0 23.45 .0 6 ˚˝˝˜ !˜˙˝˚!#˝!˝$˙˝ %& ’(’ˆ)(* bank’s monetary policy on thursday...

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W ith a hope of implementa- tion of Goods and Service Tax (GST) Bills in the Upper House and a sense of squeezing liquidity out of the system in the central bank’s monetary policy on Thursday helped the BSE Sensex hit a high of 30,007.48 in intra-day trading, but finally it ended up by 64 points at 29,974 on Wednesday. Besides, Nifty also finished at 9,265.15 points, fuelled by sustained foreign fund inflows as well as positive senti- ment of investors in blue-chip firms like RIL and Maruti. Meanwhile, the rupee also staged a stellar come back after a brief pause and hit a fresh 17- month peak of 64.87 by gaining 16 paise against the US dollar on heavy selling of the American currency by banks and exporters. Robust foreign investment inflows and export proceeds con- tinued to give the rupee strong underlying support, despite rela- tively firm greenback overseas. R eacting to BJP leader and Union Minister Jual Oram’s claim on Tuesday that several BJD leaders, including MPs and MLAs, are in touch with the saffron party intending to join it, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said on Wednesday that Oram is indulging in unre- alistic assumptions. “He is indulging in wishful thinking,” said Patnaik to mediapersons here. When asked about the pro- posal of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for formation of a Third Front to counter the BJP, Patnaik said that as the general elections are far away, a decision in this regard cannot be taken now. “I think the general elec- tions are far away to make such decision,” he stated. However, according to political circles, Oram’s claim about possibility of certain BJD leaders joining the BJP is not entirely wrong. In fact, some BJD MPs have been seen regu- larly meet- ing BJP leader and Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan in the Central Hall of Parliament and talking to him, which has been observed by other BJD MPs. They are all eager to talk to the “rising star”, pointed out a BJD MP, who is closely moni- toring the moves of his party colleagues. He said many BJD and Congress leaders are interest- ed in joining the BJP and they also include former MPs and former MLAs. The BJP’s acceptability has increased in Odisha after its remarkable performance in the recent Zilla Parishad polls, he added. Many politicians of other parties have an alternative in the BJP and they can easily join the saffron party. As such, there are large vacancies in the BJP as it does not have ade- quate and effective candidates in all the 147 Assembly and 21 Lok Sabha seats to defeat BJD candidates. C hief Minister Naveen Patnaik is scheduled to go on a long eight-day visit to New Delhi from Thursday. He will return here on April 13. Though the details of Patnaik’s programmes at the national capital were yet to be known, he would attend a meeting of the National Council during his Delhi stay, sources said. He is also likely to meet some Union Ministers in con- nection with certain schemes being implemented in the State. A pparently following popu- lar Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Aditya Nath’s just-announced waiver of agri- culture loans in his State, his Odisha counterpart Naveen Patnaik said on Wednesday that he would “examine the matter (of waiving farmers’ crop loans in the State)”. Besides, Agriculture Minister Pradeep Maharathy also said that the State Government is considering waiver of the farmers’ loans. “The Government is mulling to waive off the farm- ers’ loans. The issue of exemp- tion of crop loans was raised by the Delang block Chairman at a meeting with the Chief Minister (earlier on Wednesday),” Maharathy said, adding that the CM promised to consider the proposal. In fact, CM Patnaik made the assurance to consider waiv- er of farm loans after a meet- ing with the BJD’s winning panchayat leaders of the dis- tricts of Bargarh, the rice bowl of the State, and Puri. The meeting was part of Patnaik’s series of ongoing interactions with his party’s newly-elected panchayat functionaries to assess the party’s substantial losses of seats in the rural polls to the gains of the BJP. Political observers feel the Patnaik Government’s move for waiver of farm loans in the wake of a similar decision in Uttar Pradesh is yet another measure to counter the BJP’s rising influence in Odisha. I n a tragic incident, a woman, her daughter and a minor girl were electrocuted after an over- head 11 KV electric wire snapped in Patabali village under the Tamaka police sta- tion in the district. The deceased were iden- tified as Tilotama Behera (55) and her daughter Sima (22). The incident happened when the duo were standing in front of their house in the village. The minor girl was going to attend tuitions when the live electric wire fell on her. Meanwhile, the irate locals have blocked the road, keeping the dead bodies on it, demanding compensation for the deceased kin and action against the guilty officials for negligence. Senior police and other officials have rushed to the spot. T he State Government on Wednesday renamed the General Administration Department as General Administration and Public Grievances Department by merging the Public Grievances and Pension Administration Department with the GA Department. The State Cabinet, which met under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, approved a proposal in this regard. “As most of the public grievance petitions are being put forth before the Chief Secretary, their monitoring and redressal under the direct supervision of the GA Department will be extremely useful,” Chief Secretary AP Padhi told reporters after the meeting. In two such decisions, the Government changed the name of Panchayati Raj Department into Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water Department. Supply of drinking water is vested in the PR Department. The rename would serve the purpose move effectively, said the Chief Secretary. Similarly, the Government too merged the Mission Shakti programme with the Women and Child Development Department in order to give more focus on women empow- erment. The proposal to lease out 200.435 acres of Government land free of pre- mium and incidental charges to the Indian Institute of Science, Education and Research (IISER) was also approved. The institute would built its permanent campus on the land at Laudigram under Konisi Tehsil in Ganjam district, Padhi said However, the Institute would pay Rs 100 per acre as annual ground rend and cess at 75 per cent of the annual ground rent. Similarly, the Cabinet approved a proposal for one time settlement of arrear of the industrial water rate with the Mahanadi Coalfield Ltd (MCL) subject to withdrawal of vari- ous court cases. While the Central PSU was earlier charge 2 per cent monthly compound interest on arrears bills of the MCL and six times penalty for unautho- rized drawal, excess drawal and drawal below DSL of Hirakud reservoir, the Cabinet set some principles for computing arrears, which include charging of simple interest of 12 per cent per month on principal arrear and allocation of water as per requirement. The principles would be applicable to other Central and State PSUs if they agree for one time settlement, said Padhi. Bhubaneswar: Loudmouth Cooperation and Excise Minister Damodar Rout was once again in news on Wednesday when he said that the coop- erative loans being given to farmers are misused by them on holding their daughters’ marriages, house constructions and even consumption of liquor. Rout said this to reporters in the context of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s statement earlier in the day that he would consider the demand for waiv- er of farmers’ loans for agri- cultural purposes. Rout’s remarks triggered sharp reactions among oppo- sition political parties with Congress leaders warning of agitation if the Minister does not withdraw his anti-farmer stand. PNS C hetan Cheeta, the Commandant of the Centre Reserve Police Force (CRPF), who had sustained nine bullets during an encounter with ter- rorists in Kashmir, made a “miraculous” recovery under the watchful eyes of the critical care experts of AIIMS and was discharged from AIIMS on Wednesday after almost two months of hopsitalisation. The brave officer was flown to AIIMS from Srinagar on February 14 and was admitted at Apex Trauma Centre Srinagar. Doctors attending to him said, he has shown a steely resolve to respond to their intensive med- ical care that went on for close to about two months. Union Minister of State for Home Kiran Rijiju met the officer hours before he was dis- charged from the hospital. Rijiju heaped praise on the never say die CRPF Commander and the team of doctors from AIIMS who made it possible. For the doctors of the AIIMS, Cheeta’s recovery was a miracle as the brave officer was in coma for 16 days and he was admitted in a highly crit- ical condition. Dr Subodh Kumar, Professor of Trauma Surgery at the AIIMS, while announcing his recovery told the journal- ists, it was “nothing short of a miracle”. “Cheeta was in coma for 16 days and spent a month in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). He is fit to be discharged now,” Amit Gupta, Additional Medical Superintendent at the AIIMS Trauma Centre, said. Dr Gupta said the Commanding Officer (CO) of the CRPF’s 45th battalion in Kashmir Valley had suffered bul- let injuries in his brain, right eye, abdomen, both the arms, left hand and in the buttock region. According to doctors, the hope for vision returning to Cheetah’s right eye are “bleak” although his left eye which was also injured due to splinter injuries has been restored. “When he was brought in, he was in coma, had bullet injuries in his head, badly fractured torso and the globe of his eight eye had ruptured,” Gupta said. Home Minister Rajnath Singh took to Twitter to hail the courage of the officer and said he wants to see Cheetah back in action. “Fortune favours the brave. Extremely happy to know that Cheeta has made a miraculous recovery. I thank the team of doctors who have helped Chetan Cheetah in his recovery. Hope to see Cheetah back in action soon,” the Minister said. Rijiju said he was “proud” of the officer. Cheetah, in his short com- ments, said he felt proud when Army Chief Gen Bipin Rawat and Rijiju visited him during his admission at the hospital and recognised his contribution. The team of medical experts and doctors described the treatment provided to him over the last over 1.5 months. “Within 24 hours of admis- sion, surgery was conducted to remove a portion of the skull which had suffered the bullet injury to reduce intra-cranial pressure. After that he under- went multiple surgeries. “Cheetah also developed signs of sepsis due to his wounds which was managed by critical care specialists in ICU. His wounds were regularly debrided,” Subodh said. According to doctors, Cheetah will be left with some amount of disability but with proper rehabilitation and phys- iotherapy will improve over the time. The CO’s wife, Uma Singh, who has been besides her hus- band since the near-fatal encounter, was anxious to take him home after being dis- charged on Wednesday and said “normalcy in our lives will come back once he wears the uniform and goes to office”. Continued on Page 4 Beijing: China warned on Wednesday that it will take “necessary measures” to defend its territorial sovereignty and interests after India “obsti- nately” allowed the Dalai Lama to visit the “disputed” parts of Arunachal Pradesh causing “serious damage” to the bilat- eral ties. China also lodged a protest with India’s Ambassador in Beijing Vijay Gokhale over the Dalai Lama’s visit. However, in New Delhi, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Gopal Baglay said, “We clearly said that the Dalai Lama is a revered reli- gious leader and has visited Arunachal earlier on half a dozen occasions. We also urged that no political colour be ascribed to his religious and spiritual activities and to his visits to states of India, and no artificial controversy created around his ongoing visit.” “India in disregard to China’s concerns obstinately arranged the Dalai Lama’s visit to the disputed part of the east- ern part of China-India border, causing serious damage to China’s interests and China- India relations,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told reporters. China firmly opposes this move, she asserted. “China’s stand on the east- ern part of the borders is con- sistent and clear. India is keen- ly aware of the role played by the 14th Dalai Lama. “Arranging his visit to those sensitive and disputed areas not only runs counter to the Indian side’s commitment to the issues related to Tibet but also escalates disputes over the border area,” she said. Hua stated that it goes against the momentum of the sound growth of bilateral rela- tions and will not benefit India in anyway. “The visit will for sure trigger China’s dissatisfaction. This will not bring any benefit to India,” she said. China will firmly take nec- essary measures to defend its territorial sovereignty and legit- imate rights and interests, Hua asserted. Asked what measures China would take, Hua did not elaborate. “I don’t have much to add. I want to add the issues con- cerning Tibet has a bearing on China’s core interests. India in disregard of China’s concerns obstinately arranged the visit,” she said. “We demand the Indian side immediately stop its actions using the Dalai Lama to undermine China’s interests and not hype up sensitive issues Continued on Page 4 T he Tibetan spiritual leader The Dalai Lama on Wednesday emphatically said that India has never used him against China, remarks that came amid protests by Beijing against his ongoing visit to Arunachal Pradesh. The Dalai Lama also urged China to give Tibet meaning- ful “self-rule” and “autonomy”. “There are many people in China who love India. I am the longest guest of the Indian Government and India has taken full care of me. India has never used me against China. “I am a messenger of the ancient Indian thought and I talk about ahimsa, peace, har- mony and secular ethics wher- ever I go,” the spiritual leader told reporters in Bomdila, on the second day of his week- long visit to the State. He added, “Many Chinese love India but there are some narrow minded politicians as I have mentioned, they con- sider me as a demon.” He also said that there were 400 million people in Tibet who want more autono- my and not independence. “China should give us meaningful autonomy,” he said Meanwhile, the people of the State have welcomed the lama with open arms. The people of Dirang thronged the roads through which The Dalai Lama passed just to get a glimpse of him or touch him. W orried about vanishing jobs and falling revenue in a cash-starved State, the Mamata Banerjee Government on Wednesday displayed the proverbial “will” to find a “way” to bypass the Supreme Court’s ruling banning sale of liquor within a distance of 500 metres from the outer edges of National or State highways. In a spirited, two-pronged strategy, the State Government has declassified 275 km of State highways passing through municipal areas and dubbed them as “arterial” or “munici- pal roads” so that these roads will not be in the purview of the liquor ban order. “Now these roads will be looked after jointly by the municipalities and the PWD,” a senior official said. The second strategy is to relax shifting rules to help bar- cum-liquor shops functioning by the National and State Highways. As part of the strat- egy, the Government has decid- ed to waive the shifting fee should the shop owners decide to relocate their “watering holes” beyond the 500 metre mark. The Government has also waived the license fee and exempted the owners from having to apply for a new license. “The owners will not have to make a new license if they want to shift the shop to a new address. They will be able to continue with the old license,” said the official. This has been done as the SC’s order is not only causing a revenue loss of more than 1,000 crore to the State, but will also render several thou- sand people working in 1,700 closed liquor shops along high- ways, jobless. Continued on Page 4

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With a hope of implementa-tion of Goods and Service

Tax (GST) Bills in the UpperHouse and a sense of squeezingliquidity out of the system in thecentral bank’s monetary policyon Thursday helped the BSESensex hit a high of 30,007.48 inintra-day trading, but finally itended up by 64 points at 29,974on Wednesday. Besides, Niftyalso finished at 9,265.15 points,fuelled by sustained foreign fundinflows as well as positive senti-ment of investors in blue-chipfirms like RIL and Maruti.

Meanwhile, the rupee alsostaged a stellar come back after abrief pause and hit a fresh 17-month peak of 64.87 by gaining16 paise against the US dollar onheavy selling of the Americancurrency by banks and exporters.Robust foreign investmentinflows and export proceeds con-tinued to give the rupee strongunderlying support, despite rela-tively firm greenback overseas.

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Reacting to BJP leader andUnion Minister Jual Oram’s

claim on Tuesday that severalBJD leaders, including MPsand MLAs, are in touch withthe saffron party intending tojoin it, Chief Minister NaveenPatnaik said on Wednesdaythat Oram is indulging in unre-alistic assumptions.

“He is indulging in wishfulthinking,” said Patnaik tomediapersons here.

When asked about the pro-posal of Bihar Chief MinisterNitish Kumar for formation ofa Third Front to counter theBJP, Patnaik said that as thegeneral elections are far away,a decision in this regard cannotbe taken now.

“I think the general elec-tions are far away to make suchdecision,” he stated.

However, according topolitical circles, Oram’s claimabout possibility of certainBJD leaders joining the BJP isnot entirely wrong.

In fact, some BJD MPs

have beenseen regu-larly meet-ing BJPleader andU n i o nM i n i s t e rDharmendra Pradhan in theCentral Hall of Parliament andtalking to him, which has beenobserved by other BJD MPs.

They are all eager to talk tothe “rising star”, pointed out aBJD MP, who is closely moni-toring the moves of his partycolleagues.

He said many BJD andCongress leaders are interest-ed in joining the BJP and theyalso include former MPs andformer MLAs. The BJP’sacceptability has increased inOdisha after its remarkableperformance in the recent ZillaParishad polls, he added.

Many politicians of otherparties have an alternative inthe BJP and they can easily jointhe saffron party. As such,there are large vacancies in theBJP as it does not have ade-quate and effective candidatesin all the 147 Assembly and 21Lok Sabha seats to defeat BJDcandidates.

����� 13 #+.(#$

Chief Minister NaveenPatnaik is scheduled to go

on a long eight-day visit to NewDelhi from Thursday. He willreturn here on April 13.

Though the details ofPatnaik’s programmes at thenational capital were yet to beknown, he would attend ameeting of the NationalCouncil during his Delhi stay,

sources said.He is also likely to meet

some Union Ministers in con-nection with certain schemesbeing implemented in the State.

����� 13 #+.(#$

Apparently following popu-lar Uttar Pradesh Chief

Minister Yogi Aditya Nath’sjust-announced waiver of agri-culture loans in his State, hisOdisha counterpart NaveenPatnaik said on Wednesdaythat he would “examine thematter (of waiving farmers’crop loans in the State)”.

Besides, AgricultureMinister Pradeep Maharathyalso said that the StateGovernment is consideringwaiver of the farmers’ loans.

“The Government ismulling to waive off the farm-ers’ loans. The issue of exemp-tion of crop loans was raised bythe Delang block Chairman ata meeting with the ChiefMinister (earlier onWednesday),” Maharathy said,adding that the CM promisedto consider the proposal.

In fact, CM Patnaik madethe assurance to consider waiv-er of farm loans after a meet-ing with the BJD’s winningpanchayat leaders of the dis-tricts of Bargarh, the rice bowlof the State, and Puri. Themeeting was part of Patnaik’sseries of ongoing interactionswith his party’s newly-electedpanchayat functionaries toassess the party’s substantiallosses of seats in the ruralpolls to the gains of the BJP.

Political observers feel the

Patnaik Government’s movefor waiver of farm loans in thewake of a similar decision inUttar Pradesh is yet anothermeasure to counter the BJP’srising influence in Odisha.

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In a tragic incident, a woman,her daughter and a minor girl

were electrocuted after an over-head 11 KV electric wiresnapped in Patabali villageunder the Tamaka police sta-tion in the district.

The deceased were iden-tified as Tilotama Behera(55) and her daughter Sima(22). The incident happenedwhen the duo were standing

in front of their house in thevillage. The minor girl wasgoing to attend tuitions whenthe live electric wire fell onher.

Meanwhile, the iratelocals have blocked the road,keeping the dead bodies on it,demanding compensation forthe deceased kin and actionagainst the guilty officialsfor negligence. Senior policeand other officials haverushed to the spot.

����� 13 #+.(#$

The State Government onWednesday renamed the

General AdministrationDepartment as GeneralAdministration and PublicGrievances Department bymerging the Public Grievancesand Pension AdministrationDepartment with the GADepartment.

The State Cabinet, whichmet under the chairmanship ofChief Minister Naveen Patnaik,approved a proposal in thisregard. “As most of the publicgrievance petitions are beingput forth before the ChiefSecretary, their monitoring andredressal under the direct

supervision of the GADepartment will be extremelyuseful,” Chief Secretary APPadhi told reporters after themeeting.

In two such decisions, theGovernment changed the nameof Panchayati Raj Departmentinto Panchayati Raj andDrinking Water Department.

Supply of drinking water isvested in the PR Department.The rename would serve thepurpose move effectively, saidthe Chief Secretary.

Similarly, the Governmenttoo merged the Mission Shaktiprogramme with the Womenand Child DevelopmentDepartment in order to givemore focus on women empow-erment. The proposal to leaseout 200.435 acres ofGovernment land free of pre-mium and incidental charges tothe Indian Institute of Science,Education and Research(IISER) was also approved.The institute would built itspermanent campus on the landat Laudigram under Konisi

Tehsil in Ganjam district, Padhisaid However, the Institutewould pay Rs 100 per acre asannual ground rend and cess at75 per cent of the annualground rent.

Similarly, the Cabinetapproved a proposal for onetime settlement of arrear of theindustrial water rate with theMahanadi Coalfield Ltd (MCL)subject to withdrawal of vari-ous court cases.

While the Central PSUwas earlier charge 2 per centmonthly compound intereston arrears bills of the MCL andsix times penalty for unautho-rized drawal, excess drawal anddrawal below DSL of Hirakudreservoir, the Cabinet set someprinciples for computingarrears, which include chargingof simple interest of 12 per centper month on principal arrearand allocation of water as perrequirement.

The principles would beapplicable to other Central andState PSUs if they agree for onetime settlement, said Padhi.

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Bhubaneswar: LoudmouthCooperation and ExciseMinister Damodar Rout wasonce again innews onWednesdaywhen he saidthat the coop-erative loansbeing givento farmers aremisused by them on holdingtheir daughters’ marriages,house constructions and evenconsumption of liquor.

Rout said this to reportersin the context of Chief MinisterNaveen Patnaik’s statementearlier in the day that he wouldconsider the demand for waiv-er of farmers’ loans for agri-cultural purposes.

Rout’s remarks triggeredsharp reactions among oppo-sition political parties withCongress leaders warning ofagitation if the Minister doesnot withdraw his anti-farmerstand. PNS

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Chetan Cheeta, theCommandant of the Centre

Reserve Police Force (CRPF),who had sustained nine bulletsduring an encounter with ter-rorists in Kashmir, made a“miraculous” recovery underthe watchful eyes of the criticalcare experts of AIIMS and wasdischarged from AIIMS onWednesday after almost twomonths of hopsitalisation.

The brave officer was flownto AIIMS from Srinagar onFebruary 14 and was admittedat Apex Trauma Centre Srinagar.Doctors attending to him said,he has shown a steely resolve torespond to their intensive med-ical care that went on for closeto about two months.

Union Minister of State forHome Kiran Rijiju met theofficer hours before he was dis-charged from the hospital. Rijijuheaped praise on the never say

die CRPF Commander andthe team of doctors fromAIIMS who made it possible.

For the doctors of theAIIMS, Cheeta’s recovery wasa miracle as the brave officerwas in coma for 16 days and hewas admitted in a highly crit-ical condition.

Dr Subodh Kumar,Professor of Trauma Surgery atthe AIIMS, while announcinghis recovery told the journal-ists, it was “nothing short of amiracle”.

“Cheeta was in coma for 16days and spent a month in theIntensive Care Unit (ICU). Heis fit to be discharged now,”Amit Gupta, AdditionalMedical Superintendent at theAIIMS Trauma Centre, said.

Dr Gupta said theCommanding Officer (CO) ofthe CRPF’s 45th battalion inKashmir Valley had suffered bul-let injuries in his brain, right eye,abdomen, both the arms, left

hand and in the buttock region.According to doctors, the

hope for vision returning toCheetah’s right eye are “bleak”although his left eye which wasalso injured due to splinterinjuries has been restored.“When he was brought in, hewas in coma, had bullet injuriesin his head, badly fracturedtorso and the globe of his eighteye had ruptured,” Gupta said.

Home Minister RajnathSingh took to Twitter to hail thecourage of the officer and saidhe wants to see Cheetah backin action. “Fortune favours thebrave. Extremely happy toknow that Cheeta has made amiraculous recovery. I thankthe team of doctors who havehelped Chetan Cheetah in hisrecovery. Hope to see Cheetahback in action soon,” theMinister said.

Rijiju said he was “proud”of the officer.

Cheetah, in his short com-ments, said he felt proud whenArmy Chief Gen Bipin Rawatand Rijiju visited him during hisadmission at the hospital andrecognised his contribution.

The team of medicalexperts and doctors describedthe treatment provided to himover the last over 1.5 months.

“Within 24 hours of admis-sion, surgery was conducted toremove a portion of the skullwhich had suffered the bulletinjury to reduce intra-cranialpressure. After that he under-went multiple surgeries.

“Cheetah also developedsigns of sepsis due to hiswounds which was managed bycritical care specialists in ICU.His wounds were regularlydebrided,” Subodh said.

According to doctors,Cheetah will be left with someamount of disability but withproper rehabilitation and phys-iotherapy will improve overthe time.

The CO’s wife, Uma Singh,who has been besides her hus-band since the near-fatalencounter, was anxious to takehim home after being dis-charged on Wednesday andsaid “normalcy in our lives willcome back once he wears theuniform and goes to office”.

Continued on Page 4

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Beijing: China warned onWednesday that it will take“necessary measures” to defendits territorial sovereignty andinterests after India “obsti-nately” allowed the Dalai Lamato visit the “disputed” parts ofArunachal Pradesh causing“serious damage” to the bilat-eral ties.

China also lodged a protestwith India’s Ambassador inBeijing Vijay Gokhale over theDalai Lama’s visit.

However, in New Delhi,External Affairs MinistrySpokesperson Gopal Baglaysaid, “We clearly said that theDalai Lama is a revered reli-gious leader and has visitedArunachal earlier on half adozen occasions. We also urgedthat no political colour beascribed to his religious andspiritual activities and to hisvisits to states of India, and noartificial controversy createdaround his ongoing visit.”

“India in disregard toChina’s concerns obstinatelyarranged the Dalai Lama’s visitto the disputed part of the east-ern part of China-India border,causing serious damage toChina’s interests and China-India relations,” ChineseForeign Ministry spokesperson

Hua Chunying told reporters.China firmly opposes this

move, she asserted.“China’s stand on the east-

ern part of the borders is con-sistent and clear. India is keen-ly aware of the role played bythe 14th Dalai Lama.

“Arranging his visit tothose sensitive and disputedareas not only runs counter tothe Indian side’s commitmentto the issues related to Tibet butalso escalates disputes over theborder area,” she said.

Hua stated that it goesagainst the momentum of thesound growth of bilateral rela-tions and will not benefit Indiain anyway.

“The visit will for suretrigger China’s dissatisfaction.This will not bring any benefitto India,” she said.

China will firmly take nec-essary measures to defend itsterritorial sovereignty and legit-imate rights and interests, Huaasserted.

Asked what measures

China would take, Hua did notelaborate.

“I don’t have much to add.I want to add the issues con-cerning Tibet has a bearing onChina’s core interests. India indisregard of China’s concernsobstinately arranged the visit,”she said.

“We demand the Indianside immediately stop itsactions using the Dalai Lama toundermine China’s interestsand not hype up sensitive issues

Continued on Page 4

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The Tibetan spiritual leaderThe Dalai Lama on

Wednesday emphatically saidthat India has never used himagainst China, remarks thatcame amid protests by Beijingagainst his ongoing visit toArunachal Pradesh.

The Dalai Lama also urgedChina to give Tibet meaning-ful “self-rule” and “autonomy”.

“There are many peoplein China who love India. I amthe longest guest of the IndianGovernment and India hastaken full care of me. Indiahas never used me againstChina.

“I am a messenger of theancient Indian thought and Italk about ahimsa, peace, har-mony and secular ethics wher-ever I go,” the spiritual leadertold reporters in Bomdila, on

the second day of his week-long visit to the State.

He added, “Many Chineselove India but there are somenarrow minded politicians asI have mentioned, they con-sider me as a demon.”

He also said that therewere 400 million people inTibet who want more autono-

my and not independence.“China should give us

meaningful autonomy,” he said Meanwhile, the people of

the State have welcomed thelama with open arms. Thepeople of Dirang thronged theroads through which The DalaiLama passed just to get aglimpse of him or touch him.

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Worried about vanishingjobs and falling revenue

in a cash-starved State, theMamata Banerjee Governmenton Wednesday displayed the

proverbial “will” to find a “way”to bypass the Supreme Court’sruling banning sale of liquorwithin a distance of 500 metresfrom the outer edges ofNational or State highways.

In a spirited, two-prongedstrategy, the State Governmenthas declassified 275 km ofState highways passing throughmunicipal areas and dubbedthem as “arterial” or “munici-pal roads” so that these roadswill not be in the purview of theliquor ban order.

“Now these roads will be

looked after jointly by themunicipalities and the PWD,”a senior official said.

The second strategy is torelax shifting rules to help bar-cum-liquor shops functioningby the National and StateHighways. As part of the strat-egy, the Government has decid-ed to waive the shifting feeshould the shop owners decideto relocate their “watering holes”beyond the 500 metre mark.

The Government has alsowaived the license fee andexempted the owners from

having to apply for a newlicense. “The owners will nothave to make a new license ifthey want to shift the shop toa new address. They will beable to continue with the oldlicense,” said the official.

This has been done as theSC’s order is not only causinga revenue loss of more than�1,000 crore to the State, butwill also render several thou-sand people working in 1,700closed liquor shops along high-ways, jobless.

Continued on Page 4

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The best thing that the BJPhas done is to have installed

a swami as the Chief Ministerof Uttar Pradesh. Aditya Nathis a highly literate person whohas been five timesParliamentarian since 1998.He was the youngest MP thenat only a tender age of 26.Aditya Nath is a graduate andunderstands the dignity andnuances of lawmaking muchbetter than so many otherwisepopular politicians. To be hon-est, I assess Swami Aditya Nathwould make a far superior face

than Narendra Modi mainlybecause he is gentle, suave andhumble and never rantsrhetoric sporting expensivesuits and specs and waving theangled fingers symbolising vic-tory at people for long minuteson end. Aditya Nath is so per-fect in human judgement thathe lost no time in waving offthe farmers loan of �36,000 tobenefit the rural folks sufferingfor long, more so as it was anelection promise. He wascourageous enough further toorder closure of all the illegalslaughter houses across UPonly to ensure cows are notkilled for the dining tablesindiscriminately. Not surpris-ingly, many Muslim clerics toohave extended support to him.Maybe, they are true Muslimswho know animals, particularlythose that give milk, are to beprotected. Further, bovine meatpromotes and nurtures thetape worms that kill humans bycausing deadly diseases.

Yogi Aditya Nath has goneeven one step further to makesure unruly, vulgar youngmales are taken to task forharassing young women instreets. Catcalls or sexualassault of any kind cannot

occur anymore. UP has longbeen defamed as a free play-ground for criminals, rapistsand thugs of all kinds. The newChief Minister has very care-fully organised a street Romeo-control outfit to have younggirls moving freely and fear-lessly even in dark. AdityaNath’s attendance in Lok Sabhawas 77 per cent and he hasasked 284 questions, partici-pated in 56 debates and intro-duced three private memberBills in the 16th Lok Sabha. Butcricketer millionaire SachinTendulkar, who was givenBharat Ratna, along with show-piece Rekha, has broughtshame to the Rajya Sabha byignoring sessions withoutremorse or regret even once.For sure, Swami Aditya Nath isa great source of joy for Indians.He is certain to leave trails tobe followed with mass pressure.

