�DHONI THE BEST FINISHER IN 50-OVER CRICKET�

�MPs BREXIT MOVESEXTREMELY CONCERNING�

OVER 28,000 MoUs SIGNED ATSUMMIT: RUPANI

P7 P16

MONDAY21 JANUARY2019

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�CONGRESS BESTEQUIPPED TO LEADALLIANCE VS BJP�

P10 P12

Shah discharged from AIIMS: BJP president

Amit Shah, who was undergoing treatment

for swine flu at All India Institute of Medical

Sciences in Delhi, was discharged on Sunday.

Shah tweeted later saying he was completely

healthy and thanked people for their good

wishes. �By the grace of god, I am completely

healthy now and today reached home after

being discharged from hospital. I am grateful

for your good wishes for regaining health,�

Shah tweeted in Hindi.

CBI director selection panel: The Prime Minis-

ter Narendra Modi-led high-powered panel on

CBI chief will meet on Thursday and discuss

probable names for the post. The panel meet-

ing will be attended by Chief Justice of India

Rajan Gogoi or his nominee and Congress

leader in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge,

officials said. Among the officers whose name

would be discussed at the meeting are J K

Sharma and Parminder Rai from the 1982 IPS

batch, the senior most but lacking experience

in the CBI.

THUMBNAILS

STATESMAN NEWS SERVICENEW DELHI, 20 JANUARY

Aday after the Oppo-sition rally inKolkata, PrimeMinister Narendra

Modi on Sunday hit back atthe ‘Mahagathbandhan’,calling it an alliance of corru-ption, scams, negativity andinstability.

“Those who were on thedais in Kolkata were eitherson or daughter of a big per-son or who wanted to makehis son or daughter big inpolitics,” the Prime Minis-ter said.

“You must have seenthat one of the leaders whowas sharing the dais recalledthe Bofors scam. Truth can-not be kept hidden. TheOpposition's mahagath-bandhan is an alliance of cap-italists, corruption, scams,negativity and instability...The Opposition has 'dhan-shakti' (money power), wehave 'janshakti' (people'spower),” he said.

Modi’s remarks came inthe course of his interactionwith the BJP’s booth levelworkers in Kolhapur,Hatkanangle, Madha andSatara in Maharashtra and

South Goa on Sundaythrough the ModiApp.

He said as against ‘moneypower’ of the oppositionthe BJP had the ‘people’spower’ behind it.

The Prime Minister saidthe opposition was caughtnapping when the govern-ment came out with thebill to grant 10 per centreservation to the eco-nomically weaker sectionsamong the upper castes.

He said the move hadcome in the wake of detailedresearch of the Constitutionof India and was giving theopposition sleepless nights.

“If our decision had nostrength, then these peoplewould not have had sleep-less nights. They have to getdown in the field to spreadlies and rumours. This

means we have done rightwork and worked for thecountry,” Modi said, justi-fying the measure to grant10 per cent reservationthrough a constitutionalamendment.

He called the move ‘his-toric’ and said it was in con-formity with his govern-ment’s objective of ‘sabka sathsab ka vikas’ and throwopen gates of opportunities.“With (the new) 10 per centreservation, new opportu-nities have been openedup,” he said.

Modi said the oppositionparties were now demand-ing replacement of EVMswith ballot papers as theywere staring at a defeat inthe coming Lok Sabha elec-tions. He said the oppositionwas bent upon giving a bad

name to EVMs as they werelooking for some alibis aheadof their impending defeat inthe coming Lok Sabha elec-tions.

He said people who tar-geted the ruling NDA fromthe dais on Saturday werethe ones who never believedin democracy within theirout parties. He charged thatthe opposition parties weretaking the common peoplefor granted and had no faithin any institutions.

“We get worried whensome groups take people forgranted. They think peopleare fools. That is why theydon't leave any stoneunturned to change theircolour... I would like torepeat, this is a dangerousgame for the country and athing to worry about,” Modisaid.

“While on one hand theyare busy saving or nurtur-ing their own families, we arebusy developing a nation.Our country is our family...Those who start violenceagainst the person con-testing against them even atpanchayat level, are nowsinging songs of protectingdemocracy,” the Prime Min-ister added.

�Opp alliance axis ofdynasts, corruption�

By questioning EVMs, Opp making excuses for inevitable defeat: PM

PRESS TRUST OF INDIADAVOS, 20 JANUARY

As the world faces huge eco-nomic risks from growing tradedisputes and inward lookingpolicies, a global survey Sun-day said public opinion isoverwhelmingly against pop-ulism and favours openness.

The global public over-whelmingly favours multilat-eral cooperation, is open to im-migration and rejects the no-tion that countries' best inter-ests are achieved at the expenseof others, according to thesurvey published by the WorldEconomic Forum (WEF) a daybefore the opening of its high-profile annual meeting on thisresort town on the Swiss Alps.

The majority of the respon-dents also said they believeupward mobility is too elusiveand that governments are notdoing enough to provide peo-ple with opportunity.

The WEF said a majority ofpeople in all regions of the worldsay they believe cooperationbetween nations is either ex-

tremely or very important.It also found that a large ma-

jority rejects the notion that na-tional improvement is a zero-sum game, and that most peo-ple feel that immigrants aremostly good for their adopt-ed country.

The research, covering asample size of over 10,000 peo-ple from every region of theworld, was commissioned ahe-ad of this week's WEF AnnualMeeting, where more than3,000 leaders from across theglobe would discuss imminentissues before the world in near-

ly 350 sessions over five days.The WEF said the survey fin-

dings underline the key prin-ciples of the multilateral sys-tem and also roundly debunksthe negative notion of immi-grants that has raced to the topof the news agenda across Eu-rope, the USA and elsewhere.

While a global majority ofrespondents ~ 57 per cent ~ saidthey believe that immigrantsare “mostly good” for theirnew country, only 40 per centof those living in Eastern Eu-rope and Central Asia and 46per cent of respondents in

Western Europe subscribe tothe opinion.

North Americans trailedonly South Asians in theirapproval of immigrants, with66 per cent saying they believeimmigrants are mostly good.

One finding showed thatwhile most people still believein the power of internationalcooperation, they share a muchless positive view of their owncountry when it comes to so-cial progress. This despon-dency at the lack of upwardmobility is felt most acutely inWestern Europe, where only 20per cent of respondents saidthey feel it is either extremelycommon or somewhat com-mon for someone to be bornpoor and become rich throughhard work.

Respondents in the US,where the ideal of the Ameri-can Dream is deeply rooted inthe national consciousness,were only a little more positive,with 34 per cent saying theybelieve the statement to beeither extremely or very com-mon.

Global public opinion rejectspopulism, favours openness

ASHES TO ASHES

We get worried when

some groups take peo-

ple for granted. They

think people are fools.

That is why they don't

leave any stone unturn-

ed to change their col-

our... This is a dangerous

game for the country.

NARENDRA MODI

PRIME MINISTER

A woman cries after surveying the damage from the fire at Gariahat More in Kolkata thattook place in the wee hours on Sunday. At least 15 shops and 40 stalls selling clothingand fashion items were reduced to ashes after a commercial cum residential building inGariahat was engulfed by a devastating fire. DILIP DUTTA

K�taka Cong MLAs brawl; notice sent to CLP meet absenteesSTATESMAN NEWS SERVICEBENGALURU, 20 JANUARY

The Congress in Karnatakafound itself in an embarrassingposition after two of its MLAsgot into a fight last night at theresort in which the party hasherded them to keep themfrom being poached by the BJP.

The party, meanwhile, issuedshow cause notices to four ofits legislators asking them toexplain as to why they did notattend the party’s specially co-nvened meeting on Friday.

The legislators’ conference,which was attended by all butfour of the MLAs, was calledto put up a show of strength asthe BJP was trying to destabilisethe seven month old govern-ment run by the JDS-Congresscombine. The fight at the Eagle-ton resort involved MLAs fromBallari, namely, Anand Singh

and JN Ganesh. That the out-come was serious could begauged from the fact thatAnand Singh had to be admit-ted to a private hospital thismorning, where he remains tillthe time of writing.

While Congress leaderscontinued to deny reports ofa fight between the two legis-lators all day, in the evening oneof its ministers, Zameer Ahmed,admitted that all was not well.But he told newsmen that it wasa minor fight between friendsand nothing much should beread into it.

None of the Congress lead-ers, however, could explainwhy Anand Singh continuedto be in hospital if he was notinjured. Especially as speculationwas rife that he had been hiton the head in addition tosporting a black eye.

In the morning senior Con-

gress leader, D K Shivkumar,insisted that Singh had gone toattend a marriage. His broth-er and MP, D K Suresh, cameup with a different versionlater in the day.

According to him AnandSingh had complained of chestpain in the morning for whichhe had been admitted in thehospital for a check up.

Anand’s wife,Lakshmi,meanwhile, expressed con-cern over the developments, say-ing that she had no idea abouther husband’s condition asshe could not reach him.

Meanwhile , the Congresssent the notices seeking expla-nation for their absence at Fri-day’s meeting to Ramesh Jark-iholi, B Nagendra, Umesh Ja-dhav, and Mahesh. While theirabsence did not prove seriousfor the party, it did cause acuteembarrassment.

Car trouble forSiddaramaiahBENGALURU, 20 JANUARY

Former Karnataka chiefminister and senior Con-gress leader Siddaramaiahfound himself in a fresh con-troversy after media reportsemerged that he had been“gifted” a Mercedes-Benzcar by his party legislator.

The car, said to be worthover Rs 1.5 crore, was alle-gedly “gifted” by ByrathiSuresh, one of the richestpoliticians in Karnataka.

As Siddaramaiah cameunder attack from the BJP,the Congress claimed thathe had not been gifted thecar by Suresh, but ‘given’ itfor his travel purposes. PTI

WEATHER

Generally cloudy sky. Lightrain/thundershowers towardsevening/night with possibility of isolatedhailstorm. Gusty winds likely to prevail.The maximum and minimum tempera-tures likely to be around 25 degrees and10 degrees Celsius, respectively.

RAINFALL: Nil

RELATIVE HUMIDITY

Max.100% Min. 48%TEMPERATUREMax: 28.7°C (+7) Min: 7°C (0)SUN RISES SUN SETS07:14 hrs 17:51 hrsMOON RISES MOON SETS18.07 hrs 08:06 hrs

02Those who have left AAP were not worthy of staying in theparty. They were opportunists and were greedy for ticketsand posts

ARVIND KEJRIWALDELHI CHIEF MINISTERNEW DELHI, MONDAY 21 JANUARY 2019

IANSNEW DELHI, 20 JANUARY

President of the IndianCouncil for Child Wel-fare (ICCW), whichselects children for

the National Bravery Awardsevery year, on Sunday said theNGO has nothing to do withthe Ministry of Women andChild Development (WCD).

The NGO, which has beenselecting children for thebravery awards since 1957,came under fire after theWCD Ministry lodged an FIRagainst it for misusing gov-ernment-allocated funds.

According to the Ministry,the NGO has been misusinggovernment-allocated fundsand failed to refund theunspent balance of more

than Rs 30,914,051 for the years(2014-16).

"I don't know on whatgrounds WCD has filed an FIR.They have never communi-cated with us related tounutilised funds. Even ourawards have nothing to do with

the Ministry," president GitaSiddhartha told IANS.

"We don't have the FIR, nei-ther have we seen it. We havenot even been called to thepolice station. Unless we seethe copy of the FIR, we can-not comment on how we will

proceed with the case," sheadded.

Earlier, following a writpetition in the Delhi HighCourt which alleged thatICCW had been violating therules for utilising govern-ment funds, a three-membercommittee under the WCDMinistry was formed to deter-mine if the funds were"siphoned off or misutilised".

The Ministry observed"that there has been a systemicfailure as far as checks and bal-ances regarding utilization ofthe funds provided by the gov-ernment is concerned".

Following this, the courtordered that it would considerif further investigation wasnecessary or any other pro-ceedings are required to beinitiated against the ICCW.

Following the petition,the Centre dissociated itselffrom the ICCW. In 2018, brav-ery was included as an addi-tional component in thePradhan Mantri NationalChildren Awards.

"The kids selected by usdeserve to be awarded fortheir bravery. They are at nofault so we will give away theaward if the governmentdoes not," Siddhartha said.

Following the FIR, DelhiGovernor Anil Baijal can-celled a function regardingfelicitation of the childrenby the ICCW which was sched-uled on 18 January.

"We were given no reasonfor cancelling the event.Nobody informed us proper-ly that the event was gettingcancelled," Siddhartha stated.

Have nothing to do withWCD Ministry, says ICCW PTI

NEW DELHI, 20 JANUARY

The Central Zoo Authority(CZA), the statutory author-ity to regulate zoos across thecountry, has blamed theEnvironment Ministry fornot acting on those respon-sible for "shocking" irregu-larities in Delhi zoo, accord-ing to official documents.

In an affidavit filed onJanuary 8 before the DelhiHigh Court, it said that cer-tain officers of the zoo, whohad pointed out the irregu-larities, appear to have beenharassed as they were draggedas accused in the said ille-galities raised by them only.

"The recent happeningsin the national zoologicalpark (also known as Delhizoo), as has come to theknowledge of the CentralZoo Authority, is shocking andit is not imaginable andacceptable in any zoo in thecountry, not to think of it inwild dream, also it should behappening in the national zooof the country, which is iden-tified as national centre ofexcellence," CZA said in theaffidavit.

The affidavit was filed inresponse to a public interestlitigation moved by greenactivist Ajay Dubey, seekinga probe either by the CentralBureau of Investigation or anyother competent agency onalleged illegalities in theDelhi zoo pointed out byhim.

Acting on Dubey's com-plaint, the Ministry of Envi-ronment, Forest and ClimateChange had in August 2017constituted a committee tolook into the matter.

The CZA submitted thatthe probe panel did not getthe cooperation from thezoo officers and employees.

"Rather, the attitude of defi-ance and non-cooperationobserved on the part of theofficers and employees wasshocking and they did notcooperate...," it said in the affi-davit.

Somehow, the inquiry wasconducted and its findingswere submitted to the min-istry in April last year, the affi-davit said.

The inquiry found thatmonitor lizards were illegal-ly caught (from outside) andreleased in the cell of the ani-mal (inside the zoo).

"Based on the documen-tary evidence, it has beenfound that the death of manyanimals in the zoo was sup-pressed by the national zoo-logical park authorities. Thedead animals have been sub-sequently replaced with ille-gally captured animals," theCZA said.

It said eight tortoises(unidentified species) andthree red sand boa snakeswere missing from the zoo.

"The records pertaining tocaptive animals of the zoohave been manipulated,"the inquiry report had said,according to the affidavit.

The Central Zoo Author-ity, based on records available

and complaints filed timeto time, observed irregular-ities in the national zoolog-ical park, it said.

The same were brought tothe knowledge of the author-ities in the Ministry of Envi-ronment, Forests and Cli-mate Change, government ofIndia through series of letters,the affidavit said.

The CZA conveyed thesefindings to the ministry forappropriate action.

"However, no correctiveaction appears to be takenagainst the responsible forirregularities observed in theNational Zoological Park, itsaid, adding that the court maypass further orders as it mayseem fit in the given cir-cumstances of the case.

The habitats of wildlife areunder severe pressure andtherefore the zoos have notonly to sustain their ownpopulations but also aug-ment the depleting popula-tions of endangered speciesin the wild, the CZA sug-gesting that the zoos need todo more to add to wildlife.

"There is a need for thecentral government to takeimmediate corrective stepto check irregularities inDelhi zoo," Dubey said.

IANSNEW DELHI, 20 JANUARY

Delhi government-run hos-pitals, which serve not only thelocal population but also theneighbouring states, are strug-gling with a chronic shortageof doctors and are makingrecruitments on contract or ad-hoc basis to tackle the crunch.

While in Centre-run hos-pitals like AIIMS, Safdarjungand Ram Manohar Lohia,doctors have the benefit of prac-tising till the age of 70, underextension of service and on acontractual basis after retire-ment, no such scheme is yetto be implemented in thehospitals run by the Delhigovernment which face abouta 30 per cent shortage of doc-

tors, officials said."Out of the total sanc-

tioned posts of 4,644 doc-tors, about 1,400 posts arevacant," an official of theDelhi Health Department toldIANS on the condition ofanonymity.

The official admitted thatthe services are being affect-ed due to this shortage.

"The functioning is obvi-ously being affected. If wehave more doctors, the workcan be done in a better andeffective way. The posts arefilled up by the Central Gov-ernment through UPSC andthrough this procedure, recruit-ment of about 350 doctors isunderway," the official said.

The procedure of appoint-ing doctors, which is done

through the Union PublicService Commission (UPSC),is complex and takes a lot oftime. The doctors first have toclear the test conducted by theUPSC followed by an interview.

"The test results are pub-lished after six to nine months.Then comes the interviewpart and the whole processtakes around a year to com-plete," a senior official in theDelhi government's Direc-torate General of Health Ser-vices (DGHS), told IANS.

Explaining the reasons forthe shortage, the official saidmany doctors, after com-pleting their MBBS, opt for fur-ther studies or prefer joiningthe private healthcare sectordue to its higher pay scale.

"All this is affecting the

doctor-patient ratio in Delhihospitals," the DGHS officialsaid adding, however, hospi-tals themselves can hire cer-tain categories of doctors onan ad-hoc and contractualbasis.

Speaking about the require-ments, another Health officialsaid the system is complex."Some doctors are GeneralDuties Medical Officers, someare non-teaching specialists,some are teaching special-ists. The process of recruitmentis on and we will have thesepeople in place soon."

"There are 37 hospitalsunder the Delhi government,some of them are operated bysocieties. The hospitals run-ning by societies function ina different manner. They hire

doctors for themselves. Theyhave done that in past years,they will do it again, as andwhen required," the officialadded.

Will the contractual systemof hiring be extended to theDelhi government hospitals?

"The hiring of doctors ona contractual basis wasapproved last year in the Cen-tre-run hospitals. However,the states are not obliged tofollow it since they have theirdifferent process of hiring," saida senior official in the CentralHealth and Family WelfareMinistry.

The Delhi health officialinformed that, unlike the Cen-tre, nothing has been made offi-cial on similar lines in Delhito deal with the doctor crisis.

Delhi govt hospitals paralysed by doctors� shortage

Irregularities in Delhi zoo:CZA hits out at ministry

File photo of the last Delhi zoo ostrich which died in 2016Children awarded for bravery in 2017

BJP to bag 27 LS seats in MP, says ChouhanSTATESMAN NEWS SERVICENEW DELHI, 20 JANUARY

Former Madhya PradeshChief Minister Shivraj SinghChouhan claimed that theBJP will win at least 27 outof the 29 Lok Sabha seatsin the state. He asserted that'mama' has not becomeweak.

Chouhan, who lostpower in the recent Assem-bly elections, was speakingat 'Yuva Vijay Sankalp

Maharally' of Delhi BJP'sYuva Morcha.

He said the Congressmay have formed govern-ment in the state but itcould fall "anytime as it lacksmajority."

"Don't think mama hasbecome weak. I promise youthat we will win at least 27seats, as we did in 2014, outof the 29 Lok Sabha seats,in the coming elections,"said the senior BJP leader.

Hitting out at the Con-

gress government in Mad-hya Pradesh, Chouhanclaimed the BJP could alsohave formed a "lame" gov-ernment but it decided itwould do so only with agrand majority.

Chouhan also mocked atthe gathering of oppositionleaders on Saturday'sKolkata rally as "bhanu-mati ka kunaba" (marriageof convenience), sayingthere was no unanimityover a common leader

among the parties plan-ning the 'mahagathband-han'.

"It's like a wedding with-out a groom. On the otherhand, we have a leader inthe form of Prime Minis-ter Narendra Modi to leadus in the battle ground," hesaid.

The 'Yuva Vijay SankalpMaharally' was the fifth ofa series of big rallies heldby the Delhi BJP in the lasttwo months, ahead of the

Lok Sabha polls.Meanwhile, Delhi BJP

Yuva Morcha presidentSunil Yadav claimed theevent was attended by over20,000 persons.

The rally was attendedby many senior BJP lead-ers, including Union min-ister Vi jay Goel , whoattacked Delhi Chief Min-ister Arvind Kejriwal, alleg-ing that the AAP govern-ment in Delhi has"destroyed" the city.

3 suspected thieves arrestedPTINEW DELHI, 20 JANUARY

Three men, including a dancerand his student, were arrested forallegedly stealing motorcyclesfrom Southeast and South Delhiareas, police said Sunday.

The accused were identifiedas Shubham (22), a resident ofSaharanpur in Uttar Pradesh, Surajalias Yuvi (20), a resident of Kan-nauj in UP, and Deepak Kashyapalias Bunty (26), a resident ofMeerut, they added.

Acting on a tip-off, policelaid a trap on Tuesday on MB Road,Pul Prahladpur. At around 5.15pm, two persons were appre-hended when they were comingon a motorcycle, Chinmoy Bisw-al, Deputy Commissioner ofPolice (southeast), said.

During interrogation, theaccused disclosed that they,along with their associate Kashyap,used to steal motorcycles fromthe area of Southeast and SouthDelhi. On their instance, Kashyapwas arrested from Ghaziabad,

Biswal said.Shubham was the mastermind

of the gang. Around three-fouryears ago, he came to Delhi to learndancing. Around one-year-ago,he opened his own academy inPul Prahladpur area, he added.

Shubham met Kashyap whowas earlier arrested for auto-lifting. Kashyap allured him to joinhim in stealing motorcycles. Inorder to earn quick money, Shub-ham started stealing bikes withKashyap and they used to sell themat Meerut, the DCP said.

IN THE COURT OFSH. H.S. JAGGI

ADJ South-West-02Court No. 310, 3rd Floor,District Court Complex,

Dwarka, New Delhi.PC No. 53/2018.

Ms. Mayanka Sharma andOthers

—PetitionersVersus

The State & Anr.— Respondents

CITATION UNDER INDIANSUCESSION ACT, 1925

Whereas an applicationunder Section 276 of the Indi-an Succession Act, 1925 forGrant of Probate/Letters ofAdminstration to the estate ofLate Sh. Krishan Raj Sharma,s/o Late Sh. Kanshi Ram, whodied on 2-6-2018 has beenmade by Ms. Mayanka Shar-ma, d/o Smt. Rita Sharma,w/o Shri Agampreet Saini, r/oHouse No. EH-26, Street No. 1,Near Cargo Motor BockyIndustry, Lado Wali Road,Jalandhar, Punjab-144001, ShriKailash Chander, s/o LateShri Krishan Raj Sharma, r/o55, Cochrane CIR MethuenMA 01844 through his AttorneyMs. Mayanka Sharma andShri Anil Sharma, s/o LateShri Krishan Raj Sharma, r/o4755, Templeton Street, Unit2103, Los Angles, California-91801, USA through his Attor-ney Ms. Mayanka Sharma inrespect of the Will dated 25-3-2010 the property bearing No.Flat No. 193/C, Block DG-II,Vikas Puri, New Delhi, in favourof the Ms. Mayanka Sharma,Shri Kailash Chander and ShriSharma to the extent of 1/3rdshare each.

Whereas the 26-2-2019 hasbeen fixed for hearing of thecase. Notice is hereby giventhat any person having anyinterst in the Administrationof the Estate of the saiddeceased may if he/shedesires to appear in this courton the said 26-2-2019 and seethe proceedings before theGrant of Probate (or for Lettersof Administration).

Given under my hand andthe Seal of this Court on thisthe 10th day of January, 2019.

ADJ South-West-02District Court Complex,

Dwarka, New Delhi.Seal of the Court

xyz-3212

COURT NOTICEIN THE COURT OF

SH. PARDEEP CHOUDHRYChief Judicial Magistrate-

cum-Addl. Civil JudgeSenior Division

Gurugram.Case No. 102.

CIS No. : SUCC/107/2018.CNR No. HRGR02-004128-

2018.Date of Institution : 22-10-

2018.Date of Hearing : 12-2-2019.

1. Mehboob aged 60 years,s/o Sh. Avaj.

2. Aarif, aged 24 years, s/oSh. Deena, s/o Sh. Avaj.

3. Saripaan, aged 63 years,w/o Sh. Deena, s/o Sh. Avaj.

4. Rahisan, aged 34 years,d/o Sh. Deena, s/o Sh. Avaj,(Nephew of Amrudi and coun-sin brother of Jubedin @ Juber,all residents of Village Tir-wada, Tehsil Punhana, Dis-trict Mewat.

— PetitionersVersus

General Public.— Respondent

PETITION FOR GRANT OFSUCCESSION CERTIFICATE

UNDER SECTION 372 OF THEINDIAN SUCCESSION ACT.To,General Public.Whereas it has been proved

to the satisfaction of the Courtthat the above said respon-dent could not be servedthrough ordinary way of ser-vice therefore above respon-dent/General Public is beinginformed through this publi-cation, if any person has anyinterest in the said proper-ty/amount, he/she can fileobjections in the Court on orbefore 12-2-2019 at 10-00 a.m.,personally or through someauthorized Agent/Pleader/Advocate, failing which wx-parte proceedings shall betaken in the case according tothe law.

For details logon tohttps://www.high-courtchd.gov.in/?trs=dis-trict_notice&district=gurgaon

Given under my hand andthe Seal of the Court on thisthe 10th day of January, 2019.

Addl. Civil JudgeSenior Division

Gurugram.Seal of the Court

xyz-3211

IN THE COURT OFSH. GAJENDER SINGH

NAGARAdministrative Civil Judge-

cum-Addl. Rent Controller (Cen-

tral)Room No. 323, 3rd Floor,Tis Hazari Courts, Delhi.Petition No. SC/2/2019.

Date of Hearing : 22-3-2019.Nishant Mehndiratta, s/o

Late Sh. Bhupender Kumar @Bhupender @ Deepak, r/o10015/2, Multani Dhanda,Swami Ram Tirath Nagar,Pahar Ganj, New Delhi-110055.

— PetitionerVersus

The State and Ors.— Respondents

FOR SUCCESSION CERTIFICATE UNDER INDIAN

SUCCESSION ACT, 1925.To,All Concerned.Whereas in the abovenoted

Petition the applicant/Peti-tioner has applied for Suc-cession Certificate to theHon'ble Court under Section372 of the Indian SuccessionAct, 1925 in respect of thedebts and securities amountof Rs. xxx. as per record to bestanding in the name of Bhu-pender Kumar @ Bhupender@ Deepak, the deceased.

Whereas the 22-3-2019 at10-00 O'clock in the forenoonhas been fixed for hearing ofthe application notice is here-by given to this concerned.

Given under my hand andthe Seal of the Court on thisthe 17th day of January, 2019.

Administrative CivilJudge-cum-

Addl. Rent Controller(Central)

Tis Hazari Courts, Delhi.Seal of the Court

xyz-3213

PROCLAMATION REQUIRINGATTENDANCE OF

DEFENDANT(Order 5, Rule 20 of the Code

of Civil Procedure)In the Court ofSh. H. S. Jaggi

ADJ South West-02Court No. 310, 3rd Floor,District Court Complex,

Dwarka, New Delhi.PUBLICATION NOTICE

DEFENDANTSuit No. CS No. 517394/2016.Pratap Singh

— PlaintiffVersus

Sarabjit Kaur—Defendant

To,Sarabjit Kaur, r/o 61/5, Ashok

Nagar, Delhi.Whereas you are inten-

tionally evading services ofsummons. It is hereby notifiedthat if you shall not defend thecase on the 14th day of Feb-ruary, 2019 at 10-00 a.m. i.e. theday fixed in the matter, it willheard and determined ex-parte.

Given under my hand andthe Seal of the Court, on thisthe 10th day of January, 2019.

Addl. District Judge-02South West District,

Dwarka Courts,New Delhi.

Seal of the Courtxyz-3214

NOTICE FOR PUBLICATION(Order 5, Rule 20 of the CPC)

SUMMONS FOR SEETLEMENT OF ISSUES

In the Court ofSh. Kanwaljeet Arora

Addl. District Judge-01Court No. 205, 2nd Floor,

South West District,Dwarka Court,

New Delhi-110075.CS No. 1439/2017.

V. S. Vidhyarthi—Plaintiff

VersusRajesh Negi

— DefendantTo,

Rajesh Negi, s/o Sh. G. S.Negi, r/o Flat No. 22, PinkApartments, Sector 18-B,Dwarka, New Delhi-110075.

Also at : RZH-254-A, RajNagar Part-II, Palam Colony,New Delhi-110045.

Whereas Plaintiff has insti-tuted that above Suit forRecovery of an amount of Rs.10,00,000/- against Defendant.You are hereby summonedto appear in this Court in per-son or by a pleader on the21st day of February, 2019 at10-00 O'clock to answer thesame, failing which the Suitwill be disposed of ex-parte.

Given under my hand andthe Seal of the Court on thisthe 5th day of January, 2019.

Addl. District Judge-01South West District,

Dwarka Court, New Delhi-110075.

Seal of the Courtxyz-3215

IN THE COURT OFSH. KANWALJEET ARORA

Additional District Judge-01Court No. 205, 2nd Floor

South West District, DwarkaCourts

New Delhi-110075CS No. 1683/2018

MRK Marketing—Plaintiff

VersusGulvir Singh

—DefendantsSUMMONS FOR

SETTLEMENT OF ISSUESTo,Gulvir Singh, s/o Sh. Jagvir

Singh, r/o C-2/48, Vinod Puri,Vijay Enclave, New Delhi-110045.

Whereas Plaintiff has insti-tuted that above Suit forrecovery of an amount of Rs.7,08,730/- against Defendants.You are hereby summonedto appear in this Court in per-

son or by a pleader on the23rd day of January, 2019, at 10O' clock, to answer the same,failing which the suit will bedisposed of ex-parte.

Given under my hand andthe Seal of the Court on this22nd day of December, 2018.

Additional District Judge-01,

South West District, Dwar-ka CourtsNew Delhi

Seal of the Courtxyz-3216

IT is notified for the infor-mation that my Original Exam-ination Certificate of mainSenior Secondary Examina-tion of Year 1999 and Roll No.5238309, issued by CBSE, hasbeen actually lost. Name ofCandidate Babita Sharma,Address : Flat No. 214, Var-talok, Sector 4-C, Vasundhra,Ghaziabad-201012.

xyz-3218

I, NEENA Bassi, w/o Sh.Rakesh Kumar Bassi, r/o1449/129, Street No. 2, Dur-gapuri, Delhi-110093 informthat my name has beenwrongly written as Neena,w/o Rakesh Kumar in my Pass-port No. L-8621540, the cor-rect name of mine is NeenaBassi, w/o Rakesh KumarBassi.

xyz-3219

PUBLIC NOTICENotice is hereby given that

the Certificate(s) fo rtheundersigned Equity Sharesof the company have beenlost and the holder(s) pur-chases(s) of the said EquityShares have applied to thecompany ot issue Duplicate

share Certificate(s). Any per-son who has a claim in respectof the said Shares shouldlodge the same with compa-ny at its Registered officewithin 60 days form this dateelse the company will pro-ceed to issue Duplicate Cer-tificate(s) to the aforesaidapplicants without any fur-ther intimation.

Folio No. : 033835Name of Share Holder

Munish BansalNo. of Shares : 200

Distinctive Nos. :597221-597420

Certificate Nos. : 2193Precision Wires

India LimitedLink Intime India Private

LimitedC-101, 247 park, L.B.S.

Marg,Vikhroli (West)

Mumbai-400083.xyz-3217

E-TENDER Notice – e-Tender ID No. ADOE / 52 dt.09.01.2019.

No. EL / PR / 68A / T-02 /2019 / 120 dt. 08.01.2019.

Andaman & NicobarAdministration, Office of theSuperintending Engineer,Electricity Department, Tel.:03192 234718, 232404, E-mail:seed@and.nic.in

Supply of 6326 Nos. 08mtrs. sizes G.I. Pipe Poleswith cap to be supplied atDepartmental Central StoreComplex, ElectricityDepartment, Port Blair.EMD: Rs. 28,78,330.Estimated Cost: Rs.5,75,66,600 approx.

Pre-bid Meeting:22.01.2019.

Last date of receipt of ten-der: 15.00 hrs. on 04.02.2019.

The details of tender canbe downloaded from website: http://eproc.andaman.gov.in

Superintending Engineer(Ele.)

KOLKATAStatesman House, 4, Chowringhee SquareKolkata-700 001 Tel: (033) 22127070-76, (033) 41071700Fax: (033) 2212-6181 / 7107-1780Email:thestatesman@vsnl.comstatesmandisplay@gmail.comthestatesmanclassified@gmail.com

DELHIStatesman House, 148, Barakhamba Road, New Delhi-110 001 Tel: (011) 2331 5911 3/10, INS Building (3rd floor) Rafi Marg, New Delhi-110 001, Tel: (011) 2371 8434

Ishan House (2nd floor) A-90, Sector II, NOIDA, UP 201 301 Tel: (0120) 3891800/810, Email: delhistatesman@gmail.comthestatesmandelhi@thestatesman.netshivaji.samaddar@gmail.comFor Advertisement:delhi@thestatesmangroup.com

BHUBANESWARPlot 3A, Zone B, Sector A,Mancheswar Industrial Estate,Bhubaneswar-751 010.Tel: (0674) 2588060/61/62/2586371, Telefax: 0674-2588061Email:bhubaneswar@thestatesmangroup.comstatesmanbbsr@gmail.com

SILIGURI13A, Dabgram IndustrialGrowth Centre, P.O. Satellite Township, Siliguri-734015Tel: 2568615, 2568063 and2568787. Fax: (0353) 2568296,Email: siliguri@thestatesmangroup.comkkc099@gmail.comCity Office: 3rd Floor, RinaBhawan, Opp. HDFC Bank,Panitanki More, Sevoke Rd.,Siliguri-734015.Ph.: 0353-2524077

SHIMLA

Cabin No. 305, P. C. ChambersNear Jodha NiwasThe Mall Shimla-171001, H.P.Tel: 0177-2815000Email:shimla@thestatesmangroup.com

CHANDIGARH

SCO 56-57 (First Floor)Near G.P.O, Sectro-17DChandigarh-160017Tel: 0172-4184665/6Email:chandigarh@thestatesmangroup.com

HYDERABAD

The Statesman Limited, 2ndFloor, UNI Building, A.C. Guards, Hyderabad-500004, Ph.: 040-2339 1739Email: hyderabad@thestatesmangroup.com

BANGALORE

No. 68, First Floor, Gold Tower,

50 Residency Road, Bangalore-

560025.

