ˇˇ,-€¦ · chief minister shahta kumar may also not be fielded by the party, sources said....

16
T he Opposition Mahagathbandhan is final- ly in place in Bihar. The Congress on Tuesday agreed to contest on nine seats as against its insistence for 11 seats. The alliance’ mainstay RJD will contest 20 seats, seven less than it fought in 2014 thus paving the way for the accom- modation of other smaller par- ties in the grouping. Upendra Kushwaha’s RLSP will fight on four seats and Jitan Ram Majhi’s HAM on three seats. RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, who is spearheading the formation of the much- hyped grand alliance, has rushed to Ranchi to brief and further deliberate with RJD patriarch Lalu Prasad, cur- rently cooling his heels in jail in a multi-crore fodder scam. The Mahagathbandhan in Bihar formally acknowledges Congress, RJD, RLSP, HAM, Sharad Yadav’s Loktantrik Janata Dal and Mukesh Sahni’s Vikasheel Insaan Party as its constituents. While Congress wants to take on board Madhepura MP Pappu Yadav, whose wife Ranjeet Ranjan is a Congress MP, it was opposed by RJD, which had field- ed him on its ticket five years ago but expelled him later on disciplinary grounds. “RJD is to contest on 20 seats, Congress on 9 seats, RLSP on 4, HAM on 3, LJD and VIP on 2 seats each,” said AICC sources, adding that a formal announcement would come up on Wednesday at a joint Press conference by rep- resentatives of all the grand alliance partners. Sharing of seats in the Grand Alliance was hampered by squabbles between smaller partners like the RLSP and the HAM with each party demand- ing a share that was bigger than what the other was to get. The cur- rent impasse sur- faced following Tejashwi indi- cating “fissures” as crisis over seat-sharing deepened in the Bihar Mahagathbandhan. Amid hard bargaining by smaller parties, the major play- ers — RJD and Congress — locked horns over the seat sharing arrangements. W ith the AAP and the Congress going public in asserting that they will not enter into an alliance, it is now NCP chief Sharad Pawar, who has entered the scene to play the mediator, in what is being seen as a last-ditch attempt to forge a pre-poll alliance between the two parties in Delhi to take on the BJP, which holds all the seven Lok Sabha seats in the Capital. After a series of flip-flops between both the parties, sources said Congress Central leadership has started a rethink on the insistence of their alliance partners’ tallest leader Pawar, who met Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge first and then AAP’s Sanjay Singh, also a Rajya Sabha member. The Maratha strongman had last month hosted a mega Opposition meeting that starred Rahul Gandhi, Arvind Kejriwal and Mamata Banerjee. Following Pawar’s media- tion, Delhi Congress president Sheila Dikshit convened an urgent meeting with the three working presidents Devender Yadav, Haroon Yusuf and Rajesh Lilothia — of Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC), which had opposed an alliance with AAP. The leaders did not divulge any details and only stated that the meeting was over decision of candidates for the Lok Sabha elections. Sources said Sheila met her party colleagues at her home to reconsider a tie-up with AAP — an idea that she has resisted vehemently so far. Sources said 13 former Congress district presidents have written a letter to party chief Rahul Gandhi asking for an alliance with the AAP. Sheila, a three-time CM whose rule ended with AAP’s rise in Delhi, had on Monday warned in a letter to Rahul and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi that an alliance with the AAP will hurt the Congress in the long run. She had also urged the leadership to spell out its stand to avoid confusion among party workers. While Sheila has strongly opposed a tie-up with the AAP, Congress incharge of Delhi PC Chacko made it clear on Tuesday that “Delhi leaders have to follow the Congress’ policy decision to go for alliances with parties opposed to the BJP”. Even after Pawar’s intervention, Sheila said she was against the alliance but will follow whatever the party lead- ership decides. Continued on Page 4 I n a major decision, the BJP on Tuesday announced it will drop its all 10 incumbent MPs from Chhattisgarh and replace them with new faces in the Lok Sabha polls, a decision that comes in the wake of the party’s drubbing in the recent State Assembly elections. According to reliable sources, the Central Election Committee’s (CEC) scrutinised party’s first list of candidates for the Lok Sabha polls for the sec- ond time in last one week for several hours at the meeting called on Tuesday night. Constituencies of a number of MPs have been planned to be changed, sources said. BJP general secretary Anil Jain, also the party affairs incharge for Chhattisgarh, made the announcement as the BJP’s CEC, which includes Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other top leaders. “We have decided to fight the elections with new candidates and new zeal (in Chhattisgarh),” said Jain, as reported by PTI. The party decision means that Union Minister Vishnu Deo Sai and seven times Lok Sabha member and former Union Minister Ramesh Bais will not be fielded in the polls. There is also question mark as to who would contest from LK Advani’s constituency Gandhi Nagar or from that of Murli Manohar Joshi’s LS seat Kanpur. Sources said Gandhi Nagar seat may go to someone whose name BJP patriarch Advani may suggest. Advani's daughter Pratibha has been active in Gujarat for some time. Gujarat ex-CM Anandi Ben Patel’s daughter’s name is also doing the rounds for this prestigious seat. Former Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Shahta Kumar may also not be fielded by the party, sources said. There was some speculation that Shah should also be taking plunge in 2019 LS poll but that seems highly unlikely given his pre- occupation with the strategis- ing and campaigning. The announcement under- scores the BJP’s bid to wrest Chhattisgarh from the Congress, which handed it a massive defeat in the Assembly polls last year. The Congress had won 68 seats, reducing the tally of the BJP, which was in power in the State for 15 years, to a mere 15. The difference in the vote share of the two par- ties was a huge 10 per cent. The BJP is also considering not fielding any family mem- ber of these sitting MPs, sources said. If the party indeed adopts this criterion, the like- ly candidature of former Chief Minister Raman Singh, whose son Abhishek Singh is a sitting Member of Parliament, will also be in question. T he BJP-led Government in Goa will face the floor test on Wednesay, a day after it was formed. Governor Mridula Sinha has convened a special session of the Assembly on Wednesday at 11.30 am to enable Chief Minister Pramod Sawant to prove his majority in the House, an official said. Sawant on Tuesday said his Government had sought a floor test on Wednesday to prove its strength in the Assembly. The Government in the coastal State claims support of 21 MLAs — 12 from the BJP, three each of allies Goa Forward Party (GFP) and Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) and three Independents. The strength of the 40- member House has been reduced to 36 due to the death of Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, BJP MLA Francis D’Souza and resignations of two Congress MLAs Subhash Shirodkar and Dayanand Sopte. The Congress is the single largest party in the State with 14 MLAs. There is also an NCP legislator in the House. Sawant, 45, who succeeds Parrikar, was sworn in along with 11 other Ministers in the wee hours on Tuesday Continued on Page 4 T he all-powerful GST Council on Tuesday allowed builders an option to choose between old tax rates and the new ones for under- construction residential pro- jects to help resolve input tax credit issues. The council, headed by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and including repre- sentatives of all States, at its 34th meeting here laid out transition rules for the imple- mentation of new tax rates for the real estate sector. Builders will get a one-time option to continue paying tax at the old rates (effective rate of 8 per cent or 12 per cent with Input Tax Credit or ITC) on ongoing projects (buildings where construction and actu- al booking have both started before April 1, 2019, but which will not be completed by March 31, 2019), Revenue Secretary A B Pandey told reporters here. Real estate industry hailed the GST Council’s decision, saying this will give relief to builders — who were worried about loss of input tax credit in the new tax regime. The new tax rate of 1 per cent for affordable houses and 5 per cent for others, without ITC, will apply on new projects. The move will help address apprehensions as well as poten- tial disputes on various com- putational and transitional issues such as the loss of input credits and pricing that were bound to arise on account of the change. “GST Council today has approved transition plan for the new rate structure for real estate residential pro- jects... From April 1, builders have to choose either of the options for which they will get time,” he said. Continued on Page 4 I n more trouble for cash- strapped Jet Airways, an umbrella body of its domestic pilots on Tuesday threatened to stop flying from April 1 if their dues are not paid by March-end even as aviation regulator DGCA said only 41 aircraft of the airline were in operation and more attrition is likely soon. As situation at the belea- guered airline deteriorated, Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu directed senior officials of his Ministry to continuous- ly monitor developments relat- ing to the crisis. In a related development, the Jet Airways’ Aircraft Maintenance Engineers’ Union wrote to the DGCA on Tuesday morning saying they were not paid salaries for last three months and that their “adverse psychological” condition has put flight safety at risk. However, the Aircraft Maintenance Engineers’ Union issued a clarification hours later saying Jet Airways aircraft are safe to fly and are being maintained at highest levels of safety standards. Related reports on P10 A s the “Chai pe Charcha” and “Abki Baar Modi Sarkar” struck a chord with the voters in 2014, the BJP, five years down the line, is now try- ing to enlarge and intensify its “Main Bhi Chowkidar” cam- paign in the run-up to the tough Lok Sabha polls with Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacting with people who have pledged their support to the campaign on March 31, from 500 places across the country. More so, since it is buoyed by the massive response to the “Main Bhi Chowkidar” cam- paign launched by the Prime Minister on March 16. Senior BJP leader and Union Law Minister Ravishakar Prasad Minister said the campaign has become a “people’s move- ment” as the “Main Bhi Chowkidar” hashtag has been tweeted 20 lakh times and had 1,680 crore impressions. Prior to the mega show, taking the social media connect to the next level, the PM will also address 25 lakh “chowki- dars” on March 20 on the eve of Holi. The BJP has sensed that the “Main Bhi Chowkidar” cam- paign could be a winning proposition in the multiple cross-firings of slogans and catchy shouts of electioneering from a range of political parties. The campaign is in a way aimed at deflating Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s riposte “Chowkidar chor hai” as also to appropriate and include one and all in its gamut and render it an egalitarian colour. Prasad, who addressed a Press conference here, said Modi would be stationed out- side Delhi while speaking with people from 500 destinations. Replying to a question if the campaign was a counter to Congress chief Rahul Gandhi’s “Chowkidar chor hai” barb, he rejected the suggestion and asserted that Modi in his cam- paign for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls had projected himself as the “first servant” and “chowki- dar” of the country. On Saturday, Modi had urged his supporters to take the chowkidar pledge, saying he is not alone in the fight against graft and social evils. Following his appeal, all BJP leaders, including party chief Amit Shah and Union Ministers, prefixed the word “chowkidar” to their names in their Twitter profile as they sought people’s support in the Lok Sabha elections. Social media is abuzz with witty take-offs on the cam- paign. In one instance people posted photographs of eco- nomic offenders and abscon- ders — Nirav Modi, Vijay Mallya, Lalit Modi — with a caption “Main Bhi Chowkidar”. Opposition parties in Uttar Pradesh also took a dig. Leading the Opposition attack, Mayawati said on Twitter, “After BJP launched ‘Mai Bhi Chowkidar’ cam- paign, PM Modi and others added the prefix ‘chowkidar’ to their Twitter handles. So now Narendra Modi is Chowkidar and no more ‘chaiwala’ which he was at the time of last Lok Sabha election. What a change India is witnessing under the BJP rule. Bravo!” Incidentally, Mayawati has only recently joined the twitter fraternity after shunning it for long. Her ally Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav tweeted in Hindi, “Is there any chowki- dar to check the theft of fer- tiliser?” In another tweet, Yadav appeared to be referring to the controversial Rafale jet deal. “Has the chowkidar responsi- ble for the theft of file from the Ministry been punished,” he asked. On Monday, Congress’ incharge of eastern Uttar Pradesh Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said, “Unki (the Prime Minister) marzi apne naam ke aage kya lagaen. Mujhe ek kisan bhai ne kaha ki dekhiye chowkidar toh ameeron ke hotey hain, hum kisan toh apney khud chowkidar hotey hain” (I met a group of farm- ers...Potato farmers of western UP. One of them told me, chowkidar is for the rich. We farmers are our own chowkidar). A iming to check fake and provocative content being spread on social media plat- forms during the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, social media giants and Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) will come up with a “code of ethics” by Wednesday evening. This was decided in a high- level meeting convened by the Election Commission (EC) on Tuesday with representatives of Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, Google, Sharechat, BigoTV and Tiktok. Detailed report on P5 PNS: BJP Lok Sabha MP Shatrughan Sinha may be pit- ted on a Congress ticket from Patna Sahib against Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad. The confusion over Darbhanga seat is also under- stood to be cleared as Kirti Azad will be the Congress candidate from the seat. While Azad was suspended from BJP and he joined Congress, Sinha has kept it a secret on his part but has made his inten- tions obvious by criticising his parent party BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on several occasions.

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Page 1: ˇˇ,-€¦ · Chief Minister Shahta Kumar may also not be fielded by the party, sources said. There was some speculation that Shah should also be taking plunge in 2019 LS poll but

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The OppositionMahagathbandhan is final-

ly in place in Bihar. TheCongress on Tuesday agreed tocontest on nine seats as againstits insistence for 11 seats. Thealliance’ mainstay RJD willcontest 20 seats, seven lessthan it fought in 2014 thuspaving the way for the accom-modation of other smaller par-ties in the grouping.

Upendra Kushwaha’s RLSPwill fight on four seats and JitanRam Majhi’s HAM on threeseats. RJD leader TejashwiYadav, who is spearheadingthe formation of the much-hyped grand alliance, hasrushed to Ranchi to brief andfurther deliberate with RJDpatriarch Lalu Prasad, cur-rently cooling his heels in jailin a multi-crore fodder scam.

The Mahagathbandhan inBihar formally acknowledgesCongress, RJD, RLSP, HAM,Sharad Yadav’s LoktantrikJanata Dal and Mukesh Sahni’sVikasheel Insaan Party as itsconstituents. While Congresswants to take on boardMadhepura MP Pappu Yadav,whose wife Ranjeet Ranjan is aCongress MP, it was opposed

by RJD, which had field-ed him on its ticket fiveyears ago but expelledhim later on disciplinarygrounds.

“RJD is to contest on 20seats, Congress on 9 seats,RLSP on 4, HAM on 3, LJDand VIP on 2 seats each,” saidAICC sources, adding that aformal announcement wouldcome up on Wednesday at a

joint Press conference by rep-resentatives of all the grandalliance partners.

Sharing of seats in theGrand Alliance was hamperedby squabbles between smallerpartners like the RLSP and theHAM with each party demand-ing a share that was bigger than

what the other wasto get. The cur-rent impasse sur-

faced following Tejashwi indi-cating “fissures” as crisis overseat-sharing deepened in theBihar Mahagathbandhan.Amid hard bargaining bysmaller parties, the major play-ers — RJD and Congress —locked horns over the seatsharing arrangements.

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With the AAP and theCongress going public

in asserting that they will notenter into an alliance, it is nowNCP chief Sharad Pawar, whohas entered the scene to playthe mediator, in what is beingseen as a last-ditch attempt toforge a pre-poll alliancebetween the two parties inDelhi to take on the BJP, whichholds all the seven Lok Sabhaseats in the Capital.

After a series of flip-flopsbetween both the parties,sources said Congress Centralleadership has started a rethinkon the insistence of theiralliance partners’ tallest leaderPawar, who met Congress chiefRahul Gandhi and MallikarjunKharge first and then AAP’sSanjay Singh, also a RajyaSabha member. The Marathastrongman had last monthhosted a mega Oppositionmeeting that starred RahulGandhi, Arvind Kejriwal andMamata Banerjee.

Following Pawar’s media-tion, Delhi Congress presidentSheila Dikshit convened anurgent meeting with the threeworking presidents —Devender Yadav, Haroon Yusufand Rajesh Lilothia — of DelhiPradesh Congress Committee(DPCC), which had opposed analliance with AAP. The leadersdid not divulge any details andonly stated that the meeting wasover decision of candidates forthe Lok Sabha elections.

Sources said Sheila met

her party colleagues at herhome to reconsider a tie-upwith AAP — an idea that shehas resisted vehemently so far.Sources said 13 formerCongress district presidentshave written a letter to partychief Rahul Gandhi asking foran alliance with the AAP.

Sheila, a three-time CMwhose rule ended with AAP’srise in Delhi, had on Mondaywarned in a letter to Rahul andUPA chairperson Sonia Gandhithat an alliance with the AAPwill hurt the Congress in thelong run. She had also urged

the leadership to spell out itsstand to avoid confusionamong party workers.

While Sheila has stronglyopposed a tie-up with the AAP,Congress incharge of DelhiPC Chacko made it clear onTuesday that “Delhi leadershave to follow the Congress’policy decision to go foralliances with parties opposedto the BJP”. Even after Pawar’sintervention, Sheila said shewas against the alliance but willfollow whatever the party lead-ership decides.

Continued on Page 4

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In a major decision, the BJPon Tuesday announced it

will drop its all 10 incumbentMPs from Chhattisgarh andreplace them with new faces inthe Lok Sabha polls, a decisionthat comes in the wake of theparty’s drubbing in the recentState Assembly elections.

According to reliablesources, the Central ElectionCommittee’s (CEC) scrutinisedparty’s first list of candidates forthe Lok Sabha polls for the sec-ond time in last one week forseveral hours at the meetingcalled on Tuesday night.Constituencies of a number ofMPs have been planned to bechanged, sources said.

BJP general secretary AnilJain, also the party affairsincharge for Chhattisgarh,made the announcement as theBJP’s CEC, which includesPrime Minister Narendra Modiand other top leaders. “We havedecided to fight the electionswith new candidates and newzeal (in Chhattisgarh),” saidJain, as reported by PTI.

The party decision means

that Union Minister VishnuDeo Sai and seven times LokSabha member and formerUnion Minister Ramesh Baiswill not be fielded in the polls.

There is also question markas to who would contest fromLK Advani’s constituencyGandhi Nagar or from that ofMurli Manohar Joshi’s LS seatKanpur. Sources said GandhiNagar seat may go to someonewhose name BJP patriarchAdvani may suggest. Advani'sdaughter Pratibha has beenactive in Gujarat for sometime. Gujarat ex-CM AnandiBen Patel’s daughter’s name isalso doing the rounds for thisprestigious seat.

Former Himachal PradeshChief Minister Shahta Kumarmay also not be fielded by theparty, sources said. There wassome speculation that Shahshould also be taking plunge in

2019 LS poll but that seemshighly unlikely given his pre-occupation with the strategis-ing and campaigning.

The announcement under-scores the BJP’s bid to wrestChhattisgarh from theCongress, which handed it amassive defeat in the Assemblypolls last year. The Congresshad won 68 seats, reducing thetally of the BJP, which was inpower in the State for 15 years,to a mere 15. The difference inthe vote share of the two par-ties was a huge 10 per cent.

The BJP is also consideringnot fielding any family mem-ber of these sitting MPs,sources said. If the party indeedadopts this criterion, the like-ly candidature of former ChiefMinister Raman Singh, whoseson Abhishek Singh is a sittingMember of Parliament, willalso be in question.

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The BJP-led Government inGoa will face the floor test

on Wednesay, a day after it wasformed. Governor MridulaSinha has convened a specialsession of the Assembly onWednesday at 11.30 am toenable Chief Minister PramodSawant to prove his majority inthe House, an official said.

Sawant on Tuesday said hisGovernment had sought a floortest on Wednesday to prove itsstrength in the Assembly. TheGovernment in the coastalState claims support of 21MLAs — 12 from the BJP, threeeach of allies Goa ForwardParty (GFP) andMaharashtrawadi GomantakParty (MGP) and threeIndependents.

The strength of the 40-member House has beenreduced to 36 due to the deathof Chief Minister ManoharParrikar, BJP MLA FrancisD’Souza and resignations oftwo Congress MLAs SubhashShirodkar and DayanandSopte.

The Congress is the singlelargest party in the State with14 MLAs. There is also an NCPlegislator in the House.

Sawant, 45, who succeedsParrikar, was sworn in alongwith 11 other Ministers in thewee hours on Tuesday

Continued on Page 4

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The all-powerful GSTCouncil on Tuesday

allowed builders an option tochoose between old tax ratesand the new ones for under-construction residential pro-jects to help resolve input taxcredit issues.

The council, headed byUnion Finance Minister ArunJaitley and including repre-sentatives of all States, at its34th meeting here laid outtransition rules for the imple-mentation of new tax rates forthe real estate sector.

Builders will get a one-timeoption to continue paying taxat the old rates (effective rate of8 per cent or 12 per cent withInput Tax Credit or ITC) onongoing projects (buildingswhere construction and actu-al booking have both startedbefore April 1, 2019, but whichwill not be completed by March31, 2019), Revenue Secretary AB Pandey told reporters here.

Real estate industry hailedthe GST Council’s decision,saying this will give relief to

builders — who were worriedabout loss of input tax credit inthe new tax regime.

The new tax rate of 1 percent for affordable houses and5 per cent for others, withoutITC, will apply on new projects.

The move will help addressapprehensions as well as poten-tial disputes on various com-putational and transitionalissues such as the loss of inputcredits and pricing that werebound to arise on account ofthe change. “GST Counciltoday has approved transitionplan for the new rate structurefor real estate residential pro-jects... From April 1, buildershave to choose either of theoptions for which they will gettime,” he said.

Continued on Page 4

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In more trouble for cash-strapped Jet Airways, an

umbrella body of its domesticpilots on Tuesday threatened tostop flying from April 1 iftheir dues are not paid byMarch-end even as aviationregulator DGCA said only 41aircraft of the airline were inoperation and more attrition islikely soon.

As situation at the belea-guered airline deteriorated,Civil Aviation Minister SureshPrabhu directed senior officialsof his Ministry to continuous-ly monitor developments relat-ing to the crisis.

In a related development,the Jet Airways’ AircraftMaintenance Engineers’ Unionwrote to the DGCA on Tuesdaymorning saying they were notpaid salaries for last threemonths and that their “adversepsychological” condition hasput flight safety at risk.

However, the AircraftMaintenance Engineers’ Unionissued a clarification hourslater saying Jet Airways aircraftare safe to fly and are beingmaintained at highest levels ofsafety standards.

Related reports on P10

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As the “Chai pe Charcha”and “Abki Baar Modi

Sarkar” struck a chord with thevoters in 2014, the BJP, fiveyears down the line, is now try-ing to enlarge and intensify its“Main Bhi Chowkidar” cam-paign in the run-up to thetough Lok Sabha polls withPrime Minister Narendra Modiinteracting with people whohave pledged their support tothe campaign on March 31,from 500 places across thecountry.

More so, since it is buoyedby the massive response to the“Main Bhi Chowkidar” cam-paign launched by the PrimeMinister on March 16. SeniorBJP leader and Union LawMinister Ravishakar PrasadMinister said the campaignhas become a “people’s move-ment” as the “Main Bhi

Chowkidar” hashtag has beentweeted 20 lakh times and had1,680 crore impressions.

Prior to the mega show,taking the social media connectto the next level, the PM willalso address 25 lakh “chowki-dars” on March 20 on the eve

of Holi.The BJP has sensed that the

“Main Bhi Chowkidar” cam-paign could be a winningproposition in the multiplecross-firings of slogans andcatchy shouts of electioneeringfrom a range of political parties.

The campaign is in a wayaimed at deflating Congresspresident Rahul Gandhi’sriposte “Chowkidar chor hai”as also to appropriate andinclude one and all in its gamutand render it an egalitariancolour.

Prasad, who addressed aPress conference here, saidModi would be stationed out-side Delhi while speaking withpeople from 500 destinations.

Replying to a question ifthe campaign was a counter toCongress chief Rahul Gandhi’s“Chowkidar chor hai” barb, herejected the suggestion andasserted that Modi in his cam-paign for the 2014 Lok Sabhapolls had projected himself asthe “first servant” and “chowki-dar” of the country.

On Saturday, Modi hadurged his supporters to take thechowkidar pledge, saying he isnot alone in the fight againstgraft and social evils.

Following his appeal, allBJP leaders, including partychief Amit Shah and UnionMinisters, prefixed the word“chowkidar” to their names intheir Twitter profile as theysought people’s support in the

Lok Sabha elections. Social media is abuzz with

witty take-offs on the cam-paign. In one instance peopleposted photographs of eco-nomic offenders and abscon-ders — Nirav Modi, VijayMallya, Lalit Modi — with acaption “Main Bhi Chowkidar”.

Opposition parties in UttarPradesh also took a dig.

Leading the Oppositionattack, Mayawati said onTwitter, “After BJP launched‘Mai Bhi Chowkidar’ cam-paign, PM Modi and othersadded the prefix ‘chowkidar’ totheir Twitter handles. So nowNarendra Modi is Chowkidarand no more ‘chaiwala’ whichhe was at the time of last LokSabha election. What a changeIndia is witnessing under theBJP rule. Bravo!” Incidentally,Mayawati has only recentlyjoined the twitter fraternityafter shunning it for long.

Her ally Samajwadi Partychief Akhilesh Yadav tweetedin Hindi, “Is there any chowki-dar to check the theft of fer-tiliser?” In another tweet, Yadavappeared to be referring to thecontroversial Rafale jet deal.“Has the chowkidar responsi-ble for the theft of file from theMinistry been punished,” heasked.

On Monday, Congress’incharge of eastern UttarPradesh Priyanka GandhiVadra said, “Unki (the PrimeMinister) marzi apne naam keaage kya lagaen. Mujhe ekkisan bhai ne kaha ki ‘dekhiyechowkidar toh ameeron kehotey hain, hum kisan tohapney khud chowkidar hoteyhain” (I met a group of farm-ers...Potato farmers of westernUP. One of them told me,chowkidar is for the rich. Wefarmers are our own chowkidar).

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Aiming to check fake andprovocative content being

spread on social media plat-forms during the upcomingLok Sabha polls, social mediagiants and Internet and MobileAssociation of India (IAMAI)will come up with a “code ofethics” by Wednesday evening.This was decided in a high-level meeting convened by theElection Commission (EC) onTuesday with representatives ofFacebook, WhatsApp, Twitter,Google, Sharechat, BigoTVand Tiktok.

Detailed report on P5

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PNS: BJP Lok Sabha MPShatrughan Sinha may be pit-ted on a Congress ticket fromPatna Sahib against UnionMinister Ravi Shankar Prasad.

The confusion overDarbhanga seat is also under-stood to be cleared as KirtiAzad will be the Congresscandidate from the seat. WhileAzad was suspended fromBJP and he joined Congress,Sinha has kept it a secret on hispart but has made his inten-tions obvious by criticising hisparent party BJP and PrimeMinister Narendra Modi onseveral occasions.

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The Berry Developersand Infrastructure

(BDI) Private Limited haveannounced to present 40homes to the families of thePulwama martyrs. The realestate group on Tuesdayhanded over the keys of thehome to the family of CRPFConstable Rohitash Lamba,a Pulwama martyr whohailed from Rajasthan.

BDI under the umbrel-la of CREDAI has come upwith the proposal to han-dover homes to the martyrs’families. The Group took ita step ahead by allocating a2 BHK property in its BDIAnanda project located inBhiwadi. The keys will behanded over to Central ReservePolice Force (CRPF) officialswho will present the keys to the39 families of martyrs,” said aspokesperson of BDI.

“This is the group’s tribute

to the ultimate sacrifice ofRohitash and his battalionmembers who were killed in aterrorist attack in Pulwama,Jammu and Kashmir,” saidSumit Berry, Managing

Director of BDI Group. Announcing the

decision he said,“Millitary and Para-Millitary forces laydown their lives whileserving the countryand it is the least thatwe can do towardsshowing our gratitudeto the selfless service.Pulwama attack cameas a shock to the nationand being part of thereal estate fraternity,we have decided to doour bit.”

Rohitash Lambabelonged to Govinpuravillage in Amarsar areaof Jaipur (Rajasthan).Lamba was 27-year-old when he lost his lifein the attack. He had

joined the Central ReservePolice Force (CRPF) at the ageof 25. He was married just ayear ago and had a 2-month-old daughter whom he could-n’t even meet once.

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Commuting will becomecomfortable for the people

living in National CapitalRegional (NCR) areas, as forthe first time a proposal havebeen moved to connect Noidaand Ghaziabad via metro services and opera-tions to improve the transportfacility.

Also, this will be the firsttime that Delhi Metro RailCorporation’s (DMRC) RedLine and Blue Line will be con-nected with each other. Theproposed corridor’s revisedDetailed Project Report (DPR)has been submitted to theGhaziabad DevelopmentAuthority (GDA) on Saturdaylast by the DMRC. The pro-posed route will connectMohan Nagar-NoidaElectronic City.

Currently, there are twometro networks in Ghaiziabadi.e, extension Red Line fromDilshad Garden to Shaeed Stahl(New Bus Adda) and the otherone is Blue Line that connectsfrom Anand Vihar to Vaishali.

According to officials, theproposed corridor will be 6kilometres (KM) long and willfall on Red Line in MohanNagar to Noida Electronic Cityon Blue Line. “The main pur-pose behind the plan is toserve the people living on thebordering areas of Delhi wheretransport facility is very less.The population living in theseareas such as Vasundhara,Indirapuram and sections ofSaibabad, donot avail the pub-lic transport and are largelydependent on auto rickshawsand cabs that too on exorbitantrates.

With this section becom-ing operational, large numberof population will be benefittedthrough this corridor,” said anofficial.

The upcoming stretch willhave six elevated stations atMohan Nagar, Vaibhav Khand,Indirapuram, Shaktikhand,Vasundhara Sector-5 andSaibabad. The estimated cost ofthe project is �1786 crore.Currently, people living inthese areas travel to Vaishali,Dilashad Garden or travel toNH-24 to reach Noida sector62 and to reach Delhi.

However, officials closely involved with the pro-ject said that the DPR hasbeen submitted but the plan isstill on papers. It will fructifyonly after getting the final nodfrom the Uttar PradeshGvernment.