Delhi Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal has of courseerred on the high moral groundby trying to misuse publicmoney to foot private legal bills.All hell has broken lose, butstrangely, he is as yet not bend-ing down and saying, “Sorry, Iwas wrong”. This single sinmight cost him dearly, and

soon enough. He used to be theonly star in the Aam AadmiParty (AAP) outfit. Sidhu couldhave been another. But thecelebrity cricketer chose theCongress for availing tickets for‘self and wife’, which Kejriwalhad rightly turned down. Nowthat Kejriwal is losing ground,the AAP may disintegrate likethe AIADMK has just beenreduced to dust. Kejriwalmoved Delhi residents by keep-

ing the promise of free waterand cheap electricity. He shouldhave better concentrated ongetting a police force of his ownand making Delhi a full-fledged State with all powers.Hopefully, he will realise hiserrors and make good theblunders. But it’s true thatSidhu will not have a good timenor Captain Amarinder Singh.There is no way the Punjab CMcould have permitted the Sidhuthe Minister to keep taking partin the television comedy showwhich is cheap and oftentimesvulgar and obscene where aMinister should have no busi-ness at all as a participant.Strangely, Amarinder permits

Sidhu to act low and makemoney instead of concentratingon public affairs and issueswhich is a 24-hour job. Sidhuhas been permitted because hesays that’s his only source ofincome, which is plain crap. AnMP in India makes loads ofmoney by way of salary andperks beyond logic, and the ben-efits are incalculable. Besides, it’snot clear where the cricket andcomedy show millions could

have gone so soon. Sidhu is crazyto eat the cake and have it too.Sidhu and Amarinder will bringthe gasping Congress some ter-rible infamy for certain.

Odisha is a State with amagical Chief Minister whodoes not talk too much, forwhich opponents and detrac-tors blame him. NaveenPatnaik is invincible even todaybecause the star power he pos-sesses is unimaginably great,and the BJP has no matchwhatsoever. The BJD is a one-man show and the rest in theparty are pure beneficiarieswithout contribution. If bychance Naveen abandons pol-itics, the BJD will evaporate like

water on a frying pan. All thesame, the BJP, despite someimpressive gain in a few pock-ets of the State, has no businessto be complacent. The pan-chayat elections do not con-clusively indicate people’smood. The BJP has to have aface for Odisha, andDharmendra Pradhan is notthe one. Just a couple days ago,Jual Oram kept screaming thatthe BJD is breaking down intopieces, which is not true. Asmall fraction has expresseddispleasure which gives scope tothe high command headed bya true supremo to mend waysand devise means to make allhappy and get closer to thehearts of the masses. BaijayantPanda has done big service byexposing some core truth aboutthe party. But that doesn’t meanthe BJD is crumbling down.

However, one truth hasemerged: Most of the BJDleaders have become arrogantand callous, which could bringa setback unless the supremobeats them down to humility.Even today, a poor villagewoman is coughing out 20thousand rupees for her IndiraAwas. The engineers and theBDOs, the field-level adminis-

trators, and even top-levelbureaucrats making criticaldecisions are happy with cor-rupt practices. The BJD hasbeen given the best opportunityby God to serve a poor State.The best way is to give the lota complete overhaul. Anyleader promoting own childrenmust be dropped; all leadersonce blamed publicly for arro-gance must be put to rest; any-one talking too much or engag-ing in transfers and postingsmust go home never to becalled back again. Jual Oram iswrong, but that most BJD lead-ers must be dismissed is atruth the high command musttake note of. Then only wouldthe BJD return to power witha huge majority like the lasttime; or else, a thin victory andthen disintegration for sure.Naveen has lately becomemore sociable than before.Mayurbhanj proved difficultfor the BJD only because thelocal politicians were eithercallous or arrogant. The BJPhad its roots growing there forlong. The BJD biggies hadread the region wrong. Theyhad never assessed the repu-tation of the local leaders whohad irked the people so much

as not brought on record.Sudan Marandi needs to wakeup and behave like a simpletribal aborigin, which he haslong since ceased to be with hisglaring wealth and defamedcompany. Peculiarly, the illit-erate politicians and irrespon-sible media are never losing anopportunity to mislead people.Gita Mehta, Naveen Patnaik’selder sister, made a private visitto home. But the rumour mon-gers made her, the ChiefMinister and some others senther to the Rajya Sabha. As if norelative of any politician has aprivate life! Naveen shouldhave kept quiet rather thanexplain to people that his sis-ter is famous enough and lovesto remain a sister at home; shehas no political ambitions at all.Naveen has to send a real goodperson, not a political leader tothe Rajya Sabha who at leastunderstands the Constitutionalspirit. Then only will he do jus-tice to the elevated post. Heshould not be a Tendulkar-typegut to bring bad name to theState.

(The writer is a core mem-ber of TransparencyInternational, Odisha)

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Looking at the spurt of activ-ities of the Left Wing

Extremists (LWEs), the StateGovernment is working out adetailed deployment plan forthe forces and creation of secu-rity infrastructure in the Redzones.

As the Maoists are trying toimprove their presence in mod-erately and marginally affectedareas by creating violence, theState Government is busy in anexercise to deploy more num-ber of forces in the affectedareas, said official sources.

Suspected Maoists trig-gered blasts at Doikallu railwaystation in Rayagada districton March 31 and abducted acouple of railway officialsbefore they were allowed to go.

The assailants snatched afew walkie talkies used by therailway staff. However, no rail-way staff or local people wereinjured. In fact, these Ultraswere trying to generate fear

psychosis and make their pres-ence felt in moderately affect-ed areas of Rayagada.

For last few years, theB an s a d h ar a - G hu mu s ar-Nagavali Divison of CPI(Maoist) was dormant andnow it has raised its tentacles.Looking at the situation, theState Government is not takingany chances and making all outefforts to ensure safety for thecivilians, said sources in theDepartment of Home.

Accordingly deploymentand redeployment of forcesboth Central Police ArmedForces (CAPF) and State policeforces are being worked outand soon these forces will bedeployed.

While Odisha has got 17Battalions of Central forcesand one CoBRA Battalion invarious Red zones, fresh lookis being taken to deploymentof forces. Where ever it isnecessary, redeployment willbe done, pointed out a seniorofficial in the HomeDepartment.

In order to expedite thecreation of security infra-structure, the State

Government has decided toform district level land alien-ation committee headed by thedistrict Collector with the SPand the CAPF authorities aswell as field officials of theOdisha State Police HousingWelfare Corporation (OSPH-WC) as members.

This committee will expe-ditiously settle the land relatedissues, which take a lot of time,so that time can be saved to cre-ate security infrastructure.

In fact, the OSPHWC isfast tracking creation of secu-rity infrastructure in the Stateand formation of such com-mittee will expedite the matter,officials say.

While BSF is setting up itstactical headquarters in theState, the CRPF is also runningits State headquarters in theState and is also setting up anew Battalion headquarters inKalahandi. Now Kalahandi hasturned out to be a soft targetof the Maoists.

So more forces deploy-ment in the Maoist affectedareas is being planned out andit will be done in an expedi-tious manner, said sources.

+�����������.�������

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Nearly 16,000 examinershave begun evaluating the

answer sheets of the Plus TwoExaminations, conducted bythe Council of HigherSecondary Education (CHSE)in the State on Wednesday.

The entire evaluationprocess would be held in twophases, from April 5 to 14 andfrom April 17 to 26, informedCHSE Deputy Controller ofExaminations Prabodh Panda.

The examination papers

of Science and Commercestreams wouldl be evaluatedonline through e-evaluationprocess while those of of Artsand Vocational streams wouldbe evaluated offline. Out ofthe 51 centres, e-valuationwouldl be conducted at 32centres.

While the results ofScience stream would bedeclared in May second week,results of Arts, Commerceand Vocational streams wouldbe announced in June firstweek, Panda said.

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Twenty-one students of theKalinga Institute of Social

Sciences (KISS) have baggedjobs in the TCS through cam-pus placement. All students arepursuing their graduation inthe Science, Arts andCommerce streams.

So many students beingselected through campus place-ment from a tribal institutionin one attempt is a matter ofdiscussion in the corporateworld. This success bringscheers among the students,their families and the tribalcommunity as a whole as it willbe helpful for the socioeco-nomic development of theirfamilies and next generation.

Tribal students not only getbest education at the KISS, butthey also are successful in get-ting jobs in Government, pri-vate and corporate sectors.

Congratulating the suc-

cessful students, KIIT and KISSFounder Dr Achyuta Samantasaid tribal students are as intel-ligent as the students of thegeneral category; and if goodenvironment and proper guid-ance are provided to them, theycan excel in any field. The KISShas provided them a beautifulenvironment and proper andtimely guidance of teachersmake them successful in everyfield, he added.

KISS students have alsocleared various All IndiaEntrance Tests and securedadmission in prestigious insti-tutions like IITs, IIMs andNITs. Expressing their plea-sure, parents of these studentssaid their children could getthis success only because ofproper care of the KISS. Earlier,15 KISS students bagged jobsin multinationals likeCognizant, Infosys, etc.

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In view of the increasinguntoward incidents in the

premises of the Government-run health institutions likemanhandling of doctors andstaffs, the State Government onWednesday decided to instalCCTV cameras at all theGovernment-run hospitals toprevent law and order situa-tion.

Health and Family WelfareSecretary Dr Pramod Kumar

Meherda in a letter to all dis-trict Collectors asked them toadhere to the eight points tocheck any untoward incidentsin hospital premises.

“CCTV cameras are to beinstalled at vital locations of thehospital for monitoring of theactivities in the hospital.Visitors’ pass is to be intro-duced for the indoor patients.Two entry passes are to beissued per patent for attendingthe patient during the officialvisiting hour and the atten-dants entering the ward shouldbe frisked out by the internalsecurity guards. All the regu-lar and contractual employeesof the hospital should be pro-vided with a identity card.The entry of the general pub-

lic and the vehicles are to beregulated strictly to stop thethoroughfare,” stated the letter.

This apart, the Collectorshave been asked to ensureinstall signage highlighting theOdisha Medicare ServicesInstitutions (Prevention ofViolence and Damage ofProperty) Act, 2008 in front ofthe hospitals. Two securityhubs would be deployed at thecrowded departments of theDHHs.

The Collectors have alsobeen asked to develop a pub-lic redressal system in whichthe aggrieved attendants wouldapproach the ADMO(Medical) and Medical Officersat the time of need rather tak-ing the law into their hands.

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The deposition and record-ing of statements of the wit-

nesses in the sensationalGumudumuha policeencounter incident, before theJustice Janab MohammedAjmal Commission of Inquirybegan on Wednesday.

On the first day SpecialOperations Group (SOG)Commandant NilakantaKanhar and InvestigatingOfficer Phulbani SDPOPrabhat Chandra Panigrahideposed before the AjmalCommission and narrated

their version of the encounterat the Phulbani District Court.A total of 16 affidavits havebeen filed before theCommission so far.

Notably, five tribals, trav-elling in an auto rickshawwere killed in the firing by thesecurity forces, who had sus-pected them to be Maoists.

The incident created afurore in the State and theopposition parties and varioustribal outfits raised a hue andcry over the incident. Then theState Government formed thecommission to probe into theincident.

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-���.��+0 �������&���������� Cuttack: The Tuesday night’s

blast toll in a cracker manu-facturing unit in Cuttack Sadarwent up to two on Wednesdaywhen a 70-year-old womansustaining over 90 per centburn injuries succumbed to herinjuries while undergoing treat-ment at the SCB MedicalCollege Hospital here.

The woman’s granddaugh-ter Subhashree Sahu (17) hadbeen received dead in the hos-pital late on Tuesday nightsoon after crackers went off inSubash Sahu’s unit located atvillage Sainso under theCuttack Sadar police station.

Police said another memberof the family; also a teen-agedgirl, is currently undergoingtreatment in the burn unit ofthe hospital in a critical con-dition. “She has received over70 per cent burn injuries,”said local ACP Nimai CharanSethi.

Reports said the crackerunit run by Subash at his vil-lage was an old and reputedone. “Although the cause ofthe mishap is not known yet,we are going to verify theunit’s licence and examinewhat safety measures were inplace,” Sethi said. PNS

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The ongoing agitation bythe employees of private

bus owners was called off onWednesday, informed NilagiriMotor Karmachari Sangh lead-ers to mediapersons. But theissue of plying of buses on thePuri-Cuttack route was notresolved yet.

The issue crept up follow-ing a dispute over the timing ofplying of buses between Puriand Cuttack. Bus owners atCuttack detained a number ofPuri buses while some Cuttackowners’ buses were alsodetained at Puri. The employ-

ees alleged that they wereabused at Cuttack. In protest,they stopped working forCuttack-bound buses. Theyintensified their agitation fur-ther as the administration didnot take any steps to address

their grievance.Plying of buses to all the

routes including the touristtransport brought the move-ment to a grinding halt.Passengers, daily commutersand tourists were put toimmense difficulty. OnWednesday, after discussionswith the RTA and the districtSuperintendent of Police, theagitation was called off.

However, their originalcomplaint of ill treatment andharassment by the Cuttacktransport operators remainsunaddressed. Police assuredthem to look into their com-plaints, it was learnt.

����� 13 #+.(#$

The definition of civilisationhas undergone changes in

the wake of people across theglobe now going materialistic,and art and culture can save thepresent world from furtherdegradation.

National School of DramaChairperson Dr Ratan Thiyamopined this while addressing

the 5th Convocation of theUniversity of Culture held hereon Wednesday. Governor andChancellor of Universities DrSC Jamir and Tourism andCulture Minister graced asguests.

“In the present materialis-tic world, money and militarypower have gained promi-nence. Hence, everyone has tobe conscious about the basicphilosophy of life and shouldwork towards the developmentof human civilization,” addedThiyam. The Governor stressedthat every citizen should pro-tect his own culture in order toprotect his own society. He

expressed satisfaction withregard to the role played by theuniversity in propagation andpreservation of Indian Culture.

Jamir expected that stu-dents passing out of the uni-versity would be embedded to

the values of trustworthiness,honesty and integrity.

Minister Panda assuredthat Government would pro-vide all support for the growthof the university.

Among others, Vice-

Chancellor Prof Kamala KantMishra, Registrar Dr SumanDas and PG Council ChairmanProf Jagannath Kuanr werepresent. On this occasion,Honorary DLitt was conferredon five eminent persons. Theyare Dr Thiyam, eminent litter-ateur Rajat Kumar Kar, Odishimusic exponent Guru GopalChandra Panda, film-makerManmohan Mahapatra andfolk artist Pandit GhasiramMishra. Besides, 59 studentswho secured top positions indifferent Post-Graduate andUnder Graduate examinationswere awarded with goldmedals.

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Two separate road accidentsin the State on Wednesday

claimed lives of four personsbesides injuring three others.

Two persons died andthree others sustained criticalinjuries when a Tata Wingervan hit two motorcycles nearHatibari under the Jujumurapolice limits in Sambalpur dis-trict.

According to reports, thevan, which was on its way toSambalpur from Redhakhol,hit a bike in its rear. Three per-sons were travelling by thebike. While one of them, SunilPradhan, died on the spot,two others were seriouslyinjured. The driver of the vanaccelerated the vehicle in a bidto escape from the spot afterthe accident but ended up hit-ting another two-wheeler by

which two persons were trav-elling. As a result, a youth diedand another person was criti-cally injured.

In another mishap, twoyouths were killed when atruck hit a motorcycle on NH-55 near Bamur in Angul dis-trict. The deceased were iden-tified as Manoranjan Pradhan

and Lipu Rout, police sourcessaid.

Reports said the victimshad sustained head injuriesand were to be admitted tothe Kishannagar hospital byFire Ser vice personnel .However, both succumbedto their injuries on the way tothe hospital.

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Even as two months are to gofor the current summer to

end, Subarnapur district hasalready turned out to be a caul-dron with mercury refusing toplummet below 40 degreeCelsius.

People are apprehending toexperience more hot andparched days in coming days.

The temperature in thetown was recorded at 40 degreeCelsius on Sunday while it washovering around 43.8 degree inthe last three days.

While the natural watersources are drying up, villagersin many villages are now strug-gling to get even a bucket ofwater. Villagers of Sargaj gram

panchayat under Tarbha blockare already feeling the pangs ofwater scarcity, despite the factthat a lot of money being spentby the Government.

A large number of womenof Sargaj GP recently stageda demonstration at the blockoffice with empty bucketsand pitchers. They submitteda memorandum to BDOPrasanna Pande demandingimmediate steps for supplyof water to the GP.

The BDO soon held ameeting with Ward MembersSuresh Chandra Behera andRima Rana, EO AnakarSahu, GRS Gauri ShankarMishra and Lineman SunilMugri over the matter andassured the villagers thatnew water supply pipelinesto be erected soon andbefore that water would besupplied trough tankers.Then, villagers withdrew thestrike.

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The Odisha State HumanRights Commission hear-

ing a case transferred to it bythe National Human RightsCommission (NHRC), hassought an action taken reportfrom the ADG Prisons andDirector of CorrectionalServices and the BrahmapurSP on the case of under trialprisoner (UTP) being criticallyhurt in a gang war inBrahmapur Jail on December26, 2015.

The SHRC asked theaforesaid authorities to submita report by March 31, 2017 onan UTP Hari Behera beinginjured in a gang war due tothe negligence of the jailauthorities and being treatedat the MKCG Medical CollegeHospital. The human rights

body wanted to know the fateof the case (No 198/2015)registered in Baidyanathpur PSand if any FF has been sub-mitted in the case.

Similarly, in another peti-tion filed by a rights activistSangeeta Swain with theNHRC and later transferred tothe OHSRC, the Commissionhas sought a report from theAD G Pr isons and theJagatsinghpur district on thegroup clash in Alipingal Jailin Jagats inghpur onSeptember 7,2015, whichallegedly has been sup-pressed at behest of the SPviolating human rights bythe jail and jail authorities.The OSHRC sought anaction taken report by March20, 2017 from the ADG pris-ons as wel l as theJagatsinghpur SP.

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In the wake of the SupremeCourt’s direction banning

sale of liquor within 500 metrefrom the National and StateHighways from April 1,attempts made by some retail-ers to shift their wine shops toresidential and posh areas hastriggered strong resentmentsamong locals and worried thedistrict administration.

According to information,a wine shop run by an influ-ential person at the Old Busstand here is planned to berelocated in the New Barracks

Street (road opposite toBrahmapur Stadium), which ishardly 50 metres away from theexisting place and unlikely tofulfill the SC norm.

Locals have expressedstrong resentments over relo-cation of the wine shop in theirarea. They alleged that theliquor shop is going to be relo-cated in the knowledge of localauthorities. Significantly, formerMinister Surja Narayan Patroand former Assembly DeputySpeaker Rama Chandra Panda’sresidences and the GanjamDistrict BJP office are located inBarracks Streets.

“Sale of liquor will certainlyconvert the VIP zone into aplace of wicked elements,” saida local person. He said resi-dents would soon submit amemorandum to the districtCollector requesting him tostop relocation of the shop. If

the demands are not met, thelocals would take to the street,he threatened.

Since the nearbyGandhinagar Square hasalready become a center of anti-social elements during dark,the proposed relocation wouldaggravate the situation andbreak harmony, he appre-hended.

Meanwhile, villagers ofMandiapalli underRangailunda block had agitat-ed against such a move two daysback. The owner of a wineshop was forced to banish hisproposal of relocation, sourcessaid.

“We would not allow open-ing of wine shops in our area.We warned the local adminis-tration and Excise Departmentto either close down the wineshop or face strong protests,”said a social worker.

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The foreign liquor (FL) shopowners all over Nuapada

district are facing stiff opposi-tion from people, particularlywomen, for shifting the shopsto residential areas.

Women of Sakhatar andGodtar villages had destroyedand burnt a FL shop shifted totheir locality a few days ago.Women of Komna had alsoopposed the shifting of a shopon Saturday last.

The women of SantinagarPada of Khariar NAC led bythe Khariar Yuva Morchademonstrated in front of aliquor shop on Tuesday andraised slogans against the dis-trict administration, which inspite of objections from people,

had granted permission forshifting of the shop to the res-idential area. The ExciseDepartment was forced to sealthe shop after it was clear thatthe women are not going tobudge from their stand.

“We are not able to come

out of our houses due to thenuisances created by drunk-ards here. They sit in ourverandas, drink and even peein front of the doors. Can youbear such excesses,” asks awidow of Santi Nagar, livingadjacent to the FL shop.

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Residents of the RedhakholNAC and the nearby Burda

gram panchayat have stronglyopposed the proposals foropening of new foreign andcountry liquor shops at differ-ent places in the town and sub-urbs.

A large number of peopleled by Burda Sarpanch PanchaliMahakud and NAC CouncillorAditya Narayan Pradhan metthe Sub-Collector and urgedhim to stop the proposals asthey don’t fulfill ExciseDepartment norms.

They alleged that the placeschosen for establishment o fliquor shops are close toschools, temples and residen-tial area. Moreover, manyGovernment offices, includ-ing a SBI Branch, are near aproposed place.

“As proposed places are notat all suitable for liquor shops,we urged the Sub-Collector tostop all such proposals withimmediate effect,” said AnitaBehera and Laxman Pradhan.They alleged that the localadministration has planned toopen a liqour shop on the sideof the main road along theBurda gram panchayat.

“It is sure that innocentpeople will be the victims of thedrunkards. We requested theSub-Collector to respect thepeople’s demand,” SarpanchPanchalai Behera.

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The 54th National MaritimeDay was observed with

much gusto by the Paradip PortTrust (PPT) on April 5(Wednesday). PPT ChairmanRinkesh Roy unfurled theNational Maritime Day flag ata function held at the port’s WetBasin in the morning.

Roy elucidated on theimportance of the MaritimeDay and emphasised on thecurrent challenges and oppor-tunities for the maritime tradein India. He appreciated theperformance of the ParadipPort, especially of the MarineDepartment, as the best fortheir prompt and efficientmarine services.

During FY 2016-17, thePPT handled 88.95 milliontonnes of cargo and retainedthe second position amongst allthe Major Ports in the countrywith an annual growth rate of16.5%, which is the highestachievement in the PPT’s his-tory. He called upon the PPTofficers and employees to con-tribute same in next fiscal alsoso that the PPT would hit thetarget of 100 million tonnes incargo handling.

PPT Deputy Chairman NVaiyapuri also impressed uponthe PPT officers and employ-

ees to aim at the magic figureof 100 MT in cargo handling.Capt. PPT DeputyConservator Paul N Joseph,presiding over the function,said April 5 is celebrated as theNational Maritime Daybecause history was created onthis day in 1919 when the firstIndian-owned ship SS Loyaltysai led from Bombay toLondon.

Guest of honour Capt OPPaul (Retd.) was felicitated onthe occasion.

Several competit ionsrelating to marine jobs were

conducted among PPTemployees, ladies present onthe occasion, Indian CoastGuard, CISF and the traineesof Orissa Maritime Academy.Besides, Swachh BharatAwards were given to CME,Dy. CE and Marine Dept.Establishment Section for themonth of April for keepingtheir offices neat and clean.Chairman Roy gave away theprizes to the winners. In theevening, a seminar was organ-ised at the Officer’s Club withthe theme “Connecting Indiathrough Shipping”.

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Police on the wee hours ofWednesday arrested noto-

rious criminal Santosh Beheraafter a shootout. Santosh waswanted in a number of extor-tion and bombing cases invarious police stations inGanjam district.

The police had a tipoffabout Santosh and his associ-ates movement on motorbikesin Poirasi, Chotabasa,Kainchapur and Khandadeuli

area and a team led by the IICsof Ramba, Sergada and Hinjili,chased and intercepted themnear village Poirasi.

The accused, who weremoving in two motorbikes,spotting the police team firedat them. The police, in selfdefence fired back. Santoshwas hit with a bullet on thethigh during the encounterand was rounded up. However,another accused BijayaMoharana alias Mantu man-aged to escape from the spot

taking advantage of the dark-ness. The Hinjili PS IIC alsoreceived injuries on his leftelbow and a constable CheneyaReddy was hit by a bullet on hisleft abdomen. The police recov-ered two black Pulsar motor-cycles, a country made mouser,two bullets, five bombs and twomobile phones from theencounter site. Santosh wasrushed to the Ramba hospitaland later shifted to MKCGMedical College Hospital afterhis condition deteriorated.

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The Jeypore Sadar police onTuesday busted a highway

robbers’ gang and arrested sixpersons while they were plan-ning to commit a dacoity. Twomembers of the gang managedto give the police a slip.

On a tipoff, a police teamled by Jeypore Sadar PS IICNirmal Kumar Mohapatraswooped down on the spotwhere the eight miscreantswere planning the loot. Seeingthe police team, two of themfled from the spot.

The police arrested sixmembers of the gang andseized two cars, three swords,three iron rods, six mobilephones and five lathis fromtheir possession.

A police team led by IICNirmal Kumar Mohapatraswooped down on the spotwhere the eight miscreantswere planning the loot. Seeingthe police team, two of themfled from the spot.

The police nabbed MaisinKhan (32), Saheb Khan (36),Bhuru Khan (35), Jyoti BhusanBehera (26), Sudhansu Jual(26) and Santosh Reddy (27).A manhunt was launched tonab the other gang memberswho are still at large, saidpolice sources.

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Intensifying demand for asecond Kendriya Vidyalaya

(KV) in Baleswar, BalasoreDevelopment Forum,(BDF)has embarked on an indefinitehunger strike in front of thedistrict Collectorate onWednesday.

The agitators, besidesdemanding opening of a sec-ond KV, also demanded a noti-fication for admission from thecurrent academic session in thenew KV.

Many social activists andpeople across various walks oflife also joined the agitators.

“There is a massivedemand for KV education inBaleswar. One KV is just inad-equate to cater to the require-ment and demand in view ofpresence of a large number ofDefence and CentralGovernment units,” said BDFpresident Bikram Panda.

“The demand while hasbeen made from various quar-ters for last 10 years, yet noth-ing is achieved even after assur-ances,” he lamented. DistrictCollector Pramod Das saidthings are expedited and most

likely it would be materializedsoon.

“Although we had givenadvance possession of a patchof land of around 10 acres,identifying and ratifying thesuitability by the KV authori-ties under Remuna block, yetthe KV authorities wantedlease deed in favour of them.After following the procedure,the file has already been sent tothe Additional Commissioner.Most likely by this month endthe approval would be accord-ed,” said Das.

“In the meantime, we haveidentified a multipurposecyclone rehabilitation centre in

Remuna from where the classcan start from the current aca-demic session. To make theschool operational, we mayhave to mobile funds to pro-cure required infrastructure,equipment, including, chair,table and desk etc,” he said.

Local MP RK Jena saidthat he was optimistic ofbeginning of the second KVfrom this session. “I had dis-cussions with both theMinisters, Smruti Irani andPrakask Javedkar regardingthe demand. I was assured ofan early settlement of the issue.Further, if the KV authoritiesaccord approval from this year,

I would extend possible helpfor procurement of basicgoods,” said Jena.

About 4 years ago, the KVauthorities had announcedthat the second KV would beestablished keeping in view ofgrowing demands here. Thefirst KV was established in1972 when the population ofthe district was about 5-6 lakhand with the population reach-ing about 23 lakh, the demandhas been multiplied.

“The district administra-tion has expedited the process.Hopefully, some positive thingwould happen,” said KVPrincipal SK Behera.

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Diptiranjan Pradhan (10), son of JitendraPradhan of Sankili village, was injured on

his right palm after a mobile phone explod-ed in his hand when he was putting it tocharge.

This incident occurred in Hinjadola vil-lage under Purunakote police limits. Soon hewas rushed to the Angul District HeadquartersHospital. But the condition of the palm was socritical that he was to be referred to the SCBMedical College and Hospital in Cuttack.

According to the doctors, he has about 70per cent burns in his right hand and has to under-go a surgery. Diptiranjan was on a visit to hismaternal uncle’s house in Hinjadola village.

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Baleswar: The Town policearrested two persons wanted inconnection with murder of a22-year-old youth on March 3in the town over old enmity.

The arrestees have beenidentified as RajendraBarik(38) and DambarudharDas (21) of Patrapada village.The duo were on the run aftercommitting the crime, werenabbed from Jaleswar railwaystation. Three mobile phoneswere seized from their posses-sion, said districtSuperintendent of Police NitiSekhar in a Press meet here.

With this arrest, the policehave so far nabbed three per-sons including one Ajay Paleion March 21. Eight otheraccused persons involved in thecrime were still at large, saidpolice.

Notably, Ranjit Das andSatyajit Das of villageGabagaon were brutallyattacked by a group with lethalweapons when they were in abarber shop. Ranjit while suc-cumbed to the injuries, Satyajitwas referred to the SCBMedical College Hospital in acritical condition. PNS

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At the end of the financial of2016-17, the Indian

Railways has achieved all-timehigh revenue of Rs 1.68 lakhcrore powered by its focus onboosting freight traffic andinnovative steps. It loaded 1.107billion tonnes of freight duringthe fiscal, surpassing its targetof 1.094 billion tonnes.

This has happened due tokey interventions by theRailway Ministry which helpedto get it on to the fast track.This is despite less export traf-fic, high liability of PayCommission arrears and bonuspayments, etc.

The freight revenue is esti-mated at Rs 1.09 lakh croreagainst Rs 1.04 lakh crore in2015-16. Despite the most chal-lenging environment, theIndian Railways has done verywell. Various policy interven-tions at times could foresee aslump in demand were taken,which were pivotal in bringingback the traffic. The Ministry

has taken steps on additionaldiscount on loading of somecommodities, giving benefiton various usage charges onfreight.

To achieve this record, theIndian Railways put in placethe necessary infrastructure.Availability of rakes anddemand from various com-modities including variousfreight reforms have created amajor impact for this remark-able achievement of freightloading. Iron ore loading andtransportation to steel plantsincreased from 117 MT in

2015-16 to 137 MT in 2016-17.Similarly, after a number of

obstructions like less demandof coal both in National &International market, Maoistactivities in major freight-load-ing hubs, landslides and boul-der falling on railway track dis-rupting train movements,labour strike at different load-ing hubs, the East CoastRailway has surpassed the lastfiscal figure and loaded 177.28MT freight as against 173.49MT registered in 2015-16 byregistering an increase of 2%,which is 3.78 MT more.

