centre vs judiciary on lakshman rekha

PNS n NEW DELHI

Differences between judi-ciary and the Government

have refused to die down asboth the Chief Justice of India(CJI) and the Union LawMinister pointed out to eachother on Saturday to respect the“Lakshman rekha”. Speaking ata function in the SupremeCourt to mark the ConstitutionDay, CJI TS Thakur said thecourts should ensure no organsof the Government cross the“Lakshman rekha” to whichLaw Minister Ravi ShankarPrasad sharply responded say-ing “legislation must remainwith legislature, and each organmust remember its domain”.

The CJI said, theConstitution Day is celebratedas “It has granted us sover-

eignty, democracy, indepen-dent judiciary to protect rightsof people”. Justice Thakuradded the judiciary has beengiven the duty to watch that allremain within their limits, andthe court has every right to setaside any law made byParliament, if it is against the Constitution or beyond the limits granted bythe statute book.

“The Constitution tells usthat what would be the worksto be done by the Government.It has fixed the duties andresponsibilities for judiciary,executive and legislature. Ithas fixed their limits andLakshman Rekha. The judi-ciary has been given the dutyto keep a watch that nobodycrosses that limit.

Turn to Page 6

Centre vs judiciary

on Lakshman rekha

Modi begins DGPs conference with Yoga

AFP/AP n HAVANA/ MIAMI

Cuba’s historic revolutionaryleader Fidel Castro, who

led a rebel army to improbablevictory, embraced Soviet-stylecommunism, defied the powerof 10 US Presidents, and sur-vived the eclipse of globalcommunism during his halfcentury rule of Cuba, has diedat age 90.

His younger brother,President Raul Castro,announced the news shortlyafter midnight (10.30 am ISTon Saturday) but gave nodetails of the cause of death.

Fidel Castro crushed oppo-sition at home from themoment he took power in 1959to lead the communistCaribbean island through theCold War. He stepped aside onlyin 2006 after intestinal surgery.For defenders of the revolution,Castro was a hero who pro-tected the ordinary peopleagainst capitalist domination.

For his opponents, includ-ing thousands of Cuban exilesliving in the United States, hewas a cruel tyrant. Castro even-tually lived to see the restora-tion of diplomatic ties withWashington last year. His defi-ant image lingered long after hegave up his trademark Cohibacigars for health reasons andhis tall frame grew stooped.

“The commander in chiefof the Cuban revolution diedat 22:29 hours this evening,”Raul Castro said in a solemnvoice, adding, “in compliancewith Comrade Fidel’sexpressed will, his remainswill be cremated early in the

morning” on SaturdayThe Cuban Government

on Saturday decreed nine daysof mourning. From November26 to December 4, “public activ-ities and shows will cease, thenational flag will fly at half-maston public buildings and militaryinstallations,” a statement fromthe state executive said.

Castro’s ashes will beburied in the southeastern cityof Santiago on December 4after a four-day processionthrough the country, itadded. Castro’s death drewstrong reactions from worldleaders.

FIDEL CASTRO

AUGUST 1926 — NOV 2016v

v

Islamabad: Lt Gen QamarJaved Bajwa, who has extensive experience in handling affairs inPoK and the Northern Areas,was on Saturday appointedPakistan’s new Army chief tosucceed Gen Raheel Sharif.

Pakistan Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif appointed Bajwaas Chief of Army Staff (COAS)

by elevatinghim to therank of four-star general,officials said.

B a j w awill takecharge ofthe world’ssixth-largest

Army by troop numbers in aformal handover on Tuesday,when General Raheel formal-ly retires.

Raheel in January haddeclared he would not seekextension. “I will retire on thedue date,” he had said.

There were speculationthat the PML-N Governmentwould give him extension atthe eleventh hour citing rea-sons that he was needed bythe country to lead war on ter-ror.

RAHUL DATTA/MOHIT KANDHARI nNEW DELHI/JAMMU

As ceasefire violations on theLine of Control (LoC) have

stopped for the last three days,the Indian Army is now brac-ing for anticipated increase inviolence in Jammu & Kashmir,besides spike in infiltrationbids as Pakistan is desperate to“keep the pot boiling”. Thecoming days may see spectac-ular terror strikes on vital instal-lations by specially trained infil-trators while the Pakistan Armyand the ISI will give final pushto infiltrate terrorists intoKashmir before snow blocks allingress routes.

Nearly 200 terrorists, nowpoised to infiltrate, are trainedand equipped with large quan-tities of arms and ammunitionto engage security forces for alonger duration and inflictmaximum casualties, and theoperational commanders of theArmy are revising their strate-

gy to deal with the threat.While the security forces

are in a state of heightened alertall along the LoC andInternational Border sincePakistan stepped up cross-bor-der firing since surgical strikesby the Indian Army inSeptember-end, the Army,paramilitary forces and thelocal police are striving formore co-operations to go after300 terrorists already activeinside the Kashmir valley.

Determined to seekrevenge for surgical strikes inwhich 35-40 terrorists besidesseven terrorist launch padswere destroyed by the IndianArmy inside Pakistan-

Occupied Kashmir (PoK), thePakistan Army and the ISI aretrying to find out chinks inIndia’s armour.

In fact, despite temporaryrespite along the LoC afterceasefire violations by Pakistancame to a stop three days back,movement of terrorists alongthe border in PoK was noticed,said the Army sources, addingthe the Pakistan Army and theISI are probing the vulnerablepoints on the LoC to infiltrate.Keeping these dynamics inview, patrolling along the LoCto thwart infiltration bids hasbeen intensified by the Army,they said.

As regards securing hin-

terland where violence levelsare expected to go up in thecoming days, the sources saidcase of encounters with ter-rorists has already gone up.Elaborating upon this aspect,officials said one of the mainreasons was that the real timeIntelligence f low is nowimproving after it was ham-pered and counter-terroristoperations virtually came tohalt during the three-month-long agitation and protests fol-lowing Hizbul Mujahideen ter-rorist Burhan Wani’s killing.

Series of incidents ofweapon snatching by newlyrecruited militant cadre,

Turn to Page 6

OMER FAROOQ n HYDERABAD

An early morning half-an-hour walk in the serene

and green surroundings ofSardar Vallabhai Patel NationalPolice Academy (NPA) andan hour-long Yoga session inthe company of the top policeofficials marked the start of theday for the Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Saturday.The PM, who was inHyderabad to attend the annu-al All India DGPs’ conference,arrived in the city last eveningand had an overnight stay at theNPA campus.

After breakfast along withthe participants, Modi gar-landed the statue of freedomfighter and “Iron Man” SardarPatel and paid tributes at themartyrs’ memorial. He also planted a sapling on thecampus.

Before addressing theDGPs of all the States andUnion Territories and otherofficials, Modi also wentaround the campus andinspected the facilities atNational Police Academy —the premier institution whereall the new recruits of theIndian Police Service (IPS)undergo a year-long training toimpart all the necessary skills.

Emphasising on develop-ment of soft skills among thepolice force, Modi said humanand behavioural psychologyshould be vital parts of policetraining, even as he called fora qualitative change in theforce. He also launched a

mobile app — ‘Indian Police atYour Call’ — and presentedPresident’s Police Medals forDistinguished Service to offi-cers of the Intelligence Bureau.Modi said leadership skills areimportant, and the onus lies onsenior officers to inculcatethese skills in the police per-sonnel.

While inaugurating theconference on Friday evening,Union Home Minister RajnathSingh said that the recentdemonetisation by the Centrehad hit the funding of terror-ists and the Maoists. He saidthat the move was aimed atcurbing black money and deliv-ered a big blow to the anti-national forces.

Ministers of State for HomeAffairs Kiren Rijiju and HansrajGangaram Ahir, Union HomeSecretary Rajiv Mehrishi,National Security Advisory AjitDoval and other officials tooattended the conference.

Qamar JavedBajwa is Pak’sArmy chief asRaheel retires

USUALSUSPECTSSWAPAN DASGUPTA

Demonetisation Modi’siconic game changerS

ince he dropped the demonetisation bombshell, Prime

Minister Narendra Modi has once again become the

focus of sustained attention. As Indians, both very rich and

those barely above the poverty line, have grappled with the

realities of a draconian demonetisation that has put nearly 86

per cent of the cash supply of India out of circulation, there

have been sharply polarised reactions to his audacity.

The long queues outside banks, the ATMs that were

emptied of cash and the spate of colourful rumours have

certainly affected public perception. In the debate in the

Rajya Sabha, Opposition MPs competed with each other in

describing the woes of the “common man”. There were

speeches offering a robust defence of the cash economy

and the traditional, non-banking ways of doing business.

Horror stories were narrated of families despairing of how to

go about a scheduled wedding. Others complained about

stranded travellers and the British Government — influenced

no doubt by the English language TV channels — issued a

travel advisory to incoming tourists. On the social media,

journalists and liberal academics shed copious tears over

the difficulties faced by their maids, malis and drivers.

Whether the boldest step taken in the anti-black money

crusade initiated by the Prime Minister earlier this year will

fetch political dividends is something that no one is entirely

sure about. That the announcement of the demonetisation

was also accompanied by a large measure of lower middle

class glee at the likely sleepless nights to be suffered by the

fat cats isn’t in any doubt. However, the full throated

expression of support is likely to be delayed until the new

notes are in circulation and the queues in banks and ATMs

have lessened. Indeed, it may well be a few months before

India starts arriving at a considered judgement of Modi’s

demonetisation.

There are, however, certain initial conclusions that can

be drawn. The first and most obvious is the fact that the

Prime Minister’s authority in the party and his Government is

total and unchallenged.

The demonetisation

exercise inconvenienced

the vast majority of Indians

and added to their daily

hassles, at least for a short

period. But the exercise

completely unsettled those

engaged in trade, both in

urban and rural areas,

because they were at the

heart of the cash economy

that accounts for nearly 25

per cent of economic

activity. Ironically — and

this is a point that hasn’t

received any worthwhile

attention — the traders

make up the BJP’s core

constituency, one that has

stood by the party through

times good and bad. By

hitting that section the

hardest and more or less

coercing them into joining a

modern sector, Modi has

taken a monumental

political gamble. He has, in

effect, triggered a social

upheaval in the BJP and

reached out to sections

that were hitherto no part of

the party’s support base.

Whether the BJP is able to

enlarge and redefine its

social base as a

consequence will be worth

watching. So far the party

has extended unequivocal

support to the Prime Minister but how the tremors affect the

social base is unknown. In any case, as in Gujarat, Modi has

always conducted a very presidential form of politics by

reaching out to voters over the heads of intermediaries.

Secondly, the demonetisation exercise has reshaped the

image of Modi as an administrator. In 2014, Modi was

regarded outside Gujarat as a charismatic leader who meant

different things to different people. While his decisiveness

and no-nonsense style were appreciated, there was always

a big question mark over his ability to effect a fundamental

transformation of the country. Indeed, one of the criticisms

levelled against him was that he was essentially an

incrementalist, not a radical.

The Prime Minister’s anti-black money drive will go a

long way in changing perceptions. It is now clear that unlike,

say, Indira Gandhi’s nationalisation of banks in 1969 and VP

Singh’s endorsement of the Mandal Commission report in

1990, Modi’s demonetisation was more considered and part

of a larger calculation.

In hindsight it now appears that the Aadhaar card drive,

the Jan Dhan Yojana, the drive against foreign accounts and

the scheme for the declaration of concealed wealth and

income were steps in a larger scheme of things. When Modi

argued that he wouldn’t take any more excuses after

September 30, he wasn’t bluffing. It would seem that there is

a passion in the Prime Minister for driving change,

regardless of the magnitude of the project. He seems to plan

his moves quite meticulously and is thirsty for challenges. It

is extremely unlikely that any other Prime Minister would

have undertaken such a monumental challenge as

demonetisation, not least because he was completely

dependant on a sluggish banking sector for its rapid and

relatively painless implementation.

It is this single-mindedness that is sharply at odds with

political calculations that appears to have totally unnerved

both the status quoists (who imagined after two years that

they had coopted him into the Lutyens’ zone) and the

remnants of the ancien regime, yearning for the predictability

of past Congress regimes. Modi has not only emerged as a

leader towering above the pack, he has set in motion a

political churning. It is likely that the 2019 general election

will end up as a referendum on the man.

Prime Minister NarendraModi’s anti-black moneydrive will go a long wayin changing perceptions.When Modi argued thathe wouldn’t take anymore excuses afterSeptember 30, he wasn’tbluffing. It would seemthat there is a passion inthe Prime Minister fordriving change,regardless of themagnitude of theproject...It is extremelyunlikely that any otherPrime Minister wouldhave undertaken such amonumental challenge asdemonitisation... Modihas not only emerged asa leader towering abovethe pack, he has set inmotion a politicalchurning. It is likely thatthe 2019 general electionwill end up as areferendum on the man

Indian Army, copson toes as rise in terror attacks,infiltration bidsanticipated

Last symbol of an era, Fidel Castro, no more

lNearly 200 terrorists, nowpoised to infiltrate, are trainedand equipped with largequantities of arms andammunition to engage securityforces for a longer duration andinflict maximum casualties, andthe operational commanders ofthe Army are revising theirstrategy to deal with the threat

lWhile the security forces arein a state of heightened alert allalong the LoC and InternationalBorder since Pakistan steppedup cross-border firing sincesurgical strikes by the IndianArmy in September-end, the

Army, paramilitary forces andthe local police are also strivingfor more cooperations amongthemselves to go after 300terrorists already active insidethe Kashmir valley

lDetermined to seek revengefor surgical strikes in which 35-40 terrorists besides seventerrorist launch pads weredestroyed by the Indian Armyinside Pakistan-OccupiedKashmir (PoK), the PakistanArmy and the ISI are ready topush in more terrorists intoKashmir from launch padsacross the LoC

Snakein the

grass

Lull on LoC as na-Pak focus turns to inside J&K

Castro’s ashes willbe buried in the

southeastern city ofSantiago on

December 4 after afour-day processionthrough the country

See also P7

n The CJI said, “The judiciary has been given the duty to keep awatch that nobody crosses the limit. If Parliament has the power tomake the laws, it should make only in the limits granted under theConstitution”n Law Minister RaviShankar Prasad sharplyresponded saying“legislation must remainwith legislature, and eachorgan must remember itsdomain”n The CJI also mentionedshortage of judges in theHigh Courts and Tribunalssaying there are around500 judges’ posts lyingvacant in High Courtsn On shortage of judges, Prasad said nearly 120 judges have beenappointed this year. “Since 1990, there have only been 80appointments. 5,000 vacancies are there in lower judiciaries in whichthe Government of India has no role to play,” he added

AT LOGGERHEADSCourts must ensureorgans of State stickto their briefs: CJI;Governance mustremain with thoseelected, says Govt

*

PM emphasiseson development ofsoft skills amongpolice force

Prime Minister Narendra Modi paystributes to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel,in Hyderabad on Saturday PTI

Published From DELHI LUCKNOW BHOPALBHUBANESWAR RANCHIRAIPUR CHANDIGARHDEHRADUN

Late City Vol. 152 Issue 320*Air Surcharge Extra if Applicable

Established 1864 RNI No.2016/1957, REGD NO. SSP/LW/NP-34/2016-18

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LUCKNOW, SUNDAY NOVEMBER 27, 2016; PAGES 12+8 `3

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BAIRSTOW TAKES ENG TO268/8 AT END OF DAY 1

WORLD 7

WISCONSIN TO RECOUNTPRESIDENTIAL ELECTION VOTES

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PNS n LUCKNOW

Chief Minister AkhileshYadav said that Indians

would never forgive PrimeMinister Narendra Modi forinflicting pain on them bybanning high value notes.

Addressing a public meet-ing after concluding his VikasRath Yatra at Rampur onSaturday, Yadav said that thepeople have suffered immensesufferings due to the myopicdecision of demonetisationwhich has also jolted the devel-opment of the country.

The second leg of the CM’sVikas Yatra commenced earli-er in the day from Moradabad.The earlier one was taken outfrom Lucknow to Unnao onNovember 3.

Speaking on the issue, theCM said, “The NDA

Government cited three rea-sons for banning high valuenotes — fight corruption, flushout black money and fight themenace of counterfeit curren-cy. None of these will be met asbanning currency is no solu-tion to the these problems.There may be short termsgains but at the huge cost to themasses and the economy.’’

“How are you going to stopthe contractors and officers fromtaking bribes and commission?They will devise other novelmeans. There may be temporarycheck on generation of blackmoney, but the problem is set tobounce back,’’ said Yadav.

“People of the country willnever forgive the governmentwhich gives them pain. Theentire country is groaning underthe pain of cessation of high valuenotes while the government isrigid on its decision. The scarci-ty of currency notes in bankingsystem will not ease in the next50 days and will at least take sixmonths,” the CM asserted.

Queeringthe decision,Yadav said, “No one had everimagined that they would haveto stand in queues in banks forwithdrawing their own money.”

Indians will not

forgive PM for

note ban pain,

says Akhilesh

city 02LUCKNOW | SUNDAY | NOVEMBER 27, 2016

PNS n LUCKNOW

UP Urban DevelopmentMinister Mohammad

Azam Khan said the interfer-ence of Central governmentheaded by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi in matters ofIslamic law and triple talaqwas unacceptable to Muslims.

Addressing a meetingpresided over by ChiefMinister Akhilesh Yadav, theminister said: “Narendra Modigovernment is deliberatelyinterfering in triple talaq mat-ter. Muslims cannot acceptthis. This decision will be asper shariat law and any sug-gestions and interference ofRashtriya Swayamsewak

Sangh and Bharatiya JanataParty will never be acceptableto Muslims.”

Azam Khan said that asMuslims had no right to inter-fere in Hindu Marriage Act,similarly Muslims would notallow anyone to interfere intheir personal law.

Commenting on demon-etisation of high denomina-tion, Khan said the decision towithdraw `500 and `1000notes as legal tenders haddisrupted the informal andformal economy and it hadcreated a credibility crisis forthe Indian currency as Nepalhad refused to recognise theIndian currency,” Azam Khansaid.

“The statement of PrimeMinister Modi in which heaccused the opposition partiesof having stashed black money is very unfortunate. He has insulted 75 per cent ofthe people of India. Longqueues in front of banks and ATM reflect distress of the public,” Azam Khansaid.

Without namingSamajwadi Party general sec-retary Amar Singh, Khan said, “Those who have survived in politics for longyears should know that they were despised by thepeople and they can neverearn the respect and the con-fidence of the people.

PNS n LUCKNOW

Chief Minister AkhileshYadav will dedicate to peo-

ple the country’s longest 207-kilometre cycle highway con-necting the Taj City, Agra, andthe Lion Safari at Etawah, onSunday.

The UP government hasspent `133.78 crore on theconstruction of the cycle high-way.

The CM will also dedicatethe Tajganj project, meant tospruce up the surroundings ofthe Taj Mahal, at a cost of ̀ 197crore.

Besides, he will also inau-gurate several other projects ofpower department and theinner-ring road connecting theYamuna Expressway with theTaj Mahal.

Akhilesh Yadav, an avidenvironment and sports lover,will also flag off a cycle rally onSunday from the eastern gatesof Taj Mahal. It will concludeat Lion Safari in Etawah aftercovering 207 kilometres inthree days.

Cyclists from Sweden, theUSA, Germany, Bangladeshand 12 states of India will par-ticipate in the cycle rally andpass by several historical build-ings, including Bateshwar Nathtemple, Naugawa Fort andrural areas before reaching theEtawah Lion Safari onNovember 29.

Yadav had announcedabout the cycle expressway inDecember last year while par-ticipating in the first edition ofUP Bird Festival. The secondedition of the Bird Festivalwill be held at Chambal area inAgra from December 2.

Built at a cost of `197crore, the Tajganj project is one

of the most ambitious projectsof the CM. Under the project,15 slums and areas surround-ing the Taj Mahal have beenspruced up, while roads in500-metre radius of the mon-ument have been laid with redsandstones instead of bitumen.

It also has enhanced secu-rity system around Taj Mahalwith CCTV cameras and a con-trol room to keep an eye on thesurroundings round the clock.

A government official saidthat the project was completedwithin two years. “Along withthe inner-ring road, touristswill get world-class facilitywhile visiting the Taj, as theywill now get a smooth access tothe monument. The 11-kminner-ring road (first phase)has been built at a cost of ̀ 820crore,” he said.

PNS n LUCKNOW

Prime Minister NarendraModi will address a

‘Parivartan Yatra’ rally at Kasiaairstrip on the outskirts ofKushinagar in eastern UP onSunday, a day before the nation-wide bandh called by opposi-tion parties to protest demon-etisation of high denominationcurrency notes.

The Bharatiya Janata Partyis taking out Parivartan Yatrasfrom different locations acrossthe state to mobilise people’ssupport ahead of the UPAssembly polls.

Several Union ministersand senior leaders of the BJPwould be present to welcomethe prime minister atKushinagar on Sunday.

This will be the PM’s thirdParivartan Yatra rally in thestate, after Ghazipur onNovember 14 and at Agra onNovember 20.

The PM’s rally is crucial inthe wake of the coming stateAssembly elections slated earlynext year.

Kushinagar is importantfor Buddhist pilgrims across theworld, as this is the place whereit is believed that Lord Buddhaattained parinirvana nearHiranyavati river after his deathand was cremated at RamabharStupa.

Senior leaders of the BJPare camping in the district.Union minister Kalraj Mishravisited the place on Thursday toreview the arrangements.Party’s national vice-presidentand UP in-charge Om Mathurwould also be present at the

rally venue on Sunday.Elaborate security arrange-

ments have been made at therally venue and surroundingareas due to the visit of theprime minister with SPG offi-cials taking control of the secu-rity of the venue.

As per the programme,Prime Minister Modi will reachGorakhpur airport around12:20 p.m. and will board anIAF chopper to reach Kasiaairstrip to address the rally.

After staying there for anhour and a half, the PM willreturn to Gorakhpur around 2p.m. and fly back to Delhi.

During his Kushinagarrally, the PM will flag off theHumsafar train betweenGorakhpur and Anand Viharterminus in Delhi.

The tri-weekly train willhave several new features,including LED screen display toinform passengers about sta-tions, train speed and alsoannouncement system. Otherfacilities available are vendingmachines for tea, coffee andmilk, charging ports for charg-ing electronic devices such asmobiles and laptops.

The berths will be morecomfortable than the previousAC 3 rakes, bio-toilets in com-partments and exterior ofcoaches will have a futuristiclook with the use of Vinylsheets. Safety measures such assmoke alarms and CCTV cam-eras have also been installed inthe coaches.

The fare of the Humsafartrain will be 20 per cent high-er than the passenger andexpress trains.

PNS n LUCKNOW

Expressing concern over theplight of farmers due to

demonetisation, Rashtriya LokDal secretary general JayantChaudhary said the PrimeMinister’s ‘firman’ (diktat) hadlanded the growers in serioustrouble during the ongoingRabi crop season.

Chaudhary was addressinga press conference at the party’sstate headquarters in Lucknowon Saturday.