Tel.; 080-22229129, 080-22234813

Email: bangalore@thestatesmangroup.com

MUMBAI

5, Kasturi Buildings, JamshedjiTata Road, Mumbai-400 020Tel: (022) 2202 1045,Email: mumbai@thestatesmangroup.com

CHENNAI

Fagun Mansion (4th floor), 26,Ethiraj Road, Chennai-600 008,Tel: (044) 28278037, 28224800Email:chennai@thestatesmangroup.com

LUCKNOW

2/2, Butler Palace (Near JoplingRoad), Lucknow-226 001, Ph.: (0522) 2206705Email: lucknow@thestatesmangroup.com

RANCHI

11/C, Road#1, Ashoknagar,

Ranchi - 834 002

Fax: (0651) 2247054

Email: ranchi@thestatesmangroup.com

AIR-SURCHARGE; Kathmandu - Re. 2, Eastern Region - Re. 1All other stations in India - Re. 1

CHANGE OFNAMES

LOST & FOUND PUBLICNOTIFICATIONS

NEW DELHI, MONDAY 21 JANUARY 2019

There have been veryfew drives to putpolicemen in shape.Even these drives

may have been done in a half-hearted manner. The resultscan be seen everywhere.Most policemen, especiallythose of Uttar Pradesh, areoverweight, having pot bel-lies. When they join the policeforce, they have to meet cer-tain physical standards andpass a physical test. But mostof them will fail the physicaltest by the time they turn 40.The only way out is to makephysical tests mandatoryafter they join service aswell. And anybody found tobe overweight should begiven a show-cause notice.Disciplinary action will be alesson for them. But this isnot done as the cops presumethat they have got a govern-ment job and nobody cansack them.

Being in shape is neededfor them as they may haveto do some sprinting to catchsomeone. There are instanceswhen an agile culprit out-smarts a burly cop. Being inshape is especially neededwhile manning the traffic atsignal lights. Because onenever knows when one willjump the light and only a copwho is slim and trim will beable to chase and nab the law-breaker.

Recently, when a three-wheeler broke a traffic ruleat Kashmere Gate, an over-weight policeman tried tochase it down. But no soon-er than he had started he gaveup as he was too heavy to run.In another instance, threemen riding a pillion escaped,leaving behind a traffic copwho tried desperately tocatch them. Surely, being inshape should be the top-most priority of cops, espe-cially the traffic cops.

OVERWEIGHT POLICEMEN

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’sgovernment has put the lid on extrav-agant spending in weddings in themost prosperous and populous Pun-

jab province. Wedding celebrations are stip-ulated to be conducted between 8 p.m. and10 p.m. with all lights out positively there-after. Besides tandoori naan and roti, justtwo dishes may be served as accompaniment.

Members of divided families returningfrom weddings in Pakistan report thesemeasures are primarily intended to preventfood waste and excessive loads on thestressed electricity supply network duringthe current wedding season. The governmentis attempting to enforce this austerity in Pun-jab to curb obscene spending on weddingsthat create a visible divide between the richand people of moderate means.

In this context, India’s Supreme Court direc-tion on 12 December to the Delhi Admin-istration to come up by end January 2019,with a policy framework to curb lavish wed-dings in the National Capital Region, has comeas a great relief to parents of moderatemeans, in this current marriage season thatextends till May.

The Supreme Court said such wastage is“unacceptable” in a city that is witnessing

water crisis and has recently seen three sib-lings starve to death. The Apex Court hadsought the help of the Delhi Administrationto curb extravagance. Chief Secretary VijayDev, who appeared before a bench comprisingJustices Madan B Lokur, Deepak Gupta andHemant Gupta, said the Delhi governmentshared the Court's concern.

In mid-February 2018 a Bill was introducedin the Lok Sabha seeking to limit expendi-ture on lavish weddings. It proposed that hostswith Rs 5 lakh and more budget contributeto a welfare fund. It also empowered the gov-ernment to specify guest numbers or itemsserved to avoid food wastage. Jammu andKashmir government promptly followedup with an announcement curbing guest num-bers and dishes at weddings in the State fromApril.The idea of avoiding food waste wasfirst enforced country wide from October 1965by a Guest Control Order by Prime Minis-ter Lal Bahadur Shastri in remembrance ofthe August-September 1965 India-Pakistanwar dead ~ and an austerity measure to stopwastage of cereals. The number of weddingguests was restricted to 25. Wedding invi-tations cards carried an apologetic bottomline that the Guest Control Order would becomplied with. The Delhi Guest Control Order(third amendment) 1977 raised the numberof guests at ordinary parties to 50 and forweddings and funerals to 100.

Novel schemes

Seaplanes to connect thenewly-renamed AndamanIslands and a Waterways ser-vice on the same lines to link

Delhi and Agra were two novelschemes reported last week. UnionMinister Nitin Gadkari, supervisingthe Cleaner Ganga scheme, said plansto link the two cities of the GoldenTriangle (constituted with Jaipur) viathe Yamuna were being consid-ered but the low volume of waterin the river was a big handicap. Asimilar scheme was proposed in the1970s during Indira Gandhi's time.The idea then was to link Delhi withAgra by a hovercraft service. It wasshelved because the Yamuna, whichgoes meandering to Agra, is too nar-row at places and there are severallow bridges over the river, which isalmost dry in the summer months.If the new scheme could be imple-mented at some future date (whenthe volume of water is suitablyraised) it will certainly be somethingto boast about with Delhi'ites reach-

ing the city of the Taj in less time thanthe Taj Express takes to cover the 190-odd-km distance, minus all thehassles of crowded train travel. Butit will be only the rich, who will ben-efit initially because of the high roller-coaster conveyance charges.

A Bourbon link

The Indian branch of theBourbons, descended fromJean Phillipe de Bourbon,cousin of Henry IV of France,

who had sought refuge in Emper-or Akbar's court after killing a kins-man in a duel, have some signifi-cant achievements to their credit.After leaving Agra they came toDelhi during Mohd Shah's reign butfeeling insecure about their womenfollowing the sack of Delhi by NadirShah, took refuge with the Raja ofNarwar. But for some unexplainedreason one night almost all the 500Bourbons were massacred by theRaja's men and only Salvador Bour-bon, his mother and a few othersescaped. Then they found shelter

in Bhopal state, where one of them,Balthazar Massih became PrimeMinister. Among their outstandingachievements was the designing ofShaukat Mahal (also the title ofBahadur Shah Zafar's daughter-in-law). The mahal was built in the1830s as a wedding gift to SikandarJahan Begum, the first woman rulerof Bhopal. This palace became ram-shackle by 2015, where 20-odd fam-ilies still stayed then. But it is hopedthat it would be renovated like thelocal Taj Mahal Palace, because ofthe keen interest shown by Sharmi-la Tagore, actress-turned begumafter her marriage to the Nawab ofPataudi, Mansoor Ali Khan, inher-itor also of the Bhopal estate. Thelast of the surviving Bourbons there,Balthazar Napoleon Bonaparte IV(felicitated by King Juan Carlos deBourbon of Spain) is, however, notan architect but a school owner-cum-manager and so would not be ableto help with the building plans, butis naturally interested in the restora-tion partly being considered inNew Pataudi House, Delhi, where

Sharmila Tagore a.k.a. Ayesha Begumspends time when not staying at herPataudi estate after the death of herhusband.

Mobile addiction

The mobile phone has todaybecome a must-have foreveryone. It has penetratedour lives so much that it is

impossible to imagine being with-out a mobile phone. One has for-gotten that not so long ago one man-aged very well without it. But the waypeople have become dependenton the mobile phones, it seemsthey have been part and parcel ofone's life for ages. The other day acolleague came across one such“mobile addicted” friend in theMetro. Travelling home from Noida,he luckily got a seat in peak hour.He settled down with his phone, butsoon found the battery of his mobilewas about to die out. It was like apanic situation for the young man.Although he did not have any impor-tant thing to do with his phone, he

was getting agitated. After some time,when he couldn't take it any longer,he left his seat in a crowded Metroand went to the charging port, witha lot of effort, pushing and shovingthrough a sea of people. Finally, hemanaged to charge his phone andbecame visibly relaxed. When ourcolleague asked why he was takingso much pain to charge, whether hewas expecting anything important,the friend replied in the negative.It was just that he could not see hisphone “dying out” on him!

Tailpiece

By harping on firewood andgarbage burning as the cul-prits for the Capital’s risingpollution, authorities may

well be missing the wood for the trees.

***Contributed by:R V Smith,Samir

Pal,Abhijeet Anand,Rakesh Kumarand Asha Ramachandran

BIG FAT WEDDINGS03

Our country was once known as Vishwa Guru and the tradi-tion of guru-shishya was acclaimed by one and all but it isunfortunate that this tradition is slowly vanishing

JAI RAM THAKURHIMACHAL CHIEF MINISTERNEW DELHI, MONDAY 21 JANUARY 2019

SP SHARMAJAMMU, 20 JANUARY

Following elimination ofseveral top commanders ofvarious terror organisationsin encounters with securityforces, the terrorists in Jammuand Kashmir have switchedover to the strategy of toss-ing grenades at securityforces, observers have said.

A series of grenade attackshave been reported in theKashmir valley during thepast one week. Terroristshave been tossing grenadestowards security forces andtheir camps and escapingfrom there instead of gettinginvolved in encounters.

More than 252 terrorists,including top A++ categoryterrorists were eliminated inencounters last year as aresult of which the spine ofthe terror organizations hasbeen broken. Fresh infiltra-tion of trained terrorists fromPakistan and Pakistan occu-pied Kashmir (POK) has alsobecome difficult because ofthe heightened vigil of theArmy and the BSF.

Intelligence sources saythat the grenade attacksahead of the Republic Daywere an attempt of terroristsand their mentors sitting inPakistan to keep the pot boil-ing and show their strengthin the valley.

The current spate ofgrenade attacks began lastmonth with one being tossed

in the busy general bus standin Jammu. Thereafter, severalgrenade attacks have beenreports in various parts of thevalley. Terrorists were alsousing under barrel grenadelaunchers (UBGL) to lobgrenades from a distance.

A grenade attack at a CRPFpicket in Srinagar’s busy LalChowk on Friday last creat-ed panic. This was the sec-ond such attack within 20hours after the one near theZero Bridge where threepolicemen were injured.

Soon after that anothergrenade attack was reportedat a camp of the SpecialOperations Group (SOG) inthe Gagran area of Shopianin South Kashmir.

Terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad ( JeM) hasclaimed responsibility ofthese grenade attacks.

The police station atYaripura in the kulgam dis-trict of South Kashmir wasattacked with grenades yes-terday night. However, nodamage was reported.

One person was yesterdayinjured in a blast near a

school on the KP Road inAnantnag.

South Kashmir, which hasemerged as the virtual breed-ing ground of terrorism, onFriday witnessed a grenadeblast inside the police stationcompound at Pulwama.

The police during a searchat a barrier in Kupwara arrest-ed a person identified asMohammad Aslam and seizeda grenade from his possession.During initial interrogation,he told the police that he wasmotivated to turn towards ter-rorism by a Pakistan basedsocial media group.

The security forces recent-ly arrested a woman in theoutskirts of Srinagar whereshe was carrying a cache of20 hand grenades andammunition. The womantravelling in a car was foundto be an Over Ground Work-er (OGW) of terrorists andwas coming from Baramul-la in north Kashmir to deliv-er the consignment to ter-rorists.

The security forces dur-ing recent raids on hide-outs of terrorists in the Kash-mir valley and the Poonchand Kishtwar districts ofJammu had recovered cacheof grenades and other ammu-nition. Warlike stores, includ-ing one AK-56 rifle, 14grenades, 273 rounds ofAK-47, 97 rounds of AK-56and other ammunition wasrecovered from one of thehideouts in Poonch.

�Fearing encounters, terroristsswitch over to grenade attacks�

STATESMAN NEWS SERVICEJAMMU, 20 JANUARY

In a first in India, J&K stateimported genetically modi-fied Rainbow Trout Seed fromDenmark after 119 years toboost annual productionfrom 500 to 5000 tonnes overnext five years.

Fisheries Departmentprincipal secretary AsgharHassan Samoon shared theinformation after inaugu-rating the hatchery meant forrearing of geneticallyimproved Rainbow TroutFish on Sunday here at Beer-wah Budgam.

On the occasion, DrSamoon said that the seedwill be reared up to brood inthe facility and then it will bedistributed among fish farm-ers and other hatcheries ofthe department.

“We can now producetable size fishes of this vari-ety within 12 to 14 monthsin comparison to 24 monthsearlier. It will boost the pro-duction and revenue of farm-ers. J&K state is blessed withabundant fresh waterresources which is favorablefor rainbow trout fish. It is ourendeavor to tap the localpotential for lessening theimport bill of state on foodproducts,” he said.

He added that genetical-ly modified rainbow trout

will have more muscle massand will increase efficiencyof aquaculture in the state.

A consignment of 2.25lakh Eyed Ova Rainbow Troutimported from Billud in Den-mark Rever Roheamger weresuccessfully put in for pro-duction of brood stock inthe state, he said.

He also said that he ishopeful that with the intro-duction of Rainbow Troutfish, more and more entre-preneurs will get attractedtowards the fish farming dueto its high returns.

Dr Samoon also directedthe officials to create aware-ness regarding the highreturns of fish farming amongthe youth.

“We will provide the mar-keting support to the aspir-ing entrepreneurs, besidesproviding them subsidy onseed and feed so that they cansuccessfully run fish rear-ing ventures,” he said.

J&K imports troutseed from Denmark

SHIMLA, 20 JANUARY

Soon, 67-year-old MadhoRam and his wife would beable to beat the winter bluesas finally the governmenthad taken notice of theirplight. All this happened dueto social media platform,Facebook. A native of Chat-du village in remote Saloonidevelopment block of Cham-ba, Madho Ram used to livein his one room kutcha housewhich was in dilapidatedcondition since the last manyyears. But someone in hisneighbourhood took noticeof his plight and shared it onFacebook which soon gainedattention of general public aswell as the government. Allpossible relief to the family willbe given. PTI

Social mediahelps landlessfamily

STATESMAN NEWS SERVICESHIMLA, 20 JANUARY

The Central Tibetan Admin-istration (CTA) has come outagainst Chinese government’sdictat to display and prostratebefore the picture of PresidentXi Jinping.

Sonam Norbu Dagpo, theofficial spokesperson of CTA,said it’s just the beginning of2019 and the year is already

bespeaking the Chinese gov-ernment’s ever-intensifyinggrip on Tibet and its repres-sive policies against the Tibetanpeople.

This year marks the 60thanniversary of the TibetanNational Uprising of 1959which forced Tibetan spiritualleader Dalai Lama and thou-sands of Tibetans to escapeinto exile.

And China seems to be

accelerating the curb on reli-gious expression and activi-ties, as recent reports fromTibet reveal, he said.

Dagpo said Tibetans inSerta County, incorporated intoChina’s Sichuan province, areforced to remove portraits ofDalai Lama from their altars.

“They are compelled todisplay pictures of Chineseleaders including Xi Jinpingand to prostrate and make

offerings instead. Prostrationin Tibetan Buddhism is a tra-ditional practice, a religiousgesture of reverence reservedto the Buddha, the Dharmaand the Sangha,” he added.

“Tibetans prostrate only tothe three Jewels of Tibetan Bud-dhism,” he said.

The Communist Party ofChina claims to be an athe-ist government and China anatheist country.

Tibetans protest China�s dictat to prostrate before Xi�s picture

A street vendor sells national flags ahead of the Republic Day celebrations in Bhopal on Sunday.AFP

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICENEW DELHI, 20 JANUARY

After the success of ProjectUtkrisht (best) and Opera-tion Swarn (gold) to providemore premium feeling tothe passengers travelling inthe national transport, rail-ways has decided to faceliftthe first-class air-condi-tioned coaches of sevenmail and express trains, aRailway Ministry officialsaid on Sunday.

"The first train with thenew plush interiors has beentaken up in the Kashi Vish-wanath Express,” said asenior railway ministry offi-cial, adding the new reno-vated coach has been addedto the train departing fromNew Delhi on Sunday.

The new features in thecoach include new anti-grafitti vinyl wrapping inte-riors, new curtains, properlyworked out bathroom evenwith the option of taking ashower, he said.

The official said that thePVC flooring has beenchanged. He said the com-pressed berth cushions havebeen replaced and fire extin-guishers installed in thecoach for enhanced safety.

Good quality curtainstoo have been provided inthe coach.

The official said the stairsof the first-class coacheshave also been worked toprovide more comfort topassengers.

He said the bathroomhas been fitted with high-gloss mica having the mar-ble design on long journeys.

However, the officialrefused to share the name ofthe other trains which are setto get the upgrade under thismajore facelift programme.

Last year, the railwaystook up the work of upgrad-ing its existing fleet of Rajd-hani and Shatabdi Expressunder operation Swarn.

Operation Swarn wasundertaken by railways withfocus on 10 key areas --

punctuality, cleanliness,coach interiors, toilets, cater-ing, staff behaviour, securi-ty, entertainment, house-keeping and regular feed-back.

Under this, the Railwayshas planned to spend Rs 50lakh on each train. The Rs25-crore venture covers 30trains in total - 15 Rajdhaniand 15 Shatabdi Expresstrains.

Under Project Utkrisht,the railways planned toupgrade about 140 rakes ofthe trains in the first phasethat would be completedby March 2019.

The railways has plannedto upgrade about 500 rakeson the trains that still runson the old Integral Coach Fac-tory design in the secondphase.

Under Project Utkrisht,railways has granted Rs 60lakh per rake to upgrade itsinteriors and exteriors.

The dustbin of the coach-es would be provided withthe garbage bag coach andtoilets, PVC flooring will bechanged in case it is dam-aged, and faded coach pan-els will be replaced. Theroof of the coach will also berepaired wherever required.

BRISK BUSINESS

Makeover of 1stAC coaches of 7trains decided

The new features inthe coach includenew anti-grafittivinyl wrapping inte-riors, new curtains,properly worked outbathroom even withthe option of takinga shower

ENGLISH FILM

72 Hours

Wave Cinema, Kausamb-hi -10.05am.Wave Cinema, Raj Nagar-10.05am.

Glass

PVR Select City Walk -10.05am.PVR ECX Chanakya -2pm,10:40pm.PVR Sangam -12:05pm,10:55pm.PVR NarainaSangam -5:40pm, 10:55pm.PVR Pacific Mall -9:30am, 3:25pm,8:50pm, 11:40pm.PVR Shalimarbagh -4:15pm, 10:30pm.PVR Logix, Noida -11am,4:25pm, 10:15pm.DT MOIN, Noida -10:15am, 4:30pm,10:45pm.PVR Mahagun, (GZBD) -3:50pm, 10pm.Wave Cinema, Noida -9.45am, 12.20pm,2.55pm, 5.30pm,8.15pm, 11pm.Wave Cinema, Raja Gar-den -6.15pm.

HINDI FILM

Rangeela Raja

PVR Naraina -11am.PVR Pacific Mall -12:20pm.PVR Shalimar Bagh -1pm.PVR Plaza (Gr Noida) -10:15am.PVR Mahagun (GZBD) -2pm.Wave Cinema, Noida -9.30am, 5.45pm.Wave Cinema, Kausham-bi -3pm.Wave Cinema, Raja Gar-den - 3pm.

Why Cheat India

PVR Vasantkunj, Delhi -10am, 12:30pm,3:15pm, 6pm, 8:45pm,11:30pm.PVR Anupam, Saket -9:40am, 12:30pm,3:15pm, 6pm, 8:45pm,11:30pm.

PVR Select City Walk -1:25pm.PVR Plaza -1:30pm,7:30pm.PVR Rivoli -4pm,9:45pm.PVR Naraina -9:45am,12:30pm, 3:15pm, 6pm,8:45pm, 11:30pm.PVR Pacific Mall -9:45am, 12:30pm,3:15pm, 6pm,8:45pm, 11:40pm.PVR ShalimarBagh -10am,1:45pm, 4:30pm,7:15pm, 10pm.PVR Vikas

Puri -9:50am, 12:35pm,4pm, 7pm, 10pm.PVR Prashant Vihar -9:40am, 12:25pm,4:20pm, 8:10pm,10:55pm.DT (Moin) -10am,12:45pm, 6:05pm,11:20pm.

Wave Cinema, Noida -9.35am, 12.45pm, 3pm,6pm, 8.20pm, 11.15pm.Wave Cinema, Kausham-bi -9.45am, 12.15pm,2.45pm, 5.15pm,7.45pm, 10.15pm.Wave Cinema, Raja Gar-den -9.35am, 12.45pm,3pm, 6pm, 8.20pm,11.15pm.Wave Cinema, Raj Nagar-9.45am, 12.15pm,2.45pm, 5.15pm,7.45pm, 10.15pm.

The Accidental PrimeMinister

PVR Vasantkunj, Delhi -12:35pm, 5:40pm,10:40pm.Director's Cut, Delhi -9:30am, 3:20pm,9:10pm.PVR Anupam, Saket -3:30pm, 10:40pm.PVR Select City Walk -10am, 8:50pm.PVR Chanakya -4:50pm.PVR Logix, Noida -6pm,8:30pm.PVR Naraina -8:30pm.PVR Pacific Mall -9:30am, 3:20pm,9:10pm.PVR Prashant Vihar -5:40pm.PVR Sangam -5:40pm.PVR Vikaspuri -6:40pm.Wave Cinema, Noida -3.35pm, 11pm.Wave Cinema, Kausham-bi -12.45pm.Wave Cinema, Raja Gar-den -5.40pm.Wave Cinema, Raj Nagar- 12.45pm.URI - The Surgical Strike PVR Vasantkunj, Delhi -11:15am, 12:45pm,2:15pm, 3:45pm,5:15pm, 6:45pm,8:15pm,9:45pm, 11:15pm.Director's Cut, Delhi -9am, 11:40pm.PVR Anupam, Saket -9:30am, 11am, 2pm,5pm, 8pm, 11pm.

PVR Select City Walk -11:30am, 2:30pm,5:30pm, 8:30pm,

11:30pm.

PVR

Plaza -10:30am, 4:30pm,10:15pm.PVR Rivoli -10am, 1pm,6:45pm.

PVR 3C'S -10:30am,4:15pm, 10:15pm.PVR Chanakya -11am,12:45pm, 3:45pm,6:45pm, 9:45pm.

PVR Sangam -10:30am,1:30pm, 4:30pm,7:30pm, 10:30pm.

PVR Naraina -9:40am,11am, 2pm, 5pm, 8pm,11pm.

Wave Cinema, Noida -10am, 12.05pm,12.35pm, 3.15pm,5.35pm, 8pm, 8.30pm,10.55pm.Wave Cinema, Kausham-bi -10am, 12.50pm,3.40pm, 6pm, 6.30pm,9pm, 9.30pm.Wave Cinema, Raja Gar-den -10am, 12.05pm,12.30pm, 3.15pm,5.35pm, 8.30pm,10.55pm.Wave Cinema, Raj Nagar-10am, 12.50pm,3.40pm, 6pm, 6.30pm,9pm, 9.30pm.

Simmba

PVR Vasantkunj, Delhi -1:00 PM 10:20pm.Director's Cut, Delhi -12pm, 5:50pm.PVR Anupam, Saket -9:30am, 7:20pm.PVR Select City Walk -3pm, 11:20pm.PVR Chanakya -10:40am,7:20pm.Wave Cinema, Noida -12.30pm, 10.45pm.Wave Cinema, Kausham-bi -11.45am, 9.40pm.Wave Cinema, Raja Gar-den -1.35pm, 11.20pm.Wave Cinema, Raj Nagar- 2pm, 9.40pm.

PUNJABI FILM

Kaka Ji- Son Of RoyalSardar

PVR Vasantkunj -9:55pm.PVR Naraina -8:45pm.PVR Pacific Mall -11:20pm.PVR Shalimarbagh -8:15pm.PVR Vikaspuri -9:30pm.PVR Prashant Vihar -9:55pm.PVR Logix, Noida -3pm,8:15pm, 10:50pm.PVR Mahagun, (GZBD) -

10:15pm.

BEETLE BAILEY/Mort Walker

RED EYE/Bill Yates & Mel Casson

DADDY DAZE/John Kovaleski

NEED TO KNOW

Srabble and Scrabble Tiles are registered trademarks.All rights in the game are owned in the U.S.A by HasbroInc., in Canada by Hasbro Canada Inc., and elsewhere byJ.W. Spear & Sons Limited, a subsidiary of Mattel, Inc.

Directions Make a 2 to7 letter word from theletters in each row.Add points of eachword, using scoringdirections at right, 7-letter words get 50-point bonus. "Blanks"used as any letterhave no point value.All Judd's words arein The OfficialScrabble PlayersDictionary(Merriam-Webster) and OSWOfficial ScrabbleWords(Chambers). Judd's solutiontomorrow.10-25-12

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LEISURE

AROUND TOWN

TODAY IN DELHI

ENGAGEMENTS

Habitat World presents"IHC-ICRIER Conversationson Urbanization Series.CivilSociety Challenges: TheRoad ahead", by Dr.ReenaRamachandran, Member,Foundation for Restorationof National Values and ICCentre for Governance,chaired by Dr.Isher JudgeAhluwalia, Chairperson,Board of Governors,ICRIER, at India HabitatCentre Lodhi Road, 7 p.m.

Indira Gandhi NationalCentre for the Arts (IGNCA)presents "Arya Utsav -Celebrating Dard Aryansof Ladakh" with exhibition,performances, fi lm,lectures, at IGNCA, 1,Central Vista Mess,Janpath, 10 a.m. to 6.30p.m. (till 25 January)

DANCE

Habiatat World presentsYatra- a solo Odissiperformance by SanchitaRoy based onRabindranath Tagore'sdance drama�Bhanushingher Padabali��in Brajabuli. The recitalopens with �Dashavatar�,acomposition by GuruKelucharanMahapatra, atIndia Habitat Centre LodhiRoad, 7 p.m.

EXHIBITIONS

Habitat Worldpresents anexhibition of photographsby Sanjeev Kumar at Delhi"O' Delhi Foyer, IndiaHabitat Centre, LodhiRoad, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. (till31 January)

Jor Bagh Metro Stationpresents a photo exhibition"Habitat Photosphere�,at Sri Aurobindo Marg,Safdarjung Airport Area.

5:20 am to 12 midnigh (till31 March)''

Habitat World presents"Divinity With Eternity",a solo painting exhibitionby Alka Sengar, at theConvention Centre Foyer,India Habitat Centre, LodhiRoad, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. (till21 January)

Visual Arts Gallerypresents "Roaring Sea�Still Mind", a solo exhibitionof sculptures, paintings, zencalligraphy, haikus andrevelations by Satish Gupta,at India Habitat Centre,Lodhi Road, 11 a.m. to 7p.m. (till 3 February)

Open Palm Court Gallerypresents "Roaring Sea�Still Mind", a solo exhibitionof sculptures, paintings, zencalligraphy, haikus andrevelations by Satish Gupta,at India Habitat Centre,Lodhi Road, 11 a.m. to 7p.m. (till 3 February)

A scenefrom 72Hours

Sudoku is a number-placingpuzzle based on a 9x9 grid with

several given numbers. Theobject is to place the numbers 1

to 9 in the empty squares sothat no row, no column and no

3x3 box contains the samenumber. The difficulty level

increases through the week.

SUDOKU

answer toprevious

puzzleBy arrangement with The Independent

Figures in parentheses denote the number of letters in the words required

ACROSS

1 Whale, 4 Eve(Wayleave), 7 Allotted, 8 Coal, 9 Forget-me-not,

11 Temple, 13 Prefer, 14 Arthur'sSeat, 18 Rags, 19 Hogmanay,20 Pal, 21 Nudge.

DOWN1 Walloped, 2 Among, 3 Entitle, 4 Enclose, 5 Edam, 6 Idle, 10 Separate,

12 Parasol, 13 Paragon, 15 Ha-ha, 16 Scald, 17 Damp.

10 MINUTE CROSSWORD

ACROSS

1 Spoil (3)3 Very small (Informal) (5)8 Extemporise (2-3)9 Displeasure (7)10 Well placed (Informal)(7,6)11 Almost (6)13 Musical piece (6)16 Australian state (3,5,5)19 Outside or upper layer(7)20 Stadium (5)21 Animal skins (5)22 Headwear item (3)

DOWN1 Body of citizen soldiers(7)2 Jewish leader (5)3 Walk wearily (6)4 Trade stoppage (7)5 Leavening agent (5)6 Part of a cooked fowl(7,4)7 January 1 (3,5,3)12 Panther (7)14 Illness (7)15 Emphasise (6)17 Value (5)18 Angry indignation (5)

SOLUTIONS TO YESTERDAY’S CROSSWORD

04

05NEW DELHI, MONDAY 21 JANUARY 2019

The BJP will emerge (as) the largest party after theelections and will give a stable government to thepeople with some friends

BJP GENERAL SECRETARY RAM MADHAVASAYING HIS PARTY WOULD CONTEST ALL SEATS IN JAMMU AND KASHMIR

PRESS TRUST OF INDIANEW DELHI, 20 JANUARY

Sukalo spent 45 days in jailsleeping on the bathroomfloor but, she says, that wasnot the worst pain she enduredin prison.

A member of the Gondtribe, largely found in centralIndia, she had to eat foodinfested with insects, drink con-taminated water and sharespace with other women shedid not know. Sukalo had tosuffer the trauma daily for one-and-a-half months because shewas against an irrigation pro-ject in Sonbhadra district ofUttar Pradesh.

The Kanhar irrigation pro-ject was conceived more than30 years ago, and was takenup in 2014. It, however, soon

landed in trouble. In April2015, there were violentprotests by villagers whofeared displacement and con-tamination of their source ofwater. “We were targetedbecause we spoke againstpowerful people. I knew I wasin jail because of this move-ment (against the project),” saidSukalo, now 51.

Recalling her days in prison,she said, “The food was infest-ed with insects. Our drinkingwater was dirty; I survived byeating an apple every day.”

She said the inhuman treat-ment meted out to her inMirzapur jail changed her asa person. On Friday, she wasamong several women whogathered in the national cap-ital to demand better livingcondition in prisons for

women.Soni Sori, a teacher, who

became the symbol of resis-tance against brutal custodi-al torture, also attended thegathering in Delhi. Sori, whowas arrested in 2011 andcharged with acting as a Maoistconduit, accused police ofoften subjecting her to elec-

tric shocks to extract a con-fession. “I wonder what gaveme the endurance to bear itall,” she said.

“Most inmates were ill andreceived little medical care. Thefood in the jail was infestedwith worms and insects. Weresolved to go on hunger

strike and threatened to pro-duce the food in court. Onlythen were many of us madeto oversee the kitchen,” Sorisaid. She said the situation inwomen prison was worse.

“We were made to clean co-mmon toilets daily. Under-tri-als going through such thingsin jail is illegal. Adivasi pris-oners are almost always themost vulnerable,” she said.

Anjum Zamarud Habib,an activist from Kashmir, wasjailed and booked under POTAin 2003. Habib said she was ver-bally stripped by police and hadto face hostile attitude. “Get-ting a paper and pen was astruggle. Jail culture has rulesand regulations of its own. Thereare customs one needs to fol-low and if you resist you arebrutally abused,” she said.

Another issue flagged bythese women was over-crowd-ing. Sori said over 600 womenreside in a prison with a capac-ity for 250. “Due to a lack ofspace, many of us would justhave space to sit and not evento lie down,” she said.

Roma Malik, an activistfighting for the rights of womenliving in prisons, said there isa kind of hierarchy one has tofollow in jail. “These womenare fighting on many fronts.The irony is: they are invisi-ble to most people, and thatis why not enough attentionis paid to their suffering,” shesaid. Prominent lawyer Vrin-da Grover said there is a needfor a movement to improve jailconditions and focus shouldbe given to political prison-ers. “Special attention needs

to be given to those womenwho are targeted because oftheir human rights activism.”

Human rights activist UmaChakravorty echoed Grover,saying the movement wouldneed participation from all sec-tors and not just civil society.

Human rights organisa-tion Amnesty International hasexpressed concern on thecondition of political prison-ers in the country. Its reportshowed India has the maxi-mum acceptance of torture asa means of interrogation.

Despite being a signatoryto the UN' Convention AgainstTorture, 1997, India has not rat-ified the convention so far, sinceratification required anenabling legislation to reflectthe definition and punish-ment for 'torture'.

Resistance: Women demand better living condition in prisonsThe food was infested with

insects. Our drinking water

was dirty; I survived by eat-

ing an apple every day... We

were targeted because we

spoke against powerful peo-

ple. I knew I was in jail

because of this movement

(against the project)

SUKALO

MEMBER, GONG TRIBE

Most inmates were ill and

received little medical care.

The food in the jail was

infested with worms and

insects. We resolved to go

on hunger strike and threat-

ened to produce the food in

court. Only then were many

of us made to oversee the

kitchen

SONI SORI

TEACHER

TN fishermen: Over 4,000

Tamil Nadu fishermen

were allegedly chased

away by Sri Lanka Navy

personnel when they were

fishing near Neduntheevu

in the island nation�s

waters, a fishermen asso-

ciation leader said in

Rameswaram (TN) on Sun-

day. PTI

Smuggled gold seized:

Smuggled gold weighing

nearly 2 kg and valued at

Rs 66.27 lakh was seized

from a passenger at the

international airport in

Hyderabad on Sunday,

Directorate of Revenue

Intelligence said. PT

National Akali Dal organis-ed a Kranti March demand-ing Martyr status to free-dom fighters BhagatSingh, ChandrashekharAzad, Rajguru and Sukhdevat the Jantar Mantar inDelhi on Sunday. RITIK JAIN

THUMBNAILS

STATESMAN NEWS SERVICECHANDIGARH, 20 JANUARY

With Punjab Ekta Party (PEP)president Sukhpal SinghKhaira questioning the thirdextension to Punjab DirectorGeneral of Police (DGP) SureshKumar Arora, Punjab chiefminister Amarinder Singhon Sunday said the rebel AamAadmi Party leader was resort-ing to falsehoods to remainin news ahead of the upcom-ing Lok Sabha elections.

Trashing Sukhpal SinghKhaira’s statement accusinghim of toeing the Centre’sline, the CM lashed out at theformer leader of the Opposi-tion over his senseless andreckless allegations, whichsmacked of total disregard forpolitical ethics and morality.

“Having been unceremo-niously thrown out of theAAP, Khaira was now indulgingin all kinds of fabrications andtricks to remain in public li-melight,” he said. The CM saidKhaira has always been in thehabit of talking out of the hat,without any respect for theveracity of his statements.

He challenged Khaira toprove even a single allegationmade by the former AAP lea-der against his governmentor him personally, or else qu-it the political stage for good.

This was evident from

Khaira’s statement on thefunctioning of the PunjabPolice, pointed out the CM,adding that contrary to whatthe former AAP leader was pro-jecting, DGP Suresh Arorahad already ruled out exten-sion and the state had sent itspanel of suggestions for thenew head of the state police.Where, then, was the questi-onof Arora being given extensionat the behest of NSA chief AjitDoval, asked Amarinder.

