�� (�)�� ,��%�� (�� 2��&��%� �*��$�� %��(�� $��(��"��%�� '��#)�� 8�&��6�5��CC==��$%��,�&��*�& ��28,�&��,�� -��'

+�%+) '#-��%��

�� N��NN��&��(��'��,��%��%�� ,��&�� NN��(��%�� !�� '��#)�� 8�&��;��:C��:��6�5��C ===��#��F��G��$%�� &��&�� $�� 2�� @��'

�23��4��5��6��37��3��3.�27��51 0�$91��B1C�$,1�� &�� &��% ��!�� (��"��&��(��=��51�� ;9;�

82��2�. ��8��2�8��%��&��%� ��N�� %��

�� !"#�!$!$

$�� 8��,��+,��$�� (��$��F8��G �� /�� /�� E��$%��+�� '

�� +� �� '$� �� /�� '�

��%��&�� L��C=:<�� '�(�� +�� '

�� /�� !�� /��'

1��&��%��1�� 1� ��%�� %��&��%�� &��'�

�� 0�� .��N� �� I�� '

7��((�5%�*"��%�.)=*��B �#�.. %),),5)%#))�+ ��' ��"&)%�#),)��"

4��")%�+ � 4#* ��'." ,))� �*# +%. ��)"��B ��" �# ")#��4�'." *�&) �> ,'* ��,� ")#%)> � ,)� ��' �,��* .��)%B �� *�# 5))�#� ,�� )�%# �$��+)�*)%�)## �)� �$)).# .=) 4)C&) A'#�,)�B �' �%) �*)(%)��)#� ��" �*)#�%��+)#� +%. �C&) ,)�B�D��A=',,�% ��

&&�� 9�

78.�" %�# $).� � �,4�%�*� �$ �� 4�%"�

1)��$)% %)�'%�# ��+ �$�)% ,�%%�+)$�� '��%�� $ ��!�6��+��.��#�� !��+�,

��?��/�� ,��%��!��'�*�

��/�� %��"��#

��+��

�� '

��+��%��:Q��

�� 7�� +'�$� ��.��#�� &��

��#�� /��

!�6�� '

When organic skincare productscame into India, it was assumedthat they would be another

elitist fad, which would eventually fadeaway with each passing day. However, asthe benefit of natural, plant-based cos-metics spread, the bigger brands spurredan interest in our native traditions andbirthed home brands as well.

One of the major reasons why thedemand kept on growing in India is dueto the country’s constantly increasingdigital literacy rate, shares VedikaSharma, Director at Mantra Herbal. Shefeels that people are now becoming moreconscious of and familiar about the ben-efits of organic products and trying toavoid the harmful effects of chemicalsand fertilisers used during farming.“The personal care space has mostlybeen defined by three terms — ayurve-da, wellness and organic. From a mar-keting standpoint, ayurveda is more ofa mass play. On the other hand, organ-ic has emerged as an alternative toayurveda with a more premium posi-tioning,” says she.

While the Director at The ImperialSpa and Salon, Jacqualine Tara Herron,who recently announced associationwith French luxury skincare brand,Olivier Claire, tells us that from thegrowers to the market place and on tothe consumer, the economy is greatlyinfluenced by these intelligent choices.Director at O3plus, Vidur Kapur,believes that even though the future oforganic products is bright, the degree ofresult may vary if you compare it to adermatological product.

IMPACT OF ORGANIC PRODUCTSCertified organic products are

derived from plants and other natural-ly occurring ingredients. More impor-tantly, those ingredients are grownwithout the use of pesticides, herbicides,synthetic fertilisers, genetically modifiedorganisms (GMOs), and other additivesor chemicals. Tara says, “More andmore of us are seeking ways to redressthe balance of pollution that can dam-age the skin and destroy the skins abil-ity to regenerate. The synthetic ingredi-ents found in non-organic products maybe fast acting, but they are also invasive,causing harm that cannot be seen.Olivier Claire products and treatmentshave an integral protective and preser-vative nature that combats the effects ofnegative stress on the skin caused byenvironmental hazards.”

Vedika tells us that the use of toxicchemicals worsens the skin’s natural bar-rier and accelerates the damage by dis-rupting pH balance and can even causeskin cancer in the long run. “GivenDelhi’s air pollution level and atmos-phere, it causes many skin problemsbrown spots, wrinkles, redness, enlargedpores and dry patches. Even though theresults may be slower, organic skin careproducts are gentle on your skin and

won’t harm you in the long run,” saysshe.

NEWER NATURAL INGREDIENTSOn the surface of the skin, there is some-thing known as microbiome, which ismade up of bacteria, fungi and viruses. Thismakes certain chemicals that keep the skinhealthy and help your skin’s barrier stayintact. Skincare experts note that this is setto go mainstream this year.