Another official from GDAsaid that the revised DPR isready and the work will start byend of this year, once the UPGovernment accords approval.“Earlier, the corridor wasplanned from Saibabad toElectronic City with a totallength of 5.11 km but the planwas changed due to variousreasons.

Hence, plan was revisedand it was decided to connect Mohan Nagar toNoida Electronic City with anextended length of 6 km.Further, the already existingVaishali metro station will beextended till Saibabad underDelhi Metro Phase IV,” said theofficial.

Around 1.5 lakh peoplewill benefit, once the corridorwill be constructed, added theofficial.

������������� 456�&5�0'

Agang of enterprising thievesstole the entire Automatic

Teller Machine (ATM) whichwas loaded with �30 lakh onTuesday night.

The sensational incidentof thieves uprooting the ATMmachine and then escapingunchallenged was reported in

the densely populatedDwarka ‘s Nawada area. TheATM belonging toCorporation Bank wasinstalled near the NawadaMetro Station.

Investigators tasked tocrack this case, suspect thehand of certain insiders andall those involved in carryingthe cash and then loading thesame in the ATM are beingscanned.

According to a seniorpolice official, the incidentcame to light after the branchmanager of the bank lodgeda complaint on Tuesdayregarding the incident.

“In his complaint thebank manager stated that thebank and its ATM operatefrom 9 am to 9 pm. The samescheduled was followed bythem on Monday and whenthey came on Tuesday, theyfound the ATM machine was

missing,” said the senior policeofficial.

“During initial investiga-tion, it was revealed that crim-inals came to the ATM and cutthe wire of the CCTV whichwas placed outside the ATMafter covering its lens withgrease. They ten coolely uproot-ed the ATM and decampedfrom the scene,” said the policeofficial.

“Investigation has beenlaunched and police teams arechecking the footage of thecamera which was installedinside ATM premises. Themanager of the bank reportedlytold police that the bank hadfilled �16 lakh on Monday ataround 3.30 pm in the machineand the total amount in themachine was �30 lakh,” thepolice official said.

“A case has been registeredand the investigation initiated.Police formed teams to nab theaccused persons. Further inves-tigation is going on,” said AntoAlphonse, DeputyCommissioner of Police (DCP),Dwarka district.

When asked about any sus-pected person, the DCP saidthat they are investigating allconceivable angles and cannot rule out the involvementof the staff which will be clearedonce the investigation is com-pleted.

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Afire broke out at BikanerSweets in west Delhi’s

Janakpuri area on Tuesdayafternoon.

According to a senior DelhiFire Service (DFS) official, thefire department received a callat around 1.50 pm regardingthe incident after which it dis-patched four fire tenders to thespot. “The blaze was doused at around 2.15 pm. There are no casualties.

The cause of the fire was ashort circuit in the chimneywhich was placed on first floor,“ said the senior DFS official.

On Tuesday, fire had broken out at a chemical paint factory situated at Swaran Park in west Delhi’sMundka area. Another fireincident was also reported onMonday at a shop inGovindpuri area.

������������� 456�&5�0'�

With Holi festival roundthe corner, the national

Capital also witnesses the steeprise of illicit liquor. So far inmonth of March, the sleuths ofDelhi Police have arrested 43bootleggers for allegedly smug-gling illicit liquor from Haryanaand Uttar Pradesh (UP). Yet inanother break-through, DelhiPolice on Tuesday arrested twonotorious smugglers in twoseparate incidents.

The accused has been iden-tified as Sumit Kumar (27) whowas a resident of Faridabad andChitranjan Kumar (23) a resi-dent of Delhi’s Okhla.

According to ChinmoyBiswal, the DeputyCommissioner of Police (DCP)of South-East district said fol-lowing the Holi festival policehas already intensified patrollingin the area and pickets havebeen placed at various points tokeep check on liquor suppliers.

“In first incident, duringpatrolling on March 16 at 6AM,police team gathered informa-tion about a liquor smuggler.Acting on the information, atrap was laid under NehruNagar Railway Bridge and whenat around 6.45 am, a ChevroletOptra Car was seen comingfrom Okhla Mandi side which

was signaled the driver to stopbut the car driver tried to fleebut was soon overpowered bythe police team,” said Biswal.

“The driver of the car iden-tified as Sumit Kumar had atotal 65 cartons of Haryanaliquor, 45 cartons containing2250 quarters of desi alcohol, 13cartons containing 624 quartersof Besto Whisky and 6 cartonscontaining 288 quarters ofOfficers Choice Blue pure grainwhisky were seized from thecar.” said the DCP.

“In the other incident, onMarch 17 at 8 pm, duringchecking, a person riding a tri-cycle rickshaw was seen comingfrom Surajkund side. The rick-shaw was equipped with sack ofrags. However, the police teamgot suspicious about the move-ment of the rickshaw and theyintercepted it. Under the sack of

rags liquor cartons were con-cealed,” said the DCP.

“On checking, total 09 car-tons containing five cartons of250 quarters of country made(desi) alcohol and four cartonsof 192 quarters of Besto whisky“For sale in Haryana” wereseized from the rickshaw pullerChitranjan Kumar.” said theDCP.

“During interrogation boththe accused Chitranjan andSumit confessed that they usedto sell liquor illegally as theywanted to earn money quickly,”the DCP said.

“In the month of Marchitself, 43 liquor smugglers andbootleggers have been arrestedand more than 20,000 quartersof liquor has been seized. Delhiis still on High-Alert and theinvestigation is still going on.”added the DCP.

��� 456�&5�0'

The Delhi High Court hastaken note of the “dearth”

of special education teachersin Government schools hereand said that despite repeat-ed efforts, the vacancies havenot been filled.

Special education pro-grams are designed for thosestudents who are mentally,physically, socially or emo-tionally delayed and specialeducators are hired to meetthe appropriate needs of eachsuch child.

A bench of Justices Vipin

Sanghi and A K Chawla said,“It has been pointed out thatthere are large number ofvacancies of special educationteachers and despite repeatedefforts, these are not beingfilled. There is a dearth of spe-cial education teachers in theschools in Delhi.”

The court’s observationcame while dismissing an appealby the Delhi Government chal-lenging the February 2017 orderof the Central AdministrativeTribunal (CAT) asking it to con-sider the candidature of anapplicant for the post of specialeducator and process the

appointment, if found qualifiedand eligible.

The high court said theapplicant woman, representedby advocates Ashok Agarwaland Anuj Agarwal, was other-wise qualified and eligible forthe post and it was not goinginto the legal issues raised bythe Delhi Government in theappeal.

Initially, a petition wasfiled by 41 applicants before theCAT. The plea, however, waslater pressed by only two ofthem.

The Delhi SubordinateServices Selection Board

(DSSSB) had issued an adver-tisement inviting applicationsfor filling up of the posts ofSpecial Education Teacheramong others. The candidatureof both the applicants wasrejected on the ground ofincorrect filling in of the OMRsheets. The rejection was chal-lenged by them in the CAT.Later, one of the two applicantswas appointed in a school.

According to the counsel,there are around 1,500 vacan-cies for the post of SpecialEducation Teacher in Delhigovernment schools.

The woman applicant,

against whom the Delhi gov-ernment had approached thehigh court, had made her appli-cation in the prescribed OMRform. In order to be eligible, thecandidates should have clearedthe CTET qualification beforethe cut-off date.

Though she had acquiredthe CTET qualification beforethe cut-off date, due to a“human error”, she did notcolour the bubble on the form and was declared ineligible. Challenging herrejection, the woman hadapproached the tribunal whichallowed her plea.

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Delhi Commissioner ofPolice, Amulya Patnaik

launched ‘Mobile ControlRoom’ (MCR) equipped withall modern technology onTuesday. He visited the DelhiPolice CommunicationHeadquarters at ShalimarBagh and inspected the van inthe presence of other seniorpolice officers.

“The latest state-of-the-artMCR has been fabricated onCNG chassis and equippedwith all necessary wirelessnets to provide communica-tion in various districts, secu-rity, traffic etc. as per therequirement in different partsof Delhi,” said Anil Mittal,Additional Public RelationOfficer (APRO) of Delhi

Police. Talking about the equip-ment in the newly launchedMCR Mittal said that MCR is fit-ted with latest equipments suchas Integrated CommunicationSystem (ICS), Voice logger,Wireless Radio OperatorConsoles, CCTV surveillance,UPS, DG Set Conference Roomand the interior of MCR isdesigned to ensure eco friendlyenvironment.

“It can be located at a strate-gic location on short notice toprovide flawless communica-tion, where the normal com-munication is not possible. MCRwill play vital role during theimportant arrangements likeRepublic Day, IndependenceDay, VIP arrangements atRajghat, Ramlila Ground,Election arrangement and otheremergency requirements,” Mittaladded.

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A30-year-old died while oneminor was injured after a

speeding truck rammed on totheir scooter in North Delhi’sKashmere Gate area onTuesday.

The deceased has beenidentified as Deepak Rawat, aresident of Gandhi Nagar andBadal (17), a resident of GandhiNagar, sustained injuries.

According to a senior police official, both were friends and were going for some work on the scooter when the incidentoccurred.

“A police controlroom (PCR) call wasreceived regardingthe incident ataround 5 AMregarding the acci-dent.

The senior offi-cial said that onespeeding truck hit ascooter in Kashmeregate. “After hittingthe scooty, the driverof the truck fled thespot and the injuredwere rushed to thehospitals by locals,”said the senior policeofficial.

“Rawat wasdeclared broughtdead while Badalwas discharged afterthe treatment. Thefamily members ofRawat wereinformed about the

incident and the post-mortemwill be conducted onWednesday at around 11 PM,” said the senior policeofficial.

“The family members ofRawat said that he used workin a shop at Gandhi Nagar andwas living separately. Badalused to live earlier at OldSeemapuri and recently shift-ed to Gandhi Nagar,” the policeofficial said

“A case has been regis-tered under the relevant sec-tions of the Indian Penal Code(IPC) and police are looking tonab the accused truck driver,”the police official added.

��0�����������898�9-,

Fatal accidents have regis-tered a steep rise in the

early stages of 2019 in theMillennium City. According tothe official data, 239 cases havebeen registered till March 15.These incidents have claimed 97lives while 16 were seriouslyinjured. The Gurugram police,as well as experts, have identi-fied 15 dangerous spots on theexpressway where the fatal acci-dents took place.

The number of fatal acci-dents was also shocking in 2018when 446 deaths occurred.However, in 2017 around 421deaths were reported due toaccidents. A total number of1,096 accident cases were reg-istered in the previous yearwhile 1,133 persons wereinjured. The number of injuredwas 1,114 in 2017.

Meanwhile, experts saidthat the increase in high-speedroads and lack of traffic policewas the main cause of accidents.

Officials also blamed thehigh density of population andincreasing number of vehiclesfor the accidents. Narsinghpurvillage and Kherki Daula toll

were among the major accident-prone spots where around 40 to50 fatal accidents have beenrecorded every year. These twospots have recorded most num-ber of fatal accidents on theDelhi-Jaipur Expressway.

“The Delhi-GurugramExpressway is one of the busieststretches in the district. Threeunderpasses at Iffco Chowk,Signature tower and RajivChowk on the NationalHighway have been operational.As of now, these projects areplaying a major role to erase traf-fic volume on the carriageway,”Subhash Boken spokesperson ofthe Gurugram police, said.

Although, In November,the Gurugram police set upseven assistance booths on theNational Highway. There are sixPCR vans and one bike each andthree ambulances deployed onthe highway. “The NHAI(National Highway Authority ofIndia) should improve the con-dition of NH-48 and concretizethose stretches which are inpoor shape so that the numberof accidents could be decreased,”a traffic official, said.

“The city requires moretraffic police personnel to con-trol the current traffic problems.

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The Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) announced that it

will contest 2019 Lok Sabhapolls on the slogan of ‘PoornaRajya Banao Jhadu ka ButtonDabao’, essentially informingpeople the national Capitalwill get full Statehood if theyvote for the party. The AAPwould start election campaignon March 23 and plans toorganise 280 jan sabhas byApril 30.

AAP’s national convenerGopal Rai reiterated onTuesday that there would be noalliance with the Congress.“The Congress is not interest-ed in saving the country. TheCongress party continues indenial mode over alliance, itshows that the party is inter-ested in saving its ego insteadof defeating the authoritarianBharatiya Janta Party (BJP),” hesaid.

Rai said that the Congressis not interested in defeating theModi-Shah duo. “This is clearfrom across the country, be itUttar Pradesh, West Bengal,Delhi, Bihar or AndhraPradesh. In all these states, theCongress is thinking about

saving its own party and its egosetting aside national inter-est,” he said.

He said that the party willlaunch its election campaign infive phases, beginning onMarch 23. “The party will hold280 jansabha in all five phasesbesides its top leaders, MLAs and Councillors willalso participate in corner meet-ing all over the city. In lastphase, the party workers willdistribute letter of Delhi ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwal,” hesaid.

Hitting out at Congress, he

said that it was wasting time forpoll campaigning. “They arenot coming out with a clearstand about alliance. We willnow focus on defeating the BJPon our own,” he added.

“AAP will fight the LokSabha polls on the issue of fullStatehood,” Rai said.

With this, the back andforth over an AAP-Congressalliance in the national Capital continued on Tuesdayas senior leaders of Congress said an options forforging a partnership is under process but the ruling

AAP is now in complete denialmode saying that it would fightthe Lok Sabha polls alone.

The ruling AAP had earli-er on March 2 announced thenames of its candidates for thesix Lok Sabha seats.

The AAP declared its sev-enth candidate for West DelhiLok Sabha seats on Sunday.

The party insiders said the name of Balbir SinghJhakhar was announced afterthe recalcitrant attitude of theCongress leadership towardsforging an alliance in thenational Capital.

The other six AAP candi-dates are Atishi from EastDelhi, Guggan Singh fromNorth-West Delhi, RaghavChadha from South, DilipPandey from North-East,Pankaj Gupta from ChandniChowk and Brijesh Goyal fromNew Delhi seat.

������������� 456�&5�0'

The Delhi Metro RailCorporation (DMRC) has

also issued advisory markingthe festival of Holi that will becelebrated on March 21. As perDMRC, the metro operationsand services will be closed onThursday till 2.30 pm on alllines including the AirportExpressway. The Delhi Policehas also made elaboratearrangements across thenational capital especially areasin and around university cam-puses to ensure safety andsecurity of people during theHoli festival on Thursday, offi-cials said Tuesday.

“Metro services will not beavailable till 2.30 pm onThursday due to Holi, theDelhi Metro Rail Corporation(DMRC),” said a DMRCspokesperson on Tuesday.

Further, the metro feederbus services will also be notavailable till 2:00 clock on Holi.

“On the day of the ‘Holi’festival (March 21), Metro ser-vices will start from 2.30 pm onall lines of Delhi Metro includ-ing Airport Express Line.Inaddition, Metro feeder bus ser-

vices will also not be availabletill 2pm and will run as perschedule thereafter,” added thespokesperson further.

The Delhi Traffic Policehas made elaborate arrange-ments. Teams with alcometershave been deployed at majorintersections and vulnerablepoints to detect and prosecutetraffic violators, police said.

Deputy Commissioner ofPolice (Southwest) DevenderArya said they have put in extrapickets where women person-nel have been deployed alongwith male policemen to ensurewomen can easily approachthem.

He said patrolling has beenstepped up in the SouthCampus area and two specialpickets have been placed out-side Moti Lal Nehru Collegeand the main entrance of SouthCampus while an extra van hasbeen patrolling the area.

A meeting was held by theDelhi University proctor’s officewith Delhi Police officials,DTC, Delhi Metro officials,hostels in charge and collegeauthorities regarding steps to betaken to prevent hooliganismon the festival.

The proctor made therequest to these authorities toincrease vigil at the gates oftheir respective premises andstop entries of unauthorisedpersons inside the campus.

In case of any problem,authority might contact theproctor’s office and Delhi Policehelpline numbers given in theHoli posters sent to all the col-leges, department and hostelauthorities, officials said.

Deputy Commissioner ofPolice (North) Nupur Prasadsaid patrolling has been inten-sified and picket teams com-prising women police person-nel have been deployed in theNorth Campus area especiallynear the hostels.

PCR vans and womenmotorists will be extensivelypatrolling in the area. “Ourteams are working in closecoordination with the traffic

officials to check incidents ofdrunken driving. Senior policeofficers are also on the groundpatrolling in the evening toensure that no untoward inci-dents take place.

“We have also put uprestrictions on sale of balloonswhich are smaller than twoinches,” Prasad added.

As per the Supreme Court’sdirections, in cases of drunkendriving, red light jumping,using mobile phone while dri-ving, dangerous driving andoverspeeding, driving licensewill be seized and liable for sus-pension for a period of mini-mum three months, JointCommissioner of Police(Traffic) K Jegadesan said.

An action shall also beinitiated against registered carowners whose vehicles arefound to be driven by minorsor driving without a license, hesaid.

The motorists have beenadvised to obey the trafficrules and not to drink anddrive, observe speed limits,obey traffic signals, and two-wheeler riders to wear helmetsand avoid triple riding, the offi-cial added.

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Amidst dilly-dallying overpre-poll alliance with the

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in thenational Capital, DelhiCongress president SheilaDikshit on Tuesday convenedan urgent meeting with threeworking presidents of DelhiPradesh Congress Committee(DPCC) on Tuesday. The partyleaders of the Delhi unit, how-ever, maintained that the meet-ing was called to decide theselection of candidates, a seniorparty leader said.

“There was no talk of analliance during the meeting. Anurgent meeting was called andit was decided that the selectionof candidates should begin,” hesaid, adding that there werearound 70 applications receivedby the party from DelhiCongress leaders for sevenseats in Delhi

He further said that ascreening committee of theCongress including Delhi unitpresident Sheila Dikshit willsshortlist names of the probablecandidates from among theapplications received so far. Theshortened list will be sent to topleadership for final selection, hesaid.

The meeting with the threeworking presidents Devender

Yadav, Haroon Yusuf andRajesh Lilothia comes in thebackdrop of Congress mullingits options to forge an alliancewith the AAP in Delhi in its bidto prevent diversion of votes inLok Sabha elections.

However, Sources in theCongress confirmed that theparty’s top leadership is mullingoptions to align with the AamAadmi Party in Delhi and the

decision in this regard wouldbe announced very soon.

AICC general secretary in-charge of Delhi Congress PCChacko said, “I am in consul-tation with Congress partyleaders in Delhi on the possi-bilities of forging an alliancewith AAP.

“The Congress WorkingCommittee has decided toalign with like-minded partiesacross the country to defeat theBJP in Lok Sabha elections.

I hope Delhi Congressleaders also go by this senti-ment and decide on an alliancewith AAP, but a final decisionwill be taken by the Congresspresident very soon,” Chackotold.

Chacko’s views are at vari-ance with Delhi Congress pres-ident Sheila Dikshit, who hasmade it clear that aligningwith AAP will not be in theparty’s interests.

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The office of Chief ElectoralOfficer (CEO), with the

help of the civic authoritieshave removed a total of 90,218hoardings, banners and posterson Tuesday installed acrossthe city. As per the data sharedby the Delhi CEO, a total of181155 posters and bannerspromoting the leaders of vari-ous political parties have beenremoved from 11th to 19thMarch.

Among the total number ofbanners and posters removedin the National Capital, 30533were removed from New DelhiMunicipal Council (NDMC),41007 were removed from theEast Delhi MunicipalCorporation (EDMC) and44793 by South MCD and62411 by the North MCD. Theremaining, 2411 were removedby the Delhi CantonmentBoard.

As per the report, DelhiCEO on Tuesday lodged twoFirst Information Reports(FIRs) against Bharatiya Janata

Party (BJP) for violating themodel code of conduct, whichcame into force on March 10for the ‘General Elections-2019’. On the directions of theDelhi CEO, the Delhi Policehave seized a total number of90 unlicensed arms and 2,117cartridges, explosive andbombs have been seized.

As per the data shared bythe Election Commission, atotal number of 3202 licensedarms have been deposited and14716 persons have beenbooked under various sectionsCRPC/Delhi Police act as pre-ventive action measures.Around 235 FIRs registeredand 253 persons have beenarrested under the exerciseAct.

A total of 257 FIRs and 263persons have been arrestedunder Exercise Act for violat-ing the model code of conduct.“Till date, two litre, 257 bottles,33385 quarters of Indian MadeForeign Liqour (IMFL) and223 bottles, 131 half, 64908

quarters country made liquorand 412 bottles have beenseized,” shows the reportshared by CEO.

Further, 82 FIRs have beenregistered under Arms Act, inwhich 105 persons are arrest-ed and 94.337 kg narcotics ordrugs have been seized. “As, ondate, we have registered sixcases for having connectionwith the misuse of car undervarious categories such as elec-tion purposes, gratification orvoters among others,” said thereport.

As per the report, in the

last two months around twolakh people have been added tothe electoral roll in Delhi, tak-ing the total number of eligiblevoters to 1.39 crore at presentwhich includes 77,05537 male,62,82366 female and 665 thirdgender voters.

The reports also showsthat there are around 1, 81,756voters between the age-groupof 18-19. As per the CEO,there has been an increase of90,000 to one lakh voters aftermodel code of conduct cameinto force.

The Lok Sabha GeneralElections will start fromApril11 and will be held over seven phases, followed bycounting of votes on May 23.The election in Delhi is sched-uled on May 12.

Polling stations will be setup in total 2,696 locations with13816 polling booths in eachAssembly constituency. Delhihas seven Lok Sabha seats and70 Assembly constituencies.There would 425 criticalpolling stations, as per currentassessment, officials said.

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Leader of Opposition inDelhi Assembly Vijender

Gupta and Member ofParliament Ramesh Bidhurion Tuesday said that theywould be meeting ChiefElection Commissioner SunilArora on Wednesday to com-plain against Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) for its “gross violation”of the prevailing model code ofconduct.

Gupta said AAP is violat-ing ‘Model Code of Conduct’by misusing picture of a cowand a calf for hurting senti-ments of public at large andinciting religious differencesamongst different groups withintent to disturb the peace andtranquility among masses.“They would also complainagain AAP for violation of

Model Code of Conduct byengaging its MLAs in fieldinspections during installation

of CCTV cameras in differentcolonies and markets,” he said,adding that he would lodge

their protest how AAP still con-tinues to use call centers for itsmisinformation campaign withregard to deletion and additionof names from voters’ list.

The BJP leader said that inthe complaint made to CEO ofDelhi, it has been mentionedthat the AAP leaders are con-tinuously violating the modelcode of conduct. “In spite of themodel code of conduct came inforce, the AAP leaders areholding meetings without thepermission and indulging inmis-propaganda,” he said.

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Page 4: ˇˇ,-€¦ · Chief Minister Shahta Kumar may also not be fielded by the party, sources said. There was some speculation that Shah should also be taking plunge in 2019 LS poll but

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China Tuesday rejected theDalai Lama's assertions

that his successor could befrom India and a nominee byBeijing would not be respect-ed, saying the next spiritualleader of Tibetan Buddhismhas to be approved by theCommunist government.

China's response cameafter the 83-year-old Nobelpeace laureate told a newsagency on Monday that it waspossible that once he dies hisincarnation could be found inIndia and and warned thatany other successor named byChina would not be respected.

"Reincarnation is theunique way of TibetanBuddhism. It has fixed ritualsand systems," Chinese ForeignMinistry spokesman GengShuang told reporters whenasked about remarks by the

Dalai Lama, who fled to Indiafrom Tibet in 1959.

"The Chinese governmenthas policy of freedom of reli-gious belief. We have regulationon religious affairs and regula-tion on the reincarnation systemin Tibetan Buddhism. Werespect and protect such ways ofTibetan Buddhism," Geng said.

Dalai Lama is a title given

to spiritual leaders of Tibetanpeople. This title is given tothose who are consideredamong the most importantmonks of the Gelug school, thenewest school of TibetanBuddhism.

Born in 1935, the currentDalai Lama was identified asthe reincarnation of his prede-cessor when he was just twoyears old.

"The reincarnation systemhas been there for hundreds ofyears. The 14th Dalai has alsobeen recognised in the religiousrituals and was approved by thecentral government. So thereincarnation of the DalaiLama should follow the nation-al rules and regulations and thereligious rituals," Geng said.

Amidst the Tibetan upris-ing in 1959, the Dalai Lamafled to India in March that yearto escape a Chinese crack-down in his Himalyan abode.

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New Delhi: Anjuman-e-Haideri (AEH) is organising an“All India Waqf ProtectionConference” on March 24. Onthis occasion, senior SupremeCourt advocate MehmoodPracha will be felicitated for hisservices extending untiring,honest and unprecedented legalsupport during all these years.

While addressing a pressconference, Bahadur AbbasNaqvi, the General Secretary ofthe AEH, at the recently liber-ated nursery land of the JorBagh Karbala and DargahShah-e Mardaan, said that itwas being organised after a suc-cess of their long legal battleand regaining 2.5 acre of landfrom the illegal occupants inthe prime location in the cap-ital. The conference is beingorganised under the patronageof Maulana Kalbe Jawad Naqviand Maulana Syed MohammadKazim Shabib, he said. PNS

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Ottawa: Indian-origin JagmeetSingh has created political his-tory in Canada when he madehis debut in the House ofCommons as the first nonwhite-leader of a major oppo-sition party in the country.

The arrival of the turbanedleader into the house onMonday, cheered by all mem-bers, coincided with the induc-tion of a senior woman mem-ber into Prime Minister JustinTrudeau's cabinet.

Singh, the leader of theNew Democratic Party, placedhis hand over his heart as hewalked into the Commons

before the daily question period.Singh, 40, was elected in

federal by-elections held onFebruary 25.

Singh's first words as anelected lawmaker were aboutlast week's terrorist attack ontwo mosques in New Zealand.

"I want to begin by express-ing our solidarity with thepeople of New Zealand who aremourning the attack onMuslim brothers and sisters...In Christchurch," Singh said.

About 50 people werekilled last week in the Pacificcountry's worst-ever massshooting. PTI

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Athree-day internationalSanskrit conference that

aims to endorse the ancientlanguage as common treasureof Nepal and India commencedhere on Tuesday.

Titled "Sanskrit a commontreasure of Nepal and India",the conference is being jointlyorganised by the IndianEmbassy in Kathmandu, India'sMinistry of Culture in collab-oration with the Balmiki cam-pus of Nepal Sanskrit

University. More than 45 working

papers on different aspects ofSanskrit language, literatureand philosophy will be pre-sented by scholars from the twonations during the conference,according to an official state-ment.

"Sanskrit is not an ordinarylanguage, rather it is a languagemeant for salvation and a lan-guage that can connect us withthe God," Abhiraj RajendraMishra, a scholar from India,said.

From Page 1He said his priority was to

complete projects undertakenby Parrikar. The StateGovernment will build amemorial in Parrikar’s name atPanaji’s Miramar beach, wherehe was cremated, he added.

Sawant exuded confidencethat the BJP-led alliance wouldremain intact, adding BJP’s allies

are backing him. “I will try toensure that the alliance remainsintact. I will deal with people theway Parrikar used to,” he said.

Sawant said ministers swornalong with would be allocatedportfolios soon. He expressedconfidence that his Governmentwill complete its tenure.

Sawant was sworn in as thenew chief minister of Goa justbefore 2 am on Tuesday, afterhectic parleys between the saf-fron party and its allies to puta new Government in place inthe State.

The Governor also admin-istered oath to 11 other minis-ters, including those from BJP’sallies MGP and the GFP.

As per the power-sharingarrangement reached withallies, an MLA each from thetwo smaller parties backing theBJP will be made Deputy ChiefMinister, party sources said.They are GFP chief VijaiSardesai and MGP legislatorSudin Dhavalikar.

After multiple postpone-ments of the oath ceremony onMonday, Sawant, legislatorfrom Sankhalim in North Goa,was sworn in as CM at RajBhavan at 1.50 am.

BJP president Amit Shahand Union minister NitinGadkari played behind-the-scene roles in ensuring the partyretained power in Goa, after the

death of Parrikar, sources famil-iar with the developments said.

The impasse overGovernment formation, whichincluded dealing with stubbornallies wanting to extract theirpound of flesh, was resolvedwith deft handling of the situ-ation by the two senior BJPleaders, party sources said onTuesday.

In 2017 also, after the BJPfailed to get a majority in thestate Assembly polls,Gadkarihad flown in here to help theBJP in cobbling up an alliancewith smaller parties in thecoastal state, after which aGovernment was formed underParrikar’s leadership.

From Page 1On the time-frame for transition,

Pandey said the council has agreed onproviding reasonable time to devel-opers. The matter would be decidedin a next few days in consultationwith the States, he said, adding thatit could be 15 days or one month.

The council also clarified thatprojects with up to 15 per cent com-mercial space will be treated as resi-dential property. This will resolveissues faced in cases where buildingshave commercial amenities such asclubs and restaurants as well as in caseof residential-cum-commercial pro-jects.

Additionally, a condition has alsobeen imposed that 80 per cent pro-curement by developers should befrom registered dealers to avail thecomposition scheme.

The new tax rates of 1 per cent(on the construction of affordablehouses) and 5 per cent (on other thanaffordable houses) shall be availablesubject to the condition that input taxcredit shall not be available and that80 per cent of inputs and input ser-vices shall be purchased from regis-

tered persons.Any shortfall in purchases

according to these norms would belevied a tax of 18 per cent. Tax oncement purchased from unregisteredperson shall attract a 28 per cent duty.The council approved the formula forcalculating ITC.

“ITC rules shall be amended tobring greater clarity on a monthly andfinal determination of ITC and rever-sal thereof in real estate projects. Thechange would clearly provide a pro-cedure for availing input tax credit inrelation to commercial units as suchunits would continue to be eligible forinput tax credit in a mixed project,”an official statement issued after themeeting said.