The RLD secretary gener-al said that his party wouldstage a protest at Jantar Mantarin New Delhi on December 5and farmers from UttarPradesh and other states would

participate in the protest. Hesaid the RLD would demandwaiver of agri loans from theCentral government.

Chaudhary suggested that

the Union government shoulddistribute money, which thePM thought was black money,among the farmers, factoryworkers as they were the rightpeople to avail this cash.

The RLD leader said hisparty would demand anincrease in budgetary alloca-tion for agriculture. “There isshortage of agricultural infra-structure. By increasing thebudget, the scarcity would bemet and it would help inincreasing agricultural pro-duction,” he said.

Earlier, a number of lead-ers from different parties tookmembership of the RashtriyaLok Dal in Jayant Chaudhary’spresence.

PNS n LUCKNOW

After a Border SecurityForce sub-inspector was

gunned down hours beforehis marriage in Moradabad, awoman sustained serious burnswhen two women threw acidon her on her wedding night inCantonment area of Bareilly onFriday.

The two unknown womenentered the bride’s room inYugvina library compound onFriday night and threw acid onher face before she could sensedanger.

The incident took place asthe marriage rituals were aboutto begin. The bride’s grand-mother was with her in theroom and other relatives wereoutside in the compound.

The grandmother latersaid that one of the attackersheld the bride while the other

threw acid on her before flee-ing the room after locking itfrom outside.

The grandmother laterraised an alarm after which rel-atives rescued them and rushedthe bride to a nearby hospital.

A case was registered inthis regard. Police said thatsince no one was named, theywere probing the incident fromall possible angles.

The police theory is revolv-ing around the possibility thata jilted lover orchestrated theattack or some other girl wasinterested in the groom-to-beand carried out the attack tostall the wedding.

The cops will be scanningthe video recordings and takehelp of the victim’s kin for iden-tifying the accused.

Meanwhile, inMuzaffarnagar, a 35-year-oldwoman, who was rehabilitated

after the 2013 Muzaffarnagarriots, was found dead in mys-terious circumstances at herhouse in Palda village onSaturday.

Afsana was found dead ather house with a rope tiedaround her neck. Her husbandwas away at that time.

Prima facie it appearedthat she was strangled to death.

The body has been sent forautopsy and further investiga-tions are on.

The deceased was rehabil-itated from Kutba village toPalda village in the aftermathof Muzaffarnagar riots in 2013.

In a separate incident, a 25-year-old man was shot deadand three others were serious-ly injured in a clash betweentwo groups over a minor dis-pute at Hasanpur Luhari villagein Shamli. The incident tookplace on Friday when there was

a scuffle between the groupsand it escalated, leading to fir-ing and stone-pelting by bothsides, Circle Officer AnandVerma said.

The deceased was identi-fied as Gulzar. Gulbahar,Shehzad and Waseem wereinjured in the clash and wererushed to hospital in a criticalcondition, Verma said.

Police brought the situa-tion under control and extrasecurity force was deployed inthe area.

Meanwhile, two personswere killed when their motor-cycle was hit by a speedingtruck on the Allahabad-Varanasi National Highwayhere on Saturday police said.Dhani Shankar Yadav (47) andSuryabali Yadav (42) died onthe spot when they were hit bythe truck near Padav underAurai police station area.

PNS n LUCKNOW

After insulting 125 crorecountrymen by demon-etising `500 and `1000

notes, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi is now scaredof facing Parliament. The banon currency notes by the gov-ernment and terming it “blackmoney” is a clear case of breachof trust and a criminal offence.

This was stated by All-India Congress Committeespokesman and Rajya Sabhamember Kapil Sibal at a pressconference at the UP Congressheadquarters at Mall Avenueon Saturday.

“Hume achhe din nahi,sachche din chahiye (We don’twant good days, we only wantthe PM to speak the truth),”Sibal said while alleging thatthe prime minister was respon-sible for the entire economicmess.

“Desh ka pradhan chowki-dar aaram ki neend so raha haiaur garib apni pareshani sejaag raha hai,” he said in arepartee to the PM’s remarkthat the poor were sleeping andonly the rich were having sleep-less nights.

“Banks have breached thetrust of their customers byrefusing to pay them their ownmoney and this naturallyattracts criminal offence. I feelashamed that India has a man

like Narendra Modi as PM ofthis country,” said Sibal.

The eminent lawyer said,“Modi is saying that thedemonetisation decision haschanged the country but we saythat the country is burningafter the decision was made onNovember 8.”

Alleging that the PM’s deci-sion was more political thaneconomic and was aimed at theUP Assembly elections, Sibalsaid the economy had metwith an accident and those whowere injured were not able toget treatment.

The Congress leader fur-ther claimed that due to theCentre’s move the entire indus-trial and manufacturing sectorhad been affected, particular-ly migrant labourers, while thewholesale and retail marketshave come to a standstill.

Sibal elaborated that 92crore Indians either did nothave a bank account or theiraccounts were inactive andthey were the people who werebearing the brunt of demon-etisation.

“Do these 92 crore peoplehave black money? Currency isnever black or white, it is onlythe transactions which areblack or white,” he said, critis-ing Modi for demonetisation ofhigh value notes terming it as`black money’.

Claiming that the RBI

needs at least nine months toreplace the scrapped notes,Sibal, quoting official statistics,maintained that there was lessthan one per cent of counter-feit currencies of `500 and`1000 denomination in themarket and Modi’s claim of

rampant fake currencies in cir-culation was fake.

He also presented RBI sta-tistics on recovery of fake notesto buttress his claim.

Sibal also attacked Modi’sjibe that had he given 72-hourtime, those criticising him for

demonetisation would nowbe praising him for the decision.

“What did the PM intendto say. Modi’s statement pointsout that those praising him hadgot 72-hour time,” the seniorCongress leader said.

Dismissing Modi’s accusa-tion of the opposition notallowing the House to run,Sibal said that Modi was run-ning away from a debate withthe opposition on the issue ashe had no facts to buttress thatthe decision was taken to com-bat terrorism, fake currencyand black money.

“For the last fortnight sincethe demonetisation decisionwas made public, the govern-ment has made 72 changes inthe implementation and thisitself indicates that Modi hadno inkling of the ramifica-tions and implemented hisplan to get political mileage outof it,” the Rajya Sabha membersaid.

Senior Congress leader andRajya Sabha member PramodTiwari reiterated his stand thatModi was the fourth dictator ofworld after Hitler, Mussoliniand Gadaffi.

UP Congress Committeechief Raj Babbar, who was alsopresent at the meet, announcedthat the Congress would hold‘Akrosh Diwas’ to protestdemonetisation across thecountry on November 28.

“Modi is speaking every-where but not in Parliament.This proves that he is not honest or does not want his words to come on record as it may pose difficulty for him in future,” Babbar said.

Printed and Published by Vijay Prakash Singh for and on behalf of CMYK Printech Ltd., 4th Floor, Sahara Shopping Centre, Faizabad Road, Lucknow-226016 and Printed at Tin Tin Printech Pvt Ltd., C-33 Amausi Industrial Area, Nadarganj, Lucknow. Tel: (0522) 2438656 / 9336266608.

Editor: Chandan Mitra. Resident Editor: Vijay Prakash Singh. RNI No. 2016/57. Lucknow Telephones: EPABX: 4036600 Fax: 2345582. Allahabad Office: (95532) 2420818, 2421018, 3290460. Kanpur Office: (95512) 2304006, 2304416. Varanasi Office: (95542) 2414294, 2414295. Delhi

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Modi scared of facing Parliament: Sibal

Congress spokesman and MP Kapil Sibal addressing reporters at UPCC office in Lucknow on Saturday. With him is UPCongress president Raj Babbar Pioneer

CM to dedicate India’s longest cycle highway today

Modi to address Parivartan rally in Kushinagar todayTo flag off Humsafar train

Farmers badly hit by

note ban: Jayant

Bride attacked with acid by two women

Modi’s interference in Islamic

matters not acceptable: Azam

3 Afghan nationalsdetained by SSB

Lucknow (PNS): Three Afghan nationals, including twowomen, were on Saturday detained by the Sashastra Seema Bal(SSB) for illegally crossing over to the Indian side through theIndo-Nepal border at Sonauli in Maharajganj.

SSB personnel intercepted the trio at the Indo-Nepal bor-der and on checking, it was found that they were carrying pass-ports issued by Afghanistan but no Indian visa, SSB CommandantShiv Dayal said.

The three were detained for not carrying valid documents,Dayal said, adding that the authorities were informed and fur-ther investigations were on.

Meanwhile, staff of a bank’s branch were allegedly confinedin their office by customers who alleged delay in withdrawal ofcash in Miranpur town of Muzaffarnagar.

The incident took place on Friday at a Punjab National Bankbranch. Some customers locked the main door of the bank fromoutside. They were angry over alleged delay in withdrawal of cash,police said.


HUJJAT RAZA n KANPUR/UNNAO

The Northern Railways(NR) has pledged to com-

plete maintenance work on thetrack of Lucknow-Kanpur railsection and Ganga bridge atleast three days ahead of thedeadline (December 7).

During an inspection ofthe ongoing maintenancework on the track byDivisional Railway Manager(DRM), NR, AK Lahoti, medi-apersons were informed that16 machines with advancedtechnology had been pressedinto service by the NR admin-istration to complete the main-tenance work in time. Thetrack on the rail section hasbeen blocked from November11 to December 7.

“Initially, the block wasproposed to be closed for 35days but the Railway Boardasked us to lessen the timeafter which it was decided tocomplete the work in 27 days.The way modern machines arebeing used for the work, we aresure that the work will be com-pleted at least three days beforethe deadline. On November29, the date for restoration oftrack will be announced,”Lahoti said.

While inspecting the dif-

ferent machines being used forthe maintenance work, Lahotisaid that in the block taken forreplacement of iron turf andtracks on Kanpur Ganga railbridge, they had plans to doother maintenance work onthe track between Lucknowand Kanpur.

“Tracks ballasts need to becleaned every ten years as dueto movement of trains, solidsand gets clogged andobstructs elastic motion inthe rail tracks. We havebrought four ballast cleaningmachines from different divi-sions for the purpose. Thesemachines are capable of clean-ing 300m area in just threehours. In the past, this workused to be done manually andtook a lot of time,” Lahoti said.After ballast cleaning work,tamping machines will be used

for alignment and packing ofrail track after which dynam-ic track stabiliser machine willstart stabilising the rail tracks.

The DRM said once therail track maintenance workwas over, the speed limit wouldbe imposed for 40 kmph and75 kmph for at least first fourdays. Following it, the trainswill be allowed to run on itsprescribed speed.

The iron turf and trackreplacement of nearly a cen-tury-old Kanpur ganga railbridge has been completed by80 per cent and the remainingwill be completed in the com-ing days. “The rail track on thebridge has been divided into 25spans of 30.5 metres each andtwo spans of 12.2 metres each.On all the spans, the old ironturf, along with the existing railtrack, has been replaced witha new one. The life of new turfis expected to be around 50years. Out of the total 127 turfson the 800m bridge, 90 havebeen replaced,” the DRM said.

For replacement of ironturf and rail track, two pairs ofportal cranes have beenpressed into service by the rail-way authorities. There arearound 400 workers workingin shifts to complete the task intime.

PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n LUCKNOW

Managing director ofLucknow Metro Rail

Corporation (LMRC) KumarKeshav, on Saturday conduct-ed a trolley inspection betweenthe Transport Nagar andMawaiyya Metro Corridor station.

The inspection was con-ducted to review the opera-tional preparedness of LMRCwith regard to the commis-sioning of trial runs fromDecember 1. At the TransportNagar Metro depot, the LMRCmanaging director inspectedthe track where the first trainset will be stationed for flag-offon December 1. Later, heinspected the Metro sectionbetween Transport Nagar andMawaiyya through a trolleyover the Metro track,” anLMRC official said.

A rail inspection trolley isa hand-pushed one which usedfor inspection of rails andother track-side railway infra-structure. It is a simple trolleywhich is pushed by two or fourpersons manually with handbrakes.

“Rail tracks have a ten-dency to develop variousdefects including cracks, loosepacking etc which may lead toaccidents. Trolley inspection is,therefore, done to check, avoidand mitigate these shortcom-ings, if any. Trolley inspectionforms a very important part ofthe physical inspection in therailways or a Metro rail organ-isation,” he added.

Lucknow Metro is all set tocommence the trial run of theMetro train from TransportNagar to Mawaiyya fromDecember 1 as per the deadlinegiven by the government.


IIM-Lucknow’s flagship mar-keting research event

‘INDEX’ is back with its muchawaited annual fair. One ofIndia’s biggest disguised mar-keting research events, INDEXis the only Guinness WorldRecord holding fest acrossIIMs.

With a footfall of over10,000 each year, Lucknowitesawait the fair with much antic-ipation. This year, the eventcentred on the theme on MiniIndia, had a plethora of foodstalls, photo booths and funactivities which engaged chil-dren and families alike and theColvin Taluqdars’ Collegegrounds came alive with festivecheer and spirit.

Enthusiastic college stu-dents also gathered at the fairin huge numbers and show-cased their skills at the‘Footloose’ dance and RJ huntcompetitions. A first forINDEX, the shayari competi-

tion brought out the hiddenpoets in participants. This 22ndedition of INDEX began withpromotional events in associ-ation with INDEX’s socialpartner, Ministry of Womenand Child Development. Anukkad natak competition andflash mobs were organised inassociation with children fromWomen and Child Protectiondepartment homes on thetheme of ‘Child protection and

child rights issues’ which raisedawareness on social issues andalso created a buzz about theupcoming event.

As people left for the day,they looked forward to anoth-er activity packed and fun-filledday on Sunday with LucknowIdol singing and fancy dresscompetitions. For music loverslooking for an evening out,there will be a performance byIndiana Band.

NR to complete maintenance work before deadline: DRM


Nizami Bandhus broughtin a divine flavour tothe ambience of

Lucknow Mahotsav with theirsoulful qawwali rendition onthe second day of the annualcultural extravaganza. ChandNizami, the veteran leader ofthe group, had the audiencespellbound with his powerfulvoice and and incredible modulations.

The Nizami Bandhus werewelcomed and felicitated byPrincipal Secretary, Finance,Anoop Pandey, KGMU Vice-Chancellor Dr Ravi Kant andSGPGI director Dr RakeshKapoor, who were the specialguests for the evening. Pandeysaid that the Mahotsav was aconfluence of cuisine, cultureand music.

The Nizami Bandhus start-ed off with a qaul dedicated tothe divine power. Addressingthe audience as those comingfrom ‘Nakhlau’, he said: “Qaulis a hadees that Amir Khusropresented in the form of a raag.The sounds of the traditionalclap of qawwals as they brokeinto the melodious ‘Man KuntoMaula’ and energetic flow ofthe words ‘Ali Maula Ali Maula’brought in the feel of a hypnotictrance amongst the audience.

It was no looking back asthey sang the very famous

‘Chhaap tilak...”, followed by‘Khwaja mere Khwaja’, ‘KunFaya Kun ’, ‘Kripa KaroMaharaj’, making it a memo-rable evening.

Talking to The Pioneer,Sohrab Faridi Nizami, one ofthe younger members of theNizami family who is a part ofthe Nizami Bandhus and sings

along with paternal uncleChand Nizami and his broth-er Shadab Faridi Nizami, saidthat they were happy to be per-forming at the LucknowMahotsav for the first time.

“Even though we have per-formed in Lucknow severaltimes, this is the first time weare performing at the

Mahotsav. The Lucknow audi-ence has always been greatlyinclined towards music,” hesaid. The young qawwal saidthat they were different fromthe other qawwali groupsbecause their family was theoldest in the country.

“We are a 700-year-oldfamily which is one of the old-

est families in the country andhence divinity is somethingthat runs in our blood.Whatever we sing, it beBollywood or anything else, itultimately has the sufi touch,”he said. On being asked whydid he not opt for any otherprofession, the singer said:“What can be better than tak-ing up the tradition of qawwaliwhich has been the legacy ofour family for the the lastmany years. And, there is nospare time to do anything elsebecause there are so manyprogrammes which are linedup throughout the year.”

Commenting on thechanges that they have beenundergoing, he said they hadchanged. “We started singing inBollywood films when werealised that people wanted tosee us perform and we havetaken up the trend. We firstsang for Shoojit Sarkar,” Sohrabsaid. He added that they hadalso been singing new poetsapart from the old ones. “Wehave sung the old poets alongwith the new ones. We singAmir Khusro, Bulle Shah andalso Irshad Kamal who writesbeautifully,” he added.

The young qawwal admit-ted that there were severalgroups that had borrowed theirnames. “When somebodybecomes famous, people try totake advantage by borrowingnames, but then people knowwho are the real NizamiBandhus,” he said.

A touch of divinity at sufi night

NR DRM AK Lahoti inspecting the maintenance work on the track of Lucknow-Kanpur rail section and Ganga bridge onSaturday Pioneer

LUCKNOW-KANPUR RAIL SECTION TRACK

n Ballast cleaning machine n Ballast tamping machine n Dynamic track stabiliser n Point and crossing tamp-ing machine n PQR for sleepers n Utility vehiclen Power wagon

ADVANCE MACHINESPRESSED INTO SERVICE


Chand Nizami, the oldest ofthe Nizami brothers,

strongly believes that sufiqawwali as a genre will alwayssurvive because it is lined withdargahs where this form ofqawwali is sung. The singer wasin the city to perform at theLucknow Mahotsav onSaturday. In a chat with ThePioneer, he said that his fatherwould always urge him to singin the Awadh region.

“This is the first time thatwe are performing at theLucknow Mahotsav but myfather always used to urge meto perform in the Awadhregion because he believedthat people in this part not onlyappreciated music but alsounderstood what was beingsung,” he added.

The singer stronglybelieves that it is important toexplain the sufi verses which hesings in order to connect theyouth with qawwali. Headingthe oldest family in the coun-try in the genre of qawwali, thesinger says when explained, theaudience is able to get betterunderstanding of the versesbeing sung.

Talking about the prob-lems that he faced while per-forming in this genre, thesinger says that the new gen-eration has to be told aboutwhat they are singing.

“Qawwali is a very oldtradition and the problem thatwe face is that there are sever-al verses in Arabic and Persianwhich the listeners do notunderstand. Take for instanceKun Faya Kun which is inArabic and it means ‘this is

going to happen’. There are sev-eral people who do not knowthis. We also sing in Braj andUrdu,” he adds.

The singer says that he hasassociated himself with theorganisation ‘Spicmacay’ whichconnects the youth with theclassical genre. “I am associat-ed with Spicmacay and haveperformed before the youth.When I tell them about what Iam singing, I get an extreme-

ly good response,” he says.Regarding the vast range inwhich sufi genre is served tothe popular masses, ChandNizami says it should comefrom the heart.

He admits that it is impor-tant for the government to dosomething for the conservationof qawwali. “I have been mak-ing efforts in this regard andhave talked to higher authori-ties but then, the sufi form ofqawwali will always survivebecause of the reason that it issung at dargahs,” he adds.

For how long will he beable to carry the family legacy,the veteran singer says he willkeep making all efforts to con-serve qawwali as long as he isalive. “Post that, I cannot sayhow thinks will work out. It iscertainly a case of que serasera,” he signs off.

‘Qawwali will always be there’

Chand Nizamibelieves that it isimportant toexplain the sufiverses which hesings in order toconnect the youthwith qawwali

Metro: Keshav conducts trolley inspection

INDEX back with annual fair

Lucknow (PNS): A jointteam of Special Task Force (STF)and Narcotics Control Bureau(NCB), UP, nabbed four drugpeddlers and recovered 200grams of heroin in VibhutiKhand police area on Friday.The contraband, estimated at Rs16 lakh in the Indian market andRs 1.2 crore in global market,was to be shipped to Kota inRajasthan before the copsdropped the net on the drugrunners.

Those arrested were identi-fied as Sandeep Kumar Verma,Akhilesh Kumar Verma,Pradeep Kumar and SatishKumar aka Ankit of Barabanki.An Eco Sport car, which wasused to cart the psychotropicsubstance, Rs 2,400 in cash andfour mobile phones were also

recovered from them. Theaccused reportedly owned uptheir complicity in drug ped-dling during investigation. TheSTF was tipped off about thegang carting the contraband toKota district of Rajasthan. Later,a STF team in tandem with NCBofficials laid a trap and nabbedthe miscreants as they reachedPolytechnic crossing in VibhutiKhand area. During quizzing,the accused disclosed that thedrug was smuggled from Maldadistrict of West Bengal. Theysaid that Heroin was smuggledin crude form which was laterrefined and processed at differ-ent places in Barabanki.

The gang used to supply thedrugs in Madhya Pradesh,Punjab, Haryana and New Delhibesides supplying it to Rajasthan.

Four drug peddlers

held, 200 gram

heroin recovered


With the arrest of twopersons, the Para police

claimed to have busted a gangof gun-runners on Saturday.The arrested were identified asMiskeen and Ishwardeen ofUnnao district. Six countrymade pistols, two live car-tridges, a pistol of .32 bore, arevolver of .32 bore and amotorcycle was recoveredfrom them.

During quizzing, the duodisclosed that they were in‘business’ for the last fiveyears and used to procure the‘goods’ from a conduit inPratapgarh after which theyused to sell the handguns toselect people in Lucknow.They also disclosed the nameof some buyers in Lucknowand the police are investigat-ing the case. Their arrest how-ever came by fluke. The policewas conducting a checking at

Hadoiya turning on Fridaynight when the miscreantspassed a picket point andwere stopped and searched atrandom leading to the seizureof handguns.

SHO, Para, DK Upadhyaysaid that the police were rum-maging the crime history ofthe duo and also trying to findout the names of theiracquaintances and the peoplewith whom they had businesslinks.