Khaira obviously had noclue about the functioning ofthe police department, or forthat matter of any democra-tically elected government,said the CM asking the PEPleader to refrain from attempt-ing to deceive the people ofPunjab with his irresponsiblestatements.

The people were too intel-ligent to believe his blatant-ly misleading statement thatthe state police was function-ing under the Centre’s cont-rol, or that the latter was inany way manipulating thestate government, said the CM.

Capt trashes Khairaclaims on Doval handin Pb DGP extension

STATESMAN NEWS SERVICENEW DELHI, 20 JANUARY

The Law Ministry hopessupport from a small win-dow for the passage of akey bill to allow proxy vot-ing rights to overseas Indi-ans and make electoral lawgender neutral for service vot-ers.

The bill assumes impor-tance as Lok Sabha elec-tions are due in summer. TheBudget session of Parlia-ment, the last session of thepresent government, willhave 11 sittings betweenJanuary 31 and Februray13.The bill was passed by LokSabha in August, 2018 andhas been awaiting RajyaSabha nod.

Asked whether the gov-ernment will push for itspassage in the brief Budgetsession, a senior law ministryofficial said, “All pendingbills are important as it is thelast session. In the Winter ses-sion it was listed in the RajyaSabha agenda every day.”

Rajya Sabha was repeat-edly disrupted in the previ-ous session due to Rafale andother issues. If the billbecomes a law, NRIs or Non-resident Indians eligible tovote in India will be allowedto appoint proxies who canvote on their behalf. Theseproxies will change for everyelection.

As of now, overseas Indi-ans have to register as voter,come to India, go to their con-

stituency with the originalpassport issued to themwhen they had gone abroadand cast their votes.

According to estimates ofthe Ministry of ExternalAffairs, there are about 3.10crore NRIs living in differ-ent countries across theworld.

An expert committee ofElection Commission hadsaid no to e-voting for NRIsbut had approved proxyvoting.

Another provision in theamendment bill relates tothe spouses of service vot-ers.

As of now, an army man'swife is entitled to be enrolledas a service voter, but awoman army officer's hus-band is not, according to theprovisions in the electorallaw.

The bill proposes toreplace the term 'wife' with'spouse', thus making theprovision gender neutral.

Members of the armedforces, central armed policeforces, personnel of statepolice forces posted outsidetheir state and employees ofthe Centre posted outsideIndia are eligible to beenrolled as service voters.

Even diplomats and otherofficials serving in embassiesabroad come in this category.In fact, making election lawgender neutral for servicevoters is one of the reformsbring pushed by ElectionCommission.

Key Bill on NRI �proxyvote� awaits RajyaSabha�s test

Aam Aadmi Party leader and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal addressing a rally in Barnala town in Punjab. SNS

Delhi HC grantspoliceprotection toJ&K rape victimNEW DELHI, 20 JANUARY

An alleged rape victim andher husband, who have tem-porarily shifted here fromJammu and Kashmir appre-hending threat to their lives,have been given protectionby the Delhi High Court.

The high court was info-rmed by the couple thatpersonal circumstances forc-ed them to leave their nativeplace and made serious alle-gations against some policeofficials and political work-ers.

The couple claimed thewoman was allegedly physic-ally assaulted and rapedand the man was kept in de-tention for several days byJammu and Kashmir policeand now he was out on bail.

The court directed theconcerned DCP of DelhiPolice to look into the mat-ter and forthwith provide pro-tection to the couple and thattheir address shall not be dis-closed except the govern-ment counsel.

The couple had approa-ched the Jammu and Kash-mir high court in Septem-ber 2018 seeking protec-tion but no protection wasaccorded to them and theyapprehend a grave threat totheir life, limb and liberty andwere constrained to tem-porarily shift to Delhi. PTI

�Modi, Shah need to be defeated in LS polls�

STATESMAN NEWS SERVICECHANDIGARH, 20 JANUARY

Aam Aadmi Party leader andDelhi chief minister ArvindKejriwal on Sunday said theBharatiya Janata Party needsto be defeated in the comingLok Sabha elections as PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andBJP president Amit Shah willbreak up the country if theyreturn to power in the 2019general elections.

“Amit Shah and Modi haveruined the country. They havepoisoned the hearts of the peo-ple. If they come to power againthey will divide the country.They will not let the Consti-tution survive,” Kejriwal said

while speaking to reporters atthe Sangrur railway station inPunjab ahead of addressinga rally in the state.

The AAP supremo said:“The country is fed up withthe five-year rule of Modiand Amit Shah. The countrywants to defeat them. Lead-ers of all parties have got to-gether and urged people todefeat them (BJP) in the elec-tions”.

He said people of Punjabare unhappy and disillusionedwith the Shiromani Akali Daland the Congress and that theywant a change. “These two par-ties have not fulfilled any oftheir promises,” he said.

Kejriwal announced that

AAP will contest all 13 seatsin the Lok Sabha elections. “Wewill announce the names ofour candidates in 10-12 daysand will win maximum seats,”he said.

On the split in AAP Pun-jab which saw seven party leg-islators form a separate groupand several others leavingthe party, Kejriwal said greedypeople had left the party.“There have been attempts atbreaking up the AAP. I musttell you that AAP is as strongas ever. Only the dirty peoplehave left the party.

The AAP is united andstrong,” Kejriwal told a rallyin Barnala town in Punjab.

Kejriwal attacked chief

minister Amarinder Singh-ledCongress government for notfulfilling promises made topeople before the Assemblyelections of February 2017. “Tellme, have the loans of all farm-ers been waived? Have theyouth got smartphones? Hasevery family in Punjab got ajob as promised?

The Amarinder Singh gov-ernment has let people down,”he said. Kejriwal said the AAPgovernment in Delhi had rad-ically transformed the schoolsand health facilities.

Meanwhile, AAP announ-ced the candidature of formermember of Parliament Har-mohan Dhawan from Chandi-garh Lok Sabha seat.

Prez to conferSpiti monk withNational ChildWelfare award

SHIMLA, 20 JANUARY

A tiny, sleepy hamlet Rangrikin the tribal district of Lahauland Spiti in Himachal Pradeshhas reasons to cheer, as theirsocial crusader, a Buddhistmonk, working for the uplift-ment of the underprivilegedis all set to get recognition.

Fighting all odds in the six-month snow-bound Spitiarea, Tashi Namgyal (photo)founder of the Rinchen Zang-po Society (RZS) has beenworking for the upliftmentof the underprivileged for thelast more than two decades.

Contributing to the edu-cational needs of the weak-er section of the society inthe area, he is being conferredwith the National Child Wel-fare Award by the Presidentof India on 22 January atRashtrapati Bhawan, NewDelhi. The award has beeninstituted by the depart-ment of Women and ChildDevelopment, Governmentof India for exception achieve-ment to give recognition tochildren and outstanding cal-iber in different fields suchas academics, arts, cultureand sports.

“It is honour to receive thisaward, which can also be seenas a motivation to deliver mybest to the society,” TashiNamgyal told the States-man. “The credit also goesto my supports and wellwishers who believed in theeducational programmeunder the Rinchen ZangpoSociety,” he added.

A native of Morang vil-lage in Spiti, Namgyal an epit-ome of compassion, wasovercome with the need forsupporting the disadvan-taged children from theremote areas with empha-sis in the right to access toeducation. It is a matter ofgreat pride to the entireSpiti natives, said KadakDorje.

In 2009 Namgyalreceived the USA UnsungHeros of Compassionaward. The society is run-ning three schools in Spiti.

BHAWANI NEGI

Arunachal, Mizoram join TMC�sMahagathbandhan against BJPSTATESMAN NEWS SERVICEKOLKATA, 20 JANUARY

Both former chief min-ister of ArunachalPradesh and Oppo-sition leader of Mizo-

ram spoke against the BJP gov-ernment at the Centre and saidthey have come to join theMahagathbandhan organ-ised by Mamata Banerjee togive a message to the peopleof North East to unite againstthe “autocrat” BJP leaders atthe centre.

Gegong Apang, formerchief minister of ArunachalPradesh who left BJP recent-ly, said “ I have been the chiefminister and worked withAtal Bihari Vajpayee, Man-mohan Singh, but the lastfour years were a testing peri-od for the people of India. Aformer CM of ArunachalPradesh committed suicideand one of the ministers diedunder mysterious circum-stances. CBI was turned intoa puppet in the hands of theCentre. I appeal to all peopleto be united as the governmentin Delhi are dividing the peo-ple of India ethnically, on thebasis of religion, caste , creedand even in food habits.”

“Let this Brigade rally bringa new chapter in the politicalhistory of India and I havecome here to strengthenMamata Jis move” said Apang.

Mr Lalduhawma, who is theOpposition leader in Mizoram,said “We have come herewith a purpose. The wholeregion of North East India isburning like wild fire due tothe introduction of NationalCitizenship Bill.

Due to the introduction ofthis Bill, the feeling of belong-ing towards this country is fastfading away. We have a feel-

ing that India is no longer asuitable place for the North-East people.”

“The BJP, RSS and BajrangDal are rewriting the historyand geography of the coun-try in their own style. They areinterfering with our foodhabits and religion, whichwill not be tolerated. We arelooking forward to see a newsecular government. All theregional parties in the Northeast should unite togetheragainst the BJP and shouldsever their ties with BJP and

its allied parties. We shouldtogether fight for united Indiaand hope that new India willrevoke this Bill.”

Shotgun says rally aimedat saving democracy: Firinga fresh salvo at the BJP lead-ership and the Modi govern-ment at the Centre, disgrun-tled party leader ShatrughanSinha on Sunday said therally at Kolkata where heshared the stage with a hostof Opposition leaders wasaimed at “saving Indiandemocracy from being ruined”.

The actor-turned-politi-cian and Patna Sahib MP,who had rankled the party byhis presence at the rally andspeaking about “tanashahi”(dictatorship) prevailing underthe leadership of Modi andAmit Shah as against “lok-shahi” (democracy) that char-acterized the Atal-Advani era,sought to twist the knife witha couple of tweets.

“What an amazing gath-ering and what a mammothaudience that came togeth-er in Bengal in lakhsto listen

to and support this sponta-neous show of solidarity infavour of a change parivartan!”exclaimed Sinha in his firsttweet about the public meetwhich was organized by WestBengal chief minister andTrinamool Congress supremoMamata Banerjee.

Leaders of 22 oppositionparties came together at amega rally on Saturday anddeclared they will put up a unit-ed fight to oust the NarendraModi government which has“passed its expiry date”.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIANEW DELHI, 20 JAMUARY

Only a small numberBangladeshi nationals arelikely to be benefitted fromthe Citizenship AmendmentBill, as less than 200 peoplefrom the neighbouring coun-try have so far availed theLong Term Visa (LTV) regimeintroduced in 2015, a seniorHome Ministry official said.

The majority of thosewho are likely to apply forIndian citizenship under theCitizenship Amendment Billwill be from Pakistan, asnearly 35,000 of such peoplehave got LTVs so far.

“The number of LTVsissued by the Union HomeMinistry to Bangladeshinationals from 2011 to 8January, 2019, is just 187, whiletotal LTVs issued to Pak-istani nationals during thesame period is 34,817,” theofficial said.

Those who will apply forIndian citizenship under theCitizenship Amendment Bill

must fulfil similar criteria ofLTVs.

Of the 187 LTVs grantedto Bangladeshi nationals,only two were given in 2018,three in 2017, 50 LTVs weregiven in 2016, 26 LTVs wereissued in 2015, 74 in 2014, 27in 2012 and four in 2011.

No LTV was issued to anyBangladeshi national in 2013.

Of the total Pakistaninationals given LTVs between1 January, 2015 and 14 Jan-uary, 2019, as many as 15,107have been living in Rajasthan,1,560 are living in Gujarat,1,444 are living in MadhyaPradesh, 599 are staying in

Maharashtra, 581 in Delhi,342 in Chhattisgarh and 101in Uttar Pradesh.

According to the Citizen-ship Amendment Bill thisyear, Indian nationality willbe given to persecuted pers-ons belonging to minoritycommunities, namely, Hin-dus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains,Parsis and Christians fromPakistan, Bangladesh andAfghanistan, who have beenliving in the country for sixyears instead of current 11years. This is applicable tothose who have come toIndia till 31 December, 2014.

The eligibility criteria for

LTVs include: People belong-ing to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhi-sm, Jain, Parsi and Christianfrom Pakistan, Bangladesh,Afghanistan coming to Indiaon short-term visa, providea copy of passport, a copy ofvisa and residential permit,photograph and indemnitybond from the Indian guar-antor, besides others.

A large section of peopleand organisations in theNortheast have opposed theBill, saying it will nullify theprovisions of the AssamAccord of 1985, which fixedMarch 24, 1971 as the cut-offdate for deportation of all ille-gal immigrants irrespectiveof religion.

There have been spo-radic protests against theBIll in the region ever sinceit was introduced and passedin the Lok Sabha on 8 Janu-ary. Home Minister RajnathSingh had already said the Billwill apply to all the states andthe Union Territories andthe beneficiaries can resideanywhere in the country.

�Few B�deshis to be benefitted from Citizenship Bill�

Call people to unite against Centre�s policy of dividing people on the basis of religion, caste & creed

06The cries for help are the cries of millions of unemployed youth; of farmers in distress; ofoppressed Dalits & Adivasis; of persecuted minorities; of small businessmen in ruin;begging to be freed from your tyranny & incompetence. In 100 days they will be free

RAHUL GANDHI CONGRESS PRESIDENTNEW DELHI, MONDAY 21 JANUARY 2019

PTINEW DELHI, 20 JANUARY

Having been elbowed out bythe more utilitarian plastic andpaper cups over the years atrailway stations, 'kulhads'which were introduced byformer railway minister LaluPrasad 15 years ago are all setto make a comeback at cater-ing units.

Railway Minister PiyushGoyal has instructed cater-ers at Varanasi and Rae Bare-li stations to use terracotta-made 'kulhads', glasses andplates, according to a circu-lar issued by the board to thechief commercial managersof Northern Railway and theNorth Eastern Railway.

The move will not onlygive passengers a refreshingexperience but also providea huge market for local pot-ters who are struggling tomake ends meet, officialssaid.

“Zonal railways and theIRCTC are advised to takenecessary action to ensure

use of locally produced, envi-ronmentally savvy terracot-ta products like 'kulhads',glasses and plates for serv-ing items to passengersthrough all static units atVaranasi and Rae Bareli rail-way stations with immedi-ate effect so that local ter-racotta product manufac-turers could easily markettheir products,” the circularstated.

The proposal had comein December last year from

the chairman of Khadi andVillage Industries Commis-sion (KVIC) who had writtena letter to Goyal, suggestingthat these two stations beused to generate employmentfor potters around the area.

“We have been giving pot-ters electric wheels whichhave increased their pro-ductivity from making 100cups to around 600 cups a day.It was important to give thema market to sell their wares andgenerate income. With the rail-

ways agreeing to our pro-posal, lakhs of potters havenow got a readymade market,”KVIC Chairman V K Saxenatold PTI.

“It's a win for all. The entirecommunity is thankful to therailways and hopefully wecan do this across its networkeventually,” he said, addingthat he is expecting the dailyproduction of pottery to reach2.5 lakh to meet the demandsof these two stations.

Under the Kumhar Sashak-tikaran Yojana, the governmenthas been distributing electricwheels to potters to increasetheir productivity.

In Varanasi, the primeminister's parliamentary con-stituency, around 300 suchwheels have been distrib-uted with 1,000 more in thepipeline.

In Rae Bareli, the parlia-mentary constituency of UPAchairperson Sonia Gandhi, 100have been distributed with 700more to be given out.

Over all, the KVIC will dis-tribute around 6,000 electric

wheels across the countrythis year, Saxena said.

In 2004, Lalu Prasad hadintroduced 'kulhads' to boostthe dying pottery industryand also give passengers a tasteof eco-friendly cups. He hadmade it clear that hot bever-ages should be served only in'kulhads'.

Though no specific allo-cation was made for 'kul-hads' in the rail budget, rail-way officials said it was includ-ed in the target of sundryother earnings, placed at Rs1,072 crore.

However, efforts of therailways did not get much trac-tion from both passengers andvendors who complainedabout the poor quality ofearthen cups.

At most stations, paperand plastic cups are used toserve beverages. But with thepresent government battingfor the green and eco-friend-ly 'Made in India' produce,'kulhads' could have a longerinnings this time, the officialssaid.

�Kulhads� at Rly stations to make comeback

PTIPATNA, 20 JANUARY

Firing a fresh salvo at the BJPleadership and the NarendraModi government at theCentre, disgruntled partyleader Shatrughan Sinha onSunday said the rally atKolkata where he shared thestage with a host of opposi-tion leaders was aimed at“saving Indian democracyfrom being ruined”.

The actor-turned-politi-cian and Patna Sahib MP, whohad rankled the party by hispresence at the rally andspeaking about “tanashahi”(dictatorship) prevailingunder the leadership of Modiand Amit Shah as against“lokshahi” (democracy) thatcharacterized the Atal-Advaniera, sought to twist the knifewith a couple of tweets.

“What an amazing gath-

ering and what a mammothaudience that came togeth-er in Bengal in lakhsto listento and support this sponta-neous show of solidarity infavour of a change parivar-tan!” exclaimed Sinha in hisfirst tweet about the publicmeet which was organized

by West Bengal Chief Min-ister and Trinamool Con-gress supremo MamataBanerjee.

Leaders of 22 oppositionparties came together at amega rally on Saturday anddeclared they will put up aunited fight to oust the Naren-

dra Modi government whichhas “passed its expiry date”.

“Kudos to our sister, thegreat lady of Bengal, thefiery Mamata di, who needsto be roundly compliment-ed for bringing together oneof the largest congregationsof the strongest and mostinfluential political minds andleaders from all corners of thecountry on the same stageunder a common causeofsaving the Indian democra-cy from being ruined,” Sinhasaid in the second tweet.

Top leaders of anti-NDAparties in addition to formerUnion ministers YashwantSinha and Arun Shourieattacked the Modi govern-ment on issues like demon-etization, faulty implemen-tation of GST and the con-troversy surrounding theRafale deal at the rally.

At a press conference in

the national capital, BJPnational spokesperson RajivPratap Rudy said the partyhas taken “cognizance” ofSinha's presence at the oppo-sition meet.

The actor-turned-politi-cian has been critical of theparty leadership for quitesome time, terming it as a“one-man show and two-man army” besides sharingthe stage with peopleopposed to the regime on anumber of occasions.

Party insiders say theleadership has refrainedfrom taking any disciplinaryaction against the disgrun-tled MP - who has slimchances of being reconsid-ered for a ticket in the upcom-ing Lok Sabha polls - sinceit could benefit the outspo-ken actor-turned-politician,who is known for his gift ofthe gab.

Mamata's rally was aimed atsaving democracy: ShatruPatna Sahib MP said in Kolkata on Saturday that �dictatorship� is prevailing under Modi�s leadership

PTINEW DELHI, 20 JANUARY

Sukalo spent 45 days in jailsleeping on the bathroomfloor but, she says, that wasnot the worst pain she enduredin prison.

A member of the Gondtribe, largely found in centralIndia, she had to eat foodinfested with insects, drinkcontaminated water and sharespace with other women shedid not know.

Sukalo had to suffer thetrauma daily for oneand a half months because shewas against an irrigation pro-ject in Sonbhadra district ofUttar Pradesh.

The Kanhar irrigation pro-ject was conceived more than30 years ago, and was takenup in 2014. It, however, soonlanded in trouble. In April 2015,there were violent protests byvillagers who feared dis-

placement and contamina-tion of their source of water.

“We were targeted becausewe spoke against powerfulpeople. I knew I was in jailbecause of this movement(against the project),” saidSukalo, now 51.

Recalling her days inprison, she said, “The food wasinfested with insects. Ourdrinking water was dirty; I sur-vived by eating an appleevery day.”

She said the inhumantreatment meted out to herin Mirzapur jail changed heras a person. On Friday, she wasamong several women whogathered in the national cap-ital to demand better livingcondition in prisons forwomen.

Soni Sori, a teacher, whobecame the symbol of resis-tance against brutal custodialtorture, also attended thegathering in Delhi. Sori, who

was arrested in 2011 andcharged with acting as aMaoist conduit, accused policeof often subjecting her toelectric shocks to extract a con-fession.

“I wonder what gave methe endurance to bear it all,”she said.

“Most inmates were illand received little medical care.The food in the jail was infest-ed with worms and insects.We resolved to go on hungerstrike and threatened to pro-duce the food in court. Onlythen were many of us madeto oversee the kitchen,” Sorisaid.

She said the situation inwomen prison was worse.

“We were made to cleanthe common toilets daily.Under-trials going throughsuch things in jail is illegal. Adi-vasi prisoners are almostalways the most vulnerable,”she said.

Resistance: Women demandbetter prison conditions

PTIVARANASI, 20 JANUARY

The people of the spiritual cap-ital of IndiamVaranasi havenot only opened their arms towelcome guests coming forthe three-day “Pravasi BhartiyaDivas” beginning January 21,but also opened their doors tooffer the special hospitality of'Kashi'.

Through “Kashi Ka Atithya”concept, under which locals havebeen urged to volunteer toprovide accommodation toguests, visitors of Indian originwill get a chance to experi-ence the life of residents of thehistorical city of Varanasi.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minis-ter Yogi Adityanath, who isoverseeing arrangements for thePravasi Divas function, hassaid an elaborate preparationshave been made in Varanasi toensure a memorable stay of thevisitors.

Besides hotels and the tentcity, several families in Varanasihave expressed their desire toextend hospitality to the guestswith the essence of “Atithi DevoBhava” (Guest is like God). Adityanath has said formalities

to allow the families to host guestshave been completed.

Sources in the Varanasi dis-trict administration said hun-dreds of families have beenselected to provide accom-modation facility, free of cost,to the guests who got themselvesregistered through the mobileapplication launched espe-cially for it. These families of Kashiwill also be providing food.

Though the authorities hadsaid they will look after the trans-port facility, the residents havebeen enthusiastic in offering topick the guests up from the air-port, the sources said.

Visitors, who had got them-selves registered online throughthe MEA website, were askedfor their preference for stayand a large number of them have

opted for personalised hospi-tality of 'Kashi-vasis', sourcessaid.

The guests will get home-cooked food and homely ambi-ence to relish it. Besides, theywill also be able to witness thedaily chores of a typical day inBanaras.

Pravasi Divas, this year, willbe a unique experience with theevent coinciding with Kumbhin Prayagraj, and Republic Dayfunctions.

According to the ExternalAffairs Ministry, 5,802 peoplehave got themselves registeredfor the three-day Divas.

After Pravasi Divas, theguests will be taken for a visitto the Kumbh Mela on January24 where a tent city has beenset up with Swiss cottages.They will also be able to havedarshans of Akshayvat, or theindestructible tree, after about400 years.

A cultural village has beendeveloped in Prayagraj, show-ing the history from the IndusValley Civilisation. The prava-sis will be taken to New Delhion the night of January 24 andwill have a “Delhi darshan” thenext day.

Hospitality of �Kashi� on fulldisplay to greet PBD guests

STATESMAN NEWS SERVICEDEHRADUN, 20 JANUARY

Under the regional connec-tivity scheme ‘Udan’, directflights between Dehradun-Jammu, Dehradun-Jaipurand Dehradun-Amritsarroutes started from Sunday.Uttarakhand Chief MinisterTrivendra Singh Rawat flaggedoff the air service betweenDehradun to Amritsar on

Sunday from the Jollygrant air-port.

SpiceJet is the first Indiancarrier to introduce dailydirect flights on the Dehradun-Jammu, Dehradun-Jaipurand Dehradun-Amritsarroutes. Earlier this monthair services for Pantnagarand Pithoragarh werelaunched from Dehradun.The new flight service is like-ly to prove a boon for tourists.

CM Rawat took the inaugur-al Dehradun-Amritsar flighton Sunday. He paid obei-sance at the Golden templein Amritsar.

The Chief Minister said thatwork to connect several citiesof the country with Jolly GrantAirport is being done. Spice-Jet has announced an intro-ductory promotional fare forall the three new flights fromDehradun.

Dehradun now connected by airto Jammu, Jaipur & Amritsar

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Rawat flagging off the Dehradun-Amritsar air service inDehradun on Sunday. SNS

STATESMAN NEWS SERVICEMEERUT, 20 JANUARY

Western UP lawyers areagain set to press for theirlong standing demand ofa high court bench in west-ern UP .

Lawyers of 22 districtsof western UP under theaegis of 'High Court BenchSthapna Sangharsh Sami-ti' will carry out protests inorder to mount pressure onthe government to have abench of Allahabad Highcourt in western UP.

On Januar y 30 thelawyers of these districts willmake all toll barriers freein their area. Further actionwill be decided and a strat-egy will be chalked out ata meeting of the Samiti onFebruary 2.

The lawyers demon-strated here on Saturdayand carried out a proces-sion which ended at the BJPoffice. Under the leadershipof Samiti president Rajen-dra Jani and general sec-retary Devki Nandan Shar-ma the lawyers handed overa memorandum to BJP citypresident Mukesh Singhalraising their demand for anHC bench in western UP.Singhal promised to takethe issue to the PM. Rajen-dra Jani said the Samitiwould intensify the move-ment for the HC bench inwestern UP.

Western UPlawyers reiteratedemand for HCbench

PTINEW DELHI, 20 JANUARY

Czech Republic Prime Min-ister Andrej Babis has saidthat his country is ready tostep up Indo-Czech coop-eration in defence and othersectors, and its defence min-ister will visit Bengalurunext month to attend AeroIndia.

Interacting with reporterson the sidelines of an eventat the Czech Embassy hereSaturday, he also hailedPrime Minister NarendraModi as a “charismaticleader” with a “vision”.

Babis was on an officialvisit to India from January17-19. He led a Czech dele-gation at the Vibrant GujaratGlobal Summit 2019, with

Czech Republic as a partnercountry.

The two leaders alsoheld a bilateral meeting onFriday on the sidelines ofthe Summit. The entiregamut of bilateral relationsincluding important glob-al and regional issues ofmutual interest was dis-cussed during the talks,

officials said.“We discussed concrete-

ly, defence cooperation,Tatra (trucks), Skoda, ourinvestments, possibility ofa direct airline servicebetween Delhi and Praguie,tourism and other areas ofcooperation,” he said Sat-urday, when asked what thetwo prime ministers dis-cussed.

Czech car maker SkodaAuto and Volkswagen GroupIndia on Saturday inaugu-rated a new technology cen-tre at its Chakan manufac-turing plant in Pune as partof its 2.0 India project.

Babis attended the pro-gramme and also inaugu-rated a Center for EuropeanStudies at Symbiosis Uni-versity in Pune.

Czech defence minister toattend Aero India in Bengaluru

Czech car makerSkoda Auto and Volk-swagen Group Indiaon Saturday inaugu-rated a new technol-ogy centre at itsChakan manufactur-ing plant in Pune aspart of its 2.0 Indiaproject.

PTILUCKNOW, 20 JANUARY

A UP police inspector was onSunday suspended after a viralvideo showed an elderlywoman touching his feet,urging him to register anFIR. Brahma Devi (75) hadapproached Tej Prakash Singhposted at the Gudamba PoliceStation here to register a caseafter her 20-year-old grand-son, Akash Yadav, was crushedto death at a plywood facto-ry where he worked on Jan-uary 18. In the 27-second clip,Devi can be seen crying andpleading in front of Singh withfolded hands, urging him toregister a complaint. Sheeven touches Singh's feet, whois seated comfortably on achair with his legs crossed.

UP cop suspendedafter video ofwoman falling athis feet goes viral

PTINEW DELHI, 20 JANUARY

A tribe of Jammu and Kash-mir's Ladakh region known forits liberal customs and ornatecostumes is struggling to keepits vibrant cultural legacy aliveand has requested the centralgovernment to make seriousinterventions.

The rich heritage of the DardAryans -- believed to be the

original descendants of “pureAryan race” -- is under threatdue to rapid mordenisation,migration and religious con-version, experts say.

The Dard Aryans inhabitDha, Hanu, Beema, Darchikand Garkone villages in Lehand Kargil districts. The villagesare together called the Aryanvalley.

The people of this regionare completely different from

those in other parts of Ladakh.They have unique physical fea-tures, social life, ethnic culture,and language. They consumethe milk and meat of goatand sheep only and follow thesolar calendar for festivalsand agricultural activities, theexperts say.

Many researchers believethat the “Aryans of Ladakh”or the “Brokpas” were part of

Alexander's army

and had come to the regionover 2,000 years ago, an offi-cial of the Indira GandhiNational Centre for the Arts(IGNCA) says.

The tribe is considered“threatened” due to theirdepleting numbers, which,at present, is around 4,000. Theyare mainly dependent on agri-culture and are “educationallyand economically backward”,he says.

Ladakhi tribe struggling to preserve cultural legacy

The guests will gethome-cooked foodand homely ambi-ence to relish it.Besides, they will alsobe able to witnessthe daily chores of atypical day inBanaras.

Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen during his visit to the Taj Mahal in Agra Sunday. IANS

PTIJHABUA, 20 JANUARY

A catholic priest has beenarrested in Jhabua district ofMadhya Pradesh for alleged-ly abetting the suicide of a 17-year-old girl, the police saidSunday.

The accused was identi-fied as Father Prakash Damor(33).

The suicide note of the girl,who allegedly hanged her-self at her house on January4, stated that Damor was pres-surising her to marry him, saidinspector Kailash Chauhanof Ranapur police station.

“We arrested him underIPC section 306 (abetmentof suicide) and also under theProtection of Children fromSexual Offences (POCSO)Act Tuesday (January 15),”Chauhan said.

The accused had firstmet the girl at a missionaryschool where she was study-ing in Class 11, the police offi-cer said.

Priest arrestedfor �abetting�girl�s suicide

DIGNITARY AT TAJ

NEW DELHI, MONDAY 21 JANUARY 2019

The response from the local industry to this defencecorridor has been amazing.

DEFENCE MINISTER NIRMALA SITHARAMANAT THE INAUGURATION OF TAMIL NADU DEFENCE INDUSTRIAL CORRIDOR

Prison death: An under-

trial prisoner died after

being found unconscious

in his cell in Maharashtra's

Aurangabad district, the

police said. The family of

Yogesh Rathod (29), the

deceased, alleged that he

was tortured by police

which led to his death. PTI

Man held with 50 kg beef:

A 26-year-old man was

arrested with nearly 50 kg

beef in Bharatpur district

of Rajasthan on Sunday,

police said. The accused,

Eeshvu Kasai, had brought

the beef from Haryana to

sell in Bhauri village. PTI

Actor Tara Sharma duringthe Tata Mumbai Marathonin Mumbai on Sunday.�AFP

THUMBNAILS

07Naidu calls for united effortsto fight terror & corruption

PRESS TRUST OF INDIATIRUCHIRAPPALLI, 20JANUARY

Taking a step forward toboost indigenous produc-tion, Defence Minister Nir-mala Sitharaman inaugu-rated the Tamil NaduDefence Industrial Corri-dor on Sunday.

Total investments worthover Rs 3,038 crore in thisdefence corridor wereannounced during the inau-guration. A majority of theinvestments would comefrom PSUs as OrdnanceFactory Board, Bharat Elec-tronics Limited and BharatDynamics Limited com-mitted to invest Rs 2,305crore, Rs 140.5 crore and Rs150 crore, respectively.Pri-vate companies TVS, DataPatterns and Alpha Designswould make investmentsof Rs 50 crore, Rs 75 croreand Rs 100 crore, respectively.

Lockheed Martin, oneof the global security giants,also announced its intentionto invest in the corridor.TheTamil Nadu Defence Indus-trial Corridor also calledthe Tamil Nadu DefenceProduction Quad as thenodal cities form a quadri-lateral with one of them atthe centre includes Chen-nai, Hosur, Salem, Coim-batore and Tiruchirappallias nodes.

“The response from thelocal industry to this defencecorridor has been amaz-ing. They even wanted toextend this corridor up toPalakkad but we had to tellthem that it would currentlyconsist of these five nodes

(cities) only,” Sitharamansaid.

The minister said devel-opment of these defencecorridors will facilitate awell-planned and efficientindustrial base that will leadto increased defence pro-duction in the country.

The idea behind settingup defence industrial cor-ridors is to ensure connec-tivity among various defenceindustrial units.

The five nodal cities haveexisting defence ecosystemin the form of ordnancefactory boards, vendorsworking with defence PSUs,and other allied industries.

The Sunday meeting inTiruchirappalli was attend-ed by over 500 industry rep-resentatives. Several min-isters and senior officials ofthe Tamil Nadu govern-ment, senior Defence Min-istry officials and execu-tives from defence PSUswere present at the event.

Finance Minister ArunJaitley, in his Budget speechon February 2 last year, hadannounced that two defenceindustrial production cor-ridors will be set up in thecountry to promote domes-tic industry base.

The government hasenvisaged building corri-dors in Uttar Pradesh andTamil Nadu.

Def Min inauguratesTamil Nadu DefenceIndustrial Corridor

Devotees throng Allahabadfor second major �snan�

PRESS TRUST OF INDIAGANDHINAGAR, 20 JANUARY

Vice-President M Ven-kaiah Naidu on Sun-day urged the worldcommunity to come

together to address the “press-ing issues” of terrorism, cli-mate change and corrup-tion.

Speaking at the valedictoryceremony of the ninth edi-tion of the Vibrant GujaratGlobal Summit here, VP Naidusaid these issues need to beaddressed for ensuring peace,prosperity and the partner-ship of individuals in theinclusive growth story.

“The entire world must bepeaceful. Peace is the pre-requisite for progress. I wouldlike to tell the entire worldcommunity from this forumof the Vibrant Gujarat Sum-mit that three importantchallenges are there before thehumanity, before theworld...One of them is terror.Terror has no religion. It is theenemy of humanity. It has tobe rooted out totally by all

countries coming together.That is the need of the hour,”he said. The vice president alsourged the world communi-ty to work together to ensurethat the effect of climatechange is minimised.

“We must all come togeth-er, work together to take care,to see that the climate changeeffect is minimised, and weall take proactive steps toface the challenge of climatechange,” he said and praisedthe “solar alliance” initia-tive.

International Solar Allianceis an alliance of more than 121countries initiated by India,most of them being sunshine

countries, which lie eithercompletely or partly betweenthe Tropic of Cancer and theTropic of Capricorn.

Speaking on corruption,VP Naidu said that that prac-tice “eats” into the vitals of oursystem, and is a big challengeworld-wide.

He also appealed to theworld community to cometogether “to exchange infor-mation about illegal bankaccounts of different coun-tries and have treaties oneconomic fugitives who lootand cheat the countries”.

“If the world has to bepeaceful, prosperous, andsee inclusive growth of every-

body becoming the partnerin the development stories,they must all come togetheron these three major issues.And I hope everybody con-cerned should apply theirmind and give a seriousthought to these three things,”he said. VP Naidu said India'sgrowth in the last 15 years isnot limited to industry alone,but was also witnessed inthe fields of agriculture, infra-structure, rural development,and IT services.