Pandey further said that the deci-sion will help the builders in clearinginventories. “This go-ahead by theGST Council brings quite a relief forthis sector in handling transitionissues in specific,” EY India PartnerAbhishek Jain said.

For upcoming projects, reducedrates of 5 per cent and 1 per cent willbe applicable beginning April 1. Onthe next GST Council meeting, the

Revenue Secretary said that is unlike-ly till the election process is over.

He, however, said that if anyemergent situation arises then ameeting could be called with the per-mission of the Election Commission.On apprehensions being raised onpossible price rise due to new taxstructure, the secretary said if pricesescalate, the National Anti-profi-teering Authority will look into it andtake appropriate action.

Deloitte India Partner M S Manisaid the pragmatic move to segregateunder construction projects fromnew projects would provide relief tobuilders who were worried about theloss of input tax credit.

“This would also enable them toprice the loss of input tax credits inthe new projects. Reversal of Input taxcredit on a proportionate basis wouldentail significant computational issuesfor builders as each project would bein various stages of constructionand have differing pre and post-com-pletion sale patterns,” Mani said.

Pratik Jain, Partner & Leader,Indirect Tax, PwC India said thecouncil giving developers an option

would be beneficial for those who hadalready factored the entire inputcredits of the project while arrivingat the sale price and in many casesthese benefits may already have beenpassed on to customers.

“Further, the new compositionrates would be mandatory for all pro-jects for which construction startsafter 1 April 2019 and hence, such taxblockage would need to be factoredat time of budgeting.

“In such case, the council hasmentioned that the credit reversalwould need to be done proportionateto area space, the details of which areawaited. The developers would needto work out the amount of input cred-it for various projects (where certainprojects are covered under composi-tion and certain under normal schemeor projects having both residential andcommercial segments),” he said.

These changes made by the GSTCouncil would have substantialimpact on real estate sector, he said,adding the industry will have towork out which option works bestand come up with the revised pricestructure quickly.

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Environment experts andpolicymakers have stressed

on the need for using technol-ogy and reducing waste athousehold-level in order tomanage it effectively. WhileAmitabh Kant, CEO, NitiAayog, felt that the politicalleadership of municipalitiesshould be held accountablefor the menace, National GreenTribunal chairperson Justice AK Goel stressed on better mon-itoring, increased awarenessand use of technology to sci-entifically manage the problem.

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Afour-storeyed under con-struction building col-

lapsed at Dharwad in northKarnataka Tuesday, killing twopeople, critically injuring fiveand leaving many otherstrapped, police said.

The building came downcrashing giving rise to a thickcloud of dust atKumareshwaranagar in theheart of Dharwad, triggeringwidespread panic amongneighbours and passers-by.

"Two people have diedwhile some 30 to 40 peoplewere trapped," said a policeofficer at Dharwad police sta-tion.

Rescuers have pulled out28 people from the rubble,police said, adding, the injuredhave been hospitalised. Asmany as 10 ambulances andfive fire tenders were deployedto carry out relief and rescue

operations.Residents said there were

several shops on the groundfloor and many people oftenused to visit there.

Rajesh, a witness, told aKannada TV channel that thefirst two floors of the buildingwere being rented out by shops.

"There was a tea shop, aphotostat shop," he added.

Former KarnatakaMinister and Congress leaderfrom the region Vinay Kulkarni

said one of the partners in thebuilding was his relative.

Speaking to reporters, hesaid whoever was involvedshould face action.

Most of those trapped weremigrant labourers from NorthIndia who were engaged in lay-ing the tiles.

Chief Minister HDKumaraswamy, who expressedshock over the collapse, direct-ed the chief secretary to super-vise the rescue operation.

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The Gujarat Governmenthas declined sanction to

prosecute retired police officersDG Vanzara and NK Amin inthe alleged fake encounter caseof Ishrat Jahan and three oth-ers, the Central Bureau ofInvestigation told a specialCBIcourt on Tuesday.

The government's decisionmay pave the way for the con-troversial case against Vanzaraand Amin to be dropped.

After going through a let-ter submitted to the court byCBI lawyer RC Kodekar, JudgeJK Pandya said the sanction toprosecute the two former offi-cers, who were accused in thecase, under Section 197 of theCriminal Procedure Code(CrPC), was declined by thestate government.

The defence lawyers then

sought permission to file anapplication to drop the pro-ceedings against Vanzara andAmin.

The court granted therequest and asked them to filean application on March 26.

It will now be up to the CBIto decide whether to proceedwith the case against the twowithout the government sanc-tion.

As per CrPC Section 197,prior sanction is required froma competent authority to pros-ecute a public servant.

The court had earlierrejected the discharge pleas ofVanzara,former deputy inspec-tor general of police in Gujarat,and Amin, who retired assuperintendent of police, andasked the CBI to clear its standon whether it wants to get sanc-tion from the state governmentto prosecute them.

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The Election CommissionTuesday appointed two

retired IRS officers of theIncome Tax Department asspecial expenditure observersfor the forthcoming Lok Sabhapolls. The poll body said it hasappointed Shailendra Handaand Madhu Mahajan to "super-vise and monitor work done byelection machinery and ensurestringent and effective enforce-ment action" in cases whereinstances of usage of blackmoney and illegal inducementsto lure voters is detected.

The two officers will mon-itor intelligence inputs andalso supervise complaintsreceived through the C-Vigilapp, brought by the EC for thepeople to send to it video-basedcomplaints of bribery of voters,and check instances that vitiatethe election process.

It said the officers havesupervised many successfulsearch and seisure actions lead-ing to detection of tax evasionin "complicated" cases duringtheir stint with the tax depart-ment.

While Handa, a 1980-batchIRS officer, has worked as thedirectoe of IT investigation inDelhi and as the additional

director general of the NationalAcademy of Direct Taxes inNagpur, Mahajan (1982 batch)has served as the DG investi-gations in Jaipur and alsoworked in Tamil Nadu.

In a separate developmentrelated to curbing black moneyin the polls, CBDT chairman PC Mody will hold a nation-wide video conference meetingwith all his I-T investigationunits chiefs on Wednesday.

The Central Board of DirectTaxes (CBDT) is the policy-making body for the I-T depart-ment and the EC has broughton board about 700 electionexpenditure observers to mon-itor flow of cash and otheritems during the seven phasepolls that begin on April 11.

The maximum number ofelection expenditure observersfrom this pool are drawn fromthe Indian Revenue Service(Income Tax) while othersbelong to the IRS, Customs andIndirect Taxes Service.

The EC, similarly, hasappointed a team of threeretired civil servants as specialobservers to assess the situationon the ground in Jammu andKashmir before it takes a deci-sion about holding theAssembly elections in the ter-rorism hit state.

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Page 5: ˇˇ,-€¦ · Chief Minister Shahta Kumar may also not be fielded by the party, sources said. There was some speculation that Shah should also be taking plunge in 2019 LS poll but

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Aiming to check fake andprovocative content being

spread on social media plat-forms during the upcomingLok Sabha polls, social mediagiants and Internet and MobileAssociation of India (IAMAI)will come up with a 'code ofethics' by Wednesday evening.This was decided after a high-level meeting convened by theElection Commission (EC) onTuesday to discuss social mediacontent post implementation ofthe Model Code of Conduct.

The EC had summonedrepresentatives of Facebook,WhatsApp, Twitter, Google,Sharechat, BigoTV and Tiktokfor the meeting.

The issues discussedincluded the appointment ofdedicated grievance channel forexpeditious action by theorganisations, pre-certificationof all political advertisementson social media platforms bythe Media Certification AndMonitoring Committee of theEC and the "evolution of amechanism by social mediaplatforms to prevent abuse ontheir platforms". Sources in theEC said the meeting alsofocused on evolving a notifi-cation mechanism by socialmedia platforms for actingupon the violations of Section126 of Representation of thePeople Act, 1951 and prevent-ing misuse of these platforms.

According to sources,ShareChat is working with afact checking agency to keep incheck fake news that mightenter the system. Tagging ofcontent creator: whenever apost leaves our platform withthe original creator's user IDShareChat can easily identifywho has originally shared thecontent.

"Everyone who signs up onShareChat's platform requiresa registered mobile number. Asper request, ShareChat canassist local low enforcementauthorities and to identify indi-viduals if they are proved to beinvolved in spreading any kindof fake news or hate speech,"said the sources."Representatives of Googleassured the poll body that it canset up a system to fight fakenews in 24 hours," sourcesadded.

Besides installing safe-guards, the EC wants socialmedia platforms to voluntari-ly inform users about the con-sequences of indulging in"unlawful conduct during theelections and, in particular,the 48-hour silent period"immediately preceding pollingday. It has also asked socialmedia intermediaries to adopta general code of ethics in viewof the electoral contest.

According to sources,social media platforms, fortheir part, have taken varioussteps to curb the circulation of

fake news that may eitherfavour certain political partiesor incite the public. Last month,Facebook expanded its localfact-checking network andintroduced stricter rules forpolitical advertisements inIndia. WhatsApp — a socialmessaging platform with over200 million users in India —introduced product changesand undertook roadshows afterfalse messages circulated on itfanned communal tensionsand sparked mob violence.Twitter has also overhauled itspolicies to boost transparencyand rein in misinformation.

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The Election Commissionon Tuesday issued a notifi-

cation for the second phase ofthe seven-phased 2019 LokSabha elections, kicking offthe process of filing of nomi-nations for another 97 con-stituencies across 13 States andUnion Territories.

Voting in the second phasewill take place on April 18, saidthe notification, which comesa day after the poll panel noti-fied the first phase covering 91constituencies.

By the evening of March29, a clear picture on the num-ber of candidates in each of the97 constituencies will emerge.All parliamentary constituen-cies in Tamil Nadu (39 seats)and Puducherry (one seat) willgo for polling in the secondphase.

Uttar Pradesh, Bihar andWest Bengal will see polling inall the seven phases. In the sec-ond phase, eight UP con-stituencies including Agra,Aligarh and Mathura, three inWest Bengal, includingDarjeeling and five in Bihar willgo for polls.

UP has 80 seats, whileWest Bengal and Bihar have 42and 40 Lok Sabha seats respec-tively. The Srinagar andUdhampur seats in Jammu &Kashmir will also go for pollingin the second phase.

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New Delhi: India may not seeanother election if NarendraModi is re-elected as PrimeMinister, Rajasthan ChiefMinister and senior Congressleader Ashok Gehlot hasclaimed, suggesting that thecountry may go the way ofChina and Russia.

Gehlot also said bothdemocracy and the countrywere in danger under Modi,who he said would "do any-thing" to get back to power.People felt he could even go towar with Pakistan to achievethis goal, the Congress leadersaid.

Dubbing Modi a "goodactor", Gehlot said he could domuch better in Bollywood andwould have left his indeliblemark in acting. He also alleged

that he was a "master in mar-keting false promises".

"If people re-elect Modi,then there is no surety onwhether elections will be heldin the country or not. 'Chunavhonge bhi, aur nahin bhihonge...Jaise China, Russiamein hota hai' (Elections willbe held in the country and yetnot be held, like what happensin China, Russia)," Gehlot saidduring an interaction withPTI.

He was suggesting thatpolls will be held on the linesof those in China and Russia,where only one party rules andwho becomes the president orthe Prime Minister is decidedbeforehand. PTI

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As mark of respect to thecasualties suffered by its

personnel in Pulwama, theCRPF has decided against offi-cially celebrating Holi thisyear and directed all the for-mations across the country notto celebrate the festival ofcolours.

"As a mark of solidaritywith the families of our 40brave jawans who attainedmartyrdom in Pulwama on14/02/2019, the CompetentAuthority has desired thatthere will be no official Holicelebrations this year in all ourformations," reads an internalmessage circulated to all theformations of the CRPF onTuesday.

Officials said, in normalcase Holi is celebrated a daybefore the actual observance ofthe festival and the seniormostofficial of the force in all theformations meet all the per-sonnel under his or her com-mand, wishes them and offerssweets and snacks.

However, the programmehas been cancelled this year asa Jaish-e-Mohammad suicidebomber hit his explosive-ladencar into a bus of the CRPF con-voy on February 14 killing 40men which triggered air raid bythe Indian Air Force in Balakotat the terror group's facility.

Union Home MinisterRajnath Singh has also decid-ed to skip Holi celebrations asa mark of respect to thePulwama martyrs.

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National Security AdvisorAjit Doval on Tuesday

said India has neither forgot-ten nor will forget thePulwama terror attack and thecountry's leadership is "capa-ble and courageous" to for-mulate effective responses tosuch acts.

While speaking at a CRPFfunction in Gurgaon, the NSAalso asked the paramilitaryforce to "constantly" enhancetheir professionalism, training,physical capabilities and quickresponse skills.

"What should we do?What should be our way, ouraim and our response andtime to respond? The coun-try's leadership is both capa-ble and courageous to (do)that," Doval said.

"The country will tackleall such challenges and wehave the courage to do this,"he said while addressing 80thraising day celebrations at theGroup Centre of the CRPFGurgaon.

Doval began his 16-minute speech by paying trib-utes to the 40 personnel whowere killed when a suicidebomber of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) collidedhis explosives-laden vehiclewith a bus of the paramilitaryconvoy on February 14.

Doval is considered to bethe architect of the air strikeon a JeM camp in Balakot inPakistan. The strike was car-ried out by the Indian AirForce (IAF) in retaliation tothe Pulwama terror incident,which was one of the worstattack on security personnel inKashmir in the three decadesof Islamist terrorism in theState.

The Pulwama attack wasa "very sad incident", Dovalsaid, adding that the countrywill always be indebted to themartyrs and their families.

He asked CRPF to "notlook back" as they have a gold-en future ahead.

"If your morale is high,then the country's future issafe," Doval, a former chief ofIntelligence Bureau, said.

World history is repletewith examples when weakinternal security mechanismsled to loss of independence,constitutional crises and col-lapse of Governments, he said.

Doval said after WorldWar II, out of the 37 nationsthat faced constitutional cri-sis, 28 suffered it because ofinternal security problems.

As the lead internal secu-rity force of the country, theCRPF has an important roleand onerous responsibility inensuring peace, and law andorder, he added.

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PNS: The Election Commissionon Tuesday issued a show-causenotice to Union Minister BabulSupriyo for putting out a cam-paign song, composed and sungby him, without prior permis-sion and against which TMC hassubmitted a complaint. Themusic-video was posted in socialmedia and some local TV newschannels aired it without certi-fication from the EC. "Thesinger-turned-politician, who isan MP from Asansol, has beenasked to reply within 48 hoursof receiving the notice," the ECsaid.

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In one of the rare instances,President Ram Nath

Kovind on Tuesday awardedShaurya Chakra to 16-year-old Irfan Ramzan Sheikh for fighting terrorists whoattacked his residence inShopian district of Jammu &Kashmir. Shaurya Chakra is usually awarded to armedforces and paramilitar y personnel for "gallantry oth-erwise in the face of theenemy".

This apart, Kirti Chakraswere awarded to Sowar VijayKumar of the ArmouredCorps and Constable PradipKumar Panda of the CentralReserve Police Force (CRPF).The two died in two separateoperations in Jammu &Kashmir. Besides Sheikh, rifle-man Jaiprakash Oraon andSepoy Ajay Kumar were alsoawarded Shaurya Chakras fortheir role in counter terroroperations in Manipur and

Jammu & Kashmir respec-tively.

During the interveningnight of October 16-17 of2017, terrorists cordoned offthe house of Sheikh. Hisfather Mohammad Ramzanwas an ex-sarpanch with affil-iat ions to the People 'sDemocratic Party (PDP).

When Sheikh, the eldestson of Mohammad Ramzan,opened the door, he foundthree terrorists in the veran-dah of the house armed withrifles and grenades. Sheikh,who was 14 years old then,put a brave fight with the ter-rorists by pouncing on them,which led to the terrorists torun away from area.Currently, studying in ClassX, Sheikh aspires to becomean Indian Police Service (IPS)officer.

The terrorists resorted toindiscriminate firing, result-ing in severe injur y toSheikh's father, who laterdied.

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New Delhi: The SupremeCourt has sought to knowfrom the relatives of miners,who were trapped in an illegalmine in Meghalaya threemonths ago, whether theywanted to recover the bodieswhich might have been"decomposed" by now.

15 miners were trapped onDecember 13 last year in anillegal coal mine at Ksan inEast Jaintia Hills district ofMeghalaya, about 3.7 km deepinside a forest, when waterfrom the nearby Lytein rivergushed into it.

Only two bodies havebeen recovered from the mineso far.

The top court is hearing aplea which had sought urgentsteps for rescuing the minerstrapped in the rat-hole mine.

A bench of Justices S ABobde and S K Kaul told thepetitioner to ask the familymembers of the trapped min-ers as to whether they want toget the bodies recovered.

"The petitioner is directedto ascertain from the relativesof the deceased if they wish tohave the bodies recoveredhaving regard to the fact thatthey may be already in a com-pletely decomposed condi-tion," the bench said in itsorder.

The top court also direct-ed Dr Sudhir Kumar,Hydrologist of Roorkee'sNational Institute ofHydrologist to visit the site andafter re-appraisal, submit areport pointing out if pumpingof water being done there forde-watering is adequate. PTI

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The India MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD) has

found that in 2018 citizensacross a vast swathe of Indiasuffered from heat wave forover 50 days spanning April,May and June. The heatwavedays were 25 in May and 17 inJune. Interestingly, April alsoreported 12 days of heatwavelast year. The IMD had forecastlast year that in 2019, alongwith expected increase in theduration and frequency of heatwaves, numbers of hot days arealso expected to increase.

As per the IMD, heatwaveis considered if maximum tem-perature of a station reaches atleast 40°C or more for plains,37°C or more for coastal sta-tions and at least 30°C or more

for Hilly regions.The regions falling under

the core heat wave zone areDelhi, Punjab, Haryana,Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh,Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh,Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh,Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand,West Bengal, Orissa andTelangana, and meteorologicalsubdivisions of Marathwada,Vidarbha, central Maharashtraand coastal Andhra Pradesh.

"The heat wave was report-ed over some parts ofRajasthan, Madhya Pradesh,Vidarbha, northeast, Jammu &Kashmir, Odisha, cCoastalAndhra Pradesh and alongwest coast. Over some parts ofKerala, maximum tempera-ture was greater than 90th per-centile for more than 50 to 60% of the days in April, May and

June," the IMD report said. According to report, there

were many underlying mech-anisms which contribute tothe development of a heatwave. "It can form when awarm high pressure systemstalls in a region. The high andthe associated anti cyclonicflow cause a sinking motionwhich leads to increased sur-face temperatures due to adia-batic compression. The out-ward anti cyclonic flow makesit difficult for other systems toenter the area. Variations in jetstream, flow of air that steersmovement of high and lowpressure areas which trans-ports hot dry air into a regionwere favorable conditions fordevelopment of heat wave," itsaid.

In 2018, there were 70

tropical cyclones all over theworld, while the long termaverage is 53. Due to impactsof warmer surface tempera-tures and more ocean heatwill be greater occurrence ofextreme weather events such astropical cyclones, heat waves,floods and droughts.

The IMD has predictedthe average temperature inmost parts of north Indianortheast regions, northwestIndia and southern parts ofwest coast to remain higherthan normal by 0.5-1.0 degreeCelsius during March, April,May this year. The rest part ofthe country is expected to seenormal temperature duringsummer. "The heat wave isexpected to hit 16 States due tovarious reasons in 2019.However, normal heat wave -

like conditions will prevail overthe country's core heat wavezone. Central and northernIndia are generally consideredthe core heat wave zones,"IMD officials said.

The past four years, from2015 to 2018, were the warmestever recorded years. In fact, the20 warmest years on recordhave occurred in the last 22years. This trend also sits inperfectly with the emissionrates of greenhouse gases(GHGs), which were at a recordhigh in 2018 according to theWorld MeteorologicalOrganisation (WMO).

As per latest Global climaterisk index 2019 report, theworld lost more than 5 lakhpeople to such events in the last20 years along with an economicloss of $ 3.47 trillion.

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RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat onTuesday paid tributes to late

BJP leader and former GoaChief Minister ManoharParrikar describing him as apolitical personality who alwaysworked for national interest.

Parrikar was diligent, com-mitted and focused in his goals,Bhagwat said in a statementissued by the RSS.

He said Parrikar, the formerhead of Sangh's Goa unit, was aleader who dedicated every-thing for development of his

state with due diligence.Talkingabout Parrikar's tenure asDefence Minister, Bhagwat saidhe guided the defence estab-lishment in a new direction.

"Amiable, studious, strong-willed, work-oriented and some-one who had no other thoughtin his mind except nationalinterest, Manohar Parrikar was,indeed, a rare public figure,"Bhagwat said, adding that he willalways be remembered as anideal social, political worker.

Parrikar, 63, passed away onMarch 17. He was battling withcancer for more than a year.

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The EnforcementDirectorate (ED) on

Tuesday said it has attached 13properties worth �1.22 croreowned by Mohammad ShafiShah and six other terroristsof Hizbul Mujahideen in ter-ror financing case againstPakistan-based chief of theoutf it Mohammad SyedSalahuddin.

The ED said the proper-ties belonged to MohammadShafi Shah, a resident ofBandipora, and six other res-idents of Jammu & Kashmir,who allegedly worked for theterror outfit.

The agency said it filed acriminal case of money laun-dering after taking cogni-sance of a NationalInvestigating Agency (NIA)charge sheet filed againstSalahuddin, Shah and othersunder the Unlawful ActivitiesPrevention Action (UAPA)and other sections of theIndian Penal Code.

"Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, themost active terror outfit inKashmir, has been responsiblefor funding terrorist andsecessionist activities inJammu & Kashmir.

"Headed by SyedSalahuddin, its self-styledcommander based out ofRawalpindi in Pakistan, itfunds terrorism on Indiansoil through monies organisedby a trust called JKART(Jammu & Kashmir AffecteesRelief Trust) in alleged con-nivance with the ISI and otherPakistan-based entities," theED said in a statement.

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New Delhi: Former SupremeCourt judge Justice PinakiChandra Ghose was on Tuesdayappointed as the country's firstLokpal, the anti-corruptionombudsman, according to anofficial communique.

Former Sashastra SeemaBal (SSB) chief ArchanaRamasundaram, ex-Maharashtra Chief SecretaryDinesh Kumar Jain, MahenderSingh and Indrajeet PrasadGautam have been appointed asnon-judicial members of Lokpal,it said.

Justices Dilip B Bhosale,Pradip Kumar Mohanty,Abhilasha Kumari and AjayKumar Tripathi have beenappointed as judicial membersin the anti-corruption ombuds-man, the communique issued by

Rashtrapati Bhavan said.These appointments were

recommended by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi-ledselection committee andapproved by President RamNath Kovind.

"The above appointmentswill take effect from the datesthey assume charge of theirrespective offices," it said.

Justice Ghose, 66, retired asSupreme Court judge in May

2017. He is a member of theNational Human RightsCommission (NHRC) sinceJune 29, 2017.

These appointments arelikely to trigger a political con-troversy as Congress leaderMallikarjun Kharge, who ismember of the Lokpal selectionpanel, had boycotted its latestmeet on Friday.

The Lokpal and LokayuktaAct, which envisages appoint-ment of a Lokpal at the Centreand Lokayuktas in states to lookinto cases of corruption againstcertain categories of public ser-vants, was passed on 2013.

The Appointments comes afortnight after the SupremeCourt asked Attorney General KK Venugopal to inform it with-in 10 days about a possible date

for meeting of the selectioncommittee.

A bench of Chief JusticeRanjan Gogoi and Justices S ANazeer and Sanjiv Khanna wason March 7 informed byVenugopal that the Lokpalsearch committee headed by for-mer apex court judge RanjanaPrakash Desai recommendedthree panels of names to theselection committee for appoint-ment of chairperson, judicialand non-judicial members in theanti-graft body.

The attorney general hadtold the bench that he will askthe secretary of the Departmentof Personnel and Training toensure that the meeting of theselection committee is con-vened as early as possible.

Following the court's pro-

ceedings, a meeting of selectionpanel was held on March 15.

The Supreme Court had onJanuary 17 set up a February-end deadline for the Lokpalsearch committee to send apanel of names who could beconsidered for the appointmentas its chairman and members.

According to rules, there isprovision for a chairperson anda maximum of eight membersin the Lokpal panel. Of these,four need to be judicial mem-bers.

Not less than 50 per cent ofthe members of the Lokpal shallbe from amongst the personsbelonging to the ScheduledCastes, the Scheduled Tribes,Other Backward Classes,minorities and women, the rulessay. PTI

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New Delhi: India andPakistan on Tuesday held ameeting of technical expertsto discuss issues related to theKartarpur corridor, includ-ing its alignment, coordinates,and other engineering aspectsof the proposed crossingpoints, sources said.

The meeting comes daysafter the two countries heldtalks to finalise the modalitiesfor the corridor linkingGurudwara Darbar Sahib inthe Pakistani town ofKartarpur with the Gurdaspurdistrict in Punjab.

The technical meeting atthe level of experts, includingengineers and surveyors, washeld at "proposed zero points"

in the follow up to the deci-sion reached on the March 14meeting, the sources said.

India has been seekingthis meeting for long time andhad even suggested to hold iton Februar y 15, 2019.Pakistan, however, had linkedit to the meeting on the draftagreement.

The experts discussed thealignment of the corridor, thecoordinates, and the engi-neering aspects of the pro-posed crossing points, thesources said.

The outcomes fromTuesday's site visit and surveywould be further discussed ata meeting on April 2, theysaid. PTI

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With just 30 days remain-ing for the April 18 elec-

tion to Lok Sabha from TamilNadu, the AIADMK and theDMK, leading the two rivalfronts in the State came out onTuesday with their electionmanifestos which are enticingand capable of creating irre-sistible temptation in the mindsof the electorate.

The AIADMK, contestingin 20 Lok Sabha seats from theState, has declared that if elect-ed, the party would ensure theimplementation of AmmaNational Poverty EradicationInitiative (ANPEI), a scheme bywhich all needy families in thecountry would be paid Rs1,500 per month as directtransfer to their bank accounts.

The party wants the poorand the deprived people livingbelow poverty line, destitutewomen, widows withoutincome, differently-abled, land-less agricultural labourers, ruraland urban manual labourers,destitute senior citizens shouldbe the beneficiaries of thisscheme.

It has also promised towaive off all educational loansavailed by students and agri-cultural loans availed by smalland medium farmers of thecountry.

Though the AIADMK andthe DMK are in the diametri-cally opposite poles of thepolitical spectrum and knownfor their hatred towards eachother, there is convergence ofthoughts in their offers to theelectorate. Both the partieshave assured the voters thatthey would pressurise theCentre to release from prisonthe seven accused in the RajivGandhi assassination case serv-ing life term. Both the partieswant the abolition of NationalEligibility and EntranceExamination (NEET), the qual-ifying test for admission to

undergraduate and post grad-uate medical courses in thecountry. The demand to doaway with the NEET comes ata time when the Centre is seri-ously mulling over the possi-bility of bringing a commonentrance examination foradmission to engineering col-leges too.

The DMK assured the vot-ers that if voted to power, theparty would abolish the presentpricing system of petroleumproducts and revert to theAdministered PricingMechanism.

Catering to the demandsraised by the minority com-munities in the country, theAIADMK said it would impressupon the President not toamend the constitution to bringin Uniform Civil Code. TheAIADMK also promised theelectorate that it would urgeGovernment of India to enactdue legislation to enable theimplementation of ReservationPolicy in Private Sector also, inorder to provide social justiceto the SC/ST, MBC and BC cat-egories of our people.

The party also said that itwould urge the Government ofIndia to accept the recom-mendation of Justice SacharCommittee to treat the

Christian - converted SCs/STs,BCs and MBCs and theM u s l i m - c o n v e r t e dSCs/STs/BCs/MBCs as regularSCs/STs/BCs/MBCs and pro-vide them with all concessionsnow provided for the regularSCs/STs/BCs/MBCs.

The DMK’s manifesto,release by party chief M KStalin said it would ask theCentre to appoint 10 millionyouth who have studied upto10th standard as road workersto maintain roads in the coun-try. The DMK also wanted theIncome Tax limit to be raisedto Rs 8 lakh.

The DMK also demandedthat 60 per cent of the total taxrevenue of the Centre shouldbe shared with the States. Theparty manifesto insists thatonly the Inter-State Councilshould decide the terms ofreference of the constitution ofthe Finance Commission. Also,the criteria for allocation of taxrevenue should give equalweightage for performance andequity so that States such asTamil Nadu get their due sharethat will encourage furthergrowth.

The AIADMK manifestowas released by Chief MinisterEdappady Palaniswamy andhis deputy O Panneerselvam.

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The coalition partnersCongress and the JD(S) in

Karnataka announced a slew ofmeasures to take on the BJP, inKarnataka. In a joint Press con-ference in Bengaluru onTuesday the Congress and JD(S)leaders decided to work togeth-er to decimate the BJP. Formerprime minister and JDs chiefHD Devegowda who was partof the discussion on workingout strategies to counter BJP hasvowed to reduce them to a sin-gle digit. The leaders includingformer chief minister and chair-man of coordination committeeSiddaramaiah, Chief MinisterHD Kumaraswamy and otherleaders jointly announced aslew of measures to ensuretheir alliance worked withoutany glitches.

Maintaining suspenseabout contesting Lok Sabhapolls, JD(S) patriarch H DDeve Gowda said he is yet todecide, and was thinking abouthis "usefulness" in the nation-al capital. The 85-year-old for-mer Prime Minister citing hisage said, he lacks the strengththat he had in 1996, when hebecame the Prime Minister, butthere is "enthusiasm".