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The Puri Tehsildar onWednesday recorded

another 58 decimal of land infavour of the Swargadwar cre-matorium here.

Land measuring 100 deci-mal had been acquired by thedistrict administration twodecades ago to use asSwargadwar cremation landand compensation was paid tothe land owners.

Surprisingly, the authoritiesdid not correct the landrecords, and it still standsrecorded in favour of the orig-inal owners, who were in occu-pation of land on which com-mercial buildings had come up.

Interestingly, the demoli-tion operation initiated by thePuri Municipality to removethe encroachments from thecremation land on Tuesdayhas now stopped.

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Jiban Kumar Padhi,Accountant, Lift Irrigation

Division Office, Jobra, Cuttack,was caught red handed by theVigilance sleuths onWednesday while demandingand accepting bribe of �20,000.

He was taking the bribefrom Pradeepta PrakashAcharya, Managing Director,M/s Bikash Bharati Services PvtLtd, Dumduma, Bhubaneswarfor forwarding the billsamounting to �20,00, 000 tothe Executive Engineer of hisoffice. His rented house nearShelter Chhack, Deula Sahi, SBIColony Road, Cuttack, wasbeing searched.

In yet another case,

Viglance sleuths raided hous-es and office of Sanjib KumarMohapatra, Assistant Sub-Auditor of Cooperative Society,Cuttack following complaintsof acquisition and possession ofassets disproportionate to hisknown sources of income.

His assets detected wereestimated to be worth�1,03,92,465.

The locations raidedincluded his residential build-ing at Pithapur, Cuttack, father-in-law’s house at Nuabazar,Cuttack, office room atSankarpur, Cuttack and resi-dential building at CDA,Cuttack.

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Tiki Dalai a six-year-old girl from Bankualavillage in Kendrapada district, displayed

exemplary courage and saved her friend BasantiDalai from a furious crocodile attack.

Both the girls were bathing in the villagepond when a crocodile suddenly leaped fromthe water and attacked Basanti. Tiki picking upa bamboo stick kept hitting the mammal’s head,that had gripped Basanti in its jaws. When Tikijolted the animal, it left the girl and slipped backinto the water. “The attack was very sudden. Astick was lying near the pond “, Tiki, narrated. “Iacted on the spur of the moment. I had taken itfor granted that the animal would kill myfriend,” she added.

The crocodile attack occurred outside theBitarakanika national park limits. The State for-est department has declared to bear the cost oftreatment of the injured. Besides, the departmentwould also award compensation sum to theinjured person’s family as per revised rules, saidDFO Bimal Acharya.

The survivor Basanti Dalai is a standard onestudent of a Government-run school inBankuala village. She was undergoing treatment.

While recalling the harrowing experience,Basanti thanked her friend and schoolmate Tiki.

The victim sustained multiple wounds onher hand and thigh. The Chief Medical Officerstated the victim was out of danger.

Sociopolitical leader and Chairman of SNSMTSuparno Satpathy has urged the DM ofKendrapada, the Chief Minister, the PM and thePresident for a national bravery award for little Tiki.

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In a horrific incident, an ine-briated youth on Wednesday

beat his mother to death underthe Gurandi police station inGajapati district onWednesday.

The deceased woman wasidentified as Rohini Mallick.Sources said the woman’syounger son Sanjay camehome in an inebriated state and

after an altercation over somereason, the accused hit herwith a wooden shaft. She diedat the spot. Later, Rohini’selder son Babuli lodged an FIRwith the police.

Based on the FIR, thepolice have arrested Sanjayand interrogating him to ascer-tain the motive of the crime.The dastardly act has sentshockwaves among the localresidents.

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Atwo-day national confer-ence was organised by the

Department of Humanitiesand Social Sciences at theNational Institute ofTechnology here on March 30and 31.

The theme of the confer-ence was “Health, public pol-icy and human development:A way forward to addressSDGs” which was attended byeminent personalities acrossIndia.

The conference was inau-gurated by Professor Pulin BNayak, Delhi School ofEconomics and former VC ofUtkal University ProfessorBinayak Rath. The patron ofthe conference ProfessorAnimesh Biswas, Director NITRourkela said, “The confer-ence is one of its kinds and willsurely address many issues

concerning health, public pol-icy and human development”.

A panel discussion washeld during the conference onthe role of public policy inhuman development. The keyspeakers were Prof Barendra KBhoi, Prof Binayak Rath, andProfessor US Mishra, Centrefor Development Studies,Trivandrum.

Professor Bhoi signifiedthe importance and mecha-nisms of fiscal and monetarypolicy on the overall process ofpublic policy. Professor Rathpointed that, “It is very nec-essary to know that 97 per centof water is salty on earth andonly 3 per cent water is pureand pure water is getting pol-luted day by day leaving just on1 per cent to be used by thecommon man”. ProfessorMishra said that the public pol-icy should be framed based onpeople’s needs. Professor Nayak

chaired the session and sum-marised the whole discussionby saying that, “The humandevelopment is an evolutionaryand continuous process andnot a static one”.

A round table discussionon human development inOdisha and SDGs was organ-ised in collaboration withUNICEF Odisha. Variousrenowned academicians pre-sented papers on issues andchallenges related to thetheme. Various technical ses-sions were also held on dif-ferent topics such as tribalhealth and human develop-ment, mental health, mater-nal healthcare services, accessto healthcare by all, climatechange, environmental healthand sustainable energy, gen-der equality and social inclu-sion, healthcare financing,data challenges in healthresearch and SDGs in Odisha.

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From Page 1Hailing from Rajasthan,

Cheetah bore the initial bruntof the militant encounter inHajjan area on February 14where a joint team of Army,CRPF and State police had laidsiege following intelligenceinputs that two foreign terror-ists were hiding in the area.

Cheetah was commandingthe 45th Battalion of theCentral Reserve Police Force(CRPF).

He was initially taken tothe base hospital in Srinagarwhere he was operated uponand given primary treatment

after which he was shiftedusing an air ambulance to theAIIMS trauma centre at 7.30PM the same day.

Doctors said he was shift-ed to ward on March 16 wherehe underwent rehabilitation inthe form of physiotherapy andspeech therapy with a total ICUstay of 30 days. Subsequently,they said, the wounds were cov-ered with skin grafting by theplastic surgery team.

“His comeback to normallife has shown the true grit ofa warrior,” Anurag Srivastava,Chief of AIIMS Apex TraumaCentre, said.

From Page 1between the two coun-

tries, not artificially damagethe foundation of the talksbetween the two countries onthe border issues and bilater-al legislations and take con-crete actions to safeguard theChina-India relations,” shesaid.

The 81-year-old Tibetanspir itual leader reachedBomdila in West

Kameng district yester-day, starting his nine-day visitto Arunachal Pradesh.

China claims parts ofArunachal Pradesh as south-ern Tibet and had previouslywarned that if India allowedthe visit of the Dalai Lama,whom it calls an “anti-Chinaseparatist”, it would cause“serious damage” to ties.

China is sensitive to theDalai Lama’s visit to Tawangregion in Arunachal whichhappens to be the birthplacein 1683 of the sixth DalaiLama and is at the centre ofTibetan Buddhism.

“We hope we can worktogether to maintain growthof India China relations. Weknow India and China are twoclose neighbours and coun-tries in Asia. Cooperationbetween us will serve interestsof the region,” Hua said.

“We hope to maintaingood momentum of growthbut this move runs counter tothis wish, so we hope Indiastop doing things that under-mine our interests,” she said.

On Tuesday, Minister ofHome Affairs Kiren Rijijusaid India never interfered inBeijing’s affairs, has respect-ed the “One China” policy,and thus China should notinterfere in India’s internalaffairs or object to the DalaiLama’s visit. “There is nopolitical angle behind hisholiness’s visit to ArunachalPradesh. It is completely reli-gious.”

Separately, the ExternalAffairs Ministry has said thatno “artificial controversy”

should be created about thevisit.

The Chinese foreign min-istry spokesperson rejectedRijiju’s comments, saying“China upholds the policy ofnot interfering with othercountries internal affairs. Thisis unquestionable.”

“But in disregard toChina’s concerns Indiaarranged the visit of DalaiLama to the disputed areas.This issue goes beyond inter-nal affairs,” she said.

“The role played by theDalai Lama is clear to all.China’s position on the east-ern section of the boundary isalso very clear,” she said.

“The arrangement ofDalai’s visit to the disputedarea by India runs counter toits commitments on issuesrelated to Tibet and it runscounter to benefits of bilater-al relations. We demand thatIndia stop this wrong action,”she said.

About Rijiju’s commentsthat it was a religious visit andshould not be politicised, shesaid, “We have noted thestatement of the official fromthe Indian side.”

“Could you tell me hon-estly do you seriously believethat Dalai is only a religiousleader. I think the answer isknown to all. He is not just areligious figure.

“Therefore, his visit tothe place will not be purely ofreligious purpose. So usingthe empty words to defendthis arrangement is not rea-sonable. We demand theIndian side to stop this moveof undermining Chineseinterests,” she said.

Chinese officials in off therecord conversations with themedia said China is reallyangry about the Dalai Lama’svisit specially because he wasaccompanied by a minister.

Unlike previous visits, theofficials said the Dalai Lamawas accompanied by a minister which makes it dif-ferent.

PTI

From Page 1With West Bengal’s job sce-

nario dwindling as never beforein the past decade or so, thanksto a steady flight of industry,particularly in the wake of landmovements in Singur andNandigram, the highway liquorban tends to rub salt in its eco-nomic injuries. This has led thedesperate State Government tocome out with this innovativeway to bypass the highwaybooze ban.

However, the official would

not comment on the fate of theState’s declassification notifi-cation, posted on its website onMarch 16, should it be chal-lenged in court, on the groundof the Apex Court’s order.

“Let us hope the notifica-tion is not challenged andeverything goes on smoothly”the senior official said, addingthat the State would soonrequest the Centre to find bet-ter options so that the loss ofrevenue is stopped, jobs aresaved and the ban is enforced.

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Tightening its grip on lakhsof non-government organ-

isations (NGOs) and voluntaryorganisations (VOs) operatingas societies, trusts, or founda-tions under various laws, theCentre has introduced a toughguideline making it mandato-ry for such organisations fallingunder these categories to reg-ister with the NITI Aayog andsupply details of its funding,audited accounts, and past andpresent projects.

The information will testthe credentials of NGOs/VOsbefore the Government releas-es grants. The Government caneven crack down on defaultersfor violations under the IncomeTax Act or the ForeignContribution Regulatory Act(FCRA).

The Centre submitted thedraft Accreditation Guidelinesprepared by the RuralDevelopment Ministry beforethe Supreme Court, which by anorder of January 10, 2017 hadasked the Government to framesuch guidelines. A Bench ofChief Justice JS Khehar andJustice DY Chandrachud direct-ed amicus curiae senior advo-cate Rakesh Dwivedi to exam-ine the documents and give sug-gestions after two weeks. TheCentre will notify the guidelinesafter incorporating the sugges-tions.

Interestingly, the Centre’stoughening of stand against theNGOs has come on a PIL filedby advocate ML Sharma in 2011against an NGO run by social

activist Anna Hazare. The saidNGO, Hind Swaraj Trust, hadreceived huge Central fundsfrom CAPART (Council forAdvancement of People’s Actionand Rural Technology) andgrants from the thenMaharashtra Government. But itprovided no utilisation certifi-cates to the authorities. The SChad broadened the scope of thePIL and directed Central Bureauof Investigation (CBI) to identi-fy such NGOs that failed to sub-mit annual utilisation certificatewith the Government after tak-ing huge sums as Central grants.

The proposed guidelinesalso allow the Government toproceed with criminal caseagainst NGOs which defalcateor misappropriate funds. Toensure these works, the termsand conditions in the sanctionorder for grants will require theexecutive committee of theNGOs/VOs to execute a bondin favour of the President ofIndia making them liable torefund the amount at 10 percent annual interest if funds arenot properly utilised. The guide-lines even allow the Centre toterminate the grant withoutnotice if it is dissatisfied with theprogress of the commissionedproject.

Additional Solicitor General(ASG) Tushar Mehta, whoappeared for the Centre, sub-mitted that the “Guidelines forAccreditation of NGOs/VOs”will cover all societies, trusts,foundations, and not-for-profitcompanies registered under 28laws across the country to beaccredited under one body,preferably the NITI Aayog.

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The Government is going togeo-tag all the agricultural

assets in the country for betterland and crop management.

The geo-tagging will pro-vide details of geographicallocation and size of the hold-ing, and help the Governmentin scientific planning of infra-structure projects.

The Ministry of Agricultureis going to sign a Memorandumof Understanding (MoU) withNational Remote SensingAgency (NRSA), ISRO onThursday for geo-tagging everypiece of agriculture land creat-ed under Rashtriya Krishi VikasYojna (RKVA) in the country.

The move would providecrop-wise details as also evidencein case of crop damage andenable officials to verify claims.In terms of land management,satellite imagery would be usedto cross check with the details onthe ground. Ultimately, therewould be data base of all landsunder the Ministry.

The move comes afterPrime Minister Narendra Modihighlighted the need for onlinerecording and monitoring ofassets to check leakages. Modihad on several occasionsemphasised on use of technol-ogy for reporting of assets cre-ated through geo-tagging.

The geo-tagging is aprocess of adding geographicalidentification like latitude andlongitude to various mediasuch as a photo or video. Geo-tagging can help users find awide variety of location-specificinformation from a device.

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The Opposition onWednesday raised a din in

the Rajya Sabha forcing a briefadjournment over the issue ofalleged tampering of electron-ic voting machines (EVMs)and called the Government a“cheat.” The treasury retortedthat the Opposition lackedgrace in accepting defeat inrecently held Assembly pollsand said the issue should beraised with the ElectionCommission instead of bring-ing it to the House.

Leader of Opposition andsenior Congress leader GhulamNabi Azad also demanded thatsince doubts were now raisedabout the EVMs they shouldnot be used in the forthcomingpolls in Gujarat and HimachalPradesh. He also charged thatthe ruling combine tamperedwith the EVMs in the UP polls.

Rejecting the Oppositionclaims about EVMs, Minister ofState for Parliamentary Affairssaid no questions were raisedduring the 2004 and 2009 gen-eral elections besides Delhiand Punjab Assembly polls.Similarly, when SP and BSPcame to power in UP, theEVMs never came under thescanner, he said adding theOpposition had lost its “men-tal balance” instead of grace-fully accepting defeat.

He also said the House onMarch 22 discussed the func-

tioning of EVMs in a four-hourlong debate and the Oppositioncould not come up concretefacts against the votingmachines.

Deputy Chairman PJKurien urged the Opposition totake up the issue with theElection Commission andwhen members of SP, BSP andCongress stormed into thewell, he remarked “what canthe chair do” on this issue.Kurien then adjourned thehouse for about seven minutesduring the Zero Hour.

Earlier, raising the issueduring Zero Hour, DigvijayaSingh (Congress) said the test-ing of EVMs for a by-electionin Madhya Pradesh had a fewdays back shown manipula-tions by which votes could becredited to BJP irrespective ofthe candidate for whom thesehave been cast. He demandedthat ballot papers be used forthe upcoming by-elections andelections henceforth.

Countering him, HumanResource DevelopmentMinister Prakash Javedkar saidthe Election Commission clar-ified that the EVMs cannot bemanipulated and quipped if theOpposition had any problemthey should go to it and notwaste Parliament's time.

Ramgopal Yadav (SP)claimed deliberate program-ming of chips was done in theEVMs and termed it a seriousmatter.

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Amidst the Oppositionexpressing concern over

ISIS threat to India, theGovernment assured theParliament on Wednesdaythere was no cause to “worry.”Various inputs including thosefrom the intelligence agenciesdid not indicate that the radi-cal organisation had managedto get a foot hold in the coun-try due to Indian ethos, cultureand secularism, both the hous-es were informed.

Moreover, the Governmentwas keeping a close watch ongullible youth getting influ-enced by ISIS ideology andefforts were on to de-radi-calise them, Home MinisterRajnath Singh and ExternalAffairs Minister Sushma Swarajsaid in the Rajya Sabha and LokSabha respectively.

The Home Minister saidthere was no cause for “worry”adding some youths who gotinfluenced by the ISIS were de-radicalised. Apart from this, theGovernment was giving loansand other job opportunities toeducated Muslim youth to pre-vent them from getting swayedby the ISIS. He made this obser-vation when some members

said majority of youth gettinginfluenced by the ISIS were edu-cated and unemployed.

Congress member DigvijayaSingh referred to some US-based intelligence websites andsaid these had claimed thatSaifullah, who was killed in anencounter in UP recently, waslinked to the ISIS. He wanted toknow the Government's positionon this. The Home Ministerreplied that the investigation inthe case was going on.

His Deputy Minister ofState Hansraj Gangaram Ahirsaid about 80 people suspect-ed to be influenced by the ISISideology were held in the coun-try and the NationalInvestigation Agency (NIA)was looking in all the aspects.

He said in Kerala, it wassuspected that 22 people had leftthe country to join ISIS and for16, the Government has workedto get Interpol notices issued.Such action has not been takenregarding the women and chil-dren among them, he said.

Asserting that India has apopulation of around 17 croreMuslims and the number of

people influenced is “quiteminiscule.” There is no reasonto worry, he said. The Ministeradded that religious leadershave also urged people tomaintain distance from suchterrorist organisations.

In the Lok Sabha, Swarajsaid 50 radicalised Indian youthhave crossed over to the “otherside,” but the Indian ethos andculture have ensured that themenace has not taken danger-ous proportions in the country.The issue of radicalisation is notlimited to Jammu & Kashmirbut other States as well and theentire world too, she said.

Responding to supplemen-taries during the QuestionHour, Swaraj said 50 radicalisedIndian youth have crossed overto the “other side (us tarafgaye).” She, however, did notspecify where they have gone.

She said the Centre hasalready launched an anti- rad-icalisation programme withstates to ensure that the youthsare not misled.

The Minister credited the“Indian ethos and culture forthe minimal damage radicali-sation has caused” in India. Shesaid secularism, the watchfuleyes of parents and the beliefthat violence is not good, havehelped the country.

The Minister also saidIndia is set to host a conferenceof ASEAN nations on de-rad-icalisation but the venue hasnot yet been finalised. Besidesde-radicalisation, cross-borderterrorism is the other topic ofthe conference.

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The Government on Wednesdayinformed the Rajya Sabha that it has

taken all measures to prevent circulationof fake currency notes of �500 and �2,000denomination and all stake holdersincluding common people were beingsensitised about the special security fea-tures of the new notes launched afterdemonetisation in November last year.Issues like vacancy of judges in HighCourts, affect of pollution on Taj Mahaland delay in using Member of ParliamentLocal Area Development (MPLAD)scheme funds also figured in the House.

Assuring the House that theGovernment was making all efforts toprevent fake currency circulation,Minister of State for Home AffairsKiren Rijiju said it was not possible tocopy all the highly sophisticated andcomplex security features incorporatedin the new notes. He said this whensome MPs including Chhaya Verma andAnand Sharma (Congress) expressedconcern over fake notes posing a threatto the economy and national security.

The Minister said the new featureswere fool proof and stringent punishmentwas provided for circulating fake notes.Moreover, the Government in collabo-

ration with the Reserve Bank ofIndia(RBI) was regularly educating allstake holders including the massesthrough campaigns.

Raising the issue of vacancies in judi-ciary, Majeed Memon (NCP) said theprovision of speedy and inexpensive jus-tice to the people was the solemn dutyof the State in coordination with judiciary.

Citing figures of vacancies in differ-ent high courts of the country, the NCPmember said in totality, the sanctionedstrength of judges was 712 and vacancieswere almost 300. He said there were 40lakh pending cases in various courts.

Responding to concern raised bySurendra Singh Nagar (SP)over affect ofpollution on Taj Mahal, Culture MinisterMahesh Sharma said a kind of mud ther-apy cleared by scientific agencies was usedto restore the glow of marble. Nagar saidthe colour was changing and also referredto impact of insects on the monument.

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Shiv Sena members in theLok Sabha on Wednesday

warned of protests in theParliament if the issue of its MPRavindra Gaikwad, who hasbeen banned from flying byseveral airlines, was notresolved soon, even as a BJPMP also alleged that a privateairlines did not provide himwith a seat despite his booking.

Anandrao Adsul (Shiv Sena)said Lok Sabha Speaker SumitraMahajan was the custodian ofthe House “but our matter hasnot been resolved yet”.

Air India and most otherairlines have barred Gaikwad,a Shiv Sena MP fromOsmanabad constituency inMaharashtra, from its flightsand also cancelled his ticketsafter he allegedly assaulted anairlines staffer.

“If it is not resolved, thenwe will be force to carry ourprotest. Being part of the gov-ernment, we do not want tocreate a scene but will be forcedto do so. This (air travel) is his

constitutional right,” he said.During the Zero Hour,

Devji Mansingram Patel (BJP)also alleged that last week JetAirways did not provide a seatto him despite his bookings andallegedly sold that seat toanother passenger.

“Private airlines are bully-ing...This bullying should becurbed,” he said.

As the BJP MP made thecharges against the airlines,Adsul and other Shiv SenaMPs were on their toes alleg-ing that his party MP Gaikwadwas also manhandled by airlinestaffers. “Under which law hashis travel by air been banned,”he questioned.

Speaker Sumitra Mahajansaid: “We will see to it”.

Earlier, BJP MP MeenkshiLekhi referring to Delhi ChiefMinister's alleged attempt touse government money to payhis legal fee in a contempt casesaid the legislatures who wanthonorific 'honourable' to bepre-fixed before their namesshould watch out their conductand behave honourably.

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India on Wednesday categor-ically asserted its claim over

territories of Jammu &Kashmir under Pakistani occu-pation amid moves byIslamabad to declare Gilgit-Baltistan as a new province.

The Government said itopposed Pakistan's move thevery day it got to know about it.

“Even raising a doubt overthis Government that it will letgo of some area will be wrong,”said External Affairs MinisterSushma Swaraj in the Lok Sabha.

She made the statementafter BJD leader BhartruhariMahtab wondered if theGovernment has even proper-ly responded to Pakistan'smove to make Gilgit-Baltistanits fifth province.

Noting that some Westerncountries had criticised it, heasked, “What is ourGovernment's response?”

He asked the Governmentto not forget history or it willbe condemned to repeat it.

Swaraj noted that bothHouses of Parliament hadpassed resolutions which hadreiterated India's claim over thePoK and Gilgit-Baltistan, bothunder Pakistan's occupation,and the Government wasbound by it.

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Tr i n a m o o lC o n g r e s s

(TMC) MP SaugataRoy on Wednesdayexpressed seriousconcern over con-tinuing reduction ofthe interest rates insmall savingschemes by theGovernment whichhe said has hit badlya large section of society dependent on such sav-ings after their retirement.

Raising the issue during zero hour, Roy saidwhile interest rates have been reduced on small-er savings and still falling, the big business getmoney on cheaper interest rates from banks.The MP said interest rates for PPF are nowreduced to 7.9 per cent and for senior CitizenSavings to 8.4 per cent (from 8.85).

“These are the lowest interest rates in fortyyears”, said Roy.

The TMC MPs staged a dharna in front ofthe Mahatma Gandhi statue in the Parliamentcomplex, protesting the slashing of interest rateson PPF and other small savings schemes.

TMC members of both the Houses raisedslogans against the Centre's move which theysaid would hurt the common man and addedthat no action was being taken against thedefaulters of non-performing assets (NPA).

New Delhi: Information &Broadcasting Minister VenkaiahNaidu on Wednesday blamedthe Opposition parties forspreading false information onthe proposed new rules in RTIAct. There is no change “even ina comma or a full stop” in theproposed amendment to theRTI rules relating to word limitand fee from the ones proposedby the Congress in 2012, he said.

“The proposals on the wordlimit and fee to be paid made in

the proposed rules, to be notifiedand placed in public domain, areexactly the same as proposed bythe UPA Government,” Naidutold reporters here.

The verbal dual betweenthe two parties had started afterthe Centre proposed new rulesunder Section 27 of Right toInformation (RTI) Act, 2005 tomodify the Act. Naidu said,“Sections 3, 4 and 5 of the Rulesnotified by the UPA Government(in 2012) and those proposednow relate to word limit and feeto be paid and are the same wordby word. There is no change evenin a coma or full stop mark.” Headded that the Government hasalso invited suggestions andviews from the people over theproposed rules till April 15.

“I demand an apology fromthe Congress Party for its blatantdisinformation campaign againstthe Government,” the Ministersaid. Naidu said the proposedrules, on the contrary, containsome provisions which furtherempower the applicants underthe RTI Act. He added that theRTI Rules notified by the UPAGovernment in July, 2012 arenow in force. ���

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The Rajya Sabha onWednesday took up the four

Bills related to the GST, with theOpposition questioning theGovernment’s preparedness toimplement the indirect taxregime and urging for a mech-anism to insulate taxpayers fromharassment by tax authorities.

Initiating a debate on thebills, Deputy Leader of CongressAnand Sharma said, “It is impor-tant that as you go for imple-mentation, both the Centre andthe State Governments shouldcreate an institutional mecha-nism which protects or insulatesthe taxpayers from harassment.”

He said the Government shouldnot create multiple windows oftax harassment, search, seizureand arrests which is “already happening”.

“If it leads to that situation,then surely you will not be help-ing the economy and the indus-try nor the consumers,” the for-mer Union Minister said whilespeaking on the debate on TheCentral GST Bill, 2017; TheIntegrated GST Bill, 2017; TheGST (Compensation to States)Bill, 2017; and The UnionTerritory GST Bill, 2017 whichwere passed by the Lok Sabhalast week.

Sharma urged FinanceMinister Arun Jaitley and the

GST Council to keep most ofthe goods, which are used bythe common man, at the taxrate of five per cent. He said theGovernment should “resist thetemptation” to bring maxi-mum goods and services underthe rate of 18 per cent, cau-tioning that such a move will beinflationary.

Derek O'Brien of TrinamoolCongress said the concept ofGST was introduced by formerPrime Minister Atal BihariVajpayee in 2000 in theParliament “but people (then)were more familiar with KBC(Kaun Bangega Crorepati).” Hesaid the concept has “evolvedover the last 17 years and is

something we can be proud of.”O'Brien quoted the minis-

ters of the BJP-ruled states likeGujarat and Madhya Pradesh,who had categorically opposedthe GST earlier. Attacking theBJP, he said, “when the partygives lecture on being a respon-sible opposition, it is notdigestible.”

Naresh Agrawal (SP) askedthe Government to ensure thatthe decision on the states' claimsor issues are not delayed in theGST Council. Supporting theGST bills, he said this taxreform should not be passed asmoney bill and governmentmust give exemption to foodgrains under this law.

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Emphatically rejecting thecharge that attacks on

African nationals were racial,External Affairs MinisterSushma Swaraj on Wednesdaysaid in the Lok Sabha thatprompt action was taken by theGovernment and so far sixarrests had been made andprobe was underway into theincidents in Greater Noida.

Swaraj described “unfor-tunate, painful and surprising”the African missions statementdescribing the attacks onAfrican students as “xenopho-bic and racial”, saying the Indianresponse to this cannot be calledinadequate by any means.

She said all incidentsagainst foreign nationals,including Indians, anywherecould not be straight way lev-eled as racial. Stating that everyincident was not racist, Swarajreferred to case of Kenyanwoman who first allegedharassment but later withdrewher complaint. She also point-ed out that the Kenyan womanwho told a lie was staying inIndia with an expiry VISA.

Citing the recent incidentsof attacks on Indians in the USand the killing of an Indian inMozambique earlier, Swarajsaid India did not term themracially-inspired.

The Minister said racialcrimes are “pre-planned”, which

was not the case with the recentattack on the African studentsby a mob in Greater Noida,asserting that the Governmentis committed to their safety. TheMinister said “let robe come”before judging the incidents asracists or otherwise.

She said the African grouphead of the missions, who hadissued a strongly-worded state-ment, was called by her Ministryon Wednesday and conveyedthe Government's response.

Minister of State in theForeign Ministry VK Singhspoke to him about the promptresponse taken by her as well asthe Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister and told him that theAfrican missions could havesought a meeting with thePrime Minister if they were stillnot satisfied, she said.

She said MJ Akbar, herdeputy in the Ministry, kept intouch with African missionsand told them that the PrimeMinister was personally mon-

itoring the situation.“The Dean's statement that

our political leadership is silentis completely contrary to facts...His statement was surprisingand painful. We have said thatit was unfortunate. The IndianGovernment's response cannotbe called inadequate by anymeans,” she said.

Swaraj said AfricanMissions could haveapproached various Indian insti-tutions like Judiciary, NGOs andHuman Rights bodies insteaddemanding for an investigationby the Human Rights Council.

The Minister gave thestatement soon after KCVenugopal (Congress) soughtto see the development as a“diplomatic failure”.

Swaraj said a youth inGreater Noida had died and hisparents had blamed “drug over-dose” for this. Locals took outa candle march, during whichan uncontrolled mob of crim-inals who had infiltrated the

crowd attacked the Africanstudents, she said.

“Racist crimes are pre-planned which was not the casehere,” she said.

Immediately after the inci-dents in Greater Noida, Swarajsaid she had spoken to ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath andtweeted about this.

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The Railway Ministry onWednesday received a shot

in the arm with the UnionCabinet approving setting up ofan overarching RailDevelopment Authority (RDA)after the Railway Ministry'sbudget was merged with theGeneral Budget from thisfinancial year.

The RDA, an independentregulatory body, will have pow-ers for tariff determination, setefficiency and performancestandards for the railways, andensure fair play and level play-ing in the sector for stakeholderinvestments.

The RDA board will con-sist of a chairman and threemembers, who will each haveterms of five years. However,RDA set up through an exec-utive order will have recom-mending power and only after

legislative approval, its decisionwill be mandatory in nature.