He said India was tryingto go beyond the trade andinvestment and hoping todevelop “long-lasting bondsbetween nations that willcement the seeds of trustand cooperation”.

“This will be paramountto identifying solutions toissues in the economic, socialand cultural sphere, especiallyin today's world which ismuch heterogeneous,” hesaid, adding that initiativeslike the Vibrant Gujarat Glob-al Summit are endeavours inthe same direction.

India's growth is supported

by “progressive and long-term reforms, sound financialacumen and the impetusgiven to building a robustinfrastructure”, the VP said.

“The reforms taken up bythe government in the pastfew years have made India thetop destination for invest-ments in the world,” he said.

“In fact, this is the right timefor foreign investors to tap thehuge potential offered byIndia in various sectors fromreal estate to healthcare.India is the bright spot in theworld's economy today,” hesaid.

The vice president alsohailed States vying to attractinvestment by organisingsimilar summits and said“unless States become strong,the country cannot becomestrong and unless the coun-try becomes strong, the worldcannot become strong”.

Earlier in the day, he vis-ited the Statue of Unity of Sar-dar Vallabhbhai Patel, thetallest such monument inthe world, at Kavadia in Nar-mada district.

Speaking at the valedictory ceremony of the ninth edition of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit

PRESS TRUST OF INDIAALLAHABAD, 20 JANUARY

A day before Paush Purni-ma, the second auspiciousbathing day during theKumbh, all roads led vir-tually to the 'Sangam' theconfluence of rivers Ganga,Yamuna and the mythicalSaraswati as devotees fromacross the country throngedthe city.

Security personnel fromthe UP police departmentand central para-militaryforces kept a tight vigil atPrayagraj railway station,civil lines bus station andother areas frequented bythe visitors.

“Our main focus is toensure absolutely a safeand secure Kumbh, and wewil l leave no stoneunturned,” Uttar PradeshAdditional DG (Law andOrder) Anand Kumarsaid.An estimated 20 lakhdevotees are likely to takethe bath Monday. Prior toPaush Purnima, devoteeshad taken the first dip in this

year's Kumbh on MakarSankranti. Kumar said stepshave been taken to ensurea peaceful and organisedKumbh Mela.

“This includes deploy-ment of forces and use oftechnology. We will ensurethat everyone coming to theKumbh is taken care of. Weare making efforts to ensurethat Kumbh 2019 is thesafest Kumbh ever,” he said.

Paush Purnima alsomarks the beginning ofKalpwas, the period of aus-terity.

“Paush Purnima is a sig-nificant day for Hindus andfalls during full moon in themonth of Paush accordingto the Hindu calendar. Onthis day, devotees from dif-ferent parts of the countryassemble at Sangam to takea holy dip,” said SwamiAdhokshjanand Deo Tirth.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIAJAMMU, 20 JANUARY

Prime Minister NarendraModi will visit Jammu andKashmir on 3 February to laythe foundation stone for andinaugurate various projectsin all three regions of the state,BJP general secretary RamMadhav said on Sunday.

He said Modi will lay thefoundation stone for andinaugurate projects worthRs 35,000 crore and Rs 9,000crore in Jammu and Kashmir,respectively, during his visit.

“The prime minister isvisiting the state next monthand will visit Leh, Jammu andSrinagar. He will address amega rally in Jammu in whichover two lakh people areexpected to turn up,” Mad-hav told reporters here.

He said Modi will lay thefoundation stone for AIIMS,IIM, IIT, Jammu-Akhnoorroad, Shahpur-Kandi road,Sunderbani college and IIMCin Jammu during his visit.

The prime minister willalso inaugurate an engi-neering college in Kathuaand the Jammu ropewayproject, he added.

Responding to a ques-tion, the BJP general secre-

tary said, “We tried to take for-ward many projects being partof the previous government,like AIIMS. It was due to ourefforts that we brought oneAIIMS for Jammu even whenin rest of the country only oneAIIMS was given to eachstate.”

Madhav alleged that sev-eral projects were delayed dueto the Peoples DemocraticParty -- the BJP's coalitionpartner in the erstwhile stategovernment. “We undertookmany projects like this. How-ever, the coalition partnerused to slow down the process,otherwise it could have beendone earlier,” he said.

He said the BJP will con-tinue its efforts to ensureall-round development inthe three regions of the state.

The party was also mak-ing efforts to ensure reser-vation for the Pahari speak-ing people and divisionalstatus for the region of Ladakh,Madhav said. “We are mak-ing a demand to the gover-nor administration to grantreservation to the Paharipeople, who are mostly resid-ing in Jammu, and the divi-sional status to Ladakh beforethe prime minister's visit tothe state,” he said.

PM to visit J&K on 3 Feb: Ram Madhav

Paush Purnima alsomarks the beginningof Kalpwas, the periodof austerity

Total investmentsworth over Rs 3,038crore in this defencecorridor wereannounced during theinauguration.

STATESMAN NEWS SERVICETHIRUVANANTHAPURAM,20 JANUARY

The doors of the Sabari-mala temple closed on Sun-day morning after the annu-al two-month-long Man-dalam-Makaravilakku fes-tival, which was marked byraging protests and violentclashes.

The temple was closed onSunday at 6.45 am after thePandalam Palace represen-tative P. Raghava Varmaoffered prayers at the shrine.The palace representativedescended the 18 steps toescort the Thiruvabharanamback to the Pandalam Palacein a ceremonial procession.

Sunday's darshan wasexclusively for the palacerepresentative. Darshan forpilgrims ended on Saturdayevening after the Guruti rit-ual at Malikappuram.

The temple had openedfor the pilgrimage season on15 November, 2018. Thegovernment, through thePathanamthitta district col-lectorate, had imposed pro-hibitory orders under sec-tion 144 of the IPC, in andaround Sabarimala hill eversince 14 November, andextended it every three to fourdays until after the Makar-avilaku puja on 14 January,2019. For the first time in thehistory of the temple, lathi-wielding police patrolledthe temple premises andseveral persons, includingBJP state general secretaryK Surendran, had beenarrested from Sabarimala forviolating prohibitory ordersissued there over the two-month period.

The two-month Man-dalam-Makaravilakku pil-grimage season saw sever-al failed and successful

attempts by women belowthe age of 50 years to enterthe shrine, most notably byBindu and Kanakadurga,who offered prayers on 2 Jan-uary, 2019. This attempt ledto the call for a statewide har-tal in Kerala by SabarimalaKarma samithy and BJP on3 January, which saw wide-spread violence across thestate.

Because of the tense sit-uation, there was a dip innumber of pilgrims duringthis pilgrimage season. Thishas affected the revenue ofthe Travancore Devas-womBoard, which decreasedby 98.35 crore, compared tothe previous year.

In this connection,the BJPhad called a relay hungerstrike outside the govern-ment Secretariat here , toprotest against the imposi-tion of prohiobitory ordersat Sabarimala and alsoagainst the alleged arbi-trary arrests of its workers.The party has called off thestrike on Sunday morning.To mark the culmination ofthe str ike, Gandhian-Gopinathan Nair gave lemonjuice to BJP national exec-utive committee member PKKrishnadas who was hold-ing hunger strike at theprotest venue.While chiefminister Pinarayi Vijayanalleged that the Sabarimalaprotests are led by thosewho uphold casteism.

Meanwhile, the Sabari-mala Karma Samithi hasorganised an ‘Ayyappa Bhak-ta Sangamam’ (meeting ofAyyappa devotees),atPuthirikandam Maidani forprotecting the customs andrituals at shrine.Spiritualleader Mata Amritanan-damayi inaugurated theSangamam. Amrithanan-damayi underlined thenecessity to protect the tem-ple traditions.

TN woman says her ageincorrect: A Tamil Naduwoman, Chandira Sun-daram, whose name fig-ured in Kerala govern-ment's list of 51 women ofmenstrual age who visit-ed the Sabarimala shrine,on Sunday said she was 62and not 48, as mentionedin the affidavit submit-ted before the SupremeCourt. PTI

NCW questions BJP MLA�s remark on Maya

BJP leader killed in MP, party cries foulSTATESMAN NEWS SERVICEBHOPAL, 20 JANUARY

A Bharatiya Janata Party leaderwas allegedly bludgeoned todeath by unidentified mis-creants in the Barwani districtof Madhya Pradesh on Sun-day morning. The death ofManoj Thakre (48) came tolight three days after anoth-er BJP leader was shot deadin Mandsaur, prompting theparty to claim that its leaderswere being targeted.

The police have formed aSpecial Investigation Team(SIT) to be headed by anAdditional Superintendentof Police (ASP) to solve today’smurder.

The police said that Thakre’sbody was found lying in anagricultural field, some dis-tance away from the road ataround 6.40 AM . He had lefthis house at around 5 am, forhis routine morning walk.” Thebody had injury marks on theface and around the neck,” saiddistrict Superintendent ofPolice Y D Bhutia.

“He had gone out formorning walk in hazy weath-er. Local police got the infor-

mation around 6.40 am thata body had been spotted,and within two minutes theyreached the spot,” the SPsaid. Police also found abloodstained stone near thebody, which prima facie indi-cated to Thakre being mur-dered by bludgeoning with thestone.

Barwani is the home dis-trict of new Congress state gov-ernment home minister BalaBachchan. The deceasedThakre was close to former BJPminister Antar SinghArya.Arya's son Vikas toldreporters that the killing wasfall-out of a “political rivalry”,but did not elaborate.

The BJP continued itsattack on the Congress gov-ernment, alleging that BJPleaders were being targetedand killed ever since the Con-gress formed the governmentin MP about a month ago. For-mer chief minister ShivrajSingh Chouhan tweeted onJanuary 20 that it was a mat-ter of grave concern that BJPleaders were being killed.“Congress is taking it lightlyand seeking to make a crueljoke of the incidents,” Chouhan

said. He averred that the BJPwould be forced to take to thestreets if the criminals werenot caught immediately.OnSaturday, the BJP had sub-mitted petitions to officials inevery district seekingimprovement in the law andorder situation, claiming it haddeteriorated under the newly-elected Congress govern-ment.

On 17 January, BJP leaderand chairman of MandsaurMunicipal Council, PrahladBandhwar (50) was shot deadfrom almost point blank rangein full public view.

A day after the sensation-al broad daylight murder,Manish Bajrangi, a BJP work-er was arrested from Rajasthanin connection with the killing.

According to the police,Manish Bairagi allegedly shotdead Prahlad Bandhwar overa financial dispute. MP BJPstate president Rakesh Singhsaid that the BJP workerswould burn effigies of theCongress state government atall district headquarters of MPon 21 January in protest of thedeteriorating law and ordersituation in the state.

SNS/PTINEW DELHI, 20 JANUARY

The National Commissionfor Women has questioned theobjectionable statementreportedly made by BJP MLASadhana Singh on BSP supre-mo Mayawati and would for-mally issue a notice, seekingan explanation from her.

According to media reports,Singh made objectionableremarks on Mayawati over aninfamous episode when theBSP chief was reportedlyassaulted by Samajwadi Partyworkers at a guest house inLucknow in 1995 that triggereddecades of animosity betweenthe two parties. Taking suomotu cognisance of thereports, an NCW official saidthe Commission will send a

notice to Singh regarding thestatement in question and seekan explanation from her.

“Such derogatory state-ments are unbecoming of aleader and highly con-demnable. NCW has taken suomotu cognisance and will besending a notice to SadhanaSingh tomorrow,” NCW chair-person Rekha Sharma said.

Reports said Singh hadslammed Mayawati for forg-ing an alliance with AkhileshYadav in Uttar Pradesh, say-ing the BSP chief had “sold herdignity” for power and com-fort and “is a blot on wom-ankind” and cannot say ifshe can be counted amongmen or women, she is worsethan a transgender person”.

Condemning her remarks,Union minister and Repub-

lican Party of India presidentRamdas Athawale told a press-er in Lucknow on Sundaythat such personal commentsshould not be made.

BSP leader S C Misra saidon Twitter BJP leaders have“lost their mental balanceafter the BSP-SP tie-up” which,he said, threatened to rock theruling party's boat. SP chiefAkhilesh Yadav alsodenounced the BJP MLA forusing derogatory remarksagainst Mayawati. Reactingto the remarks, Congressspokesperson PriyankaChaturvedi said the wordsused by the BJP MLA were“absolutely condemnable”and shameful. “I believe sheowes the women of the nationan apology besides apologisingto Mayawati Ji,” she said.

Sabarimala temple closes afterannual pilgrimage season

PTIGANDHINAGAR, 20 JANUARY

Gujarat Chief Minister VijayRupani Sunday said 28,360Memorandums of Under-standing were signed duringthe Vibrant Gujarat GlobalSummit 2019 and it was expect-ed to generate over 21 lakh jobs.

Rupani, however, did notspecify the amount of invest-ment that would come into thestate by way of these MOUs.

Speaking at the concludingsession of the ninth edition ofthe three-day Vibrant GujaratGlobal Summit 2019, Rupanisaid the event had seen the real-isation of Prime Minister Naren-dra Modi's vision as “several bigticket investments (were) placedand committed, which willbring in jobs.”

“Gujarat has become thegateway to the world and it hasbecome an ideal platform foreveryone. The summit hasalso become a platform for socialupliftment rather than only forbusiness and trade,” he said.

“A total of 28,360 MoUswere signed which will bringin over 21 lakh employment tothe state,” Rupani said.

He said Gujarat has becomea preferred investment desti-nation after 2003 when Naren-dra Modi as the state CM decid-ed to organise the VibrantGujarat Summit every twoyear. “Not many business hous-es participated in the first sum-mit in 2003. The PM's visionhas been fully realised in this9th summit. This event has alsobecome an ideal platform forknowledge sharing and net-

working,” Rupani said in hisaddress. He claimed the sum-mit gave MSMEs a platform tobe globally competitive.

Gujarat Deputy CM NitinPatel, addressing the media later,said out of total 28,360 MOUssigned, maximum number of21,889 were connected to theMicro, Small and MediumEnterprises (MSME) sector.

He informed that 408 MoUswere signed in agro and foodprocessing, 548 in power andgas, 1,516 in urban develop-ment, 977 in mineral based pro-jects, 197 in engineering andauto and the remaining inother sectors.

Patel also said these MoUswould generate 21 lakh jobs inGujarat but refused to revealthe quantum of investment theywould attract.

Over 28k MoUs signed this year inVibrant Gujarat Summit: Rupani

SIR, Bivash Chakraborty inhis article, ‘Classroom, nottuition, must meet the needsof education’ (13 January)has blamed teachers for pri-vate tuition and has thusoverlooked the cardinalissues. Why do guardianssend their wards to teachersfor private tuition? Theracket will end if parents donot encourage them to go toprivate tutors. Do the teach-ers entice the taught tocome to them? It is an age ofcut-throat competition andevery guardian is well awarethat to survive in the com-petition, it is essential toscore high marks in exams.

Merely attending schoolclasses is not enough. Hencethe need for private coach-ing. In government-runschools, the classrooms areoverflowing. It is virtuallyimpossible to provide indi-vidual attention. The pupils

have no option but to go toprivate tutors. Many stu-dents are first-generationlearners who find nobody athome to help them cleardoubts. Before totally doing away with privatetuition, the government

needs to reflect.Yours, etc., Aranya Sanyal,

Siliguri, 13 January.

FLOUTING THE BAN

SIR, This refers to BivashChakraborty’s article, eluci-dating different aspects ofprivate tuition. In fact, in theabsence of any punitivemeasures, school teachersengaged in private tuitionare flouting the Govern-ment’s ban on the practice.Unlike in the past, teachersare suitably paid nowadays;yet many of them feel tem-pted to earn more. They aremore interested in earning ~with or without payingincome-tax ~ than honestlyengaging in a noble profes-sion. They are not serious

enough to teach in the class-rooms. Intensive lectures inthe class will militate againstthe need for private tuition.It boils down to a questionof teachers’ morality andaccountability to society.

They should change theirattitude to ensure a healthyenvironment in educationalinstitutions.

Yours, etc., GautamKumar Mazumder,

Basirhat, 18 January.

It should be impermissible to use adomestic judicial judgment toevade obligations based on a state-

to-state agreement. South KoreanPresident Moon Jae-in seems to berelinquishing his responsibility to sta-bilize diplomacy with Japan. In refer-ence to his country’s Supreme Courtruling that ordered Nippon Steel &Sumitomo Metal Corp. to pay com-pensation to its South Korean formerwartime requisitioned workers, Moontold a news conference that his gov-ernment “must respect the rulingbased on the separation of the threepowers.” Expressing a view thatJapanese leaders should understandthis point, Moon criticized theirstance, saying that it is “not a wise atti-tude to politicize the issue.” Hestopped short of presenting concretemeasures to resolve the issue, onlyasserting that Japan and South Korea“should exercise wisdom together.”His attitude of treating the issue assomeone else’s problem is unconvinc-ing.

The problem is that he empha-sized that the requisitioned labor issue“was not of the South Korean govern-ment’s making” and called for Japanto “take a humble stance toward thepast unfortunate history.” Surmount-ing their differing perspectives onJapan’s colonial rule of the KoreanPeninsula, Japan and South Korea nor-malized their bilateral relationship byconcluding the Basic Relations Treatyin 1965. Under an agreement on prop-erty and claims and on economic coo-peration reached at the same time, thetwo countries confirmed that prob-lems in regard to claims between thetwo countries had been “completely

and finally settled.” Previous SouthKorean administrations acknowledgedthat the claims by former requisi-tioned workers were included in theagreement. South Korea’s top courtignored that background and ruledthat the requisitioned labor issue hadremained unsolved, thus bringingabout political turmoil. It can be saidthat the problem has plunged into amore serious situation because thepast efforts accumulated by the twocountries have been disregardedunder the Moon administration.Despite Japan’s calls for Seoul to takemeasures to prevent Japanese firmsfrom suffering disadvantages, Seoulhas not taken any steps since the rul-ing was handed down. The propertyof Nippon Steel & Sumitomo MetalCorp. has been seized. The agreementon claims stipulates that if a conflictarises over such matters as interpre-tation of the agreement, a solution willbe sought through bilateral diplomat-ic negotiations. Tokyo had every rea-son to propose holding bilateral con-sultative talks based on the agree-ment. If the issue is left unresolved, itis certain that orders for Japanesefirms to pay compensation andseizure of their assets will happen insuccession in similar lawsuits. Seoulmust present measures to get thingsstraight in bilateral talks. Unless theKorean side complies with Japan’srequest for consultative talks, Tokyowill have no alternative but to call forthe establishment of an arbitrationpanel or look into the possibility of fil-ing a case with the International Courtof Justice.

Jawaharlal Nehru hailed thepublic sector undertakings(PSU) as “Temples of mod-ern India” and wanted them

to seize the “commandingheights of the Indian economy”,a phrase that was coined in 1922by Vladimir Lenin. Later, YevgeniPreobrazhensky, a Russian revo-lutionary economist who cham-pioned rapid industrialisation ofpeasant-dominated Russiathrough state-owned heavyindustries, fervently advocatedcomplete state control over the“commanding heights of theeconomy” to promote “primitivesocialist accumulation”. He wasexecuted during Stalin’s GreatPurge in1937, but the idea con-tinued to inspire the leaders ofthe newly-independent thirdworld nations, which inheritedpoverty, deindustrialisation andan undeveloped agrarian econ-omy from y their colonial mas-ters. To Nehru, the only way toovercome the endemic povertyand food crisis in post-indepen-dence India was through over-whelming State control over themeans of production and distri-bution in the Soviet style, toserve broad macro-economicobjectives of achieving highereconomic growth, self-sufficien-cy in production, import substi-tution and long-term equilibri-um in foreign trade, besidesmeeting other socio-economicobligations.

It cannot be denied thatPSUs had indeed helped theindependent nation in its forma-tive years. Save a handful of co-mpanies, the private sector,inherently averse to risk, was al-most non-existent then, andcould not be expected to investin infrastructure and heavyindustries that entailed long ges-tation periods, more so in aninsular economy in the post-in-dependence days. PSUs havegrown luxuriantly since then,from only five Central PSUs(CPSUs) with total investment ofRs 29 crore during the First Plan,to as many as 444 in 2016-17,with total investment of Rs 16lakh crore. There are also 192companies controlled by theGovernment indirectly, in associ-ation with state governments.But the philosophy behind themhas undergone a sea-changesince then, with a redefinition ofthe State’s role as a catalyst andfacilitator rather than a producer.Today most of our PSUs, especi-ally those owned by the state go-vernments, remain haplessly tr-apped in the vast no-man’s landbetween the state and market.

As regards performance, 212of the 444 CPSUs earned a netprofit of Rs 1.6 lakh crore in2016-17, while 157 incurred netlosses of Rs 30,700 crore. SAIL(loss of 3187 crore) and MTNL(Rs 2941 crore) led the pack ofloss-making entities. No lessthan 188 CPSUs have accumu-lated losses exceeding Rs 1.23lakh crore over the years, and thenet worth of 77 companies hascompletely been eroded by their

accumulated losses. The Govern-ment earned Rs 46,000 crorefrom selling a part of its stakes in25 CPSUs during 2016-17. Forty-six CPSUs are listed in the stockexchange. Of the seven Indiancompanies that made it to thecoveted Fortune 500 list in 2018,four were PSUs: Oil India (ranked137), ONGC (197), SBI (216) andBharat Petroleum (314), the oth-ers being Reliance industries,Tata Motors and Rajesh Exports.As many as 57 CPSUs wereeither defunct or under liquida-tion or did not prepare theiraccounts, so their operationalresults remained indeterminate.During 2016-17, CPSUs con-tributed Rs 3.86 lakh crore to thepublic exchequer in taxes, cessand dividends, earned forexworth Rs 87,616 crore throughexports while paying Rs 4.59 lakhcrore on imports on royalty,technical knowhow, interest, etc.They provided regular employ-ment to 11.31 lakh people.

If that is a mixed bag of per-formance for the CPSUs, the per-formance of the State PSUs(SPSUs) is indeed dismal. As ofMarch 2017, there were 1136SPSUs, with totalpublic investmentof Rs 14.6 lakhcrore, with 78 percent of investmentonly in power sectorcompanies alone.SPSUs collectivelyincurred net loss ofRs 84,000 crore dur-ing 2016-17, while531 of them earnedtotal net profit of Rs18,000 crore. Theaccumulated lossesof these SPSUsamounted to awhopping Rs 4.65 lakh crore overthe years, from Rs 11000 crore in1990-91. No fewer than 117 ofthem paid a total dividend of Rs117 crore, at an average of onlyRs 9.3 lakh during 2016-17. Thereare 292 SPSUs with negative networth, besides 319 non-workingSPSUs, many remaining dys-functional for more than a quar-ter century. SPSUs employed17.3 lakh people in 2016-17.

Power and transport sectorshave always been sick, the for-mer being forced to absorb thelosses due to government larges-se to farmers and others, besidestheir own inefficiency. Theirfinances have not improved evenafter their unbundling into sepa-rate generation, transmissionand distribution companies(DISCOMs) and despite the Gov-ernment taking over 75 per centof the DISCOMs’ loans throughthe UDAY scheme. The trans-port sector is sick due to heavyoverheads, uneconomical pric-ing and widespread inefficiency.

The scenario turns reallybizarre when one examines theactivities. Many of the SPSUshave been created by defying alllogic and making them perma-nent losing concerns. A largenumber of SPSUs were estab-lished in the so-called promo-

tional and welfare sectors, e.g.UP has 103 SPSUs (38 being non-functional) which includes:Finance and Development Cor-poration for Backward Classesand Scheduled Castes, Develop-ment Corporation for almosteverything from fisheries, poul-try, piggery, livestock, sugarcaneand seed to police housing andsmall industries, welfare corpo-rations for women and ex-Ser-vicemen, etc. Bihar’s 74 PSUs (40non-functional) also include cor-porations for film developmentand finance, panchayati rajfinance, medical services andinfrastructure, development offruit and vegetables, pharma-ceuticals and chemicals, bever-ages, textiles etc. Kerala’s 130PSUs (15 dysfunctional) includesdevelopment corporations forthe welfare of almost every con-ceivable segment of the popu-lace ~ Christian converts fromScheduled Castes and Recom-mended Communities, schoolteachers, non-teaching staff,handicapped persons, artisans,Women, backward classes,minorities, Scheduled Tribes,and even Forward Communities.

It reminds one ofRonald Reagan’sremark, comparingthe governmentwith “a baby’s ali-mentary canal, witha happy appetite atone end and noresponsibility at theother”.

Noeedless tosay, no state has thenecessary expertiseor resources tomanage these ethe-real range of activi-ties. Poultry, pig-

gery, fishery etc. are better left toindividual entrepreneurs orfirms that know how to makethese profitable. Financial andwelfare needs of specific sectorscan be addressed much moreefficiently by banks and financialinstitutions. There are govern-ment ministries and depart-ments to take care of the welfareof backward classes and minori-ties. The Welfare SPSUs only pro-vide loans to members of vari-ous communities which are refi-nanced or reimbursed by theGovernment; this can easily bedone through the existing bank-ing networks or governmentsubsidy schemes. Developmentand production of films, phar-maceuticals, seeds, chemicals,textiles, beverages etc. are notactivities mandated for a state ina liberalised economy. No won-der these companies have notserved any useful purpose, andmost have accumulated hugelosses. Actually these corpora-tions exist only to provide park-ing places for senior bureaucratsor MLAs and powerful politi-cians as Chairman and Manag-ing Directors so that statelargesse can be extended tothem through cars, perks andprivileges which add to the loss-es at the cost of the taxpayers.

These is the apparatus forappeasement of potential trou-ble makers.

Section 270 of the Compa-nies Act 2013 prescribes twomodes of winding up of a com-pany and its liquidation: volun-tarily, by passing a special reso-lution which is simpler but usedrarely, or by a tribunal throughthe appointment of an officialliquidator who will liquidate itsassets to pay off the liabilities.Many of the SPSUs have neverprepared their accounts sinceinception for 30- 50 years, so itis impossible to determine theirassets and liabilities, withoutwhich it is virtually impossible toliquidate them through tri-bunals. Liquidation proceedingshave been initiated against 124non-working SPSUs leadingnowhere, with proceedingsagainst many companies contin-uing for over 30 years. Obviously,for Governments, this is not apriority.

A total of 1136 PSUs is ahuge number for 29 states tomanage. For revitalising them, itis imperative first to identify thesectors the government mustwithdraw from, and then revampthe structure and managementof the remaining ones. Theessential prerequisite is todepoliticise them, profession-alise their management byappointing experienced man-agers rather than politicians orbureaucrats in their boards andchanging their holding structure.Wherever feasible and wheresynergies exist, Central PSUsmay be persuaded to managethe SPSUs which otherwise arelikely to remain unviable. Manycountries have insulated theirailing PSUs from politicians andbureaucrats, like Sweden andThailand. They have created aDirectors’ Pool from where allBoard members including CMDsare appointed. The holdingstructure of PSUs also needs tobe reworked, and there are judi-cious practices available, likeSingapore’s Temasek Model.Post-independence in 1965, Sin-gapore had pursued economicgrowth by taking stakes in manycompanies. A decade later, in1974, it incorporated the holdingcompany Temasek to managetheir assets commercially. SomePSUs were corporatised andexpanded, while others were pri-vatised. Many of these grew andbecame global brands. Malaysiahad created a watchdog body,Minority Shareholders WatchingGroup ~ a think-tank withoutpoliticians to monitor breachesand to ensure better corporategovernance.

Unfortunately in the narrowvision of our leaders, politicalexpediency gets the better ofgenuine institutional reforms,and PSUs are unnecessarilydragged into politics like HAL inrecent times, rather than depoli-ticizing them. SPSUs, if notreformed, shall wither away; forthe economy, the impact will beanything but anodyne.

Incorporating and directly descendedfrom THE FRIEND OF INDIA - Founded 1818

Teachers enticing the taught

08 NEW DELHI, MONDAY 21 JANUARY 2019

A MEMBEROF THE

GOVINDBHATTACHARJEE

The writer is acommentator. Opinionsexpressed are personal

ASIAN VOICES

Mudra to NPA

The rather credible leaks from the finance min-istry suggesting that the Reserve Bank of India(RBI) has red-flagged the sharp increase in

non-performing assets (NPAs) under the govern-ment’s flagship scheme to support micro enter-prises in the country ~ the Pradhan Mantri MudraYojana (PMMY) ~ is more than a little worrisome.India’s micro units, in particular, have a critical roleto play in keeping the country going, employingmillions and literally providing the backbone towhat is the world’s sixth-largest economy (nomi-nal GDP). The Mudra (Micro Units Development& Refinance Agency) loans were supposed tofinance non-corporate, non-farm sector incomegenerating activities of micro and small enterpriseswith credit needs under Rs 10 lakh. However, thesuspected delinquency ~ another report by Cibiland Sidbi says that risky loans worth Rs1.2 lakhcrore to micro, small and medium enterprises(MSME) in the system could potentially createNPAs of Rs 16,000 crore by March 2019 ~ puts paidto hopes of a vibrant MSME space through Mudra.Yet, it is essential that this sector does well andmoves up the value chain through technologicalsophistication and productivity growth and Mudra,which came with a credit guarantee fund trust thatmakes collateral-free credit to micro and smallenterprises, was a part of a scheme to enhancecredit flows to them under the supervision of com-petent bankers. That over a three-year period thescheme has returned as a threat ~ the RBI report-edly assesses bad loans under PMMY at Rs 11,000crore ~ bears testimony to how such schemes areplanned and executed. There is little doubt that theseeds of failure were contained either in the schemeor the political motivation behind it, because soundeconomic motivation would not have driven mis-sion Mudra to such dire straits so quickly.

The basic problem may have been an over-reach to achieve pre-set targets within a limitedspan of time, forgetting that sound banking shouldhave demanded that the sanctioning officers beallowed to do their job in terms of assessing needsand the ability of enterprises to repay after havingput the loans to productive use. It would be wrongto accuse banks of not having used their commer-cial judgment when they were to be judged on atarget achievement criterion. Indeed, overall NPAsfrom the MSME sector were 14 per cent for publicsector banks against four per cent for private sectorbanks in 2018, indicating poor governance issues.Statements in Parliament suggest a very fast pace ofincrease in Mudra loans, which precludes carefulfinancial assessments in circumstances obtainingin India that would have led to a reality check onthe markets that these enterprises were address-ing. It is no secret that there has been an economicdeceleration in India, driven by a frail rural econo-my leading to headwinds in the macroeconomicenvironment that they would face. This would havemerited great caution instead of disbursing creditin a loan mela kind of environment unless that wasthe real intent.

Especially Odisha

Having ruled out joining a pre-electionalliance ~ either with the BJP or with theamorphous Opposition ~ Odisha’s Chief

Minister, Mr Naveen Patnaik, has yet again flaggedthe demand for according special category status tothe state. From LK Advani, then the Deputy PrimeMinister, to Narendra Modi, the demand has beenturned down consistently. It was even turned downwhen the Biju Janata Dal was a partner of the NDAcoalition, helmed by Atal Behari Vajpayee. So toohas Niti Aayog, obviously assuming that other statesmight raise similar demands. Mr Patnaik haslobbed the ball again to Centre court, so to speak.The timing is critical ~ on the eve of the elections toboth the Lok Sabha and the Odisha Assembly. TheChief Minister has in effect raised a profoundlylocal issue, one that has a bearing on the state’sgeo-climatic conditions. Hence the emphasis onthe state’s vulnerability to natural calamities in theletter that Mr Patnaik sent to Mr Modi on Friday. Heis spot on when he claims that the BJP has renegedon its promise that was made in the 2014 electionmanifesto. Odisha is vulnerable to occasionallydevastating geo-climatic conditions, notably the“super cyclone” in December 1999, not to forgetthe multiple and recurrent natural disasters. It hasbeen an awesome distinction for Odisha, batteredas it has been by 35 per cent of all the severe cyclo-nic storms that have crossed the eastern coast. TheChief Minister has alerted the Prime Minister thatmore than 80 per cent of the geographical area andnearly 90 per cent of population are vulnerable toone or more disasters. Given the current trend ofthe climatic change, the coastal areas are likely tobe more vulnerable to extreme climatic events andsevere cyclonic disturbances. There is little doubtthat Mr Patnaik’s letter is embedded in undisputedgeographical reality, and it will be unfortunate ifthe renewed pitch is accorded a federal spin. Yet afirm decision cannot be expected before the stategoes to the polls. Not that the Centre hasn’t advanc-ed assistance in the wake of floods and drought.But the funding has been generally inadequate. MrPatnaik has clearly utilised the opportunity to un-derline Odisha’s contribution to the economic hea-lth of the nation ~ natural resources such as iron o-re and minerals, coal and energy security, tele-den-sity, rail and road connectivity, and the banking ne-twork. Over the past six years, the Gross State Do-mestic Product of Odisha has registered a 50 percent increase. The Chief Minister has clothed hisdemand for special category status with gains inthe economic segment, despite the odds. He doeshave a point. So too has the Centre as it is a pregna-nt issue. Delhi must reflect; so too mustBhubaneswar.

Withering Heights

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Vol. CXXXXX 18

Moon shouldn�t usecourt ruling toevade commitmentwith Japan

Development and production of films, pharmaceuticals, seeds, chemicals, textiles, beverages

etc. are not activities mandated for a state in a liberalised economy. No wonder these

companies have not served any useful purpose, and most have accumulated huge losses

editor@thestatesman.com

A HOUSE, A NOVEL, AND A SONG

SIR, Apropos the news item about the composition ofour national song, Vandemataram (12 January),Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay wrote the novelAnandamath while he was posted as the Deputy Col-lector of Hooghly at Chinsurah. He stayed in Chinsur-ah for nearly five years and wrote several novels. Thehouse where he lived was named as “VandemataramBhavan”. The building presently is under the jurisdic-tion of Hooghly Chinsurah Municipality. It is a histori-cal fact that Bankim Chandra composed Vande-mataram in this house. This building ought to be pre-served by the Archaeological Survey of India.

Yours, etc., Kallol Debnath, Hooghly, 13 January.

DEB BISWAS AMITA — On thisday in 2018 you have left us for yourHeavenly Abode. You are always inour hearts. We remember you everymoment. — Bereaved husband,brother, all nephews and nieces,A. R. Deb Biswas.

(BPL7024)

IN MEMORIAM

SAGARI CHHABRA

‘Emergency Chronicles’ is anamazing book that docu-ments the darkest chapterof independent India’s his-

tory. But first gentle reader, allow mea personal interlude. At midnight on25 June 1975, I was a high school stu-dent and ordinarily it should not havemade such a deep impact on my psy-che but for two incidents that remainetched in my mind.