He said “Our opponentstoday are not Congress, it is BJP.

So if I'm able to do even a bitfor this country under the lead-ership of Rahul Gandhi, I canstand along with him… Still Ihave not made up my mind. I'mstill thinking, from other statesalso leaders are saying- you arean elderly person, having theexperience of governing thecountry- it is a different mat-ter, we will sit and decide…." .

"From where should I becontesting or not to, I think Ihave that much of basic free-dom to decide….let's decide onit within a few days, there is noproblem. But, I'm thinking to

myself about my usefulness inDelhi, I'm watching it…I willdecide," Gowda said.

Pointing out that a few daysago while speaking in theParliament, he had indicatedthat it was his last speech, hesaid, but a few friends hadasked him to contest this time."I'm yet to decide."

On deciding to contest, healong with coalition leadersincluding Chief Minister HDKumaraswamy and formerChief Minister Siddaramaiahwill decide on the constituen-cy, he added.

Amid lack of clarity oncontesting polls, speculationsare rife that Deve Gowda, whohas conceded his constituencyHassan to grandson PrajwalRevanna will be contestingfrom either Bangalore North orTumkur constituency. Hisanother grandson and ChiefMinister Kumaraswamy's sonNikhil Kumaraswamy is con-testing from Mandya Lok Sabhaseat, another party bastion.There is also speculation in thepolitical circles that he may notcontest at all. JDs sources saythat in view of the backlash he

might retain Hassan where heis confidant of sailing through.

Karnataka has 28 Lok Sabhaseats and will go to polls on April18 and April 23. As part of a pre-poll alliance, the Congress willcontest 20 seats and the JD(S)eight. He said "Nominationshave started and time is very less.Whatever misunderstanding wehave between us, we have toresolve them now without lettingthem to continue."

However senior dalit leaderand deputy chief minister GParameshwara was conspicu-ous of his absence.

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Senior NCP leaderDhananjay Munde Tuesday

hit out at Maharashtra ChiefMinister Devendra Fadnavisfor "covering up" corruptioncharges against "16 of his min-isters".

He was speaking at a func-tion "Rashtra Maharashtra"organised by the BBC MarathiNews Service.

"We have nailed 16 minis-ters in the Devendra Fadnavisgovernment on corruptioncharges with clinching evi-dence. However, Fadnavis hastried to cover them up and has,therefore, committed a sin,"Munde, the Leader ofOpposition in the MaharashtraCouncil, claimed.

Munde said there were nocharges of corruption againstFadnavis, though he added

that he would continue toprobe to find out more.

Hitting out at the rulingBJP for "politicising" the mar-tyrdom of soldiers, Mundesaid the party was taking cred-it for the brave deeds of thearmed forces personnel.

On Amit Shah's claim, atsome political rallies, that 250terrorists perished in theFebruary 26 IAF air strike ona Jaish-e-Mohammed camp inBalakot in Pakistan, Mundewanted to know where theBJP chief was getting such fig-ures which even security agen-cies were not privy to.

Against the backdrop ofNCP chief Sharad Pawar with-drawing from the April-MayLok Sabha contest, Munde refut-ed insinuations that all was notwell in the Pawar household.

"Pawar saab hadannounced long back he would

not contest Lok Sabha pollsanymore. But we had request-ed him to fight the 2019 pollsto send a strong message,which he had said he wouldconsider," Munde said, termingPawar's decision to withdrawfrom Lok Sabha polls as right.

On queries that the "maha-gathbandhan" had no face(prime ministerial candidate) tochallenge Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, he said, "Pleasedon't forget even the NDA haslost several alliances which raisequestion marks over Modi'sacceptability. This is Modi'sincompetence. Besides, severalparties in different states havestarted uniting themselves."

He also refuted talk that hewas part of dynastic politics byclaiming he had broken ties in2012 with the family of BJPstalwart late Gopinath Munde,who is his uncle.

Jodhpur: The trial in theBhanwari Devi abduction andmurder case has been stuck forabout two years as AmericanDNA expert Amber B Carr hasfailed to appear in court, adefence counsel argued herewhile demanding the removalof her name from the list ofprosecution witnesses.

The expert who works withthe FBI has not appeared in thecourt despite being issued fivesummons. She was first issuedsummons in May 2017.

The CBI has been pleadingfor her to be examined throughvideo-conferencing but thedefence has been protestingagainst it.

"We want her to be exam-ined in person but the insis-tence of the CBI on video-con-ferencing, despite the court'srefusal, is nothing but a tacticto delay the trial," defencecounsel Jagmal SinghChoudhary claimed. PTI

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Seven hardcore ULFA(I) mil-itants surrendered in

Tinsukia district following ajoint operation by a team ofAssam Police and the IndianArmy, a senior official said onTuesday.

The militants joined themainstream on Monday, whilea huge cache of arms andammunition were also recov-ered from them during theoperation, Col S Karki,Commanding Officer of 21

Para Special Forces of theArmy, told reporters here.

"The surrender was possi-ble because of our operation onMarch 7 that was based on spe-cific intelligence," he said.

Karki, however, declined toshare the location of the exer-cise and said that 15-20columns were engaged.

"We got information thatthe ULFA cadres were hiding ata place. We persuaded themand recovered the arms.Ultimately, they surrendered,"the Army official said.

Karki said the security per-sonnel recovered three AK-81rifles, two HK-33 rifles and oneAK-56 rifle and 17 magazines.

Besides, 617 rounds ofammunition and one handgrenade were also seized fromthe militants, he added.

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Custodial killing of a privateschoolteacher, picked up by

the police in pursuance of a ter-ror case investigation few daysago, sparked off fresh protestsin Awantipora area of SouthKashmir's Pulwama district onTuesday soon after news of hisdeath spread like wild fire inthe area.

Large number of local res-idents took to streets and raised'provocative' slogans.

To contain public anger, amagisterial probe wasannounced in addition to sep-arate police investigation in thecase.

Clashes, however, contin-ued in the Awantipora townbetween the security forcesand stone-throwing youths forseveral hours.

In a statement, policespokesman said, "the schoolteacher identified as RizwanAsad Pandit, was in policecustody in pursuance of terrorcase investigation. The saidperson died in police custody.

In this matter while followingthe procedure laid down in sec-tion 176 of CrPC a magisteri-al enquiry is underway.Separately, police investigationhas also been initiated in thejurisdictional area of incident".

Meanwhile, local reportsand family members of thedeceased school teacherclaimed local police officershad picked Rizwan Pandit fromhis house few days ago.Theysaid, Tuesday morning whenthey went to see him in thepolice station they came to

know about his custodial death.Strongly condemning the

incident several Kashmir basedpolitical parties, including theNational Conference, PeoplesDemocratic Party, People'sConference, the CPI-M,Congress, Awami AttehadParty and others have demand-ed exemplary punishment tothose found guilty in the cus-todial death of the youth.

The Separatist conglomer-ate, Joint Resistance Leadership(JRL) headed by Syed AliGeelani, Mirwaiz Umer Farooqand Yasin Malik have called fora Valley-wide protest shut-down on Wednesday againstthe custodial death.

Shahid Iqbal Choudhary,district magistrate Srinagar hassaid that the magisterial inquiryis being held by additionaldeputy commissioner Srinagarwho has already visited the spotwhere the youth was held incustody.

The district magistrate hassaid the inquiry would be com-pleted soon and its findings willbe made public.

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Close on the heels of seniorCongress leader

Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil’s sonDr Sujay Vikhe-Patil joiningthe BJP, it is now the turn ofRanjitsinh – son of NationalistCongress Party (NCP) MP andformer Deputy Chief MinisterVijaysinh Mohite-Patil – tojoin principal ruling party.

After weeks of specula-tion, Ranjitsinh Mohite-Patilon Tuesday resigned from theNCP and announced inSolapur in westernMaharashtra that he wouldjoin the BJP on Wednesday.

Ranjitsinh, who hadunsuccessfully been lobbyingfor a NCP ticket to contest theLok Sabha polls from Madhaconstituency in westernMaharashtra, said that his sup-porters could no longer wait forthe NCP to nominate him as itscandidate. “For how longshould my supporters toleratethis kind of injustice and now

it is time for me to take the finaldecision,” he said.

“Should we keep tolerating,or hit back for our future,progress and development?You decide whatever you wantand it will be my decision toquit” Ranjitsinh said, whileaddressing a meeting of hissupporters for this evening atAkluj in Solapur district.

Ranjitsinh, who resignedfrom the primary member-ship NCP on Tuesday, will for-mally join the BJP onWednesday afternoon, in thepresence of Maharashtra chiefminister Devendra Fadnavis,state party chief RaosahebDanve-Patil and other leadersin Mumbai.

It may be recalled that onMarch 11, NCP chief SharadPawar had backed out of thecontest, setting the stage of theentry of his grandson ParthPawar into electoral politics.

A month after he indicat-ed that he would contest fromMadha Lok Sabha constituen-

cy in western Maharashtra,Pawar, announced that he haddecided not to contest the 2019Lok Sabha polls from Madhaconstituency or any other con-stituency.

Pawar’s announcement hadcome after he met the partyoffice bearers from Solapur inwestern Maharashtra – atwhich he urged his party work-ers to support the NCP’s sittingMP Vijaysinh Mohite-Patil,who will re-contest the LokSabha polls from Madha con-stituency.

However, in the subse-quent days, Ranjitsinh alsobegan to lobby for the Madhaseat. However, senior MohitePatil—who is the close confi-dant of Pawar for very manyyears, appears to have had way.Vijaysinh will in all likelihoodbe nominated as the NCP can-didate from Mahada con-stituency.

Ranjitsinh is the secondOpposition leader to havejoined the BJP in recent weeks.

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Lucknow: Even as the SP-BSP-RLD alliance will formallylaunch its poll campaign fromDeoband on April 7, the lead-ers of these parties havestepped up efforts to tighten theloose ends at the grass-rootlevel. The BSP, SP and RLDbrass are going down to thebrass tacks to ensure that everyvote is transferred to one of thealliance partners as theirchances of winning dependon this arithmetic.

The grand alliance is focus-ing on the first phase on April11, when eight Lok Sabha seatsof east UP will go to polls. “Inthe first round, we have com-pleted Lok Sabha-wise meetingsof party workers from all threeparties. For the second phase, wehave started Assembly segment-wise meetings of party workers,”said Sudhir Pawar who contest-ed the 2017 Assembly electionsfrom Shamli.

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The Narendra ModiGovernment on Tuesday

came under fire from MamataBanerjee for failing to constructRam Temple in Ayodhya and“yet trying to lecture others onhow they should practice theirreligions.”

The Bengal Chief Ministerwas addressing a select audi-ence of the Marwari commu-nity which has a sizeable pres-ence in North Kolkata andHowrah constituencies.

“Some people have beenlecturing me on religion. They(BJP) say that Hindus are notfree to practice their faith freelyin Bengal but I want to ask youwhether you celebrate DurgaPuja, Holi, Navaratra, GuruParab freely or not.

“I want you to tell them howsplendidly my Government hasrenovated the temples in Bengal.What is your experience about

the new-look DakshineswarTemple … what is the experi-ence of the 40 lakh pilgrims whovisited Ganga Sagar this year,”Banerjee said reminding theModi Government’s failure toconstruct the Ram Temple.

“I have constructed and ren-ovated so many temples inBengal but you (Modi) not beenable to construct a single templethat you promised… You failedto build the Ram Temple.”Attacking the BJP for dividingthe people in the name of Faith,Banerjee said, “those who comefrom Delhi to lecture us on reli-gion set people of one peopleagainst the other. This is anythingbut religion. Bengal is the mostpeaceful State where we practiceonly one religion which is thereligion of humanity that unitesand does not divide people.”

Attacking the BJPGovernment for playing politicsover the death CRPF jawans theChief Minister said “I was very

much pained at the brutal attackon the Indian security forces.But I never played politics withthat. But there are some peoplewho do politics on jawans deathwhich is not right.”

Asking the Marwari,Gujrati and Punjabi businesscommunity to “keep in touchwith me,” Banerjee said “I wantto visit your faces more oftenbut that I cannot do because ifI visit your places then they(BJP) will sent ED and CBI toyour houses. I am not afraid ofcentral agencies but I cannot seeyou being harassed by them soI do not visit you often.”

The ruling TrinamoolCongress is going all alone in thegeneral elections with Banerjeevowing to win all the 42 parlia-mentary seats. The BJP hasemerged as the main contenderreplacing the Left Front with itsall-India president Amit Shahsetting a target of at least 23 seatsfrom the State.

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Even as the seat-sharing talksbetween the CPI(M) and

the Congress reached a deadend with the latter deciding togo it alone in the general elec-tions a desperate Left Front onTuesday extended its deadlineby another 24 hours for the tri-colour outfit to reconsider itsstance. “Till that time we willnot announce candidates forthe 4 seats that the Congresshad won in 2014.”

The Left had at the outsetof alliance talks said the twosides should not contest onseats they won in 2014. TheCPI(M) had won Raiganj andMurshidabad seats while theCongress had bagged,Behrampore, North and SouthMalda and Jangipur.

This time round theCongress had been demanding17-18 seats while the Left wasnot willing to leave them morethan 11-13 seats.

Against this backdrop the

Congress on Tuesdayannounced the candidates listfor 11 seats. The Left had alreadyannounced its list of 25 candi-dates last week. On Tuesday itannounced a list of another 13candidates leaving aside 4 seatscurrently held by the Congress.

“We still want that the twoparties should come to an under-standing so that the anti-TMCand anti-BJP votes can be con-solidated in one place. For thatwe are not announcing our can-didates for the four seats that theywon last time. Now it is up to theCongress. If they fail to respondfavourably then we will be forcedto go ahead with our list unilat-erally,” Left Front chairmanBiman Bose said on Tuesday.

The Congress howeverreacted sharply saying the pos-sibility of alliance had ended.“We also know that there is aneed to defeat the TMC and theBJP but we cannot ally with theLeft at the cost of our party’s dig-nity. They are trying to black-mail us which is not acceptable

to us. So consider the alliancetalks as good as over,” PCC pres-ident Somen Mitra said.

Congress MP AdhirChowdhury told fromBehrampore that “the Left haddone a big mistake by unilat-erally declaring its first list of25 candidates when the talkprocess was on. Now they aretrying to apply some balm onthat injury. I wonder this balmwill work now.”

Meanwhile, the politicalexperts said that the TMC andthe BJP will benefit the mostfrom a four-cornered contest.“Instead of wasting their votesthe voters will either vote forthe BJP or the TMC in thatcase. Currently the Left votersare so much annoyed with theTMC that they will finally votefor the BJP. But the Muslimsupporters of the

Left will vote for the TMCin which case both these par-ties will benefit from the Left-Congress divide,” said politicalanalyst BN Majumdar.

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Rooting for “Modi MuktBharat”, MNS chief Raj

Thackeray said here onTuesday all the Oppositionshould come together to showthe door to Prime MinisterNarendra Modi in the 2019 LokSabha polls and exhorted thevoters not to fall into the “trap”of "Main Bhi Chowkidar” cam-paign which has been launchedby the BJP to divert the atten-tion from the “failures” of theModi Government.

Addressing his party work-ers two days after his partyannounced that it would notcontest the Lok Sabha polls, Rajsaid, “I have all along told theOpposition parties that I haveno interest in contesting theLok Sabha but whatever I dowill be beneficial to you. Thiselection is: Modi-Amit Shah vsthe entire country. Like I hadearlier in my Gudi Padva rally,the country should be become‘Modi Mukt Bharat’ and for thepurpose, all the parties shouldcome together".

Reiterating that his partywould not field candidates inthe Lok Sabha polls, Raj told his

partyworkers: “But whateverthe election rallies I will holdwill be against Modi and AmitShah. Even whatever you say ordo anything, it should beagainst Modi-Amit Shah andthe BJP”.

Ridiculing the ruling BJPfor launching the "Main BhiChowkidar” campaign ahead ofthe Lok Sabha polls, the MNSchief said: “What is "Main BhiChowkidar”? Are we witness-ing elections in India or Nepal?.How can a Prime Ministerhave such a tiny mindset?. ThePrime Minister should have alarger vision for the countryinstead of going around andcalling himself as a chowkidar”.

Advising his party workersnot fall into the “trap” of "MainBhi Chowkidar” campaign, Rajsaid: “I am telling all of you notto get involved in the wholething. This campaign is a farceand a trap. The BJP haslaunched this campaign todivert the attention of the peo-

ple from the destruction thatModi has wreaked in the coun-try during the last five years.The BJP wants you to gettrapped in this campaign. But,I am advising you and all oth-ers not to get carried away bythis campaign”.

“I am appealing to the tra-ditional voters of the MNSthat the country is currentlypassing through a critical peri-od. It is important that weshould get over this phase.The BJP workers will come toyou with money bags. You maytake the money from thesepeople. After all they looted thecountry for the last five years.It is time for us to loot them.Mind you, this is not my direc-tive to you,” the MNS chief said.

“This election is not aboutany political party. Even thepeople in the BJP are fed upwith the happenings within theparty. The moment these twopersons (Modi and Shah) areremoved from the political

horizon of the country, then thecontest will be among variouspolitical parties. As of today, thecontest is not among politicalparties. The issue before thepeople is not to vote for Modi-Amit Shah duo and in effectnot to vote for the BJP,” Rajsaid.

Slamming the ruling BJPfor whipping nationalist fer-vour among the people usingthe Pulwama terror strike andsubsequent air strikes on terrorcamps in Pakistan, Raj said:“Here’s government that asked�3 lakh crore from the RBI andreceived �28,000 crore. ThenRBI Governor Urjit opposedthe Government’s demand andresigned from the post TheGovernment tried to create abogie of war with Pakistan. Youneed money for the waging awar”.

“The Government doesnot have money and it is beg-ging the RBI for assistance.Where would it have mobilisedmoney... No wonder the atmos-phere of war is no longer thereand no one is now speakingabout either Pulwama attack orthe subsequent air strikes.Modi realised that the BJP willnot get votes by whippingnationalistic fervour. That’s theBJP stopped campaigning onthese issues,” the MNS chiefsaid.

Raj, who devoted his entirespeech to castigate the Modigovernment and the BJP, saidthat he would speak at lengthat his Gudi Padva rally.

It may be recalled that onMarch 10,the MNS chief hadaccused the Narendra Modigovernment of ignoring theintelligence information inputsreceived ahead of the Pulwamaterror attack and apprehendedthat one more Pulwama-likeattack would be “engineered” inthe middle of Lok Sabha pollsand the ruling BJP would try toexploit the incident by whip-ping up patriotic sentiments.

Addressing party workersat Rangsharada auditorium onthe occasion of 13th anniver-sary of his party, Raj said: “Ihave a strong hunch that in thenext month or two—right inthe middle of Lok Sabha elec-tions, one more Pulwama-likeattack will be engineered... Irepeat the attack will be engi-neered. Once again, the atten-tion of the people will bediverted and we will once againto get see speeches on patrio-tism”.

Attributing the need tocreate a war-like situation in thecountry to the Modi govern-ment’s “failure” to deliver on itsvarious promises, Raj chargedthat the BJP was trying to“divert” the attention of thepeople from its failure on var-ious fronts. “The BJP hasrealised now that it has failedto deliver on all its promises—be it “Make in India”, “Start upIndia”, or “2 crore employ-ment a year promise” etc .....The BJP could not use theDawood deportation issue andRam Mandir issue.....”

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Continuing his tirade againstthe Congress, Samajwadi

Party chief Akhilesh Yadavaccused the former of weak-ening the fight against the BJPby spreading confusion. Hisresponse came after Congressgeneral secretary PriyankaGandhi Vadra reminded the SPand BSP chiefs that their com-mon objective was to defeat theBJP.

“Earlier there used to be alot of time, almost a year forfighting elections and cam-paigning. But at a time whenelections are around the corner,your creating confusion weak-ens the fight against a commonenemy, an enemy who is anexpert in diverting people fromcore issues,” Akhilesh said inLucknow on Tuesday.

The SP-BSP alliance hasbeen at loggerheads with theCongress ever since theyannounced their tie-up onJanuary 12, leaving onlyAmethi and Rae Bareli for thegrand old party.

The situation aggravatedafter the Congress returned thefavour on March 17 andannounced that it would not

field candidates on seven seatsto be contested by importantleaders of the SP and BSP.

Mayawati dismissed theCongress offer saying that thealliance was competent todefeat the BJP on its own andthey did not need the help ofthe Congress. “It is really dif-ficult to say how much thePriyanka factor will work inUttar Pradesh. The Congressmight have a separate strategyfor defeating the BJP, but theircandidate selection tells a dif-ferent story,” said Akhilesh.The former UP CM also hit outat the BJP saying that merelyprefixing ‘chowkidar’ to partyleaders’ Twitter handles wouldnot yield political dividends forthe ruling party.

“The BJP has doneabsolutely nothing in the pastfive years. When you call your-self a ‘chowkidar’ then youshould also work like one.However, during the BJPregime, the work done hasbeen contrary to what theyclaim. The meaning ofAkhilesh is God of Gods. Willthat make me one,” he quipped.

The SP chief ’s remarkswere directed at BJP leaders likeNarendra Modi, Amit Shahand Piyush Goyal, who prefixed‘chowkidar’ to their names onTwitter on Sunday. Akhileshalso slammed the ruling partyfor weaving a narrative aroundthe recent Pulwama attacksand the release of WingCommander Abhinandan byPakistan ‘for political gains’.

“It is unfortunate that somany soldiers were martyred,intelligence agencies failed,RDX was used in such a hugequantity, but the BJP is busybuilding a narrative out of it forpolitical gains. The BJP gov-ernment lathicharged formersoldiers demanding ‘One rank,one pension’. They should tellwhat they have done for theArmy personnel in the last fiveyears,” the SP chief said.

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Page 8: ˇˇ,-€¦ · Chief Minister Shahta Kumar may also not be fielded by the party, sources said. There was some speculation that Shah should also be taking plunge in 2019 LS poll but

The inconclusive vote in theBritish Parliament on Brexithas brought to the surface seri-ous issues that affect not onlythe members of the European

Union (EU) but hold major implicationsfor the rest of the world. The EU has mem-bership of countries, which were at logger-heads and often at war in the past, but havenow come together in a remarkable unionwhich, perhaps, arouses jealousy amongsome others and upsets the global balanceof power among other heavyweights. Forinstance, the US President has derided theEU and its relevance to global develop-ments. It was not long ago that former USPresident George W Bush talked about anew Europe and an old Europe as thoughhe wished to create divisions between thetwo groups. However, what the Britishhave done with Brexit in some sense rep-resents a retreat from their own welfareand mutual benefits that accrued withinthe EU. Yet, it must be understood thatsuch decisions are often based on emotionand cultural values.

For those in South Asia, who dismay atthe collapse of any cooperation betweenSaarc nations, the EU still evokes consider-able admiration. Today’s EU started with theformation of a European coal and steel com-munity with only six countries. This wasthen followed by what was designated as theEuropean Economic Community, but nowthe EU, including Britain, covers 28 differ-ent nations in Europe. What has been par-ticularly significant is the fact that severalcountries of Europe, which were not as pros-perous as some of the more dynamiceconomies such as West Germany, Britainand even Italy, have prospered substantial-ly not only due to open trade policies with-in the EU but also because of the collectiveeconomic support provided to economiesless prosperous than theirs in terms ofgrants, capacity building for human capitaland investments in infrastructure.

The result is that today, many countries,which 30 years ago were lagging behind,appear to have progressed significantly,including Portugal, Spain and those mem-bers that are now in the Balkans.Significantly, therefore, Western Balkancountries now clearly aspire to becomingmembers of the EU. However, they wouldhave to attain a certain set of conditions andstandards before they qualify and before theyget accepted into the Union. Some wouldrequire the firm establishment of democra-cy in these countries, an established rule oflaw and, therefore, institutions such as arobust judiciary. Also necessary would bea much greater growth in GDP because ifthere are major disparities in the economiesof these countries and existing EU nations,there would obviously be serious problemson their being inducted.

It is likely that over time, the EU is like-ly to grow unless we have more departures

like the UK, which, too, cannotbe taken as a foregone conclu-sion just yet. The importantissue to keep in mind is the needfor a successful Union whichmay apply to other regions ofthe world as well.

One major issue seldomdiscussed is the power of theEU and its collective efforts todeal with global issues beyondthose of economic growth,such as climate change. Thereis now no doubt in the mindsof sane and rational individu-als that the developed worldhas for long been pursuing anunsustainable path, with con-sumption and production sys-tems, which unfortunately arebeing emulated universally.

It, therefore, makes muchgreater sense for a large groupof countries that is bringingabout a transformation towardssustainable practices and formsof consumption and produc-tion through common policiesthan for individual nations, todo so in isolation. Despite sev-eral problems, the EU hasshown the will not only to meetthe Sustainable DevelopmentGoals (SDGs) but to also bringabout implementation of theParis agreement on climatechange.

To that extent, it is some-what incongruous that the UK,which has had a strong policyon climate change, may actu-ally fall out of step with the rest

of the EU, and this in futurecould have implications forthe exportability of productsfrom the UK since the tech-nologies and systems that theydevelop will, no doubt, dropbehind what the rest of the EUis able to establish, given thestrong commitment that existsat least on the part of the coun-tries like France, Germany,Belgium and the Netherlandstowards much more pro-activeand ambitious plans.

It was in 2008 that Britainenacted its Climate ChangeAct, which has some remark-able and forward-lookingobjectives, such as an 80 percent reduction in greenhousegas emissions (GHGs) by 2050over 1990 levels. In that sense,the UK has been ahead of thecurve in making sure thatthere is not only bipartisan andsecular support for this legis-lation but has also inspiredother nations to do likewise.

However, given the factthat the IntergovernmentalPanel on Climate Change(IPCC) has brought out a spe-cial report on 1.5oC as beingthe target that might be set forthe temperature increase by theend of this century, the EU islikely to make its targets muchstiffer as compared to theClimate Change Act of the UK.If this were to happen, thenthere is the possibility that themembers of the EU, in case the

UK is able to implement Brexit,would come up with tech-nologies and products whichwould be far more ambitiousand far more in keeping withthe 1.5oC goal than Britain isable to achieve through itsown legislation.

If that were to happen,there would, no doubt, berestrictions in trade betweenthe UK and the EU in vital sec-tors of the economy and moresignificantly, there would alsobe an impact in terms of glob-al emissions of GHGs becausethe UK collectively with othermembers of the EU wouldcertainly have a much moreprofound impact on the glob-al situation than if the UK wereto follow its own approach,even though it has an ambi-tious Climate Change Actwhich has been in existenceover 10 years now.

It is obvious that if the UKwere to remain within the EUit would not only be able tomatch trading opportunitieswithin the Union but alsoexpand its markets beyond.Hence, there are importantlong-term considerationswhich, perhaps, the Brexiteersneed to evaluate and climatechange, which impacts all ofEurope, is certainly an issue toconsider.

(The writer is former chair-man, Intergovernmental Panelon Climate Change, 2002-15)

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Terror has no religion” (March16). The unhinged Whitesupremacist crowd would beproud of Brenton HarrisonTarrant, the alleged Christchurchshooter, while the rest of human-ity feels devastated by the spreadof a destructive ideology spewinghate and violence against peopleof colour and religions. In this car-nage, what also stood out was thesheer humaneness of NewZealand Prime Minister JacindaArden.

She rightly denounced the actof mass terror shooting at twomosques as one of New Zealand’sdarkest days. The gruesome actonly confirms the danger posedby fanatic ideology and extrem-ism worldwide, irrespective of anyregion or religion. Worst, byusing a helmet camera, the killerposted a racist manifesto onlineand streamed “live: video of theindiscriminate shooting onFacebook. The terrible attackindicates the rising tide of violentIslamophobia. The world musttake note of this as well.

Padmini RaghavendraSecunderabad

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Death of an icon” (March 19).In Manohar Parrikar’s untimelydeath, the national polity has lostan able leader. Parrikar has leftbehind a fragile Government inGoa, which survived this longsolely because he acted as the gluethat held the coalition together.

The Congress is the single largestparty in Goa but the BJP bravedquestions of ethics and managedto form a Government withother parties. Parrikar’s indis-pensability was showcased whenthe BJP persuaded him to contin-ue in office after he was diag-nosed with a pancreatic condi-tion and had to move betweenhospitals in multiple cities.

The unforgiving, if not mer-

ciless, nature of power politicswas also on display with theCongress openly asserting itsright to form the Government inGoa as Parrikar battled illness,even on the day before hebreathed his last. Parrikar’s deathleaves Goa in political uncertain-ty that it needs to emerge fromat the earliest.

KS Jayatheertha Bengaluru

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Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “Death of an icon” (March19). In the sad demise ofManohar Parrikar, the ChiefMinister of Goa and formerDefence Minister, India has lostone of the most compassionate,highly educated and tallest lead-ers of the country.

Despite his connect withthe Rashtriya SwayamsevakSangh (RSS), Parrikar belongedto a rare bunch of political lead-ers who rose above caste, reli-gious identities to treat all, par-ticularly those who belonged tothe minority community, withdue respect and equanimity. Hewas, therefore, widely acclaimedas the people’s Chief Minister.

Besides, Parrikar was also avery humble and down to earthperson. He always bore an invit-ing smile on his face, whichmost of his colleagues fail to pos-sess. In his demise, the nationhas lost a true nationalist parexcellence.

