PATNA: Bihar on Saturdaywitnessed the ‘longesthuman chain ever made’ tosupport the prohibitionenforced in the State sinceApril last year. ChiefMinister Nitish Kumarwho, along with otherleaders participated in the45-minute-long chain,termed it “historic andunprecedented,” but someschool students in variousparts of the State werereported to have fallenunconscious after standingin the queue for long.

“Over three crorepeople participated in thehuman chain across theState to airm theircommitment to theprohibition. The humanchain has been historicand unprecedented,” Mr.Kumar told journalists.Earlier, Mr. Kumar reachedPatna’s Gandhi Maidanand joined hands withruling alliance partnerslike Rashtriya Janata Dal

chief Lalu Prasad Yadavand other leaders. Leadersof the Bharatiya JanataParty and the LokJanshakti Party alsoparticipated in the chain.

The State governmenthad called for theformation of human chain,said to be the world’slongest, to createawareness of prohibitionand alcohol addiction.Over three crore peopleparticipated in the chain,stretching 11,400 km in allthe 38 districts of the State,said government oicials.

Three Indian SpaceResearch Organisationsatellites and 38 dronesand helicopters weredeployed to document it.

“It was the longesthuman chain organised fora social cause,” added Mr.Kumar.

Earlier, the longestchains were formed inBangladesh and Nepal, butthey were about 1,000km-1,100 km long, he said.

Teams from the LimcaBook of Records and otheragencies were at hand todocument the chain.

Bihar supports prohibition with‘the world’s longest human chain’ Three crore people from all 38 districts formed 11,400-km-long chain

School students forming part of the chain at GandhiMaidan in Patna on Saturday. — PHOTO: RANJEET KUMAR

AMARNATH TEWARY

CMYK

ND-ND

WEEKEND EDITION • Delhi

Printed at Chennai, Coimbatore, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Madurai, Noida, Visakhapatnam, Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Vijayawada, Mangaluru, Tiruchirapalli, Kolkata, Hubballi, Mohali, Allahabad, Malappuram and Mumbai

www.thehindu.in ● Weekly Edition ● Regd. DL(ND)-11/6110/2006-07-08 ● RNI No. TNENG/2012/49939 ● ISSN 0971 - 751X ● Vol. 7 ● No. 3 ● CITY EDITION ● 26 Pages ● Rs. 8.00

sunday, january 22, 2017

SUNDAY MAGAZINE6 Pages

CLASSIFIEDSPages 6 & 7

BRIEFLY

CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu gov-ernment on Saturdaystepped up preparations forthe conduct of jallikattu inMadurai and other parts ofthe State on Sunday morningfollowing the Governor’s ap-proval for the ordinance pro-posing amendments to thePrevention of Cruelty to An-imals Act (1960).

Announcing that the sportwill be held across the State,Chief Minister O. Pan-neerselvam said he wouldflag of the event at 10 a.m. inAlanganallur, Madurai.Other Ministers are expec-ted to inaugurate events intheir respective districts.

Plea to public

“I urge the youths, stu-dents and the general publicto make the jallikattu eventsacross Tamil Nadu a grandsuccess by participating inlarge numbers,” the Chief

Minister said on Saturday.Even as Madurai Collector

K. Veera Raghava Rao held ameeting with jallikattu or-ganisers of Alanganallur andPalamedu, protesters acrossthe State refused to call oftheir stir, demanding that a“permanent solution” to the

issue of holding jallikattuevents be found.

An oicial release fromthe Raj Bhavan said that con-sidering “the sentiments ofTamils and to protect theircultural right and having re-gard to the grave and volatilesituation prevailing in the

State and in the best interestof maintaining law and or-der,” it had been decided topromulgate the Preventionof Cruelty to Animals (TamilNadu Amendment) Ordin-ance, 2017.

Governor clearsordinance; moreevents to be heldacross State

CM to flag of jallikattu inMadurai, but stir continues

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

BULLISH ABOUT JALLIKATTU: K. Selvaraj of Koothappar village, near Tiruchi, kisses his bull afterhearing about the ordinance on Saturday.— PHOTO: M. MOORTHY

� CONTINUED ON PAGE 12

KOLKATA: Three Lashkar-e-Taibamilitants, including twoPakistani nationals arrested bythe BSF in 2007 from theIndia-Bangladesh border atPetrapole, were sentenced todeath by a court at Bongaon inWest Bengal on Saturday forwaging war against thegovernment.

Three LeT militantssentenced to death

� NATION | PAGE 9

LUCKNOW: Ambika Chaudhary,senior Samajwadi Party leaderand close aide of MulayamSingh, on Saturday resignedfrom all party posts and joinedthe Bahujan Samaj Party. BSPchief Mayawati said he wouldcontest the Assembly electionsfrom Ballia, Phephana.

Mulayam aide jumpsship, joins BSP

� NEWS | PAGE 12

NEW DELHI: The Labour Ministryhas sought a fourfold increase inthe threshold limit for deductionof tax on provident fundwithdrawals from the existing₨50,000 to ₨2 lakh in the UnionBudget. If the proposal gets thego-ahead, one can withdrawprovident fund savings of up to₨2 lakh without tax deductioneven if one has not completedfive years of continuous service.

Tax deduction limit forPF withdrawal to go up

� BUSINESS | PAGE 15

BHOPAL: Earlier this month,Nida Khan (name changed)began her year-long intern-ship at Bhopal’s All India In-stitute of Medical Sciences(AIIMS). She is among thefirst batch of students sincethe Institute — modelled onIndia’s premier medicalcentre in Delhi — wasopened in 2012. However,Nida and the rest of herbatchmates are a nervous lot.

They are finishing fourand a half years of MBBStraining without having as-sisted in surgeries, deliver-ing babies or even handlingemergency cases. In fact, 13of the 47 students have not

yet passed all the requiredcourses.

Ms. Khan, a final year stu-dent, told The Hindu [thatgiven her grades] she couldhave studied at any institutein the country but choseAIIMS, Bhopal. And it is adecision she regrets.

Promises belied

“My rankings allowed meto pick any medical collegeexcept AIIMS, Delhi. I chosethis college on the assurancethat it will be up and runningin three or four months. Ourfirst and second year wasmostly theory, so we as-sumed it would be fine bythe time we came to the thirdyear. We have now finished

our MBBS degree and arestarting out internships. Wehave witnessed proceduresbut completely missed prac-tical lessons in the surgery,gynaecology and casualtydepartments,” she said.

While Ms. Khan is reluct-ant to say more, other stu-dents have expressed theirdispleasure at the state of af-fairs.

On September 17, 2016,when Union Health Minister

J.P. Nadda visited the cam-pus, his car was blocked bystudents, hoping he wouldgive them a hearing on theinfrastructural deficienciesat the institute. Their hopeswere belied. Frustrated, thestudents flung ink at theHealth Minister, who wasquickly whisked away.

Lacks basics

Thirteen years after thefoundation stone was laid

and five years after the firstbatch of students was admit-ted, Bhopal’s AIIMS is yet toget a licence to open a bloodbank. Without a blood bank,the emergency departmentcannot be operational. Other

during the second half. Not asingle one of my students haslearnt these practical skillsor assisted in surgery. Theyhave only observed surger-ies in other hospitals.”

At AIIMS, Bhopal, thepractice has been to takebatches of four students tonearby government hospit-als and get them to watchhow operating theatreswork. This is not the same asassisting and learning, addedthe faculty member. In thecase of the gynaecology de-partment, senior doctorsferry students to a nearbymaternity hospital — theSultania Zanana Haspatal —where they “visit” the labourroom and watch a Caesareansection being performed.

crucial departments like sur-gery and gynaecology arenot functional either. All ofwhich, students say, has af-fected their learning.

Some faculty membersshare the students’ frustra-tion. Explained a professor,requesting anonymity, “Toget into AIIMS is not easy.These are among the bright-est students in the country.From the third year on, stu-dents are supposed to spendthe first half of their day inhospital, learning practicalskills, and attending lectures

Students will graduate without practical skillsdue to the absence of operation theatres

Hands of — AIIMS, Bhopal, medicos operate on dummies

VIDYA KRISHNAN

Students of AIIMS, Bhopal, take out a rally to protest the delayin providing them better infrastructure. — FILE PHOTO: A. M. FARUQUI SUNDAY SPECIAL

� CONTINUED ON PAGE 12

Five years after thefirst batch wasadmitted, AIIMS isyet to get a licenceto open a blood bank

LUCKNOW/NEW DELHI: Barring alast-minute reversal,chances of a SamajwadiParty-Congress alliance inUttar Pradesh look increas-ingly dim after the two sidesfailed to agree on distribu-tion of seats in the 403-mem-ber Assembly.

With the SP oiciallyscheduled to release its elec-tion manifesto on Sundaymorning, a formal decisionon the alliance also is expec-ted by then.

The SP on Friday snubbedthe Congress by releasing alist of more than 200 candid-ates, including 10 seats withsitting Congress MLAs andseats in the Nehru-Gandhipocket boroughs of Amethiand Rae Bareli.

At the end of day of hecticparleys, including a longmeeting between Congressstrategist Prashant Kishorand U.P. Chief Minister andSP chief Akhilesh Yadav,sources said the SP was will-ing to stretch the Congress’share to 100-110 seats.

The Congress has been de-manding nothing less than120 seats.

Samajwadi-Cong. stand-of on U.P.seats continues

OMAR RASHID

VIKAS PATHAK

� ‘STUBBORN CONGRESSSCUTTLING TIE-UP’ | PAGE 12

NEW DELHI/KARACHI: Army sol-dier Chandu BabulalChavan, who had inadvert-ently crossed into Pakistan inSeptember, returned to Indiavia the Wagah border on Sat-urday evening.

“As a gesture of goodwilland in continuation of our ef-forts to maintain peace andtranquillity along LoC andworking boundary, SepoyChandu Babulal has beenconvinced to return to hisown country and will behanded over to Indian au-thorities at Wagah on hu-manitarian grounds,” thePakistan Army said in a state-ment. The Indian Army saidits representatives received

Sepoy Chavan at approxim-ately 3.45 p.m.

The news of the 22-year-old soldier crossing overemerged just hours after In-dia claimed in September tohave carried out surgicalstrikes across the Line ofControl on terror camps.Pakistan acknowledged hispresence in its custody onOctober 7.

The Army said SepoyChavan had crossed over toPakistan-occupied Kashmirfrom the Krishna Ghati sec-tor on September 29. “To en-sure his release, the matterwas taken up with Pakistanimilitary authorities,” it said.

Jawan, who crossedover into Pak., returnedSPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

� HE WILFULLY CROSSEDOVER, SAYS PAK. | PAGE 12

WASHINGTON: Donald Trump,inaugurated as the 45th Pres-ident of the U.S. on Friday,spent only a few minutes inthe Oval Oice on his firstday, but signalled his determ-ination to undo the legacy ofhis predecessor BarackObama.

He signed an executive or-der to roll back certain as-pects of the Afordable CareAct, popularly known asObamacare, a healthcare pro-gramme that he has vowed torepeal. The new White Housewebsite — that came alivemoments after Mr. Trumptook oath — has no mentionof climate change or civilrights, issues that Mr. Obamachampioned.

Mr. Trump’s day beganwith a prayer and ended witha dance, before he returned tothe White House close tomidnight. The drapes in theOval Oice were crimsonwhen Mr. Obama left it for thelast time in the morning;when Mr. Trump entered itfor the first time in the even-ing, they were gold, the fa-vourite colour of the newPresident.

A Martin Luther King Jr.bust that Mr. Obama hadplaced in the room remains,but Mr. Trump has broughtback another bust that theformer President had re-moved — of WinstonChurchill. Mr. Trump has alsoadded a third one — of TeddyRoosevelt, a Republican Pres-ident who cracked the whipon America’s buccaneer cap-italists in early 20th Century.

“And, today we had a greatday. People that weren’t sonice to me were saying thatwe did a really good job today.They hated to do it, but theydid it. And I respect that,” Mr.Trump said at one of threeballs that he attended in theevening.

First day: Trump rollsback parts of Obamacare VARGHESE K. GEORGE

� PRESIDENT TRUMP SIGNSAPPOINTMENTS | PAGE 14

Donald Trump in the WhiteHouse on Friday. — PHOTO: AFP

Chandu Babulal Chavan being received by BSF personnel on the Wagah-Attari border on Saturday. — PHOTO: PTI

NEW DELHI: Nearly 85,000personnel of the Central armedpolice forces will travel 3,000km in 40 days to ensure thepeaceful conduct of theAssembly elections in fiveStates. The Home Ministry andthe Election Commission haveset up a 24/7 control room tomonitor their movement.

85,000 personnel deputed for poll duty

� NEWS | PAGE 13

NEW DELHI: A man who al-legedly made a call to miss-ing Jawaharlal Nehru Uni-versity student NajeebAhmed’s relatives demand-ing ₨20 lakh in ransom for hisrelease has been arrested.The call turned out to bebogus.

The accused, whose iden-tity is still not clear, is a resid-ent of Maharajganj in UttarPradesh and is being broughtto the Capital on transit re-mand by a Crime Branchteam.

“The man is being broughtto Delhi on transit remandthis evening. We do not havehis name as he is attemptingto conceal his identity byidentifying himself with dif-ferent names and particularsevery time he is asked,” said asenior Crime Branch oicial.

Najeeb went missing fromthe campus under mysteri-ous circumstances on Octo-ber 15 following an alterca-tion with members of theAkhil Bharatiya VidyarthiParishad. The police still donot have any credible leadsin the case.

Man held forransom call toNajeeb’s kin

STAFF REPORTER

CHANDIGARH: AAP nationalconvener and Delhi ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwal onSaturday requested the Elec-tion Commission to with-draw his security during hisvisits to Punjab, where he hasbeen busy with campaigningahead of the Assembly elec-tions slated for February 4.

In a letter addressed toPunjab’s Chief Electoral of-ficer V.K. Singh, Mr. Kejriwalsaid, “I have noticed that dur-ing my tours to Punjab, alarge number of police per-sonnel are deployed for mysecurity, which, in my view,is not required and I want thewithdrawal of the securityprovided to me”.

‘Poor law and order’

“Our clear position is thatgiven the poor law and ordersituation in Punjab, all the se-curity apparatus shall be de-ployed for the safety and se-curity of people of State,” hewrote.

“I request you to take thisdecision to restore the con-fidence of the people,” he ad-ded.

Mr. Kejriwal said all AAP

candidates had already madeit clear that they did not re-quire the security providedto them.

The candidates have filedaidavits to the respectivereturning oicers, statingthat they did not need the se-curity.

Kejriwal wants hissecurity scaled downSPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

PANAJI: The Election Commis-sion of India on Friday cen-sured the National Convenorof the Aam Aadmi PartyArvind Kejriwal for violatingpara 1(4) of the model codeof conduct and making state-ments to the efect of abet-ting bribery in a public meet-ing held at Mapusa in theBardez taluk of north Goa onJanuary 8.

The Commission haswarned Mr. Kejriwal of sternaction, should similar viola-tions occur in future.

Poll panel rapsAAP chiefPRAKASH KAMAT

� DETAILS ON ELECTIONWATCH | PAGE 13

PESHAWAR: A powerfulexplosion on Saturday rippedthrough a market in northwestPakistan’s Kurram tribal agency,killing at least 25 people.

25 killed in Pakistanmarket blast

� WORLD | PAGE 14

2 |THE HINDU SUNDAY, JANUARY 22, 2017

NOIDA/DELHI

CITYWhat ails Mustafabad, cancer or neglect?

As number of cancer cases rise in north-east Delhi’sMustafabad, area MLA claims officials not taking actiondespite his complaint Page 4

Boating shut for over 100 days now

Closed for over 100 days, Delhiites are missing out on thepopular boat ride offered at Purana Quila even asauthorities say they aren’t sure when it will re-open Page 5

Calling all readers to connect with us for all things Delhi at

twitter - @DelhiConnect www.facebook.com/NewDelhiConnect

DELHICONNECT

DEBORAH CORNELIUS

FAR FROM SCARY: This film is the perfect example of a project grossly underestimating its audience. PHOTO: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

A good horror film will try to neverreveal the ghost haunting its prot-agonists. Instead, it will make theaudience fear the unknown, usingcamera tricks, music and eeriecinematography to create an envir-onment that’s conducive to terror.Of course, the Japanese take theirparanormal genre of films, knownas J-Horror, rather seriously, oftenrevealing exactly what we ought tobe petrified of.

Underestimating audience

So it’s undoubtedly under-whelming when you come face toface with The Bye Bye Man in StacyTitle’s latest film. With a scratchedup, vein-y bald head and longgnarly fingers, this ghost is thepoverty-stricken cousin to FreddyKrueger (A Nightmare on ElmStreet), replete with a long blackcoat.

It’s the perfect example of an am-bitious film grossly underestimat-ing its audience. Using an old trope,The Bye Bye man starts of with astep back in time to the 1960s with aman inexplicably gunning downhis neighbours. Wielding hisweapon, the man keeps chanting“Don’t think it. Don’t say it”. Cut topresent and we’re introduced tothree 19-year- old-kids college kidsrenting a house to get away fromdorm life. Sasha (Cressida Bonas)and her boyfriend Elliot (DouglasSmith) move in with their friendJohn (Lucien Laviscount). Theirinitial days in the house are creepyenough, but then Elliot discovers,“Don’t’ say it. Don’t think it”,scrawled on the inside of a drawerin a nightstand. It also says onething on the back: ‘the Bye ByeMan’. Soon enough, all three starthallucinating seeing the things theyfear the most.

Essentially, the Bye Bye Man em-

beds himself into the mind of hisvictim, making them see things andliving of their fear. In the end, thealicted people take their own livesand the only way to stop him is tomake sure no one ever mentions hisname again.

In addition to this unpromisingpremise, The Bye Bye Man man-

ages to disappoint further still.Screenwriter Jonathan Penner ad-apted the film from a chapter titled“The Bridge to Body Island” inRobert Damon Schneck’s book ThePresident Vampire. But not once isthe Bye Bye Man’s existence ex-plained. What exactly does thisghost want? Is he vengeful or justplain evil?

Plus, he’s got a skinless bloodydog for a sidekick, probably theworst CGI rendition to ever bemade. Then there are mysteriousgold coins that keep falling ofevery surface. Oh, and obscure vis-ions of a running train that remainsunsolved.

Strange choices

The absurdity goes up a notchwhen bodies start to roll and the au-thorities get involved. In one in-

stance, detective Shaw (whathappened, Carrie-Anne Moss?) letsa suspect go after a cockamamiestory that wouldn’t never fly in reallife.

And then there are the actorswho can’t seem to stick to theircharacters’ personalities. Take El-liot, who in one moment is the epi-tome of rational thought, aiming toget to the truth and find a solution.In another, he’s happily singingalong to ‘Bye Bye Love’ by TheNewton Brothers & RandyCooke, a strange choice for a partic-ularly suspenseful setting.

How a film as ridiculous as TheBye Bye Man saw the light of day isbeyond this writer. It lacks a strongnarrative making things worse withan inept ghost and inferior actors. Icouldn’t be more emphatic: do notwatch The Bye Bye Man.

FILM REVIEW

Bordering onunintentionally funny,this horror film is bestavoided

Where are the chills?NEW DELHI: The annual India ArtFair is back in the city betweenFebruary 2 and February 5, thistime with a specially curatedsection titled ‘Platform’ thatwill focus on South Asian gal-leries, artists and artist collect-ives. The event will be held atthe NSIC grounds in Okhla.

Cultural discourse

It will include a Speakers’Forum that will promote a cul-tural discourse and have repres-entatives of museums fromacross the world talk on subjectslike the ‘Future of Museums’,‘The Art of Collecting’, ‘WhenTechnology meets Art’ and ‘Per-spectives from Networks ofSouth Asian Art’.

The event seeks to build onits outreach programme to de-velop a new generation of col-lectors across the region by fa-cilitating conversationsbetween collectors from Indiaand private collectors fromacross the globe.

Since its launch in 2008, theannual India Art Fair has be-come a platform to showcaseIndian art to the world andmore recently, it has cementedits status as a place that presentsand nurtures the best of SouthAsian talent.

Making use of the indoor andoutdoor space at the sprawlingNSIC grounds, the event willhost 16-art projects as well asunveil a new space, Vernacularin Flux, curated by AnnapurnaGarimella, which showcasesvernacular art with a focus onGond, Madhubani and Mysorepaintings.

Godrej India Culture Lab willbe organising a film programme‘Art on Film’ which will explorethe intersection between film-making and the visual arts in In-dia from the 1960s to the presentday. Some of the foreign galler-ies participating are KalfayanGalleries (Athens), Grey Noise(Dubai), 1x1 Gallery (Dubai),Sabrina Amrani (Madrid), andLukas Feichtner Galerie(Vienna).

Annual art fair set to returnJAIDEEPDEO BHANJ Since its launch in

2008, the fair has

become a platform

to showcase Indian

art to the world

CITY | 3THE HINDU SUNDAY, JANUARY 22, 2017

NOIDA/DELHI

D E L H I

Jan 22, Sun Jan 23, Mon Jan 24, Tue

RISE 07 14 SET 17 52 RISE 07 13 SET 17 53 RISE 07 13 SET 17 54

RISE 02 14 SET 13 31 RISE 03 06 SET 14 11 RISE 03 57 SET 14 55

Disclaimer: Readers are requested to verify &make appropriate enquiries to satisfythemselves about the veracity of an adver-tisement before responding to any published inthis newspaper. Kasturi & Sons Limited, thePublisher & Owner of this newspaper, does notvouch for the authenticity of any advertisementor advertiser or for any of the advertiser’s pro-ducts and/or services. In no event can theOwner, Publisher, Printer, Editor, Director/s,Employees of this newspaper/company be heldresponsible/liable in any manner whatsoever forany claims and/or damages for advertisementsin this newspaper.

Music and Talk: Hindustani classicalvocal recital by Pt. Yashpaul of theAgra Kharana; sitar recital by GauravMazumdar, followed by a lecture onUstad Yunus Hussain Khan’s musi-cianship by Arif Hussain Khan, atAmaltas Hall, India Habitat Centre(IHC), 7 p.m.

Dance and Talk: “Classical Dance:The Future We Want”: dancers GeetaChandran and Aditi Mangaldas to ex-plore the future they want throughtheir dialogue, interaction anddemonstration, at C.D. DeshmukhAuditorium, India InternationalCentre (IIC), 6:30 p.m.

Music: “Swar Prabhat - Bhor ki raagraagniya”, a morning of Hindustaniclassical music, at MeghdootTheatre, Rabindra Bhavan, Coperni-cus Marg, Mandi House, 8 a.m.

Exhibition: “Samay - A Photo Jour-

ney”, a photography exhibition byRitu Jhingon at Visual Arts Gallery,India Habitat Centre (IHC), 11 a.m. – 7p.m.Exhibition: “Parsing – The Mind’sEye”, a show of glass and light byVijay Kowshik, at Main Art Gallery,Kamaladevi Complex, Main Building,India International Centre (IIC), 11a.m. – 7 p.m.Art: 7th All India Digital Art Exhibi-tion, at All India Fine Arts & CraftSociety (AIFACS), 1, Rafi Marg, 11 a.m.– 7 p.m.Paintings: “Tell-Tales”: Nalini MisraTyabji and Bakula Nayak bring shortstories through their paintings, atAcademy of Fine Arts & Literature(AFAL), 4/6, Sirifort InstitutionalArea, 11 a.m. – 7 p.m.(Mail your listings for this column atcityeditordelhi@thehindu.co.in)

DELHI TODAY

NEW DELHI: An employee of theNew Delhi Municipal Coun-cil (NDMC) allegedly com-mitted suicide by consumingpoison at his oice in southDelhi’s Sarojini Nagar onFriday.

The deceased, identifiedas Assistant Sanitary In-spector Harpal Singh (58),had purportedly attemptedto save himself after takingthe poison by rushing to ahospital in Chanakyapuri.He, however, died duringtreatment.

The police said the incid-ent was reported to them bythe hospital authoritiesaround 7 p.m. As per hisautopsy report, he died dueto a cardiac arrest.

Singh allegedly left behinda suicide note, in which heblamed problems at hisworkplace for ending his life.

Message to colleagues

“Hum log yahan naukrikarne aaye hain kisi ki bhihimmat hai ki humko naukrise hata de to fir hum kyonkisi se darte hain ya gulamikarte hain? Main aap ko yekeh kar jaa raha hoon anyay

ke aage kabhi mat jhuko”(We have come here to work,nobody can take our jobs.Then why we are afraid ofanybody or why should weact like their slaves? I amleaving this world by askingyou to never give up to in-justice) Singh wrote in thenote addressed to hiscolleagues.

The police are trying to as-certain the veracity of thesuicide note.

His family members, how-ever, said he was indeed be-ing harassed by NDMC oi-cials and forced to put in longhours at work every day.

“He was forced to work for18-20 hours every day. His su-pervising oicers used to askhim to engage sanitary work-ers and even forced him toclean railway tracks andareas that did not fall underhis jurisdiction. My unclewas depressed because of allthis,” said Singh’s nephewSachin.

Family wants justice

He added that the familywas hoping that the NDMCoicials responsible for theharassment would bebrought to book.

Reached for comments,NDMC spokesperson, M.S.Sehrawat, said, “The policeare investigating the caseand the NDMC will act ac-cordingly if need be.”

The sole breadwinner ofhis family, Singh is survivedby his wife, Usha, and fivechildren.

He was posted in the ND-MC’s health department, andis reported to have beendeputed at the helm of a localprogramme in line with theSwachh Bharat Abhiyan.

Suicide note blames problems at work

‘Stressed’ civicoicial kills selfSTAFF REPORTER

NEW DELHI: No heavy trucks, ex-cept those ferrying essentialgoods, will be allowed to enterthe Capital from neighbouringGurugram on Monday in viewof the full-dress rehearsal ofRepublic Day Parade, said theHaryana Police.

Similar restrictions will be

in force on January 26. While announcing the same

here on Saturday, a HaryanaPolice spokesperson said therestriction on the plying ofheavy vehicles would remainin force from 8:30 p.m. onSunday to 12:30 p.m. on Janu-ary 23 as well as from 8:30 p.m.on January 25 to 12:30 p.m. onJanuary 26.

R-Day: heavy trucks fromGurugram cannot enter citySTAFF REPORTER

NEW DELHI: The NarcoticsControl Bureau (NCB) onFriday arrested four per-sons allegedly carrying 14kilograms of hashish.

A senior NCB oicialsaid the accused were sup-plying drugs in Uttar Pra-desh and Haryana’sFaridabad.

The arrests were madewhen three people aboarda vehicle were interceptednear the Jahangirpurimetro station.

Vehicle searched

A search of the vehicleled to the recovery of thehashish concealed in theback seat. Subsequentquestioning of the occu-pants led the NCB team tolearn that the contrabandhad been sourced fromKatrain village in Himach-al’s Kullu valley.

The trio later led theNCB to a fourth person,Gopal, in Faridabad. Theoicial said Gopal was thealleged recipient of thecache. “The interceptedvehicle belonged to Gopal.The four people have beenarrested under the provi-sions of the Narcotic Drugsand Psychotropic Sub-stances (NDPS) Act,” NCBZonal Director (Delhi)Madho Singh said.

The oicial added thatthe agency had launchedan inter-State operationtwo ago to crack down ondrugs.

14 kg hashishseized, four held

STAFF REPORTER

NEW DELHI: Although the Cent-ral government has given itsnod to an ordinance allow-ing jallikattu, people protest-ing at Jantar Mantar here aredemanding a permanentsolution to the ban.

The group at JantarMantar, which comprisesstudents and professionalsfrom Delhi and Chennai,said: “This ordinance is validonly for six months. Wewant a permanent solution,whereby the Central govern-ment amends the Preven-tion of Cruelty to AnimalsAct and ban PETA.”

Group expresses solidarity

They also expressed theirsolidarity with protesters

camping at Chennai’s Mar-ina Beach.

Stating that the senti-ments and culture of Tamili-ans cannot be compromisedat any cost, they said: “Wecannot keep coming backevery six months to claimsomething that is an integralpart of our culture. The gov-ernment cannot turn a blindeye to our justifieddemands.’’

The group maintainedthat the ‘struggle’ is going togo on till the government

brings about a permanentsolution. ‘

Protest gathers praise

Meanwhile, this largelyapolitical, peaceful move-ment by the people has re-ceived praise for setting aprecedent in portraying civildissent, though several ar-gue that it could also set adangerous precedent, ofamending laws to commen-surate with publicsentiment.

Earlier in the day, theHome Ministry cleared theordinance after the LawMinistry approved the draftordinance proposed by theTamil Nadu government toenable resumption of the an-cient bull-taming sport ofjallikattu.

Jallikattu ordinance ‘not enough’,protesters seek permanent solution BINDU SHAJAN PERAPPADAN

SIMMERING RESENTMENT: Protesters raise slogans agains jallikattu ban, at Jantar Mantar onSaturday. PHOTO: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR

He was forced towork for 18-20 hoursevery day. Hissupervising officerseven forced him toclean railway tracksand areas that didnot fall under hisjurisdiction

The protesters saidthe Centre shouldamend the Preventionof Cruelty to AnimalsAct and ban PETA

CMYK

ND-ND

CITY4 |THE HINDU SUNDAY, JANUARY 22, 2017

NOIDA/DELHI

NEW DELHI: On a hot April af-ternoon last year, Noornisawas stitching a pair of freshlydyed denims at her home inShiv Vihar in north-east Del-hi’s Mustafabad area whenshe felt severe pain in herlower abdomen. After sev-eral tests, the doctors atGuru Tegh Bahadur (GTB)Hospital told her that shehad stage II ovarian cancer.

The 52-year-old worker,who swears to have neverconsumed any form of to-bacco or alcohol, is still clue-less about the cause of thecancer. “We don’t eat out aswe cannot aford it. I drinkonly two cups of tea a day.Even the doctors do notknow what caused the dis-ease,” she said. Noornisa isno stranger to cancer. In fact,there is a cancer patient ineach of the three houses nextto hers. In the three lanes ofShiv Vihar Phase VI, whereshe lives, The Hindu cameacross 11 cancer cases; two ofthe patients had died in lasttwo months.

Letter to govt

Concerned about thegrowing number of healthcomplaints of the residents,the area MLA, Jagdish Pra-dhan, raised the issue in therecently held Assembly ses-sion. He even wrote a letterto the Delhi government twomonths ago, asking it to shutdown of the illegal unitsdealing in dyeing and acidwashing of denims. Theseunits are mostly run by thefamilies living in the areafrom their homes.

“Many residents of myconstituency are severelysufering from polluted airand water as highly activechemicals are used for col-ouring of jeans,” he wrote inhis letter. Mr. Pradhan saidthese units have become asafety hazard for everyone,but the oicials aren’t takingany action. “Most of theseunits are illegal. No safetymeasures are taken while us-ing the chemicals and the of-ficials have turned a blind

eye. The acid after dyeingthe jeans goes into the drainsand the toxic water flows.Cancer cases are going up inmy constituency,” he said.

The government oicialsin their defence say theyhave conducted surprisechecks and sealed some ofthe units, but they keepspringing up in some houseor the other.

No cancer data

There is no data on thenumber of cancer cases re-gistered from Mustafabad.Every hospital has to updatethe number of cancer pa-tients under National Can-cer Registry Programme, butDr. Sunil Kumar, RegionalDirector of Health Services(East) and Medical Directorof GTB Hospital, said thatcancer registry is not estab-

lished. “Earlier, it was no-ticed that most of the pa-tients came from thegangetic region. But nowthat pattern is not prevalent.Since the data is not updatedunder the Cancer Registryprogramme, one cannot con-clude. But if people are suf-

fering from diferent kinds ofcancer, it means that someenvironmental factor is play-ing a role,” said Dr Kumar.

Shiv Vihar, where most ofthe illegal colouring unitsare located, has a populationof over 80,000 people. Ac-cording to its residents, it is

among the ‘most backward’places in Delhi; the area isalso among the 90 minoritydistricts identified by theUPA government.

The streets of Shiv Viharsmell of sewage and there’san acute crisis of potable wa-ter as the area lacks public

water supply.

Workshop at home

The homes here double upas workshops -- from door todoor women can be seenworking on sewing ma-chines, packing lime powderand making cardboardboxes. Sudha, a 38-year-oldmother of two, lost her lefteye three years ago whilepacking lime powder. “Sevenpeople in our lane, doing thesame work, have lost eye-sight,” she said.

Environment experts haveexpressed concern over thehazards of the ever-growing“informal” market. In 2014,Toxics Link, an NGO, identi-fied 18 ‘potential hotspots’ inDelhi from where unorgan-ised small-scale industrieswere contaminating thecity's environment by re-leasing toxic pollutants.“Mustafabad is among thepotential hotspots. In theseareas, the toxics and chemic-als go directly in the ground,contaminating the soil, thewater and the air, as there isno infrastructure in place.There is bound to be impacton people’s health in theseareas and it shows in theform of some disease,” saidRavi Aggarwal of ToxicsLink.