My father, Viren Chhabra of ‘TheStatesman’ was having dinner withKuldip Nayar and his wife, Bharti attheir home. They discussed the stateof affairs in the country. When he wasleaving my father told me, “I saw apoliceman pretending to read anewspaper in the dark, he also noteddown my car number. I called thenext morning to warn them thatKuldip might be arrested. Bharti said,‘Viren, after you left, they came.’ “

Later, the police came for myfather at his office at ‘The Statesman’.He was then responsible for printingthe newspaper and director of theirpublishing house, Nachiketa Publica-tions. He told me, “It was late in theevening when a policeman enteredmy office; he had a warrant for myarrest. I thought fast knowing thatthere was no bail during the Emer-gency. I started showing him the bodyof work I had printed and published.One of them was a book by staff pho-tographer, Raghu Rai. The policemanleft with the book and without me.”

Thousands of journalists, tradeunionists, teachers and activists were

not so lucky and were incarcerated;the Emergency left a deep impressionon my mind and so I devoured ‘Emer-gency Chronicles’ by Gyan Prakash, aprofessor of history at Princeton Uni-versity.

The book opens with the daylightabduction of a young student, PrabirPurkayastha from Jawaharlal NehruUniversity and reveals that eventhough it was a case of mistaken iden-tity – the police was looking for a slim,bespectacled, Devi Prasad Tripathi –he was taken away without so muchas a warrant of arrest. While Prabirand his fiancée, Ashoka Lata Jain, theSFI student leader had earlier filed fora civil marriage registration at thecourt of the ADM, Pradipto Ghosh, heissued a warrant against Prabir as heexplained later ‘the practise was notto issue detention orders on the basisof subjective satisfaction of a Magis-trate, but to issue them on the direc-tions of our superior officers.’

Indeed, in exposing this servileattitude lies the intrinsic value of thebook, for it explores through inter-views and documents how the Emer-gency while promulgated by the dik-tat of Indira Gandhi - who did notexactly share her father, JawaharlalNehru’s deep faith in the valuesenshrined in the Constitution – hadhistorical roots and records how weconduct ourselves.

The Emergency also raises thepoint that unless we work to main-tain norms and the roots of democra-cy, we are in peril. The book has deepimplications for the future for as theShah Commission later revealed,

both sins of commission and of omis-sion were committed, leading to thedecline of institutions that continuestoday.

Gyan Prakash painstakinglyreveals that the Emergency and theunbalancing of the Constitutionalequilibrium was some time in themaking. He describes the rage on thestreets and anger at the lack of jobsfor youth as something palpable.There are revelations of JayaprakashNarayan’s emergence as a socialist inAmerica and his correspondence with‘Indu’ – Indira, for whom he claimedaffection. He clearly states he has dif-ferences with her domestic policywhich he didn’t have with ‘Bhai’ –Nehru.

However, we do not get to under-stand what went into Indira Gandhi’shead and her own motivations, as herpapers remain closely guarded by herdescendants and are closed to thepublic. This is strange because privatepapers of a PM must be available toresearchers after so many years tomake sense of events. Nevertheless,Prakash searches on with a torchlightinto independent India’s darkesthour.

There are amazing vignettes.President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmedinforms his secretary that R.KDhawan had come over with a draftEmergency proclamation, which hehad signed. Then ‘the President had atranquiliser and promptly went tobed’. If only it had been so easy forthe people of India, who lost theirsleep with their freedom. But thelegalese shows a ‘meticulous suspen-

sion of the law by the law’, whichmakes us wonder why we in freeIndia are so adept in obeying the lawwhile flouting its very spirit.

Then the book proceeds to San-jay Gandhi who is portrayed as a trou-bled youngster unable to pass hishigh school exams and when hisPrime Ministerial mother sets him upto train at the Rolls Royce institute,he is unable to complete the coursethere leaving him free to chariot thecourse of free India.

The Emergency with its ‘nasban-di’ – forced sterilisations and theglamorous Rukhshana Sultan whopresided over this (I remember shecame to my high school as a chiefguest and urged us innocent youngstudents, to come and see the won-derful family planning work in theWalled City) – all this is documentedwith a historian’s precision.

Prakash also documents thework of artists - photographer Raghu-bir Singh’s book, ‘A Way Into India’and documentary filmmaker Sastry’s‘I am 20’ along with Rahi MasoomRaza’s novel on the Emergency. Pho-tographs of the Ambassador car, San-jay Gandhi and Rukhshana documentthe era. There is a touching accountof Pramila and Madhu Dandavate –Pramila whom I happen to have hadthe privilege of knowing and who inthe 1990s took up the Peoples’ Unionof Democratic Rights (PUDR) reporton custodial rape and got two police-men dismissed – and how they fell onpoetry to survive in the prison cell.

However, what I miss is a moredetailed account of the control over

media. ‘The Statesman’ and ‘The Indi-an Express’ carried blank editorials.Kuldip Nayar, Sumanta Banerjee,Barun Sengupta and several otherjournalists were arrested; we wouldhave benefitted from their publishedaccounts. Daily censorship orderswere conveyed on the telephone andafter the initial rounds of arrest, mostnewspapers submitted to the censor-ship of the chief censor, H J D’Penha.However, there was a lot more - con-trol of newsprint and the stoppage ofadvertisements and so much else thatin overt and covert ways still putsimmense pressure on the media.

What remains unanswered iswhy we never learn. Many of the peo-ple who were jailed during the Emer-gency and protested against the sus-pension of civil liberties and freedomof the press are in power today. Thecountry is now facing an undeclaredstate of emergency with studentsbeing arrested under false charges ofsedition – a law that was unleashedby the British - 77 mob lynchings inthe name of the cow; the pressure onthe media - which is in danger of fastlosing its independence - along withthe killing of rationalists Kalburgi,Dabholkar, Pansare and the journalistGauri Lankesh.

The Emergency is an era of dark-ness that we must learn from, for weface the danger of repeating history.

Let us remember so we neverforget.

The writer is an award-winning author andfilm-director. Her latest book, 'In Search ofFreedom' was awarded the National LaadliMedia award.

MINE DANGER AT SEAAlthough the coming of peace willrelieve the seas from the danger of U-boats, another lingering danger, says theTimes, will remain for mariners. We havein home waters today thousands ofmines, and until these have been clearedaway all ships will have to be handledwith due care. The cleaning up of theseas will probably occupy a consider-able period. The present large force ofmine-sweepers must be retained for thiswork, and the number of trawlers anddrifters available for fishing will beaffected accordingly. Some minefieldslie over the best fishing grounds. How-ever, the Admiralty are in close touchwith the fishing authorities, and fisher-men receive the necessary instructions,while fishing vessels employed as mine-sweepers will be released at the earliestpossible moment. The menace to mer-chant shipping will be greatly lessened ifmasters are careful to follow out Admi-ralty instructions as to routes to be fol-lowed. There is also the danger of minesbeing washed ashore and handled bycareless people. An instance of this hap-pened during the war on the west coastof Ireland, when several inquisitive per-sons were blown to pieces through tam-pering with a stranded mine.

THE FIRE ON THETENASSERIM

Further details concerning the disastrousfire which broke out on the steamerTenasserim, of the Patrick Henderson lineof steamers, is to the effect that smokewas seen coming out of the stokehold at5-55 A.M. on the morning of Thursday,while the vessel was lying at Hastingsprior to departure for Europe. Greatefforts were made by the authorities con-nected with the vessel, who eventuallysucceeded at great risk in disposing of allthe ammunition on board. Further effortswere made towards keeping the vesselbuoyant by not allowing her cargo to givea list on either side, and these also suc-ceeded. Towards Sunday morning, as theresult of flooding, the flames which hadraged fiercely the previous night dieddown. Since then they have been burningless and less fiercely. From the aft engineroom bulwark the aft deck is intact, butforward the ship is gutted.

BERLIN CONGRESSON SOVIETSThe Berlin Congress of Soviets haspassed a resolution in favour of the dis-armament of counter-revolutionaries,the abolition of all orders and badges ofhonour and nobility, and recommend-ing the appointment of officers by sol-diers. This and other decisions of thecongress show that the Bolshevik ele-ment is stronger than the Berlin Gov-ernment despatches have hitherto indi-cated, but the whole proceedings of thecongress are apparently chaotic, largelyconsisting of acrimonious wrangling.Nevertheless it is believed that the excel-lent organisation of ScheidemannSocialists will secure the passage of theproposal for a National Assembly.

09NEW DELHI, MONDAY 21 JANUARY 2019

ACROSS1 Clever device,

note, in Tom

Sharpe novel (10)

7 Figure on coin

(fifty pence piece)

(4)

9 Circle Line, accord-

ingly, goes around

city (4)

10 Church official�s

mischievous, hav-

ing area coned off

outside (10)

11 Brief film enter-

tains wife (6)

12 Name of bird I

refuse to eat (8)

13 Forged ahead,

mostly, with barn

dance (8)

15 Slight charge for

refreshments �

not bad (4)

17 In fall, one disloca-

ted thumb (4)

19 Superman�s

motive, it�s said, is

philanthropy (8)

22 Volley first struck

shoulder (8)

23 Worry about test

for supporting

metal framework

(6)

25 German veterans

assembled around

old memorial (10)

26 Call round for set

(4)

27 Notice jam stain

(4)

28 In here, might

model meet bigg-

est fan? (4,6)

DOWN2 Mum�s car key

could be found in

handbag, perhaps

(7)

3 Large anchor pull-

ed up onto prow

of yacht (5)

4 Colour match in

ink container (3,5)

5 Cryptic clue in one

newspaper�s

leader: �a boom

with extremely

low frequency�

(4,2,1,4,4)

6 Journalist quits

current affairs? (6)

7 Short circuit on

board is easily

managed (9)

8 University official

gets a month in-

side for extortion,

essentially (7)

14 A fellow, if climb-

ing crane, supplies

legal document (9)

16 Scrap paper surro-

unds Steptoe and

Son? (8)

18 An act of self-imp-

ortance, say, to

put up rent (3,4)

20 Yes, six volts is

maintained � it�s

live (7)

21 Talk about soldier

going north then

south in cutter (6)

24 Broadcast only

new material (5)

NOTE: Figures in parentheses denote the number of letters in the words required.(By arrangement with The Independent, London)

NO 27477

100 YEARS AGO

CROSSWORD

MANISH NANDY

Seven minutes from whereI lived in Haiti, there was abakery called BoulangerieChristophe in a charming

two-story house in Pétionville.It wasn’t a very old house,

yet it had an old-world charm. Itdisplayed a large open front onthe ground floor, leading to anextended hall, created possiblyby joining two or three rooms.That served as the main room ofthe bakery, with a few tables andchairs on one side where cus-tomers could sit, and the salescounter on the other side with adisplay of the products. Therewas an extended room at theback where the baking was doneand a smaller room on the sidewhere both the raw materialsand some additional productswere stored.

I got to see all those roomsonly because the proprietor,Yolette Carvonis, took me aroundand explained how a bakeryfunctioned. I had started my lifein a tire factory and my inclina-tion was to see it as a manufac-turing process. As she describedhow it all worked, I created awork flow chart in my mind. Asshe waxed passionate and spokeof the care she took to get theright ingredients, even in the dis-turbed situation in the country, Ibegan to see something more.

More than the science, therewas an art to the business of bak-ing. You have to love what youare doing. You have to believethat quality matters. It did notmatter that only a small numberof people in a poor country could

afford to buy your products.What mattered was how theyenjoyed what you made. Whatmattered even more how muchyou enjoyed making them.Yolette loved making her bread,cakes, pastries and assortedcookies. She showed me herdesigns and the French designbooks from which she took herinspiration. She thought of her-self as an artist and I agreed withher. Nobody in his right mindwould think of her as anythingelse.

It took me a while to strikefriendship with her. I thought ofa bakery as a place where youbought a few things and got outquickly. Yolette’s husband,Michel, changed that. The thirdSunday I visited BoulangerieChristophe, he appraised mewith a curious eye as he packedmy purchases.

“You were here last Sun-day?” he asked with a smile.

“And the Sunday beforethat,” I replied.

It was an early hour andthere wasn’t a crowd yet. He fin-ished packing and said, “Whydon’t we have some coffee?”

We repaired to a cornertable and he graciously pulledout a chair for me.

“You are new to Haiti?”“Is it that obvious?” I

laughed and said, “I just came amonth back. I am still findingmy feet. A friend recommendedyour bakery.”

“I am glad to hear that.”“He said that all our

Embassy colleagues buy fromyou. I asked because my daugh-ter’s birthday is next month, and

I will need a birthday cake.”“We will be glad to make it for

you. Just tell us what kind of cakeshe would like and what wordsyou would like on the cake.”

“I will talk to her and getthose to you in time. Your coffeeis excellent, I must say.”

“In Haiti, we roast the cof-fee beans in a very special way. Iam happy that you like it,”Michel said, and ordered anoth-er round of coffee for us.

Then he said, “As you arenew here, let me say this. You willfind that people react to Haiti intwo ways. Either they loathe itand loathe it greatly. Or they loveit and love it a lot. There seemsto be no middle ground.”

I told him that I had readsomething similar in HerbertGold’s book about the country.

“I have been in Haiti barely amonth, but I seem to like it. Ithas a fascinating history and thepeople are warm. I expect to likeit more and more.”

He introduced me to hiswife, Yolette, and mentioned mybirthday cake. I thanked themboth and left.

A trip to BoulangerieChristophe became a routineevery Sunday morning. I invari-ably returned with a large box ofcroissants au beurre and crois-sants aux amandes, my favorites,and other delicacies for the chil-dren or our guests. With eachtrip our friendship grew and Icame to know, not only the Car-vonis couple, but most of theirfamily members little by little.

Yolette’s brother was a gen-eral in the Haitian army and a

member of the junta then rulingthe country, after a coup d’étatto dislodge the democraticallyelected President. Also, the Car-vonis were related by marriageto a major business family thathad financed the coup. They toocame to know quickly that I wasin the country to negotiate theend of the junta’s rule and thereturn of the President to power.Doubtless the Carvonis had mis-givings about my mission, butour friendship endured andflourished. Together we exploredthe best restaurants of Port auPrince and went to dance themeringue in the lively nightclubsof Pétionville.

Eight months later, afternegotiations had failed and USmarines had taken over thecountry, the President wasreturned to power and the mili-tary junta went back to the bar-racks. My mission had ended,and I was to return to Washing-ton. The last Sunday I did notvisit the bakery, for I had tosupervise the packing of house-hold goods.

To my surprise Michel andYolette turned up with a largebox of croissants aux amandes.They knew just what I loved withmy coffee. When they were leav-ing, I came out to see them offand their chauffeur brought outtwo huge cartons of Haitian spe-cially-roasted coffee. The Carvo-nis didn’t want me to miss mycherished flavor even in Wash-ington.

The writer is a Washington-based inter-national development advisor and hadworked with the World Bank. He can bereached at mnandy@gmail.com

IT CAME TO MIND

Friends stay friends

Illustration: Debabrata Chakraborti

Chronicles we mustn�t forget

BJP MLA quits party in AP:

The BJP suffered a set-

back in Andhra Pradesh

Sunday as one of its four

MLAs resigned from his

Assembly membership and

the party. Akula Satya-

narayana, MLA from Raja-

mahendravaram (Urban)

constituency said he sent-

in his resignation letter to

Assembly Speaker Kodela

Sivaprasada Rao. PTI

Goa mining: Prime Minister

Narendra Modi on Sunday

said the Centre will look at

�judicial solutions� for

Goa's mining sector which

has come to a standstill

since March last year after

the Supreme Court

quashed mining leases and

banned iron ore extrac-

tion. PTI

Two held for sodomising

minor boy: Two people

who allegedly sexually

assaulted an 11-year-old

boy in Chandrayangutta

areain Hyderbad were

arrested, police said Sun-

day. On January 16 night,

when the boy was playing

near his house, the two

aged 22 and 19, took the

boy near the railway sta-

tion, and had unnatural

sex with him, they said. PTI

Man mauled to death by

lions at zoo: A man was

mauled to death by lions

on Sunday at Chhatbir Zoo

in Zirakpur, around 20 km

from Chandigarh. Accord-

ing to zoo officials, the

man entered the enclo-

sure by scaling an over-25-

feet wall and as soon as he

crossed over, he was

attacked by two lions.

Officials suspect the man

was drunk. PTI

THUMBNAILS

Uttarakhand chief ministerTrivendra Singh Rawat atthe Golden Temple inAmritsar on Sunday. AFP

People want a mazboot government like the Modi government, whichis eliminating corruption and not sparing those involved in corruption

UNION MINISTER PRAKASH JAVADEKARTAKING A DIG AT THE OPPOSITION RALLY ORGANISED BY TMC CHIEF MAMATA BANERJEE IN KOLKATA

�Cong is best equipped tolead alliance against BJP�PRESS TRUST OF INDIANEW DELHI, 20 JANUARY

The Congress is “bestequipped” to lead theOpposition's chargeagainst the BJP in the

upcoming Lok Sabha polls,RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav saidon Sunday, asserting that thegrand old party will have to han-dle its leadership role with“large-heartedness” and accom-modate regional parties.

Yadav also hailed the Sama-jwadi Party-Bahujan SamajParty alliance in Uttar Pradeshand emphasised that his “cour-tesy call” meetings with AkhileshYadav and Mayawati post thetie-up should not be construedas a “pressure tactic” aimed atthe Congress.

In an exclusive interview, theRashtriya Janata Dal leadersaid since Congress is India'soldest and and currently the sec-ond-biggest political partyhaving a pan-India presence,it is in a very strong position towin maximum number of seats

among the opposition par-ties.

In 2014 Lok Sabha polls,among the prospective oppo-sition grand alliance parties, theCongress had won 44 seats, theMamata Banerjee-led Tri-namool Congress won 34, theSamajwadi Party won five,while the RJD had bagged fourseats.

“I don't find anything wrongif the Congress plays a pivotalrole in forming the alliance ortaking the leadership role of thealliance into the elections. Buthaving said that, they have to

accept that each state has dif-ferent ground realities,” Yadavsaid.

The Congress, being theparty with national accep-tance and maximum footprintin the opposition, is “undoubt-edly best equipped” to lead theopposition's charge againstthe Bharatiya Janata Party orthe National DemocraticAlliance, the former Bihardeputy chief minister assert-ed. “However, the Congresswill have to handle their lead-ership role with large-heart-edness and play a proactive roleby accommodating regionalparties with their agenda.

“In states where Congressdon't have a robust base, it mustallow regional outfits to occu-py the frontal-attack positionagainst the BJP,” Yadav said,emphasising that regional par-ties have a greater ability to trans-fer votes.

The concentration is onwinnability, hence the coalitionmust be decided state-wiseand seat wise, said the 29-

year-old son of former Biharchief minister Lalu Prasad.

Every party will have tocompromise or lend space toother parties depending onthe situation in a particular statefor forming a winning alliance,Yadav said while replying to aquestion on whether the Con-gress has to be more giving toregional parties to strengthenthe opposition coalition.

Asked if leaving out theCongress from the SP-BSP tie-up will impact the opposi-tion's national level coalition,he said the people of India feelthey have been “duped badly”and have made up their mindto get rid of propagandists fortheir own well-being. The peo-ple are wise enough to under-stand which fighting block canbe their best bet to defeat theBJP, he said.

On whether the SP andBSP will be a part of the maha-gathbandhan' in Bihar, theRJD leader said principally allopposition parties are togeth-er against the BJP-led alliance.

JALGAON, JAN 20

A Maharashtra court has sen-tenced a superintendent ofpolice (SP)-rank officer andanother person to life impris-onment in a 2009 kidnappingand extortion case.

Jalgaon sessions judge PY Ladekar convicted ManojLohar, who is presently post-ed at the Home Guard Depart-ment in Mumbai in a senioradministrative position, andhis relative Dheeraj Yevle onJanuary 16.

The court pronouncedthe sentence on Saturdayand also imposed a fine of Rs5,000 each on the duo.

Lohar and Yevle were con-victed under Indian PenalCode Sections-342, 346, 364-A, 385 and 506. PTI

Life-term toSP-rank officer inkidnapping,extortion case

GANDHINAGAR, JAN 20

Opposition parties haveunited out of “fear” of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi'spopularity and their togeth-erness is not going to last,Haryana chief ministerManohar Lal Khattar saidSunday.

He was speaking on thesidelines of a seminar oninvestment opportunitiesorganised by the Haryanagovernment as part of the 9thedition of Vibrant GujaratGlobal Summit.

“This (opposition) unityis not going to last. They haveunited out of fear of Naren-dra Modi's popularity and thecountry's growing positionin the world. This (opposi-tion unity) is going to makeno difference to the people,”Khattar claimed.

“They (opposition parties)had looted the country forseveral years. They haveunited as they are not get-ting the opportunity to lootthe country,” Khattar added.

He was responding to aquery on the Trinamool Con-gress-led mega oppositionrally, titled 'United IndiaRally', held in the BrigadeGrounds in Kolkata on Sat-urday. He also mocked theOppositions’ lack of a leaderacceptable to all constituents,and claimed it was a ‘baraat’(marriage procession) with-out a groom. Speaking oneconomic issues, Khattarsaid his state was looking atinvestments and it climbedup the ladder as far as easeof doing business rankingswere concerned. PTI

Opp has unitedfearing Modi�spopularity:Haryana CM

Javadekar: Therewill be anarchy ifthere is no Modi

PRESS TRUST OF INDIAPUNE, 20 JANUARY

Union minister PrakashJavadekar on Sunday saidthere was no alternative toPrime Minister NarendraModi and that there would be“anarchy” in his absence.

Taking a dig at the Oppo-sition rally organised by Tri-namool Congress (TMC) chiefMamata Banerjee in Kolkataon Saturday, Javadekar saidthe forthcoming Lok Sabhapolls would be fought onissues like ~whether peoplewant ‘mazboot’(strong) or‘majboor’(weak) government.

“Looking at yesterday'srally in Kolkata, where all theOpposition parties cametogether, it was evident thatall these parties want to driveout Modi, but who is thealternative? ”They cannotpresent an alternative, so thecondition in the country is likeif there is no Modi, there willbe anarchy,” the Union humanresource development min-ister told reporters here.

Referring to the coalitionrules of I K Gujral, Chan-drashekhar and H D DeveGowda in the past, he said peo-ple suffered during the daysof those “weak governments”,while on the other hand, thepublic had seen the benefitsof a “strong and policy-driven”government led by Modi.

“Therefore, people willchoose between a mazbootand a majboor government,”he added. Javadekar said theKolkata rally showed the ner-vousness of the Oppositionparties as they did not formany committee to draft amanifesto or a common min-imum programme, butformed a panel on electron-ic voting machines (EVMs).“It shows that they are alreadylooking for an excuse for theirpossible defeat and it showstheir nervousness,” he said.

The Congress and theother opposition parties want-ed a “majboor” governmentso that they could indulge in

corruption, Javadekar alleged.“Whereas people want a

mazboot government likethe Modi government, whichis eliminating corruption inthe system and not sparingthose involved in corrup-tion,” he said.

Javadekar expressed confi-dence that the ruling BJPwould get more seats in the2019 Lok Sabha polls, as com-pared to 2014, and that its voteshare would also increase.

The saffron party had won282 of the total 543 seats inthe last general election.

“When I say the BJP willsurpass the 282 number in theupcoming Lok Sabha, thereason for that is the party'stally in West Bengal, Odishaand the north-eastern stateswill go up,” Javadekar said.

The saffron party hadlaunched several campaignsahead of the polls to reach outto people, he pointed out.

“We will run a campaign~'mera ghar BJP ka ghar'~inthe coming days, under whichthose who support the partyand want to vote for it will hoistthe party flag atop their hous-es,” the Union minister said.

He added that in the nextthree months, the BJP wouldreach out to each and everybooth in the country, show-case the work done by theNational Democratic Alliance(NDA) government in thelast four-and-a-half yearsand expose the Opposition's“hollow politics”.

Asked about the 10 per centgeneral category quota andits implementation, Javadekarsaid his department haddirected all the educationalinstitutes, including the IITs,IIMs and the central univer-sities, to implement the quotafrom the coming academicyear. “A similar order hasbeen sent to all the state gov-ernments for the implemen-tation of the quota. We havealso given a formula on howto implement the 10 per centquota without affecting othercategories' quota,” he added.

Modi's projection inDelhi will not work forBJP in LS polls: DikshitPRESS TRUST OF INDIANEW DELHI, 20 JANUARY

Three-time chief minister andnewly appointed Delhi Con-gress president Sheila Dik-shit Sunday said BJP's planto build its election campaignaround Prime MinisterNarendra Modi in the nation-al capital will not work at allunlike 2014, as he has notdone “anything” for the cityin the last four-and-halfyears and people will venttheir anger in the upcomingpolls.

She said that Congress wasfast regaining its lost groundin the national capital, andruled out any possibility ofan electoral understandingwith the AAP for the LokSabha polls, calling the partyas “very unreliable”.

In an interview to PTI, shealso said respect for partychief Rahul Gandhi amongleaders and workers in theCongress increased signifi-cantly after the Congress'electoral victories in politi-cally crucial states of Kar-nataka, Madhya Pradesh,Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.

“The Congress peoplenow have lot of respect forRahul Gandhi. We found inhim a leader who is respon-sive and is also taking by andlarge correct decisions. So weare very confident of per-forming well in the comingLok Sabha election. Con-gress will do much better,”she said.

The 80-year old Congressveteran did not give a directreply when asked whetherthe party will storm back topower but asserted that peo-ple of India will teach BJP alesson for its wrongdoings.

“I will not be able to sayat this point whether Con-gress will be able to come topower. No body expected us

to win the three states in therecent assembly polls. Con-gress is a sober party. Weunderstand politics. We donot want to show off. We areconfident of a good show,”she said.

The Congress drew blankin 2014 Lok Sabha polls inDelhi while the BJP had wonall the seven seats. The BJPhad projected Modi as faceof its campaign in Delhi in2014 polls.

“The Modi factor will notwork at all this time. He hasnot done a single thing forDelhi. People are waiting tovent their anger (againsthim). BJP is in a difficult sit-uation,” Dikshit said.

In a stinging attack on theModi government, she saidit has piled up miseries of thecommon man through mea-sures like demonetisation andGoods and Services Tax(GST) besides trying to“polarise society” in thename of religion.

Asked about AAP'sannouncement on Fridaythat it will not have any tieup with the Congress inDelhi, Haryana and Pun-jab, Dikshit suggested thatit was her party which tookthe call of going it alone inDelhi. “I have said it manytimes. There was no questionof alliance with AAP. I havehad this feeling all along. Imust say that when AAP isconcerned, we do not havesame kind of thinking. Myexperience with them is thatthey are unreliable,” shesaid.

Srikant Jena spews venom on Rahulafter being expelled from partySTATESMAN NEWS SERVICEBHUBANESWAR, 20 JANUARY

Former Union minister SrikantJena today spewed venom onAICC president Rahul Gand-hi after he was expelled fromthe party and said the AICCpresident had ‘surrendered tothe mining mafia in Odisha’.

Expelled from the Congresslast night, Jena hit out saying“in Odisha there is a maha-gatbandhan between RahulGandhi, Naveen Patnaik,OPCC president NiranjanPatnaik and the mining mafia”.

“On 25 January, the dayRahul Gandhi is scheduled tovisit Odisha, I will makeexpose Rahul Gandhi andhis dealings” said Jena at apress conference here.

It may be noted that Jena’sexpulsion was on the cards

since long as the Congress cir-cles suspect him to be work-ing in tandem with a UnionMinister and a few BJD MLA’sto damage the party.

Asked whether he con-sidered BJP as a party withintegrity which is committedto take on the mining mafiain Odisha, Jena tried to evadeby saying he had not referredto any party, but that he willsupport individuals who arehonest. When pressed further,Jena said “ but the BJP is soft

towards the BJD”.There are several parties

which are honest, he said,when asked whether he willjoin the Aam Admi Party.

“I have not decided, I willcampaign against the Patnaikfamily that has ruled Odishafor forty years”, he said.

He said he would tour thestate and expose the unholyalliance between Rahul, Na-veen and mining mafia. Thestate Congress is led by a“habitual bribe giver” , chargedJena . He was referring to acourt observation againstNiranjan Patnaik in 1985.

Jena said he had writtento the AICC president inDecember last year raisingissues and asking him point-edly whether the party is tostand by the people or withtwo Patnaik families.

General category quota will get NDA10 per cent more votes, says PaswanSTATESMAN NEWS SERVICENEW DELHI, 20 JANUARY

Union minister and Lok Jan-shakti Party leader Ram VilasPaswan on Sunday claimedpeople were likely to vote tobring Prime Minister Naren-dra Modi back to power in the2019 Lok Sabha elections,thanks to his politics of devel-opment and recent move togrant 10 per cent reservationto poor among the upper castepopulation.

Paswan, who had earlierdecided against contesting the2019 Lok Sabha elections, saidas a result of the Constitutionalamendment Bill setting aside10 per cent reservation, theBJP-led NDA would gain bya similar percentage in its voteshare in the ensuing LokSabha polls. “Let me tell you.This 10 per cent quota willlead to a rise of 10 per centin our vote share,” he said.

The Union minister admit-ted that some of the measuresthat the present governmenthad earlier taken created re-sentment among the com-mon people. He, however, saidthe people were not ready tovote for Prime Minister Naren-

dra Modi’s ‘strong and stable’leadership.

“A few more months areleft to the Lok Sabha elections.The government will shootone arrow after another.What will also weigh themost on people’s mind iswho will be the Opposition’schoice as PM. Whether thenext government will be a sta-ble or temporary one, peo-ple will prefer a strong, sta-ble government to a weak,unstable government, lead-ing to Modi’s victory,” Paswanexplained.

In his state wise analysisof the impact of the 10 percent reservation for the pooramong the upper caste,Paswan said it was going toadversely impact the RJD’selectoral chances in the lightof their opposition to themeasure. He said in UttarPradesh the NDA would

repeat its showing of 2014 andwas expected to win 70 of the80 Lok Sabha seats.

Paswan, however, warnedagainst occasional off thecuff anti-Muslim remarks bya section of the BJP leader-ship which he said might goagainst the alliance. He saidin recent times there hadbeen a positive change inDalit’s perception about thePrime Minister which is goingto help the NDA’s prospectsin the coming elections to theLok Sabha.

“Dalits now know thatModi is not anti-Dalit asused to be projected. Hestrengthened the law onatrocities against them andhas done so much for high-lighting the legacy of BhimRao Ambedkar. A majority ofthem will support him dur-ing the polls,” Paswan said.

About the BJP’s defeat inthe Assembly elections inMadhya Pradesh, Rajasthanand Chattisgarh, Paswansaid the party had learnt itslessons from these defeats.He indicated at a possible slewof measures by the govern-ment in the run up to the elec-tions.

Members of the Transgender community take part in a protest march against the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill2016, at the Jantar Mantar in the Capital on Sunday. RITIK JAIN

RIGHT TO RAISE VOICE

PRESS TRUST OF INDIANEW DELHI, 20 JANUAR

Vice President M VenkaiahNaidu on Sunday said the Sar-dar Vallabhbhai Patel's stat-ue in Gujarat, known as theStatue of Unity, was a way ofcorrecting the imbalance inpresenting the historical nar-rative of India, which justi-fied the amount spent on it.

Naidu visited the 182-metre-tall statue in Kevadiyain Gujarat's Narmada dis-trict and said only a partialaccount of Patel's role andcontributions in the free-dom struggle was docu-mented.

“This Statue of Unity is afirm reminder of the vision,courage, capabilities andcontributions of Sardar Patelin the making of modernIndia. In the true sense, it isa way of correcting the imbal-

ance in presenting the his-torical narrative of our coun-try,” Naidu was quoted in astatement issued by the vicepresident's office.

Justifying the money spenton the statue, Naidu saidgiven the significance of thestructure, “the amount spent

on erecting it was worth it andit is a priceless investment”.

He also complimentedPrime Minister NarendraModi for his initiative to buildthe statue and said it shouldserve as a reminder to upholdunity among all Indians.

Known as the “Iron Man”,

Patel was the country's firstdeputy prime minister andhome minister.

Citing a letter written byPatel to Jawaharlal Nehru, thecountry's first prime minis-ter, in which he had cautionedabout the threat from China,Naidu said the situation afterthe 1962 Sino-India warcould have been different ifPatel's words had been heed-ed. “We all know that one ofour neighbours waged waragainst us in 1962 and itsresult. Had Sardar's con-cerns been taken seriously,the situation could havebeen different. All otherissues raised by Sardar Patelstill remain relevant,” hesaid.

Underlining the impor-tance of the unification of theerstwhile princely statesafter Independence, Naidusaid getting freedom from the

British was a milestone in thecountry's modern history, butthe integration of the 565 self-governed states that existedat the time of Independencewas another equally impor-tant milestone.

“Without Patel and hisvision and resolve, many ofthese 565 princely stateswould have preferred andremained as independentcountries. Had this hap-pened, the map of Indiawould have been vastly dif-ferent from what we havetoday,” he said.

The people of India wouldforever remain grateful toPatel for realising his dreamand vision of consolidatingthe country with a steelyresolve, Naidu said.

“For this act of courageand determination, Patel isrightly called the 'Iron Manof India',” he said.

Statue of Unity a priceless investment: Vice-President

Tejashwi says Grand old party needs to handle its leadership with �large-heartedness�

Opposition�s unity is not

going to last. They have

united out of fear of

Narendra Modi's populari-

ty and the country's grow-

ing position in the world.

This (opposition unity) is

going to make no differ-

ence to the people

MANOHAR LAL KHATTAR

HARYANA CHIEF MINISTER

I don't find anything wrong

if the Congress plays a piv-

otal role in forming the

alliance or taking the leader-

ship role of the alliance into

the elections. But having

said that, they have to

accept that each state has

different ground realities

TEJASHWI YADAV

RJD LEADER

10 NEW DELHI, MONDAY 21 JANUARY 2019

PRESS TRUST OF INDIANEW DELHI, 20 JANUARY

India is likely to surpass theUnited Kingdom in theworld's largest economyrankings in 2019, accord-

ing to a report by global con-sultancy firm PwC.

As per the report, while theUK and France have regular-ly switched places owing tosimilar levels of developmentand roughly equal populations,India's climb-up the rank-ings is likely to be permanent.

PwC's Global EconomyWatch report projects realGDP growth of 1.6 per cent forthe UK, 1.7 per cent for Franceand 7.6 per cent for India in2019.

“India and France are like-ly to surpass the UK in theworld's largest economy rank-ings in 2019, knocking it fromfifth to seventh place in theglobal table,” the report said.

According to World Bankdata, India became the world'ssixth largest economy in 2017surpassing France and waslikely to go past the UK whichstood at the fifth position.

PwC's Global Economy

Watch is a short publicationthat looks at the trends andissues affecting the globaleconomy and details its lat-est projections for the world'sleading economies.