The trends also points towards ‘less-but-better’ attitude. Experts say that brandsneed to evolve with this concept under-standing that consumers are looking topurchase fewer items that still deliver allof the results they want.

Vedika feels the concept of “bluebeauty,” is on the rise, which will push peo-

ple to use marine-friendly products. Thesay if it is bad for marine life, why do youthink it is good for your skin? “Waterlessbeauty is the next thing in the industry,which means that brands will reducewater consumption in making the prod-ucts,” says she. Keeping in mind the cur-rent air pollution situation, anti-pollutionskincare will become synonymous with sunprotection, she adds.

Also, the biggest shift in Vidur’s opin-ion is going to be towards mens skincarerange of products. “While the mainstreammedia has historically targetted womenwhen it comes to grooming products, moreoptions for men’s personal care are emerg-ing,” she says and adds that the star ingre-dient of the products is going to be caffeine.

PERCEPTION OF BEAUTY MAY VARYA good state of health isn’t a process

that you can master overnight, it takes alot of baby steps and determination. Thedefinition of beauty keeps on changing butsomething that stays constant is the factthat internal beauty really does matter overthe external charm. And skincare brandsmust prioritise internal intangibles —like being comfortable in one’s own skinand feeling confident — over external fea-tures.

The good news is that focussing on a

few, simple things can make a massive dif-ference to how you look and feel. InVedika’s opinion, healthy skin comes froma combination of a good diet and use ofnatural skincare products. She says, “Goodnutrition implies what to avoid. Veggiesand water can only hydrate your organs.Skin is also an organ of the body and wateralso evaporates from it easily. Hence,moisturisers seal moisture in skin. Skincarehave ingredients that penetrate and workon the problem area directly. For instance,dark circles won’t just fade away with aneye cream. A healthy diet and sound sleepwill work together along with a good skin-care product.”

Tara believes that inner beauty is longlasting. You don’t need costly cosmetics orexpensive surgeries to keep it intact. Thereare many brands that cater to this concept.One such example is Dove. Olivier Clairefocus on it too. The products have beenharmlessly harvested from natural sources.Key ingredients such as native stem cellsfrom sunflower pollen, wakame seaweedand sea fennel are scientifically tested toachieve the best results.

Inner beauty enhances your externalcharm. It gives you the confidence to facethe world and its problems, which is some-thing far greater than the standards that hadbeen set by the society, feels Vidur.

First things first. We have to keep inmind that we live in a country where

the people who are in power believe thatcars are a luxury item. That was madeclear by Prime Minister NarendraModi the other day when he said that1.5 crore luxury cars have been sold inIndia over the past five years. Now,while I believe WagonR and Santro arefairly nice cars, BMW is not, becauseas much as the i3 tries to be basic, it real-ly isn’t.

Luxury or premium cars in mybook are cars that cost upwards of �30lakh, which would include the higher-end of mass-market brands. Thatmeans cars like the Hyundai Santa Feand, of course, all the German premi-um brands as well as Lexus, Volvo andthe like. The figure for sales of such carswould at best be around 250,000 overthe past five years. Because the total saleof cars in India is 1.5 crore. So now weknow, according to the government carsare a symbol of bourgeoise, the momentyou move to four wheels, whether it isa Maruti Alto or an Audi, you are amember of the entitled classes. Not forpoliticians and bureaucrats, of course,because they need cars to tell us howbad we are for not paying taxes.

Anyway, back to the topic. Whichagain involves excise duties, Customsand taxes again. The fact is that electriccars are far too expensive for mass adop-tion in a country like India. The twoelectric SUVs that have been launchedso far, the Hyundai Kona and the MGZS EV, are both cars that can definite-ly be lived with on a daily basis with-out any worry about range. If you livein a city like Delhi where you have park-ing, and if you can afford a �25 lakh caryou possibly do have parking, chargingis not a problem. With ranges of 300kilometres, and the average daily com-mute being 25-30 kilometres, you willeasily survive a week on a singlecharge. As for long-distance driving,well, Delhi-Lucknow may be a bit of astretch but Agra, Chandigarh,Dehradun and Jaipur should be easily

achievable as long as you have plannedfor a charging point at your destination.There are few, if any, public chargersoutside Delhi and even those in Delhiare often not compatible with all carsas I have discovered in the past. But oneassumes that will change going forward.