Tharcius S FernandoChennai

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Page 9: ˇˇ,-€¦ · Chief Minister Shahta Kumar may also not be fielded by the party, sources said. There was some speculation that Shah should also be taking plunge in 2019 LS poll but

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Goa Chief Minister ManoharParrikar died on March 17 afterbattling pancreatic cancer for morethan two years. A pall of gloomdescended over the country as

soon as President Ram Nath Kovind tweetedabout his sad demise. The entire nation ismourning his untimely death at a comparative-ly young age of 63, leading to an outpouringof condolences from people from all walks oflife and even his political opponents. For herepresented what politics needs most today, anhonest sense of mission.

In an era when all and sundry join politicsafter failing in many ventures, Parrikar,Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) pracharakand a brilliant IITian, was pushed into politicsin 1988 when he was asked to join the BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP). Ever since he joined poli-tics, he followed his conviction of becoming atrue servant of the people by practising whathe believed. He was a staunch nationalist anda true patriot with a secular mind, groomed inpure Indian culture of respecting the feelingsof all religions, caste and creed without any traceof bias and hatred against anyone.

Parrikar’s simplicity, humble nature, hon-esty, straightforwardness and good ethics of gov-ernance, including his no-nonsense attitude inadministering what he believed, is necessary forthe larger good of people and was writ large onhis smiling face all the time. People will neverforget the Chief Minister and the workaholicpresenting the budget in the Goa Assembly onJanuary 30 this year with a nasal tube on, a capand assisted by his staff. During his politicalsojourn, he exuded hope and unbound energyin his personal gaiety which made himimmensely popular all over the country.

He outgrew his tiny State of Goa andbecame a colossus in Indian politics. He servedGoa with full dedication and made it a verywell-administered State by setting personalexamples like riding pillion on scooters,standing in queue at the airports, shops andcollecting his own baggage from the airportbelt and elsewhere. These were some of thehigh marks of his belief in disdainfully trash-ing the thriving VIP culture in our country. Hefought his pancreatic cancer, which wasdetected in an advanced stage, with courageand fortitude not seen in ordinary mortals, andtill his last breath was fully engaged in runningthe state administration.

Parrikar was the saving grace of Indianpolity in which many politicians have scantregard for probity and genuine welfare of peo-ple and the country. His death has created abig void which will be difficult to fill. Eruditeand brilliant politicians like Manohar Parrikarwith exceptional charisma are born once in acentury. They are the saving grace for theirclass as people’s hopes and aspirations hingeon them rather than on lesser mortals in theirfraternity.

This writer had a personal encounter withhis simplicity and ethics in 2003 when Parrikarwas the Chief Minister of Goa and the thenEnvironment and Forest Minister, TR Baalu,took the Ministry’s statutory body, Forest

Advisory Committee (FAC), to Panaji fordeciding the mining cases of Goa. This was arare occasion when this committee held itsmeeting outside Delhi.

This writer was the Member-Secretary ofFAC by virtue of working as Inspector-General of Forests in the Ministry. The thenDirector-General of Forests and other mem-bers were having dinner in the hotel gardenin Panaji when we noticed one informallydressed man coming towards us along with oneof his colleagues and before we could guesswho he was, he walked straight to us and shookhands with all of us even as he said as the ChiefMinister of Goa, he had come to welcome usto his State. He was none other than ManoharParrikar, accompanied by his Forest MinisterVinay Tendulkar.

We could never imagine that the ChiefMinister of a State would walk in his Kolhapurislippers with his untucked half-sleeve shirt andof course, without the customary security ofa VIP. He never talked about any proposal ofthe State and was with us for half an hour, hav-ing just a glass of water.

Parrikar will be remembered for a longtime for his foresight in turning the destiny ofIndia’s politics and that of the BJP’s by propos-ing the name of Narendra Modi as the party’sprime ministerial candidate in the BJP’sSeptember 2013 National Executive meetingin Goa. It has been a history since then.

As soon as the BJP won the 2014 election,he was uprooted from Goa and made the coun-try’s Defence Minister, an anointment whichspoke how the Modi-led team held him in highregard for his integrity and simplicity. But allthe while, his heart was in Goa where he eventually went back ultimately in 2017 as theChief Minister.

As Defence Minister, he was responsiblefor bringing professionalism, removing deci-sion paralysis in procurement and trans-parency in the overall working of the crucialDefence Ministry. He will be remembered byex-soldiers among others for allowing one rankone pension for the defence personnel.

The Rafale procurement was one that hevery deftly handled, including killing the noteengineered by his then Defence Secretary. Thedeal was sealed ultimately. However, he will bemost remembered for providing astute lead-ership during the 2016 surgical strikes by theIndian Army across the Line of Controlagainst Pakistan-sponsored terror camps.Parrikar had personally monitored the surgi-cal strikes. His conviction as the country’sDefence Minister can be best explained in hisown words. He once said, “I gave instructionsto the armed forces personnel to shoot at anyone possessing an AK-47 machine gun as it isobvious that they do not have any good inten-tions.” It is this conviction that made PrimeMinister Modi’s task easy to conduct the sur-gical strike. His death is an irreparable loss forthe country and more so for Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and his party. His successor tothe Goa Chief Minister’s chair, Pramod Sawant,will have very large boots to fill.

Apart from other achievements, this four-time Goa Chief Minister brought theState’s Christian lobby in the BJP’s fold, whichis not a mean achievement. It was also hischarismatic personality that was largely respon-sible for arresting the infamous Aayaram-Gayaram political culture in Goa for a while.

The entire country is in shock and tears onthe departure of this prodigious son of India.Rest in peace Manohar Parrikar.

(The writer is a retired civil servant)

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With high-stake polls round thecorner, several important fac-tors come into play for an

electoral victory for any party. Thesecomponents often influence the votersbut are not constant as they keep chang-ing according to the political situationat a particular period of time.

As in every election, several impor-tant aspects are emerging in the com-ing polls, too. For instance, the ‘Modifactor’ could play a key role. The BJPbelieves that ‘Modi magic’ will work thistime too as India is gradually accept-ing of personality politics. However, theModi of 2014 was a relatively new phe-nomenon. After five years of the BJP’srule, the people have seen him, heardhim and assessed his performance.

Anti-incumbency can be an importantfactor for Modi as his report card is notvery flattering. The bottomline iswhether people are willing to give himone more chance or not.

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the latestentrant into politics as the Congress’general secretary, has also emerged asa significant factor. There is a kind ofnewness and untested quality about herand through her articulation, pre-sentable persona and the Gandhi fam-ily’s mystique, she can play a disruptiverole. However, political analysts feelPriyanka Vadra will have a “limitedimpact” as political arithmetic, castepolitics and alliance challenges mightmake the going tough for her. Also, shejoined politics too late.

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supre-mo Mayawati has been in politics fordecades now but she has emerged as aforce this time because the BSP is beingtouted as an important player. Manyparties are turning to Mayawati becausethe BSP’s votes are transferable. In UttarPradesh, if the gathbandhan wins a size-able number of seats, she will play therole of a king-maker in case there is ahung Parliament. She also has prime

ministerial ambitions. Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu

Prasad, though serving his sentence inRanchi jail, is an astute player in Bihar.Feedback from the State is that the jailsentence has created sympathy for theleader and using this, he is planning toturn the tide in favour of the RJD-Congress alliance.

National security has become acrucial factor, which the BJP wants tomilk to the full extent as Pulwama andthe retaliatory Balakot air strikes havebecome the pivot of the party’s poll nar-rative. However, it may be difficult tosustain the momentum for the next two

months as the Opposition wants tobring back real issues like jobs, demon-etisation, Goods and Services Tax andagrarian distress among others.

Rural distress is expected to tilt thescales too. Though the BJP is seen asan urban party, rural voters played a bigrole in 2014 and endorsed Modi. Butthey all stand disenchanted with theparty after five years. Agrarian distressis an equally important component inview of the increasing number offarmers’ suicides. This was said to beone of the reasons for the BJP’s defeatin the three States in the Hindi heart-land in December. The farmers must

be wooed and cajoled if Modi wants tocome back.

Jobs might be yet another determi-nant as the youth are disillusionedahead of polls. Modi has not been ableto provide the number of jobs he hadpromised in 2014. The unemploymentrate rose to a 45-year high during 2017-2018. This issue could overtake all otherissues for young people.

Then the 130 million first-time vot-ers are crucial. In 2014, about 150 mil-lion first-time voters chose Modi.About 1.5 lakh first-time voters haveregistered for each seat and most ofthem are not tied to any ideology. Mostpolitical parties have made them theirfocus group for the coming polls.

Women voters, too, have becomeimportant for political parties.According to data from the ElectionCommission of India, the averageturnout in general elections increasedsignificantly in 2014 and the gendergap in terms of voter turnout was alsolowest in the last general electionssince independence. Significantly,the BJD has announced 33 per centreservation for women in the com-ing Lok Sabha polls. The Trinamool

Congress has set aside 41 per cent ofthe seats while Congress chief RahulGandhi has announced 33 per centreservation for women inGovernment jobs. The BJP, too, iswooing the women through manyGovernment programmes.

World over, many leaders havewon and lost the election on the econ-omy factor. In fact, Modi came to powerriding on economic issues. However,initiatives like demonetisation andGST did not go down well with theelectorate. The Opposition is hoping topin him down on economic issues.

Caste is a reality in every electionand the electoral arithmetic is mainlybased on this. Most parties select theircandidates based on their caste. Aboveall, social media has become an impor-tant factor for the campaign and influ-encing voters. All parties used thismedium in 2014 and more so now. Theinterplay of these factors or a combi-nation of them would be important forthe results of the poll. Parties have todevelop a multi-pronged strategy toemerge victorious.

(The writer is a senior political com-mentator and syndicated columnist)

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Page 10: ˇˇ,-€¦ · Chief Minister Shahta Kumar may also not be fielded by the party, sources said. There was some speculation that Shah should also be taking plunge in 2019 LS poll but

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The umbrella body of thedomestic pilots of the

nearly crippled Jet Airwayson Tuesday threatened tostop flying from April 1, ifthe resolution plan is delayedand salary dues are notcleared by the end of thismonth.

The decision was taken atthe annual meeting of JetAirways domestic pilots bodyNational Aviators Guild aftera meeting here lasting forover 90 minutes.

The guild, which cameinto being almost a decadeago, represents around 1,000domestic pilots at the airline.

“If there is no properclarity on the resolutionprocess and salary payments,by March 31, we will stop fly-ing from April 1,” the guildsaid.

The pilots and othersenior staff have not RPT notbeen getting their full salariessince December.

Having failed to get anyassurance from the manage-ment on salaries, the guildlast week had written toUnion labor minister SantoshGangwar, seeking his inter-vention.

Meanwhi le , Aviat ionMinister Suresh Prabhu onTuesday also directed his thesecretary to hold an emer-gency meeting on the debt-ridden airline that has beencancelling flights abruptlyfollowing grounding of alarge part of its fleet.

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Aviation watchdog DGCAsaid on Tuesday 41 Jet

Airways flights are currentlyavailable for operation andthere may be “further attrition”of flights “in coming weeks” asit observed the situation as“dynamic”.

As per the Jet Airways’website, it has a fleet of 119 air-craft in total. For the past fewweeks, passengers have beenventing their ire on socialmedia as the airline’s flightcancellations have increasedgradually due to the risingnumber of grounded aircraft.

Grappling with financial

woes, the carrier has beenlooking at ways to raise freshfunds.

DGCA spokesperson saidTuesday,”The DGCA reviewedthe performance of Jet Airwayson operational, airworthiness &passenger facilitation today.Current availability of aircraftin the fleet for operation is 41and accordingly scheduled for603 domestic flights and 382international flights has beendrawn. However, it is a dynam-ic situation and there may befurther attrition in comingweeks.”

The spokesperson addedthat the DGCA has instructedthe airline to comply with “the

relevant provisions of theapplicable CARs (Civil AviationRequirements) for facilitationof passengers regarding time-ly communication, compensa-tion, refunds and providingalternate flights whereverapplicable”.

He said the data is beingmonitored by the DGCA on aregular basis.

The Jet Airways’ AircraftMaintenance Engineers’ Unionwrote to the aviation regulatoron Tuesday morning that threemonths’ salary was overdue tothem and flight safety “is at risk”.

The DGCA spokespersonsaid the aviation watchdog isensuring that all aircraft in the

fleet “whether in operation oron ground” are maintained inaccordance with ApprovedMaintenance Programme(AMP).

“The operator was alsodirected to ensure that nopilots/cabin crew/AMEs berostered on duty who hadreported stress of any nature.Additionally, all such staffshould be current with allmandatory training require-ments.

“The DGCA is continu-ously monitoring overall situ-ation and based on the same,will take appropriate steps bythe end of the month, if need-ed,” the spokesperson added.

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Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu onTuesday directed his Ministry’s

secretary to hold an emergency meet-ing on the debt-ridden Jet Airwaysmassively cancelling flights aftergrounding of a large part of its fleet.

The Minister’s direction came inthe wake of the airliner drasticallyreducing its operations due to liq-uidity crunch.

“Directed Secretary, @MOCAGOI to hold an emergency meetingon grounding of flights by Jet

Airways, advance bookings, can-cellations, refunds and safety issues,if any,” Prabhu said in a tweet.

“Asked him (civil aviation sec-retary) to get a report on Jet com-pliance issues immediately fromDGCA,” he added.

Earlier Monday, Jet Airwaysengineers’ body wrote to aviationregulator DGCA, seeking its inter-vention in the recovery of theirsalary dues, saying non-paymentwas affecting their psychologicalcondition which, in turn, was a “risk”to the airline’s flight operations.

���#�������-*���������������� ���������������� New Delhi: Banks are likely to infuse fresh funds into

cash-strapped Jet Airways provided major sharehold-ers of the airline, including Gulf carrier Etihad Airways,pledge their shares as collateral, sources said.

With the airline unable to get fresh funds, theoptions are limited now, they added.

The full service carrier is grappling with acute finan-cial woes that has resulted in grounding of a significantnumber of planes, defaulting on debt repayments

And delay in payment of salaries to pilots and othersenior officials.

Founder Chairman Naresh Goyal and his familyowns around 52 per cent stake in Jet Airways whileEtihad, a strategic partner, has 24 per cent sharehold-ing. The sources said that banks can provide furtherloans if major stakeholders — Goyal and Etihad — agreeto pledge their shares as security. PTI

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The Reserve Bank of Indiahas moved the National

Company Law AppellateTribunal (NCLAT) over theorder passed regarding classi-fication of debt of IL&FS groupcompanies as NPA.

A two-member NCLATbench, headed by Justice S JMukhopadhaya, has said that itwould hear the RBI on theissue.

The RBI is seeking modi-fication of the order passed bythe tribunal which has provid-ed moratorium on repaymentof loans regarding the accountsof IL&FS and its over 300group companies.

During the proceedings,RBI’s counsel said that therewas a overlap of power on theissue.

The tribunal has also askedthe Ministry of CorporateAffairs about the progressmade with respect to resolutionof IL&FS issues.

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India’s fuel demand rose 3.8per cent in February as free

cooking gas connectionsspurred LPG consumptionwhile petrol and diesel usecontinued to rise.

Fuel consumption inFebruary totalled 17.41 milliontonnes as compared to 16.77million tonnes in the samemonth last year, data from thePetroleum Planning andAnalysis Cell (PPAC) of the OilMinistry showed.

Consumption rose forthe third month in a row asensuing general elections arelikely to spike demand fur-ther.

With retail prices moder-ating, petrol consumptionsoared 8 per cent to 2.25 mil-lion tonnes while theGovernment push to give everyhousehold a cooking gas con-nection led to LPG demandspiking by 14.2 per cent to 2.2million tonnes.

Hectic campaigning is like-ly as India goes to poll over thenext two months, which willboost the use of transportationfuel as political parties traversethe country courting voters.General elections will be heldin seven phases starting onApril 11.

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Halting its six-day winningrun, the Indian rupee

Tuesday edged lower by 43paise to close at 68.96 to the USdollar on emergence ofdemand for the greenbackfrom importers.

The local currency alsocame under pressure due torising crude pressure and acaution ahead of the out-come of the Federal OpenMarket Committee (FOMC)meeting.

At the Interbank ForeignExchange (forex), the domes-tic currency opened at 68.53 adollar and fell further to touchthe day’s low of 69.05. It final-ly settled at 68.96 per dollar,down 43 paise over its previousclose.

The Indian rupee onMonday had surged by 57paise to close at an over seven-month high of 68.53 against theUS dollar.

“The rupee has depreciat-ed today on account ofimporters demand at lowerlevels. However broad senti-ments remain positive due to

foreign fund inflows in the debtand equity market. In the nearterm, the rupee may trade inthe range of 68 and 69.50,” saidRushabh Maru, ResearchAnalyst - Currency andCommodity, Anand RathiShares and Stock Brokers.

Meanwhile, the dollarindex, which gauges the green-back’s strength against a basketof six currencies, fell 0.18 percent to 96.35, ahead of theFederal Reserve policy decisiontomorrow.

The euro traded near amore than two-week high asfront-end calls were indemand, while the pound roseas UK Prime Minister TheresaMay looks set to seek a longextension to the Brexit dead-line.

According to Vinod Nair,Head of Research, GeojitFinancial Services, “The rupeewitnessed selling pressure fol-lowing a continuous surgewhile domestic bond yieldsinched higher as investorsawaited the US FED policy out-come.”

Meanwhile, brent crude,the global oil benchmark, was

trading at $68.02 per barrel,higher by 0.71 per cent.

“Bargain buying fromimporters and profit bookingafter the recent rally ahead ofthe financial year closingcould be the one of the reasonfor depreciation,” said VKSharma, Head PCG & CapitalMarkets Strategy, HDFCSecurities.

Foreign institutionalinvestors (FIIs) put in �2,132.36crore on a net basis on Tuesday,provisional data showed.

Benchmark equity indicescontinued their winning runfor the seventh consecutivesession Tuesday. The 30-shareBSE Sensex closed at 38,363.47,recording a rise of 268.40, or0.70 per cent. The 50-shareNSE Nifty closed at 11,509.80,higher by 70.20 points, or 0.61per cent.

Meanwhile, the FinancialBenchmark India Private Ltd(FBIL) set the reference rate forthe rupee/dollar at 68.5847and for rupee/euro at 77.8185.The reference rate forrupee/British pound was fixedat 91.0069 and for rupee/100Japanese yen at 61.66.

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Germany launches its auc-tion on Tuesday for the

construction of an ultra-fast 5Gmobile network as a transat-lantic dispute rages over secu-rity concerns surroundinggiant Chinese telecoms equip-ment maker Huawei.

The United States hasthreatened to end intelligencesharing with Berlin if it doesnot exclude hardware made byHuawei from the infrastruc-ture, arguing that Chineseequipment could help Beijingspy on Western companies andgovernments.

Attempting to play down therow on Monday, JochenHomann, chairman of theGerman Federal NetworkAgency (BNA), said: “No matterwhether a supplier comes fromSweden or China, companiesmust meet certification require-ments and security checks.”

‘5G’ — ‘fifth generation’ —is the latest, high-speed gener-ation of cellular mobile com-munications and Berlin willrequire winning bidders tooffer 5G service to at least 98percent of German households,motorways and rail lines.

Germany, Europe’s biggesteconomy whose wireless net-works rank 46th in the worldfor download speeds, wants toclose the sizeable digital gap bymaking the shift to the ultra-fast 5G system.

The BNA starts the auctionin Mainz at 0900 GMT onTuesday and the process willallocate 41 different frequencyblocks.

Four operators are in therunning, among themGermany’s three main mobilenetwork providers — DeutscheTelekom, Vodafone andTelefonica Germany (O2) —plus United Internet (1&1), a

German company specialisingin internet services.

Chinese firm Huawei is notone of the bidders but providesthe four German companieswith essential hardware —such as antennas and routers.

The US has accused Beijingof using Huawei’s 5G networkgear as a Trojan horse, forcingoperators to transmit data tothe regime, but Washington hasnot provided evidence to sup-port their suspicions.

Huawei has strenuouslydenied allegations its equip-ment could be used for espi-onage.

Chinese Foreign MinisterWang Yi on Monday lashed outat what he called “abnormal,immoral” attacks on Huaweiand demanded a “fair and justcompetition environment” forChinese firms.

US-led attempts to encour-age other nations to banHuawei equipment from theirtelecoms infrastructure suf-fered a setback whenChancellor Angela Merkel’sgovernment decided againstimposing company specific-restrictions on the 5G auction.

US ambassador toGermany Richard Grenell lastweek warned that Washingtoncould stifle intelligence coop-eration unless Berlin agreed aHuawei ban.

In a letter, Grenell toldPeter Altmaier, Germany’seconomy minister, that intelli-gence-sharing cooperationcould cease if Berlin allows theChinese firm to be part of the5G network.

The threat escalated lastweek when NATO’s SupremeAllied Commander in Europe,US General Curtis Scaparrotti,warned Germany that NATOforces would cut communica-tions if Berlin works withHuawei.

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State-owned Indian Oil Corp(IOC) on Tuesday declared

a second interim dividend of�1,412 crore for the currentfinancial year and ONGCagreed to do so next week tohelp the Government meet itstax revenue target.

In a stock exchange filing,IOC, the nation’s biggest oilfirm, said its board at a meet-ing on Tuesday approved pay-ment of �1.50 per share of 15per cent in second interimdividend for 2018-19 to share-holders.

“The dividend will be cred-ited to the account of theshareholders or the dividendwarrant in respect thereof willbe dispatched on or beforeApril 10, 2019,” it said.

The Government owns53.88 per cent stake in IOC andstands to get about �761 crore,excluding dividend distributiontax.

Separately, Oil and NaturalGas Corp (ONGC), which hadinitially resisted a governmentdemand seeking a second inter-im dividend, said a board

meeting has been convened onMarch 23 to consider anddeclare an interim dividend.

Grappling with a possible�80,000 crore shortfall in directand indirect tax revenues thatwill make it difficult to meet arevised fiscal deficit target, theGovernment has been tappingcash-rich PSUs for secondinterim dividend.

Coal India Ltd on March14 declared a second interimdividend of �5.85 per share.

The Government holds72.91 per cent stake in CoalIndia and stands to get �2,647crore, excluding dividend tax.

Initially, ONGC had resist-ed paying a second interim div-idend on grounds that it doesnot have surplus cash to makesuch payments within a monthof an interim dividend payout,sources with direct knowledgeof the development said.

According to regulations, acompany cannot declare a sec-ond dividend within a monthof the previous payout andcompanies like ONGC wouldneed to seek approval of mar-kets regulator Sebi to makesuch a payment.

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Reserve Bank governorShaktikanta Das on Tuesday

underlined the need for stickingto the fiscal roadmap by adopt-ing a commonly agreed expen-diture code-based spendingplan to address the socioeco-nomic challenges. He also advo-cated giving permanent statusto the finance commission.

The comments from theformer-economic-affairs- secre-tary-turned-central bankerassume importance as theGovernment for two consecutiveterms have missed it fiscal deficit

targets by 10 bps in the outgoingfiscal year. Many analysts fear thateven the upwardly revised fiscaldeficit target of 3.4 percent maybe difficult to meet given themassive shortfall indirect taxcollection and also shortfall inother budgeted non-tax revenue.

Das, speaking at the launchof a book ‘Indian FiscalFederalism’, by former RBIgovernor YV Reddy along withGR Reddy here this evening,Das said there is now generalagreement about the impor-tance of fiscal consolidationroadmaps both at national andstate levels.

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Page 11: ˇˇ,-€¦ · Chief Minister Shahta Kumar may also not be fielded by the party, sources said. There was some speculation that Shah should also be taking plunge in 2019 LS poll but

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New Delhi: Jaguar Land Rover India Tuesday said it will increase prices ofselect products by up to 4 per cent with effect from April 1. The company, how-ever, did not specify which models will be affected by the price hike. “This increasein price is purely inflationary and we are certain that the two global iconic brands,Jaguar and Land Rover, will continue to attract existing and new customers,” JaguarLand Rover India President & Managing Director Rohit Suri said in a statement.JLR India's products under the two brands Jaguar and Land Rover ranges fromJaguar XE with price starting at �40.61 lakh to Range Rover tagged at �1.79 crore.Last week, Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) had also announced that it wouldincrease prices of some of its products from next month in order to offset risein input cost. TKM, however, did not disclose the quantum of hike and the mod-els that would become costlier.

������ �����������������������������������New Delhi: The Reserve Bank of India has moved the National Company

Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) over the order passed regarding classifica-tion of debt of IL&FS group companies as NPA. A two-member NCLAT bench,headed by Justice S J Mukhopadhaya, has said that it would hear the RBI on theissue. The RBI is seeking modification of the order passed by the tribunal whichhas provided moratorium on repayment of loans regarding the accounts of IL&FSand its over 300 group companies. During the proceedings, RBI's counsel saidthat there was a overlap of power on the issue. The tribunal has also asked theMinistry of Corporate Affairs about the progress made with respect to resolu-tion of IL&FS issues. Further, the tribunal has sought company-wise updates fromthe Committee of Creditors (CoC) and Resolution Professional (RP).

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New Delhi: Realty firm Parsvnath Ltd Tuesday said the Delhi High Courthas upheld its claim of �1,034 crore in a dispute with Rail Land DevelopmentAuthority related to a project in the national capital. In February 2016, ParsvnathDevelopers had terminated its development agreement with RLDA due to a titledispute related to a 38-acre land stretch that the company had bought for �1,651crore. Parsvnath Rail Land Project Pvt Ltd (PRLPPL), a special purpose vehicle(SPV) created to develop this project, had gone into the arbitration process tosettle the issue. In a regulatory filing, Parsvnath Tuesday informed that the divi-sion bench of the Delhi High Court dismissed the plea of RLDA, which had chal-lenged a single judge order that upheld arbitral award of �1,034 crore. “We haveperused all the submissions and findings of the court and find no infirmity inthe decision of the learned Single Judge. Accordingly, the appeal stands dismissed,"the division bench said in its recent judgement while dismissing RLDA's appeal.The division bench of Justices G S Sistani and Sangita Dhingra Sehgal, in its March14 order, has dismissed the RLDA’s appeal and upheld the arbitral award datedNovember 25, 2017 and the judgment of single Judge of Delhi High Court.

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Benchmark equity indicescontinued their winning

run for the seventh consecutivesession Tuesday closing at anover six-month high led bygains in index heavyweightslike ITC, RIL and Infosys amidpositive domestic cues andsustained foreign fund inflow.

The 30-share BSE Sensextouched a high of 38,396.06before winding up at 38,363.47,recording a rise of 268.40, or0.70 per cent. Intra-day it alsohit a low of 38,078.23.

The gauge had climbedover 1,420 points points in theprevious six sessions.

The 50-share NSE Niftyclosed at 11,509.80, higher by70.20 points, or 0.61 per cent,after hovering between11,543.85 and 11,451.55.

These are the highest lev-els for both indices sinceSeptember 7, 2018.

“Better liquidity condi-tions, stable rupee, and positivemovements in all major glob-al markets have been the sup-portive factors for the domes-tic markets,” said JosephThomas, Head Research-Emkay Wealth Management.

Besides, it may be notedthat when the global marketswere rising almost a monthback, the domestic marketswere sliding. The domestic

market is gradually catching upwith the other markets, headded.

In the Sensex kitty, ITCturned star performer by surg-ing 2.45 per cent, followed byNTPC rising 2.19 per cent.

Other gainers that finishedhigher were HCL Tech, RIL,Bharti Airtel, ONGC, SBI, YesBank, PowerGrid, Axis Bank,M&M, Sun Pharma, AsianPaint, HUL, HDFC, Tata Steel,HDFC Bank, Tata Motors,IndusInd Bank, ICICI Bankand Kotak Bank, rising up to2.18 per cent.

Software exporter stockssuch as Infosys and TCS wereback in demand, gaining up to1.66 per cent, after the USDdollar recovered against therupee.

In contrast, HeroMotoCorp, L&T, MarutiSuzuki, Bajaj Auto, Coal India,Vedanta and Bajaj Financeended in the red due to profit-booking and lost up to 2.10 percent.

Sector-wise, BSE PSUgained the most rising 1.88 percent, followed by power index1.32 per cent, FMCG 1.14 percent, oil and gas 1.0 per cent,teck 1.03 per cent, IT 0.94 percent, bankex 0.62 percent andconsumer durable 0.62 percent.

However, capital goodsdropped by 0.61 per cent, auto

index fell 0.61 per cent andmetal 0.11 per cent.

The broader markets toodepicted a better trend asinvestors raised bets. The mid-cap index rose 0.52 per centand small-cap index was up0.37 per cent.

Shares of RelianceCommunications zoomed 10per cent after the companycleared dues of Swedish serviceprovider Ericsson.

The scrip jumped 10 percent to �4.40, its upper circuitlimit, on the BSE.

Brokers said sustained for-eign fund inflows, widening ofportfolios by retail investorsand a mixed global cues aheadof the US Federal policy meet,influenced the market here.

On a net basis, foreigninstitutional investors (FIIs)bought shares worth Rs 1,823crore, while domestic institu-tional investors (DIIs)offloaded equities to the tuneof �1,269 crore Monday, pro-visional data showed.

Participants continued toremain bullish despite profit-booking at current levels byspeculators, traders added.

Most other Asian marketsheld steady ahead of a FederalReserve policy meeting laterthis week, but were broadly atnear six-month highs on expec-tations the US central bankmight strike a dovish tone.

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South Korean automobile majorHyundai Motor group Tuesday said

it is investing USD 300 million in ridehailing service provider Ola, identify-ing India as the centrepiece in itsstrategy to gain leadership in globalmobility market.

The investment will be jointlymade by group firms -- Hyundai MotorCompany and Kia Motors Corporation-- and under a tripartite agreement withOla, the companies will jointly devel-op electric vehicles ecosystem and fleetservices for global markets.