“These areas are growingand it only proves poor im-plementation of governmentpolicies.”

Aware of risks

Noornisa’s neighbour,Furqan Begum, a 73-year-oldwoman, died of throat can-cer on January 2. Begum’shusband, Ahmed Raza,passed away on the samedate five years ago after bat-tling colon cancer. “In everyother house, someone is suf-fering from a disease,” saidNagma, Begum’s daughter-in law.

The families residing inShiv Vihar know of the risksinvolved in the kind of workthey do. Still Noornisa, whois undergoing chemother-apy, has not stopped work-ing. “At least, I can feed mychildren and die in peace.”

As the number of cancer cases rises, area MLA claims officials not taking action despite his complaint 2 months ago

What ails Mustafabad, cancer or neglect?MARIA AKRAM

TICKING BOMB: Many familiesliving in Shiv Vihar areengaged in dyeing and acidwashing of denims, whichexpose them to harmfulchemicals; (left) a stitchingworkshop operated from ahouse in the area. PHOTO: SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA

NEW DELHI: A non-profitorganisation on Fridayfiled a criminalcomplaint against DelhiChief Minister ArvindKejriwal, his brother-in-law and a governmentoicial in a court hereseeking lodging of anFIR.

‘Irregularities’

In the complaint,Rahul Sharma, founderof the Road Anti-CorruptionOrganisation, allegedcommission ofirregularities in theaward of contacts forconstruction of roadsand sewer lines by theChief Minister, hisbrother-in-law, SurenderKumar Bansal,proprietor of MessrsRenu Construction, andP.K. Kathuria, then PWDExecutive Engineerposted in north Delhi’sShalimar Bagh.

He has sought lodgingof a case against them forcheating, forgery andcriminal conspiracy.

“From the recordsretrieved and othersources, it has come outthat Mr. SurenderKumar Bansal operatesMessrs RenuConstruction Companyand various otherdummy companies inorder to obtain contractsby way of fraud incriminal connivancewith governmentservants posted atPWD,’’ the complaintalleged.

“Mr. Bansal in 2015-16had obtained a contractfor certain works whichwere never completed,whereas, shockingly, allthe payments werecleared under thepressure of Mr.Kejriwal,’’ the complaintfurther alleged.

Meanwhile, the ChiefMetropolitan Magistrate

at the Tis Hazari courtshas asked the DelhiPolice to file an action-taken report on an oldcomplaint accusing Mr.Kejriwal of misleadingpeople by stating thatthat the municipalcorporations were notunder the control of theState government.

‘CM misled people’

Earlier, complainantBrijesh Shukla submittedto the court documentsrelating to his allegationthat the Delhigovernment had spentover ₨42 lakh by givingadvertisements in 20newspapers in which themisleading statementwas made by Mr.Kejriwal. The counselfor the complainant hadearlier informed thecourt that in a reply to aRTI application, theDelhi government hadadmitted that a totalexpenditure of₨42,01,405 was incurredon givingadvertisements to thenewspapers on October30, 2015.

‘Register FIR’

The complainant hassought directions to theKarawal Nagar SHO toregister an FIR againstMr.Kejriwal underSection 406 (criminalbreach of trust) of theIPC.

Complaint againstCM, brother-in-lawNIRNIMESH KUMAR

NEW DELHI: Lieutenant-Gov-ernor Anil Baijal on Saturdayinspected the Bhalswa land-fill site, where he emphas-ised the need for moderntechnologies to managesolid waste.

“The L-G directed the Mu-nicipal Corporation to usemodern technologies to re-solve the problems at theearliest,” a statement issuedby the Raj Niwas read.

Close coordination

Mr. Baijal also directed theagencies concerned to workin coordination with DelhiPollution Control Commit-tee to tackle waste at the site.

Located in north-westDelhi, the 40-acre site isoverflowing with waste.About 2,700 tonnes ofgarbage collected from fourzones — City, Sadar Pa-harganj, Narela and KarolBagh — is dumped thereevery day.

Fires fed by waste are alsocommonplace at the site.

Ward councillor AjeetSingh Yadav said residentsaround the site had been suf-fering from breathing prob-lems for years, with com-plaints to the PrimeMinister, municipal oicialsand the agencies concerned

not leading to any change.

Hoping for the best

“People sufer due to thetoxic smell of garbage andthe constant burning ofwaste. The Lieutenant-Gov-ernor saw the gravity of thesituation, and we are hopefulthat there will be a solutionsoon,” said Mr. Yadav.

Oicials said Mr. Baijalwould preside over a meet-ing early next week regard-ing measures to be taken forproper solid waste manage-ment in the city. The issue ofthe Bhalswa landfill site islikely to discussed then.

Besides Mr. Baijal, thethree Commissioners of theMunicipal Corporations,Secretary (Power), Secret-

ary to the Lieutenant-Gov-ernor, oicers of the L-G’sSecretariat and the agenciesconcerned visited the site.

Later, the L-G reviewedthe progress of the SignatureBridge Project in Wazirabad.He also directed oicials tocompile monthly reports toensure the timely comple-tion of the bridge.

On Friday, the L-G had vis-ited the Delhi PoliceHeadquarters, and emphas-ised the need to connectwith the youth for efectivepolicing and to ensure thesafety of women and chil-dren.

Recently, he visited theDDA Headquarters, wherehe directed oicials to go foronline services.

Technology can solve problemsat Bhalswa landfill, says L-GSTAFF REPORTER

FLAMING HELL: The landfill site is overflowing with waste, whichoften leads to fires. FILE PHOTO: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR

Arvind Kejriwal

NEW DELHI: Hundreds of wo-men from Dwarka in south-west Delhi on Saturday cameout in support of #IWill-GoOut campaign, launchedon the social media inprotest against theBengaluru mass molestationcase.

The event was organisedin response to a call by vari-ous women organisations tohold programmes and ex-press solidarity with the vic-tims of the Bengaluru incid-ent on New Year’s Eve.

The theme of the functionwas to fight violence against

women and assert their rightto go out anywhere, any timeas they wish.

The programme saw mu-sic, song and dance perform-ances highlighting the rightsof women to live withoutfear and apprehensions.

Permit problem

The celebration was or-ganised on the premises of aprivate school as the DelhiPolice did not permit the or-ganisers to hold it at an openplace.

A group of 16 autonomousorganisations from Dwarkacame together to organisethe function at Sector 7. Ad-

dressing the gathering, DelhiCommission for Womenchairperson Swati Maliwallamented the pathetic stateof investigation and prosec-ution of accused in cases ofcrime against women.

Rights activist JagmatiSangwan in her address saidthe Bengaluru incident hadlowered the dignity of thecountry.

She also criticised theDelhi Police for not allowingthe organisers to hold thefunction in an open space.

Earlier in the day, a marchwas held from Barakhambato Jantar Mantar as part ofthe #IWillGoOut campaign.

Women come out in hordes to celebrate ‘right to go out’STAFF REPORTER

IN SOLIDARITY: Women lend support to #IWillGoOut campaign, in Dwarka on Saturday.PHOTO: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR

NEW DELHI: Sanitation workersof the cash-strapped EastDelhi Municipal Corpora-tion (EDMC) on Saturdayannounced that they wouldcarry out a two-wheeler rallyon January 27 to protestagainst the late payment ofsalaries.

The workers had gone onstrike from January 6 afternot being paid their salariesfor two months. They onlycalled of the strike, some onJanuary 9 and the remainingby January 16, when the Delhigovernment transferred

funds to the EDMC, allowingit to pay the workers. They,however, said that someworkers were yet to get theirsalaries and other demands,including payment of ar-rears, had not been met.

‘Permanent solution must’

“We are asking for a per-manent solution. Every fewmonths we are forced to goon a strike over late salaries.We want this issue to besettled once and for all,” saidSanjay Gehlot of the Swach-hta Karamchari Union. Therally will start at Trilokpuriand conclude at Gokalpuri.

EDMC yet to release arrears,sanitation staf plan rally STAFF REPORTER

NEW DELHI: The AAPgovernment has told theDelhi High Court that thesalary budget forteachers in its schools isbeing properly utilised.

The governmentdenied as “falsefrivolous, vexatious anddevoid of any truth andmerit” allegations thathalf of the salary budgetlapses as a large numberof posts of teachers arelying vacant. “The salarybudget of the teachers isbeing utilised judiciouslyand properly by theDirectorate ofEducation,” thegovernment said in anaidavit before the court.

Contempt petition

The aidavit was filedin response to acontempt petition movedby NGO Social Juristalleging that “due tonon-recruitment ofteachers by the Delhigovernment and theMCDs in the past fewyears, around 26,031posts are lying vacant.

The said figure doesnot include 9,000 new

posts which have beencreated by the Delhigovernment recently.

The government saidtaking into account thepresent strength of guestteachers and those underSarva Shiksha Abhiyaan,the total strength ofteachers engaged inDelhi governmentschools comes to 47,267as on January 1, 2016, asagainst 50,382 sanctionedposts of teaching staf.

Increased posts

The total strength ofteachers engaged as onJanuary 1, 2017, in Delhigovernment schools is51,763 as against 59,409sanctioned posts, whichmakes 12.87 per centdeficient teaching staf, itinformed the court.

The government saidprincipals and vice-principals are notincluded in the strengthof teachers. “Howeveralarming, thedisproportionate figureregarding deficiency ofteachers in governmentschools in contemptpetition is far fromtruth,” the governmenttold the court.

‘Salary budget ofteachers well utilised’AKANKSHA JAIN

NEW DELHI: Delhi Commissionfor Women (DCW) chairper-son Swati Maliwal on Sat-urday said a special task force(STF), which would reviewdecisions taken by the DelhiPolice and other depart-ments regarding women’ssafety, had been reconstit-uted.

The STF will be headed byLieutenant-Governor AnilBaijal, and will have DelhiChief Secretary, Delhi PoliceCommissioner, DCW chief,

and Principal Secretary,Home Department (Delhi),among others, as its mem-bers.

Meeting every 15 days

The meeting of the forcewill be held every 15 days, theDCW chief said in astatement.

The women’s panel saidthe STF had been formed inresponse to a notice issuedby the High Court to the L-Gon a DCW petition seekingresponse as to why no com-mittee on women’s safety

had been set up. The DCWsaid it had repeatedly ap-pealed to the Home Ministerand the then L-G Najeeb Jungon this issue, adding that in2016 the STF was disbanded.

“The STF was formed dur-ing the time of the Nirbhayarape [case] and was chairedby the Home Secretary. TheHome Department of theDelhi government issued or-ders for the reconstitution ofthe Special Task Force onJanuary 17 after getting the L-G’s assent,” the statementread.

Year later, special task force forwomen’s safety reconstituted STAFF REPORTER

NEW DELHI: The AAP govern-ment spent ₨30 lakh on ad-vertisements for studentloans' scheme, but only fin-anced the loans of three stu-dents, limiting their ex-penditure to a mere ₨3.15 lakhtill December last, Swaraj In-dia on Saturday claimed.

‘Tall claims’

Addressing a press confer-ence, Yogendra Yadav saiddoubling of educationbudget is also a “myth” as fig-ures tell a diferent tale andstated the number of schoolsand colleges in the national

capital showed a decline,contrary to the claims madeby the Delhi government.

The Higher Education andSkill Guarantee Scheme is

Delhi government’s flagshipprogramme.

“Till December 30, 2016(in the past year-and-a-half),loans were given to 97 stu-dents of the 405 applicantsthrough this scheme. Ofthese, the Delhi Governmentgave only three loans, limit-ing their exposure to a mere ₨3.15 lakh.

Yadav claimed that in-formation was soughtthrough RTI and oicial doc-uments of Delhi govern-ment. The Aam Aadmi Partyrefused to react on Yadav'sallegations. — PTI

‘₨30 lakh on ads, ₨3.15 lakh on student loan’

The number ofschools in theCapital has declined,contrary to theclaims made by theDelhi government

CITY/STATE | 5THE HINDU SUNDAY, JANUARY 22, 2017

NOIDA/DELHI

NEW DELHI: For over 100 daysnow Delhiites have beenmissing out on the popularboat ride at Purana Quila,even as the authorities saythey are not sure when thefacility will re-open.

This popular tourist sitehas remained closed allwinter and though the neigh-bouring Delhi zoo is nowopen to the public, after hav-ing been kept out of boundsfollowing a bird flu scare, theclub continues to wear asorry look with boatsstacked together and the wa-ter body all dried up.

Agreement not renewed

Trouble began when theDelhi Tourism and Trans-port Development Corpora-tion (DTTDC), that was pre-viously running theoperations here, was unableto renew its agreement withthe Archaeological Survey ofIndia.

A Delhi government oi-cial said: “The ASI had re-ferred the matter to the Min-istry of Culture which hasnow asked the India TourismDevelopment Corporationto run the facility. We hopethe place will soon have thepublic back.”

Water from Yamuna

The Purana Quila lake onaverage attracted 2,000-4,000 visitors a day andsourced water from the

Yamuna and throughborewell. “There has been adrop in our revenue,” said asenior oicial.

Lower footfall

A DTTDC oicial said thecompany’s five-year longMoU expired on March 31last year.

“The ASI allowed us to runthe boating club till August10. Earlier, the agreementused to get renewed on time.

The place has missed the

annual high of footfall thatwe see during the annualtrade fair held at PragatiMaidan nearby and NewYear, when we get about7,000 people on an average,”he said.

Oicials say that boatingpreviously earned ₨ 6 lakhper month on an average andduring the peak season itwould go up to ₨ 9 lakh.

“Our monthly electricitybill to maintain the facilitycomes to around ₨ 45,000 and

with 70 boats, we have assetsworth ₨ 2 crore lying un-used,” said a DTTDC oicial.

Losing its charm?

Visitors coming to theplace too claim that the spothas “lost its charm”.

“The place is very popularwith children and we comehere during the summer andwinter vacation and spendan entire day here. Childrenlove to go to the Delhi Zooand then come here for a

boat ride. This is a clean, af-fordable place for the middleclass and with the facilityclosing down it has ad-versely afected us. Theplace was a good option tokeep the children close tonature and also away fromthe malls. We urge the Delhigovernment or the Centre tolook into the matter and en-sure that the place is open tothe public as soon a pos-sible,” said Surabhi, a resid-ent of Pandara Road.

Facility shut for over 100 days now; authorities unsure when it will reopen as deal with ASI expired

Boat rides dry up at Purana QilaBINDU SHAJAN PERAPPADAN

IN DEEP WATER: The boating club wears a sorry look with boats stacked together and the water body all dried up. PHOTO: V.V. KRISHNAN

NEW DELHI: The 2016 NationalBravery Awards winningchildren called on PresidentPranab Mukherjee atRashtrapati Bhavan onSaturday.

Four girls of the 25 ‘Na-tional Bravery Award 2016’winners have been given theaward posthumously. Of the25 children, 12 are girls and 13are boys. The ‘Bharat Award’was conferred posthumouslyto Late Km Tarh Peeju of Ar-unanchal Pradesh who dis-played heroic courage andsacrificed her life to save twoof her friends when theywere being swept away by astrong undercurrent.

Uncovering sex racket

The ‘Geeta Chopra Award’was conferred jointly on KmTejasweeta Pradhan and KmShivani Gond of West Bengal,who helped the police and anorganisation in uncoveringan international sex racketleading to the arrest of themastermind. The ‘SanjayChopra Award’ was given toMaster Sumit Mamagain ofUttarakhand who displayedoutstanding bravery in sav-ing his cousin from a leopardattack.

Battling water and fire

BaLate Km Roluahpuii ofMizoram was given the ‘BapuGaidhani Award’ posthum-ously for her timely & valor-ous act in saving two of herschoolmates when they were

drowning in an 18 feet deepriver. Master Tushar Vermaof Chhattisgarh was presen-ted Bapu Gaidhani Award forexhibiting dauntless valourand sense of duty for dousingthe flames when a neigh-bour’s house caught fire,Tushar risked his life andthree cows and two bullswere rescued in the process.Late Km. H. Lalhriatpuii ofMizoram was given BapuGaidhani Awardposthumously.

Inspiring more children

Other recipients of theaward are: Km. NeelamDhruv of Chattisgarh, MasterSonu Mali of Rajasthan, Mas-ter Mohan Shetty of Odisha,Km. Siya Vamansa Khode ofKarnataka, Master Thanghil-mang Lunkim of Nagaland,Master Praful Sharma of Hi-machal Pradesh, Master

Tankeswar Pegu of Assam,Master MoirangthemSadananda Singh of Manipur,Master Adithyan M.P. Pillaiof Kerala, Km. AnshikaPandey of Uttarpradesh,Master Binil Manjaly of Ker-ala, Km. Akshita Sharma andMaster Akshit Sharma ofNew Delhi jointly, MasterAkhil K. Shibu of Kerala,Master Naman of New Delhi,Km. Nisha Dilip Patil of Ma-harashtra, Km. BadarunnisaK.P. of Kerala, Late Km. PayalDevi of Jammu & Kashmir.

The scheme of NationalAwards for Bravery was star-ted by the Indian Council forChild Welfare (ICCW) togive due recognition to thechildren who distinguishthemselves by performingoutstanding deeds of braveryand meritorious service andto inspire other children toemulate them.

12 girls among 25 childrenawarded for bravery STAFF REPORTER

REAL-LIFE HEROES: President Pranab Mukherjee felicitates arecipient at Rashtrapati Bhawan on Saturday.PHOTO: SANDEEP SAXENA

NEW DELHI: Four persons,including a man claimingto be a freelance reporter,were arrested forallegedly stealingjewellery worth ₨ 50 lakhin east Delhi's Shahdara,the police said onSaturday.

Jewellery on commission

Nitesh Jain, who owns ashop in Chandni Chowkthat sells jewellery on acommission basis, told thepolice two days earlierthat two men fled withjewellery worth ₨ 50 lakhwhich belonged to him,said Deputy

Commissioner of Police(Shahdara) Nupur Prasad.

“Jain told us that hecame in contact withJitender and Vijay Gahlotthrough a common friendregarding a property deal.Gahlot contacted him topurchase jewellery for awedding at his uncle’splace,” said Ms. Prasad.

He also arranged ameeting between Mr. Jainand his “uncle and aunt”at Rail Yatri Niwas onJanuary 9 to gain Jain’strust, the DCP added.However, on January 17,Gahlot convinced Mr. Jainto meet at River HeightPlaza Market at Raj Nagarin Ghaziabad to buy the

jewellery, she said.They were having food

and when Mr. Jain got ofthe car to wash his hands,the accused fled with thejewellery. A teamcomprising inspector M.CPandey, SHO(KrishnaNagar) and otherpolicemen wasconstituted under thesupervision of ACP

(Gandhi Nagar) KhushalPal Singh.

CCTV footage

The team gatheredinformation on the basisof the car used in thecrime and from the CCTVfootage they obtainedfrom Rail Yatri Niwas,police got the pictures ofthe “uncle and aunt”.

“A trap was laid andGahlot and Jitender aliasJeetu were arrested.During interrogation,Gahlot and Jeetudisclosed that they cameto know that Mr. Jainprovides jewellery oncommission basis. Inassociation with Surender

Singh and Kavita, whoplayed the roles of hisuncle and aunt, theyplanned to and succeededin cheating him,” sheadded.

Claims to be reporter

The 21 ornaments,weighing 1,862 gramcomprising eightnecklaces, four bangles,one pendant set and sevenpairs of earrings havebeen recovered. WhileJeetu has previously beeninvolved in theft cases,Gahlot carried a card thathad ‘reporter’ written on itand he claimed that he is afreelance journalist, saidMs. Prasad.

Four held for stealing jewellery worth ₨ 50 lakh STAFF REPORTER They were having

food and when Mr.Jain got off the carto wash his hands,the accused fledwith the jewellery

NEW DELHI: A 23-year-old manchecked himself into a drugrehabilitation centre aftermurdering his female friend'sbrother in a fit of drunkenrage in outer Delhi's Mon-golpuri a week ago, but hiscover was blown on Saturday.

Bid to mislead probe

Identified as Sourabh, theaccused had murdered UttamPrakash, 35, when he bumpedinto the latter after meetinghis sister on January 13. In abid to mislead investigationshe then got himself admittedto a drug rehabilitation centrein Khanpur from where hewas arrested early on Sat-urday morning, said DeputyCommissioner of Police(Outer) Rishi Pal.

Sourabh had also given afake address to the rehabilita-tion centre to throw the po-lice of track, said Mr. Pal. OnJanuary 13, Prakash bumpedinto Sourabh when he was re-turning after meeting his sis-ter in Mangolpuri.

“Both of them were drunkand they got into an argu-ment after which the accusedhit the victim, who fell to theground. Sourabh repeatedlyhit him with a stone andcrushed his head to hide hisidentity,” said Mr. Pal.

The accused thought of analibi and went to the rehabil-itation centre at Khanpur andgot himself admitted on theday the murder was reported,the DCP said, adding thatSourabh wanted to give animpression that he had beenadmitted to the rehabilitation

centre for a long time andcould not have been presentat the time and place of thecrime, he said.

The DCP added that the ac-cused took away the mobilephone and wallet of the de-ceased to make it look like arobbery.

Search for missing locals

Local criminals who wereinvolved in robberies in thepast were interrogated atlength, said Mr. Pal.

“A systematic search ofyoung persons living innearby localities, who werefound to be absent from theirresidence, was launched andsome were found missingfrom their houses for the lastthree to four days. Sourabhwas held after questioning,the DCP said.

Murder accused caughthiding in drug rehab centreSTAFF REPORTER

Wheels in motion

ON ROAD: Cyclists during Bicycle Day organised by Petroleum Conservation ResearchAssociation at Connaught Place in New Delhi on Saturday. The event was flagged of byAlok Tripathi of PCRA and Dhruv Kapil of HPCL. PHOTO: V. SUDERSHAN

NORTHERN REGION | 7THE HINDU SUNDAY, JANUARY 22, 2017

NOIDA/DELHI

JAMMU: Seven persons, in-cluding five members of afamily, were killed and fourothers were injured in twoseparate road accidents inJammu and Udhampur dis-tricts of Jammu and Kashmir,the police said on Saturday.

The five persons of thefamily, including a four-year-

persons, including a policeconstable, were killed lastevening and two others in-jured when their car collidedwith a vehicle on Jammu andKashmir National Highwayat Malad Morh in Udhampurdistrict, they said.

The police have registeredseparate cases. - PTI

the police said, adding ongetting information, the po-lice rushed to the spot andevacuated the bodies and theinjured were taken to theGovernment Medical Col-lege (GMC) hospital.

Collision

In a separate mishap, two

old child, were killed andtwo others were injuredwhen the car they were trav-elling in skidded of the roadand fell into a gorge inDomana area here on Friday,they said.

The mishap occurredwhen the family was on itsway to Kargil from Jammu,

Five of family among seven killed in road mishaps

KOLKATA: A court here on Sat-urday dismissed all chargesand released 112 CommunistParty of India-Marxist activ-ists, including party MLA Su-jan Chakraborty, who werearrested by the Kolkata po-lice for staging protests infront of the venue of theBengal Global Business Sum-mit.

Hundreds of CPI(M)workers gathered in front ofthe court in South Kolkata,shouting slogans against theruling Trinamool Congress

(TMC) government. Despitethe heavy security deploy-ment, police struggled tocontain the protesters, lead-ing to scules.

War of words

While the party leaderswere being produced in thecourt, CPI(M) cadresblocked a nearby road for

several hours. After the CPI(M) members were releasedby the court, a war of wordsensued between Mr. Chak-roborty and TMC secretarygeneral Partha Chatterjee.

Dubbing the BengalGlobal Business Summit a“farce and a wastage of taxpayers’ money”, Mr.Chakraborty said “the TMC,which ruined the Tata Mo-tor’s small car factory in Sin-gur, is an enemy of Bengal’sindustrialisation.”

Reacting to the allega-tions, Mr. Chatterjee chargedthat Mr. Chakroborty was

“mentally unstable.” Hepointed out that the Tata Mo-tor’s under-constructionsmall-car factory was demol-ished in Singur as the Su-preme Court ordered thatthe acquired land be re-turned to the farmers’ in cul-tivable condition.

Earlier, Mr. Chakrabortyused Facebook Live insidethe lock-up at the Kolkata Po-lice’s headquarters in LalBazar to criticise the policefor the “inordinate delay” inproviding food to the arres-ted party workers and in con-ducting medical tests.

Party workers gather in front of the court, shout slogans against TMC govt.

Kolkata court releases 112arrested CPI(M) activistsSTAFF REPORTER

Were arrested by thepolice for stagingprotests in front of

the venue of GlobalBusiness summit

NEW DELHI: North India contin-ues to reel under severe coldwave conditions with fog ad-versely afecting rail traicresulting in delay of 45 trainson Saturday even as theweatherman forecast snow-fall in Kashmir Valley andHimachal Pradesh in nextfew days.

The lowest minimum tem-perature in the plains was re-corded at Rajasthan’s Churuat 4.4 degrees Celsius, where0.4 mm of rainfall occurred.

Wintry conditions pre-vailed in the national Capitalwith the minimum temperat-ure settling at 7 degrees C,while morning fog resultedin cancellation of five trainsand delayed 45 others. Themaximum temperature wasrecorded at 19.8, a MeT De-partment oicial said.

The visibility was recor-ded at 1,200 m at 5.30 am atSafdarjung which after threehours dropped to 400 m. Itimproved to 800 m at 11.30

am and improved signific-antly to 1,500 m at 2.30 pm. AtPalam, the visibility was con-stant at 300 m both at 5.30and 8.30 am. It improved to1200 m at 2.30 pm.

Early morning fog disrup-ted rail services with 45north-bound trains runninglate and 23 being resched-uled and five others can-celled, according to a seniorrailway oicial.

Traic afected

Cold wave conditions con-tinued unabated in mostparts of Punjab and Haryanawith fog adversely afectingair, rail and road traic in thetwo states.

Hisar in Haryana was thecoldest place in the twoStates with a minimum tem-perature of 4.5 deg C, threedegrees below normal. Am-bala, Karnal and Narnaulshivered at 8, 4.8 and 8.6 degC respectively. In Chand-igarh, minimum was recor-

ded as 6.7, it said. Amritsarrecorded 7.1 degrees Celsius,while Ludhiana and Patialarecorded their minimumtemperatures at 7.6 and 7.4 re-spectively. Areas afecteddue to dense fog wereChandigarh, Hisar, Ludhianaand Amritsar among others.

The Kashmir Valley is bra-cing for another spell of wetweather as rain or snow havebeen forecast for the next sixdays, prompting the divi-sional administration to is-sue directions for taking ne-cessary precautionarymeasures.

Isolated rain or snow

The MeT Department hasforecast isolated rain orsnow on Saturday, scatteredrain or snow on Sunday,fairly widespread rain orsnow on January 23 andwidespread rain or snowover three days from January24-26, an oicial of the de-partment said. - PTI

Cold wave prevails over North India

JAIPUR: Ten coaches of theRanikhet Express derailed inJaisalmer, oicials said onSaturday.

Train 15014 Kath Godham-Jaisalmer Express derailedwith ten coaches betweenThayat Hamira-Jaisalmer at11.16 pm yesterday, a state-ment said.

However, no casualties ormajor injuries were repor-ted, said Railways North-West region spokespersonTarun Jain.

A team of senior oicialshas reached the spot and pas-sengers continued their jour-ney through a special train. -PTI

10 coaches of RanikhetExpress derail

Pride of place

ROLLING DOWN RAJPATH: T-90 tanks being displayed during rehearsal of the Republic DayParade in New Delhi on Saturday. - PHOTO: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR.

8 |THE HINDU SUNDAY, JANUARY 22, 2017

NOIDA/DELHI

SOUTH

VIZIANAGARAM: In what is be-lieved to be the result ofcarelessness, a 34-year-oldtribal woman was washedaway in the Thatipudi reser-voir in the Gantyada mandal.A head constable was alsokilled when he fell into thewater during the search op-eration.

The woman, GammelaThademma, was washingclothes when water gushedout of the fourth floodgate ofthe reservoir. The incidentoccurred between 9 a.m. and10 a.m. NDRF team and firesafety personnel launched asearch for Thademma.

Head constable Bonu Sim-hachalam went down an oldbridge with the help of arope. He slipped into theswirling waters. His bodywas retrieved and taken to

the Jami government hos-pital. He is survived by wifeand two sons.

900 cusecs gush out

Collector Vivek Yadav,who visited Thatipudi in theafternoon, said the tragedy

was the result of “human er-ror”. He said compensationwould be paid to the be-reaved tribal family as perthe government norms. Heordered an inquiry into theincident. Oicials suspectthat an unidentified person

pressed the button which ledto the lifting of one of thefour floodgates.

Farmland submerged

The gate went up by 3metres, resulting in 900cusecs of water gushingdown and submerging hugetracts of farmland inGantyada, S. Kota, and Jamimandals. Oicials alertedvillagers downstream in thethree mandals, and in theBhimili and Padmanabhammandals in Visakhapatnam.

Gajapathinagaram MLAKondapalli Appala Naidu,who visited the spot, blamedoicials of the Greater Vi-sakhapatnam MunicipalCorporation and the irriga-tion department for neglect-ing the maintenance of thereservoir, particularly afterCyclone Hudhud hit the re-gion.

Head constable dies in search operation; government orders probe

Woman washed away afterwater released from A.P. dam SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

HUMAN ERROR: Officials suspect that an unidentified personopened the fourth floodgate of the Thatipudi reservoir.

MYSURU: An unmanned aerialvehicle was pressed into ser-vice on Saturday to searchfor the tiger that attacked anestate worker in Kodagu onFriday. There was, however,no sign of the tiger.

The drone camera —provided to the Departmentof Forests by two volunteersfrom Bengaluru, Sunil andMadhu — flew repeatedlyalong the Anechowkur-Kala-halla border.

A forest patch of 15 sq. kmwas scanned from air, whileforest department workerson Dasara elephant Abhi-manyu, accompanied by ele-phants Drona and Krishna,backed up the eforts bycombing the land.

No results

The forest departmentworkers on elephantscombed the Anechowkur–Kalahalla border abuttingthe Lakshmantirtha rivernear Balele–Nittur villages

without any results. The de-partment oicials had leftword at the local estates toinform them of any tigersighting, but none was repor-ted. Conservator of ForestsManoj Kumar told TheHindu that the drone wasused for nearly four hours. Itflew for 20 minutes at astretch before being broughtdown for recharging.

Four camera-traps, laid torecord the tiger’s movementin the area, did not capture asingle image of the tiger.

Drone, elephants search forelusive tiger in Kodagu

COMBINED EFFORT: While an unmanned aerial vehicle scanned the Nagarahole forests, forestdepartment workers on elephants did the work on land. — PHOTOS: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

R. KRISHNA KUMAR

MANGALURU: With an Ordin-ance promulgated to lift theban on jallikattu (bull-tam-ing) in Tamil Nadu, the de-mand for lifting the ban onkambala — bufalo racing —is gaining momentum incoastal Karnataka.

Dakshina Kannada andUdupi Districts KambalaSamiti has convened a meet-ing on Sunday to discuss thefallout of the Tamil NaduOrdinance.

K. Gunapala Kadamba,president of the KambalaAcademy, told The Hinduthat the meeting would dis-cuss the steps to be taken.

The State government inNovember last informed theHigh Court, during the hear-ing of a PIL petition filed byPETA, that it had withdrawnthe permission given to hold

kambala based on the Su-preme Court’s order onjallikattu. The hearing on thepetition is scheduled forJanuary 30.

Mr. Kadamba said whilethe bufalo race was a devel-opment in the last four dec-ades, traditional kambala

was over 1,000 years old.Sitharam Shetty, a kambalaorganiser from Bantwal, saidkambala could be “saved” asits ban was a fallout of theban on jallikattu.

Minister for Large and Me-dium Scale Industries R.V.Deshpande said on Saturday

that the State governmentcould also promulgate an Or-dinance to allow kambala,provided a demand for itbuilt up.

Online campaign

Netizens on various socialmedia sites have, meanwhile,started campaigns in sup-port of the traditional prac-tice. Ravikantha Kundapura,a media person, who wasamong the first to start thecampaign, tweeted: “Almostall cine artists in Tamil Naduhave stood for jallikattu; let’ssee how many Kannada starsrise for kambala.”

Actor Jaggesh also lent hisvoice for kambala. “Let therenot be a divide — UttaraKarnataka or DakshinaKarnataka. Let us all standunited,” he tweeted.

(With inputs fromRaghava M.)

ANIL KUMAR SASTRY

RENEWED HOPE: A file picture of kambala, a traditional form ofbuffalo racing, in Mangaluru.

After jallikattu, it is kambala’s turn

KANNUR: The police team in-vestigating the murder ofBJP worker Santhosh atDharmadam, nearThalassery, on January 18, ar-rested six CPI(M) workerson Saturday.