Gun-runners’ gang busted; 2 held

Nizami Bandhus performing at Lucknow Mahotsav on Friday Pioneer


U.P. RAJYA VIDYUTUTPADAN NIGAMLTD. OBRA THER-MAL POWER STA-TION, OBRA

SONEBHADRA-231219 COR-RIGENDUM The date of open-ing of e-tender notice No. T-1 3 / 0 & M C - I I I / E M D - I I I /BTPS/2016-17 i.e. 22/11/2016(Part-I) & Part-II later on for thework of "Overhauling of 6.6 KVH.T. Motors of 200MW unit no.12, 'B'TPS, Obra, Sonebhadra(U.P)." is hereby extended upto09/12/2016 (Part-I) 16:00 hrs.and Part-lI lateron. The last dateof e-bid submission is06/12/2016 up to 18:00 hrs. anddate of submission of hard copyis 08/12/2016. All other terms &conditions of above e-tendernotice shall remain the same.SUPERINTENDING ENGINEERO&MC-III No. 383 Date24.11.2016 "SAVE ELECTRICITYIN THE INTEREST OF NATION"

U.P. RAJYA VIDYUTUTPADAN NIGAMLTD. OBRA THER-MAL POWER STA-TION, OBRA

SONEBHADRA-231219 E-TENDER NOTICE (EXTEN-SION) 1 TENDER NOTICE NO.T-05/SE-I/ATPS/BMD-I/2016-172 NAME OF WORK Works ofannual running breakdownmaintenance of Ball mills of2x50MW units 'A'TPS, Obra.3 ESTIMATED COST OFWORK Rs. 6.42 Lacs 4 PERI-OD OF THE CONTRACT Oneyear 5 LAST DATE AND TIMEFOR SUBMISSION OF E-BIDS(Website- http://etender.up.nic.in) 03.12.2016 (Up to 17:00Hrs.) 6 LAST DATE AND TIMEFOR SUBMISSION OF HARDCOPY OF REQUISIT DOCU-MENTS 05.12.2016 (Up to17:00 Hrs.) 7 DATE AND TIMEOF OPENING OF E-BIDS Part-I 07.12.2016 (17:00 Hrs.) Part-II Shall be notif ied later8 PLACE OF OPENING OF E-BlD Office of the SuperintendingEngineer Operation &Mechanical Maintenance Circle-I 'A' Thermal Power Station,Obra Distt. - Sonebhadra (UP)9 ADDRESS FOR COMMUNI-CATION SuperintendingEngineer Operation &Mechanical Maintenance Circle-I 'A' Thermal Power Station,Obra Distt. - Sonebhadra (UP),PIN-231219 e-mail- se.ommc_1.atps.obra@uprvunl. org 10TENDER COST Rs. 500.00 +73.00 (VAT) 11 EARNESTMONEY Rs. 13000.00 SUPER-INTENDING ENGINEERO&MMC-I, 'A TPS, OBRA No.381 Date 24.11.2016 "SAVEELECTRICITY IN THE INTER-EST OF NATION"


Numerous equipment inthe Physiotherapy unit of

Dr Ram Manohar LohiaHospital have been lyingdefunct for the last severalweeks, causing huge inconve-nience to patients.

Though patients are beingasked to deposit fees for thetherapy, they are later informedabout the defunct machines.Sources said that variousequipment have been inneglected state and ceased towork for more than a fortnight.

The patients with commondisorders like cervical spond-lytis, neck pain, waist pain andother painful disorders are theworst hit as they are referred to

undergo treatment throughtraction technique, diathermy,ultrasonic therapy and othertherapy methods.

These patients quippedthat the unit has been offeringpain, instead of treatment.Also, many small equipmentwere not working properly. Attimes, the hospital staff maketemporary arrangements tooperate some machines.

One such patient, Softwareconsultant Vipin (32) said thathe has been suffering from cer-vical spondilytis and the phys-iotherapist advised him toundergo certain exercises tocure the disorder. But due toworkload, he could not man-age to come for the therapy atthe decided time. After some

days when he reached the hos-pital, he was told that he equip-ment were defunct in the unit.

Another patient, Shobhahad been suffering fromextreme pain on the leg andthe orthopaedic surgeon pre-scribed her physiotherapy.When she went to the unit, shewas informed that therapycould not be performed as thediathermy machine hadconked off.

Meanwhile, Chief MedicalSuperintendent of the hospitalDr Omkar Yadav said that hehad ordered concerned offi-cials on getting the equipmentoperational in the physiother-apy unit.He assured that theunit will resume smooth functioning.

PROBE ORDEREDTaking cognisance of dere-

liction of duty on the part ofofficials of Gorakhpur-basedBRD Medical College thatallegedly led to the killing of aninfant by a stray dog, the stategovernment on Saturdaydirected senior health officialsto probe the matter. “We areputting in efforts to ensure 100per cent delivery rate in gov-ernment hospitals so that peo-ple get better medical andhealth facilities. Also, ourefforts are aimed at checkingIMR and MMR in the state. Butwe get to hear a case in whicha stray dog drags an infant fromdelivery room of BRD MedicalCollege in Gorakhpur. This isa very serious issue,” Ministerof State for Child and Maternal

Care and Family WelfareRavidas Mehrotra said onSaturday. The minister has alsowritten to Principal Secretary(Medical, Health and FamilyWelfare) Arun Kumar Sinha toinitiate a high-level inquiryinto the matter. “The mattershould be investigated and theculprits be brought to thebooks so as to prevent suchunfortunate incidents,”Mehrotra said. He added thathe should be apprised of all thefindings of the probe besidesthe action recommendedagainst those responsible inthree days.

INSPECTIONDRM of NER Lucknow

division, Alok Singh, carriedout inspection of Gomti Nagar

railway station on Saturday. Heinspected the ongoing con-struction works and other basicamenities at the station. He alsoissued necessary directions tothe officials concerned.

CONSTITUTION DAYKing George’s Medical

University celebrated theConstitution Day on Saturday,

recognising the contribution ofBharat Ratna Dr BRAmbedkar. Bharat RatnaBodhisatva Baba Saheb DrBhimrao Ambedkar Maha-sabha celebrated theConstitution Day on Saturday.Addressing the event, Justice(retired) Khemkaran said DrAmbedkar had always sup-port social democracy for ade-quate representation of all theclasses.

BIRTH ANNIVERSARY Governor Ram Naik will

take part in an event to markthe 132th birth anniversary offirst President of India, DrRajenda Prasad, on December3. The programme will beorganised at Malviya auditori-um of Lucknow University.


Agroup of rowdy youthsthrashed a shopkeeper and

his son after the victim alleged-ly denied to pay hafta (protec-tion money) to them inGudamba on Saturday.

Prem Chandra Yadav ofMishrapur village (Gudamba)told police that he runs a shopat his house and his son Amitassists him in the business.Amit alleged that a youth,identified as Golu Sardar, alongwith his aides, visited his shopon Wednesday and demandedRs 5,000 as extortion.

I strongly objected to thedemand and argued with himafter which he and his aides leftthe scene in a huff while threat-ening me with dire conse-quences,” he alleged. He said hewas helped by some of hisneighbours in the protestagainst Golu and his aides.

On Saturday afternoon,Amit was sitting in his shopwhen Golu and his aidesreached the shop. They alleged-ly attacked Amit withoutprovocation and started beat-ing him up. His father, who wasin a room, rushed to Amit’s res-cue but he was also attacked.

The shop was also ransacked.Neighbouring shopkeepersconverged on the spot andchallenged the accused, whofled the scene. Later, the victimcalled police. Investigationsinto the case are on.

2 ARRESTED FOR THEFTTwo persons were arrested

for committing theft atunguarded houses inBazarkhaala on Saturday.Ornaments worth several lakhrupees and Rs 13,000 wasrecovered from them. Thearrested were identified asMujahid and Zahid of Chowkpolice station area. Duringinterrogation, they owned uptheir complicity in thefts anddisclosed that they had target-ed a number of houses whichused to remain locked orwhere the house owners hadleft for a long tour. They dis-closed that they had a fetish forwrist watches and gold orna-ments and did not leave thechance whenever it came theirway. A police team was on aroutine patrol of the area whenit spotted the miscreants sittingon the stairs of Tikait Raitalab on Friday night. Thetwo cops closed in on them

and overheard them planningto target some houses in thevicinity. The cops laterdropped the net on them.After sustained quizzing, theyled the police to the recoveryof stolen ornaments and cash.

Meanwhile, burglarsbroke into a house anddecamped with three laptopsand a computer monitor inVikas Nagar on Friday night.House owner MohammedZahid is manager at a city-based hotel and lives inSector-A of the colony. Zahidhad to see a patient admittedin a hospital and he left hishouse after locking it fromoutside on Thursday night.When he returned home onFriday morning, he foundthe house burgled. Police reg-istered a case in this connec-tion and started investiga-tions.

MISSING A Class VIII student, iden-

tified as Shivam Sharma, wentmissing under mysterious cir-cumstances in Gudamba.Shivam lives in Sector H ofGudamba and studies in a pri-vate school. On Tuesday, he lefthis house to attend classes and

returned home by night. A lit-tle later, he left the house againwithout informing his parentsand did not return after that.Police registered a case in thisconnection. The boy is yet to betraced.

KILLEDIn a tragic road mishap, an

employee of petrol filling sta-tion died while his friend wasseriously injured in Kakori.

As per reports, Mahendraof Hardoi worked at a petrolfilling station in Jehta village ofKakori. Around 2 pm, he alongwith his friend Dharmendra ofJehta village, left for some workon bike. As they reachedKaliya Kheda village in thearea, a speeding truck knockedtheir bike. Due to the impact,Mahendra was tossed up in theair and crashed to the groundbefore dying on the sport. Thecommuters rushed him toTrauma Centre of KGMUwhere he was declared deadupon arrival. Dharmendra suf-fered multiple fractures and isunder going treatment. Thepolice arrested the errant truckdriver identified as Salamuddinof Unnao. A case was registeredin this connection.


The body of a rickshaw-puller was recovered from

a pavement in Krishna Nagaron Saturday afternoon. Thebody had been lying there forhours and several cops passedthat way but did not botheruntil some alert commutersdialled the police control

room. During investigations,the deceased was identified asGolu (22) of KanshiramColony of Para police stationarea. The identity of the victimwas confirmed by his father-in-law Nafis, who also residesat Kanshiram Colony of Para.

The police said that Goluwas suffering fromTuberculosis and rarely visit-

ed his house. He used to sleepon the roadside pavement atnight and used to pull rick-shaw to earn his livelihood.His body which did not haveany injury marks and the bodywas sent for autopsy.

Local residents wereappalled by the apathy of thepolice who alleged that theman had been lying at thepavement near KK Plaza sinceFriday.


The Lamp Lighting Ceremonyof the 3rd Batch of BSc

Nursing students of the Collegeof Nursing, Command Hospital,Central Command (Lucknow)was solemnised at ShivamAuditorium on Saturday. LtGen MD Venkatesh,


Alawyer allegedly misbe-haved a traffic constable

for teaching him road safetyrules and stopping him fromentering the one-way routenear the official residence ofSSP Lucknow on Saturdaynight.

As per reports, AwanishDixit of Etawah, who wasgoing towards Sapru Margthrough Sahara Ganj to reachthe main road in front ofJawahar Bhawan. ConstableRajesh Singh stopped himand told him that it was aone-way route.

Irked over this, the lawyerentered into an argumentwith the constable. Later,some other cops joined in andthe argument snowballed intoa verbal spat. Later, theHazratganj police reached thescene took the lawyer topolice station.

SHO RK Singh said thelawyer did not beat up theconstable and both the partiesstruck a compromise. Policespokesman Amber Singh saida case would be registered inthis connection.

CITYBRIEFS

SCHOOLSCAN

MODEL OF SMART CARD OF LUCKNOW METRO

The Lucknow Metro stall at theLucknow Mahotsav ground highlights thesmart Metro card that the passengers willbe using when the service opens for thepublic in March 2017. The stall that hasdisplayed the Metro train on the wallsattracts an interested group of viewers whoare given a brochure of the Metro trainand a calendar. Most of the children arealso attracted to the stall which is rightopposite the main cultural pandal. Metrois also evincing interest because of the tri-als of Lucknow Metro coaches slated forDecember 1. Interestingly, the mainentrance to the culture pandal is also amodel of a train coach through which theVIP visitors will enter. Lucknow Metro isone of the priority projects of the state gov-ernment.

ITBP STALL DISPLAYS WEAPONSAND DEMONSTRATES KARATE

The Indo-Tibetan Border Police Forcehas put up a bigger stall at the LucknowMahotsav this year. Senior Commandant,ITBP, Neelendra Kumar said that the stallwould display weapons and equipmentwhich they use in mountaineering.Talking to The Pioneer, he said that themain aim of having a stall was to spreadawareness regarding the force and also tomotivate youth to join the it. Among theweapons that will be displayed are 81Mortar, 51 Mortar, MMG, LMG, Insas,Carbine, pistol and CGRL which is a rock-et launcher. “We are also putting up a banddisplay and karate demonstration. Everyyear we put up stall at the Mahotsav butthis time, it is a bigger stall,” he said.

YUVA MAHOTSAVYuva Mahotsav kicked off with a kavi

sammelan where young budding poetsrecited their poems. The occasion also sawthe Yuva Ratna awards distribution. Theawards were given away to SurendraVikram, Mohammed Ali Sahil, GajendraPriyanshu and Faiz Barabanki. Meanwhile,

the Sabrang theatre group staged a playtitled Ishq Par Zor Nahi at the NatyaMahotsav under the aegis of LucknowMahotsav at Rai Umanath auditorium.

WHEAT STEMMED PANTINGS

Mohammed Yunus from Behraichwas given away an award by the state gov-ernment in the year 2004. He has been cre-ating paintings with dry stalks of wheatand huge amount of patience which thework involves. His stall has several beau-tiful works of art that include paintings ofRadha-Krishna and landscapes. Recently,the artist also presented his painting toChief Minister Akhilesh Yadav which wasa painting of Lord Krishna with Radhadone in wheat stalks. Giving the details ofhow he works on his art he said, “I splitthe wheat stem into two and then flattenedit before sticking on to the background.I try to incorporate all kinds of designs inmy paintings. The range of my art work

is from Rs 150 to Rs 15,000 and most ofmy work gets a good response,” he added.

AUTO EXPOOne can also book a car at the

Lucknow Mahotsav. Sadiq, who isincharge of the stall, said that they weredisplaying the cars including Creta, i20and Tuxon. Sadiq said that LucknowMahotsav was just the right venue for carsbecause people could look and assess thecars which they wanted to buy. “Normallypeople do not have time to visit show-rooms and this auto expo gives them theright place and leisure to see the cars oftheir choice. Since the families are all theretogether, they can discuss the pros andcons. We are hoping to sell high-end carsat the Mahotsav,” he added.

VICTORY PILLAR

The replica of the Victory Pillar at LaMartiniere School, which has been put upat Lucknow Mahotsav, is a nice selfie pointfor visitors. Most of the visitors were seenstanding in front of the pillar and gettingthemselves photographed on Saturday.

MAHOTSAV SNIPPETS

Auto Expo stall at Lucknow Mahotsav

Shopkeeper, son thrashed

over refusal to pay hafta

Commandant, AMC Centreand College and OIC of AMCRecords inaugurated the cer-emony. Lt Gen Venkatesh alsofelicitated meritorious stu-dents and addressed the augustgathering and encouraged thestudents to emulate the qual-ities of good workmanshipwith technical competenceand empathy for being a goodnurse and upholding themotto of the Military NursingService “Service with Smile”.The chief guest and other dig-nitaries lit the lamp of knowl-edge and the light of wisdomwas transpired from them toCol Leena Kumari, principal ofthe College of Nursing. The

light was then passed to thenew students by their teachers.On completion of prelimi-nary training, 40 newlyinducted students have takenthe Nightingale pledge whichwas delivered by Brig KajalChakraborty, Brig MNS,Headquarters CentralCommand Lucknow.

Lt Gen Venkatesh and MajGen Vibha Dutta,Commandant, CommandHospital, Central Command(Lucknow), congratulated thenursing cadets. The ceremonywas also graced by the pres-ence of senior officers of thestation, civilian dignitaries,medical officers and nursing

officers. The college reportwas presented by Col LeenaKumari and the vote of thankswas proposed by vice-princi-pal Lt Col Rekha Bhattacharya.The event concluded with teaalong with the dignitaries andguests.

The college was upgradedfrom erstwhile school ofNursing Command Hospital,Central Command Lucknowin the year 2013 and the firstbatch of BSc (Nursing) wasenrolled in year 2014.The College is affiliated toKing George’s MedicalUniversity, Lucknow. The insti-tution has been instrumental inpreparing professionally excel-lent and clinically competentnurses who are able to renderexemplary nursing care to sol-diers of the tri-services andtheir families in preventive,promotive, curative, rehabili-tative and palliative aspects ofhealth care. The College offersB.Sc Nursing, General Nursingand Midwifery and Post BasicDiploma Courses inEmergency and DisasterNursing and Nurse practition-er in Midwifery and hasachieved a milestone by com-mencing two years of PBBSc(Nursing) Course from theacademic year 2016-17.

Lamp lighting ceremony of

nursing students solemnised

Equipment in Physiotherapy unit at RML Hospital lying defunct

Advocate

misbehaves

with cop

Rickshaw-puller’s body found

Students of Mahatma Gandhi Montessori School Inter College performing at the annual function at Gandhi Bhawanauditorium in Lucknow on Saturday Pioneer

ISCPL-2016 AT CMSCity Montessori School,

Kanpur Road campus, isorganising the ‘4thInternational School CricketPremier League’ (ISCPL-2016)from December 8 to 13.Sixteen cricket teams fromnoted schools of Sri Lanka,Bangladesh, Afghanistan,

Oman, South Africa,Zimbabwe, Nepal and Indiawill be participating in theevent. This international crick-et league is dedicated to worldpeace and world unity. ISCPL-2016 convenor and principalof Kanpur Road campusVineeta Kamran told media-persons that in this cricket

tournament, the young playerswould have the opportunity tohone their sports skills and itwould also spread friendshipand brotherhood across theglobe. Kamran said that emi-nent figures of sports would bepresent at this mega event tomotivate the young cricketersfrom India and abroad.

Sanatan Mahasabha campaign at GPOPark in support of priests

landmark 05LUCKNOW | SUNDAY | NOVEMBER 27, 2016

PNS n NEW DELHI

BSP leader Mayawati onSaturday attacked the

Modi-Government for imple-menting “the half-baked” and“poorly implemented” demon-etisation move which sheclaimed was an act of “politicalopportunism” with an eye onAssembly elections in UttarPradesh and other States.

Addressing a Press confer-ence here, the former ChiefMinister said the Governmentcould have given 10 days timeto poor people and keep anstrict eye on the wrong-doerswho she said were in a minor-ity. “Why give punishment to 90per cent people for the doingsof 10 per cent?”, she asked.

Mayawati claimed that theGovernment had carried out “afake survey” on the popularityof demonetisation. She demand-ed that Lok Sabha be dissolvedand fresh elections should beannounced to test the popular-ity of Government’s step towithdraw major currency notes.

“Now to prove that hiswrong decision is correct, thePrime Minister is getting emo-

tional and shedding tears. Whatis this if not blackmail,” she said.“There is no doubt that theGovernment of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi has in a hurryand without proper preparationdemonetised `500 and `1,000notes. This immature decisionhas been taken 100 per centbecause of their political inter-ests which has caused havocacross the country,” she said.

Mayawati claimed the sit-uation was like an “economicemergency which is con-demnable”. The BSP leaderalso said that nearly 100 peo-ple had died and the Centre hasnot extended any economicsupport to them. She alsoalleged that the ruling party atthe Centre settled its blackmoney days before the note banwas announced.

While agreeing that sheaccepts money from ticket seek-ers, the BSP leader said it is usedto strengthen the party organ-isation and fight elections.“Money is taken from ticketseekers like it is received fromparty workers, MPs and MLAs.It is kept in bank accounts tostrengthen the organisation and

contest polls,” she said.Answering a question, she

said BSP has no challenger inUttar Pradesh and minoritycommunity votes were tiltingtowards it. He accused BJP andBSP of having “secret under-standing” with each other. Theformer Chief Minister claimedthat in UP the Congress is sur-viving on “oxygen support”.

While condemning theimplementation of currencywithdrawal move, the BSPleader per se did not criticizethe step saying it could havebeen implemented much bet-ter without causing “untoldmisery to the poorer sections”.

On another query, sheclaimed that it was only her partythat lives off on “workers con-tribution” while other partiesincluding the BJP were depen-dent on the black money.Pointing out to BJP PresidentAmit Shah’s comment that it wasthe BSP which lost most onaccount of the Modi-Government’s drive against blackmoney, Mayawati said “ it is ananti-Dalit comment” and reflect-ed” an ochi mansikta”.

Hitting back, BJP claimed

it seems all the moneyMayawati had collected by“selling” party tickets in elec-tions have gone waste withdemonetisation and that themove has hit at the roots ofpoliticians-bureaucrats nexusin “looting” public money.

It also rejected as “baseless”her allegation that the demon-etisation decision was takenkeeping its political interests inmind, saying she was staring ata “massive loss” in the Uttar

Pradesh Assembly polls andlevelling unfounded charges indesperation.

“Modi is targeting blackmoney but leaders likeMayawati, Akhilesh Yadav (UPChief Minister) are targetinghim. People rejected her in2012 and then in 2014 polls.BSP was a movement duringKanshi Ram’s time but is busycollecting money under her. Itseem all the money she had col-lected by selling poll tickets have

gone waste with demonetisa-tion,” BJP National SecretaryShrikant Sharma told reporters.

To Mayawati’s charge thatthere was tacit understandingbetween BJP and SP, he said itwas in fact SP and BSP whichhad joined hands against BJP.Had it been not so, then theaccused in the National RuralHealth Mission (NRHM) scam,which allegedly happenedunder the BSP rule, wouldhave been punished, he said.

Demonetisation: Maya attacks Modi Govt

PIONEER NEWS SERVICE nNEW DELHI

India, led by President PranabMukherjee on Saturday con-

doled the demise of Cubanleader Fidel Castro whom itdescribed as revolutionaryleader and its friend.

“Heartfelt condolences onsad demise of Cuba’s revolu-tionary leader, formerPresident and friend of India,Fidel Castro,” President PranabMukherjee said in a tweet.

The communist idol, wholed a rebel army to improbablevictory in Cuba, embracedSoviet-style communism anddefied the power of 10 USPresidents during his half cen-tury rule, died at age 90.

Prime Minister NarendraModi described the late Cubanleader as one of the most icon-ic personalities of the 20th cen-tury and a “good friend” ofIndia. “I extend my deepest con-dolences to the Government &people of Cuba on the saddemise of Fidel Castro. May hissoul rest in peace,” he tweeted.

“Fidel Castro was one ofthe most iconic personalities ofthe 20th century. India mournsthe loss of a great friend,” thePrime Minister said. He saidIndia extends support to theCuban Government and itspeople in this tragic hour.

Paying homage to the laterevolutionary leader, Congresschief Sonia Gandhi said Castroled the oppressed and the striv-ing from the front and stood upto every attempt at stifling thevoice of freedom. “His contri-bution to the Non AlignedMovement (NAM) and hisunflinching support for India’scause on various fora will alwaysremain deeply etched in theminds and hearts of the Indianpeople,” she said in a statement.

Describing Castro as asource of “inspiration,” CPI(M)General Secretary SitaramYechury said he steered Cubafrom a very backward country

to what it is today. “End of anera. But revolutionaries likeFidel Castro live forever,”Yechury said in a tweet.

In a statement, the CPI said“Fidel Castro played a historicrole in building the modernsocialist Cuba, which is freefrom illiteracy, hunger and ill-ness. Castro was great Marxistthinker and a legendary revo-lutionary fighter”.

DMK President MKarunanidhi paid rich tributesto departed Cuban revolution-ary icon Fidel Castro, hailinghim as a ‘lion cub’ who grew tolead a rebellion in the SouthAmerican country.

Kerala Chief MinisterPinarayi Vijayan said the revo-lutionary Cuban icon was abrave leader of world commu-nism and will always be remem-bered as an inspiration for anti-imperialist movements whileMarxist veteran and former ChiefMinister VS Achuthanandansaid Castro’s death was a “greatloss” to humanity in these daysas imperialist forces were spread-ing its roots globally.