Under the partnership, the threefirms will also aim to develop electricvehicles (EVs) and charging infra-structure customised for Indian mar-ket, the companies said in joint state-ment.

“Hyundai and Kia will invest a totalof USD 300 million in Ola,” it said.

This will be the biggest combinedinvestment as on date by the two auto-mobile companies.

Commenting on the development,Hyundai Motor Group Executive Vice-Chairman Euisun Chung said: “India isthe centrepiece of Hyundai MotorGroup's strategy to gain leadership inthe global mobility market, and ourpartnership with Ola will certainlyaccelerate our efforts to transform intoa smart mobility solutions provider.”

Hyundai Motor Group expects toaccelerate its transition from a car man-ufacturer into a smart mobility solutionsprovider, as the partnership initiativeswill allow it to engage in all aspectsacross the entire mobility value chainincluding vehicle production, fleet

operation and mobility services, itadded.

Already, Hyundai has invested incar-sharing startup Revv, which had lastyear raised �100 crore in a new fund-ing round led by the South Korean automajor.

Revv plans to plans to increase itsgeographical footprint to 30 cities inIndia within a year from 11 cities.

Starting from this month, HyundaiMotor India has launched a pilot pro-ject offering customers to experience itsproducts through a subscription modelin partnership with Revv. The initiativewill cover six cities -- Delhi-NCR,Mumbai, Kolkata, Pune, Bengaluruand Hyderabad.

As part of the investment in Ola, thegroup said the companies have agreedto co-create solutions to operate andmanage fleet vehicles, marking theHyundai's first foray into the industry,as they expand operations from auto-mobile manufacturing and sales to totalfleet solutions.

Ola co-founder and CEO BhavishAggarwal said the partners will bringto market a new generation of mobili-ty solutions, and constantly expandtheir range of offerings for consumers.

“This partnership will also signif-icantly benefit driver-partners on ourplatform, as we collaborate withHyundai to build vehicles and solutionsthat enable sustainable earnings for mil-lions of them, in the time to come,” headded.

Hyundai, Kia and Ola have alsoagreed to coordinate efforts to developcars and specifications that reflect theneeds of the ride hailing market (bothusers and drivers), the statement said.

Script Open High Low LTPSUZLON 7.21 7.25 6.83 6.99JPASSOCIAT 6.27 6.34 6.13 6.20IFCI 13.61 14.03 13.55 13.89RPOWER 11.80 11.95 11.11 11.21RELIANCE 1359.00 1378.00 1343.00 1375.25RELINFRA 144.00 145.80 136.10 137.20JETAIRWAYS 235.10 236.40 224.00 229.05PNB 87.50 91.95 87.50 90.50RELCAPITAL 188.80 193.20 186.45 188.75JUSTDIAL 660.65 660.65 620.35 624.35SBIN 300.05 306.20 299.00 302.75YESBANK 247.00 250.30 245.00 249.00LT 1373.95 1376.95 1347.95 1356.75ABCAPITAL 102.15 107.80 102.15 104.65BANKINDIA 95.50 103.15 95.30 100.60DBL 705.80 733.85 697.00 708.65MINDTREE 978.00 978.00 939.00 943.00AXISBANK 754.10 763.20 749.00 761.00PFC 114.80 122.90 114.80 120.45JUBLFOOD 1400.00 1429.80 1391.55 1399.40IOC 165.40 166.00 161.10 162.10BOMDYEING 146.40 149.40 143.55 146.35CGPOWER 44.30 46.95 44.30 46.55BANKBARODA 121.75 125.85 121.00 124.30INFY 713.00 725.90 707.80 721.50NTPC 134.90 137.25 130.65 135.10DHFL 137.25 137.95 134.20 136.25RECLTD 145.00 150.30 144.70 148.40ONGC 156.90 163.15 155.25 157.00UNIONBANK 84.90 89.30 84.00 87.75BEL 94.60 97.00 93.50 96.40

TATAMOTORS 182.00 184.50 180.90 182.80ICICIBANK 397.50 400.60 394.00 398.15NBCC 68.00 68.35 66.25 67.60HEROMOTOCO 2671.70 2672.00 2603.35 2615.40LTI 1580.00 1671.10 1542.05 1636.05JMFINANCIL 87.70 98.70 87.70 92.50STRTECH 220.00 225.85 218.10 220.75SPICEJET 78.20 80.00 77.65 78.75TCS 2026.00 2030.00 1996.40 2024.70GRANULES 112.05 118.25 112.05 117.60MEGH 60.80 67.00 60.80 65.80TATASTEEL 526.60 531.80 520.65 526.25ANDHRABANK 25.70 27.00 25.70 26.25MARUTI 6910.50 6910.50 6810.00 6832.55SUNPHARMA 466.50 475.15 466.50 469.35IBREALEST 89.20 92.50 88.60 91.35ITC 294.50 300.00 293.35 299.40CANBK 272.10 281.50 271.50 276.65ENGINERSIN 115.00 120.20 114.50 117.60NCC 105.70 110.40 105.20 108.80SAIL 54.35 55.00 53.20 53.60INFRATEL 318.50 331.40 315.00 326.90BAJFINANCE 2933.00 2962.00 2910.45 2921.65EDELWEISS 187.00 197.80 187.00 197.20FSL 44.90 47.60 44.30 46.90ORIENTBANK 104.00 107.80 103.05 105.00IBULHSGFIN 703.00 709.25 694.25 698.15PRESTIGE 251.00 257.00 241.85 245.35HDFCBANK 2263.00 2276.00 2251.10 2267.70ESCORTS 790.00 815.25 786.00 811.35HINDPETRO 287.60 292.55 285.90 290.65M&MFIN 431.50 431.50 415.00 416.95BEML 1005.00 1013.55 985.00 993.25TORNTPOWER 267.00 272.10 261.40 263.00ZEEL 463.75 468.00 457.65 466.55COALINDIA 244.00 247.70 241.95 243.10ASHOKLEY 92.60 92.70 91.00 91.50RCOM 4.40 4.40 4.30 4.40IDFCFIRSTB 52.50 53.15 52.05 52.60JINDALSTEL 169.50 172.70 168.15 168.95M&M 687.80 692.70 675.20 689.50WIPRO 257.70 258.60 255.10 257.60ALBK 56.30 57.30 55.60 56.00KOTAKBANK 1349.00 1355.00 1338.50 1348.20GODREJPROP 726.75 758.00 720.10 751.85AVANTI 404.00 419.85 401.50 413.75BPCL 407.10 410.00 402.70 407.65CANFINHOME 316.00 328.75 314.20 319.60AUROPHARMA 777.00 792.50 771.25 777.65FORCEMOT 1684.90 1775.05 1676.80 1736.10INDIACEM 98.95 104.20 98.60 103.10DLF 199.40 199.40 192.80 194.25HDFCLIFE 369.95 369.95 362.60 364.45JSWSTEEL 295.00 296.20 286.70 288.25STAR 440.80 455.95 439.45 448.00TVSMOTOR 488.00 488.00 473.25 478.25VEDL 172.65 175.25 171.55 172.70

IDEA 32.40 32.55 31.25 32.00PETRONET 247.25 248.40 242.60 244.30ADANIPOWER 50.00 52.15 49.15 50.00RADICO 391.00 406.30 390.00 398.85GRAPHITE 464.00 466.50 455.10 457.05FEDERALBNK 91.35 94.20 91.15 93.70PCJEWELLER 82.50 83.00 79.60 80.45OIL 180.50 187.15 178.90 183.40RAIN 104.55 108.00 104.55 105.25WESTLIFE 429.40 434.00 418.20 427.75MGL 953.00 985.00 950.60 978.30HEG 2200.00 2220.00 2140.00 2153.80GNFC 296.00 308.75 295.35 306.35MANPASAND 113.00 123.00 108.00 120.30GRASIM 829.00 832.25 806.25 819.95INDUSINDBK 1728.10 1734.65 1719.00 1725.60BHEL 67.30 68.45 67.20 68.10HINDUNILVR 1704.80 1709.75 1688.50 1699.60BHARTIARTL 332.90 339.00 332.90 336.65JAICORPLTD 110.60 113.95 109.75 112.15BAJAJ-AUTO 3004.00 3004.00 2946.00 2980.25BLISSGVS 169.40 172.60 166.55 167.50LUPIN 754.50 765.70 752.00 755.30LICHSGFIN 517.00 524.00 514.75 521.95NMDC 116.00 118.45 115.45 117.95ICICIGI 983.00 991.95 969.70 973.45VIPIND 443.60 457.40 440.30 448.15TECHM 791.00 796.95 783.65 794.50MCX 784.45 807.00 783.00 801.00MANAPPURAM 124.15 125.20 122.70 123.25IPCALAB 899.45 928.35 896.85 920.00INDIANB 269.60 275.35 267.45 273.00IDBI 43.75 43.80 43.20 43.35IGL 290.05 303.75 289.65 300.80EICHERMOT 22251.10 22251.10 21589.15 21750.55ICICIPRULI 347.20 350.70 342.45 344.65MMTC 27.90 29.60 27.50 28.80DRREDDY 2669.65 2715.00 2669.65 2704.55CENTURYTEX 885.00 916.00 881.95 906.40SUNTV 624.00 630.00 616.80 623.35DISHTV 39.60 39.85 38.00 38.35HCLTECH 1022.00 1040.00 1013.60 1034.60HINDCOPPER 49.45 51.60 48.80 50.65TITAN 1104.00 1111.50 1099.50 1109.15INFIBEAM 44.10 44.15 42.70 43.25LTTS 1496.00 1527.00 1473.25 1486.80BIOCON 633.00 633.20 624.05 628.15HDFC 1970.20 1978.00 1960.75 1967.85RBLBANK 638.00 651.45 636.20 648.90KTKBANK 130.50 132.30 128.35 130.30SOUTHBANK 15.90 16.08 15.86 16.03ULTRACEMCO 3974.00 4015.95 3964.80 3981.00WOCKPHARMA 430.00 436.50 429.50 430.75MPHASIS 969.80 986.00 961.15 975.20HEXAWARE 338.50 342.00 334.00 339.85KSCL 440.95 462.00 439.50 459.05JISLJALEQS 61.35 64.65 61.10 63.40L&TFH 149.90 149.90 145.80 146.80HINDALCO 201.95 204.20 199.50 202.45NAVKARCORP 41.80 44.10 41.80 43.70FORTIS 135.70 137.50 135.20 136.25TATAGLOBAL 201.05 205.60 200.45 203.55POWERGRID 196.80 200.10 195.40 198.70GAIL 362.90 366.40 360.40 362.55INDIGO 1322.00 1339.50 1321.00 1326.20COFFEEDAY 312.25 315.00 296.20 297.90KEC 305.00 305.00 297.00 301.80IBVENTURES 276.70 278.25 270.70 273.00SOBHA 440.05 462.00 440.05 457.10EXIDEIND 228.00 228.50 226.20 227.50CUMMINSIND 749.70 757.80 742.90 752.20ASIANPAINT 1446.00 1458.95 1440.20 1453.90HAVELLS 753.20 767.80 742.50 766.00DELTACORP 241.45 244.90 241.45 242.25NAUKRI 1852.00 1905.00 1849.15 1897.65ACC 1553.00 1577.80 1549.35 1564.60OBEROIRLTY 505.00 511.00 492.10 495.70JUBILANT 873.60 875.40 840.00 843.35VENKYS 2231.05 2280.00 2227.50 2244.75TATAELXSI 986.00 993.35 977.75 985.25RAYMOND 825.00 830.85 815.05 821.90BANDHANBNK 493.95 501.95 488.00 499.45GODFRYPHLP 1128.40 1152.40 1120.55 1129.40PIDILITIND 1178.00 1192.80 1170.90 1176.80NATIONALUM 54.85 55.10 54.30 54.70MOTHERSUMI 164.00 164.00 161.00 161.65SPARC 200.90 203.85 196.15 196.90TORNTPHARM 1876.50 1884.80 1854.90 1870.95BAJAJFINSV 6999.00 7030.00 6951.00 6974.95SYNDIBANK 39.90 40.50 39.30 39.90SUVEN 255.00 261.40 252.10 254.45DABUR 429.00 429.80 425.15 426.70JKTYRE 93.80 94.00 91.85 93.10ADANIPORTS 369.10 371.85 362.70 365.90AJANTPHARM 1018.00 1048.05 1018.00 1032.30BATAINDIA 1343.00 1361.00 1336.50 1341.05CADILAHC 340.10 344.00 336.00 337.30BAJAJELEC 513.00 525.90 509.25 519.20TATAPOWER 73.10 74.25 72.75 73.00RCF 57.70 59.60 57.35 58.40GRUH 273.35 273.75 265.60 266.55TATACHEM 599.00 599.00 588.15 591.90JINDALSAW 90.10 93.55 89.60 92.05CHENNPETRO 269.20 273.45 267.05 268.70SRTRANSFIN 1238.00 1238.00 1217.10 1223.95APOLLOTYRE 219.95 222.50 215.10 220.80VOLTAS 604.00 613.90 600.90 612.65PHILIPCARB 175.90 177.00 168.00 174.15HUDCO 45.15 46.20 45.00 45.45

ITI 94.05 96.20 93.15 95.20AMARAJABAT 731.75 748.80 724.00 742.70CASTROLIND 162.00 162.35 157.50 158.00IRB 149.65 152.35 148.85 149.70GSFC 101.95 106.35 101.75 105.80PVR 1696.00 1707.00 1684.00 1695.55J&KBANK 49.30 51.45 49.25 50.90MRPL 73.20 76.10 73.05 74.45DEEPAKFERT 134.00 139.65 134.00 137.50RNAM 198.90 200.00 190.00 191.35UPL 928.00 935.60 918.55 932.20LAURUSLABS 392.80 401.00 390.00 392.85ITDC 275.75 301.00 275.75 292.75NATCOPHARM* 604.50 610.00 595.10 597.70GODREJCP 715.05 716.25 708.00 710.30PNBHOUSING 842.00 866.20 835.00 855.90BHARATFORG 519.80 521.05 515.75 517.95TAKE 124.35 126.00 119.30 120.65SIEMENS 1031.45 1054.00 1018.45 1048.80TATACOFFEE 93.60 97.15 93.35 96.00FCONSUMER 44.50 46.45 44.40 46.05IDFC 43.60 45.40 43.60 44.70TATAMTRDVR 90.50 91.25 89.70 90.15APOLLOHOSP 1124.25 1143.60 1124.20 1137.70GMRINFRA 17.35 17.65 17.00 17.40SHANKARA 435.00 453.20 434.55 440.20UJJIVAN 339.65 342.00 337.60 339.75MUTHOOTFIN 596.00 602.90 594.60 597.95EQUITAS 138.50 138.90 135.50 136.35PEL 2631.05 2675.75 2631.05 2646.30AMBUJACEM 226.70 231.20 226.70 229.80SUNTECK 471.45 471.45 459.75 464.20HFCL 22.15 22.55 21.95 22.15AARTIIND 1438.40 1475.00 1429.95 1460.80AUBANK 597.90 597.90 576.50 582.65CENTURYPLY 199.90 206.00 197.00 203.90ISEC 252.95 259.30 248.10 258.50JSL 38.30 41.80 37.50 40.40BALKRISIND 923.45 933.75 914.15 918.50GPPL 95.00 101.00 94.40 99.05HSCL 112.30 119.20 112.30 117.95DCMSHRIRAM 432.20 434.00 419.25 425.50RALLIS 161.30 162.75 160.05 160.85GICRE 246.05 254.85 245.30 252.30THERMAX 1001.00 1001.00 986.05 989.20CIPLA 538.95 538.95 530.50 533.00PARAGMILK 256.20 260.00 254.75 255.45DMART 1483.95 1483.95 1470.05 1478.35MAXINDIA 65.90 68.85 65.85 67.95CEATLTD 1150.00 1165.00 1134.30 1152.10NLCINDIA 79.50 79.50 77.90 78.75EMAMILTD 402.30 402.75 395.00 396.85ADANITRANS 228.90 228.90 222.55 223.80NESTLEIND 10465.00 10719.95 10420.70 10677.00GLENMARK 642.75 651.30 641.35 645.75GUJGAS 148.00 150.30 144.80 147.00SCI 37.10 38.30 36.95 37.65ADVENZYMES 179.50 183.00 178.80 179.85BRITANNIA 3139.00 3139.00 3086.25 3124.15INTELLECT 201.40 206.40 200.05 203.50MOIL 157.10 162.05 155.85 161.00NOCIL 144.95 146.85 144.15 144.90BHARATFIN 1090.80 1090.80 1076.60 1083.10SREINFRA 30.40 30.55 29.90 30.05ABFRL 230.55 230.85 228.00 229.20PNCINFRA 159.70 160.25 157.60 158.60SHK 157.00 162.00 154.80 159.15OMAXE 208.95 208.95 206.60 207.90MARICO 340.90 343.50 338.75 340.05NIITTECH 1321.15 1335.00 1314.55 1330.45WELCORP 117.15 121.60 116.45 121.10OFSS 3356.70 3370.00 3327.00 3352.65ASHOKA 137.90 139.30 133.25 134.40HAL 706.25 715.85 704.40 710.90KRBL 353.55 360.00 337.00 355.05BERGEPAINT 307.55 311.90 306.75 311.00FRETAIL 441.00 441.00 430.00 437.35MFSL 453.05 456.65 447.00 450.15TRIDENT 68.40 69.70 67.90 68.25MAGMA 115.15 115.15 112.10 113.30PRSMJOHNSN 89.25 92.70 89.20 90.65RAJESHEXPO 646.90 646.90 629.95 632.75DEEPAKNI 273.00 274.35 265.00 272.40UBL 1400.00 1400.00 1378.45 1382.70NILKAMAL 1396.55 1445.00 1377.00 1423.60LEMONTREE 80.10 83.80 80.10 83.35DCBBANK 200.20 202.55 200.20 201.10CENTRALBK 33.85 35.10 33.70 34.80ALKEM 1787.95 1815.60 1758.40 1780.60DIVISLAB 1696.00 1712.45 1683.95 1696.30MOTILALOFS 634.85 647.35 633.85 638.10BAJAJHLDNG 3320.00 3380.00 3286.25 3362.50WABAG 322.45 342.80 320.50 339.20FDC 179.25 182.00 178.25 179.25GSPL 178.85 184.70 176.20 180.65INOXWIND 70.00 70.20 67.00 68.00AIAENG 1735.25 1735.25 1688.00 1718.35COCHINSHIP 374.35 390.55 371.20 389.75ABB 1307.65 1322.00 1301.40 1316.35COLPAL 1288.00 1298.00 1283.85 1288.10SWANENERGY 102.65 104.40 100.00 101.45PTC 77.85 79.10 76.85 77.70WELSPUNIND 60.50 61.90 60.10 60.30UFLEX 222.45 224.80 220.65 222.95TRENT 379.00 380.60 371.30 373.05ITDCEM 131.10 137.75 130.70 134.95VGUARD 216.90 219.20 215.45 216.70INDHOTEL 152.00 152.00 149.00 149.95GODREJAGRO 498.75 506.40 498.00 500.05

JSWENERGY 69.45 69.45 67.65 67.95KNRCON 264.00 266.75 249.90 264.60KANSAINER 465.00 469.25 459.00 461.60MINDAIND 354.45 354.45 342.00 346.50CHOLAFIN 1391.85 1400.70 1372.50 1376.05UCOBANK 18.80 19.30 18.60 18.85SYNGENE 565.00 577.45 565.00 575.30RAMCOCEM 712.15 720.00 709.45 717.90PAGEIND 23605.95 23867.75 23460.00 23671.85WABCOINDIA 6261.15 6359.85 6187.00 6220.85ERIS 643.30 652.65 635.60 646.65REPCOHOME 461.10 464.00 453.40 455.55JAMNAAUTO 60.95 61.60 60.25 60.35FLFL 461.35 485.35 461.35 470.60PERSISTENT* 654.60 665.95 644.45 647.00SBILIFE 614.35 618.70 604.00 608.50GICHSGFIN 254.00 260.00 251.70 257.80PIIND 999.25 1011.35 997.35 1008.65SRF 2410.00 2414.10 2388.10 2396.95GREAVESCOT 141.10 141.70 138.70 139.55TV18BRDCST 35.55 36.30 35.35 35.75TIINDIA 401.05 401.05 383.25 385.10MAHABANK 13.40 13.73 13.33 13.42LUXIND 1297.55 1320.00 1294.00 1312.55CRISIL 1489.15 1520.50 1476.00 1488.60JSLHISAR 89.95 92.75 89.90 91.25FINCABLES 489.95 504.00 489.95 498.40LAKSHVILAS 65.00 65.00 62.60 62.80NHPC 25.50 25.60 25.30 25.40ENDURANCE 1151.65 1163.80 1141.60 1145.60PHOENIXLTD 677.75 685.05 669.65 682.90GUJALKALI 512.50 512.50 503.20 508.30

BAJAJCON 315.90 320.00 311.60 315.50CORPBANK 29.20 29.80 28.80 29.10EIDPARRY 211.40 215.00 207.25 208.95NIACL 190.15 195.40 189.50 191.35BBTC 1315.00 1324.00 1301.15 1310.40HINDZINC 278.90 278.90 274.50 277.50GHCL 233.00 241.20 233.00 239.85ISGEC 5479.00 5550.00 5401.00 5437.80ECLERX 1131.00 1148.70 1130.05 1138.00MERCK 3318.10 3362.95 3300.00 3312.45CYIENT* 662.00 663.15 649.10 655.35SUNDRMFAST 576.00 576.00 566.90 570.95MHRIL 245.10 256.00 245.10 249.55AEGISLOG 210.00 210.00 202.50 203.60BALMLAWRIE 190.20 196.40 189.90 191.20PFIZER 3219.40 3253.00 3167.00 3180.95NETWORK18 35.00 35.50 34.50 34.75NAVINFLUOR 708.10 714.10 700.00 704.40KALPATPOWR 432.55 439.45 425.90 437.25ATUL 3308.20 3379.90 3280.90 3322.20ADANIGREEN 37.95 37.95 36.90 37.05ASTRAL 1129.65 1140.05 1105.70 1125.50TATAMETALI 630.60 640.00 626.00 636.75SONATSOFTW 319.50 327.30 318.90 322.30GMDCLTD 82.45 84.40 82.15 83.90HIMATSEIDE 211.50 215.55 207.05 208.75VINATIORGA 1648.00 1648.00 1605.70 1636.70LALPATHLAB 1061.55 1086.85 1045.85 1050.70INOXLEISUR 311.00 311.55 305.10 305.70TATACOMM 610.00 612.15 601.85 605.60MAHINDCIE 240.40 242.30 236.50 240.30SHREECEM 17800.00 18163.00 17800.00 18034.45EVEREADY 205.95 208.00 204.45 205.40BDL 295.70 299.75 287.00 287.20JKLAKSHMI 348.00 348.00 336.00 342.70VMART 2635.20 2700.00 2602.00 2683.95THOMASCOOK 223.60 223.60 220.60 221.90ALLCARGO 113.55 117.40 113.55 116.40REDINGTON 99.00 99.00 97.40 97.55CONCOR 512.20 515.50 510.00 511.35QUESS 807.95 814.00 789.60 804.30IOB 14.25 14.27 13.96 14.14HEIDELBERG 172.10 174.80 170.30 171.20CHAMBLFERT 162.10 165.60 161.80 162.25TTKPRESTIG 8110.00 8289.05 8030.00 8153.45TNPL 210.00 214.55 208.70 213.35KAJARIACER 576.80 584.85 573.60 581.65CARBORUNIV 369.55 369.55 360.25 361.45MAHLIFE 365.35 371.60 365.35 367.80SCHNEIDER 107.40 108.05 106.10 106.30BOSCHLTD 18452.05 18509.55 18356.65 18447.20DCAL 204.00 212.15 204.00 207.30GREENPLY 148.60 152.45 148.60 150.55JKCEMENT 841.95 842.00 822.50 832.60

SANOFI 5591.00 5678.30 5522.25 5622.30FINOLEXIND 532.35 532.35 514.00 519.00KEI 398.70 400.45 393.10 398.40AKZOINDIA 1746.20 1787.00 1736.05 1759.60BASF 1363.50 1404.40 1360.00 1367.80JAGRAN 114.40 114.40 110.15 111.75JYOTHYLAB 187.60 188.55 184.00 185.00BLUEDART 3310.90 3525.20 3310.90 3454.65GODREJIND 528.40 534.85 525.40 531.40BAYERCROP 4320.00 4340.00 4280.00 4292.05DBCORP 204.95 204.95 195.10 196.40IBULISL 300.00 306.50 291.15 293.15CROMPTON 223.65 224.60 221.00 222.00WHIRLPOOL 1570.00 1575.00 1560.65 1565.05LAXMIMACH 6175.00 6250.00 6140.00 6226.45TEAMLEASE 2825.00 2928.35 2771.35 2903.45LINDEINDIA 501.50 504.40 497.00 499.05GLAXO 1299.60 1314.10 1290.00 1310.85FORBESCO 2399.95 2464.95 2355.20 2378.70HSIL 268.90 270.05 264.90 268.25GDL 127.70 129.10 126.60 127.55VBL 819.70 824.25 814.60 818.30IFBIND 948.00 976.45 939.45 952.95MRF 57500.80 57535.00 57100.00 57406.20JBCHEPHARM 328.00 334.75 328.00 330.00SUPREMEIND 1106.50 1106.50 1080.00 1085.00ZENSARTECH 227.00 235.55 226.40 231.30PGHH 10315.00 10410.00 10250.00 10334.40SUDARSCHEM 340.85 345.95 337.15 344.00UNITEDBNK 10.92 11.14 10.76 11.05EIHOTEL 198.80 202.30 195.25 196.10SJVN 24.50 24.55 24.40 24.50SYMPHONY 1310.00 1310.00 1285.65 1292.55SUPRAJIT 229.00 230.00 222.80 229.75CUB 191.95 193.50 189.00 192.55GET&D 285.00 286.90 278.00 280.30BIRLACORPN 531.00 537.60 530.00 533.80INDOSTAR 342.25 350.00 341.65 349.30GUJFLUORO 1050.30 1056.95 1027.10 1038.30APLAPOLLO 1390.05 1397.10 1370.85 1381.60BLUESTARCO 673.15 684.95 666.05 682.55HERITGFOOD 523.75 540.00 523.70 537.90GESHIP 291.70 291.70 286.95 290.40RELAXO 761.00 764.05 756.05 758.95TIMETECHNO 101.10 104.70 100.15 102.95SHOPERSTOP 476.95 478.65 472.00 474.45TEJASNET 177.00 177.05 172.60 172.85CENTRUM 34.10 34.50 33.80 34.05COROMANDEL 476.40 476.40 468.20 472.00MINDACORP 139.50 140.05 137.15 137.80GULFOILLUB 840.25 840.25 828.00 831.00GEPIL 834.25 835.00 810.05 819.10NBVENTURES 111.00 111.00 104.45 106.20GSKCONS 7046.05 7115.90 7045.05 7051.50TVSSRICHAK 2250.05 2250.05 2199.00 2203.65APLLTD 542.60 546.00 538.00 540.15TATAINVEST 837.95 838.00 835.00 837.30TIFHL 488.00 494.90 475.00 478.10IEX 161.30 163.00 160.50 161.85MAHLOG 495.50 501.00 490.40 499.00SADBHAV 243.10 243.10 239.10 241.55GAYAPROJ 152.50 154.25 150.00 150.50ASAHIINDIA 273.00 277.00 270.00 275.10SKFINDIA 1905.80 1915.00 1891.05 1905.40CCL 293.65 293.65 285.15 286.80ASTERDM 154.10 156.80 154.05 155.25CAPPL 415.00 415.00 401.15 405.75SUPPETRO 227.10 234.00 227.05 231.90TIMKEN 567.00 571.00 558.00 570.15NESCO 467.10 469.00 452.95 456.50CARERATING 996.70 1000.00 995.65 999.35KIOCL 142.45 144.80 138.50 143.25SUNCLAYLTD 3065.05 3065.05 2929.00 2954.60GILLETTE 6471.05 6502.40 6425.80 6440.95NH 217.00 219.95 216.05 217.15SOMANYCERA 387.25 389.40 381.95 389.00VTL 1085.05 1090.30 1071.20 1079.85GALAXYSURF 1135.35 1135.70 1125.35 1129.20ORIENTCEM 86.15 89.05 85.20 86.45LAOPALA 211.00 211.60 207.70 209.45TVTODAY 327.75 333.50 327.00 330.15ELGIEQUIP 242.40 244.50 240.00 242.70CERA 2703.00 2708.50 2683.45 2696.35SHARDACROP 362.40 366.55 352.05 358.90HONAUT 22167.45 22203.75 21934.50 22061.15SCHAEFFLER 5441.75 5492.85 5410.00 5457.95ASTRAZEN 1948.55 1966.00 1915.80 1937.65APARINDS 635.00 636.80 626.10 634.05SHILPAMED 369.00 372.40 364.65 366.05JCHAC 1901.00 1930.00 1865.00 1914.05ABBOTINDIA 7344.00 7386.45 7327.00 7347.30KPRMILL 583.40 590.00 580.15 587.40SOLARINDS 1043.55 1048.30 1034.30 1040.30HATSUN 706.20 721.95 703.10 718.10RATNAMANI 899.90 900.00 880.55 895.10MAHSCOOTER 3358.55 3395.00 3336.00 3383.85ESSELPRO 118.10 118.95 117.05 117.80THYROCARE 521.00 524.75 519.85 522.60TRITURBINE 112.00 113.35 111.00 111.253MINDIA 23372.30 23675.00 23372.30 23474.55NAVNETEDUL 108.45 108.50 108.00 108.05STARCEMENT 102.10 102.30 101.05 101.65GRINDWELL 576.05 585.00 576.05 579.95MONSANTO 2592.05 2613.00 2592.05 2604.70ZYDUSWELL 1312.10 1314.45 1305.60 1313.30DHANUKA 425.05 427.95 425.05 426.20SIS 857.95 879.90 857.95 876.95SHRIRAMCIT 1775.00 1795.00 1775.00 1794.80SFL 1376.55 1376.55 1317.35 1322.65