The arrested have beenidentified as Midhun (27),Prajul P. (25), Shamil M.K.(26), Rijesh K. (27), Ajesh P.(25) and Rohin (27).

Sources close to the in-vestigation team said the ac-cused, all natives of Dhar-madam, had been taken intocustody for questioningwithin two hours of themurder on Wednesday. Thepolice said two more sus-pects were undersurveillance.

Six arrested inKerala for BJPworker’s murder

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

HYDERABAD: With one moredeath and a confirmed caseof infection in an infant,swine flu cases in Hyderabadare on a steady climb.

The four deaths — all wo-men — were reported thismonth at the Gandhi Hos-pital. Two women were be-low 40. On Friday, a 68-year-old woman from Bahadur-pura succumbed to theillness. She was brought tothe hospital on January 16.

As the hospital has a ded-icated swine flu ward, sus-pected and confirmed casesare referred to it from acrossthe city.

According to the govern-ment, around seven cases ofswine flu infection were con-firmed in Telangana on Fri-day, taking the total numbersince August to 165.

At the Gandhi Hospital, a

10-month old infant is nowthe only patient undergoingtreatment for swine flu.

‘State prepared’

Seeking to assure the pub-lic, Health Minister C.Laxma Reddy informed re-porters at NIMS Hospital onSaturday that swine flu wasnot a concern and the Statewas adequately geared tofight the illness.

But the death of two wo-men, aged under 40, with noapparent co-morbid condi-tions, indicates that the viruscauses illness that does notnecessarily follow a textbookpattern.

The rise in infections dueto the virus is being attrib-uted to cold weather.

First death in Vizag

Visakhapatnam recordedthe first swine flu death thisyear, and Andhra Pradesh itssecond, when a 26-year-oldhomemaker succumbed tothe disease at a private hos-pital on Saturday.

According to the districthealth oicials, the womanfrom Pendurthi area was bat-tling with flu-like symptomsover the last few days. Shetested positive for swine fluin two diagnostic tests. It waslearnt that the woman hadbeen to Tirupati with herfamily before she developedswine flu symptoms. Thedistrict oicials suspect thatshe might have contractedthe H1N1 virus in Tirupati.

(With inputs from Vi-sakhapatam)

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT Around seven caseswere confirmed inTelangana on Friday,taking the numbersince August to 165

Swine flu on the rise in Hyderabad

PALAKKAD: The Kerala WaterAuthority (KWA) has en-sured police protection forits 15 check-dams and regu-lators in the Bharathapuzhariver basin in drought-hitChittur taluk in Palakkad dis-trict — a first in Kerala. Themove is to avoid plunder andmisuse of drinking water,which is turning scarce bythe day.

As demanded by KWA,District Collector P.Marykutty issued a directiveto the police to guard thecheck-dams and regulatorsspread across the eastern re-gion of Palakkad, includingKunnangattupathy, Puzhap-palam, Kodumbu, Kannadi,Njavalinkadavu, and Tharur.

Despite the dip in ground-water level and drying up ofthe Bharathapuzha, brickkilns and large plantationsare siphoning of water fromthe facilities, especially atnight. The police will guardthe water bodiesround-the-clock.

Police to cast netfor water thievesin Bharathapuzha K.A. SHAJI

NATION | 9THE HINDU SUNDAY, JANUARY 22, 2017

NOIDA/DELHI

KOLKATA: The mortal remainsof Sepoy Randhir Kumar,who passed away at SiachenGlacier earlier this week,reached his home at Katiharin Bihar on Saturday. The 25-year-old died of high-alti-tude sickness on January 17.

A wreath-laying ceremonywas held by the Siachen Bri-gade oicers, after which thebody was airlifted to Chand-igarh. — Special Corres-pondent

Soldier’s bodybrought home

KOLKATA: A trial court in WestBengal’s Bongaon sub-divi-sion on Saturday sentencedtwo Pakistanis and one In-dian national to death for wa-ging war against India.

Mohammad Yunus andAbdullah Khan, both fromPakistan, and MuzafarAhmed Rather from Anant-nag in Jammu and Kashmir— all members of theLashkar-e-Taiba — were sen-tenced by a fasttrack courtjudge Vinay Kumar Pathak.

They were booked underIPC Sections 120B (punish-ment of criminal conspir-acy), 121 (waging, or attempt-

ing to wage war) and 122(collecting arms with inten-tion of waging war againstthe government of India),CID DIG (Operations)Nishad Pervej said.

“They had a plan to attackArmy camps in Jammu andKashmir, but before theycould do so, they werecaught by the BSF,” he said.

Public Prosecutor SamirDas said they were arrested

on the India-Bangladeshborder at Petrapole on April4, 2007. The case was handedover to the CID from theBongoan police station inNorth 24 Parganas district.

A fourth person who wasalso arrested — AbdulSheikh Nayeem alias SheikhSamir — is absconding, ac-cording to the West Bengalpolice. A resident of Maha-rashtra, he fled from a trainin 2014, the police said.

Defence counsel SubrataBasu said there was notmuch evidence against theaccused. He claimed that itwas Sheikh Samir who wasthe prime accused.

(With PTI inputs)

They waged war against the state, says Bengal court

3 Lashkar militantssentenced to death SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT A fourth person who

was also arrestedfrom India-Bangladeshborder in 2007 is absconding

MUMBAI: Three weeks beforethe Akshay Kumar-starrerfilm Jolly LLB 2 is slated to bereleased, a petition has beenfiled in the Bombay HighCourt seeking deletion of theword “LLB” from the nameof the movie.

On January 19, advocateAjaykumar S. Waghmaremoved the court stating thatseveral scenes shown in thetrailer of the film were a de-liberate attempt to malignthe “impeccable reputationof the Indian legal profes-sion”. The characters in the

movie were seen playingcards and dancing on courtpremises, the petition said.

It is likely to come up be-fore a division bench ofJustices V. M. Kanade andSangitrao Patil on January 24.

Petitioner wants ‘LLB’dropped from film titleSPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

Akshay Kumar

2014 and set a record. Thatrecord was broken onSaturday, Mr. Gajera said.

“We received acertificate of the record

RAJKOT: Over 3.5 lakh peopleset a new world record onSaturday by singing thenational anthem at an eventat Kagvad in Rajkot,Gujarat.

The occasion was theinstallation of the idol ofgoddess Khodiyar at thenewly-built Khodal Dhamtemple in the town.

“Over 3.5 lakh peoplesang the anthem during theidol installation ritual inthe presence of observersfrom the Guinness Book ofWorld Records,” saidHansraj Gajera, a memberof the temple trust.

Broke Bangladesh record

Earlier, 2,54,537 peoplehad sung the nationalanthem in Bangladesh in

from the Guinness Book ofWorld Records oicials,” headded.

The trust also set twonew records for the Limca

Book of Records byorganising the longest (40kilometres) ‘Shobha Yatra’and a 1,008-kundmahayagna, he said.

Goddess Khodiyar isparticularly revered by theLeuva Patel community.

Trust oicials claimedthat over 50 lakh devoteesvisited the temple over thefive-day installationceremony, which began onJanuary 17.

VIP visits

The temple was built at acost of Rs. 60 crore. Thetrust is planning to set upan agricultural universityadjacent to the templepremises, Mr. Gajera said.

Many BJP and Congressleaders, as well as thePatidar quota agitationleader Hardik Patel, hadvisited the temple over thelast four days, Mr. Gajerasaid.

With national anthem on their lips, they create world recordOver 3.5 lakh people took part in event at Rajkot temple, entering the Guinness Book of World Records

IN UNISON: People sing the national anthem at Khodal Dham, 70 km from Rajkot, in Gujarat onSaturday. — PHOTO : SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

JAIPUR: The sun rose on thethird day of the Jaipur Liter-ature Festival on Saturdaywith a conversation amongwriters, filmmakers and oneplaywright.

Alan Hollinghurst, whoseBooker Prize-winning novelThe Line of Beauty has beenadapted for film, was in con-versation with playwrightDavid Hare, novelist andOscar-winning director NeilJordan and Booker-winnerRichard Flanagan.

The conversation shiftedeasily and frequentlybetween literature andcinema. “When does a novelbecome literature,” a mem-ber of the audience askedHollinghurst. “In twentyyears,” he laughed.

David Hare spoke abouthis diiculty adapting filmsfrom his own plays. “Myfilms based on my plays areterrible. And I can’t bear to

have my plays adapted tofilm by someone else. So Ibasically don’t sell any filmrights,” he concluded.

Aishwarya RajnikanthDhanush, daughter of super-star Rajnikanth and wife ofactor Dhanush, discussedher book with journalistSudha Sadhanand. The bookdocuments her childhood

and the unique experience ofgrowing up with “superstarAppa.”

She began in Tamil, saying:“I am a proud Tamil.Jallikattu must, will andshould happen. We needeveryone’s support forjallikattu. And I salute theprotesting students.” Then,continuing in English, she

spoke about her unexpec-tedly “normal” childhood.“Nobody treated me like acelebrity’s kid. Most of mychildhood was spent in Ban-galore, playing on the road,walking to school, buying ve-getables at a mandi, havingchaat with my friends on mybirthday. Even when I movedto Madras — I like calling itMadras because that soundsmore like home — very littlechanged.”

Paul Beatty, who won theBooker Prize 2016 for TheSellout, a novel where thenarrator tries to reintroduceslavery and segregation,talked about the inaugura-tion of U.S. President DonaldTrump. “The tone [of the in-auguration] was so scary...”

“Nobody is consideringthe impact that this rhetoricwill have on the rest of theworld. And that’s why I’mglad I’m here [in Jaipur], andnot there right now,” Beattysaid.

SNEHA VAKHARIA

BOOK TALK: Film director and classical dancer AishwaryaRajinikanth Dhanush at the Jaipur Literature Festival at theDiggi Palace in Jaipur on Saturday. — PHOTO: ROHIT JAIN PARAS

‘Normal childhood with superstar Appa’

BENGALURU: A police teamfrom Sydney is in Bengaluruinvestigating the possibilityof a local angle in the murderof Prabha Arun Kumar, asenior technical analyst whowas stabbed by an unidenti-fied person in Strathfield inMarch 2015.

Prabha was barely a fewyards from her house and onthe phone with her husbandin Bengaluru when she toldhim that a man was followingher. Soon after, the man at-tacked her.

Sources told The Hinduthat the Sydney police wereinvestigating whethersomeone known to Prabhahad orchestrated the attack.“The Sydney police havequestioned over 4,000 sus-pects apart from habitual of-fenders,” said the source.

Sydney police inIndia to probetechie murder SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

AGARTALA: Paramilitary forceAssam Rifles has initiatedthe recruitment of tribalevacuees from Mizoram,presently housed in northTripura. The refugees con-tinue to reside in camps inTripura after successive at-tempts to repatriate themfailed.

Assam Rifles, the world’soldest paramilitary force en-gaged in counter insurgencyand security operations innortheast India, providessupport for young tribal mento enrol in the armed forces,mainly the army.

It selected 75 tribal youthsfrom three of the sevencamps of about 33,000 Bru orReang displaced people.

“We conducted a pre-re-cruitment rally at Naising-para, Ashapara and Ha-jachara camps and foundthem eligible for the next re-cruitment exercise. A similarrally will be organised inother camps soon,” a secur-ity oicial told The Hindu onSaturday.

Naisingpara is the largestcampus meant for Bru resid-ents, who entered Tripura in1997 following ethnic tur-moil in Mizoram.

The Mizoram Bru Dis-placed Peoples’ Forum(MBDPF), an apex body forthe refugees, is also locatedhere.

The oicial said 75 youthswould be provided trainingfor a month at an AssamRifles facility in Kanchanpurof north Tripura. They willbe prepared for the final re-cruitment test slated for Shil-long on March 1 next.

The first step

MBDPF, which opposesthe current repatriation initi-ative by raising some conten-tious issues, has been de-manding recruitment insecurity forces from theMizoram Bru community.

The Ministry of Home Af-fairs (MHA) has respondedto this demand with this firstrecruitment process, sourcessaid.

On repatriation, the north

Tripura district magistrateDr. Sandeep Mahatmeearlier informed that theMizoram government com-pleted the identification pro-cess in the camps. He saidother modalities are also inplace to facilitate the smoothreturn of evacuees.

As per plan, the returneeswould be resettled in theKolasib, Mamit and Lungleidistricts of Mizoram, whichwere mainly afected duringthe ethnic strife in Septem-ber 1997, causing refugees toflood Tripura.

The MHA prepared an in-clusive rehabilitation pack-age for the Bru refugees. Freeration to all refugee familiesfor two years is also pro-posed in the package.

Assam Rifles selects 75 fromMizoram Bru refugee campsSYED SAJJAD ALI

HONING SKILLS: At a Bru refugee camp in Tripura. Assam Riflesprovides support for young tribal men to enrol in the armedforces, mainly the Army. — FILE PHOTO: RITU RAJ KONWAR

JAIPUR: Ethiopian PresidentMulatu Teshome praised themakers of the world famousJaipur Foot for holding twocamps in his country and re-habilitating about 700 handi-capped persons.

The on-the-spot fitmentcamps for limbless peoplewere organised in theMekelle and Harar towns ofEthiopia.

Addressing a ceremony inHarar earlier this week, Dr.Teshome said the eforts ofBhagwan Mahaveer

Vikalang Sahayata Samiti(BMVSS) to restore mobilityto handicapped persons byfitting artificial limbs manu-factured by its technicianswere laudable.

‘Great humanitarian work’

According to a BMVSS re-lease issued here, Dr.Teshome said holding thecamps in Ethiopia was a“great humanitarian work”,which had brought dignity tothe lives of handicappedpeople.

Some patients fitted withthe Jaipur Foot gave a

demonstration by walking,jumping and squatting.

India’s Ambassador toEthiopia Anurag Srivastavasaid the Jaipur Foot campshad helped strengthen rela-tions between India andEthiopia.

BMVSS founder and chiefpatron D.R. Mehta said theorganisation would be will-ing to set up a permanentcentre in Ethiopia and traintechnical staf there. Similarcentres have started func-tioning in Afghanistan,Mauritius and some othercountries.

MOHAMMED IQBAL

Ethiopian President all praise formakers of Jaipur Foot

CMYK

ND-ND

10 | THE HINDU SUNDAY, JANUARY 22, 2017

NOIDA/DELHI

WEEKEND

BEING

When a pregnancy isunwanted, a safe

abortion is vital inensuring a woman’shealth and well-being.Unsafe abortions remainone of the prime causes ofmaternal death anddisability. An abortionunder medicalsupervision is one of thesafest procedures.

I perform abortionsbecause I believe that thisis something that alldoctors who care forwomen should beproviding — to protectand promote women’shealth. It is a matter ofpride that over 98.6% ofmembers of theFederation of Obstetricand GynaecologicalSocieties of India(FOGSI) provide abortionas an inherent componentof the care they deliver.This is in marked contrastto the global experience.

I also believe thatunconditional support ofa woman’s decision tohave an abortion is astatement,acknowledging andsupporting this mostdiicult reproductiveright of her that societyhas been and remains soreluctant to give her.

I am pro-life and pro-choice — I am “pro” awoman’s life, to protecther from the disruptiveconsequences, risks anddangers of an unwantedpregnancy. I am also“pro” a woman’s choicefor her to decide what shewishes to do with hermind, her body and herlife.

Three casesEvery woman who

makes a decision not tocontinue with herpregnancy has her ownhistory and reasons. Hereare the stories of threeremarkable women that Ihave been privileged tocare for. The first was adaughter of my friends.These friends are anti-choice by virtue of theirreligious belief. The girlcame to me on her ownwith no possibility orhope of her familyunderstanding herpredicament. She told methat she had thought longand hard and decided thatan abortion was her onlychoice. It saddened me tosee that she felt so aloneand that her decision wastearing her apart. I wastouched and humbled byher quiet strength and hertrust in me. As I lookedafter her I thought of myown daughter. I hopedthat if she ever foundherself in a similarlydistressing situation, Icould be there for herwithout condition orpassing judgment. And iffor some reason I couldnot be there for her, I

prayed that she wouldfind a doctor who wouldbe her confidante, hersupport and her protectorand treat her with skilland sensitivity.

The second was acorporate executive goingthrough a challengingdivorce. She wasdistraught at finding thatemergency contraceptionhad failed her. She wouldhave experienced a legalsetback had her husbandand opposing counselknown that she waspregnant. Courts havebeen known to havedouble standards for menand women. While it wasimpossible to prove thehusband’s infidelity, herpregnancy could havebeen used to tarnish herimage and weaken hercase. She requestedconfidentiality and helpto terminate herpregnancy. By helping herI was privileged to standby a brave woman whowas preparing to face theworld on her own terms,as a single mother with adaughter.

The third was anuneducated housemaid.She had two children anda failed sterilisation. Herhusband was uncaringand unsupportive andprone to drinking. Sheworked hard to put herchildren through schooland knew that a largerfamily to provide forwould have impacted herchildren’s future. She hascontinued to exercise herreproductive freedom bybeing on long-acting,injectable contraceptives.Her elder daughter is nowan accountant. I realisethe wisdom of thisuneducated mother’sselfless choice made backthen.

While these threestories seem so diferent,they are really the same.Women wanting toexercise their right tomake their own choicesabout their bodies, theirfertility, their families andtheir future. I salute thesethree women. What theydid was diicult andcourageous and honest.

It’s about saving livesAn estimated 70,000

young women die eachyear undergoing anunsafe abortion. A safeabortion can save almostall these lives. So where isthe controversy — moral,ethical, political orreligious — in theprovision of a life-saving,health-protectingtechnology or option?

Dr. Nozer Sheriar is a

consulting obstetrician and

gynaecologist and past Secretary

General of the Federation of

Obstetric and Gynaecological

Societies of India (FOGSI).

Right to a safe abortion

NozerSheriar

OPINION

PHOTO: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Background andheart disease riskWomen from lowsocio-economicbackgrounds are25% more likely tosuffer a heart attackthan disadvantaged

men, a major new study has found. Researchersfrom The George Institute for Global Healthexamined data from 22 million people from NorthAmerica, Europe, Asia and Australasia.In a review of 116 studies they demonstrated a lowersocio-economic status, compared to a higher one, isassociated with a higher risk of cardiovasculardisease for both sexes, but women from moredisadvantaged backgrounds were relatively morelikely to suffer from coronary heart disease thansimilarly affected men. There was no differencefound for stroke however.

PHOTO: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Help to keep the beatHeart failure affectsmillions of peopleworldwide, buttreatment optionsare limited. Ifpatients inadvanced stages of the disease can’t gettransplants, doctors can implant devices that helpthe heart pump blood. But those devices putpatients at risk for infection and clotting, thanks tovalves and pumps that come into direct contactwith blood. Now, scientists have created a soft,robotic sheath that may someday help strugglinghearts keep beating without that danger. Made frommaterial that resembles the outer layers of hearttissue, the sheath encases the heart and helps itpump by applying alternating pressure and suction.Building on similar research designs movingthrough preclinical development, this version usesan array of actuators that function as artificialmuscles to squeeze and twist simultaneously.Signals from a pacemaker wire tells the sheathwhen and how to move, directing it to mimic theweakened heart’s natural rhythm. In pigs whosefailing hearts beat at only 47% of control levels, thedevices restored heart function to 97%, theresearchers have reported in Science Translational

Medicine. The sheath is still far from human use —safety testing and other tweaks will require a lotmore work — but scientists say the study lays thefoundation for squeezing more out of hearttreatment in the future. — Lindzi Wessel

PHOTO: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Humans wipedout AustralianmegafaunaNew evidenceinvolving theancient excreta ofsome astonishingcreatures that onceroamed Australia indicates the primary cause oftheir extinction around 45,000 years ago was likelya result of humans, not climate change. Led byMonash University in Victoria, Australia, and theUniversity of Colorado Boulder, U.S., the team usedinformation from a sediment core drilled in theIndian Ocean off the coast of southwest Australia tohelp reconstruct past climate and ecosystems onthe continent.CU Boulder Professor Gifford Miller, whoparticipated in the study, said the sediment allowedscientists to look back in time, in this case morethan 150,000 years, spanning Earth’s last full glacialcycle. A paper on the subject was published onlineon January 20 in Nature Communications.

PHOTO: AFP

Rescue plan forthe vaquitaAn ambitious,emergency plan tohelp save thevaquita, a rarespecies of porpoise,from extinction inthe northern Gulf of California has beenrecommended by the International Committee forthe Recovery of the Vaquita (CIRVA). The planinvolves relocating some of the remaining vaquitasto a temporary sanctuary, while crucial effortsaimed at eliminating illegal fishing and removing gillnets from their environment continue. Theemergency action plan will be led by the Mexicangovernment and supported by a consortium ofmarine mammal experts from more than a dozenorganisations around the world.

PHOTO: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

AROUND THE WORLD

DR HUMERUS

Keshav

What is interglaciation?

Interglaciation is the term used by geologists torefer to the alternating periods of warming andcooling in the earth’s past. The cooler times arecalled the “glacial period” during which iceshelves from the Arctic slowly creep southwardand spread across the earth. Times when theearth is covered in these large ice sheets areknown as glacial periods (or ice ages). When theice sheets are not spread, it is called aninterglacial period. The most recent glacialperiod occurred between about 120,000 and11,500 years ago. Since then, the earth has beenin an interglacial period called the Holocene.

DEMYSTIFYING SCIENCE

Many people worry that runningruins knees. But a new study

finds that the activity may in fact be-nefit the joint, changing the biochem-ical environment inside the knee inways that could help keep it workingsmoothly.

In my many decades as a runner, fel-low runners and non-runners alikehave frequently told me that I am put-ting my knees at risk. The widespreadargument generally follows the lines

that running will slowly wear awaythe cartilage that cushions the bonesin the joint and cause arthritis.

Reduces knee arthritis risk

But there is little evidence to sup-port the idea, and a growing body ofresearch that suggests the reverse.Epidemiological studies of long-termrunners show that they generally areless likely to develop osteoarthritis inthe knees than people of the same agewho do not run.

Some scientists have speculatedthat running may protect knees be-cause it also often is associated withrelatively low body mass. Carryingless weight is known to reduce therisk for knee arthritis.

But other researchers havewondered whether running mighthave a more direct impact on kneejoints, perhaps by altering the work-ing of various cells inside the knee.

To find out, researchers at BrighamYoung University in Provo, Utah, U.S.recruited 15 male and female runnersunder the age of 30 with no history ofknee injury or arthritis. The scientistswished to study people with healthyknees in order to better isolate run-ning’s efects on otherwise normaljoints.

These volunteers visited a clinicwhere they had blood drawn from anarm. The researchers also siphonedof a small amount of synovial fluid, a

lubricating fluid that reduces frictioninside joints, from their right knee.Healthy knees contain only a soupçonof the stuf; arthritic and otherwiseunhealthy knees tend to contain muchmore.

The volunteers next were de-livered, in wheelchairs, to the uni-versity’s nearby biomechanics lab.There, they either sat quietly for 30minutes or ran on a treadmill for thesame 30 minutes at their preferredrunning pace.

After either running or sitting, theyagain were wheeled to the clinic andthe blood and synovial fluid drawswere repeated. Each volunteer com-pleted both a sitting and running ses-sion on separate days.

Then the researchers looked for avariety of substances in the youngpeople’s blood and synovial fluid.

In particular, they focussed on mo-lecules that are associated with in-flammation. Low-grade inflammationin the knee has been shown to con-tribute to the development and pro-gression of arthritis.

So the researchers looked forchanges in the levels of several typesof cells that are known to either in-crease or blunt the amount of inflam-mation inside the knee.

They also looked at changes in thelevels of another substance unpoetic-ally known as cartilage oligomericmatrix protein, or COMP. This sub-stance tends to accumulate in dis-eased knees and is often used as a

marker of incipient or worseningarthritis. People with arthritis canhave about five times as much COMPin their synovial fluid as do peoplewith healthy knees.

Unfortunately, because it hadturned out to be technically diicultto safely extract much synovial fluidfrom these healthy knees, the scient-ists wound up with complete num-bers from only six of the runners.

The findings

But the data were interesting andconsistent. In almost every case, therunners’ knees showed substantiallylower levels of two types of cells thatcan contribute to inflammationwithin the synovial fluid, compared totheir baseline levels.

The runners also showed a shift intheir COMP levels. After the run, theydisplayed more of the substance intheir blood and less in their synovialfluid. In efect, running seemed tohave squeezed the molecules out ofthe knee and into the blood.

Meanwhile, sitting had slightly in-creased levels of COMP insidepeople’s knees, and also raised theconcentration of one of the inflam-matory molecules.

These findings suggest that a singlehalf-hour session of running changesthe interior of the knee, reducing in-flammation and lessening levels of amarker of arthritis, says RobertHyldahl, a professor of exercise sci-ence at B.Y.U. and lead author of thestudy, published in the EuropeanJournal of Applied Physiology.

But sitting for 30 minutes alsochanged the knee, he points out,which he and his colleagues had notexpected. Sitting seemed to make theknee biochemically more vulnerableto later disease.

Dr. Hyldahl noted that this was avery small and short-term study. Heand his colleagues would like to re-peat it with much larger numbers,“once we figure out how to get moresynovial fluid” safely from healthyknees, he says. — New York TimesNews Service

FITNESS

Ask them to go runThere is little evidence to show that running ruins knees. Research suggests the reverse

Gretchen Reynolds PHOTO: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Trading to extinction

SCALE OF THE PLUNDER: A maze of shops at one of Myanmar’s most holy sites, the Golden Rock at MountKyaikhteeyoe in Mon state, attracts those who believe in traditional medicine which uses animal body parts.Vendors sell everything, from pieces of ivory and pieces of tiger teeth to vials of bear oil, to cater to the hugedemand, a development which is worrying conservationists. A fad now is for “slices of elephant skin to cure skindiseases” such as eczema. Dozens of endangered species are said to be trafficked through Myanmar, nowemerging as a key hub in the $20 billion-a-year global wildlife trade. Much of the trade here is controlled by asophisticated network of criminals. Picture shows a variety of animal body parts and products. — PHOTO: AFP

AU.S. woman’s death

that took place inSeptember last yearhas had fingers beingpointed at India. An

incurable bacterial infection, be-lieved to have been contractedfrom one of India’s hospitals, issaid to have killed the Nevada res-ident, raising questions about thecountry’s eforts in tackling athreat bigger than any knownepidemic.

The Indian connection

The story of the 70-year-old, de-scribed by the U.S. Centers for Dis-ease Control and Prevention(CDC) in its Morbidity and Mor-tality report of January 13 goes thus— during the two years before herdeath in 2016, the woman was hos-pitalised multiple times in India fortreatment of her fractured rightthigh bone.

Following an emergency hospit-alisation in the U.S. in August lastyear, testing of a wound sample forantibiotic susceptibility found theinfection-causing bacterium Kleb-siella pneumoniae, which was res-istant to all antibiotics available inthe U.S.

In its description of the woman’scase, the CDC rather conservat-ively termed resistance to all 26 an-

tibiotics, including the last-resortantibiotic colistin, “veryuncommon”.

The Indian connection to thewoman’s death was not restricted

to the origin of her infection; thekiller superbug’s resistance was at-tributed to a gene that produces anenzyme now popularly called NewDelhi metallo-beta-lactamase-1or

NDM-1 which was first seen in aperson who had undergone a sur-gical procedure in 2007 at a NewDelhi hospital. NDM-1 helps bac-teria fend of carbapenems, a groupof powerful antibiotics originallycapable of killing several bacillispecies.

Encountering multidrug-resist-ant bacteria is fairly common in In-dia. In 2016, K. pneumoniae madeheadlines when it caused varyingdegree of vision loss in a dozen eld-erly patients who underwent catar-act surgeries at the state-runSarojini Devi Eye Hospital in Hy-derabad. An investigation foundthe bacteria in RL solution, whichis used to wash the eyes duringcataract procedure. “At least oneinstance of bacteria resistant to allantibiotics is seen in our patients inas often as less than six months,”says Rajender Gupta, deputy su-perintendent of Sarojini Devi EyeHospital.

Lessons from the U.S.

The health administration in theU.S. quickly stepped in to preventits spread, yielding lessons for In-dia. After detecting the superbug,the Nevada hospital isolated thewoman. Screening of other pa-tients admitted to the same unit atthe hospital did not show spread.

The CDC also airms that a sur-veillance programme under waysince 2010 for multidrug-resistantbacteria in Washoe County, an areahome to over 4,00,000 Americans,did not show any additionalNDM-1 cases.

Contrastingly, large public hos-pitals in India — often the onlypoint of care for most Indians — donot have comprehensive policiesconcerning antibiotic use and in-fection control. Private hospitalsthat claim to have robust infection-control practices also admit it ishard to match American eforts.

The World Health Organisationhas said candidly in the past thatIndia lacks a National Action Planto combat antimicrobial resistance(AMR). However, a policy to com-bat it has been in place for morethan five years. It envisages a sep-arate schedule for antibiotics toprevent sale without prescription,hospital surveillance systems formonitoring resistance, enforce-ment of regulation in veterinaryuse of antibiotics and rational pre-scription of antimicrobialsthrough evidence-based medicine.Sans an action plan, the policy re-mains unimplemented. The Na-tional Centre for Disease Controlis now formulating a pilot plan.

rohit.ps@thehindu.co.in

MEDICINE

Will the superbug scare hit home?The suspected Indian superbug link to an American woman’s death underscores the urgent need for a national actionplan to execute the existing framework for combating antimicrobial resistance

FAST REACTION: “The health administration in the U.S. quickly stepped in toprevent the spread of the superbug, yielding lessons for India.” Pictureshows a plate coated with antibiotic-resistant bacteria exposed to variousantibiotics, at a laboratory in north London. —PHOTO: REUTERS

CMYK

ND-ND

| 11THE HINDU SUNDAY, JANUARY 22, 2017

NOIDA/DELHI

WEEKEND

READING

Why do criminals want to joinpolitics? Why do politicalparties want criminals to jointhem? Why do people wantcriminals as their representat-ives? These questions under-pin political scientist MilanVaishnav’s new book, WhenCrime Pays: Money andMuscle in Indian Politics,which has recently been pub-lished in India. It is a well-re-searched and data-rich bookon crime and politics in India.For those not interested in thebiographical details of Indianlawmakers who live on thewrong side of the law, there aredata sets and graphs, and thosewho are not interested in orare intimidated by the greydata points can devour the ex-ploits of Arun Gawli in Mum-bai or Anant Singh in Bihar orM.K. Alagiri in Tamil Nadu.

Supply and demand

As he set about researchingthe subject, the absence of fo-cussed work on the topic sur-prised Vaishnav, but therewere more surprises in store:“[It] surprised me that peoplewere voting for these politi-cians not despite their crim-inal record, but because of it.”Sitting in his oice at theCarnegie Endowment for In-ternational Peace in down-town Washington D.C., he ex-plains the crime-politics nexusin India as an “electoral mar-ketplace” — where there issupply and demand.Moreover, it has reached alevel of ‘market equilibrium’,where the participants havearrived at an unstated under-standing, a rulebook if you

will, for rule-breaking trans-gressions. The book then ar-gues that overall improvementin governance, where the statefunctions not merely punit-ively but also performs an em-powering role for the citizenry,is the diicult but only way toovercome the situation.

What does the title mean?“That crime pays of elector-ally; candidates who have seri-ous criminal charges againstthem do better than those whodon’t,” says Vaishnav. Theother aspect is the importanceof money. “One reason whysuch individuals are cherishedby political parties is that theycome with a lot of cash. Can-didates who can self-financetheir campaigns are embracedin a big way,” he says.

The book is built around theaidavits that the candidatesdisclose at the time of filing

their nomination, as mandatedby a 2003 Supreme Court de-cision. The formidable data-base includes details on 46,739candidates who contested 35State Assembly elections and21,697 candidates who con-tested national elections in2004, 2009 and 2014. The ai-davits have brought in moretransparency, but have not ne-cessarily been an impedimentto the crime-politics nexus. In2004, 24% of candidates hadcriminal charges against them;in 2014, 34% did. “Second,”Vaishnav says, “I focus oncharges of a serious naturewhich are normally not associ-ated with a politician’s voca-tion, such as kidnapping ormurder. Not libel, unlawful as-sembly, etc. which might cropup as part of political activity.”

The book portrays in vividdetail — based also on inter-

donations to political partieswas an inflection point in theevolution of the crime-politicsnexus. “That made campaign-ing dependent on blackmoney, and then you look forpeople who can raise blackmoney.” Consequently, he ar-gues that the antidote to thisexisting problem begins withaddressing the fundamentalquestion of campaign funding.