General Secretary of theCPI (ML) Liberation DipankarBhattcharya, said ,”#FidelCastro,the communist great who bat-ted through the post-Soviet era,is no more. #RedSaluteComrade, your mission will befulfilled.”

Reacting to Castro’s death,former diplomat and ministerNatwar Singh said, “I had theprivilege of meeting him 6-7times both in Havana andDelhi...He was a very goodfriend for India. He stood by usthrough thick and thin.”

Pranab, Modi,Sonia condoleCastro’s death

DEEPAK K UPRETI n NEW DELHI

The first ever InternationalGita festival will be cele-

brated by Haryana Governmentat Kurushetra, the place associ-ated with the epic Mahabharata,from December 6 to December10. The highlight of the‘Mahotsav’, to be Inaugurated byPresident Pranab Mukherjee,would be a four-day interna-tional seminar on ‘Bhagvat Gita’which would be attended byscholars, saints, artists and crafts-men from India and abroad.

On the inauguration day,the President would also lay thefoundation stone of Krishnatourism circuit. Also, the sameday the urban and rural areas ofdistrict of Kurushetra would bedeclared Open Defecation Free.

Announcing this here apress conference on Saturday,Haryana Chief MinisterManohar Lal Khattar said themega event will mark the birth

anniversary of ‘BhagwatGita’ atthe sacred place where LordKishna delivered the celestialmessage to a wavering Arjun.It was delivered on the 11th dayof the bright moon fortnight(Shukla Ekadasi) in the monthof Margshirsh (November-December) he said.

The Chief Minister saidout of the 700 Shlokas of Gita,574 have been recited by theLord himself and therefore, oneyouth from each of the 574 dis-trict in the country have beenchosen to represent each shlo-ka. These youths would propa-gate the Shlokas written inSanskrit, Hindi, English andtheir regional languages. An idolof Lrord Krishna would be pre-pared with the soil broughtfrom different districts by 574youths. It will symbolise nation-al unity, Khattar said. BJP LokSabha MP and former actressHema Malini would performduring the Gita festival.

ARCHANA JYOTI n NEW DELHI

Soon, all 309 dental collegesacross the country would

be connected by closed-circuittelevision (CCTVs) camerasnetwork to be interlinked withthe Dental Council of India(DCI) to monitor their activ-ities and ensure transparency.

The dental education bodyhas recently directed all thedental colleges to install ‘thirdeyes’ at the earliest to keepanti-social elements at bay,maintain standard of educa-tion and ensure transparency.In case they fail to install theCCTVs within the stipulatedtime, they would face action asper the recent circular issuedby Dr Sabya achi Saha,Secretary of the DCI.

“We want all colleges to

install the gadgets. They havebeen asked to link up theCCTVs with the internet so asto enable us its live access dur-ing college working hoursfrom internet portal to beavailable on our website. Thepublic too can access the func-tioning of the colleges throughour website,” said a seniorofficial from the premier den-tal education body.

A decision in this regardwas taken last month, theofficial said, adding that theplan is to monitor the activi-ties in the dental colleges inthe country to maintain thestandard of dental educationand to ensure effective andtransparent communication.

The colleges have beenasked to install the CCTVs atthe important public places

such as OPD registrationcounter, area where bio-met-ric attendance machine isinstalled for dental faculty,conservative and endodonticclinic and any one lecturehall. Giving the details of thecameras required to be fittedin the identified strategic loca-tions, the DCI has asked thedental colleges to keep therecording saved for at least 6months.

All the dental institutionsacross the country are underobligation to strictly complywith the decision of the exec-utive committee of the DCIwithin 30 days from the dateof issue of the order, failingwhich an appropriate actionwill be initiated against thedefaulter Institute, as per thecircular.

CCTV cameras at 309 dental

colleges to keep goons at bay

FAIZAN AHMAD n PATNA

Chief Minister NitishKumar has tasked the top

officials of police, CID,Intelligence and SpecialBranch to find out what thepeople who had been engagedin liquor trade are doing now.

Addressing a meeting tomark the Prohibition Day onSaturday, the CM said, “Afterthe total prohibition in theState what they are doing whowere involved in liquor busi-ness. If they are doing someother business it is matter ofpleasure but if they are doingnothing it is a matter of probe.”

Nitish asked ChiefSecretary Anjani KumarSingh, Home secretary AmirSubhani, who also heads excisedepartment, DGP PK Thakurand other police officials, allpresent on the occasion toconduct census to find out the

whereabouts of the peoplewho had been engaged inbooze business and their sta-tus. The Government, he said,offered them alternative busi-ness but only a few got attract-ed. The traders of illicit liquorare being arrested, he added.

“Prohibition is a firm andfinal decision and there is noquestion of any compromise. Idon’t want any ifs and buts andexcuse on its implementation.Those who cannot live without

booze need not live in Bihar,”Nitish said and sought peoples’cooperation and active partic-ipation in implementation ofthe law. “You have to be onmaximum alert else there is asaying Savdhani hati, durghat-na ghati (carelessness leads toaccident),” he asked peopleand asserted that drinking wasnot a fundamental right.

Nitish once again reiterat-ed his support to demonetisa-tion of currency notes but has-tened to add that the Centreshould take full care of the com-mon people who were feelinghardships due to this strongstep. “I personally feel that thisdecision will curb black money.I will support any move aimedagainst black money and cor-ruption. I appeal to the PrimeMinister to take suitable actionsagainst benami properties andthis is the right time to hit atthis,” he said.

Find what ex-liquor tradersdoing now: Nitish to officials

ANUP SHARMA n GUWAHATI

At least five ParaCommandos of Indian

Army were injured, includingtwo critically, after a group ofterrorists ambushed the secu-rity forces at a remote locationalong Indo-Myanmar border inManipur on Saturday.

United National LiberationFront of Western South EastAsia (UNLFW) has claimed theresponsibility for the attackand said that a group ofPeoples’ Liberation Army(PLA) militants, who are con-stituent of UNLFW, attackedthe 21 Para Regiment of IndianArmy near Sajik Tampak inChandel District.

A Defence spokesmanbased in Manipur capitalImphal confirmed this onSaturday and added that theincident took place SajikTampak village, located close to

Indo-Myanmar border inChandel district of the State.

“It was a foot patrol and thegroups of para commandoswere returning to their base aftercarrying out an operation inareas along the Indo-Myanmarborder. The militants first trig-gered an IED and then startedfiring indiscriminately. Althoughthe security forces retaliated, fiveof them sustained bullet injur-ing. Two of the five commandosreceived critical injuries,” said thespokesman.

“All the give Commandoshave been airlifted to the Armyhospital at Leimakhong, nearImphal,” he said adding that itis not known whether there isany causality on the part of mil-itants.

It may be mentioned herethat the Sajik Tampak had beena stronghold of the militants fora long time before the securityforces forced the militants to

shift their camps from the areato the other side of the border.

In June last year, the anti-talk NSCN (K) militantsambushed the security forces atChandel district and killed 18soldiers and injured 11 others.There has been a surge in suchattacks in the northeastern stateslike Nagaland, ArunachalPradesh and ion Manipur, par-ticularly after the NSCN (K)abrogated from the ceasefireagreement with the govern-ment of India in March last year.

Unlike the Indian bound-ary with Pakistan andBangladesh, India andMyanmar share an unfenced1,643 km border and permit a‘free movement’ regime upto 16km across on either side.Militants often take advantageof the situation and sneak overto the other side of the borderafter carrying out subversiveactivities here.

5 Para Commandos injured

in Manipur terror ambushKHURSHEED WANI n SRINAGAR

Suspected militants attackeda Border Security Force

(BSF) convoy in northKashmir’s Langate area onSaturday injuring one person-nel and evoking severe retali-ation from the armed forces.The attack was carried out at atime when normalcy hadreturned to the Valley on theseparatists’ call to the people toresume normal work for twodays starting Saturday.

Sources said that a 119-bat-taion BSF convoy was on wayto Baramulla from Kupwara innorth Kashmir when suspect-ed militants attacked it nearUdipora village. “Militantsopened indiscriminate fire onthe BSF vehicles evoking retal-iation from the security per-sonnel. Even as militants fledaway from the scene, a BSFman received bullet injury inhis leg. He was shifted to hos-

pital and is stable,” policesources said.

A cordon and search oper-ation was launched in the areato track down the attackers.

This was the second attackon security forces in the area inas many days. On Thursday,militants opened fire on apolice station in Handwara.There was no casualty in theattack.

Meanwhile, life returned tonormal in Kashmir Valley afteranother spell of weeklong shut-down. Last week, the separatistshad called for a two-day halt inshutdown breaking a record of133 days of complete bandh inKashmir. The separatists arespearheading a shutdown andprotest campaign in the valleysince July 8 when securityforces shot dead prominentHizbul Mujahideen leaderBurhan Wani and his two asso-ciates in an encounter in southKashmir’s Kokernag area.

BSF convoy attacked,

jawan injured in J&K

PIONEER NEWS SERVICE nMUMBAI

Family members of the vic-tims and bravehearts joined

prominent dignitaries, topretired and serving police offi-cials and Mumbaikars from dif-ferent walks of life, in payinghomage to the martyrs of the26/11 attacks on Mumbai onthe eighth anniversary of themayhem at the PoliceMemorial at in south Mumbaion Thursday.

Maharashtra Governor ChVidyasagar Rao, Chief MinisterDevendra Fadnavis and ShivSena president UddhavThackeray were among theprominent dignitaries who paidfloral tributes to the martyredpolice officers, at a commem-oration function held at thePolice Gymkhana at MarineLines in south Mumbai wherea memorial has been erected inremembrance of the policemenkilled in the November 26-29,2008 attack on Mumbai.

Apart from several publicdignitaries, the family membersof police officers killed in theattack also laid wreaths at thepolice memorial.

Amid the sounding ofbugle by the policemen, thosepresent paid respects to 18security personnel, includingthe then ATS chief HemantKarkare, Ashok Kamte andVijay Salaskar, who made thesupreme sacrifice during the60-hour-long Mumbai siege— in which 166 people werekilled and 300 others injured.

Paying tributes to tributesto the martyrs, the ChiefMinister said: “I pay homage tothe brave policemen whofought for Mumbai’s safety andlaid down their lives for us on26/11. We are proud of themand we will strive hard for safe-ty and security of our state”.

Among other present at theceremony were formerMumbai police commissionersJulio Ribeiro, MN Singh, DSivanandhan, RonnyMendonca, Shiv Sena youthwing president AdityaThackeray, Guardian MinisterSubhash Desai, Shiv Sena NPAnil Desai, senior BJP MLARaj Purohit, All India Anti-Terrorist front leaderManindarjit Singh Bitta andfamily members of police offi-cers and policemen who lost

their lives in the terrorist attack.However, Maharashtra

police chief Satish Mathur andMumbai Commissioner ofPolice Datta Padsalgikar wereaway from the3 function, asthey were on official duty.

Sena President UdshavThackeray paid floral tributesat the memorial of 26/11attacks’ martyr TukaramOmble at Girgaum Chowpattyin south Mumbai.

Omble was instrumental in

catching Kasab alive atGairgaum-Chowpatty on thenight of November 26,2008.Omble, it may be recalled, hadheld onto Kasab even after hehad been grievously injured bybullets pumped into him by thelatter. Omble died he could berushed to the hospital.

While nine of the ten ter-rorists were killed by the secu-rity forces during the attack, theremaining one — MohammedAjmal Kasab — was caught

alive by the police at GirgaumChowpatty on the interveningnight of November 26-27, 2008.

After 11-month long trialthat saw a trial court sentencehim to death on five counts —including mass murder, crim-inal conspiracy and wagingwar against the nation andtwo half years of subsequentincarceration, Kasab washanged to death in Pune’sYerawada central prison onNovember 21, 2012.

Mumbai pays homage to 26/11 martyrs

PIONEER NEWS SERVICE nGANDHINAGAR

Gold bars weighing around14 kilograms worth more

than `4 crore was looted onSaturday by two robbers fromthe office of a cash logisticscompany in Ahmedabad.

The robbers attacked asecurity guard with an ironrod and decamped with thegold. The incident was report-ed to police early in the morn-ing after which the policerecovered a CCTV footage inwhich two persons are seenlooting gold by breaking alocker.

Police Inspector RV Desai,who is investigating in the casesaid that two persons enteredthe office of SIS Prosegur, acash logistics company atMithakali locality ofAhmedabad in the morningand did away with around 14kg gold bars worth over `4crore after attacking an armedguard.

14 kg goldworth over`4 cr lootedin Gujarat

BSP chief Mayawati addresses a Pressconference in New Delhi on Saturday PTI

Maharashtra Governor CH VidyasagarRao, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavisand Shiv Sena president UddhavThackeray pay tributes at the 26/11memorial on the eighth anniversary ofthe Mumbai terror attacks

Haryana to hold firstever global Gita festfrom Dec 6 to 10

PNS n NEW DELHI

States will receive provisionalcompensation from Centre

for loss of revenue from imple-mentation of GST every quarterbut the final annual numberwould be decided after an auditcarried out by CAG. The com-pensation would be met throughlevy of a cess called ‘GSTCompensation Cess’ on luxuryitems and sin goods like tobac-co, for the first 5 years.

Any excess amount afterthe end of five year tenure inthe ‘GST Compensation Fund’so created, would be dividedbetween Centre and States,said the draft GST compensa-tion law made public by theCentre on Saturday. Half of theexcess amount would go to theConsolidated fund of Indiaand would form part of the

overall tax kitty, which as perstatute, is divided in a fixedproportion between the Centreand States. The remaining 50per cent would be disbursedamong the States in the ratio oftheir total revenues from SGST

in the last year of the transitionperiod. Any compensation paidto a State found to be in excessof the amount actually due tothem after the CAG auditwould be adjusted against nextyear’s compensation.

Govt to compensate States everyquarter for GST loss of revenue

NEW DELHI: In order to pre-vent any rise in price of com-modities after GST implemen-tation, the Centre has proposedan ‘anti-profiteering’ measure toensure that trade and industrypass the benefits of reduction intax rates to consumers. The draftmodel GST law, which is to befinalised by the GST Council onDecember 2-3, has also specified

that the highest tax slab will notexceed 28 per cent in the GSTregime, thus accepting the keydemand of Congress. As per thedraft, the central governmentwill constitute an authority orentrust the task to an existingauthority to examine that theinput tax credits or reduction intax rates are passed by registeredtax payers to consumers. PTI

GST law to have anti-profiteering clause, rate capped at 28 per cent

nation 06LUCKNOW | SUNDAY | NOVEMBER 27, 2016

CENTRE VS JUDICIARY...If Parliament has the

power to make the laws, itshould make only in the lim-its granted under theConstitution. If the State hasthe right to make laws, itshould make only in the lim-its granted under theConstitution. If they are mak-ing a law which is out of thelimits granted under theConstitution or against thefundamental rights, the judi-ciary has every right to saythat it was wrong. Any order,which is against theConstitution, judiciary canset it aside to maintain therule of law,” said JusticeThakur.

The CJI also mentionedabout shortage of judges inthe High Courts andTribunals saying there arearound 500 judges’ posts lyingvacant in High Courts. Headded there was a lack ofinfrastructure being providedto tribunals, due to which sev-eral of them are empty. “TheGovernment is not ready togive proper facilities. Vacancyapart from infrastructure is amajor concern for tribunals.Tribunals are not equippedand are lying empty. Today asituation has come that whenno retired Supreme Courtjudge wants to head a tri-bunal,” said Justice Thakur atanother event.

However, Prasad dis-agreed with the CJI saying

nearly 120 judges have beenappointed this year. “Werespectfully disagree with him(Chief Justice). We have made120 appointments this year.Since 1990 there have onlybeen 80 appointments. 5,000vacancies are there in lowerjudiciaries in which theGovernment of India has norole to play. That is somethingfor only to judiciary to take.As far as infrastructure isconcerned, that is a continu-ous process,” Prasad said. Headded that it was not possibleto provide every retired judgewith an accommodation atpar with present judges.Prasad took on the CJI by say-ing that courts should passdirectives but governancemust remain with those elect-ed to govern. Recalling theEmergency days, Prasad said:“Let’s not forget duringEmergency while HighCourts showed courage, theSupreme Court failed us, amonumental failure.”

In response to JusticeThakur’s Lakshman Rekharemarks, Attorney GeneralMukul Rohatgi, while speak-ing on the Constitution Dayoccasion, stressed on the needfor introspection by the judi-ciary. “Everyone must remainwithin the Lakshman Rekha.The framers (of theConstitution) did not want asituation where someone actsabove another. If we follow apath where the three spheres

are in equilibrium, we willbring back equilibrium. Self-control and self-restraint is asmuch important as the powerto police. Greater the powerthe greater the need for intro-spection,” said Rohatgi. Headded that “the delicate bal-ance of the Constitution wasdisturbed in 70s. That balancemust be restored.” To thisthe CJI-designate Justice JSKhehar pointed out:“Judiciary has always kept toLakshman Rekha by uphold-ing Constitution.”

LULL ON LOC...recovery of new currency

notes and two incidents oflooting of cash from remotebank branches is keeping thesecurity agencies on tenter-hooks in the Valley. Theywere also worried about 80-oddd local youth joining therank of terrorists after Waniwas killed. The crack down on‘hawala’ money may have bro-ken the backbone of networkof over ground workers buttheir sympathisers were mak-ing every possible effort tokeep the ‘terror pot’ boilingand channelising funds tomilitant groups to sustainthemselves. According torecent security assessmentmade by the variousIntelligence agencies, “morethan 300 militants are activein the region and smallgroups of heavily armed infil-trators may be looking for an

opportunity to sneak insidethe Indian territory to carryout spectacular strikes onvital security installations”.

In the coming days as themountain passes would becovered with thick snow inNorth Kashmir the infiltratorswould be headed towardsplain areas a long theInternational border toattempt infiltration bids. TheArmy and Border SecurityForce(BSF) are already in astate of high alert and keep-ing a close watch on the sus-pected movement of miscre-ants in the border areas.

The village defence com-mittees and State police hasalso activated its machinery tomaintain tight vigil in the areaas infiltrators may try andtake advantage of the foggyweather conditions to sneakinside the Indian territory tolaunch fresh strikes along theJammu Pathankot NationalHighway. The Army deployedalong the LoC are already ina state of high alert to preventany Border Action Team(BAT) operation and preventany infiltration bid.

Total number of militan-cy related incidents havealready touched all time highof last four years. Ti l lNovember 20 more than 290incidents of militant-relatedviolence have been reportedin the State in which 67 secu-rity personnel have sacrificedtheir lives. Compared to this,

39 security personnel werekilled in 208 incidents in2015 while 222 incidents werereported in 2014 and 170 in2013. Moreover, nearly 216ceasefire violations includ-ing 170 after the surgicalstrikes and death of 14 sol-diers was another pointedthat the coming winters willbe “hot and violent,” officialssaid. On level of motivationand training of militants,sources said, “Attack onEntrepreneur DevelopmentInstitute(EDI) complex inPampore on two occasions,strike on UrI and PoonchArmy camps and frequentattempts to target the Statepolice men and Army con-voys clearly demonstrates thefidayeen groups were highlymotivated and trained tocarry out such strikes.”

Number of incidents ofrandom firing on securityconvoys in the hinterland andeven on the 35-km-long noto-rious stretch between Bijbheraand Pampore is also posing achallenge to the securityforces as local militants havebeen able to carve out theirsafe hideouts and striking atwill. Due to prolonged cycleof violence, which hit thestreets of Kashmir valley inJuly 2016, the security forceshad to suspend counter insur-gency operations in the hin-ter land to avoid any con-frontation with the agitatedstone-pelters.

STAFF REPORTER n NEW DELHI

Eighteen days after theannouncement of the

demonetisation by the Centre,queues were still witnessedoutside ATMs and banks onSaturday. Students lined up atATMs in North Delhi.

People lamented that inmost places ATMs were run-ning dry. "I have visited sevenATMs and all of them were dry.Anyhow I managed to with-draw money after two hours,"said Mansi Saini, a student ofIP University.

Navya Goyal, a 35-year-old

woman, who stood in a queueat ICICI ATM of MukherjeeNagar, said, "It has been 18 daysof demonetisation but thingshave not improved. I stood for45 minutes in queue on Fridayat an ATM but by the time myturn came, there was no cashleft and I was disappointed."

Bijoy Khawarikkam, atourist from Assam, said he hadbeen standing in queues for thelast two days but all his effortswere in vain. "I was scheduledto leave after today (Saturday),but since I had no cash, I couldnot book tickets or pay thehotel bill. Today, I am hopingto get cash."

A security guard deployed atthe Punjab National Bank ATMat Azadpur said before demon-etisation officials used to fillonsite ATM twice a day but nowit is stocked after two or threedays as there is no cash availablewith the replenishing agency.

Day 18: No end to Delhiites’ misery

POST-DEMONETISATION

Gurugram: With most of theATMs across Gurugram run-ning dry, district administra-tion has ordered bankers torecalibrate their ATMs byMonday.

"We have instructed all thebankers in the city to recali-brate their ATM machines byMonday as citizens are contin-uing to face cash crunch,"sources within the districtadministration told ThePioneer. SR

RECALIBRATE ATMS BYMONDAY, BANKS TOLD

Hunt for creative mindsbegins as RobotOlympiad kicks off

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

PNS n NEW DELHI

ADelhi Police Inspector,who was the investigating

officer (IO) of the highly sen-sational Sunanda Pushkar caseduring the initial stages, isbeing drafted into the SpecialInvestigation Team (SIT). Aformal order is being issued inthis regard.

The SIT is preparing areport on the status of theprobe and submit it to seniorofficers. There has been lot ofchanging and chopping in theSIT as many officers weretransferred to other units andthe investigation was handedover to new set of officers.

Three DeputyCommissioners of Police(DCPs) were changed sinceJanuary 17, 2014, the daySunanda Pushkar, the wife ofthen Union Minister ShashiTharoor was found murderedin a suite in Leela Kempinskyhotel in Chanakyapuri area. Itwas BS Jaiswal who the DCP ofSouth district when the murdertook place but after some time,he was transferred to TrafficPolice as the DCP of Southernrange. His place was taken byPrem Nath who supervisedthe probe and even went to theUnited States to receive the

report of the viscera samplesfrom the forensic laboratory ofthe Federal Bureau ofInvestigation (FBI). After PremNath's transfer to ArunachalPradesh Ishwar Singh tookover as DCP South and hasbeen overseeing the ongoingthe probe.

Recently the Delhi Policewrote to Canada's Departmentof Justice to retrieve the chatsthat were deleted from themobile phone of SunandaPushkar. It may be pertinent tomention here that Sunanda'sperson mobile phone handsetthat was found lying near herbody was reportedly handedover to her husband ShashiTharoor the sitting Lok Sabahamember of Congress fromThiruvanantpuram seat.

When asked about the re-induction of the Inspector level

official who had handled theprobe initially, a senior policeofficial said that a recommen-dation has been made and anorder in this regard is expect-ed soon after the Delhi PoliceCommissioner Alok Vermareturns from Hyderbad.