Railway sources said thatRDA will have to ensure fairplay and level playing field forprivate investments in railwayssince the national transporteris wooing private players fordevelopment of its infrastruc-ture, including laying new linesand station redevelopment,across the country.

As per the Cabinet deci-sion, the RDA will dischargefunctions in a manner to pro-tect the interest of consumers,

ensuring quality of service,promoting competition,encouraging market develop-ment, efficient allocation ofresources, provide non-dis-criminatory open access spe-cially on Dedicated freight cor-ridor and to benchmark servicelevels for ensuring quality, con-tinuity and reliability of service.

During the Cabinet, thePrime Minister was alsoapprised of the MoU signedwith Italian Government ontechnical cooperation in rail-way sector. The MoU will pro-

vide a platform to IndianRailways to interact and sharethe latest developments andknowledge in the railway sec-tor to promote safety, efficien-cy and sustainability. The

objective of this MoU is todevelop technical cooperationactivities in the railway sectorto promote safety, efficiencyand sustainability, to theirmutual benefit.

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Defending itself against alle-gations from the

Opposition parties that theGovernment has not taken upstrongly the attacks on Indiansin United States of America,Ministry of External Affairs hassaid that the matter was takenup by National SecurityAdvisor Ajit Doval with seniorAmerican officials during hisvisit to Washington last month.

“We have conveyed ourdeep concern, and called fornecessary measures to ensurethe safety and security ofIndian diaspora as well asexpeditious investigation intothese incidents,” Minister ofState V.K. Singh said in a writ-ten reply in Lok Sabha onWednesday.

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The Cabinet Committee onEconomic Affairs on

Wednesday approved the pro-posal of the MHA for extensionof the implementation phase ofthe Crime and CriminalsTracking Network and Systems(CCTNS) Project for anotheryear beyond March 31, 2017.The maintenance phase of theProject will continue till 2022 asapproved earlier. With a totaloutlay of �2,000 crore, a sum of

�1,550 crore, which was thetotal allocation to the project sofar, has been spent till 2016-17,the Government said in a state-ment. The Cabinet, for its part,approved closure of MahatmaGandhi Pravasi SurakshaYojana, the insurance schemefor Overseas Indian workers.The Scheme was set up in 2012to address the social security-related issues of the EmigrationCheck Required (ECR)-cate-gory workers going abroad foremployment to ECR countries.

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On this day, April 5, 2016,total prohibition had been

enforced on booze in Biharwith the provisions of strin-gent laws. But even after oneyear a question is being askedevery now and then, or onecan say almost every day: IsBihar really dry? Legally it is,practically it is not.

In the last one year, duringthe anti-booze drive by thesleuths of excise departmentand police arrested 44,594 vio-lators of the Bihar Prohibition& Excise Act, registered over40,000 cases and there areover 2.16 lakh cases of raids.The two agencies seized514,539 litres of foreign liquorworth �41 crore, 310,292 litresof country-made liquor worth�9 crore and 11,371 litres ofbeer, till March 31.

Vehicles carrying liquorare caught and seized almostevery day but very few peopleknow how much booze reach-

es its destination unnoticed.Majority of the supply is com-ing from neighbouring UttarPradesh, West Bengal andJharkhand and also fromNepal. Bihar Association forIndian made Foreign LiquorRetailers president Nawal Singhsaid, “The clandestine sale ofliquor is unabated. Demand isthere that is why supply is com-ing. Earlier it was sold fromlicensed shops and nowthrough illegal means.” But headded that one year is not a bigtime to judge the success orfailure of the prohibition.

Asked about the unabatedraids, seizure and arrest bypolice and excise officials, ChiefMinister Nitish Kumar, whoconceived the idea of totalprohibition, said, “Drinking isa social ill and can’t be elimi-nated overnight. We havebrought strict legislation butthat doesn’t mean that alco-holism would end. There isdeath penalty for murder butmurders are taking place. The

need is to change the mindsetof the people and I am happyto notice it is changing.”

Nitish at the outset hadasserted that he was least both-ered about the revenue lossBihar would suffer due to pro-hibition. Bihar during the pre-vious fiscal had earned �5,000crore. But the finance depart-ment documents claimed nodrop in the State revenue in thefiscal 2016-17 owing to prohi-bition, a claim contested by theopposition. It pointed out thatthe commercial taxes depart-ment has fallen short of its tar-get by �3,500 crore and regis-tration department by �700crore in the just closed finan-cial year.

BJP leader and formerBihar Finance Minister SushilKumar Modi said despiteimposing heavy tax on certainitems revenue collection targetfell short. “The CM claimedthat people spent money ondifferent things like purchasingmore sweets, clothes, milk,

sewing machines and otherdomestic items out of the �10,000 crore saved by them bynot consuming liquor thenwhy the revenue target couldnot be met.

Nitish, however, takes pridethat the prohibition he imposedin Bihar has caught the fancy ofthe people across the countryparticularly the women and nowthey have launched agitation intheir villages and blocks in dif-ferent States like Uttar Pradesh,Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh,Rajasthan and Maharashtra.Nitish is being invited by variousorganisations to come and boostup their morale.

The Bihar CM has linkedprohibition with the centenaryof the Gandhi’s ChamparanSatyagraha and asked PrimeMinister Naarendra Modi toask the BJP ruled States toimpose prohibition in order tofulfil the dreams of theMahatma. The PM last Januaryhad publicly praised Nitish forthe “courageous” decision.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi is to visit his poll

bound home-State on April 17to inaugurate different projectsin South Gujarat andSaurashtra regions.

Just like Uttar Pradesh, theensuing Gujarat Assembly pollsdue in December too would befought on Modi’s name.

In his upcoming visitModi will inaugurate SumulDairy’s cattle feed plant atBajipura village in Tapi districtand an ice-cream plat. Besides,he would dedicate a trust run�400 crore hospital projects topeople in Surat. He will alsoinaugurate Phase-1 ofSaurashtra Narmada AvataranIrrigation (SAUNI) project inBotad district of Saurashtraregion. He would also layfoundation stone for the PhaseII of SAUNI project.

Apart from inauguration

of projects, the Prime Ministerwill address public meetings atBajipura and Botad. In August2016 Modi laid foundationstone of phase I. The SAUNIproject would make parchedSaurashtra region’s farmerhappy as under this project115 dams of the region will befilled with excess overflowingwater of Sardar SarovarNarmada Dam through apipeline network.

This would be Modi’s 11thvisit to Gujarat after he becamePrime Minister in May 2014. Ifsources in ruling BJP are to bebelieved in the coming sixmonths he would visit to hispoll bound home-State foranother ten times.

“He is the only leaderwho can do damage control inPatidar dominated areasSouth Gujarat and Saurashtraregions where pro-quotaleader Hardik Patel is havingsway. Even strong leader likeAmit Shah failed to deal withPatidar opposition during apublic rally in Surat and hehad to wind up his speechwith in few minutes,” said asenior leader in BJP.

Gujarat is already in elec-tion mode. Rival political par-ties including oppositionCongress party has alreadystarted election preparedness.Even Delhi Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal’s political out-fit which had earlierannounced to contest in all 182assembly constituencies, hasinitiated door-to-door cam-paign in the State with a viewto make its presence felt in theupcoming polls.

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The Kerala Police under theCPI(M)-led LDF

Government on Wednesdayroughed up Mahija, mother ofJishnu Pranoy an engineeringstudent and SFI activist whowas found dead under myste-rious circumstances in the hos-tel of his college three monthsback, and other relatives atThiruvananthapuram andallegedly arrested them forciblyas they were staging a protestat the gates of the office of theDirector General of Policeseeking justice to Jishnu.

The Congress-ledOpposition UDF called for aState-wide shutdown onThursday while the BJP wouldobserve hartal in Kozhikodeand Thiruvananthapuram dis-tricts in protest against the inci-dent. Mahija, her husband,brother and some other rela-tives and friends were in thecapital to protest the police’sfailure to catch the culpritsbehind the death of Jishnu, whoaccording to them was mur-dered by the authorities of the

self-financing college wherehe was studying.

“The police blocked uswhen we were peacefullypreparing for the protest. A cir-cle Inspector of police wasexplaining to me why we werebeing blocked when amidst theconfusion, a Sub-Inspectorpunched in my neck andkicked at my ribs while my sis-ter fell down. The policeattacked her also and draggedher to their vehicle,” saidMahija’s brother Sreejith.

As the police personneldragged her through the roadand forcibly took her to thevehicle in full view of dozens ofTV cameras and a large num-ber of newsmen, Mahija couldbe heard crying out, “Don’t youhave any mercy? I am a moth-er who has lost my son andwaiting for justice for all thesedays.” The police claimed theyhad not arrested any of Jishnu’srelatives.

At the GovernmentMedical College Hospital,Thiruvananthapuram, whereshe was admitted, Mahija saidthat the police had attacked her

when she fell down anddragged her and that they hadfirst attacked her brotherSreejith, who also was admit-ted to the same hospital.Jishnu’s sister Arya said shewould go on a hunger strike atthe DGP office gates.

Both Marxist ChiefMinister Pinarayi Vijayan andDGP Loknath Behera justifiedthe police action by stating thatthe trouble erupted due tointerference by ‘external ele-ments’ that had into infiltratedthe group of Jishnu’s parents,relatives and friends. However,the DGP admitted that such anincident should not haveoccurred. According to sources,four persons, who had beentrying to help Jishnu’s family,had been arrested.

Jishnu Pranoy (18), a first-year-BTech student of the self-financing Nehru College ofEngineering at Pampady,Thrissur, one of the units of theNehru Group of educationalinstitutions, was found hangingin his hostel room on January6. The police had termed it asa case of suicide but his relatives

hold that he was murdered bythe college authorities.

The police had registered acase by naming six personsbelonging to the college man-agement and staff, as accused.However, no substantial actionhad been taken except thearrest of Nehru group chair-man P Krishnadas, who wasreleased on bail immediately,the other day. Jishnu’s relativesallege that the police are tryingto save the immensely rich col-lege management and staff.

Protests raged acrossKerala against the incident onWednesday. Tension prevailedin Kozhikode and Malappuramwhen student and youth outfitstook out protest marches.

In Malappuram, sevenactivists of the Youth Congressand KSU suffered injuries inpolice action against theirmarch. Students of the NehruCollege in Pampady alsoprotested against the attack onJishnu’s mother.

Former Chief Minister andveteran Marxist VSAchuthanandan, who termedthe incident as unfortunate,

called up the DGP and ‘repri-manded’ him by askingwhether he was trying to tar-nish the LDF Government’simage in the context of theApril 12 Malappuram LokSabha election.

“Chief Minister Pinarayishould apologise to the peopleof Kerala. The Government’spolicy is to help the neo-richand not the victims,” said for-mer Chief Minister OommenChandy while OppositionLeader Ramesh Chennithala,who described the incident aspainful, condemnable andshocking, wanted Behera to beremoved as DGP.

Stating that the police wererefusing to change though theGovernment had changed,Kanam Rajendran, State secre-tary of the CPI, second biggestconstituent of the LDF, saidsuch an incident should nothave taken place. State BJPchief KummanamRajasekharan said the inci-dents Kerala had been wit-nessing under the Leftist rulereminded one of theEmergency days.

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Obliquely defending the stonethrowers in Kashmir and

seeking to separate them fromterrorism, former Jammu andKashmir Chief Minister andopposition National Conference(NC) president Dr FarooqAbdullah on Wednesday said thestone throwers were renderingtheir lives for the resolution ofKashmir issue.

Abdullah, who is fightingby-poll from the Srinagar-Budgam parliamentary con-stituency scheduled to go forpolls on April 9, was addressinga group of party workers at hishigh security Gupkar Road res-idence here. He took a dig atPrime Minister Narendra Modi’sremark that Kashmiri youthmust choose between tourismand terrorism. Modi said that ata public gathering last weekafter inaugurating Chenani-Nashri tunnel on Srinagar-Jammu National highway.

“PM Modi while inaugurat-ing the tunnel said that theyouth in Kashmir should choosebetween tourism and terrorism.I want to tell him from this stagethat the tourism is our lifeline

and there is no doubt over it. Butthe youth throwing stones havenothing to do with tourism.They are not rendering their livesfor tourism but for the resolutionof Kashmir issue,” Abdullah said.

“The youth who are peltingstones for the nation want a con-crete resolution that accommo-dates the aspirations of people ofKashmir,” Abdullah said.

He said that Modi does notprovide food and livelihood tothe people but it is AlmightyAllah who provides food topeople irrespective of their reli-gious beliefs. He castigatedalleged intrusion into the reli-gious affairs of other communi-ties. “We as Muslims have neverraised fingers over their religion(Hindu religion). I have myselfsung hymns (bhajans) but theymust not interfere in our reli-gion,” he said.

Favouring dialogue for theresolution of Kashmir issue,Abdullah said that the dialoguemust be initiated to avoid anypossible escalation between Indiaand Pakistan. “Dialogue must beinitiated to resolve the Kashmirissue before the possible warbetween the two countries,” he said.

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Continuous exchange ofheavy volume fire along

the line of control (LoC) hasonce again started botheringlocal residents of Poonch liv-ing in the direct line of fire ofPakistan guns.

For last three days PakistanArmy is regularly poundingforward civilian areas for longhours with a clear objective ofhitting civilian targets.

According to Defence PROLt-Col Munish Mehta, “Pakistan army once again vio-lated ceasefire agreement withIndia by initiating indiscrimi-nate firing of small arms, auto-matics and mortars at 9.05a.m on forward Indian postsalong the line of control inPoonch sector”. He said theIndian army posts too retaliat-ed strongly and effectivelyusing similar calibre ofweapons.

According to him the fir-ing lasted over 3 hours duringthe day. After one JCO hail-ing from Manipur was mar-tyred in an IED explosion in

Digwar area of Poonch thearea has been witnessingheavy exchange of fire ondaily basis.

It is not yet clear whetherPak army has been trying toprovide cover fire to a groupof infiltrators or doing the

same to divert the attention ofthe Indian army jawans whileplanning any misadventure inanother sector.

Though no major loss oflife and property has beenreported from ground zerobut panic stricken residents

have beenforced byprevai l ingc i r c u m -stances toonce againp r e p a r ethemselvesfor an alter-nate.

Almostevery mem-ber of thefamily livingin the for-ward areahas been leftstranded dueto this freshengagementby thearmies of thetwo neigh-b o u r i n gcountries.

The children, who werewaiting to join new ses-sion/classes have been forcedto stay put as firing startearly in the morning andcontinue intermittently dur-ing day time.

The farmers and women

folk who step out in theirfields for attending to livestock and cultivation facenumerous hardships as theyremain stranded without anysafe shelter away from safeconfines of their homes. TheGovernment agencies are alsofinding themselves in a catch22 situation as tensions alongthe line of control are gradu-ally building up.

As firing was going onand long range mortar shellswere landing in civilian areasseveral local residents onceagain urged the political andmilitary leadership of thecountry to plan a decisiveaction against the enemycountry and liberate part ofPakistan Occupied Kashmirto silence their guns once andfor all times to come.

Sharing their every dayordeal these residents inPoonch claimed, “the Uniongovt should take a firm standon dealing with Pakistanarmy as it has not been mend-ing its ways and continue toexport terrorism inside theIndian territory”.

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Bengal on Wednesday wokeup to a new variety of

Ramnavami celebrated moreon the thoroughfares than inpandals.

In a presentable sight for theBJP aspiring to pull downTrinamool Congress’ greencitadel in 2019 general electionscombined processions of RSSand Hindu Jagaran Manch onWednesday drew impressivecrowds throughout Bengal —particularly in its northern parts,Birbhum, Howrah and Kolkata— provoking a squirmy MamataBanerjee to denounce “politics inthe name of Lord Rama.”

To guarantee its own polit-ical relevance against a saffronsurge the Bengal ruling outfitlaunched counter celebrationseven as State Minister and for-mer India cricketer Laxmi RatanShukla led large processionshijacking loud chants of “Jai Shri

Ram” for once from the BJP. InBirbhum the Trinamool coun-tered RSS Ramnavami withward-based Hanuman Puja thatbecame an instant hit too.

Armed with swords, tri-dents and sticks saffron brigadesmarched down the streets ofKolkata which saw as many as22 such processions and Siliguri

— considered thegateway of theNorth East —which saw perhapsthe biggest suchrally in the region.

B i r b h u mseemed to presentthe most encourag-ing picture withhundreds of youthtaking part in thesaffron yatraprompting a StateCPI(M) leader torue: “we were des-tined to see thisday thanks toMamata Banerjee’sneedless appease-ment of a particularsection of people.”

Bengal BJPpresident Dilip Ghosh laudedthe “commendable effort” say-ing “it will help the people tounite against the anti-nationalforces and vote bank politics.”

Apparently concerned withWednesday’s developments theChief Minister lay into “BJP’snefarious designs to break pop-ular solidarity in the name ofreligion” and warned againstany ploy to disturb communalharmony in the State.

“Do they think Hinduismis their paternal property? I ama born Hindu and practice itwith supreme faith. Do I haveto learn a new how to practicemy religion? These people aretrying to create fissure in thesociety in order to win electionsbut we will not allow them todo so” she said.

“Any such effort will befirmly dealt with,” she warnedwhile the police watched peo-ple marching past the streets ofKolkata and districts with glis-tening swords prompting avisibly helpless Sujan

Chakrabarty of the CPI(M)to sniff a “hidden alliancebetween Trinamool and BJP.”

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Beware before posting any-thing objectionable against

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanathor State Government as it mightland you in jail.

The law enforcing agenciesas well as Government seems tohave geared up to initiate actionagainst misutilising the socialmedia. After suspension of anofficer of Indian Police Servcies,Himanshu Kumar, for his poston twitter accusing Governmentfor initiating action just againsta particular caste officers,Lucknow police registered acriminal case against seniorlawyer Prashant Bhushan for hisobjectionable posts hitting reli-

gious sentiments. Besides, arrestof a youth in Gaziabad now acorporator paid the price with hisarrest for uploading objection-able picture of Chief Minister onhis Facebook profile.

Reports said Corporator ofLoni area in Ghaziabad, RajKumar Chauhan, had uploadedan objectionable picture of ChiefMinister on his Facebookaccount, after which districtcoordinator of Hindu Yuva

Vahini, Satyendra Bansal object-ed and went ahead with regis-tration of case against Chauhanon Wednesday. The cops takingserious cognisanse of the matter,had arrested Chauhan for tryingto breach peace through objec-tionable post and sent him to jail.

It may be mentioned thatearlier on Rahat Khan, also ofGhaziabad was arrested after hetoo posted objectionable pictureof Yogi Adityanath. He still notgot bail in the matter. In thePrashant Bhushan case, whileLucknow police claimed to bemaking investigation after reg-istering a case, the lawyer hadwithdrawn his objectionabletweet and apologised for hurtingsentiments of one religion.

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With an aim to improveeducation standard in

Government schools of UttarPradesh, the Yogi Governmentis contemplating to bring anordinance to ensure regularattendance of teachers in State-run schools as well as to regu-late admission and fees in pri-vate schools.

A highly placed sourcesaid that Chief Minister hasmade it clear that he wouldensure students should getquality education in schoolsand for this directives havebeen given to ensure regularattendance of teachers in theschools.

“The Government mightbring an ordinance that wouldlook into two basic issues – oneattendance of teachers and sec-ond regulate admission inschools. The Governmentmight also suggest a fee struc-ture for non-aided private

schools,” a senior official in theGovernment told The Pioneerhere on Wednesday.

The suggestion to bring anordinance came during thereview meeting of the educa-tion department which con-tinued till almost mid-night onMonday. The next day ChiefSecretary Rahul Bhatnagarasked officials to prepare adraft ordinance encompassingissues that were discussed inthe meeting.

The official said that CMhas stressed on regular atten-dance of teachers. A suggestioncame that teachers could beasked to take a selfie with stu-dents during morning meetingand send the same to thenodal officer.

“CM is also of the opin-ion if doing away with mid-day meal system. He askedofficers to look for optionswhere students can get qual-ity food as well as teachers arenot bogged down in work likearranging MDM for the stu-dents,” the official said andadded CM wants that moneyshould be sent to students’account directly so that hecan bring home cooked foodto school.

A delegation of senior offi-cials will also go to neigh-bouring States to study howthey are performing in basiceducation sector. UP shouldaccept positives from theseStates, official said.

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The Central Bureau ofInvestigation (CBI) on

Wednesday registered six sep-arate cases against twoMumbai firms dealing goldand jewellery for allegedlycausing losses totally amount-ing to �1,530 crore to variousbanks.

Acting on complaintslodged by Central Bank ofIndia, IDBI Bank Ltd. andVijaya Bank, the CBI registeredsix cases against two Mumbaibased private firms dealingwith gold and jewellery, one oftheir Chief Promoters and oth-ers for allegedly indulging incheating and criminal con-

spiracy.According to the CBI,

standby letters of credit wereopened by the banks for theimport of gold by the twocompanies from foreign banks.Gold was imported to Indiaand later the yellow was re-exported to 13 UAE basedbuyers.

When the companies didnot honour their commitmentmade for letters of creditopened on their behalf, theSBLCs and Indian Banks wereforced to make payments to theforeign banks.

As a consequence,Central Bank of India suf-fered �699.54 crore loss inone case and �255.24 crore lossin another case, while IDBIBank Ltd suffered �133.12crore loss in one case and�55.68 crore in another case.The Vijaya Bank suffered loss-es amounting �233.15 croreand �153.71 crore in two sep-arate cases.

“The total losses incurredby three banks amount to RsRs 1530 crore. We are investi-gating the role of bank officialsand others in the cheatingcases that we have registeredtwo private firms and others,”a CBI spokesperson said.

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Two judgements by MadrasHigh Court, one on the

waiver of farm loans availed byfarmers irrespective of thequantity of land owned bythem and the other on holdingof local body elections in theState before May 14, have putthe Tamil Nadu Government ina tight spot.

The verdict on the waiverof farm loans on a plea sub-mitted by National SouthIndian River InterlinkingAgriculturist Association,means that all agriculturalloans availed by farmers whoowned more than five acres andabove should also be waivered.The Tamil Nadu Government,in two separate orders issued inMay and June 2016, had writ-

ten off all farm loans availed byfarmers who owned land up tofive acres. It directed the StateGovernment to approach theCentre seeking the latter’s helpin meeting the additionalamount of �1980.33 croreneeded to write of the loansavailed by farmers holdingmore than five acres of land.

A group of farmers underthe leadership of PonnuchamyAyyakkanu fromTiruchrappalli has been staginga demonstration in New Delhiwearing loincloths for the lastthree weeks to draw the atten-tion of the Union Governmenttowards their plea to write offarm loans availed by them.This agitation had earned thewrath of various farm associa-tions in the State, the leaders ofwhich alleged that Ayyakkannuwas engaged in theatrics and he

was not a farmer.The Union Government

had on March 31, 2017,released an amount of �2014.45 crore towards Tamil Nadufollowing the StateGovernment’s appeal for finan-cial assistance to meet thedrought and cyclone relief andresettlement programmes.

The first bench of actingchief justice Huluvadi Raesh

and RMT Teekka Raman hadissued a stern warning to theState Government on Mondayfor the inordinate delay inholiding the local body electionand warnd the governmentthat contempt of court pro-ceedings would be initiatedagaint it if it fails to hold thelocal body election before May14. The Government of TamilNadu has issued a notificationon September 26, 2016 forholding the local body electionon October 17 and 19, 2016which was quashed by theCourt following complaintsfrom opposition parties thatthey were not given sufficienttimes to prepare for the ballotbattle. Justice Kirubakaran,while quashing the govern-ment order had asked the Stategovernment to complete thelocal body polls before

December 31. Since then the State

Government has been delayingthe local body elections fur-nishing various explanations .On Monday, the State ElectionCommission had told the courtthat it needed further time torevise the electoral roles. Thefirst bench retorted by orderingthat if the court order was notcomplied with, the govern-ment would have to face thecharge of contempt of court.

The split in the rulingparty, the easing out of formerchief minister OPanneerselvam and the subse-quent political developmentshave put the Palaniswamy gov-ernment in a corner forcing itto postpone the local body pollswhich should have been com-pleted before October 2016 innormal course of time.

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Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath’s

decision to waive farm loansworth a staggering Rs 36,359crore is having a telling effecton his counterpart fromMaharashtra DevendraFadnavis. From his hithertosomewhat stubborn positionover the farm loan waiver issue,Fadnavis said on Wednesdaythat he had asked the StateFinance Secretary to study theUP farm loan waiver model tosee if it could be replicated inthe State.

A day after the ruling ShivSena joined the Oppositionparties used Adityanath’s loanwaiver decision to mount pres-sure on the MaharashtraGovernment for a similar loanwaiver in the state, the chiefminister said: “After the UPgovernment announced a heftyloan waiver for its farmers, it isbut natural that our legislatorsare demanding that a similarloan waiver announced inMaharashtra. Right from dayone, I have been saying that weare committed to bring 31 lakhdistressed farmers in the stateout of the debt trap and makethem credit-worthy once again”.

“With regard to the issue offarmers’ loan waiver, our standhas been positive right from thebeginning. Our governmenthas stated as much in its bud-get for 2017-18. ... In the wake

of the UP government’s farmerwaiver decision, I instructedthe State Finance Secretarythis morning to study forthwiththe loan waiver model of thatstate. We would like to know onwhat the UP governmentdecided to waive loans andwhere would it raise finances tobear the burden on the stateexchequer arising of its loanwaiver decision, “ the chiefminister said. “We are alsocollating information aboutthe loan waiver models ofother states. I have also askedthe Finance Secretary to pre-pare estimates of the burdenarising out of the loan waiver,”Fadnavis said.

Fadnavis said that his gov-ernment had written to theCentre seeking financial assis-tance to help the distressedfarmers in the state. “Supposingwe do not get financial assistancefrom the Centre, we have drawnalternative plans to provide reliefto the distressed farmers. Iwould like to assure this housethat our stand is sincere and wewould like to help the farmers”.

Alluding to the Madrashigh court’s directive to theTamil Nadu government towaive agricultural loans takenout by all farmers, irrespectiveof their land holding, Fadnavissaid: “The Tamil Nadu issue isa different one altogether. Mystand is clear on this issue.Whether or not waive the farmloans is prerogative of the stategovernment. There is no needfor a high court to tell us as towhat we should do. Our gov-

ernment is capable of takingsuch decisions”.

The chief ministerslammed the Opposition par-ties for undertaking farm loanwaiver issue, by saying: “Theyare going around the state inthe name of Sangarsh Yatra. Iam told their yatra ended yes-terday. I do not want to com-ment on what they are doing.I wish them well”.

The Opposition memberswere not present in theAssembly when the chief min-ister made the state. TheOpposition parties have beenboycotting the House pro-ceedings since March 22 when19 Congress and NCP MLAswere suspended from theAssembly till December 31,2017 for creating ruckus dur-ing the presentation of theState budget and burning thecopies of the budget speech inthe Vidhan Bhavan preemiesover the farm loan waiver issue.However, the MaharashtraAssembly revoked the suspen-sion of nine MLAs on April 1.

Fadnavis’ statement thathe is looking at ways to waivefarm loans in the state is a clearindication of the fact that hassoftened his position on thesince mid last month, when hehad slammed the two majoropposition parties for indulgingin “politics of loan waiver” to“cover up” the co-operativebank scams in the state.

In an intervention in theState Assembly amid uproar bythe ruling Shiv Sena Oppositionparties over their clamour forfarm loan waiver, Fadnavis hadsaid in the State Assembly onMarch 15: “We are not per seopposed farm loan waiver. But,the opposition parties areindulging in politics of loanwaiver merely to cover up theco-operative bank scams in thestate.... Will the Oppositiongive the state government anassurance that once we waivefarm loans, the unabated sui-cide end?”.

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Despite strict instructionsby Chief Minister Yogi

Adityanath to take all necessarymeasures to ensure peaceful cel-ebration of Ramnavmi Mela inAyodhya, still stampede like sit-uation occurred in Faizabad onWednesday, in which a 60-year-old woman died and overa dozen others were injured intwo separate incidents as lakhsof pilgrims thronged the holycity to take a dip in the Saryuon the occasion of Ramnavmi.

Local administrationincluding district magistrate,however, claimed that thewoman died of heart failure dueto suffocation.

Reports confirmed thatabout 10 lakh devotees start-ed swarming the temple townsince early Wednesday morn-ing for a holy dip in the Saryuand offer prayer at temples onthe occasion of Ram Navami.The first incident took place inTulsi Udyan area near theRamjanmabhoomi shrine, inwhich Dulari Devi, a native ofTitra Bazar in Naugarh locali-ty of Siddharthnagar died.

Her husband Sadhu Ramclaimed that his wife died instampede like situation due tolarge crowd. “We were return-ing after offering puja at TulsiUdyan when we got trapped inthe middle of a huge crowd. Mywife fell down and got trappedunder the rampaging crowd,” herevealed to the media persons.“We kept crying for help, butnobody came to our rescue. Bythe time some people from thelocal administration reachedus and took her to hospital, shewas already dead,” he added.

Faizabad SeniorSuperintendent of Police AnantDev, however, claimed that thewoman died due to heart failureafter she suffocated due to hugecrowd. Another injured woman,Lakhpati Devi (70) of Sultanpur

district, was admitted to the dis-trict hospital in a critical con-dition. In another stampede inBandha Tiraha area, more thana dozen devotees were injured,officials said. All the injuredwere admitted in district hos-pital where their condition hasbeen stated to be stable.

Meanwhile 5 personsincluding a 35-year-old manand his 3-year-old son died intwo separate roads mishaps. Inthe first case reported fromMuzaffarnagar, a man was goingwith his son on a motorcyclewhen they were hit by a speed-ing tractor trolley nearJatmujhere locality of the dis-trict, injuring both criticallyalong with two others on lateTuesday night. The victimswere going to their native Dahavillage when the incidentoccurred. The injured wereshifted to hospital in a seriouscondition where both father andson succumbed to their injuries.