Criminalisation of politics

He is disappointed thatPrime Minister NarendraModi has not curbed the influxof criminals into politics, buttakes note of some recent re-marks as promising. “Strongtalk against criminalisation ofpolitics was a hallmark of hisspeeches during the 2014 cam-paign. But very few concretesteps have been taken by thegovernment. The BJP has thehighest proportion of MPswith criminal record... seriouscriminal record,” he says.“What is encouraging more re-cently is that he has taken upthis issue again, calling for acleaning up of election finan-cing, etc. I don’t think he hasmissed the moment. To keepthe support for demonetisa-tion which seems to be wan-ing, this could be a politicallysavvy step for him to take.”

While improvement in gov-ernance is the long-term andsustainable solution to crimin-alisation of politics, short-term measures are essentialtoo, notes Vaishnav. “Therecan be fast-track courts forspeedy trial of cases involvinglawmakers and those con-victed should instantly losetheir legislative membership.”

varghese.g@thehindu.co.in

1970s, is that rather than beinghired by politicians, they wantto be politicians themselves.”

When Crime Pays ques-tions the assumption that bet-ter-informed voters will takebetter electoral decisions. Atleast in the case of crime-linked politicians, that may notbe the case, the study con-cludes. In fact, many of thepoliticians linked to crimemake it a point to advertisetheir infamy. Says Vaishnav:“They believe that their crim-inal records convey to thevoters that they are willing todo whatever it takes to repres-ent them by hook or by crook.That is in some case the bestproof that these are not merelymade-up charges.” He adds:“The constituents supportthem because they believe thatstate is not an impartial pro-vider of security, justice orpublic goods.”

These politicians then inter-vene on behalf of their con-stituents on a piecemeal basis,never addressing the struc-tural issues that gave them thespace to begin with. Vaishnavbelieves that Indira Gandhi’s1969 decision to ban corporate

views with accused law-makers, their supporters andleaders of the parties they be-long to — the inadequacies ofIndian democracy. Vaishnavwrites with a sense of historythat takes into account thereasons for the weakening ofstate institutions and the gen-eral degradation of organisa-tional politics. He situates thetrend in the context of the riseof ethnic parties in the lastthree decades, in an empath-etic fashion, but does not fail todig into the situation that exis-ted earlier, all the way back tothe first elections in 1952.“Looking at press reports andnarrative reports that the Elec-tion Commission used to putout from 1952,” he notes, “thereis evidence of thugs being usedfor booth capturing and voterintimidation. The link is notnew. What is new, from the

INTERVIEW

‘Crime pays of electorally’Milan Vaishnav offers illuminating answers to questions on the nexus between crime and politics

ELECTORAL REFORM: “While improvement in governance is the long-term solution to criminalisation ofpolitics, short-term measures are essential too.” A woman casts her vote in Samastipur district,Bihar, in 2010. FILE PHOTO: AP

VARGHESE K. GEORGE Politicians believethat their

criminal recordsconvey to the votersthat they are willingto do whatever it

takes torepresentthem by hookor by crook.

THE BOOK

IN MY HAND

SHELF

HELPG

At the moment I’mrevisiting a guide book onLe Pont du Gard, the greatRoman bridge andaqueduct in France. I wasalso reading Harry Potterand the Order of thePhoenix to my kids (andmy wife!). It’s somethingwe do at home most daysafter school, but we werereading it recently whenwe were travelling through India,which was very special. The lastbook I read was Barbarian Daysby William Finnegan. I loved it notonly for its descriptions of surfingand travel, but because he couldso easily have been writing aboutwriting.Markus Zusak is the author of ‘The

Book Thief’ among other books.

Markus Zusak

I am reading Jan-WernerMullers What is Populism?,a sharp analysis of theanti-pluralist ideologies ofpopulist leaders who claimto speak for a homogenouspeople, and Jeet Thayil’scollection of 60 IndianPoets, which is purepleasure put together witha poet’s love of his craftand its masters. Last I readThe Lazarus Project, a novelabout cruelty, truth and loss byAleksandar Hemon, and BenLerner’s 10.04, a brilliantly wittycontemplation on art, food, classand much else. Next I’d like toread Hannah Arendt’s Men in DarkTimes, an appropriate book toreread at this moment, along withJunot Diaz’s The Brief WondrousLife of Oscar Wao and Nehru’s1936 Autobiography.Sunil Khilnani is a scholar of Indian history and politics and

writer.

Sunil Khilnani

The Tamil Nadu Governor hascleared an ordinance to allow thealpha-male sport jallikattu. Thisgives reason to those protestingagainst the ban on the sport, onMarina beach in Chennai and inother places in Tamil Nadu, to stoptheir protests. This also paves theway for man to once again pithimself against beast, after a brieflull. With all these quickdevelopments, I find myselfrereading Vaadivaasal: Arena, a1948 classic by C.S. Chellappa. Thebook, which has been translatedinto English by N. Kalyan Raman,weaves the magical tale of a youngman out to avenge his father’s deathin the horns of the Kari bull. Therecan be only one victor in thenovella: man or beast. Vaadivaasalis a primer on the culture of thesport and on an agrarian economy.Hemingway comes easily to mindwhile reading the book, andVaadivaasal, according to the

author, wasinspired by theAmericannovelist’swriting. As thedebate rages overthe rights ofanimal and manand raisesquestions onwhether in anideal world this

sport involving goading bulls intoanger, periodically pulling theirtails, and daring to tame themshould find a room in the modernworld, Chellappa cautions usagainst ignoring the cultural spacethat the sport has traditionallyoccupied.

A young man, Picchi, comes tothe arena to tame bulls. He is the sonof a bull-tamer who was killed bythe fearsome Kari bull, who appearsunvanquished and whose ferocity isa matter of pride for the localzamindar who owns it. In the end,the bull is tamed but shot dead bythe zamindar.

The sport is a social marker foragricultural communities such asthe Thevars, and indicates theirsymbiotic relationship with the landthey till and the beast they seek totame. In a swiftly changing world, itis perhaps understandable why theloss of the sport translates into aloss of identity and social standing.Tamil cinema has dipped into thesport for inspiration. So it would befoolish to ignore the sport’s culturalmoorings. Yet, questions raised byanimal rights groups too cannot beignored. There is no denying theunderlying violence in the sport. InVaadivaasal, neither the bull norPicchi is the villain. There are onlythe victor and the vanquished. anuradha.r@thehindu.co.in

The victor and the vanquishedANURADHA RAMAN

Some years ago, I was readingArt Spiegelman’s Maus, aPulitzer-winning graphicnovel about the Holocaust,when my younger son, thenfive years old, wanted to knowwhat the book was about.

“Why do the people havethe faces of mice and cats?” heasked.

“Why do you think theydo?” I asked him.

He thought for a moment.“Cats catch mice,” he replied.Then he added: “But theycan’t help it.” (He knew thisbecause we have a pet cat,though she has never met amouse.) “These drawingsaren’t of cats. They just havethe faces of cats. They’repeople. Are these people withcat faces being mean to themice?”

I nodded. He had got it. “Isthis a real story?” he asked.

One of the hardest conver-sations with children — muchharder than talking aboutbirds and bees — is about in-justice. We teach children tobe fair and to expect fairnessin return. This is the essenceof parenting. Don’t use yourhands when you’re angry; usewords. Don’t use mean words;use words to say what youmean. Be kind. Be fair.

But how does one teachchildren to respond when theworld isn’t fair? How do weteach them to handle discrim-ination, to stand up for others,to make the world a betterplace? To go high, as MichelleObama said, when others golow?

The power of books

One of the critical ways toteach children about toler-ance and justice is throughreading. Reading takes chil-dren outside the bubbles inwhich we try to protect them,and into the lives of others farremoved from them. Readingteaches empathy. It gives uni-versal power to individualstories. It talks about thingsthat we aren’t sure how to talkabout and says things that weoften don’t know how to say. Itspeaks to the imagination andto the heart.

Last week, I ordered a set ofAmerican civil rights heroJohn Lewis’s three-volumegraphic memoir March. JohnLewis is one of the iconic fig-ures of the American civilrights movement. As a stu-dent, he applied to Troy StateUniversity even though heknew blacks weren’t allowedthere. It was one of his firstacts of protest against segreg-ation. “The boy from Troy”, asMartin Luther King Jr. de-scribed Lewis, chaired theStudent Nonviolent Coordin-ating Committee and was oneof the leaders in the student-led sit-in movement and theFreedom Rides in the early1960s. At the legendary 1963March on Washington, JohnLewis was one of the youngestspeakers. In 1965, he helpedlead the historic Selma toMontgomery March as part ofthe voting rights movement.

This National Book Award-winning collaborationbetween John Lewis, AndrewAydin and artist Nate Powell

presents an afecting first-hand account of the strugglefor civil rights. At the NationalBook Award function, Lewisrecalled how in 1956, as a littleboy, he wasn’t allowed a lib-rary card at his local rural lib-rary because of his race.Those who cannot rememberthe past are condemned to re-peat it, said Santayana. Marchis an attempt to remind youngreaders about one of the mostimportant civil rightsstruggles of the 20th century.It is a struggle that still contin-ues. The memoir uses the2009 inauguration of formerU.S. President Barack Obamaas a frame for its civil rightsnarrative. “Because of you,John,” wrote Obama on a cardthat he gave to Lewis on thathistoric day. “Because of you”,thereby tracing a line backfrom that cold January morn-ing in 2009 to the story of theAmerican struggle for civilrights and voting rights.

There is another line in thenarrative, another ‘Because ofyou’ that goes further backfrom the struggles in Alabamaand Mississippi in the 1960s toIndia and the freedomstruggle led by Gandhi. “Re-member the teachings of Je-

sus Christ, Mahatma Gandhi,and Martin Luther King,”writes Lewis in his list of ‘dosand don’ts’ for the sit-inprotests. “Love and non-viol-ence is the way.”

The cover of the firstvolume shows a group of pro-testers sitting at a lunchcounter. Their faces are tense,nervous, but determined. Onthe counter before them areketchup, mustard, salt, pep-per, sugar, tissues and a signthat says “Counter Closed”.This is what the protesters areup against.

The story begins on themorning of what would laterbe called Bloody Sunday. Itbegins on the Edmund Pettusbridge across the Alabamariver. A line of marchers is on

the bridge, and the statetroopers are at the other end.“Can you swim?” Hosea Willi-ams asks John Lewis, at thehead of the march. “No,” saysLewis. “Well, neither can I,”replies Hosea. “But we mighthave to.”

Moments in the memoir

Historical events are oftenbrought to life in graphic nov-els in ways that are beyond thescope of textbooks. There aremany unforgettable momentsin this powerful work: the richdetail as the visuals zoom in tolook at the anxiety in a per-son’s eyes or zoom out to lookat the vast fields over whichthe volunteers trudge dayafter day. The way the wordsand music of the movement’s

songs curve around the pan-els, linking past to present,first softly and then soaring inepic, poetic fashion: “Theysay that freedom is a constantstruggle/ They say that free-dom is a constant struggle/Oh Lord, we’ve struggled solong, we must be free/ Wemust be free…”

One of the most movingmoments in the memoir is thesearch for the three missingvolunteers in Mississippi. Aline of dark trees, a few stars inthe night-time sky, a small tri-angle of torchlight on thegrass. A voice: “You see any-thing?” And then, on the nextpage, pitch black, a forlorn sil-houette in grey, and the tini-est, saddest, most exhaustedof responses: “No.”

March is about how socialheroes are made, throughcourage and non-violence,and about what Lewis de-scribes as “good trouble: tofind a way to get in the way”. Itis also about the power ofbooks themselves as manualsin the quest for social justice.One of the early sources ofLewis’s own inspiration was a1957 comic book titled MartinLuther King and the Mont-gomery Story, a 16-page, 10-cent narrative about non-viol-ent resistance fordesegregation.

“Sometimes going to schoolwas a luxury my familycouldn’t aford,” Lewis re-flects about his childhood. Hehid from his parents and ran tocatch the school bus in themornings instead of workingon the farm. The school lib-rary was a place of discovery.After the first time he heard aspeech by Martin LutherKing, he says: “I went to theschool library on Monday tofind out everything I couldabout this man.”

This week, as we read thepart about the first marchfrom Selma, on BloodySunday, my nine-year-oldpeered closely at the pictureof John Lewis lying on theground, a puddle of greystones around his forehead.“That’s blood!” said my son,shocked. “He’s bleeding.That’s blood dripping fromhis head.”

He was silent for a moment.“Is this a real story?” he

asked me quietly. “Yes,” I replied.

Uma Mahadevan Dasgupta is in the IAS

and is currently based in Bengaluru.

ESSAY

The good troublemakers John Lewis’s graphic memoir March teaches young readers about the importance of remembering the civil rights struggles

At the National Book Award function, Lewisrecalled how in 1956, as a little boy, he wasn’t

allowed a library card because of his race.

INFLECTION POINT: “John Lewis is one of the iconic figures of the American civil rights movement.” Lewis (far right), Martin Luther KingJr. and others leading a march in 1965 from Selma to Montgomery to protest against restrictive voting rights. PHOTO: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS, NYT

UMA MAHADEVAN DASGUPTA

CMYK

ND-ND

NEWS12 |THE HINDU SUNDAY, JANUARY 22, 2017

NOIDA/DELHI

In the case of gynaecologydepartment, senior doctorsferry students to nearby amaternity hospital — theSultania Zanana Haspatal— where they “visit” the la-bour room and watch acesarean section being per-formed. They are thentaught the same process ona dummy and taught thetheory component.

Head of the Departmentof Gynaecology RaginiMehrotra confirms the stu-dents’ experience. Whenasked about the delay instarting maternity services,Dr. Mehrotra said settingup departments in a gov-ernment hospital was timeconsuming. She insisted,however, that, “None of mystudents have sufered. Wecollaborated with theGandhi Medical Collegeand showed our studentshow surgeries are per-formed. They were thentaught in classes and we ex-plained the procedures on adummy. My students arewell trained.”

Medical SuperintendentKailash Tamaria said thedelays in opening up de-partments and the bloodbank were “unavoidable”.However, he did not giveany reasons for the delay.“It’s not like we haven’ttaught them (the students)anything. At least they havegone to other places andobserved surgeries,” Dr.Tamaria said.

Not everyone is con-vinced. According to DrSrinath Reddy, former headof Cardiology at AIIMS,Delhi, and visiting pro-fessor at Harvard MedicalSchool, “Learning only byobservation without assist-ing (in the operationtheatre) is like trying tolearn swimming only fromreading a book.” As he putit, “Medical students do nothave licence to practise.They have a temporary li-cense during internship.However, they are expec-ted to conduct some nor-mal deliveries under super-vision — at least in mostcolleges. MBBS trainingprogrammes must providepractical skills in care deliv-ery to students, so that theycan function independ-ently after they graduate.Apart from medical dia-gnosis and treatment ofcommon clinical condi-tions, basic surgical and ob-stetric skills are needed ifthe fresh graduate has tofunction efectively in aprimary health centre.These skills are acquirednot only by observationduring the educational ses-

sions but also by opportun-ities to assist, during in-ternship which is a crucialyear of practical trainingbetween the final examina-tion and graduation.”

The situation at Bhopal isa far cry from the originalvision where the AIIMSwas supposed to be one ofthe “temples of modern In-dia”.

The flaws are obvious,points out Dr. Sujatha Rao,former union health secret-ary, given that importantfaculty positions at AIIMS,Bhopal, are vacant, import-ant departments not opera-tional, resulting in medicaleducation and patient wel-fare sufering.

“It took us 40 years tomake the AIIMS, Delhi, acentre of excellence. Wecannot open up an AIIMSin every State like it is a gro-cery shop. Where will thefaculty come up? When Iwas at the ministry, Iwanted other institutes —like Delhi AIIMS, PGIChandigarh and CMC Vel-lore — to each adopt twonew AIIMS-like institu-tions. To have an exchangeprogramme for faculty andstudents. These instituteshave been set up withoutthought,” she said.

India now has 11 AIIMS-like institutions. The prom-ise is to open an AIIMS ineach State under the Pra-dhan Mantri SwasthyaSuraksha Yojna (PMSSY).None of them are fullyfunctional but Bhopal is theclosest to completion. DrTamaria says they intend tomake it, “90 % operationalby the end of 2017”. As theBhopal project nears “com-pletion”, the Central gov-ernment has announcedeight more AIIMS, takingthe total to 19.

Consider this: Accordingto AIIMS, Bhopal’s annualreport, of the 305 positionssanctioned, only 57 arefilled. Out of the 4081 posi-tions in the institute, in-cluding non-teaching staf,nursing and resident doc-tors, only 446 have beenfilled. Yet, the hospital saw2,69,246 OPD patientsbetween April 1, 2015 andMarch 31, 2016, an averageof about 840 per day. Mostpatients were referred toother centres, if they re-quired emergency or sur-gical intervention.

Medicos operate on dummies

With key facultyposts vacant,education issuffering: Formerhealth secretary

FROM PAGE ONE

The ordinance, which en-visages State-specificamendments to the Preven-tion of Cruelty to AnimalsAct of 1960, is meant for“ensuring survival and wellbeing of native breeds ofbull and preserving cul-tural traditions” of TamilNadu, according to a seniorgovernment oicial. An-other oicial says Section 11(treating animals cruelly)of the 1960 Act is beingamended. The text of theordinance will be madeavailable only by Mondaymorning.

Mr. Panneerselvam, in astatement, said that “to re-place the ordinance, a billwill be moved in the ses-sion of the Assembly that isbeginning on January 23(Monday) and adoptedduring the session”.

Asked why the ordinanceroute had not been triedearlier, the oicial said, asearly as August 2015, theTamil Nadu governmenthad proposed to the Uniongovernment State-specificamendments to the 1960law, exempting jallikattufrom the purview of theAcr. Though this was reit-erated many times later, theproposal had received thegreen signal from theCentre only now, the oi-cial said.

Earlier in the day, thePrime Minister tweetedthat “all eforts are beingmade to fulfil the culturalaspirations of Tamilpeople.” He also stated thatthe Centre was “fully com-mitted” to the progress ofthe State.

Mr. Panneerselvam alsothanked Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and Gov-ernor Rao for their promptsupport, and assured themthat jallikattu would beheld in all the districts with“all safety measures.”

A delegation of Membersof Parliament of the All In-dia Anna Dravida Mun-netra Kazhagam (AI-ADMK), led by DeputySpeaker M. Thambidurai,also called on PresidentPranab Mukherjee in NewDelhi in this regard.

Meanwhile, PETA India,the animal rights organisa-tion that has set itself on theopposite side of the argu-ment, pushing to retain theban on jallikattu, and underfire for this position, said ina statement: “We await adraft of the new ordinanceand shall study it.”

CM to flag of jallikattuin Alanganallur today

A girl during the jallikattuprotest in Chennai onSaturday. — PHOTO: PTI

CHANGING SIDES: BSP supremo Mayawati with MP SatishMishra, left, and senior Samajwadi Party leader AmbikaChaudhary in Lucknow on Saturday. — PHOTO: RAJEEV BHATT

Mulayam aide jumps ship, joins BSPOMAR RASHID

LUCKNOW: Senior SamajwadiParty leader and close aide ofMulayam Singh, AmbikaChaudhary, on Saturdayresigned from all party postsand joined arch rival BahujanSamaj Party.

Mr. Chaudhary, who hasbeen a minister under bothMulayam Singh andAkhilesh Yadav, was wel-comed into the BSP by partynational president May-awati, in a rare gesture.

Ms. Mayawati declaredthat Mr. Chaudhary wouldcontest the Assembly elec-tions from his preferred seatin Ballia, Phephana. He hadlost the elections from theseat in 2012. He was laterelected an MLC and induc-ted into the cabinet as Minis-ter for Backward Welfare.

He was dropped last yearby Mr. Akhilesh Yadav alongwith many others of the oldguard considered close toMr. Mulayam Singh’sbrother, Shivpal Yadav.

A pawn in the battlebetween uncle and nephew,after Mr. Shivpal Yadav de-throned Mr. Akhilesh Yadavas State president, Mr.Chaudhary was nominatedparty spokesperson. How-ever, once Mr. Akhilesh Ya-dav took over the party

again, Mr. Chaudhary was inlimbo.

Sources say, Mr. Chaud-hary was not guaranteed aticket for the forthcomingelections.

Mr. Chaudhary attackedthe SP for neglecting its “re-sponsibility” as a political

party to protect the interestsof people and stop com-munal forces.

“The events over the lastfew months have proved tome that the entire motive ofwhat happened was some-thing other than shieldingsecular people and thedowntrodden,” he said.

Attacking Mr. AkhileshYadav for disrespecting hisfather, Mr. Chaudhury said,“The way in which Akhileshbehaved with him, he was re-jected...has been condemnedand criticised by one and all.I am also saddened by it.”

He said he decided to shiftto the BSP to help it in its “de-cisive fight” against the BJP.

Welcoming Mr. Chaud-hary with a bouquet, a raregesture from Ms. Mayawati,who usually deputes juniorleaders to preside over theentry of outsiders, said shewould shower Mr. Chaud-hary with “more respect”that he got in the SP.

In her statement, Ms. May-awati again targeted the

Akhilesh Yadav governmentfor the law and order situ-ation and dubbed the Yadavscion a “tainted face”.

Interestingly, Ms. May-awati was sympathetic to Mr.Shivpal Yadav, saying he hadbeen “restricted to one seat”and “publicly insulted” topromote the image ofAkhilesh Yadav. She also pre-dicted that the Yadav bade ofthe SP would be split.

When a reporter asked herif she would take in ShivpalYadav if he wished to join theBSP, Ms. Mayawati said, “Lethim make the request first. Iwill consider it and let youknow,” she said.

Though sources told The

Hindu that other SP leaderswere also in touch with Mr.Chaudhary, the former Min-ister said his move was “notpart of a plan”.

“I did not try to discuss itat any level. It was my owndecision,” he said.

His entry provides a psy-chological boost to the BSPin Purvanchal.

Ambika Chaudhary, who was sidelined by the Shivpal-Akhilesh tussle, welcomed by Mayawati

LUCKNOW: “Do not pay heed torumours. The BJP is fully infavour of reservations,” saidthe party in a Facebook videoon Saturday a day afterRashtriya SwayamsevakSangh (RSS) spokespersonManmohan Vaidya triggereda controversy through hiscomments on the reserva-tion policy.

As the matter went viralon social media triggeringcomparisons with the im-pact of RSS chief MohanBhagwat’s remarks ahead ofthe Bihar elections, the BJP,in apparent damage control,hosted online a March 2016speech by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi to clarify itsstand. “Whenever the BJPcomes to power, rumours arespread that it will end reser-vation,” read the caption ofthe almost two minute video,in which Mr. Modi states thatwhile the party held power atthe Centre and several Statesfor many years, it did not takeany negative step to end theprovision of quotas.

‘Not justified now’

The clarification by thesafron party comes after Mr.Vaidya, while addressing asession titled ‘Of Safron andSangh’ at the Jaipur Literat-

ure Festival on Friday, saidthe quota in jobs and educa-tion was given to the Sched-uled Castes and the Sched-uled Tribes in a “certainhistorical context”, but itsprovision for people profess-ing faiths other thanHinduism was not justified.

The RSS favoured the con-tinuation of reservation “aslong as discrimination[against them] continues,”he said.

“The ideal position is: giveequal opportunities to all.Dalits and tribals were keptout of education and pro-gress for a long time. Thoughreservation has providedsupport to them, its perman-ent provision may not proveto be good for society,” Mr.Vaidya said, adding that even

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar had fa-voured quota for a limitedperiod of time.

Opposition protests

While the RSS issued aseries of clarifications andlaunched an online blitz, Op-position parties accused theRSS-BJP of trying to endreservations.

BSP chief Mayawati saidMr. Vaidya’s statement was“anti-reservation and anti-constitutional” terming it“unfortunate” and “condem-nable” .

As the Modi governmentruns on the “directions of theRSS,” it has made regular at-tempts to “dilute” the provi-sions of reservation andmake it “inefective”.

JD(U) leader K.C. Tyagialso hit out at the RSS-BJP,saying “such statements goagainst the spirit of the Con-stitution and also violate theconstitutional article part 4of 46 which states the pro-motion of educational andeconomic interests of SCs,STs and weaker sections”.

BJP State general secretaryVijay Bahadur Pathak saidthe party “is not against thecurrent reservation policy.But the advocacy for reserva-tion on basis of religion is notagreeable with the constitu-tion or the law”.

BJP in damage control afterRSS comments on quotasSPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

Manmohan Vaidya

NEW DELHI: Under attack overallegations related to the Air-cel-Maxis deal and chargesthat he has amassed “undis-closed global assets”, formerFinance Minister P. Chidam-baram’s son Karti said all hisassets and liabilities were ac-cessible on the ElectionCommission website.

In an interview to The

Hindu, he wondered why theIncome-Tax Department wasaccepting his annual returnsand giving him a refund forexcess tax paid if he indeedhad “undisclosed assets”.

“All transactions of mycompanies are fully compli-ant with statutory and regu-latory requirements, duly re-flected in the books ofaccounts and sufered taxwherever applicable,” Mr.Karti said. “This undisclosedassets and global empire al-legation is laughable. I con-tested the 2014 Lok Sabhaelections, my father is an MP.Our entire family’s assetsand liabilities are a matter ofpublic record and accessibleonline via the EC website.”

He claimed that the sum-mons sent to him by the En-forcement Directorate werea political tool to harass hisfamily.

“These summons do notrefer to any predicate ofenceor to any proceeds of crime.

They are just a fishing androving inquiry with the soleintention to harass politicalopponents,” he claimed.

Mr. Karti said that one keyfailure of the Congress in2014 was its inability to com-municate well and failure todispel the negative percep-tion about it.

High command

He said that the high com-mand structure would not doin future and the partyshould promote regionalleaders. “This concentratedhigh command structuredoesn’t suit well in an arenawhere there are multiple re-gional and sub-regionalparties. People expect lead-ership at their doorstep andnot on a mountain,” he said.

Asserting that politics wasnow about personalities, Mr.Karti said the Congressshould identify future PrimeMinisterial and Chief Minis-terial candidates.

All my assets are inpublic domain: KartiVIKAS PATHAK

Karti Chidambaram

SRINAGAR: The Jammu policeon Friday evening alertedschools not to allowstrangers inside theirpremises in the wake of theupcoming Republic Dayfunction in the winter cap-ital, besides beefing up bor-der security to stop any in-filtration.

“From the security pointof view, it is requested thatthe schools’ management indistrict Jammu should not al-low any stranger in theschool and give necessaryprecautions to students,”said a Jammu-based policespokesman.

Jammu has witnessed anumber of sensational milit-ant attacks in the recent past.

The police is beefing upsecurity near the borderareas, too. “Barricades andchecks will be intensifiedwithin the city and at the bor-ders. Border police posts aredirected to keep a vigil on in-filtration routes,” said thespokesman.

Jammu policealerts schoolsahead of R-Day SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

LUCKNOW/NEW DELHI: With someCongress sources saying theparty had claimed as many as138 seats, SP leader NareshAgarwal termed the party“stubborn”, accusing it ofover-estimating its worth.Mr. Agarwal went on to saythat the chances of an alli-ance were “nearly over”.

On Friday, the SP had saidthat the Congress deservedno more than 54 seats but the

party was willing to give it anextra 25-30 through talks.The Congress then drastic-ally raised its claim, demand-ing over 120 seats, a figure SPleaders and even some StateCongress leaders termed ri-diculous.

The Congress won only 28seats in 2012.

The Congress, while in-dicating serious disagree-ments, kept options open.The party central electioncommittee comprising theparty’s top leadership met in

Delhi to decide on the alli-ance but they had not taken adecision till late in the even-ing. “We may be able to take acall only by Sunday onwhether there will be an alli-ance. After that, we will an-nounce our candidates,” saida Congress leader.

Congress general secret-ary in-charge of U.P. GhulamNabi Azad said the party hadcleared “seats for the firstand second phase”, of elec-tions. “All will be clear by[Sunday] morning,” he said.

‘Stubborn Cong. scuttling tie-up’OMAR RASHID

VIKAS PATHAK NEW DELHI/KARACHI: SepoyBablulal Chavan, who wasreturned by the Pakistanarmy on Saturday after he in-advertently strayed into onPakistan Occupied Kashmirin September last year, hadbeen posted with a RashtriyaRifles battalion.

Though he had disap-peared soon after theSeptember 29 surgicalstrikes conducted by the In-dian Army along the Line ofControl, he had not taken

part in the operation theArmy said. It had said the sol-dier had “inadvertentlycrossed the Line of Controlfrom the army post where hewas on duty”.

However, Pakistan on Sat-urday claimed that Chavanhad deserted his post “due tohis grievances of maltreat-ment against his command-ers”.

It claimed that the soldierhad “wilfully crossed theLoC on September 29, 2016and surrendered himself tothe Pakistan army”.

The Ministry of ForeignAfairs of Pakistan claimedthat they were able to con-vince “the soldier to returnto India being an Indian na-tional and address his griev-ances through local griev-ance mechanism”.

“The matter has been con-tinuously raised in sched-uled DGMO level talks sincethen. The issue was alsotaken up diplomaticallythrough our High Commis-sion in Pakistan and Ministryof External Afairs,” theArmy said.

Chavan wilfully crossed over: Pak. SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

DEHRADUN: Amidst instruc-tions from the Election Com-mission of India over keep-ing it away from the media,the Combined CommandersConference was held at theIndian Military Academy(IMA) here, on Saturday.

PM Narendra Modi, thechiefs of the Army, Air Forceand Navy, National SecurityAdviser Ajit Doval and De-fence Minister Manohar Par-rikar were among those whoattended the annual confer-ence, which was being heldat the IMA for the first time.

Recently, in New Delhi,Chief Minister Harish Rawathad raised apprehensionsover the conference and hadsaid that the BJP was publi-cising the conference todraw electoral benefit fromit. “It is a violation of theModel Code of Conduct.Many things will be said dur-ing the conference that couldhave an efect on the mind ofthe voters,” Mr. Rawat hadsaid.

However, a day before theconference, the EC issueddirections where it was in-structed that nothing aboutthe meet must be mentionedin the media that would af-fect the electorate. The con-ference was kept out ofbounds for the media.

Prime Ministerattends CombinedCommanders meet

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s two par-liamentary committees in arare joint resolution askedIndia to immediately sus-pend work on two hydro-power projects in Jammuand Kashmir and agree onthe constitution of an arbit-ration court to resolve thewater dispute.

The National Assembly’sCommittee on Foreign Af-fairs and Water and Powerheld a joint sitting in Is-lamabad on Friday to discusswater issues with India. Ajoint resolution adopted atthe meeting asked India tohalt the construction work,Dawn reported.

The resolution also calledupon the World Bank to con-stitute a court of arbitrationto adjudicate on issues raisedby Pakistan against India’songoing construction ofKishanganga and Ratle hy-dro projects. — PTI

India asked tostop work on J&Khydro projects

MUMBAI: Protests over thedress code mandated inDecember for SNDT Uni-versity’s students are set tocontinue next week, saysState-wide student organisa-tion Vidyarthi Bharti’s pres-ident, Vijeta Bhonkar.

In December, a circularwas released at SNDT Uni-versity’s Churchgate campusinstructing students to stopdressing in an “impropermanner” and to maintain a“formal dress code.” Erringstudents, the circular stated,would be “punished.”

After a protest against thiswas held by students on Fri-day, members of the Vidy-arthi Bharti met with themanagement includingSNDT Vice-ChancellorShashikala Wanjari.

The faculty maintains itssupport to a dress code. In a

letter issued to the media lastweek, Ms. Wanjari said thedress code was not an assaulton students’ rights. “By com-mon sense, we all know whatis decent and formal in thecontext of.. academic institu-tion premises,” Ms. Wanjaristated in the letter.

The Vice-Chancellor andother faculty members at theSNDT have promised to getback to the students’ de-mands over the next three or

four days, failing which theywould continue to strike, saidMs. Bhonkar.

‘Backward move’

“What defines decent ornormal clothing for women,”asks Ms. Bhonkar. “Rules spe-cifically stating how womenshould and should not dressare extremely backward. Canthe faculty guarantee thateven if students comply, theywill not be harrassed?”

Mumbai students to continueprotest against dress codeSPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

UP IN ARMS: A protest outside the SNDT women’s college atChurchgate in Mumbai on Friday, after the university spelt outa dress code. — PTI

MUMBAI: The MaharashtraAnti Terrorism Squad on Fri-day detained a suspect in the2012 serial blasts at the JangliMaharaj Road in Pune. Thesuspect was being ques-tioned till late on Saturdaynight.

According to ATS sources,the suspect, identified asShabbir Sheikh Jahagirdar,was picked up from Nashikon Friday and brought to theKalachowkie unit of the ATSin Mumbai.

“We are questioning Ja-hagirdar in connection withsome aspects of the case,” anATS oicer said.

Jahagirdar, a native of Shri-rampur in Ahmednagar, waspreviously arrested by theATS in August 2013. Theagency had at the time con-tended that he had providedfirearms to Irfan Landge, whotoo had been arrested earlier

in the case. He was sub-sequently granted bail in Au-gust 2015.