Delhi Police have beensending reminders to Canada'sDepartment of Justice seekingdetails of the deleted chatsfrom mobile phones of Pushkarand her husband, Congressleader Shashi Tharoor, and ateam is likely to be sent there.

Last month, the city policehad written to EnforcementDirectorate (ED) to probe thefinancial irregularities relatedto the now-defunct Kochi IPLfranchise as part of its ongoinginvestigation into the murdercase.

The matter was being han-

dled by the Delhi Police'sEconomic Offences Wingwhich was handed the probeduring the tenure of formerPolice Commissioner B S Bassi,but in a letter written to ED, theDelhi Police had asked it toprobe the matter. In September,Sunanda's viscera samples werebrought back from a FBI lab inthe US by the members of aDelhi Police team probing thehigh profile case.

The Delhi Police had alsoasked the FBI lab to submit itsfinal list of observations so thatthey can be produced before ofa medical board, which is like-ly to be formed soon.

It may be recalled that 51year old Sunanda Pushkar wasfound dead at a suite at LeelaKempinsky hotel on the nightof January 17, 2014, a dayafter her spat with Pakistanijournalist Mehr Tarar onTwitter over her alleged affairwith Tharoor.

Several persons, includingTharoor have been questionedin connection with her death.

Police have also conductedpolygraph test on six persons,all prime witnesses in the case,including Tharoor's domestichelp Narayan Singh, driverBajrangi and Sanjay Dewan, aclose friend of the couple.

Officer probing Sunanda

case to be inducted in SIT NAYAN DAVE n GANDHINAGAR

Representatives of the Gujarat Governmentare meeting top leaders of Patidar Anamat

Andolan Samiti (PASS), including HardikPatel, at Udaipur in neighbouring Rajasthanon Sunday in order to resolve issues ofPatidar communities pertaining to reserva-tions under OBC category.

A section of powerful Patidar communi-ty has been agitating since July 2015 to getreservations in Government jobs and educa-tional institutions under Other BackwardClass (OBC) category. Top PAAS leaderHardik Patel is currently in exile following theGujarat High Court order for six months.Hence he is residing in Udaipur to obeyGujarat High Court's order. Due to this fac-tor, the important meeting is held at Udaipurinstead in the State’s Capital Gandhinagar.

The move by the Gujarat Government isseen as the ruling BJP Government’s bid tosolve one of the biggest headaches faced by theparty since Narendra Modi became the PrimeMinister. The offer by the BJP Governmentalso comes on the wake of PAAS announce-ment to hold a bike rally in Surat onNovember 27 and public gatherings at placeslike Botad and JamJodhpur of Saurashtra tohighlight the problems faced by the people dueto the demonetisation.

Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel said theState Government was willing to hold talkswith PAAS leaders to bring about a solutionto the long-standing problem. Hardik Patel,on his part had welcomed the decision byVijay Rupani Government. The convenors ofPAAS would meet in presence of Hardik Patel,face of their agitation, to identify 11 memberswho would on behalf of the PAAS hold talks

with the State Government. The Vijay RupaniGovernment had on Thursday sent out anopen invitate to PAAS and its leader Hardikfor talks on their demands.

"We will raise our two key demands ofreservations for Patel community and actionagainst the policemen who treated our peo-ple in a high-handed manner during the agi-tation," said Hardik, adding that they are notwill ing to accept "loll ipops" l ike theMukhyamantri Yuva Swavalamban Yojana, ascholarship scheme launched by theAnandiben Patel Government to appease thecommunity on stir.

Gujrat Govt offers olive branch

to ‘aggrieved’ Patidars, Hardik

3 DCPS WERECHANGED SINCE JAN17, 2014, THE DAYTHAROOR’S WIFEWAS MURDERED

KUMAR CHELLAPPAN nCHENNAI

The MDMK led by Vaiko, animportant constituent of

the People's Welfare Front inTamil Nadu created a 'furore'on Saturday by welcomingPrime Minister NarendraModi's announcement todemonetise `500 and `1000.

"Hats off to Prime MinisterNarendra Modi for this bolddecision. I am with him on thisissue and fully support hisbold decision. The entire coun-try is with him in support ofhis decision," Vaiko told jour-nalists at Coimbatore.

Vaiko, who has been astaunch crit ic of PrimeMinister Modi since 2014 forthe invitation sent to the thenSri Lankan presidentMahinda Rajapakse forModi's swearing in functionhas turned a severe critic ofthe BJP there after. The mav-erick MDMK leader has beencampaigning against theCentre on various issuesincluding the BJP's allegedmove to saffronise the edu-cation and culture sectors lit-erally shocked the PWF andother Opposition leaders byspeaking in support of thedemonetisation of high valuecurrency notes.

Modi’s note bangets backingfrom TN’s Vaiko

We will raise our two

demands of quota for Patels

and action against cops who

treated our people in a

high-handed manner during

the stir — Hardik

MALABIKA BISWAS/ MADHUPRITI MITRA nNEW DELHI

With the theme 'Rap the Scrap' initiated bySwachh Bharat Abhiyan, the 13th World

Robot Olympiad 2016 commenced on Saturdayat India Expo Mart. Around 2,000 students from51 countries participated in the internationalchampionship, showcasing innovative roboticstechnology. Organised by National Council ofScience Museum (NCSM) under the aegis ofMinistry of Culture and India STEMFoundation, NCSM's Director General, ASManekar said, "We look for a creative mind.What we can do is nourish the creativity ofyoung minds by providing opportunities, so thatthe tomorrow's decision-makers are well-equipped."

Manekar, who believes in hands-on, minds-on approach to learning, said, "The entire pro-cedure of competition is phenomenal, where stu-dents with innovative thoughts can convert theirideas into reality." Speaking at the commencementof the event, Samarendra Kumar, Director (HQ),NCSM, said, "India is not lacking in minds butwhat needs to be changed, is the methods and pro-cedures of studies students are being taught with."Among the participants representing India isNupur from Ahemdabad, who is taking part in theOlympiad with her group. A believer in technol-ogy and smart work, Nupur told The Pioneer,"Young minds can learn and develop their cre-ativity through this educational Robotics com-petition. Although the competition is challeng-ing but it's a great initiative". It feels good to workwith people from across the globe, she added."Quality comes from the mentors of the studentsbut in India we find it difficult in terms of men-torship," added Samarendra Kumar, who believesthat the event is a great showcase of the futuregeneration's innovative thinking abilities.

Chief Justice of Supreme Court Ranjan Gogoi inaugurating LED lighting of main building of Allahabad High Court,in Allahabad on S aturday PTI

world 07LUCKNOW | SUNDAY | NOVEMBER 27, 2016

Castro, who defied US for 50 years, dies

AP n HAVANA

Former President FidelCastro, who led a rebel

army to improbable victory inCuba, embraced Soviet-stylecommunism and defied thepower of 10 US presidentsduring his half century rule, hasdied at age 90.

With a shaking voice,President Raul Castro said onstate television that his olderbrother died at 10:29 p.m.Friday.

He ended the announce-ment by shouting the revolu-tionary slogan: “Toward victo-ry, always!” Cuba’s governmentannounced that Castro’s asheswould be interred onDecember 4 in the eastern cityof Santiago thatwas a birthplaceof his revolution.

That will follow more thana week of honors, includinganearly nationwide caravanretracing, in reverse, his tourfrom Santiago to Havana withthe triumph of the revolutionin 1959.

Castro’s reign over theisland-nation 90 miles fromFlorida was marked by theUS-backed Bay of Pigs invasionin 1961 and the Cuban MissileCrisis a year later that broughtthe world to the brink ofnuclear war. The bearded rev-olutionary, who survived acrippling US trade embargo aswell as dozens, possibly hun-dreds, of assassination plots,died 10 years after ill healthforced him to hand powerover to Raul. Castro overcameimprisonment at the hands ofdictator Fulgencio Batista, exilein Mexico and a disastrous startto his rebellion before tri-

umphantly riding into Havanain January 1959 to become, atage 32, the youngest leader inLatin America. For decades, heserved as an inspiration andsource of support to revolu-tionaries from Latin Americato Africa. His commitment tosocialism was unwavering,though his power finally began

to fade in mid-2006 when agastrointestinal ailment forcedhim to hand over the presi-dency to Raul in 2008, provi-sionally at first and then per-manently. His defiant imagelingered long after he gave uphis trademark Cohiba cigars forhealth reasons and his tallframe grew stooped. “Socialism

or death” remained Castro’s ral-lying cry even as Western-style democracy swept theglobe and other communistregimes in China and Vietnamembraced capitalism, leavingthis island of 11 million peoplean economically crippledMarxist curiosity.

He survived long enough

to see Raul Castro negotiate anopening with US PresidentBarack Obama on December17, 2014, when Washingtonand Havana announced theywould move to restore diplo-matic ties for the first timesince they were severed in1961.

He cautiously blessed the

historic deal with his lifelongenemy in a letter publishedafter a month-long silence.

Obama made a historicvisit to Havana in March 2016.Carlos Rodriguez, 15, was sit-ting in Havana’s Miramarneighborhood when he heardthat Fidel Castro had died.“Fidel? Fidel?” he said, slapping

A woman walks to lay flowers to pay her last respect to Cuban President Fidel Castro, who has died on Friday at age 90 at the Cuban Embassy in Moscow, Russia, on Saturday . Russian President Vladimir Putin saidin a condolences telegram to Raul Castro, that Fidel Castro was a sincere and reliable friend of Russia. and A person wearing a Donald Trump mask holds a sign in Spanish that reads the Rat Dies as he celebrates thedeath of Fidel Castro on Saturday. AP

Fidel Castro and the 11 US Presidents

Havana (AFP): FromDwight Eisenhower, whobroke US diplomatic rela-tions with Cuba, to BarackObama, who decided to nor-malise them, 11 US presi-dents faced off with Cubanrevolutionary leader FidelCastro, who died today.

— Dwight Eisenhower

(Republican, 1953-1961):Provided arms to dictatorFulgencio Batista, who wasbatt l ing Castro’s rebels .Prepared the invasion of theBay of Pigs and broke offdiplomatic ties with Cuba inJanuary 1961. — John FKennedy (Democrat, 1961-1963): Gave the green lightfor the invasion of the Bay ofPigs in April 1961. Put inplace the US embargo againstCuba in February 1962 beforethe Cuban missile crisiserupted that October. Wasworking to promote a rap-prochement when he wasassassinated in 1963.

— Lyndon Johnson(Democrat , 1963-1969):Reinforced the embargo andtried to prevent the sale ofCuban nickel to Soviet bloc

Wisconsin to recount

election votesWashington: Wisconsin, one of three battle-ground US states won by President-elect DonaldTrump, will undergo votes recounting after itreceived two petitions in this regard from a third-party candidate who alleged that Russian hack-ers may have infiltrated voting systems.

Votes cast in the state of Wisconsin, having10 presidential electoral college votes, will berecounted. Green Party candidate Jill Stein filedthe request for recounting of votes before thedeadline on Friday and said it has raised morethan USD 5.2 million for recounting of votes.In a statement, Stein said the reliability of vot-ing machines needs to be “investigated” after sus-picions about Russian hackers seeking to infil-trate voting systems.

“Election integrity experts have indepen-dently identified Michigan, Pennsylvania andWisconsin as states where “statistical anomalies”raised concerns. Stein said she also plans to chal-lenge the presidential election results inPennsylvania and Michigan, where Trump

won. Wisconsin Elections CommissionAdministrator Michael Haas said they arepreparing to move forward with a statewiderecount of votes for President of the UnitedStates, as requested by candidate.

“We have assembled an internal team todirect the recount, we have been in close con-sultation with our countyclerk partners, and havearranged for legal representation by theWisconsin Department of Justice,” Haas said.

The State Election Commission plans tohold a teleconference meeting for county clerksnext week and anticipate the recount will beginlate in the week after the Stein campaign has paidthe recount fee. The State is still calculating therecount fee. Our effort to recount votes in thosestates is not intended to help Hillary Clinton,”according to her fundraising page.

“These recounts are part of an electionintegrity movement to attempt to shine a lighton just how untrustworthy the US election sys-tem is,” it said. PTI

Somalia: 11

killed in car

bomb blast

Mogadishu: A car bombexploded near a police sta-tion in a busy market in theSomali capital on Saturday,killing at least 11 people andinjuring 16 others, a policeofficial said.The attack tar-geted a police station inMogadishu’s Waberi neigh-borhood while PresidentHassan Sheikh Mohamudhad been visiting a universi-ty, said Capt MohamedHussein.

He said the death toll waslikely to rise, citing the hor-rific injuries suffered by thevictims.

There was no immediateclaim of responsibility for theattack, but the al-Qaida-linked Islamic extremistgroup al-Shabab often carriesout such attacks.

Thousands rally to demand SouthKorea president Park’s ousterSeoul: Tens of thousands ofprotesters braved sleet andfreezing temperatures in Seoulon Saturday to demandPresident Park Geun-Hyeresign over a corruption scan-dal or face impeachment.

People beat drums andchanted “Park get out now” asthey walked towards the pres-idential Blue House that hadbeen cordoned off by thou-sands of police deployed in theSouth Korean capital.

By late afternoon 350,000protesters had joined themarch, organisers said. Theyexpect up to 1.5 million to takepart in the demonstration, withanother half a million inprovincial cities. Police put thefigure at 140,000 participants inSeoul.Parents and their chil-dren, university students and

Buddhist monks were

among those protesting forthe fifth straight weekend asPark comes under intensifyingpressure to step down.

“I don’t think Park wouldstep down voluntarily, but weneed to raise our voice asmuch as possible to encour-ageparliament to push throughwith its move to impeach her,”Lee Seung-Cheol, a 23-year-oldstudent, told AFP.

The largely peaceful rallieshave been growing in size overthe past month, attracting anestimated one million peopletwo weeks ago, and are amongthe largest seen in South Koreasince the pro-democracyprotests of the 1980s.

Park has issued publicapologies over the influence-peddling scandal involving herlong-time confidante ChoiSoon-Sil. AFP

South Korean protesters march toward the presidential house as police officerssitting on the roof of a bus blocking the road to the building during a rally calling forSouth Korean President Park Geun-hye to step down in Seoul, South Korea, onSaturday. AP

Trump taps national security veteran for WH roleWashington (AFP): US

president-elect Donald Trumphired as a senior advisor aRepublican national securityveteran who first worked in theWhite House situation roomunder Richard Nixon.

As deputy national securi-ty advisor, 65-year-old FoxNews commentator KathleenTroia “KT” McFarland, willreturn once again to the exec-utive mansion as number twoto former general Mike Flynn.“She has tremendous experi-ence and innate talent thatwill complement the fantasticteam we are assembling,”Trump said, in a statementissued from his luxury Florida

golf resort. White Housenational security roles do notneed to be confirmed by theSenate, so McFarland will takeup her duties when President

Barack Obama passes Trumpthe baton on January 20 nextyear. She would in any casehave been an uncontroversialchoice, with decades of expe-rience under three formerRepublican presidents and as aformer aide to foreign policyheavyweight Henry Kissinger.

She has never herself heldelected office, but in 2006 wasdefeated in a bid to seek theRepublican nomination to

challenge then New Yorksenator Hillary Clinton’s suc-cessful re-election bid.

Her most prominent rolesbefore joining Fox News wereas deputy assistant secretary ofdefense for public affairs under

president Ronald Reagan andbetween 1982 and 1985 asdefense secretary CasparWeinberger’s speechwriter andspokeswoman. McFarland’sappointment came as Trumpwas ensconced with senioradvisors in his Mar-a-Lagoresort drawing up transitionplans. A spokesman said nomore major decisions areexpected before Monday.

TRUMP HAILS FIDELCASTRO’S DEATH

President-elect DonaldTrump weighed in on the deathof Cuban revolutionary leader

Fidel Castro, tweeting simply“Fidel Castro is dead!” Castrodied yesterday aged 90 afterdefying the United States dur-ing a half-century of iron-fist-ed rule. During his campaign,Trump threatened if elected toreverse the historic rapproche-ment between the two coun-tries realised under PresidentBarack Obama.

“All of the concessions thatBarack Obama has granted theCastro regime were donethrough executive order, whichmeans the next president canreverse them and that I will dounless the Castro regime meetsour demands,” he said inSeptember.

his head in shock. “That’s notwhat I was expecting. Onealways thought that he wouldlast forever. It doesn’t seemtrue.” Fidel Castro Ruz wasborn August 13, 1926, in east-ern Cuba’s sugar country, wherehis Spanish immigrant fatherworked first recruiting labor forUS sugar companies and laterbuilt up a prosperous planta-tion of his own. Castro attend-ed Jesuit schools, then theUniversity of Havana, where hereceived law and social sciencedegrees.

His life as a rebel began in1953 with a reckless attack onthe Moncada military barracksin the eastern city of Santiago.

Most of his comrades werekilled and Fidel and his broth-

er Raul went to prison. Fidelturned his trial defence into amanifesto that he smuggled outof jail, famously declaring,“History will absolve me.”Freed under a pardon, Castrofled to Mexico and organizeda rebel band that returned in1956, sailing across the Gulf of

Mexico to Cuba on ayacht named Granma. Afterlosing most of his group in abungled landing, he ralliedsupport in Cuba’s easternSierra Maestra mountains.Three years later, tens ofthousands spilled into thestreets of Havana to cele-brate Batista’s downfall andcatch a glimpse of Castro ashis rebel caravan arrived inthe capitalon January 8, 1959.

countries. Approved CIAplots to assassinate Castroand supported anti-Castroguerrilla groups. — RichardNixon (Republican, 1969-1974): Boosted anti- Castroactivity, including the arrestsof Cuban fishermen. Alsoworked against sale of Cubannickel to Soviet satellite states.— Gerald Ford (Republican,1974-1977): In office asattacks against Cuban mis-sions abroad multiplied andan attack on a Cuban airlin-er left 73 dead. Authorizedthe first trip of US business-men to Cuba and eased theembargo. — Jimmy Carter(Democrat , 1977-1981):Further eased the embargo.Opened a US interests sectionin Havana and allowed aCuban interests section toopen in Washington.Allowed Cuban exiles to trav-el home. Signed maritimeboundary treaty. In officeduring Mariel boatlift ofCuban emigrants to US.Visited Cuba as an ex-presi-dent in 2002 and again in2011.

LUCKNOW | SUNDAY | NOVEMBER 27, 2016 films & tv 08

SHOW TIME WITH MEENAKSHI RAO

Dear Zindagi has life

DEAR ZINDAGI

*ing: Shah Rukh Khan, Alia Bhatt,

Kunal Kapoor, Atif Aslam

Rated: 6.5/10

Dear Zindagi is undoubtedly thelongest therapy session thatBollywood has dared to

orchestrate on screen but, underdirector Gauri Shinde’s expert guidance,the life lessons come with an unusualcharm. That, despite the fact that there’sheavy falsafa wrapped around heavierdialogues throughout the film.

That Alia’s DD (dimag ka doctor)turns into dil ka doctor in Shinde’s slickzindagi ka masala is in some measuredue to peppy but meaningful talk, lovelymusic and, of course, Alia Bhatt’s near-perfect screen presence and naturalese.

From introducing herself as astrong-minded, independent girl wholoves things upside down in herapartment, to revealing that she isactually a messed up vulnerable girlwith daddy-mummy issues, Alia gathersall the emotions with finesse and looksexceedingly beautiful too.

When she is angry, when she isscared, when she is lonely, when she isbrimming with insecurities or when sheis repressed and depressed, when shecan’t sleep, when she can’t stand herparents, when she gets fed up with herlove interest, when she dumps herboyfriend, when she explodes or whenshe is just happily jamming up withfriends at a night club — she is so muchat ease with all the diverse situationsthat you know your are witnessing themaking of a seasoned actress.

Shinde’s Zindagi is snappily modern,something which Alia’s father MaheshBhatt would call very Juhu beach, verysouth Mumbai kind — as opposed tosuburban Malad kind — full of modernissues, brittle relationships, cool break-ups, Goan beaches, Mumbai singletons,and one Dr Jehangir Khan.

In his casual jeans, the dishy ShahRukh puts all issues on the couch withquirky humour and simplified lifemaths. Since he plays the coolest shrinkin the world, he can afford to come intothe film pretty late and yet set things

right in more ways than one. “Genius isknowing when to stop,” he says andpractices the dictum by not spoilingAlia’s party by overwhelming the filmwith his superstar ways. Instead, heplays his age and role which,incidentally, is that of a crucial side barwithout which a structure can’t stand.

As messed-up Alia’s go-to man inthe film, he is the reason why thoseheavyweight one-liners don’t seem toopreachy or deadweights on the mind,though they flow in so relentlessly thatsometimes, even he seems ill at easewith keeping a straight face.Nevertheless, he keeps uttering themwith the swagger of SRK so that you donot start feeling overfed with thephilosophy of life. Shinde keeps thingssimple despite the complexities andshows relationships in a post-modernmanner. So, you have Alia’s strings ofboyfriends being shown as unsuitableboys with a charm. If Kunal Kapoor ishandsome and casual, Ali Zafar is dishyand romantic. Then there’s Angad Beditoo who comes in as the hilariouslytypical American desi techie who callshimself Suraish. The humour is subtle,the music good to the ear and the storysouffle´ light. Is it a hit? Yes, amongsouth Mumbai kinds it will be. For thejanata-janardan, a bit too much aboutthe life they know not.

So, who gets the girl in the end?Zindagi does, dear zindagi. And that waskind of cool Gauri Shinde.

Last but not the least, can SRKplease get a shave? Superstars can agewithout all that facial hair you know!Rahul, oh that chikna-chupda Rahul —naam to suna hi hoga Shah Rukh yabhool gaye?

NERVE

*ing: Emma Roberts, Dave Franco,

Juliette Lewis

Rated: 5/10

Mobile games are a rage, whatwith Pokemon Go blazing thecharts at the moment. Nerve is

something like Pokerman, a dangerousyouth obsession where watchers andplayers are taking and enjoying thedares with huge money benefits —$100 if you kiss a stranger for fiveseconds, $2,500 if you steal a $3,975dress, $10,000 if you take an aerialladder dare and so on.

Only hitch is that in the processyou do things that are not legal, likeshooting someone dead or the like.Hooked on to this dangerous ,clandestine network are voyeuristicteens who are watchers and wantonplayers who are in the game.

The game can’t be shut downbecause the server can’t be traced andif you deign to go to the authorities,the penalty is virtually fatal.

Amid all this, there is a friendship,a relationship, some unrequited loveand a game that you really need somenerve to get into.

The film is innovative, with thetimes and gets into the thick of thingspretty fast. If you are young, gaiety anda mobile obsessor, this one is for you.Otherwise, there’s Dear Zindagi.

MOH, MAYA, MONEY

*ing: Neha Dhupia Ranvir Shorey,

Vidhushi Mehra

Rated: 4/10

Adark, wannabe thriller the highpoint of which is Ranvir Shoreyand to some extent the back

from beyond Neha Dhupia. An oddpair, you would say and rightly so. Ashusband and wife, they areuncomfortable with each other andcheating on each other in differentkind of ways — she with another manand he with snitching on his boss andtying up with the bad land sharks,clandestine money and illegal deals.