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY 50 11500.30 11543.85 11451.25 11532.40 70.20HCLTECH 1020.10 1042.00 1013.10 1040.75 28.75INFRATEL 320.00 331.80 314.15 327.00 8.90INFY 712.80 726.50 707.40 725.90 15.70RELIANCE 1360.00 1380.00 1343.10 1378.00 27.95ITC 294.60 300.00 293.35 299.70 5.95BHARTIARTL 332.00 339.45 332.00 337.15 6.55NTPC 133.95 137.30 130.40 134.85 2.55ZEEL 462.00 467.80 457.00 466.15 8.80DRREDDY 2670.00 2717.25 2669.45 2713.00 43.55HINDPETRO 288.00 292.00 285.75 290.80 4.00YESBANK 246.65 250.50 245.00 249.35 3.40ONGC 155.95 163.20 154.80 156.65 2.00AXISBANK 755.00 763.00 749.05 761.20 9.60SBIN 300.15 306.60 299.15 302.75 3.80HINDALCO 200.00 204.25 199.45 202.00 2.45POWERGRID 196.20 200.20 195.30 199.40 2.35SUNPHARMA 467.50 475.25 466.65 469.90 4.25BPCL 408.00 409.90 402.55 409.20 3.65TITAN 1102.00 1112.00 1098.60 1111.00 9.70M&M 686.00 693.80 675.10 690.95 5.55TECHM 793.50 797.45 783.25 794.65 6.05UPL 929.00 935.00 918.35 934.00 6.90INDUSINDBK 1730.00 1735.00 1718.20 1731.00 11.90GAIL 362.60 366.50 360.25 361.90 2.05ASIANPAINT 1442.00 1459.85 1440.00 1453.45 7.85TATAMOTORS 182.00 184.50 180.75 182.85 0.60GRASIM 820.00 832.80 815.10 821.00 2.45TATASTEEL 527.80 531.90 520.65 526.70 1.50HDFCBANK 2269.50 2275.90 2251.00 2268.00 6.55ULTRACEMCO 3970.20 4012.00 3960.05 3981.25 11.05TCS 2030.00 2030.00 1995.10 2028.50 5.70HDFC 1972.90 1978.55 1962.10 1967.00 4.60HINDUNILVR 1697.60 1709.40 1688.20 1701.00 3.45IBULHSGFIN 704.00 708.90 693.80 701.90 0.95WIPRO 257.80 258.90 255.10 257.90 0.30KOTAKBANK 1350.00 1355.00 1338.55 1343.55 -0.10IOC 166.00 166.00 161.75 162.75 -0.05ICICIBANK 398.40 400.95 393.90 397.85 -0.20CIPLA 537.15 537.70 530.20 533.40 -1.10VEDL 172.10 175.20 171.55 172.90 -0.40BAJFINANCE 2930.00 2962.90 2910.05 2922.00 -7.55COALINDIA 244.55 247.90 241.35 243.50 -0.70BAJAJFINSV 7000.00 7036.00 6950.00 6950.00 -56.80ADANIPORTS 370.00 372.00 362.50 366.00 -3.00BAJAJ-AUTO 3008.00 3008.00 2945.00 2974.00 -31.15MARUTI 6900.00 6901.95 6809.25 6816.00 -93.10LT 1371.00 1374.95 1346.50 1359.95 -18.95HEROMOTOCO 2659.00 2659.00 2601.00 2615.00 -54.50JSWSTEEL 296.10 296.75 287.35 288.20 -6.75EICHERMOT 22240.00 22240.00 21579.55 21660.00 -591.40

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY NEXT 50 28066.65 28105.35 27953.40 28058.65 87.95BANKBARODA 121.20 125.85 121.05 125.00 4.45ABCAPITAL 102.70 107.95 102.30 104.50 3.15BEL 94.45 97.00 93.45 96.45 2.80OIL 179.85 187.20 178.35 183.00 3.90HAVELLS 754.50 768.30 742.15 764.05 15.75GICRE 246.00 254.85 244.05 252.00 5.15NMDC 115.65 118.00 115.15 117.95 2.30BANDHANBNK 493.00 503.30 487.45 501.50 9.10SHREECEM 17800.00 18184.85 17725.05 18080.00 291.35LICHSGFIN 517.20 524.00 511.75 523.00 8.40AMBUJACEM 226.55 231.35 226.55 229.90 3.45BHEL 67.50 68.45 67.15 68.10 0.95SIEMENS 1036.00 1057.45 1018.10 1049.50 13.25ABB 1308.75 1325.00 1301.05 1320.00 14.25ACC 1565.40 1578.45 1547.10 1565.05 16.15PETRONET 247.95 247.95 242.50 243.90 2.45PGHH 10400.00 10500.00 10251.00 10457.00 92.30INDIGO 1320.00 1339.50 1320.00 1330.00 9.25PEL 2643.90 2678.00 2640.00 2651.00 11.60ICICIPRULI 344.95 351.80 342.95 344.60 1.00OFSS 3379.00 3379.00 3325.80 3358.00 9.65COLPAL 1287.90 1297.90 1284.00 1289.00 3.10PIDILITIND 1175.25 1190.00 1170.10 1178.00 2.65LUPIN 753.90 765.80 751.50 755.70 1.50SAIL 54.15 55.10 53.25 53.60 0.10DMART 1482.00 1485.00 1468.00 1479.95 1.15MCDOWELL-N 574.00 580.20 568.35 574.10 0.30NHPC 25.20 25.65 25.20 25.40 0.00BRITANNIA 3128.00 3138.85 3084.00 3122.00 -1.35SUNTV 622.90 630.55 616.50 620.15 -0.30AUROPHARMA 778.00 792.00 771.00 776.95 -0.40BIOCON 633.00 633.25 623.60 628.50 -0.35MRF 57688.95 57688.95 57020.00 57401.95 -31.80NIACL 191.00 194.00 190.10 190.50 -0.40HINDZINC 278.50 278.50 274.40 276.70 -0.85IDEA 32.35 32.60 31.20 32.20 -0.10DABUR 429.90 429.90 425.40 427.00 -1.40BOSCHLTD 18498.00 18526.45 18326.00 18405.10 -76.35CONCOR 515.00 515.90 509.00 509.50 -2.55ICICIGI 989.00 992.00 970.00 974.95 -5.90CADILAHC 340.85 344.40 335.80 337.20 -2.05MARICO 341.45 344.75 337.85 339.00 -2.05SBILIFE 613.00 622.75 602.00 607.00 -3.80MOTHERSUMI 162.40 163.20 161.00 161.15 -1.10ASHOKLEY 92.40 92.65 90.90 91.50 -0.90GODREJCP 719.00 719.00 707.10 709.40 -7.05SRTRANSFIN 1240.00 1247.90 1217.75 1224.00 -13.95L&TFH 149.45 149.45 145.50 147.00 -1.80HDFCLIFE 368.00 368.85 362.50 362.90 -4.55DLF 198.75 199.25 192.60 194.00 -3.75

Page 12: ˇˇ,-€¦ · Chief Minister Shahta Kumar may also not be fielded by the party, sources said. There was some speculation that Shah should also be taking plunge in 2019 LS poll but

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Opposition leader BilawalBhutto Zardari on Tuesday

demand the sacking of threeministers in the Imran Khan-led Pakistan Government whohe said backed “banned outfits”and their training camps, evenas the ruling PTI accused himof portraying the country in a‘negative light’.

Bilawal, Chairman of thePakistan Peoples Party (PPP)has been pressing the govern-ment of Prime Minister Khanto dismiss the Ministers whobacked terror outfits amidstintense international pressureon Pakistan to rein in the mil-itant outfits operating in thecountry after the Pulwama ter-ror strike.

Bilawal said he had beendeclared “anti-state” over hisdemand to sack the three min-isters, whom he said, wereassociated with the bannedoutfits. The 30-year-old oppo-sition leader has not yet namedthe three ministers.

“The government hasresponded to my demand tosack ministers associated withbanned outfits by declaringme anti-state, issuing deaththreats & NationalAccountability Bureau (NAB)notices.

“None of this deters usfrom our principle stand; formjoint NSC parliamentary com-mittee & act against bannedoutfits,” he tweeted.

“I demand a joint parlia-

mentary committee for imple-mentation of National ActionPlan and removal of all threefederal ministers for their con-nection with the extremistorganisations. If our demandsare not met we would not sup-port the government over anymove,” said Bilawal.

The three federal ministersare “hands-in-glove” with theterrorists. I don’t want to dis-close their names, but will doso if the government fails totake action against them,” hesaid last Thursday.

During the weekend,Bilawal raised the issue whileaddressing the PPP’s Sindhleaders while chairing the party’s provincial councilmeeting.

He demanded the removalof three federal ministers fortheir alleged connections withthe banned outfits and accusedKhan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) of winning gener-al elections in 2018 with thehelp of proscribed organisa-

tions.He warned the govern-

ment that it will not get anysupport from the PPP on anymove if it did not take seriousaction against such elementswithin its ranks and implementthe National Action Plan(NAP) with true spirit.

On Tuesday, PTI leadershit back at Bilawal after heagain demanded sacking ofthe ministers who he claimedwere associated with thebanned outfits.

PTI Senator Faisal Javed,reacting to the allegations, saidBilawal was “busy in portray-ing Pakistan in a negative light”.

“Bilawal should beashamed of trying to pleaseanti-Pakistan elements. Heshould tell the nation whoselanguage he has been speaking,”he said.

“Pakistan has emerged as asymbol of peace for the world,”Javed claimed.

Finance Minister AsadUmar, when asked by areporter what he thought of theallegations, said that the partiesthat supported him duringelection campaigns “havethemselves been victims of ter-rorism as well.”

“There has been a policy ofmaking excuses for a long timenow... If he [Bilawal] doesn’tbelieve in this policy then heshould change it,” the close aideof Prime Minister Khan wasquoted as saying by Geo News.

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Scientists have developed anovel antimicrobial coating

that can prevent drug-resistantbacterial contaminationsaboard the International Space Station (ISS), and helpprotect astronauts in their jour-ney beyond the Moon andMars.

Extreme spaceflight con-ditions can force these bacteriato toughen up, while simulta-neously lowering the immunedefenses of the stressed, isolat-ed crew. These effects and therisk of infection grow withmission duration.

“Spaceflight can turnharmless bacteria into potentialpathogens,” said ElisabethGrohmann of Beuth Universityof Applied Sciences Berlin inGermany.

“Just as stress hormonesleave astronauts vulnerable toinfection, the bacteria they

carry become hardier — devel-oping thick protective coatingsand resistance to antibiotics —and more vigorous, multiplyingand metabolising faster,” saidGrohmann.

To make matters worse, thegenes responsible for thesenew traits can be readily sharedamong different species of bac-teria, via direct contact or in the‘matrix’ of slime they secrete.

To address this problem,researchers tested a newantimicrobial coating, AGXX,on a contamination-prone sur-face aboard the ISS: the toiletdoor.

“AGXX contains both silverand ruthenium, conditioned bya vitamin derivative, and it killsall kinds of bacteria as well ascertain fungi, yeasts and virus-es. The effects are similar tobleach — except the coating isself-regenerating so it nevergets used up,” said Grohmann.

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China’s goth community post-ed selfies wearing black lip-

stick and sombre white makeupin an online protest over a peerwho was forced to remove hermakeup before boarding a sub-way car.

The social media blitzprompted an apology from thetransport company in the south-ern city of Guangzhou.

Goths are a subcultureknown for their black clothes andmakeup — with a popular seg-ment known as “Gothic Lolita”

whose members dress in darkoutfits inspired by Victoriandolls. Writing about theencounter on her Weibo socialmedia account, the woman, whogoes by the username EIGA-InMy Heart, said she was stoppedby a female security officer at aGuangzhou metro station onMarch 10 after her makeup wasdeemed “too scary”.

“On the basis of what lawam I being stopped and my timebeing wasted? “If there is, I willmake a banner for the station ofmy own expense stating: thickmakeup and goth outfits are

prohibited on the metro,” shewrote, adding that it was not thefirst time this has happened toher.

The community jumped toher defence on social media,posting selfies in full make up onTwitter-like Weibo using thehashtag,#ASelfieForTheGuangzhouMetro.

In a country where anythingdeemed subversive and coun-terculture can be subject to cen-sorship, the hashtag has quick-ly gained traction, attractingthousands of posts and somenearly 5.8 million views.

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German Chancellor AngelaMerkel said Tuesday she

would struggle until the lastpossible moment to achieve anorderly Brexit, saying the inter-ests of Germany, Britain and theEU were at stake.

“I will fight to the last hourof the deadline on March 29 foran orderly exit (of Britain fromthe European Union),” she tolda conference in Berlin.

“We don’t have a lot of timefor it but still have a few days.”Merkel admitted she had beensurprised by the bombshellannouncement on Monday byHouse of Commons speakerJohn Bercow that he could notput Prime Minister TheresaMay’s Brexit plan to anothervote in its current form.

“I must confess that I wasnot familiar with the rules of

order of the British parliamentfrom the 17th century,” shesaid with a wry smile.

And she stressed ahead ofa crunch EU summit in BrusselsThursday and Friday at whichBrexit is to take centre stage thatthe ball remained in London’scourt to plot the way forward.

“I am as of now unable tosay what my position will be onThursday because it depends onwhat Theresa May presents,what the situation looks like,(and) what may still happen inparliament,” she said.

Merkel stressed that avoid-ing Britain crashing out of theEU without an exit deal was inthe fundamental interest of allsides. “We, together as the other27 (EU member states), willreact in an adequate mannerand the less people play guess-ing games, the easier it will be,”she said.

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The leafy New Zealand citywhere a self-proclaimed

racist fatally shot 50 people atmosques during Friday prayersis known for its picturesquemeandering river and Englishheritage.

For decades, Christchurchhas also been the center of thecountry’s small but persistentwhite supremacist movement.

An expert on such fringegroups says it’s probably morethan coincidence that theaccused mosque shooter, 28-year-old Australian BrentonTarrant, settled in the region,known for a whiter demo-graphic than the country’snorth, after frequently travel-ling abroad in 2016-2018 inwhat appears to have been anextreme-right pilgrimage.

He went mostly to areas ofEurope with a long history ofsectarian dispute, includingclashes between RenaissanceEurope and the OttomanEmpire and the breakup ofYugoslavia following its ethnicand religious conflicts.

The attack has upendedNew Zealand’s image as one ofthe world’s safest and most tol-erant countries. It also hashighlighted apparent failings bysecurity and intelligence ser-vices to view white suprema-cists as a real threat or to takeseriously warnings fromMuslim groups of a rise inIslamophobic and xenophobicincidents in recent years.

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Dutch prosecutors and policesaid they were “seriously”

investigating a terrorist motivefor the Utrecht tram attackbecause of evidence including aletter found in the main suspect’sgetaway car.

“So far, a terrorist motive isseriously being taken intoaccount. This is based on a let-ter found in the getaway caramong other things and thenature of the facts,” they said ina joint statement.

Turkish-born main suspectGokmen Tanis, 37, and twounnamed men from Utrecht

aged 23 and 27 remain in cus-tody. Police found a red RenaultClio after Monday’s attack whichthey said he had used to flee.

The three people who diedin the shooting were a 19-year-old woman from Vianen, whichis near Utrecht, and two menaged 28 and 49 from Utrechtitself, the statement said.

“So far our investigationhas established no link betweenthe main suspect and the vic-tims,” police and prosecutorsadded. Dutch and Turkishmedia reports had previouslyreported that a family disputemay have been the motive forthe shooting.

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Some 40 people were pre-ventively evacuated from a

building near to EuropeanUnion headquarters in Brusselsafter a bomb threat was sent toa company linked to the EU.

Police spokeswoman IlseVan de Keere said a “telephonebomb threat” was madeTuesday morning to a

consulting office linked tothe EU’s executive Commissionand that it has been takenseriously.

Part of the street has beensealed off and sniffer dogshave been sent to the scene.

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Page 13: ˇˇ,-€¦ · Chief Minister Shahta Kumar may also not be fielded by the party, sources said. There was some speculation that Shah should also be taking plunge in 2019 LS poll but

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There is no doubt that ArtificialIntelligence (AI) has become adominant technology in our

daily lives. Whether you are doing aGoogle search on your smartphone,ordering your Alexa device to playsongs, interacting with humanoidcustomer executives in a bank orresponding via smart replies inGmail, all of these are AI. Now, whileAI as technology has immense ben-efits, the fact that it is taking overhuman jobs can’t be ignored.

Being in a knowledge-drivensector, law firms repeatedly producemassive amounts of data. It is a mam-moth task to review endless docu-ments, summarise notes, find rele-vant law codes and case studies andclassify/sort information manually.However, for decades, the law pro-fessionals have relied on their exper-tise, know-how, logic, reasoning,diligence, judgement and integrity toexecute these tasks and performtheir jobs. Call them a professionalhazard or intelligence gathering tools;research, studies and documentreviews are integral to the law indus-try.

The law professionals have beenearning handsomely for doing this

kind of manual work. Having saidthat, can we deny that these tasks areadministrative in nature and con-sume too many man-hours? If AI-driven software or robots can takeover these repetitive tasks and sparemore time for humans to focus onmore strategic jobs, there is nomuch-perceived harm.

In fact, several law firms havestarted deploying AI to do certainjobs. For instance —CyrilAmarchand Mangaldas was the firstIndian law firm to use AI-software toidentify, analyse and extract clausesand other information from contractsand other types of legal documents.

WongPartnership became thefirst Singapore law firm to activelyengage AI to ‘enhance its lawyers’ability to conduct due diligence andother contract review processes moreeffectively and efficiently' in mergerand acquisition transactions.�Law functions that AI can auto-mate: AI can offer automationopportunities in the following legalfunctions:�Document research, review anddrafting�Review and maintain contracts�Structure huge amounts of data

�Improve the accuracy of findings�Make initial recommendations onlegal outcomes�Conduct due diligence�Provide data points from past casesthrough analytics�Filing patents

Now the question arises that if AIcan do these jobs, then would the lawbe a lucrative career in future? Theanswer is yes. Like in any other indus-try, the role of AI in the legal sectoris to make repetitive processes fasterand more efficient. This will help thelaw professionals to relieve them-selves from the routine jobs ofpaperwork, timesheets and interac-tions to reduce their billable time,pass on the cost savings to the clientsand provide better services. They willbe able to focus more time on moreimportant tasks such as negotiatingdeals, framing law policies, activelyparticipating in regulatory meet-ings, advising clients and makingcourt appearances.

The law professionals have toremember the fact that human brainsare more intelligent than anymachine. Humans have thinkingand logical reasoning ability thatmachines do not have yet. So, law

professionals will still be in demand,albeit for the roles which call forhuman interaction/appearances, cog-nitive ability, instincts and decision-making.

Moreover, AI can’t replace thetrust factor and relationship buildingwith clients. As humans, we still tendto trust other humans than machinesto converse. The law professionalsmay lose clerical jobs to AI, but whenit comes to applying brains and col-laborating with people, they willhave a definite edge over technolo-gy.

AI in the legal industry is still inthe nascent stage. AI technology isinaccessible and expensive at present.Moreover, the laws regarding theacceptability of AI in the legal sectorare ambiguous and rather non-exis-tent. It will take several years for AIto show its full impact and justify itsusage in the replacement of certainlegal services. Going forward, AI ismore likely to act as virtual assistantsto law professionals. As far as theexperience and judgement are con-cerned, no legal technology can beatthe law professionals.

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An international gathering of scientistsand researchers at the SRM

University Delhi-NCR, discussed theprobable solutions regarding the menaceof antimicrobial resistance and its rele-vant and effective drug discovery

The recently held secondInternational Conference on‘Antimicrobial Resistance, Novel DrugDiscovery and Development: Challengesand Opportunities,’ was inaugurated byProf Ada Yonath, Nobel Laureate inChemistry (2009). The three-day con-ference, organised by the SRM UniversityDelhi-NCR, at the IIT Delhi, Sonepatcampus, in association with the RoyalSociety of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

(RSTMH), UK, aimed to provide a com-mon platform to research communities,policy makers, students, and pharma-ceutical industries to exchange experi-ences and challenges related to thedevelopment and discovery of reliableand effective AMR drugs and vaccines.

The vice chancellor of SRMUniversity Delhi-NCR, Dr P Prakash,pointed out that this conference is a land-mark in the history of the SRMUniversity where eminent scientists gath-ered to discuss and find solutions regard-ing the menace of AntimicrobialResistance (AMR). The Dean-AcademicAffairs at the university and also theorganising secretary of the conference,

Prof V Samuel Raj, insisted on the needof scientists to collaborate to seek solu-tion and enhance surveillance ofpathogens non-responsive to antibiotics.Furthermore, he added that the problemof AMR pathogens is not a future men-ace, but it has already penetrated ourenvironment.

Prof Ada Yonath in her inauguraladdress highlighted the problem of theupsurge of antibiotic resistance andemphasised the need of research insti-tutions along with pharmaceutical com-panies to take active initiative, to com-bat this global issue. Padma Bhushan,Legion of Honour Prof GP Talwar, sug-gested that it is not just the AMR drugs

that one should only concentrate on, butthe scientific society should also work onthe development of vaccines. Prof SimonCroft of the London School of Hygieneand Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), UnitedKingdom, reiterated the need for devel-opment of novel drugs and new treat-ments.

The inaugural function also saw thepresence of the registrar of the universi-ty, Dr Manish Bhalla, as the internationalconference on the very first day, markeda significant moment where an array ofeminent scientists from all around theglobe gathered under one roof to discussthe scope and find solutions to theexisting problems of AMR.

Even though many initiativestaken by the Government have

rising the enrollment numbers,but the actual education seems tobe a bit lagging in some or the otherway. Quality education is one issuethat not only affects the children oftoday but also the future of Indiaas well in terms of growth.

Many qualitative and quanti-tative initiatives were taken this yearin the education system that hasbrought a revolutionary change.Technology and education hasbeen merged and focus is on giv-ing technology driven education.Our country has strived for thisquality education since very long.

2017 has witnessed a rapid risein the evolution of technologies andits integration with the educationindustry. This not only improvesstudent-to-student interaction, lis-tening and aptitude skills but alsoenhance students’ involvement.This will effectively help them tograsp and understand the concept.The following benefits will helpthem better in understanding theirrole in the society:�Encourage curiosity and creativ-ity�Enhance student involvement�Improves general aptitude�Boosts self belief and confidence

But lack of adaptability to thechanges in many schools has beena hindrance in the development ofa better education system in ourcountry.

Our education system is facingimmense pressure in learning thesenew innovations. Certainapproaches and issues that are stillto be worked on may be this yearor next. Due to abject delivery of

education across few states, peoplehave been losing faith in publicschools. Inadequate infrastructureand the dropping number of peo-ple opting for the role of teachingis on the rise especially sinceMarch 2017.

Employability is another issuethat refrains in the Indian educa-tion system which is unlikely to becorrected with the intervention ofsporadic policies but needs a dras-tic restructure.�Poor accountability: With thelack of a risk reward system, ateacher’s encouragement toimprove their students perfor-mance has been just a matter ofpersonal choice which otherwise istheir fundamental duty. Whilelooking at the board results in 2017

across the Indian states, students’performance in these exams seemsawful. There were many schools inPunjab with not even a single stu-dent obtaining pass marks. Onlyone student in Himachal Pradeshgot distinction out of one lakh stu-dents who passed. Pass percentageacross many other states comingdown, none of the schools cameforward to take accountability forthe poor performance. �Quality education is missing:Another reason that withdrawsour presence among other coun-tries in terms of education is thequality. People have a priority to getgood education so private schoolsare focused. But not all can affordcostly schooling for their kids andwith poor quality education being

provided in some schools, nobodyis to be blamed. �Maximum school drop outs:The ratio of students dropping outafter high schools were elevatedwhich can also be attributed to lackof creativity, skills and employa-bility. Students from a low eco-nomic background do not find areason to continue their studies thatmay fetch them a job and insteadthey opt for vocational trainings togenerate a source of income atleast.Expenses rendered for many peo-ple during the schooling may be acertain validation for drop outs thisyear.�Reformation that may enhanceour education system

Technology can only help inimprovement of learning but itwon’t solve the problem. Trustingand empowering teachers is the keyfor change and improvement. Co-learning should be encouragedrather than hyper-competitiveness.Apart from learning, school shouldalso aim in developing good humanbeings for the society. Public edu-cation should be given. Knowingthe economic aims of our country,will help students understand bet-ter about the Nation’s development.�Develop new skills: Emphasiseshould be laid more on data-driveneducation techniques enabling stu-dents to learn new skills rather thanjust mugging up.�Ethical values: The aim shouldbe to develop today’s students withethical values for a better humanbeing of future. Including ethicsand vocational training in the cur-riculum will be beneficial.

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In today’s dynamic scenario is itenough for a student of media and

communication to be a good commu-nicator? The sim-ple answer wouldbe no but a morediscerning onewould be to askhow complex isthe challenge tocommunicate in ad y n a m i c a l l yevolving world.

Today a jour-nalist has to be able tokeep up with the incredible speed withwhich readers access news. In the age ofbig data, it is imperative that aspiringjournalists know how to leverage datato break the news, tell stories in a moremeaningful way. In fact, Data journal-ism enables you to engage your readersthrough effective infographics and toolsthat are not just visually appealing butalso targeted.

Similarly, if you are crafting solu-tions in the marketing communicationssphere you would need to wear an inno-vator’s hat and not only think-out-of-the-box but also think from an intercon-nected way. How are customers usingthe product? Increasingly design think-ing is a new way to approach this prob-lem. A methodology used by designersto solve complex problems, and finddesirable solutions for clients, it draws

upon logic, imagination, intuition, andsystemic reasoning, to explore possibil-ities of what could be-and to createdesired outcomes that benefit the enduser.

In the information, communicationand entertainment sector new revenuestreams are being produced by digitalcontent consumption, convergence oftech platforms and direct to customerrelationships. Creating stories and com-municating them effectively is drivingtalent.

What about the future? The mediaand entertainment industry (accordingto a report by EY and FICCI) is poisedto cross $33.6 billion by 2021 at a CAGRof 11.6 per cent. India has the secondhighest number of internet users after

China with 570 million Internet sub-scribers growing at 13 per cent annu-

ally. Advertising growth has out-paced subscription growth and

is expected to comprise 52per cent of the total pieby 2021 and regionaladvertising outpacednational advertisingon the back of nation-al brands spendingmore to develop non-

metro markets. Therehas been a robust growth in dig-

ital news with over 200 million peopleconsuming news online. Owing to theexplosion of digital technology andsocial media, the growth is promising inanimation, graphic design, 3D designsand gaming.

While the technology-driven mediamarket explodes, the question ariseswhether there are enough skilled pro-fessionals to fulfil the demand forresources, or smart policymakers to takeadvantage of the massive opportunitiesthat are being presented to us. It meansthat our education system has to keeppace with the changing requirements ofthe global media space. Thinking is thebedrock of innovation and educationmust be able to channel young people’senergies towards this.

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���������L���������The Manav Rachna International Institute of Research and

Studies invites applications for admission to its BSc/MSc pro-grammes in Nutrition & Dietetics.

Duration: Three years for Bsc (including two months clin-ical/industrial training) and two years for MSc (specialisationsinclude Clinical Nutrition & Dietetics, Food Science &Technology, Sports Nutrition, Public Health Nutrition).

Eligibility: Pass in Class XII examination with at least 50per cent marks in aggregate in five subjects including Englishas compulsory subject along with four subjects with the high-est score out of the remaining subjects for BSc programme.And 50 per cent marks in aggregate in graduation from arecognised university, bachelor’s degree in nutrition, HomeScience, Nursing, Food Technology, Medical Lab Technology,Biochemistr y, Microbiology, Physiology, Zoology,Physiotherapy, Medicine, Dental Science, Life Sciences, SportsScience or equivalent examination.

How to apply: Log on to manavrachna.edu.in.Last Date to Apply: April 17, 2019.

�)������������The Manav Rachna International Institute of Research and

Studies invites applications for admission to its Bachelor ofPhysiotherapy and Master of Physiotherapy programmes.

Duration: Four and a half years (including six monthscompulsory internship) for Bachelor of Physiotherapy and twoyears for Masters of Physiotherapy.

Eligibility: Pass in Class XII examination with at least 50per cent marks in aggregate in aggregate of five subjects includ-ing English, Physics, Chemistry & Biology and one subject withthe highest score out of the remaining subjects. And 50 percent marks in aggregate in Bachelor of Physiotherapy from arecognised university.

How to apply: Log on to manavrachna.edu.in.Last Date to Apply: April 17, 2019.

���������������The Hotel School invites applications for admission in

B.Voc Degree programme in Hotel Management.This programme will help students learn how every aspect

of a food service operation contributes to the guest experienceand will explore unique features of a variety of food and bev-erage operations. Featuring the latest service trends con-tributing to the guest experience; new leadership information;sustainability/green issues for suppliers, equipment,facilitiesand all new restaurant industry examples.

Eligibility: Candidates who have appeared/passed ClassXII examination of CBSE, ICSE or equivalent accreditation.

How to Apply: Application forms & brochure may beobtained from admission office of The Hotel School, NewDelhi.