But until it changes and until carslike the Kona and ZE EV will make nosense whatsoever. Cars with more lim-ited ranges such as the Tata Nexon EVand the Mahindra e-Verito are enter-ing governmental and taxi fleets inDelhi, the latter being a bit bizarre giventhe usage of taxis over long distancesand without any fast-charging infra-structure. That is because decent rangecosts money and battery costs make upthe bulk of the cost of an electric car.Without any battery manufacturing inIndia, all batteries are imported fromChina and as the last couple of weekshave shown, our neighbour is integralto the global supply chain. As China getsthe flu, even India’s automotive indus-try will sneeze. That is just for somesmall components. Can you imaginewhat will happen if unrestricted importsof batteries are allowed from China?Indian manufacturing and jobs will behollowed out. India needs to securelithium resources and establish batteryfactories and work towards reducingcosts of electric cars.

There is little doubt that electric

vehicles are the future of mobilityacross the world but we should notmake the assumption that the world isequal. In the United States, a $50,000car is a standard family car and the TeslaModel 3 serves that purpose but theoptics of a �35 lakh car in India, pos-sibly �70 lakh after Customs duties par-ticularly with politicians railing againstthe rich, won’t work, right? India has totake smaller, more sustainable stepstowards electrification. Even for pub-lic transport, forcing electrificationdown the throats of transport bod-ies when they do not have enoughbuses to transport the people theyneed to now, is counter-productive.There is far too much misinformation

about the benefits of electrification ofvehicles out there. The plain and sim-ple fact is that electric vehicles areexpensive, and it does not make sensefor India at the current time and thecurrent economic environment tomove to electric cars and buses.Hybrids, where smaller engines arecoupled with small batteries, makemuch more sense in the next decadein India. And in that time we shouldwork towards improving affordabil-ity and growing our economy so asto afford electric cars and makethem in India.

In the rush towards electric vehi-cles, we should really not lose sightof the bigger picture.

Actor Vicky Kaushal returns to the screens for thefirst time since his National Award-winning

blockbuster Uri: The Surgical Strike with his newrelease, Bhoot Part One: The Haunted Ship. At thebox-office the film clashes with Shubh Mangal ZyadaSaavdhan, starring Ayushmann Khurrana, withwhom he shared the National Award. Ayushmannreceived the honour for his role in Andhadhun.

“I think Ayushmann and I are connectedsomewhere. We weretogether on KoffeeWith Karan and wehave hosted anawards show togeth-er as well. After that,we shared theNational Award(Best Actor) andnow, our films arereleasing on the sameday!” said Vicky.

About the clash,he added, “It isimpractical that youwill get a solo releasebecause we make alot more film thanthe Fridays that wehave, so clashes (offilms) are bound tohappen.” Vicky’s nextafter this is the KaranJohar-directorialTakht. He will startshooting for the his-torical drama in March.

Takht is a big-budget period drama that castsRanveer Singh as Dara Shukoh and Vicky asMughal emperor Aurangzeb. The film is scheduledfor a Christmas weekend release in 2021 and it alsostars Kareena Kapoor Khan, Alia Bhatt, AnilKapoor, Janhvi Kapoor and Bhumi Pednekar.

Asked if he feels the pressure being a part of sucha big-budget film, Vicky said, “I don’t feel much pres-sure but I am excited because it was on my bucketlist to do a period film. I will start preparing for itimmediately after release of Bhoot Part One: TheHaunted Ship.”

The recent Filmfare Awards in Guwahati ignit-ed widespread fan ire over Zoya Akhtar’s Gully Boybagging the maximum number of awards. Talkingabout the controversy, Vicky said, “It’s not the firstyear where this kind of a controversy has taken place.They (award ceremonies) have their jury to decidewinners. I don’t know what goes behind it. We(actors) are also like the audience who go there toenjoy the award ceremonies. If we are announcedwinners then we receive it (the award) otherwise wejust enjoy the night. So, I don’t know anything aboutit, but I believe there is jury who takes that decision.So, we should leave it to them.”

"��=�"�+'�+��—IANS

1%�� !��"

��

�� !�� 2�� *)�09 �0��

��

��.��

6��*$.�!��1$

�+��$#!��#�� "��+�);�*�1�!)�),!��($�$ �1��$!++��$�&�#�$��(� �&�#��<�#!$1��&�),!�)�7�2�#�)�*

*�� 2�� "�� ,!�� #�� =�@��+!�

�� "22�.-�?.

Afirst innings total in the range of 320 ona bouncy Basin Reserve track is what

India vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane is aimingfor despite calling New Zealand the favouritesgoing into the first Test starting here onFriday.

“I think New Zealand are favourites intheir home conditions. But I still feel the hostcountry remains favourite because they knowwhat to bowl and batsman are aware of whatshots to play.

“As a unit we need to learn and adaptquickly as New Zealand grounds have differ-ent angles,” Rahane said on a cautious noteon the eve of the Test match.

But the 2014 win at Lord’s or the 2018 vic-tory in Adelaide had come with modest firstinnings scores of under 300 (295 at Lord’s and250 at Adelaide), a template that can be exe-cuted in Wellington also, feels the stylishMumbaikar.