The film is a cross between athriller and negative humanrelationships and thus goes here andthere before finally building up as amurder, fraud action film. Shorey, theultimate middle class man hatingmiddle class, cheats his office to doland deals with commissions on theside — till he lands in trouble afterbeing discovered and sacked.

The film builds on the slimmoments it has and the relationshipissue between the lead pair takes uptoo much time for the action to openup. There’s a dirty murder, aninsurance fraud and also a clandestineabortion, a pregnant wife and a happygo lucky film producer.

On the whole, a different but slowmover.

ARRIVAL

*ing: Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner,

Forest Whitaker, Michael Stuhlbarg,

Tzi Ma, Mark O'Brien

Rated: 4/10

Complicated aliens,indecipherable language,language decipherers, time walk

abilities and a whole lot of needlessscientific jargon makes this mount,well, slow and unsteady.

The entire premise of the film is socomplicated that you feel the need togo for popcorn breaks much before theinterval.

So, here you have a spaceship, anoval suspension over 12 spots in theworld, including Pakistan but notIndia, mind you. The aliens aretentacled heptabots who never emergefrom the cloudy haze of the horizon.They make sounds that the US Armythinks can be studied and decipheredby a language expert. Another issuethat this expert is a woman with babyissues, a death hangover of a child whowe later discover are only her peepsinto the future.

The problem with the film is that itis too static, unhappening and stuckwith the problems of the alienlanguage not being deciphered. Quiteavoidable, really.

Has quite somenerve, this one

Dark but slowFails to arrive

Imagine a life where you havebeen brought up amid utmostluxury and comfort. Wearing

branded clothes, eating in swankrestaurants and spendingthousands of rupees daily withoutgiving a second thought wassomething that came easily toNiharika Anand who hails fromDelhi.

But all this changed when shesigned Bindaas’ new show BegBorrow Steal-Riches to Rags whichairs every Saturday at 6 pm. All ofa sudden, she found herself withjust a backpack. No money, nogadgets and no car! All this whileone had to travel all alone and facehardships and life’s realities.

“The journey was arollarcoaster ride. It started frommy home in Delhi a few monthsback and took me to Dharamsala.When I took up this journey, Ididn’t know it was going to be sotough. People around me said thatI would not be able to do this. Itook up the challenge. I wanted toprove not only to everyone aroundme but myself as well that I coulddo it. Initially, my body was unableto cope with the stress and I fell ill.But I knew this was just thebeginning, tougher days wereahead so I rallied around,” Anandsays, adding that the other reasonshe took up this show was to havea learning experience that shehadn’t had before.

Anand was the first runner-upof Miss North India 2014 andClarions Miss Indian Diva 2015.She was also in the top 20 ofFemina Miss India, 2016.

“From making lassi thetraditional way, to grinding wheatand making chapattis, to stealing acycle and picking up cow dung andrandomly asking people for food,water, lift etc, I’ve done it all. Withlimited resources, the tasks wereexhaustive mentally and physically.I spoke to a lot of farmers andlearnt how tough their life is,”Anand tells you.

Things became tougher whenshe got injured. “I took a lift on abike in Punjab and when I wasgetting off, my ankle rubbedagainst the silencer and got burnt.At that time, I didn’t realise whathad happened to me but the nextday I saw a big burn. I had to finda clinic and request the doctor totreat me for free. The worst was thehockey task. I was wearing safetypads and the wound which Icovered all the time, festered. Theskin peeled and I had to go to theclinic where the doctor scraped thedead skin which was very painful.I couldn’t let him finish thetreatment. On top of this, thecrew wanted me to hurry up andreach the next location. That broke

me,” she recalls.It was times like this that she

wanted to give up. “Once I forgotthe name of the location I had toreach. I had no clue whether it wasa hotel, dhaba or a stable. I wasgiven wrong directions by peoplebecause so I reached the locationlate. The crew and the host werereally annoyed. I felt that they werebeing unreasonable. I feltunappreciated for all the efforts I

had put in. I was asked to give upjust because I couldn’t rememberthe location and had reached late.I was given ̀ 100 for emergency outof which `50 was taken away. Theburnt ankle just added to themisery. I really wanted some spacewhich I didn’t get,” she tells you.

Of course, she finished herjourney but it made her a differentperson and gave her many lifelessons. “To survive the show wasthe most challenging part. I haveam stronger today. When I lookback, I am amazed that I finishedthis ride. I am very finicky andthink of hygiene all the time. Butnow these things don’t matter anymore. This show has changed myperspective about life and people.I value small things more today. Iam glad I took up this challenge,”Anand says.

At the end of the journey, thehost made her sell all the thingsand took away her belongings.“They made me sell everything thatI was carrying. I was left with `50which I gave to a rickshaw-wallah.He was wearing torn pants and hischappals were broken. Yet he washappy in whatever he had. He toldme that he looked at thingspositively. His story touched myheart. I got to keep my T-shirtwhich was signed by people I meton my journey. I am going totreasure it forever,” Anand tells you.

‘Survival was most challengeing’

NIHARIKA ANAND talks to SANGEETA YADAV about her life-changing experience atnew Bindaas show Beg Borrow Steal where she left no stone unturned to take upchallenging tasks to complete her journey

DOCUMENTARY FILMS SPECIAL

ESPN, in collaboration with Sony PicturesNetworks, presents ESPN Films, a series ofdocumentary films showcasing the mostcompelling and original sports stories. It is aseries that touch on themes beyond sports,revitalising and revolutionising the art of thesports documentary through a diverse rangeof filmmakers telling specific stories fromacross the world of sport that highlight thecharacters, events and intersections withsociety at large.

Airing exclusively on The Sony ESPN, andSony ESPN HD channels, this week, the seriesopens with The Two Escobars which willinvestigate the secret marriage of crime andsport, and uncovers the surprising connectionsbetween the murders of Andres and Pablo.Tune it on November 27, 2016 at 12 noon.

THE JUNGLE BOOK PREMIER

The Hindi version of Disney’s TheJungle Book directed by Academy Awardwinning Jon Favreau will premier on StarPlus and Star Plus HD on Sunday at 9 pmwhereas the English version will air on StarMovies, Star Movies HD and Star MoviesSelect HD at 1pm and 9pm. The Hindiversion features an all-star voice cast ofNana Patekar, Priyanka Chopra, Irrfan Khan,Shefali Shah, Om Puri and Bugs Bhargava;making the film ring true to RudyardKipling’s timeless tale.

MOVIE OF THE WEEK

Bewitched is a 2005 American romanticcomedy fantasy film written, produced, anddirected by Nora Ephron, and starring NicoleKidman and Will Ferrell. Thinking he canovershadow an unknown actress in the part,an egocentric actor unknowingly gets a witchcast in an upcoming television remake of theclassic sitcom Bewitched. Watch the movieon November 27, 2016 at 12 pm onwards onlyon Comedy Central.

FINAL DESTINATION MARATHON

For all horror movie buffs, it’s time fortrick-o-treat this Sunday on Movies Now 2with the Final Destination marathon. Thechannel will be airing the series onNovember 27 from 9am to 9pm. Themovies featuring in this property are FinalDestination (2003), Final Destination 2,Final Destination 3 and Final Destination.Final Destination franchise will give a rushof adrenaline, nail-biting and fearexperience.

TELLYTALE

Be it a sitcom or daily soap,comedy or drama,showmakers are making their

characters talk about the mostdiscussed topic in India today —demonetisation.

Inducting real-time topicalityinto the make-believe world, roleplayers in many shows are beingshown dealing with the ban of `500and `1,000 notes, sometimes givingout the message that one needs tostay away from the scam ofconverting black money into white.

“Demonetisation is a very bigincident for our country that hasaffected everyone. We have taken upthis issue and showcased differentfacets of the real life drama in outmake-believe world. But we are notgiving out our opinions or take sideson it. We are merely reflecting howthe society is coming to terms withthis change,” Asit Kumar Modi,producer of Taarak Mehta Ka UltaChashma, says.

To weave in a current issue in afictional show and make it lookfunny is the most difficult andunusual combination. Scripting theepisode comes automatically oncethe scriptwriters think from theperspective of the character who hashis own ways to deal with the issue.“Through Bhabhiji Ghar Pe Hain?and May I Come In Madam, we aretrying to give a comic side of thisserious situation. For this, we haveto think from the perspective of ourcharacters. Like how Vibhuti andTiwari would react when they get toknow about demonetisation. Weget into the mind of the characterand the script unfolds automatically,”Manoj Santoshi, scriptwriter of thetwo shows tells you.

While Tiwari and Darogaji willbe seen tensed about how toconvert their black money intowhite, Vibhuti, who has no moneyand is unemployed, will be seencashing in on this opportunity byputting up an offer and taking hiscut. “The news about the ban ofnotes gives Tiwari and Darogaji atough time. Angoori gets veryangry after she comes to know thatTiwari has `50 lakh in black moneyand advises him to deposit it in thebank but he looks for ways to

convert it illegally. He calls hisrelatives and say that “aapne mujheek lakh rupee udhaar diye thhe jomai nahi de paya thha. Aab maiapko interest ke sath return karnachahta hoon. Aap mujhse 10 lakhrupees le lejiye”. After a failedattempt, Tiwari calls his servantTinnu and says: “humne tumhari60,000 rupee pagaar nahi di thhi.Yeh lo, ab hum tumhe `1,50,000lakh de rahe hai.” But Tinnu alsorefuses to take that money,”Santoshi says.

The makers are also giving outa social message to the commonman to not get tempted by scams.“Vibhuti’s friend Prem Chaudharygets to know someone who can helpconvert the black money into whiteand asks for a 6 per cent cut. Vibhutimakes the same deal with Tiwariwith a 12 per cent cut and Tiwari cuta deals with Darogaji for 24 per centcut. Both Tiwari and Darogaji givethe money to Vibhuti who keeps itat home. Saksena, who is a righteousman, complains about this to thecommissioner and a raid takes place.They find the bags but only stuffedwith clothes. After the commissionerleaves, both the bhabhijis confess thatthey had hidden the money to savetheir respective husbands from going

to jail. They then tell them todeposit the money in the bankgiving the penalty,” Santoshi tells you.

Some producers are alsointroducing feel good stories wherepeople are shown supportingdemonetisation, staying united andhelping relatives and neighbours totackle shortage of new currency.

“Angoori runs out of food athome and the vegetable vendorrefuses to take the old notes. Anitacomes to her rescue and invites herfor lunch and dinner. Beforescripting the episodes, we took a lotof opinion from the people standingin long queues at banks and manyof them felt positive about thechange despite facing difficulties,”Santoshi adds. May I come InMadam on Life Ok is also runninga track where crorepati Sanjana andher father find out ways to dispersethe `6 crore black money. She putsher employee Sajan to task. InnocentSajan, who is head over heels in lovewith Sanjana, agrees to help her butthe income tax people get to knowabout this and hunt him down.

Sab TV’s Taarak Mehta Ka UltaChasma’s demonetisation trackshowcased how housewives werefacing trouble. “It’s not necessary thatthe cash you have at home is black

money. We have shown theperspective of housewives who keepmoney as household savings. Somekeep money in their purses. Somekeep the money received as gift ordonated at temples in their home.How they stand in long queues todeposit it, is shown here. EvenJhethalal, who has earned moneythrough hard work and honesty, getsa payment of `50 lakh just before theannouncement was made and howhe reacts and makes ways to disposeof the money is interesting to watchout for,” Modi says.

In Zee TV’s Zindagi Ki Mahek,Harish (Ajiz Quarshi) who hassuitcase full of `500 and `1,000notes, is advised by Karuna todistribute the money to beggars. InChidiya Ghar, after depositing themoney in the bank, Ghotak, Kapiand Gomukh are left with lakhs ofrupees. From the boss blackmailingthe employee for helping him todispose of the money in exchange ofpromotions, to giving lakhs of 500and 1000 rupee notes as gift, all thetricks have been showcased on TV.

In daily soap too, the makers arescripting special two to four minutesequences to show the impact ofdemonetisation. In Colors’ Devanshi,the little girl gets disappointed whenshe is unable to buy a pair of shoesdue to the new currency rule and theshopkeeper makes her understandthat she needs to deposit that moneyin the bank.

In Thapki...Pyar Ki, the newcharacter in the show Sehban Azimwill be seen unaffected by thedemonetisation rule as he feels it willnot make any difference to him.

Makers opine that happeningslike these are easy to weave intositcoms rather than daily soap. “Fora daily soap, it’s difficult to pick theseissues and revolve their show aroundit as the main storyline goes out oftrack. The scriptwriters need tobalance out the two and decide forhow long they would like to showthat track. It should not look forcedbut should be a natural infusion intothe story. There is limited scope forexperimentation. Many daily soaphave picked up the demonetisationtrack but it’s for a shorter time,”Santoshi points out.

At the end ofthe show, they

made me sell allthe stuff I wascarrying andwas left with`50 which Igave to a

rickshaw puller.But I kept the T-shirt which wassigned by a lotof people whom

I met on myjourney

The demonetisation drama

Demonetisation is a rage on small screen way with some shows even dedicatingepisodes to it. Others are cashing in by tweaking the storyline to bring in thischirp. SANGEETA YADAV talks to scriptwriters about the topical twist

special 09LUCKNOW | SUNDAY | NOVEMBER 27, 2016

FAKE OR REAL?Since demonetisation there have been

many mistakes but nothing more confus-ing than the printing of new `500. Believeit or not, there are printing errors on them.

Some of these notes have a visibleshadow of Mahatma Gandhi’s face,in others the position of the Ashoka PillarLion is in the wrong place. In still others,numbers on the note are out.

So are these notes fake? The ReserveBank of India says no and has said thesecan be used. But if people find it difficultto can use them, they can exchange them.

HUMOUR NOTESPlease don’t worry, one can deposit

`500 and `1000 notes at the banks evenafter December 30, 2016 at the followingplaces:

Bank of KaveriBank of TunghbhadraBank of Ganga and YamunaBank of Krishna

BHAI RAJNIMeanwhile.... Rajnikanth has decid-

ed to exchange his notes tomorrow.Banks are requested to please keep theirIDs ready.

MOOLAH LIMERICKBa ba Black moneyHave you any foolYes sir, yes sirThree bags coolOne for the dustbinOne for the drainAnd one for the one who holds the

country’s rein

QUEUE TALK Man1: What notes are they giving?Man 2: Anything will do, I don’t have

any money?Man 3: They are giving `100 notes?Man 1: I don’t care what notes, as long

as it is not `2,000.

`500 THRASHINGIn the early days of demonetisation, a

man was beaten up by some thugs. Thestory goes that the man’s pocket waspicked. But, much to the horror of thethieves, they found that the notes were ille-gal tender: Three `500 notes. In anger, theycame back, threw the wallet at the man andthrashed him for not keeping `100 notes.

BOOK CHHOTUWe Indians are very enterprising and

know how to cash-in under any adversi-ty. Since the demonitisation drive startedsome people went online to take servicesoffered by bookmychotu.com. All one has

to do is call anda Chhotu, who is anadult, lest you threatenthe entrepreneur with child labour suit,arrives at your door step. You instruct himwhich bank he needs to go to for queuingup.

He stands in the line — charges `90an hour — and when his turn is about tocome, he gives you a call for you to be thereat the time of transaction. Life made sim-pler, at a price.

`500 KA `400 MEINWhen it comes to shortcuts, nobody

can beat us. While most people elsewherein the world would wait patiently in a line,an Indian has already thought of how tocircumvent the long queue. Not wantingto spend agonisingly long at bank queues,many people have opted to get their old`500 notes exchanged for a price. So, theygive `500 and get back `400 in hundreddenomination. Similarly, for `1,000 the

exchange was ̀ 900. The touts made a cool10 per cent profit on each transaction.

PINCH OF SALTDemonitisation came with a strong

rumour mill at work. The Government hadjust announced demonetisation. The 1.25Delhi population was in a tizzy whenanother, more shocking, news spread likewildfire.

Rumour had it that the country wasgoing to face acute salt shortage! How,when and why this rumour emanated andmade people hurry home to buy salt is notknown.

Some left bank queues to stack up salt.Salt in some States like Himachal Pradeshwas sold for ̀ 100 a kg. In Delhi too, somegrocers made a killing by selling it at `250per kg.

There was so much panic that theGovernment had to step in and announcethat there was no shortage and the grocerswere overcharging. The good thing wasthat that the rumour died as fast as it roseand soon it was back to ̀ 18 a kg. But besancontinues to be sold at `200 a kg insteadof `100 earlier.

THE GREAT INDIAN JUGAADThere is no other country in the world

which knows jugaad the way India does.Right after the announcement of

demonetisation, the Indian Railways sawa steep rise in reservation booking coun-ters across the country. People were seenqueuing up to book tickets since the pub-lic run transporter was accepting old `500and `1,000 denomination notes.

People who never thought of buyingthe `10 platform ticket were also standingin line to get some change for their olderdenomination notes.

Some stations saw a jump in ticketbookings by four or five times. But themaximum sales were seen for AC-1 tick-et bookings — 1000 per cent!

People, apparently were booking thesetickets and then cancelling them, therebyturning their black money into white.

A number to steps were taken to pre-vent such misuse and the authoritiesstepped in to curb it, but some managedto get away.

PIZZA ON LINEStanding in a queue for hours on end

can give any one an appetite.It is a common site these days – wrap-

pers of eatables outside banks. In someplaces one can see empty paper cups aswell. So it was only time when Whatsappfound a joke doing rounds.

A man calls a pizza place. The voiceat the other end is courteous and asks forhis mobile and order both dispensedwith speed.

But before hanging up, the man givesa few extra directions. The pizza, he saysneeds to be delivered outside ABC Bankon XYZ Street to the man who is 22ndfrom the front wearing a yellow shirt andturquoise pants.

HUMOUR IN CURRENCYThe demonetisation drive may be the biggest step so far in the war on black money and terror funding, butthe public in general also saw the flip side of this unprecedented drive. SUNDAY PIONEER brings you somefrom the closet humour trending on Twitter, Whatsapp, Facebook and Instagram

IN-LINE WORK1. Play games on your smartphone2. Bring along your breakfast3. Make your chappals stand in line

while you take a break4. Read long Whatsapp messages5. Girls can do up their nails

GIVE ME `500Since demonetisation hit the nation, nothing has been the same again. Even

beggars are no longer interested in taking `10. A lady recounts her experienceat a traffic signal in the Capital’s posh Golf Links area.

She was waiting for the light to turn green when an 11-year-old child withanother toddler anchored to his side asked her for money. She ignored him buthe persisted. After a few seconds of stand-off, the ice broke and the woman start-ed laughing. The reason? The beggar-child asked her to give him a `500 notesince it was no longer of use to her!

CURRENCY DUMPSOn November 8, 2016 Prime Minister

Narendra Modi announced that `500 and`1,000 would not longer be legal tender. OnNovember 10, 2016 in Mirzapur in UttarPradesh a large crowd gathered at the banksof the Ganga.

Was there a rare variety of fish that hadfound its way in the river? Not at all. The rea-son was that hundreds of defunct notes werefound floating on the river. The police camein to keep things under control. But not beforesome tried to fish the currency out.

This is not all, a rag picker in Maharashtrafound a trash bag packed with about `50,000worth of the old currency.

`3.5 crore worth of old currency was foundfloating in the Brahmaputra at Guwahati!

Closer home, in Delhi’s Khanpur area, atrunk full of old `500 and `1,000 found its wayinto a bylane dump.

For once, no one was keen on touch thissoiled money. Who would take the risk of beingfound with defunct currency!

PAYTM KAROIf there is one

party who made akilling fromdemonitisation itwas Paytm.

From grocersto sabziwalas toautorickshaws tochaiwallahs – allgot Paytminstalled at theirkiosks in the faceof shortage ofcash.

Cashless hassince become abuzzword witheven your nukkadchaiwallah sayingno to “udhaar”,pointing at thePaytm payment.

So what if it isjust `7.

TAKEN A BEATINGThe marriage season took a beating due to demonetisation. What happens

if you are getting married in the coming days?Well, the rule book says that either the bride, the groom or the parents of

the intended can withdraw a sum of ̀ 2.5 lakh maximum from the bank in a sin-gle transaction. All one needed to do was show the printed wedding card withvalid address and get the money.

But seriously, which Indian marriage can be managed with just `2.5 lakh?Apart from the joke that the bride and groom are sitting with a swipe machine

that the guests can use and give appropriate gifts or that the pheras are beingtaken around the ATM machine, the sad part is that it is the bandwallahs and

the dholwallahs who have taken a beating.There are reports that instead of the usual `500 notes that used to come

their way via nyochhavar, it is now down to `10 and `20, that too only ifthe party has that kind of currency on them.

Even worse, the noton ki mala with `500 and `1,000 has no takers.Malas made of `10 and `20 have become more precious. So, for once,small is big

Illustrations: Nirjhar

sport 10

PTI ■ MOHALI

India bowled with a lot of perse-verance to restrict England to 268for 8 despite a defiant 89 from

Jonny Bairstow on the first day of thethird cricket Test here on Saturday.

On a slow track, the home teambowlers maintained a disciplined lineand length only to face resistance fromEngland's wicketkeeper-batsman, whoforged couple of important partner-ships -- 57 for the fifth wicket withBen Stokes and 69 for the sixth wick-et with comeback-man Jos Buttler(43).

With the Mohali track not amongthe most batting-friendly pitches,Bairstow showed steely temperamentand admirable technique againstIndia's spin trio and faced 177 ballshitting six fours in the process.

A well-deserved century wasdenied when Jayant Yadav (2/49 in 15overs) flighted one that had turn anddrift to find him leg before.

Umesh Yadav (2/58 in 16 overs),who bowled a lethal delivery first upto remove opener Haseeb Hamid(9), delivered a beauty with the sec-ond new ball to get rid of ChrisWoakes (25 off 70 balls).

The stodgy Woakes also provid-ed some support to Bairstow and theduo added 45 runs for the seventhwicket.

Ravichandran Ashwin (1/43 in 18overs), Mohammed Shami (1/52) andRavindra Jadeja (2/56 in 21 overs)were the other wicket-takers for thehome team.

Bairstow, who has been England'stop run-getter in Test cricket in thepast one year, mixed caution withoccasional aggression en route his13th half-century in Test cricket.

He reached for the pitch of thedeliveries to hit three cover drives,rocked on the backfoot to strike a cutshot. Bairstow was also not afraid toplay the paddle sweep when spinnersdecided to bowl the fuller length.

The post lunch to tea sessionproved to be productive for Englandas they scored 113 runs losing onlyone wicket. It was more due to thecomfort that Buttler displayed whilefacing the spinners as his 43 off 80balls had five boundaries.

However, England went into thefinal session with Bairstow suddenlygetting into the shell and that

increased pressure on Buttler to up theante.

He misjudged the length of aflighted delivery from Jadeja andIndian skipper Kohli took a fine lowcatch diving at mid-off.