Oicials said that Ja-hagirdar has a lengthy crim-inal record and has been ar-rested under the OicialSecrets Act once before. Hewas also externed from theAhmednagar district for twoyears by the local police.

The five low intensityblasts that occurred on thebusy Jangli Maharaj Road inPune in August 2012, in whichone person was injured, wereallegedly executed by the In-dian Mujahideen as a revengefor the murder of its operat-ive Qateel Siddiqui in the Yer-awada central jail in Pune inJune 2012.

ATS detains 2012 Pune blasts suspect SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT Jahagirdar, picked up

in Nashik on Friday, isbeing questioned inthe case, say ATSsources

CMYK

ND-ND

ELECTIONWATCHUTTAR PRADESH, UTTARAKHAND, PUNJAB, MANIPUR, GOA

| 13THE HINDU SUNDAY, JANUARY 22, 2017

NOIDA/DELHI

POLLDIARY

Congress buckles up to go it alone in GoaPANAJI: After much behind-the-scenes drama over a“strategic seat adjustment” with Goa Forward,which the local party leadership resisted rightfrom the beginning, the Congress on Saturdayannounced that it would go it alone in the February4 Assembly elections by contesting 37 of the 40seats in the State. Digvijay Singh, Congressgeneral secretary and the party’s Goa affairs in-

charge, was said to be sympathetic to theregional outfit, led by Vijay Sardesai,a former general secretary of theCongress in the State. But he gavein after the candidate who had filedhis nomination on the Congressticket from Fatroda in south Goadeclined to withdraw hisnomination. The Congress was

virtually divided over any tie-up, withState president Luizinho Faleiro and

AICC secretary Girish Chodankar againstany strategic seat adjustment with Goa Forward.However, Mr. Singh, who is backed by former ChiefMinister Digambar Kamat and a few other leaders,made an attempt to share a few seats with theoutfit. He said on Saturday evening that the seatadjustment could not work out for certain reasonsand announced that of the three remaining seats,the Congress had decided to back Mr. BabushMonserrate of the United Goans Party in Panaji andIndependent MLA Rohan Khavety in Porvorim(both seats in north Goa). — SpecialCorrespondent

Election Commission raps AAP chiefPANAJI: The Election Commissionon Friday censured ArvindKejriwal, national convener ofthe Aam Aadmi Party (AAP),for violating Para 1(4) of themodel code of conduct andmaking statements to theeffect of abetting bribery at apublic meeting held at Mapusain Bardez taluk of north Goa onJanuary 8. The Commission has warned Mr.Kejriwal of stern action, should similar violationsoccur in future. Mr. Kejriwal had told the audienceat the public meeting to accept money if otherparties were giving it, but to vote for the AAP. TheAAP leader later justified the statement, sayingthat he had not asked for a quid pro quo but toldpeople to accept money and vote for those parties.The Bharatiya Janata Party had filed a complaintwith the Commission, saying the Delhi ChiefMinister’s speech amounted to a breach of themodel code. — Special Correspondent

EC notice to SP MLANEW DELHI: The Election Commission has issued anotice to Samajwadi Party MLA Gayatri PrasadPrajapati, who is also a State Minister, on the basisof a case registered against him by the UttarPradesh police for the purported seizure of 4,452saris. The saris were seized from a vehicle thatwas on its way to Amethi. They were to bedelivered to one Shailesh Mishra, an aide of Mr.Prajapati. Following a report from the DistrictElection Officer, the commission observed that thevehicle driver disclosed to the police that theconsignment was for Mr. Prajapati and the sariswere meant to be distributed in Amethi during theelections. Stating that such an act came under thedefinition of “corrupt practices”, the EC sought aresponse from him by January 23 to the noticeasking why action should not be taken against himfor the violation. - Special Correspondent

Street corner meeting

HOME TURF: Punjab Minister Bikram Singh Majithia (right) during an election meeting at Majitha, in Amritsar district, onSaturday. He represents the constituency in the Assembly now. — PHOTO: PTI

TONGUE IN CHEEKSurendra

The placards are clean because he does not knowwhich party ticket he is going to get.

ROPAR (PUNJAB): The sleepy vil-lage of Bunga Sahib in Ropardistrict of Punjab is gettingsome VIP traic lately, all ofit leading to the Kanshi RamCharitable Trust, headed bySwaran Kaur, sister of Bahu-jan Samaj Party (BSP)founder Kanshi Ram.

Congress vice-presidentRahul Gandhi, Pradesh Con-gress Committee presidentCaptain Amarinder Singhand Delhi Chief Minister

Arvind Kejriwal have beenamong the visitors. All in thequest for Ms. Kaur’s en-dorsement, with the largeraim of securing Dalit supportin the most uncertain elec-tions in the State so far.

The shift from a bipolarpolity (the Akali Dal versusthe Congress) to a multi-po-lar contest, with the entry ofthe Aam Aadmi Party (AAP),has focussed attention on the32% Dalit vote. Parties havealso been doing the rounds ofvarious Deras with a largeDalit following.

What makes this a com-

plicated exercise for theparties is the fracturednature of Dalits. “Dalits inPunjab are divided on reli-gious lines more than castelines. We have Valmikis, RaviDasiyas, Chamars, Mazh-abis, Adi Dharmis. 60% areSikhs, 40% are Hindus. Ini-tially, Veerji [the elderbrother] got a tremendousresponse. But these factors

— besides the fact that May-awati, hailing from Uttar Pra-desh, didn’t want the party togrow here since her leader-ship could be challengedwithin the party — put paidto that,” Ms. Kaur said.“Arvind Kejriwal told me thathe would appoint a DalitDeputy Chief Minister, butwhat about his specific pro-gramme,” she asked. “The

Congress, too, has asked forsupport. I’m inclined to waittill January 25 to speak. Who-ever takes care of Veerji’s leg-acy, I will support them.”

She has also received invit-ations from the old associ-ates of Kanshi Ram to visitUttar Pradesh, especiallyVaranasi, Agra and Saharan-pur. “I am keen to visit [theState] as I’m convinced that

till Mayawati is there, theBSP will not grow beyond itspresent footprint,” she said.

Difering support

Traditionally, Dalit sup-port has been even-handedin Punjab, with the Congressgetting the backing in theprosperous Doaba region.Even the Shiromani AkaliDal, considered the panthic‘Jat Sikh’ party, won a major-ity of the 25 seats reservedfor the Scheduled Castes in2012. “The uncer-tain religious allegi-ance of Dalits hasmade this possibleas religious identitycan override casteailiation. Also, un-like the aspects ofManuwad andstrict purity andpollution normspresent in other States, reli-gious reformation move-ments, such as the AryaSamaj, and the tenets ofSikhism have helped ease theimpact of these issues,” saidPramod Kumar, director ofthe Chandigarh-based Insti-tute of Communication andDevelopment.

Kiranjit Singh Gehri, LokJan Shakti Party (LJP) can-

didate from Bhuchumandi(Bhatinda) and former pres-ident of the Dalit Sena,agrees with this view, butwith a caveat. “There is moreindirect discriminationagainst Dalits than direct dis-crimination in Punjab, butthat doesn’t mean it does notexist,” he says. In 2006, heprotested the separateserving of food to Dalits in anearby Dera. “The irony isthat it is the Dalits who electour Jat chief ministers and Jat

Dera chiefs. Thathas to change,” hesaid.

The AAP’s an-nouncement on ap-pointment of a DalitDeputy Chief Min-ister, if the party iselected to power, isa major part of itscampaign. “Sukhbir

Badal holds the post in Pun-jab, and he is consideredmore powerful than theChief Minister. To promisethat position to a Dalit is apowerful message and it isfinding resonance with theDalits,” says Deepak Bajpai,one of the strategists of theparty’s campaign. Whoevergets the lion’s share of thissegment will win.

Swaran Kaur’s guests are a who’s whoThe support of BSP founder Kanshi Ram’s sister is crucial in the elections in Punjab as a multi-cornered contest is on for the first time

NISTULAHEBBAR

BSP founder Kanshi Ram with his sister Swaran Kaur. — FILE PHOTO: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

INFOCUS

Kerala and are being sent toPunjab, which is the firstamong the five States to gofor polls on February 4. Wehave already moved theforces but they were delayeddue to persistent fog condi-tions which led to cancella-tion of the train,” said theoicial.

The Election Commissionhad earlier demanded onelakh CAPF personnel (1,000companies) for deploymentduring the Assembly elec-tions but Home Ministry in-formed them that around 850companies were available.

“It’s not only the logisticsbut there is the language bar-rier too. For example we haveseveral troops moving fromKerala to Punjab. To ensurethat there is no communica-

NEW DELHI: Nearly 85,000 per-sonnel of the Central armedpolice forces will travelaround 3,000 km in 40 daysto ensure the peaceful con-duct of elections in fiveStates.

The Home Ministry andthe Election Commissionhave set up a 24/7 controlroom to monitor the move-ment of forces in real time.Any delay in moving theforces in one State couldhave cascading efect onelections in the others, said asenior Home Ministryoicial.

The oicial said they werebattling extreme weatherconditions in north India tomake the forces reach theirdestinations in time. The In-dian Railways has already as-signed 22 special trains forthese forces.

From far and wide

Based on the law and ordersituation, the sensitive as-sembly seats have been col-our-coded. The most dii-cult areas would be providedsecurity by Central ReservePolice Force and Border Se-curity Force (BSF), whichhave considerable experi-ence in internal security aswell as law and order duties.The less sensitive ones willbe manned by Central Indus-trial Security Force (CISF)and the Railway ProtectionForce (RPF).

“The forces are beingdrawn from Jharkhand,Chattisgarh, Karnataka and

tion gap, we have appointedliaison oicers who wouldinteract in the local lan-guage,” said the oicial.

Starting from Punjab, thesecurity forces would moveto north-west Uttar Pradesh,the largest among the fivepoll-bound States in terms ofgeographical area and popu-lation. “Some forces wouldstay back to secure the ballotboxes as the elections pro-gress. By the time Manipurgoes to polls on March 4 and8, around 60 % of the 85,000forces would be there,” saidthe oicial.

Concern over Manipur

Due to the ongoing eco-nomic blockade, Manipurhas been kept in the mostsensitive category and an of-

ficial said this was the firsttime elections were beingheld in two phases there.

“As of now, already 17,500central forces are deployedin Manipur. Around 50,000more would reach in Marchafter elections in otherStates. We have requisi-tioned choppers and aircraftto move the forces, in casethe weather worsens,” saidthe oicial.

Manipur is reeling underethnic tensions after the callfor an economic blockade bythe United Naga Council(UNC) to protest against thecreation of seven new dis-tricts by the State govern-ment. The UNC sees themove as an attempt to trun-cate the concept of a greaterNagalim.

Deploying boots on the polling grounds24/7 control roomopened to monitorthe movement of85,000 paramilitarytroops in real time

BALLOT GUARDS: Paramilitary personnel take out a flag march on their deployment in Amritsar forthe Assembly elections. — PHOTO: PTI

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: The BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP) on Sat-urday submitted a list of itsstar campaigners for thepolls in Uttar Pradesh to theElection Commission, withnotable omissions like partyveterans L.K. Advani andMurli Manohar Joshi, Sultan-pur MP Varun Gandhi andDefence Minister ManoharParikkar, who was expectedto speak at public meetingsextolling the “surgicalstrikes” “across the Line ofControl ordered by the Modigovernment.

A surprise inclusion is that

of Union Minister for Con-sumer Afairs, Food and Pub-lic Distribution Ram VilasPaswan, who heads the LokJan Shakti Party, a member ofthe National DemocraticAlliance.

“The first two phases ofpolling are in western U.P.and areas up to Etah, wherethere is a large Dalit popula-tion and the Mayawati-ledBahujan Samaj Party [BSP] isdominant. Rama ShankarKatheria, MP from the areaand a Dalit, is on the list, re-flecting the BJP’s attempt tocampaign aggressivelyagainst the BSP,” a sourcesaid.

PM tops list

Prime Minister NarendraModi, party chief Amit Shah,Home Minister RajnathSingh and Finance MinisterArun Jaitley top the list ofstar campaigners.

Vinay Katiyar too is absentfrom the list of 40 leaders,who include Textiles Minis-ter Smriti Irani and youngerleaders of the party likeUnion Ministers SanjeevBalyan and Sadhvi NiranjanJyoti.

The absence of Mr.Parikkar has created ripplesas he had been spoken of as a

star campaigner on the sub-ject of ‘surgical strikes’. He isalso a Rajya Sabha memberfrom Uttar Pradesh and hasadopted a village in Congressvice-president RahulGandhi’s Lok Sabha con-stituency of Amethi as partof the Sansad Adarsh GramYojana.

“This means that he willbe restricted to Goa for thesepolls,” a source said.

Mr. Varun Gandhi’smother, Union Minister forWomen and Child Develop-ment Maneka Gandhi, makesit to the list, but the absenceof her son, who is said to bepopular in the State but un-popular with the Centralleadership, shows that all isnot well within the party.

Balancing act

The inclusion of YogiAdityanath, who was said tobe mifed with the Centralleadership over not beinggiven a place in the Stateelection committee, is a nodto his importance in Gorakh-pur and a few surroundingdistricts, as well as beingsomeone who articulates ahard-line Hindutva ap-proach.

The inclusion of Mr.Balyan, Ms. Jyoti, UnionTourism Minister MaheshSharma, U.P. BJP general sec-retary Sunil Bansal and theorganisational secretary forwestern U.P. Shiv Prakash, allpoints to the BJP presidentAmit Shah’s determinationto control the campaign nar-rative as these leaders aresaid to be in his circle oftrust.

Caste equations

The list balances casteequations in the State, with agood sprinkling of OtherBackward Class leaders likeS.P. Singh Baghel and UmaBharati making the cut, andRama Shankar Katheria rep-resenting Dalits and UnionMinister Kalraj MishraBrahmins.

The list well and trulybears the stamp of Mr. Shah,and reflects the balancing actthat he is attempting in thisfiercely contested election inthe largest State.

BJP does a ‘surgicalstrike’ on U.P. rosterSPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

L.K. Advani, MurliManohar Joshi andManohar Parikkarhave been droppedfrom campaigners’ list

RLD fields BJP MP’s nephew from KairanaMEERUT: Days after its talks with the Congress andthe Samajwadi Party failed, the Rashtriya Lok Dalreleased its second list of 35 candidates for thefirst and second phases of the Uttar PradeshAssembly polls. The list includes Anil Chauhan, aBJP leader from Kairana who joined the RLD onFriday. Mr. Chauhan had contested on the BJPticket in the Kairana byelection in 2014 and lostto Nahid Hasan of the Samajwadi Party by a littleover 1,100 votes. He is the nephew of the BJP MPfrom Shamli, Hukum Singh. Mr. Chauhan accusedthe BJP of“promoting”dynasty politicsafter the partyreportedly almostfinalised the nameof Mr. Singh'sdaughterMriganka Singh asits candidate fromKairana. Mr.Chauhan's joining the RLD came as a surprisebecause until Friday he was waiting for the BJP todeclare its candidate for the Kairana seat.A senior RLD leader told The Hindu that Mr.Chauhan joined the RLD when he gotconfirmation that the BJP had finalised the nameof Ms. Mriganka Singh as the party candidatefrom Kairana. — Staff Reporter

ILLUSTRATIONS: SREEJITH R. KUMAR

CMYK

WORLD14 |THE HINDU SUNDAY, JANUARY 22, 2017

NOIDA/DELHI

BANJUL: Gambia’s leaderYahya Jammeh said onSaturday he was steppingdown under pressure fromWest African armies whichentered the country thisweek following his refusal toconcede an election defeat toPresident Adama Barrow.

Mr. Jammeh is yet to leavethe presidential palace buthis announcement overnightappears to signal an end of apolitical impasse. It alsobrings to a close a reign that

began in 1994 when heseized power in a coup.

In practice, Mr. Jammehhad little choice after some7,000 soldiers from Nigeriaand Senegal entered Gambiaon Thursday. They werepoised to move into thecapital as Mr. Jammeh’sarmy provided no resistance.Mr. Jammeh’s authoritariangovernment established areputation for torturing andkilling opponents to stifledissent. — Reuters

Gambia’s long-time ruler steps down

NEW YORK/SEOUL: The U.S.government has asked SouthKorea to arrest a brother offormer U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon oncharges that he engaged in a

bribery scheme to carry outthe sale of a Vietnamesebuilding complex, a U.S.prosecutor said on Friday.

During a hearing in federalcourt in Manhattan, AssistantU.S. Attorney Daniel Noblesaid that a request had beenmade for the arrest of BanKi-sang, who was anexecutive at a South Koreanconstruction firm. — Reuters

Seoul urged to arrest Ban’s brother

LONDON/VIENNA: Thousands ofwomen took to the streets ofEuropean capitals to join“sister marches” in Asiaagainst newly elected U.S.President Donald Trumpahead of a major rally inWashington that drew nearlya half a million people.

In Washington, march or-ganisers said women are“hurting and scared” as thenew President takes oiceand want a greater voice forwomen in political life.

Waving banners with slo-gans like “Special relation-ship, just say no” and “Nastywomen unite,” the demon-strators gathered outside theAmerican embassy in Gros-venor Square in London be-fore heading to a rally incentral Trafalgar Square.

Celebrities join in

Worldwide some 670marches were planned, ac-cording to the organisers’website, which says morethan two million marchersare expected to protestagainst Mr. Trump, who wassworn in as the 45th U.S.President on Friday.

Celebrities, includingrights activist Bianca Jagger,singer Charlotte Church andactor Ian McKellen, ex-pressed their support for theprotest on social media.

In Europe, marches alsotook place in Berlin, Paris,Rome, Vienna, Geneva andAmsterdam.

Around 2,000 peoplemarched in Vienna, accord-ing to estimates by the policeand organisers. In Copenha-gen, march organiser Lesley-Ann Brown said: “National-ist, racist and misogynistictrends are growing world-wide and threaten the mostmarginalised groups in our

societies including women,people of colour, immig-rants, Muslims, the LGBTcommunity and people withdisabilities.”

In Africa, hundreds of pro-testers in Nairobi’s KaruraForest waved placards andsang American protestsongs. Kenyan MuthoniNgige, 28, said: “ I’m here in

solidarity with the women ofAmerica.”

In Asia, hundreds ofpeople joined protests inTokyo, including manyAmerican expatriates.“Trump presidency gets myblood boiling...Everythingwe value could be gone. It’stime to speak your mind andconcerns and to do our best

to salvage the values wecherish in America,” saidBill Scholer, an art teacher.

And in Manila on Fridayabout 200 demonstratorsfrom a Philippine nationalistgroup rallied for about anhour against Mr. Trump out-side the U.S. embassy in Ma-nila. Some held up signs de-manding U.S. troops leavethe Philippines.

In Sydney, Australia’sbiggest city, about 3,000people — men and women— gathered for a rally inHyde Park before marchingon the U.S. consulate down-town, while organisers said5,000 people rallied inMelbourne.

In New Zealand, therewere marches in four cities,involving around 2,000people. — Reuters & AP

In Washington, march organisers say they are ‘hurting and scared’ as the new President begins his term, and want a greater voice in political life

Women across the world hit the streets against Trump

IN ONE VOICE: (Clockwise) Thousands march in solidarity with women at Washington D.C.,London and Barcelona on Saturday as they make their voices heard against Donald Trump’spresidency. People from Nairobi to Manila protested against Mr. Trump, saying that hatred,bigotry and racism are not America’s problems alone. — PHOTOS: AP & GETTY IMAGES

WASHINGTON: Friday wasfull of festivities for hissupporters, but U.S.President Donald Trumpalso encountered someprotesters during the40-minute parade fromthe Capitol to the WhiteHouse, which he enteredat 4.30 p.m.

During the 3 kmparade, protesters nearthe National Art Museumchanted “Not myPresident!” whileelsewhere another manheld a sign that said“Sad,” and yet anotherone that said: “Trumpracist.” The President leftthe car to walk on threediferent occasions.

Immediately after theinaugural address, Mr.Trump waived of afederal law requiringmilitary oicers to waitseven years beforeserving as DefenceSecretary, paving theway for Gen. JamesMattis’s appointment tothe post. He also signedseveral otherappointments, andexchanged banter withlawmakers.

Later, at the first ballthat they attended, thefirst couple danced toFrank Sinatra’s My Way.

At the third and final

ball, where the U.S.military was honoured,Mr. Trumptook a dig atthe media. Talking tosoldiers stationed inAfghanistan, he asked:“How’s it going?...Don’tbe like these people[pointing to journalistsstanding nearby]. Don’tbe too tough on me.”

Praising the soldiers,the President said: “Thecourage that you show isincredible. And it’s goingto be appreciated. It’sappreciated now but it’sgoing to be appreciatedmore than ever before.You’ll see.”

On Saturday morning,Mr. Trump and VicePresident Mike Pencejoined religious leadersof multiple faiths for thecustomary NationalPrayer Service.Narayanachar L.Digalakota from thepopular Sri Siva VishnuTemple in Lanham,Maryland, representedHinduism at the event.Indian-American JesseSingh represented theSikh faith.

President Trumpsigns appointments,attends balls on Day 1

Strikes down law preventing military officers

from becoming Defence Secretary

VARGHESE K. GEORGE

KOBLENZ (GERMANY): Frenchpresidential hopeful MarineLe Pen declared on Saturdaythat 2017 will be the “year ofthe awakening of the peopleof continental Europe” as shejoined fellow nationalistleaders in Germany at the be-ginning of a year of high-stakes national elections.

Le Pen was joined by theNetherlands’ Geert Wilders,Matteo Salvini of Italy’sNorthern League and FraukePetry of the four-year-old Al-ternative for Germany at thegathering of the Europe ofNations and Freedom groupin the European Parliament.

The mood among deleg-ates was celebratory a dayafter Donald Trump wassworn in as U.S. President,following a campaignbuoyed by anti-establish-ment and protectionistthemes.

“We are experiencing theend of one world and thebirth of another,” Ms. Le Pensaid. “We are experiencingthe return of nation-states.”

The first “real blow to theold order” was last June’sBritish vote to leave theEuropean Union, she saidfollowed closely by Mr.Trump’s election. — AP

Le Pen looking

forward to year of

nationalist revivalPESHAWAR: A powerful explo-sion on Saturday rippedthrough a crowded veget-able market in minorityShia-dominated Parachinarcity in northwest Pakistan’srestive Kurram tribalagency, killing at least 25people and injuring 50others.

According to oicials, thedeath toll is expected to riseas the market was crowdeddue to early morning rush.

The blast — claimed byTehrik-e-Taliban — oc-curred at the market insideEidgah Bazaar in Parachinar,the administrativeheadquarters of the agencynear the Afghanistan bor-der. Citing the political ad-ministration in Kurramagency, Geo TV said that atleast 25 people were killed inthe blast. However, in a briefstatement the military saidthat 20 people had beenkilled in the attack.

In critical condition

Initial reports, citing oi-cials, suggested that explos-ives kept in a vegetable crateexploded.

The injured were shiftedto Parachinar headquartershospital, where there is ashortage of doctors andmedical facilities. At least 10patients were said to be in

critical condition.A statement issued by the

Inter-Services Public Rela-tions said the improvisedexplosive device blast tookplace at 8.50 a.m. “Army andFC Quick Response oicialshave reached the blast siteand cordoned of the area.Army helicopters have beenflown in for medical evacu-ation of the injured,” it said.

Interior MinisterChaudhry Nisar Ali Khancondemned the attack andordered a detailedinvestigation.

As the news broke, Mut-tahida Majlis-e-Wahdat-e-Muslimeen, a Shia political

organisation, announcedthree days of mourning.

Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistanspokesman Umer Khuras-ani claimed responsibilityfor the blast, which he saidwas carried out to avengethe killing of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) chief AsifChotu. Asif, who was onPakistan’s most wanted ter-rorist list and carried abounty of Rs. 3,000,000 onhis head, was killed alongwith three aides in an en-counter near Lahore onTuesday.

He was directly involvedin killing over 100 people inPunjab, Sindh, Khyber-

Pakhtunkhwa andBalochistan.

LeJ was founded in 1996 asa militant ofshoot of Sipah-i-Sahaba, a Sunni sectariangroup that emerged in themid-1980s. LeJ has claimedresponsibility for the deathsof hundreds of civilians,mostly minority ShiaMuslims.

Not acceptable: Imran

Opposition PakistanPeople’s Party chairmanBilawal Bhutto Zardari con-demned the blast and saidthat “in order to defeat ter-rorism people will have tosupport the PPP.”

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insafchairman Imran Khan saidthat attack on unarmed ci-vilians is not acceptable.“The terrorists should betried and the victims begiven justice,” he said.

Khyber-PakhtunkhwaChief Minister PervaizKhatakk and Punjab ChiefMinister Shahbaz Sharifcondemned the attack.

Parachinar has a sizeableShia population and in thepast the minority com-munity was targetedthrough bombings. InDecember 2015, a similarblast at the Eidgah Marketkilled 25 people and injured70 others. — PTI

25 killed, 50 injured in Pak. market blast

Security officials inspect the site of an explosionat avegetable market in Pakistan’s Parachinar city. — PHOTO: AFP

ANKARA: The Turkish Parlia-ment has backed a plan tostrengthen the powers ofthe presidency, paving theway for a referendum on theissue in spring which, ifpassed, could allow Presid-ent Tayyip Erdogan to stayin oice until 2029.

Mr. Erdogan says the re-form will provide stabilityin the European Union can-didate country at a time ofturmoil and prevent a re-turn to the fragile coalitionsof the past. His opponentsfear it will herald increas-ingly authoritarian rule.

The constitutional re-form bill was approvedovernight with339 votes inthe 550-member assembly,parliament said on its oi-cial Twitter account on Sat-urday. The legislationneeded at least 330 deputiesto support it in order to goto a public vote.

Mr. Erdogan, speaking forthe first time since Parlia-ment’s vote, called on hissupporters to work “day in

and day out” throughout thereferendum campaign.

“My people will give thefinal decision...I believe thisreferendum period willconclude with the will ofour people,” Mr. Erdogansaid at an opening cere-mony in Istanbul.

Justice Minister BekirBozdag, along with otherruling party politicians,took to Twitter after Parlia-ment’s decision, and voiced

support for the changes.The leader of the main

Opposition CHP, KemalKilicdaroglu, said after thevoting that his party wouldfight the changes in theirreferendum cam-paign.“This is a betrayal bythe Parliament of its ownhistory. Our people will cer-tainly thwart the game thatwas played in Parliament...We will go from door todoor and explain this to ourpeople,” Mr. Kilicdaroglusaid.

The reform would enablethe President to issue de-crees,declare emergencyrule, appoint ministers andtop state oicials and dis-solve Parliament — powersthat the two main Opposi-tion parties say strip awaybalances to Mr. Erdogan’spower.

Mr. Erdogan assumed thepresidency, a largely cere-monial position, in 2014after over a decade as primeminister with the ruling AKParty. — Reuters

Erdogan strengthens grip aspresidential system is approved

If the proposals are acceptedin a referendum, PresidentErdogan could stay in officetill 2029. — FILE PHOTO: AP

WASHINGTON: The U.S. InteriorDepartment was ordered to shutdown its official Twitter accountsindefinitely after the NationalPark Service, which manages allnational parks in the country,shared tweets about low turnoutduring President Donald Trump’sinauguration ceremony.

The first tweet noted the new

President’s relatively smallinaugural crowd compared to thenumber of people formerPresident Barack Obama drew tothe National Mall when he wassworn into office in 2009. Thesecond tweet noted severalomissions of policy areas on thenew White House website, theWashington Post reported. — PTI

Tweets draw White House’s wrath

CMYK

BUSINESS | 15THE HINDU SUNDAY, JANUARY 22, 2017

NOIDA/DELHI

Forex reserves increase by $687.9 million India’s foreign exchange reserves rose by$687.9 million to $359.842 billion in the week to January 13, the RBI said. — PTI

HP Inc. raises product prices in IndiaTo adjust to currency movement and commodityprices, HP Inc. has increased the list prices of itsproducts in the Indian market. — IANS

Tata Communications invests in TeleenaTata Communications said its Netherlands unithad made an investment in IoT firm TeleenaHolding and will hold a 35% stake. — PTI

Bullion RatesJanuary 21 rates in rupees with

previous rates in brackets

Chennai

Bar Silver (1 kg) 41,930 (41,675)

Retail (1 g) 44.90 (44.60)

24 ct gold (10 g) 29,620 (29,510)

22 ct gold (1 g) 2,829 (2,819)

Delhi

Silver 41,700 (41,600)

Standard Gold 29,575 (29,630)

Sovereign 24,300 (24,300)

NEW DELHI: The Labour Min-istry has sought a fourfold in-crease in the threshold limitfor tax deduction on provid-ent fund withdrawals, fromthe existing ₨50,000 to ₨2lakh, in the coming Budget.

This means that if the pro-posal gets a go-ahead, youmay be able to withdrawprovident fund savings of upto ₨2 lakh without any tax de-duction even if you have notcompleted five years of con-tinuous service.

At present, provident fundwithdrawals of more than₨50,000 before completingfive years in service attractsincome tax of up to 34.608%.

“No tax is required to bededucted on provident fundwithdrawal of less than₨50,000. However, even thislimit appears to be too lowand may be enhanced to ₨2lakh keeping in view the de-liberations in the meetings ofthe Central Board of Trust-ees,” the Employees’ Provid-ent Fund Organisation(EPFO) wrote in a recent let-ter to the Labour Ministry,which has since been forwar-ded to the Finance Ministryfor inclusion in the UnionBudget for 2017-18.

The Centre had last yearincreased the threshold limitof PF withdrawal for deduc-tion of tax (TDS) from₨30,000 to ₨50,000.

PAN card

The Labour Ministry hasalso requested the FinanceMinistry to remove tax de-duction of 34.608%, knownas the maximum marginalrate, for workers who do not

furnish PAN card details.While a 10% tax is deduc-

ted for workers disclosingPAN details, 34.608% tax isdeducted for workers whodo not have a PAN card.

“It would not be out ofplace to mention that onlysuch persons are required tohave a PAN who are abovethe taxable limit,” the EPFOwrote. “The total revenueimpact on this count wouldbe less than ₨10 crore,” ac-cording to the EPFO.

“Guaranteed service offive years in the lifetime of anemployee is not available un-der either Central of State le-gislations. The said provi-

sion may be amended toincorporate five years of(PF) deposits from the firstmonth of contribution.”

The Finance Act of 2015had first introduced the de-duction of income tax onpayment of accumulatedprovident fund balance dueto an employee with lessthan five years of service.

Service tax exemption

The Labour Ministry hasalso sought retrospectiveservice tax exemption for theEPF scheme.

EPFO was exempted fromthe purview of service taxfrom April 2016.

The Labour Ministry hasnow said the exemptionshould come into efect ret-rospectively arguing thatEPF is a social securityscheme and doesn’t come inthe category of ‘banking andfinancial services.’

Labour Ministry has sought fourfold increase in thresholdSOMESH JHA

Tax-free withdrawallimit for PF may rise

RAISING RELIEF: PF funds of ₨2 lakh may be withdrawn sans a taxcut even when completed service is under 5 years. — FILE PHOTO

The Labour Ministryhas also soughtretrospective servicetax exemption for theEPF scheme

MUMBAI: UltraTech’s netprofit rose 5% to ₨594 croreduring the third quarterended December 31, due tolower expenses. The com-pany’s net sales grew 1.45% to₨6,013 crore, according to astatement.

On a standalone basis, theAditya Birla Group firm sawits net profit grow 6.6% to₨563 crore despite a fall in netsales by ₨22 crore to ₨5,540crore. The company’s boardapproved the setting up of a3.5 mtpa integrated cementplant at Dhar, Madhya Pra-desh at a total cost of about₨2,600 crore.

“Commercial productionfrom the plant is expected tocommence by Q4FY19. Thisplant will help in reductionof lead distance and cater tothe markets of south-westMadhya Pradesh, where thecompany is not a significantplayer,” UltraTech said.

With this expansion andthe acquisition of the cementplants of Jaiprakash Associ-ates Limited, the company’scement capacity will in-crease to 95 mtpa, includingits overseas operations.

The Centre’s spending oninfrastructure, developmentof smart cities and interestrate cuts supported by sub-sidy schemes for housingwould be the key drivers ofdemand, the company said.

UltraTech’s costcurbs help lift netby 5% to ₨594 cr.SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

MUMBAI: Music Broadcast,which operates leadingFM radio station RadioCity, is planning to list onthe stock exchanges and isset to come out with apublic ofer of more than₨500 crore comprising afresh issue of ₨400 croreand an ofer for sale of26.59 lakh equity sharesby the promoters’ family.

The funds from theissue will be used to retiredebt of about ₨150 croreand the balance to create a“war chest” for futureacquisitions.