In another incident report-ed from Mirzapur, three per-sons were killed when the trac-tor trolley they were travelingin overturned near Nunauti vil-lage on Tuesday night. The vic-tims were returning after a reli-gious ceremony when the dri-ver lost control over the vehi-cle and it overturned. WhileShyam Kumar (18), KatoraDevi (60) and Neeraj (10) werekilled, one other with seriousinjuries was referred toVaranasi. Other injured weresent home after first aid. Thebodies have been handed overto the families after post-mortem examination.

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Close on the heels of theMulayam Singh’s daughter

-in law Aparna Yadav meetingChief Minister Adityanath,senior Samajwadi party leaderShivpal Yadav called on theChief Minister on Wednesday.

His son Aditya Yadav alsoaccompanied his father. EarlierShivpal Yadav had tweeted amessage congratulating thechief minister Adityanath, theday he took oath of office. Thiswas the first meeting of theChief Minister with the leaderof an opposition party after theBJP announced the loan waiv-er for the farmers on Tuesday.

Shivpal Yadav is the firstsenior SP leader to have metthe chief minister afterAdityanath took oath of officeon March 19.

Shivpal Yadav had alsomet the state assemblySpeaker Hridya Nar yanDikshit on Tuesday. Shivp0alhad also congratulated thetwo deputy chief ministersKeshav Prasad Maurya andDinesh Sharma when theyhad taken oath of office.

After meeting the chiefminister Shivpal Yadavdescribed his meeting withAdityanath as the `courtesycall’. The Samajwadi leadershowever say `there is more toit than what meets the eye’’.Shivpal Yadav had announcedin January that he will float anew political party after theassembly elections.

Sources close to ShivpalYadav said he is working for thealready announced goal.

Sources said Shivpal Yadavhad even before the assemblyelections had concluded that heand his son have no future inthe Samajwadi party led by hisnephew Akhilesh Yadav.

Sources said ShivpalYadav is now disillusionedwith his elder brotherMulayam Singh Yadav andlost hopes that he would evermake decisive political movefor his political rehabilita-tion. A senior SP leader said`Mulayam Singh Yadav is`very sad’ over the turn ofevents in the party ever sincehe was removed from thepost of national president onJanuary 1, he is still ambiva-lent and yet to make a firmmove indicating his futurecourse of political action’.Shivpal Yadav is no longerready for further wait andwatch and wants decisiveaction from Mulayam SinghYadav and failing to getresponse he made an inde-pendent move to meet thechief minister Adityanath.

“There may be speculationthat Shivpal may join the BJP

or float his own political partythere is total unanimity in theAkhilesh Yadav camp that hehas no future in the Samajwadiparty so earlier the better hemust find a new political homefor himself ’’, said a SP leader.

Sources said it appearshighly unlikely that BJP wouldlike to accommodate ShivpalYadav at this juncture as thechief minister has alreadyordered a judicial probe intoalleged financial irregularitiesin Gomti river front project ofRs 1,500 crore.

Shivpal Yadav was the irri-gation minister and this depart-ment is executing the project.At the same time sources saidBJP needs a Yadav leader ofstature who can cut into thevote bank of the Samajwadiparty in its core area of West UP.

Sources said BJP wants tocomplete this operation before2019 Lok Sabha elections forcreating wider Hindu votebank which includes all castesand no community feels alien-ated from the consolidation ofHindu vote bank.

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Ateacher by professionDeputy Chief Minister Dr

Dinesh Sharma got educationportfolio — a sector which isclose to his heart. He had anopportunity to work in otherdepartments but he preferrededucation sector because of hiscommitment to improve edu-cation standard of UttarPradesh. In a tête-à-tête withThe Pioneer Dr Sharma saidcopying mafia is calling shotthat is spoiling careers of intel-ligent and hardworking stu-dents. We need to protect thesestudents because we are tar-geting cause as why this is hap-pening. The excerpt:

You have taken charge ofEducation department at acrucial time when Boardexamination are on and inci-dents of large scale copyingare pouring in from all overstate. How you are going tocope up with it?

When I took charge imagesof large scale copying in schoolswere splashed in electronic andprint media. This remindedpeople of images of Bihar wherepeople were seen climbing onthe roofs and parapets ofschools to facilitate cheating.The day I took charge of thedepartment I called a meeting

and asked officials to end thisnon-sense. I my self raidedmany schools in neighboringdistricts. The swift action hadits impact and cheating camedown drastically. Over 5 lakhstudents have dropped outbecause of the pressure built bythe government. Over 500 cen-ters have been debarred andaround 300 schools have beenblacklisted in such a short time.

Still reports of cheating arepouring in.

Yes, there are, but the mag-nitude (of cheating) has comedown. The copying is a big syn-dicate. This government iscommitted to end this racket.Chief Minister Yogi Adityanathtoo has given green signal totake action against thoseschools or officials who are partof this racket. We have torealise that because of thisracket intelligent students, whohave burnt mid-night oil, aresuffering. A student with lowintelligence passes exam with

flying colours on the basis ofcopying. We will not allowanyone to play with the futureof students.

This sound interesting. Howyou are going to improveeducation standard?

The first and foremost stepis to ensure 220 days of stud-ies in the academic session.This is now a known fact thatschools are not working as perthe academic calendar. Inmajority of schools number ofteachers is not adequate. Inmany schools these teachers aremore keen in arranging mid-day meal than imparting edu-cation to students. We areplanning to set up BasicEducation Council that willlook after appointment ofteachers. Secondly, we are iden-tifying the cause of deteriora-tion in education standard. Aswe know teachers in highschools force students to takeprivate tuitions from them.This will end now.

What’s about HigherEducation sector?

We are working in that sec-tor too. Our priority is to reg-ularize academic sessions inColleges and universities.

We will implement acade-mic calendar in letter and in spirit.

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Throwing open challenge tolaw enforcing agencies under

the Yogi Adityanath’sGovernment, unidentifiedmotorcycle borne miscreantsstruck terror in Muzaffarnagarafter they opened indiscriminatefire on a senior Bharatiya JantaParty (BJP) leader on Wednesdaymorning.

Surprisingly, the agitatedsupporters hurled abuses onlocal Party MLA and later alsomanhandled the Nagar Palikachairman, alleging him to haveorchestrated the killing. Thelocal police had tough time torescue the chairman from thehands of agitated mob, who lateralso staged a blockade for sever-al hours on Delhi-Dehradunroad demanding arrest of thekillers. Interestingly, the copsalso detained one of the corpo-rator on suspicion but his sup-porters attacked the cops and gethim released forcibly creatingtension in the area. Heavy policeforce in patrolling to avert anyclash between the two groups.

Later in the evening, local policearrested Paras Jain in the killing.

Reports said that RajaBalmiki (40), executive memberof the BJP, who earlier remainedgeneral secretary in the districtunit of the Party inMuzaffarnagar, was sitting in hisdairy at Khatoli when threemotorcycle borne miscreantsreached and opened indiscrim-inate fire killing the saffronleader on the spot. All the threemiscreants later fled from sceneof crime. The killing of rulingParty leader went like a wild fireand within no time, hundreds ofhis supporters reached and start-ed raising slogans and hurledabused on their own Party MLAVikram Saini. In the meantime,chairman of the Nagar PalikaParishad, Paras Jain reached topay his condolence on the killingbut the mob also manhandledhim along with his personalsecurity guards. Luckily, somecops present at the scenariosomehow managed to rescue thechairman and shifted him. Theagitated mob then moved toIndira Murti crossing on Delhi-

Dehradun highway and staged ablockade demanding arrest ofthe culprits.

Meanwhile sources said thaton apprehension, the local policedetained a local corporator RajuBalmiki for interrogation but hissupporters attacked the policeparty and forcibly get the leaderreleased from their clutches.Later on application of the fam-ily members, local police regis-tered a case in this regard againstNagar Palika chairman, ParasJain and 3 unknown persons andheavy police force in patrollingto maintain peace. The copsclaimed to have arrested ParasJain and trying to identify thekillers with the help of the CloseCircuit Televisions (CCTVs)footage installed near the crimescenario. However, so far theyfailed to get any lead which couldtook them close to the killers.

Meanwhile in a separatecase reported from Saharanpur,unknown miscreants createdpanic after they allegedly shot ata doctor when he was attendingto his patients in Deoband areaof the district on Tuesday night.

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The All-India Shia MuslimPersonal Law Board has

termed the triple talaq as `antiIslam’ and has supported theban on it. Shia board has alsowelcomed the observation ofthe Supreme Court for the outof court settlement of theAyodhya dispute through dia-logues. The board has demand-ed that the Supreme Courtshould be party in the negoti-ated settlement of the dispute.The Shia board said tripleTalaq is not a Shia Sunni issueand its support for the ban oftriple talaq would cause no riftbetween the two sects.

“There is no confrontationwith the All India MuslimPersonal Law Board over thetriple talaq and we had talks withtheir leaders on the issue andhave conveyed our opinion,”said Shia board spokespersonMaulana Yasoob Abbas hereafter the meeting of the execu-tive committee of the Shia lawboard here on Wednesday.

“Shia law board is againstthe suffering and exploitationof the muslim women throughthis unconventional triple talaqwhich has no religious basis. Ifrequired, the Shia law boardwould file an affidavit beforethe Supreme Court,’’, saidYasoob Abbas. He said thetriple talaq should be bannedlike the government had donein the case of Sati and other evil

social practices. He said evenProphet Mohammad had neversupported such anti-womenpractice.

Maulana Yasoob Abbassaid why the woman shouldalways bear the brunt ofdivorce. It is not only thewoman and her children thatface the trauma. Islam treatsmen and women as equalsthen why this discrimination.He said that with the advent ofnew technology, women werebeing given divorce throughthe Internet and SMS by theirhusbands who work in othercountries.

“Even a peon is given anopportunity to explain his posi-tion if suspended by the gov-ernment, but muslim womendo not have this luxury toexplain her point of view,” hesaid. The practice of tripletalaq is prohibited in Shia com-munity as they go for threestages covering at least threemonths for any talaq. AllIndia muslim personal lawboard which represents the allthe sects of muslims hasopposed the judicial inter-vention in muslim personallaw and triple talaq and alsoalleged that government andjudiciary were trying to inter-fere into their faith matters.

The meeting of the execu-tive committee of the Board also demanded fromthe Centre to ban the cowslaughter.

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Chinese diplomats seemto become more andmore ‘undiplomatic’,not to say ‘uncivilised’.Take Ma Zhanwu, the

Chinese Consul General inKolkata; he threatened India ofdire consequences, would Delhirefuse to cancel the Dalai Lama’strip to Arunachal Pradesh. Duringa Press conference, he said:“Tawang is disputed territorybetween India and China and theLama should be kept away fromthe place if an amicable solutionto the border dispute is sought.”

In fact, there is no dispute aboutTawang, especially after China andIndia signed an agreement in 2005on the ‘Political Parameters andGuiding Principles for theSettlement of the India-ChinaBoundary Question’, which stipu-lates “the two sides shall safeguarddue interests of their settled popu-lations in the border areas.”

In other words, there is noquestion of changing the status ofTawang. In this context, Ma’sthreateningly tone is surprising:“…if the visit happens, China willbe forced to take measures againstIndia and that will affect cooper-ation and ties between us.”

Though diplomats like Mahave little knowledge about histo-ry, Beijing has done some homework to propagate its version of thestory. Last month, a briefing wasorganised in the Chinese capital toexplain to the Indian and foreignjournalists what happened in 1959.

Lian Xiangmin, Director ofInstitute of Contemporary TibetanStudies, reiterated China’s claimsover Tawang. “One of the threemajor temples of Tibet is theDrepung Monastery near Lhasa,and Tawang was a subsidiary ofDrepung and in history, Tawang’smonks went to Drepung to studysutras. Tawang, under Drepung alsomade contributions to the localGovernment. So Tawang is part ofTibet and Tibet is part of China, soTawang is part of China. So this isnot much of a question.”

For centuries, however, theBuddhist Himalayan belt hadclosed connections with Tibet; inLadakh for example, mostmonasteries were affiliated tomonasteries in western Tibet;ditto for Kinnaur, Spiti, Lahaul orSikkim, linked with other reli-gious centers in Tibet. Accordingto the logic of Lian, all these areasshould become Chinese?

But if Lian had gone a bit deep-er in history, he would have realisedthat there is no such thing as‘Tibetan Buddhist’, the entire‘Tibetan’ tradition comes from

Nalanda and it is Shantarakshita, theAbbot of the great vihara, whoordained the first Tibetan monks inthe land of snows. Following fur-ther, Lian’s theory, the entire Tibetshould belong to India? It is inter-esting to look at the first days of theLama in India.

On March 26, 1959, theTibetan leader, then camping in aborder village called LhuntseDzong, wrote to the Indian PrimeMinster: “Ever since Tibet wentunder the control of Red China…the Chinese Government hasbeen gradually subduing theTibetan Government.” Heannounced that on March 31, hewould be crossing the Indian bor-der: “In this critical situation weare entering India via Tsona. Ihope that you will please makenecessary arrangements for us inthe Indian territory.”

At the appointed date andtime, the Tibetan leader and hisentourage reached the Assam Riflespost in Chuthangmu, north ofTawang. On April 3, Prime MinisterJawaharlal Nehru answered theLama’s telegram through theGovernment of Assam: “We shallbe happy to afford the necessaryfacilities for you, your family andentourage to reside in India. Thepeople of India who hold you in

great veneration will no doubtaccord their traditional respect toyour person.”

It is worth noting that since thatday, the Dalai Lama has been con-sidered as an honoured guest by allsuccessive Indian Governments.Beijing has to live with this fact; thisis not going to change. RegardingTawang, when the Lama crossed theborder, China did not claim the areasouth of the McMahon line. If it wasChina’s territory, Chinese troopswould have followed him, no?

In 1959, a lot appeared in theChinese media about the so-called ‘Tibetan rebellion’, whichstarted on March 10, and the sub-sequent flight of the young monkto India, but in the communist lit-erature in April/May 1959, thereis not a single word about Tawangbeing part of China.

On May 6, The People’s Dailycarried a nasty article, ‘TheRevolution in Tibet and Nehru’sPhilosophy’, insulting the IndianPrime Minister for having grantedasylum to the Dalai Lama. Themouthpiece of the CommunistParty said: “The war of rebellionunleashed by the handful of traitorsin Tibet has in the main beenquelled. With the ignominiousdefeat of the rebels, the sanguinaryconflict they created has ended over

the overwhelming portion of Tibet.”The fact that 87,000 unarmed

Tibetans died during the days fol-lowing the uprising is not men-tioned while the communist paperconveniently forgot that it was the‘masses’ who revolted against theChinese occupation, The People’sDaily continued: “May we ask allthose vociferous self-styled sym-pathisers of the Tibetan people,just who are the ‘Tibetan peopleyou sympathise with? …Whosedefeat is the defeat of the rebellionin Tibet which you weep andmourn over?” “…When the bigserf-owners in Tibet gouge out theeyes and hearts of the serfs, thesespecialists in sympathy did not feelit a tragedy and did not demandof these serf-owners moderationand humanitarianism.”

Nehru, though personallyaccused, remained calm in theLok Sabha; he declared: “Thereare many articles in the worldPress with which we are not inagreement; some are even verycensorious of India or Indian pol-icy;” he did not want to reply thewild accusations, though he spokeof a cold war technique: “We haverecently had some experience ofthat regard to India. …We did notlike it. The question ariseswhether we should adopt thattechnique or not.”

On September 11, 1959,Premier Zhou Enlai addressed theStanding Committee of theNational People’s Congress on theSino-Indian boundary question.Again, he did not mention Tawang,though he said that there was noreason for Beijing “to accept theIndian Government’s unilateralclaims concerning the Sino-Indianboundary. The so-called McMahonLine was a product of British impe-rialist aggression against Tibet. Itwas never recognised by anyCentral Government of China andthus had no validity in law.”

All this changed, after theKongka Pass incident in October1959 which resulted in the deathof nine Indian soldiers. Beijingrealised that India was ‘now’claiming the Aksai Chin andquestioning their road throughthe area. Thereafter, Beijing’sstand was more aggressive andthe North-East Frontier Agency(NEFA) became China’s territo-ry as a bargain against its occu-pation of the Aksai Chin.

Today, listen to Ma and hiscolleagues, it sounds as if Tawangand Arunachal have alwaysbelonged to them, but the claimwas clearly an after-thought.

(The writer an expert on India-China relations and an author)�

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Tunnel of hope, bonding” (April4). As two swords cannot be putinto one sheath, tourism and terror-ism cannot happen simultaneous-ly in Jammu & Kashmir. PrimeMinister Narendra Modi is doinghis best to take the State to newheights of development.

Now, it is the Kashmiri youths’turn to join hands with the PrimeMinister and come forward tomake the State the most attractivetourist place, as it already has anappropriate climate to stay.Moreover, the view of mountaincovered with snow attracts touristsfrom all over the world.

Jaswant Rai Kansal Punjab

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Tunnel of hope, bonding” (April4). Tourism is the main business inJammu & Kashmir, which givesemployment and business to croresof people. This business can flour-ish only when there is peace andtranquility. India has alwaysthought that peace can be made bysincerely addressing grievances. Itmust, therefore, take a cue from

those instances and resolve theKashmiri conundrum.

Countries across the worldmust unite to fight terror so that theinnocent people of Kashmir canleave in peace and not in pieces. Itshould also be the responsibility ofevery citizen to cooperate with theGovernment as well as our ArmedForces to make the State terror freeand peaceful. Good governance andgood policy will address the prob-lem to a very large extent.

Vinod C DixitAhmedabad

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Sir — This refers to the surrenderof Marumalarchi DravidaMunnetra Kazhagam (MDMK)chief Vaiko in a sedition case beforethe court and his refusal to seek bail.Though the case of sedition againstVaiko was registered in 2009, thefailure to commence trial till now,despite repeated requests made bythe MDMK advocate, pointstowards the laxity on the part of thepolice and the prosecution. In fact,such delays are the main reason forthe abounding problems.

Further, it has been observedthat many political leaders likeVaiko, when and if confrontedwith repeated failures in elections,out of dejection and steep arro-

gance, often take up mean tacticsand issue objectionable anduncalled for statements to regainground or remain in limelight.Vaiko’s refusal to seek bail despitethe offer given by the magistrate isjust an example of his attitude.People ought to realise the truecolours of such politicians.

TT Sakaria Delhi

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Sir — Politicians in our country arereally distortive when it comes todefending themselves against theirmisdemeanours. The Aam AadmiParty in Delhi, when cornered formisusing the taxpayers’ moneywhich it used to defend a privatedefamation suit against its chief,innovatively claimed that the legalfee of �3.8 crore has to be borne bythe people of the State in the inter-est of cricket. They yet came up withyet another satisfactory explanationfor splurging over �100 crore in aseries of advertisements. Nothingshort of a public whiplash againstperpetrators of such misdeeds cancorrect this situation.

S VasudevanKodaikanal

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Air transport is one of theworld’s fastest-growingindustries. Today’s world-

wide tourism and internationalexchange of goods and serviceswould not be possible withoutairlines. Given the meteoric riseof the industry, solid waste man-agement and disposal is emerg-ing as the single most significantissue in the environmental man-agement of the aviation sector.The International Air TransportAssociation (IATA) estimatedthat during 2016, airline passen-gers generated 5.2 million tonnesof waste — that’s the weight ofabout 2.6 million cars. Thiswaste is set to double over thenext 15 years and is likely to putenormous pressure on the land-fill parks and other waste dispos-al infrastructure.

According to a researchstudy — Waste Reduction &Recycling Strategies for theAirline Industry — published byThe Hong Kong Polytechnic

University, each commercialflight that takes off generates upto 500kg of waste that includesfood, galley and cabin waste. Thewaste composition analysis con-ducted by the research studyshowed that mainly newspaper,meal menu cards etc, were thelargest component, ranging from32 per cent to 71 per cent byweight of the total galley andcabin waste. Another majorcomponent was plastic items.Transparent polystyrene drink-ing cups and food coversaccounted for up to 13% of thetotal weight whereas aluminumcans account for up to 4% of thetotal waste.

The aviation industry isunder immense pressure tocheck its green house gas emis-sions as passenger numbers risedue to air travel becomingincreasingly affordable. However,the challenge is to contain themassive waste footprint withoutlimiting the sectors growth as the

disposal of aviation waste itself isproving to be a costly proposi-tion. According to IATA, cabinwaste costs the industry $500million per year, and this figureis rising faster than ever before,especially in India thanks to ris-ing fuel prices and fierce compe-tition, forcing the airlines tokeep tickets affordable. Theseconditions are making airlines tolook at quick fix and affordablesolutions for waste disposal andtherein lies the problem.

India’s growing economycoupled with a burgeoning mid-dle class is translating into morepeople preferring to fly. Thoughthis is putting the aviation sectoras a high growth sector of Indianeconomy, it is also paving the wayfor the generation of huge wastequantities both by airlines as wellas airports. It needs to beaddressed on a priority basis.Efficient and environmentally-friendly aviation waste manage-ment of future would primarily

hinge on reducing the quantityof inflight and airport wastage,waste segregation and initiativesof recycling and up-cycling. Thiswill establish the eco-friendlyaspect of aviation sector and con-tribute to economic, environ-mental, operational, and socialbenefits to all the stakeholders.

The Indian aviation sector isyet to evolve to its full potential,as compared to the global coun-terparts, for instance the aviationministry has only recently flaggedoff regional commuter flights.Similarly, the interests beingevinced by global airlines such asOman Air in Indian aviation sec-tor, shows the promise andpotential held by the sector. Butbefore the sector takes off on ajourney of growth, it is of criti-cal importance for theGovernment, and the CivilAviation Ministry in particular,to establish ground rules and reg-ulations that not only facilitate ahealthy growth but also factor in

the environmental well-being.As a part of the initiative to

usher in responsible growth ofthe aviation sector, the NationalGreen Tribunal had alreadytaken an exemplary step sometime back by prohibiting airlinesto dispose waste mid-air. Thegovernment must also take extra-ordinary steps to ensure that theairlines are issued suitableinstructions that enable upcy-cling ofaircraft waste materialsuch as plastic meal trays, cutleryand even seat upholstery. It is alsoessential to create a green pur-chasing cooperative between air-lines, flight kitchens and suppli-ers to improve availability andcost of recyclable products. Thiswill have an immediate positiveimpact in reducing waste.

The authorities must alsosensitise the airlines and airportoperators on the importance ofwaste segregation on board theflight itself, so that the waste is notmixed at the point of generation.

In addition to this, India can alsoemulate some best practicesadopted in other parts of theworld, for instance the Gatwickairport in the UK opened an on-site waste-to-energy plant, reduc-ing the need for lorries to trans-port waste elsewhere besidesgenerating clean and green ener-gy. Measures such as these ensurethat the growth of the aviationsector takes place without collat-eral damage to the environmentas waste management is animportant area of the environ-ment management system in theairline industry it must beaccorded its due importance

The aviation waste reductionand recycling initiatives, if under-taken in an effective manner havethe potential to contribute great-ly to local and global environ-mental protection, and can savesubstantial operation costs for theairline industry.

(The writer is an environ-mental journalist)

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Soon after taking charge of India’spolitically most significant State,Yogi Adityanath’s immediateimplementation of the anti-Romeo squads’ idea to check eve-

teasing, has led to furious debates betweensupporters and opponents in equal mea-sure, as they have sought to outwit eachother from every platform.

But none is denying the ‘swiftness’ ofthe move. The shouting brigade, whichwas until now demanding stringent mea-sures for women’s safety, is acutely appre-hensive about this drive, and has lament-ed that the Adityanath Government hadrushed to launch an indiscriminate‘crackdown’ on young men, without issu-ing proper guidelines to his police force.

The fact that has been missed bycritics is that this was one of the assur-ances the BJP had made in its electionmanifesto. And not just that, it had alsobeen given wide publicity. Hence, it canbe safely assumed that this was one ofthe reasons, though not the only one,why the people gave a huge mandate tothe BJP in Uttar Pradesh.

The party’s election manifesto cat-egorically called for the creation of anti-Romeo dals (squads) near colleges to“ensure the safety of college-goinggirls” and “check eve-teasing”. Clearly,the squads are official vigilante groupswho have been given the muscle-power and the authority to look afterthe safety of women and girls.

Trained police officers have beenostensibly dedicated to cracking down onmale street eve-teasers who loiter aroundin public spaces to stalk and molestwomen. These people are then interrogat-ed and their parents informed about theiractivities and whereabouts. It appears thatthe move has shaken things up.

The initiative has been welcomed by

girls and their parents alike. Also, inspiredby the script of the Uttar PradeshGovernment, Right-wing outfits inUttarakhand have demanded that anti-Romeo squads be set up in the hill Statetoo. Madhya Pradesh is also in deepthoughts about the same.

But criticisms have been many. Somehave argued that the AdityanathGovernment’s designation of the term‘anti-Romeo’ is inappropriate. They haveasked: Why call it ‘anti-Romeo’? Why notuse some another name; just an anti-eve-teasing cell, for instance? More so, the termreflects on Shakespeare’s character,Romeo, in his play Romeo and Juliet.

However, Shakespeare’s Romeo hashimself has different overtones in literaryquarters. While some critics have consid-ered his character to be of blemish, owingto his shift in love from Juliet’s cousinRosaline to Juliet (which was gravelyunethical in those days), others have madeattempts to purify his image. The latterhave their own bowdlerised versions.

But a better understanding of the‘Romeo’ term has to come out of theconfines of the literary word and beseen as a language of the streets.Whether Romeo was a hero or a villain,nobody really cares. One can argue thatthe term ‘roadside Romeo’ is frequent-ly encountered in everyday conversa-tion and in newspapers too, with ref-erence to young men who move aboutwith misplaced romance on their lips.But what’s with a name as long as theultimate aim is achieved, which is tostop the harassment of women?

Nonetheless, criticism has been aboutthe decisive action on the part of UttarPradesh Police personnel, who, in thename of the anti-eve-teasing drive, haveon occasions indiscriminately harassedindividual couples without first seeking

to determine if they were in the wrong. Thousands of young men hanging

around on the streets and in the parkshave been questioned, and shamed pub-lically. Their activities were reported totheir parents without any indication ofmisbehaviour with women. Many consen-sual adults, socialising in public, too havebeen troubled. Clearly, the exercise hasbeen morphed by some policemen intomoral policing. They have, perhaps,taken the onus onto themselves to course-correct errant youths. This is a sort of offi-cial vigilantism in an age where individ-ual rights are becoming paramount.

On the surface, these are legitimateconcerns. There can be no doubt thatUttar Pradesh Police has a less than solidreputation. And this, not just in mattersof nabbing eve-teasers but in virtuallyevery other instance of law and order exe-cution. Will the police personnel changein the Adityanath raj?

Given that even the best initiativescan be misused, it is only to be expect-ed that such moves will come under thelens, even if there are only stray instancesof excesses. The Chief Minister has him-self cautioned the police. In one partic-ular instance, three policemen weresuspended after a video of some peopleshaving the head of a youth, who wasroaming with a female friend, went viralon social media. Many men, who werefound with women, were asked to holdtheir ears and do sit-ups in public. Thepolice is to be held accountable.

Given Yogi Adityanath’s record, it ispossible that the regime he heads willseverely haul up the errant police person-nel. Already, about 100 men, identified as‘black sheep’ among the policemen, havebeen suspended on grounds of laxity inimposing law and order.

As for those who have taken such

umbrage as to condemn the UttarPradesh Government’s anti-Romeodrive, they have fallen into confusedsilence when Prashant Bhushan, alawyer, compared Shakespeare’s Romeo(who, he said, had fallen in love with justone lady) with the Hindu deity, LordKrishna, who, according to him, was aserial eve-teaser. Bhushan also dared theAdityanath Government to renamethe unit as ‘anti-Krishna squads’.

While Bhushan is at liberty to eithercriticise or applaud the anti-Romeodrive, he cannot go overboard by drag-ging in religious sentiments of the peo-ple. He may have wanted to sound smart,but he ended up apologising for his sillyanalogy. He is a reputed lawyer and a log-ical person. By giving a religious hue toa social issue, he only complicated mat-ters for himself. Bhushan often puts putshis foot in his mouth; he had once advo-cated Kashmir’s separation from India —or something to that effect!

But Uttar Pradesh Police also hasother issues to concentrate on, besides theanti-Romeo squads. Crime rates in theState are alarming. According to data fromthe National Crimes Record Bureau,Uttar Pradesh is the most unsafe place forwomen to be living in. In 2014 alone,38,467 crimes against women werereported. To top it all, there is an acuteshortage of police personnel.

Political interference in the func-tioning of the police has to end. In majordistricts of the State, members of a par-ticular caste had been given primepostings during the Samajwadi Partyrule. The police needs to be modernisedtoo. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath willhave performed no small miracle if hetruly revamps the police force.

(The writer is Senior Assistant Editor,The Pioneer)

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With a hope of imple-mentation of Goods

and Service Tax (GST) Bills inthe Upper House and a senseof squeezing liquidity out ofthe system in the centralbank’s monetary policy onThursday helped the BSESensex hit a high of 30,007.48in intra-day trading, but final-ly it ended up by 64 points at29,974 on Wednesday.Besides, Nifty also finished at9,265.15 points, fuelled bysustained foreign fund inflowsas well as positive sentimentof investors in blue-chip firmslike RIL and Maruti.

Meanwhile, the rupee alsostaged a stellar come backafter a brief pause and hit afresh 17-month peak of 64.87by gaining 16 paise against theUS dollar on heavy selling ofthe American currency bybanks and exporters. Robustforeign investment inflowsand export proceeds contin-ued to give the rupee strongunderlying support, despiterelatively firm greenbackoverseas.

Investors are in a wait-and-watch mode ahead ofthe RBI’s first bi-monthly pol-icy review for 2017-18 due onThursday. The central bank iswidely expected to hold rates,but there are hopes of moresteps being announced toaddress growing bad loansand excess liquidity, traderssaid.