“India should return to ahealthy growth rate of 7.6 percent in 2019-20, if there areno major headwinds in theglobal economy such asenhanced trade tensions orsupply side shocks in oil.

“The growth will be sup-ported through further real-isation of efficiency gainsfrom the newly adopted GSTand policy impetus expectedin the first year of a new gov-ernment,” said Mr RanenBanerjee, partner and leader~ public finance and eco-nomics, PwC India.

Mr Mike Jakeman, senioreconomist at PwC, said Indiais the fastest growing large

economy in the world, withan enormous population,favourable demographicsand high catch-up potentialdue to low initial GDP perhead.

“The UK and France haveregularly alternated in havingthe larger economy, but sub-dued growth in the UK in2018 and again in 2019 islikely to tip the balance inFrance's favour. The relative

strength of the euro againstthe pound is an important fac-tor here,” Mr Jakeman said.

The global economy as awhole is expected to slow in2019 as G7 countries returnto long-run average growthrates, the PwC report said.

PwC expects that the pick-up in growth of most majoreconomies seen between theend of 2016 and the beginningof 2018 is now over.

As per the World Bankdata, in 2017, India becamethe sixth largest economywith a GDP of $2.59 trillion,relegating France to the sev-enth position. The GDP ofFrance stood at $2.58 tril-lion.

The UK, which is facingBrexit blues, had a GDP of $2.62trillion, which is about $25 bil-lion more than that of India,the data showed.

The US was the world'slargest economy with a sizeof $19.39 trillion, followed byChina ($12.23 trillion) at thesecond place in 2017.

Japan ($4.87 trillion) andGermany ($3.67 trillion) wereat the third and fourth places,respectively.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIANEW DELHI, 20 JANUARY

Concerned over coal projectsworth Rs 11,000 crore facingdelays, the Centre has askedCoal India and NLC India Ltdto identify the reasons behindit and submit a report, an offi-cial said.

The matter came up dur-ing a recent meeting to reviewprojects worth Rs 35,000 croreat a time when India is wit-nessing significant amount ofcoal imports.

“At a recent meeting toreview coal projects costingmore than Rs 500 crore and3 million tons, coal secretarySumanta Chaudhuri soughtexception report from CoalIndia Ltd (CIL) and NLC Indiaand asked them to identify rea-sons behind delay,” a coalministry official said.

An exception report is adocument stating instanceswhere actual performancedeviated significantly fromexpectations.

The review meeting cov-ered 51 projects of Coal IndiaLtd ~ which accounts for over80 per cent of the domesticdry-fuel production ~ nine ofNLCIL (formerly Neyveli Lig-

nite Corporation) and twobelonging to Singareni Col-lieries Company Limited(SCCL).

Out of these, 21 projects arefacing inordinate delays ~ 17by CIL and four by NLCIL, theofficial said.

Coal India's delayed pro-jects include Magadh Expan-sion, Karo, North Urimariand Rajrappa RCE.

The delayed NLCIL projectsinclude Pachwara South CoalBlock, Talabira II and III CoalBlock and Rajasthan PowerProjects.

The delays come againstthe backdrop of coal demandfrom power sector exceedingthe supply in 2018.

India has imported of over200 million tons of coal annu-ally in the recent years.

Earlier this month, coalminister Piyush Goyal said thecountry faces no shortage ofcoal and production has wit-nessed an increase of 7.4 percent in April-December peri-od of the ongoing financialyear. He, however, also admit-ted that coal production didnot go up in the past becauseof delays in environmentalclearances, land acquisitionand other problems.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIAMUMBAI, 20 JANUARY

Private equity (PE) and ven-ture capital (VC) investmentsin the country grew by 35 percent to $35.1 billion in 2018compared with $26.1 billionin 2017, according to a report.

The increase in invest-ments was driven by signifi-cant growth in large deals.

PE/VC exits recorded $26billion in value, almost equalto the value of exits in the pre-vious three years combined.

“2018 has been the best yearfor PE/VC investments andexits. As forecasted by us in thebeginning of the year, bothPE/VC investments as wellas exits have touched a newrecord high in 2018,” EY'spartner and national leader(private equity services), Mr

Vivek Soni, said in a report.Though volatility in broad-

er markets dampened pipeinvestments in the secondhalf of 2018, this was more thanadequately compensated byan uptick in buyout and start-up activity, he said.

During 2018, 12 deals hav-ing value of $500 million ormore each, including eight $1billion plus deals happened.

In the year, deal volumeincreased by 28 per cent to 761deals compared to 594 dealsin 2017.

“The growth was led bystrong pickup in buyouts andstartup investments,” thestudy said.

The year recorded a stronguptick in startup investmentson the back of some mega dealsthat saw large venture capi-tal investors like Softbank,

Tencent and Naspers deploysignificant amounts of capi-tal.

There were 76 deals ofvalue greater than $100 mil-lion in 2018, aggregating to$25.9 billion and accountingfor 74 per cent of total PE/VC

investments made in 2018compared to 54 deals, aggre-gating to $18.7 billion, of valuegreater than $100 million in2017.

The largest deal duringthe year saw GIC, KKR, Pre-mjiInvest and OMERS invest

$1.7 billion in HDFC Limitedfor a three per cent stake.

In 2018, PE/VC exits, at$26 billion, increased by almost100 per cent compared to2017 and are almost equal tothe value of exits in the pre-vious three years combined,

the report showed.The sharp rise was main-

ly on account of a large dealthat saw Walmart acquirecontrolling stake in Flipkart for$16 billion from a clutch ofinvestors, including Softbank,Tiger Global and others.

This is the largest deal inthe Indian PE/VC market ever,it said.

From a sector perspective,e-commerce ($16.4 billionacross 10 exits), technology($1.8 billion across 24 exits),financial services ($1.5 billionacross 34 exits) were the topsectors for PE/VC exits in2018.

The year 2018 saw $8.1billion being raised across 51fund raises by PE/VC funds,a 40 per cent increase over 2017and the highest ever, the reportsaid.

Coal projects worth`11K cr facing delays,Centre seeks report

PwC�s Global Economy Watch report projects real GDP growth of 7.6 per cent for India in 2019

THUMBNAILS

Infosys US hiring: Infosys

has hired over 7,600 staff

in the US ~ more than

three-fourth of its target

of recruiting 10,000 Ameri-

can workers ~ and said it is

making recruitment from

local schools a �sustained

effort� in its largest mar-

ket. �...we have pretty

much done 7,600-plus. We

have opened five hubs

now, we have announced

six of them and we have

opened five of them and

we have hired 2,000 plus

school grads ~ campus

hires,� Infosys president

and deputy chief operating

officer Ravi Kumar said in a

recent investor call. PTI

Fieo plea: Exporters' body

Fieo has sought immediate

intervention of the gov-

ernment and Reserve

Bank of India to resolve

issues related to payment

mechanism for Iran and

flow of credit to push

shipments. Federation of

Indian Export Organisa-

tions (Fieo) president

Ganesh Kumar Gupta said

that a clarity is required

on product coverage

under rupee payment

mechanism to Iran. PTI

E-way bills: Non-filers of

GST returns for six consec-

utive months will soon be

barred from generating e-

way bills for movement of

goods. The Goods and Ser-

vices Tax Network (GSTN)

is developing such IT sys-

tem that businesses who

have not filed returns for

two straight return filing

cycle, which is six months,

would be barred from gen-

erating e-way bills, an offi-

cial said. PTI

Kia Motors: Kia Motors

India expects trial produc-

tion of its first model ~

SUV SP Concept ~ to begin

at its Andhra Pradesh-

based plant this month as

it gears up to launch the

vehicle by mid 2019, a

company official said. The

company, a subsidiary of

South Korean auto major

Kia Motors, is in the final

stages of commissioning

the manufacturing facility

with an annual installed

production capacity of

over 3 lakh vehicles. PTI

Skoda outlook: Admitting

that its profit situation is

�not good� in India, Czech

car maker Skoda Auto has

said the road ahead is

�tough�, even as it kick-

started an around Rs

8,000 crore investment

plan under "India 2.0" pro-

ject with the opening of a

new technical centre here.

Led by Skoda, the India 2.0

project aims at strength-

ening the parent Volkswa-

gen Group's presence in

India with tailor-made

products by the two auto

makers through the MQB

A0 IN platform which is

specially developed for

India. PTI

FPI outflow: Foreign

investors have pulled out

more than Rs 4,000 crore

from the Indian capital

markets so far in January,

highlighting their cautious

stance towards the coun-

try. This comes following a

collective net inflow of

over Rs 17,000 crore in

the capital markets by

Foreign Portfolio Investors

(FPIs) during November

and December. PTI

India can be a frontrunner in deployment of 5G but a lotwill hinge on bolstering investments in fibre infrastructure

R S SHARMACHAIRMAN, THE TELECOM REGULATORY AUTHORITY OF INDIA

India likely to surpass UK inlargest economy rankings

�� Private equity (PE) andventure capital (VC) invest-ments in the country grewby 35 per cent to $35.1 bil-lion in 2018 comparedwith $26.1 billion in 2017,according to a report

�� PE/VC exits recorded $26 billion in value, almost equal to the value of exits in theprevious three years combined

�� The year 2018 has been the best year for PE/VC investments and exits. Both PE/VCinvestments as well as exits have touched a new record high during the year, said thereport

PRESS TRUST OF INDIANEW DELHI, 20 JANUARY

The domestic auto compo-nents industry is expected togrow at around 15 per centin the current financial yeardespite a slowdown indemand in the automotivesector, according to ratingagency Icra.

The growth is expected tocome from healthy volumegrowth in two-wheelers, com-mercial vehicles and tractorsegment until November lastyear. The rating agency alsoexpects automobile volumesto grow by 8-9 per cent dur-ing the current fiscal, asagainst 14.8 per cent growthduring fiscal 2017-18.

“The aftermarket sales

were impacted in FY2018 byGST-related inventory de-stocking in the first quarterof FY2018 and initial imple-mentation related uncer-tainties in the second quar-ter of FY2018. However,demand picked up in August-September 2018, with a sharprevival from the fourth quar-ter of fiscal 2017-18,” Icrasenior group vice-presidentSubrata Ray said.

Weighted-average demandfor auto components fromoriginal equipment manu-facturers (OEM) is expectedto grow by 10-11 per cent inthe current fiscal, as comparedwith 9.5 per cent in fiscal 2017-18, supported by strong com-mercial vehicle volumes, Icrasaid.

Auto parts industrylikely to grow by 15%

�� India and France are likely tosurpass the UK in the world'slargest economy rankings in2019, knocking it from fifth to sev-enth place in the global table

�� As per the World Bank data,in 2017, India became the sixthlargest economy with a GDP of$2.59 trillion, relegating Franceto the seventh position. TheGDP of France stood at $2.58 tril-lion

�� The UK, which is facing Brexit blues, had a GDP of $2.62 trillion, which is about$25 billion more than that of India, the data showed

�� The US was the world's largest economy with a size of $19.39 trillion, followed byChina ($12.23 trillion) at the second place in 2017

PRESS TRUST OF INDIANEW DELHI, 20 JANUARY

Reliance Industries has askedits partner Niko Resources towithdraw from eastern offshoreKG-D6 gas block over default inpayments for field develop-ment cost, but the Canadian firmhas sought to stall the move byinvoking arbitration, the com-panies said.

Niko, which defaulted onpayment of loans to its lenders,has been unsuccessful in seek-ing a possible buyer for its 10per cent stake in Bay of Bengalblock KG-D6 or securing financ-ing for its share of the $5-6 bil-lion R-Cluster, Satellite Clus-ter and MJ development pro-jects in the block.

In its third quarter earningstatement last week, RelianceIndustries Limited stated thatNiko “defaulted on cash calls and

accordingly default notice wasissued as per the provision ofjoint operating agreement(JOA)”.

“Since Niko did not cure thedefault within the default peri-od, RIL and BP issued notice toNiko for withdrawal from pro-duction sharing contract (PSC)and JOA and assign the partic-ipating interest to RIL and BP,”RIL said. “In response to thenotice, Niko has served noticeof arbitration.”

Reliance is the operator ofKG-D6 block with 60 per centstake and UK's BP plc has 30 percent interest.

Niko, in a corporate update,said that it has on 17 Decem-ber 2018 “received a noticefrom the non-defaulting partiesrequiring the subsidiary to with-draw from the KG-D6 PSC andJOA”.

The company said it wasevaluating its legal optionsregarding the notice.

Niko decided not to pay a KG-D6 block cash call that was duein early October 2018. This ledto Reliance slapping a defaultnotice under the productionsharing contract (PSC).

Under the terms of the jointoperating agreement ( JOA)

between the participating inter-est holders in the D6 PSC, dur-ing the continuance of a default,the defaulting party shall nothave a right to its share of rev-enue (which shall vest in andbe the property of the non-defaulting parties who havepaid to cover the amount indefault).

In addition, if the defaultingparty does not cure a defaultwithin 60 days of the defaultnotice, the non-defaulting par-ties have the option to requirethe defaulting party to withdrawfrom the D6 PSC and JOA.

Niko had previously with-drawn from eastern offshoreNEC-25 block due to cashcrunch. Its 10 per cent interestwas assigned to Reliance andBP. Subsequent to that, Reliancenow holds 66.6 per cent inter-est in NEC-25 and BP the remain-ing 33.37 per cent.

Reliance seeks Niko's exit fromKG-D6 over payment default

In its third quarter earning statement last week,Reliance Industries Limited stated that Niko�defaulted on cash calls and accordingly defaultnotice was issued as per the provision of jointoperating agreement (JOA)�

PRESS TRUST OF INDIAMUMBAI, 20 JANUARY

The recent Reserve Bankguidelines simplifying exter-nal commercial borrow-ings will “curb” refinancingoptions for companies,says a report.

But the system-wideimpact of this will be lim-ited, as there were masalabonds and foreign-cur-rency debt issuances recent-ly with a minimum averagematurity of 10 years, glob-al rating agency Fitch said.

The report said the RBI'sintention behind the newrules is to rationalise mul-tiple regulations and makeit easier for corporates toborrow from overseas mar-kets.

Eligible borrowers willnow be allowed to raise up

to $750 million per finan-cial year without approval,with previous sector limitsremoved, as per the noti-fication issued on Tues-day evening.

Some commentatorshave suggested the changesare part of the RBI effortsto encourage capital inflowsand ease pressure on therupee, but the agency point-ed out that the decision tomerge regulatory categoriesfor types of ECBs will cre-ate refinancing complica-tions.

“Under the previousframework, corporatescould refinance rupee-denominated debt withtrack II ECB (forex debtwith minimum averagematurities of 10 years) ormasala bonds (offshorerupee-denominated

bonds). This will no longerbe permitted,” it explained.

The report further notedthat refinancing of rupeedebt with other types of off-shore debt was alreadyrestricted, which meansrupee-denominated debtcan now only be refinancedin the local market, unlessthe lender is a foreign equi-ty holder in the borrowingcompany.

Domestic corporateshad not, in general, beenable to take advantage ofoffshore refinancingoptions, so most are unlike-ly to be significantly affect-ed, the agency said.

Only the largest andstrongest issuers have beenable to tap the masala bondmarket since regulatoryconstraints were intro-duced in mid-2017.

New ECB guidelines limitrefinancing options: Fitch

PRESS TRUST OF INDIANEW DELHI, 20 JANUARY

Markets regulator the Sebihas amended guidelines forReal Estate Investment Trusts(REITs) and InfrastructureInvestment Trusts (InvITs) toease the process of publicissue of their units.

Now, these trusts can acceptonly Applications Supportedby Blocked Amount (ASBA).

Among others, the manageron behalf of the REIT or InvITwill announce the floor priceor price band at least twoworking days prior to theopening of the bid in case ofan initial public offer. Currently,it is five days.

In two separate circulars,the Sebi said the amendmentshave been made to ratio-nalise and ease the process ofpublic issue of units of REITsand InvITs. Regarding theissue period, it said the trusts

may extend the bidding issueperiod for a minimum of threeworking days in case of forcemajeure, banking strike orsimilar circumstances.

However, the extensionshould not exceed the thirty-day bidding period.

Investors will be requiredto submit a completed bid-cum-application form eitherto self-certified syndicatebanks with whom the bankaccount to be blocked is main-tained or to intermediaries.

According to the regulator,intermediaries apart fromacknowledging the receipt ofapplications would also beresponsible for uploading thebid along with other relevantdetails in application forms onthe electronic bidding sys-tem of stock exchanges.

They will also be requiredto submit the form to self-cer-tified syndicate banks forblocking of funds.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIAMUMBAI, 20 JANUARY

With softer retail and whole-sale price-based inflation,the Reserve Bank of India islikely to change its policystance to "neutral" from "cal-ibrated tightening" in theFebruary policy, says a report.

The inflation based onthe consumer price index(CPI) eased to an 18-monthlow of 2.19 per cent in Decem-ber compared to 2.33 percent in November and 5.21per cent in December 2017.

The wholesale price index(WPI)-based inflation alsoeased to an eighth-month lowof 3.80 per cent in December2018, as against 4.64 per centin November 2018, and 3.58per cent in December 2017.

This is the fifth consecu-tive month that the CPI read-

ing has been below the RBI'starget of 4 per cent.

“Benign headline inflationto provide a dovish tilt to mon-etary policy committee(MPC). Softer December CPIand WPI prints of 2.2 per centand 3.8 per cent, respec-tively, reaffirm our belief thatthe MPC will adopt a moredovish tone in the Februarymeeting and change its stanceto neutral from calibratedtightening,” according to aKotak research report.

The RBI will announce it'ssixth bi-monthly monetary

policy on 7 February. Thereport expects CPI at around3.3 per cent in March 2019.

It said concerns, howev-er, remain about the sticki-ness of core inflation, espe-cially at a time when growthis expected is slow to 6.6 percent in the second half offinancial year 2018-19.

“While volatile crude oilprices and concerns on fis-cal slippage may warrantsome caution, the seeming-ly structurally benign foodinflation along with soften-ing growth should help in cap-ping the upside pressures,”it said.

The report expect a 50basis points of rate cut in thefirst half of 2019. In the pre-vious monetary policyannounced in December,the RBI kept the repo rateunchanged at 6.5 per cent.

RBI may take dovishstance in Feb policy

Sebi amends normsfor REITs, InvITs

STATESMAN NEWS SERVICENEW DELHI, 20 JANUARY

Telecom operator VodafoneIdea has sought two yearsmoratorium on annual spec-trum payment of about Rs10,000 crore, citing high debtlevels and stress on the bal-ance sheet.

“The department of tele-com has received represen-tation from Vodafone Ideafor 2 years additional mora-torium on spectrum paymentthat they procured in auction.The request is being examinedand it has to be scrutinised andconsidered by other depart-ments/ministries in the gov-ernment before taking anydecision,” a senior governmentofficial said.

The amount to be paid byVodafone Idea is estimated tobe around Rs 10,000 core thisyear. When contacted, Voda-fone Idea spokesperson said:

“The telecom industry is crit-ical to fulfiling the digitalaspirations of 1.3 billion Indi-ans. Hence, it is important forit to be financially robustwith multiple operators thatcan offer choice to citizens,ensure healthy competitionand that national assets likespectrum are valued correctly.However, India's telecomindustry is currently sufferingconsiderable financial stressand this has been extensive-ly reported in the media”.

Vodafone and Idea haveparticipated in five auctionsthat were held in 2010, 2012,2014, 2015 and 2016 beforemerging their mobile business.In five auctions, Vodafonealone had acquired spectrumworth Rs 79,343 crore, whichis highest in terms of valuecompared to bids made by anyother operator. Idea too hadpurchased spectrum worth Rs63,597 crore.

Voda Idea seeks time for spectrum payment

Large deals push PE, VC investments upNEW RECORDNEW RECORD

ECONOMY WATCHECONOMY WATCH

NEW DELHI, MONDAY 21 JANUARY 2019 11

World's oldest man, 113,

dies at his home in Japan:

The world's oldest man

has died at his home

a hot springs inn in

northern Japan at the age

of 113. Masazo Nonaka died

in the early hours of Sun-

day while sleeping at home

in Ashoro on Japan's north-

ern main island of Hokkai-

do, his family said. PTI

�UK faces political tsunami

if Brexit halted�: Britain's

trade minister says the

country will face a �politi-

cal tsunami� if the govern-

ment does not deliver on

voters' decision to leave

the European Union. Inter-

national Trade Secretary

Liam Fox wrote in the Sun-

day Telegraph that �fail-

ure to deliver Brexit

would produce a yawning

gap between Parliament

and the people, a schism

in our political system

with unknowable conse-

quences.� AP

The morning scene ofFilisur village near Davos,Switzerland on Sunday. IANS

CITY MAX MIN

SINGAPORE 33°C 26°C HHONG KONG 23°C 12°C HTOKYO 12°C 1°C CLLONDON 7°C -1°C SDUBAI 22°C 17°C CLSAN FRANCISCO 15°C 9°C CLNEW YORK 7°C -12°C HMOSCOW -3°C -8°C R

S= sunny, CL= clear, H=hazy, R= rainy...

WEATHER

THUMBNAILS

Failure to deliver Brexit would produce a yawning gapbetween Parliament and the people, a schism in our politicalsystem with unknowable consequences

LIAM FOXINTERNATIONAL TRADE SECRETARY12 NEW DELHI, MONDAY 21 JANUARY 2019

IANSMEXICO CITY, 20 JANUARY

A migrant caravan has con-tinued to advance towardsMexico in order to reachthe country's border with theUS, authorities said.

The migrants are movingon foot or aboard vehicles,while nearly 3,000 more arewaiting for their humani-tarian visa, which the gov-ernment of Mexico is issu-ing in small numbers at theborder, Efe news quoted theMexican authorities as say-ing on Saturday.

As of now, around 2,000migrants have crossed intoMexico without any docu-ments to prove their legal stayin the country, risking theirlives between vehicles andenduring high temperaturesof up to 40 degrees Celsiuswith intense humidity.

Two days after their arrivalon Mexican territory, thiscontingent, most of themHondurans, has not stoppedadvancing.

On Saturday, the caravanmoved from Tapachula toHuixtla, covering a distanceof 40 km. The migrants arefleeing from poverty andthe lack of well-paid employ-ment, which leaves themwithout food and makes ithard to support their fami-lies, some are forced to trav-el with their whole family,including single motherswith young kids.

Ana Pinto from Hon-duras, a mother of three, toldEfe: "We have walked a lot,we started at three in themorning and we have notbeen able to board a vehi-cle and we have not beengiven water or food untilnow."

IANSNEW YORK, 20 JANUARY

Researchers, led by one ofIndian-origin, have developeda new technology that canclean water twice as fast as com-mercially available ultrafiltra-tion membranes, an advancethat brings hope for coun-tries like India where cleandrinking water is a big issue.

According to a team fromthe Washington University inSt. Louis, more than one in 10people in the world lack basicdrinking water access, and by2025, half of the world's pop-ulation will be living in water-stressed areas.

The team led by SrikanthSingamaneni, Professor at thevarsity, developed an ultrafil-tration membrane usinggraphene oxide and bacterialnanocellulose that they foundto be highly efficient, long-last-ing and environment-friend-ly. The membrane technolo-gy purifies water while pre-venting biofouling, or build upof bacteria and other harmfulmicro-organisms that reducethe flow of water.

For the study, published in

the journal EnvironmentalScience and Technology, theyused bacteria to build such fil-tering membranes.

The Gluconacetobacterhansenii bacteria is a sugarysubstance that forms cellulosenanofibres when in water.

The team then incorpo-rated graphene oxide (GO)flakes into the bacterial nanocel-lulose while it was growing,essentially trapping GO in themembrane to make it stableand durable.

They exposed the mem-brane to E. coli bacteria, thenshone light on the membrane'ssurface.

After being irradiated withlight for just three minutes, theE. coli bacteria died. The teamdetermined that the mem-brane quickly heated to abovethe 70 degrees Celsius required

to deteriorate the cell walls ofE. coli bacteria.

While the bacteria are killed,the researchers had a pristinemembrane with a high qual-ity of nanocellulose fibres thatwas able to filter water twiceas fast as commercially avail-able ultrafiltration membranesunder a high operating pres-sure.

When they did the sameexperiment on a membranemade from bacterial nanocel-lulose without the reducedGO, the E. coli bacteria stayedalive. While the researchersacknowledge that imple-menting this process in con-ventional reverse osmosis sys-tems is taxing, they propose aspiral-wound module system,similar to a roll of towels.

It could be equipped withLEDs or a type of nanogener-ator that harnesses mechan-ical energy from the fluid flowto produce light and heat,which would reduce the over-all cost. If the technique wereto be scaled up to a large size,it could benefit many devel-oping countries where cleanwater is scarce, the researchersnoted.

IANSMEXICO CITY, 20 JANUARY

The death toll from a devastatingoil pipeline blast in Mexicohas increased to 73, officials said.

The toll was confirmed tothe media by Hidalgo Gover-nor Omar Fayad on Saturdayevening, reports Efe news.

Accompanied by MexicanPresident Andres Manuel LopezObrador, Fayad said that therewere 74 injured, who werereceiving treatments at hospitalsin Hidalgo, Mexico City, Quere-taro and Guanajuato.

The governor announcedthat some of the injured will betransferred in the next fewhours to a specialised burns

medical centre in Galveston,Texas.

It is believed that the blastoccurred after the pipelinewas ruptured by suspected oilthieves in the town of Tlahuelil-pan, in Hidalgo state, on Fri-day night.

The pipeline went ablaze ataround 7 p.m., when dozensof people were scramblingaround a leak spot to collect fuelin the presence of the armedforces.

TV footage showed largeflames and people at the scenewith severe burns as well as whatappeared to be smoulderingcorpses scattered on the groundnear the blaze.

Raul Arroyo, Hidalgo state

prosecutor, said of the 73 vic-tims, only nine have beenidentified so far.

Authorities said that thepipeline transported the high-ly flammable octane gasolinewhich facilitated the explo-sion, although the exact causeof the blast was still beingascertained.

Residents in the immediatevicinity of the pipeline, whichruns from the cities of Tuxpanto Tula, have been evacuated,state oil company Pemex said.

President Obrador, whovisited Tlahuelilpan on Satur-day, said pipelines will be mon-itored to avoid fuel theft, CNNreported.

"To guarantee that there areno fuel shortages, it has beenfundamental the participa-tion of the armed forces, the mil-itary, marines and federalpolice," he said.

"If necessary, we will re-enforce the surveillance strat-egy. Another method will be theincrease of fuel transporta-tion capacity."

The explosion comes asgas stations in several Mexicanstates and the country's cap-ital have been running dry fornearly two weeks.

The Obrador administrationclosed key pipelines in an effortto crack down on fuel theft,which the Mexican leader saidcost the country an estimated$3 billion last year.

PTINEW YORK, 20 JANUARY

A Sikh man has been bru-tally assaulted in an allegedhate crime by a white manwho pulled his beard, kickedand punched him in the faceat a store in the US, the lat-est such incident in thecountry.

Harwinder Singh Dodd,who was working at a con-venience store in the USState of Oregon, was racial-ly targeted on Monday by a24-year-old Andrew Ram-sey.

Ramsey targeted Doddbecause of his perceptionof the employee's religion,FOX 12 TV news reported,citing a court document.

Ramsey wanted rollingpapers for cigarettes, but didnot have an ID and theclerk would not sell them tohim, Justin Brecht, a leg-islative policy adviser inthe Oregon State Capitol anda former combat Marine,was quoted as saying bythe report.

When Dodd asked Ram-sey to leave, he attacked himby pulling his beard, punch-ing him in the face, pullinghim to the ground and kick-ing him, Brecht said, adding

that they held Ramsey downuntil officers got there, thereport said.

“He was bleeding, hehad gotten punched quitea bit in the face, and kickedon the ground and thrownto the ground very brutal-ly. It was very serious.”

Ramsey has been chargedwith a hate crime, assault,police said, adding that hethrew his shoe at Dodd andtried to steal his head cov-ering.

He was also charged withassault in the fourth degree,disorderly conduct andcriminal trespass.

Hate crimes increased by40 per cent in Oregon from2016 to 2017, according tothe FBI.

In August 2018, in abouta week, two sikh men werebrutally assaulted in theUS State of California thatraised concerns over increas-ing incidents of hate crimesin the country.

Last year, the South AsianAmericans Leading Togeth-er (SAALT ) published areport documenting a 45 percent increase in hate vio-lence and rhetoric againstIndians, Sikhs, and SouthAsian Americans from theyear prior.

AFPLONDON, 20 JANUARY

British Prime Minister Theresa May's Downing Streetoffice said on Sunday thatreported plots for parliamentto seize control from the gov-ernment over Brexit were“extremely concerning”.

Downing Street blastedreported moves by lawmak-ers seeking to rewrite therules of the House of Com-mons in an attempt to takecontrol of the business ofthe lower chamber in orderto frustrate May's Brexit plans.

Groups of MPs are plan-ning to table such amend-ments this week, newspa-pers reported on Sunday.

“The British public votedto leave the European Unionand it is vital that elected politi-cians deliver upon that ver-dict,” a Downing Streetspokeswoman said.

“Any attempt to remove thegovernment's power to meetthe legal conditions of anorderly exit at this momentof historic significance isextremely concerning.

“This news should serveas a reminder to those MPswho want to deliver Brexit thatthey need to vote for it -- oth-

erwise there is a danger thatparliament could stop Brex-it.” May is due to spell out tolawmakers on Monday whather plans are now for Brexitfollowing MPs' overwhelm-ing rejection of the divorce dealagreed between London andBrussels.

Lawmakers are set to tablea series of various Brexitamendments this week totest their support in the Com-mons.

May was due to hold a con-ference call with senior min-isters to update them on hertalks with other political par-ties in the wake of last week'slandslide vote.

International Trade Sec-retary Liam Fox warned of a“political tsunami” if MPs

fail to deliver on the 2016 ref-erendum vote to leave the EU.

He also slammed peoplecalling for May to rule out ano-deal Brexit -- a key demandof the Labour main opposi-tion -- saying the “most stu-pid thing possible” in a nego-tiation is to “give away yourstrongest card”.

“Failure to deliver Brexitwould produce a yawninggap between parliament andthe people, a schism in ourpolitical system with unknow-able consequences,” Fox, asenior pro-Brexit cabinetminister, wrote in The Sun-day Telegraph newspaper.

“It is time for MPs to deliv-er on the promises they made.It is a matter of honour anda matter of duty.”

ASSOCIATED PRESSKINSHASA, 20 JANUARY

Congo’s election crisis deepenedearly Sunday when the Con-stitutional Court confirmedthe win of Felix Tshisekedi,rejecting claims of fraud, andrunner-up Martin Fayulupromptly declared himself thecountry’s “only legitimate Pres-ident.”

Fayulu’s supporters havealleged an extraordinary back-room deal by outgoing PresidentJoseph Kabila to rig the vote infavor of the opposition after theruling party’s candidate did sopoorly that a Plan B was need-ed. Neither side has acknowl-edged the accusations. Thecourt, however, said Fayuluoffered no proof to back his asser-tions that he had won easilybased on leaked data attributedto the electoral commission.Fayulu urged Congolese to taketo the streets to peacefullyprotest what he called “consti-tutional coup d’etat,” accusingthe court of validating falseresults. “It’s no secret ... that you

have elected me president,” hesaid. Neither Congolese northe international communityshould recognize Tshisekedi, norobey him, Fayulu added.

Tshisekedi said early Sundaythat the Constitutional Court’sdecision confirming him asthe winner of the presidentialelection was a victory for theentire country.

“It is Congo that won,” saidTshisekedi, speaking to his sup-porters after the court decision.“It is not the victory of onecamp against another. I amengaged in a campaign to rec-oncile all Congolese. ... TheCongo that we are going toform will not be a Congo of divi-sion, hatred or tribalism. It willbe a reconciled Congo, a strongCongo that will be focused ondevelopment, peace and secu-rity.” The largely untestedTshisekedi, son of the late,charismatic opposition leaderEtienne, is set to be inaugurat-ed on Tuesday. His supporterswho had gathered outside thecourt cheered. “It’s a shamethat Mr. Fayulu wants to stay iso-

lated,” Tshisekedi’s spokesman,Vidiye Tshimanga, told TheAssociated Press. He said the twomen once had been part of anopposition coalition demand-ing that Kabila step down. Thenew president will need every-one for the reconstruction of thecountry, Tshimanga said, asthe Congolese people have“suffered a lot in recent years.”

The court’s declaration cameshortly after the African Unionin an unprecedented moveasked Congo to delay announc-ing the final election results, cit-ing “serious doubts” about thevote. It planned to send a high-level delegation on Monday tofind a way out of the crisis, fear-ing unrest spilling across bor-ders of the vast Central Africannation. Congo’s governmentreplied it was up to the courts.The court turned away Fayu-lu’s request for a recount in theDec. 30 vote. Governmentspokesman Lambert Mendequickly acknowledged the court’sdecision, congratulatingTshisekedi as Congo’s fifth pres-ident.

IANSNEW YORK, 20 JANUARY

With an eye on polit-ical moderates,President DonaldTrump has offered

to bargain temporary status fornearly a million illegal immi-grants for the $5.7 million hewants in the budget for his bor-der wall, but the deal to end thepartial government shutdownwas shot down by the Demo-cratic Party leadership.

After swearing-in a groupof immigrants as citizens at theOval Office on Saturday, he saidhe would give a three-yearreprieve from deportation for7,00,000 young people whowere brought into the US as chil-dren and 300,000 illegal immi-grants from Nepal and certainother countries that have facednatural disasters or violentupheavals. He also promisedto pursue immigration reformsafter the shutdown crisis wasresolved and hold weeklybipartisan meetings to fashion"a great product, a product wecan be proud of".

Democrat leaders haveruled out any compromiseand insist on an end to the shut-down before there can benegotiations. Even before hespoke, Speaker Nancy Pelosirejected any proposal he wouldmake saying they would be a"non-starter".

The Democratic SenateMinority Leader ChuckSchumer called the proposals"ineffective and one-sided"

and accused him of takingthe one million as hostages.

The government remainedparalysed except for its vitalfunctions as the partial gov-ernment shutdown that enteredits 30th day on Sunday withmost government employeesgoing without their paycheckssince January 11 and nearly800,000 of them on temporarylayoff.

Trump has demanded thatthe budget should include$5.7 billion for his border bar-rier, which the Democrats,who control the House of Rep-resentatives, have refused.Because of the stalemate thereis no budget and no money formost government operations.

His first formal offer ofconcessions was aimed at themoderates in both parties whowere looking for a path tocompromise.

"It is time to reclaim ourfuture from the extreme voic-es who fear compromise and

demand open borders," hesaid. Some in his own party havealso opposed his proposal cit-ing the offer to extend tem-porary protection to someillegal immigrants.

Trump offered a scaled-down vision of the border wallthat he had promised in his elec-tion campaign, saying, "Thisis not a 2,000 mile concretestructure from sea to sea.These are steel barriers in highpriority locations."