“We have already filedthe DRHP and postregulatory approvals, weintend to hit the capitalmarket,” said R. K.Agarwal, CFO, Jagran

Prakashan Ltd., promotersof Music Broadcast Ltd.“Bulk of the funds will beutilised to strengthen thecapital structure so that awar chest is created toacquire more radiostations as and whenopportunity arises.”

“We see lot ofopportunities in radio asour business has beengrowing at a CAGR of15-16% for several yearsand we have beenoperating at a margin of33%. We have receivedencouraging responsefrom investors,” he added.

Radio City, whichoperates FM stations in 29cities and is set to expandto 39 locations, wasstarted by STAR India in2001 and after changingmany hands is now the

radio business of theJagran Group.

Apurva Purohit,director, Music BroadcastLtd., said: “The radiosector is the youngest inthe M&E sector but a fastgrowing one. Radio'sshare in the media andentertainment industrypie is just 4% of the totaladvertisement marketsize due to slower pace ofregulation, whichotherwise could havebeen as high as 12%.Private FM injected freshstimulus into radiobusiness and theexponential growthinspires us to investheavily.”

For the half year endedSeptember 2016, MusicBroadcast posted a netprofit of ₨29.76 crore.

Music Broadcast plans share saleSPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

TOKYO: Japan is threatening totake India to the WTO overrestrictions that nearlyhalved its steel exports to theSouth Asian nation over thepast year, a step that couldtrigger more trade spats asglobal tensions over steeland other commodities runhigh.

Such action is rare for Ja-pan. The world’s second-biggest steel producer typic-ally tries to smooth disputesquietly through bilateraltalks, but with global tradefriction increasing, Japan’sdefence of an industry thatsells nearly half of itsproducts overseas is gettingmore vigorous.

Besides concern over In-dia’s protection of its do-mestic steel industry, Japanis also worried about themore rough and tumble cli-mate for global trade beingengendered by incomingU.S. President DonaldTrump, and feels it mustmake a strong stand for openand fair internationalmarkets.

“We need to stop unfairtrade actions from spread-ing,” said a Japanese industryministry oicial, explaining a

Dec. 20 request for WTO dis-pute consultations with In-dia over steel safeguard du-ties and a minimum importprice for iron and steelproducts.

India imposed duties of upto 20% on some hot-rolledflat steel products inSeptember 2015, and set afloor price in February 2016for steel product imports todeter countries such asChina, Japan and SouthKorea from undercuttinglocal mills.

“If consultations fail to re-solve the dispute, we may askadjudication by a WTO

panel,” the industry ministryoicial said. Such actioncould come as soon as 60days – in February – after itsconsultation request wasfiled in December.

Tokyo says India’s actionsare inconsistent with WTOrules and contributed to theplunge in its steel exports toIndia, which dropped to 11th-largest on Japan’s buyer listin 2016 through November,down from sixth-largest in2015.

“We are following theWTO guidelines,” said a topoicial at India's steel min-istry, though adding that

New Delhi is ready to sitacross the table for tradetalks. The date of a WTO-ledconsultation had not beenset.

Growing trade disputes

There has been a series oftrade disputes over the pastfew years amid massive ex-ports of cheap steel productsfrom China, the world’s topproducer, with Vietnam,Malaysia and South Africataking or planning measuresto block incomingshipments.

China’s steel exportsdropped by 3.5% in 2016 to108 million tonnes, still aboutas much as Japan produces ina year.

Japan is also monitoringits small volume of importsfor signs of dumping, fearingthat steel products withnowhere to turn because ofimport restrictions may headto it own market.

“All trade need to be fair. Ifthere are trades that violatethe rules, we will take neces-sary actions while consult-ing with our government,”Kosei Shindo, chairman ofthe Japan Iron and Steel Fed-eration, said. — Reuters

Japan threatens to drag India to WTO onsteel as Trump era heralds trade tensions

STEELY RESOLVE: If consultations fail to resolve the dispute,Japan may ask for adjudication by a WTO panel. — FILE PHOTO: AP

SAN FRANCISCO: Ride-hailingfirm Uber Technologies Inchas hired the man behindGoogle search to workclosely with chief executiveTravis Kalanick and helpgrow the company’s self-driving car program.

Amit Singhal announcedon his personal blog that hewill join Uber after 15 years atAlphabet Inc, where he ledGoogle’s search division.

Mr. Singhal will take thepost of senior vice presidentof engineering, a role whichoversees the company's mar-ketplace and mapping ef-forts, the core of Uber’s busi-ness.

He will also act as an ad-viser to both Mr. Kalanickand Anthony Levandowski,who heads Uber’s self-driv-ing program. — Reuters

Google’s Singhal to steer Uber’sself-driving car

DAVOS: India's biggest lenderby assets, State Bank of India,could tap capital marketsnext fiscal year to raise up to$1.5 billion, its chief said onFriday, though it first needsto complete a planned mer-ger with its subsidiary banks.

In an interview with Reu-ters on the sidelines of theWorld Economic Forum inDavos, Arundhati Bhat-tacharya also said the lenderwould look to raise fundsfrom stake sales in its life in-surance unit that could list ina year to 18 months, and byparing its holding in UTI As-set Management Co, which isalso looking to go public.

“We do plan to raise somecapital. However, this is alsodependent on the fact thatthere is a merger that we areplanning to do,” said Ms.Bhattacharya, 60, who hasbeen at the helm of SBI as itschairman since late 2013.

SBI, which is merging itsfive subsidiary banks with it-self and also taking over asmall state-run lender forwomen, previously expectedthe merger to be completedby March.

The deals could now getdelayed by a quarter, Ms.Bhattacharya said, as banksare still busy replacing with-drawn banknotes after In-dia’s sudden move inNovember to cancel 86% ofits currency. India's fiscalyear starts in April.

“As long as the merger isnot over and done with, itcould be diicult to ap-proach the capital markets,”Ms. Bhattacharya said,adding the lender could lookto raise between $1 billionand $1.5 billion from themarkets.

SBI last sold shares inJanuary 2014 to raise $1.2 bil-lion. — Reuters

SBI may raise up to $1.5 billioncapital in thenext fiscal year

MUMBAI: The ongoing board-room tussle in the TataGroup has compelled the Se-curities and Exchange Boardof India (SEBI) to review thenorms for removal of inde-pendent directors in listedcompanies.

At the SEBI board meetheld on January 14, the cap-ital market watchdog tooknote of the fact that pro-moters by virtue of their ma-jority holding in large listedcompanies can easily re-move an independent dir-ector. An internal notepresented to the SEBI boardstated that the regulatorshould evaluate the option ofbarring the promoters fromvoting on resolutions seek-ing removal of independentdirectors.

“It is felt that the presentprovisions make the removalprocess less stringent thanthe appointment process.Therefore, since a specialresolution is required for there-appointment of an inde-pendent director, the sameprinciple should be appliedfor his removal also i.e spe-cial resolution may be madenecessary,” according to aninternal note prepared bySEBI, which was presentedto the board.

Current framework

At present there is no re-striction on promoters tovote on such kind of resolu-tions, it said referring to thecurrent regulatory frame-work for removal of inde-pendent directors.

The capital market regu-lator has brought this issueto the notice of Ministry ofCorporate Afairs (MCA) aswell, based on the letters itreceived from Nusli Wadiawho was removed as an inde-pendent director from Tata

Motors, Tata Steel and TataChemicals.

In one of his letters toSEBI, Mr. Wadia alleged thatTata Sons levelled falsecharges against him in thespecial notice sent to theshareholders of Tata com-panies in which he served asan independent director. Hehas also filed a ₨3,000 croredefamation suit along with acriminal defamation caseagainst Ratan Tata, Tata Sonsand its board of directors.

“In corporate India, free-dom of independent direct-ors is as important as inde-pendence of judiciary in ourdemocracy,” said VaneesaAgrawal, Partner, Suvan LawAdvisors.

“SEBI listing regulationsand Companies Act, 2013needs to provide independ-ent directors a fair processand the opportunity to de-bate their dismissal beforethe non-promoter independ-ent shareholders, currently itdoes not require legally sui-cient cause for dismissal, orany similar test,” said MsAgrawal, who has earlierworked as a law oicer atSEBI.

SEBI Chairman U.K. Sinhahad recently said that he

does not see any “compellingreason” to review norms forindependent directors at thisjuncture.

Violation of laws

Meanwhile, the notepresented to the board alsostated that it would not beright on SEBI’s part to ques-tion the commercial de-cisions of the boards of com-panies unless there is anykind of violation of the se-curities laws.

“Intervention by the regu-lator is not envisaged in suchsituation unless there ap-pears to be violation of se-curities laws,” it says, whilereferring to allegations madeby ousted chairman CyrusMistry regarding some of thecommercial decisions takenby the boards of listed Tataentities. The regulator has,however, directed the stockexchanges to seek informa-tion from the companies onthe allegations made by MrMistry. The companies wereasked to place the allegationsbefore their respective auditcommittee as per SEBIguidelines. Only, TataTeleservices (Maharashtra)and Tata Capital FinancialServices have responded.

ASHISH RUKHAIYAR

TATA TRIGGER: The boardroom tussle at Tata Sons has promptedthe markets regulator to review the norms. — FILE PHOTO

SEBI reviews rules for removalof firms’ independent directors

BUSINESS16 |THE HINDU SUNDAY, JANUARY 22, 2017

NOIDA/DELHI

With the Centre’s focus onafordable housing, hous-ing finance companies arenow gearing up to meet thehigher demand in this seg-ment. Ashwini KumarHooda, Deputy ManagingDirector, Indiabulls Hous-ing Finance Ltd., says theUnion Budget will be cru-cial. Edited excerpts:

• How was H1 FY17 for thehousing finance business?

The housing sector wasprovided with plenty of im-petus last year. From aBudget tailored to increasebenefits for builders andhome buyers to multipleinitiatives to boost the ef-forts for ‘Housing For All by2022,’ the ecosystem founditself in an abundance of fa-vourable factors. Improvedconsumer confidence andattractive housing optionssaw the sector receive re-cord bookings this pastyear.

• Can you shed some light onsmart city home loans?

We have always consideredour ability to cater to the af-fordable housing segmentas our strength highlightedby our average ticket size of₨25 lakh for home loans.With the unveiling of In-dia’s first completely digitalhome loan – Indiabulls e-home loans – we aim to ex-tend our reach to India’s100 smart cities.

With the growing im-portance of technology inIndia’s Tier I and Tier II cit-ies, the smart city homeloan will use a digital routeto reach out and service theafordable housingsegment.

• Do you think theannouncements made byPrime Minister Narendra Modion New Year’s eve would havea huge impact on the homeloan industry?

The Prime Ministerhanded afordable andlow-cost housing furtherincentives to further addmomentum to the

already strong afordablehousing segment. Not onlyhas he efectively made an“EMI” cheaper than “rent”for the afordable homebuyer, he has provided atimely boost to his vision of‘Housing For All by 2022.’The subvention of 3% and4% on home loans of ₨9 lakhand ₨12 lakh respectivelycoupled with the loweredinterest rates by the RBIcreated a very happy newyear for home loan buyers.The home loan industrycan only benefit from suchpositive factors whichpromise to increase the de-mand for homes and in turnhome loans, greatly. InJanuary, we are already see-ing a positive impact withmanifold increase in num-ber of home loanapplications.

• Banks have now decided toreward customers with goodCIBIL scores by offering themlower interest rates. Do youhave plans around the CIBILscores of applicants?

At Indiabulls Housing Fin-ance we have traditionallynot used CIBIL score due toinherent limitations of suchscores for large ticket andlong tenure home loans.

We invest heavily instudying the entire CIBILreport to identify and ana-lyse patterns in our custom-ers’ credit behaviour.Based on these ob-servations, wemake well in-formed de-cisions on thecredit worthi-ness of applic-ants andprovide thebest possibleloan solution.We ofer ourprime lending rate(PLR) of 8.65 % toborrowers

who qualify on all ourcriteria.

• The real estate regulatorybill (RERA) was passed by bothhouses of the Parliament lastyear. How do you think it willimpact the housing financesector?

The RERA is another initi-ative which aims at em-powering the end con-sumer. Although this mightreduce supplies and in-crease prices in the shortterm, it promises to in-crease customer confid-ence by leaps and bounds inthe long term.

We are looking towardsmore and more subsidies,schemes and bills beingpassed for the benefit of theend consumer.

The more our customersare confident, the greaterour prospects of growthincrease.

• With technologyoverpowering businesses andbusiness models, how are youfuture ready?

2016 was a year of digitaltransformation for Indi-abulls Housing Finance. Weintroduced India’s firstcompletely online homeloan, the Indiabulls e-HomeLoan. This digitises the en-tire home loan processfrom application to dis-

bursal and increases ef-fectiveness many

fold. The tedious

home loanprocess isnow so fastthat custom-ers can re-ceive sanc-tion for a

home loan in6-8 hourswithout having

to visit a branch.

Within 3 months of its in-troduction, 11% of our in-cremental home loans havebeen sourced through e-home loans.

We believe that digital isno longer in the future butfirmly in the present andwe are geared up to con-stantly evolve and provebest-in-class services lever-aging these aspects.

• What are your expectationsfrom the upcoming UnionBudget?

The upcoming UnionBudget will be crucial. Thegood work done by the gov-ernment in the past year inproviding the commonhome buyer with more andmore incentives can betaken to the next level.

My expectation from theUnion Budget is to havenewer/better incentivesand policies rolled out fordevelopers of the aford-able housing segment suchthat the growing demandhas a steady supply.

• How do you foresee thehousing finance market in2017 compared to 2016?

Having grown at 30%CAGR in the last 3 years, af-fordable housing as a seg-ment will continue to seegrowth in 2017 as it isbacked by factors like in-creasing urbanisation, fa-vourable demographics(66% Indians are below theage of 35), lower interestrates, increasing subsidieslike the Prime Minister’sAwas Yojana and greatertax benefits. Housing fin-ance companies will dowell to customise their of-ferings to best suit thissegment.

• With some banks offeringhome loans at 8.35 %, do youthink there is more scope forrate reduction among housingfinance companies?

Another cut in home loanrates will largely dependon the RBI’s stance in themonetary policy in Feb-ruary. We hope to see acouple of rate cuts of 25basis points each in thecalendar year 2017.

INTERVIEW ASHWINI KUMAR HOODA

Budget will be crucial for housingOOMMEN A. NINAN

KOLKATA: The third edition ofthe Bengal Global BusinessSummit closed with propos-als worth ₨2.35 lakh crore be-ing received by the State gov-ernment. Proposals forco-operation in sectors suchas mining and green citieswere received from Polandand South Korea.

“We do not believe in mak-ing big announcements of₨50- ₨60 lakh crores...we willtell you only about doableprojects,” Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee said afterher finance minister AmitMitra announced the pro-jects. “Even in these days ofdemonetisation and ‘remon-etisation,’ we have attractedseveral proposals.. this isenough for us,” she said.

“Fructification of propos-als is more important thanmere ‘paper proposals,” shesaid in an indirect referenceto such claims being made byother states.

Ms. Banerjee said workhas begun on 40% of the pro-jects announced in the lasttwo summits.

West Bengal getsproposals worth₨2.35 lakh croreSPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: The Ministry of AY-USH has tasked the advert-ising industry watchdog toproactively identify poten-tially misleading advertise-ments of traditional systemsof medicine in domains suchas ayurveda, yoga andnaturopathy.

Usually, the AdvertisingStandards Council of India(ASCI) scans the advertise-ments based on complaints itreceives. “ASCI has beengiven a self-monitoring man-date by the Ministry of AY-USH to identify potentiallymisleading advertisementsin the AYUSH sector andprocess complaints throughits Consumer ComplaintsCouncil (CCC),” accordingto a statement from thewatchdog.

These will include advert-

isements on ayurveda, yogaand naturopathy, unani,siddha and homoeopathymedicines, treatment and re-lated services.

“The arrangement wouldensure that any advertise-ment making claims for dis-eases and disorders, in viola-tion of the notificationissued by our ministry for in-dications that have been pro-hibited from claiming, are

immediately brought to ourattention,” said Ajit M.Sharan, Secretary, the Min-istry of AYUSH.

“We have entered into anMoU with ASCI to efect-ively weed out such advert-isements so that consumersare protected from unscru-pulous manufacturersselling products makingfalse claims. This is vital forthe propagation of AYUSH

system of medicine withinIndia and beyond,” the sec-retary said.

Monitoring ads

The watchdog will com-prehensively monitor theseadvertisements across 900publications and 500 TVchannels. The Ministry willalso redirect complaintsagainst misleading advert-isements to ASCI which willbe reviewed using ASCI’scode and guidelines. “TheMoU also requires ASCI toreport to the Ministry of AY-USH, advertisements in po-tential violation of the Drugsand Magic Remedies (Objec-tionable Advertisements)Act, 1954 and Rules thereun-der as well as non-compli-ance of ASCI’s CCC recom-mendations for the Ministryof AYUSH to take further ac-tion,” the statement said.

Misleading ads for traditionalmedicine under Centre’s scannerSPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

CONSUMER INTEREST: ASCI now has the mandate to identifypotentially misleading advertisements.— FILE PHOTO:AFP

NEW DELHI: Delhi-based start-up Smartbox, whichprovides ATM-like termin-als for online shoppers topick-up their orderedproducts, will soon start itsoperations in cities such asChennai, Mumbai,Bengaluru, Ahmedabad andPune as it looks to expand itsfootprint in the country.

The company, which cur-rently has Paytm and Ori-flame as clients, has an in-stalled base of about 70automated parcel-deliveryterminals in Delhi-NCR. It istargeting 1,000 such termin-als across the country byMarch 2018.

In talks with Amazon

The company is also intalks with e-commerce gi-ants such as Amazon, Snap-deal and Flipkart, said AmitSawhney, CEO, SmartboxEcommerce Solutions.Amazon runs a similar ser-vice is the U.S. calledAmazon Lockers.

Mr. Sawhney said a deliv-

ery boy is successful in deliv-ering only 25-30 parcels dailyout of 40-45 attempts.

“With our automated par-cel terminals, delivery boyscan make up to 120 deliveriesa day, increasing productiv-ity and cutting costs. Logist-ics comprise nearly 75% of ane-commerce firm’s cost.With our solution, thesecosts can be reduced byabout 25%.” This also bringsdown the cost of re-deliver-ing when customers are notpresent when the parcel isdelivered the first time.

While shopping online, if acustomer selects the option

of collecting parcels fromSmartbox automated ter-minal, they are given an OTPusing which they can collecttheir orders.

There is also an option topay digitally once the orderis collected.

In case the customerwants to return or exchangethe products that can also bedone using the automatedterminal, saving e-com-merce companies costs in-curred on return logistics.Mr. Sawhney added the com-pany is currently scoutingfor more locations to installthe solution.

YUTHIKA BHARGAVA

OUT-OF-BOX: Amit Sawhney, founder-CEO, Smartbox (secondfrom left), with his team. — FILE PHOTO

Smartbox aims to sell1,000 terminals in FY’18

CMYK

ND-ND

SPORT | 17THE HINDU SUNDAY, JANUARY 22, 2017

NOIDA/DELHI

�

Telecast scheduleAustralia vs Pakistan: 4th ODI: STAR Sports 2 & HD 2, 8.50 a.m.; Irani Cup: STAR Sports 4 & HD 4, 9.30 a.m.; India vs England: 3rd ODI:STAR Sports 1, 3 & HD 1 & 3, 1.30 p.m.; Australian Open: Sony Six & Sony Six HD, 1.30 p.m. & 5.30 a.m. (Monday); I-League: TEN 2, 4.30p.m. & 7 p.m.; EPL: SS Select HD 1, 5.20 p.m., 7.35 p.m. & 9.50 p.m.; South Africa vs Sri Lanka: 2nd T20, TEN 3 & TEN 1 HD, 6 p.m.; HIL:STAR Sports 2, 3 & HD 2 & 3, 7 p.m.; Bundesliga: SS Select HD 2, 7.35 p.m. & 9.45 p.m.; La Liga: Sony Six & Sony Six HD, 8.30 p.m., 11 p.m.& 1.30 a.m. (Monday); Serie A: Sony ESPN & Sony ESPN HD, 1.30 a.m. (Monday); NBA: Sony ESPN & Sony ESPN HD, 4.30 a.m. (Monday)

Not done yetShe’s human, and she is beatable. This is a Grand Slam, and weare talking that she has already won, but I don’t like these talks.But I will have to work hard and play my best tennis because sheis an amazing player. She knows how to play these matches.”— Barbora Strycova on her fourth-round clash with Serena Williams

KOLKATA: England wicketkeeper-batsman Jonny Bairstow hasreplaced injured Alex Hales in thesquad for the three Twenty20Internationals against India fromJanuary 26.

Bairstow, who is already part ofthe ODI squad, will now remain inIndia till the end of the tour.

The England team announcedthe inclusion of Bairstow in theTwenty20 squad on its twitterhandle. — IANS

Bairstowreplaces Halesin T20 squad

A leader is the one who makes an impact andprovides inspiration. M.S. Dhoni exemplifiedthese qualities.

His tact and calm persona made a significantimpact on the entire team in tense situationsresulting in victories. He stood by his players

and gave individual attention and influenced them in a positiveway. One can only lead by example and Dhoni’s journey as acricketer and captain is an inspiration.

The quintessential leader announced his decision to stepdown as the captain of the Indian team. Knowing his character,this shouldn’t come as a surprise at all. He is the one whodictates terms. Just like his patent helicopter shots he has im-peccable timing in his decisions. One should not be surprised ifhe announces his retirement at the end of the One-Day Interna-tionals against England.

Dhoni has always made well thought-out decisions with thebest interest of Indian cricket in his mind. When it comes to‘Captain Cool’, we need to read between the lines and under-stand the implications. Dhoni indicated that he would not wantto be a liability to the team by blocking the wicketkeepingposition for a promisingyoungster. Though Dhoniis still invaluable to theteam, he will not hesitate toretire if he feels that’s thebest for the team.

Dhoni’s foresight andevaluation are commend-able. He believed in ViratKohli’s capabilities andgave him enough time to ease into the role of captain in Tests.Now that Virat has proven himself as a leader, this was theperfect time for Dhoni to hand over the baton to the successor.He has no qualms about playing under Kohli’s captaincy. This initself shows his character.

Dhoni’s pragmatic approach and sensibilities invoke respect.One of the shrewdest cricketing brains, former England captainMike Brearley wrote to me, “Dhoni is a terrific batsman, whoalways seems calm and confident. That helps to captain theteam. He played the game in an excellent spirit and has clearlybeen respected by his team. He is a very competent and cannywicketkeeper.”

Dhoni has a simple theory about leadership. Speaking tosports psychologist Dr. Rudi Webster for his book, ‘Think LikeA Champion’, Dhoni says, “The captain must lead by example togain trust, respect and support his team. The people I lead carrythe expectations of 1.2 billion people. So, I help them by keepingeverything as simple as possible and by creating an atmospherethat will give confidence and motivation to each and everyoneto do his best.”

Now, Virat Kohli may have a diferent theory. In order to testand strengthen his theory, it would be better to have the major-ity of players under him. Fortunately, he befits all the formats.With quite a few new players, Dhoni perhaps felt this was theright time to hand over the captaincy. By spending more timewith the players, Kohli will be able to build a strong team underhim.

Dhoni acknowledged his reservations about the spilt-cap-taincy in Indian cricket. The very base of leadership is team-work and that’s not easy in a team which has players fromdiferent religion, cast and creed belonging to diferent regions.Diversity in cultural environment plays a major role in theupbringing of individuals from diferent States. To create atight-knit unit in this scenario is a herculean task.

Ajit Wadekar, during his tenure, managed to do just that for acouple of years. But in 1974, a seed of groupism was sowedunknowingly and the team spirit evaporated in England. Thefact that Dhoni has managed a team for a decade in both theformats is significant for India’s constant high ranking.

Even Pataudi once said that it’s not easy to lead any Indianteam in any sports because of their diference in approach.Stereotypically, players from the North tend to be more ag-gressive whereas the players from the West or the South aremore rational. He compared the approach of two all-rounders:Kapil Dev and Karsan Ghavri. Kapil had aggression in his veinswhereas Ghavri belonged to Mumbai way of thinking.

Ghavri made his Test debut under Pataudi who once told himon the rest-day of the Test against the West Indies that heshould assess the situation and play. Ghavri had a big match-winning partnership with Gundappa Viswanath that helpedIndia win the Test. He curbed his aggression after Pataudi’sadvice. Instances like these demonstrate the prominence of agood captain in the team.

“Legacy is not what’s left tomorrow when you are gone, it’swhat you give, create, impact and contribute today while youare here that then happens to live on.” M.S. Dhoni surely seemsto believe in this mantra. His unparalleled legacy and characterare an inspiration to all.

Dhoni led by example

FRANKLY SPEAKING

Dhoni’sunparalleledlegacy andcharacter are aninspiration to all

MAKARAND WAINGANKAR

KOLKATA: The Eden Gardenswelcomed two of the best bat-ting outfits on current form totry out a new surface that hasbeen laid recently at the more-than-150-year-old venue.

Despite the fate of the seriesbeing decided — with Indiataking an unassailable 2-0 lead— there was no dearth of in-terest surrounding the con-ceptually ‘inconsequential’encounter.

The surge in interest mayhave emanated from the keen-ness with which the two sideshave battled out the three-match series that has alreadyseen more than 1400 runsscored in two games.

As the scene shifts to one ofthe most celebrated centres ofcricket, another aspect of thecontest gains prominence.The surface here underwent acomplete makeover last sea-son with both the grass and thesoil undergoing alterationahead of the T20 World Cup.

According to the grounds-men, this will be the right timeto assess the transformation as

both the re-laid soil base andthe Bermuda grass havesettled down to the condi-tions.

Those who have worked onthe surface feel that the newtrack will see Eden oferingeven assistance to both thebatsmen and the bowlers, in abreak from its age-old avataras a slow turner.

India has dominated the vis-iting team on every count sofar, Virat Kohli leading thecharge with his exceptionalbatting, first in the Tests andthen in the limited-overformat.

Kohli skipped the ‘optionalpractice’ session on Saturday,but the ‘old guard’ that fetchedIndia the win in the previousmatch at Cuttack — M.S.Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh — hada serious workout.

Dhoni, who relinquishedcaptaincy just ahead of theseries, returned to imperiousform with the bat just whenthe team needed his support.The overflowing galleries atthe Barabati Stadium (Cut-tack) were treated to someclassic vignettes as Yuvraj

joined Dhoni in scripting a re-cord partnership of 256 runswith both scoring centuries.

The resurrection was morestriking for Yuvraj, who madea spectacular comeback scor-ing his highest ODI total andfirst century after the 2011World Cup.

With the new breed of all-rounders — Kedar Jadhav andHardik Pandya — giving solid-ity and strength to the team,Kohli will look to wrap up hisfirst series as the limited-overcaptain with an all-win record.

There may even be a possib-ility, which will be determinedby the merit of the wicket, thatKohli will consider some rota-tion in the roster by trying outthe likes of Ajinkya Rahane,Manish Pandey and AmitMishra, who have not featuredin the series so far.

England has shown admir-able application in the battingdepartment with Jason Roy,Joe Root and captain EoinMorgan in fine form.

But what the visitors havefailed to assess in the subcon-tinent is the need for variety inthe bowling department, espe-

cially the use of ‘slower ball’which can be a big weapon onthe flat tracks ofered here sofar.

The bowling, led by pacerChris Woakes, has not beenable to come to terms with theneeds of the situation.

With the Eden Gardenspitch promising to ofer thepacers some ‘purchase’, Eng-land may harbour hopes ofgetting a win ahead of the up-coming T20I series.

The teams (from):

India: Virat Kohli (capt.), M.S.Dhoni (wk), Lokesh Rahul, ShikharDhawan, Manish Pandey, KedarJadhav, Yuvraj Singh, Ajinkya Ra-hane, Hardik Pandya, R. Ashwin,Ravindra Jadeja, Amit Mishra, JaspritBumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar,Umesh Yadav

England: Eoin Morgan (capt.),Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Jake Ball,Sam Billings, Jos Buttler (wk), LiamDawson, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid,Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes,David Willey, Chris Woakes

Umpires: Anil Chaudhary and Ku-mar Dharmasena; Third umpire:Ruchira Palliyaguruge, Fourth um-pire: O. Nandan.

Match starts at 1.30 p.m.

TIME TO REGROUP: After failing to contain India’s batsmen in the series so far, the English bowlers will look to get it right at theEden Gardens. — PHOTO: K.R. DEEPAK

Dominant India eyes a sweepCRICKET / Eden’s relaid surface should offer the pacers enough to work with

AMITABHA DAS SHARMA

VIJAYAWADA: Dashing openerSmriti Mandhana’s knee in-jury, sufered during the BigBash League in Australia, wasa big blow to the Indian wo-men’s team, skipper MithaliRaj said on Saturday.

The team will leave forColombo for the ICC Wo-men’s World Cup 2017 qualifi-ers from February 7.

Speaking to The Hindu atthe ACA Indoor Stadium atMangalagiri where she istraining, Mithali said it was un-fortunate Smriti sufered theinjury at a time when she wassettling down in the role of anopener along with DeeptiSharma. “As it is a ligament

tear, it will take some time forher to make a comeback.

“I hope she will be ready forthe World Cup in June. Wewant to try out ThirushKamini with Deepti for theopener’s slot,” she said.

Mithali said it had becomeimperative that teams scoremore than 200 in women’s in-ternationals. “If we want toreally to do well in the WorldCup, we should learn to postmore than 200 as we will beplaying powerful teams likeAustralia, England, the WestIndies and New Zealand.”

She said the game-planwould be to play dominatingcricket in the qualifiers.

“Our confidence swelledwhen we defeated the West

Indies 3-0 at Mulapadu inNovember. Remember theWest Indies is one of the topteams in the world.”

Team composition

Mithali said the qualifierswere an opportunity to workon team composition. “All thetrial and error exercises willbe carried out in the tourna-ment.”

She felt it was the right op-portunity for the players whowere out-of-form to regainconfidence. Mithali agreedthat the spinners had donewell for India and even ex-celled on tracks that were notspinner-friendly. “Spin is ourstrength and has fetched usmany wickets. As Sri Lankan

wickets will be spinner-friendly, they [spinners] havean important role to play.”

Mithali said, however, that-Sri Lankan conditions werenot comparable to those inEngland, which will host theWorld Cup in June and July.

On the batting front, Mithalisaid India used to be depend-ant on one or two players, butnow with players like Har-manpreet Kaur, Veda KrishnaMurthy, Jhulan Goswami andShikha Pandey pitching inwith big scores, the teamlooked compact on paper.“The need is to show ourstrength on the field.”

The Indian team will reachBengaluru for a coachingcamp from January 24.

Smriti’s injury a blow to the team, says skipper Mithali

CAPTAINSPEAK: Mithali Raj says India must learn to post scoresin excess of 200 in time for the World Cup, which will bestaged in England in June and July. — PHOTO: V. RAJU

J.R. SHRIDHARAN

MELBOURNE: Rafael Nadal’s age-ing legs outlasted Germanteenager Alexander Zverev inan epic five sets even as SerenaWilliams sailed into the last 16at the Australian Open onSaturday.

Nadal needed all his trade-mark grit against Zverev, 19,dubbed “the future of tennis”,and his superior fitness told ashe ground out a thrilling 4-6,6-3, 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-2 win.

Germany’s Zverev looked indiscomfort as he won a pun-ishing 37-shot rally nearly four

hours intotheir contestas Nadal, stillfull of run-ning, pressedhis advantagein the finalset.

It means Nadal, 30, followsfellow veteran Roger Federerinto the last 16 of a contest nowmissing defending championNovak Djokovic.

Serena sails

Serena, by contrast, had nosuch trouble as she brushed offellow American Nicole Gibbs6-1, 6-3 to maintain her chargetowards a 23rd Grand Slamtitle.

The next player to take onSerena will be Barbora Stry-cova, who ousted France’sCaroline Garcia to earn a shotat the World No. 2.

Elsewhere 117th-rankedIstomin built on his win over

Djokovic by beating PabloCarreno Busta 6-4, 4-6, 6-4,4-6, 6-2 to reach the fourthround for the first time.

In the women’s draw, Bri-tain’s Johanna Konta main-tained her sizzling form with adominant 6-3, 6-1 victory overCaroline Wozniacki.

The results: Men’s singles:Third round: 8-Dominic Thiem (Aut)bt Benoit Paire (Fra) 6-1, 4-6, 6-4,6-4; 11-David Goffin (Bel) bt 20-IvoKarlovic (Cro) 6-3, 6-2, 6-4; 13-

Roberto Bautista Agut (Esp) bt 21-David Ferrer (Esp) 7-5, 6-7(6), 7-6(3),6-4; Denis Istomin (Uzb) bt 30-PabloCarreno-Busta (Esp) 6-4, 4-6, 6-4,4-6, 6-2; 9-Rafael Nadal (Esp) bt 24-Alexander Zverev (Ger) 4-6, 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-2; 15-Grigor Dimitrov (Bul)bt 18-Richard Gasquet (Fra) 6-3, 6-2,6-4; 6-Gael Monfils (Fra) bt 32-Phil-ipp Kohlschreiber (Ger) 6-3, 7-6(1),6-4; 3-Milos Raonic (Can) bt 25-Gilles Simon (Fra) 6-2, 7-6(5), 3-6,6-3.