“When you bat first, your mindset isalways positive, not saying that it’s not whenyou bowl first. If you get 320 to 330 outsideIndia in first innings, it’s a very good total. “All the matches if you see we won (inEngland and Australia), we got around 320to 350 runs on the board in the first innings,”said Rahane.

While 320 may not be a big score butRahane’s confidence stems from the fact thatIndia’s world class pace attack, which hasshown ability to pick 20 wickets in overseasconditions.

“We know that our bowlers can take wick-ets in any condition but suppose you lose thetoss and have to bat first, you should knowthat you are in right kind of mindset to actu-ally go out there and tackle those situations.

“Keeping mindset right in seaming con-ditions even if you lose the toss is reallyimportant. Same goes to bowlers who shouldkeep their mindset right on flat wickets. Theyshould actually have the belief to take 20 wick-ets on flat tracks,” said the veteran of 63 Tests.

While he called the home team thefavourites but Rahane and his teammates areenjoying the phase where the current batchunder Virat Kohli is expected to win Testseries outside sub-continent following theirhistoric triumph in Australia last year.

“There is no awe about conditions any-more. Every condition is home condition forus. Irrespective of victory or defeat, expec-tation is bound to be there. As a team, wewant to enjoy this phase where people feel thatwe are favourites wherever we go,” the con-fident deputy of Kohli said.

#(�%� 9�� !"#�!$!$

�� "22�.-�?.

India’s battle-hardened cricketers areready for their toughest challenge ofthe World Test Championship till

date as they face formidable hosts NewZealand on a spicy Basin Reserve trackin the series-opener beginning heretoday.

Virat Kohli’s top-ranked team, with360 points in its kitty, is certainly thefavourite on paper butthe Black Caps underKane Williamson areexperts at wearing downopposition with theirpatience on pitches which turn flat asthe game progresses.

The last time New Zealand lost aseries at home was back in March 2017and since then have won five (10 Tests)in familiar conditions.

For New Zealand, it is time to pickup pieces after their 0-3 drubbing inAustralia while the current Indian teamwould love to reassert that they are thebest when it comes to winning inadverse conditions like they did inAustralia last year.

The open Basin Reserve ground hasalways been challenging for both bats-men and bowlers due to cross winds.

And the new opening pair of PrithviShaw and Mayank Agarwal will have itstask cut out against a top class seamattack comprising Trent Boult, TimSouthee, and Kyle Jamieson, who in alllikelihood will make his debut.

However, the absence of left armspeedster Neil Wagner, who could havecreated awkward angles with his shortballs, will provide some respite for theIndian middle-order. Wagner is on abreak to welcome his first child.

New Zealand named their 12 on theday and it will be a choice betweenseamer all-rounder Daryl Mitchell orslow left-arm orthodox Ajaz Patel.

In an open ground with overcastconditions expected, captain Kohli willnot mind winning the toss and unleashJasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma andMohammed Shami on the home team.

Even Kohli admitted that his menwould need to have tons of patienceonce the track eases out as Williamson’steam is known to the play waiting game.

“It doesn’t matter how much

patience opposition has, we have toshow more patience. We can’t reallyprepare in a manner where NewZealand show more patience and putpressure on us,” skipper Kohli made hisintentions clear during a media inter-action.

While New Zealand are expected togo with four frontline pacers and maybe a fifth seamer in all-rounder Colinde Grandhomme, the Indian teammanagement might be tempted to tryout Ravichandran Ashwin, who pure-ly as a spinner, has more variety com-pared to left-arm orthodox of RavindraJadeja.

The wind factor in Wellington is anissue that captains need to deal withand Kohli is no different as he will haveto judiciously choose ends for hisbowlers.

“If breeze is blowing across theground, who is more effective withinswinger or outswingers, these thingsyou think as a captain,” said Kohli.

The return of Trent Boult for NewZealand and Ishant for India, from theirrespective injuries will certainly bolsterboth the sides.

For India, Cheteshwar Pujara, Kohliand Ajinkya Rahane will have to be thefoil around Shaw, Agarwal and Vihariwith their techniques being tested.

“As a batsman, you need to think thatball might not travel in the air a lot morewhen you are hitting against the wind. Soyou need to be prepared to run a lot morewhich we experienced last time and if youhave a light bat, you are in trouble.

“You need to be firm with your stanceand where your bat is as it can reallyswing around,” added Kohli, who isIndia’s best batsman by a mile.

��India (First 12): Virat Kohli (captain),Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw,Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajnkya Rahane,Hanuma Vihari, Wriddhiman Saha (wk),Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami,Jasprit Bumrah, Ravichandran Ashwin,Ravindra Jadeja.New Zealand (12): Kane Williamson (c),Tom Blundell, Trent Boult, Colin deGrandhomme, Kyle Jamieson, TomLatham, Daryl Mitchell, Henry Nicholls,Ajaz Patel, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, BJWatling.