Temporary permission tosay legally in the US that wasgiven to the 700,000 young peo-ple, dubbed "Dreamers" fortheir pursuit of the AmericanDream, expired in March andthe Trump administration didnot renew it. Another pro-gramme to allow people fromcertain countries affected byviolence or natural calami-ties like the Nepal earthquaketo stay on in the US is not beingrenewed. Democrats said thatsince Trump had ended these

programmes offering to rein-state them was not a com-promise. "Offering some pro-tections back in exchange forthe wall is not a compromisebut more hostage-taking,"Schumer said.

Trump also said that hewould introduce a system forpeople to apply for asylum intheir Central American homecountries, instead of comingto border and either applyingfor asylum or entering the USillegally. About 7,000 CentralAmericans who came in a car-avan through Mexico arecamped in squalor at the bor-der trying to enter US, strain-ing the resources of their hosttowns and another caravan ison its way. He described it asa "humanitarian and securi-ty crises".

Trump cast his efforts endillegal immigration as a com-passionate effort, saying itwould end the exploitation ofmigrants, especially womenand children, by the smugglerswho have been known toattack and rape them.

As for the US, he said theend to illegal immigrationwould prevent wages beingdepressed, the public servicesbeing strained and criminalsentering the country. He men-tioned an Indian-Americanpolice Corporal Ronil Singh,who was killed the day afterChristmas in California by anillegal immigrant.

He also said the borderbarrier would stop the drugsbeing smuggled across the

border. If there is a compro-mise, "we can start the borderproject of remaking our immi-gration system for the 21st cen-tury", Trump said.

He has said earlier that hewants to introduce a merit-based immigration systemsimilar to those of Canadaand Australia that could ben-efit Indian professionals whohave to wait as many as 10 yearsto get their green cards.

Two weeks ago, he hadtweeted, that those on tem-porary professional H1-B visas"can rest assured that changesare soon coming" that will putthem on "a potential path tocitizenship".

A master of marketing,Trump evoked the imagery ofpatriotism and the traditionsof welcoming legal immi-grants.

He went in the morning toan air force base to solemnlyreceive the bodies of fourAmericans killed by the Islam-ic State terrorists in Syria lastweek. One of the victims wasa Syrian-American woman.

And just before his speechhe held a ceremony for agroup of green card-holdersthat included a Muslim womanwearing a head cover to for-mally become US citizens.

On the other side, thou-sands participated in theWomen's March in Washing-ton and elsewhere that protest-ed Trump's immigration poli-cies in addition to demand-ing protection of women'srights.

Democrats reject Trump�sproposal to end shutdown

Sikh man attackedin hate crime in US

UK PM�s office says MPs� Brexitmoves �extremely concerning�

Mexico blast toll reaches 73

Tshisekedi declared DRC Prez, runner-up revolts

A woman holds a placard during a rally to protest against thepartial government shutdown at Federal Plaza in Chicago, theUnited States on Saturday. IANS

US president offers to bargain temporary status for nearly a million illegal immigrants

IANSTEHRAN, 20 JANUARY

Iranians demonstratedoutside the Swiss embassyin Tehran on Sunday toprotest against the deten-tion of an Iranian-Americanjournalist in Washington.

The protesters chanted"Free Marzieh Hashemi"and demanded that the USauthorities immediatelyrelease the journalist whoworks for Iran's Press TV,reports Xinhua news agency.

Hashemi, who has beenliving in Iran for years, wasdetained by the FederalBureau of Investigation(FBI) at the airport in St.Louis, Missouri, on January13 while making a familyvisit.

A federal US court orderconfirmed on Friday that shehad been arrested on a"material witness" warrantand had not been accusedof any crime.

Novel tech cleans water using bacteria

IANSKABUL, 20 JANUARY

Incumbent Afghan PresidentMohammad Ashraf Ghanion Sunday registered withthe Election Commission tocontest the presidentialpoll slated for July 20.

"Our objective is to havea strong government... Onlya strong government canovercome the prolonged40 year-old crisis and canensure justice in society tostabilise peace and securi-ty," the president said in aspeech after registering hiscandidacy. A total of 14politicians including ChiefExecutive Abdullah Abdul-lah, former National Secu-rity Advisor MohammadHanif Atmar and former war-lord Gulbudin Hekmatyarare in the fray, reports Xin-hua news agency.

Ghani to contestpresidential poll

Protest inTehran overUS detentionof journalist

Migrant caravan continuesto advance towards Mexico

Forensic personnel work at the site of a pipeline explosion inthe municipality of Tlahuelilpan, Mexico, on Sunday IANS

Capital: Baku

Currency: Azerbaijani manat

Ethnic group: Azerbaijani 91.6%, Lezghin 2%, Russian1.3%, Armenian 1.3%, Talysh 1.3%, other 2.4% (2009 est.).Note: the separatist Nagorno-Karabakh region is popu-lated almost entirely by ethnic Armenians

Languages: Azerbaijani (Azeri) (official) 92.5%, Russian1.4%, Armenian 1.4%, other 4.7% (2009 est.)

Religions: Muslim 96.9% (predominantly Shia), Christ-ian 3%, other <0.1, unaffiliated <0.1 (2010 est.)

Note: religious affiliation is still nominal in Azerbaijan; percentages for actual prac-tising adherents are much lower

Documents required are Original Passports with 6 months validity from date of trav-el, 2 Photos, Visa Application form, Covering letter mentioning the details of the visit,An invitation letter from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan (letter is validonly for one month), HIV test certificate, Air tickets, Copy of medical insurance cer-tificate (if a host does not undertake to pay for medical services), Invitation Letterproving the purpose of an invitation along with Govt ID proof, If tourist visa then TouristVoucher from receiving travel agency in Azerbaijan is required, copy of a birth cer-tificate, a permission of parents or a legitimate representative and copies of identifi-cation documents are required for issuance of visa for children under 18 years, if trav-elling without his/her parent or a legitimate representative, and Authorization Let-ter Attested for submission and collection of Application.

CULTURE

S KOREA

The artworks ofBangladeshi artistsare on display at an

exhibition at the KoreanCultural Centre, exploringthe place variously referredto as Bengal, East Pakistanor Bangladesh.

Co-curated by TanzimWahab and Hadrien Diez,the exhibition, titled Dis-place, has a total 11 bodies ofwork on display in variousforms, such as drawings,video installations and pho-tography.

Acclaimed photographerShahidul Alam has show-cased the various movementsof protest in Dhaka in the late1980s and early 1990s. This wasshot over a decade ago. Theseries was not conceived asa single, unified narrative: itillustrates a multi-facetedstruggle that continues eventoday, as recent events inBangladesh reflect.

Najmun Nahar Keya inher work called The Vibecomments on the shiftingecology of the old Dhaka

neighbourhood. It is now aplace in a state of flux wherecolonial mansions and ware-houses are rapidly beingreplaced with concrete tow-ers.

"The Korean Cultural Cen-tre is a appropriate place toportray various aspects ofBangladesh as Korea too hasseen terrible times," said KimKum-pyoung, Director ofKorean Cultural Centre India."KCCI intends to bring vari-ous exhibition practices fromSAARC countries to show-case this culturally vibrant

region,'' he said.Displace is structured

around various areas of dis-agreements, each framingquestions connected to thegeneral line of inquiry whilethey also open specific dis-cussions. It touches upontopics as urgent to Bengal andBangladesh as they are to theworld: shifting environment,migration, marginalisation,economic and/or culturalappropriation. The exhibi-tion further discusses relat-ed issues of borders and placeownership, and of utopian sen-

sibilities vis-à-vis forced dis-placements.

"We naturally felt thatour project would have totouch upon Bangladesh, theplace where we are active ascurators and where our prac-tice is rooted. At the same time,we were wary of the postcardeffect, under which we wouldpresent an exotic somewhereelse to foreign audience whileeschewing essential topicsthat would normally havefound place in other of our pro-jects. But we found a solution:we would discuss a place in

Bengal/Bangladesh, of whichmany historical and geo-graphical particulars wouldprovide a fertile ground forpolemics, while also dis-cussing place as a generalidea," said co-curators HadrienDiez and Tanzim Wahab.

Among the participant ingartists are: Tayeba BegumLipi, Afsana Sharmin Zhumpa,Ronni Ahmmed, MohammedShamsul Arifin, Zihan Karimand Bengal Institute for Archi-tecture Landscape and Set-tlement. The exhibition is onuntil 22 February.

MALAYSIA

SNS

Thirteen Malaysia-basedorganisations visited the Indi-an Capital for the Penang SalesMission 2019 with the objec-tive of promoting Penang asthe preferred destination forcorporate and associationmeetings, conferences, andleisure travel.

Led by Ashwin Gunasek-eran, Chief Executive Officerof the Penang Conventionand Exhibition Bureau (PCEB),the sales mission to New Delhiwas joined by Yeoh Soon Hin,Penang State Executive Coun-cillor for Tourism Develop-ment, Heritage, Arts and Cul-

ture."India is one of the top fivemarkets for business events inPenang and, over the pastyear, we have received encour-aging interest from event plan-ners and conference organis-ers. This mission is joined bysome of Penang's finest offer-ings in the hospitality, traveland events sectors, and willshowcase the best of whatPenang can offer to the Indi-an market," said Gunaseker-an.In 2017, 13 per cent of busi-ness events of Asia Pacific ori-gin was from India, con-tributing 46 million dollars. In2018, Penang's largest businessevent, V Con 2018, which sawthe participation of 16,000delegates from around theworld, reported that 80 per cent

of the delegates were fromIndia. In the past year, PCEBhas heavily invested in mar-keting Penang to India.

"I am very honoured torepresent the Penang stategovernment in this year'sPenang Sales Mission to India,here in New Delhi. Penang isa state in Malaysia and it hasbeen listed in various travel arti-cles among top ten cities tovisit," said Yeoh Soon Hin.

Capitalising on Penang's ris-ing popularity in India, thePenang Sales Mission to Indiaorganised in each of the fourcities it visited (Kolkata, NewDelhi, Bengaluru and Mum-bai), a business to businessengagement session with par-ticipating business

NEW DELHI, MONDAY 21 JANUARY 2019 13

WEATHER AND CLIMATEThe best time to visit Azerbaijan is during spring (March-June), when the weatheris warm and the foliage is in full bloom. The summer months (July-September) canbe oppressively hot and humid, particularly in the Capital, Baku, but they are alsothe best months to go hiking in the mountains. Although temperatures along theCaspian coastline remain mild throughout winter (November-February), the mer-cury dips well below freezing further inland. The mountains at this time of the yearare covered in snow and very treacherous. Though downpours do occur throughoutthe country, most of the rainfall is confined to the West.

SECULAR CELEBRATIONSThe New Year's holiday is celebrated on 1 January; 20 January commemorates thevictims killed by Soviet troops in Baku in 1990; 8 March is International Women'sDay and 21-22 March is Novruz (the New Year), an old Persian holiday celebrated onthe day of the vernal equinox. Novruz is the most distinctive Azeri holiday, accom-panied by extensive cleaning and cooking in homes. Other holidays are 9 May, Vic-tory Day (inherited from the Soviet period); 28 May, Day of the Republic; 9 October,Armed

FORCES DAY18 October, State Sovereignty Day; 12 November, Constitution Day; 17 November,Day of Renaissance; and 31 December, Day of Solidarity of World Azeris.

FOOD AND DRINKAzerbaijani food combines Turkish and central Asian elements. While Baku has anexcellent selection of international restaurants, from Japanese fusion to Italian, inmost rural restaurants the kebab is most definitely king. Azeris reckon their toma-toes are the best in the world and there is some justification for this. A special placein the cuisine also belongs to lamb kebabs, of which there are many different vari-eties. Sumac, a purple powder derived from dried berries, adds a zesty citron flavourto plainly grilled meat. Hand-cut chips, made from locally-grown potatoes, are excel-lent. Vegetarians will end up eating a great deal of salad and lentil soup as most dish-es contain meat. In the chaikhanas (tea houses), men linger for hours drinking sweetblack tea out of tiny glasses and playing nard (backgammon). Some of the speciali-ties are Lule kebab, Dograma, Piti, Qutab, Badimjan dolmasi, Dushpara, Toyuk lev-engisi, Shirin plov, Monastirski, Coban salatasi.

INDIAN PRESENCEThe Indian community in Azerbaijan comprises about 1000 persons, including pro-fessionals employed with international companies in the oil and gas sectors, six busi-nessmen engaged in commodities trading, catering and restaurant business and con-struction workers on short-term contracts.

COMMERCIAL RELATIONSOver the years, the bilateral trade has increased substantially from around US$ 50million in 2005 to around US$ 463 million in 2017. The primary import of India fromAzerbaijan is crude oil. The important items of direct and indirect imports from Indiaare: rice, machine parts and other plant equipment, drugs, clothes and textiles, meat,food stuff and tea.

TOTAL BILATERAL TRADE IS US $ 463 MILLION.Indian Investment in Oil and Gas Sector of Azerbaijan: The ONGC Videsh Limited(OVL) of India acquired shares worth US$ 1 billion in development project of theAzeri-Chirag-Gunashli (2.72%) oil field and the Baku-TbilisiCeyhan pipe line (2.36%)from US Company Hess in March 2013 and has established an office in Baku. TheGas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) signed a Memorandum of Understanding withthe State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) to jointly pursue LNG opportunitiesthrough capacity booking, LNG procurement and promotion of LNG projects glob-ally. Groundbreaking ceremony for Sun Pharma plant for production of solid con-sistency drugs in Sumgayit was held on 13 July, 2017. Economy Minister Shahin Mustafayevtook part in the ceremony. The plant will produce medicines for cardiology, nephrol-ogy, gastroenterology and diabetes.

VISA

Baku : Baku, the Capital city of Azerbaijan, lies along the Caspian Sea, and is a some-what curious mix of the old Walled City of Icheri Seher and a modern building crazethat has led a boom in skyscrapers, many of which are studded with LCD screens. Ofall of these, make sure that you don't miss the Flame Towers, three towers built toresemble fire that cast a bronzed glow over the city at night. The city also embracesthe modern at the Museum of the Contemporary Art that has over 900 artworks thatfeature up and coming artists from the region, and is well worth a visit for those inter-ested in modern culture.

Garasu Volcano : Many visitors to Azerbaijan may not know that the country has thehighest number of mud volcanoes in the world ~ 350 to be exact! One of the best knownis Garasu Volcano, that has been known to spew mud over 1,000 metres into the air.The volcanoes are caused when gases under the earth build up and push the mudhigh into the air as a release. Visitors to Garasu often say that it looks like the surfaceof the moon!

Sheki: Nestled at the foot of the southern Greater Caucasus Mountain is a place calledSheki. The town of 60,000 dates back 2,500 years, making it one of the oldest Cauca-sussettlements. Sheki's claim to fame for the millennia was silk, textiles and embroi-dery, which made it a significant point on the Silk Road. Today, the historical regionwith ancient mosques, castles and the 18th-century Palace of Sheki Khans form theforeground against the majestic green mountains. Other places are: Masazir lake(PinkLake), Icheri Seher, Absheron National Park, Naftalan Oil Resort, Gobustan NationalPark, Caspian Sea, Shirvan National Park, Nabran, Yanar Dag ~ Flaming Hillside, Atesh-gah Fire Temple, Yanar Bulag and Astara.

TOURIST ATTRACTIONS

Compiled by Kunal Jain (kunaljain@thestatesman.com)

AZERBAIJAN

Exhibition showcases Bangladesh

'India among top five markets for Penang'

RUSSIA

SNS

The Russian Embassy in theCapital last week hosted a'Masquerade Day' to usherin the New Year and celebratethe Russian Orthodox Christ-mas. The masquerade hasalready become a tradition-al and sought-after event inthe cultural and social life ofthe Indian Capital.

The function saw the pres-ence of prominent Indianpoliticians and public figures,representatives of the sci-entific and cultural elite,diplomatic community,famous businessmen, polit-ical scientists and journalists.

At the main hall of the mis-sion, decorated with a Christ-mas tree, the guests gottogether in bright costumes,portraying various colourfulcharacters. Many guests woremasks, veils and headgears.It was just difficult to recog-nise them. Young and old alikedanced as the Russian folk

group Lubo Milo played dif-ferent tunes.

Russian AmbassadorNikolay Kudashev, who per-sonally welcomed each andevery guest, said the Mas-querade Day was startednearly two decades back byhis famous predecessorAlexander Kadakin. It was hisprivilege to carry on the tra-dition.

Masquerade balls were afeature of the Carnival sea-son in the 15th century, andincreasingly celebrate alle-gorical Royal Entries, pageantsand triumphal processionscelebrating marriages andother dynastic events of latemedieval court life.

They were extended intocostumed public festivitiesin Italy during the 16th cen-tury Renaissance (Italian,maschera). Being held formembers of the upper class-es as generally elaboratedances, masquerade ballsbecame popular through-out mainland Europe in the17th and 18th centuries.

SNS

UK government officials lastweek visited New Delhi for talkswith the Indian Governmenton migration. The discussionssignalled a new phase of coop-eration and acted as a forumto discuss opportunities tostrengthen the bilateral rela-tionship.

The migration dialogueallowed UK government offi-cials to engage directly with theirIndian counterparts on theUK's plans for a new single,skills-based immigration sys-tem after Brexit. In addition,the UK delegation held round-table events with key figuresfrom the corporate, businessand education sectors in India,to gather insight and highlight

how the new system will ben-efit them.

Commenting on the talks,UK Immigration Minister Car-oline Nokes said, "The UK iscommitted to building rela-tionships across the globe,which is why officials visitedNew Delhiand met the Gov-ernment of India today.

"We already issue moreskilled worker visas to Indiannationals than to the rest of theworld combined, and I amdelighted to see many Indianstudents coming to study at ourworld-class universities.

"Under the new system,operating from 2021, we willalways be open to the bright-est and best from India, whowish to come to live and workin the UK."

The proposals for the skills-based based immigration sys-tem, operating from 2021, willallow people from across theworld to come to the UK forwork or to study and to visit.The UK government wants toencourage skilled workers tocome to live and work in theUK and has proposed to abol-ish the cap on its new skilledvisa route when the new sys-tem comes into effect in 2021.These proposals will meanthat there would be no limit onthe number of skilled people,such as engineers, doctors andIT professionals, who can cometo live and work in the UK.BritishHigh Commissioner SirDominic Asquith said,"Strengthening the UK-Indiamigration partnership is a pri-

ority for us. India is the first coun-try, outside of the EU, that theUK is consulting on its newmigration White Paper.

These talks are central todeveloping closer bilateralcooperation, with policies pro-moting skilled work and inter-national students playing amajor role in new UK propos-als. We'll also be continuing our

discussions on handling Indi-an nationals, who are in the UKillegally."We look forward toworking together with the Gov-ernment of India on the entiremigration relationship. Theexchange of business people,students and tourists forms theliving bridge between our twocountries and we want to makeit even stronger."

TOURISM

SNS

Japan Tourism Agency andMinistry of Tourism of Indiaorganised the 3rd India-JapanTourism Council and Summitin the Indian capital to discusstourism policies.

The event saw the partic-ipation of Kenji HiramatsuAmbassador of Japan to India,leaders of tourism-relatedorganisations, includingHiroshi Tabata, Commissioner,Japan Tourism Agency andSatoshi Seino, President, JapanNational Tourism Organisation.

"Considering the valuabletourism resources of eachcountry, there are good pos-sibilities for a greater touristexchange in the future. Inorder to achieve this goal, it isnecessary for both countriesto put the results of this meet-ing into concrete actions,"Ambassador Hiramtsu saidon the occasion.

From the Indian side,Yogendra Tripathi, Secretary,

Ministry of Tourism, and othertourism-related officials par-ticipated. The two sides dis-cussed challenges and mea-sures to expand bilateraltourism exchange.

"Through today's counciland summit, I hope tour oper-ators of both sides will sittogether and discuss way topromote two-way tourismand come up with concrete tourpackages. I would also like toexpect the expansion of flightsbetween Japan and India byairlines of both countries,through full utilisation of theopen sky agreement," theJapanese envoy added.

Following the council andthe summit, a reception washosted by JNTO at which a largenumber of tourism-relatedpeople from Japan and Indiaparticipated and interacted. Inaddition, many of the Japan-ese delegates joined the famil-iarisation tour organised by theMinistry of Tourism of India,to Assam and Meghalaya.

Masquerade Day celebrated with fanfare

India-UK discuss migration issue

India, Japan meet on tourism policies

Diplomatic Editor Ashok Tuteja (ashoktuteja@gmail.com)

No study done in Assam

There has been no detailed study by anyGovernment agency on the impact ofthe Citizenship (Amendment) Bill,reports the Assam Tribune.

The newspaper quoted “highlyplaced official sources” to say that whilesecurity agencies had warned the Gov-ernment on the possible fallouts includ-ing agitations by different organizations,the impact of the amendment on thesocio-political scenario of the State is yetto be ascertained. It quoted sources tosay that the Government does not havefigures of Hindus who entered Assamillegally after 1971, or even of those whofled persecution in the 1960s and duringthe Bangladesh liberation war.

Mizoram says noto Bill

Mizoram Chief Minister Zoram Thangahas told Prime Minister Narendra Modithat the people of the North-easternstate vehemently oppose the passage ofthe Citizenship (amendment) Bill, anofficial statement said last week.

The controversial bill, which hastriggered large-scale protests in theNorth-eastern states, including Mizo-ram, was passed by the Lok Sabha on 8January.

The statement said Zoram Thangahad discussed several issues, includingthe opposition to the proposed amend-ment on the Citizenship Act 1955, withthe Prime Minister.

20 detained nearDigboi

About 20 suspected Bangladeshis,including men, women and children,were held by local residents near Dig-boi, Assam on Friday and handed overto the police for verification of theirantecedents, reports The Sentinel.

The group was eating breakfast inan open paddy field in the Kathalguriarea when they were caught by local res-idents.

The newspaper quoted a police offi-cer as saying that the detained personswere working in a brick kiln along theArunachal Pradesh border.

Cong revival inArunachal

Two MLAs of the National People’s Partyin Arunachal Pradesh last week rejoinedthe Congress. Two former Ministers anda senior BJP leader also joined the party,signalling a change in its fortunes in thestate, according to news reports.

APCC President Takam Sanjay alsowelcomed the decision of former ChiefMinister Gegong Apang to quit the BJP.He was quoted as saying, “His decisionto quit, citing various issues, includingthe controversial Citizenship Amend-ment Bill (CAB), should be a wake-upcall for the state. This bill is against theinterests of Arunachal Pradesh and willmake our state a dumping ground ofrefugees.”

PLUS POINTS

NAVA THAKURIA

Various parts of northeastIndia, more precisely theBrahmaputra valley of Assam,are presently witnessing an

uproarious situation in the backdropof the Centre’s initiative to amend thecitizenship laws.

The region observed a Northeastbandh (shut down) on 8 Januaryprotesting the Union government’s bidto pass the Citizenship AmendmentBill in the Lok Sabha and readying itfor introduction in the Rajya Sabha.

Many political observers acrossthe country also start fantasisingabout another session of the historicAssam movement comprising morenortheastern localities under itsambit. The Assam agitation, whichstarted in 1979, culminated after sixyears with an accord signed by theagitators and the Union governmentin New Delhi in presence of the thenPrime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

The public uprising, which wasfor detection and deportation of allillegal migrants (read Bangladeshinationals) from Assam (meaningIndia), ended with a wrong resolution

to identify the immigrants with thecut-off date of 25 March 1971. Lead-ers of the All Assam Student’s Union(AASU) and now defunct Asom GanaSangram Parishad agreed to accepteveryone entering Assam prior to thedate as legal citizens.

The Assam movement had start-ed with the mission to deport all ille-gal migrants with the national cut-offyear (1951) for which over 850 peoplesacrificed their lives and thousandsothers suffered in different shape andsizes. More surprisingly, the accordwas never placed in Parliament for itsendorsement so that it could havebeen given legal status.

Now most of the civil societygroups and a large section of writers,artists and media stalwarts in theregion are hitting the streets opposingthe Centre’s move to grant citizenshipto the religious asylum seekers fromBangladesh, Pakistan andAfghanistan. They came out with aclear demand that the NarendraModi-led government’s move for thebenefit of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain,Parsi and Christian asylum seekersfrom the three neighboring countriesmust be abandoned. Their logicincludes that Indian citizenship can-not be conferred on the basis of reli-gion as it is a secular country and ifdone it would go against the spirit ofthe Constitution. The other view-point, which has been supported by95 per cent of protesting organisa-tions, argues that Assam has alreadytaken the burden of numerous illegalmigrants (from 1951 to 1971) and itmust not get more migrants as they

would destroy the State’s demographyand Assamese as a language.

The protest gained momentumlast year, when the Joint Parliamen-tary Committee (JPC) on the Citizen-ship (Amendment) Bill 2016 arrivedin Guwahati in May for hearings. Anumber of indigenous organizations,local politicians, intellectuals, mediapersonalities etc assembled at thevenue and raised their voice againstthe move. However, subsequent hear-ings in Silchar of Barak valley wit-nessed a different picture as most ofthe organisations supported the bill.

When the Lok Sabha passed thebill on 8 January, the anti-bill protestsgot escalated in northeast India.Assam’s Brahmaputra valley took thelead in the movement with a series ofdemonstrations. The local mediaspace remains full of anti-bill state-ments, news related to agitations andalso newspaper editorials and televi-sion talk shows.

But most of the public debateshave lately been influenced by Assam’smost powerful minister HimantaBiswa Sarma where he repeatedlycommented that the citizenshipamendment initiatives would onlybenefit the Assamese population andfew anti-Assam forces (read Naxal/Leftists) continued crying against theamendment bill. In a recent tweet,Sarma stated that the Left elementsalways use character assassinationand intimidation as their tactics, butthis would never succeed in changinghis views on the bill. “They want us tobe slaves of a particular civilization(read Islamic). However, in this civili-

sational fight, we must win. Assam andIndia must win,” he added. In variouspublic discourses, Sarma openly sug-gested that Assamese people shouldsupport the non-Muslim asylum seek-ers from Bangladesh to safeguard theirpolitical, social and cultural rights inAssam.

Expressing his serious concernover the aggressive mentality ofBangladeshi Muslims in the State,Sarma asserted that the said bill, ifpassed in the upper house of Parlia-ment, would be able to preventAssam from becoming another Kash-mir. As the bill is designed to protectthe Hindus in the country, it wouldfinally safeguard the identity ofindigenous populace of Assam as wellnortheast India. However, AASUalong with its 30 other civil societyorganizations continue warning thegovernment that if the bill is passedin Rajya Sabha, Assam would burn.AASU adviser Samujjal Bhattacharjyain various public meetings comment-ed that the BJP-led governments inboth New Delhi and Dispur werehatching conspiracies to destroy thepeaceful ambience of the State as thebill would destroy the prospects ofAssamese language and also threat-en the very existence of indigenouspeople across Assam.

Lately Meghalaya chief ministerConrad Sangma and Mizoram chiefminister Zoram Thanga, both withthe National Democratic Alliance,have publicly raised their voiceagainst the bill. Even Manipur chiefminister N Biren Singh fromBharatiya Janata Party has expressed

his concern over the probable nega-tive implications of the initiative inhis State. Similarly, the ruling ally toTripura’s BJP led government (IPFT)has also opposed the bill.

Amidst all opposition, Assamchief minister Sarbananda Sonowalcame out with strong logic to supportthe bill. Remaining silent over thematter for months, Sonowal recentlymade his comment loud and clearthat those who opposed the Assamagitation were now making a hue andcry against the bill. He insisted thatthe Centre’s initiative would neverharm the local population, but bene-fit them in the long term.

Sonowal categorically stated thata section of vested interests was hellbent on creating disturbances inAssam by spreading misinformationthat 1.90 crore Bangladeshis wouldget citizenship as an outcome of thebill. Being the son of the soil he wouldnever endorse any harm to theindigenous people of the State.

Arguing that the Centre’s recentsteps to provide constitutional safe-guard to the indigenous people andgranting ST status to six communitiesof Assam would permanently secureinterests of the locals, Sonowal urgedleaders of AASU, AGP (which hasrecently snapped ties with the gov-ernment over the issue) and distin-guished personalities to wholeheart-edly extend cooperation in imple-mentation of clause VI of the Assamaccord.

The writer is the Guwahati-based Special Representative of The Statesman.

RANGAN DUTTA

Established in 1784 under theguidance of Sir William Jones,the great pioneer of the disci-pline of Indology who laid

down a broad mandate to the AsiaticSociety Calcutta to ensure that its workcovered all aspects of life and nature,the society’s interest in the eastern fron-tier of the Bengal Presidency, that is,North East India and Burma began soonafter extension of British power to thisvast region. Its pioneering studies of Garoand Lushei language and studies on cul-tures of the Brahmaputra valley andadjoining Hills and Manipur createdamong the people, especially amongthe Hill Tribes, a cultural base for socialcohesion and identity formation in themodern era.

It is heartening to note that

under Dr. SB Chakrabarti, the soci-ety’s present General Secretary whohad earlier served as an anthropolo-gist in Shillong, North-east studieshave been accorded a well deservedpriority in the society’s programme.

This is evident from several ini-tiatives: first, the institution of theK.K. Handique Memorial Lecture toremind the present generation of thework of a great scholar and second,its sponsorship of the seminar atGuwahati’s Anundoram BarooahInstitute of Language Art and cultureon the contribution of AnundoramBarooah, a great scholar and admin-istrator.

It is not known to many even inthe North-east that AnundoramBarooah joined the Indian Civil ser-vice in 1872 along with RC.Dutt, alsoa scholar administrator, on being

selected through the open competi-tive examination and was the firstIndian to be appointed to the post ofthe District Magistrate and Collector.

Next, the Society has been spon-soring on regular basis colloquiumseminars across the North-east on awide range of subjects - from histori-cal, anthropological to strategic issuesof development and peace building.The seminars sponsored in Decem-ber last year at the Diphu campus ofthe Assam University Silchar on “68years of the Sixth Schedule of theIndian Constitution”, on “ethnogra-phy, historiography and North East”at the Manipur University and on“historiography of the North Eastregion - pre colonial, colonial andpost colonial” at the Gauhati Univer-sity are commendable efforts towardsa greater understanding of the com-

plex history of the North-east. However nothing possibly could

sum up better the mission and func-tioning of the society in the North-east than the title of the subject thesociety’s General Secretary, Dr.Chakrabarti, chose as the subject todeliver the second GangmumeiKamei Memorial lecture at Imphal on6 January - “ Humane journey intothe Nature of Human culture’. How-ever in the backdrop of the continu-ing tragedy of hapless miners trappedin Meghalaya’s “rat hole mines” - anational shame really - it is necessarythat a hard look is given by institu-tions like the Asiatic Society to theentire issue of changing land relationsin Tribal areas and the impact of cap-italism, that is, for profit only activi-ties by the new class of tribal capital-ists on tribal economy and society.

In this background the decisionof the society to observe the 75thanniversary of the formation of theAzad Hind Government and the INAby Netaji Subhas at Singapore byhosting a two-day international sem-inar on 11 December 2018 may beseen as an initiative to engage in larg-er issues of nation-building andgeopolitical and economic issues ofmodern Asian history because theINA movement inspired freedommovements among all oppressedpeoples of South East Asia then undercolonial rule.

There were five Academic ses-sions covering the formation of theINA and the Azad Hind Governmentunder Netaji, the role of Japan, WorldWar II strategies and the conduct ofwar in Manipur and Assam by adver-saries and the role of women in theINA. Prominent Netaji scholars likeProf Purabi Roy, Prof Chitra Ghose,Maj Gen (Retd) GD Bakshi and Brig(Retd) Chhikara of the INA Netaji Sub-hash Trust Delhi and especially thepresentations of two Russian scholars- Prof T. Zagorodnikova and Dr.Anne A

Bychkova - made the audience awareof the Russian perception of the INAmovement and its impact on Asia andIndia’s North-east and how it awak-ened the Naga and the Manipuri peo-ple about their political rights. Theseminar brought out the huge supportthe Kuki people offered to INA forwhich they as well as many Nagas andManipuris suffered and little knownfacts about grant of INA pension to160 Kukis, several Assamese and 150Gurkhas in the INA.

A consensus emerged that therole of the INA and its Netaji has tobe contextualised and not in isola-tion: and rather seen as the successfuleffort to take advantage of Britan’s dif-ficulty in World War II to achieve free-dom launched by Netaji SubhasChandra Bose by obtaining supportof the Axis powers with consummatediplomatic skills backed by a strategywhich was not seen in India before.Here we must note that this was alsothe strategy of the Indian revolution-aries like Lala Hardayal and M.N. Royduring World war I as documented inthe chapter on German conspiraciesin the Rowlatt Report.

For the British it was a pyrrhicvictory as the massive unrest in thearmed forces across the country theINA movement caused after the wardestroyed the British adminitrativewill to rule any longer - a fact conced-ed later by Clement Atlee, the BritishPrime Minister of that period. Indeed,but for Netaji and the INA all ourefforts to gain Independence afterWorld War I might as well appearineffective in really weakening, not tospeak of destroying the British “ willto rule”. And herein lies the strategicrole of Netaji as he gave the freedommovement the character of an armedstruggle. Netaji Subhas was India’sGaribaldi.

The writer is a retired IAS officer of the Assam-Meghalaya cadre.

Bringing the N-E into focusNorth-east studies have been accorded priority inthe programmes of the Asiatic Society

The CitizenshipAmendment Billhas brought tothe fore seriousfissures in the North-east

A region erupts in anger14 NEW DELHI, MONDAY 21JANUARY 2019

15NEW DELHI, MONDAY 21 JANUARY 2019

I have to say that I’m extremely angry because thisdefeat against Arsenal was due to our mentality

MAURIZIO SARRICHELSEA MANAGER

Arsenal manager fuels DenisSuarez signing hopes: Arsenal

manager Unai Emery gave hope

to fans on Saturday that the Lon-

don club are trying to find a way

to bring in Barcelona midfielder

Denis Suarez in the January trans-

fer window. The club has been

widely reported in the British media to be keen to sign the 25-year-

old Spaniard, whom Emery worked with previously at Sevilla. Yet

the Gunners are thought to have little money to play with, partly

due to their high wage bill, meaning a loan deal could be on the

cards. At a news conference after Arsenal�s 2-0 victory over Lon-

don rivals Chelsea, Emery was asked whether the club was any

closer to securing Suarez�s services. He declined to name the play-

er but added: �I know the club is working with different possibilities

if (it) can help us for these four months for our competition.�

Asked directly whether Suarez might even be with the side in time

for their FA Cup fourth-round match against old foes Manchester

United on Jan. 25, Emery said only that he would be glad if a player

could reinforce the squad. �I know it�s a difficult window for the

transfer market and if a player is coming to help us I am happy.