Women’s singles: Third round:

Jennifer Brady (USA) bt 14-Elena Ves-nina (Rus) 7-6(4), 6-2; Mirjana Lucic-Baroni (Cro) bt Maria Sakkari (Gre)3-6, 6-2, 6-3; 30-Ekaterina Makarova(Rus) bt 6-Dominika Cibulkova (Svk6-2, 6-7(3), 6-3.

16-Barbora Strycova (Cze) bt 21-Caroline Garcia (Fra) 6-2, 7-5; 2-Ser-ena Williams (USA) bt Nicole Gibbs(USA) 6-1, 6-3; 9-Johanna Konta(GBR) bt 17-Caroline Wozniacki(Den) 6-3, 6-1; 5-Karolina Pliskova(Cze) bt Jelena Ostapenko (Lat) 4-6,6-0, 10-8; 22-Daria Gavrilova (Aus)

bt 12-Timea Bacsinszky (Sui) 6-3,5-7, 6-4.

Mixed doubles: First round: 2-Sania Mirza (Ind) & Ivan Dodig (Cro)bt Laura Siegemund (Ger) & MatePavic (Cro) 7-5, 6-4; Rohan Bopanna(Ind) & Gabriela Dabrowski (Can) btMichael Venus (NZ) & KatarinaSrebotnik (Slo) 6-4, 6-7(5), 10-7.

Junior singles: First round:Boys: Alexander Crnokrak (Aus) btSiddhant Banthia (Ind) 2-6, 7-6(3),7-5. Girls: Zeel Desai (Ind) bt KaitlinStaines (Aus) 6-4, 3-6, 7-5. — AFP

Gritty Nadal fends of Zverev in a five-set epic

KOLKATA: Bhuvneshwar Kumarattributed his return to the In-dian team as a key pacer to theskills he perfected while bowl-ing the death overs for Sun-risers Hyderabad in the IndianPremier League (IPL).

Bhuvneshwar emerged thehighest wicket-taker in IPL2016, finishing with 23 wickets.

“When playing for Sun-risers, I had to bowl a lot at thedeath and I am bringing thatmindset into internationalcricket,” he said.

Reflecting on his comeback,Bhuvneshwar said: “There is abit of nervousness when youare playing after a long time.There is no match practice.

“So, it takes the first two-three overs to get over thenervousness.”

Staying motivated

The pacer said the challengefor a bowler is to stay motiv-ated and deliver when it isquite normal for a team toscore around 350 in the ODIs.

“We are getting used to thisas 350 is a par score nowadays.We plan our practice and teammeetings keeping that in mind.We have come from an erawhere 250-300 was the parscore and now even 350 is notsafe,” he said.

“It is not easy bowling york-ers with a wet ball.

“But those are the things wefocus during practice,”Bhuvneshwar added.

Meanwhile, England openerJason Roy said that his team

will now try to avoid a 3-0 routby winning the last match ofthe series here.

“Of course you want to fin-ish the series on a high butevery game from now on tillthe Champions Trophy is go-ing to be stepping blocks forus,” Roy said looking at thenext big international engage-ment, which will be held inEngland in June.

The England opener said histeam did well enough in thefirst two one-dayers, but lostto some outstanding indi-vidual performances.

The positives

“We have got a lot of posit-ives to take from the first twogames. We have scored 350 inthe first game and 366 in thesecond and there are enoughpositives in those eforts,” hesaid.

Bhuvneshwar creditsIPL for improvementSPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

MUMBAI: Nikkin Thimmaiahpulled Dabang Mumbai backfrom the brink of defeat to anhonourable 3-3 draw againstRanchi Rays in the Coal IndiaHockey India League 2017opener. The Indian striker ap-plied the finishing touch to adeliberate indirect penalty-corner conversion (worth twogoals) in the 59th minute. Thehome team trailed 1-3 till thatpoint at the Mahindra stadium.

Christopher Ruhr was thestand-out performer for thevisitors, justifying being thecostliest foreigner in theleague at $75,000. He floatedall over the rival half, and setup a field goal for Rays with astinging carpet drive to Sim-ranjit. The latter respondedwith a neat trap and reversehit. Ruhr later converted astroke. Three out of four goalscame in the third quarter.

Eventually, the rule award-ing two goals for a field at-tempt, aimed at entertainingfans and giving opportunity toplayers in front of the goal-mouth to showcase stick skillsor power in their wrists, de-termined the outcome of thematch.

Two video referrals weretaken in the last minute.

Dabang’s move to questionthe umpire decision provedfruitful, resulting in the fifthpenalty corner and the equal-

iser of a pass from Harman-preet Singh.

Ruhr was kept under con-stant watch by the home teamin the first quarter. Rays wentfor the direct route in the firstpenalty corner, Mitton’s dragwas blocked by the Dabangcustodian. Tryon shuttledbetween marking and distri-bution duties smoothly on theright. Manpreet got a yellowfor a reckless tackle as thescore remained goalless athalf-time.

Ruhr turned creator on theright, spotting teammate Sim-ranjit lurking near the centrejust beyond the D. The lattertrapped a powerful hit first-time and sounded the boardswith the reverse hit. Harte, un-

der the bar, was beaten by thetime he shifted position anddived to block. Dabang repliedwith a drag-flick conversionby Harmanpreet Singh eightminutes later.

Rays’ second goal came via apenalty stroke. A Dabang de-fender failed to get his foot outof the way from a Sumit de-flection. Ruhr stepped for-ward and beat Harte from thepenalty spot with a firm pushto the left post. Dabang forcedtwo penalty corners in the ac-tion-packed third quarter, butdid not make headway.

The score: Dabang Mumbai 3(Harmanpreet Singh 37 PC, NikkinThimmaiah 59 FG) drew with RanchiRays 3 (Simranjit Singh 31 FG, Chris-topher Ruhr 38 PS).

HOCKEY INDIA LEAGUE

Thimmaiah rescues Dabang MumbaiNANDAKUMAR MARAR

ACTION-PACKED: Dabang Mumbai’s Affan Yousuf (left) andRanchi Rays’s Timothy Deavin battle it out.— PHOTO: PTI

CMYK

ND-ND

SPORT18 |THE HINDU SUNDAY, JANUARY 22, 2017

NOIDA/DELHI

Sudoku is a mind game and apuzzle that you solve withreasoning and logic. Fill in the grid with digits in sucha manner that every row, everycolumn and every 3x3 boxaccommodates the digits 1 to 9,without repeating any.

VARIETY

SU | DO | KU

1. Agusta Bombshell, 2. Legend,3. Torremolinos

6 ROCKY PLATE ( Div. I),(1,200m), 5-y-o & over, rated 26 to50 (Cat. III), 3-45: 1. Golden Angel(1) G. Naresh 60, 2. Green Striker(6) I. Chisty 60, 3. Manogamini (5)P. Gaddam 60, 4. Rapidest (9) A.Joshi 59.5, 5. Matica (8) Koushik 58,6. Blaze Of Glory (2) Ajeeth Kumar55, 7. Coral Springs (3) KuldeepSingh 54.5, 8. Onk Onk Onk (7) SaiKumar 53 and 9. Dear Friend (4)Kunal Bunde 51.1. Blaze Of Glory, 2. DearFriend, 3. Green Striker

7 P. E. BAPOOJI MEMORIALCUP (1,200m), 4-y-o & over, rated46 to 70 (Cat. II), (whips are notpermitted in this race), 4-15: 1.Dream Girl (4) Md. Sameeruddin60, 2. Bharat Queen (9) I. Chisty55.5, 3. Paprika (5) P. Gaddam 55.5, 4.Manoveg (11) A. S. Pawar 54.5, 5.Ragas Ajalias (6) Kunal Bunde 54.5,6. Ruby's Gift (1) N. Rawal 54.5, 7.Seven Colours (7) K. Mukesh Ku-mar 54, 8. Whispering Pines (3) A.A. Vikrant 54, 9. Without Makeup(10) Ajit Singh 53, 10. Silver Dollar(8) Kuldeep Singh 52.5 and 11. BigFlash (2) G. Naresh 52. 1. Bharat Queen, 2. Dream Girl,3. Paprika

8 BROWN SUGAR PLATE((Div. I), (1,400m), 5-y-o & over,rated 46 to 70 (Cat. II), 4-45: 1. Won-der Eye (6) A M Tograllu 60, 2.Gayle Force (9) Khurshad Alam58.5, 3. Byron Bay (5) Deepak Singh55.5, 4. Bharat King (8) B. R. Kumar54.5, 5. Grand Canyon (7) A. A.Vikrant 54, 6. Auston Doulton (3)Md. Sameeruddin 53.5, 7. PrincessRose (10) Beuzelin 53.5, 8. Khoshgel(2) Akshay Kumar 53, 9. Penu-matcha's Pride (1) N. S. Rathore52.5 and 10. Shivalik Bird (4) A. S.Pawar 51.1. Byron Bay, 2. Princess Rose, 3.Bharat King

9 BALLERINA STAR PLATE(1,600m), 4-y-o & over, rated upto30, 5-15: Buckshee (9) B. R. Kumar62, 2. Golden Xanthus (11) Sai Ku-mar 62, 3. Amazing Power (7) Ak-shay Kumar 61, 4. Enter Canter (4)S. S. Tanwar 59, 5. Cannon Hope (5)Kunal Bunde 58, 6. Carnival Ex-press (3) Kiran Naidu 58, 7. GreenMemories (6) Aneel 58, 8. Sensa-tional Girl (2) N. Rawal 55.5, 9.Touch Of Gold (8) Md. Sameerud-din 55, 10. Amravathi (10) G. Naresh54 and 11. Royal Gold (1) Ajit Singh50. 1. Cannon Hope, 2. Carnival Ex-press, 3. Amazing PowerDay's best: Big HeartDouble: Blaze Of Glory - BharatQueenJkt: 5, 6, 7, 8 & 9; Tr (i): 1, 2 & 3; (ii): 4,5 & 6; (iii): 7, 8 & 9; Tla: all races.

HYDERABAD: Big Heart may score anencore in the Nawab Mir MusthaqAli Khan Memorial Cup (1,400m),the main event of the races to be heldhere on Sunday (Jan. 22).

1 ARMAGNAC PLATE(1,400m), 4-y-o & over (winner notmore than one after 31 March 2014),rated 26 to 50, 1-15 p.m.: 1. Mandy (7)Akshay Kumar 60, 2. Avantika (8)Beuzelin 59, 3. Chinese Thought (5)A. A. Vikrant 58, 4. Negress Pearl(4) I. Chisty 58, 5. Ship Shape (9) N.S. Rathore 56, 6. Dragonstone (3) K.Mukesh Kumar 55, 7. Cash ForRank (6) A. S. Pawar 51.5, 8. Sefarina(1) G. Naresh 51.5 and 9. GoldenAdara (2) Md. Ismail 51.1. Mandy, 2. Negress Pearl, 3.Cash For Rank

2 ROCKY PLATE (Div. II),(1,200m), 5-y-o & over, rated 26 to50 (Cat. III), 1-45: 1. Bouquet (3) I.Chisty 60, 2. Dolce (4) K. MukeshKumar 60, 3. Midnight In Paris (1)Md. Sameeruddin 60, 4. Island Bird(9) P. Gaddam 59, 5. Kiss N Chase(2) Gopal Singh 57.5, 6. Trustful (8)Aneel 55, 7. Beauty Flash (7) AjitSingh 54, 8. Sir Legend (5)A. S.Pawar 52 and 9. Golden Phoenix (6)Md. Ismail 51.5. 1. Bouquet, 2. Dolce, 3. IslandBird

3 ROCKY PLATE (Dv. III),(1,200m), 5-y-o & over, rated 26 to50 (Cat. III), 2-15: Gangadhar (8) G.Naresh 60, 2. Kireeti (4) AkshayKumar 60, 3. Symbol Of Glory (7) B.R. Kumar 60, 4. Rock Baby Rock (9)Kiran Naidu 58.5, 5. Proud Image(6) Ajeeth Kumar 55, 6. Yet An-other (1) Kuldeep Singh 55, 7.Globetrotter (2) Md. Ismail 52, 8.Ashwini (5) Kunal Bunde 51.5 and 9.Racing Ikon (3) C. P. Bopanna 50.5.1. Yet Another, 2. Racing Ikon,3. Symbol Of Glory

4 NAWAB MIR MUSTHAQALI KHAN CUP (1,400m), (Cat. II),3-y-o only (Terms), 2-45: AmorousWhite (3) Akshay Kumar 59.5, 2. BigHeart (5) Beuzelin 55.5, 3. SouthernCrown (4) Kuldeep Singh 55.5, 4.Top Link (2) Deep Shanker 55.5, 5.Treasure Striker (6) I. Chiaty 55.5,6. Gladiator Royale (7) G. Naresh54 and 7. Lady In Lace (1) N. Rawal54.1. Big Heart, 2. Amorous White,3. Lady In Lace

5 BROWN SUGAR PLATE(Div. II), (1,400m), 5-y-o & over,rated 46 to 70 (Cat. II), 3-15: 1. Tor-remolinos (8) Akshay Kumar 60, 2.Legend (3) Sai Kumar 59, 3. DeltaForce (9) N. S. Rathore 55.5, 4. Can-berra (5) Kuldeep Singh 54, 5.Golden Arrow (4) I. Chisty 54, 6.Kalinda (6) Rohit Kumar 54, 7.Agusta Bombshell (2) A M To-grallu 53.5, 8. Dancing Farha (7) G.Naresh 52.5 and 9. Time Is Luck (1)P. Gaddam 52.

Big Heart fancied

BENGALURU: Shivalik Star (S. Johnup) won the Karnataka PoliceTrophy, the feature event of the racesheld here on Saturday (Jan. 21).

The winner is owned by Mr. Chit-turi Krishna Kannaiah, Mr. AjithPrasad & Mr. Benly Abraham andtrained by Arjun Mangalorkar.

The results:1. CHARMUDI PLATE

(1,400m), rated 00 to 20, 5-y-o & over:Zala Princess (Mukesh Kumar) 1,Dancing Princess (P. Trevor) 2, Fly-ing Prince (Nitin Singh) 3 and Ori-ental Belle (I. Chisty) 4. 1-1/4, 2-1/4and 1-3/4. 1m 28.32s. Rs. 119 (w), 37, 13and 23 (p), SHP: Rs. 42, FP: Rs. 562, Q:Rs. 179, Trinella: Rs. 1,410 and Rs. 853,Exacta: Rs. 7,898 and Rs. 6,770. Fa-vourite: Dancing Princess.

Owner and trainer: Mr. MahmoodKhan.

2. DASHMESH STUDPLATE (Div. II), (1,200m), rated 45to 65, 5-y-o & over: Noble Flaire (S.John) 1, Amazing Redd (RayanAhmed) 2, Mariko (Darshan) 3 andAkha Teej (P. Trevor) 4. 1-1/4, Snkand 2-3/4. 1m 13.77s. Rs. 27 (w), 14, 25and 16 (p), SHP: Rs. 69, FP: Rs. 175, Q:Rs. 98, Trinella: Rs. 314 and Rs. 109,Exacta: Rs. 792 and Rs. 487. Favourite:Noble Flaire.

Owners: Mr. K. Shasha Bindu Das,Mr. K. Balamukunda Das, Mr. K.Kamesh & Mr. Hiro G. Matia.Trainer: Prasanna Kumar.

3. VIRAJPET PLATE (1,100m),maiden 3-y-o only, (Terms), 2-45:Lady Barrington (David Allan) 1,Queen Latifa (Suraj Narredu) 2, BoraBora (P. Trevor) 3 and Regal Realm(Neeraj) 4. Not run: Lofty Thoughtsand Indian Rocket. 3/4, 2-3/4 and 4-1/4. 1m 07.10s. Rs. 35 (w), 14, 14 and 12(p), SHP: Rs. 36, FP: Rs. 115, Q: Rs. 78,Trinella: Rs. 150 and Rs. 48, Exacta:Rs. 282 and Rs. 204. Favourite: BoraBora.

Owners: Poonawalla Racing &

Breed Ltd represented by Mr. ZavaryPoonawalla & Byramjee JeejeebhoyPvt Ltd rep by. Mr. Byram N. Jeejeeb-hoy. Trainer: S. Padmanabhan.

4. K.S. PREMCHAND ME-MORIAL TROPHY (Div. I),(1,200m), rated 30 to 50: Gypsy(Suraj Narredu) 1, Zafran (P. Trevor)2, Tax Free (Janardhan Paswan) 3 andFlotus (P.P. Dhebe) 4. 1-1/2, 1-1/4 and4. 1m 13.47s. Rs. 22 (w), 13, 18 and 43(p), SHP: Rs. 45, FP: Rs. 58, Q: Rs. 38,Trinella: Rs. 459 and Rs. 268, Exacta:Rs. 727 and Rs. 213. Favourite: Gypsy.

Owners: Mr. Daulat Chhabria, Mr.Sunil K. Vasant & Mr. Pradeep Lala.Trainer: Irfan Ghatala.

5. DR. C. VITTAL ME-MORIAL CUP (1,400m), rated 30to 50, 5-y-o & over: Adriphos (SunilSamson) 1, Rapid Advance (P. Surya)2, Frenemee (Rajesh Babu) 3 and TeaWid Me (Irvan Singh) 4. Not run:Ravelnation. Nk, 3/4 and 4-3/4. 1m26.62s. Rs. 100 (w), 30, 19 and 18 (p),SHP: Rs. 51, FP: Rs. 383, Q: Rs. 183,Trinella: Rs. 2,394 and Rs. 1,190, Ex-acta: Rs. 87,510 (carried over). Fa-vourite: Freestyle.

Owners: Mr. S.N. Prasad, Mr. T.S.Preetham & Mr. Ramesh ChandraMehta. Trainer: Sriram Komandur.

6. KARNATAKA POLICETROPHY (1,200m), rated 75 &above: Shivalik Star (S. John) 1,Coldstream (David Allan) 2, LifeAwaits (Neeraj) 3 and Integrated (Ir-van Singh) 4. 1/2, Hd and 1-1/2. 1m12.25s. Rs. 238 (w), 64, 21 and 20 (p),SHP: Rs. 61, FP: Rs. 2,192, Q: Rs. 842,Trinella: Rs. 6,183 and Rs. 2,650, Ex-acta: Rs. 19,190 and Rs. 6,579. Favour-ite: Integrated.

Owners: Mr. Chitturi Krishna Kan-naiah, Mr. Ajith Prasad & Mr. BenlyAbraham. Trainer: ArjunMangalorkar.

7. CORDEN BLEU PLATE(1,600m), rated 15 to 35, 5-y-o & over:Only Prince (Suraj Narredu) 1,

Proudprince (Sai Vamshi) 2, Cannes(R. Manish) 3 and Artorius (RajaRao) 4. 1-1/2, 3-1/2 and Shd. 1m 39.72s.Rs. 30 (w), 19, 18 and 40 (p), SHP: Rs.56, FP: Rs. 151, Q: Rs. 94, Trinella: Rs.1,272 and Rs. 589, Exacta: Rs. 29,282and Rs. 25,099. Favourite: OnlyPrince.

Owner: Mrs. Isha Saandesh Nayak.Trainer: Sriram Komandur.

8. K.S. PREMCHAND ME-MORIAL TROPHY (Div. II),(1,200m), rated 30 to 50: ArecaCruise (P. Trevor) 1, Leon (R. Pra-deep) 2, Romantic Helen (RayanAhmed) 3 and Paradiso (Neeraj) 4. 3,1-1/4 and Nk. 1m 13.78s. Rs. 35 (w), 17,74 and 24 (p), SHP: Rs. 253, FP: Rs.860, Q: Rs. 566, Trinella: Rs. 4,881 andRs. 1,521, Exacta: Rs. 86,267 and Rs.36,971. Favourite: Areca Cruise.

Owners: Mr. Jairam G. Kimmane &Mr. Ananth Iyengar. Trainer:Prasanna Kumar.

9. DASHMESH STUDPLATE (Div. I), (1,200m), rated 45to 65, 5-y-o & over: Royal Defence(Rayan Ahmed) 1, Rich Revival (A.Imran Khan) 2, Ambleside (NazerulAlam) 3 and Eragon (David Allan) 4.Not run: Fourth Dimension and Hid-den Soldier. 1-1/4, 1-1/2 and 1-1/4. 1m13.72s. Rs. 135 (w), 27, 23 and 27 (p),SHP: Rs. 67, FP: Rs. 1,770, Q: Rs. 996,Trinella: Rs. 7,705 and Rs. 1,834, Ex-acta: Rs. 10,087 and Rs. 2,594. Favour-ite: Eragon.

Owner: M R Stud Farms Pvt Ltdrep by. Mr. N. Chandrashekar Rai.Trainer: S. Dominic.

Jackpot: Rs. 3,25,665 (two tkts);Runner-up: Rs. 7,544 (37 tkts).

Treble (i): Rs. 963 (10 tkts); (ii): Rs.1,687 (seven tkts); (iii): Rs. 2,284 (14tkts).

Shivalik Star clinches main event

SARAWAK: Saina Nehwal beatHong Kong’s Yip Pui Yin 21-13,21-10 to make the final of the$120,000 Malaysia MastersGrand Prix Gold here onSaturday.

Saina will face Thailand’sPornpawee Chochuwong inthe summit clash after the lat-ter defeated Cheung Ngan Yi21-19, 20-22, 21-18 in the othersemifinal.

Saina, who opened up a 4-1lead, lost control and let Yin goahead 7-4 and 12-9. The Indian

changed gears and reeled offive straight points to first turnthe tables and then amassedseven points on the trot toleave the Hong Kong playerstranded.

In the second game, therewas a marked diference asSaina simply walked awaywith the game without givingany chance to her rival.

She opened up a 6-0 leadand then kept extending it toeventually shut the door onYin. — PTI

Saina in title round

MUMBAI: Mrs Patmore and MekongDelta should fight out the finish ofthe Villoo Poonawalla Indian Oaks(Gr. I), the stellar attraction of theraces to be held here on Sunday (Jan.22).

There will be no false rails.An amount of ₨10,00,000 will be

added to the Super Jackpot Poolcollection.

1 LT COL GOVIND SINGH(VRC)TROPHY (1,400m),Maiden, 3-y-o only, 2-30 pm: 1. BigSur (2) Sandesh 55, 2. Gloriosus (7)C.S.Jodha 55, 3. Rochester (3) Zer-van 55, 4. Secret Harmony (4)Bhawani 55, 5. Dixieland (6) Trevor53.5, 6. Manifold (1) Neeraj 53.5 and7. Wild Fire (5) Dashrath 53.5.1. Dixieland, 2. Big Sur,3. Manifold

2 P.D.AVASIA TROPHY(1,200m), Cl. II, rated 60 to 86, 3-00:1. The Ministerian (4) Bhawani 60,2. Paramour (1) Sandesh 59.5, 3.Papakura (2) Mosin 58.5, 4. FinalEncounter (8) Neeraj 56, 5. Incentio(9) S.Amit 56, 6. Shivalik Shine (7)Ajinkya 55.5, 7. Hidden Soul (5) T.S-.Jodha 54, 8. Rider On The Storm(6) Raghuveer 53.5 and 9. SydneyHarbour (3) Zervan 51.1. Paramour, 2. Final Encounter, 3. The Ministerian

3 HARRISH MEHRA TROPHY(1,600m), Cl. IV, rated 20 to 46, 3-30: 1. Rashun (11) T.S.Jodha 61.5, 2.Vice Admiral (9) Sandesh 58.5, 3.Daydreamer (10) Zervan 57.5, 4.Glorious Hymn (12) S.John 57.5, 5.Royal Classic (8) S.Amit 56.5, 6.Jeena (1) Yash Narredu 55, 7. Ice

Angel (2) Srinath 54.5, 8. Ab-beyroad (13) Dashrath 54, 9. Shiva-lik Rose (7) Ayyar 53, 10. Abu AlBukhoosh (5) Roushan 52.5, 11.Torrezzo (6) Parmar 52.5, 12. CareFree (14) C.S.Jodha 52, 13. CrystalBall (3) Shelar 52 and 14. SmokeyRoses (4) S.K.Jadhav 50.1. Vice Admiral, 2. Rashun,3. Ice Angel

4 GOOL S.POONAWALLAMILLION (Gr. III) (1,200m), 3-y-oonly, 4-00: 1. Texas Gold (4)J.Chinoy 58, 2. Wise Child (11)Sandesh 58, 3. Elysee (3) Parmar56.5, 4. Goldie’s Pet (1) S.John 56.5,5. Miss Moneypenny (2) C.S.Jodha56.5, 6. Ruina (7) David Allan56.5, 7. Summer Rays (8) Zervan56.5, 8. Excellent Gold (5)S.Kamble 54, 9. Cerrado (6) Tre-vor 52.5, 10. My Precious (9)P.S.Chouhan 52.5 and 11. TowerBridge (10) Suraj Narredu 52.5.1. Wise Child, 2. Summer Rays, 3. Texas Gold

5 MIRCHI MILLION(1,400m), Cl. III, rated 40 to 66,4-30: 1. Charging Tigress (1)S.Amit 62, 2. Batman (10)C.S.Jodha 58.5, 3. Eternal Sunshine(4) Sandesh 56.5, 4. Rosella (2)Srinath 56.5, 5. Miss Saigon (6)Trevor 56, 6. Flashy Wings (8)P.S.Chouhan 54.5, 7. Golden Ec-lipse (5) Parmar 54.5, 8. Arak (11)T.S.Jodha 52.5, 9. Sawgrass (9)S.Kamble 52, 10. Zanzibaar (7)Yash Narredu 51.5 and 11. ZoomZoom (3) K.Kadam 51.1. Miss Saigon, 2. Eternal Sunshine, 3. Rosella

6 VILLOO POONAWALLAINDIAN OAKS (Gr. I) (2,400m),4-y-o fillies only, 5-00: 1. AsterRose (6) Suraj Narredu 57, 2. BookThief (2) Parmar 57, 3. Et Voila (5)Srinath 57, 4. Frosty (8) Dashrath57, 5. Mekong Delta (1) Sandesh 57,6. Mrs Patmore (4) Trevor 57, 7.Silver Beauty (9) Yash Narredu57, 8. Temerity (3) Neeraj 57 and 9.Winter Renaissance (7) C.S.Jodha57.

1. Mrs. Patmore,

2. Mekong Delta,

3. Temerity

7 TRICUMDAS DWARKASTROPHY (1,200m), Cl. IV, rated20 to 46, 5-30: 1. Pollyana (13)Neeraj 61, 2. Gregorian Chants (7)J.Chinoy 59, 3. Wild Jack (2) Par-mar 55.5, 4. Komodo Dragon (8)K.Kadam 54, 5. Regal Shot (1)Joseph 54, 6. Lady In Red (4)David Allan 53.5, 7. Dolphin (5)C.S.Jodha 53, 8. Voulez Vous (6)S.Amit 53, 9. Colour Therapy (10)Ajinkya 52.5, 10. Forever Free (3)S.J.Sunil 52.5, 11. Panatela (-) (-)52.5, 12. Bee Quirky (11) Nadeem52, 13. Royal Eyes (9) Altaf Sayyed52 and 14. Time Of My Life (14)Nazil 49.5.

1. Wild Jack,

2. Lady In Red,

3. Pollyana

Day’s best: Paramour

Double: Miss Saigon – Wild Jack

Jackpot: 3, 4, 5, 6 & 7.

Treble : 5, 6 & 7.

Tanala : All races.

Super Jackpot : 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 & 7.

Mrs Patmore vs Mekong Deltain Poonawalla Indian Oaks

NEW DELHI: Saurabh Singh (139batting) and Kanishk Seth (46batting) put on 92 runs in anon-going seventh-wicketstand to bring Bengal withinstriking distance of Delhi’sfirst innings total on the thirdand penultimate day of theCooch Behar Trophy (un-der-19) cricket final at theFerozeshah Kotla on Saturday.

The scores: Delhi 314 vs. Bengal272 for six in 120 overs (SaurabhSingh 139 batting, Kanishk Seth 46batting, Mohammad Ansari 38,Vishvash Malik three for 78).

Saurabh slams ton

INDORE: Uttar Pradesh piled up333 for eight in reply to Hy-derabad’s 163 in their VijayMerchant Trophy crickettournament semifinal at In-dore on Saturday.

The scores: Hyderabad 163 in52.5 overs (Owais Abdul Wahed 30,Divesh Singh 48, Karthik Tyagi fourfor 44, Subhash Viswas three for 37)vs. Uttar Pradesh 333 for eight in 141overs (Prabhnoor Singh 91, AryanSharma 89, Sameer Rizvi 84, VikasSikvarkar 44 batting , Trishank Guptathree for 109, Owais Abdul Wahedthree for 26).

UP piles it on

HOUSTON: Having already de-livered convincing statementsearlier this week by drubbingthe Cavaliers and Thunder,Warriors were quick to sendthe message that exacting re-venge for a previous loss was apressing priority.

Golden State Warriors dom-inated Houston Rockets for a125-108 win in the NBA onFriday.

The results: Los Angeles Lakers108 bt Indiana Pacers 96; Utah Jazz 112bt Dallas Mavericks 107 (ot); MemphisGrizzlies 107 bt Sacramento Kings 91;Brooklyn Nets 143 bt New Orleans Pel-icans 114; Golden State Warriors 125 btHouston Rockets 108; Atlanta Hawks102 bt Chicago Bulls 93; Phil-adelphia76ers 93 bt Portland Trail-blazers 92; Charlotte Hornets 113 btToronto Raptors 78; Orlando Magic 112bt Milwaukee Bucks 96.—Reuters

Easy for Warriors

CHENNAI: Jagan Kumar of TVSRacing produced yet anothercommanding performance toseal the premium Super SportIndian (165cc) class title on thepenultimate day of the fifth andfinal round of the MRF MMSCFMSCI Indian National motor-cycle racing championship atthe MMRT track, Sriperumbu-dur, on Saturday.

With just one race remainingand 25 points available, Jagan,with his fourth win in ninestarts, took his tally to 166, bey-ond the reach of nearest rivalKannan Subramaniam (122).

Spaniard Ami vanPoederooijen (Rockstar Racing)clinched the Super Sport Indian300-400cc.

The results (provisional): (allsix laps unless mentioned): Na-tional Championship – SuperSport Indian (300-400cc): 1. Amivan Poederooijen (Rockstar Racing)

(12mins, 09.200secs); 2. AmarnathMenon (Rockstar Racing)(12:13.491); 3. Abhishek Vasudev(Rockstar Racing) (12:20.926).

Super Sport Indian (165cc): 1.Jagan Kumar (TVS Racing)(12:14.805); Harry Sylvester (TVS Ra-cing) (12:16.422); 3. Mathana Kumar(Honda Ten10 Racing) (12:18.772).

Pro Stock (165cc): 1. Rajiv Sethu(Honda Ten10 Racing) (12:43.867); 2.Mithun Kumar (Honda Ten10 Racing)(12:48.541); 3. Prabhu Arunagiri(RACR) (12:49.197).

Stock (165cc): 1. Yashas RL(Bengaluru) (13:28.353); 2. AntonyPeter (Performance Racing)(13:28.368); 3. Soorya PM (Speed UpRacing) (13:28.513).

MMSC One-Make Champion-ship – TVS Apache RTR 200(Open): 1. Kannan Karnan (Chennai)(13:22.756); 2. Arun Muthukrishnan(Chennai) (13:23.539); 3. PrashanthKumar (Karimnagar) (13:23.605).Novice: 1. Yashas RL (Bengaluru)(09:13.274); 2. Peddu Sriharsha(Chennai) (09:15.052); 3. Aditya Rao

Immaneni (Bengaluru) (09:17.922).

Honda CBR 250 (Open): 1. HariKrishnan R (Honda Ten10 Racing)(15:06.767); 2. Mathana Kumar S(Honda Ten10 Racing) (15:07.349); 3.P. Ananth Raj (Pro Lap Racing)(15:07.919). CBR 150 (Novice, 4laps): 1. Piyush Ranjan (Patna)(09:05.163); 2. M. Mahesh Murali(Kerala) (09:07.506); 3. P.M. Soorya(Chennai) (09:08.460).

Suzuki Gixxer Cup (Novice, 4laps): 1. Joseph Mathew (Chennai)(09:11.643); 2. S. Vishal (Chennai)(09:22.692); 3. A.S. Alexander (Chen-nai) (09:24.259).