The Monetary PolicyCommittee, headed by RBIGovernor Urjit Patel, began itstwo-day meeting onThursday. “With RBI meetunderway, hopes of measurestowards NPA resolution andexcess liquidity extendedbanks’ run, while other ratesensitive sectors also taggedalong, helping indices torecord peaks. Firm rupee andimmigration woes continue tobother IT companies, andinternational cues shouldweigh more in the week aheadin light of US jobs data and

FOMC minutes release,” saidAnand James, Chief

Market Strategist, GeojitFinancial Services Ltd.

The BSE 30-share indexhit a high of 30,007.48 inintra-day trade, but slipped to29,817.69 before settling at29,974.24, up 64.02 points or0.21 per cent. This surpassedits previous high of 29,910.22,recorded on April 3. Thegauge had gained 289.72points in the previous sessionon Monday amid sustainedforeign capital inflows and afirming global trend.

Similarly, the broader 50-issue NSE Nifty touched9,273.90 points on sustainedforeign fund inf lows.However, due to profit-takingat record levels, it shed someground to close at 9,265.15, upby 27.30 points or 0.30 percent. It broke the previousrecord of 9,237.85 reached onApril 3.

Meanwhile, Foreign port-folio investors (FPIs) boughtshares worth a net �534.45crore on Monday, as per pro-visional data from the stockexchanges. Shares of indexheavyweight RelianceIndustries maintained its win-ning streak triggered by Jioprime membership offer, ris-ing 3.19 per cent to close at afresh nine-year high of�1,414.90.

Maruti Suzuki zoomed4.40 per cent to end at an all-time high of �6,339.40, whileL&T surged 2.18 per cent to�1,696.85 on reports of thecompany bagging hugeorders. Among the sectoralindices, realty rose the mostby surging 4.08 per cent, fol-lowed by consumer durables(2.41 per cent), capital goods(1.53 per cent), auto (1.09 percent), metal (0.94 per cent)and oil and gas (0.72 percent).

Gainers among the 30Sensex stocks were AdaniPorts (4.50 per cent), HUL(1.82 per cent), Tata Steel(1.65 per cent), Axis Bank (up1.54 per cent), Lupin (1.28 per

cent), SBI (1.21 per cent),NTPC (1 per cent), Wipro(0.68 per cent), Bharti Airtel(0.67 per cent), Tata Motors(0.66 per cent) and M&M(0.37 per cent).

The broader markets tooremained extremely bullish,with several stocks hitting52-week highs, lifting thesmall-cap index by 1.12 percent and mid-cap index by0.46 per cent. Brokers saidinvestor sentiment remainedupbeat after a monthly surveyshowed that manufacturingsector grew at its fastest pacein five months in March,marking the third straightmonth of expansion.

Besides, strong FIIsinflows and the Lok Sabhaclearing four GST legislations,paving the way for the rolloutof the new indirect tax regimefrom July 1, added to themomentum. Globally,there was a firming trend atother Asian markets whilethe European shares rose intheir late morning trade.Investors are awaiting minutesof the Federal Reserve’s lastinterest-rate meeting and USjobs data.

In the Asian region, HongKong’s Hang Seng rose 0.57per cent, Shanghai CompositeIndex gained 1.48 per cent andJapan’s Nikkei ended 0.27 percent higher. Among Europeanmarkets, London’s FTSE andParis CAC rose by up to 0.23per cent but Frankfurt’s DAXwas down 0.27 per cent.

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The Supreme Court’s deci-sion of banning liquor

sale within 500 metres oneither side of national andstate highways will result inmassive employment lossand irretrievable image lossto India as a tourism desti-nation, said Federation ofAss o c iat ions in IndianTourism and Hospitality(FAITH) on Wednesday.

“ E s t a b l i s h m e n t sapproved under the tourismcategory exist primarily forlodging, conferencing, meet-ings, banqueting and diningout exp er iences w hichinclude liquor service aspart of this overall experi-ences,” said the statement

“None of these estab-lishments are licensed for,nor practice, nor promote,sale of liquor to be con-sumed outside.The estab-lishments employ more than5 crore people directly &indirectly impacting the liv-ing condit ions of theiralmost 20 crores familymembers,” added the state-ment.

Quot ing the famousKashmir speech of PrimeMinister, Narendra Modi,

asking the Kashmiri youthsto embrace tourism or ter-ror i sm, FAITH s aid :“Displacing such a largerpopulation from tourismjobs will run the risk of anationwide unemploymentroughly estimated at a mil-lion plus with the conse-quent risk of pushing thisworking population towardsundesirable activities to earntheir and their dependants’livelihoods.”

India’s Tourism, Travel &hospitality is estimated tocontribute to $200 billion,9.5 per cent of Indian GDP,

around 5 crore employmenti.e. 9 per cent of Indianemployment, $$ 30 billion+investment at 5.5 per cent oftotal capital investment inIndia. “This capital invest-ment is immobile and can-not be relocated or pickedup and moved driven bydecisions which challengetheir business models on aretrospective basis,” addedthe statement.

“Almost 9 million touristsvisit India, resulting in almost27 million foreign visitationsacross Indian states. Thesealong with 1.8 billion domes-

tic visitations frequent a sig-nificant portion of these ‘estab-lishments’ as guests. All ofthis will be put to risk if theoverall food & beverage expe-riences is compromised at suchlegitimate establishmentswhich pay direct & indirecttaxes & levies to both theCentral and StateGovernments,” said the state-ment.

“Tourists who bring in$20bn+ forex earnings willreduce their coming to India &a large number of Indians willincreasingly prefer travellingout of India for such eventsleading to a major outflow offoreign exchange,” warned thestatement.

Reiterating that industrywill support all move to pro-mote responsible driving,FAITH Chairman NakulAnand was quoted saying inthe statement, “The Indiantourism and hospitality indus-try as a people intensive indus-try, respects, honours and com-mends any judgement whichupholds the safety of humanlives.

“As the nodal body repre-senting the tourism industry inthe country, FAITH is review-ing the way forward with keystakeholders.,” he added.

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���� ������ The MonetaryPolicy Committee, headed byRBI Governor Urjit Patel,began its 2-day meeting onWednesday amid experts say-ing that the central bank islikely to hold the rate tomor-row while unveiling the firstbi-monthly review of 2017-18in view of hardening inflation.

Rising interest rate in theUS provides sufficient indi-cation that benchmark policyrate of the Reserve Bank ofIndia is not going to go downbut may increase in the futuredepending on domestic andexternal factors, experts said.

They were of the view,however, that RBI couldannounce some measuresincluding standing depositfacility (SDF) to absorb addi-tional liquidity in the systemfollowing demonetisation,announced on November 8,2016.

According to variousinformal estimates about �14lakh crore has come back intothe banking system.

HDFC Bank chief econo-mist Abheek Barua said RBI islikely to keep the repo rateunchanged in its upcomingmonetary policy review.

“In our view, the mainfocus of the central bank islikely to be on liquidityabsorption in order to signala neutral policy approach andfor gaining additional head-room to intervene in the cur-rency market,” he said.

This will be the fourth bi-monthly policy based on therecommendations of the 6-member MPC.

The Government nomi-nees on the Committee areChetan Ghate, professor at theIndian Statistical Institute;

Pami Dua, Director, DelhiSchool of Economics andRavindra H Dholakia, profes-sor at IIM-Ahmedabad, whileRBI nominees are theGovernor, Deputy Governorin-charge of monetary policyViral A Achar ya andExecutive Director.

“I think that RBI will holdon to the interest rate in theupcoming policy,” KotakMahindra Bank ViceChairman Uday Kotak toldthe news agency.

Going forward, he said,the tinkering could be plus orminus 0.25 per cent depend-ing on the evolving condition.

According to the head ofanother private sector lender,the central bank may notchange rates on April 6.

In the last policy reviewon February 8, RBI had keptkey interest rate on hold at6.25 per cent.

Patel had said he wouldwait for more clarity on theinflation trend and impact ofdemonetisation on growthbefore making change in thekey policy rate.

Wholesale inf lationsoared to a 39-month high of6.55 per cent in Februarywhile retail inflation inchedup to 3.65 per cent due to risein food and fuel prices, lead-ing to speculation that RBIwill keep interest rateunchanged again in its Aprilpolicy.

“Although the CPI infla-tion is likely to significantlyundershoot the March 2017target, we do not expect a reporate cut in the upcoming pol-icy review in April 2017, withthe Monetar y PolicyCommittee firmly focused onthe medium term target of 4

per cent,” rating agency Icra’sManaging Director NareshTakkar said.

Crisil said that sharper-than-expected fall in inflationover the past few months hasalready started correcting asremonetisation gains curren-cy and food price pressurescould build anew if El Ninodisrupts the south-west mon-soon this year.

“To boot, core inflation,which has been sticky, couldedge up if domestic demand.Given the predicament, weforesee CPI inflation averag-ing 5 per cent in fiscal 2018,0.3 per cent higher than in fis-cal 2017,” it said.

Monetary policy mighthave to clearly articulate theglide path to the 4 per centCPI target in the mediumterm, it said.

Also, while fiscal policyand structural reforms, will beas crucial to quelling incipientinflation, it will take time forthe benefits to work throughan enduringly lower infla-tion,” it said.

Apart from the challengeof getting inflation down to 4per cent, which was flagged bythe RBI Governor at the lastreview, one of the biggest fac-tors influencing the analystsseems to be the shift in the pol-icy stance to neutral.

“The RBI surprised with ashift to a neutral stance inFebruary. Rates will remain onhold at April’s review,” analystsat Singaporean lender DBSsaid.

In Patel’s first policy reviewas RBI Governor in October,which was also the maidenreview of the MPC, the reporate was reduced by 0.25 percent to 6.25 per cent. ���

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New Delhi: The protec-t i on i s t s t anc e of s om enations is due to “incom-plete understanding” ofc r u c i a l ro l e p l ay e d byIndian IT players in dri-ving cl ients’ prof it andgrowth, Nasscom’s newlya p p o i n t e d C h a i r m a nR a m a n R o y s a i d o nWednesday.

He said all his effortsand outreach would beaimed at br idg ing t h i scommunication gap.

The reskilling of peoplewith the advent of digiti-sation, artif icial intel l i-gence and analytics, as wellas working on industryi s s u e s r e l a t e d t o G S Timplementat ion wi l l beother priority areas for thenew Chairman.

“Companies do it (out-source) because it makescommercial sense, so tosay that it makes commer-cial sense for Americanc omp an i e s but n ot forAmerica ...That gap needsto be bridged. We and ourcustomers are on the samepage,” Roy told the newsagency.

Roy, who is the chair-man of Quatrro, has beenappointed as the chairmanof industry body Nasscomfor 2017-18.

“Protectionist attitudeof some of our customercountries ... Is based on anincomplete understanding... We are one of the largestrecruiters of local talent...We help make companiesmore profitable and thisprofitabil ity helps themgrow, and that leads tomore jobs,” Roy added.

The comments assumesignificance as over thepast few weeks, varioussteps have been taken bycountries like the US tom a k e t h e v i s a n o r m sstricter.

Indian firms like TCS,In fosys and Wipro aredependent on visas to sendtheir employees overseas toclient sites. However, theyhave been reducing theirdependence on visas andinstead ramping up localh i r i n g t o m e e t t h e i rrequirements.

The Indian IT sectorgets over 80 per cent of itsrevenues from the US andEurope, while the remain-ing comes from the Asianand domestic market.

A ny ch ange i n v i s anorms in key markets canaffect the movement oflabour as well as spikeoperational costs for the ITplayers.

D u r i ng h i s e l e c t i oncampaign, US PresidentD o n a l d Tr u m p h a dpromised stricter immi-gration laws and protectionof local jobs. Also, a legis-lation (Lofgren Bill) in theUS was introduced thatproposed doubling of theminimum wages of H1-Bvisa holders to $130,000.

Most recently, the USC it i z e ns h ip andIm m i g r at i on S e r v i c e s(USCIS) has come out witha policy memorandum say-ing companies applying forvisas must provide “evi-dence to establish that theparticular position is one ina specialty occupation”.

This would potentiallymake it difficult for Indiantechies to work in the US atentry-level positions.

Nasscom, however, haddownplayed the implica-tions saying the move wouldhave “ l it t le impact” onIndian IT firms as they havealready started applying forvisas for higher-level spe-cialised professionals thisyear.

Nasscom counts IT out-sourcing firms like TCS,Infosys, Wipro as well as inter-national firms like Accenture,IBM, Cognizant andMicrosoft as members. ���

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New Delhi: Ban on cash trans-action in excess of �2 lakh willnot be applicable to withdrawalsfrom banks and post office sav-ings accounts, the income taxdepartment said on Wednesday

Through the Finance Act2017, the Government hasbanned cash transactions ofover �2 lakh and said a penaltyof an equal amount would belevied on the receiver.

In a clarification on thenewly inserted Section -- 269ST-- in the I-T Act, the CentralBoard of Direct Taxes (CBDT)said the restriction shall notapply to withdrawal from banks

and post offices.“It has also been decided

that the restriction on cashtransaction shall not apply towithdrawal of cash from a bank,co-operative bank or a postoffice savings bank,” the state-ment said.

It said necessary notificationin this regard would be issued.

In the 2017-18 Budget,Finance Minister Arun Jaitleyhad proposed to ban cash trans-action of over �3 lakh. This limitwas lowered to �2 lakh as anamendment to the Finance Bill,which was passed by the LokSabha last month.

The said restriction is alsonot applicable to any receipt bygovernment, banking company,post office savings bank or co-operative bank, the CBDT said.

The move to ban cash trans-action above a threshold wasaimed at curbing black moneyby discouraging cash transactionand promoting digital economy.

According to the rule, noindividual can deal in cash inexcess of �2 lakh on a singleday, in respect of a singletransaction or in respect oftransactions relating to oneevent or occasion from anindividual.

The Finance Act also pro-vides that any capital expen-diture in cash exceeding�10,000 shall not be eligible forclaiming depreciationallowance or investment-linked deduction. Similarly,the limit on revenue expendi-ture in cash has been reducedfrom �20,000 to �10,000.

In order to promote digitalpayments in case of small unor-ganised businesses, the rate ofpresumptive taxation has beenreduced from 8 per cent to 6 percent for the amount of turnoverrealised through cheque/digitalmode. ���

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����������State Bank of India (SBI)on Wednesday unveiled its newbrand identity, designed to positionthe bank as technology savvy, mod-ern and ready to meet financial needsof all.

In recent years, SBI has accel-erated its efforts towards developingdigital products and services, SBIChairman Arundhati Bhattacharyasaid in a statement.

“Also along with the merger...Wefelt the need to position SBI as a con-temporary brand, ready to connectwith a diverse audience in a worldthat is rapidly going digital,” she said.

While the legendary SBI mono-

gram has been the de-facto symbolof SBI, combining it with the abbre-viated SBI word mark is pivotal to thenew identity, it said.

It makes the brand more con-cise, modern and approachable,infusing new energy, while retainingits core values, it added.

“The monogram has beenrefined for greater clarity and ease ofuse. The iconic SBI Blue has beenrefreshed, and the family of coloursexpanded for scale of usage andapproachability. The overall visuallanguage has been designed toensure consistency and recall acrossall touch-points,” it said. ���

��������� Auto-major TATAMotors Ltd has drawn up plansincluding setting up of a new for-mat showrooms, doubling of salesand service outlets, as part of itsvision to become a top three auto-mobile manufacturer in the coun-try by 2019, a top official said hereon Wednesday.

“Our ambition is to be onNumber 3 (automobile manufac-turer) across the country by 2019.Right now, we are fifth (position).Already, in Tamil Nadu we areranked No 3”, Tata Motors Ltd,Passenger Vehicle Business Unit,President, Mayank Pareek toldreporters here.

Elaborating, Pareek said the

company would tap technology toset up digital showroom expectedto come up in Mumbai initially andhad also planned to increase thesales and service outlets presentacross the country by 2020.

“Right now, our sales networkis 700. We will more than doublesales by 2020. That is the plan”, hesaid. On the outlook for financialyear 2017-18, he said the companyhopes to grow more than the indus-try growth. “For next year, indus-try forecast is expected to be at 9-10per cent growth. We will be doingbetter than industry. We certainlypromise to do much better thanindustry growth”, he said, withoutdeclining to reveal any figures. ���

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���� ����� VedantaChairman Anil Agarwal onWednesday called for buildinga new India by exploitingresources to create jobs for alland eradicate poverty on theback of consumption by 1.3billion-strong population.

“It is high time India hadto eradicate poverty and cre-ate jobs. What can be a bettertime, when there is a stablegovernment, 1.3 billion peo-ple and home consumption,”Agarwal said while addressingthe Global Natural ResourceConclave on Wednesday.

He felt that naturalresources are key to India’seconomic development.

He said, “India’s geologyis highly prospective for oil,bauxite, iron ore, fertiliser,rock phosphate, gold, urani-um, marble and others, whichare some of the resources oureconomy will need in abun-dance, to move people out ofpoverty and help to createjobs.”

With a Government“very focused” on technology,digitisation and communica-tion, the Vedanta chief said: “Ibelieve this decade will beours. If we all join hands andwork together, we will createa new India.” ���

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In a move to steer the steelindustry for making it one of

the largest steel producers in theworld, the Government willpromote and encourage thegrowth of domestic steel indus-try by using made-in-Indiasteel in all the Government-funded projects.

“We want to promote andencourage the growth ofdomestic steel industry and sowe want that India-made steelshould be given preference inthe Government-funded pro-jects. A draft Cabinet note hasalready been initiated,” SteelMinister Chaudhary BirendraSingh said, while speaking at anational conference of sec-ondary steel producers. In orderto achieve a substantial growthin the steel sector, theGovernment is initiating vari-

ous strategies to deal with itsongoing impediments like highinput cost, availability of rawmaterials, dependency onimports and financial stress.However, the Minister said,“India is going to become thesecond largest steel producer inthe world by 2018. The

Government will spend �4 lakhcrore on infrastructure pro-jects, which will boost steeldemand. On the new steel pol-icy, we have already released thedraft policy. We have alsoreceived feedback from stake-holders. We will include anygood suggestions made by sec-ondary steel producers.”

“In this month only, we willsend it to the Cabinet forapproval. Through this policythe Government plans to morethan double the steel produc-tion capacity and per capitaconsumption from the presentlevel,” he added. Asked whetherthe Government plans to makeit mandatory or on preferentialbasis, Singh said, “This shouldbe taken on a preference basis.In the Government ministriesand departments where theconsumption of steel is more,like Railways, I want that on the

preference basis, they shoulduse steel made in India and itshould be made part of the ten-der.”

Singh, however, added thatsteel which is not available inthe country can be imported.There would be a quantumjump in the steel consumptiononce the proposal is approved,he said, adding Railways, urbanhousing, shipping and nation-al highways are big customers.In January, the steel ministryhad released the draft policy toensure that the steel sector fol-lows a sustainable path ofdevelopment in respect of aug-menting capacity to 300 milliontonnes by 2030-31 in environ-ment friendly manner.

However, Steel SecretaryAruna Sharma said, “Thecountry's steel production isestimated to rise 11 per cent atover 90 million tonnes, while

exports increased 57 per centlast fiscal. Imports are estimat-ed to have declined by 34 percent.”

While Housing and UrbanDevelopment Minister MVenkaiah Naidu said, “Make-in-India campaign has identi-fied 25 sectors in manufactur-ing, infrastructure and serviceactivities as the focus areas todrive the economy. For at least9 of these sectors like automo-bile, defence, railways and con-struction, steel plays a crucialrole in their competitive edge.”Steel, being a crucial componentin the successful implementationof the Government’s other flag-ship programmes like ‘SmartCities Mission’ and ‘Housing forAll’,” Naidu further said, thesteel sector has an output mul-tiplier effect of nearly 1.4 timeson GDP and employment mul-tiplier factor of 6.8.”

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Ahead of the GST rollout onJuly 1, the newly-appointed

CBEC chief Vanaja Sarna hascalled upon field officers to realignmindset to their new role as anational tax administrator withstrong enforcement capabilityand full accountability. In a letterto CBEC staff and field officers,Sarna, who took charge on April1, has asked them to take ‘urgentsteps’ to increase awareness of GSTamong the trade and industrywithin the short window availablebefore the July 1 rollout.

“We need to align our think-ing with the changes that GSTshall bring forth and see ourselvesas a national tax administrationthat has the expertise in work,acumen in enforcement, account-ability in function and most of allintegrity in our ethos,” she wrotein the letter.

The Government has set July1 as the date for rollout of the newindirect tax regime GST, whichwill subsume excise, service tax,

VAT and other local levies. “As theimpact of the GST law becomesmore defined in the days to fol-low, it will become evident thatwhen we reorient ourselves as afederal tax administration, therewill be a definite positive out-come,” Sarna said.

Stating that it is a ‘time of his-toric transition for indirect taxadministration’, she said themoment is ‘significant, challeng-ing and arduous’. Referring to theapprehensions expressed by someCBEC officers and disquiet in thecadre over ceding of power to stateofficers, Sarna said: “I want to reas-

sure each one of you that we havea collective higher support andunderstanding which is firmly inplace for our service.” She wrotefurther, “We have always adapt-ed to change with alacrity anddemonstrated our ability to over-come the most acute challenges.

There is a need for a simi-lar attitude today.” Sarna feltthat there is sound capacitybuilding and IT systems with-in the CBEC and sought sup-port from all officers to workrelentlessly towards increasingawareness for GST to provideall facilitation at the entry level.

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More than 95 per cent Indianhouseholds prefer to park

their money in bank deposits,while less than 10 per cent optfor investing in mutual funds orstocks, a new Sebi survey showedon Wednesday. The survey, con-ducted across urban and ruralareas of the country, showed thatlife insurance was second mostpreferred investment vehicle,followed by precious metals,post office savings and real estatein the top-five.

Mutual funds came atsixth place (9.7 per cent), fol-lowed by stocks (8.1 per cent),pension schemes, companydeposits, debentures, deriva-tives and commodity futures (1per cent) as investment vehi-cles for the urban households.Among the rural households, noteven one per cent of the surveyrespondents were investors, whileeven the awareness about mutu-al funds and equities was dismal

at just 1.4 percent. However,95 per cent ofrural surveyrespondentshad bankaccounts, 47per cent life

insurance, 29 per cent post officedeposits and 11 per cent saved inprecious metals.

On a positive note, the sur-vey found the investor base inIndia is increasing as nearly 75per cent of the investors in theSebi Investor Survey 2015 par-ticipated in the securities marketsfor the first time within the lastfive years. The survey was com-missioned in the year 2015 andgot completed last year, while itsresults were released today by thecapital markets regulator.

Nielsen, a global leader inprimary research, has conductedand analysed this Sebi survey. Thelast survey was conducted in2008-09. Sebi said the survey firstlisted a set of 2,04,694 households

and basic information aboutdemographics, income, savingsand investments were collected.

In the second step, a subsetof 50,453 amongst these listedhouseholds were chosen to con-duct the final survey. The datawas used to create an estimate ofthe total number of investinghouseholds at the end of 2015.Using a bootstrapping method-ology project, it was estimatedthat there were a total of 3.37crore investor households inIndia.

Of these, 70 per cent (2.37crore) reside in urban areaswhile the other 1 crore wererural households. Amongthese, mutual funds were themost popular investmentinstruments with nearly 66per cent (or 2.2 crore house-holds) investors. There werean estimated 1.9 crore house-holds which invested in equi-ties and 77 lakh householdwhich invested in bonds (pub-lic, private and PSU).

4,(��������&�������7����)�/,���������MUMBAI: CPI inflation is like-ly to average higher at 5 per centin the current fiscal on expecta-tions of increasing pressure onfood prices as well as uptick inglobal oil and commodity rates,says a Crisil report. Consumerprice index (CPI)-based inflationaveraged 4.6 per cent in the first11 months of 2016-17 and couldbe about 4.7 per cent for the entirefiscal ended March 31, 2017.

“Inducements to inflation areindeed many in the road ahead. Towit, pent-up demand after demon-etisation, lower bank lending rates,the second tranche of paymentsbased on the Seventh PayCommission recommendations,and an uptick in global oil, metalsand agri-commodity prices afterabout 3 benign years,” rating agencyCrisil said. “Not surprisingly, thesharper-than-expected fall in infla-tion over the past few months hasalready started correcting as remon-etisation gained currency,” it added.

It also said that food price pressurescould build up anew if El Nino dis-rupts the south-west monsoonthis year, while core inflation, whichhas been sticky, could also edge upif domestic demand improves.“Given the predicament, we foreseeCPI inflation averaging 5 per centin fiscal 2018, 30 bps higher thanin fiscal 2017,” Crisil said. Accordingto the rating agency, higher globalprices, risk of El nino on monsoons,fading demonetisation effect on per-ishables goods are potential upsiderisks to food inflation in 2017-18,one of the key factors to influenceCPI inflation.

“Interestingly, the drivers offood inflation have changedover time. While monsoons hada dominating influence on foodin the past, of late global priceshave been steering it,” the reportnoted. Besides, the report notedthat demonetisation impactedperishables more, but that effectof the move is waning. PTI

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Indian energy giant Adani'scontroversial Carmichael coal

and mine project in Australiahas received approval for awater licence from Queenslandstate government, a ‘milestone’in the approval process for the21.7 billion dollar project.Adani Australia confirmed thison its Facebook page by statingthat it has achieved anothermilestone in the approvalprocess for the project.

“The Department ofNatural Resources and Mineshas granted an associated waterlicence to allow the safe oper-ation of the mine. The model-

ling assessed by the departmentshows that up to 4.55 GL ofgroundwater could be taken peryear,” it said.

With the granting of theassociated water licence thereare now 100 conditions relatedto groundwater including spe-cific conditions relating to mon-itoring and reporting, the com-pany said. It said that under theconditions of the associatedwater licence for groundwater,Adani will also need to estab-lish good agreements withgroundwater users who couldpotentially be affected bychanges to water availability orquality.

Adani Australia CEO

Jeyakumar Janakaraj, at arecently held 'Energy andResource: Mega projects' told abusiness forum that the com-pany was eyeing to start the railand mine construction inAugust/September this year.

“This project will get fund-

ed and will see execution thisyear,” Janakaraj said. Whilehighlighting the growing needfor energy consumption inIndia, Janakaraj said to meet thegrowing demand Adani hadimported 77 million tonnes ofcoal from Australia last year.

“(India) does have resourcesbut those resources are limited,they have their own challenge(s)because they also have to feed 1.2billion people and this is exact-ly where countries and vastareas like Australia play a verystrategic role in terms of the foodsecurity, the energy securityand long term strategic part-nership between large coun-tries,” he said.

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There are no plans to demon-etise the new �2,000 curren-

cy notes, the Government saidtoday, scotching ‘rumours’ tothis effect. “We are seizing fakecurrency. As far as rumours in themarket are concerned, we shouldnot go by such rumours,”Minister of State for Home KirenRijiju said in the Rajya Sabha.

He was responding to a questionby Congress member MadhusudanMistry during Question Hour seek-ing to know if the Government willdemonetise �2,000 currency notesas there were ‘strongrumours’ in the mar-ket. The Minister saidfake currency hasmostly been seizedfrom Gujarat andWest Bengal. “But it isnot correct that fakecurrencies cannot be identified. It isnot true,” he said.

Counterfeit currency thatcame into the market afterdemonetisation were made oflow quality paper which was easyto make out. But later fake cur-rency notes with better qualitypaper started coming in, Rijijusaid. Stating that theGovernment has adopted manynew security features in the newcurrency notes, Rijiju said, “I canassure the House and the coun-try that now no one can copy 100per cent, as we have indigenousdesign and extra features.”

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NEW DELHI: E-commerce giant Amazon.In saidon Wednersday it has set up seven new warehous-es (Fulfilment Centres or FCs) to cater exclusivelyto its large appliances and furniture category, a movethat will create 1,200 new jobs. The com-pany, which has committed an investmentof $5 billion in the Indian market, will alsoset up 33 delivery stations to meet thedemand it is witnessing in the said catego-ry. mazon.In has 27 such warehousesacross the country. With the addition of thenew FCs, Amazon.In will have 34 FCs across10 states. “We have set up a dedicated infra-structure of nine FCs and 33 exclusive deliv-ery stations that will ensure faster and reliable deliv-ery of large appliances and furniture to more than150 cities,” Amazon India Vice President IndiaCustomer Fulfilment Akhil Saxena told PTI.

He added that while seven new FCs have beenset up for the category, two of its existing centres inMumbai and Gurgaon will now serve the category

exclusively. Saxena, however, declined to discloseinvestment details. FCs are warehouses where sell-ers can stock their inventory. They can save moneyby replacing their upfront capital expense with low

variable cost and pay only for the storage spacethey use and the orders Amazon fulfils.

The new warehouses will enable AmazonIndia to make fast deliveries as it faces toughcompetition from online shopping giants likeFlipkart and Snapdeal as well as other small-er players. Large appliances category includesproducts like air conditioners, air coolers,refrigerators, washing machines and TVs.“The category has seen nearly 200 per cent

growth in the last one year and grew 5X of daily vol-umes during our last sale event held in January,”Amazon India Vice President CategoryManagement Manish Tiwary said. Saxena said thecompany is also setting up 33 new dedicated deliv-ery stations that will enable next-day delivery of largeappliances and furniture in 20 cities. PTI

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President of India, PranabMukherjee will grace the occa-

sion of Public Sector Day and pre-sent the prestigious SCOPEAwards to Central Public SectorEnterprises (CPSEs) on 11th April2017 at Vigyan Bhawan, NewDelhi. Anant G Geete, UnionMinister of Heavy Industries &Public Enterprises, Babul Supriyo,Minister of State for HeavyIndustries & Public Enterprisesshall also grace the occasion in theaugust presence of SeemaBahuguna, IAS, Secretary, DPE,Ved Prakash ,Chairman, SCOPE& CMD, MMTC,RK Bahuguna,Vice Chairman,SCOPE & CMD,R a i l T e lCorporation, Dr UD Choubey,Director General, SCOPE andhost of representatives from pub-lic sector enterprises, senior gov-ernment officials, media etc.