But the club is doing that and I am going to wait,� he said.

Pak drop 11 players from World Cup side: Pakistan selectors

Sunday effected a wholesale change in the country's hockey

squad for the FIH Pro-League series beginning next month by

dropping 11 players, including captain Muhammad Rizwan, who

were part of the team's disastrous campaign in the recent World

Cup. After trials held in Islamabad, chief selector Islahuddin Sid-

diqui announced Sunday that captain Muhammad Rizwan (Sr) and

10 other players, mostly seniors, were dropped from the team.

Midfielder Ali Shan will lead the new-look 18-member Pakistan

squad for the Pro-League series in Argentina, Australia, New

Zealand and European countries in the coming six months. The 25-

year-old has so far represented the country in 135 international

matches. Pakistan had finished 11th without winning a single

match at the 16-nation World Cup held in Bhubaneswar during

November-December last year. Then manager Hasan Sardar had

held the senior players responsible for the team's miserable show

in the mega event.

Haryana beat Jharkhand to win gold in U-21 Girls Hockey: Play-

ingto a plan, Haryana beat Jharkhand3-0 to win the U-21 Girls

Hockey gold in the Khelo India Youth Games on Sunday In Pune.

Earlier Punjab beat Odisha2-1 for the third place. Haryana, who led

2-0 at half time, attacked well and defended their citadel effi-

ciently giving Jharkhand no chance to create any serious problem

from them. Yet, Jharkhand fought till the end, a media release

said. The winners took the lead in the 10thminute when Mahima

Chowdhary struck. Seven minutes before the second half,

Haryana struck again and this time Amandeep Kaur made a solo

run from the left and with a super reverse shot beat the onrush-

ing goalkeeper to send the ball into the cave.

Japan's Olympic chief 'did not know' of lobby firm's links tocontroversial middle man, say investigators: The head of

Japan's Olympic Committee told French investigators he had not

known that a consultancy firm used by the 2020 Tokyo bid com-

mittee had links to a controversial Senegalese man at the centre

of corruption allegations, documents seen by AFP show.

Tsunekazu Takeda was charged this month by French investigat-

ing magistrates probing two payments totalling $2.3 million (two

million euros) made before and after the Japanese capital was

chosen to host the Olympics in a September 2013 vote. Officially

the payments, made in July and October 2013, were made for

"consultancy work", but the French investigators believe they

were aimed at obtaining "favourable votes from members of the

International Olympic Committee (IOC)".

THUMBNAILS

AGENCIESLONDON, 20 JANUARY

Arsenal blew the race for a top-four Premier League finishwide open as first-half goals fromAlexandre Lacazette (in photo,centre) and Laurent Koscielnysaw the Gunners beat Chelsea2-0 at the Emirates Stadium.

Chelsea remain in pole posi-tion for a return to ChampionsLeague football next season infourth, but are now just threepoints ahead of Arsenal and asurging Manchester United,who beat Brighton earlier on Sat-urday to stretch caretaker man-ager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer'swinning streak to seven gamesin all competitions.

Maurizio Sarri's men riskbeing caught after a fourthdefeat in 11 league matches thatunderlined the need for a strik-er, as the club close in on sign-ing Gonzalo Higuain on loanfrom Juventus.

Sarri again opted to start with-

out a recognised centre-forward,with a largely anonymous EdenHazard preferred in middle ofa front three against an Arse-nal defence that had kept justone Premier League clean sheetsince September.

By contrast Arsenal bossUnai Emery's selection wasvindicated, with Mesut Ozil onthe bench for the whole matchand a switch to a 4-4-2 thatallowed Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to forma potent partnership up front.

Aubameyang should haveopened the scoring after just fiveminutes when perfectly pickedout by Lacazette's low cross, buthe dragged his shot wide.

Kepa Arrizabalaga then pro-duced a brilliant save to denyKoscielny from point-blankrange, but it counted for littleas from the resulting 14th-minute corner Arsenal took adeserved lead.

Lacazette did well to stay onhis feet as he skipped past Mar-

cos Alonso and Pedro Rodriguezbefore smashing the ball pastKepa at his near post.

Aubameyang should havedoubled Arsenal's lead momentslater but fired too close to Kepawhen clean through.

Chelsea's start was horriblyreminiscent of the 3-1 defeat atTottenham in November thatbegan their dip in form after afine start to Sarri's reign atStamford Bridge. However,Arsenal's defence remainedvulnerable when put underpressure and Pedro could havelevelled when his lob overBernd Leno shaved the outsideof the post. Aubameyang cameclose again, this time in spec-tacular fashion with an overheadkick that flew inches wide withKepa beaten. Chelsea wererepeatedly caught out by Arse-nal's well-worked set-piecesand paid for it again, albeit infortunate fashion for the Gun-ners, six minutes before thebreak. Sead Kolasinac headed

down Lucas Torreira's free-kick into the path of SokratisPapastathopoulos and his cross

picked out the unmarkedKoscielny. The Arsenal captainmistimed his header, but the ball

bounced in off his shoulder forhis first goal since he rupturedhis Achilles in April.

Arsenal beat toothless Chelsea to blow Champions League chase open

AGENCIESMADRID, 20 JANUARY

Casemiro's (in photo,right) stunning long-range strike and a lategoal from Luka Mod-

ric earned Real Madrid a 2-0 winover Sevilla and a much-need-ed boost to their flailing title chal-lenge in La Liga.

Madrid began the day 10points adrift of leaders Barcelona,a gap that will be restored if theCatalans defeat Leganes onSunday, but this victory shouldinject a timely shot of confidence.

Casemiro's bending effortin the 78th minute and Mod-ric's injury-time finish settleda compelling contest of thirdagainst fourth but Madrid weredominant in the second half and,in the end, deserved the points.

It means they move aboveSevilla and behind AtleticoMadrid, who stay second afterrunning out 3-0 winners awayat bottom-club Huesca.

Diego Simeone's side remainBarca's most tenacious chal-lengers but for Real, this was theirmost impressive result in weeks,following a run of only twowins from five matches.

“Beating your direct rivalsis always worth more thanthree points,” coach SantiagoSolari said afterwards. “Thecelebration for our first goal waspure joy.”

Madrid had been thrashedby Sevilla in September, a 3-0loss that triggered a run of onevictory in seven games, theseventh culminating in JulenLopetegui being sacked.

Solari sparked a brief revivalbut performances had slumpedagain. This was more like it, apurposeful display led by Mod-ric, who played first with abandage and then stitches toprotect a cut eye.

“He was outstanding,” Solarisaid. “Considering he played witha cut, and stitches, he is a fight-er. The fact he scored in the lastminute shows his spirit and thespirit of the team.”

Sevilla had gone top in

November when Barca were alsostuttering but doubts remainabout their sturdiness underpressure. In their last 28 visitsto the Santiago Bernabeu andCamp Nou, they have now lost27 and drawn one.

“The biggest games hit younot only physically but men-tally too,” Sevilla coach Pablo

Machin said. “I have always saidthere would be moments thisseason where we were notplaying so well.” Isco again start-ed on the bench, along withthe struggling Marcelo, whileGareth Bale was absent as hecontinues to recover from a calfstrain.

Vinicius Junior was Madrid's

brightest spark in the first halfand could have scored earlyafter Modric robbed EverBanega in midfield but theteenager's shot was saved eas-ily by Tomas Vaclik. Sevillagrew in confidence and had thebest chance before the inter-val as one pass sent WissamBen Yedder racing clear on the

counter-attack.Madrid's defenders

sprawled to track the runnersbut Sergio Escudero arrived lateon the left and only had ThibautCourtois to beat. He drilled intothe side-netting.

Modric's head was ban-daged after a collision withFranco Vazquez while his teamwere much improved in the sec-ond half. Vinicius' shot wasblocked, Modric curled overand Dani Carvajal weavedthrough. Dani Ceballos' bend-ing effort even rattled thecrossbar, with Vaclik tappingit afterwards in gratitude.

Isco came on with 14 min-utes left and shortly afterMadrid finally found the break-through. Casemiro collectedthe ball 25 yards out, lookedup and sent it soaring towards

the left-hand corner. Vaclikdived but a weak right handcould only help it in.

Sevilla, pegged back for solong, never looked like switch-ing the momentum and Mod-ric wrapped up the win ininjury time. Daniel Carricowas at fault, caught in pos-session by the Croatian, whofinished like a striker beforewheeling away, roaring to thehome fans in relief.

Atletico's victory overHuesca, who are now 10 pointsadrift of safety, was never indoubt.

Santiago Arias' volley wasthe pick of the goals at a foggyAlcoraz Stadium, as he drovein Antoine Griezmann's crossto the back post. Lucas Her-nandez and Koke made sureof a comfortable win.

Casemiro wonder goal helpsReal Madrid defeat Sevilla

AGENCIESNEW DELHI, 20 JANUARY

Indian tennis player AnkitaRaina (in photo) on Sundaywon her first singles title ofthe 2019 season and eighthoverall after trampling topseed Arantxa Rus in straightsets in the final of the USD25,000 event in Singapore.

Coming into the tourna-ment after competing at theAustralian Open Qualifiers,Ankita demolished worldnumber 122 and the Dutchtop seed 6-3 6-2 in one hourand 23 minutes.

Ankita toppled four seed-ed players in the tourna-ment starting with Dutcheighth seed Lesley Kerkhovein the second round.

The gritty 25-year-old fol-lowed that up with wins oversecond seed Uzbek SabinaSharipova and third seedConny Perrin from Switzer-land.

The 50 points earned fromthe title triumph are likely tocatapult Ankita to a career-high singles rank of 168 whenthe new WTA list is issued onMonday.

“I've been working on myserve for a long while now andI think it's starting to help. Ialso feel there's more powerin the strokes. It definitelyhelped playing the GrandSlam as the first tournamentof the year. It gave a lot of pos-itivity and self belief,” Anki-ta told PTI from Singapore.

“Even though I was a bitdisappointed that I didn'tqualify for the Australian

Open since I expected thatbut I was grateful that I hadreached where once I usedto imagine I would be play-ing.”

It is Ankita's fourth title atthe USD 25k level and the oth-ers were at the USD 10,000level. Last year she won twotitles -- Gwalior (25k) andNonthaburi (25k).

The Asian Games bronzemedallist said the changesmade to the circuit havemade even the USD 25k tour-naments much tougher.

“This tournament, eventhough it was 25k event, wasa tough competition as all thequalifying players from Mel-bourne were here and alsothe last (in entry) was 250thranked. I played seeded play-ers from the second rounditself and saw a lot of thingsthat I was working on withmy coach (Hemant Bendre)a few days ago.

“There were a few thingsthat I needed to work onmentally which I am happyI could work with my coachas he was around before thetournament. He eventuallyleft after the first round matchdue to other commitmentsback home.

“Also the things I am work-ing for the last six months arepaying off. In fact, we wereworking on it in the Aus-tralian open and will con-tinue,” she added.

Ankita will play two moretournaments before gear-ing up for the Fed Cup, start-ing in the first week of Feb-ruary at Astana, Kazakhstan.

Ankita wins first singles titleof 2019 season in Singapore

AGENCIESPUNE, 20 JANUARY

HostsMaharashtra walkedaway with the Overall Tro-phy at the Khelo India YouthGames, as they amassed amammoth 85 gold, 62 silverand 81 bronze for a total of228 medals.

Their sportspersons andofficials received the tro-phy from Union MinisterPrakash Javadekar and Maha-rashtra Sports Minister VinodTawde at the closing cere-mony here, a media releasesaid. Javadekar said the per-formances of the athletes atthe Games had underlinedthe Prime Minister Naren-dra Modi's idea of “5minuteaur” for sports.

He added that the gov-ernment was determinedto bring in a compulsory one-hour daily sports period inevery school across the coun-try.

Tawde said he wantednot just five minutes, but 50minutes and encouraged

all the sportspersons.Maharashtra finished

ahead of Khelo India SchoolGames 2018 winnersHaryana, who were secondwith 62 gold, 56 silver and60 bronze for a total of 178medals.

Delhi stood third with48 gold, 37 silver and 51bronze, a tally of 136 medals.

On the final day, 15 goldmedals were at stake, ofwhich eight were in archery.

Hosts Maharashtra, Jhark-hand and Haryana pickedtwo each while Delhi andPunjab got one each.

Haryana asserted them-selves in hockey, winning thegirls Under-21 final to taketheir third gold in hockeyfrom four finals, while UttarPradesh, West Bengal, TamilNadu and Kerala won goldeach in volleyball.

Manush Shah of Gujaratemerged the singles cham-pion in Under-21 table ten-nis, while Saubhi Patwari ofWest Bengal won the GirlsUnder-21 singles.

Khelo: Maharashtra with 228medals win overall trophyAGENCIES

LOS ANGELES, 20 JANUARY

Five-time major championPhil Mickelson (in photo,left) fired six birdies in a six-under par 66 to maintain histwo-shot lead in the US PGATour Desert Classic.

The 48-year-old Ameri-can heads into Sunday's finalround chasing a 44th US PGATour title and his third in thisevent in the California deserteast of Los Angeles.

His 22-under par total of194 put him two strokes clearof Canadian Adam Hadwin,who fired a bogey-free seven-under par 65 for 196.

Mickelson -- who launchedhis week with a sparkling 60on the La Quinta course, oneof three in use this week -- kepthis foot on the accelerator onthe tougher Stadium courseon Saturday, where a chip-inat the sixth hole launched astring of three straight birdies.

“Every now and then youjust need that putt, chip,something to fall and give youa little momentum,” Mickel-son said.

He was one stroke behindHadwin's clubhouse leadwhen he rolled in a 34-foot-er for birdie at the 13th andregained the lead when hedrained an 11-footer at the14th.

A brilliant shot from agreenside bunker at the par-five 16th gave him anotherbirdie look but Mickelsonwas unable to capitalize.

But he picked up anoth-er stroke with a 36-foot birdieputt at the par-three 17thbefore capping his roundwith a par.

“I gave myself a lot ofchances,” Mickelson said. “Imissed a few short putts thatI've been making for a while,but I also made a couple oflong ones.” Hadwin fired his65 on the Nicklaus course.

The Canadian is nostranger to strong perfor-mances in the Desert. Hefired a 59 in the third roundon the La Quinta layout on theway to a runner-up finish in2017, and finished tied for thirdlast year.

Hadwin, seeking a sec-ond US PGA Tour title to go

with his 2017 Valspar Cham-pionship crown, said hisbogey-free day, which saw himhit 12 of 14 fairways and 16of 18 greens in regulation, was“as stress-free as possible”.

“A couple putts went in onthe back nine and here I amhaving a chance again onSunday,” he said.

One-under through hisfirst six holes, he birdied halfof the remaining 14.

“I was playing one of theeasier golf courses, so I knewI had to keep the pedal down,”Hadwin said.

“And, again, it was kind ofa slow-ish start, but I've donethat the first three rounds nowand then just kind of caughtfire midway.”

Hadwin was one stroke infront of American Adam Long,who had two eagles in a nine-under par 63 at La Quinta.American Steve Marino wasa further stroke back on 198after a 67 on the Nicklaus Tour-nament course.

Mickelson said he'd stayaggressive when they returnto the Stadium course onSunday.

Mickelson maintains two-shot lead in Desert Classic

IANSBERLIN, 20 JANUARY

Germany's Bundesliga lead-ers Borussia Dortmund won1-0 at RB Leipzig with a soli-tary goal from Belgium's AxelWitsel to maintain a six-point lead over BayernMunich and a nine-pointlead over third-placed Borus-sia Moenchengladbach.

Dortmund on Saturdaycame into the game withseveral heavy casualties. Themost significant was that oftheir captain Marco Reus,and with their striker PacoAlcacer not in full physicalshape so he was only on thefield in the final minutes,reports Efe news.

However, Dortmund man-aged to impose their domi-nance on the game in the firsthalf and when Leipzig react-ed they were able to defendtheir win.

The duel had a first phasewith clear domination ofDortmund who were in com-

mand of the ball and spentmost time in the half of theirrival.

That dominance wastranslated into a goal in the19th minute when Axel Wit-sel broke the balance with aright leg shot from insidethe area after a corner kickby Raphael Guerreiro thatLukasz Piszczek prolongedwith a header.

Leipzig, around the 30thminute, showed some reac-tion and began to shake offthe domination of Dortmundand increased the intensityin the individual duels for theball.

At the start of the secondhalf, Leipzig had a goodchance at the feet of MarcelSabitzer in the 48th minute,but Dortmund's goalkeeperRoman Buerki reacted intime. Leipzig's best chancein the second half came in the74th minute when, again,Sabitzer shot from close rangebut hit straight against Buer-ki's body.

Dortmund down Leipzig 0-1,stay on top of Bundesliga

16NEW DELHI, MONDAY 21 JANUARY 2019

Postal Reg. No. DL (ND)-II/6088/2018/-19-20www.thestatesman.comFor more updates

Printed and published by SHIVAJI SAMADDAR for THE STATESMAN LTD, Statesman House, 148 Barakhamba Road, New Delhi ��Editor: RAVINDRA KUMAR ��Executive Editor: USHA MAHADEVAN ��Printed at Vibha Publication Pvt Ltd, D-160 B, Sector 7, NOIDA 201301 (UP). ��The Statesman Ltd. RNB REG. No. M-8905,RNI No. 507/57

LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON Michael Schumacher's son Mick has followed in his father's footsteps by signing

a contract with Ferrari to join the Formula One team's young driver academy.The 19-year-old German, whose father won five of his record seven champi-

onships with the Italian team, will be competing in Formula Two this year afterwinning the European F3 title in 2018. "I am thrilled that Ferrari has entered a part-nership with me and my next future in motorsport will be in red," said Schumach-er. "This is another step forward in the right direction, and I can only profit from the

immense amount of expertise bundled there. Be sure I will make everything to extractwhatever helps me achieve my dream, racing in Formula One. "It is more than obvious

that Ferrari has a big place in my heart since I was born and also in the hearts of our fam-ily, so I am delighted on a personal level about this opportunity as well," added the German.

AGENCIESMLEBOURNE, 20 JANUARY

Defending championRoger Federer (inphoto, left) wasstunned by fiery Greek

Stefanos Tsitsipas who endedhis bid for a record seventh Aus-tralian Open on Sunday on a dayof upsets that also saw secondseed Angelique Kerber crash out.

The Swiss master caved inunder the energy and pres-sure of a man 17 years hisjunior to tumble out 6-7 (11/13),7-6 (7/3), 7-5, 7-6 (7/5) in thelast 16 on Rod Laver Arena.

World number two Kerberwas also sensationally bun-dled out by a woman playingthe event for the first time, withAmerican Danielle Collinshumiliating the Wimbledonchampion 6-0, 6-2 in under anhour.

The man Federer beat in lastyear's final, sixth seed Marin Cilic,was also sent packing by Spain'sRoberto Bautista Agut, whonow plays Tsitsipas in the quar-ter-finals.

Five-time Grand Slam win-ner Maria Shaparova was anoth-er to fall, but there was no suchdrama for a rampant RafaelNadal who powered into the lasteight with a straight sets win overTomas Berdych.

Federer was gunning for a21st Grand Slam title but hada battle on his hands from offagainst the 20-year-old, tout-ed among the new generationof young stars as a future cham-pion.

“I'm the happiest man onEarth right now, I cannotdescribe it,” said the 14th seed,who is the first Greek in historyto reach the quarter-finals ofa Slam.

“I've been idolising him(Federer) since the age of six.

It was a dream come true forme just being on Rod Laver fac-ing him. Winning at the end,I can't describe it.” The Swissgreat was gracious in defeat,saying “I lost to a better play-er who was playing very well,who hung in there and stayed

calm”.Wimbledon winner and

2016 champion Kerber, thebookies' favourite along withSerena Williams after defend-ing champion Caroline Woz-niacki was ousted early, was nomatch for Collins, ranked 35

in the world.Collins is little known after

playing much of her tennis inthe US college system andwas making her debut in themain draw at Melbourne Park.She had never won a GrandSlam match before this year.

Men's second seed Nadal,returning from foot surgery, bar-relled past former world num-ber four Tomas Berdych 6-0,6-1, 7-6 (7/4) as he stays on trackfor an 18th Grand Slam title.He will play world number 39Frances Tiafoe for a place in thesemi-finals after the youngAmerican celebrated his 21stbirthday by grinding his waypast Grigor Dimitrov 7-5, 7-6(8/6), 6-7 (1/7), 7-5.

Love match: Everyone's crazyfor Monfils and Svitolina

A blossoming romance betweennew tennis power couple ElinaSvitolina and Gael Monfils hasfans baying for more, with thepair obliging by setting up a jointInstagram account.

Ukrainian sixth seed Svi-tolina revealed last week thatshe is dating French star Mon-fils after he was spotted in herplayer box at the AustralianOpen. “He's there for me, he'ssupporting me, and I'm therefor him as well,” she said.

“He understands, I under-stand, what we're going through.It's great.” The news sent social

media into overdrive and thepair have now launched a jointInstagram account 'g.e.m.s life'- Gael Elina Monfils Svitolina -- which quickly racked up thou-sands of likes. The pair posteda video montage of the two ofthem going about their daily livestogether and did a Q&A with fans.

Asked who initiated therelationship, they put up a pic-ture pointing at each other.

Australian player DariaGavrilova called for other big-name tennis couples to followsuit in a post of the site.

“I wanna see Stan Wawrin-ka and Donna Vekic get a jointaccount and also DominicThiem and Kristina Mladenovic,”she said.

Federer knocked out by Tsitsipas

AGENCIESKARACHI, 20 JANUARY

Pakistan Cricket Board willset up an inquiry to find outthe reasons behind the nation-al team's poor performance inthe recent three-Test seriesagainst South Africa, said itschairman Ehsan Mani.

Pakistan suffered a 0-3defeat to South Africa in the Testseries and Mani said thatrecent results are disappoint-ing and understandably crick-et fans were also upset with theTest performances.

Talking to the media inIslamabad, Mani said thatafter the tour to South Africais over, the PCB would have aninquiry into the team's poor

Test performances.“No doubt everyone is dis-

appointed with the way ourteam played in the Test seriesin South Africa. We will doour best to find out the caus-es of defeat by holding an in-depth inquiry,” Mani said.

Pakistan was whitewashedby the South Africans andbefore that they lost a three-match Test series to NewZealand in the UAE by 1-2.

A well-informed source inthe board told PTI that Manihad already spoken to thehead of the cricket committee,Mohsin Khan and asked himto meet with his committeemembers and prepare a reporton what they felt went wrongin the Test matches.

PCB to probe Pakistan's poorTest performance in SA: Mani

PTINEW DELHI, 20 JANUARY

That Virat Kohli (in photo)is des-tined to be among the pan-theons of all-time greats is anoft-repeated assertion but forformer Australia captain MichaelClarke, the India skipper isalready the “greatest ODI bats-man to have ever played thegame”. Kohli, the world's no.1Test and ODI batsman, ledIndia through a historic tour ofAustralia, during which theteam won the Test and ODI rub-bers and drew the T20 Inter-national series.

Kohli's India was the firstteam ever not to lose any seriesDown Under and along the way,he continued to add to hisrapidly-rising count of inter-national hundreds.

“To me, Virat Kohli is thegreatest batsman to have everplayed one-day cricket. I haveno doubts after seeing what hehas achieved for India,” Clarke,himself a former World Cup-winning captain, told PTI in aninterview.

Kohli has already scored10,385 runs in 219 ODIs withan astounding average of 59 plus,including 39 hundreds.

An unabashed Kohli fan,Clarke said that the 30-year-oldIndian's passion is unmatch-able. “You have to respectVirat's passion to win games forhis country. Yes, he has aggres-sion but no one can questionhis commitment, how muchhe has achieved. He is thegreatest in ODIs,” Clarke said.

While Kohli's craft contin-ues to evoke awe, his predecessorMahendra Singh Dhoni's cur-rent form has the cricketingworld divided.

Dhoni's style of batsman-ship in ODIs, no longer asaggressive as it used to be, hasbeen a matter of concern butfor Clarke, the 37-year-old for-mer India captain should be leftalone to play his game.

“MS knows how to react toany given situation. He hasplayed 300 plus ODIs so heknows how to go about his job,”Clarke said. But would Dhonihave been as effective as he wasin the third ODI against Aus-tralia if the target would havebeen 330 instead of 230? ”I thinkhe would have played differ-

ently. It was 230 and he had aparticular strategy and it wouldhave been different if the tar-get would have been bigger,”he said. “Look at his approachin the second game in Adelaideand the third game in Mel-bourne. It was different,” Clarkesaid. Asked what should beDhoni's batting position inthe World Cup, Clarke said, “Anyposition 4, 5 or 6. He is goodenough to bat at any positionand I believe Virat will use himaccordingly.”

Clarke, however, made itclear that the currently sus-pended Hardik Pandya wouldplay an important role for Indiagoing into the World Cup in Eng-land. Pandya faces, as of now,an uncertain future owing tohis much-condemned sexistremarks on a TV show.

“A talented player like Hardikis very necessary for the balanceof the side. He can win gamesalone with his batting and I amconfident he will be in that WorldCup squad,” Clarke soundedconfident. While he didn'tspeak about the Pandya-KL

Rahul controversy but Clarkelooked at the bigger pictureabout professional sportsper-sons being role models. Hestressed on the aspect of“respect”.

Asked if a lot of money ismaking youngsters go hay-wire in their conduct, Clarke gavehis insight. “How much moneyyou have earned is irrelevantbecause most important thingis to earn and give respect. I thinkit all starts with how you havebeen brought up.

“Respecting every individ-ual is very important. It startswith respecting elders regard-less of profession,” Clarke, whohas been a chip of the old blocwhen it comes to traditions, said.

But former batting mainstayalso spoke about the need tonot make one “mistake” thefocus of somebody's career.

“Professional sportsper-sons are role models, recognizedand they have a responsibili-ty. Having said that, everyonemakes mistakes and one needsto move on and learn fromthem,” said Clarke.

Kohli is greatest ODI batsman tohave played the game: Clarke AGENCIES

LUDHIANA, 20 JANUARY

Living up to his reputation,Asian Games gold medallistpulled off the deciding boutagainst Delhi Sultans' AndreyKviatkovski to guide defend-ing champions Punjab Roy-als to their first win of the ongo-ing Pro Wrestling League(PWL) season, here Sunday.

In a battle between the twoworld championships par-ticipants Bajrang outclassedAndrey Kviatkovski in the65kg encounter.

In the sixth bout, RioOlympics bronze medallistDelhi's Sakshi Malik didn'tbreak much sweat whiledefeating 2018 national cham-pionships silver medallistPunjab's Anita 11-0 and pushthe tie to the decider. This wasa much improved perfor-

mance by Sakshi than the oneshe had against Navjot Kaurof UP Dangal in the lastmatch.

Earlier, the 2017-18 WorldMilitary Championships goldmedallist Russian Khetik Tsa-balov of Delhi Sultans won thefirst bout of the eveningagainst the Asian Champi-onships bronze medallistVinod Kumar 14-0.

Punjab Royals' 2018 Euro-pean Championships bronzemedallist Cynthia Vescanwithstood a tough challengefrom the 2018 European U23Championships gold medal-list Anastasia Shustova towin the bout 2-1 and restoreparity for the defending cham-pions.

In the men's 86kg category,the 2016 European Champi-onship bronze medallist DatoMagarisvili of the Punjab

Royals dismissed last year'snational champion Praveen,scoring an impressive 12-0 winon technical superiority inunder two minutes.

National champion Pinkidefeated national runners-upPunjab Royals Anju in the 53kgbout. Pinki was coming to thisbout riding on the wave of anupset win over world cham-pion Vanesa Kaladzinskaya inthe previous round.

But Anju gave Pinki a goodrun for her money beforesuccumbing 4-9. Both teamswere two wins apiece at thisstage.

The 2018 CommonwealthGames silver medallist KoreyJarvis of the Punjab Royals wonthe 125kg bout against Saten-der Malik 7-2 despite theIndian holding the Canadi-an at bay for most part of thebout.

Bajrang gives Punjab first win of PWL 4

PTINEW DELHI, 20 JANUARY

The jury is still out on whetherMahendra Singh Dhoni's (inphoto) much acclaimed fin-ishing powers are on thewane or not but former Aus-tralia captain Ian Chappell stillconsiders the World Cup win-ning former skipper as the“best finisher” in 50-over for-mat. Dhoni was recentlyawarded the Man of the seriesfor his match-winning knockswhich helped India win theirmaiden ODI series in Australia.

Chappell saluted the for-mer India skipper's nerveand longevity.

“Nobody has Dhoni'snerve for finishing off victo-ries. Many times I've thought,“He's left it too late this time”,only to be amazed as he pro-duced a couple of powerfulshots to bring India a nail-bit-ing victory,” Chappell wrotein his column in ESPNcricinfo.

“His outward calm is noillusion since his tacticaladeptness in these situationsis proof his brain continuesto work perfectly.”

Drawing a comparisonwith Michael Bevan, who isconsidered to be one of thegreatest finisher of the game,Chappell said Dhoni has sur-

passed the former Australiannumber six.

“Where Bevan finishedmatches with fours, Dhonidoes so with sixes. The onearea - running between wick-ets - where you'd expect thefleet-footed Bevan to have anadvantage is debatable,because even at age 37, Dhoniis among the quickest in thegame,” he wrote.

“Even allowing forimproved bats and the advan-tage of playing T20 cricket, sta-tistically Dhoni is superior toBevan. There can be no argu-ment - Dhoni is the best ODIfinisher.”

Of late, Dhoni has often

been criticised for his slowinnings but the former Indiaskipper silenced the doubterswhen he unleashed a massivesix at Adelaide to seal the thirdODI and the series 2-1.

“His trademark lofted on-drive comfortably clearedone of the longer Adelaide Ovalboundaries to settle the issuein that particular finishingeffort,” Chappell wrote.

“It was a clear reminderthat any thought that hispower might be waning wasonly wishful thinking on thepart of opponents. That heachieved the feat in stiflingheat only added to the lus-tre of his performance.”

Dhoni is still world's best ODI finisher: Chappell

World number two Kerber was also sensation-ally bundled out by a woman playing theevent for the first time, with AmericanDanielle Collins humiliating the Wimbledonchampion 6-0, 6-2 in under an hour.

Lagat, Worknesh clinch men'sand women's titles: Cosmas

Lagat of Kenya and Worknesh

Alemu of Ethiopia surprised pre-

race favourites to win the men's

and women's crowns respective-

ly in the USD 405,000 Tata Mum-

bai Marathon here on Sunday.

Lagat, winner of the Sevilla

Marathon in 2016, made the

42.195-km race in this coastal

city his own over the last 10 km to storm his way home in 2

hours, 9 minutes and 15 seconds, the second-best in the 16-year

history of the race. The course record of 2:08:35 of his own

Kenyan compatriot Gideon Kipketar, done in 2016, just about sur-

vived the long-legged Lagat's onslaught after he had left behind

all his rivals, including pre-race favourite Abera Kuma of Ethiopia

well behind his wake. In second place was Aychew Bantie of

Ethiopia in 2:10:05 while Akalnew Shumet, also from Ethiopia,

took the third spot in 2:10:14. The man with the best time going

into the race, Kuma, finished seventh in 2:13:10 after he was

with the lead bunch of ten runners, including some pacers, on

the sea link after 19 kms before the bunch split up. �I did not

think of course record and only winning was on my mind,� said

Kenyan Lagat who was a pacemaker in the 2012 London

Olympics and started running when in primary school.

PSG claim record home win with 9-0 thrashing of Guingamp:Kylian Mbappe and Edinson Cavani both scored hat-tricks as Paris

Saint-Germain romped to their biggest-ever home win with a 9-0

Ligue 1 thrashing of Guingamp. The runaway league leaders

exacted sweet revenge on bottom club Guingamp, who had

ended their bid for a sixth straight League Cup title earlier this

month in Paris. It was PSG's largest victory at the Parc des

Princes, beating an 8-0 win over Dijon 12 months ago, but fell nar-

rowly short of equalling their biggest win in total -- a 10-0 French

Cup thumping of Cote Chaude in 1994. The capital club, who lead

second-placed Lille by 13 points with two games in hand, have

dropped just four points in their opening 19 matches of the sea-

son as they bid for an unbeaten league campaign.

NZ tour: Indian team reaches Auckland: The Indian cricket team

on Sunday touched base in Auckland for their upcoming limited

overs series against New Zealand, starting January 23. The Indian

team will play five ODIs and three T20 Internationals during their

three-week stay in the country. The BCCI uploaded a small video

of Indian cricketers coming out of the Auckland airport, amidst

cheers from a small but vocal pack of Indian supporters. The likes

of Kedar Jadhav and Dinesh Karthik were seen signing auto-

graphs as the loudest cheer was reserved for skipper Virat Kohli

and his wife Anushka Sharma. The Indian team will leave for Napi-

er on Monday morning where the first ODI will be played on

Wednesday. The subsequent ODIs will be played in Tauranga (Jan-

uary 26 and 28), Hamilton (January 31) and Wellington (February

3). The three T20s will be played in Wellington (February 6), Auck-

land (February 8) and Hamilton (February 10). The ODI matches

will start at 7:30 am IST while the three T20Is will start at 12:30

pm IST.

Lahiri misses the cut after third round at Desert Classic onPGA: Anirban Lahiri dropped two shots on the front nine and

missed the cut by one at the end of the third round of the

Desert Classic. Lahiri, who was Tied-21st, shot one-over 73 with

two birdies and three bogeys and exited from the tournament. It

was a bit of an anti-climax after the second round of 65. The 48-

year-old Phil Mickelson made three long birdie putts on the back

nine and carded a bogey-free 66 on the Stadium Course at PGA

West to take a two-stroke lead into the final round of the Desert

Classic. He shot 60 on the first day at La Quinta Country Club and

68 on Friday on PGA West's Nicklaus Tournament Course in sec-

ond round.

THUMBNAILS

AGENCIESMLEBOURNE, 20 JANUARY

Australia's Ashleigh Barty (inphoto) defeated Russia'sMaria Sharapova here onSunday to make it into the firstGrand Slam quarterfinal of hercareer at the Australian Open.

The No 15 seed recoveredfrom a set down against theformer world No 1 andwrapped up the match 4-6,6-1, 6-4 in just under two anda half hours, reports Efe news.

Sharapova, who won theAustralian Open in 2008, waslooking for her first quarter-final in Melbourne since 2016after she had ousted defend-ing champion Caroline Woz-niacki in three sets in thelast round.

But she was no matchagainst the in-form Barty,

the home favourite.Sharapova had powered

her way through the first setbut could not maintain herimperious tennis as Bartystormed back into the gameand gave her a tough fight in

the last two sets.Barty will take on Petra Kvi-

tova in the quarterfinals, whodowned American young-ster Amanda Anisimova instraight sets earlier on Sun-day.

Barty storms past Sharapova intoAustralian Open quarters