All Ladies support races (4laps) – Honda: 1. Aishwarya Pissay(Bengaluru) (09:27.007); 2. A. Ry-hana Bee (Chennai) (09:39.365); Nir-anjanie Ravishankar (Chennai)(09:56.603). Alisha AbdullahTraining Academy (4 laps): 1. R.Haritha (Bangalore) (9:41.731); 2.Olesya V Dias (Goa) (10:09.644); 3.Renuka Gajendran (Bangalore)(10:29.673).

MOTORSPORTS

No stopping Jagan Kumar SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

CHENNAI: GM Alberto David (4points) shared the lead withfive other players — R.R. Lax-man and B. Sekar (both India),Adam Tukhaev (Ukraine),Vadim Malakhatko (Belgium)and Attila Czebe (Hungary) —after the fourth round of theChennai Open Grandmasterchess tournament here on Sat-urday. David got the better ofM. Kunal.

Half a point behind at 3.5points were twenty players in-cluding Sahaj Grover, AdamHorvath, Jacek Stopa, VitaliyBernadskiy and Vitaly Sivuk,among others.

R.R. Laxman scored a finetechnical win over D. Gukesh.

The lone upset of the daysaw Candidate Master Arys-tanbek Urazayev going downto B. Sekar.

The results (fourth round): M.Kunal (3) lost to Alberto David (Ita,4), Adam Tukhaev (Ukr, 4) bt P. Sara-vana Krishnan (3), GulrukhbegimTokhirjonova (Uzb, 3) lost to VadimMalakhatko (Bel, 4), Sidhant Mo-hapatra (3.5) drew with Adam Hor-vath (Hun, 3.5), Attila Czebe (Hun, 4)bt M. Chakravarthi (3), Rahul Shetty(3.5) drew with P. Shyaamnikhil(3.5), Saptarshi Roy 3.5 drew with M.Mahalakshmi (3.5), D. Gukesh (3)lost to R.R. Laxman (4), N.R. Vignesh(3.5) drew with Mithil Ajgaonkar(3.5), B. Sekar (4) bt ArystanbekUrazayev (Kaz, 3).

CHESS

Laxman among leaders

CHRISTCHURCH: Bangladesh un-leashed Shakib Al Hasan withdramatic efect late on day twoof the second Test againstNew Zealand, claiming threequick wickets to leave the con-test evenly poised on Sat-urday.

New Zealand, which hadbeen comfortably placed at252 for four, was 260 for sevenin reply to Bangladesh’s 289when rain ended play early atthe Hagley Oval.

Shakib, with his mesmer-ising left-arm spin, took threewickets for three runs of ninedeliveries.

Henry Nicholls was un-beaten on 56 with Tim Southeeon four.

Shakib bowled Watling forone and Colin de Grand-homme without scoring to fin-ish the day with three for 32.

Until Shakib’s one-manfightback, New Zealand wasadvancing towards a first in-

nings lead after a centurystand by Ross Taylor (77) andTom Latham (68) laid thegroundwork following anearly collapse.

Taylor batted for 160minutes. — AFP

Shakib spins Bangladesh backinto the Test

Bangladesh — 1st innings: 289.

New Zealand — 1st innings: J.Raval b Kamrul Islam 16, T. Latham cNurul Hasan b Taskin Ahmed 68, K.Williamson c Nurul Hasan b KamrulIslam 2, R. Taylor c sub b MehediHasan 77, H. Nicholls (batting) 56, M.Santner lbw b Shakib Al Hasan 29, B.Watling b Shakib Al Hasan 1, C. deGrandhomme b Shakib Al Hasan 0, T.

Southee (batting) 4; Extras (lb-1,w-4, nb-2): 7; Total (for seven wkts.in 71 overs): 260.

Fall of wickets: 1-45, 2-47, 3-153,4-177, 5-252, 6-256, 7-256.

Bangladesh bowling: TaskinAhmed 17-1-64-1, Mehedi Hasan 16-2-51-1, Rubel Hossain 15-2-54-0,Kamrul Islam 13-3-48-2, Shakib AlHasan 7-0-32-3, Soumya Sarkar 3-0-10-0.

SCOREBOARD

CENTURION: David Miller hit 40of 18 balls to set up a SouthAfrica win by 19 runs in a rain-shortened first Twenty20 In-ternational against Sri Lankaat SuperSport Park on Friday.

Miller's power hitting en-abled South Africa score 126for five in a match reduced to

10 overs a side before SriLanka was restricted to 107 forsix.

New fast bowler LungiNgidi, 20, bowled with im-pressive pace and was namedMan-of-the-Match after tak-ing two for 12 in his two overs.— AFP

CRICKET

Miller flays Lanka

South Africa: J. Smuts c Gunar-atne b Lakmal 13, H. Kuhn lbw bKulasekara 10, T. de Bruyn c Gunar-atne b Prasanna 19, D. Miller c Lak-mal b Kulasekara 40, F. Behardien(not out) 31, M. Mosehle run out 6,W. Parnell (not out) 0; Extras (lb-1,w-5, nb-1): 7; Total (for five wkts. in10 overs): 126.

Fall of wickets: 1-15, 2-30, 3-54,4-105, 5-125.

Sri Lanka bowling: Mathews 2-0-29-0, Kulasekara 2-0-27-2, Lakmal1-0-18-1, Gunaratne 2-0-12-0,Prasanna 1-0-14-1, Pradeep 2-0-25-0.

Sri Lanka: N. Dickwella c deBruyn b Tahir 43, D. de Silva b Tahir

27, A. Mathews c de Bruyn b Parnell6, T. de Silva c Kuhn b Phangiso 0, S.Prasanna c Mosehle b Ngidi 12, K.Mendis c Imran Tahir b Ngidi 1, D.Chandimal (not out) 6, A. Gunaratne(not out) 10; Extras (lb-2): 2; Total(for six wkts. in 10 overs): 107.

Fall of wickets: 1-59, 2-73, 3-74,4-88, 5-90, 6-91.

South Africa bowling: Ngidi 2-0-12-2, Parnell 2-0-23-1, Phehlukwayo2-0-23-0, Tahir 2-0-23-2, Phangiso2-0-24-1.

Toss: Sri Lanka.

Man-of-the-Match: Ngidi.

South Africa won by 19 runs.

SCOREBOARD

RAMANATHAPURAM: HockeyHaryana will meet HockeyJharkhand in the A division fi-nal of the seventh Nationalsub-junior hockey tournamentfor women here on Sunday.

The results (semifinals):Hockey Haryana 5 (Reet 2, SharmilaDevi, Amandeep Kaur) bt UP Hockey1 (Sapna Devi); Hockey Jharkhand 5(Deepika Soreng 2, Sangita Kumari,Rajni Kerketta, Beauty Dungdung) btHockey Chandigarh 0.

Haryana in final

BHUBANESWAR: DelhiWaveriders may not havemany big names in its ranks inthe fifth edition of the HockeyIndia League (HIL), but coachCedric D’Souza is confident ofthe balance in the side ahead ofits opening match at formid-able Kalinga Lancers’ home,the Kalinga Stadium, here onSunday.

“There have been quitesome changes due to the non-availability of players. That’swhy we had to go the reservepool. We have taken the bestavailable to make our team asstrong as possible. Now is thetime to deliver on the pitch,”said D’Souza, who oversaw aseven-day camp.

Trusted drag-flickerRupinderpal Singh, who hastaken over the captaincy, andNew Zealand striker SimonChild are long-serving mem-bers of the side and will carryforward the team ethos.

Waveriders is strengthenedby the presence of seasonedSouth African Austin Smith,Australian Tristan White andBelgian goalkeeper VincentVanasch.

Junior World Cup winners,including midfielder Harjeet

Singh and forward MandeepSingh and goalkeeper VikasDahiya, give depth toWaveriders, which finishedthird in 2016.

Lancers has added more ex-perience to the squad by re-cruiting Dutch midfield mas-ter Billy Bakker and talentedAustralian Tom Craig. Lastyear’s runner-up has every in-tention to go one better thisyear.

“Possibly we are a little bit

better because we have gotcurrent internationals in Bak-ker and Craig. So that gives ussome strike power upfront.

The Indian players have im-proved over 12 months. Dav-inder (Walmiki) and S.K.(Uthappa) had a goodOlympics and they showedsome really good signs. Dipsan(Tirkey, another Junior WorldCup winner) at the back hasalso some good experience,”said Lancers’ coach Mark

Hager with a lot of optimism.

Lancers, also consisting ofthe efervescent German Mor-itz Furste as its captain and thedashing Aussie Glenn Turner,will have the privilege of play-ing the first match in front oftheir passionate home crowd.

Nevertheless, Waveridersrefused to be bogged down byany pressure. “I love to playunder pressure in a packed sta-dium,” said Rupinderpal.

HOCKEY INDIA LEAGUE

Waveriders go in confident Y.B. SARANGI

RARING TO GO: Kalinga Lancers captain Moritz Fuerste ( facing camera) leads the team’s practicesession. — PHOTO: BISWARANJAN ROUT

KOLKATA: Third seed DhruvSunish of India defeated Kaza-khstan’s Dostanbek Tashbu-latov in the boys’ singles finaland lift DKS ITF juniors tennistitle.

Sunish, currently rankedNo. 2 in u-18 category in thecountry, played with authorityand was in control rightthrough. He hardly allowedany space to the fifth-seededTashbulatov and won the firstset easily 6-2.

Continuing to play with thesame intensity and precisionin the second set, Sunishdropped just three games towin it 6-3 and the match in justone hour and 14 minutes.Sunish had lost the final to JackDraper of Great Britain in asimilar tournament in Chand-igarh earlier this month.

The girls’ final was a one-sided afair where the top-seeded Axana Mareen of Bel-gium made short work of In-dian Akanksha Bhan to reign6-1, 6-3.

The results (finals): Boys: Dhruv Sunish (Ind) bt

Dostanbek Tashbulatov (Kaz) 6-2,6-3.

Girls: Axana Mareen (Bel) btAkanksha Bhan (Ind) 6-1, 6-3. —Sports Bureau

Sunish, Mareentriumph

Dhawan in team

NEW DELHI: Shikhar Dhawanwas named in the Delhi teamfor the inter-State T20 crickettournament to be held atDharamshala from January 29.

Dhawan’s inclusion is subjectto his recovery from a thumbinjury.The team: Gautam Gambhir(Capt.), Unmukt Chand, ShikharDhawan, Nitish Rana, Milind Kumar,Sarthak Ranjan, Kshitiz Sharma,Arjun Gupta, Pawan Negi, MananSharma, Ishant Sharma, PradeepSangwan, Navdeep Saini, VikasTokas, and Subodh Bhati.

Mandeep in final

NEW DELHI: Mandeep Kaurstood just one step away fromthe title after defeatingRajbala in the 57kg semifinalsof the youth National boxingchampionship here.

Other results: Semifinals:Women: Light-flyweight (48kg):Jyothi (Har) bt Tanvi Kaushal (Del)5-0; Anjali Sharma (MP) bt BabitaRani (Pun) 5-0. Flyweight (51kg):Akta (Har) bt Maya Kumari (HP) 5-0;Joy Kumari Lama (Asm) bt ManiSingh Gaur (MP) 3-2.Bantamweight (54kg): Riya Tokas(Del) bt Palian Lalnunfeli (Miz) 4-1;Parveen (Har) bt Deepa Kumari(MP) 4-1.Men: Light flyweight (46-49kg):Ansul Punia (Chd) bt Sahil Shah (HP)5-0; Barun Singh (SSCB) bt B.Ramakrishanan (TN) 5-0.Flyweight: Ch. Wilson Singh (SSCB)bt Sudeep K. Yadav (UP) 3-2;Gurpreet Singh (Pun) btMoirangthem R Singh (Man) 3-2.Bantamweight (56kg): M.D. EtashKhan (SSCB) bt Laldingliana (Miz)5-0; Pawan Gurung (Utk) bt RahulDhanda (Har) 4-1. Lightwelterweight: Akash (SSCB) btDeenu Thapa (Utk) 5-0.

DELHI ROUND-UP

BARASAT (WEST BENGAL): Its questfor a maiden I-League title willbe tested when an unbeatenEast Bengal faces defendingchampion Bengaluru FC in anexciting battle here on Sunday.

For the Blues, this will betheir first match on the roadand arrive here on the back ofthree home wins, but headcoach Albert Roca refused tomake much of the streak on theeve of the fixture.

“It is true that we have wonthree games in a row, but anaway game changes things.East Bengal is a tough sidewith some very good playersand we’ll have to be betterthan we were before if we areto take anything away fromthis game,” Roca said.

A second-half strike fromskipper Sunil Chhetri securedthree points for the Blues atBarasat when the two sideslast met in Kolkata, which wasthe club’s first away winagainst East Bengal. — PTI

East Bengal facesBengaluru FC test

SPORT | 19THE HINDU SUNDAY, JANUARY 22, 2017

NOIDA/DELHI

MUMBAI: Parthiv Patel contin-ued to impress with his cap-taincy and a young bowling at-tack responded to its leader’srequirements.

Still, the Rest of India bats-men would be ruing themissed opportunities, whichhas forced their team into acorner in the Irani Cup match.

At the end of the secondday’s play at the BrabourneStadium, Rest of India wasstuttering at 206 for nine, 152runs behind the Ranji Trophychampion’s first innings totalof 358.

Manoj Tiwary was done inby umpire Virender Sharma’sdecision to adjudge him leg-before of debutant seamerMohit Thadani when the ballappeared to have been goingover the stumps.

BrillianceAbhinav Mukund was bril-

liantly caught in the slips bySamit Gohil and WriddhimanSaha had no answer to onefrom Thadani that pitchedoutside of and came insharply. These were the only

dismissals due to brilliance onthe field.

The other specialist bats-men, however, would be dis-appointed on missing out on

big scores in an important fix-ture in the calendar.

Opener Akhil Herwadkardabbed left-arm spinnerHardik Patel, who bowled a

long spell of 25 unchangedovers, straight to Dhruv Ravalat forward short-leg. KarunNair played down the wrongline, inside-edging Chintan

Gaja to Parthiv behind thestumps.

Late-order collapseKuldeep Yadav missed a

straight one from Hardik to-wards the end of the day totrigger a late-order collapsethat saw RoI lose four wicketsfor just one run.

The only RoI batsman whospent some quality time at thecrease was captain Chetesh-war Pujara.

The No. 3 batsman, duringhis 221-minute stay, looked ingreat nick.

While his steers of Hardikthrough the third-man regionwere a treat to watch, the high-light of his innings was aspanking cover drive of Gajaearly in his innings.

However, Pujara played arash pull late in the day to missout on a deserving century.

The scores: Gujarat — 1st innings: Samit

Gohil lbw b Pankaj 0, Priyank Panchalc Karun b Pankaj 30, Dhruv Raval cSaha b Kaul 39, Parthiv Patel b Kaul11, Manprit Juneja c Pujara b Her-wadkar 47, Chirag Gandhi c & b Kaul169, Karan Patel c Saha b Kaul 13,Mohit Thadani c Tiwary b Kaul 4,

Chintan Gaja lbw b Pankaj 8, HardikPatel (not out) 18, Ishwar Chaudharyc Tiwary b Pankaj 15; Extras (lb-2,w-2): 4; Total (in 102.5 overs): 358.

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-55, 3-81, 4-82, 5-191, 6-231, 7-237, 8-261, 9-333.

Rest of India bowling: PankajSingh 22.5-5-104-4, Siddharth Kaul26-4-86-5, Mohammed Siraj 16-5-49-0, Kuldeep Yadav 16-3-61-0,Shahbaz Nadeem 19-2-43-0, AkhilHerwadkar 3-0-13-1.

Rest of India — 1st innings:

Akhil Herwadkar c Raval b Hardik 48,Abhinav Mukund c Gohil b Gaja 8,Cheteshwar Pujara c Parthiv bChaudhary 86, Karun Nair c Parthiv bGaja 28, Manoj Tiwary lbw b Thadani12, Wriddhiman Saha lbw b Thadani0, Kuldeep Yadav lbw b Hardik 5,Shahbaz Nadeem c Gaja b Hardik 0,Siddharth Kaul c Parthiv b Gaja 0,Pankaj Singh (batting) 7, Mo-hammed Siraj (batting) 8; Extras(b-4): 4; Total (for nine wkts. in 72overs): 206.

Fall of wickets: 1-21, 2-89, 3-136,4-166, 5-170, 6-191, 7-191, 8-191,9-192.

Gujarat bowling: Chintan Gaja17-4-46-3, Mohit Thadani 15-3-48-2,Ishwar Chaudhary 14-5-28-1, HardikPatel 25-5-73-3, Karan Patel 1-0-7-0.

Gujarat pushes Rest of India into a cornerCRICKET / Skipper Pujara’s rash pull deprives him of a deserving century AMOL KARHADKAR

CLASSY: Cheteshwar Pujara was the only Rest of India batsman who spent time in the middlebut threw his wicket away late in the day. — FILE PHOTO

WIJK AAN ZEE (THE NETHERLANDS): P.Hari Krishna easily drew withRussia’s Dmitry Andreikin be-fore B. Adhiban escaped thegrasp of Radoslaw Wojtaszekand eyed a possible win, fol-lowing a late blunder by thePolish GM in the seventh roundof the Tata Steel Masters chesstournament here on Saturday.

On a day when World cham-pion Magnus Carlsen had An-ish Giri at his mercy but al-lowed him to get away with thechance of getting a draw, Wes-ley So stayed at the top with fivepoints.

Hari held Andreikin in 43moves. Later, Adhiban erredtwice in succession while ap-proaching the time-control of40 moves to stare at defeat.Luckily for him, Wojtaszek re-turned the favour by missingout on the precise continuationand by the 46th move, a drawlooked on the cards. But soon,Wojtaszek blundered a knightto give Adhiban the chance ofan unexpected victory.

The results (seventh round):

Dmitry Andreikin (Rus, 3.5) drew withP. Hari Krishna (3.5); Wesley So (USA,5) drew with Pavel Eljanov (Ukr, 4.5);Sergey Karjakin (Rus, 4) bt LevonAronian (Arm, 3.5); Wei Yi (Chn, 4.5)bt Loek van Wely (Ned, 1); Ian Nepom-niachtchi (Rus, 2.5) drew withRichard Rapport (Hun, 2). — SportsBureau

Hari draws

CHENNAI: Mohun Bagan beatChennai City FC 2-1 in a I-League match at the NehruStadium on Saturday to go tothe top of the table with 12points.

For Bagan, injured centre-back Anas Edathodika didn’tplay, while goalkeeperKaranjit Singh and midfielderHaroon Amiri returned forChennai after missing the lastmatch against DSK Shivajians.

Bagan had better possessionin the firsthalf andwent moreon the of-

fensive. Chennai, resisting formost part, created two closechances.

Marcos Tank, and laterCharles, surged into the boxbut neither could get the ballpast the goalkeeper.

Bagan was awarded a pen-alty in the 33rd minute when

Sony Norde was broughtdown by Joseph Clemente butNorde’s efort was saved byKaranjit.

The teams went into thebreak 0-0.

The first in the series of keyevents of the second half was aChennai corner kick but Yum-nam Raju’s ball into the boxwas an easy take for Bagangoalkeeper Debjit Majumder.

Marcos struck in the 52ndminute to help the host go oneup. Eduardo Ferreira took afree kick on the right for Baganbut his ball to Darryl Dufycouldn’t be taken forward. JejeLalpekhlua then scored to helpBagan draw level.

Norde took a freekick, closeto the box on the left, but it wasto no efect and soon Dufywas replaced by BalwantSingh.

Balwant, who created butcouldn’t convert a closechance, assisted Norde’smatch-winner 13 minutes fromtime.

The results:

At Chennai: Mohun Bagan 2 (JejeLalpekhlua 57, Sony Norde 77) btChennai City FC 1 (Marcos Tank 52).

At Pune: DSK Shivajians 1 (KimSong-yong 21) drew with ChurchillBrothers 1 (Adil Ahmed Khan 86).

At Shillong: Shillong Lajong FC 2(Rupert Nongrum 17, Aser DipandaDicka 42) bt Minerva Punjab FC 1(Loveday Okechukwu 90+2).

Mohun Bagan’s winning run continues S. PRASANNA VENKATESAN

THE DECIDER: Mohun Bagan’s Sony Norde slots in the winnerpast Chennai City custodian Karanjit Singh. — PHOTO: M. VEDHAN

PUNE: Tamil Nadu’s S.Shrikrishna scored a fine 3-1victory over Alok Kumar totop his group in the billiardscompetition of the Manish Na-tional billiards and snookerchampionship here on Sat-urday.

The results (league):

Group A: Sourav Kothari, PSPB btRishabh Kumar, Mah 3-1 [100(55)-62, 52-100(60), 100-51, 100(70)-24];bt Sundeep Gulati, Del 3-0 [100 (94)- 8, 100-90, 100-76].

Group B: Siddharth Parikh, Rlys.bt Jagadesh, TN 3-1 [100-95, 9-100,102-77, 102-20].

Group D: Subrat Das, Odi btDeeraj Raj, Tel 3-0 [101-96, 100-87,101-90]; Dhwaj Haria, PSPB btKankan Shamsi, UP [101-17, 100-49,80-101, 100-52]; bt Dheeraj 3-0 [100-28, 100-32, 100-44]; Subrat btKankan 3-1 [100(57)- 24, 100-37, 61-101, 100-41].

Group E: Aamer Hussain, WB btAnupam Jha, Bih 3-0 [100-51, 100-50, 104-59]; Pankaj Advani, PSPB btNitin Kohli, UP 3-0 [100(66)-2, 100(87)-34, 100(100)-12].

Group G: S. Sankar Rao, AP bt A.Satish Kumar, Kar 3-0 [100-74, 100-36, 100-76]; Vishal Madan, Mah btTarun Gupta, Tel 3-2 [95-100, 100-55, 102-26, 14-100, 100-90].

Group H: Dhruv Sitwala, PSPB btM.L. Lakshman, Kar 3-0 [100(91)-6,100-20, 100(91)-17].

Group I: Rupesh Shah, PSPB btShakil Ahmed, WB 3-0 [100 (100)-4,100-69, 100(79)-02].

Group J: S. Shrikrishna, TN btAmit Sharma, Del 3-0 [100(95)-0,100(68)-20, 100-65); bt Alok Kumar,PSPB 3-1 [102(98)-5, 21-101, 101-20,100-43]; Alok bt Nikhil Ghadge, Rlys.3-1 [100-49, 70-100(58), 100-17,100(75)-13].

Group K: Brijiesh Damani, PSPB btS. Magesh, TN 3-0 [100-46, 100-42,100-52]; Shyam Jagtiani, WB bt Sid-darth Patni, MP 3-0 [100-96, 100-61,100-32]. Group N: D. Raj Kumar, Karbt Bhuvaneshvaran, TN 3-0 [100-40,100(92)-8, 100-71]; Shahbaaz AdilKhan, PSPB bt Malkeet Singh, Rlys.3-0 [100-97, 100-31, 100-4].

Group O: Rafath Habib, Rlys. btAnseth Pereira, Jhar, 3-0 [100-86,100-66, 100-35]; Manish Jain, WB btKreishh Gurbaxani, Mah 3-2 [100(70)-33, 84(55)-100, 100-57, 52-100,100-37]. Group P: Manan Chandra,PSPB bt Durga Prasad, Rlys. 3-0 [100(56)-32, 100(68)-00, 100-87]; V.Subramaninan, Mah bt Manan 3-1[100-29, 99-100, 100-71, 100(99)-2];Rishabh bt Manan 3-1 [100(100)-0,100(70)-44, 41-100(54),100(80)-22].

Shrikrishna tops group

G. VISWANATH

LONDON: Wayne Rooney be-came Manchester United’s all-time leading scorer in dra-matic fashion as his last-ditchwonder goal rescued a 1-1 drawat Stoke, while Liverpool’stitle challenge sufered a majorsetback in a shock 3-2 defeatagainst Swansea on Saturday.

Rooney surpassed BobbyCharlton’s tally of 249 goalsfor United when he struckwith a superb efort deep intostoppage-time at the BritanniaStadium.

The 250th goal of Rooney’sglittering United career wasjust the 31-year-old’s fifth of adiicult season and came as atimely reminder of thestriker’s class after he was re-legated to the role of a fringeplayer for long periods thisterm.

At Anfield, Jurgen Klopp’sthird-placed side wasted a

chance to close the gap onleader Chelsea in an error-strewn display that left itwithout a win in its last threeleague games.

The results:Premier League: Saturday:

Bournemouth 2 (King 48, Afobe 82)drew with Watford 2 (Kabasele 24,Deeney 64); Crystal Palace 0 lost toEverton 1 (Coleman 87); Middles-brough 1 (Stuani 27) lost to West

Ham 3 (Carroll 9, 43, Calleri 90+4);Stoke 1 (Mata 19-og) drew withManchester United 1 (Rooney 90+4);West Brom 2 (Fletcher 30, Brunt 36)bt Sunderland 0; Liverpool 2 (Firmino55, 69) lost to Swansea 3 (Llorente48, 52, Sigurdsson 74).

La Liga: Saturday: Espanyol 3(Reyes 10, Piatti 32, Navarro 48) btGranada 1 (Pereira 23); Real Madrid 2(Ramos 35, 43) bt Malaga 1 (Juanpi63).

Friday: Las Palmas 1 (Garcia 13)drew with Deportivo La Coruna 1 (An-done 69).

Bundesliga: Saturday: Schalke 1(Burgstaller 90+2) bt Ingolstadt 0;Wolfsburg 1 (Gomez 83) bt Hamburg0; Augsburg 0 lost to Hoffenheim 2(Wagner 47, Kramaric 64).

Werder Bremen 1 (Bartels 59) lostto Borussia Dortmund 2 (Schurrle 5,Piszczek 71); Darmstadt 0 drew withBorussia Monchengladbach 0.

Friday: Freiburg 1 (Haberer 5) lostto Bayern Munich 2 (Lewandowski 35,90+1). —AFP

EUROPEAN FOOTBALL LEAGUES

Morale-shattering loss for Liverpool

Rooney is now United’s topscorer. — PHOTO: AP

CMYK

LIFE20 |THE HINDU SUNDAY, JANUARY 22, 2017

NOIDA/DELHI

Twitter to spot your favourite account

Twitter is currently testing a new feature thatwill highlight the tweets from a select, singleaccount that you frequently engage with.

Ants to inspire navigation robots

Ants can inspire building better navigationrobots as they are capable of finding their wayeven while walking backwards, scientists said.

Make a virtual Pluto landing

Scientists have posted a video on the NASA websitethat shows what it is like to land on Pluto, using 100images taken by the New Horizons spacecraft.

LONDON: A new view of thedark, contorted centre of asunspot that is nearly twicethe diameter of the Earth,along with other invisibledetails of our Sun, has beenunveiled by scientists.

The results are an im-portant expansion of therange of observations thatcan be used to probe thephysics of our nearest star.

The Atacama Large Mil-limetre/submillimetre Ar-ray (ALMA) antennas hadbeen carefully designed sothat they could image theSun in exquisite detail usingthe technique of radio inter-ferometry.

Astronomers have har-nessed ALMA’s capabilitiesto image the millimetre-wavelength light emitted bythe Sun’s chromosphere.

Researchers, includingthose from EuropeanSouthern Observatory(ESO), produced the im-ages as a demonstration ofALMA’s ability to studysolar activity at longerwavelengths of light thanare typically available tosolar observatories. — PTI

A sunspot withcentre twice thesize of Earth

CHENNAI: The Indian Space Re-search Organisation (ISRO)will set a record when itlaunches 103 satellites in onego on a single rocket in thefirst week of February.

Explaining how all thesatellites will be placed in or-bit, Dr. K. Sivan, Director ofthe Vikram Sarabhai SpaceCentre (VSSC),Thiruvananthapuram, said:“The satellites will be separ-ated from the launch vehiclein diferent directions. Theseparation angle and time ofseparation will be such thatone satellite will not collidewith another.”

The satellite separatedfrom the launch vehicle willhave a relative velocity ofone metre per second. Soafter 1,000 seconds the dis-tance between a satellite andthe rocket will be 1,000metres. “The satellite thatgets launched first will moveat a relatively faster velocitythan the next satellite that is

launched. Due to diferentrelative velocities, the dis-tance between the satelliteswill increases continuouslybut the orbit will be thesame,” he said.

“When the vehicle reachesthe orbital condition, we will

wait for the disturbances todie down before the prepara-tion for separation begins,”Dr. Sivan explained. At an or-bital altitude of around 500km, it would take the vehicle90 minutes to complete oneorbit. “So we have suicient

time to launch all the 103satellites,” he added.

Even one degree difer-ence in separation anglecombined with relative velo-city will ensure that no twosatellites would collide. “Thesatellites will be injected intoorbit at diferent locations atdiferent angles, at diferenttimes and diferent orienta-tions,” Dr. Sivan said.

In June last year, ISROlaunched 20 satellites in onego. It took about 26 minutesto launch all the 20 satellites.In 2008, ISRO launched 10satellites in a single mission.The highest number of satel-lites launched in a single mis-sion so far has been 37 byRussia in 2014; NASAlaunched 29 satellites in onego in 2013.

ISRO’s workhorse PSLV(C37) with 103 satellites willbe launched from the SatishDhawan Space Centre in Sri-harikota in Andhra Pradesh.With the exception of threesatellites from India, the restare from other countries.

How ISRO plans to launch 103 satellites on a single rocketThe mission will break Russia’s record of sending 37 satellites at one go

R. PRASAD

BLAST-OFF: In this photo dated December 7, 2016, PSLV C36 liftsoff from the space centre in Sriharikota. — PHOTO: PTI

Sushmita on Miss Universe 2017 judges panel

Former Miss Universe Sushmita Sen hasconfirmed that she is on the judgingpanel of the 65th edition of the pageant.

The 41-year-old model-turned-actor wascrowned Miss Universe in Manila in 1994. She said she was “excited” as well as“overwhelmed” to return to the pageant 23years later. “Getting ready with a dancing

heart! I am so excited, emotional and looking forward to returninghome to the #Philippines after #23years... it’s where it all began,”Sushmita posted on Instagram. — PTI

Portman calls out Hollywood’s gender bias

Actor Natalie Portman has once againspoken out against the gender inequalityin Hollywood, saying she believes that the

film industry still favours men above women.“Every year, it’s exclusively male-directed, writtenand filmed movies that we’re talking about inawards season. It’s just crazy that there is such aminority of women’s voices out there,” she told The Guardian. — PTI

STAR TREK

PARIS: A gigantic chunk of icethat is breaking away fromWest Antarctica is now at-tached to its parent ice shelfjust by a thread, scientists re-ported on Friday.

Covering 5,000 sq km andnearly 100 storeys-deep, theformation is poised to snapof from Larsen C ice shelf,creating “one of the largesticebergs ever recorded”, theresearchers said in astatement.

A widening rift runningthe length of the finger-shaped, 350 metre-thick iceblock grew 10 km longersome time during the lastthree weeks, satellite imagesrevealed.

“The rift is likely to breakof in the next few months —

if it doesn’t, I’ll be amazed,”said Adrian Luckman, a pro-fessor at Swansea Universityin Wales, and leader of Bri-tain’s Project Midas, whichtracks changes in West Ant-arctic ice formations. “It’s soclose to calving that I thinkit’s inevitable,” he said.

In late December, the rup-ture had already extended by18 km, leaving the future ice-berg connected along only asmall fraction of its length.

If the glaciers held incheck by Larsen C spilt intothe Antarctic Ocean, itwould lift the global watermark by about 10 cm, the re-searchers said. The nearbyLarsen A ice shelf collapsedin 1995, and Larsen B brokeup seven years later. — AFP

‘Massive Antarctic iceshelf ready to break’

LOS ANGELES: Scientists havedeveloped a new methodfor medical testing that maylead to faster diagnosis ofHIV, Lyme disease, syphilisand rotavirus infections.

Researchers at the Uni-versity of Central Florida(UCF) in the U.S. combinedcutting-edge nanosciencewith a magnetic phe-nomenon discovered morethan 170 years ago to createthe method for speedymedical tests.

“I see no reason why avariation of this techniquecould not be in every hos-pital throughout the world,”said Shawn Putnam, an as-sistant professor at UCF.

The team coated nano-particles with the antibodyto BSA, or bovine serum al-bumin, which is commonlyused as the basis of a varietyof diagnostic tests.

By mixing the nano-particles in a test solution,the BSA proteins preferen-tially bind with the antibod-ies that coat the nano-particles. Mr. Putnam’steam came up with a novelway of measuring thequantity of proteinspresent. He used nano-particles with an iron coreand applied a magneticfield to the solution, caus-ing the particles to align in aparticular formation.

As proteins bind to theantibody-coated particles,the rotation of the particlesbecomes sluggish, which iseasy to detect with laser op-tics. — PTI

New techniquefor fasterdiagnosis of HIV