The Award function is beingorganised jointly by SCOPEand Department of PublicEnterprises (DPE). The winnersof the SCOPE ExcellenceAwards (Individual LeadershipCategory) are Dr Anoop KumarMittal, CMD, NBCC, B Ashok,Chairman, IOCL, AK Jain, MD,REIL, KS Popli, CMD, IREDA,Pooja Kapoor, Head (|BusinessDevelopment), WAPCOS(Outstanding Woman Managerin PSEs). REC, NALCO, MECL,ONGC Videsh Ltd, ECIL andGSL have been awarded in theInstitutional Category.

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The asset base of mutual fundindustry in India surged 35

per cent to all-time high of �18.3lakh crore in 2016-17, driven bygrowing participation from retailinvestors. The assets under man-agement (AUM) were at �13.53lakh crore at the end of 2015-16,according to the Association ofMutual Funds in India (Amfi).

Industry experts attributedgrowing participation from retailinvestors, especially from smalltowns, huge inflows into equityschemes and several measurestaken by markets regulator Sebias well as campaigns by assetmanagement companies(AMCs). The MF industry addedmore than 67 lakh investoraccounts till February of last

financial year which ended onMarch 31, taking the total num-ber of folios to 5.4 crore.

MFs reported a net inflow ofclose to �4 lakh crore in the 11-month period of 2016-17. Of this,equity and equity- linked savingsschemes accounted over �62,000crore. Besides, income fundswitnessed an inflow of �1.77 lakhcrore and liquid funds generat-ed �1.11 lakh crore. The contri-bution of the country's smallertowns known as beyond-15cities (B15) to mutual funds' assetbase surged around 44 per centto over �3 lakh crore due toinvestor-friendly initiatives bySebi. B15 cities are those whichare beyond these top 15 citiesNew Delhi (including NCR)Mumbai (including Thane &Navi Mumbai), Kolkata, Chennai,

Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Baroda,Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Jaipur,Kanpur, Lucknow, Panjim, Puneand Surat.n 41-member MFindustry, 38 players witnessed anincrease in AUM, while two sawa decline. Besides, MahindraMF was the new entrant, whileJP Morgan MF exited the club.

ICICI Prudential MF isthe top fund house with anasset base of �2,42,961 crore(excluding fund of funds) fol-lowed by HDFC MF (�2,37,177crore) Reliance MF �2,10,890

crore), Birla Sun Life MF (�1,95,049 crore) and SBI MF (�1,57,025 crore). These top 5players account for more than50 per cent of the �18.3 lakhcrore AUM.

“The financial year 2016-17 has been a good a year forReliance MF in terms ofAUM and performance. Ourschemes continue to be toptop performing with strongfund ratings, we registeredstrong systematic investmentplan (SIP) growth and wealso added CPSE ETF successto our list of milestones.“Our quest for market expan-sion and drive to emerge topranking MF will be key focusfor this year,” Reliance MFChief Execut ive Off icerSundeep Sikka said.

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Russia defended its allyDamascus on Wednesday in

the face of an international out-cry over a suspected chemicalattack that killed scores of civil-ians, saying a Syrian air strike hita “terrorist warehouse”. The UNSC was to hold an emergencymeeting on Wednesday.

Washington and Londonhave pointed the finger atPresident Bashar al-Assad’sGovernment for the attack,though the regime has denied

any use of chemical weapons.Moscow, which launched a

military intervention in 2015 insupport of Assad’s forces, saidthe deaths were caused when aSyrian airstrike hit a “terroristwarehouse” containing “toxicsubstances”. The RussianDefence Ministry said in astatement that the buildinghoused “a warehouse makingbombs, with toxic substances”,without saying if the strike wasaccidental or deliberate. Theministry said the “arsenal ofchemical weapons” was intend-

ed for fighters in Iraq, describ-ing its information as “com-pletely reliable and objective.”

Syria’s Army had earlierdenied any use of chemicalweapons, saying it “has neverused them, any time, anywhere,and will not do so in the future.”

Its denials have done littleto quiet international con-demnation, with UN chiefAntonio Guterres onWednesday saying the “horrif-ic events” showed that “warcrimes are going on in Syria”.

Others have blamed

Damascus more directly for theattack, including BritishForeign Secretary BorisJohnson who said “all the evi-dence I have seen suggests thiswas the Assad regime.”

US Secretary of State RexTillerson also pointed the fin-ger at the regime, saying “it isclear that this is how Bashar al-Assad operates: with brutal,unabashed barbarism.” If con-firmed, the attack will beamong the worst incidents ofchemical weapons use in Syria’sbrutal civil war.

�!,�>!9���,@������:������������������������ �������������!����������������(�����������������������89��������������������!�������C �����������������D"�C�!���������������������������������(����� �����&D�:����������������������!��� ������ ��������(����4���G ��"�C�������������������� ���������������������������������������������������������&�!�����F�����������������&����� �����������������&�!�������"D ��� Brussels: All evidence points to

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad being behind a suspect-ed chemical weapons attackwhich left more than 75 deadin a rebel-held town, BritishForeign Secretary BorisJohnson said on Wednesday.

“All the evidence I haveseen suggests this was theAssad regime... Using illegalweapons on their own people,”Johnson said as he arrived fora Syria aid conference inBrussels.

“What it confirms toeverybody is that this is a bar-baric regime which has madeit impossible for us to imaginethem (having) authority overSyria after this conflict,” headded. AFP

United Nations: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is“deeply disturbed” by reports of a suspected chemical attack onSyria but is not in a position to independently verify it.

The Secretary-General expressed condolences to the victimsof the incident and their families. He said the UN Security Councilhas affirmed that the use of chemical weapons “constitutes a seri-ous violation of international law” and runs counter to resolu-tions passed by the 15-member body. While the UN has said itis not in a position to independently verify these reports, theOrganisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW)is in the process of gathering and analysing information to con-firm if chemical weapons were used. PTI

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US President Donald Trumphas strongly condemned a

suspected chemical attack inSyria that killed 75 people,calling it “reprehensible”, andalleged such acts are conse-quences of the Obama admin-istration’s weakness.

“Tuesday’s chemical attackin Syria against innocent peo-ple, including women and chil-dren, is reprehensible and can-not be ignored by the civilisedworld,” Trump said.

“These heinous actions bythe Bashar al-Assad regime isa consequence of the past

administration’s weakness andirresolution,” he said.

Trump claimed thatObama in 2012 said that hewould establish a red lineagainst the use of chemicalweapons and then did nothing.

He said the US stands withits allies across the globe to con-demn this intolerable attack.Earlier in the day, Trump wasbriefed by his national securi-ty team on the attack on thetown of Khan Sheikhun thatclaimed atleast 58 lives and sawdozens suffer respiratory prob-lems and symptoms, includingvomiting, fainting and foamingat the mouth.

Jerusalem: Israel onWednesday expressed outrageover suspected chemical attackin Syria, saying it is a “stain onall humanity” and the worldmust act to rid the country ofchemical weapons.

Prime Minister BenjaminNetanyahu called on the inter-national community “to fulfilits obligation from 2013 tofully and finally remove thesehorrible weapons from Syria”.

“When I saw pictures ofbabies suffocating from achemical attack in Syria, I wasshocked and outraged. There’sno, none, no excuse whatsoev-er for the deliberate attacks oncivilians and on children, espe-cially with cruel and outlawedchemical weapons,” Netanyahusaid at a memorial servicehere. PTI

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The ISIS has derided USPresident Donald Trump as

a “stupid idiot” and said his riseto power was a sign ofAmerica’s bankruptcy.

Targeting Trump directlyfor the first time since he tookoffice, the ISIS terror group inthe 36-minute audio released byits spokesperson Abu Hasan al-Muhajir on Tuesday called himan Arabic term that means an“idiot”, saying the US Presidentdoes not know anything aboutIslam, NBC News reported.

Terming the US as “bank-rupt”, it said, “the sign of yourelimination are now clearer toeveryone, as the most clear ofsigns is that you are now ruledby a stupid idiot who does notknow what Sham and Iraq are,or what Islam is, who contin-ues to express his hatred andwar against Islam”.

The propaganda saidTrump has expressed his“hatred and war” against Islam,the report said.

Other translations of thestatement replaced “stupididiot” with “riff raff ” or “hare-brained”, it said.

Al-sham is a term ISISuses to describe a region thatincludes Syria. It appears to bethe first time the Islamic Statehas referred to Trump since hetook office.

ISIS, which controls largeswaths of territories in Iraqand Syria, is currently being tar-geted by a US-led military coali-tion. Trump has pledged to“totally obliterate ISIS,” whichswept across parts of Iraq in2014. Trump has been widelycriticised in the past for his con-troversial statements on Islam.

The ISIS statement doesnot appear to directly refer toTrump’s executive order tem-porarily banning people of sixMuslim-majority countriesfrom entering the US.

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The missile in North Korea’slatest launch didn’t fly very

far, but it may have been thesecond test of a technology thatworries experts.

The launch on Wednesdayinto waters off North Korea’seast coast came shortly beforeUS President Donald Trump’sfirst meeting with Chineseleader Xi Jinping later thisweek, raising speculation thatit might have been timed to gettheir attention.

Initial US and SouthKorean assessments indicate itwas a KN-15 medium-rangemissile, whose first known testby North Korea was inFebruary.

The KN-15, known as“Pukguksong-2” in NorthKorea, uses pre-loaded solidfuel, which shortens launchpreparation times, boosts itsmobility and makes it harderfor outsiders to detect ahead ofliftoff. Most North Korean mis-siles use liquid propellant,which generally must be addedto the missile on the launch padbefore firing.

The South Korean militarysaid the missile was fired fromland near the east coast city ofSinpo and flew about 60 kilo-meters.

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The death toll from a sus-pected chemical attack on

a northern Syrian town rose to75 on Wedesday as activists andrescue workers found moreterrified survivors hiding inshelters near the site of the har-rowing assault, one of the dead-liest in Syria’s civil war.

According to a Syrianopposition group, renewedairstrikes hit the town of KhanSheikhoun a day after theattack that the Trump admin-istration has blamed on theGovernment of PresidentBashar Assad, saying that hispatrons, Russia and Iran, bore“great moral responsibility” forthe deaths.

The Damascus andMoscow Governments deniedthey were behind the attack. ARussian Defence Ministry state-ment later said the toxic agentswere released when a Syrianairstrike hit a rebel arsenal.

London: Heir to the phone! Queen Elizabeth II needs a newphone operator to help handle the 4,000 calls a week to theBuckingham Palace. “It’s being the first port of call to the business behind the Monarchy,” says the advertisement onthe Royal website.

The starting salary is 23,000 pounds-a-year plus benefits anda 15 per cent employer contribution pension scheme. The jobrequires one to be able to “think on your feet” which will be crit-ical, as one would never know what query one would be facedwith next. The job calls for “pro-active and flexible” approachto work and a chance to work within a “small and dedicated team”.

It is a feeling inspired to deliver to the very highest standards,and it is the pride in being part of a team at the heart of a worldfamous institution, the advertisement says. PTI

������� �������������������7���;�������8Strasbourg (France): The European Parliament on Wednesdayoverwhelmingly adopted tough “red lines” for negotiations overa Brexit deal, on which EU lawmakers will have the final say intwo years’ time. The parliament largely followed EU PresidentDonald Tusk’s draft guidelines issued last week after British PrimeMinister Theresa May formally triggered the historic Brexitprocess. AFP

New York: An 18-year-oldBangladeshi-American Muslimstudent has won a place at theprestigious Stanford Universityafter writing ‘#BlackLivesMatter’a 100 times in the essay sectionof his application.

Ziad Ahmed said he was“stunned” when his innovativeapproach to the applicationprocess, which he described as“unapologetic activism”, paidoff. On his Stanford Universityapplication, Ahmed was posedthe question, “What matters toyou, and why?”

The activist from

Princeton, New Jersey, decid-ed to use the opportunity towrite “#BlackLivesMatter” a100 times.

To his surprise, the answercaught the attention of theCalifornia school’s admissionsoffice and Ahmed received hisacceptance letter on Friday. Heproudly tweeted his answer andhis acceptance letter to the pres-tigious American university,which boasts 20 applications perplace. “I was actually stunnedwhen I opened the update andsaw that I was admitted,” Ahmedtold Mic. PTI

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Britain, France and theUnited States have present-

ed a draft resolution to the UNSecurity Council condemningthe suspected chemical attackin Syria and demanding a fullinvestigation. The text, obtainedby AFP, called on theOrganisation for the Prohibitionof Chemical Weapons (OPCW)to report quickly on the findingsof its fact-finding mission on theattack that killed at least 75civilians, including children in arebel-held town in Idlib province.

The measure was circulat-ed to the 15 council memberson the eve of an emergencymeeting requested by Franceand Britain to discuss the attackcarried out in the early hoursyesterday in the town of KhanSheikhun. Britain, France andthe United States are pushingfor a vote on the draft text dur-

ing the meeting on Wednesday,but it remained unclear if Russiawould support it, diplomatssaid. The draft resolution “con-demns in the strongest termsthe use of chemical weapons” inSyria, in particular the attack onKhan Sheikhun and expresses“outrage” over the use of toxicgases in the six-year war.

It requests that the jointUN-OPCW investigative panelset up to determine who isresponsible for chemical attacksin Syria begin work immediatelyto identify the perpetrators ofthe latest attack. The text callson Syria to provide flight plans,flight logs and other informa-tion on its military operationson the day of the assault.

Syria would allow UN andOPCW teams to visit air basesfrom which the attacks involv-ing chemical weapons mayhave been launched, accordingto the text.

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Brussles: International donors are seeking to drum up billionsof dollars in aid for war-ravaged Syria, as the UN Security Councilreadies for an emergency meeting over a suspected deadly chem-ical attack there.

UN relief coordinator Stephen O’Brien said on Wednesday“for the immediate needs of 2017 we need about $8 billion.” Nearly4,00,000 people have been killed, and half of Syria’s populationdisplaced, by the six-year conflict.

UN agencies estimate war damages across Syria at $350 bil-lion. Earlier this week, at least 58 people were reported killed,including 11 children, in a suspected chemical attack in a townin northern Syria.

O’Brien described it as an “abominable act”, and said that foraid funds to work in Syria “you have to have access, you have tohave security.” AP

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Geneva: Some victims of asuspected chemical attack inSyria have symptoms consis-tent with exposure to a cate-gory of chemicals that includesnerve agents, the WorldHealth Organization (WHO)said on Wednesday.

The UN health agencysaid the deadly attack in Idlibprovince Tuesday appeared tohave involved chemicalweapons, pointing to the“apparent lack of externalinjuries reported in cases show-ing a rapid onset of similarsymptoms, including acute res-piratory distress as the maincause of death.” “Some casesappear to show additional signsconsistent with exposure toorganophosphorus chemicals,a category of chemicals thatincludes nerve agents,” it said.

WHO said there was goodreason to suspect a chemicalattack, noting the dozens ofpatients admitted to hospitals“suffering from breathing dif-ficulties and suffocation.” WHOwarned that the capacity of hos-pitals in the surrounding areawas limited and that manyfacilities had been damaged inthe fighting. Emergency roomsin the area were overwhelmed,and many patients had beenreferred to southern Turkey, itsaid. AFP

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Maiduguri: Officials say a dog at a Nigerian wedding party grap-pled with a suicide bomber until her explosives detonated, killingthe animal as well.

Buba Ahmed of Belbelo village, near the northeastern cityof Maiduguri, says guests are grateful that the dog sacrificed itselfto save their lives. He says the teenage bomber was on the out-skirts of a gathering where most villagers were attending a wed-ding ceremony when the dog pounced on her Sunday morning.

Police spokesman Victor Isuku today confirmed that the doghad intervened to save the wedding party. A multinational forcehas driven Boko Haram Islamic extremists out of most town andvillages in northeastern Nigeria, but the extremists have resortedto attacking soft targets with suicide bombers. AP

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Traditions and lineages arekept alive by their practi-tioners and torch-bearers.

Or so we think. But for RamliIbrahim, born a Muslim in far-away Malaysia, it was a karmicconnect. As a three-year-old, heenjoyed dancing in the fields,becoming some sort of a neigh-bourhood entertainer. But grow-ing up among a fairly substantialIndian community, he was drawnto Bharatnatyam and then fellabsolutely in love with Odishi.Today he is its global performer.

“One can say that my fami-ly was a liberal Muslim family asmy parents did not stop me fromdancing. But neither did theyencourage it. I did not attend aformal dance class until I was inAustralia as a teenager doing mymatriculation in the early 70s.There was no Odishi then but Iwas exposed to Bharatanatyam asMalaysia had a substantial com-munity of South Indians. I thinkdance was not in our bandwidthat that time. Certainly not maledancers. They are still a rarebreed! And pursuing Indiandance forms was unimaginable,”says Ibrahim over telephone as heis preparing for his Indian showAmorous Delight at Kamani today.

Although Ibrahim became aqualified mechanical engineer, hepursued dance along with his aca-demic activities. He learnt Malayfolk dances and ballet, havingperformed with the SydneyDance Company in Australia,New York, London and Europe.Ramli learnt Bharatanatyam fromAdyar K Lakshman and per-formed Indian classical danceunder the name of Ramachandra.But when he was exposed toOdishi, he was enthralled by itsgentle sway of emotions and har-mony with the physical body. Hesaw it as a reaction to the overlystructured, steeped in traditionand grammatically perfectBharatanatyam. So Ibrahim trav-elled all the way to Puri, soughtout Guru Deba Prasad Das andsoon become his direct student.

To say that Ibrahim has beendancing all his life is not an exag-geration. Being a Muslim andperforming Hindu dance forms,he has faced a lot of criticismfrom various religious groups. “Atthis point of my life, I find this arather boring and clichéd ‘contro-versy’. I have kept doing what I doand I have been accepted as a cre-ative artist who does well what heis meant to do, in spite of prevail-ing negative opinions. This free-dom is granted to me as it shouldbe. I would like to be known andaccepted as a ‘good’ dancer whohappens to be a Muslim, not aMuslim who performs Hindudances. Contemporary Indianclassical dances are no longer justa temple dance which was aromantic construct. I think oneconsecrates the space one dancesas a ‘temple’, and that can be any-where. But our world generallyhas become a more conservativeplace even though we have tech-nically made a progress on uni-versal human rights etc.Nowadays, one has to tread evenmore carefully,” he shares.

Ibrahim has always envi-sioned his creativity as a holisticuniversal experience, one thattranscends all cultural bound-

aries. For him dance is calling andto fulfill his reason of being, hefeels he has no choice. “Actually,I don’t see dance as a career butas a calling. For this dance choseme and not the other way round.Therefore, to fulfill my ‘reason ofbeing’, I have to dance. I have nochoice. As I grew more aware asan artist, many people became myinspiration. Not necessary justdancers but visual artists, poets,composers, architects, humanand environmental rights cham-pions. I find people with passiondoing what they are meant to dosimply inspiring and they becomemy guiding light and force. I

believe that this happened evenduring the early stages of my life.

“Initially, I approached dancewith the naivety of someone whowas thoroughly in love with whathe was doing. It was a privilege tolearn and to dance. Everythingwas a discovery — the chal-lenges which came with learningwas a sadhana that came togeth-er with the territory and I lovedit. Later, the challenges that camewith sustaining the institutionthat I had built and making surethat all the dancers are lookedafter, became more serious. Thechallenges came later when it wasnot just yourself that you had tofight for but also others whoneeded your help to sustain andcultivate their talent. They are thenext generation of artists youwant to see grow. To sustain aninstitution like Sutra Foundationbecame themost difficult chal-lenge. It is the destiny that I have

come to bear,” explains Ibrahim.As a teacher of

Bharatanatyam and Odishi,Ibrahim has groomed some of thefinest dancers who have emergedfrom Malaysia and at the sametime placed Indian classical dancein the context of the Malaysianexperience.

“Like my generation ofdancers who are now also ‘teach-ers’, we are a different breed ofgurus, quite unlike the tradition-

al guru of the previous genera-tion. This is because we have oneleg in tradition and the other tiedto a contemporary modern mind-set. I respect tradition and inmany ways am a ‘purist’ but atthe same time we revel in excit-ing new forms of expression andfeel that we have to move forward.For instance, Odishi is very mucha reconstructed dance form.Many of the so-called tradition-al repertoires are less than 50years old. So, as a guru, I feel thatwe need to keep on being creativewith the times. We have to keepmaking new works,” he says.

Ibrahim, the dancer contin-ues to hold his audience spell-bound with his ability to drawthem into his performance.About Indian classical dances, hetells us, “Indian classical dancewill continue to do well as longas its creative bank of people keepit alive. Should it be stultefied byits own ‘haloed’ image of itself, itwill lose relevance and the youngaudience that will sustain it andhelp it to grow. We cannot predictwith utmost certainty the futureof any art form. An art form byits very nature, cannot lie. It is areflection of the society that hasspawned it, good or otherwise.

From ballet toBharatanatyam, Ibrahim presentsmultiple dance forms with graceand poise. And he is bringingAmorous Delight: A Case ofPossession by Love, to Delhi.Amorous Delight derives its inspi-ration from Amarushataka, theninth century anthology of hun-dred Sanskrit couplets, all basedon shringara rasa in which love

lingers in the erotic contours ofcharming bodies. TheAmarushataka had been illustrat-ed by Indian chitrakars (tradition-al painters) over centuries fromdifferent parts of India. The visu-al images rendered in palm-leaf(pothi) of the medievalSharanakula palm leaf master(his name was never known) ofNayagarh district, Odisha, weresome of the most beautiful andartistic of these rare illustrations.In intense poetic language of thebody, Amorous Delight depicts thedelight and frustrations, the sen-suous charms and mad intoxica-tion, the anguish of union-sepa-ration of the complex gamut ofthe sense of belonging and notbelonging, found in this humanobsession, called Love.

“Amorous Delight is a con-temporary Odishi production ofSutra Foundation, which original-ly was a collaboration betweenmyself, the late Dr DinanathPathy and Meera Das. I call itcontemporary because, thoughthe dance idiom is mostly Odishi,we have also included new dancevocabulary, which are inspired bythe two-dimensional illustrationsfrom palm leaf motif fromOdisha, of the Amarushataka —the ninth century Sanskrit anthol-ogy on Love. The content doesnot follow the traditional reper-toire in terms of performing the(mangalacharanam, sthai/batu,pallavi, abhinaya etc) but areinspired and taken from six of theverses from this ancient Sanskritanthology,” says Ibrahim.

When Ibrahim was first pre-sented with Amorous Delightpublished by Museum Rietberg(Zurich), he was struck by themagnificent palm leaf manu-script i l lustrations of theSharanakula master. He saw itspotential as a lyrical dance pro-duction. When he mentionedthis to the late Dr DinanathPathy, the latter wholeheartedlyagreed. “That was more than tenyears ago,” he tells us.

“One of the most challengingthings is to achieve a consisten-cy of two-dimensionality of dancevocabulary from the artistes sothat they move and appear tohave a three-dimensional sem-blance of the figures of the illlus-trations,” he adds.

“True to the spirit of creativ-ity, Amorous Delight points to acreative eclectic future whilereflecting (but not abscondingfrom) the past. The intimate,intense and timeless visions oflove have continually inspiredpainters to express themselves inliterature, visual and performingarts since ancient times. With thedevelopment of new ideas andluscious lyrical interpretation,Sutra’s second season of AmorousDelight is set to transform andsoar further to new height. Wehope the vision of love present-ed will continue to delight andlinger long in your mind in theerotic contours of Odishi asexpressed in the bodies of theSutra dancers,” he signs off.

Shriram Bharatiya KalaKendra with Sutra Foundationwill present Amorous Delight: ACase of Possession by Love atKamani Auditorium on April 6 at7 pm

�Can you tell a little bit aboutyour character?

I play Gloria who has beendescribed as a party girl with aheart of gold. She gets drunk whena gigantic monster attacks Seoul.And Jason Sudeikis’ plays myfriend, with whom I get drunkwithout realising that a crisis is star-ing at us.

�What made you take up thisrole?

To be fair, I didn’t know whatI was looking for. And then mygreat friend Jonathan Demme host-ed a screening at Jacob Burns FilmCenter at Pleasantville, New York.He invited me and my husband toa screening he was doing of BenWheatley’s A Fields in England. Iwas so transported by it, delightedand challenged by it that I won-dered if I would ever get a scriptlike that. A couple of weeks later,this one showed up and I loved it.I met Nacho and I loved him. I hadseen his short films and believed inhim. And then when Jason came onboard, it all seemed perfect.

I like that it’s a movie thatdraws from different genres. AndGloria felt like me in a lot of way.Surrounded by monsters was a newexperience.

�You already have a solid careerin Hollywood. Would you havechosen a project like this in yourearly career?

It’s not like I’ve been trying toavoid making these movies; youjust wait for the ones that reallyspeak to you. I felt ready to take onthat responsibility and say “okay”,you know there are movies you doand they are getting made whetheror not you’re in them. I was ready

to stand up and say, “This is mysense of humour, this is what Ibelieve in, this is a filmmaker I’mbacking, this is a script that I thinkshould get made.” I’m really grati-fied that a lot of people seem to

agree with that.

� Is it empowering because it’salso your financing?

You know I can’t claim artisticpurity. I’m very conscious of mak-

ing moves that will allow me tokeep making moves because Iwant to stay in this, I love this, andI want to be able to do this for therest of my life. I kind of live veryhappily in the small-big movieworld. I love making movies that Ithink could have potential to besleepers. That’s kind of where I feelreally, really comfortable. I was con-fident about this one because thesize of the budget meant that weweren’t going to be pulled back intothe middle, and Voltage, to theircredit, didn’t try and come in anddirect the movie. They hired adirector they trusted.

�Are you looking for more pro-jects like this, for directors youdon’t know of from many coun-tries?

I’ve been doing that anyway.This is the first one that bore fruitthat I can share.

�Did you guys shoot with agreen screen?

Just a little bit. We shot on avery low budget but there areclever touches. Even though mycharacter turns into a giant lizardmonster, she is viewing it on aniPhone! So the technology actual-ly is so much by the size of the bud-get. We’ll never be able to competewith big FX. But we’re inventive,necessity is the mother of inven-tion. Scrappy little Colossal.

MVP Entertainment’s sci-ficomedy releases this Friday

The DSC Prize for SouthAsian Literature in associ-

ation with the SahityaAkademi presented a literaryforum on the Influence of theEpics on Modern Indian andSouth Asian Writing. Theevent held at the SahityaAkademi featured eminentauthor and translator ArshiaSattar who was in conversationwith Malashri Lal and theydiscussed various facets ofhow re-telling of the epics inthe modern day context con-tinues to be of relevance andimportance and explored whyseveral modern day authors inEnglish continue to create fic-tional works and novels basedon influences and charactersfrom the Mahabharata and theRamayana. The continuingrelevance of myth in contem-porary writing and the inter-play of literature, myth andculture in India and the SouthAsian region were discussedwith the help of several exam-ples ranging from the role ofSita, the Kunti-Karna rela-tionship and the magical real-ism of Hanuman and his feats

to the importance of lessercharacters like Surpanakha.An interesting highlight wasthe extent of the influence ofthe epics on writings inEnglish which suggested theincreased relevance of issueslike gender identity, critiqueson motherhood, struggleswith sexual choices and socialconduct which have all beentalked about in the epics andwhich continue to be relevantin today’s urban society. Theevent was well attended by anaudience drawn from all walksof life including writers, stu-dents, the academia as well asgeneral readers of fiction.

The DSC Prize is now inits seventh year and the eventwas part of its vision to widenthe conversation aroundSouth Asian writing by takingup issues related to writingsabout the region. The DSCPrize 2017 would announceits longlist in August in NewDelhi, the shortlist in Londonin September and the finalwinner at the DhakaLiterature Festival inNovember.

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In the recent ranking byNational Institutional

Ranking Framework (NIRF)Ministry of Human ResourceDevelopment (HRD),Government of India, theAligarh Muslim University(AMU) has been placed at19th rank. Last year AMU waspalace on 10th place. On theface of it, the message hasgone that perhaps AMU haslagged behind in academicexcellence. But a close scruti-ny of the resources, achieve-ments in other fields and pro-jects at hand of university, theAMU is certainly galloping toachieve a respected and mean-ingful place in academicworld. Before analysing thesituation from any angle, weshould take into account whatAMU Vice Chancellor Lt.General Zameer Uddin Shahhas said on the above statedfact.

In this connection,Zameer Uddin Shah said, “lastyear in 2016, the HRD min-istry had not included ITTs inthe ranking with universities.That has made a difference.Second in ‘university percep-tion’ AMU has been grantedonly 16 marks whereas BHUhas been allocated 44 marks.If AMU may had received 44marks then it had receivednumber one.”

He further added, “Thedisturbances in university onApril 22-23, 2016 also made

negative impact upon uni-versity performance. Apartfrom that AMU AlumniWasim Ahmad leveleduncalled for charges againstme which also sent a wrongmessage. AMU is not laggingbehind in any field includingresearch and academics.”

It is very satisfactory thatduring the tenure of theZameer Uddin Shah, AMUhas applied for large numberof patents.

AMU launched secondgreen revolution throughNANO fertilisers and preser-vation of fruit and vegetableswithout any refrigerationprocess. AMU scientists areon the verge of mastermind-ing desalination of salinewater without energy cost.

Just like that AMU per-fected the technique of recy-cling waste water withoutincurring any energy cost

through the process of anaer-obic digestion. It may playvital role in cleaning rivers likeGanga and Yamuna .

Not only that AMUdeveloped solar energy forautomotive purposes. It hasnegotiated with department ofheavy industries governmentof India apart of private play-ers l ike Mahindra andMahindra and MarutiUdhyog.

So the assumption thatAMU has lagged behind oth-ers in ranking by HRD min-istry is somewhat vague andshould not discourage anyone.

Instead the fact that AMUhas developed highly techni-cal innovations and has suc-ceeded in turning the campusFirst Green Campus in coun-try should motivate the stakeholders to realise the dreamsof Sir Syed Ahmad Khan , thefounder of AMU.

There is another factorthat AMU should not be puton media trail as it negative-ly affect its prestige. Mediashould understand that alleducational institutions tryto provide best education butthat all depends upon theirresources.