�� ($1,"2?.$

London Olympics bronze medallistSaina Nehwal secured a straight

game win over Ukraine’s Maria Ulitinato storm into the women’s singlesquarterfinals of the USD 170,000Barcelona Spain Masters here onThursday.

Saina, who is facing a race againsttime to qualify for her fourthOlympics, brushed aside Maria 21-10

,21-19 in the second round to set upa last-eight clash with Thailand’sthird seed BusananOngbamrungphan, who has beatenthe Indian twice in the last twoencounters.

Sameer Verma also made it to thelast eight with a hard-fought 21-14,16-21, 21-15 win over Germany’sKai Schaefer. He will face eitherThailand's Kunlavut Vitidsarn orIreland's Nhat Nguyen in the men'ssingles quarterfinals.

However, former world No 1Kidambi Srikanth’s wretched run con-tinued as he went down 6-21, 17-21to fellow Indian Ajay Jayaram, dash-ing his hopes of qualifying for theTokyo Games.

Srikanth, who had lost in the firstround in Malaysia, Indonesia andThailand, desperately needs to win atournament or make it to the quartersand semifinals consistently to quali-fy for the Olympics.

N Sikki Reddy also endured a dif-ficult day as she lost both the mixeddoubles and women’s doubles to bowout of the competition.

Sikki and her women’s doublespair of Ashwini Ponnappa, who iscoming back from an injury, lost 18-21, 14-21 to Bulgaria’s Gabriela Stoevaand Stefani Stoeva, seeded third.

In the mixed doubles, Sikki andPranaav Jerry Chopra went downfighting 16-21, 21-17, 11-21 to topseeded Malaysian pair of Goh SoonHuat and Lai Shevon Jemie.

�� $.-��F?��*$G

Anustup Majumdar’s grittycentury rescued Bengal

from a hopeless 46 for five ina dramatic turnaround forthem on the opening day oftheir Ranji Trophy quarterfi-nal against Odisha here onThursday.

At stumps, Bengal were308 for six.

Put in by a pace-heavyOdisha, Bengal found them-selves in all sorts of trouble inthe first session.

Suryakant Pradhan (2/96),Preet Singh Chohan (2/52)and Basant Mohanty (1/48)used the early moisture toadvantage and blew away theBengal top order.

But old warhorseMajumdar, playing in his sixthmatch of the season, led aturnaround with an unbeaten136 (20 fours), a composedinnings that came undertremendous pressure.

Majumdar, who will turn36 next month, had scored 99in a similar situation in theirrain-affected drawn encounteragainst Delhi earlier this sea-son.

Rookie al l-rounderShahbaz Ahmed also showeda lot of maturity at No. 7, theleft-hander slamming anunbeaten 82 to help Bengaltake control in a fruitful finalsession

��

�� Karnataka were wob-bling at 14 for 2 at stumps

after only six overswere possible due to

bad light on theopening day againstJammu and

Kashmir.Overcast skies

meant the light alternatedbetween poor to border-line

for most part ofthe day.

Play startedafter tea and only

six overs were possible duringwhich Karnataka struggledagainst Jammu and Kashmirnew ball pair of Aquib Nabi(1/6) and Mujtaba Yousuf(1/5).

Karnataka lost both theiropeners -- RavikumarSamarth (5) and DevduttPadikkal (2).

At the close of play, skip-per Karun Nair was batting onfour in the company ofKrishnamurthy Siddharth,who is yet to open his account.

�� Skipper Parthiv Patelled from the front with his 27thfirst-class century and helpedGujarat reach 330 for fouragainst Goa. The left-handed batsmanscored an unbeaten 118 off 156balls at the Sardar PatelStadium, hitting 15 boundariesoff the Goa bowlers.

In the process, Patel alsocompleted 11,000 first-classruns.

For Goa, Verma was thepick of the bowlers, whileDarshan Misal and VijeshPrabhudesai (1-60) took awicket each.

This is Patel’s second hun-dred in Ranji knock-outs, thefirst being against Mumbai inthe 2016-17 final.

�� "�� Fighting half-cen-turies by Vishvarajsingh Jadeja(73, 179 balls, 10 fours), ChiragJani (53, 128 balls, 5 fours) andSheldon Jackson (50) helpedSaurashtra make 226 for 6 in79 overs against Andhra.

For the home team, left-arm medium-pacer YarraPrithvi Raj was impressive,picking up three wickets in 20overs conceding 51 runs. K VSashikanth picked up twowickets.

A lot will now depend onJani and the lower-orderincluding captain JaydevUnadkat if Saurashtra has topost a fighting total in the last-eight match.