Last date to apply: April 25, 2019.

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Page 14: ˇˇ,-€¦ · Chief Minister Shahta Kumar may also not be fielded by the party, sources said. There was some speculation that Shah should also be taking plunge in 2019 LS poll but

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Looking to get an MBAfrom Harvard University?Don’t miss a chance toapply for the BoustanyMBA Harvard Scholarship.This scholarship is availableto candidates of any nation-ality.

Eligibility: Scholarshipsare available to candidatesof any nation. Candidatesmust have an excellent aca-demic background andshow considerable promise.

Candidates can applyfor scholarship only afterreceiving the offer of admis-sion from the HarvardMBA programme.

Subjects: The scholar-ship will be awarded in thefield of business.

The scholarship is pro-viding $95,000 ($47,500 peryear) towards tuition fees.The foundation will providetravel expenses from theUniversity to Monaco forthe Internship, togetherwith accommodation andfood expenses during theinternship.

How to apply: Studentsmust be ready to submit thefollowing: CurriculumVitae, Photograph, GMATScores, and AcceptanceLetter. To apply for the pro-gram candidates must sub-mit all the supporting docu-ments to [email protected].

Applicationdeadline: The last date

to apply for the scholar-ship is May 31, 2019.

The Nottingham TrentUniversity is offering pres-tigious scholarships forInternational and EuropeanUnion (EU) students whohave received an offer tostudy on an eligible under-graduate course starting inSeptember 2019 or January2020.

Scholarship Award:£1,000 per academic year

The scholarship is openat the undergraduate courselevel.

Eligibility: The scholar-ship will be awarded in anysubject offered by the uni-versity. There is no docu-ments are required for thescholarship. For the scholar-ship, you need to enroll in afull-time undergraduatecourse in September 2019.

Language requirement:English language require-ments for candidates whodo not speak English astheir first language.

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Application deadline:There are three deadlines asthe following:

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With a labour force participationrate of 52.5% and a working agepopulation of 63.4% in 2013,

India still had over 40 crore unemployedindividuals. This number may includethose in disguised, seasonal and struc-tural unemployment or underemploy-ment. The latest report by the Center forMonitoring the Indian Economy claimedthat the unemployment rate at the endof February, 2018 was 6.1% or about 3.1crore in absolute terms. Skill developmentprogrammes have managed to bring topar a significant number of unemployedyouth in terms of training and skill.However, those numbers still remain aminuscule proportion of the actual num-ber of unemployed persons.

Agrarian distress is driving greaternumber of domestic migrants to urbancentres in search of work. This continu-ously adds to stress on unemploymentnumbers. Manufacturing, which is oftentouted as the sector with the mostpotential to create sustainable employ-ment, is witnessing jobless growth despitebuoyant Make in India initiatives. It isestimated that the Indian economywould have to generate at least 10 lakhjobs every year if it is to successfully reapthe much talked about demographic div-idend.

Skill India mission is pledged to facil-itate the entry of 104.62 million newemployees into industry by 2022. Underthe Pradhan Mantri Kaushal VikasYojana, the National Skill DevelopmentCouncil was expected to train 2.4 millionyouth in 2015 in various short-term skillcourses.

To meet the targets of the SkillIndia mission and alleviate the gapbetween skills and labour supply, a moreholistic approach encompassing longer-term skills and combinations with career-spanning competencies are needed. TheNITI Aayog has correctly pointed outthat a way to measure skill developmentindicators is required to accurately gaugewhere society stands today.

The Government hopes to build vastbanks of employable workers rapidly andin a standard manner by strengtheninginstitutions and infrastructure, exploringsynergies between the government and

industry and roping in overseas stake-holders and facilitators. The same poli-cies also envision re-skilling 400 millionpeople by 2022. However, it has also beenunderlined by various surveys conduct-ed among the youth for whom the pro-gramme was meant that certificationsand skills do not match their aspirationsor their aptitudes. To resolve this dilem-ma, it has been suggested, that employ-ability skills and attitudes be inculcatedin school-going children.

It is to be noted that policy disrup-tions to business such as the rapiddeployment of the GST and demoneti-sation, have presented bottlenecks to thegrowth of MSMEs. The silver lining isthat hiring proportions from the ITI andpolytechnic bases have increased in2019 from 2018 according to the IndiaSkill Report 2019 conducted by CII andWheelbox.

The top hirers last fiscal have beenthe Banking, Financial Services andInsurance sector and software/hardwareemployers. These two sectors are large-ly fed by those who hold short to medi-um term skill certifications. School pas-souts and undergraduates could also findearly starting points in the workforcefrom which to launch their career.

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The IIT-JEE as an exam is nottough as it is commonlyperceived by the aspirants.

It is in fact different and highlycompetitive. In order to performa high degree of accuracy isdesired along with minimal mar-gin of error. Technology can playa very important role to ensureboth the aspects are attained byhelping students to optimisetheir skills and resources; chan-nelise their energy in the rightdirection; monitor progress andraise a red flag whenever there isa deviation from the desired path;quantify the gap between an aspi-rants's chosen goal and their pre-sent status. Let us now understandeach of these aspects:

The IIT-JEE assesses a stu-dent’s conceptual clarity alongwith their logical and analyticalthinking ability. Deep thinkingand imaginative skills help enor-mously while solving a question.A student can achieve perfectionin these aspects if their basic con-cepts are clear. The question aris-

es: How would a student knowthat s/he has achieved the desiredlevel of conceptual clarity?

That’s where technology canhelp to pin-point throughonlinechapter and topic basedassignments. While solving anonline MCQ assignment, if a stu-dent marks a particular answeroption, whether it is correct orincorrect answer option, the algo-rithm of the software will assessand predict the problem solvingsteps that the child would haveadopted which led to that answeroption; post which it will create areport and recommend correctiveactions. Based on mistakes com-mitted in few months/papers,technology can track the type ofmistake that a student is doing fre-quently i.e the pattern of mistake.Usually students keep committingthe same mistake due to igno-rance. Fixing these learning gapshelps to strengthen conceptualunderstanding.

Depending upon the goal ofa student (preferred branch of

engineering and/or college) techenabled tools help the students todecide and prepare their studyand revision plan. They will knowexactly what to study; how muchto study; when to study; at whatpace to study; when to revise; pre-pare milestones; concepts thatare weak and needs more atten-tion.

A student should solve onlinepractice test after they have com-pleted certain portion of the syl-labus. These are essentially MCQbased tests, administered on webor mobile platform anda great wayto assess a student's retentioncapability with the increase in syl-labus volume. An unexpectedoutcome in the test will raise a redflag thus enabling them to dis-cover the reason for it so that theycan be cautious the next time.

Mock Test (in simulatedenvironment): As JEE Advanced,JEE Main, BITSAT, KVPY andfew others are Computer BasedTest (CBT), a student shouldsolve mock tests which are admin-

istered in CBT mode;conductednationwide in a simulated envi-ronment (i.e. conducted on thesame day, at the same time, at allthe cities just like an actual exam).By doing so, a student would beable to :

�Develop test taking strategy,speed, accuracy, mind-eye-handcoordination etc.

�Acclimatise with test envi-ronment, software & test interface

�Gain insight to the timetaken to solve a question, anextremely important insight. Ifstudents discover that they havetaken unusually long time tosolve a particular question anddepending upon whether theyfinally got it right or wrong, theywill be able to take remedial steps

�Right answer but took longtime: It could be due to conceptrelated issue or lack of practice orlack of revision before the exam,hence long took time.

�Wrong answer but tooklong time: It could be due to, didnot study or lack of judgment to

leave the question or concept-studied long back but did notpractice in the recent past etc.

�Detailed performancereport/analysis: Using tech basedtest platforms, marks can be cal-culated and reports can be gen-erated quickly. The feedback canbe instantaneously shared and stu-dents can immediately imple-ment the corrective steps.

Key stake holders in the jour-ney of an engineering aspirant aretheir parents and subject teachers.With tech-based platforms, bothteachers and parents get feedbackand status updates on theprogress, current and future chal-lenges, help and support thatthey might need.

They also get to know if a stu-dentis doing their task/revi-sion/homework on time; overalltest report in pictorial form, atten-dance report, all on their ownmobile deviceon the go.

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Page 15: ˇˇ,-€¦ · Chief Minister Shahta Kumar may also not be fielded by the party, sources said. There was some speculation that Shah should also be taking plunge in 2019 LS poll but

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��■ �4&'-4�65���

Roger Federer departed IndianWells empty-handed for a secondstraight year, but the Swiss great

sees no reason he can't get back on trackat the Miami Masters.

"Sure, it's frustrating and disap-pointing and sad to some extent,"Federer said after falling 3-6, 6-3, 7-5to Austrian Dominic Thiem in Sunday'sfinal.

Thiem, 25, denied Federer a recordsixth Indian Wells title and returned tohis career-high of fourth in the world— bumping Federer down to fifth goingto the second leg of the "Sunshine

Double" of Indian Wells and Miami.But Federer, the 20-time Grand

Slam winner who claimed a remarkable100th career title in Dubai last month,can afford to take the defeat in stride— especially when he's playing well andfeels his 37-year-old body is fully fit.

"It's just not as dramatic," he saidof falling to a player who was "just a bitbetter when it mattered".

"Whereas, when you're hurt andthings are difficult, maybe those hurtmore.

"I'm going to Miami. The body isperfectly fine. That also always keepsme upbeat, and I feel it's a privilegewhen I feel this way leaving a tourna-

ment."I have been playing every single

day for the last three weeks. I can bevery happy and proud of that fact."

As at Indian Wells, Federer couldmeet fellow Swiss Stan Wawrinka in thethird round in Miami.

Federer is a three-time winner atMiami, but he lost his second-roundopener last year after falling to JuanMartin del Potro in the final at IndianWells.

With that in mind, Federer shiedaway from predicting he would bounceback in a big way from his loss toThiem, with the Miami event's move toa new venue adding to his sense of

uncertainty."Now it's totally different," Federer

said of the tournament moving from itslongtime home on Key Biscayne to theHard Rock Stadium — home of theNFL's Miami Dolphins.

A new stadium court inside theactual stadium is the centerpiece of thenew venue, which also features a sec-ondary grandstand court and twosmaller show courts and practicecourts. "Everybody's got to get used tocenter court or the conditions at thenew site," Federer said. "I'm eager to findout how it's going to be like. There arestill a lot of open question marks. Rightnow I feel really good."

��■ '4&'-4�65���

Bianca Andreescu's visionbecame reality in the

California desert, where theCanadian 18-year-old'sCinderella run to a firstWTA title put her amongthe elite of women's tennis.

"Crazy," Andreescu her-self called it, after gritty 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 victory overthree-time Grand Slamchampion Angelique Kerbermade her the first wild cardto win the prestigiousIndian Wells WTA title.

Andreescu is the tour-nament's youngest winnersince Serena Williams in1999 and just the fourthunseeded player to lift thetrophy after Williams, areturning Kim Clijsters in2005 and Japan's NaomiOsaka last year.

Reminded that Osaka'sbreakthrough 2018 win wasswiftly followed by twoGrand Slam titles and a riseto No 1 in the world,Andreescu was asked if shefound that inspirational.

No pressure," she saidwith a smile.

"It's totally fine," shesaid of the comparison.

"It's definitely an inspira-tion seeing her claim thetrophy last year and win-ning Grand Slams rightafter that has been amazingto see. But I don't reallywant to focus on the futureright now. I just want toenjoy this moment becauseI don't want to take any-thing for granted.

"You never know whatthe next week brings,"added Andreescu, whonow heads to Florida forthe Miami Open this week,where she will be unseed-ed.

Kerber, a former worldnumber one who hadslipped to eighth in therankings as she searchedfor a first title since she wonWimbledon last year, wasup a break in the third setwhen Andreescu poweredthrough fatigue and cramp-ing to seize the victory.

It's the kind of triumphAndreescu has picturedbefore, in her daily practiceof creative visualizationwhich she uses to maintainher calm and focus.

But when the momentarrived for real, she said, itwas "surreal".

��■ 456�&5�0'�

Young Indian shuttlers Lakshya Sen andRiya Mookerjee Tuesday broke into

the top-100 to be placed 76th and 94thamong men's and women's singles play-ers in the latest world badminton rankings.

In the latest BWF rankings, Lakshyamade a massive jump of 28 places whileRiya climbed up 19 spots.

B Sai Praneeth, who stunned Olympicchampion Chen Long before losing in thefinal of the Swiss Open against China's ShiYuqi at Basel on last Sunday, also movedup three places to 19th.

Kidambi Srikanth remained staticand is the best placed Indian in the men'srankings at seventh, followed by SameerVerma (14th), H S Prannoy (24th),Subhankar Dey (43rd), Parupalli Kashyap(48th), Ajay Jayram (52nd) and SouravVerma (53rd).

Japan's Kento Momota is the leadingthe men's chart followed by Yuqi andChinese Taipei's Chou Tie Chen.

In the women's singles rankings, P VSindhu and Saina Nehwal are static at sixthand ninth positions respectively.

Chinese Taipei's Tai Tzu Ying is top-ping the women's singles list ahead ofChina's Chen Yufei and Nozomi Okuharaof Japan.

In men's doubles, the pair ofSatwiksairaj and Chirag Shetty are the bestplaced Indians at 24th, while Manu Attri

and B Sumeeth Reddy have dropped arung to 27th.

The women's doubles combination ofAshwini Ponappa and N Sikki Reddy arestatic at 23rd spot, while the mixed dou-bles pair of Ashwini and Rankireddy havemanaged to hold on to their 24th position.

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In-form Prajnesh Gunneswaran hasmoved into the final qualifying round

of the Miami Masters with a straight-set win but Ramkumar Ramanathan fellat the first hurdle, here.

Prajnesh who reached the thirdround at the Indian Wells Masters aftercoming through qualifiers, got thebetter of Spain's Adrian Menendez-Maceiras 6-2, 6-4 in the openinground.

The 84th ranked Indian won fiveof the six break points he faced againstworld number 141 and broke his rivalfour times in the one hour and 14-minute match.

He next faces British wild card JayClarke.

It was curtains for Ramkumar, wholost 4-6 1-6 to Lorenzo Sonego, theItalian world number 106.

Rohan Bopanna is the only Indianfeaturing in the doubles main draw, yetagain partnering Canadian DenisShapovalov.

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Bayern Munich forwardThomas Mueller has warned

title rivals Borussia Dortmundthat they cannot afford to slip upas a nail-biting Bundesliga titlerace enters the final stretch.

"They know they can'tafford to make any mistakes,because we are in really goodshape," Mueller told Germany'stop-selling newspaper Bild onTuesday.

Having been six pointsbehind Dortmund at the begin-ning of the year, Bayern are nowlevel on 60 points with eightgames to play, but the defend-ing champions top the tablewith a superior goal difference.

In recent weeks, Bayernhave nudged their way into firstplace on goal difference, havingscored 17 goals in their last threegames in their bid to win a sev-

enth straight league title."Obviously they will have

noticed that we are winninggames by big margins," saidMueller, who has scored sixleague goals this season witheight assists.

"We are happy that we havebent the goal difference num-bers in our favour. It's never abad thing to have that up yoursleeve."

Bayern host Dortmund atMunich's Allianz Arena onApril 6, in what promises to bea pivotal fixture in the title race.

"The game againstDortmund will be an indicatorof where things are going, butit won't decide the title," saidMueller.

"There will be a long way togo after that, and a lot can hap-pen. Especially in the awaygames, we need to make sure wekeep winning."

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Trailblazing bowler RashidKhan said Afghanistan will

fear no one when the World Cupstarts in May after a maiden Testwin enhanced the reputation ofthe rising cricket nation.

Khan, who is one of theworld's leading bowlers in short-form cricket, said Afghanistan'sconfidence was growing afterbeating Ireland on Monday in justtheir second Test match.

The 20-year-old leg-spinner,who tops the world Twenty20bowling rankings and lies third inthe 50-over standings, took fivefor 82 as Afghanistan beat theirfellow Test newcomers inDehradun.

Before an expected starringrole for Sunrisers Hyderabadwhen the 2019 Indian PremierLeague (IPL) begins at the week-end, Khan said Aghanistan'scricketers now need only tobelieve in themselves.

"We have the talent and wehave the skills," he told AFP in aninterview.

At last year's Asia Cup,Afghanistan made a breakthroughby topping their group in the 50-over competition ahead of estab-lished Test nations Bangladeshand Sri Lanka.

B�����0���)���� ����J"How we played in the Asia

Cup was totally different and weshowed that we can beat any side,"said Khan, whose side even tieda match with heavyweights Indiain the last-four stage.

"The only thing is to believein your skills. Just to be relaxed inbig matches and enjoy yourgame," he said.

"And that's how we should bein the World Cup."

War-torn Afghanistan onlygained one-day international(ODI) status in 2009 and Test sta-tus in 2017, but their recent risehas coincided with Khan's emer-gence as a world-class spinner.

He made his ODI debut in2015 as a 17-year-old and creditsfast-paced Twenty20 tournamentssuch as the IPL for developing hisbowling repertoire, whichincludes a mesmerising googly.

"The IPL gives you lot ofmotivation. Once you play inthese leagues, it gives you confi-dence playing with big players,"said Khan, who cost Hyderabad$597,000 in 2017 and took 21wickets for them last year.

"And then you perform thereon flat wickets like the IPL andthat gives you a kind of satisfac-tion and confidence that I candeliver when I am in the nation-al side."

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There has been a lot ofdebates on who will beIndia's No 4 in the upcom-

ing World Cup. With India skip-per Virat Kohli trying a fewoptions in the just concludedODI series against Australia, thedebate continues on who willfinally board the flight to Englandwhen the Indian team leaves forthe World Cup.

Delhi Capitals advisor SouravGanguly and coach Ricky Pontingbelieve that Rishabh Pant could bethe answer to India's woes as hehas the temperament and talent todo the role in England.

"Look at how Pant played inthe last IPL. In ODIs, Pant is com-ing in and going out because MSDhoni is there and that doesn'thelp. Pant is your future. For thenext 10 years you will see a lot ofhim. He will be a huge asset forthe Indian team," Ganguly said.

Echoing the sentiments,Ponting added: "I would be pick-ing him in the Indian team as thebatsman for No 4 as he can winyou the game with his talent. Wewant him to focus on IPL becauseif the boys do well they will get acall for the World Cup."

Ganguly said the IndianPremier League (IPL) will decidethe No 4 slot. "Many choices arethere but I think the IPL will in away decide who will get thatposition. I had said (Cheteshwar)Pujara because he has been ingood form. I saw (Rahul) Draviddo the role when I was captain. Ifyou don't have an option you cantry him. Pant or (Ambati) Rayuducould be an option. We can giveour opinion, but somewhere I feelKohli knows who it should be."

Commenting on Kohli's posi-tion in the line-up, he said: "Kohlican play at any position and willscore runs. But I prefer No.3 forhim."

Ganguly went on to add thatthis Indian team doesn't relyheavily on the skipper. "Theseguys are really good. We didn'tthink we will lose the final in theChampions Trophy. This team hasa lot of talent. They will befavourites to win the trophy eventhough I don't believe in the tag.You have (Shikhar) Dhawan,Rohit (Sharma), Dhoni, Kohli,

(Jasprit) Bumrah, and others. Ihave no advise for this team, I justhope they play freely.

"Kohli is huge and all gener-ations have had such class players.Every generation has producedchampions and Kohli is a cham-pion but I honestly believe thatthis Indian team has the arsenalapart from Kohli to do well. Thisis a very good side which doesn'thave too many weaknesses," hesaid.

Delhi bowler Ishant Sharmahas been on a roll in red-ballcricket and both Ganguly and

Ponting feel that he is bowling hisbest right now.

"Ishant is bowling his best atthe moment, the way he bowledin England and Australia. He isworking really hard. Test bowlingis the highest level you have toachieve. Ishant has the ability toadjust. You can see he is someonewho is looking to turn it around,"the former India skipper said.

Ponting echoed the senti-ments. "I think Ishant is bowlingas good as ever. He is moremature and slightly refined. He isphysically looking good," he said.

��� 456�&5�0'

Not playing is not the solution," for-mer Indian skipper Sourav

Ganguly stated on Tuesday amid con-cerns around players' workload with theWorld Cup starting only a few days afterthe IPL.

There has been a lot of discussionon how the World Cup-bound playersneed to effectively manage their work-load during a demanding tournamentlike the Indian Premier League. The IPLends on May 12, while the World Cupstarts in England from May 30.

"Yes, there is a lot of cricket but youjust play. How many cricketers get toplay 15-16 years of international crick-et? I don't think anyone should worryabout being fatigued, being tired. Justfind a way to get fresh," Ganguly saidduring an event organised by IPL fran-chise Delhi Capitals.

Ganguly was recently appointedadvisor of the rechristened DelhiCapitals. Ganguly said skipping match-es is not the way to go.

"... Because I have always said thereis limited time to play this sport.Getting opportunities at the internation-al level, at the IPL level, this will nevercome back, so find a way to get rest, finda way to stay fresh and keep playing.

"Not playing is not the solution,even our generation played a lot of crick-et. Yes IPL was not there as it cametowards the end of our career but, crick-et-wise, it was same.

"I keep saying that before yourealise, you will see 10-12 years have justflown away. Just make the most of it andplay every possible cricket match youcan," Ganguly advised the present-daycricketers. Skipper Virat Kohli recent-ly said it is up to the players to realisethe kind of load they are taking, and theiconic Sachin Tendulkar on Mondayagreed with him.

According to Ganguly, the cricketboards would be better off with a littlebit of flexibility, leaving the decision onplayers. "Decision should be left to theplayers. It's their career, you play at thetop level consistently and you can getinjured. And there is no guarantee thatwhen you play for the country you won'tget injured.

"So there is no hard and fast rule. Ibelieve in one thing, as a player, whenyou get an opportunity, play, never sayI don't want to play."

����� 456�&5�0'

Going into the last ODI seriesbefore the upcoming World

Cup — against Australia —India skipper Virat Kohli hadsaid that Indian players' perfor-mance in the IPL wouldn't haveany bearing with selection in thesquad for the showpiece event.But with none of the batsmenmanaging to secure the No 4slot post the five ODIs againstthe Aussies, the players' perfor-mance in the IPL will have abearing on the minds of theselectors when they pick thesquad for the World Cup mid-April.

The four primary con-tenders for the No 4 slot areAjinkya Rahane, AmbatiRayudu, Shreyas Iyer and KLRahul. And it all now boilsdown to a consistent showing inthe first half of the cash-rich T20league. A good run here andone of these four will be reward-ed with a ticket to England.

Speaking to IANS, a seniorBCCI official said that recentperformances have meant thatthe first month of the 12th edi-tion of the IPL will have to belooked into when MSK Prasadand his team sit down to pick

the squad for the World Cup."With all the chopping and

changing and experimentationand recent performances of theteam, the No.4 slot is not yetsealed and if you ask me, a cou-ple of other positions are alsoopen since some players havenot developed as well as onehoped over the last year. Withthe team selection slated foraround April 20, the first monthof the IPL will be crucial for theteam selection for the World

Cup," the official said.Echoing the sentiments, a

source in the team managementsaid that there are technicallyfour batsmen who will be fight-ing it out for the slot and a goodIPL for one of them will defi-nitely make that player afavourite to seal the position.

"It was thought that theAustralia series would helpcement all spots for the WorldCup. But that hasn't happenedand technically you now have

four batsmen fighting for theNo.4 slot. In fact, coach RaviShastri has even spoken of theoption of having Kohli at 4, butthat then depends on conditionsand match situation. He won'tgo into the tournament asIndia's no.4," the source toldIANS.

Interestingly, both Rahaneand Iyer are ready for the chal-lenge and feel that a good showin the IPL will definitely makethem contenders for that No.4spot that has had players com-ing in and going out withoutconsistent success.

"The approach won't beany different with the WorldCup spot looming because atthe end you are playing crick-et, be it the IPL or any othertournament. You have to scoreruns and do well for the team.The most important thing willbe to think about the RajasthanRoyals rather than thinkingtoo much about the road ahead.If I do well in the IPL, the WorldCup (slot) will automaticallycome. I feel it is important toexpress yourself and not takeany undue pressure thinkingabout things which aren't inyour control. The focus is theIPL," Rahane told IANS.

����� 456�&5�0'

The schedule of the group stages ofthe 12th edition of the Indian

Premier League (IPL) is out with alleight teams playing seven home match-es at their respective home venues.

The schedule is balanced in termsof afternoon matches/weekend match-es and travel. The board has factored the2019 Lok Sabha elections dates/phas-es in the respective states and cities andclearance thereof.

Defending champions ChennaiSuper Kings (CSK)will take on RoyalC h a l l e n g e r sBangalore (RCB) inChennai in the IPLopener, which willbegin on March 23.

The schedule of this year's editionhas been released in parts by the Boardof Control for Cricket in India (BCCI)in view of the upcoming Lok Sabhapolls that would be a staggered processin seven phases stretched across Apriland May.

Earlier, the BCCI announced theschedule of the first 17 matches that willbe played during the two-week periodfrom March 23 to April 5 across theeight home venues of the respectivefranchises.

All teams are playing a minimumof four matches with the newly-chris-tened Delhi Capitals (DC) and RoyalChallengers Bangalore (RCB) playingfive matches in that phase.

����� 456�&5�0'

Rajasthan Royals' SteveSmith, who is gearing up for

the upcoming edition of theIndian Premier League (IPL),praised his teammate Jos Buttlersaying the England interna-tional is one of the most

destructive batsmen aroundthe world.

Smith, who has played twoseasons for the Rajasthan Royalsin the past and led them in2015, said he is excited to playalongside the prolific wicket-keeper-batsman as he makesthings easy in the middle.

"Playing alongside Buttlerwill be great, batting with himmakes things easier for me. He'san exciting player and one of themost destructive batters aroundthe world. I'm really excited toplay with him," Smith said dur-ing a live interaction on fran-chise's social media platform onMonday.

Smith returned the sideafter serving out a one-yearinternational suspension forball-tampering scandal. HisAustralian teammate DavidWarner, who is also involved inthe scandal, joined his respec-tive team.

Rajasthan will be playingtheir league opener againstKings XI Punjab at the SawaiMansingh Stadium, Jaipur, onMarch 26.

"The Rajasthan Royals area great franchise... Great peopleand hopefully we have a greatyear," Smith said.

����� 456�&5�0'

National team skipper Virat Kohli,senior batsman Rohit Sharma and fast

bowler Jasprit Bumrah have been includ-ed in the top most category of the Boardof Control for India's (BCCI) list of centralcontracts.

These three players in the A+ catego-ry receive �7 crore each. Kohli, whobecame the fastest to reach the milestoneof 10,000 One-Day International (ODI)runs last year, reportedly earned an estimat-ed $20 million from brand endorsements.

Rohit Sharma, who recently crossed the8,000-run mark in ODIs, reportedly makesaround $8.6 million from brand endorse-ments.

Bumrah, the top-ranked ODI bowler inthe ICC rankings, claimed 78 Test wickets,22 ODI wickets and 8 T20I wickets in 2018.

Introduced for the first time last year,Kohli, Sharma, Bumrah, Shikhar Dhawan,and Bhuvneshwar Kumar have made it tothe 'A+' category in 2018. Kumar andDhawan have now been demoted from thetop bracket to the 'A' category.

Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja,Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane,Mahendra Singh Dhoni, MohammedShami, Ishant Sharma, Kuldeep Yadav andRishabh Pant are the other players in the'A' category.

The players in this category are paid �5crore per year.

The 'B' category, which is worth �3crore annualy, includes Lokesh Rahul,

Umesh Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal andHardik Pandya.

Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, AmbatiRayudu, Manish Pandey, Hanuma Vihari,Khaleel Ahmed and Wriddhiman Saha arein the 'C' category and take home �1 croreeach.

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Virat Kohli is not a "shrewd captain"who could be compared to his

national team deputy Rohit Sharma orformer skipper Mahendra SinghDhoni, who have won three IPL titleseach, feels former KKR captainGautam Gambhir.

The former India opener, who ledKolkata Knight Riders to two IPL tro-phies in 2012 and 2014, feels that inresult oriented franchise environ-ment, Kohli has been "lucky" to havesurvived despite Royal ChallengersBangalore (RCB) never winning thecoveted title in his eight years as skip-per.

"I don't see him as a shrewd cap-tain. I don't see him as a tactful cap-tain (tactician). And he hasn't won theIPL. So ultimately, a captain is only asgood as his record," Gambhir told onhost broadcasters' Star Sport show'GamePlan'.

Gambhir's comments is specific toKohli's success as a leader in IPL sincehe is the first captain who has led Indiato a Test series win on Australian soil.

"There are people who have wonthe trophy three times. MS Dhoni andRohit Sharma. So I think he has a long

way to go. You cannot compare him tosomeone like Rohit or Dhoni at thisstage," Gambhir said.

"He has been a part of RCB, andcaptaining RCB for the last seven toeight years, and he has been very luckyand should be thanking the franchisethat they stuck with him. Because notmany captains have got such a longrope where they haven't won a tour-nament," said Gambhir, who had topart ways with KKR in 2018 afterseven long years and two titles.

Gambhir's last IPL season waswith Delhi Daredevils where hestepped down from captaincy midwayafter his run in the tournament wentfrom bad to worse.

However, another former skipperSourav Ganguly, who had a tumul-tuous time as KKR captain, felt thatthere should be no questions aboutKohli's captaincy.

"If you talk about Virat Kohli andkeeping him as a captain, just look atwhat he has done. What he has donewith the bat in every format of thegame. Absolute champion.

And he deserves to be captain ofRCB for whatever period of time. I amsure he will turn it around," Gangulysaid.

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