Under able captainship ofZameer Uddin Shah AMU hasgalloped to achieve distinctionin many fields and they mustnot be sidelined under shad-ow of only NIRF ranking.

THDC INDIA LIMITED(THDCIL), a pioneer and

Mini Ratna, schedule A PSUunder Ministry of Power havecommissioned its 2nd windpower project of 63 MWcapacity in District DevbhumiDwarka, Gujarat.

This 63 MW wind powerproject awarded to M/s Suzlon EnergyLimited on November 28 2016 withscheduled commissioning period offour months was actually implementedand commissioned in a record period ofthree months after obtaining developerpermission and transfer permissionfrom government of Gujarat inDecember 2016. In this wind power pro-ject of 63 MW capacity, each Wind

Turbine Generator (WTG) is of2.1 MW capacity hybrid modelwith WTG height of 120 metres.

This has been the toughestproject in the history of THDCILand was successfully commis-sioned under the visionary lead-ership of DV Singh, Chairmanand Managing Director, THD-

CIL. By commissioning this project onMarch 31, THDCIL has become entitledto receive Generation Based Incentive(GBI) of �63 crore from government ofIndia. It is a landmark achievement forTHDCIL, whose installed generationcapacity has now increased to 1513 MW.

THDCIL is one of the premierpower generators in the country withinstalled capacity of 1513 MW.

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NTPC NETRA C&MDepartment organised its first

ever vendor meet which wasattended by more than 200 ven-dors.

The meet was inaugurated byA K Jha, Director, A K Sinha, ED(Engg), T R Dutta, ED (C&M), RK Srivastava, ED (NETRA) andshared their views, informingabout the NETRA’s future plans inresearch and development areaon the occasion.

Senior officials from finance,engineering and ERP/IT groups ofNTPC interacted with the vendors.Major Companies viz BeijingHuaxia MeTech, China, ABB, GET&D, Thermax, L&T, SYC Global,Green Power, IRIS Power, ElicoMarketing, Cummins India, etc

actively participated and provideduseful suggestions during the meet.

NM Gupta, GM (NETRA) dis-cussed e-procuremnet for effi-

cient procurement process. AjayKumar, AGM explained imple-mentation of GePNIC module.

REC Transmission ProjectsCompany Limited, a whol-

ly owned subsidiary of RuralElectrification Corporation Ltdhas handed over project specif-ic Special Purpose Vehicles(SPV) namely NER-IITransmission Limited to M/sSterlite Grid 4 Limited.

M/s Sterlite Grid 4 Limitedquoted the lowest levellised tar-iff. Transmission Projectinvolves establishment of twosub-stations, five transmissionlines and three bay extension

works in North-Eastern states.The selection was carried outbased on the Standard BiddingDocuments and Guidelinesnotified by Ministry of Power,

for selection of transmissiondevelopers on Build, Own,Operate and Maintain (BOOM)basis through tariff based com-petitive bidding route.

Renewing its thrust on accelerated projectexecution, Bharat Heavy ElectricalsLimited (BHEL) has achieved a capaci-

ty addition of 45,274 MW of utility sets dur-ing the 12th five year plan. It has surpassed thegovernment’s capacity addition target by nineper cent. Significantly, BHEL continues toremain the single largest contributor to thecountry’s installed capacity of utility sets, witha share of 46 per cent in the 12th plan capac-ity addition. Notably, BHEL’s capacity additionduring the 12th five year plan is 78 per centhigher than that in the 11th plan.

During FY 2016-17, BHEL has achieveda capacity addition of 6,317 MW in the utili-ty segment, which is nearly four times of thenext highest achievement by any other man-ufacturer.

In addition, 1,422 MW of industrial setsand 78 MW of overseas sets have also beencommissioned by BHEL during the year,besides 61 MWp of solar power plants, includ-ing 50 MWp at Ananthapur in AndhraPradesh.

With the commissioning of four roof topsolar plants, totalling to 403 kwp, during theyear, BHEL has enhanced its presence in thisemerging segment as well. With this, a totalof 8,538 MW has been synchronised/ com-missioned in the year.

The company added another feather in itscap by foraying into the field of power gener-ation as a co-developer, with the start of com-mercial operation of the first unit of its2x800 MW project at Yeramarus, Karnataka.

Karnataka Power Corporation Limited(KPCL) and BHEL are the main equity part-ners of Raichur Power Corporation Ltd. — theowner and operator of this plant.

In fiscal 2016-17, BHEL has maintainedits leadership position in the supercritical seg-ment by commissioning another four units,enhancing its tally to 14 Supercritical SteamGenerators (SGs) and 12 Supercritical SteamTurbine-Generators (TGs).

So far, BHEL has contracted 48Supercritical SG and 41 Supercritical TG sets— the highest in the country for any powerequipment manufacturer. BHEL’s first 700 MWrating supercritical project at KPCL’s BellaryUnit three has also commenced commercialoperation.

Despite security concerns and substantiallogistic challenges, BHEL successfully com-missioned all three units of the prestigious3x14 MW Salma hydropower project.

The project — renamed as Afghan-Indiafriendship Dam — was inaugurated jointly bythe Prime Minister of India and the Presidentof Afghanistan.

BHEL has been committed to the Nation’spower development programme and has reaf-firmed its commitment to the Indian PowerSector by equipping itself by way of contem-porary technology, state-of-the-art manufac-turing, execution facilities and skilled techni-cal manpower.

The first ISSA academyworkshop is being attend-

ed by delegates from the AsiaPacific region. The workshopwas inaugurated by MSathiyavathy, IAS, Secretary tothe government of India(Labour and Employment).

The workshop is beingorganised by Employees’ StateInsurance Corporation (ESIC),which hosts the ISSA LiaisonOffice for South Asia, underthe auspices of theInternational Social SecurityAssociation (ISSA), Geneva.

It is the world’s leadinginternational organisation forsocial security institutions, gov-ernment departments andagencies. The ISSA promotesexcellence in social securityadministration through pro-fessional guidelines, expertknowledge, services and sup-port to enable its members todevelop dynamic social secu-rity systems and policythroughout the world. It wasfounded in 1927 under the aus-pices of the InternationalLabour Organisation.

Delegates of Switzerland,Bhutan, Fiji, Indonesia,Maldives, Oman and India areparticipating in the workshop.The Indian delegation has par-ticipation from various coun-trywide offices of Employees’State Insurance Corporation(ESIC), Employees ProvidentFund Organisation (EPFO)and the Ministry of Labour andEmployment, government ofIndia.

The topic of the workshopto be held over three days is“Contribution, collection andCompliance”. The facultyincludes Guillaum Filhon,Technical Specialist, SocialSecurity, ISSA, and Ian JosephMcdonald, IndependentExpert, ISSA Academy, thekeynote speakers who shall beconducting the entire work-shop.

The closing ceremony shallbe attended by BandaruDattatreya, Minister of State(Independent Charge), Labourand Employment.

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The ‘Smart India Hackathon 2017’ grandfinale concluded on April 2 at the Civil

Aviation Training College (CATC), Bamruali,and Allahabad. At the CATC, one among 26locations for ‘Smart Hackathon 2017’, 58 teamsfrom across India participated for the 36 hourevent, with students formulating solutions forimproving governance and to come up withinnovative solutions for India’s daunting prob-lems.

The two day event held on April 1 and 2,aimed at harnessing the creativity and expertiseof students got to an aspiring start with PrakashJavadekar, minister for Human ResourceDevelopment announcing the start ofHackathon 2017 through a video speech. Theparticipant teams worked under the guidanceof their mentor, two for each team, suggestingworkable solution for the problems presented.There were 12 evaluators present from differ-ent government departments including AirportsAuthority of India (AAI) and All India Councilfor Higher Education (AICTE) evaluating theperformance of teams.

The Hackathon got a further boost later inthe day with Narendra Modi, Prime Minister ofIndia addressing and interacting with the par-ticipants via video conferencing.

He highlighted the importance of technol-ogy, research and innovation and why it is essen-tial to embrace them in this century.

It is a unique initiative intended to promoteinnovation and out-of-the-box thinking inyoung minds, especially engineering students isinitiated by All India Council for HigherEducation(AICTE), under the aegis of Ministryof Human Resources Development (MHRD)and in collaboration with i4C, PersistentSystems, NASSCOM and Rambhau MhalgiPabodin (RMP). The Ministry of Civil Aviationwas a premier partner in this event.

Time plays a crucial role during medical emergencies andHelicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS), also

known as Air Ambulance, have proven track record in sav-ing lives by reducing time delay. Speed delivery of vital med-ical service to patients in life-threatening situations greatlyimproves both survival and recovery. Moreover once the sur-vival is ensured, Air Ambulance greatly helps in minimisingthe risk of permanent injury to the surviving patients. All thisis made possible since Air Ambulance helicopters can covervast distance faster than road ambulance and land closer toa hospital, thus saving precious time. In the context of Chennai,Saveetha Medical College and Hospital is the only hospital facil-ity where Air Ambulance can land right next to our emergencyunit.

Understanding the need of emergency care in Chennai’s

Industrial Hub on NH 48, the Department of EmergencyMedicine at Saveetha Medical College and Hospital has joinedhands with Aviator Air Rescue to launch Mission Air Rescuewith live demonstration of Air Ambulance service. ArunSharma, Director — Aviator Air Rescue said that he wasinspired to start Air Ambulance service because 30 years backhe had an opportunity to witness first hand, the effectivenessof such services.

He said Air Ambulance service can be made cost effec-tive by implementing yearly subscription model for familiesand individuals. Ponniah IAS, Collector of Kancheepuram andthe chief guest for the programme highlighted the need forstrengthening emergency care in industrial corridor and itsvicinity.

He greatly appreciated the role of Saveetha Hospital in pro-viding emergency care and hoped that the air ambulance ser-vice will aid in saving precious lives. Collector suggested thatsince this facility can be of immense use to general public, sim-ilar to solar panels, efforts should be made to further reducecost factor by requesting for subsidy from central government.

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Avintage Yuvraj Singh hammeredRoyal Challengers Bangalorebowlers to submission with 27-

ball-62 as Sunrisers Hyderabad posteda commendable 207 for 4 in the open-ing game of the IPL-10, here onWednesday night.

On a batting beauty, Yuvrajsmashed the RCB bowlers to cleanersafter Srinath Aravind dropped a dollyat deep square leg boundary. Yuvraj wason 26 then and the let-off allowed himto score his fastest IPL half-century off23 balls.

Moises Henriques' 52 off 37 ballsalso went a long way in contributing toSunrisers' total. The Yuvraj-Henriques

pair added 58 runs runs in only 4.5overs after Shikhar Dhawan (40) wasinvolved in a 74-run stand for the sec-ond wicket.

Yuvraj's innings had seven foursand three sixes while Henriques'innings had three fours and two sixes.

Skipper David Warner started witha couple of boundaries and huge sixover long-on off left-arm seamer AniketChaudhary but was gone when his slashwas taken by a leaping Mandeep Singhat backward point.

Dhawan banged rival skipperShane Watson for four boundaries inthe final Powerplay over to set the tone.

Henriques at the other end chancedhis arms to hit a six over long-on offTravis Head. Once Dhawan was caught

in the deep off Stuart Binny's delivery,Yuvraj came in and started taking onthe bowlers.

Rajasthan's Chaudhary, who hasbeen with the India camp came in forspecial treatment including a loftedextra cover drive for a six apart fom twofours in a single over.

Aravind, who dropped him bowleda back of the hand slower that was dis-patched into mid-wicket stands.

A widish delivery from Chaudharywas slashed past point to reach his half-century. IPL's million dollar boy TymalMills was flicked past short fine leg andonce again picked the slower deliveryinto the deep square leg stands beforebecoming his first victim.

India's T2- specialist Yuzvendra

Chahal (1/22 in 4 overs) held his ownwithout conceding a single boundarywhile Mills 1/31 in 4 overs bowled themaximum (11) dot balls.

���������������������Batting great Sachin Tendulkar on

Wednesday said he never thought IPLwould become so big since its inceptionin 2008 and lauded the cash-rich T20tournament for spreading the game tonon-cricketing countries.

"I can't believe that IPL has com-pleted 10 years. This is a big achievementand it would not have been possiblewithout the support of spectators. WhenIPL was announced in 2007 and whenwe played for the first time in 2008, hon-estly, I never thought IPL will be so big,"said the iconic cricketer during the open-ing ceremony of the IPL-10 here.

Tendulkar and three other Indiancricket icons -- Sourav Ganguly,Virender Sehwag and V V S Laxman -- were felicitated by the BCCI for theircontribution to the game.

Another Indian legend, RahulDravid, was also to be felicitated but hecould not make it to the ceremony ashe was busy with his duty as team men-tor of Delhi Daredevils.

"It is a matter of pride that in Indiaa big tournament like IPL has happenedand which the whole world has takennotice of. I thought it won't be as com-petitive as it is right now. But as thetournament progressed, its competi-tiveness, its competitive juice inside,sportsmanship, have gone to a differ-ent level," said Tendulkar.

"The spectators are enjoying. Thebest part of IPL is that cricket has goneto those countries which has got noth-ing to do with cricket. That has hap-pened due to IPL," said Tendulkar, whowas part of the title-winning MumbaiIndians team in 2011 and 2013.

He said all the teams are well bal-anced and the side that utilises itsresources the best and which can keepinjuries to its critical players to the min-imum, can win the tournament.

Laxman felt IPL has revolutionisedthe dynamics of cricket with new fansand new followers, including thepurists, embracing T20 cricket.

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With a new captain in place,Rising Pune Supergiants

would look to make amends fora poor last season but have atough opening battle at handagainst two-time former cham-pions Mumbai Indians here onThursday.

Pune decided to replaceMahendra Singh Dhoni withSteve Smith in the leadership role.

Under Dhoni, who has onlyplayed as skipper in the previousnine Indian Premier League edi-tions, Pune could win just fivematches in their debut season lastyear. While Dhoni would be des-perate to prove a point with hisblazing blade -- a fitting reply forbeing stripped off captaincy,Smith will look to forgetAustralia's 1-2 loss against Indiain a draining Test series recently.

Dhoni might have led the nowdefunct team Chennai SuperKings exceedingly well in thepast but proving his worth as aplayer with the new franchise is achallenge that the former Indiacaptain will be more than keen toconquer. However, all eyes wouldbe on Ben Stokes, who was boughtfor a whopping �14.5 crore, andhis performance with both the batand ball will be equated with hishefty pay package.

Smith and Faf du Plessisboth got injured the last time butthey would like to make amendsin this edition of the cash-richtournament.

The Supergiants will bebanking on Ajinkya Rahane, whoscored 480 runs at 43.63 with sixfifties in the last edition, to comegood with the bat again.

In the absence of star Indiaoff-spinner RavichandranAshwin, Ashok Dinda will spear-head the team's bowling.

The rather weak Pune bowl-

ing attack would have its task cutout against a strong Mumbai bat-ting line-up. Mumbai skipperRohit Sharma's form at the topwill be important, while KieronPollard and Jos Buttler's big hits,and veteran spinner HarbhajanSingh's guile would decide howthe team would fare on Thursday.

Mumbai are one team thathas not been ravaged by injuries.This will allow them to pick froma talented pool of overseas andIndian cricketers, includingMitchell Johnson, LendlSimmons, Lasith Malinga, who isexpected to join the team onThursday, MitchellMcClenaghan, Parthiv Patel andJasprit Bumrah among others.

Having finished fifth in theprevious season, Mumbai wouldnot leave any stone unturned tomake the top-four in this editionunder new coach MahelaJayawardene, who has taken overfrom highly successful RickyPonting.

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Abuild-up marred by pullouts of top playersnotwithstanding, Delhi Daredevils' experi-enced spinner Amit Mishra on Wednesday put

up a brave face, saying it would be "unfair to writeus off " in the 10th edition of IPL.

Mishra said Daredevils cannot be brushed asidedespite losing two key players -- JP Duminy andQuinton de Kock.

While Duminy pulled out of the tournamentowing to personal reasons, de Kock was ruled outbecause of an injury.

"JP Duminy has some personal problems andthat's why he pulled out. When something like thathappens, it's better the player stays with the family.It's never nice to keep on playing," Mishra toldreporters here.

"De Kock got injured and we can do very littleabout that. Whenever he's fit, he'll walk back in theteam.

"Yes, it's not ideal but that doesn't mean you canwrite us off. The good thing is the guys have gelledwell in the last few days and I feel we have a very goodteam this time. We are working hard. I'm confidentwe are going to do well," Mishra said.

Yet to win the tournament, the Daredevils lastmade it to the play-offs way back in 2012.

Since then, the Delhi outfit has finished in thebottom half of the points table in the last four sea-sons.

"Yes, this is the tenth edition and it would havebeen nice to have won at least once in the last nineyears," he said.

"But in my last three years, I've seen the teamimprove and do well. When people say that we area weak team, it motivates me personally and I wantto prove them wrong. This time the team we've made,there has been a lot of thought put into it, there wereseveral meetings and I'm sure, you'll see the results,"Mishra said.

����■ ,3, #�

West Indies cricket legend Sir VivRichards thinks if Virat Kohli and

his boys can replicate their success oflast home season overseas againstteams like England and Australia,they will enter the "great category".

`King Richards', famous for hisswashbuckling style of batting, alsodoesn't find fault with Kohli's aggres-sion.

In the recent home season, India won10 of the 13 Tests against New Zealand,England, Bangladesh and Australia.

"I think the next level for him (Kohli)and the team after such success, the teamsthat you need to encounter overseas,would be Australia and England. And ifyou can do what you have donehere...(then) Indian team will be getting(into the) great category," Sir Viv said.

The 121-Test veteran also termed theseries against Australia as one of the tough-

est India has faced. "It's (recent home sea-son) has been very good, it's a formida-ble record they have set," he said, praising

the team for consistency, and Kohli forleading from the front.

"The last series against Australia wasone of the toughest encounters....They(India) came through. It was a remark-able achievement," said the legendarybatsman who was a part of the invinci-ble West Indies team of the 1970s.

He also praised Virat for his aggres-sion and for defending the players.

"As an individual who likes to see class,not just batting, I like his (Virat's) aggres-sion as a captain. He is going to defend hisplayers at every opportunity and I see noth-ing wrong in that.

"India must be blessed to have such anindividual who is capable of delivering somuch, he defends his team every time andthat to me is very special," Richards saidwhen asked whether Virat's aggression was

a boon or a bane.

����■ /3 #�

India held on to the numberfour position in the latest

ICC ODI rankings despitenot playing the 50-over formatfor more than two months.

The Virat Kohli-led Indiahave 112 rating points.

South Africa lead the chartwith 119 rating points fol-lowed by Australia (118) andNew Zealand (113).

India's last ODI engage-ment was against England inJanuary.

The West Indies andPakistan will aim to consoli-date their positions in their bidto qualify directly for the ICCWorld Cup 2019 when theywill feature in a three-matchODI series starting in Guyana

on Friday.The West Indies, the 1975

and 1979 world champions,are presently sitting in ninthposition on 84 points, fivepoints behind eighth-ranked1992 winners Pakistan.Bangladesh, who recently

drew their three-match serieswith Sri Lanka, are seventh on92 points.

South Africa captain ABde Villiers is the number-oneranked batsman and he is fol-lowed by Australia's DavidWarner and Kohli of India.

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The tag of being 'Million Dollar' buys has its own pit-falls but former England captain Kevin Pietersen feels

"pressure will be a lot more" on speedster Tymal Millsthan all-rounder Ben Stokes in IPL-10.

Mills will turn out for Royal Challengers Bangalorewhile Stokes is representing Rising Pune Supergiants.

Stokes was bought for a whopping $2.16 million byPune and T20 specialist Mills is now richer by $1.9 mil-lion. Asked about the pressure factor, Pietersen, a veter-an of 100 plus Tests and a sought-after name in franchisecricket, gave an elaborate explanation.

"In terms of performances, there will be a lot of pres-sure on Mills. He is getting a lot of money now but mindit this amount of money doesn't survive a 'large time'. It'swonderful to get an unbelievable amount but he does-n't have an international career per se to fall back on. Hedoesn't have an ECB central contract like Ben Stokes has,"Pietersen told PTI during an exclusive interaction.

Pietersen was of the opinion that there is more pres-sure in this format as not many T20 Internationals areheld per year.

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Winning the EuropaLeague is lookingincreasingly l ike

Manchester United's best chanceof getting back in the ChampionsLeague for next season.

It's 20 Premier League gameswithout defeat for United afterZlatan Ibrahimovic, back fromsuspension, converted a stop-page-time penalty to salvage a 1-1 draw against Everton at OldTrafford on Tuesday.

Ten of those games havebeen draws, though, and Unitedis still struggling to bridge thatgap to the top four whereChelsea, Tottenham, Liverpooland Manchester City reside.

"One point or zero points,it's not a huge difference," said aglum-looking Jose Mourinho,United's manager.

United is four points behindfourth-place City with ninegames left. Making the jobeven harder is United's

involvement in the EuropaLeague, where the team isthrough to the quarterfinals andplays Anderlecht in the first legnext week.

It means that in April, Unitedhas eight games - one everythree or four days - andMourinho has already suggestedhe might start prioritizing his keyplayers for the Europa League ifhis side's league performancesdon't start improving.

With five draws from its lastsix home games in the league,United is clearly stutteringdomestically.

Many of United's recent set-backs have stemmed from its fail-ure to turn possession and clear-cut chances into goals, but thiswasn't one of those occasions.

Ander Herrera and substitutePaul Pogba may have struck thecrossbar either side of halftime,but Everton caused problems

and defended well after PhilJagielka gave the visitors thelead in the 22nd minute froma corner.

At times, United's play waschaotic and untidy, and theyresorted to long balls by the endas Marouane Fellaini went upfront alongside Ibrahimovic.

The pressure paid off deep ininjury time when substitute LukeShaw's shot was blocked inEverton's area by the hand ofAshley Williams, who was givena straight red card. The clock hadticked into the 94th minute whenIbrahimovic slotted home thepenalty.

It was hardly a celebratorymood inside Old Trafford afterthe final whistle.

"The performance was notvery good," Mourinho said. "Thespirit in the second half wasphenomenal, but with some play-ers really in trouble - some by thephysical point of view, some oth-ers clearly with the confidencelevels low."

A look at the other PremierLeague games on Tuesday:

___LEICESTER 2, SUNDER-

LAND 0A tough week got even worse

for Sunderland manager DavidMoyes. Things can't get any bet-ter for his Leicester counterpart,

Craig Shakespeare.Leicester earned a sixth

straight win since Shakespearereplaced Claudio Ranieri incharge of the champions, thanksto second-half goals by strikersIslam Slimani and Jamie Vardy.

It was another blow forSunderland, which is in last placeand eight points adrift of safety,and the under-fire Moyes.

Footage was published by aBritish newspaper website thisweek, showing Moyes telling afemale reporter that she might"get a "slap, even though you're awoman" following an interview

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with the BBC after a game.There has been widespreadcondemnation of his remarks,

although Sunderland said onTuesday that the club "con-tinues to fully support Davidin his role as manager."

Moyes has already apolo-gized.

___BURNLEY 1, STOKE 0With its first win in more

than two months, Burnleycan start to think about plan-ning for another season in thePremier League.

Burnley moved up to 11thplace, and eight points abovethe relegation zone, thanks toGeorge Boyd's 58th-minutegoal at Turf Moor. The team'slast victory was on Jan. 31.

Burnley has seven gamesleft but already has two morepoints than the 33 the teamearned two seasons ago, whenit was relegated.

___WATFORD 2, WEST

BROMWICH ALBION 0Watford also appears to be

in the safety of mid-tableafter a win sparked by captainTroy Deeney, who scored his100th league goal for the club.

Deeney set up M'BayeNiang in the 13th minute forthe opening goal. The roleswere reversed in the 49th,with Deeney running ontoNiang's pass and scoring witha low finish.

Watford had defenderMiguel Britos sent off in the65th minute for two yellowcards but held on to move upto ninth place.

Mood is upbeat in KIIT University as most ofthe B.Tech students of 2017 graduating batch

from Schools of Engineering have already baggedjob offers. The placement season started with a bangand till date 100 plus top-notch companies haverolled out 2750 job offers for a batch size of 2258eligible B.Tech students. In absolute sense, 87% stu-dents have already been placed, over 1000 of thembagging multiple offers.

The number of placed students is set to rise assome of the companies that participated in the cam-pus recruitment process are yet to declare results.On ‘Day 1’ & ‘Day zero’ itself, 1427 students werepicked up. Accenture was the top recruiter with 695job offers, followed by Cognizant, Wipro, IBM,Infosys and iNautix. This is a very high ‘Day 1’ &‘Day zero’ placement number taking into accountnumber of students appearing the tests, accordingto the corporate experts. KIIT has an excellent place-ment conversion rate, the experts said.

“We have commitments from 15 plus reput-ed companies for campus visits, out of which 8-10 companies will be conducting their recruit-ment process in this month. Like all previousyears, we are confident of achieving 100 percentplacements this year also”, said Prof. SaranjitSingh, Head of KIIT Placement Cell.

KIIT was established as an institution impartingdegree engineering programme in 1997 and firstbatch of students passed out in 2001. Since its incep-tion, the institute has been posting remarkably suc-cessful campus placement drives for its students.

While abundance of job offers was very muchexpected this year also, students are speciallydelighted because of participation by many‘Dream Status’ companies. These companiesinclude multinationals like Amazon, Dell,Envestnet Yodlee, Microsoft, Deloitte, TEKSystems, Mu-Sigma, Nowfloats, VMWare, Directi,Smartprix, Cybage, Zycus, Gyansys, InctureTechnologies, CGI, Intel, SAP Labs, Ericsson, FiatIndia Automobiles, Barclays, High Radius,Roofpik, HP R&D, Amdocs, ViaSat etc.

However, it was not an affair featuring only ITcompanies. Core companies like Shapoorji &Pallonji, TVS Motors, Tata Technologies, RobertBosch, Zentron Labs, Windmoller & Holscher India,Elegant Shipping, Schneider Electric, Voltas,Mahindra Comviva, Scope International (StandardChartered), UX Reactors, Soctronics, Jaro Education,Think & Learn, DEHN India, Honda Scooters &Motorcycles India (HSMI), IOTL, Fiat Chrysler, TIL,Soprasteria, Digichamps, Isuzu, JMC Projects, TataHousing, Simplex Infrastructure, Global Archer, SM Consultants, Adani Ports, Collabera Technologies,Tube Investment India Ltd, Effectual KnowledgeServices, Affiine Analytics, Atom Technologies, RSBGroup, Usha Martin, Tata Projects, Josh TechnologyGroup, ZS Associate, Samsung R&D, Royal Enfield,Praxair & Electrosteel also participated.

Salary package offered this year is higher com-pared to previous years. There were 11 companiedthat offered CTC of Rs. 10 lakh or higher. The high-est CTC of Rs. 26.80 lakh was offered by Directi.The average CTC so far has been Rs. 5.00 lakh.

Excellent campus placement has triggered a waveof joy among the young students, who come fromall states of India, as well as their guardians. “I hadmade up my mind long before to send my son to

KIIT because of its student friendly policies andexcellent placement record. Today my decision standsvindicated”, said an overjoyed parent, while express-ing his gratitude to KIIT authorities.

Even as Schools of Engineering has once againposted remarkable placement record, placementscenario in other Schools of KIIT University -School of Management, School of Biotechnology,School of Law, School of Computer Applicationand School of Rural Management looks equallybright. All these Schools have been achieving centpercent placement in past.

Placement process for 2017 graduating batch inthese schools commenced from September 2016 andis now in full swing. School of Management is all setto achieve 95% placement for its MBA students byend of April 2017, inferring from initial trends andcommitments from the companies. Similarly, Schoolof Law, School of Biotechnology, School of RuralManagement and School of Computer Applicationwill also achieve record placement this year.

Personally congratulating the successful stu-dents, Prof. Achyuta Samanta, Founder, KIIT & KISScommended their hard work which helped them getthrough the stringent recruitment process. Rigorous

placement training organized by KIIT’s Training &Placement Cell prepares each student for the D-Day.He also encouraged the students to avail the excel-lent opportunity provided by KIIT University,which will enable them to pursue their higher stud-ies in reputed universities and institutes abroad.

KIIT University uniquely places equal emphasison academic placement, meticulously groominginterested students for higher studies and actively sup-porting their efforts to secure admission in reput-ed institutions. It has tie-ups with 140 reputed uni-versities across the world to facilitate the process. Lastyear, more than 500 students had been selected inreputed national and international institutions /Universities for higher studies. Students got con-firmed offers from top universities in Switzerland,France, Norway, Canada, Poland and Germany forhigher studies courses, including Ph.D.

The University is able to achieve excellent place-ment record consistently on account of its best prac-tices and innovative teaching-learning system, dri-ven by a highly qualified and competent team of fac-ulty, who strive to bring out the best in each and everystudent. The University has a healthy student-to-fac-ulty ratio of 12:1, with 1800 faculty members offer-

ing a rigorous curriculum and access to varied learn-ing opportunities and hands-on research. The fac-ulty are drawn from institutions of repute such asIITs, IIMs, XLRI, IISc, JNU, etc.

Because of its excellence, Ministry of HRD, Govt.of India has conferred it Category ‘A’ status (onTandon Committee recommendations) and NBAhas accredited it in Tier 1 (Washington Accord) forengineering streams, placing KIIT among themost elite universities of the country. It has also beenaccredited in ‘A’ Grade by NAAC for the third time.

Students get unmatched exposure by attendingand interacting with eminent academicians,legal luminaries, corporate leaders, policy mak-ers and scientists, who come to KIIT to attendnumerous academic conferences, seminars andworkshops organized round the year. NobelLecture Series is part of this initiative under which15 talks by Nobel Laureates have been arrangedfor the benefit of students and faculty. Apart fromthese, KIIT has created enormous infrastructureand facilities, which are most conducive to aca-demic pursuit. All these factors go a long way inensuring that the students are ‘market ready’ andtheir success in placement interviews.

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