�� (*�($."��$1

Hosts India would look to contin-ue their fine form when they

take on title holders Australia intheir next FIH Pro League tie hereon Friday.

India have made an excellentstart to their maiden FIH HockeyPro League season and are current-ly sitting third in the table with eightpoints from four games.

The Manpreet Singh-led sideclaimed five points from a possiblesix against the Netherlands beforeclaiming another three in a stunning2-1 victory over Belgium, the reign-ing World and European champions.The Red Lions bounced back witha 3-2 win in the second match.

Few would dispute that India,coached by former Australian inter-national Graham Reid and cap-tained by newly crowned FIH Men’sPlayer of the Year Manpreet, areplaying their best hockey in recentyears.

It would also be India’s penulti-mate home tie at the KalingaStadium here before they embark ona series of away games. But pastrecords and statistics don't lookpromising for the hosts as Australiahave an outstanding recent recordagainst India.

The world no.2 Kookaburrashave won 22 of their last 30 meet-ings against world no.4 India andhave not faced a defeat since a 2016Test match in Bendigo, Australia,when VR Raghunath scored twice in

a 3-2 win.Australia, managed by Colin

Batch, who was recently named2019 Men's FIH Coach ofthe Year, also have animperious record at theKalinga Stadium, a venuewhere they have not suf-fered a defeat in regular time sincea semi-final loss at the hands ofGermany at the Hero ChampionsTrophy in 2014.

The Australians were unbeatenin all six matches on the way toclaiming the title at the 2017 Hockey

World League Final, and won five oftheir six matches at the OdishaHockey Men's World Cup 2018, with

only theNetherlands get-ting the better ofthem in a semi-final shoot-out

after the regular time finished 2-2.The Kookaburras will be in a

confident mood coming into the tieafter their recent performancesagainst Great Britain in the FIH ProLeague, where they claimed fivepoints out of six.

#� ��$��&��/��0��G�� $��/��?��$��$�!� ��#H ��

7.E��&��AC=�� +

),!�� 0��$��)$!)(��&!)��#()

.�)<!��#�0 1��!"��!"��&#��=�>-��#�)��.()#��2��>#'()6

),!��"� �(�$#�+!��!"��&#��?�--0��#�)��.()#��,��>#'()6

��*�@��+�),�"� ),!��!"��&#��--��#�)��.()#��,��>#'()6

��/��!�)�� (��

�� 9�."9

The Indian women’s cricket teamwill be aiming for much need-

ed consistency when it opens its bidfor an elusive ICC trophy with theT20 World Cup opener againstdefending champions Australiahere on today.

Inconsistencyhas plagued Indiafor a long time anda classic examplewas their perfor-mance in the recently held tri-seriesin Australia where they reached thefinal.

They won and lost a gameagainst the more accomplishedEngland and Australia before los-ing to the mighty hosts, who havewon the T20 World Cup a recordfour times out of the six editionsheld so far.

India’ middle and lower-orderneeds to do a lot better than whatit has been doing to beat the likesof Australia and England in theknock-out stages, something thathas been been acknowledged star

opener Smriti Mandhana.The team needs to ensure that

the frequent middle-order collaps-es are not repeated in the showpieceevent.

The southpaw and 16-year-old Shafali Verma will have to getIndia off to a flying start more oftenthan not in the competition.

Expectations arehigh from skipperHarmanpreet Kaur, whotoo has suffered frominconsistency and would

like to correct that, beginning withthe opener against Australia.

It remains to be seen if theother 16-year-old in the squad,Richa Ghosh, gets to play regular-ly as she made her internationaldebut only in the final of the tri-series.

In the bowling department,they have heavily relied on spinnerswith not many quality pacers tochoose from.

Shikha Pandey, who is often thelone pacer in the playing eleven fullof spinners, has the crucial task ofproviding early breakthroughs.

The squad is expected to reachthe last four as it had two years agobut the growing women’s game inIndia will get a further fillip only ifthey go all the way.

Long gone are the days whenwomen cricketers were a neglect-ed lot and have all the facilities attheir disposal.

They take on Australia, whocould not have asked for a betterbuild-up to the tournament thanwinning the preceding tri-series.

However, they suffered a bigblow on the eve of the tournamentopener as their lead pacer TaylaVlaeminck, who had troubled theIndian batters in the tri-series withextra pace, was ruled out of thecompetition due to a foot injury.Off-spinner Molly Strano wasnamed her replacement.

�(�$#�+!��"� ),!��!"��&#��>-0��#�)��.()#��-��>#'()6

�� '�� )��

@ �� !��P��I��%��&��'�(��#�&�� P��%��P��&��

@ � "��"

/��>� �5 �� ,��/��

#� ��(��+�!��$�!��

��! �� D��

��$�!��

#� �� !��/��&�� $��

,��$��'�� < ��

� ��"�� New Zealand captain KaneWilliamson is not a fan of the points sys-tem used for the World TestChampionship where a team gets a max-imum of 120 points irrespective of thelength of the series.