India pressed hard in the final ses-sion and the defensive mindset againled to England's downfall as only 63runs came off 28 overs. For India,however, the session yielded threewickets.

In all, save the wickets taken by

Umesh, the others were a result of badshots and pressure that visitors put onthemselves.

Earlier, a disciplined bowlingeffort coupled with atrocious shotselection enabled India to blow awaythe English top-order in the first ses-sion.

Despite some fielding errors, thehosts managed to get rid of skipperAlastair Cook (27), young HaseebHameed (9), batting mainstay JoeRoot (15) and Moeen Ali (16) in themorning session after the visitorselected to bat.

RAHUL OUT WITH INJURYIndian cricket team's poor fitness

record in the ongoing home seasoncontinued as opener KL Rahul was onSaturday ruled out of the third Testdue to a forearm injury sustained dur-ing the second match.

Rahul had earlier missed out twoTests and five ODIs against NewZealand after suffering a hamstringinjury during the Kanpur Test match.

"KL Rahul sustained a blow to hisleft forearm while fielding in Vizag.Injury got exaggerated in the nets. Hefeels uncomfortable while batting.BCCI medical team advised him restto fully recover," the official statementfrom the team stated.

PTI ■ MOHALI

Speedster Umesh Yadav feels thatEngland could have scored more

than 268 for eight as the wicket did notchange much and it was "easy toplay spinners" with not much turn onoffer.

Asked if England's day score waspar for the course, Umesh replied: "Ithink it could have been better as thespinners are not getting enough turn.It's easy to play spinners. It's okaybut they could have got more. Thewicket hasn't changed much. Someballs may have gone up and downbut I think the pace of the wicket issame."

Umesh said that bowlers did havesome problems once the ball got old asthe carry was not there after it went soft.

"It's a bit difficult when the ball getsold as you won't get pace and carry withthe ball getting soft. But there is stillsomething in the wicket. It's a bit coldand there's some moisture in the wick-et. The ball is moving."

Umesh, who bowled an unplayabledelivery to get rid of Haseeb Hameedin the morning before removing ChrisWoakes with the second new ball, saidthat getting the ball to swing is possi-ble in these conditions.

"It's not that if the wicket is flat, thenew ball won't swing. If you have thebelief, you can swing the new ball. Meand Shami knew that we can swing ittill the ball remains new. We were try-ing to bowl outside off-stump channelfrom where we were bowling theoutswingers as there was good carryand pace off the pitch."

While he has only seven wicketsfrom five England innings (includingthis one), Umesh has bowled somegreat deliveries. He attributes it to thediscipline of channel bowling havingunderstood that pace comes with itsdisadvantages.

"I am improving day-by-day withmore matches that I am playing. I talkto my coaches Anil bhai (Kumble) andSanjay bhai (Bangar). Pace comes witha disadvantage. If you don't pitch itright, you will go for runs. They adviseme to bowl in one particular area. Myimpact area is outside the off-stumpfrom where I can bowl my outswingersand make the batsmen play a lotmore."

A lot is made out of toss being a bigfactor in Indian conditions but theVidarbha lad said that planning and

execution is as important as gettinglucky with the coin.

"Normally, toss is a factor but it alsodepends on how you bowl, planningand execution by bowlers and fieldersis as important as winning the toss."

Ravichandran Ashwin andRavindra Jadeja dropped a couple ofcatches off Shami but Umesh said thatone should move on as it is a part andparcel of the game.

"In cricket, it happens. Teammateswill take brilliant catches anddrop some easy ones. It's part and par-cel of the game. You can't be disap-pointed as you have to try andcreate more chances. In cricket, youcan't grab every catch that comes yourway. We have some of the best fieldersin our side and it happens with allteams."

83Parthiv Patel back to IndianTest team after missing 83Test matches. The 31-year

old, last played in the final Test ofIndia's tour of Sri Lanka at Colomboin 2008. It is the tenth-highestnumber of consecutive matchesmissed by any player for his team

9Parthiv Patel became the ninthIndian and 75th wicket-keeperoverall to dismiss 50 or more

batsmen behind the wickets in Tests.Alastair Cook's catch off RavichandranAshwin was his 50th victim in 38innings of 21 Test matches

84Jonny Bairstow's battingaverage in this seriesagainst spinners is 84.00

which is the highest for any batsmanfrom either side. India's CheteshwarPujara averages the next-best amongbatsmen who have faced at least 50balls from spinners

4Indian fielders dropped fourcatches in England's first inningon the first day. England skipper,

Alastair Cook was given two reprievesand Wicket-keeper Jonny Bairstowbenefited from the other two drops

Faisel Features

FIGURATIVELY

India vs England

Live from 1:30pm IST

START SPORTS

ENGLAND STUMPED

Bairstow’s defiant 89 helps visitors reach 268/8 at end of Day 1 of third Test

England's Ben Stokes is stumped by India's Parthiv Patel on the first day of their third test match against India in Mohali Saturday AP

MOHALI: England all-rounder BenStokes was on Saturday repri-manded for breaching ICC Codeof Conduct after he was chargedfor making inappropriate com-ments during the opening day'splay in the third cricket Testagainst India here.

The incident happened whenStokes reacted to India players'celebrations following his dismissalby making inappropriate commentswhich were heard by both the on-field umpires, according to a state-

ment from the ICC."Ben Stokes of England has

received an official reprimand forbreaching Level 1 of the ICC Codeof Conduct during the openingday's play in the third Test againstIndia. Stokes was found to havebreached Article 2.1.4 of the ICCCode of Conduct for Players andPlayer Support Personnel, whichrelates to 'using language or a ges-ture that is obscene, offensive orinsulting during an InternationalMatch'," the ICC said. PTI

STOKES REPRIMANDED

DESPITE SOME FIELDINGERRORS, THE HOSTS

MANAGED TO GET RID OFSKIPPER COOK, YOUNG

HAMEED, BATTINGMAINSTAY ROOT AND ALI

IN THE MORNINGSESSION

‘Scoring runs hasbeen pleasing’PTI ■ MOHALI

Joe Root may be England'spremier batsman but the

most prolific through thepast year has been JonnyBairstow with more than1300 plus runs in the longestformat.

Bairstow did not hidehis happiness at having beensuccessful with the willow butsaid that there is nothingspecial except for devising amethod to score runs.

"I think scoring runs atany point throughout theyear has been pleasing for me.Combining with my keeping,it has been a pleasing aspectfor the two to be combined allthe way throughout the year,”said Bairstow

Talk about his amazingconsistency, Bairstow remainsmodest.

"I can't really put a fingeron it to be honest with you.Obviously, comparing theconditions to South Africa atthe start of the year toEngland, throughout thesummer, to Bangladesh, tohere — they were all very dif-ferent. I think it is just find-ing a method. Finding a wayand finding a mindset ofscoring runs. Trying to stayout there for as long as pos-sible and yeah I was really

cheesed off (angry) to get outlike that."

JONNY DOUSES FIREThe British media's 'no

love lost' attitude towardsVirat Kohli was evident onceagain as they tried to askquestions about Indian cap-tain's exchange of words withBen Stokes after the latter'sdismissal but performer of theday Jonny Bairstow was inmood to fan the fire.

In the 44th over, Stokeswas foxed by Ravindra Jadejaand stumped by Parthiv Patel.As he was leaving, the TVreplays showed Virat givingStokes, who is also feistycharacter, a send-off. TheEngland all-rounder stoppedand turned back to reply.

At the end of the day'splay, Bairstow was askedabout whether 'send-offs' arein good taste he said,"Itdepends on what contextwhat it is said. I actually did-n't hear anything to be veryhonest with you with a lot ofsquealing people in the crowdand screaming. The exactwords that were said, I would-n't be able to put my fingeron. It's something that's prob-ably going more out of thegame," Bairstow made it clearthat he doesn't want toindulge in the controversy.

‘England could have scored more’Speedster believes first-day spitch was batting friendly

LUCKNOW | SUNDAY | NOVEMBER 27, 2016

HAMILTON: Tim Southeecaptured three quick wickets toput New Zealand in a com-manding position in the secondTest against Pakistan onSaturday.

Neil Wagner also baggedtwo wickets as Pakistan col-lapsed to 76 for five at stumpson day two, still 195 runsbehind New Zealand’s firstinnings total of 271.

Babar Azam was not out 34at the close of play at SeddonPark with Sarfraz Ahmedunbeaten on nine.

New Zealand, chasing theirfirst series win over Pakistan in31 years, had been in trouble at5-119 before BJ Watling’s 49 notout anchored a tail-end revivalthat lifted the home team to acompetitive total.

Southee then enticed thePakistan top order into makinga string of rash shots, seamingthe ball away with a mixture ofshort and full-length deliveries.

In his third over, the NewZealand quick removed open-er Sami Aslam for five andAzhar Ali for one. Then, in hisfifth over, he dismissed the vet-eran Younis Khan for two asPakistan slumped to 12-3.

Azam and Shafiq briefly

steadied the innings with a 39-run partnership beforeWagner’s double strike.

He bowled Shafiq for 23then followed up with a shortball to debutant MohammadRizwan which he hooked toMatt Henry on the boundaryfor a golden duck on his testdebut. Ahmed took a single offthe next ball to deny Wagnerthe hat trick.

At the close, Southee hadfigures of three for 26 while

Wagner had 2-15.Resuming on 77-2 after

rain washed out most of thefirst day, New Zealand lostthree early wickets.

Ross Taylor went for 37,adding eight to his overnightscore before he was caughtflat-footed by Sohail Khan andedged the ball to wicketkeeperAhmed.

Opener Jeet Raval benefit-ted from two dropped catchesby Aslam, progressing to 55

when he nicked Imran Khan toRizwan who had taken over atfirst slip.

Henry Nicholls (13) edgedWahab Riaz to Ahmed to haveNew Zealand 119-5 whenWatling went to the crease.

He added 51 with Colin deGrandhomme to lift NewZealand to 170-5 by lunch, onlyfor de Grandhomme to fall toImran on the first ball after theresumption of play for 37.

Mitchell Santner con-tributed 16 to a 33-run standfor the seventh wicket beforeedging Sohail to Younis Khanin slips.

Southee engaged in anintriguing battle with Riazwhich saw the swashbucklingNew Zealander ducking, weav-ing and slashing through abarrage of short-pitched deliv-eries.

He reached 29 off 28 ballsbefore he misjudged a slowerball from Sohail and wasbowled.

New Zealand were all outin the third over after tea whenWatling ran out of partners andwas left stranded one run shortof a half-century. For Pakistan,Sohail took 4-99 and Imran 3-52.

KARACHI: Pakistani andIndian cricket officials will getanother opportunity onDecember 17 to sit across thetable and discuss the strainedand suspended bilateralcricket ties between the twonations.

An official source in thePakistan Cricket Board (PCB)told PTI that the meeting willbe held during the AsianCricket Council moot inColombo, Sri Lanka.

“PCB Chairman,Shaharyar Khan is alsoChairman of the ACC and hewill be accompanied byNajam Sethi and SubhanAhmad to Colombo,” thesource said.

He said the meeting wasimportant as apparently whenSethi met with the BCCIPresident, Anurag Thakur inCapetown for the ICC execu-tive board meeting recentlythere was discussion on havinga triangular or quadrangularseries.

“Thakur made it clear to

Sethi who is an influential fig-ure in the PCB and heads itsexecutive committee that atpresent it was not possible forthe BCCI to play Pakistan in abilateral series as their gov-ernment didn’t support this,”the source said.

“The BCCI chief had float-ed an idea where instead amulti nation tournament couldbe organized in India or at anyneutral venue in whichPakistan and India couldplay against each other,” headded.

The source said that Sethihad reminded Thakur thatalthough he was floating suchan idea but at the momentIndia was even talking aboutnot playing Pakistan in thegroup stages of the ICCChampions Trophy.

Two officials of the ACCalso visited Lahore tomeet with Shaharyar thisweek to discuss preparationsfor the meeting andpossible ACC events in 2017and 18.

PTI ■ KARACHI

Former Pakistan fast bowlerShoaib Akhtar has said that

the International CricketCouncil (ICC) would kill offcricket by trying to stifle fastbowlers with rules and regula-tions.

“Don’t try to suffocate thefast bowlers or the sport willlose its charm and following,”he said on the state ownedchannel. Akhtar also expresseddisappointment at the perfor-mance of the Pakistani pacersin the ongoing test series withNew Zealand on responsivepitches. He said that the ICCneeds to understand the fastbowlers are the real charactersof the game.

“People want to see fastbowlers run in and take wick-ets and show emotions. Whenyou are trying your best foryour team and running inhuffing and puffing there willbe emotions to be showed.What else to expect from a fastbowler,” he questioned.

“I would say don’t try torestrict or restrain a fast bowlerwho should be allowed toexpress himself. If a fast bowleris hit around he will react andthat is the pinnacle of contestbetween bat and ball. This isreal cricket.” He said the qual-ity of pace bowlers was goingdown simply because the ICChad now introduced too manyrules and regulations and madeit a batsmen’s game.

“There are too manyrestrictions and codes on play-ers (s) to show their emotions.Emotions run high in anysport. People still rememberthe great fast men of the 60s,70s and 80s because they werenot chained by rules and reg-ulations and were not afraid toexpress themselves.” “It wasplayer versus player and fewerlaws to suffocate players.”

Pakistan’s former captainand fast bowling great, WasimAkram, on the same showagreed with Akhtar and saidthe ICC cannot tame fastbowlers.

Southee creates havoc in Pakistan ranks

Tim Southee celebrating with his teammates

Akhtar to ICC: Allowfast bowlers show rawemotion on field

PCB, BCCI officialsmight meet to discusscricket ties in Dec

sport 11LUCKNOW | SUNDAY | NOVEMBER 27, 2016

AFP ■ ADELAIDE

South Africa lost skipper Fafdu Plessis amid a clatter of

late wickets as the match pen-dulum swung decisivelytowards Australia in the thirdday-night Test in Adelaide onSaturday.

The Australians, who ledby 124 runs on the first innings,reduced the Proteas to 194 forsix with the prized wicket of duPlessis for 12 coming late onthe third day.

At the close, South Africawere holding on and just 70runs ahead of Australia head-ing into Sunday’s fourth day.

Opener Stephen Cook wasin sight of his second Testcentury and was unbeaten on81 off 199 balls with Quintonde Kock yet to score.

Australia, bidding to pre-vent South Africa from carry-ing off a series clean sweep afterhuge defeats in the opening twoTests, took major strides onSaturday with Usman Khawajaleading the way with his neareight-hour epic.

Mitchell Starc captured thebig wicket of du Plessis who,motivated by the events of hiscontroversial pre-Test ball-tampering case, scored a careerpinnacle unbeaten 118 in thefirst innings of the match.

Du Plessis attempted todrive Starc only to get an out-side edge to newcomer PeterHandscomb, who took a bril-liant diving two-handed catchin the gully.

It was a major moment inthe course of the Test given the

ability of du Plessis to play outlong match-saving innings,memorably his defiant 376-ballunbeaten knock of 110 to denyAustralia victory in Adelaidefour years ago.

Starc started the ballrolling, removing Dean Elgarwith the fourth ball of hisopening over for a duck andfellow paceman JoshHazlewood had Hashim Amla

caught behind for 45. It was thefifth time Hazlewood had cap-tured Amla’s wicket in fiveinnings in the series.

Spinner Nathan Lyon tight-ened the screws with threelate wickets.

JP Duminy played acrossthe spinner and was bowled for26 and Temba Bavuma fellthree overs from stumps,caught off his gloves by Steve

Smith sweeping Lyon for 21.Lyon removed night-

watchman Kyle Abbott legbefore wicket for a duck in theday’s final over.

“It was an unbelievableatmosphere towards the end,”Lyon said.

“This Test match we havebowled a lot better in partner-ships...We still need four wick-ets and there’s still two quality

batters there at the moment.”South Africa’s chances of

posting a competitive leadhinge on Cook and de Kockproducing a big stand.

“There is an opportunityfor us tomorrow to try and cap-italise on a big partnership totry and push us up past 180-200 lead,” team batting coachNeil McKenzie said.

“If we can do that and take

a few early wickets as we havedone to Australia before thatwill give South Africa a lot ofconfidence.”

Khawaja earlier top scoredwith 145 with the last fourwickets adding 100 runs to putthe home side in command.

His 308-ball vigil finallycame to an end when he wastrapped leg before wicket byVernon Philander.

The unflappable left-han-der occupied the crease for 466minutes after he was forced toopen the innings after a mis-calculation over DavidWarner’s time off the field forinjury treatment when theProteas unexpectedly declared.

Khawaja left the field to astanding ovation following hissecond-highest Test score,amassed over three days, rank-ing only below his 174 againstNew Zealand in Brisbane lastyear. It was the Pakistan-bornbatsman’s fifth Test century, allposted over the last 12 months.

Khawaja’s epic knock wasalso the first century by anAustralian in the South Africaseries and he has now scored314 runs at 62.80 in fiveinnings.

Starc clubbed his seventhTest half-century with a 91-ball53 before he was caught andbowled by Kagiso Rabada, end-ing a lively knock that featuredfive fours and a six.

Abbott was the best ofSouth Africa’s bowlers with aneconomical three wickets for 49off 29 overs with young gunspeedster Rabada claimingthree for 84.

KOWLOON: National champion SameerVerma stunned World No. 3 Jan O Jorgensen ofDenmark to reach his maiden Super Series finalwhile Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu madeit to her second successive summit clash inwomen’s singles at the Hong Kong Open, hereon Saturady.

It was double bonanza for India at the HongKong Open, the last Super Series tournamentof the season, as Sameer and Sindhu dished outsome superb performances to make it a superSunday for badminton fans on Sunday.

The 22-year-old Sameer, who is the youngerbrother of Sourabh Verma, showed tremendousathleticism and accuracy in his strokes tonotch up a hard-fought 21-19 24-22 win overDenmark’s Jorgensen, who had clinched theprestigious China Super Series Premier last week.

Sameer, who came into the tournament asa qualifier, will fight for the title against localfavourite Ng Ka Long Angus.

Newly-crowned China Open champion,Sindhu, meanwhile, continued her rampagingrun and disposed local shuttler Cheung NganYi 21-14 21-16 in a 46-minute match to set upa clash with Chinese Taipei’s Tai Tzu Ying, seed-ed fourth, to lay claim for her second super seriestitle. It is a rare occasion when two Indians havereached the finals of the men’s and women’s sin-gles competition of any particular tournament.For records, Saina Nehwal and K Srikanth hadmade the finals at 2014 China Open and 2015India Open and both had emerged victorious.

The highlight of the day was Sameer’s stun-ning win over Jorgensen, who reached the finalsat China Open Super Series Premier, Japan Open(Runner-up) and Indonesia Open Super SeriesPremier (Runner-up) this year.

More than 40 ranking points separatedWorld No. 43 Sameer from Jorgensen but all that

didn’t matter today as the Indian retrieved every-thing thrown at him by the Dane in the 46-minute fast-paced battle.

In one of the finest wins of his career, Sameerpunched way above his weight as he opened upa massive 12-7 lead early on in the openinggame. However, Jorgensen ensured he was notfar behind as he clawed back to reduce the mar-gin to 10-11 at the interval.

Jorgensen made Sameer run across the courtbut the young Indian was up for it most timesand matched the Dane stroke for stroke to be17-17. Sameer marched ahead after that andgrabbed three game points when the Dane hitthe net. A gruelling rally ensued with Jorgensenrelying on his wristy returns and soft net playto save two points. Sameer finally pocketed thefirst game after winning a video referral whenJorgensen hit long.

PTI ■ DOHA

Indian teen golfer Aditi Ashokshot a final round of three-

under 69 on a weather-hit lastday to notch up her second suc-cessive victory on the LadiesEuropean Tour at the inaugur-al Qatar Ladies Open here onSaturday.

Just a fortnight after claim-ing her maiden win at theHero Women’s Indian Open,the 18-year-old rookie profes-sional from Bangalore totaled15-under-par at the Doha GolfClub to grab a three-stroke winover Lydia Hall and CarolineHedwall.

“It’s been a great few weeks.I won my home event in theIndian Open, which was myfirst win. To win back to backevents feels really good,” saidAditi, the LET’s leading rook-ie professional.

She started the final roundtied for the lead with NannaKoerstz Madsen but quicklygained a one stroke advantagewhen the Dane bogeyed thesecond hole, maintaining herlead as play was suspended at12.09pm due to thunder andlightning on the course.

“It was really difficult at thestart because of the rain. Thenwe stopped for more than anhour and a half and when wegot back it was really windy, sothat was difficult, but I guess itwas the same for everybody. Iwas trying to hit greens andmake pars,” she said.

After a pair of birdies fromAshok, followed by a double-

bogey from Madsen on theninth, the young Indian talenthad reached 14-under with athree stroke cushion throughthe turn.

“I think I was playing wellthrough the front nine and gota couple of birdies on seven andeight. After that, I created quitea few chances on the par-5ninth and tenth. Then, I wasshort on 14. I did create enoughbirdie chances but I wasn’tmaking any. Finally I was ableto birdie 16. My goal was to beerror free and I made a bogeyon 17 but I played consistent-ly well for the most part andmade a birdie on 18,” Ashoksaid.

“The first win was special,because I won in India, but Ifelt I played really well here andhad to play well every day andshoot sub-par rounds. I thinkmy game was better this weekand obviously to win in theQatar, the golf course is thesame as the men’s, so I know it’schallenging and to win herefeels good.”

BANGKOK: Indian women produceda professional performance to beatBangladesh by 64 runs in their open-ing match of the Women’s Asia Cup T20tournament here on Saturday.

The experienced pair of Mithali Raj(49 not out) and Smriti Mandhana (41)put up a 70-run stand for the openingwicket to take India to 118 for six in 20overs.

The team led by HarmanpreetKaur was clinical with the ball, bowl-ing out Bangladesh for a mere 54 runsfor a comprehensive victory.

The star bowler for India was leg-gie Poonam Yadav, who picked up threewickets and conceded just 13 runs infour overs. India, whose participationin the tournament was under clouddue to the presence of arch-rivalsPakistan, next play hosts Thailand onSunday.

It remains to be seen whether theyface Pakistan on November 29. Bothteams are scheduled to play the excit-ing clash, according to the AsianCricket Council website.

The Indians, however, go into theirgame against Thailand high on confi-dence with the result on Saturday.

Raj, who was removed as T20 cap-tain prior to the tournament, provedwhy she still has a lot to offer in theshortest format.

She remained unbeaten right till theend and just two boundaries in her 59ball knock showed how hard she hadto work for every run.

AFP ■ MANCHESTER

It is a sign of Wayne Rooney’s recenttroubles that he is not guaranteed to

make Manchester United’s startingline-up against West Ham on Sundaydespite breaking a club record this week.

The United captain became the RedDevils’ all-time leading European scor-er on Thursday with a fine finish to setup a 4-0 Europa League victory overFeyenoord.

He needs just one more goal nowto draw level with England great BobbyCharlton as United’s highest scorer inall competitions.