As per points system, the value foreach Test match win in the upcomingtwo-match series is 60 points per game.

However if it’s an Ashes series, thevalue of a Test match win is reduced to24 as there are five matches.

“It’s an interesting one. I guessthere’s an element to it that isn’t fair. ButI guess there is an effort in bringing con-text to Test cricket which wasn’t there. So

I mean the World Test Championship isa step in the right direction.

“It’s not perfect but I guess after thefirst year or two of it, there’ll always beefforts to continue to make it a betterproduct,” Williamson was guarded in hiscriticism.

But he did mention that points dis-tribution system needs to have a relook.

“It is a step in the right direction butthere are so many parts to it that someteams playing five, some teams playingtwo, the difference in countries, there isjust heaps of different parts to it that don’tquite make the points of equal measure,”said the Kiwi skipper.

“But we have all signed up for it andwe are all keen to see how it unfolds andI’m sure it’ll develop over time,” he said.

Williamson’s sentiment was alsoechoed by one of his senior teammatesRoss Taylor, who was also critical of thepoints system.

“There are probably still a fewteething issues to go with the points sys-tem but it has brought context to crick-et which is probably what ICC were after.Is it the ideal situation at the moment?Probably not. But it’s a lot better now thanit was before when we had nothing,”Taylor had said during his interactionearlier this week. PTI

'5��!��&�� #�'��!��

#(�%� 9/�� !"#�!$!$

�� ."��"2*�

On a fruitful day for India inwomen’s competition of AsianWrestling Championship at

Indira Gandhi stadium here onThursday, three female wrestlers— Pinki Rani (55 kg), SaritaMor (59 kg) and Divya Kakran(68 kg) won Gold medals in thefreestyle event. While NirmalaDevi (50kg) settles for Silver in the50kg category after losing final againstJapan’s Migo Igarashi.

2018 Commonwealth and AsianGames Bronze medallist Divya wasthe star performer for the hosts onthe opening day of freestyle eventas she produced a strong perfor-mance by winning all her bouts,including against reigning juniorworld champion NaruhaMatsuyuki in the fourth round.

She started the day by routingKazakhstan’s Albina Kairgelinova and thenknocked out Mongolia’s DelgermaaEnkkhsaikhan.

In the third round, againstUzbekistan’s Azoda Esbergenova, she led4-0 with consecutive rolls and then

pinned her opponent to finish it offin just 27 seconds.

Against the Japanese juniorworld champion, with her strong

left-leg attacks, Divya led 4-0with a takedown and anexpose move.

The Japanese made asolid start in the secondperiod as she attacked theIndian’s left leg initially but

scored points with a right legmove to make it 4-4.

The Japanese almost pinnedher but Divya wriggled out ofthe difficult position. She sooneffected a move which led toher victory by fall.

“I had to win by fall to getfive points from all my bouts

because the Japanese was winningall her bouts by big margins, so I tooka risk for big wins. My coach had saidthat I don’t have to go for big throwsall the time, but I went for it,” said

Divya.“It did become tricky after I led 4-

0 (in final). I was not in a great posi-tion (Naruha’s lock) and it could have

been very dangerous. But I took a risk and

it paid off by God’s grace.”Asked if the absence of Chinese

wrestler helped, she replied in the affir-mative.

“Yes, it did benefit. But if you have afive-wrestler group it becomes even

tougher, you have to fight everyone andwin big. I won 4 bouts within 2 hours. Itwas tough on the body but the good thingis I have improved on my range, I madeall kinds of attacks, Irani, Kheme, single-led, double leg attacks.”

Sarita, competing in her first Asianevent since winning a Silver in 2017 in58kg, won her first two bouts by techni-cal superiority against MadinaBakbergenova (Kazakhstan) and NaziraMarsbekKyzy (Kyrgyzstan) before win-ning 10-3 against Japan’s Yuumi Kon.

She edged out Mongolia’s BattsetegAtlantsetseg 3-2 in the final. Sarita man-aged a push-out point to win her first Goldat this event after the scores were tied.

Pinki, competing at senior Asian forthe first time, began by beatingUzbekistan’s Shokida Akhmedova by fallbut lost the next bout to Japan’s KanaHigashikawa.

She won her semifinal againstMarina Zuyeva 6-0 and beat Mongolia’sDulguun Bolormaa 2-1 to grab theGold. All the points scored in the finalwere on passivity.

“I was a bit careful because I hadinjured my elbow. I did not want to aggra-vate since important events are lined up,”said Pinki.

Nirmala beat Mongolia’s MunkhnarByambasuren 6-4 and Uzbeskitan’sDauletbike Yakhshimuratova by techni-cal superiority but lost the final 2-3 toJapan’s Miho Igarashi.

�� New Delhi: 2�� 8,� �� #�� 28,�� '��I��#��,��%!��!��Q'�2�� "��*��%�� @��!�$��&��'�1� �� "8$� ,�� 2�� $�� %��-�� -�� P �� '� 8�� 28,/�� &�� .�� @��&��O �� 1� �� /-��&��& ��&0 �� O �� / �� %�� (��2��&��%��$�� '�

� � � �� Basel: 1��8� �� %�� 8�� ?�� '� �� 1��#�� C=/��-�� %�� &��&�� N�� F�� G'�� 8� �� &�� &��S��&�� '�8� ��%��&�� (�� !�� 8��?�� !��CH'

�� B �� AC�Budapest: �� &�� $��6�� I�� &��P�� &�� #� � ��&�� 8� �� *�� ?��'� �� ,��-�� -�� !��%��(��::/D �5/:: �</:: �::/5 �::/Q��$ ��N� �� N�� '�2�� 6�� -��%�� /�� ::/< � ::/D � D/:: � 5/:: � ::/5� �� @��P�� %�� 9�%�� P�� &��'

��"��4��! ��A�� Chennai: T�� @�� (� �� -�&��!��N��</Q�F;4QG �</A �</H��&��,+��/��'� ��$�� %�� )�� ;=� �� /�� /�� "�� $��,��&'��&�� P��&�� (� �� /�� '� �!��&�� P�� &�� &�� '�

��"�� Barcelona: (�� %�� !��(�� )��/ �� %� �� '�(�� :D��FR�:5'H��G�&��(��P�� 2��U�'� (�� 2��V�N�� ?��&�� )�� &�� %��'�(�� &�� '� ,�5��#5�

�/�8*>�

�� 2?.�?.

Jose Mourinho fears his side’s seasonis running out of gas after an injury-

hit Spurs slumped to a 1-0 defeat athome to RB Leipzig in the first leg oftheir Champions League last 16 tie.

Spurs could be without the talis-manic duo of Harry Kane and SonHeung-min for the rest of the seasonthrough injury and looked toothlessagainst the Bundesliga contenders.

“We are in a very difficult situation,”said Mourinho. “What worries me isthis is going to be the situation until theend of the season.”

Tottenham captain Hugo Lloriskept his side in the tie with a string ofimportant saves, but he could not pre-vent Timo Werner from the penaltyspot as the German international’s 26thgoal of the season gave Leipzig a leadto defend on home soil on March 10.

“Over the 90 minutes we deserved

the win and could have won bymore,” said Leipzig boss JulianNagelsmann.

“It’s only the first game today. Youhave to perform at the same level inboth games.”

��!�2$.

Atalanta coach GianPiero Gasperini

hailed a performancehis club will “rememberforever” after the Italianside crushed Valencia4-1 on Wednesday totake a giant step closer to reach-ing the Champions League quar-ter-finals for the first time.

Dutch wing-back HansHateboer scored twice on 16 and62 minutes, sandwiching goalsfrom Josip Ilicic and RemoFreuler.

“This is an evening that we’llremember forever,” saidGasperini. “It’s an amazingresult, full of emotion.”

It was an extraordinarynight for the side from Bergamowho travelled to the San Siro

with over 40,000 of their fans astheir home stadium 55km awaydoes not meet UEFA regula-tions. Denis Cheryshev pulledone back for Valencia in the first

leg of the last-16 tie at the SanSiro, the same stadium where theSpanish side lost the 2001 finalto Bayern Munich on penalties.

Valencia, seventh in La Liga,

had finished top of their groupafter away wins over Ajax andChelsea but were missing sever-al key players through injury andsuspension.

“It certainly complicatesthings a bit, it’s a pretty over-whelming result, this 4-1,” saidValencia coach Albert Celades.

“In the end it doesn’t reflectmuch what we saw on the pitch.”

Atalanta’s run comes despitelosing their opening threeChampions League groupgames, before finishing secondbehind Manchester City.

“Three goals ahead is a nicereward,” added Gasperini. “Butthere were a lot of dangerous sit-uations, these are things we’llneed to improve in Valencia.

“We are satisfied with thisvictory and above all with thisadvantage.

/�� 2�8��,�%�� "��!��& ��%��&��

�� "��+!��)�� " #

,��$�!��45�, ��$��1��BI��&��!� ,"

$��+��7��&��+ $��" ��&� ��

��?�� 1��$2��$�� ,"

a world ‘guru’. it is time to make india a superpower, but ... become an example of protests in...

Documents