Yet in a television interview after theFeyenoord game Rooney, who hasstruggled for form this season,launchedinto an attack on the British media.

Rooney, who was on England dutyat the time, faced heavy criticism thismonth after photographs appearing toshow him drunk at a wedding partywere published in a newspaper.

Although he apologised for “inap-propriate” behaviour, Rooney has sincedownplayed the incident.

The forward feels he has beenharshly treated, but perhaps there is asense that he has a point to prove too.

Rooney has started just one ofUnited’s last seven Premier Leaguegames, with manager Jose Mourinhopreferring Juan Mata or Paul Pogba inthe withdrawn role behind main strik-er Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

While there is satisfaction in break-ing club records, it does little to dispelthe sense that, at 31, Rooney’s best daysmay be behind him. Winning a start-ing spot on Sunday would go some wayto dispelling that notion.

Another United player seeking todisprove his critics is midfielderHenrikh Mkhitaryan, who started a clubgame for the first time since Septemberwhen he played against Feyenoord.

The Armenia captain’s lack ofopportunities under Mourinho since his£26 million pre-season move fromBorussia Dortmund has been a source

of bafflement for many fans.However, the manager is adamant

that Mkhitaryan has not been frozenout.

“He just needs now to replicate thiskind of performance in the PremierLeague,” Mourinho said.

“The Premier League is different —he needs one more step. Obviously now,

confidence levels are higher. This per-formance gives him the right to believethat he can play the next match againand he needs to replicate this kind ofperformance in the Premier Leaguewith more physicality and more aggres-sion.”

With just one win in their last sixPremier League games, United haveslipped to sixth and need rapid domes-tic improvement. They do, at least, haveIbrahimovic available in attack, the for-ward having missed last Saturday’s 1-1draw at home to Arsenal because of sus-pension. Last weekend’s agonising latedefeat at London rivals TottenhamHotspur left West Ham just one pointand one place above the relegationplaces. It also raised questions over thelong-term future of manager SlavenBilic.

“I feel the pressure of course,because we are not delivering and per-forming enough to get points to feelhappy,” said Bilic. “But I see theimprovement, I see the team that is hun-gry and alive and the points were therefor us in a very difficult away game.That’s what I’m concentrated on and notto make mistakes like we did againstSpurs.”

He added: “It’s still very tight. Witha win against Tottenham we would havebeen 12th or eleventh, but we are in theposition we are.

“You can say it’s still early days, butwe have to start picking up the points.We can say we were unlucky or wedeserve more, but the table doesn’t lie.”

Hammers central defender WinstonReid is suspended but Bilic hopes tohave midfielder Pedro Obiang back inhis squad.

PTI ■ MELBOURNE

Indian men’s hockey teamlost 2-3 to New Zealand in a

hard fought encounter to crashout of the title clash at the four-nation InvitationalTournament, here on Saturday.

The loss means India willnow play Malaysia for thethird-fourth place classificationmatch on Sunday.

India’s both goals camefrom the sticks of dragflickerRupinder Pal Singh (18thminute and 57th).

The Indians started on anattacking note and had the bet-ter share of the possession inthe first quarter.

In the first 15 minutes,India penetrated the opponentcircle many a times but failedto get a clear shot at the goal.

In fact, it was New Zealandwho came closest when NickRoss; reverse hit from the topof the box was kept away by analert Akash Chikte in front ofthe Indian goal.

India’s best opportunity inthe first quarter came from apenalty corner but RupinderPal Singh’s flick was cleared byBlack Sticks captain SheaMcAleese.

The Indians picked up thepace in the second quarterand pressed hard. The movepaid dividends in the 18thminute when Akashdeep Singhearned a penalty which wasdully converted into a goal by

Rupinder.Despite repeated efforts

from both the sides the score-line remain unchanged as Indiawent into halftime with a onegoal cushion.

After the change of ends,New Zealand had the first shotat the goal but once againChikte came to India’s rescue todeny Matt Rees-Gibbs at the farpost. Nikkin Thimmaiah thenshot high from top of the box,after a superb bit of improvi-sation.

The final quarter wasaction packed as New Zealandhit back with two quick goals,first by Nick Ross in the 47th

minute before Jacob Smithgave them the lead in the nextminute.

Trailing for the first time inthe game, India went all outattacking and in the process leftgaps in their backline whichNew Zealand exploited toextend their lead through HugoInglis’ strike in the 57th minute.

Rupinder, however, pulledone back with a penalty cornerconversion almost from therestart to take goals tally to fivein the tournament.

In the final minutes, Indiacreated several opportunities todraw level but New Zealand didenough to hold on to the lead.

Proteas hang on as late wickets tumble

Nathan Lyon successfully appeals against Kyle Abbott

Manchester United's Wayne Rooney, right, talks to Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho

Record-breaker Rooney waits to deliver Hammer blow

Indian women

wallop Bangla in

Asia Cup opener

India lose 2-3 to NZ, crash out of title race

Sameer, Sindhu reach finals ofHong Kong Super Series

PNS ■ LUCKNOW

GM Abhijit Kunte of PSPB finallyregister his first win of the 54th

National Premier Chess championshipat Marriott Renaissance Hotel onSaturday.

The experienced grand masteropted with Slav Schlechter openingagainst Bala Chandra Dhulipalla ofAndhra Pradesh went on to score hisfirst win after his opponent failed to stophis pass pawn.

Meanwhile, 16-year-old GMAravindh Chithambaram of Tamilnaducontinued to lead the table despite of adraw with IM Nitin S of RSPB

In-form IM Ravi Teja S of RSPBoutclassed IM Abhishek Khelkar ofMaharastra through his Caro Kanpawn attack in 43 moves.

GM Adhiban and nationalchampion GM Murali Kartikeyansettled for a draw after 80 brain-rack-

ing moves. GM RR Laxman of RSPBand GM Tejas Bakre of Indian Airlinestoo decided to spilt a point after 26

moves.GM Vidit Gujrathi of PSPB and

GM Sriram Jha of LIC got walk-overs.

Kunte register first win in National Premier

GM Adhiban and GM Murali Kartikeyan in progress

ABU DHABI: Lewis Hamilton claimed pole for Sunday’stitle-showdown Abu Dhabi Grand Prix by outpacing hisMercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg in Saturday’s tense anddramatic qualifying at the Yas Marina circuit.

The defending three-time champion dominated the ses-sion and clocked a fastest time in one minute and 38.755seconds to beat the championship-leading German by three-tenths of a second.

Hamilton’s performance gives him the ideal opportunityto claim a fourth consecutive victory in Sunday’s race inwhich Rosberg can secure his maiden drivers title if he fin-ishes on the podium.

Hamilton, who trails Rosberg by 12 points, said: “I did-n’t over-cook into turn one and after that I was in total con-

trol. “It’s been a great weekend so far.“I’ve got the car in a real sweet spot, with some great work

done by my engineers and faultless mechanics who’ve donean incredible job.”

“Lewis did an incredible job - a really incredible job -and you can’t say more,” said Mercedes team non-executivechairman Niki Lauda.

It is the Briton 12th pole of the season, a personal record,his third in Abu Dhabi and the 61st of his career. In theprocess, he ended Rosberg’s hopes of a third consecutive poleat the circuit.

Rosberg reflected: “I came here to take pole and win therace and so I am not ecstatic about today, but Lewis did agreat job.

Aditi wins inaugural

Qatar Ladies Open

Hamilton shades Rosberg for title-deciding pole

backpack 12

nHow important is music for you?Extremely. I am very particular

when it comes to music in themovies that I make. A lot of is spent

on what kind of music should gosince there is a particular type

of movie that I make —comedy infused with

romance.

nWhy doesBollywood not makea typical romance —boy meets girl andthey fall in love kindof movies?

The answer is verysimple. People today will

laugh if one were to makea Chandni today. That kind of

definition of romance no longerexists in the minds of the youngergeneration. They would laugh outloud if a film like that were to bemade. Almost 75 per cent of the cin-ema goers are in the age group of 18to 25. We cater to them. Hence, yousee the change in the kind of moviesthat are being made.

nWhat are the challenges that theindustry is facing today?

The biggest challenge is thatthere are few takers for moviestoday. People have so much choice– there is Netflix, there are web-series, there are shows on YouTubethat people watch, etc. You caneven see movies online now. Movie-going is reducing, film budgets are

increasing – there are so many coststhat people don’t even think aboutlike payment to artists (no the stars)but these payments make up for achunk of the budget. Fewer moviesare now recovering their cost. Theindustry needs to see how to tacklethis.

nYou have choreographed anddirected movies. Do they clashwhen you are making a film?

When I choreograph, I am at myrelaxed best. I sit back and tellmyself to enjoy since it is a song.While directing, my plate is full –there is so much to take care of – itis like juggling many things at once;there are so many things – big andsmall -- that constantly require my

attention all the time.

nYou have been part of Indian Idolfor the third time. What haschanged?

When I first judged the show, Ifound that most of the singers,though good, were not very profes-sional. They didn’t see singing as amain stay, it was something that theydid on the sidelines. Today, everyonewho comes is a trained singer. I seeparents pushing their children to bepart of these reality shows and thatis good. The caliber of participantshave risen manifolds.

This means that we as judges findit difficult whom to send to Mumbaiand whom to reject. Our jobs have become tough and we need to

very careful while choosing or reject-ing.

nWill you bring in a new per-spective to Indian Idol this season?

For the first two times, I was likePaula Abdul; I kind of representedthe masses and the audience watch-ing at home. But after doing so manychoreographies and movies, I dohave an ear for good music. I maynot know the technical nuancesthat goes into a song like SonuNigam or Anu Malik might but I doknow a good voice from a bad. Imake films and understand thepulse of what kind voice people willlike. This voice may not be techni-cally correct but if it is a good voice,I want to give it a platform.

‘Music is important for my films’

SHALINI SAKSENA n NEW DELHI

The world is shrinking andhow! Well, very soon — in2017— we will have our

very own Madame Tussauds inour city, to be exact at RegalCinema, Connaught Place. Thereason, according to MerlinEntertainments India Pvt Ltd,the brand owning MadameTussauds, is that CP is one of thelargest financial and commercialbusiness centres in New Delhi.

But why Delhi and notMumbai? That’s because theyfeel Madame Tussauds Delhiwill offer more than just aBollywood experience.

“There is no argument thatMumbai is the hub ofBollywood. However, guests inDelhi will be able to experienceicons from a host of disciplineslike history, politics, sport,music, film, TV, in an experi-ence which encapsulates theessence of India. We could notthink of a better place to launchthan in the heart of the nation’sCapital,” Anshul Jain, generalmanager, MerlinEntertainments India Pvt Ltd,tells you.

The good part is that it willencompass a host of nationaland international celebritiesfrom Bollywood to Hollywoodand guests to Madame Tussaudswill be encouraged to interactwith them. In other words, anatmosphere will be created for

a memorable experiences for theguests.

“For this attraction, we haveworked with local experts tobring the vibrancy of India tolife. Figures will be positionedin themed environments whichwill allow guests to feel as if theywere stepping into the world ofthe famous, by bringing themcloser than before to those whohave shaped not only the pop-ular cultural landscape of Indiabut the world as a whole. Forexample, people will be encour-aged to get on stage and per-form with Beyoncé, give aspeech with Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and dance withtheir Bollywood heroes,” Jain

explains.One is told that Madame

Tussauds Delhi will be an attrac-tion that truly encapsulates thevibrancy and colour of India,featuring those who haveshaped the popular culturelandscape of the nation, and theworld as a whole. Guests will beable to experience meeting iconsfrom a host of disciplines in atruly fun, unique and immersiveway.

“Madame Tussauds Delhiwill be our 22st attraction glob-ally, and when we create a newattraction we work very hard tocreate a new experience offering— to raise the bar with not onlyour figure quality, but also theenvironments and technologyused to bring our experiences tolife. Guests who have been toour attraction in London willexperience a very differentattraction when they visitHollywood or Shanghai. Thesame goes for Delhi — this is aunique Madame Tussauds expe-rience that you will get nowhereelse in the world,” Jain says,adding that though it took 17years to come to India, theyhave seen the appetite grow fora dedicated Madame Tussaudsexperience here ever sinceAmitabh Bachchan was waxedin 2000.

“It has been a long timecoming, however we are delight-ed to be finally opening inDelhi in 2017,” Jain tells you.

Madame Tussauds in Dehi

TalktimeFARAH KHAN

Farah Khan was in the Capitalrecently. The choreographer turned

director-producertalks to Shalini Saksena about theimportance of music in her films

and the challenges the filmindustry

is facing today

LUCKNOW | SUNDAY | NOVEMBER 27, 2016

nHow are you taking Kahaani 2 forward?We are taking it forward as a genre. The story is different

from the previous one. Something you will be entertained to see.If people come out of the cinema halls entertained and happy,it will make me happy.nWhy did it take more than two years?

The thought for this story was there with me for the longesttime. I had the story for a while but I didn’t know how to makeit into a film. Once you crack that, it turn into a movie. Filmdemands a lot — it demands nine months of your time and it’salmost like giving birth. You have to be absolutely clear aboutthe subject in order to make it into a film. You need a push thatcome what may, we are going to make this film. nWhat message does this film has?

I can’t say what message it has. If a message has to be told,then it is not worth it. It should come out naturally. Only thenyou truly succeed as a filmmaker. With any piece of art, whatmatters is how the audience perceives it. As long as there is some-thing positive for the audience, I think maybe I have done some-thing worthwhile as a filmmaker. nWhich is your favourite scene from the movie?

Every single frame is my child. I love every bit of it. Thereis nothing I don’t like about Kahaani 2. The process of filmmakingis an exhilarating experience. It was great fun. I can't single outa particular scene from it but everything has been a satisfyingexperience. nThe style of storytelling looks different...

The film needed a lot more finesses. It had required a lot oflife experiences. I don’t think I could make Kahaani 2 at the start-ing of my career. The film demanded a lot of new things fromme as a maker and from Vidya as an actor. Which probably afilm like Jhankar Beats didn’t. It forced us to think, talk and cap-ture the scenes in a certain way. All this was new. nWhat was the biggest challenge?

To jump from one scene to another is a challenge becausethis film is mentally demanding. When you are writing the script,you can take your time. It took us over two years to write this.Only in shooting, it doesn't allow you those breaks. nHow was your experience working with Vidya Balan?

She is a far better human being than an actress. She is some-one who shares responsibility and whenever I make a film withher, I almost give all my responsibility of filmmaking to her. Sheis promoting the film 24 X7. Her sense of responsibility and loy-alty towards the film is unprecedented. nAre thrillers close to your heart?

Thriller is a misogamy according to me. I don’t think thrillershave to have a murder, riddle, clues. There is a certain defini-tion we give to the thriller. For me any movie which keeps meengaged is a thriller. Any film, even if you are watching RishikeshMukherjee’s film Golmaal or Qayamat Se Qawamat Tak, I thinkit is a thriller because every scene is making me want to see themore of that film. Every scene is asking me what will happennext. It engages me as an audience. I have to treat every movielike a thriller to keep my audience engaged. nDid you consider making a sequel of Kahaani?

No, I never thought to make a sequel or make Kahaani 2 tobetter the previous one. The first part was for the audience tocherish and I didn’t want to mess up with it otherwise peoplewould have never forgiven me. Jootey padte mujhe uske liye. Whenwe released the trailer, there was a thought whether this trailerwill be good and the audience treat it as a separate individualmovie or not. That gives me a lot of confidence. People will seeit as an independent film and not a comparison to the first one.nDo we get to see another kahaani?

Honestly, it’s too early to say. It all depends on the script. Ifwe get a script which we thing. Can be made into Kahaani 3,then we will leave everything to make it happen. But till then,it’s very hard to commit to anything.nHow much demonetisation has affected the industry?

I am sure it has affected but life goes on. I can’t sit and worryabout it. Worrying doesn’t pay my bills. That’s my basic fundaof life. I am at a point in life where I have to pay bills. Right now,I am an individual who is responsible for other lives also. Jo hotahai hone do. Hum manage ker lenge. The change comes with lit-tle problems. Only time shall tell if the change is good or bad.We have to allow sometime.

Director SUJOY GHOSH speaks toSANGEETA YADAV about his next project,Kahaani 2 & why it is not a sequel of the original

‘Love everything

about Kahaani 2’

Music has always played animportant role. Be it Bollywoodfilms or Indian classical music.

Both, over the years, have seen a grad-ual change. More so, in films. Today,there as many Indian bands as there are

foreign bands coming to India to per-form. There are artistes who

are coming out with theirsingles (indie music), try-ing to make a mark forthemselves in the inter-national music scene.

Is this change forthe better? Are pre-sent-day chordsstriking the rightnote? Some of themusic has foundtakers since thereare so many plat-forms availablewhere one canrelease one’smusic.

“There havebeen many changes

since I arrived onthe scene. But then I

started my career at avery young age in 1981.

At that time there werestill live recordings. Therewas a time when I record-ed a couple of songs withLaxmikant–Pyarelalji atMehboob Studios with120 musicians. Then Isaw the advent of digitaland disappearing of ana-logue recordings, two-inch spools etc. Nextcame pitch correctingand taal correcting soft-wares. So, I have seen alot and have been luckyto have worked withstalwarts in the pastand today. A lot haschanged where con-certs are also con-cerned. They havebecome bigger and

more sophisticated. AsIndia is progressing sois the entertainmentindustry,” SonuNigam, one of the

judges of the Indian Idol 9, says.To dwell in the past or compare the

past with the present saying present isbad is not what Nigam believes in . “Ifone is a negative person, one will seeonly bad. I am not the kind of personwho glorifies only the past and criticisethe present. I believe is it bhagwan kiraza. I look at the brighter side. Theolder scenario has to take a back seat.Today, there are too many singers andcomposers. There was a time when therewas only one composer who worked ina movie. There are a lot of singers aswell. I don’t sing as often I used to.Today, people have their own set-upsand age brackets. Many composers arecomfortable working with singers whoare assisting them in their concerts. Eachhas his independent set-up. So, I amgrateful that I am still doing a lot ofwork,” Nigam says.

Indie music, the best thing to havehappened to singers, has receivedits biggest jolt because radiodoesn’t play that kind ofmusic. People no longer buyCDs. “Music should not besolely dependent on films.I have done a lot of inde-pendent music, the recentbeing Crazy dil which hasKailash Kher, SunilGrover, my son and FarahKhan on board. The songhas got many hits. Peoplehear it on YouTube and thenthey forget about it,” Nigam says.

What about the artistes singingEnglish songs? Usha Uthup hadsung in English many yearsback. People have sungin all languages inIndia. The exposureis much more.“One will keepseeing somethingnew. My son singsin English. Everygeneration brings insomething new. That is whatkeeps music cued in on life,” saysNigam who never plans. He wantsto go with the flow.

Anu Malik opines that music ismusic whatever be the platform.Anyone can compose music any-where and release it since technolo-

gy has advanced so much. Initially, onehad to depend on a producer, a direc-tor or an audio company. Today if onecomposes a great song and gets the hits,he is a star overnight. There are web-series; there are people who are per-forming live and the audience love them.But films will be films since Bollywoodis such a huge platform. It is great to seeyour song being picturised on a ShahRukh Khan, Salman Khan or AamirKhan. But independent music is greattoo, as is the concept of filmmakers tak-ing in five composers for their movies.Change is necessary and one has toaccept it or one will get lost,” Malik says.It is debatable whether it is the musicthat drives the movie or vice-versa, headds.

“In India, there are many peoplewho watch a film for its songs since thescores get released first. These movies

become hits fortheir music.

On the other hand, there are films thathave only one song and they too becomehuge hits. It also depends on the storyand the performance of actors, if youhave a great story music follows. Sonepe suhaga are actors like SRK or RanveerSingh or Ranbir Kapoor and evenVarun Dhawan today. Their movies andthe music in them do well,” Malik says.

He tells you that even though somegreat music was being made in the 60sand the 70s, he loves challenges and,therefore, works with the younger lot ofdirectors and composers.

“A lot of emphasis is laid on soundproduction. I come from a schoolwhere I made a mukhda that could behummed by you. I have worked withgreat writers like Gulzar sahab, AnandBakshi and Javed Akhtar. It is great tohave such poets and lyricists. I believein moving with the times. I don’t knowabout the youngsters. I suppose it is toeach his own,” Malik says.

Nothing, he says, annoys him aboutyouth music since he, too, was a 23-year-old once. “I am no one to advise any-one because I also learnt from my mis-takes. I don’t believe in mera timekamaal ka thha, meine aisa kiya, vaisakiya. These are wrong statements tomake. With time, one changes. There areevergreen singers like Lata Mangeshkar.

Then there were singers likeMohammed Rafi, Kishore

Kumar, etc who I grew uplistening to. Today’s

generation has itsidols too.Tomorrow therewill be newicons. So, it isbest to f lowwith thetimes,” Maliksays.

nWhy did you decide to be a part ofArrival?

I wasn’t planning on taking on any newprojects. I didn’t know what I was going tobe doing next and it was at a time when I real-ly wanted to take a break and just be a moth-er for a while. Then I read this script. It spoketo me really deeply in the core of who I amand I felt that I really had to do it.nWas script the only reason you weredrawn to the movie?

No. Denis Villeneuve is another reason.Once I had read the script and really lovedthe character, I sat down with him. The wayhe saw it was how I read, which isn’t alwaysthe case, so he really wanted to tell it as anintimate story of this woman, it just happensto be placed in this amazing sci-fi universe.I knew it would have a really deep heart. Hehad such a wonderful way of describing tome what the aliens would look like and howthe language would be expressed - he’s a veryspecial director, a very special man. nTell us about your character.

I play a linguist (Louise), who is hired byUS Government to interact with the audience.When the audience first meets her, she isdealing with the loss of her daughter. nDid you undergo any special preparationfor the role?

I met with a linguist to prepare for therole and what a linguist actually does. Irealised it’s impossible to learn everything alinguist knows. The things that helped meand freed me is that there are different typesof linguistics. The one I spoke to onlyspeaks two languages so that freed me up.Though my character speaks a couple of lan-guages, she studies the anthropological sig-nificance of language and culture, how peo-

ple speak to one another, and how languagesoriginate. I did a lot of reading, and realisedI wouldn’t be a good linguist, but I found itfascinating and really enjoyed that aspect.nWhat do you have to say about commu-nicating with someone whose language youdo not understand?

I do think about languages and how theyinform society. But I have learnt a lot frommy daughter. I have brought her to severaldifferent countries now for work. Watchingher and other children, who can’t speak thesame language but end up communicating,figuring out what words they have in com-mon naturally, you start to learn that com-munication and language are based on somuch more than the words we speak. I start-ed seeing it from that point of view and thatwas great.

‘LANGUAGE IS MORE THAN JUST WORDS’

AMY ADAMS, who plays a linguist in the movie Arrival, talks about whatmade her take up this project and the preparation she underwent for the role

SHALINI SAKSENA catches up with Anu Malik and Sonu Nigam, who were in the Capital recently forthe auditions of Indian Idol 9. They talk about the changing face of music in the country

CHANGE IS THE RIGHT NOTE

centre vs judiciary on lakshman rekha

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